Photoshop Tutorial: Creating Realistic Tears

Study Notes

In this Photoshop tutorial, you will learn how to make realistic tears using the Freeform Pen Tool and the layer styles.
First, you will need to select the Freeform Pen Tool and try to make what a tear trail would look like going down the cheek.
Make sure the settings are the same as what you see in the image to the right.
Then, you will need to draw a tear path down on one of the eyes.
When you are done drawing, click on the layer with the tear path you drew.
Click on the layer mode dropdown and choose Screen for the current layer.
Make sure you are still on the tear layer and click on Layer, Layer Styles, then click on Blending Options.
Click on the word Drop Shadow, Change the blend mode to Multiply. Click on the Color Shadow box and type in the code a88379 and click Ok.
Now change the opacity, angle, distance, spread, and size so it matches the settings in the picture to the right.
Click on the word Inner Shadow and copy the settings in the image to the right. The color code is a15340.
Click on the word Inner Glow and copy the settings.
Click on the word Bevel and Emboss and copy the settings.
Click on the words Gradient Overlay. Change the Blend Mode to Multiply and change the Opacity to 6%.
Now click on the Gradient box and click on the Foreground to Transparent gradient.
Click on the circled stop and change the color to 2e1000.
Click on the squared stop and change the location to 26%.
Lastly, click on the stop with the triangle and change the location to 26%.
Change the Style to Linear and the angle to 90 degrees. Keep the scale to 100%.
The result should be similar to the image to the right.
Now we need to add some white glare to the tears.
Select the Pencil Tool with a brush size of about 1 pixel, then make a few dots with white color on the tear.
Select the Blur Tool.
Drag the blur tool over the dots you made.
You can go back and add some more white dots and blur to get more glare.
Find an image of a celebrity you like and add a tear to each eye. Make them really cry :o)

Description

Learn how to use the Freeform Pen Tool and layer styles in Photoshop to create realistic tears. Follow step-by-step instructions to draw tear paths, apply layer modes, set blending options, and add white glare to the tears for a realistic effect. With this tutorial, you can enhance photos by making the subject appear to cry.