How to Make the Thanos Effect in Photoshop

Would you like to learn how to create the Thanos effect in PhotoshopIn the movie, Marvel Avengers Infinity Wars, Thanos snapped his fingers and half of the people turned to dust, and words like "I don't feel well, Mr. Stark" were uttered.

This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create that dust effect as people slowly disintegrate and turn into dust particles. This tutorial is specifically designed to mimic the Avengers dust, which launches a thousand memes. This is for Photoshop CC, but it can be adapted to other versions of Photoshop. We invite you to stay with us.

Methods to create the Thanos effect in Photoshop

Now, let's look at some ways you can create the Thanos effect in Photoshop using the different tools this application offers:

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Method 1: Thanos Effect in Photoshop (Avengers Particle Dust)

We start with this image. To make it more visually striking, she changes her blouse to pink.

Part 1: Select the person in the photo to create the Thanos effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: Choose the quick selection tool

NOTE: : If you are in Photoshop CC, click on the top in Select theme. (Otherwise, use quick selection or Magic wand to select)

2. Step 2:: Choose Select and mask from the top (older version of Photoshop, use refined edge)
3. Step 3:: Take the refiner brush (1) and use it around the soft edges, especially the hair (2).
4. Step 4:: Choose Output to selection (3) Click in accept.

5. Step 5:: Now you should have a good selection around our person.

6. Step 6:: Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy the selected area to a new layer.
7. Step 7:: Press Cmd/Ctrl+J once again to create a second copy.

Part 2. Cleaning the background for the Thanos effect in Photoshop

Now we have to fix it in the background.

1. Step 1:: Press Cmd / Ctrl and click on the layer thumbnail to direct the selection (or Press Shift + Cmd / ctrl + D to reselect)
2. Step 2:: Click the eye icon next to the 2 layers in the Layers panel to hide them.

3. Step 3:: Choose Select > Modify > Expand and expand the selection by 10 pixels.

4. Step 4:: You should now see a selection a little larger than our topic

5. Step 5:: Make sure you click on the background layer.
6. Step 6:: Press Shift + Del (Mac), Shift + Backspace (Windows) to open the fill dialog box.
7. Step 7:: Choose Content Aware for content.

8. Step 8:: Click Accept to apply. The background will be filled in. Don't worry if it's not perfect, it doesn't have to be.

Part 3: Set up layers for the Thanos effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: Select the first layer with our person and name it expand and click on the eye to show it.

NOTE: : Name the top layer contract (but keep it hidden for now) as shown below:

2. Step 2:: Choose Filter>Liquify
3. Step 3:: Select the forward warp tool (selected by default).
4. Step 4:: Change the brush size (2) and start stretching the edges of our person until the entire left half of the image is filled with stretched pixels. These will become our dust later.

5. Step 5:: Click Accept to apply and you should see something like this:

6. Step 6:: Hold down the key Alt/Option and click on new layer mask. This should apply a black mask to our expansion layer and hide it from view.
7. Step 7:: Choose the top layer (contract) and click on the icon Add a layer mask in the layers panel. This will add a white mask.

NOTE: : You should have 1 layer with a black mask and the top layer with a white mask as shown below.

Part 3: Making the Custom Brush for the Thanos Effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: Create a new document, file>new.
2. Step 2:: Choose the brush tool (B)
3. Step 3:: Zoom to 100% Cmd/Ctrl+1
4. Step 4:: Add 2 dots and 1 or 2 small dots. This will be the base of our brush.

5. Step 5:: Make a rectangular marquee selection around the points.
6. Step 6:: Choose Edit > Define Brush
7. Step 7:: Call it Avengers, or whatever you want

Part 4: Blending a Custom Brush for the Thanos Effect in Photoshop

What we have now is the shape of our brush tip, but that is not the brush. Click on the icon or select Window > Settings brush to open the brush settings and change the following…

• Brush tip shape: increase spacing to 30-40
• Dispersion: both axes and 376%
• Shape dynamics: Size fluctuation: 84%, Control: Pen pressure (if you have a Wacom, otherwise leave it alone), Minimum diameter: 5, Angle fluctuation: 100%

Part 5: Add the disintegration effect

1. Step 1:: Select the top layer and make it visible.
2. Step 2:: Make sure you select that layer mask (white rectangle in the Layers panel) and not the layer.
3. Step 3:: Choose the brush we made (it should already be selected) (B key for brush)

Part 6: Eroding the person to apply the Thanos effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: Press D to reset the colors and make sure the foreground color is black,
2. Step 2:: Start painting on the mask around the front of the person to erode the edges.

