Step 30

Select the Medieval European Knight layer and add a Layer Adjustments Curves layer so that it’s on top of all the main knights. Try to simulate the settings below for each channel.

By putting this Adjustments layer on top of the main knights, it will only affect the sky background and the knights.

Step 31

Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustments layer and put it on top of the European knight, right-click and select ‘Create Clipping Mask’. Input the following settings, go in every Channel and set the Saturation level of the Green, Cyan and Magentas to -100. The saturation in the Blue channel should be set to -45, the Red and Yellow channels should be left untouched. This will give the knight a grey-ish look which will be different when we add our final Curves Adjustment layer.

Step 32

It’s very important to create a ‘mood’ to base your color correction on, so create a new Curves Adjustments layer and put this on top of all the layers. We have our European knight as a reference, so simply try to create your own color scheme which you think looks best. These are my settings:

Step 33

Back to the European knight. To make the top knights really pop, we’re going to create an almost majestic type of glow around them. Create a copy of the European knight, name it ‘majestic_glow’ and make it all white by using Hue/Saturation and set the Lightness to +100. Go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur and set the Angle to -90 Degrees and the Distance to 775 pixels. Make a copy of this layer and you will notice it becomes much brighter.

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 45 pixels, this will soften the harsh streaks of the motion blur a bit.

Step 34

Create a new Levels Adjustment layer and input the following settings in the appropriate channels. This Adjustment layer should be made into a clipping mask on top of the Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer we’ve made earlier for the European knight.

Step 35

We’re going to give our knight a bit of shine as we want the majestic glow to sort of engulf him in light. Add a new Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer and but this on top of the Adjustment layers we’ve already made. By default, a new Adjustment layer will have a white window but for this effect to work properly, simply fill the canvas with white while the mask is selected. Grab a Round brush and set the Brush Opacity to 20% and set your foreground color to white. Vary between brush sizes and brush over the area as many times you think is necessary. You should brush over the area shown in red below.

Step 36

The images all have a bit of hard line around them because we’ve used the Pen tool (P) but you can get rid of this but using the Blur tool (R) on the Layer mask.

Step 37

Repeat steps 31, 33, 34, 35 and 36 for the knights on the right and left but hopefully at this point of the tutorial, you will implement some of your own color variations and techniques. Get rid of what you like or add something else of what you think benefits the composition. At this point I have added a few more Color Balance Adjustment layers to all three knights and did more tweaking and this is my result at this point of the tutorial:

Step 38

At this point I’ve added a Color Balance Adjustment layer with the following settings:

I’ve also added a Color Fill Adjustment layer (#004762) at the top of all the layers to get a good idea of where I’m headed with this poster. Order of layers:

Step 39

On top of these layers, create a Gradient Fill Adjustment layer and click OK. Set the Layer mode to Hue and the Opacity to 20%. Double click on the Gradient window and change the gradient from Solid to Noise. Click on Randomize to see a different gradient you like and click OK. This way we’ll get a gradient with a huge amount of color.

Big change, isn’t it? The middle of the poster looks very dark but we’re going to fix that now.

Step 40

Select the ‘Renfair Stock Battle’ layer, add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer and set the Brightness to +55% and click OK. Right-click on this layer and select ‘Create Clipping Mask’. Use the same methods we’ve used on Step 35 to make it look the way you want. Use the Smudge tool to create strands of hair on the long-haired knight.

Step 41

At this point, I think the Tuscan landscape looks a bit too dark and the color isn’t very exciting. Select the top layer of the Tuscan Farm landscape, add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer and set the Brightness to +32 and the Contrast to -10 and click OK.

Only the landscape should be affected by this Adjustment layer but currently it is not, we can edit this by painting on the top of the mask with black as shown below.

Step 42

We’re getting close now but I’m still not happy as I want the colors to pop a little more. Add a Color Balance Adjustment layer and play with the sliders to get the tint you want or enter the settings shown below.

Once you are done, paint on this mask as we’ve done with step 41.

Step 43

It’s time to work on the small army on the left. Because the image is a lot brighter at the bottom, we can edit this easily by using the Burn tool. Grab the Burn tool (G) and make sure the Range of the brush is set to Midtones and the Exposure at 50%. Now you can start darkening the lower parts of the knights.

Step 44

Create a copy of this layer and make it all black by using the Hue/Saturation menu and drag it below the knights, this will be part of the shadow. Press Ctrl + T, right-click on the selection that is made and select the option Distort. Try dragging one of the points to create a believable shadow, it doesn’t have to be placed correctly as you need to apply a small Gaussian blur, adjust the effect your own liking.

Repeat Steps 43 and 44 for the army on the right. Apply a Color Balance Adjustment layer and try to match the color tone of the knights with the background.

Step 45

Because I want to add some more spectacle to the composition, download and open the Fireballs image, drag it into our composition and set the Layer Mode to Screen. Resize and divide the fireballs into three individual layers. Because the blending mode of these layers have been set to Screen, they will work best on dark backgrounds so I have placed all three fireballs on top of the European knight folder.

If you are satisfied with the placements of all three layers, then go ahead and merge them. Photoshop will automatically revert the Blending Mode to normal but you will have to set it back to Screen. We will get back to this section later.

Step 46

Now it is time to start working on the title of this fictional poster. For this type of work I have decided to use the Old English Text MT which is an old school font that really fits the whole medieval style. If you have followed every step of this tutorial, then you probably used the original resolution as shown in Step 1 so type the name Infictus with a size of 405pt.

Since the tutorial is rather lengthy to follow for some, we will need to apply several Layer Styles for the effect to work so double-click on the right of the text layer within the Layer Menu and apply the following styles:

I have used a simple grey to white gradient to give the stroke a bit of a 3D look. That should be it for this text layer!

Step 47

I have already written a tutorial called “How to Create a Movie Poster Billing Block in Photoshop“, so go ahead and implement it into the composition.

Step 48

Now that the text is out of the way we can focus on adding the finishing touches. Download any photographs of my Sparks Stock Photograph Set and basically repeat the techniques we have used for the fireballs in Step 45. While this step may seem short, don’t be fooled as it still is a lot of work to individually rotate and alter every spark. Use these same sparks to create a trail for the fireballs.

Final Image

Your Comments Are Very Appreciated!

That’s it for this tutorial, I hope you have learned something new and if you did, please leave a comment!