How to Draw a Lion's Mane Using Photoshop

Draw a lion's mane in Photoshop by applying the "Fibers" filter to a modified ellipse, and shaping the hair with the "Free transform" tool. This project builds skills with several different types of Photoshop tools. One type works on paths, which are mathematically-smoothed curves, such as those of the mane's modified ellipse. The "Free transform" tool is an example of another tool type, one that lets you interactively shape imagery as though it were putty. To add realism to your lion's mane, paint face features using Photoshop's "Paintbrush" tool.

Instructions

1. Click the upper color swatch at the bottom of the tool palette to display a color selection window, then click a golden color from the window. Click "OK" to close the window.

2. Click the tool palette icon shaped like an ellipse to run the "Ellipse" tool, then drag on the canvas to grow an ellipse whose height is about twice its width. This forms the mane's outline.

3. Click the tool palette icon shaped like a ">" to run the "Convert path" tool, which makes curved path segments straight, and straight ones curved.

4. Click the bottom of the ellipse to taper the ellipse to a point. This forms the bottom of the mane and completes the basic shape of the mane.

5. Press "Control" and then click the thumbnail of the highlighted layer in the "Layers" panel to select the mane. Click the page icon at the bottom of the "Layers" panel to create a new layer, then click the "Edit" menu's "Fill" command to fill the layer with color.

6. Click the "Filter" menu's "Fibers" command to insert a hair-like texture into the new layer, and then press "Control" and "T" simultaneously to run the "Free transform" tool for shaping the hair. Right click the mane and click "Warp," then click the "Fisheye" item from the dropdown list above the canvas. This bows the hair fibers outward toward the outlines of the mane.

7. Drag the "Opacity" slider of the "Layers" panel to the left until the gold color from the layer holding the mane appears through the hair fibers.

8. Drag the mouse over the top two layers of the "Layers" panel to select the layers, and then right click and click "Merge" to merge the layers.

9. Right click the highlighted item of the "Layers" menu, and then click "Duplicate" to duplicate the main shape to form the lion's face. Press "Control" and "T" simultaneously to run the "Free transform" tool, and then press "Alt" and "Shift" simultaneously to specify proportional scaling from the center of the shape.

10. Drag the mouse toward the shape's center until the shape is approximately three-quarters the size of the mane. Release the mouse to complete the shape for the face.

11. Click the "Select" menu's "Load selection" command to select the face shape, then use stepone1's instruction to select a pale yellow color.

12. Click the "Edit" menu's "Fill" command to fill the face shape with color and to complete the lion's mane illustration.

References

• Photoshop CS5 Bible; Lisa Dayley
• How to Draw What You See; Rudy De Reyna