This tutorial will show you my technique for creating, extending and / or painting women's fingernails.

For this tutorial, the source images come from stock.xchng (great source of high quality free stock images through Creative Commons license) and clipart.com (subscription service). The tutorial was done in Adobe CS2, but the tools are the same in all Adobe Creative Suites - only the layout may look different.

1. Make a copy. Open your Layers palette (Window -> Layers, or F7). Make a copy of your original image by dragging the background layer to the Create A New Layer icon, then letting go. (Most of these steps are guidelines; this one is a rule: ALWAYS work on a COPY of your original image.)

Even though you may eventlually use the cleanly masked hand in another scene, it's important to have a background when creating extended fingernails. A masked hand will not give you any nail extension! You'll need that background.

2. Shape the nail. Using the Pen Tool and selecting Path, "trace" the natural nail. If you want slightly longer nails as I did, extend the top a little (or a lot, depending on the look you want to achieve).

When you've closed the loop of your selection, right click on the path and choose Make Selection from the pop-up menu.
Depending on the resolution of your image, choose Feather 0.5 pixel. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-C then Ctrl-V to copy and paste into a new layer.

3. Trim and Smooth. In this next exhibit, I insterted a blue background for visibility. Trim and smooth any ragged edges with the Eraser Tool at 100%.

Although this tutorial shows only one fingernail, repeat steps 2 and 3 for all of the fingers and thumb, making a separate layer for each fingernail.

Here's a view of the fingernail isolated from the hand:

4. Start painting! When you're satisfied with the shape of the nails, hold down CTRL and click on the layer to select it. Selecting the nail keeps the paint inside the nail shape only. Pick a color for the "nail polish" and use the paintbrush to apply the color.

 

5. Add contour. Nice color, but that's one flat nail! To add shadow contour, use the Burn Tool along the finger edge, with these settings as guides: exposure: 10%, hardness: 0%, range: midtones (for deeper colors) and a diameter that suits the resolution / size of the hand. (Repeat for all fingernails.)

6. To add highlights, use the Dodge Tool, using these settings as guides: soft/airbrush at exposure: 8%, hardness 0%, range: midtones and a small diameter that suits the resolution / size of the fingernail.

Add light one stroke at a time. To make a straight line, hold down the SHIFT key, click at the base of the nail, then click at the tip of the nail - no dragging needed.

 

This is a different hand example. Here, the original has the thumb more out of focus than the rest of the hand. The thumbnail was created using the same techniques, but, to compensate for the soft focus, a little Gaussian blur was applied to blend better.

 

Another tip: Keeping the nail work on separate layer(s) rather than painting right on the hand lets you change the color of the nails to any shade at all by applying a Hue / Saturation layer mask.

Here is a before and after photo.

 

FINISHED! Save your multi-layer file as a PSD, then merge fingernail layers and the hand (shortcut: Ctrl-E) until you're left with the masked hand with a new manicure - ready to be placed into another scene!

 

For your convenience, here are the instructions without pictures:

1. Open your Layers palette (Window -> Layers, or F7). Even though you may eventually use the cleanly masked hand in another scene, you need a background to create extended fingernails. Make a copy of your original image by dragging the background layer to the Create A New Layer icon, then letting go.

2. Using the Pen Tool set to Path, "trace" the natural nail. If you want slightly longer nails, extend the top a little (or a lot, depending on the look you want to achieve). When you've closed the loop of your selection, right click on the path and choose Make Selection from the pop-up menu. Depending on the resolution of your image, choose Feather 0.5 pixel. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-C then Ctrl-V to copy and paste into a new layer.

3.Trim and smooth any ragged edges with the Eraser Tool at 100%.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all of the fingers and thumb, making a separate layer for each fingernail.

4. When you're satisfied with the shape of the nails, hold down CTRL and click on the layer to select it. Selecting the nail keeps the paint inside the nail shape only. Pick a color for the "nail polish" and use the paintbrush to apply the color.

5. To add shadow contour, use the Burn Tool along the finger side of the nail edge, with these settings as guides: soft/airbrush at exposure: 10%, hardness: 0%, range: midtones and a small diameter that suits the resolution / size of the fingernail.

Repeat for all fingernails.

6. To add highlights, use the Dodge Tool, using these settings as guides: soft/airbrush at exposure: 8%, hardness 0%, range: midtones and a small diameter that suits the resolution / size of the fingernail. Add light one stroke at a time. To make a straight line, hold down the SHIFT key, click at the base of the nail, then click at the tip of the nail - no dragging needed.

TIP: Keeping the nail work on separate layer(s) rather than painting right on the hand lets you change the color of the nails to any shade at all by applying a Hue / Saturation layer mask.

7. Save your multi-layer file as a PSD, then merge fingernail layers and the hand (shortcut: Ctrl-E) until you're left with the masked hand with a new manicure - ready to be placed into another scene!