135706740 Illustrate With Photoshop Genius Guide Volume 1

A comprehensive masterclass in becoming an instant expert

Illustrate with

Photoshop ®

The professional guide to mastering digital illustration

For every version of Adobe Photoshop, including CS6

Welcome to

For many digital artists, Photoshop is an integral part of their process when it comes to putting the finishing touches on a piece. Increasingly, however, Photoshop is becoming an essential tool for these artists because it allows them to create as well as manipulate their images with a surprising level of control. No longer restricted to Illustrator, artists can work with ease in a single suite which has been getting better and better, and with the new tools released in CS6 it’s easy to see why. Illustrate with Photoshop has been written for pros, with the aim of teaching illustrators how to adapt their workflows so they can do almost everything inside this single, great program. Starting with an ‘essential tips’ feature that outlines the key tools, shortcuts and processes that every pro should know, we then walk you through contemporary styles and some inspiring artwork to teach you how they’re made, and how to illustrate with Photoshop.

Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth Dorset BH2 6EZ ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586200 Website: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk Twitter: @Books_Imagine Facebook: www.facebook.com/ImagineBookazines

Head of Publishing Aaron Asadi Head of Design Ross Andrews Production Editor Gavin Thomas Senior Art Editor Danielle Dixon Design Charlie Crooks Cover art 2008 Hair review © Andrew Archer/Art director Jill Thompson, Style Clip magazine NY Times – Dining cover illustration © Luke Lucas Design Week supplement © Andy Potts/Design Week Allure © Chris Haines, Pete Harrison, Mike Harrison Ignite © Mike Harrison Printed by William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT Distributed in the UK & Eire by Imagine Publishing Ltd, www.imagineshop.co.uk. Tel 01202 586200 Distributed in Australia by Gordon & Gotch, Equinox Centre, 18 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086. Tel + 61 2 9972 8800 Distributed in the Rest of the World by Marketforce, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0SU Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this bookazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the bookazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This bookazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. Photoshop is either a registered trademark or trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries and is used with express permission. Trademark(s) or registered trademark(s) of Corel Corporation and/ or it subsidiaries in Canada, the US and/or other countries Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide Volume 1 © 2012 Imagine Publishing Ltd ISBN 978-1908955548

Part of the

bookazine series

IMAGINEER OF THE YEAR DANIELLE DIXON

TEAM OF THE YEAR BOOKAZINES

Contents 128

ILLUSTRATION FEATURE 18 Editorial Illustration

8

50 Top Tips for Illustrators Get up to speed on the essentials and be inspired by art

24 30 34 38 44 50 56 60

Editorial Artwork Technical Illustration Stylised Illustration Sci-Fi Scenes Limited Colours Striking Pastels Detailed Illustration Vexel Vehicles

GRAPHICS FEATURE 68 Professional Graphics

© Chris Gould www.cgsketchbook.com§

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60 6 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide

76 Pixel Art 82 Poster Graphics 86 Digital Collage 90 Shape Symmetry 94 Textures and Depth 98 Vector Layers 104 Abstract Graphics 108 Photoreal icons 112 Graphics and Photos

Illustrate with Fantasy Photoshop Art

GENIUS GUIDE

Photoshop can open so many new and exciting doors for the adventurous art enthusiast 184

TYPOGRAPHY FEATURE 120 The Art of Type

128 132 136 140 144 150 154 158 164

Type Effects Futuristic Type Fluid Type Electric Type Found Objects Collage-Style Repoussé Tool 3D Type Type Designs

MIXED MEDIA FEATURE

170 Applying Mixed Media 180 184 188 192 198 202 208 212 218

Digital Collage Paint Textures Fresh Style Event Design Type and Photos Creative Design Surreal Illustration Photo-Illustration Advanced Selections

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50 Top Tips

50 TOP TIPS FOR ILLUSTRATORS WHETHER ITS INSPIRATION OR INFORMATION YOU NEED, CHECK OUT OUR 50 TOP TIPS FOR PHOTOSHOP SUCCESS

Photoshop can open so many new and exciting doors for the adventurous art enthusiast, but knowing where to start can often put off many aspiring digital artists before they’ve even given it a try. In this run down of the top 50 Photoshop tips for illustrators, you’ll learn everything from making quick colour changes to using layers effectively, and we’ll show you which tools you should be using as well as the time-saving shortcuts. Once you’re up to speed on the essentials, and inspired by the superb quality of the artists’ work shown here, you’ll be ready to tackle our tutorials and start mastering Photoshop. Before you begin, sketch out a handful of ideas to help you narrow down a concept or a suggestion of what it is

that you want to achieve in Photoshop. Then the most import thing is to just have a go; whether you practice improving a photograph or begin building a digital art composite, simply by practicing you’ll be developing your skillset and testing it in a variety of new art environments. With every piece of work that you embark upon, you’ll be challenged to apply your skills and techniques in new ways that will ultimately help to improve your proficiency with not only Photoshop, but illustration per se. Whatever you use Photoshop for – whether its photo-illustration, graphics, typography, drawing or painting – just have fun with it! The more you enjoy working in the software, the more likely you are to go back to it and continue to improve and hone your skillset.

© Mike Harrison, www.destill.net

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GETTING STARTED

As the blank canvas stares back at you, knowing what to do and how to start can often be the hardest thing to do. To get your creative juices flowing, try building on an existing image, like a scanned sketch from your art book or a captivating stock photo. The main thing is to brave that all important first step and get the ball rolling. © Mike Harrison, Pete Harrison & Chris Haines

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50 Top Tips

02

© Ben White, http://nvlnvl.co

CONVERTING TEXT

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TWO TOOLS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

© Ian Jones, www.nonsenseprophet.deviantart.com

For convenience and compatibility, always convert your text to a shape layer before sending files to a press. The reason for this is simple: the recipient may not have the same library of fonts as you, and as such they would not be able to see the resulting artwork in the way that you had originally intended. In order to do this, first select text layer, then go to the ‘Layer’ menu and find ‘Type’, and finally opt for ‘Convert to Shape’. Your text will now be a vector shape and does not require a font to be installed.

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KERNING ACTION

When you start using fonts in your artwork, it is a good idea to pay considerable attention to kerning. In essence, you should aim to fit the same optical volume between adjacent letters, as getting the kerning right can make the difference between a balanced piece and a shambolic one. There are many fantastic font families out there, including a plethora of free ones. Take a tour of Font Fabric or Hype For Type to get started.

© Chris Haines, http://cargocollective.com/chrishaines/

Wherever possible, create and add bespoke elements to your artwork by using and combing the tools at your disposal. For example, you can create a range of interesting effects simply and easily by just fusing layer styles and blend modes together, or by using the warp text tool to mould interesting shapes. Be diligent, however, and always keep an editable version of the text hidden on a separate layer, in case you need to make changes.

IMAGES OF A FEATHER…

When blending a variety of stock photos together it can be hard to make them fit harmoniously. To make the collection form more naturally, note the light sources and directions that are used in each image as well as each colour palette. It will be easier to fit images together that are taken in the same light and feature similar hues and tones. Failing that, using an adjustment layer over the top of all the images will help to unite them.

© Alexander Otto, www.diftnorm.com

SHORTCUT KEYS

THE ESSENTIAL TIME-SAVERS

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If you need to merge all your layers into one, hit this string of keys to create a single tidy, all-encompassing layer.

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If only life had the Cmd/Ctrl + Z option! This super shortcut will undo any mistakes you make in the blink of an eye.

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By hitting the Tab key, you can hide or show the palettes – ideal for clearing the desktop when working on a large piece.

or

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If you want to convert your high res 300dpi artwork to a web-friendly 72dpi, hit this to bring up the Image Size menu.

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When you need to zoom right out of an image, tap Cmd/Ctrl and the number 0 to pull the whole picture into view.

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Perhaps one of the most widely used shortcuts; the former copies, whilst the latter pastes. Fantastically useful.

Bringing up the hand tool by hitting H when zoomed in on a picture is a fast and efficient way of panning around the frame.

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Hit [ to decrease or ] to increase the softness of a brush. To move up or down in increments of 25%, hold the Shift key first.

This combo activates the new layer dialog box and presents a new layer over the active one. To skip the dialog box, hold Alt too.

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Save, save and save again! The shortcut to save couldn’t be simpler. To use ‘Save As’ instead, opt for Shift + Cmd/Ctrl + S.

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© Chris Gould, www.cgsketchbook.com

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TEXTURED TONES

To give pictures added depth, Photoshop artists use textures to flavour the image. In this image created by seasoned pro Chris Gould (www. cgsketchbook.com), he has made the girl’s face by taking a stock image, changing it to a grayscale vector in Illustrator, and then cropping and colouring in Photoshop before finishing it off with gradients and adding the texture of paving slabs.

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COLOUR CONTRAST

Colours don’t always need to be complimentary of one another. Sometimes, contrasting colours can culminate in more eye-catching results, such as with the red and greens shown here. The conflicting hues help to inject a tension into the image that fits well with the narrative of this piece – ‘The Music In You’ – and helps it to stand out.

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SIFTING THROUGH THE LAYERS

Artists like Chris spend a lot of time placing and moving the elements on an image to ensure that the composition is as dynamic and eye-catching as required by the brief (or the vision you have). By sorting through the layers, you will quickly discover which parts work well in a composition and which ones don’t.

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50 Top Tips

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COMPOSITTION IS KEY

© Neil Duerden, www.neilduerden.co.uk

When composing a photo-illustration the composition will either make or break its success. Think about where the viewer’s eye is drawn. Just as in photography and other artistic mediums, you can direct an image’s focus by using compositional rules such as the rule of thirds, leading lines or curved elements to direct the viewer’s attention wherever you wish. This is of key importance to advertisers, who want to place their message at the pinnacle point of focus.

© Ian Jones, www.nonsense-prophet.deviantart.com

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INSPIRATION FOLDER

© Chris Gould, www.cgsketchbook.com

Inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere, so it’s a good idea to keep a folder or scrapbook of articles that intrigue you or images that captivate your mind. Alternatively, if you work mostly online, then keep a folder of ideas, images and weblinks that you can dip in and out of if artist’s block strikes. The digital melting pot can become a useful resource for character ideas, graphic treatments, font choices and lots more.

If you work mostly online, then keep a folder of ideas, images and weblinks that you can dip in and out of if artist’s block strikes. The digital melting pot can become a useful resource for character ideas, graphic treatments, font choices and lots more

© Carles Marsal, www.carlesmarsal.com

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INSPIRATION FROM REALLIFE EVENTS

Use your real-life stories and situations to inspire your art. Digital artist Chris Gould (www. cgsketchbook.com) created this self-portrait to illustrate how he felt during a bout of glandular fever. He created the head-splitting misalignment effect by using channels to separate the CMYK components of the original photo. Other elements were composed using the vector tools, while the lightning bolt was generated by masking a collection of halftone patterns he had previously composed.

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SKETCHING SENSE

Spend some time sketching out the designs in your mind’s eye before heading into Photoshop, as it’s important to have a solid and well-thought out basis of an idea to minimise any time, resources and energy wasted at the proof stages. It is here that the form of what you want to achieve can freely take shape, as you explore composition, texture ideas and colour schemes. Many professional or enthusiast Photoshoppers invest in a graphics tablet to help them design their artwork at this stage. Not only does it allow artists

to create images more naturally and freely, but some see it is as an essential tool for creating matte-paintings or freehand elements. Moreover, for fans of the Photoshop brush tool, a graphics tablet offers an extension of the canvas and a more natural way of creating artwork, with the result looking arguably more impressive than a drawing made on-screen with a cumbersome mouse. Wacom is one of the most popular brands of choice for digital artists as they produce a wide range of graphic tablets, from the user-friendly bamboo collection to the Cintiq family of professional models. Visit www.wacom.eu for more information.

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© Alexander Otto, http://diftnorm.com/

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SAVE THE DAY

It couldn’t be any simpler: Cmd/Ctrl and S, yet many of us forget to do it and lose hours of work. Try and get in the habit of tapping those keys regularly. Also, whether you have Apple’s Time Machine or use cloud-based services, or even a good old fashioned external hard-drive, be sure to always back up your work too.

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KEEP ABREAST OF THE NEWS

Adobe and third-party plug-ins will always be updating here, there and everywhere. Keep yourself and your machine up-to-date with the latest versions and learn how to utilise any new additions to the suite, such as tools and features, in order to get the most out of the suite.

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LAYERING IT ON THICK

Instead of editing and working on a single layer, use adjustment layers to build up your artwork piece by piece. That way, if you need to edit or delete an element that you put in place several stages ago, then you won’t upset the whole illustration.

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FILTER FANCY

There are various schools of thought concerning the usefulness of filters. Those that love them say they make a sound starting point for beginners help to spark creativity. When it comes to photo manipulation, liquify, lens flare and blur are three of the most popular filters, but there are hundreds more to explore.

PHOTOSHOP TOOLS

INSIDE YOUR KIT BAG

NAME : MOVE TOOL SHORTCUT : V LOCATION : TOOLBAR

NAME : CROP TOOL SHORTCUT : C LOCATION : TOOLBAR

NAME : EYEDROPPER SHORTCUT : I LOCATION : TOOLBAR

NAME : BLUR SHORTCUT : R LOCATION : TOOLBAR

It’s as simple as it sounds, the Move tool allows you to grab, drag and then move layers around the canvas.

This allows you to cut away a piece of an image. Drag to select the area you want saved; the rest will be deleted.

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NAME : ZOOM SHORTCUT : Z LOCATION : TOOLBAR

You can quickly change your foreground colour to any hue or tone that you select with the Eyedropper tool.

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This handy tool allows you to zoom into an image. To zoom back out again, hold down Alt whilst clicking the mouse.

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NAME : MAGIC WAND SHORTCUT : W LOCATION : TOOLBAR

NAME : GRADIENT TOOL SHORTCUT : G LOCATION : TOOLBAR

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NAME : CLONE STAMP SHORTCUT : S LOCATION : TOOLBAR

NAME : ERASER SHORTCUT : E LOCATION : TOOLBAR

NAME : BRUSH TOOL SHORTCUT : B LOCATION : TOOLBAR

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The Clone Stamp is useful for carefully applying textures or for removing errors, blemishes and other unwanted marks.

The Eraser is crucial when it comes to deleting information from a layer, but is also handy for softening textures.

This essential tool lets you paint onto an image or canvas with any colour, brush style, shape and density you desire.

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A super time saver, the Magic Wand allows you to select a colour range and then transform it to another colour.

As you’d expect, this tool blurs things. Use it for a multitude of reason, such as blending contrasting tones after cloning.

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With the Gradient Tool, Photoshoppers can incline the strength and combination of colours in the foreground and background.

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50 Top Tips

38

RAM

© Ben White, http://nvlnvl.co

If you’re computer shopping then it is worthwhile choosing a model that offers a mighty dose of RAM; the more the better. Photoshop is incredibly memory intensive and the larger your images become, the more resource heavy they are.

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BLACK AND WHITE

When composing illustrations, matte paintings or concept art it is often thought better to start with a 50% grey background, as using a pure white background can make it harder to recognise contrast and deal with the subtlety of midtones and shadows.

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ADDING TEXTURE

Add a little texture into surfaces by experimenting with brush shapes and dynamics, as it can be a creative way to make your image more interesting. Masking or cutting a faint texture over surfaces can also help to make brushwork appear more natural.

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GRID LOCK

If you’re struggling to create a dynamic composition, consider using a grid. You needn’t tightly align elements or focus on repetitive lines, but the underlying structure may help you to consider how the image works in terms of quarters, golden sections and thirds.

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© Joplin Lefrandt, www.lefgozerdesign.com

Stock photo and resource sites can be expensive, although there are many free options out there too. However, there is no reason why you can’t start a library of your own photography. Start collecting and cataloguing new and saved images, because self-photographed textures or scanned in elements could come in handy one day.

© Yago Martins, http://yagomartins95.deviantart.com

DIY PHOTO AND RESOURCES LIBRARY

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SHADE IN

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MANAGEMENT ISSUES

The slower the better when it comes to shading – or highlighting too, for that matter. The easiest and most effective way to do it is incrementally, by using multiple layers and playing with the opacities until they’re exactly how you want them. The result will appear more refined and you’ll have avoided any excessively harsh transitions in tone or colour.

When you are working with lots of layers, Smart Objects or groups it can be a job to keep on top of everything, so organise your layers by using explanatory and recognisable names and groups. Not only will this allow you to keep on top of things a lot more effectively, but if your work is heading to a client or recipient then the clarity can help speed up the workflow at both ends too. © Ozkar Arias (Ozkr331), http:// ozkr331. deviantart. com

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LETTER ART

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PHOTO EDITING

Photoshop artist Joplin Lefrandt created this image after being inspired by his hero’s infamous ‘I have a dream’ speech. To recreate this, find a portrait image (cut away distracting elements) and use it as a background, then add in words from their speech, film, song, etc. Select different phrases and give them different opacities, font types, font sizes, kerning and leading.

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SMART OBJECTS

When you’re working with several different sized layers or you are using layers that are larger than the document size, it’s a good idea to create a ‘Smart Object’ to bind things into a single group. By duplicating or making changes to a Smart Object, you can make changes to all the elements in one go. Plus, all the original image data and quality is secured.

© Ian Jones, www.nonsense-prophet.deviantart.com

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When using Photoshop to edit and improve portraits, one of the best tools to use is the Spot Healing Tool. This handy little icon lives on the Tool Bar and uses local textures, colours and tones to blend away flaws such as wrinkles, freckles, moles and blemishes. Use it with caution and set the hardness to around 50% for more natural-looking results.

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CUSTOM BRUSHES

It is easy to customise your own brushes and doing so will inject a personal touch to your bespoke creations. What’s more, anything can become a brush; from textures to pictures, from symbols to text – if you can think of it, you can make it into a custom brush. Simply open an image, select the part of it you want to use, go to Edit and then Define Brush Preset.

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TALENTED TYPOGRAPHER

Creating typography may sound a bit advanced if you’re chiefly illustrating in Photoshop, but it is good to have goals and creating your own font could be one of them, as it draws on a whole range of skills. Many artists favour Illustrator for creating part or all of their typography, and that could be the next app you decide to investigate.

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EXPERIMENTATION

Learn through a process of trial and error and you’ll soon discover for yourself what works and what doesn’t. Tutorials can teach you the theory behind what you want to achieve, but only through practice and experimentation will your creative skillset swell and your personal style begin to really take shape.

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QUICK COLOUR CHANGE

To change the colour of text or images in a flash, simply press Cmd/Ctrl + U to open up the Hue/Saturation dialog box. Then, simply drag the Hue sliders as necessary to effect a change in colour. For the best results, you should make small and incremental adjustments, and also remember to do this in a separate adjustment layer.

© Neil Duerden, www.neilduerden.co.uk

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Illustration Discover expressive design 18 Editorial Illustration Learn industry routes and practices

24 Editorial Artwork

Master the Pen tool via a zombie poster

30 Technical Illustration Create a ghosted technical illustration

34 Stylised Illustration

Explore style, balance and harmony

38 Sci-Fi Scenes

Build a futuristic battle scene

44 Limited Colours

Get big impact from small palettes

50 Striking Pastels

Use filters and layers innovatively

56 Detailed Illustration Examine line drawings up close

60 Vexel Vehicles

Develop realistic vexel artwork

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Illustration

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION

WE EXPLORE THE BEST INDUSTRY ROUTES AND WORKING PRACTICES WITH OUR GROUP OF PROFESSIONAL EDITORIAL ARTISTS, AS THEY REVEAL THEIR COMMERCIAL STYLES AND TOP TIPS

You might think editorial illustration is constrained by certain rules and conventions, predetermined by clients and established templates. However, the boom of various digital formats is redefining the terms. Common sketch-based art is matched with richer visual devices and a multitude of illustrative styles are employed – cartoon, mixed media, graphic design and super-digital methods are all acceptable. There’s still a great respect, though, for the original art forms, with digital styles often replicating traditional application. One tradition that certainly hasn’t changed is the impact such imagery serves. Cover art still needs to entice readers to pick up a book or magazine, with artists needing to present a product or brand’s attitude and persona in one compact visual – no easy feat. All editorial artwork is used to capture the personality and character of the publication, piquing consumers’ interest and proving it’s worthy enough for them to pick up and, ultimately, buy. In this feature, we delve into what defines current commercial standards, delivering you in-depth industry advice to give you a head-start in your own editorial design career. When it comes to making it as a commercially viable editorial illustrator, it seems you can do it the easy way, or the hard way. Never to deter self-initiated careers – which can be fruitful when coupling robust aesthetics with an enthusiastic work ethic – following these blindly can result in misunderstanding a variety of practices and conventions. Many of our professional artists present a strong case for education, in order to really appreciate applied techniques and working standards. Renowned illustrator Andy Potts (www. andy-potts.com) is one such artist. Graduating from Portsmouth University, UK, with a BA in Illustration, he explains: “This Illustration course was ideal as it was tailored to answering editorial briefs and working to commercial demands, while encouraging you to develop a visual language and

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style. That course has changed [since I attended], but I’m sure there are similar illustration or arts-based courses that would fit the bill.” Caricaturist and member of the Society of Illustrators NY, Jason Seiler (www.jasonseiler.com) did the same in a roundabout way. He self-studied and copied drawings produced by published artists, such as Roberto Parada and C F Payne, which extensively improved his appreciation of industry styles. This was enough for him to get exposure and paid work via smaller publications such as Cracked magazine. While he openly admits to not having a definitive plan of action when starting out, he knew education was vital. “At the age of 26, I decided to attend the American Academy of Art in Chicago,” Seiler says. “I got a lot out of my life-drawing classes there; it was just the thing that I needed. The classes taught me a lot about values, colour and light.”

PROFITABLE AGENTS

So is education the only means to this end? Perhaps, as Seiler goes on to reveal: “During my third year of school, I went to New York City to attend the annual show of The Society of Illustrators. When I was there I met many big artists and art directors – all of them asking why I was going to school. They all thought I should be working full time. The ironic thing was that I was turning down jobs so that I could do schoolwork, in order to get a degree in illustration, so that one day I

graduation is just the beginning of the road, as Andrew Archer (www.andrewarcher.com), freelance illustrator from New Zealand, puts into perspective: “I think it’s always been an entry point into illustration, as it’s one of the more common and fast-moving mediums within the industry. With that in mind I also think editorial illustration is one of the most difficult and challenging areas; it proves a great test to see if you have what it takes out of [the] school [environment].” So how do you close this gap and reach out to clients? Our artists were again all in agreement that exposure is the key, even if they go about this in individual ways; for instance, design blogs and societies, personal websites and quarterly newsletters with working updates are all endorsed as good promotional devices. However, one thing they all have in common is agent representation, which can be a massive advantage in the commercial arena. The Association of Illustrators (AOI), début art, the Central Illustration Agency and Anna Goodson Management are just a few examples of who is out there. However, be as careful in choosing your agent as they are when choosing you. Our artists err on the side of caution as far as agent fees are concerned. These can have a significant impact on your yearly income. Taking upwards of 25 per cent of the commission, this can be considerably detrimental when applied to all projects, especially those with smaller editorial fees. But Archer explains: “The main downside, obviously, is that they take a commission of the entire fee which, depending on people’s opinion, can outweigh its worth. I personally think if you use your agent’s skillset and experience well, they definitely pay off in the long run.” A good agent should know what you’re capable of – what your strengths are, as well as your weaknesses. A good agent works for and with you, to which Potts agrees: “I have two: Good Illustration Agency in the UK and Anna Goodson Management in Canada

All editorial artwork is used to capture the personality and character of the publication, piquing consumers’ interest and proving it’s worthy enough for them to pick up and, ultimately, buy could get work. It didn’t make any sense!” Realistically, for most artists seeking a career,

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Illustration covering North America. Having an agent brings great benefits in terms of increased visibility and workload, particularly abroad where it would be difficult to establish yourself without tapping into an agency’s client network.” An agent’s workload often goes unnoticed, but this can determine how much time you have for creative pursuits; negotiating contracts, image usage and chasing invoices, etc, can all take up a sizable portion of your day. Professional mixedmedia illustrator Darren Hopes (www.darrenhopes. com) says: “Editorial is fast turnaround work. That’s one of the reasons I like it so much, along with the varied subject matter – so with any luck you spend most of your time working. This means less time for advertising yourself so it’s great to have that in the hands of a dynamic group like the Central Illustration Agency; the team there is fantastic at coming up with ideas to promote artists’ work in very imaginative ways, which as an individual I would be hard pushed to afford or have time to execute.”

STYLE CYCLES

Establishing that an affiliation with an agent can open you and your work up to global markets, this also means that your portfolio needs to be diverse and comprehensive. But must this confine you to solely contemporary styles? Some of our artists are

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very particular about using a combination of the latest trends, but most are dedicated to an entirely individualistic approach. We asked if one of these approaches is more productive than another. “I’m not really sure,” says expert Seiler. “Fads in illustration come and go; I think the artists who stay for the long-haul are the ones who have strong drawing, painting and compositional skills, as well as humility and honesty about their own work – a willingness to grow and improve.” Potts agrees: “There are always particular stylistic fads and trends that capture the imagination only to be imitated into

Interestingly, Darren Hopes opens a whole new avenue of discussion. Believing the industry to also be in a state of flux, he infers: “There are specific and noticeable trends – perhaps they create each other through counteraction? In the Nineties there was a surge of digital-looking illustration, due to the rise of the technology and perhaps also reflected politics, looking ahead to the Millennium. Slick and visually complex, this seemed to be then counteracted by a return to very basic mediums, at least in appearance and skills; pencils and drawing were back [if still through digital means].” Archer’s thoughts on this are less abstract: “Styles and trends are forever changing – as are people’s perceptions as to what is good or relevant to the time. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s just the natural evolution of anything visual. The most noticeable style loop that rotates frequently is the whole computer versus hand situation. It seems that just when computer-generated images are cool, the whole thing flips vice versa and handdrawn images come back in.” Many styles emerge in tandem with software innovations, but more recently there does seem to be a technophobia backlash against digital design and a growing fascination with handcrafted, more low-fidelity or retro-themed approaches. That’s not to say that artists aren’t amalgamating the two to get the best of both worlds.

