San's Graphic Blog

Here is one way you can create an artistic water/fluid/liquid effects in any form. I will create a liquid flower to show you how you can apply this method to virtually any shape and size.

The main point is to create 2 main layers, one is the reflection layer and the other is refraction. You can use the distort and chrome filter but it does not give you as much control when you need to work on something this complex, instead I will use quick mask and layer effects to create the effects.

First, I will draw one of the flower petals on a blank layer and set the background to black.

Go into dynamic brush menu to set the spacing, scattering, size and color dynamic so you end up with a randomize surface. Don’t use too much scattering as it becomes hard to control where the paint go, instead focus on the spacing dynamic. I also created few drops of liquid that escapes the main petal to make image more dynamic.

Do the same for all the petals but make sure each of the petals are on separate layers.

Now go to Filter-Noise-Medium and set the number to 1, do the same for all the layers, you can press Ctrl+F to repeat the last filter.

Before moving on to the next step, I will create the base of the refraction layers.

I am going to use the black and white value of each layer as the transparence level. Select the first layer and draw a marquee over the petal, copy it and enter Quick Mask Mode.

Paste the copied information and it will appear red, now align this with the original petal, now make sure nothing is selected and invert the color by pressing Ctrl+I.

Exit out of the Quick Mask, create a new layer, fill this layer with white.

Your picture should look something similar to this when you are done with each of the petal layers.

So basically we have turned all the lighter part of the petal into solid and the darker area to semi transparent, I will show you what it is for later on, but hide them for now.

Going back to the original petal layers.

I will create the liquid surface by using the layer style. Double click on the layer icon, check bevel and emboss and increase the depth, size and Gloss Contour until it gives it a nice shiny surface. Duplicate these settings on to all of the original petal layers and this will be your reflection layer.

Now let’s hide reflection layers and unhide the semi transparent (refraction) layers we created earlier.

We will add the scattered reflection and refraction that liquid create using the semi transparent layers.

Double click on the layer icon to bring up the layer style.

Use the Gloss contour similar to the one I have selected and adjust the depth and size until you are satisfied, don’t over do this or it will look too busy.

Whatever that is solid, layer style will treat it as higher elevation and whatever is transparent will be of lower elevation, this simulates the uneven surface of liquids.

Now make all the layers visible, put the refraction directly above their reflection layers. You now have a surface that has both scattered refraction and reflection.

As a final touch, I created an additional layer with more liquid droplets.

Now combine all the layers and use Hard Light as the blending mode. You can either integrate this with a photo or just use a simple gradient.

Please feel free to leave a message if there any thing that was not clear or if you have ideas on how to improve on this method, thanks!

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