Graphics Zone - Bullet Holes

BONEFISH

Bullet Holes in Photoshop!

by BarryHilton, Adult NetSurprise

In this tutorial we'll be making a dirty steel plate and filling it with bullet holes!!!

First, make a new image (File > New) 300 pixels wide by 200 pixels high, with the 'contents' set to transparent. Next, select the Gradient Tool from the main Tool Bar (with all the small icons), if you can't see it and you can find the Paint Bucket icon... left click and hold, selecting the Gradient Tool.

Then, on the Options menu (Window > Show Options) select the 'Copper Gradient'. Click and drag on your image from the top left corner towards the bottom right corner... Drag your line out past the bottom right corner (about 2 inches) and release the button. This will create a copper fill without the 'white' bottom corner fade, like in our example below.

Now we need to make our copper a steel color, go to the Images menu at the top of the screen and select Adjust, then Hue/Saturation. Enter the values below to create a great steel effect...

Now, we want to start making our steel a 'dirty' color. First we'll add some noise to the steel to create a grainy weathered effect. Go to the Filter menu at the top of the screen and select Noise, then Add Noise, entering the values below...

Now, we'll add some grime and dirt to our steel! Make a new layer by going to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and select New, then Layer and click OK. Then, click the tiny black and white squares at the bottom right of your foreground/background color boxes, this will reset your colors to black foreground and white background. Select the Paint Bucket from the main tool bar (click and hold on the Gradient Tool to select) and click on your image to fill your new layer with black. Next, go to the Filter menu at the top of the screen and select 'Render' then 'Difference Clouds'. Lastly, at the top of the Layers Menu (Window > Show layers) change 'Normal' to 'Multiply' and Opacity to 60%. You should have something like our example below...

Go to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and select 'Merge Visible' to combine your two layers together.

Now, we need to make our bullet hole... Select the Ellipse Marquee from the main tool bar (if you cant see it, click and hold on the Marquee, left top corner). Then go to the Options menu (Window > Show Options) and change the style to "Fixed Size' and enter values of 30 pixels for both Width and Height... Click on your image to place your bullet hole template... We're going to make it look more realistic by adding more 'cuts' to the outside of your circular bullet hole...

Go to the Lasso Tool (under the Marquee tool on the main tool bar), click and hold, selecting the Polygonal Lasso Tool. This tool will make it easy to add 'triangles' to our selection as it keeps all the lines straight.

Zoom in to 400%, by pressing Ctrl + three times... While holding 'Shift' on your keyboard (to add to a selection) draw little triangles or cuts away from your circle, joining each one as you go (when you complete a triangle the cursor will have a little circle next to it). Keep holding Shift and add as many cuts of different sizes as looks 'right' :o) You should aim to get something like our example below...

When you're done, go to the Select menu at the top of the screen and click Save Selection, then if you 'loose' your marquee at any time you can go back to the Select menu at the top of the screen, choosing Load Selection to recover your marquee. then go back to 100% zoom by pressing Ctrl - on your keyboard three times.

Now, hit delete on your keyboard to remove your first bullet hole! Click in the center of the bullet hole marquee and drag it to another location, hitting delete again... in our example we've added six bullet holes...

Next, we need to create our background... go to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and select New, then Layer. Select the Paint Bucket tool from the main tool menu and fill the new layer with Black. To put this layer behind the steel bullet hole layer go to the Layer Menu at the top of the screen and select Arrange then Send Backward.

Now, on the Layers Menu (Window > Show Layers) click on the name of your bullet holes layer, it will go blue to show it's selected... then, right click on its name and select 'Blending Options' to bring up the Effects Menu... Select Bevel and Emboss and enter the values below... This will create the 3d punched out effect.

And there we have our bullet holes! Experiment and have fun with graphics :o)