Liquidy Goodness

Liquify Tool

Difficulty: 3/10

Today we're going to look at a brand new tool. Well, a filter actually, but that's not important. This tool is called "Liquify!" Now, before you ask, no, it does not blend pictures to make it look like a liquid. What this tool does is allows you to move and slide around parts of an image as if it were all painted on water and you could move it with your finger. 

Liquify if a very common tool used when editing models for advertisements or magazines. Whether this is ethical or not is up to you as reader. If you want to look more into the ethics of Photoshopping models you can look here! To make sure that I don't step into the world of ethics I'm going to do the complete opposite. I'll be taking a natural picture of my attractive friend and be turning it ugly.

For this tutorial here is my canvas! Open any photo you want to edit on Photoshop. If it happens to also be a picture of my friend, this tutorial will be even EASIER to follow.

What we want to do to start this liquid process is to go to filter and then click "Liquify..."

A big window will open up with a load full of options. This is just a beginner tutorial so we won't go too in depth, just the main use of the Liquify tool. Your screen should now look like this:

Now, here comes the most complicated step of the process, and it's super easy; adjusting your brush width. Simply drag the bar on the right titled "Brush Size" left or right, depending on what size you want it. Once you do that here comes the fun! Put your mouse and click and drag on the picture. Here is what it should look life if you do a simple straight line through the picture:

Now, what I'm going to do (and I suggest you do too) is just stretch parts of his facial features to make him look uglier. I'm going to push down the eyebrows, frown the lips, and mess with his nose. Once I did all of this I'm left with something like this:

The best way to perfect the liquify tool is trial and error. Keep repeating until you get your desired look. This is obviously a goofy method and not to be used for more serious editing. If you're looking for a more serious or in depth method of using the liquify tool, Adobe gives a great tutorial right here!

(Also, if you happen to see this guy make sure to tell him thanks for being such a great model, his name is Jay!)

If you have any questions or suggestions please comment below!