Recreating Billie Eilish's Black Veins & Black Eyes Effect with After Effects
In this tutorial, we will show you how to create the black eyes and black veins effect as seen in Billie Eilish's music video using Adobe After Effects. Follow these steps to achieve this dramatic visual effect.
**Step 1: Prepare Your Footage**
Download the footage provided in the tutorial or shoot your own. Import your footage into Adobe After Effects and create a new composition.
Download the footage provided in the tutorial or shoot your own. Import your footage into Adobe After Effects and create a new composition.
**Step 2: Create Black Veins**
- Drag your footage into a new composition.
- Create a new solid layer by going to **Layer** > **New** > **Solid**. Name it "Veins".
- Apply the **Advanced Lightning** effect by going to **Effect** > **Generate** > **Advanced Lightning**.
- Adjust the lightning settings to create vein-like structures. Set the glow to zero to remove the glow effect.
- Change the lightning core color to a dark bluish hue to give the veins a realistic look.
- Animate the lightning effect to follow the contours of the body part where you want the veins to appear.
**Step 3: Mask the Veins**
- Create a mask around the area where you want the veins to be visible. Use the **Pen Tool** to draw the mask.
- Feather the mask to blend the veins smoothly with the skin.
- Set the mask mode to **Subtract** to ensure the veins only appear within the masked area.
**Step 4: Create Black Eyes**
- Duplicate your footage layer and apply the **Hue/Saturation** effect by going to **Effect** > **Color Correction** > **Hue/Saturation**.
- Decrease the lightness to turn the eyes black.
- Create a mask around the eyes using the **Pen Tool**.
- Feather the mask to blend the black eyes with the rest of the face.
- Animate the mask path to follow any eye movements in the footage.
**Step 5: Final Adjustments**
- Adjust the opacity of the veins and eyes layers to achieve the desired intensity.
- Apply a slight blur to the veins and eyes to make them look more natural.
- Add any additional color correction or effects to match the overall look of your footage.
**Step 6: Render and Export**
Once you are satisfied with the effect, render and export your composition. Ensure the settings are optimized for the best quality output.
Once you are satisfied with the effect, render and export your composition. Ensure the settings are optimized for the best quality output.
For a detailed, step-by-step guide on creating the black veins and black eyes effect using Adobe After Effects, watch the full video tutorial.