An agent’s workload often goes unnoticed, but this can determine how much time you have for creative pursuits; negotiating contracts, image usage and chasing invoices, etc, can take up a sizable portion of your day a swift and unfashionable grave. I try to avoid stylistic pitfalls by stubbornly ignoring the zeitgeist and concentrating on my own visual approach. Possibly this is to my detriment, but at the moment it’s a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. In a bid to avoid any stylistic overlaps, I tend to look for inspiration outside the confines of the illustration world generally; films, art, photography and music, and so on.”

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001 | T-Pain ”KING magazine asked me to come up with the idea and so I did. I wasn’t very familiar with T-Pain, so I listened to some of his music and felt that painting him in space would be sort of cool” © Jason Seiler/KING magazine

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002 | Draing Illustration about draing and slipstreaming techniques used within triathlons © Andrew Archer/Art director Marco Crisari, Triathlete’s World

003 | 2008 Hair review Illustration for a review of the cool men’s cuts and trends of 2008, featuring three of the top haircut trends in one © Andrew Archer/Art director Jill Thompson, Style Clip magazine

QUICK TIPS MANAGING YOUR STYLE Be aware of your limitations and use these to your advantage – simplifying workflows when completing deadlines

FAMILIARISATION When working with new clients, provide them with an example of your process so they understand how your roughs relate to the final image

BE PUNCTUAL Handing in your work early can be beneficial. It calms your nerves and you have time if the editor suggests changes

INTERVIEW

WE DISCUSS WAYS TO DRAW REPRESENTATION WITH VICKY HOBBS, STUDIO MANAGER AT LEMONADE ILLUSTRATION AGENCY

Lemonade is a multidisciplinary illustration agency, serving clients in all sectors and in all media, working in over 17 countries out of two offices. Studio manager Vicky Hobbs explains: “Lemonade gives its artists access to a worldwide client database and the client often will take a risk on a new talent because they’re with the agency.” Editorial commissions generally come from a variety of clients with very tight deadlines to meet the next issue. “We have supplied clients as diverse as The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, The Guardian and more,” explains Hobbs.

Being part of Lemonade is a sign of excellence in itself, as the studio requires a certain quality and attitude from represented artists. Hobbs tells us: “Reliability goes without saying. Illustrators seldom understand that professionalism is just as important as talent. All our illustrators are extremely talented, but what makes a successful editorial illustrator is their ability to have ideas and a conceptual imagination; style is not as important as the content of the images. The type of illustration required varies from publication to publication and our large variety of illustrators are

more than equipped to cover this – but we always look for the right attitude to the job as well as the quality of the illustrator’s work.”

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Illustration INTERVIEW

004 | Design Week supplement ”Cover illustration for links to websites,” he explains. Design Week’s A usual brief from Freeman will feature basic Interaction supplement, part of a series of five concepts, a full brief and samples of the artist’s illustrations. work he particularly likes. “Being a weekly, the Commissioned by Sam turnaround time is often tight. At best, it’s a week Freeman” © Andy Potts/Design and at worst, it’s two days,” he reveals. “If it’s a Week

WE TALK TO SAM FREEMAN, ART DIRECTOR AT DESIGN WEEK

Design Week magazine, providing information on graphics, digital media, commercial interiors, product and exhibition design, regularly commissions editorial illustration for its articles. Art director Sam Freeman sources designers both from agencies and extensive web searches. “Illustrators are generally very good at self promotion, so I’m constantly getting samples in the form of printed cards, emailed PDFs and

006

A large amount of editorial illustration is now made up of hand-rendered elements, pencil lines or paint textures, adding life and spontaneity to imagery. Many believe that there is no real computer-generated substitute for such, yet digital media is essential in controlling and manipulating different media upon scanning. Hopes puts it into perspective: “I use Photoshop extensively, relying on custom brushes I have created from real media to apply a more natural, painterly feel. I can work very quickly and almost entirely in Photoshop if the deadline is very tight. The beauty is the layer-based nature of Photoshop makes tweaks and colour alterations quick and simple.”

CREATIVE INTERVENTION

So our artists aren’t only using digital media to replicate traditional types, but also for cutting production times extensively – keeping on top of

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longer lead time, I’ll request a rough after a couple of days to ensure things are developing the way I envisaged. If there are any changes, I’ll request them at this stage. From that point on, it’s in the hands of the illustrator.” Asked which styles are currently emerging in the industry, he says: “A move away from vector to more of a hand-rendered feel is evident. Collage illustration is something I’m seeing more and more of – artists like Ciara Phelan, Chrissie Abbott and James Dawe are all great examples of this.”

007

007 | Bad Bets Obama ”The concept for this one was basic. The art director for The Weekly Standard will sometimes do a rough sketch to show what he’d like to see and then it’s up to me to bring his idea to life” © Jason Seiler/The Weekly Standard

the demands of the commercial client. Seiler reinforces this point: “Painting digitally saves a lot of stress and frustration when working on an editorial illustration. To work traditionally means that you have to paint fast enough and finish with enough time for your painting to dry so that you can scan it. If there are changes that need to be made, forget about it; too much to deal with and, in my personal opinion, magazines and books don’t pay enough for traditional painting. This is why I prefer painting digitally for my editorial work. If changes are needed, it’s never the end of the world. It may take a little while to get it right, but no where near the time if painted traditionally.” New artists should prepare for amendments and intervention, yet the complexity of an editorial brief lies with the art directors themselves. A standard brief consists of the image dimensions and the article that needs illustrating, with a date for the initial rough and the final deadline. Some art directors have a specific idea that they want to

005 | Futurism “Illustration for an article on the futurist Ray Kurzweil” © Andy Potts/ Independent On Sunday Magazine; artistic direction by Ben Brannan

004 005

006|

OCD – Stairs ”Work for The Sunday Telegraph on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I was struck by the story of a girl who was unable to go up stairs” © Darren Hopes/The Sunday Telegraph

Many styles emerge in tandem with software innovations, but more recently there does seem to be a technophobia backlash against digital design and a growing fascination with handcrafted, more low-fidelity approaches explore and others like to see what you can come up with. “A good art director will give you guidance and then trust you to deliver your interpretation of the brief,” explains Potts. “Once you have built up a body of work, clients can use your previous illustrations to establish what they’re aiming for, which is useful, as long as they aren’t looking for a carbon copy.” With more blasé directors, you have to learn to be flexible, punctual and able to work with them in a polite and patient manner. “This can be difficult sometimes, especially when it’s about a topic that I have no real interest in,” admits Seiler. “Sometimes the ideas that I come up with are way off what the art director and editor might have in mind for the article, but it will spark ideas and a dialogue.”

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Such skills let you ride the changes between style and formats that editorial clients demand. Traditionally, editorial illustrators tend to be employed by the newspaper and magazine industries; but these fields are adapting to the digital age, and many publications are now developing an online or app-based presence. “I’ve found that my commissions are increasingly for print and digital use,” explains Potts. “Editorial illustration is a large chunk of what I do, but the same skills and visual style are now transferable to other creative markets

such as advertising, design and packaging.” This is all great news for the next generation of editorial illustrators. Art directors will always be attracted to a new aesthetic because it stands out on the shelf. “Diverse in terms of style as well as subject matter, and because of the fast turnaround and sheer amount of commissioned imagery, I think editorial art directors will take a chance,” suggests Hopes. “Many students get their first commissions from the editorial industry as directors know that students are a great [source] for fresh ideas.”

009 |

008|

Witness “This illustration is a piece that was commissioned by Fortean Times magazine for an article on witness statements of supernatural phenomena” © Darren Hopes/Fortean Times

Opener for MLB “I was commissioned by Major League Baseball to paint three illustrations for the 2010 World Series Program, so I illustrated a player strolling around in Chicago looking like a tourist” © Jason Seiler/MLB

008

009

010 |

A standard brief consists of the image dimensions and the article that needs illustrating, with a date for the initial rough and the final deadline. Some art directors have a specific idea that they want to explore and others like to see what you can come up with

Ricky On Subway for MLB “This painting is one of the smaller spot illustrations that I did for Major League Baseball. For this piece I wanted to show how this player enjoys riding the New York subways” © Jason Seiler/MLB

010

PROJECT RUNDOWN

WE RUN THROUGH A REAL-WORLD EDITORIAL COMMISSION

Most issues of Advanced Photoshop use editorial illustrators to bring the features in the magazine to life. At the planning stage of each issue, editor Julie Bassett and senior designer Sarah Bellman sit down to plan a rough concept. For one issue, they had the task of illustrating a feature on the Adobe Photoshop Exchange. After deciding the editorial would run as a series of mini reviews of the best resources, rather than running text, they went to work laying out the basic structure to see what space would be available for the illustration. They picked Radim Malinic (aka Brand Nu, www.brandnu.co.uk) to illustrate feature shown here to the right, as his online portfolio showed many examples of high-quality work on similar projects. Malinic was sent a full commission, detailing the concept of the illustration, the editorial layout and the type of resources being featured. After a few days’ hard work, they received the first draft of the artwork, which had a fantastic style but required tweaks for it to work effectively with the editorial. More progress shots were sent in, until both Advanced Photoshop and Malinic were happy with the final artwork.

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Illustration

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Illustrate with Photoshop

GENIUS GUIDE

EDITORIAL ARTWORK

WE EXPLORE THE ART OF DESIGNING FOR EDITORIAL COMMISSIONS, WITH THE CONCEPT OF A FEATURE ON ZOMBIE MOVIES Zombies are still big business at the moment. There are horde upon horde of them in contemporary literature, cinema and videogames – including comic phenomena such as Marvel Zombies, DC’s Blackest Night and TV series The Walking Dead. Coinciding with these were the launches of the Red Dead Redemption, Dead Rising 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 videogames, all out in 2010. So, what better subject to focus on for grasping editorial styles? For this tutorial, we set up a mock brief for international illustrator Simeon Elson, who shows you how to re-create an iconic and cinematic illustrative style which engages viewers – one which is as gruesome as it is cool. We’ll

reveal how to use Adobe Illustrator to create realistic graphical characters and, subsequently, Photoshop to add texture and work up the final composition. During this workshop you will learn how to master Illustrator’s Pen tool in a simple but highly effective way, as well as how to create dynamic visuals with powerful and intuitive Photoshop colour and layer effects. We have used a wide variety of stock images from two texture sites, Fotolia and iStockphoto, so you will need to download these beforehand if you want to follow the tutorial exactly; however, we recommend gathering your own zombie stock as originality is imperative to editorial design.

OUR EXPERT SIMEON ELSON

www.simeonelson.co.uk

Simeon is a freelance illustrator and graphic artist. He creates his work by fusing vectors with pixels, working mainly in Photoshop and Illustrator. He has worked on flyers, posters, logos, websites and more.

SOURCE FILES

You will find links to all of the stock images that we have used on the disc, but we encourage you to try this tutorial out with your own resources.

PEN A ZOMBIE POSTER

MASTER THE PEN TOOL AND CREATE DYNAMIC VISUALS USING ILLUSTRATOR To create this particular style of editorial design, we must make use of both Photoshop and Illustrator. If you don’t currently have the latter app, then you can download a free 30-day trial directly from the Adobe website (www.adobe.com) so that you can follow along with all of this workshop’s steps. In particular, Illustrator’s Pen tool is an essential part of this tutorial, so take time to familiarise yourself with it. Draw some random abstract shapes to get used to the click-and-drag motion needed to create accurate curves, and also make some shapes with sharp edges and corners, as this will help you learn how to produce more rigid elements. Take time to learn the different elements of Illustrator’s Pen tool too: the Add Anchor Point tool, the Delete Anchor Point tool and the Convert Anchor Point tool, etc. The most important thing is to express yourself from the get-go by creating interesting shapes that are quite edgy and abstract to give you a striking and graphical end product.

03

01

FILE PREPARATION

Open up Fotolia’s ‘serious man rifle’ in Illustrator, then change the mode to CMYK via File>Document Color Mode. Double-click on the photo in the Layers palette and call it ‘Reference’. Click the Lock tab, to prevent the image moving. Create a new layer and call it ‘Black Lines.

02

OUTLINES

Next select the Pen tool to draw the character’s deepest shadows. Before drawing each shape, set the Pen tool Opacity to 0% – this way you can see the shape you’re drawing and the photo below simultaneously. Try to create interesting abstract shapes.

SKIN TONE

Select a flesh colour with the Eyedropper tool – if the colour is too dull then tweak its values to brighten it. Create a new layer and call it ‘Skin Base’, position it above the Reference layer and then draw out the flesh areas.

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Illustration 04

ADD DETAIL

Open a new layer and name it ‘Medium Contours’ for the midtone shadows of the character’s skin. Repeat this process to create the ‘Darker Contours’ layer. You should now start to see your character emerging. For a more realistic look we are now going to blend some areas of the face using gradients.

QUICK TIP Experiment when using textures. Use different colours, Opacity settings and blending modes and go for it! Also, try mixing various blending modes together, for example Screen with Hard Light can give a great contrast in colours, although you will need to fiddle about with the values to get the best results.

05

BLENDING COLOURS

Still with the Darker Contours layer active, open the Gradient palette, setting Type to Radial. Place the Darker Contours swatch at 0% and the Medium Contours swatch at 100%. Add another gradient slider at around 65%. Remove the Medium Contours swatch from the gradient and drag the swatch located at 65% to 100%.

07

ACCURATE COLOUR SELECTION

Next, let’s draw his eyes. Use the Eyedropper tool to pick the lightest part of the iris, then place it right next to the pupil. Adjust the colour until your selection matches your character’s natural eye colour. The iris consists of four or five different shades so use this colour selection process to re-create them all.

06

BLENDING CONTINUED

Keep making the 100% location colour darker until you get an effective blend. Apply this technique to any other shape that you feel requires a more realistic contrast. You may find in some cases the darker 0% location colour needs to be made lighter.

09

EXTEND THE RIFLE 2

Choose the Direct Selection tool, pulling the top-right corner anchor point up slightly to create a diagonal angle. Finally, with the Ellipse tool, draw a thin oval shape, then angle it and position it at the top of the rifle. Then add any final detail to make the join seamless.

QUICK TIP

08

EXTEND THE RIFLE

Continue to add detail to the portrait, applying highlights, facial features and mixed skin tones – but be sure to keep each colour on a separate layer. The gun has been cropped, so we need to top off the rifle. Use the barrel as your reference guide to draw a small slanted rectangle.

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Drawing stubble can be very tricky. Pick a tone or gradient similar to the gunman’s eyebrows. Use this colour to draw around the beard area, set Opacity to 70%, then add one or two hairs with a small brush in order to boost their realism.

Illustrate with Photoshop

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10

CREATE THE MAIN ZOMBIE

11

SWITCH TO PHOTOSHOP

13

WOOD TEXTURE

When illustrating the main zombie in the background (our reference is the ‘Zombie’ image from Fotolia), features such as the eyes (enlarge the pupils) and teeth need to be changed. As seen in this reference photo, features are more vampiric. For this illustration we’re going to use a more simplistic style with only a few colours, leaving the rest transparent. Repeat these Illustrator steps with as many characters as you want to include (see the links on the disc for the ones we used).

Now all of our characters have been created, it’s time to jump over to Photoshop. Create a new CMYK file and set your workspace to a multiple palette layout – meaning you can see your Color palette as well. Open a new layer and then use the Paint Bucket tool to fill it with a deep orange tone.

12

TEXTURE THE CANVAS

We add in ‘old paper texture’ from iStockphoto (link on the disc). Stretch the texture so that it fills the page, then Edit>Transform>Rotate by 90 degrees clockwise. Set the blending mode to Linear Burn and Opacity to 67%. Open the main zombie image and the gunman. Create a new group and call it ‘Gunman Files’, placing the man inside it.

Now we source a wood texture from CGTextures (‘WoodFine001’), rotate the image so it’s at a similar angle as the gun, then set the blending mode to Lighten and the Opacity to 48%. Select the gunman by pressing Cmd/Ctrl and clicking the layer’s thumbnail, then invert the selection (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+I).

14

MORE TEXTURE

Hit Delete to clear the selected area. Select the Eraser tool set to a 27px Brush (at 90% Opacity). Erase remaining texture around the wood. Select the man and wood texture layers, then click the Link Layers icon so they move as one. We are now going to use splatters to add a bit more edge to the gunman.

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Illustration Position the splatter so it looks like zombie blood has splashed onto him. Then set the colour to red by double-clicking the layer and applying a Color Overlay

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WORK UP THE BACKGROUND Enhance the background by adding in a new texture (we use the ‘stone pebble’ texture from Urban Dirty). Place it just above the main zombie layer and stretch it so it fits across the top half of the page, setting Opacity to 40% and an Overlay blending mode. Add a layer mask and select the Gradient tool set to black-white, and draw a small gradient starting just before the halfway vertical mark.

15

ADD SPLATTERS

Position the splatter so that it looks like zombie blood has splashed onto him. Then set the colour to red by double-clicking the layer and applying a Color Overlay. Use an inverted selection on the gunman to clear the excess splatter, then erase any unwanted areas. Repeat this process on other areas of the gunman. Use the Eraser set to 400px, 0% Hardness and 18% Opacity to reduce the prominence of the splatters.

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TEXTURE CONTINUED

Duplicate this layer and then flip it vertically (Edit>Transform> Flip Vertical). Drag the duplicated layer to the bottom half of the page so that it fits seamlessly with no visible joining point. Follow the same process with another texture (we used Urban Dirty’s ‘glass frosted crack’ image), setting the blending mode to Soft Light at 51% Opacity and place this just below the main zombie.

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ENERGY THROUGH COLOUR

Add another zombie and use an Eraser at 35% Opacity to fade out the bottom of the zombie. Duplicate your ‘glass frosted crack’ texture again, placing it above the second zombie and changing the blending mode to Multiply. Place in a position where you get an interesting contrast, then clear the area around the second zombie. Set the Opacity of the texture to 74%.

18

JEEPERS CREEPERS

Create a new layer placed below the main zombie layer. Select a light green colour and, with the Brush tool set to 34px, Hardness at 53%, 100% Opacity, colour in the zombie’s eyes. Add the ‘Urban Highway’ image (from iStockphoto), duplicate twice, setting the bottom duplicate to 100% Opacity and applying a Overlay blending mode.

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Illustrate with Photoshop

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20

THE END IS NIGH

Apply the same technique using the ‘zombie girl’ image from Fotolia to add a little more variation. Add splatters to increase contrast in the image. Colour the main zombie’s teeth and add a Stroke to the gunman to help him stand out. Colour the Stroke light yellow, set its blending mode to Screen, then choose an opacity that suits.

ADD EMOTION Our gunman has a mean look as he’s on a mission to blast every zombie in his hometown to pieces. We can enhance this emotion by adding textures and blood splatters. Use the ‘glass frosted crack’ texture, duplicating and placing it above the gunman’s face and shirt. Experiment with blending modes such as Multiply, Linear Burn and Darken for a grubby look. Use the Eraser tool set to Brush mode, 30% Opacity, with a so edge and sized between 300-500px to carefully remove unwanted areas. Try not to overdo it to the point where the gunman is lost, but at the same time we want to inject a sense of chaos and commotion. Also the gunman’s shirt starts as a blue/green colour, but this is too bright. We could simply edit it in Photoshop using Hue/Saturation or a Color Balance adjustment, but with a vector illustration like this you would be hard pressed to do so without losing detail and sharpness. We can amend this in Illustrator by simply reducing every shape of the gunman’s shirt’s Cyan value by 5% and then saving it as a new file. Then position it in place of our previous gunman in our final PSD file.

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ENHANCE THE COLOURS

Add a Radial gradient to the orange base layer and set the outer colour to a deep red and the inner colour to transparent. Change the blending mode to Linear Burn at 20% Opacity. Next, we add more two-tone zombies, and apply the ‘glass frosted crack’ texture for more grunge.

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MORE ELEMENTS

Continue to build up more detail by duplicating the silhouettes and overlapping them. Use blending modes like Screen and Lighten, and reduce the opacity if needed. Also tweaking the positions of the characters can make all the difference to the final composition. Create another splatter layer with a yellow Color Overlay set to Screen.

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FINISHING TOUCHES

Lastly, we need a bit more dynamism. Use your splatter texture to add lighter areas around the zombies. Reduce opacity in places; also use a large, low-opacity Eraser to fade edges. After any final compositional tweaks, we’re done.

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Illustration

TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION

REV YOUR CREATIVE ENGINES AND CREATE THIS GHOSTED TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION USING LAYER MASKS

LINE DRAWING This technical illustration starts out as line art created from a basic sketch

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OUR EXPERT TONY LINKA

www.tonylinka.com

Tony Linka is a freelance technical and scientific illustrator, based out of Toronto, Canada. He also works as a 3D Lighter for March Entertainment (www.marchentertainment.com).

SOURCE FILES

You can recreate this image by using the layered ‘linka_progress_shot1 (LAYERED).psd’ line art file provided on the CD or you can work from your own sketch.

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If you’ve ever looked at a ghosted technical illustration and been amazed by the technique and how much information has been revealed in one image, then this tutorial is for you. What was once done traditionally using an airbrush, armed with an x-acto knife and frisket film, can now be completed digitally, with the help of Photoshop. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Photoshop’s layer mask options, along with the Magic Wand and Brush tools, to recreate this ghosted muscle-car illustration. The main advantage of this technique is that layer mask settings give you full control over the visibility

WORK IN PROGRESS

of every aspect of your illustration, while simultaneously keeping your original artwork intact. This means that if you decide that you aren’t happy with your ghosting on a specific layer, then you can simply delete the layer mask, and revert back to your original artwork, and start all over again. This technique requires a little time and patience, so work slowly and build it up layer by layer. You want the ghosting to be subtle and smooth so that it feels like you can actually look through the car’s exterior and at its internal components. That’s the key to the illusion’s success.

FROM LINE-ART TO FINISHED DESIGN

Step 2: Create the layered line art

You will learn how to use Photoshop’s layer mask options, along with the Magic Wand and Brush tools, to recreate this ghosted muscle-car illustration. If you aren’t happy with your ghosting on a specific layer, then you can delete the layer mask, and revert back to your original artwork

Step 5: Paint the internal parts

Step 10: Start the ghosting effect

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

GHOST YOUR MUSCLE CAR USING LAYER MASKS, THE MAGIC WAND AND BRUSHES

01

IT STARTS IN THE SHOP

As with any technical illustration, you should research before you begin. Gather as much reference as you can. If you can’t see the vehicle in person, you can always look for photos online. Next, come up with a plan. Decide which internal components you want to show, and sketch them on paper. This way, you can break down the illustration into separate sections for ghosting.

02

STARTING LINE

Once you’ve broken down the initial sketch, create separate line drawings for each section of the illustration. This can be done in Photoshop, or by hand. Next, place the layers in order – put the objects closer to the viewer on top, with their blending modes changed to Multiply. You should be able to see all of the line drawings on your canvas overlapping each other.

03

PIT STOP

Create a base colour layer in the folders behind each internal component’s line drawing, and an exterior base colour layer as the bottom layer. This way, the exterior of the car will be revealed when you ghost the internal components. Before you move on to the next step, stop and double-check to make sure everything is overlapping properly. The layer order is essential to getting this technique to work, and it’s much easier to fix any problems now rather than later.

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Illustration 04

BODY WORK

Since we’ll be painting all the layers separately, it’s important to decide where your key light will be coming from. Stick with that direction for all the layers – this will hold the drawing together. A tip for painting a car with no background environment is to add a ‘horizon line’ highlight along the body of the car. This, along with a cast shadow, will act as visual cues to the viewer that the car is sitting on a ground plane.

QUICK TIP A graphics tablet is highly recommended for this type of technical illustration. Whether you’re painting the exterior of your car or ghosting its parts, the tablet’s pressure sensitivity can’t be beaten. Hit F5 to go into your Brush menu and then turn on Pen Pressure for the Size and Opacity controls.

05

PARTS DEPARTMENT

09

UNDER THE HOOD

Now, you can move on to painting all the internal component layers. Remember to stay true to the materials you’re painting, whether it’s reflective, matte, glossy, etc. Since you don’t have a background to reflect into your objects, you can simulate materials like chrome by painting planes facing up towards the sky a cool blue, and planes facing down towards the ground a warm brown. The Gradient tool is a very fast and effective way to paint cylindrical objects.

06

START YOUR ENGINES

07

BACK SEAT DRIVER

Now, we’re ready to begin ghosting our internal components. The primary advantage of the layer folder setup is that you can apply layer masks to the folders for ghosting, which will be applied to both line and colour layers, as well as any other layers that you may have in the folder. This will also leave the option available to edit your line or colour layers if you need to make any future changes, and still have the ghosting applied. Add a layer mask to each layer folder.

