@daring-celt 27 December 2021

Sleeping Christmas Angel (animation art) Hi friends! Since not everyone has moved away from the Christmas theme (and soon the New Year, the time of miracles and gifts), I decided to show you haw I make a photomontage & animation in **Adobe Photoshop**. It was a picture with little angel sleeping on pine-tree's brunch. You'll make an original digital postcards and send them to your friends.

So... I had a very nice photo with a pine-tree's brunch in a snowflakes.

For my photomontage's idea I made a photo an angel's figurine.

Next step will be a cutting angel from background with **Pen Tool**

Then choose in menu **Selection - Refine Edge** (*I've a Russian version of Photoshop, therefore I'm sorry... I'll use many words beside a screenshots.*) Choose value of **Edge Detection** (*marked by red line*) about **7,2** pxl and **Feather** about **3,3** pxl.

Choose **OK** and **Delete** button on keyboard.

Then place an angel into photo with brunch with **Move Tool** Change a size if it need.

With adjustment layer **Hue/Saturation** making delicate shades to angel and golden his hair. Value in **Yellow color** option must move to right (**H +5; S +41; B +24**)

To make an angel's nimbus I make a copy layer of angel and move it behind. Then choose **Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur** with radius of blur as **51,4** pxl

To make a strongest glow I change a layer mode option to **Linear Dodge(Add)**

With an **Eraser Tool** I delete a bottom side of nimbus layer.

Then I create a mask to angel's layer and with soft **Brush Tool** & black color erase a little bottom's part to make a view like angel sitting in a snow.

To make a really drop shadow I create e new layer above others and create an clipping mask to lower layer (*angel with mask*). Then I choose light gray color (like a pleat of angel's chiton) & paint with **Brush Tool** to hands and lower edge of chiton touching a snow. Change a layer mode of shadow's layer to **Multiply** and **Opacity** option as **70%**

This is the result.

Still, the picture seems to me not realistic enough. Therefore I choose **Brush Tool** again (named "spray 24 pxl" with checked options **Shape dynamics** & **Scattering** (*like on screen*) & paint some snowflakes above angel's hands and clothes.

And I make once again angel's color correction with adjustment layer **Selective Color** so change a shades of **white** color: **Blue -22; Magenta +6; Yellow + 11; Black-43**)

Then I crop my picture like I want.

Then I'd like to make color correction on all art picture to take it as whole one view. On new adjustment layer **Channel mixer** choose a **blue channel** & move value: **blue +63; Constanta + 29**

And add adjustment layer **Curves** to make a contrast.

It's time to create magic - that is add an animation! I have some beautiful snow glitters in my photo archives. Choose on of them and open in **Photoshop** (*gif-files if you don't know opens in photo editor as a multy-layered file*)

There are nine layers in this file. I make each other layer like a pattern. Choose first layer, selected all and then **Edit - Define Pattern** In opened window named a new pattern & save in program's pattern library.

So I do it with all nine layers. Then I need change size of angel's picture to reduce file's weigh for animation. I do it **800** pxl by lenght

In this step can merge all layers - angel, adjustment & pine-tree's brunch - together. And make **Unsharp Mask** with value: **Amount - 50 %**, **Radius - 0,7** pxl

Then create nine new layers above merged. Now each new layer needs to be filled with a snow pattern. **Edit - Fill - Pattern**

To black background disappeared change layer mode to **Lighten**

By this way filling all nine layers. Then disable layers visibility except most bottom pattern layer

So open animation's panel (**Window - Animation**)

Make frame delay time **0,2 sec** & looping option as **Forever** Create a new frame.

And then choose a new upper layer, at the same time disable visibility of first layer.

And do the same with all frames & layers.

Finally I save my animation as a gif-file (**File - Save for Web**) **Optimized fike format - GIF** **Color reduction algorithm - Selective** **Dither algorithm - Noise** And **Image Size - 600** pxl by **width**

Voila!

I hope my art and this nice angel will prolong your festive mood!)) Thanks a lot for your attention to my tutorials my friends! With Love...