Texture Overlays - Scales
Added 2025-05-26 22:32:36 +0000 UTCI've uploaded a full set of the texture overlays I personally use on Photoshop to create realistic scales and surface details in my illustrations. These are a powerful time-saving tool that can seriously elevate your artwork—no need to painstakingly draw each individual scale by hand!
If you're using Photoshop, I recommend applying the textures using "Intense Light" or "Soft Light" blending modes for a natural, realistic effect. You can also warp and resize them freely to fit your subject, or even convert them into custom brushes for even faster and dynamic application. Each texture is fully editable, so feel free to adjust and tweak them to suit your own style and workflow.
Please let me know if you'd like a step-by-step guide on how to use them effectively. I hope this helps speed up your workflow and enhances your creations. Enjoy!
More are on the way—including the texture overlays I use for feathers, skin, protofeathers, horns, and more!
Comments
Thank you for these textures! I'm just starting in photoshop and I am trying to get my drawings as realistic as possible, so these will help me greately. Do you think you could show us how you use them? Also, do you think it would be possible for you to show us your whole process, like with a speed drawing or something like that? Thank you again for all this beautiful content :)
Critter Crafter
2025-07-29 15:01:55 +0000 UTCHi and thank you so much for your kind words—it truly means a lot to hear that you appreciate the quality of my work! Regarding the scale maps you mentioned: the textures I provided are specifically designed for 2D use in software like Photoshop. Since they don’t include proper height data, they aren’t optimized for use as displacement maps in 3D tools like ZBrush, which explains the issue you're experiencing. However, I should have a dedicated pack of displacement-ready scale maps with height information, which I used to use for 3D. I’ll be releasing this pack soon, and I think that would be helpful for anyone else who is interested in 3D design. So definitely stay tuned—they’ll be available in the next few days! Thanks again for the support and for reaching out!
Prestigio
2025-05-28 15:55:21 +0000 UTCHi and thanks for sharing your insight info, your prehistoric work is second to none in terms of quality! I tried using your scales maps in zbrush, but as they don't have height value(usually the peaks should be almost white and valleys dark), they don't seem to give accurate depth. Is there any ways I can tweak these maps to be usable as displacement in zbrush? For example these maps work quite well: https://pixologic.com/zbrush/downloadcenter/img/alphas/images/air/dm_dragonskin2.jpg
harshcgstudios
2025-05-28 14:08:21 +0000 UTC
