74 of the best Photoshop tutorials to boost your skills

These advanced Photoshop tutorials cover portrait painting, painterly effects, specific artistic styles and compositing.

01. How to use grid and guide tools in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: guides

(Image credit: Gillian Galang)

In how to use grid and guide tools in Photoshop, an original tutorial created for ImagineFX and Creative Bloq, Gillian Galang shows us how to make use of the software's guide and grid tools to paint a beautiful landscape painting with great accuracy. It's a lot easier than you think if you're using the right tools. 

02. Create a beautiful digital art portrait in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: portrait paintings

(Image credit: Ayran Oberto )

Learn to paint a loose and colourful portrait in Paint with Photoshop – create a beautiful digital art portrait. Ayran Oberto takes us through the whole process, from sketch to final portrait, sharing the brushes, layer process, and colour theory behind his visual style. 

03. How to paint Harley Quinn using Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: paint Harley Quinn

(Image credit: Joshua Swaby)

Ever wanted to know how to paint comic art like a pro? Well, in how to paint Harley Quinn using Photoshop, Marvel and DC comic artist Joshua Swaby reveals the secrets of his own technique for painting DC's star of The Suicide Squad. Follow along and discover the tools he uses to bring the anti-hero to life.

04. How to draw in the Tintin art style using Photoshop

Photoshop tutorial

(Image credit: Igor Wolski)

Many of us still have a fondness for Tintin and there's no denying the beauty of the series' style. This tutorial shows us just how to draw in the Tintin art style, or the Ligne Claire style as it's known. This detailed comic book and illustrative style is perfect for Photoshop. Igor Wolski shares his process in a detailed step-by-step video.

05. Colourise greyscale work in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: colourise

(Image credit: Stephan McGowan)

In colourise greyscale work in Photoshop, one of his Photoshop tutorials for Creative Bloq, Stephan McGowan walks us through the techniques and tools he uses to create full-colour images from a greyscale line-art starting point, using Photoshop's default tools. 

06. Create a glowing neon text effect

Photoshop tutorials: neon text

(Image credit: Mark White)

Learn how to create a glowing neon text effect with just one background image. It’s a lot easier than you might think, says Mark White, and indeed it is if you follow his process.

07. Use the Pen tool and textures to add depth

Photoshop tutorials: pen tool

(Image credit: Charlie Davis)

In another of Creative Bloq's popular Photoshop tutorials, illustrator Charlie Davis shows us how to use the Pen tool and textures to add depth. He offers a series of core techniques for creating a peaceful countryside scene; you’ll also learn how to apply masks, and how to use textures from Adobe Stock to add depth and warmth.

08. Paint colourful art in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: paint colourful art

(Image credit: Randy Bishop)

In Paint colourful art in Photoshop, Randy Bishop outlines several key techniques he uses as an illustrator in Photoshop: rough concepts, clean line work, colour, light and shadow, and some of the pitfalls that people tend to fall into while working through an illustration.

09. How to add 3D art to a Photoshop image

Photoshop tutorials: 3D art

(Image credit: James Paterson)

Adobe Fuse offers a simple way to create and customise 3D characters in a matter of minutes. The feature has been the subject of many Photoshop tutorials, and this is one of the best. How to add 3D art to a Photoshop image explains how Fuse works and shows how to combine 3D creations with a 2D image to make a dramatic composite.

10. Master the Mixer brush in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: mixer brush

(Image credit: Wangjie Li)

This is one of those advanced Photoshop tutorials that's actually wonderfully simple to follow. In Master the Mixer brush in Photoshop, Wangjie Li teaches us how to quickly make brushstrokes in the style of a traditional artist.

11. Seven essential Photoshop Blend mode tips and tricks

Photoshop tutorials: overlay

(Image credit: James Paterson)

In 7 essential Photoshop Blend mode tips and tricks, James Paterson explores the most useful Blend modes and how they can help you in your day to day work. Whether you’re dodging and burning, hand-painting or portrait‑toning, this is one of those Photoshop tutorials that aims to make your life easier. 

