In this tutorial I show you the steps I took to make what I call The ribbon arm prayer poster.

Our example will not be exactly the same of course. We will do one arm and then you can repeat the steps as many times and with the variations that you want.

The completed image

Step 1

So, let’s get started. Obviously you need an image of an arm. Don’t worry too much about the quality. Mine isn’t 100% in focus but obviously you need detail. If the image is totally pixelated or out of focus, our clear outline will just look weird. Also, Just keep in mind where your light comes from. You’ll see why once we start manipulating the image in Photoshop. Rename this layer to “hand”.

Step 2

So we cut out the arm and add our linear gradient in the background, #e4e4e4 – #FFFFFF. Obviously a flat colour is just fine, I just like the subtle depth the gradient creates.

Step 3

Now we start with the fun stuff. Create a new folder above the hand layer in your layer panel and call it “hand ribbons”. With the Pen tool, draw a ribbon shape over the arm/hand.

Step 4

Once you’ve closed your shape, right-click / ctrl click your shape and select Fill Path. Select a grey shade for now, then hit escape, to get rid of the pen tool outline.

Step 5

Select Overlay from the Blend Mode menu, so that the hand’s detail and colour come through.

Select your new ribbon and then, in the Layer Effects Panel, select Gradient Overlay. This is where we need to be aware of the lighting in your hand image. We want the ribbons to have the same highlights as the original hand – from the left and slightly from the top (angle between 20 and 160).

We also add a stroke (colour: black, size: 1px, opacity: 50%) and outer shadow (opacity: 50%, angle:160, distance: 2, size: 25)

Step 6

Now I will let you loose to repeat steps 3 – 5 as often and with as much variety as you like. Just vary the size or bulkiness of your ribbons and always think about depth. If every ribbon is equal in size and colour, the whole thing becomes a bit cluttered. Those ribbons that you think no one will see, also have their purpose. Also, try to follow the arm’s and hand’s natural contours. I also like some variety in colour so I make ribbons with green, yellow, red and blue gradients. To speed up the process, just right-click / ctrl click the first ribbon layer, select Copy Layer Style and paste it to your new layers and change the Gradient Overlay’s colours. Just play around and have fun with it.

Step 7

Make a few layers with ribbon loops to create the illusion that the hand really consists of a bunch of ribbons. Without these, they are just flat pieces of ribbon and the depth gets lost a bit.

Step 8

Right, so once we’re happy with our ribbons, we need to get rid of the solid arm. Select all your ribbon layers, duplicate and merge them, so we have one layer with all the ribbons. Call it Ribbons. You can then hide your original ribbon layers. Then duplicate the hand image and hide the original. I encourage you to make this duplicating of layers a habit, just so you have a backup to go back to just in case you mess up somewhere or have another problem.

Step 9

Bear with me now. Shift-click / cmd-click the layer thumbnail in your Hand layer to select that layer’s outline. Then select the Ribbons layer and add a Vector Mask.

Now shift-click / cmd-click the layer thumbnail in your Ribbons layer to select that layer’s outline. Then select the the hand image and add a Vector Mask. Alt-click your mask layer and, using the Magic Wand tool, select the white ribbon area. Invert the selection and paint the whole selection black. This is just to clean up the mask, so that it doesn’t include the shadows from the many ribbon layers.

Step 10

Now we can see how the ribbons make up the arm and hand. We also add an outer shadow to that layer (opacity:50%, distance 10, size:30).

Step 11

What we do now depends very much on what your design is for. In the original poster the title was at the top and centered so my ribbons went in that direction. In our example, the hand points upwards and slightly to the right, so I will make my ribbons flow in that direction.

Add a new layer below the Hand layer and, as before, use the Pen tool to draw and fill a ribbon that flows to the top right corner of the composition.

Step 12

We now use the Linear Gradient tool to fill the ribbon instead of the Gradient Overlay. You will see why in a minute.

As before, we add a subtle stroke and shadow. This time you have to tweak your gradient colours to look similar to the hand ribbons. Repeat steps 10 & 11.

Step 13

Use Vector Masks to interweave the ribbons and the Burn and Sponge tools to then create shadows on the ribbons where they pass behind one another.

You may notice that the new ribbons look a bit smooth compared to the hand ribbons. No problem. Just go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Set the Amount to 1,7 and make sure that Gaussian and Monochromatic are selected. This is why we used Liner Gradients. The Gradient Overlay is a layer effect, so the noise effect would basically be hidden behind the layer effect .

Step 14

Now we have our ribbons. Add your text in the top right corner. I’m using a grayscale version of the Catnip Creations logo (naturally).

Step 15

Now some finishing touches. Create a new layer above all the other layers and call it Glow. Set the layer opacity to between 20% and 40% and give this layer an Outer Glow. The default settings will work just fine. Select the Brush tool and set the hardness to zero and the colour to white. Now start dabbing everywhere where you’d like a glow to come through. Vary the size of your brush so that the glow is clearer in some spots and dimmer in others.

Step 16

Almost done. Add an Adjustment-Level Layer and set the mid-tones to around 1,25. Now we’ll add some colour blotches to make the whole picture more dynamic.

Create a new layer and, using a large, soft brush, make 4 blotches more or less like in the image above. Change the layer’s opacity to 35% and the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Finished

And there you have it, your own ribbon hand. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.