Angelina Jolie as a Na'vi from Avatar Movie

Neck

Na'vi have very long necks. You can change the length in a number of ways. I used the Liquify tool to push the shoulders down in this image. Brush Density and Pressure should be 100% and make the brush size relative to the figure as I have done. Pull straight down.

Background

I like using backgrounds from Avatar concept art, for screen grabs from trailers. However, you could easily use stock images of jungles.

Find your image.

Paste it into your file.

Stretch it out enough to cover the empty space. I changed the Blending Mode to Multiply so I could see where the figure was.

Move the Layer behind the glowDots layer.

Erase the empty space by using the Pen Tool to outline, select, and then delete the empty areas�????�???�??�?�¢?�????�???�??�?�¦ or do it by hand.

Select the Background. Go to Image>Adjusments>Color Balance or Ctrl+B. I like the backgrounds to be more blue/purple in color.

Press OK. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation or Ctrl+U and made it look more like nighttime�????�???�??�?�¢?�????�???�??�?�¦ if that's the look you're going for.

Use the Burn tool with the settings below and burn around the figure

Click on the glowDots layer (the image that we erased the background from) and burn around the image.

I burned the background a little bit more.

Ear

There are a couple of tutorials on the internet that tell you how to turn your own ear into a Na'vi ear. Personally, I prefer to use ears from official images.

Find a picture that shows most of the ear. You need a very large, high quality image.

Select the Pen tool, and outline the ear precisely.

Copy, and paste the ear into your file.

Open the Free Transform tool and adjust the ear.

The ears are extremely difficult to figure out. Below I have showed the flow of how the ears are placed. Where the lines taper off towards the right side of the face, is where the tip of the ear should be.�?????�????�???�??�?�  Look at as many Na'vi images as you can and decide where you feel the ear would look best.

Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and adjust the color to match the skin tone.

Erase the edge so that it blends in with the hair.

Burn the ear to adjust the amount of light that hits it.

Copy/Paste and Flip Vertical

Image>Adjutments>Hue/Saturation to adjust as you see fit.

Merge the two ear layers.

Hair

You can keep your natural hair, find some braided hair on the internet, or integrate some braids and feathers into your regular hair. Make your Na'vi unique!

Select the Clone tool, hold Alt and click on an area of hair. Use the tool to clone away any bits of the original ear.

Create a New Layer and Change its Blending Mode to Color. Select the Paint Brush tool, and with the settings below, paint over the hair with a foreground color of Black.

Erase excess color

Braids

With the Pen tool, outline a braid from one of the official images.

Copy the Selection and Paste it into your file

Use the Free Transform tool to Adjust the Size

Move it to any place you wish. Copy/Paste�????�???�??�?�¢?�????�???�??�?�¦ and continue to add braids.

When you are done with the braids, you can merge the layers. Make them fit into the image better by using the Hue/Saturation tool.

Make any final adjustments. I used the burn tool on her face to give it more shadow.

Here is my final image:

I hope that you found this tutorial helpful and has inspired you to create or re-create your own Na'vi.

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