Articles and Tutorials

Photoshop Tutorial: Car or Truck Decals

Experience level: Easy/Intermediate

Step #1

Download the image we will be working with.

Download the flames (You must right click "Save Target As" and save the image. You will not preserve transparency if you don't.)

Open the black truck and flames in Photoshop.

Copy and paste the flames onto the truck.

With the flame layer selected hold down "Crtl-T" to Free Transform the flames to make them smaller.

To keep the flames proportionate click the link (found on the Tool Detail bar which is under the File - Edit - Image - Etc bar) while you are Free Transforming the flames.

Step #2

Go to Edit>Transform>Distort and click and pull the square shaped corners of the outline of the box so you Distort the decal and put it into perspective.

Step #3

Now we need to get rid of the parts of the decal that are overlapping the trim/badges of the truck. There are two ways of doing this:

Option 1: Grab the eraser tool and set the decal layer to 50%. Then start erasing the decal.

Option 2: Grab your pen tool and outline all the badges (for advanced users)

Step #4

After removing the excess decal, lets change the decal's blend mode to "Soft Light" on the layers palette.

Also make sure to change the 50% opacity to 100% again.

Now duplicate the decal 2x.

Your decal should look like this:

Step #5

Thanks to Shamus Customz, who are the guys responsible for the majority of mods done to the truck.

Here is the final product:

 

More Photoshop tutorials

• Dark CloudsCreate cool looking clouds using only Photoshop.
• Claw ScratchesA simple way of creating realistic claw scratches.
• Fire BlastConjure up a fiery blast that can look very realistic.
• Car DecalsA simple guide on applying decals to your car or truck.