Dancing on the Clouds

Dancing on the Clouds

A fantasy-style dreamy photo manipulation is fun to create and useful for learning various advanced secrets of image editing.

Stock images such as a cloudscape, a dancer and a flamingo are recommended for accomplishing the tutorial, but are not required. Feel free to substitute them with your own preferred objects.

The clouds brush preset is required, which can be downloaded here. Once you have everything, let’s get started.

Layers, selection tools, transform tools, the Gradient Tool, filters and painting tools are used in this tutorial.

Step 1

Open an image of a dancer or any other object that you want to use in the artwork.

Step 2

To cut out an object (in our case, the dancer) from the current background, first click to select the Lasso Tool (L) in the Tools palette. Make a selection of the object using the Lasso Tool or a combination of any selection tools.

Step 3

Once the selection is made, soften its edges by choosing Edit > Refine Selection and setting Feather to 5%. Click OK. To copy the selection content, choose Edit > Copy.

Step 4

Open the cloudscape image. Place the dancer on the clouds by choosing Edit > Paste. The dancer appears as a new layer above the clouds in the Layers palette (View > Show Layers). Double-click on the dancer layer name and rename it “Dancer.” Use the Move Tool (V) to move the object into the center of the composition.

Step 5

To use the clouds brush preset, simply drag-and-drop the brush file (.abr) on the Pixelmator app icon and it will automatically appear as a new brush collection. Click to create a new layer above the other layers and rename it “Clouds.” Set the main color to white and add some clouds to the sky, also hiding some parts of the dancer by using the Brush Tool. See the example in the image below as a reference.

Step 6

Open the flamingo image. Click to select the Magic Eraser Tool in the Tools palette. Click-and-drag to remove the background.


Step 7

Once the flamingo background is removed, drag-and-drop the flamingo layer onto the composition. Rename the layer containing the flamingo as “Flamingo.”

Step 8

To fit the flamingo into the composition, first, choose Edit > Flip Horizontal. Then, choose Edit > Transform. Resize the flamingo to make it smaller than the dancer and, using the Move Tool (V), move it closer to the right edge of the composition.

Step 9

In order to match the flamingo color adjustments to the composition, choose Image > Brightness and Contrast. Set the Brightness to approximately 10 and the Contrast to approximately -60. Click OK.

Step 10

Duplicate (Layer > Duplicate) the flamingo layer twice and use the Move Tool (V) and the Transform tools (Edit > Transform) to fit the flamingos into the composition (see the examples in the image below as a reference). 


Step 11

Click to add a new layer above the others. Click to select the Brush Tool (B) in the Tools palette and select the clouds brush preset in the Brushes palette. Set the main color to white and paint using the Brush Tool on the flamingos to blend them into the composition.

Step 12

Even though this step is optional, you can add some Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to the flamingo layers that are placed further in the background.

Step 13

It’s time for some magic dust:

1. Click the Action button (+) to create another new layer in the Layers palette and rename it “Magic Dust.”
2. Click to select the Brush Tool (B) and set the main color to white.
3. Choose a star brush preset from the Default brushes collection in the Brushes palette.
4. Change settings for the brush: Diameter to 250, Spacing to 20, Scatter to 40, Size to 77.
5. Paint on the “Magic Dust” layer using the Brush Tool.

Step 14

Create a nice pink color overlay:

1. Add a new layer and rename it “Color Filter.” Change the layer Blending to Soft Light.
2. Then, click to select the Gradient Tool (G).
3. In the Gradients palette (View > Show Gradients), click the Action Button and choose New Gradient to add a new gradient preset.
4. Create a soft pink, linear gradient and apply it on the “Color Filter” layer using the Gradient Tool.

Step 15

To warm up the artwork, first, click the Add button (+) to add a new layer. Change the layer Blending to Multiply and reduce the Opacity to 25%. Then, choose Edit > Fill and set Color to yellow. Click OK.

Step 16

Even though the composition is complete, you can still experiment with color adjustments. Select all layers, duplicate them (Layer > Duplicate) and merge them (Layer > Merge Layers) into a single layer. Then, use any of the adjustment tools to enhance the look and enjoy the results.

© Pixelmator Team Ltd.