Create a realistic orange in Photoshop

If you want to create an orange from scratch, check out this tutorial. It's a nice step by step tutorial that tells you how to make this orange. It shows the color palette you want to use and how to get the texture. Take a look and see, maybe you can use the techniques for something else.

Read tutorial here

Free Old Film Textures

Lost & Taken has some old film textures that can add that extra substance to your designs. Download here

Check out the resources at Media Militia

I know I've posted their free splatter, but definitely check out all the freebies that they have to offer. It's great that they have high quality stuff for designers to check out. They have various textures, brushes, Photoshop actions, vectors, 3d renders, etc. I recommend looking at it, because it may be worth it when looking for that something extra in a design.

http://mediamilitia.com/category/freebies/

Wacom Illustration Technique Video Tutorial by Jeff Finley

Designer and co-owner of Go Media Jeff Finley released a video tutorial showcasing his step by step design process. You’ll learn the process for manipulation and compilation of photos for reference, secrets of illustration with a Wacom tablet, and techniques for adding color and texture to finalize the piece. Honestly, it's good to see and can be very helpful, because there may be tips and tricks that you may not know about.
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Here is what will be shown in the video to create the image that is shown above.

Photo manipulation

-Setting up document
-Finding reference photos.
-Combining reference photos into cohesive composite reference.
-Aligning the anatomy of a reference skull to a stock photo.
-Using layer masks to clean up composite reference.


Illustration

Ideal brush settings for use with a Wacom.
Drawing the skull

-Roughing in main outlines.
-Adding illustrated hash lines and stipple dots to suggest shading.
-Knowing the difference between anatomy & illustration.
-See the entire skull drawn in real time.
-Drawing more realistic teeth.
-Interpreting detail from the dull areas of the reference photo.
-Adding texture with illustration techniques.


Drawing hair

-Creating your own style from insufficient reference material.
-“Chunking” areas of hair to frame the flow.
-Subdividing the chunks to fill in the hair.
-Controlling line density to suggest light & dark areas.
-Drawing hair like a twisting tube.
-Getting in the zone with the lines.

Adding type, texture, & color

Adding fill and texture

-Filling the linework with a background color.
-Adding “noise” with texture.
-Blending in the artwork to the background with layer masks.
-Creating noise textures with the “guess & check” method.
-Adding positive & negative noise to the foreground & background to add cohesion.


Adding type

-Combining faces, weights, sizes & kerning for the perfect type treatment.
-Using Photoshop’s align & distribute functions.
-Simulating ink bleed on the type.
-Adding color

-Experimenting with textures & layer blending modes.
-Applying the global vintage color treatment.
-Spot blurring to add visual interest.
-Adding grain & sharpness with the high pass filter.