How to bulk up your arms in 10 minutes

I was checking my web stats this afternoon and I noticed a ridiculous amount of traffic coming from a body building forum. Other then this being the top Ebola Happening on People Blog of the Pacific Northwest, I really don’t have feel like I have much content here that suits your particular interests. I wish I did, but honestly, only second to maybe Kurt Cobain (and only because he is dead) I might be the worst person in the entire history of mankind to write anything related to health and fitness.

But you’re here and I want to make you happy.

So here is a quick tutorial teaching you how to bulk up your arms in 10 minutes.
See how buff I can look:

I wasn’t always that buff though. I used to be weak and scrawny compared to my friend Drew. All of her muscles came from years of eating right, exercising and careful weight training.

Can you get these same results? Yes! By following my step by step instructions with as little as 2 cups of coffee and 5 Photoshop tools anyone can see results like these.

Step One: If you don’t already have Photoshop go to Adobe’s website and download the free trial version.

Step Two: Go to Filter> Liquify and bloat out your arms. Use the mask tool (the one that has the icon with the paintbrush and circle) to block of the areas that you don’t want to move. The mask will be shown by turning red. Use the bloat tool (the one that has the icon with the balloon looking thing on it) to pump up your arm muscles.

Step Three: Copy your bloated arms onto a new layer above the bottom layer. You can use the lasso tool to select them, or a layer mask, or the magic wand–whatever works for you. Set this layer’s blend mode to “Screen” With this new layer selected Go to Filter> Artistic > Plastic Wrap. then double click the layer to apply some effects. Mess around until you find a combination that works for your particular pose. I used Bevel and Emboss, Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, and Inner Glow to give my arms that well rounded full feel.

You might also want to use the color burn tool to add a few extra shadows here and there to further define your muscles.

Step Four: If your arms are looking very light compared to the rest of your body, copy the whole arm layer and change the blend mode from screen to multiply on the second layer. Adjust the opacities of those two layers until the arm color matches the rest of your body

Step Five: Create a new layer and add some veins then apply the Bevel and Emboss effect to them by double clicking on the vein layer. I just used a vein brush but you can draw them in if you prefer. Adjust the opacity of the layer to make them seem more a part of a skin.

Step Six: Go to Image>Adjustments> Hue and Saturation and adjust the colors as needed. You may want try de-saturating the layer you have on multiply to tone down the color. Mess around until your colors look a little more natural.

Obviously this is a poor substitute for diet, exercise, dedication and willpower. However if you are just trying to show how awesome you look now to an ex who moved half way across the world and you are fairly sure you are never going to see again, this should work just fine.

On a side note– The dinosaur on my arm is not a tattoo. It is a sharpie drawing. And I am not really sure why we are sitting on the floor in front of a garbage can although it might have something to do with Indian leg wrestling…

Tags: bulking up, maybe ebola, muscles, Photoshop tutorial

7 Comments to How to bulk up your arms in 10 minutes

1. 

   Very Cool tutorial.
Tystarr on January 3rd, 2009
2. 

   Thanks Tystarr!
sydney on January 3rd, 2009
3. 

   It’s not bad…
Photoshop user on January 4th, 2009
4. 

   I like the image where there stands “me not so strong” lol
phil on January 16th, 2009

5. [...] Photoshopului.Acest tutorial esterecomandat mai mult celor avansati. Acesta este rezultatul final. Dati click >aici< pentru a continua Adauga linkul pe blogul/siteul tau<a [...]
Faceti muschi in Photoshop | Tutoriale in limba romana on February 24th, 2009
6. 

   The bloat function can be explained a little more in detail.
Natu on June 3rd, 2009
7. 

   Well I picked the wrong picture, but my impressions partially match the location. ,
Barbara22 on October 23rd, 2009

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