Photoshop: Create steampunk-style pages or backgrounds

STEAMPUNK IS A subgenre of fantasy and science fiction, which has been realised in book (The Difference Engine, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen), film (Wild Wild West, Back To The Future Part III) and videogames (Crimson Skies, Skies Of Arcadia, Syberia), and has even inspired artists and engineers to create steampunk-inspired pseudo-Victorian works. Here we set out to capture the magic of steampunk by creating a rich and textured graphic style using various steam-driven and mechanical objects such as piston engines, piping, clocks and meter faces. You’ll learn how to engineer a Victorian-inspired interface and generate your own steam from the comfort of your computer chair. Using Photoshop’s basic tools in creative ways, it is possible to bring that dream to the screen without having to know the software inside out. We’ll take you through such tools and techniques as applying effective gradients, blending modes, basic drawing, the Smudge tool, the Warp tool and others that won’t cause your cerebral cortex to implode.