Create a Highly Realistic Skin Texture In Photoshop

In this Photoshop tutorial, you will learn an AMAZING technique to create realistic skin texture in Photoshop CC. (Works with Photoshop CS6 as well!)

You will create custom skin texture will help you bring back some of the skin texture details that you may have lost through retouching or the lighting in the portrait.

PTC will teach you a non-destructive technique that will give you a lot of flexibility where you are able to edit and fine-tune your skin texture to achieve a seamless transition between the original skin and your custom-made skin texture.

Photoshop’s Texturizer Filter

For this skin texture tutorial, we will use Photoshop’s Texturizer filter, which allows you to place a texture over a photo, and control the lighting direction.

In some cases, you may want to create a texture from scratch that you could load from the Filter’s fly-out menu.

For this one, use a preset to achieve the skin texture effect.

Create the Texture Layer

Create a New Layer above the image layer, and rename it “Skin Texture.”

Choose Edit > Fill.

On the Fill window, set the Contents to 50% Gray.

Press OK to exit the window.

Then, right-click on the layer and select Convert to Smart Object.

A Smart Object is a container that allows you to apply non-destructive adjustments, distortions, filters, and transformations. You can always come back and edit them!

Apply the Texturizer Filter

Choose Filter > Filter Gallery. 

Open the Texture folder.

Select Texturizer.

On the right-side panel, set the Texture to Sandstone since it looks similar to the skin texture. 

There are two reasons why this method is better than the Emboss method in other tutorials: you have the option of choosing the direction of the lighting that better matches your photo, and you can upload a custom texture if Sandstone isn’t suitable for your image. 

You can also easily create a texture, save it as a Photoshop document, and load it from this drop-down menu > Load Texture.

Use the Scaling and Relief sliders to control the size and intensity of the texture and achieve a more realistic look.

Blend the Skin Texture Layer

To blend the Skin Texture layer with the image, set the Blending Mode to Overlay or Softlight since they both hide 50% Gray and leave the highlights and shadows that the Filter creates. 

For this image, select Soft Light for a subtle effect. 

Adjust the Skin Texture Layer

Double-click on the Smart Filter label to edit the Skin Texture to match the portrait. 

You can adjust the Scaling to 140, and the Relief to 7.

Selectively Paint In The Areas Where You Want To Apply The Skin Texture

Hold the Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) key as you click on the Layer Mask icon to make one that hides the entire layer. 

Select the Brush tool and set the Foreground color to white (#ffffff).

Then, on the Options bar, reduce both the Opacity and Flow to 20% so you can control where you can paint in the skin texture where you need it the most.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, make sure to follow PTC on YouTube! And if you create something using this tutorial, then share it on social media with the hashtag #PTCvids for a chance to get featured!