Create a Dramatic and Surreal illustration in Photoshop CS5

Final Image Preview

Create a new document (Ctrl+N) in Adobe Photoshop CS5 with the size 1024px by 1280px (RGB color mode) at a resolution of 72 pixels/inch. Download the next texture from Texturezine.com and place it on our canvas.

Click Create new fill or adjustment layer from bottom part of the Layers panel

and click to Curves to adjust the curve shape as shown to make a little color corrections.

Select once again Create new fill or adjustment layer from bottom part of the Layers panel and click to Hue/Saturation this time. Drag the slider to the left to decrease the Saturation of the color range. These operations will give contrast and brutality to our texture.

Next step we’ll download a set of brushes for in Adobe Photoshop, named: Old_paper_brushes_by_Annette29, Seu_Davi and c130_splatter .
Select the next brush from Old_paper_brushes_by_Annette29 set:

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and use this brush to add the next texture:

Click on Add a layer style icon from bottom part of the Layers panel and select Drop Shadow.

As a result we got a voluminous texture:

Create a new layer and select Soft Round brush of black color (set Opacity to 30% in the Options bar).

Use this brush to paint the layer edges.

Find a stock photo with a model represented on it, I used this photo from deviantart. I would like to thank the author of this photo.
Remove the background using your favorite tools like Pen Tool (P), Magic Wand Tool (W), Magnetic Lasso (L) or even a simple Filter>Extract and insert it on a new layer in our main document.

Go to Eraser Tool (E) and select Spatter brush:

Use this brush to erase the lowest part of the girl’s figure, the same way demonstrated below:

Click Add a layer style icon from bottom part of the Layers panel to select Drop Shadow.

Add Inner Shadow

We got a volume and the shadow for the girl:

Create new layer and choose the Flat Blunt Short Stiff brush of black color from Brush Tool (B) (set Opacity to 30% in Options bar).

Let’s represent the next demonstrated brushstrokes.

Place the layer under the girl’s one.

Click Add a layer style icon from bottom part of the Layers panel and select Drop Shadow.

We’ve got the next result: