Tutorial - Realistic tattoo tutorial on human skin!

I’ve decided to create a more realistic tutorial on how to apply a
tattoo on human skin and make it look realistic. I’ve seen several
tutorials on creating this same effect around the web yet it doesn’t
look that realistic, the tattoo needs to look like it’s actually
wrapping and embedded on the skin while keeping the quality and
highlights of the tattoo.



Quick notes this tutorial works best with high quality images, also
try to find a tattoo’s in which the skin matches your skin you will be
working on, that will give the best results, here is a .psd of the
sources for you guys to practice on. Lets begin!
>Download PSD file here<
Lets first look at this comparison I made below, the first image is
the basic cut and paste technique with an overlay blend, no way you’re
going to fool anyone with that. Now lets take a look at the second
image, the second image uses cutting, feathering, blending, and
sharpening techniques to give it the look that the tattoo is really
embedded in the skin, so much so that you can see it literally pop out!
Alright, lets begin.

1. Choosing our source images.


Here we need to find two images which we want to work with. It can
be yourself, a friend, or someone you want to see how a tattoo would
look on them.Then find a picture of the tattoo you want, it’s best to
take a tattoo off a picture of someone who actually has a real tattoo,
thus giving a realistic look because the tattoo has already been
embedded in the skin for you. As an example I’ve chosen my two images
as the the following.

2. Placing the tattoo source onto the main source picture.


Take the tattoo source and place it onto the main source (crocop)
this will create a new layer. Now on the tattoo layer use the Free
Transform option by pressing (CRT+T) now position the tattoo where you
want it to be, and rescale and rotate it to fit the current angle.

3 Deleting unwanted areas to fit shape.


Now we need to get rid of that extra piece of junk from the tattoo
image so it will perfectly take the shape of Crocop’s shoulders, first
off we will want to make the tattoo layer invisible by clicking on the
eye right next to the tattoo layer. Then select the polygonal lasso
tool and follow the shoulder area like the image shown below. (I know
you can use the magic wand tool to get rid of it but for me it’s a
better practice to use the lasso tool.

After you have selected the perfect shape around his shoulders make
sure your selection is still visible then click the tattoo layer and
make it visible again, then press delete. Now you can see the tattoo is
starting to take effect by taking the shape of his shoulder, were
almost there!
4. Feathering tattoo layer.


This part is very easy and simple. select the magic wand tool (w)
and while on the tattoo layer click an area outside the tattoo so that
the whole area outside the tattoo is selected.Now go to select >
modify > feather and enter a range from 8-10 (for smaller images a
range from 3-6 is good) after the feather is set press delete twice,
now you will notice the edges of the tattoo is now very soft on the
edges making the tattoo ever more realistic on the body.

5. Darken overlay on tattoo.


Select the tattoo layer and on the layers option, drag down to
Darken, now this makes the whole ink park of the tattoo appear while
the rest of the color disappear to give the effect that’s it’s actually
on his skin.

6. Touch up.


Well were basically finished, from this point you can just play
around with it anyway you want. I adjusted the curve, lowered the
saturation, sharpen the image, and matched the color. Here’s the final
product. Hope you enjoy!


Credits: olieng.net