Start with the back seats, and hide all the component folders. You want the seats to show through the windows, so initialise the Exterior Line layer, and use the Magic Wand to select the window openings. Initialise the layer mask for the back seats by clicking the mask icon, then Select>Inverse. Paint the mask around the window openings using a 100% Opacity black brush so you only see the seats through the window.

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08

PASSENGER SEAT

Follow the same steps as the back seat – except you’re only going to mask out the window trim and roof, leaving the passenger seat visible in the window opening and on top of the car. Use the Magic Wand tool again, and select the parts of the body of the car that the passenger overlaps. Use a large, soft brush with Opacity no greater than 20%, and slowly paint the layer mask to reveal the exterior of the car.

It’s time for the exciting part – ghosting the drive train. This may look daunting, but if you break it down into smaller steps it becomes manageable. The first step is to approach it like the back seats, and remove all areas outside the body area. You can use details like the hood scoop intake and front grill as ghosted-out objects to bring more of the exterior forward. They also act as points of reference for the internal components.

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10

BREAK IT DOWN

The next step is to reveal the exterior body. Keep a close eye on how the exterior and the internal components relate to one another. You should let the exterior guide your ghosting, so break it down into sections – fender, door, hood, etc – and work on one sat a time using the Magic Wand. To reveal the exterior more along plane changes and panel seems, let the drive train show more clearly in areas of the car’s body.

SLOW AND SUBTLE To successfully achieve an airbrushed look takes time. When painting your layer mask, use a large, so, round brush, and keep your opacity low – no greater than 20%. Use long brush strokes working slowly from the outside on your ghosted layers so there is a slow, gradual reveal of the car’s exterior. You don’t want the ghosting to be too abrupt or it will have a ‘cut-and-paste’ look. Then, use a smaller brush with a higher opacity to reveal details like the exterior car’s signal lights.

11

BEHIND THE WHEEL

Now, ghost the driver seat over top of the drive train and back tire. Use the chrome window trim as a divider between what’s visible and what’s ghosted. Using your soft-edged low-opacity brush, slowly ghost in the back tire and drive train, so they’re visible, but you don’t lose too much detail in the seat. Next, instead of adding an Outer Glow layer style, paint one around the base area of the seat. This will suggest that it’s sitting on the floor of the car.

12

POWER STEERING

13

SHIFTING GEARS

Before ghosting your steering column, add your dash and trim layers, since they’ll be overlapping objects. Next, follow the same steps as with the front seat (Step 11). Once you have it looking the way you want, add an Outer Glow layer style by Ctrl/ right-clicking on the Steering Column Colour layer, and going to Blending Options. You’ll want to keep it subtle, so lower the Opacity to around 24%, and increase the Size to around 60px. This will help separate the steering column from the background. Take your time and experiment with how much you want to show.

Add highlights to the windows. Use the Magic Wand to select the window areas in the Exterior Line layer. Create and rename a new layer below this layer, and paint in the highlight for the windows. You’ll want to find a happy medium that shows off a strong highlight, but also allows the viewer to see the interior, so use a soft, round brush with Opacity set at around 20-35%. Change your palette colour to near-white blue.

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FINISHING TOUCHES

To add finesse to your illustration, paint some edge highlights for your car’s exterior in front of your ghosted layers. This will help to bring your car’s exterior in front of the internal components so they look like they are inside the car. Add panel edges and corners where the hood and side body meet. Use the Magic Wand to select areas on your exterior line layer, and paint the highlights on a new layer below this.

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FINISH LINE

Press Cmd/Ctrl+0 so your canvas is resized to fit the screen. Scan the entire illustration to get an overall impression of how your ghosting has come out. If you feel that one layer is dominating the others, lower its Opacity in the Layers palette. Try playing around with Outer Glows, whether black or white, to add more depth. You’ll want to create the illusion that viewers can actually see the car’s internal components.

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Illustration

EXPLORE STYLISED ILLUSTRATION FLIGHT FRENZY

OUR EXPERT BEX GLOVER

www.severnstudios.co.uk

START WITH A PENCIL

Bex Glover is an illustrator and graphic designer from the UK. Featuring in magazines, books and animation, her stylised and vibrant urban-meets-ornate illustrations are generated using handrendered and digital techniques, and are influenced by nature, fashion and street art.

BUILD YOUR SKETCH

SOURCE FILES

Sketch.

Stylised illustration is, in essence, an illustrator’s own depiction of reality. Many well known illustrators have an identifiable style which sets their work apart. It may not be instantly obvious why some work looks or feels familiar, but on closer inspection you will find similarities in technique, from use of colour, line and scale to character, perspective and even subject matter. Much of the illustration we see today is stylised, particularly in a digital age where countless techniques can be achieved with 2D and 3D software packages. Whatever the method, a careful and appropriately stylised illustration will have a balanced feel that enhances the process of informing, telling a story or conveying a message. Illustrators such as Charley Harper offer a great example of how to produce effective stylised work. His approach to nature illustration shows how simple shapes and ‘minimal realist’ detail can achieve beautifully balanced results. Rather than mimic nature too closely, he captured shapes, pattern, texture and colour combinations in his graphic illustrations. I also find nature an inspirational theme for my own work, and in this tutorial I look at the process of creating a harmonious and balanced illustration using a combination of several stylisation techniques, most notably those of colour, continuous line, shape, simplified detail and texture. To start with I always sketch out my ideas, exploring rough compositions, characters and ideas, until I have something that I feel will work. It doesn’t have to be set in stone and your idea will likely develop throughout the process, but it helps to have a rough plan of what you are aiming for to keep you focused. My illustrations always start off with a physical drawing. I use a Wacom tablet for colouring and adding detail digitally, but still like the control of a traditional pen to create the initial main elements. So, my next step is to create clear line drawings in real pen to use as a guide once scanned in.

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In this tutorial I look at the process of creating a stylised illustration with a harmonious and balanced feel I often use photographs for reference in my drawings, and while I want to capture an element of reality, I focus on these more for the purpose of outlining simple shapes and forms. When drawing, I like to use continuous lines without lifting the pen (something I remember having to do in life drawing classes at college), and this is one feature that is integral to the aesthetic of my work. This technique gives me the freedom to explore the shape of the subject matter and I like the way intersections between lines create new shapes and patterns. Once you’ve scanned your drawings into Photoshop, you need to tidy them up a bit. For a sharper, more digital look, you may want to redraw the outlines in a package like Illustrator. I like to keep a more handdrawn feel to my line work however, so I use Image>Adjustment>Levels to create more contrast between black and white in the image. Select all the white areas and then choose Select>Inverse. Create a new layer and fill it entirely with black and you should now have a good outline to work with. Check carefully to see if there are any further areas that you need to tidy up, using the Eraser or Brush tools to add or remove details. To help create some harmony and build up a style, I have repeatedly used a series of shapes and elements throughout the illustration to emphasise the motif. Using the Polygonal Lasso tool, create a rough outline around each bird and then Edit>Cut and Edit>Paste each

PENCIL SKETCHES Start by sketching out your ideas on paper before scanning. I tend to work in pencil in my sketchbook and then move onto single sheets for more refined drawings.

GO DIGITAL Scan in and tidy up your drawing so you have solid, clean lines to work with, making it easier to select areas for adding colour and texture.

FEATHER FEATURES Start to create shapes for the feathers. Build up overlapping lines using your scanned in artwork as well as adding some freehand details using the graphics tablet.

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Illustration COLOUR THE BIRDS

FILL WITH GRADIENTS AND TEXTURES

02

TEXTURE THE DETAILS

Using the Magic Wand tool, select feather shapes and fill with texture and colour. Stick to a rough colour palette to help ensure a balanced look to the style.

01

GRADIENT TONES

04

SET THE SCENE

03

Gradients can help to add an extra dimension to an illustration. Choose a background and foreground colour and Edit>Fill the selected area using the Gradient tool.

Adding a background will help to tie all the elements of a composition together.

DEVELOPING STYLE Shape, pattern, line and colour all help to achieve a stylised look in an illustration. Using these elements consistently throughout will add an overall harmonious feel.

In the first image I started to incorporate small birds from my library of elements. While the birds all look similar in style, I felt like the colours didn’t really work with the larger bird. In the second image, I pulled out colour ranges from the large bird and applied them to the smaller ones, creating a much more cohesive feel. Using a colour palette can be one really useful technique in effective stylisation.

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REMOVE LINES

Create a simplified style by removing detail such as line work, leaving areas of colour and texture mixed with negative space.

05

ADD ATMOSPHERE

Custom brush effects and the subtle use of blending modes will help to add those atmospheric finishing touches.

one onto its own layer. This allows more flexibility to move the various elements around. I have also broken each bird down into a number of elements, including wings and bodies, using Layer>Duplicate Layer and then rubbing out the lines that I don’t need. The end result is a library of bodies and wings, which can then be coloured and transformed in a variety of ways to create new birds in different positions but each with a similar aesthetic. I wanted to focus on capturing the movement of the birds and their feathers in this illustration. To begin layering up lines, I first duplicated the wings and scaled and rotated them slightly using Edit>Transform>Scale, and Edit>Transform>Rotate. The next step was to add some freehand lines. Create a new layer and then, using the Brush tool, select a reasonably fine brush and start creating the detail. It really helps to have a graphics tablet at this stage as it allows you to draw more quickly and naturally. I have tried to capture the essence of feather shapes with a range of continual,

organic lines here, but you may want to concentrate on a specific pattern for your own stylised approach. Think about the shapes you create between the lines, as these areas will be built up using texture and colour. Now for the colouring and filling. I have a selection of textures that I use frequently in my work saved on my computer so I can call upon them whenever I need to. These range from scanned material to watercolour and paint effects. I find that using these textures in digital work really helps to add more depth and give a hand-rendered feel. I’ve added a watercolour texture to the main body of the bird here, for example. Next, create a flattened copy of all the line elements of your bird drawing using Layer>Duplicate Group, then Layer>Merge Group. You can now select areas of the wings using the Magic Wand tool and fill with textures and colours to build up the feathers. Keep the various colour fills and textures on separate layers to allow for easy editing. Try experimenting with the blending modes found

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CREATE SOME VARIETY

ADD INTEREST AND FLAIR WITH DIVERSE ILLUSTRATIVE ELEMENTS

01

USE A LIBRARY

Keep a file that contains a range of elements that you can reuse. This way you can modify to create more variety, within a consistent style.

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02

Combine wings and bodies to create a range of different positions. Change the dynamic by putting the wings in front or behind the bodies. on the Layers palette to create effects that allow the textures to show through the colours. Have a go at adjusting the opacity levels as well (also on the Layers palette) for some subtle results. I like to start simplifying the composition by stripping areas to leave simple shapes, minimal details and negative spaces. One good way to do this is to remove part or all of the initial line drawing. Before turning off the layer with your outline, hold down Ctrl/ Cmd and click on that layer to select the whole line drawing. Select the layer where you created the main background of the bird and Edit>Cut the outline shape from that layer. I have also added a simple red to white gradient to the wing and body shapes, with a Multiply blend mode to give a cohesive tone as well as a sense of shadow and a feeling of spatial depth. Build up the scene with small birds from your library. Aim to create a similar style in colour and texture for all the elements you add to ensure there is a harmonious look to the composition. Think about

STUNNING STYLISED ART FROM BEX’S PORTFOLIO

TREEHOUSE CAFÉ MURALS HIGHLIGHT KEY SHAPES

Select spaces with the Magic Wand tool and Edit>Fill with colour. The more contrast between textures and colour the better.

MIX AND MATCH

ARTIST SHOWCASE

04

2010, Real media, Photoshop Illustrated murals for the walls of The Treehouse Café in a London-based department store, depicting a range of flora and fauna together in an enchanting woodland scene.

COLOUR CONTROL

In a new file (always keep an original), flatten each bird onto its own layer and adjust the Hue and Saturation to achieve different results.

how the various elements interact and aim for a feeling of movement and energy. It’s also a good idea to play around with scale to help create a sense of perspective. I have made some of the birds smaller and lighter so that they appear further away. I wanted this illustration to look as though the birds had taken off from the treetops and were soaring into the sky, and adding in a background helped to tie everything together. I used a watercolour effect and applied 30% Opacity with the blending mode set to Overlay. Sitting just beneath, I added a layer with a blue to white gradient fill. I created some flowers, leaves and blossoms with the same colour, textural and stylistic elements. Finally, take a large feathered brush in white and add some flowing swooshes across the page on a new layer. By putting this above the others and adding a Soft Light blending mode, you can achieve some lovely, subtle cloud effects. Reflect on your final composition and adjust elements to get the balance and style just right.

SELF PORTRAIT IN MARCHESA 2010, Real media, Photoshop Stylised self-portrait in a Marchesa frock. This piece was created for a collective fashion book called Amelia’s Anthology of Fashion Illustration.

THE MAGIC WATERING HOLE 2010, Real media, Photoshop Print design for collective Ink-dot’s Tonic exhibition in Bristol. A zebra quietly sips the magic water amid colourful, dancing fish.

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Illustration

SCIFI SCENES

BUILD A STRIKING FUTURISTIC BATTLE SCENE USING STOCK PHOTOS, TEXTURES AND YOUR DIGITALPAINTING SKILLS In the following tutorial we will take a traditional cityscape and transform it into a futuristic battle scene using Photoshop. The goal of this walkthrough is to learn how to make stock images conform to your imagination rather than the other way around. Some basic understanding of anatomy and a graphics tablet are recommended. Another important thing to bear in mind is functionality. When designing your machinery you should not only think about how it will look, but also how it will work; for example, if your robot has arms and legs, it needs elbow

and knee joints, or if you are building a flying machine it needs to have elements that suggest thrust and lift. This doesn’t mean your machine must abide by the laws of physics, but it should at least resemble an object that does. It’s also paramount not to go overboard. Having an endless supply of imagery makes it tempting to try and find an image for every nut and bolt. However, this will lead to a chaotic design that ultimately doesn’t work. Note, when real machines are built, a designer often re-uses elements. It’s smarter, more efficient and, aesthetically, leads to a more cohesive object.

OUR EXPERT ROB SHIELDS

www.robshields.net

Based in Philadelphia, self-taught digital artist Rob explores a wide variety of commercial and self-initiated projects. To see his latest work, you can visit his online portfolio.

SOURCE FILES

We have provided a small version of the background image from iStockphoto, a set of textures for the robot and the aeroplane, a cloud brush and a link to one additional stock image that we are unable to include on the disc.

PIECE TOGETHER THE FUTURE

MAKE STOCK IMAGES WORK FOR YOU

01

CREATE THE CITY

Take the backdrop provided (iStockphoto’s ‘Hong Kong’) and rotate it to the left by about 15 degrees. Extend the image by duplicating the foreground building on the left and painting in additional sky on the right. Afterwards, darken the image using Levels and add a dark purple-to-white gradient map with blending set to Linear Burn (65%) and a layer of black around the edges set to Overlay (50%).

Having an endless supply of imagery makes it tempting to try and find an image for every nut and bolt. However, this will lead to a chaotic design that ultimately doesn’t work

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UNDERSTANDING YOUR SPACE Before beginning, it’s useful to decide upon the type of characters and setting that you want to create. Do you want your machine to look human or do you want it to have animal anatomy? Will it be sleek and fast or large and powerful? Where will the ‘camera’ be located? It’s important to answer these questions because of the nature of sci-fi illustration. The genre itself is particularly interesting because it is so focussed on storytelling, and well known for extrapolating emergent aspects of contemporary culture in order to investigate them. As such, sci-fi artwork relies heavily on narrative to add impact. In the following image we knew we wanted the scene to take place over a city. We wanted to have a large building in the foreground and smaller buildings behind it. This helped us to define our open canvas space. It also helped us to decide on a sleeker, faster robot, which was capable of flight. You will notice when looking at the composition that there are a number of complementary lines; the wings of the planes and the robot’s weapon, for example, each follow similar trajectories in this scene.

02

INITIAL SKETCHES

Our first sketches are going to be very basic and made using a hard round brush. The plane will consist of wings, tail fins and an area for a pilot. To sketch the robot, begin with the shape of the head and add the spinal column to suggest the direction of the body.

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Illustration 03

04

DEFINE THE PLANE

To create all the planes we only need to define one and then duplicate it. In this update of the aircraft we have defined the basic aspects by adding slightly more detailed shadows and highlights, as well as adding gun mounts on the bottom and small engines to the wings.

05

The robot is roughly based on human anatomy, so we want to represent the major muscle groups. Starting at the spinal column, add the pectoral and abdominal muscles. Add quadriceps to the legs and then add bicep/tricep areas to the arms. Remember to leave space for joints in the arms and legs. Finally, place the eyes to give a better sense of the robot’s face.

06

START THE EXPLOSION

Open a fire image (we used iStockphoto’s ‘Flame at an offshore oil rig’) and change the blending to Lighter Color. Next add an orange Outer Glow and set the blend mode to Hard Light (75% Opacity). In the colour palette select black and blue, then use the ‘Cloud Brush.abr’ included on the CD to create the smoke.

When painting hands – even at a basic level – it helps to look at your own hands for reference. To paint the right hand of the robot (which holds the weapon) look at your own holding a similar-shaped object

07

DEFINE THE ROBOT

MORE ON THE PLANE

Here we update the aircraft again, adding black to create an interior control centre. Notice that interior lights have a slight Outer Glow. The engines are also more clearly defined and use a Color Dodge glow. The guns are now given explosions of yellow and orange and the outlines of the entire aeroplane are darkened.

BACK TO THE ROBOT

Now we basically fill in the lines that were created in our previous sketch with a darker blue tone. Add more detail to the arms, thickening them and adding a more defined pivot point on the most visible arm. The face and side of the head are also worked up and the eyes are given a new shape and an Outer Glow style.

QUICK TIP Painting the white exhaust fumes coming from the robot’s feet is easy. Use the same cloud brush from Step 5. Make the clouds more concentrated around the feet, widening and fading them out at the bottom. A very light Drop Shadow layer style gives a bit more definition.

08

GET HANDS ON

When painting hands – even at this basic level – it helps to look at your own for reference. In order to paint the right hand of the robot (which is holding the weapon) look at your own hand holding a similar-shaped object. This will help you to decide exactly how much of the fingers will be visible and where the thumb should be positioned.

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09

WARP AND BLEND

Using the stock provided, begin to place texture on the largest plane. Use the Warp tool (via Cmd/Ctrl+T) to make the stock conform to the shape of your painting. Next blending options such as Soft Light, Vivid Light and Linear Light are used to make a cohesive scene. There are no strict rules here – it’s just a case of what blends best.

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10

11

CLEAN UP THE ROBOT

Before we can add any texture to the robot, as we have for the aircraft, we have to more clearly define the lines of its body. Bear in mind that this will not be our final design – it will simply serve as a solid colour base. In addition to cleaning up some of the lines and angles, we also change the face of the robot once again – remember, this is an evolutionary process – before we flip it horizontally (Edit> Transform>Flip Horizontal).

WORK UP THE COCKPIT

Here we add a few final textures and begin to further work up the interior of the plane. The control panel is elaborated, a small, just-visible pilot is added, and glare is applied to the windshield of the aircraft to suggest its curvature. The glare is created by warping a Lens Flare and setting its blending mode to Color Dodge.

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QUICK TIP When duplicating the ship you may need to bend it a little in order for it to look more natural in its new position. Keeping the wings in a straight line is key here. An easy way to do this is with the Puppet Warp tool (Edit>Puppet Warp). If you do not have that tool, Warp works too.

BRING THE ’BOT TO LIFE

Now it’s time to start adding texture to the robot. Try to choose pieces that somewhat resemble the muscles that they will be representing. We also add a series of glowing highlights to suggest the internal power source of the machine. Notice that the abdominal area remains clearly defined as six separate muscles.

13

RECYCLE TEXTURES

14

CURVES HIGHLIGHTS

In this step, we finish texturing the robot by adding only three new textures. Notice that the chest plate’s texture also doubles as the kneecaps, while the texture on the oblique muscles and inner leg muscles are the same and the quadriceps texture (a new texture) is used in various places from the head to the forearms. Recycling saves you lots of time!

You may have noticed that the robot in Step 13 has more highlights. An easy way to do this is to create a new Curves layer set to Color Dodge (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves). Brighten the image by adjusting the Curves graph then hide the layer by painting over it with black. Now paint the highlights back in using white.

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Illustration 15

PAINT ON COLOURS

17

FINALISE THE PLANE

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In addition to Curves, we also highlight various areas of the robot’s body using a colour similar to ‘#03f8f9’. In order to make the effect more subtle we paint it at an Opacity lower than 50% using a small hard brush. Also apply a small Outer Glow set to the Normal blending mode at 100% Opacity.

EXPAND THE EXPLOSION

To give the explosion more impact we enlarge the original image to cover the entire building top. We also extend the smoke and the red highlights at the base of the smoke. When painting the explosion’s flares remember to use white-yellow at the tips and darker orange-red at the base to represent varying degrees of heat.

Using the Smudge tool, we are going to pull out the various strands of the gunfire on the main plane. We don’t want it to be exactly symmetrical so pull out some strands further than others to avoid uniformity. Next create a new layer and paint yellow and orange highlights onto the nose and wings of the craft; change the blending mode to Hard Light.

18

HEATWAVE

To create the heatwave effect coming out of the engine, first flatten a copy of the image and isolate the area around each engine with the Circular Marquee tool. Then use Filter>Ocean Ripple or Glass, as shown here. Now place the new image back into the scene and erase the edges with a soft brush as needed.

19

GROW THE SQUADRON

Now that the main plane is finished we can duplicate it. For the one on the left, we rotate the plane and size it down by about 60-70%. We need to continue the wing that is visible and we are also going to cut it to suggest that the robot’s weapon is at work. Again, use a colour similar to ‘#03f8f9’ and then apply the previous techniques.

20

GROW THE SQUADRON 2

For the distant aircraft we must firstly lower the contrast via Brightness/Contrast). Next we need to add a faint highlight to the bottom of the aeroplane from the city light. Use the Eyedropper tool to grab a lighter colour from the city and paint it on at a low opacity. Finally, we must darken the upper portion of the plane.

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21

GUNFIRE

The bullet trails are painted with a soft brush in white and then given a yellow Inner Glow set to Vivid Light and an orange Outer Glow set to Hard Light. We also paint ricochet sparks on the robot using a similar process. This time the Inner Glow is white and set to Screen blending at 50% Opacity with the Outer Glow being yellow (also set to Screen at 50%).

The bullet trails are painted with a soft brush in white and then given a yellow Inner Glow set to Vivid Light and an orange Outer Glow set to Hard Light

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22

EDIT THE ANATOMY

At this point we re-examine the robot’s shoulder anatomy and decide we need to move the arm on the left closer to the torso. We also need to carve out the neck and rotator cuff areas better and increase the shoulder armour on the left. Always double-check anatomy before releasing a final product. It’s easy to miss both minor and major flaws while working.

FINISH ON A HIGHLIGHT

The final highlights occur in a few places. On the right side of the robot where the metal reflects the light from the gunfire we use yellow-orange and set blending to Color Dodge. On the left we add a low-opacity white to the entire silhouette. We also paint a white centre to each of the light swords to accent the weapon, making it more of a focal point in the image.

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Illustration

GRAB ATTENTION WITH LIMITED COLOUR

WORK IN PROGRESS

GETTING BIG IMPACT OUT OF SMALL PALETTES

Limited colour palettes have been used for thousands of years — originally because there was no option but to use pigments from nature. The earliest examples are in ancient cave paintings, which were typically depicted using only red or dark brown. However, a natural palette doesn’t necessarily confine an artist to muted ‘earth tones’. As far back as ancient Egypt, colours included a vivid spectrum derived from natural elements and the technologies of the day. As time went on, an industrial approach was taken to creating palettes. The choice of base colours increased tremendously, and artists might have found tone selection a daunting task. However, a master painter’s colour choice

is often informed by their subject rather than chosen on a whim, and this can actually be helpful in many ways – it opens up the opportunity for the composition to take the lead, and for highlights to really pop. The modern painter, both digital and manual, has thousands of colours to choose from, so it’s important to remember or intuit some basic rules of colour theory: which hues harmonise, which cancel each other out, what they’re associated with and how to place them next to each other. This last is perhaps most important when composing a painting. I’ll be referencing these basic principles throughout the tutorial as I create a simple, limited-palette painting.

USE LIMITED COLOURS TO GREAT EFFECT

Step 1: Sketch start

STARTING YOUR PROJECT

BEGIN WITH A SKETCH AND TAKE IT INTO PHOTOSHOP Step 8: Minor changes

01

SKETCH START

I always begin with a sketch, either manual or digital. This one is a scanned pencil sketch, which can be great because that allows me to also incorporate the paper’s natural texture and colour. It also helps me to define the lighting in the sketch, so that there is less confusion during the painting process.

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02

DIGITAL PAINTING

03

SAFE EXPERIMENTING

Once in Photoshop, I set the sketch layer to Darken so I can still see it as I paint on a layer beneath. My brushes of choice for painting are custom made: I use the Dual Brush mode with either a square or round base brush, and a scattered second brush inside. These are helpful for blending and creating the illusion of actual paint.

When I’m happy with the base shading (the most prominent parts), I create a new layer. This way I can experiment without making permanent changes.