12. How to use control points in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: control points

(Image credit: James Paterson)

Most Photoshop users will be familiar with making selections or using masks to isolate areas for selective adjustments, but control points are different. You simply click on a point, adjust the circular area to fit over whatever you want to target, and the software will work out what you want to adjust by seeking similar tones. See how it works in the Photoshop tutorial how to use control points in Photoshop.

13. How to transform a pencil sketch

Photoshop tutorials: sketches

(Image credit: Don Seegmiller)

This is another one of the many Photoshop tutorials that deliver exactly what they promise. In how to transform a pencil sketch, Don Seegmiller talks us through how to make hand-drawn sketches easier to work with in Photoshop.

14. How to use Photoshop's 'Match Font' feature

Photoshop tutorials: match font

(Image credit: Luke O'Neill)

This tutorial will teach you how to use Photoshop’s 'Match Font' feature to find the don't you're looking for. The feature helps you avoid laborious searching through your font book, your type client, or online foundries to get the closest match to a typography sample you’ve spotted. Luke O’Neill reveals how to get the best results from it.

15. Create painterly effects in Photoshop CC

These two video-based Photoshop tutorials direct from Adobe can help you take your Photoshop skills to the next level. Create painterly effects in Photoshop CC starts out with an explanation from Kyle T. Webster on how to use the Mixer brush tool to add life to simple shapes. 

The second tutorial delves into how to use Adobe Stock to add some context to your digital painting. It shows how to create painterly effects using Photoshop's range of Edvard Munch paintbrushes.

16. The ultimate guide to compositing images in Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: compositing images

(Image credit: James Paterson)

Of all Photoshop tasks, compositing images into one fantastic frame is perhaps the most enjoyable and creative. In this tutorial, The ultimate guide to compositing images in Photoshop, you'll discover how to shoot, build and finish off convincing composites using Adobe's software.

17. Colour in Photoshop: top tricks

Photoshop tutorials: colour

(Image credit: Belinda Yeung)

This is one of the most colourful Photoshop tutorials, and one that's bound to improve your mood. Colour in Photoshop: top tricks teaches you how to paint with muted colours and create a festival scene tinged with nostalgia, featuring Hong Kong’s Lion Dancers, using various Photoshop effects. 

18. Turn photos into 3D animations with Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: 3D animations

(Image credit: Rob Redman)

Want to breathe some fresh air into old still albums, using Photoshop's timeline capabilities? This is one of the best Photoshop tutorials for that. Turn photos into 3D animations with Photoshop walks us through how to extra add depth to photos and even animate the resulting piece.

19. Get more from custom Photoshop brushes

Photoshop tutorials: brushes

(Image credit: Remko Troost)

Get more from custom Photoshop brushes is a tutorial that reveals the endless things you can do with custom brushes in Photoshop's Natural Brush Media window. Learn how to manipulate your brush to create patterns, textures, hair, a painterly feel, happy accidents and more.

20. Create a cinemagraph with Photoshop in 60 seconds

Cinemagraphs – basically a more sophisticated varient of the animated GIF – offer a lot of possibilities. In another of Adobe's 'Make It Now' Photoshop tutorials, Create a cinemagraph with Photoshop in 60 seconds, you can learn how to create them in one minute flat.

21. Photoshop tips: next-level lighting advice

Photoshop tutorials: light

(Image credit: Suzanne Helmigh)

Photoshop tips: next-level lighting advice is another of those Photoshop tutorials that does exactly what it says on the tin. Following Suzanne Helmigh's insights on lighting can lend your digital art an extra level of realism.

22. Turn day into night using Photoshop

Photoshop tutorials: day to night

(Image credit: Adobe)

And finally, for the ultimate trick, we'll turn day into night. Yes, How to turn day into night using Photoshop shows you how to convert a sunny landscape into an atmospheric night scene. The simple step-by-step guide makes applying this clever digital art technique a breeze.

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Daniel John
Senior News Editor

Daniel John is Senior News Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.

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