A step-by-step instructional tutorial for seamlessly combining images onto one canvas

This is an alternative to the blending tutorial Blending for Beginners. In that tutorial, I used a feathered lasso tool. In this one, I will use a set of my brushes as erasers.

First, you will need to download this set of brushes (good for versions of PS6 and above):

Download Clouds

And I am going to use these two pictures:

Now to begin, we need to open up a new canvas. Go to “File >> New”. I am sizing mine to be 1024×768 pixels. I use RGB mode and the transparent selection. I arrange my pictures on the canvas. Now, you will notice that there is some blank space on the upper left side. This is okay. I have arranged the pictures this way just to keep it a little interesting. That blank space will be filled in later as you will see.

I will only be using these two brushes. It’s up to you how you want to apply this tutorial to your own practice session:

Before I begin erasing, I duplicate my layers and add a background layer of black (which is optional; I like to have a bottom background layer of black).

[Note: a lot of fanartists use "masking". I am not one of them. Masking is a perfectly acceptable thing to do; however, I don't do it because I have a slight glitch in my PS program and my masking option doesn't work the way it should. If you know how to mask, go ahead and do that. If you don't, just make sure you duplicate your layers and hide them, in case you need to go back to them.]

I erase away the harsh edges of the top layer, careful not to erase Buffy at all. I also erase enough of the background so that it isn’t covering up Buffy’s legs on the other layer.

Then I erase away the harsh edge of the bottom picture.

Now, to fill in that empty space in the upper left hand corner I am going to use the hidden duplicated layer of the left Buffy picture. I am going to arrange it by placing it under the top two layers and so that it fills in that empty space well. I don’t want any part of Buffy coming through so it takes a slight bit of finesse to get it to work right. I duplicate the layer and erase away inappropriate parts. It’s really pretty easy. Check it out:

The last thing I do to blend it to my satisfaction is erase away a little part behind the left Buffy. I just don’t like the way it looks:

And there it is!