Book Cover Tips

10. || smoke effect

Hey guys!

So someone had requested how to do the effect like I had done on my Fading series covers, so I thought I'd do just that. This is more a harder thing to do, so if you don't get it the first try, don't become aggravated.

i. open your image in pics art and select FX. Select artistic and then watercolor. You'll have to play around with the settings on this tab to get what you exactly want.

ii. save image and then open it in superimpose. Make sure to open it as the foreground and the background should be just a plain white image.

iii. Mask around the photo until you create a PNG. I recommend to save the PNG just in case you goof and want to start over. Merge the two photos.

iv. open the image I have above (the black streaks). This will be what you use to get the scratchy effect on the bottom. First select screen on the transform tab, then you will need to invert the colors on the filter tab, under the middle button. After this, click on the mask tab and select the magic brush. Click on a spot that's not the white (this will get rid of the black). Then go to the filter tab and turn the contrast all of the way down. Now just go back to the transform tab and play with it until you get the effect you want. Merge.

v. Now open the smoke image I have above. You can use whatever else you'd like for this part, but just to demonstrate I included the one I had used. Since the one above is black, you'll have to use the mask brush again and get the white away from the edges of it. Then turn the contrast all of the way down and you can then change the color of it to whatever you want under the filter tab.

vi. Now that you have you colorful smoke, you can play around with the filters under the transform tab to get what you want. Screen and Lighten work well for me, but you might want something else, so feel free to play around with it until you get the look you want.

vii. after you have gotten what you want, you can save the image. Then open the color of background you would like and then the image as your foreground. You can then either select multiply to make the white disappear, or you can select the magic brush again and get rid of it that way. (note: you may have to erase a little around it by hand if any white is there that you do not want)

viii. save the image and then add your text in Phonto. Now you're done!

I hope this was helpful, guys. Like always, if you have any questions please ask.

Happy editing!