Appling a Simple Texture to Skin Using Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how to apply a simple texture in Adobe Photoshop to create a lizzard skinned baby. This is a simple way of doing it without using more sophisticated tools like bump and displacement maps.

 In photoshop, open the image you want to add the effect (lizzard skin) to.

Open the texture image you wish to use. In this case I have chosen an image that will need little adjustments. I wanted a "scaley" image with green and white/grey color. I chose a close up of tree bark, which needed no adjustments, such as coloration etc.

On the top tool bar go to "select" and click on "all" from the drop down menu. Once the picture is outlined, go to the "edit" button on the same top bar, and select "copy" from the drop down menu.
Then click back on the baby picture and using the "edit" button select "paste". The texture image is much larger than the baby pic. So you will need to go back to the "edit" button and select "free transform" from the drop down menu.

A box outline will surround the bark image ( this may be hard to see so grab a corner) Hold down the shift key on your keyboard to maintain the current shape and constraints of the bark image.

Once you have the image close to the size you want to use,( keep in mind it will cover more area than you need and we will adjust that on the next few step.) Click back on the "edit" button and reselect the "free transform" button. ( you may not have "applied" the initail resize which means you are still in the original transform. If this is the case just rotate the image.

To rotate the bark into position, place your pointer near one of the corners. You will have a curved arrow. Hold down the mouse button and turn the image until it fits where you would like it to be. I am placing the first image on the upper arm and back of my baby picture. You can also pull the corners or middle to adjust to a final fit. (keep in mind if you want to maintain the constraints you should hold down the shift key)

Click on the "Solid Arrow on the tool bar to the left of the screen in order to apply image.

One the layers window to the right of the screen, go to the "Opasity" slider and adjust the bark so that you have can see the baby skin beneatht he layer of bark.
Once you get this step done go to the "eraser" tool on the left tool bar and select. Then go to the top tool bar and select "brush" slider. Pick a brush that is fuzzy and adjust the size using the slider. Erase the edges of the bark image where it over laps past the skin. If you erase to much then just go to "edit" undo eraser.
You can change the "flow" of the brush using the top tool bar slider so that you can soften some of the edges of the bark where it meets the skin.


repeat steps 1-6 to apply bark texture in more areas.

After you have applied the texture to the skin areas you want covered: select the background ( baby) layer in the layers  window to the right. ( the selection will be blue).
Right click on your mouse and select "duplicate layer" on the menu.
In the layers window go back to the background layer ( click on it) and then go to "Image"...."adjustment"...."desaturate"
Leave this layer alone and reclick on the duplicate layer.

The squares on the bottom of the left tools bar will change the paint brush color. Double click on the top square, your color picker will show up and select a green you like for the eyes. hit ok.
Next enlarge the picture using the magnifing glass on the left tools. ( or control + on your keyboard)
Select the polygonal lasso tool from the left tool bar (second from top on left side)
Trace the colored part of the eyes. Hold down Shift key and Trace the other eye. Both should now have an outline around them.
Use the "paint brush" tool on left tool bar and fill in the eyes with the green color.

Go to the Layers window and from the top box that reads "normal" select "overlay" from the drop down menu.

After you do this go to the "Image" on the top tool bar select "adjustments"...."hue and saturation"
Play with the sliders to you get the bluish, greenish tint you like and hit ok. This is your final product.