Part 7: Adding the dust particles in the Thanos effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: Choose the black mask on the expansion layer
2. Step 2:: Press the key X to change the color of the bush to white.
3. Step 3:: Start painting just outside the person, you will see the dust particles start to appear.

4. Step 4:: Build up the particles and even make some trails by painting and changing the brush size (the [ and ] keys change the brush size). Remember: the dust should always be rising a little.

NOTE: : You can select the top 2 layers and drag them to a different background if you want.

If you want, you can also try it against a white background.

Method 2: Create the Thanos Effect in Photoshop

If you've seen Avengers: Infinity War, you'll know that one of the standout special effects is the sudden disintegration of the film's characters—they break up into flying swirls of matter and dust.

It's a stunning effect, and while a single still image can never produce the same momentum as a moving image, we'll see how we can reproduce the Thanos effect in Photoshop with this second method:

Part 1: The initial image for the Thano effect in Photoshop

Instead of choosing a futuristic sword and sorcery character, we opted for the more contemporary image of a man yelling at his iPhoneOf course, you can start with any image you like, but a strong expression of horror will be most effective.

Part 2: Liquify that image for the Thano effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: We duplicate the image and open the Liquify filter (at the top of the Filters menu)
2. Step 2:: We use a large brush with the oddly named forward warp tool and blur the pixels so they flow towards the top right of the image.
3. Step 3:: We do not touch the left side of the image, to give the impression that the figure is disintegrating towards the right.

Part 3: Add a layer mask

1. Step 1:: Go back to the original image, hide the blurred version and choose Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All
2. Step 2:: which will create a new empty mask.
3. Step 3:: With the tool Brush, select one of these wacky brushes from the built-in set of special effects brushes.

Part 4: Painting on the mask

1. Step 1:: Paint black on the layer mask to selectively hide the layer.
2. Step 2:: You should paint the right side of the figure, leaving the left side practically untouched; vary the size of the brush for a more random effect.

Part 5: Blur the mask for the Thano effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: Switch to the tool Blur and extend the mask up and to the right to create a sense of movement.
2. Step 2:: Any hidden areas lost on the left side of the figure will look like splattered paint, so use a regular brush to paint them back in white, which will reveal those areas again.

Part 6: Revealing the liquefied layer

1. Step 1:: Shows the layer you blended in pair 2 and adds a Layer mask using Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All.
2. Step 2:: This will hide the entire layer.
3. Step 3:: Use the tool Brush with the same special effects brush you used in part 3, and this time paint white to reveal the layer.

Step 7: Blend the mask

1. Step 1:: As done in part 5, use the Smudge tool to smear the mask upwards and to the right, to give the particles a sense of movement.
2. Step 2:: It blurs more the further the particles are from the body, to accentuate that movement.

Part 8: Add some powder

1. Step 1:: Create a new layer and set the Brush tool to dissolve (hold down the key) Ctrl on a Mac or right-click to change modes).
2. Step 2:: Set the brush opacity to just 10% and paint sets of fine dots on the layer, sampling colors from the image.

NOTE: : Don't forget to change the Brush mode to Normal afterwards, or you'll get confused next time you open Photoshop!

Part 9: Blend the powder

Chances are the powder will look too perfect, so use the Smudge tool again very tentatively to give it a little sense of movement. Don't smear too much or it will lose its integrity.

Part 10: Add a bevel

1. Step 1:: Switch to layer High school and use the dialog box Layer styles to add an internal bevel to the layer. This will give the particles a more three-dimensional feel, making them stand out from the body.
2. Step 2:: Sets the lighting direction to come from the top right.

NOTE: : You can see the original on the left and the beveled version on the right.

Part 11: Add a bevel to the base layer for the Thanos effect in Photoshop

1. Step 1:: Switch to the original image and add an inner bevel here as well.
2. Step 2:: This time, set the direction to down instead of up, to reverse the lighting angle.
3. Step 3:: This will produce a highlight on the bottom left edges, which you don't want, so set the highlight intensity to zero to remove this.

Step 12: Add a background

Although the image looks fine in white, adding a background will put the figure in context. Positioning flat areas like the sky behind the main areas of interest will help them stand out; blurring the background with Gaussian Blur will help the viewer focus on the main figure.

You can see a high resolution version of the final image here:

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Conclusion

As you can see, these are the best methods to create the Thanos effect in Photoshop. There are thousands of tutorials online. But, this one in particular is designed for you, so you can easily learn the most amazing effects that you can apply to your creations. We hope we have helped you with this information.