Step 16: Complement the colours

Step 23: Final assessment

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A limited palette enlivens a painting by allowing the viewer’s eye to rest as it moves around the composition

OUR EXPERT OLENA SHMAHALO

www.OlenaShmahalo.com

Olena, based in the USA, has loved illustration – both 2D and 3D – since childhood, and has been working with digital media since about the age of ten. She likes to experiment with new mediums, techniques and subjects, while applying extracurricular learning to her work.

SOURCE FILES

A base sketch has been provided on the resource disc.

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Illustration STRIP BACK THE HUES

PAINT A DRAMATIC PORTRAIT USING A LIMITED COLOUR PALETTE

04

BUILD UP SHADING

06

PLAY WITH BRUSHES

I change my brush depending on what I need to paint: the square is better for rougher, more textured painting, while the round is better for blending or cleaning up. By increasing Spacing within the Dual Brush menu, I create a brush that blends more easily while still looking natural.

The painting is beginning to get more detailed and defined, but I’m still working in only two colours in order to establish the shading.

05

BLOCK COLOUR

Here, I’m starting to block out more of the body and hair. I don’t bother too much with the details yet, and since the face is the main focus, these portions will be left fairly flat to help them recede into the background.

09

ROUNDING OFF

Minuscule changes (here, to the nose and lips) help give the appearance of three-dimensionality and also help to get the expression right.

07

ASSESS AND CORRECT

At this point, the hair is about as detailed as I want it to get, so I focus on the face. It looks okay, but slight changes can alter the expression and features a lot.

08

MINOR CHANGES

The face has changed quite a lot now. The eyes were starting to look too ‘cartoony’, so I’ve made them more human by decreasing their width and increasing the depth by building up form through contrast. I’ve also collapsed the painting layers into a group so that I can compare my progress to the sketch and my initial intentions.

CUSTOMISE BRUSHES It’s helpful to change the brush size a lot while painting. To shrink or enlarge the brush quickly, press the [ or ] key. Also, save your favourite brush adjustments (with the Brush tool selected go to Brush> New Brush Preset) even if slight, so they’re ready when you need to use them.

10

EXTRA DEPTH

I’ve started adding more depth and shading to the hair and neck. Sometimes I turn layers on and off to see if I’ve overworked something I was happy with at a prior stage, and if that’s the case then I can use a layer mask to erase the unwanted changes.

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11

HAPPY MEDIUM

Neck shading can be difficult unless you have a good reference photo. Since I’m not working from one at this point, I had to find a happy medium between fading the neck out and forming its correct structure.

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13

PRESERVE WITH LAYERS

I’ve added a layer over the sketch to clean up some of the pencil lines and paint over what I’ve done so far without the sketch lines getting in the way. I will be using colour above the current painting to preserve what is done in grey.

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15

THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

I’m slowly adding more colour, but still only working with orange, blue and green. Colour choices are fairly arbitrary at this point; I let the subject and painting itself inform me intuitively. I was partially inspired by Matisse’s Lady With Green Stripe.

KEEP WITHIN A TONE

When starting with colour, it’s best to begin with tones that are in the same range as those in the greyscale image. I’ve used the Eyedropper tool to sample the grey from the hair, and in the Color Picker I chose a warm orange hue that closely matches the shade of grey.

16

20th century illustrators tasked with creating posters oen had a lot of restrictions on their work in terms of cost. Companies producing the advertising posters these illustrators worked for wanted to churn out attractive posters as cheaply as possible. A colour scheme that didn’t require more than a few base inks and would look good on cheaper paper stock was essential. These images all come from the London Transport Museum, which has a superb collection of London Underground posters of this type.

CONSTRAINED COLOUR MEANS VISUAL IMPACT

HIGHLIGHTS TO FINISH

Finally, the neck is looking more natural thanks to some minor highlighting. At this point, I’m pretty happy with the monochrome and almost ready to move on to the colour.

LIMITED COLOUR TIPS HOW 20TH CENTURY ILLUSTRATORS MADE THE MOST OF THEIR MEDIUM BY WORKING WITH STRICT PALETTES

THE NORTH DOWNS 1915

17

THE BACKGROUND TIES IT TOGETHER

The image needs something of a background. I’ve chosen blue and off-yellow since these are harmonious but contrasting in nature, and really bring out those separate ends of the spectrum from within the face.

This country scene by Edward McKnight-Kauuffer was designed to attract travellers from the city further afield to the countryside. It looks like a colourful pastoral paradise, but if you count th base colours used you’ll find a couple of greens, a yellow, an orange, and a hint of red - that’s all!

COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

As the colouring progresses, I’m still tone-matching but now allowing for more vibrancy. The placement is getting a bit more strategic: complementary colours like red/green, blue/orange accent each other, and I let highlighted areas go to the warmer side of the spectrum; shadows are cool or grey.

WISLEY 1922 BOOK TO HAMPSTEAD 1910 This lovely image by Charles Sharland looks dramatic and full of life but relies on the same colour harmony later used in Gibbings’ Wisley piece

This poster, designed by Robert John Gibbings, uses the classic Twenties device of silhouetted foreground details against a more colourful backdrop... which is simply green, blue, yellow and white

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Illustration FINAL TOUCHES

A LITTLE SOFTENING AND SHARPENING CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

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GRADIENTS

I lowered the background layer’s opacity and added a few gradients to help wash the colour in. Another useful setting for blending is the Flow slider. I slide it all the way down (sometimes to 1%) for a softer brush that blends really well. It’s a more natural-looking, easier setting to work with than Opacity.

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PAINTERLY TOUCH

The gradients were too apparent, so I painted over and hardened some of the areas where this was the case. I also pasted my greyscale painting over the colours and set it to Darken to enhance and bring in contrast, while masking out unwanted parts.

Another brush I like to use is a variation on one of Photoshop’s defaults: the Round Bristle 100 with Dual Brush on (and a filler of the Scattered Leaves 199), with an Angle Jitter of about 65%. This is great for painterly strokes, with added texture due to the bristle.

CHANGES CAN ALWAYS BE MADE

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I’d like to make some changes to the colour range of the image as a whole, so I copy the whole thing to a new layer.

COLOUR PLACEMENT Remember that where and how colours are placed is much more important than how many are used in an image. If you aren’t intuitively sure of your placement, research colour theory or look at various master artists’ works – I would recommend Cezanne or Matisse.

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22

SOFTENING TOUCHES

VARIATIONS

A useful colour adjustment option is the Variations tool: Image>Adjustments>Variations. I usually prefer the effects of Saturation to those of Hue/Saturation or even Vibrance. It’s best to make your changes in small increments, so the Fine/Coarse (change) slider is almost all the way down.

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SHARPENING TOUCHES

The last thing I like to do is sharpen the image. This can be done in different ways, but here I felt that the Poster Edges filter (Filter>Artistic>Poster Edges) would look best. With the Edge Thickness and Intensity sliders all the way down, this gives a slight dark outline to strokes, which not only sharpens the image but gives it a more natural, ‘gritty’ feel.

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FINAL ASSESSMENT

Now that the colours are as rich as I’d like, it’s time to make any necessary last-minute adjustments to the modelling. I’ve changed the eyes and nose again, subtly but in accordance with the desired expression and amount of realism.

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Focal areas of colour draw the eye, which can be led by carefully placed lines and secondary colour

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FINAL PRODUCT

Our portrait is finished! By limiting the colour range to a few complementary colours and physically limiting the amount of colour used, the image has more weight and presence than one fully coloured. Try this with your next painting. It works on pretty much any subject.

PROVEN TECHNIQUES COMPOSITION AND MODELLING Even with beautiful colouring, a painting can fall flat because the drawing underneath is no good. Burne Hogarth’s books on drawing are helpful, as are Da Vinci’s sketches. Good composition is also an imperative.

COLOURS AND REFLECTIONS ENHANCE MOOD

Serpentine lines add to the dynamism of the image and help the colour to pop

Extra reflections in the eye suggest wetness to emphasise the sadness in this portrait. Also, the intensity of the red brings attention to the eye and also suggests pain through the associations that red carries.

SHADE IN PATTERNS

When shading, remember not to go directly from light to dark, but that shadows always go in a kind of pattern: dark-darker-midtone, or midtone-darkerlight, etc. Using a subtle dark line between shades does wonders.

THE SERPENTINE LINE

To know if you’ve effectively rendered an expression or pose, mimic it and then compare

Dynamic lines add life to a painting, especially one as simple as this portrait. In his Analysis of Beauty, William Hogarth referred to this kind of stroke as the ‘Serpentine Line’, which helps guides the eye around the canvas.

ECHOING

Streaks of hair pick up and echo colours that are used in more focal areas of the image. The placement of these secondary streaks of colour is all-important; they draw the eye around and back into the image’s focal point.

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Illustration

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STRIKING PASTELS

USE THE POWER OF PHOTOSHOP FILTERS AND LAYER FUNCTIONALITY TO CREATE ILLUSTRATIVE EFFECTS While there are programs dedicated to creating illustrations, it is possible to replicate similar effects using just the tools in Photoshop. Working from a photo stock base, we can use a combination of layer styles, filters, gradients, layer masks and more to build up a mixed-media style that would look at home as a fashion editorial illustration. The image is built up in sections, isolating key areas with the Pen tool and then using the techniques described in this tutorial to create that illustrated look. Doing it in this way helps us to build up and manage our artwork. Depth is added through shadows and highlights, as well as gradients, plus we have used texture stock photos and brushes to give a more tangible feel to the final piece. Before you begin working on a project like this, it pays to get all of your resources to hand. We have supplied you with some custom brushes and texture photos, and we reference further stock imagery and custom brushes that we have used throughout the steps. We have completed this entire artwork using free stock, except for the main model image, which we sourced from Dreamstime (image number ‘14999622’.)

WORK IN PROGRESS

FROM PHOTO TO UNIQUE FASHION ARTWORK

OUR EXPERT ADAM SMITH

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

Adam is the Photoshop expert for Advanced Photoshop magazine. In this tutorial, he combine his passions for both digital and traditional styles.

SOURCE FILES

On this resource disc you can find a host of royalty-free assets to mimic the effects in this tutorial. These include a range of fabric photos, as well as custom brushes.

DISSECT THE DETAILS

SEPARATE YOUR SUBJECT INTO LAYERS TO MANAGE YOUR WORKFLOW

01

SELECT SECTIONS

03

ORGANISE THE GROUPS

We’ll be working on the subject in sections, so separate each work area first. Start by pasting your subject into a new workspace (235 x 302mm, 300dpi). The quickest way to start sectioning is by making a selection of the dress with the Pen Paths tool. In the Paths palette, Ctrl/ right-click the path layer and click Make Selection.

02

SPLIT THE SUBJECT

Back in the Layers palette, with the selection active, copy and paste into a new layer named ‘Dress’. Do the same thing to separate out the other key elements of the model, namely the arms, the legs and the head. Paste each element into their own layers and name them logically to keep organised.

Step 2: Separate into layers

Step 12: Texture your garment

Step 17: Replicate traditional media

Now we’ll pop our sectioned layers into designated group folders to manage them more easily. Make sure the Dress group sits on top of your stack. First, we attend to the Head group. Minor retouching is necessary to give our subject a more synthetic, illustrative look, so start by duplicating the Head layer and using the Patch tool to clean up wrinkles and blemishes.

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Illustration 04

QUICK TIP

SMOOTH THE SKIN

Getting that doll-like look with your subject’s features is allimportant to the subsequent effect of your artwork. You can heighten the synthetic look of the skin using two Curves adjustment layers: one saturating shadows, the other increasing highlights. Invert their layer masks and paint to them with a low-opacity, soft, white brush.

All you’ll need for this manual paint effect is a soft-edged brush (set to 0% Hardness). Create a new layer called ‘Face Paint’, setting your soft-edged brush to 30% Opacity, and then select skin tones with the Color Picker as you go, gradually building up a smoother facial surface. Relieve this effect slightly by dropping the layer Opacity to 85% and working within a selection of your head, so that there are no overlapping paint edges. You can then edit highlights and shadows with two Curves adjustment layers, painting to their respective layer masks and emphasising the facial contours.

06

FOCUS ON THE GARMENT BASE

07

DEFINE FABRIC FOLDS

05

Hit Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to merge all the Head layers. Select Image>Adjustments> Shadows/Highlights. Set Shadows at 65%, Tonal Width at 75% and Radius at 50px. Set the adjustment’s Color Correction to -38. Once saving out, set the blending mode to Screen, apply a layer mask and invert this to black. Paint skin back with a soft brush. Also apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, with Saturation at -30 and Lightness at +10. Mask away cheekbone and eyelid areas to bring back in contours.

Activate your Dress group. Make a selection of your Dress layer (Cmd/Ctrl-click the thumbnail) and create a new layer, filling the selection on this with the Gradient tool. We’ve used a brown (‘#8a3705’) to pale yellow (‘#ffeebc’) style. Apply a layer mask to remove from the subject’s jewellery. Next select, copy and paste one of the fabric textures from the supplied ‘RS10170_Batique.JPG’ file into your group, above your gradient layer. Make a selection of your dress layer as before, applying a clipping mask (Cmd/Ctrl-click the layer).

Apply a Luminosity blending mode to the RS10170_Batique layer, decreasing Opacity and Fill to 30%. Duplicate your original Dress layer and place this at the top of the group’s layer stack. Select Filter>Artistic>Poster Edges, setting Edge Thickness at 1, Edge Intensity at 0 and Posterization at 3. Set the layer blending mode to Overlay at 40% Opacity, integrating with a layer mask to create contour.

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ACHIEVE A PALE SKIN TONE

08

PREPARE THE SUBJECT’S LEGS

To finalise the look of our illustrative garment we’ve selected, copy and pasted the trim around the neck into a new layer on top, as this was covered by our previous layer. Apply an orange-red tone (‘#ff4707’) with Color Overlay layer style at 35% Opacity. Next, move to the Legs group. Start by making a selection of the subject’s shoes, with the Pen Paths tool as in Step 1. Apply and edit with a layer mask, to hide the shoes, as you can see in the thumbnail to the right.

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WORK WITH THE LIMBS

CREATE STYLISED ELEMENTS USING TEXTURES, GRADIENTS AND TEXTURE BRUSHES

09

ADJUST THE LEG GRADIENT

Make your masked leg layer a Smart Object, then Cmd/Ctrl-click the layer thumbnail to create a selection. Add a new layer and fill this with a dark (‘#c1d0e4’) to light (‘ecf9ff)’ blue gradient, top to bottom. Deactivate your selection, placing your Smart Object above this gradient layer. Set the Smart Object layer blending mode to Overlay at 40% Opacity. Make another selection of the legs, creating a new layer titled ‘Knees’. Here, apply a 30% Opacity light-blue soft brush to highlight the knee and shin areas, again creating added contour.

Here, apply a 30% Opacity, light-blue soft brush to highlight knee and shin areas, again creating contour

10

MIXED-MEDIA TEXTURES

Once again make a selection of the legs and create a new layer titled ‘Brushwork’. Import the supplied ‘Media brushes.abr’, selecting Marker 2 from your preset options. Open the Brush palette and activate the Brush Tip Shape options. Set Angle at -128 degrees at a 1,800px Size, applying over the legs. Set this layer’s blending mode to Overlay at 50% Opacity and apply Sharpen filters to create greater delineation. Continue to build effects with multiple layers using masks.

11

ALTER THE ARMS

Open the Arms group, again making a selection of your Arms layer and creating a new layer. Fill this selection with a solid colour selected from your subject’s neck area. Apply a white to transparent Gradient layer style. Set Opacity at 64%, Angle at -6 degrees and Scale at 10%, pulling this to the left to create reflection down your subject’s left arm. With another active selection made from your Arms layer, create a new layer titled ‘Arm Edges’.

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Illustration 13

INSERT MORE TEXTURES

Attach textures to the arms like in Step 10, but use a wet brush photo texture (such as image number ‘1083318’ from www.sxc.hu). Copy and paste this texture into your group and desaturate (Cmd/Ctrl+U, -100 Saturation). Make a selection of your Arms layer as before, then apply a layer mask to your texture layer. Set the blending mode to Overlay, tweaking opacity and Levels (Cmd/Ctrl+L) to get defined texturing. You can vary the effect by applying more textures.

12

FOCUS ON THE ARM EDGES

Select a 100% Opacity soft-edged white brush and paint this to the outside edge of the arm, creating a reflection effect. Apply shadowed areas to the insides of the arms using a skin-toned brush, set to Multiply, 50% Opacity. Set the Arm Edges layer Opacity to 80% and duplicate it, placing this new layer at the top of the stack. Set the blending mode to Multiply at 10% Opacity. Edit away the top parts of the arm with a layer mask, leaving only details visible in the hands.

APPAREL AND BACKDROP

LEARN HOW TO LAYER TEXTURES TO CREATE CONTOURS AND DIRECT VIEWER ATTENTION

14

PLACE ACCESSORIES

We need to simulate some sort of movement in what is so far a static image, so we’ll start with the bag element. Create a new layer above the others called ‘Tassels’, painting these in with the Marker 3 brush from the ‘Media brushes. abr’ file and using Transform>Warp to create a wind-swept effect. We’ve also applied a teal to transparent Gradient Overlay, at 90-degree Angle.

15

APPLY MORE FASHION ELEMENTS

Open a photo of a ribbon ( we used image no ‘1117848’ from www.sxc.hu). Copy, cut and paste this into your Dress group. Press Cmd/Ctrl+U, increase Hue to -180, decrease Saturation to -40 and Lightness to -10, co-ordinating with the teal colour of your bag. Lengthen the band of your ribbon by making a Marquee selection, extending with Edit>Content-Aware Scale.

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16

BRING MOVEMENT TO THE RIBBON

Flowing ribbons are drawn out with the Pen Shape tool and rasterised, editing edges with a layer mask and painted with low-opacity black brushes. We’ve then merged all ribbon-related layers into a new layer (Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) and applied brush textures as in Step 10. We’ve also comped in flowers, scattering petals using flora stock (we used ‘642560’ from www.sxc.hu).

QUICK TIP

Juxtapose your lined model illustration with elements that have a cutout style. We’ve applied the Pen Shape tool to bunny stock (sourced from www.sxc.hu, image numbers ‘438073’, ‘479659’ and ‘1115471’) and made selections of butterflies. Copy and paste from bright texture stock to create an abstract fabric example.

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17

ASSIGN LINE DETAIL

Merge all related model layers into a separate layer (Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) and duplicate it. Apply a layer mask to the original merge and invert this to black. Select a Splatter style white brush, set to 30% Opacity and apply to your mask, painting your model back in as if with coloured markers. Apply Filter>Stylize>Find Edges to the duplicate, working with a layer mask as before. Set this layer’s blending mode to Multiply at 70% Opacity. Duplicate and experiment with layer opacity to get suitable line quality.

ACHIEVE DEPTH WITH ABSTRACT SHADOWS

BUILD THE BACKDROP

The backdrop should look to support the model detail. You don’t have to go crazy with effects, but try to add visual interest. We’ve created backdrop textures from media brushes and grunge textures (www.sxc.hu image numbers ‘1345387’ and ‘1083318’), raised with a soft pink to purple gradient and set to Multiply blending mode. We’ve also added in splats (sourced from DeviantART, called ‘Grungy Ink Splatter Sprays’ by dennytang) in behind our subject, as well as abstract shapes and even reworked our subject’s hair using brushes (sourced from DeviantART, called ‘Hair.Part.1’ by trisste-brushes) to highlight movement.

At this late stage there are still a few additions that you can make to further improve your fashion image, such as refining detail and tweaking colour. We also felt that the depth of field wasn’t quite right, so went ahead and made further alterations to suit. You won’t want to deviate too far from a mixed-media look, so solid, lifelike shadows are out of the question, leaving us to work with abstract types. To create these, simply copy and paste in a texture section, changing the orientation with the Transform options, setting a Linear Burn blending mode, editing with a layer mask and opacity settings.

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Illustration

USE DETAIL IN ILLUSTRATION

THE ISLAND OF THE FROGS

If you ever have the misfortune of being turned into a frog, you’ll be banished to the island of the frogs, a mysterious piece of land no one has ever been able to find (although some say that it is just off the coast of France). All the frogs hope that one day their princess will come and give them that magical kiss to turn them back into a prince. Well, that’s how I see it anyway. One of the toughest things about this brief was putting an original slant on the iconic image of the princess holding the crown-wearing frog. The idea of a land of frogs for cursed princes fits in nicely with the fairy-tale theme and even the narrative – the princess has to find her prince among all the frogs, an added obstacle on the path to true love’s transformation. A Disney film released a couple of years ago relocated the story to the swamps of New Orleans, giving it a fresh perspective and relating it to the stories of voodoo curses sometimes associated with that area of the world, fitting nicely with what the narrative requires. While the princess holding the frog is the focal point of the image, the surrounding forest is just as important. My brief stated that there must be lots of things for children to look for and find. In the spirit of Where’s Wally?, then, (or Where’s Waldo? if you’re American) see if you can find the following elements hidden in the image: nine frogs, a mailbox, three street lamps, two frog statues, a sleeping beauty, nine birdbox numbers and six waterlillies. I’m kind of obsessed by detail. I want people to be able to pick out different things every time they look at one of my drawings. One problem with creating such busy imagery, however, is making sure that the viewer isn’t overwhelmed by detail. Originally there was just going to be one deep forest that bled off the page, however the composition started to look too busy. It was getting hard to know where to look (see the boxout on composition), so I pulled it back. Little visual clues dotted around the drawing fill the viewer in on the details. The frog statues, ruins and mushroom village suggest that the frogs have been here for some time and that they are no ordinary amphibians. It would be a bit boring if frogs were the only inhabitants of the island. Taking my cue from Pokémon, I used existing animals as a springboard to create my own species. The Rabboon is a cross between a rabbit and a raccoon, while the eerie ghosts of the forest (towards the top right of the island) take their inspiration from the minimalist creature designs in Spirited Away and The Moomins.

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OUR EXPERT MATTHEW ELLERO

www.matthewellero.com A Photoshop and real media expert based in the UK, Matt describes himself as a shy, obsessive compulsive who likes to create intricate, cluttered illustrations, mixing various styles.

I wanted to give the iconic image of the princess and the frog a fresh slant, placing the main characters in a unique, busy environment SOURCE FILES

A creative pack is available.

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Illustration On the subject of Spirited Away and Hayao Miyazaki films in general, I’ve always admired how they ground supernatural elements in a realistic world with familiar elements that we can recognise. This has had a big impact on my drawings and helped me in the way that I approach any illustration brief. The initial drawings take a few days; I sketch each object individually on Winsor & Newton Bristol Board (250gsm paper) before scanning them all in on the computer. This is a long and slow process, but I like this way of working for a number of reasons. First of all it allows you to have complete control of the composition in Photoshop and because each object is on a separate layer amendments and corrections can be made easily. Second, you can create large-scale images with lots of detail as the images aren’t limited by the size of your scanner or support. Although Bristol Board is expensive, I would highly recommend it. Because the paper is so thick, you can press hard on the pencil without fear of warping or creasing it. The paper is also bright white so you don’t have to worry too much about altering the levels in Photoshop after drawings have been scanned. At this stage I use a 2H pencil, then go over lines in a HB or 2B to make them darker. I don’t worry too much about rubbing out the 2H lines. They are so light the scanner will often not pick them up. I can end up with somewhere in the region of 50-100 A4 pages of drawings. These are then scanned in to Photoshop at 600dpi greyscale, which allows me to play with sizing without losing too much quality. I tend to draw at about twice the size that they will eventually end up, enabling me to work in detail easily. Although most of my work is done in pencil, sometimes I like to use other media as well, especially when working in colour, to give it another dimension. The brief mentions a pond, so to give the impression of still, calm water I used black pastels, applying different degrees of pressure to suggest water depth. Pastels are messy and I really dislike using them, but you can get some lovely results, and by using the Linear Burn filter in Photoshop they are easily integrated into the pencil drawings. In this case, each pastel layer is given 50% Opacity so that when placing multiple layers on top of each other, tones are built up gradually. Once the drawings are saved as TIFF files, I bring them into Photoshop one by one, altering the levels and contrast until I get a nice black line. Once I’m happy with a set of levels, I make a note of them (most of my drawings use the same settings so it’s got to the stage now where they are stored in my memory). The first object that I bring into the Photoshop layout is the image of the cobbled stones. These lead into the forest and seemed an ideal starting point for the image. Shrubs and ferns are brought in next to surround the path and I go on in this way, building up the image starting point until I have imported all of the items. Over 100 scans, 900 Photoshop layers and lots of cups of hot chocolate later, the image is just about finished. I’ll print off a few full-size versions as I’m working to make sure that everything looks alright and then, once I’m happy with the final product, I’ll flatten the file, rename it, wing it across to the client and wait for any feedback. Phew!

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THE BIRD TREE The bird tree is one of the focal points of the illustration. It seemed an ideal solution to the problem of having too big an empty expanse of leaves, and makes the forest seem more alive.

THE POND I wanted the pond to stand out from the rest of the busy composition as an area of calm in a busy image. Light pastels give the water a nice sheen.

ADD SOME PERSONALITY One of the most important things in any illustration is making your characters unique. In my human characters, the two aspects that I concentrate on are the eyes and the hair. One eye tends to be bigger than the other. I think this makes them look a bit kooky. The hair is extra detail and is really a character on its own. In the case of the princess, it is fairly over the top – a bob would be far too ordinary for fairy-tale royalty.

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MEET THE GHOSTS OF THE FOREST

THE PRINCESS

I wanted them to be fairly unnerving, so I left the design minimal and gave them a vacant stare without noses or arms. I considered getting rid of the black outline, but this didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped.

