So, I heard you want to make cool looking images in Photoshop. While I can't promise you expertise or even that you'll be the next Nobel Prize of Art Recipient, I can show you some tips that I use to make my own artwork. Let's get started.
I like anime, so why not make a background based off a cool song I like, let's say the song Sora Iro Days from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. I love Yoko and Nia, so let's search for an image of them. I found this:
Warning big:
You want as high a resolution as possible, to work with. Normal backgrounds are 1024x768 so try and find images that are bigger than this, though resizing is acceptable. It's just nice to have as much potential image use as possible.
Let's get started. First thing is first, think about what you want to make. Do you want it shiny and colorful or dark and grungy? Once you figure out what you want, then comes the next step, opening Photoshop. Open whatever Photoshop you have and make a new document with the 1024x768 preset.
Now it's time to arrange the document. Put the picture inside the Photoshop window by dragging it, then drag it into the open canvas you created. You'll notice it's much bigger than the canvas, which can be solved easily. Press Ctrl+T to use the transform tool and hold shift while dragging in the corner to keep the aspect ratio the same. You might get something like this:
Ok, now it's time to build up what artists call stock photos. These are anything, from CGs to screenshots, to nature photos, to C4Ds, fractals, ect. This is something i can't really help you with, but search around for things that remind you of your initial theme. I like using C4Ds and CGs so I'll be trying those out. first though, let's make our image look prettier. Duplicate the layer by right clicking the layer and pressing duplicate, or select the layer and press Crtl+J. you now have two layers of the same image. Set the top one to the layer blending to Overlay. Then set that top layer to Gaussian Blur 3px. The order which you do those two steps actually doesn't matter. Here are some screens for the visual learners:
Now select the bottom image copy and press Ctrl+Shift+U. This will desaturate it. This will seem useless now, but later on it will be important. Next find a cool C4D or stock image to use. I'll be using this:
Arrange this however you want and add a layer mask. You'll find that below the layers, the gray box with a white circle inside. Next select the gradient tool with black as your foreground color. If you go into the gradient presets you'll find a black to transparent option. Select it and then use this to get rid of the rough edges of the stock. This will make it fade in also. Duplicate, change to overlay, Gaussian blur and desaturate both or just the bottom image. Note, you can experiment with the layer blending. In my example I'm using overlay for the top and screen for the bottom:
Now try doing the same thing for the bottom, desaturated image of the Yoko Nia pic, but make it fade away from the girls. You should see white. Now take some more stock images and fill the background right above that white layer. I'll just be using the first and one other to do this, but I'll be duplicating it to fill in space:
When you fill in the space, experiment with blending layers and then merge the entire background by Shift+Clicking the images between the Yoko and Nia and the white then right clicking and selecting merge:
Here is the final image for all you:
Be ready for the some more of the tutorial soon. Comment on what I have and ask any questions. I take requests too!
PS: Yeah, that's Bible Black the game.