Rather than have the princess stand, I thought it would be nice to have her kneeling, bringing her down to the level of the frog. I wanted to give her an unusual hairstyle.

INTRICATE ARTWORK FROM MATTHEW’S PORTFOLIO

NEW YORK, NEW YORK 2010, Photoshop, real media An image for the zine i heart, where we were tasked with drawing our favourite place, mine being New York. A perfect fit for my cluttered style.

CREATE THE COMPOSITION

BALANCE YOUR INTRICATE DESIGN WITH CAREFULLY PLACED DETAILS

GET TO KNOW ME

01

02

03

04

SKETCHES

I start with a couple of sketches to decide where I want the objects to go. The focal point is the princess holding the frog, so she goes into the centre.

REFINEMENT

I’m beginning to worry that the composition is looking too busy, so I print the image and look for ways to move the composition around.

PHOTOSHOP LAYOUT

After each individual object has been scanned in at high resolution – I tend to go for 600dpi – I begin to piece the composition together in Photoshop.

DETAILS

After having my eureka moment, I decided to use an organic white border and set the image on an island. Now I add in details such as the boat.

2011, Photoshop, real media This was for the American charity Art With Heart who were putting together a colouring and activity book for disadvantaged children. The dimensions I had to work to were unusual and the drawing proved quite a challenge.

FOR THE COMMON WEALTH 2011, Photoshop, real media A CD design for a band. They wanted a couple holding hands – I was worried it would look too cheesy but I think I just about got away with it.

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Illustration

VEXEL VEHICLES WE SHOW YOU HOW TO USE COMMON PHOTOSHOP SELECTION OPTIONS AND LAYERING TECHNIQUES TO MASTER REALISTIC VEXEL ART

OUR EXPERT THIBAUT MAETZ

www.thibautmaetz.com

As a full-time mechanical engineer, Thibaut is a self-taught Photoshop artist. Virtually tuning his styles, he’s now fully grounded in vexel art. You can see more of his design work on his website.

SOURCE FILES

You will find the car reference image we used from iStockphoto on the CD, as well as a background image, but feel free to substitute your own.

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Digital artists have readily embraced vexel design recently, giving rise to many a cool car image. In this tutorial we’ll reveal how to replicate these vexel art techniques, specifically geared towards the automotive genre. Heavy use of the Pen and Brush tools and the layer-focused workflow make this a style almost synonymous with the Photoshop program. All designers will need to re-create this vexel car is a minimal knowledge of the Pen Path tool – as this will serve as your main application device, in addition to a shedload of patience and time. Using layers is also integral and the layer-driven process will enable

you to apply various colours and flattened gradients in order to reproduce realism through lifelike textures and exposure. This type of construction may achieve different end results depending on the level of precision that you work at. However, if you remain concise and pay attention to delineation then Photoshop users will undoubtedly achieve a look that’s more photorealistic than cartoony. The degree of photorealism will depend on how far you want to push the details, but with the advice presented in this guide you’ll at least be armed with the vexel fundamentals, from which you can evolve at your own pace.

01

PIMP YOUR RIDE

Begin by opening your document (235 x 302mm, 300dpi) then pasting in your vehicle image (‘1370069’ from iStockphoto). You might want to modify it a little as we have – eg you can change the ride height and the size of the wheels. Do the former by selecting the car body with the Pen Path tool, copy, cut and pasting then shifting the new layer down slightly. Touches like this will give the car a more sporty look.

02

COLOUR MODIFICATION

Don’t be afraid to change the colour of your car. Make a duplicate of the bodywork layer (Cmd/Ctrl+J) then make an active selection of this (by Cmd/ Ctrl-clicking the layer thumbnail). Go to Image>Adjustments and use the various layers at your disposal such as Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation and Levels. Use with caution to get your preferred colour effects.

VEXEL ART 101 Vexel art is not strictly defined, as it can be done in a variety of ways. You should also know that vexel art is not very suitable for making prints, as it’s not possible to resize the final result as you would with pure vexel work. So, if you want to print your art, don’t forget to create a very high-resolution canvas. Also, you need some digital drawing ability to work on vexels, as you’ll oen be using manual PS tools like Dodge and Burn to apply gradient effects etc. The methodology for this tutorial is not without its flaws, but it does guarantee to deliver realistic renderings.

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Illustration 03

PIMP YOUR RIDE 2

To further enhance the look of the car, we’re going to add two blue bands concurring with those already present on the side of the body. Use the existing lines on the hood and roof to create your selection using the Pen Path tool (once again, Cmd/Ctrl-click the thumbnail in the Paths palette to make a selection).

04

COLOUR THE LINES

Create a fill layer with a blue tone (‘#23356e’) and apply Multiply blending at 74% Opacity. Create a second layer with the same colour, this time setting the blend mode to Hard Light at 65% Opacity. The result will be very close to existing lines, while maintaining a certain amount of transparency.

05

WORK UP THE BACKGROUND

We have a pretty basic background at the moment that we can change to bump up interest (we’re using ‘background.jpg’ on the CD). Whichever image you use, ensure that visuals are consistent with the shadows already on the car body. Properly integrate the image with the windscreen; create a cutout of the screen so we can see the background and then place a new layer with the same dimensions as the cutout, fill with blue (‘#2e596b’) and set Opacity to 70%.

06

OUTLINE

With the car retouched and reshaped, we can now begin the vexel work. Make an outline of your car with the Pen Path tool, using the Ctrl/right-click>Stroke option from your Paths palette. When the outline is complete, hit Ctrl/right-click so you can create a contour plot using the Pen tool. Set a 7px brush with the Hardness parameter pushed to the max then apply.

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07

INLINE

Now you must create the internal contours that enable you to define each element of the car chassis – for example, the headlights, windscreen wipers, etc. Create a new layer and apply the same process as in Step 6, but with a finer brush of 3 or 4px at the same hardness. Zoom in to around 200% when completing this step so all detailed edges are accurate.

QUICK TIP If you do not see the lines correctly traced by your Pen Path application then we advise you to create a new 100% solid white layer, lowering Opacity to around 40%, just above your car. You will now see areas that are already completed as well as those which need to be finished.

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Start by applying these techniques to the most simple body sections of the car; this is a great way to familiarise yourself with vexel techniques

08

VECTOR MASK

Still using the Pen Path tool, we now make a clipping path for each area (eg door, windscreen, mirror, etc) of the car. This will define our future layers properly thanks to the vector mask. To begin this process, create a path along the black outlines previously created – for the front of the car, for example, close the path, Ctrl/right-click and hit Create Vector Mask. Repeat for each part of the car on a new layer.

START IMAGES For this tutorial we used a photo of a car that was shot outside. It therefore has many reflections that can complicate the implementation of a vexel process. But at least with an approach like this you’re prepared for the difficulties that may be encountered. If you don’t feel like taking on this type of image for your first stab at vexel art, we recommend that you choose an image shot in a studio instead, where the reflections are much less of an issue. Once you have the basic method nailed then you can try portraits. Portraits are more difficult because there are very few uniform planes or well-defined sections of colour like those found on a vehicle. There is also hair, which is a constant source of problems, and it can take a very long time to get convincing results.

10

CLIPPING MASKS

09

FILL WITH COLOURS

Now that we have created our vector masks, we can fill them with paint. Always try to fill the mask with the most dominant colour in the area. For example, fill the bodywork with a white colour, but use a blue tone for the metal bumper and grey for the car’s interior.

11

DON’T RUN BEFORE YOU CAN WALK

Start by applying these techniques to the most simple body sections of the car; this is a great way to familiarise yourself with vexel techniques as often they will only require large, flat blocks of colour. You can then move on to the windshield, lights, wheels and rims, which are elements that demand more precision – and therefore more layers.

Using clipping masks at all times will enable you to create flattened colour without any unwanted elements around the edges, as they will be captured by the vector masks created in Step 8. We can quickly make clipping masks by holding Opt/Alt and clicking between two layers in the Layers palette.

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Illustration 12

COLOUR AREA

13

FEATHER EDGES

15

LAYER LOVE

QUICK TIP

Go to the first layer just above the layer bearing the vector masks, and start creating an initial colour area using the Pen tool. Don’t forget to gather up colours of the same hue. For instance, dark tones should be on the same layer and the bright shades on separate layers. This makes it much easier if you need to modify any colours later on.

Once your selections are made, use Path>Make Selection to apply a selection then go to Select>Feather and add a 2px Radius; this will better integrate your edges with colours beneath and will also simulate gradient effects, disposing of hardedged sections. You can then play with the Feather parameter to adjust the level of the gradient. We tend to use a 2px Radius, but you can push it up to 6px if you desire.

Put layers of each main car section into groups so you can see more clearly what you have produced and where it should go in your layers stack. As soon as an area is complete, do it straight away for your convenience later on.

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WORK THROUGH CAR SHAPES

Always start with the biggest sections of uniform colour to create the car shapes, and work back down to the smallest. For example, begin by creating layers for each tone of car paint and finish with shadows that fall over the bodywork and other more subtle details.

Do not deprive yourself of layers – use as many as necessary to achieve the most accurate finish. The more layers there are, the more tones you can apply to faithfully re-create the original image. This will result in colour gradients that are much more uniform and also make the rendering more realistic.

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DODGE AND BURN TOOLS

Photoshop’s Dodge and Burn tools are key to integrating your various layers together. They will also apply gradients to the most expansive layers. However, use these tools with caution because they can be extremely sensitive. Usually, we set the Range to Midtones and Exposure to 50% for both tools.

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17

WHEEL RIMS

For the rims, make only an outline of the rim itself using the Ellipse tool instead of the Pen Path tool, and also apply the Free Transform options to refine the path. Once you are satisfied, create a clipping path and, utilising the previous techniques, use as many layers as needed to achieve a result as close to the real rims as possible.

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BEGINNING TO TYRE

According to taste, you can create the tyre tread or not. This depends on the overall visual that you want to produce. If you prefer a cartoony rendering, apply only a flat black shade. You can also customise tyres by applying colour tints to the edges; think The Fast and the Furious!

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RADIATOR GRILLE

Trace the car’s grille using the Pen Path tool by following its different features. Ctrl/right-click on your path, selecting Make Stroke. Create outlines with a 3px hard brush set to maximum hardness and a brown/ grey tone (‘#181819’). Duplicate this layer to create all the grille bars and then merge them together.

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FINAL TOUCHES

The bottom doesn’t completely fill the canvas; fix this with a black band or a gradient. And here you are with your first vexel vehicle! Free your imagination to further improve the result by customising your car, or try out this workflow on an alternative source image.

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Graphics Generate for modern styles

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68 Professional Graphics

Get the inside story from graphic illustrators

76 Pixel Art

Create epic isometric pixel art with flair

82 Poster Graphics

Advertise a product without using words

86 Digital Collage

Explore composition and colours

90 Shape Symmetry

Combine organic and geometric forms

94 Textures and Depth

Bring artworks to life with layered textures

98 Vector Layers

Master CS6’s new Vector Shape tools

104 Abstract Graphics

Add vibrance using shapes and lighting

108 Photoreal icons

Illustrate realistic icons from scratch

112 Graphics and Photos Blend photos with painted elements

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Photoshop has proven to be an incredibly powerful tool for image creation as well as image manipulation

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© Alice Lickens, www.lickens.co.uk

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PROFESSIONAL

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION WE CHAT TO A HANDFUL OF GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATORS AND GET THE INSIDE STORY ON HOW THEY USE PHOTOSHOP IN THEIR WORK Every good illustrator has a bag of tricks and for most, these days, that includes a trusty program to work in. Photoshop may have started as the image editing member of the Adobe family but it rapidly bulked itself out to include options and functions that give artists and illustrators something to get excited about too. It’s proved to be a powerful tool for image creation as well as image manipulation, and has weaved it’s way into the workflow of many an illustrator. We’ve rounded up a few such illustrators that count Photoshop among the tools of their trade. We ask them how they use it, why they use and how we can learn to use it better. From Photoshop natives to Photoshop converts, expert users and illustrators that find certain basic functions vital to the way they work, we examine all angles of this nifty program to see how it collides with the world of graphic illustration. Shaun Venish and Photoshop have a history. The Texas-based graphic artist and illustrator began using the program in the nineties. “I first encountered Adobe Photoshop (v2.5!) in 1993,” he says, “and was really taken by the airbrush tools and cloning. When Version 3 introduced layers, and Version 5 gave me real editable type, it quickly became a natural place to work.” Shaun creates his illustrations for a diverse client base, which include editorial pieces and logos (www.venish.com). For him, inspiration comes from looking at a lot of other people’s work across a broad range of mediums. “There’s always so much to learn,” he enthuses, perfectly capturing the way many illustrators feel about this amazing piece of software. Jennifer Farley (www.laughing-lion-design.com) prefers to put the mouse down and go outside to find some inspiration. “Books, movies, photography and travel are all great sources of inspiration for me,” she says. “I think it’s very important to get away from the computer and give yourself time to daydream and relax. There is indeed a ton of eye candy online and you can spend hours trawling through it, and it’s nice to see what other people are doing, but getting out into real life and experiencing it is the best way to get the ideas flowing, for me.” Jennifer’s designs are bright, bold and she loves creating work especially for children. To her, Photoshop

is a vital part of what she does. “I use Photoshop to draw shape layers,” she says. “All of the animals or characters I create are vector based, which allows me to make them as big or small as I need without any loss of quality. When I’ve drawn the shapes I can play around with colours very easily by double-clicking on the shape layer thumbnail in the layers palette.” For effects, Jennifer finds that Photoshop has a variety of options to tinker with. “I use gradients and inner and outer shadows on individual layers. There are many, many options inside the Layer Styles dialog box and you can get some wonderful effects. I also use a lot of texture in my work, so I scan in old books, add photographs and lots of my own scribbles on individual layers and blend them at various opacities,” she says. This attention to detail is certainly evident in her work. Jennifer created Animal ABC, a stylish book for tots coming to grips with their alphabets. The book is available for a range of digital devices and her illustrations, such as that displayed below, show off the textured effects that she created in Photoshop. While some illustrators, like Shaun Venish, have had the program at their creative side for many years, >>

© Jessie Ford, www.jessieford.co.uk

© Jennifer Farley, www.laughing-lion-design.com

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TOP ILLUSTRATION INSPIRATION THE SITES TO TURN TO WHEN YOUR CREATIVITY NEEDS A BOOST

>>

WE AND THE COLOUR

ASSOCIATION OF ILLUSTRATORS

ILLUSTRATION WEB

Under the watchful eye of Dirk Petzold, www. weandthecolour.com has become a staple on the radar of many creatives. Illustrators, in particular, are in for a real treat, with constant and well considered selections appearing of some of the very best work on the web. Creative freeze is soon thawed after a little perusing.

The association offers up a pick-n-mix of illustration resources from interesting reviews to practical advice. On their site, www.theaoi.com, simply follow a link through to the blog to keep tabs on up-and-coming artists and where you can see their work. If your work needs an extra pair of eyes, you’ll also find portfolio consultations that don’t cost the earth.

For a wider cross section of what’s being crafted, created and doodled visit www.illustrationweb.com. The well-established agency showcases the work of their artists by style and by name. For other artists the site is candy jar of beautiful work by a diverse and talented collection of illustrators.

others have come to the fore more recently. Alice Lickens (www.lickens.co.uk) also has a penchant for children’s illustration, and her clients include Random House and Pavilion books. Alice was chosen for the 2012 Sendak Fellowship and will be going to live and work at Maurice Sendak’s residence later this year. Sendak was, of course, best known for creating Where the Wild Things Are. Alice has been creating breathtaking illustrations,

such as her poster for the Design Museum Ball (shown in the lower right), for a lot longer than she’s been using Photoshop. “I actually took to it fairly late on,” she says. “I was thick-skulled about it, but then I started to see all these beautiful images people were creating and realised I was missing a trick. I started using photoshop in my last year at university and I was appalling to begin with. I had some really patient friends who showed me the ropes and then it was a lot of finding out how it fitted for me.” The way that Alice uses Photoshop demonstrates the versatility of the program in its ability to offer options to each type of illustrator, no matter what their workflow is. While Jennifer Farley often creates shapes directly in Photoshop, for example, Alice goes right back to pen and paper. “I have quite an archaic process,” Alice jokes, “whereby I draw everything out by hand, often using a lightbox to sift out layers. My work is quite shape-based, so I then photograph it all and digitally colour and add texture. Then I start fiddling with it.” As most people who work in this way would agree, she concludes that “Photoshop is an incredibly handy tool and pretty central to how I work now.” Jessie Ford (www.jessieford.co.uk) is another illustrator who considers herself a convert from purely mechanical methods, and who finds value in Photoshop as a tool to add to her kitbag. “At art college, I used a computer about three times,” she explains. “I was very against them – more through fear of the unknown than anything else! I spent all my time producing collages with cut paper and in the print room, working on silk-screen prints. I think that,

looking at my work, it’s very evident of my background. I’ve intentionally tried to retain the ‘hand-crafted’ feel to all of my images.” Looking at the cover she made for The Go-Away Bird, we couldn’t agree more. Once Jessie started to tinker with the technology, she found that Photoshop could accommodate the way she worked. “Time, money and space,” Jessie explains, “all contributed to my

© Alice Lickens, www.lickens.co.uk

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© Jessie Ford, www.jessieford.co.uk

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slow move over to computers, but it’s changed my working methods and productivity to no end.” “I like it for layering up my designs – for the flexibility it gives me over changing colours and the fact that mistakes are easily rectified,” she continues. “Often, I have reached for the ‘Apple Z’ button when I’ve been painting and wished it was only so easy. Photoshop gives you the freedom to be experimental without restrictions.” Jessie has had work featured in publications such as The Financial Times and She Magazine. “In terms of my method,” Jessie explains, “I always use cut paper and drawn line, that I physically produce, and then I scan it in. I use Photoshop as a device to layer up my picture, and then add to it as I go. I never draw with the computer – I simply use it as a way to layer up the image.” Illustrators have a range of options available to help them translate an image in their minds into the digital realm. Tools within Photoshop that can be used to create images from vector graphics include the pen, type and shape options. Other methods, such as those used by Jessie, include drawing and scanning, or using a tablet to draw a digital image directly in the program Phil Wrigglesworth (www.philwrigglesworth.com) has the benefit of being well-versed in traditional illustration methods before he turned his attention to a digital method of producing graphic illustration. “My artwork [shown to the right] is now 100 percent digitally produced in Photoshop”, he says. “Once I have drawn the sketch with a pencil on paper and scanned it in, the rest is produced whilst sat in front of my computer. Even though the image is digital, I believe it is completely produced by hand and uses the same or equivalent techniques of traditional medias, which have found parallels within the Photoshop tool box. The benefits of using Photoshop outweigh the traditional format – like, for example, I don’t have to wait for >>

© Phil Wrigglesworth, www.philwrigglesworth.com (above and below)

BEST PHOTOSHOP TOOLS PANEL LAYER OPACITY AND BLEND MODE

THE POWERFUL PEN TOOL

DODGE AND BURN TOOL

These two work hand in hand and are indispensable for applying textures and blending layers. You’ll find both settings under the layers palette. Try Screen and Hue blending modes for texture work.

The pen tool is an illustration essential if you create your own vector shapes or drawing paths. Select the tool from the left-hand palette and specify its function and settings on the top tool menu.

The Dodge and Burn tools live in the left-hand palette. Use a combination of these tools to create light and shadow in your illustrations. Pay heed to the source and direction of light before using.

CLONE STAMP IMPERFECTIONS AWAY

LAYER MASKS

A favourite amongst photo retouchers the Clone Stamp tool is there to help tidy your work and get rid of unwanted elements. First specify a source and then paint away.

Use Layer Masks to blend between layers, manipulating and removing parts of a layer without actually removing pixels. Masks are easy to adjust and you can come back and tweak isolated areas of your piece without hassle.

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EXPERT OPINION

PHOTOSHOP HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PART OF ROB FULLER’S WORK – HE TELLS US WHY IT PLAYS A VITAL ROLE

OUR EXPERT ROB FULLER

http://robblogstuffnow.tumblr.com/mywork

Freelance illustrator, designer and animator. Digital painter.

The only time in my life that Photoshop was absent in my illustration work was when I used things like pencils and paint. I remember when I discovered that a computer could be used for more than just document editing and card games. Ever since I realised what Photoshop was, and the sheer amount of power it gave me, I haven’t really stopped using it. Photoshop was the first Adobe program that I explored. I have since learned others such as Illustrator, and found them equally as useful in different ways, but I always come back to Photoshop, especially with my more recent work shifting back to digital painting. In a way, Photoshop feels like home. As long as I’ve used a computer for illustration, I’ve used Photoshop. In my opinion, Photoshop has two big advantages over other programs. Firstly, the photo manipulation abilities and tools are perfect and so easy for creating reference imagery, which is so important in my

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work. The other is, of course, the paint tools and brush system, which is exactly what is needed for painting. The way I use Photoshop really depends on what I am making. Taking a digitally painted poster as an example, Photoshop has a very strong presence all the way through the process. With digital painting, the program takes me through the whole image preparation and painting process, making use of brushes, gradients and textures along the way. I usually find that if I use Photoshop in conjunction with other CS programs, it’s as a starting point, finishing point or both. I often prepare work in Photoshop or create some of the building blocks that will later be used to create the final outcome elsewhere. It is again just as common to bring something into Photoshop to give it that extra coat of paint or finishing touch. Layers may seem like an obvious thing to point

out in Photoshop but they really do save my bacon. I can’t function if I don’t use layers correctly. Often, history is irrelevant when I’m making hundreds of brush marks. Splitting elements of the painting into layers is essential for me. Duplication of layers is also very important; it becomes my history and my undo button. Plus, the ability to mould and create the perfect brush is so incredibly useful, whether it’s with the Brush tool itself or with an Eraser. I think that it is very important to get to know your brushes. In the past, I would just import a brush and go with it. Now, once I pick it apart and understand how and why a brush is functioning in the way that it does, my control and use of it improves. One tool that passed me by for a ridiculously long amount of time is the Refine Edge tool in the Select Menu. Creating or cropping the perfect edge to an image becomes a doddle when using it.

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© Catell Ronca, www.catellronca.co.uk

© Richard Deverell, www.richarddeverell.com

© Phil Wrigglesworth, www.philwrigglesworth.com

>> the paint to dry; if I make a mistake, the back button is always at hand; and I don’t have to rely on consistent light, as my colour palettes are always laid down in saved files to work from.” Phil finds that his favourite pieces to illustrate tend to arrive when working on very open briefs, which allow him to push his idea generating abilities and drive the illustration into unusual territory. “This only happens when commissioned by skilled, understanding and trusting Art Directors. All of the design team from the Guardian are brilliant to work with and, subsequently, I have produced some of my favourite pieces of work for that newspaper,” he says. Catell Ronca (www.catellronca.co.uk), shown above, finds Photoshop useful not only in her workflow, but also as a way to play around with

elements and visualise what something will look like before committing to it. “I use this program a lot,” she says, “initially translating a black and white sketch to visualise how an image will look in colour. It is hugely helpful to define my composition. I try out textures and colours to see how they will work together. I love playing with hue and saturation, the contrast and levels. I then refine my painted samples, integrate textures and fuse all my elements into the final illustration.” One of the obvious questions to ask is why Photoshop still finds such a vast illustration base when other Adobe programs such as Illustrator, as the name would suggest, are built-for-purpose illustration programs. Jennifer Farley thinks that the two programs are not so very different from each other. “Initially, Photoshop and Illustrator were very

different programs,” she says, “but over time they have become more and more alike. There are now many overlapping features between the programs. The vector drawing tools in Photoshop used to be the poor cousin to Illustrator, but with CS6, Photoshop’s vector tools are catching up dramatically. They’re both great programs.” Working on continuously challenging projects is one great way to force yourself to learn new skills and discover new tools to use. “The job I did for Mears Direct was great fun and a huge challenge,” says Richard Deverell (www.richarddeverell.com). “They wanted a brochure that showed everything the company could offer their clients, mostly housing associations, but without words until the very last page. It started with a red on white pattern and, >>

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© Richard Deverell, www.richarddeverell.com

>>

© Catell Ronca, www.catellronca.co.uk (above left and right)

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with the turn of each page, it was as though the viewer was taking a step back and seeing more of the image, the tiny details becoming less visible as the pages turned and the image grew. The book has 31 illustrated pages, and producing the 24 separate art files to fit the brief, and the page size, took a lot of careful planning.” Among Richard’s specialities are illustrated maps, such as his map of Dubai shown above, that require a solid knowledge of layers to try and manage so many elements. Layers are a rudimentary part of using Photoshop, but Jennifer Farley says that their usefulness cannot be spoken of enough. “Layers are our friends,” she says. “Learn how to use them and their associated functions – the layer effects, blending modes and opacity. Also, learn the keyboard shortcuts for the tools you use all the time. This will speed up your work enormously and many of them are pretty easy to remember.” Jennifer also advises getting up close and personal with all things brushes, and learning how to create and manipulate your own. Phil Wrigglesworth recommends not mistaking Photoshop’s useful tools and filters for means of covering up technical flaws in your work. “On the

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WHAT NEXT? YOUR CREATIVE JUICES ARE FLOWING AND YOUR DIGITAL CANVASES ARE FILLING UP, BUT WHERE DO YOU TAKE THEM?

If you’re creating work on commission then it’s easy to know where your design will end up once you’re finished sweating over it. If not, then you’ll need to think about how to get the most out of your work when you’re done. There are a variety of paths to take when selling your artwork and the internet, of course, has opened up many more opportunities for you to take advantage of. The easiest way to get started is to sign up to sites such as www.spreadshirt.com and get your designs onto merchandise quickly and easily, from the simple t-shirt to a variety of other custom clothing. Websites such as www.zazzle.com offer other options, such as iPhone cases and bags. Another route to take is to look at organisations such as The Illustration Gallery (www.illustrato.rs), whose website is a curated marketplace that sells artists’ work directly to customers. You’ll have to apply if you want to be featured, but the benefit of sites like this is that your work is not just another design in a sea of illustrations. Care is taken over what’s sold and you’ll be guaranteed to feature among other quality artists. No matter which route you take, having your sale items linked to your own website is equally important. Make it as easy as possible for visitors to buy your artwork, whatever the format you wish to offer it in.

© Alice Lickens, www.lickens.co.uk

Layers are our friends. Learn how to use them and their associated functions – the layer effects, blending modes and opacity. Also, learn the keyboard shortcuts for tools you use all the time

opposite note,” he says, “use Photoshop as just another image making tool – it’s your skill and imagination that drives the package to produce your work, not the other way round.” Shaun Venish agrees, saying that it took him a while to learn that skill is built up when you focus on your art rather than on the tool. “Develop better skills in the principles of design, composition, colour and so on, and don’t get too caught up in the gadgetry and complex add-ons and plug-ins.” “And finally”, Jennifer adds, “practice, practice, practice – while having fun.”

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REDISCOVER PIXEL ART CREATE EPIC ISOMETRIC PIXEL ART WITH SOME CANNY DUPLICATION AND A BIT OF FLAIR

OUR EXPERT CHRIS MALBON, AKA MELBS

By the end of this workshop, you will think of the Duplicate Layer command as your new best friend. This image may look super complex at first glance, but look closely and you’ll see that it’s composed of the same graphics repeated over and over. Each copy has a subtle colour change – a different roof or window, or an element that’s been flipped – but essentially it’s the same root illustration. If the thought of a pixel-by-pixel illustration sounds arduous and time consuming, it isn’t; once again, all you have to do is draw a selection of horizontal and vertical lines and duplicate them. Photoshop is the ideal tool for this because of the ease of use it offers with its layer, merging and duplication functions. Overlooked basic tools like the Eraser and Magic Wand will also come into play. Pixel illustrations are great for making computer icons, isometric images and even whole scenes, as shown here. We wanted to give this illustration a twist, approaching it in a very graphic and abstract way, so it would be just as at home in a picture frame in the form of a print as it would be on a computer screen.

WORK IN PROGRESS

MAKE A SCENE OF TOTAL DESTRUCTION

www.chrismalbon.co.uk/blog

With 14 years’ experience, Melbs works for some of the biggest brands in the world. Now based in Bristol in the UK, enjoying the freelance life with his young family, he works for both local and global agencies.

SOURCE FILES

The artist has supplied an isometric grid and a few basic buildings, vehicles and trees to get you started.

PIXELBYPIXEL PROCESS

RECYCLING ELEMENTS AND A LITTLE IMAGINATION GO A LONG WAY

01

ISOMETRIC GRID

03

CREATE A PIXEL BRUSH

To begin, you will need an isometric grid as a guide, even for your rough sketch, to help get the spacing right. Our grid is made up of 30-degree horizontal and reverse vertical lines and is on the disc. Print it out on A4 and we can get started.

02

SKETCH

Like all great ideas, this started in the sketchbook. We opt for a monster-on-a-rampage scene, a nod to King Kong and Godzilla. Be as rough as you like, as this is just a scamp. Using layout paper means you can follow the grid below.

Step 9: Lay out your city

Step 13: Lay into your city

Step 24: Go with the glow

Because our piece is going to be high-res, we can’t use a single 72dpi pixel – instead, we have to create a high-res, printable pixel. To do this, open a new document, sized 5 x 5px at 300dpi. Then go to Edit>Define Brush Preset to make a new brush. Select the Pencil tool and then open the Brushes palette to select your new brush; it should be at the bottom. Now we’re ready to draw pixels!

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Graphics 04

QUICK TIP

CORNER TO CORNER

One click at a time – this is the most time consuming part of the process – whenever changing the angle of the line, make sure the corners are edge to edge. To achieve a perfect isometric line draw two squares across and one down (see below); use your scamp as a guide to draw your lines. When your pixel drawing is viewed at 100% (actual size) the Pencil tool at 1px is very small, so you might find it hard to see and manipulate. A good idea is to enlarge the view to 800% so you can clearly see what you’re doing.

Remember to untick the Anti-alias checkbox when selecting inside your pixel outline; this will lead to a cleaner and bolder shape, with no overhang or blur. Pixel art needs to be clean and precise.

05

ONE ELEMENT AT A TIME

The beauty of this piece is it uses the same graphics over and over, but each is treated a little differently. Let’s start with a building. Draw an isometric line on a new layer then duplicate. Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal and merge the two layers. Repeat this process but, when done, rotate this layer 180 degrees and merge so you are left with a diamond shape. Hit Duplicate Layer and, with an eraser, remove the top half. Drag down and draw two vertical joining lines to create a 3D block.

06

COLOURING IN

07

SKYSCRAPER DETAILS

Check all your isometric lines are joined and that there are no gaps. Next, select the Magic Wand tool, open your Options bar and make sure the Anti-alias box is unchecked and Contiguous is checked. Click inside the shape with the Magic Wand, create a new layer and place it under your lined drawing, before selecting the Paint Bucket tool and filling each side of the block with colour. Keep tones similar and add some highlights by drawing single key line strokes.

Start duplicating your building layers. Now that you have a base, it’s fairly easy to recycle the same graphic and, by adding different details, each building gets its own look. We don’t want to overcomplicate the skyscrapers – a few isometric lines doubled up work great as a row of windows, while some single white lines can serve as passable reflections. You can also try applying some subtle gradients as we have – it’s up to you!

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08

CREATE SOME CARNAGE!

This scene is about destruction so be creative with your lines, creating black fills and placing them over the tops of buildings to give the impression of holes and burnt areas. Use the Eraser tool to delete sides of your buildings, but remember to draw back in black outlines. Place black isometric spots across the top of your buildings to give the impression of half-demolished structures.

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This scene is about destruction so be creative with your lines, creating black fills and placing them over the buildings to give the impression of holes and burnt areas

WATCH THIS SPACE

MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY AREA OF THE PS CANVAS

09

FILL OUT THE SCENE

Once you have created buildings in various states of destruction, turn your attention to the rest of the scene. Create a background layer filled with a vibrant flat colour or gradient. Use your scamp to give you an idea of where your monster will go and start placing the buildings you just made.

001

002

003

10

HELICOPTERS

13

ORGANISE YOUR ARMY

Now you’ve got the hang of drawing edge to edge, and creating isometric angles, it’s time to get a bit more creative. Using the sketch we now create some helicopters. Again, it’s fairly simple, but it helps to duplicate your layers of lines to save wearing out your finger with all that clicking! Draw some simple forms first, like the cockpit, which is a box with a steep, angled line at the front. The blades are just an isometric circle coloured blue with its opacity knocked back.

001 |

Use the buildings to create some background negative space. To do this, select one of the building layers and lock it. Fill the shape with white, duplicate the layer and start creating some abstract backdrops; use your grid to keep things roughly aligned, but they can overlap to add interest.

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002 |

For exposed areas of street around your buildings, create a chequered pattern like paving slabs. Duplicate the building tops and keep them flush. Repeat so you start getting a chessboard effect then place around the base of your structures, eliminating some of the white space.

TANKS

For the tanks, much of the same applies as previous steps. So long as you keep the pixels clean, you can’t go wrong. Keep your sketch close to hand, because drawing tanks, helicopters and the like from memory is much harder than you think. Create the tanks in a piecemeal fashion to keep them editable; we need to flip them horizontally to fill out the scene, but when doing this, remember to reposition the barrel of the gun.

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003 |

It wouldn’t be a city without roads, and these are very easy to do. They are just isometric lines that are moved slightly apart, then joined at the ends and filled in with grey. Flip some of them around to have the roads going in various directions. Now the tanks have room to play.

BOATS

We don’t want to use too many boats, but it’s up to you. Again use your scamps for reference (see, it pays to do sketches!) and the grid to create your iso-boats. We decide to mix up the size of the pixels making up the boat; the pixels on the top half have a thicker line, giving the impression of a top-heavy control tower. And to continue the recycling theme, we copy and paste guns from the tanks, colouring them to match the boat.

Now to place all these war machines, we have inverted our scamp because white lines are easier to see. Use roads as a guide for the tanks, boats will need to go on the sea, while helicopters can pretty much go anywhere. The ocean is just a solid blue isometric square with single 1px lines running over it to indicate the crests of waves. Place some tanks and helicopters peeping out from behind buildings to develop depth.

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Graphics BRING IN THE MONSTER

ORGANISED CHAOS

INTRODUCE THE STAR OF THE SHOW: PIXELA

14

GO IN WITH A BANG!

Explosions have no structure, they just… well, explode! So feel free to go a little wild when making these. You will need to do three or four different sizes for some variation. Create them on separate layers and fill them with different colours; we’ve used grey, red, orange and yellow. Add some pixel dots for shading and a few random 1-2px embers as a nice extra touch.

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PIXELA

18

PIXELA 3: DETAILS

Now let’s create the star of the show. Start with the scamp on its own layer and set it to Multiply blending; we do this so that any colour used can be seen without interfering with the sketch. Create a new layer for your pixel drawing. Do your best to stick to your sketch, applying the same technique of edge to edge – two across and one down – as best you can. It might look a little messy to begin with but it will shape up! Key lines inside the illustration also help give it a bold look.

The monster details may look complex, but they really aren’t. They’re just a combination of flush isometric lines, with the opacity knocked back on different lines. Some areas of Pixela we have coloured in darker, others lighter, and the top of his head has been applied with the chequer pattern from earlier. There’s nothing here you have not used already. However, if you’ve got time, it can be nice to create one or two bespoke patterns for your monster, eg a reptilian scales pattern.

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15

PLACE THE EXPLOSIONS

It makes sense to surround the monster with your explosions, also placing near the barrels of guns. You can crop the explosions and place them over the black holes on your buildings too, giving the impression of small fires. Once again, it’s all about the Duplicate Layer command. Add some smoke for realism, which is just some flat bent lines with the opacity knocked back.

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PIXELA 2: COLOUR

Once you have drawn your monster, create another new layer and place it underneath your scamp. Go back to the pixel drawing and use the Magic Wand tool to select inside the beast, then fill the monster with a colour of your choice. We opted for green as our base colour. Now draw the rest of the main features – such as horns, claws, eyes, etc – all on separate layers so that they are independently editable as we progress.

When creating an illustration as hectic as this, it’s best to keep all the elements in separate folders within their own master file so you have a library of graphics to refer to. To keep these folders even more easily distinguished, you can colour code them, by Shi-clicking on the relevant layer thumbnails in the Layers palette, hitting Cmd/Ctrl+G and assigning a colour. When you have placed all elements and are happy, you can merge everything, but be 100 per cent sure that you’re done, as you won’t be able to edit anything from that point on.

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QUICK TIP

PRACTISE YOUR SCALES

The scale pattern is dead easy to make. Draw nine small pixel 2D circles, and inside each corner circle draw something like a cross. Once happy, merge everything, then duplicate your layer and put it next to your first and merge again. Repeat this procedure until you have created several rows. Select All and copy the pattern, go back to the Pixela picture, select an area you want to fill and paste in the scales.

Once you have drawn your pixel art, don’t try rescaling it. This will blur the pixels and automatically give everything an anti-aliased look, and you will lose that allimportant clean pixel finish.

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HORNS

24

GLOW EFFECTS

The monster’s horns are simple triangle forms; it’s the shading that gives them the feel of depth and form. Start by drawing a large horn shape and duplicating it. On the duplication erase away the bottom half, then redraw your black keyline. Duplicate again and continue to do this until you run out of triangle! Place the decreasingly sized triangles along Pixela’s tail.

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TRAILS

22

THINK GREENERY

We are now going to create a little more negative space by giving our helicopters some white exhaust trails; this is a nice way to make the piece more graphic and abstract. Duplicate the roads created in Step 9 and fill with white. Place them behind the helicopters and use the Transform tool to flip them horizontally and vertically to create zigzags. Again, it’s a nice idea to have some trails vanishing behind buildings for perspective.

To create a tree, make sure your pixels are edge to edge and create a half circle. Then copy and paste before going to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal, bringing almost flush with your other half and draw a few pixels to join the top and bottom. Fill in with a green colour and, using single pixels, shade one half of the tree, as per the screenshot. Draw some simple 2-3px trunks in brown underneath to complete the trees.

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PLACING THE TREES AND FIELDS

Fields are just your roads from earlier placed next to each other and then filled with varying shades of green. Start placing your trees around the fields and one or two here and there between the buildings to break up the skyscrapers. Of course, if you wanted to go on and create alternative scenes with your pixel monster, you could reuse any of these elements to save you time.

It’s not the done thing to add glares, or any kind of effects over pixel art, but we like to break the rules now and then to add a little ‘oomph’. Flatten your image and, on a new layer set to Screen blending, pick a medium-sized airbrush. Use the Color Picker to pull out existing colours and apply around flames and explosions to indicate sparks and heat. Consider also using on Pixela’s teeth and eyes for an extra monstery glow!

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POSTER GRAPHICS

POSTERS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR ADVERTISING BRANDS, BUT TRYING TO DO IT WITHOUT TEXT? THAT’S HARD BEYOND WORDS…

OUR EXPERT JOSH OVERTON

www.overtongraphics.com

Josh is a graphic designer based in London, UK. He focuses mainly on digital and print work and has worked with a number of high-profile clients. He’s currently working at BaseKit.

SOURCE FILES

You will find a paper texture on the CD. Everything else is created from scratch during the tutorial.

We will be looking at creating an advertisement with no words, which can have several interpretations depending on the potential customer who is viewing it

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Advertising without words is possibly one of the most difficult marketing strategy briefs you can get. It can therefore require a lot more work than an advertisement with words, because creating an image that gets a point across to a viewer without using any text is much harder than having a quick brainstorming session to think up a tagline. In this tutorial we look at creating a mock poster advert for a brand with an identifiable logo. A lot of current advertising is text-based. However, when viewers are walking by in a rush or driving past at speed, these text-heavy adverts are lost as they have no attention-grabbing, self-explanatory elements that you can take something from in the blink of an eye. We will be looking at creating an advertisement with no words, which can have several interpretations depending on the potential customer who is viewing it. We will be creating this design using purely Photoshop and some simple techniques in the program which are often overlooked.

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MAKE MULTIVALENT ILLUSTRATIONS

LEARN HOW TO SELL WITHOUT WORDS

01

SET UP THE DOCUMENT

03

ADD SOME SHAPES

First, we need to establish the size of the document. Set it to International Paper, A3 with a dpi of 300. This is convenient as, with these settings, you can print up to A2 posters without compromising on image quality and you also save some space on your computer’s memory. It’s a win-win situation!

02

ADD A BACKGROUND

Next we need a background image. We are using a textured backdrop (supplied on the resource disc), but you can use any texture or colour that works for your design. Remember, these steps are a starting point for you to go off on your own tangent.

Now we add some shapes to the background just to make the design a little more complex and interesting. This is an optional step as you may be going for a cleaner, more minimalist finish. The shapes we are using are rectangles, which are white in colour with a faded opacity so that they better blend in with the background.

UNDERSTANDING SKEW In terms of geometry, a skew polygon is a polygon which has vertices that do not lie across a single plane. Because they are multidimensional, skew polygons must have at least four vertices. A regular skew polygon is a skew polygon with equal edge lengths and which is vertex-transitive. The interior surface (or area) of such a polygon is not uniquely defined. The vertex of an angle is the point where two rays begin or meet, where two line segments join or meet, where two lines intersect (cross), or any appropriate combination of rays, segments and lines that result in two straight ‘sides’ meeting at a single point.

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ADVERTISING 101 Sometimes it’s good to go back to basics before starting a project. In essence, advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience to buy or buy into a particular product, idea or service. It traditionally includes the name of the product or service and how that item could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume a specific brand. These messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various media. Advertising can also convey ideas and principles in an attempt to incite a certain way of thinking.

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04

CHOOSE A GUIDE

We have used a hand for this design but anything, within reason, is usable – consider what will work for your advert. First find a good image to use as a guide for the shaping of the rectangles. Once you have your image, we can move on to its construction.

HANDIWORK

The next few steps are the longest part of this process and require some patience. First make a rectangle at any size and apply a default Drop Shadow style to it. We have used the starting colour ‘#b10d4f’. Next, we skew the rectangle and then repeat the process throughout.

06

SKEW

08

DUPLICATE AND ROTATE

Enter the Transform mode for the rectangle (Cmd/ Ctrl+T) and then Ctrl/right-click to drag individual corners to line up with the guide image on the layer below. Try to build it with a 3D head so we can shade certain shapes to give the hand more depth.

Now our hand is finished we can duplicate it three times so that we have four hands, and then rotate all of them and put them at each corner of the page so that they are pointing to the centre. We can now move on to change the colour of each hand.

07

KEEP SKEWING

Continue building up the hand shape. The fingers can be a particularly tricky area of this illustration to get right, so expect to spend some time redoing shapes; however, finishing something this complex can be very rewarding. Continue with the design until you are completely satisfied, then merge all the hand layers together.

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The fingers can be a particularly tricky area of this illustration to get right, so expect to spend some time redoing shapes; however, finishing something this complex can be very rewarding

10

SHADOW

11

POSITION THE LOGO

09

A SPLASH OF COLOUR

Now simply select the hand you wish to colour and then go to Image>Adjustments> Hue/Saturation and play with the Hue slider. This is a great way to change the colour of the whole image at once without affecting the tones of the hand. Repeat for the remaining three hands.

Select all four hands and then make a merged copy of all four by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/ Alt+E. Put this layer behind the separate hands and desaturate it. Now we need to apply a slight Motion Blur at a 45-degree angle. Finally, we enlarge and rotate this layer using the Transform controls in order to create a shadow effect.

Open a copy of your logo and place it in the centre of the hands. All we have to do is create a copy of the logo in the same style of the hands using your icon as a guide. This is done using the same techniques as described from Step 6.

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ALL DONE

There we have it: a striking poster without words. A visual statement, which functions like an advertisement, but which allows the viewer to make their own interpretation.

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DIGITAL COLLAGE TECHNIQUES

Learn how composition, colours and attention to detail can take an artwork from good to great

OUR EXPERT EE VENN SOH

http://be.net/vennsoh

Ee Venn Soh works under the creative identity of EIII. He is currently based in New Zealand, and his main skillset lies in coding and graphics.

SOURCE FILES

There is a gradient colour preset, polka-dot pattern file and a colour adjustment PSD provided on the CD.

To complete this tutorial to best effect, it will be beneficial if you a good working knowledge of how to work with Photoshop’s Pen tool, layer styles, Transform tools, filters and adjustment layers (check out the intro tips feature for guidance). The illustration itself is a classic retro piece given a twist with a mixed bag of modern abstract geometry. Colour plays a significant role in creating something reminiscent of the recent past – say, the Seventies. Conversely, the shapes are more abstract in nature, which is a characteristic of more modern art. The whole composition actively encourages experimentation. We injected contemporary elements like abstract shapes into an expressive vintage colour tone and deliberately exaggerated many aspects of the work to be as quirky as possible, so feel free to deviate from these steps. You will learn how to sharpen your composition to create the perfect balanced artwork based on some basic principles, while honing your artistic eye. Colour is key to this and we will start by choosing the right palette. At the very end, we will focus on the finer details, adding finesse to the piece by way of Photoshop filters and a few ‘polishing’ techniques. Photoshop is a great piece of software for this style of art thanks to its advanced layering abilities. You will be amazed by how you can harness some of the most basic tools and end up with an amazing digital collage.

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01

BACKGROUND AND COLOUR

03

FOCAL POINT 2

Create an A4 canvas and fill it with ‘#c8d2bd’. Next, we will start to define a colour palette for the artwork. Do keep in mind that the colour chosen here will be affected by the overall colour adjustments in the final steps. A good source of inspiration for colour schemes is www.colourlovers.com. Load up the ‘gradients.grd’ file from the CD via the Gradient Editor.

We’re going to create the specularity aspect of the rectangle now. Select the Pen tool (P) to create a shape layer; we are looking to draw the shadow and highlight areas. Hit Shift while creating a new anchor point to constrain the angle. Fill the shapes using the gradient colours which were loaded in Step 1.

02

FOCAL POINT

The focus of this artwork consists of three square shapes. Select the Rectangle tool (U) to create a shape layer. Hold Shift+Opt/Alt while dragging to constrain the proportions of the rectangle while centring it. Create a layer mask by duplicating the same rectangle and scale it down to 80%. Make sure the ‘Maintain aspect ratio’ box is selected.

THE LITTLE DETAILS If you have time, you could add more details to the 3D abstract shapes. Apply a soft white Inner Shadow layer style to a few shapes to simulate a highlight. If you prefer, you could even add a Drop Shadow to the shapes where they stack on top of each other to create a sense of depth. Details make a good design great, and although they can take up a lot of time, they are usually time well spent. We also added a few gradient spheres around the work for extra interest. These little visual ingredients should work with the focal point, rather than distract the eye; you are looking to create a harmonious whole.

05

PATTERNED SHAPES

Create a circle, rectangle and triangle using the various shape tools (U) and fill them with ‘#cab98b’. Position them randomly around the edge of the largest rectangle. Add the ‘pattern_polka. psd’ file from the CD to the shapes and, finally, apply a Bevel and Emboss layer style using the settings shown in the screenshot below.

04

SMARTEN UP

Group all the rectangle layers and convert them into a Smart Object. Duplicate this object twice. Scale the first object down to 66% and the second object to 44%. Once again ‘Maintain aspect ratio’ should be activated.

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Graphics 06

TRANSFORMATION EFFECTS

Select the Rectangle tool and create a white rectangle. Duplicate it and press Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform it. Move and rotate the shape from the original values, then hit Enter. While still on the same layer, Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+T multiple times to transform it again and again. Try to be experimental with the rotation angle and the distance between each duplicated shape.

QUICK TIP Getting a perfect composition isn’t easy. The basic rule to remember is that true perfection is attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.

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Try to be experimental with the rotation angle and the distance between each duplicated shape

3D ABSTRACT SHAPES 2

07

HEXAGON EFFECTS

08

3D ABSTRACT SHAPES

Using the Polygon tool (U), create a hexagonal shape layer and apply a gradient with the provided file. Rasterise it, then using the same transformation method from the previous step, re-create the hexagon multiple times. Merge them all together and duplicate the layer. Flip the duplicated layer horizontally (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal) and place in the main merged layer.

This is the most tedious part of the tutorial. Using the Pen tool, create a shape layer and fill with a gradient as before. Create the other faces of the shape with the Pen tool. This time apply a new gradient overlay; experiment with colours until you find one that works for you.

Repeat the previous step as many times as you need to until you have an overall pleasing composition. Try creating lots of abstract shapes in different sizes and colours, and place them randomly around the canvas. You can duplicate some shapes and tweak their values to save some time on bulking out the collage.

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3D TRANSFORMED SHAPES

Select one of the 3D shape groups and merge it. Repeat the transformation effect as demonstrated in earlier steps. However this time you can set a reference point and transform around that point. Repeat this step a few times on various 3D shape groups until you’re satisfied with the composition.

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11

STRIPS

Once more, use the Pen tool to create a shape layer; instead of a polygon, this time we will create a smooth curved strip. Apply a gradient and an Inner Shadow layer style as before. Duplicate the layer, place it behind the shape and nudge it just off its original position to create the shadow. Remember you can apply layer masks whenever you want to cover up certain areas.

13

COLOUR SETTING

16

FINAL FILTERS

Next, we make the overall colour adjustments. First we apply a Hue/Saturation layer followed by a Selective Color layer and then, finally, a Color Balance layer. There is a ‘colour_adjustments.psd’ file on the CD with the three colour adjustment settings if you’d like to save some time. In the PSD, drag the layer group and simply drop it into your project file.

This last step is a very experimental touchup so go with your own instincts here. Using the Lasso tool again, make some random selections and apply Pixelate>Mosaic, as well as the Distort>Wave and ZigZag filters, setting the values to taste. If you think you have gone overboard with a particular effect, you can just use the Eraser tool (E) to take things back a bit.

14

ADD NOISE AND POSTERISE

Create a new layer and fill it with black. Apply a 400% Monochromatic Noise filter. Change the blending mode to Overlay and drop the Opacity to 20%. Next, click on Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Posterize and set its Levels value to 25%.

QUICK TIP Play around with the settings in the Gradient Overlay layer style. While in the Layer Style panel, you can drag around the gradient in the canvas to find its optimum position within the shape.

12

GET SMUDGING

15

BEAUTIFUL DESTRUCTION

Make a rectangle with four different colours in it. Click on the Smudge tool and change the settings to: Diameter 100px, Hardness 100% and Strength 100%. Then select your Freeform Pen tool (P) and draw a zigzag path. Ensure the tip of the path is in the centre of the rectangle. In the Paths panel, right-click on the path and Stroke Path with the Smudge tool.

Select All (Cmd/Ctrl+A) and Copy Merged (Cmd/Ctrl>Shift+C) and Paste it (Cmd/Ctrl+V). Select the Lasso tool (L) and make some random selections of the artwork and start nudging these up or down and slightly to the right. Repeat this step several times, focusing on one area for maximum effect.

Using the Lasso tool again, make some random selections and apply Pixelate> Mosaic as well as the Distort>Wave and ZigZag filters to taste Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 89

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SYMMETRY WITH SHAPES

USE BOTH GEOMETRIC AND ORGANIC FORMS TO CREATE FRESH AND UNIQUE SYMMETRY WITHIN YOUR GRAPHICAL DESIGNS Graphic designers are usually defined as producers of form, who combine words, symbols and images to create a visual representation of an idea or message. With digital techniques, solutions have become more instantaneous, reflected in the custom-built compositions and limited adoption of strict geometric styling – layering by eye and sensation is more prevalent. In this tutorial we turn our hand to this contemporary graphic style, using both freestyle and traditional shapes to develop a balanced composition. Also included are several mixed-media approaches that add tangibility to what may

have once been a static style, as well as showing you how to couple 2D and 3D forms. Creating such bespoke projects is never easy, but the common factor that does bind them together and ground them graphically is symmetry. This can be produced by matching up the forms of well-known shapes, creating recognisable and structured geometry, which is then individualised through the application of more personalised forms. Surprisingly when paired, these can create dynamic and visually stimulating designs, appreciated by many modern-day digital creatives.

PLAYING WITH SHAPES

BLEND ABSTRACT AND REALISTIC CONCEPTS FOR IMPACT

01

SET THE SCENE

Settings for a graphical piece are more about sensation than visual detail. Open your document and create a solid grey layer. Fill a new layer with black, then load up the Cloud Brushes from the CD, applying a 70% Opacity Cloud 3 black brush – bottom up – to create fog effects.

02

Creating such bespoke [graphic] projects is never easy, but the common factor that does bind them together is symmetry

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SKULL SKYLINE

Copy and paste in iStockphoto’s ‘11242613’ image of a nebula. Place central to the skyline, rotating right by 30 degrees. Tweak tones by applying Image>Adjustments>Hue/ Saturation, with Hue at around -175 and Saturation at -20. You should see some semblance of a skull in the reoriented image (see screengrab). Also apply a Smart Sharpen filter to the Orion nebula image – setting this to 100% Amount with a 1px Radius.

03

SKULL SKYLINE 2

Apply a Vivid Light blending mode to your nebula layer then a layer mask, integrating edges. Duplicate, flip horizontally and reapply a Screen blending mode, tweaking the mask and position. Next import the ‘1036239’ human skull image from SXC, setting a 70% Opacity Soft Light blending mode. Position over converging nebula layers to complete the main skull visual, integrating with another layer mask.

OUR EXPERT ADAM SMITH

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

Adam is a creative tour de force at Advanced Photoshop magazine. For this tutorial, he brings us more of his up-to-date styles.

SOURCE FILES

You’ll find a selection of iStockphoto images, as well as free shape resources and links to other stock. We’ve also included the wonderful Cloud brushset, courtesy of designer Lee Pearce (http://para-vine. deviantart.com).

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Graphics 04

SKULL SKYLINE 3

06

HEAD’S UP

Copy and paste in the iStockphoto ‘2684253’ close-up of the Orion nebula image. Rotate 90 degrees to the left, applying a Screen blending mode, then rescale and position to the right of your skull, extending from the right eye socket. Reapply blue and purple tones as before via Hue/Saturation. Lastly, sharpen and integrate with a layer mask once more.

QUICK TIP Photoshop is adept at creating both 2D and 3D shapes. The fx options Inner Glow and Gradient Overlay, as well as Bevel and Emboss, effects can be used intuitively to create a sense of the third dimension. Just experiment to get the right look.

05

COLOUR WASH

Copy Step 1’s black layer, placing above all others. Set blending to Screen, then apply a ‘120b91’ blue Color Overlay (15% Opacity) and a 90-degree violet-to-transparent Gradient Overlay. Copy and paste the ‘5260804’ model from the CD and scale down, rotating 30 degrees to the right. Apply Image> Adjustments>Black & White, setting Reds at -120 and Yellows at 75.

Position your model head layer as in the example. Duplicate this, resetting a 50% Opacity Multiply blending mode. Grunge up the area by applying iStockphoto’s ‘10117876’ and ‘4157951’ watercolour layers from the disc, set to Color, Linear Burn and Soft Light blending modes. Tweak opacity and saturation to taste, playing with orientation and editing with layer masks.

08

ADD 2D CIRCLES

To create more personalised graphic effects, try applying the Exclusion blend mode to some of these mountain layers and inverting (Cmd/Ctrl+I) to create unique and interesting colour contrasts. Now start to apply your first pass of regular shape – circles. Copy and Paste these in from the ‘2D shapes.psd’ or make them yourself with the Circle Shape tool.

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09

ADD 3D SPHERES

We’ve varied the 2D circle effects by applying Soft Light and Color Burn blending modes, inverting some, as well as alternating opacity levels. 3D spheres have then been placed. Specifically we’ve added in SXC’s ‘1272764’ moon picture, the ‘Sun shape.psd’ (layer effects visible on the CD) and gloss spheres from iStockphoto’s ‘9928486’ image.

SANDY SPHERES Although used sparingly in our own design, the sand sphere elements are highly contemporary within modern graphic examples. You can see how layering affects these shapes from the examples on the disc. To create one of your own, apply a grey eclipse shape, then apply Inner Glow to illuminate edges, as well as a black-to-transparent gradient to create the 3D form. Paste in a sand section from a desert/beach image and position over your sphere, then add a layer mask. Ctrl/right-click the sphere layer thumbnail and apply to your desert mask, isolating the shape of this layer to the sphere’s edges. Now you can paint in sand contours and sharpen to finish up.

07

ORGANIC FORMS

Let’s offset the uniform shapes we’ll apply soon with more organic samples. We’ve used contemporary rustic stock. Open the ‘IMG_1655.jpg’ mountain image from the CD, then use selection tools (eg Lasso) to draw around sections of the mountain, inserting into your image. Repeat several times, rescaling and repositioning as you go. Drop shadows can add perspective so play with these for best effects.

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10

3D REALISM

12

SYMMETRICAL SHAPES

As the sun layer acts as a light source, we’ve made sure this affects the lighting of the surrounding elements. We’ve painted to the moon layer directly using Dodge and Burn tools. Duplicate your gloss sphere, apply Hue/Saturation>Lightness -100, lower Opacity to 20% and mask away edges where light would fall. Apply a Drop Shadow layer style to the smaller gloss sphere.

11

TRIANGULATION

Hard-edged triangles offset smooth circles well. We’ve strategically placed an equilateral triangle, set to Linear Burn, showing through textures beneath, and a 58% Opacity violet equilateral triangle, set to Vivid Light; masking its edges to create transparent effects, we’ve also applied a white-to-transparent 90-degree Gradient Overlay. An extra line shape serves to unite circles and triangles.

Adjust symmetry and tones of elements, complementing with CD resources and blending. Apply diagonal and horizontal lines to make a triangle, then a circle line using the Pen Path tool and Ellipse shape option. Select Stroke Path within the Paths palette with a 2px white hard brush applied to a new layer.

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15

IMAGE CUTS

When referring to image cuts, we mean using selection tools to copy and paste from another image into our own – usually a reference of colour and texture without any clear indication of original picture content. These create diverse visuals and can be colour adjusted, blended and used to create further symmetry/direction when mixed with path and line shapes.

BUILD UP SYMMETRY

Inside your circle line shape layer, insert the ‘sand sphere.psd’ from the CD, setting it to Multiply blending mode. Underneath this layer add a ‘335675’ blue tone circle set to 50% Fill Color Burn, and then on top, a white smaller shape (overlapping the sand shape edges) set to Overlay. A small purple shape is placed centrally on top of all these layers.

QUICK TIP Symmetry can be easily achieved when looking beyond the fitting of geometric shapes and aligning your own freestyle types with organic structures and direction built from accidental overlaps and converging edges. Be spontaneous to guarantee individuality.

16

14

GET A MOVE ON

Though acceptable with graphic design, our image is quite static, so let’s work it up with subtle movement. We’ve done so by applying the SXC ‘815479’ watercolour image, set to Screen blending mode, over our central shapes, masking edges. We’ve also thrown down some smaller scattered shapes from the disc.

EXTRA ARTEFACTS

With all you’ve learnt, feel free to finish the piece or add extra elements. We’ve included another image cut with a Lens Flare effect and the ‘sand sphere2.psd’ at adjacent ends of our line shapes to create balance. We’ve also added a flyout circle with a numeral – balancing the piece and creating a cryptic visual cue (for an explanation, Google ‘Lifepath number’).

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Graphics

USE TEXTURES TO ADD DEPTH LAYER PHOTOGRAPHIC TEXTURES AND OBJECTS TO BRING YOUR GRAPHIC ARTWORKS TO LIFE

OUR EXPERT THOMAS BURDEN

www.therewillbeunicorns.com

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to construct this seasonal graffiti-inspired image from elements drawn exclusively in PS. We’ll also show you how quickly and easily a flat image can be transformed, by adding a more interesting aged look with just one texture and a handy free plug-in specifically made for the job. Supplied by illustrator Thomas Burden, he uses this on his very own professional projects, invented as an invaluable production device to halve the time spent creating and editing textures. Rather than simply overlaying textures using the blending mode options, we’ll be building up separate layers of solid textures manually. These are easily edited through colour adjustments. We’ll explore how to target and texture specific image areas using Photoshop gradient maps too, as well as how to detail image elements using Shape toolsets and the Pen Path Stroke command. In its entirety this workshop offers the essential skills for a super-fast workflow for grunge-based illustrative styles. Once you’ve completed this image, why not try creating a piece based on another season?

WORK IN PROGRESS

BUILDING UP OUR COLOURFUL DESIGN

ADD DEPTH TO ILLUSTRATIONS

01

OPEN UP THE SOURCE FILES

Step 1: Start out with the flat image

Step 11: Work up the textures

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SOURCE FILES

‘Icecream man.psd’ is the main working file. ‘Cutout’ is an editable Photoshop process application, created for quickly keying out white from textures. ‘Texture.jpg’ is the texture applied to this piece.

LET’S TURN SOMETHING FLAT INTO AN AMAZING ARTWORK Load the source files from the CD. Open ‘Icecream man.psd’. The image is looking flat and missing a couple of elements. We’re going to create said elements and then texture all within an inch of its life, using a single scanned image of some old paint on glass (also supplied on the disc).

Step 8: Add more elements

There Will Be Unicorns is the studio moniker of illustrator, Thomas. He has mixed a freelance career with longer, full-time stints as a designer at McFaul Studio and CRUSH Creative.

03

CREATE A CUBE

To start we’re going to make a cube shape, which is an excellent building block for most of this image’s forms. Create a new layer and draw a square with the Marquee tool (M) or the Rectangle tool (U). A simple yellow square can quickly be skewed, duplicated, flipped and re-coloured to form a cube, using the Edit>Transform options.

02

INSTALL THE PROCESS APP

From the disc drag the ‘Cutout’ icon into Photoshop (Applications>Photoshop>Plug-Ins). Mac users can also place this on their desktop to quickly drag textures as needed. This will become a quick way of keying out white from textures, in order to keep them as easily editable solid layers.

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Graphics 04

QUICK TIP

CONSTRUCT A SANDCASTLE

Sandcastles and sand staircases can then be made quickly and easily in Photoshop, by duplicating (Cmd/Ctrl+J) and resizing cubes using Transform>Scale. Using these as the basis for the image gives it a strong sense of composition and perspective, serving as guides when creating other elements. Their strong uniform lines can really tie a scene together even when scattered. Try creating some elements of your own using this same process.

A good texture library is key to creating good authentic grunge styles. Get off the computer and play around with inks, paints, old paper and anything you can think of. Scan them in, then name and file them so you can quickly locate them in the future.

05

BUILD BESPOKE SHAPES

The summery ice lollies are created using the Rounded Rectangle tool (U). Taper the shape using Edit>Transform>Distort to get a realistic shape. Stripes are then added and the shape is skewed, keeping it in line with the perspective of other elements, using Distort again. This can be duplicated, nudged down and darkened using Brightness/Contrast to create a 3D effect. You can decorate your lollies however you like, but it should complement the overall colour scheme.

06

MAKE A LOLLY STICK

07

ADD SPRINKLES

Lolly stick shapes are also made using the Rounded Rectangle tool. Detail lines – such as the grain of the wood – are drawn with the Pen Path tool (P) on a separate layer by eye. Next set the Brush tool to the required colour, sized at around 3px and with Hardness pushed to 100%, then Cmd/ Ctrl-click your wood grain layer thumbnail, selecting Stroke Path. The Pen tool in Photoshop works exactly the same way it does within Illustrator – but by keeping the whole process in Photoshop, we can ultimately speed up the workflow.

The paths can now be deleted. Once the line layer and shape layer are merged (select both and hit Cmd/Ctrl+E), the stick can then be treated as per other elements to give it a 3D perspective. Decorative sprinkles add more realism and we utilise the Rounded Rectangle tool once again, quickly duplicating (Opt/Alt then click and drag), re-colouring and rotating sprinkles to cover the top portion of the lolly.

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08

FILL OUT THE COMPOSITION

Now we’ve got some of the more fundamental elements created we can easily duplicate these to begin fleshing out the composition. Using uniform angles and perspective in this way means that compositions and repeat patterns can be executed really quickly – and to maximum effect. Use some of the elements symmetrically and others placed randomly to create greater visual diversity. Have a look at our screenshot to get a good idea of placement.

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APPLY TEXTURES

Using uniform angles and perspective in this way means that compositions and repeat patterns can be filled out really quickly

USE ADJUSTMENT OPTIONS TO TARGET IMAGE AREAS

09

CREATE A TEXTURE

Drag the ‘Texture.psd’ onto the ‘Cutout’ application icon and watch the magic happen. As you can see, it has automatically opened in Photoshop, selecting and separating all black colour value. This will work with any image you use, but it specifically caters to creating textures. It always works best if your texture image is greyscale, with a high contrast.

10

ADD TEXTURE TO THE BACKGROUND

13

ADJUST THE COLOURS

Copy and paste the selected texture area into the Icecream man main image. Place the new layer between the Icecream man layer and the Background layer. Colour it however you want using colour overlays; experiment until you get something that you are happy with. For the texture on the background we’ve used white, then duplicated it, rotated it 180 degrees and changed the colour to a dark blue.

11

CREATE A TONAL MAP

We’re now going to add a little texture to the main elements. Duplicate the texture layer that you used on the background, placing it above the Icecream man layer this time. Cmd/Ctrl-click the Icecream man layer thumbnail, applying a layer mask so that the new texture only affects the Icecream man layer and not any of the background. Duplicate the Icecream man layer and navigate to Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map.

12

TEXTURE INDIVIDUAL TONES

Click on the gradient swatch to bring up the Gradient Editor, selecting the Black, White style. Name the layer ‘Gradient Map’, using it to target different image tones, texturing them individually. Using the Magic Wand tool (W) with a Tolerance of 40, select the midtones of the Gradient Map layer, duplicating from another texture layer, inversing and deleting any excess. This part of the process can be time-consuming but it’s worth it.

You can then repeat the previous step for the highlights and darker areas, making sure to mix up the position, rotation and scale of each texture layer. We now have separate texture layers for each image exposure. Now simply adjust the colours of each texture layer using colour overlays. Feel free to experiment, but here we’ve kept the colour overlays roughly in line with their respective tones for consistency.

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Graphics TECHNIQUES

MASTER VECTOR LAYERS IN CS6

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HOW TO USE VECTOR LAYERS IN CS6 USE CS6’S NEW STROKE AND FILL SETTINGS PLUS THE VECTOR SHAPE TOOLS TO CREATE A VIBRANT ILLUSTRATION

Photoshop CS6 boasts some really cool features, but the one change that’s got us excited is the introduction of vector layers and their related tools. While this clearly isn’t going to replace Illustrator (for those of you that use it), if you want intuitively simple shapes that you can build into graphical projects, then Photoshop will do a great job without having to delve into any other packages. Unlike previous versions, we have the option to create and resize vectors without degrading quality, as well as adding strokes and fills to shapes in seconds.

WORK IN PROGRESS

FROM SIMPLE DESIGN TO IN-DEPTH ILLUSTRATION

In this tutorial, we are going to be looking at how to use the new vector tools, in addition to throwing in a few tips for using some of CS6’s other great features. We will be building an infographic-style illustration, using a combination of shapes created purely in Photoshop, lines and photo stock transformed into shapes with the Pen tool. You will need to collect together a bunch of stock images before you begin that fit your theme, but the techniques in this tutorial are the same regardless of the images that you choose to use.

OUR EXPERT GORDON REID

www.middleboop.com

Gordon has built up a solid reputation as a promising and exciting young designer. His client list includes BBC, Ladbrokes, Halifax, 4AD and Warp.

SOURCE FILES

We have included various vector shapes and a colour scheme as a PSD file., as well as paper textures that you can use in the background.

PREPARE THE IMAGE

SET UP THE BACKGROUND AND SOURCE PRELIMINARY VECTORS

01

CHANGE THE INTERFACE COLOUR

This is a great new technique to use before setting up your piece: controlling the colour of the workspace. Set up your blank canvas, then use Shift+F1+fn to go darker and Shift+F2+fn to go lighter – when working on a piece like this, darker is best. Now we are going to start importing some photo assets to give us our initial shapes.

02

CROP WHAT YOU NEED

Open your first photo asset and then use the Crop tool to isolate the area that you want to use. This helps us when we come to creating a shape from the photo, as we’re not distracted by the excess photography. The new Crop tool has some fresh options to play with. First, choose your grid structure and crop as needed.

Step 1: Initial stages

Step 16: Build around focal point

Step 24: Line everything up

03

MAKE AN ADVANCED CROP

What’s more exciting about the new Crop tool is that even with your area selected, you have the ability to move and rotate the entire image around it to select another point. This makes for more customised cropping, meaning you can now change your desired image so that only the area you need is left.

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04

QUICK TIP

PEN TOOL

Play around with the new shape layer tools. You’ll find they are really handy to master and with so many new additions they can really form the basis of a solid, unique illustration.

The Pen tool is by far the most reliable tool for cutting images out, so once you have your cropped images, cut the main subjects out from their background. This way you have a series of isolated elements that you can come back to at any time when working on your composition. Organisation is key, so get as many photos and objects together as you might need at this stage before moving on. We will now begin to prepare them for use in our illustration.

06

CREATE A FOCAL POINT

07

START BLENDING

05

We’re now going to turn our isolated photo stock elements into shapes for use in our artwork. As we are going in an infographic direction with this piece, we plumped for some mechanical imagery. Here we are tracing around a spanner using the Pen tool set to Shapes. This enables us to create a vector shape that we can use the new Fill and Stroke options on (more on this later) to colour the elements and add extra effects to them.

As this illustration is based around the new Photoshop CS6 options, we feel it makes sense to have a computer as the focal point. Find a photo of the type of computer that you want to use, trace around it as we have done previously using the Pen tool method, line it up in the centre of your canvas and work the illustration outwards from this point. Having a rough sketch of the elements you want to use and where they will go will help at this point.

Bring in your treated photo assets from the earlier steps – we have got various tools, balloons and pipes, but go for whatever suits your theme. Despite working with a lot of flat colour in this piece, it’s good to spruce up a few bits by using blending options. Take this balloon for instance. We have added an Inner Shadow layer style, with Distance at 13, Choke at 15 and Size at 46, which gives it a slight 3D look and more depth.

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MAKE SHAPES FROM PHOTOS

08

ADD A BACKGROUND

We have decided that our plain white background could do with some sprucing up to make the illustration work. Go to the Gradient tool (G) and select two light colours, such as an off white and a pale yellow; we have chosen fbf1d9 and e2e2e2. Select a Radial Gradient and line up your cursor with the middle of the page, then drag down to nearly the bottom of the page. The colours of this gradient will depend on your overall colour scheme.

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GET TO GRIPS WITH THE CS6 TOOLS

DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF NEW VECTOR FEATURES IN PHOTOSHOP

09

LINES AND VECTORS

Our composition has really started to build up now. One great new addition with CS6 is the ability to craft your vectors and lines like never before, making this kind of style even more accessible. First off, select the Line tool (U) and make sure it’s set to Shape with a Stroke of at least 3pt. Add a gradient fill of contrasting colours to the stroke, then select the dashed line in the box next to it and make your line a little fatter. You can use these while working to connect the elements.

10

FILLS AND SHAPE LAYERS

Select the Ellipse tool (U). Draw a circle and you will notice that in the top header there are some new options. Selecting a Fill, you can now choose from a number of options including Gradient and Pattern straight away. Choose a bright gradient and then add a stroke.

001 002

003 001 |

Choose a gradient from the new top header, then make it Linear with an Angle of around 166

002 |

Try different options like a Radial Gradient or Diamond Gradient. You will find there is a lot of potential with this tool

003 |

The new Stroke option is great fun to experiment with. Add a bold colour that stands out well from the gradient

One great new addition with CS6 is the ability to craft your vectors and lines like never before, making this kind of style even more accessible

11

USE A STROKE

Add in a polygon from the Shape tool options. You will notice in the top-right that there is now an option to choose how many sides you would like on your polygon. For this pick 6 and add a stroke as before. You can fill the stroke with a gradient, pattern or block colour and there’s even a tab of your recently used colours. Try this effect with different shapes to see how it works.

12

DASHED LINE

Once you have your stroke, let’s move along to the next box and give it a dashed line of about 3pt. Experiment with this tool, as there are some great outcomes you can get. Increase the point size to over 20 and you get some really interesting patterns. What’s more, if you increase the size of the polygon, the stroke will realign itself automatically, which can be a real timesaver.

13

EXPERIMENT WITH STROKES

Now let’s experiment even further with the new options. Draw a new six-sided polygon and fill it and give it a Stroke of 3pt, selecting the circular dotted line. Try changing the Caps to Round and Corners to Bevel, then click the More Options button at the bottom of the dialog. Add Dash: 0, Gap: 2, Dash: 2. There is a lot of room for experimentation to achieve different effects here.

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Graphics VECTOR SHAPES

BLEND NEW TOOLS WITH FAVOURED TECHNIQUES

14

ADJUST THE BACKGROUND

This is always a nice effect to use on an image like this. Use the Ellipse tool again (U), making sure it’s set to Shape. Create a small circle and then, holding down Opt/Alt, drag and copy the circle. Use guides to line and space the circles properly. Once you have done a few, group them and do the same again until you have a big pattern. Resize and stick it behind the computer screen.

15

CREATE MORE ELEMENTS

Keep a copy of your pattern, as this will be useful going forward. For instance, using the original copy, take the Pen tool, set it to Paths and cut out interesting segments, such as the clouds we have created here. Once you have your shape, Ctrl/right-click and choose Make a Selection, ensuring that the Feather Radius is set to 0 and Anti Alias is checked, then cut out your shapes.

CHOOSE COLOUR WISELY

As you progress in your work, remember your colour palette is one of the most important tools you have when creating an illustration like this. With a free brief and a big illustration, it’s always tempting to fly off and create a piece with hundreds of colours. But really, an even more exciting challenge is limiting yourself and being more creative with a certain amount of colour. For this piece, we have only used the core colours that you can see in the triangle.

QUICK TIP

We will be duplicating many layers in this tutorial, so it’s lucky that this process is even easier to do with CS6, all thanks to the new ability to duplicate layer groups. Simply highlight your group, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy.

16

OPTIONAL ILLUSTRATOR WORK

18

SELECTIVE COLOUR

Now we’ll want to bring out these vectors even more to really make the design stand out. For this, move over to Illustrator if you have it, make a triangle and add it as a new brush. Keep the Scale at Fixed and change the Minimum to anywhere from 9% to 35% depending on the effect you want to achieve. Change Spacing to 100% and keep Colourization at 0. Then create an ellipse with no fill, add the Triangle brush as a stroke and bring it back into Photoshop.

This may be a bit of an old trick, but it’s always a good one to harness. Take the selection of shapes we have just created, select part of the shape, then create a Solid Color adjustment layer and choose a corresponding colour. This will create a new layer over the top of the old so you can delete the layer underneath.

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17

VECTOR SHAPES

Now, as this illustration is being designed in an infographic-influenced style, it’s good at this point to start building up a library of shapes and layers. Use the Polygon tool (U) and experiment with different shapes. In this instance we will use a three-sided polygon. Give it a fill with no stroke and, while holding Opt/Alt, drag your cursor and you will find your shape has been replicated. Continue this process a number of times and use guides to line your shapes up properly.

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19

DUPLICATE LAYERS

Included with the many new features in Photoshop CS6 are the new additions to the Layers palette, which are similar to those of Adobe After Effects. You can now alter the blending mode, Opacity and Fill options for multiple layers in one go. This is a really handy little trick to use when dealing with multiple layers. You can now also filter through various effects by typing the required name into the new CS6 Search bar.

20

CONVERT TYPE TO SHAPE

Now that the illustration is really starting to take shape, it’s time to add some type. Seeing as this is an illustration to celebrate the new features of CS6, we felt it only right to blend its name into the piece. Let’s pick a nice bold type such as BaseTwelveSans Bold and work out ways of incorporating the type into the piece. A great little tool to aid in resizing is Convert to Shape. Go to Type>Convert To Shape to edit the type more easily.

QUICK TIP

The joy of abstract pieces is that you can reuse elements again and again, so make sure that you label and group layers so that you can find elements again. In CS6 you can search and filter layers, so it’s even easier to find what you need.

21

CREATE A TEXTURE

Now that we are nearing the completion of this piece, it’s time to work in more detail to really bring the image to life. First of all, we need to create some texture. Open a duplicate layer of the original background gradient and go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Set the Noise at around 12%, ticking Gaussian and Monochromatic at the same time. Now set it to Multiply and change the Opacity to around 34%.

22

ADD IN SOME FURTHER STOCK IMAGES

23

FURTHER CURVES

Let’s continue adding to the image by using a stock image to really bring out the illustration. For this we will use Shutterstock’s ‘89076808’ image as a starting point, which is an old vintage paper texture. First desaturate the image by hitting Cmd/Ctrl+U and dragging the Saturation right down to 0. Edit the Lightness by hitting Cmd/Ctrl+L and bringing out the whites and blacks.

There are some really great new photo-editing tools with CS6 and with the new interface it’s even easier to really bring out a vibrant photo. In this case go to Adjustments and then Curves. Use the graph to experiment and make the image have a real impact, bringing out the threads and grains of the paper.

24

FINISH

Select the layer on top of your image and set it to Overlay. You don’t want it to impede too much on your illustration, so take the Opacity right down to around 34%. Now we’ll bring out the background layer just a little bit more. Use a large soft-edged brush on a new layer behind the illustration, set it to f2ead3 then go around the laptop and main pink triangles a bit more to add to the original gradient.

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DESIGN ABSTRACT GRAPHICS LEARN HOW TO CREATE A DYNAMIC, VIBRANT AND APPEALING ABSTRACT COMPOSITION USING SHAPES AND LIGHTING EFFECTS

OUR EXPERTS ANTHONY GIACOMINO AND HOWARD WINTERSON

In this tutorial we will create an abstract composition using tools exclusive to Photoshop. We will cover how to compose the image using two-dimensional and 3D geometric shapes, adding additional unique elements to the scene and finishing it off with dynamic light effects. This tutorial is meant for Photoshop users with an intermediate knowledge. It’s important for us to familiarise ourselves with blending modes and practise using ones such as Screen, Color Dodge and Overlay to see how they interact. Many shapes and light effects we will be using need specific modes in order to blend properly with the surrounding elements and background. In this case, blending and creating unity in the piece is vital. Understanding the techniques provided and experimenting with them even further will yield more original and interesting results. Photoshop enables us to create all of the effects and manipulate with ease. We can use the piece for just about anything, and it works as a great background or piece of artwork. In a collaborative effort we also aim to give some insight into working with someone, as it’s important to find a partner who shares your style.

WORK IN PROGRESS

ARTWORK DEVELOPMENT

Step 3: Basic background layout

http://agiaco.net and http:// strangeprogram.deviantart.com

Anthony is a self-taught illustrator and designer currently working in the world of advertising. Howard currently attends university and enjoys experimenting with digital art in his spare time.

SOURCE FILES

There are no files on the disc. You will need to download two free stock images from sxc.hu, image numbers ‘5496’ and ‘921435’.

GET STARTED WITH BASIC SHAPES

BUILD THE BACKGROUND AND THE BARE BONES OF THE COMPOSITION

01

FORM A BACKGROUND

Fill the Background with black and, on a new layer, choose colour ‘#400b76’, drag a Radial gradient out from the centre of the canvas and lower the Opacity to 60%. Select a grey hue and add a smaller radial glow emitting from the middle and set the blending mode to Color Dodge. Add a final smaller white glow.

02

CREATE A GEOMETRIC SHAPE

Draw out a rough selection using the Polygonal Lasso tool. Now select a linear gradient and, using tones ‘#e31f6a’ and ‘#2a04e7’, drag the gradient to fill the selection. In order to add interest, draw out more shapes above the main one and use Cmd/Ctrl+G to create a clipping mask. Vary the colour tones and be sure to add some white.

Step 7: Detail the scene

03

ADD MORE PRIMARY SHAPES

Step 13: Make final touches

Using the same technique, we added two more shapes to complement the first one. In order to blend the inner shapes more we experimented with blending modes such as Screen and Overlay to give them some interest and dimension. The placement is rather rough, but secondary elements will aid in the composition. Be sure to pay close attention to these shapes so they look detailed.

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Graphics 04

QUICK TIP

THE FIRST HINT OF LIGHT

Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, draw out a large selection and Ctrl/right-click>Fill the selection with black on a new layer. Navigate to Filter>Render>Lens Flare and select one to use. Set the blending mode to Color Dodge and place it around the geometric shapes. Experiment with the Spherize and Polar Co-ordinates filters on the Lens Flare layer, but be wary of using too many.

When choosing a person to collaborate with, be familiar with their style and talk to them. Identify your strengths and compare them to theirs. Find out the differences and similarities between your work ethics and creative processes. A good collaboration has both artists complementing each other in some way.

05

CHECKER SHAPE

In order to make the checkerboard shape to the right of the image, we make a marquee outline for a circle then use Fill Pattern to fill in a shaded checkerboard pattern that we create in Photoshop. Refer to tutorials online to create a simple checker pattern. We Filter>Spherize the pattern and use the Warp tool to craft it into a desirable shape. We then shade it with linear light and darks on the edges and inside to give a sense of depth. Try creating a clipping mask layer and using a soft brush at low opacity to shade. Add a reflection of the checker in a clipping mask to the nearby crystal and set it to Soft Light.

06

ADD BUILDING SHAPES

07

USE SUBTLE SHAPES

Render a stock picture of the London Lloyds buildings (from sxc.hu, image number: ‘5496’) and rotate it. Use Filter>Polar Co-ordinates on it to give it a spiral look. Experiment with this concept by rotating the shape and applying the Polar distortion to create all sorts of variants. The shape is very friendly with shading so take many approaches to this step. Use a soft brush around the sides with modes such as Screen, Linear Light or Soft Light. Once we generate a few curly shapes, place them around the primary shapes.

In order to add some visual interest we need to create some shapes and elements that fade more in the background. Using the Shape tool, we select the Rounded Rectangle and change the Radius to 20cm. Pick a purple tone a bit lighter than the background and draw some small pill shapes. Use a layer mask and soft brush to blend, also add a slightly white stroke around it set to Overlay blending mode. Try adding some dotted lines or adding a stroke to existing shapes.

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08

STROKED PATH

The smooth, thin line created in the middle of the piece was made with the Pen tool. In order to create lines like this, simply use the Pen tool to draw out a basic, wavy line. You can then use Stroke Path on it, select Brush and check off Simulate Pressure. The Pen tool will then register whatever colour and brush you currently have selected into that Pen tool path. You can experiment with lots of types of brushes here. Try to use techniques like this to complement your compositions and improve the abstract pieces overall flow and mood.

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FINAL EFFECTS

UTILISE MORE LIGHTING AND FURTHER ABSTRACT ELEMENTS

09

INCLUDE BUBBLES AND MORE

Bubbles, like the ones in this piece, are a good way to add some more atmosphere to your work. To create these bubbles, use a Circle Marquee to create a selection circle in the size we want. Next, simply soft brush around the circumference of the circle while keeping the inside transparent. Add a soft brush tint in the centre. We can create several bubbles and define depth by altering their Size, Clarity and Brightness. The purple rectangular prisms added here also serve a similar purpose and were made using the Pen tool.

BLENDING MODES

As mentioned, blending modes are integral for creating desired lighting effects. We find that Color Dodge works great for vivid lighting effects. Overlay is a good blending mode for more secondary, complementary lighting effects. The look is subtler and works well when blending shapes into a background. Screen works very well when we want to isolate the light parts of an image from the dark. It’s important to balance your lightning and blend your elements without overextending your vision. Experiment with levels to remove unwanted areas when using Screen blending.

10

BACKGROUND LIGHTS

13

FINAL ADJUSTMENT LAYERS

The lights in the background can be made very quickly and efficiently. Decide on the placement of these lights and dot them out with large, subtle soft brush marks. Use the Eyedropper to select common hues in the piece. We then put the brush blending mode on Linear Dodge and begin to brush in smaller, brighter lights. A graphics tablet helps for this step, but a mouse works fine as well. Finally we spherised the layer of brushing at -100 to make it more appealing.

When deciding on what to detail your composition with, try to think of shapes that will fit appropriately with the piece, in both a compositional and thematic sense

11

PROMOTE HINTS OF COLOUR

After analysing the image, it seems the cool blues and purple tones need something more to spice them up. Using the technique from Step 2, create some new small shapes, but this time fill them with a green-to-yellow gradient. Place a few around the primary elements. We add a couple of green glows and additional shapes to give a hint of colour. Sometimes the smallest touches of colour can make a bold statement in an abstract work.

12

FOCUS ON THE DETAILS

Working on the miniscule elements, we try to make small subtle objects that can fill the space and give the piece more character. Basic geometric shapes like pyramids, prisms and spheres can spice up an abstract piece. When deciding on what to detail your composition with, try to think of shapes that will fit appropriately with the piece, in both a compositional and thematic sense. Avoid any empty or surplus elements.

Since the piece feels too purple, we add a selective Color adjustment layer and play with the settings for each tone. Adjust the Magenta tab to become desaturated and blue. Once you find a good look for the tones, add a Vibrance layer at +15 to boost the mids and also a Saturation layer at +5 to give that burst of colour. At this point you should add your own final touches, as this is a step that can take it above and beyond the rest.

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PAINTING PHOTOREAL ICONS

OUR EXPERT MIRKO SANTANGELO

www.mirkosantangelo.com

Mirko is an award-winning visual designer and Adobe Certified Expert from Italy. He is passionate about learning and teaching Adobe Soware and discovering new techniques for his graphic works.

SOURCE FILES

CREATE ILLUSTRATED ICONS USING PHOTOSHOP’S SHAPE, GRADIENT AND BRUSH TOOLS WORK IN PROGRESS

FROM BASIC SHAPES TO FINAL RENDERING

Step 2: Basic shapes

Icons are fascinating graphic symbols. They represent the synthesis of a concept or an idea, but they differ from standard logos due to the amount of detail that is represented within them. In a certain sense they are somewhere between illustration and logos. One of the most beautiful things about their design is the extreme attention to detail of each item, replicating realism through factors such as perspective and the design of material surfaces. Icons are optimised to be viewable at different resolutions and sizes. They are created to simplify access to the functions of digital devices on

You don’t need any files to complete this tutorial, as we will be creating everything in Photoshop.

graphical user interfaces. The criteria for design changes according to the specifications of manufacturers, mobile devices or operating systems. These specifications need to be taken into account by the designers, as they depend on the correct display of a finished work. There are many ways to approach icon design, but those we will be using in this tutorial are based mostly on digital painting and masking. A cool Photoshop feature to apply to these projects is the Gradient tool, which we will also explore and show you how this enables you to create very special effects, simply using the right styles.

Icons are optimised to be viewable at different resolutions and sizes. They are created to simplify access to the functions of digital devices on graphical user interfaces. The criteria for design changes according to the specifications of manufacturers, mobile devices or operating systems

Step 5: Lighting and reflections

STATIONERY POT ICON DESIGN

CREATE A STYLISH ICON USING VECTOR SHAPES AND GRADIENTS

01 Step 15: Add the objects

CANVAS AND BASIC SHAPES

Open your template at 1,024 x 1,024px, applying an area of 512 x 512 through View>Rulers>Guides, which is one of the highest resolutions supported by operating systems. Set a grey colour background, drawing a shape with the Rounded Rectangle tool (U), setting the most suitable Radius properties to get curved edges. Using the Transform tool (Cmd/Ctrl+T) alter the previous shape using Perspective mode, Ctrl/ right-click on the canvas while the Transform Controls are activated. Add two ellipse shapes at the top and bottom using the Ellipse shape tool (U).

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Graphics 03

MASKING AND REFLECTIONS

Use the same method to add lights and shadows to the rim shape and add a sleek border effect by creating a new blank layer and making a rim shape selection. Fill this with white, pressing the up arrow key twice, pressing Backspace to delete part of the layer while maintaining the border. Refine with a mask, setting blending mode to Overlay. Add a shiny plastic look to the pot surface by drawing Solid White Pen shapes to its front and apply a layer mask to each.

02

DEFINE THE POT

Add a rim to the top part of the pot, by drawing two ellipse shapes, using the second to erase the shape centre with the Subtract option set (Option bar). Cmd/Ctrl+Shift and click the main pot shape layer thumbnail. Create a new group and add a layer mask from the active selection. In separate group layers paint light (white) and shadow (black) using a 20% Opacity Soft brush, instantly isolating application to your masked area. Try different blending modes too like Soft Light and Overlay.

QUICK TIP Duplicate the crayon, convert the group into a Smart Object and apply a Hue/Saturation layer adjustment through a Clipping Mask, altering crayon colour. Do the same for the brush; apply a layer mask to the Smart Object to alter the bristles’ shape.

05

BRISTLES AND CRAYON

The tip of our brush is made from a hard-edged shape with an attached layer mask from which you need to erase with a Small Hard Round brush to simulate bristled edges. On a new Overlay blending mode layer, activate the Dispersion option in the Brush palette and paint bristle texture with small white and black brushes, building up the desired effect. Repeat the lighting method as in Step 2, again in separate layers. Next, begin to build your crayon shape from the effects we’ve shown you, repeating lighting the processes to separate parts.

04

BRUSHES

Integrate white shapes using a black foreground set to Transparent Linear mode with the Gradient tool, applying this to the shape layer mask. Set layer blending modes to Overlay. Draw a shape for the metal part, adding a new layer set as a clipping mask and paint it to a Foreground set to Transparent Reflected mode with the Gradient tool set to 40% Opacity. Alternate white and black foreground colours.

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Icons are optimised to be viewable at different resolutions and sizes. They are created to simplify access to the functions of digital devices on graphical user interfaces. The criteria for design changes according to the specifications of manufacturers, mobile devices or operating systems

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FELT TIP

The felt tips are cylinder shapes, between each of which is a rim shape, set with a white Inner Shadow Layer Style set to Overlay, Distance at 0px, Size at 5px and Choke at 20%. Apply highlights and create sharp reflections with drawn Rectangular Marquee tool (M) strips. Fill with solid white and set to Overlay blending. The ruler starts as a rectangle shape, with lighting using the Rectangle Marquee tool in separate layers.

PENCIL

The label is created with a simple black shape, masking away the top parts to create a strip effect. The pencil is constructed in the same way as the crayon, through individually drawn flat colour shape layers, adding the lights and shadows with the brush through your group’s active selection layer mask. Next Import a wood texture - we’ve used a sample from www.jammurch.deviantart.com – applying it as a clipping mask to the top of the pencil shape. Set an 80% Opacity Overlay blending mode. Using a mask, blend the graphite with the wood parts to achieve smooth transition.

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FINAL TOUCHES

In a new layer add a gradient shadow, from the bottom part of the pot’s hole. The metal parts of the brushes should reflect neighbouring objects. Replicate this effect by creating a new Color blending mode layer, using a Soft brush at a low opacity to paint corresponding colours where the objects should be reflected. Using a Hue/Saturation layer adjustment, add a light purple colour to the Background and input a shadow below the pot.

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RULER

Draw a thin line with the Pencil tool (B) in a new layer, applying an Inner Bevel and Emboss Layer Style at 1% Depth, 0px Size and 0% Shadow Opacity. Duplicate and place this layer along the ruler, and finally add the numbers. Place all objects inside a Group and add a layer mask to this, using this mask to hide unseen parts of the stationery. In a new layer select a Soft brush at 20% Opacity and paint the shadows of the objects inside.

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Graphics

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Illustrate with Photoshop

GENIUS GUIDE

BLEND GRAPHICS AND PHOTOS LEARN HOW TO COMBINE ILLUSTRATIVE, PAINTERLY ELEMENTS WITH AN ENERGETIC PHOTO OUR EXPERT MIKE HARRISON

In this tutorial we will learn how to combine illustrative elements, such as paint-based textures and traditional linework, with a highly energetic photo, creating a powerful, artful illustration. We don’t need to do any real preparation with this style of image. Just dive straight in because, like working with paint, the creation process needs to flow from start to finish. Inspiration for this kind of work comes initially from the photo itself, namely the high energy that it gives off. This should make us want to start playing around with effects such as paint-based textures and traditional elements, which are a sure-fire combination for success. No wonder it’s a popular treatment for a lot of sports-related illustration. Photoshop is definitely the application of choice for this tutorial due to its flexibility, editing options and the speed with which we can start seeing results. We’ll also be using a number of custom brushes that are essential for working efficiently.

WORK IN PROGRESS

THREE IMPORTANT STAGES OF THE PROCESS

www.destill.net

Mike is a multi-disciplinary freelance art director and designer based in London. He uses an eclectic mix of mediums and styles for global clients.

SOURCE FILES

On the disc you will find a background texture and some custom brushes. The start photo used here is from Dreamstime, image number ‘18369570’.

PREPARATION AND ADJUSTMENTS

LET’S GET STARTED WITH THE BASE MODEL

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CUT OUT THE IMAGE

Open your image in Photoshop and, using the Pen tool, begin cutting around the subject’s body. Hit A for the Path Selection tool and, with your path selected, Ctrl/right-click and choose Create Vector Mask. Now hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click to select the Direct Selection tool, then go in and adjust the anchor points to clean it up.

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CREATE A NEW DOCUMENT

Create a new document at 235 x 302mm. Fill the background with black, then drag your cut-out stock image onto the canvas. If it’s too large, Ctrl/right-click on the vector mask, select Rasterize Vector Mask, then Ctrl/right-click again and Apply Layer Mask. Scale the image to around 80% and position the subject roughly in the centre.

Step 4: Place adjustment layers

Step 9: The base layer of paint texture

Step 16: It’s all in the details

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Graphics 03

APPLY HIGHLIGHTS, SHADOWS AND ADJUSTMENTS

QUICK TIP

When cutting out an image with the Pen tool don’t worry about being too accurate as you can go in with the Direct Selection tool afterwards to clean up any slight errors. While doing this, swap between white and black backgrounds to get an accurate cutout.

Create two Curves adjustment layers and then clip them to the subject layer with a clipping mask, with one for highlights and one for shadows. Move the slider to the extreme for each then fill the mask with black. Using a white brush at varying sizes, with the flow and opacity set low, brush onto the mask to reveal lighter and darker areas of the subject.

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INCLUDE MORE LAYER OPTIONS

We still need to add more adjustment layers. Create one each for Brightness/ Contrast, Levels, Color Balance, Hue/ Saturation and another Curves. First increase the contrast, then darken the subject overall with the Curves. Lower the saturation slightly, boost the lights and darks a little with the Levels and add a little more blue, cyan and yellow with the Color Balance option.

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INSERT A TEXTURE TO THE BACKGROUND

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INITIAL WATERCOLOUR TEXTURE

We need a slightly textured background so that all of our elements sit nicely against it. Open up ‘background_texture. jpg’ from the disc, place it underneath all other layers, then scale it up a little so it fills the canvas. It’s currently too light, so go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels and put in the value 45 for the Black Input level. This will darken it nicely, while keeping it subtle.

We’re now going to add the first dose of watercolour texture (we used one from www. unsigneddesign.com/watercolor textures, number 25). Open it up and hit Cmd/Ctrl+L to bring up the Levels adjustment. Boost the white to get rid of any darker paper texture left over from the scan. Now go to Select>Color Range and, using the Eyedropper, select white at 200 Fuzziness. Now double-click the layer to unlock it and hit Delete.

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ADD A MASK

Apply a white Color Overlay to this layer, bring it into our main document, scale, rotate and position it. From the disc, load ‘WG_ Watercolor_1.abr’ brushes into Photoshop. Apply a layer mask to the watercolour texture we just brought in and fill it with black, then use a number of different white-coloured brushes to bring in parts of the texture around the subject. Using the same brushes, create new layers and apply more white watercolour with masks until you achieve a nice balance.

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APPLY ILLUSTRATIVE LINEWORK

Now we’ll focus on the illustrative part of the process. We’re using a Wacom Intuos4 tablet for this, but you can use the Pen tool and then add a stroke to the path. Using one of these methods, we want to add linework around the subject’s body with a small hard-edged brush. This will define the figure more and is the first step to a traditional treatment for this illustration. Place this layer above the subject layer.

Illustrate with Photoshop

GENIUS GUIDE

INTRODUCE MORE COLOUR

USE COLOUR EFFECTS TO BRING ACTION TO THE IMAGE

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SELECT WATERCOLOUR OPTIONS

Choose two colours that you like and that go well together. Load up ‘destill_watercolour_brushes. abr’ from the disc and, underneath the white watercolour layers we’ve created, create a new group for some similar elements. Start adding in a variety of differently coloured brushstrokes around the subject. Keep applying to build up detail until you have a nice balance of colour and paint effects. Don’t forget to attach masks to some layers, modifying the appearance of the layer to suit its position on the canvas and relation to the subject’s body.

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BACKGROUND PAINT SPLATTERS

To make the illustration more dynamic, energised and painterly, we’re going to add a combination of paint splatters. Source some high-res splatter brushes online – there are tons out there and a quick Google search will find you some. On a number of different layers underneath the watercolour we created in the last step, place some splatters, but try and keep them subtle so they don’t distract too much attention away from your figure.

To make the illustration more dynamic, energised and painterly, we’re going to add a combination of paint splatters

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FOREGROUND PAINT SPLATTERS To start blending the subject in with the paint effects we’ve already added, create a new group above the subject layer and again, on a number of different layers, brush in some white splatters. What we’re trying to achieve with these is to position them around the contours of the figure’s body. You can also try and lower the opacity of some of the layers in case the effect is too strong in areas. Repeat until you achieve relatively good coverage.

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Graphics 12

PLACE THE WATERCOLOUR EFFECTS

To blend the subject in with the painterly effects further, we need to apply watercolour texture over the top of it. Using a combination of brushes that we used from the set we loaded in Step 9, start adding in paint to fit the contours of your subject. You will need to apply a Warp transformation to some layers by going to Edit>Transform>Warp and moving the anchor points to fit. Continue building up layers until you’ve covered a decent amount of the figure.

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DRAW SHAPES FOR MOVEMENT

Now that we have a nice base of painterly effects, we can build in more flow and energy by drawing some custom shapes. Create a new document the same size as our main document and fill the background with black. Creating new layers for each, start drawing shapes suitable to your subject’s pose. We’ve used a graphics tablet to draw them, but the Pen tool is also fine. Mix things up by changing their colour and also by having some just as linework with no fill.

FINISH UP THE ILLUSTRATION

ADD MORE FLOW AND DETAIL FOR REAL VIBRANCY

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INTEGRATE THE SHAPES

Drag in all the layers, grouping or merging them first if you haven’t already, and place them just above the illustrative linework layer we made in Step 5. Position, scale and rotate them to enhance the flow of the image. Duplicate them twice and repeat, but positioning on a different part of the subject. Move around some individual layers with the group for variety.

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PAINT EFFECTS FOR THE SHAPES The shapes we’ve created all have crisp, clean edges, so to blend parts of them in we’ll add some paint. Create a new layer above our shapes and, using the brushes we loaded in from Step 9, brush onto the layer. Now scale, rotate and warp this layer to position it nicely along one of our filled shapes. Repeat this a few times with different colours and spread it out over the canvas.

QUICK TIP

When working with painterly textures the possibilities are endless and every piece can have a unique look and feel by modifying each layer with a combination of masks, warps and transforms. That way the layers where you’ve used brushes will always look different from one another.

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Illustrate with Photoshop

GENIUS GUIDE

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ALTER THE SHAPES

In Step 13 we drew a number of filled shapes, but also some shapes that are just line art. They are nice on their own but, to enhance and bring parts more attention, we will add some thin brushstrokes over them. Repeat the previous step, but instead of applying to the filled shapes, apply to the line art shapes instead. This step is all about boosting the detail in the image.

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BRING OUT TONES WITH CURVES

The photo in an illustration like this, containing an athlete, can always benefit from colour adjustment and the enhancement of highlights and shadows. This helps give it more impact and drama, similar to a photograph shot in HDR. This can be started by simply adding two Curves layers. Move the graph pointer to the extremes of light and dark for each, then fill the masks in with black. Using a So Round brush with varying sized brush tips and Flow/Opacity, apply to the athlete in the light and dark areas to enhance both. Don’t forget to zoom in to apply this technique to smaller details; it will really help boost the effect.

FINER WATERCOLOUR DETAIL

Now we need to finish the colour effects. Create a new layer and clip it to the model using a clipping mask like we did with the adjustment layers. Now, using brushes of your choice, apply white to the areas of the subject where you judge more is needed. Also group the subject layer and all its adjustment layers and apply a mask to that group. Using a brush with a Flow of around 30%, erase parts of the figure to let colour show from behind.

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FINAL LAYERS

The last step is to apply some adjustment layers. Create a new Brightness/ Contrast adjustment layer above all layers and increase the Brightness by around five and the Contrast by around ten. Depending on your colours here you also may want to add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and increase the saturation to boost the vibrancy of the colours. If you’re not happy with your colours, you can create a Selective Color adjustment layer and play around with the sliders until you are.

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Typography Give your message impact 120 The Art of Type

144 Found Objects

128 Type Effects

150 Collage-Style

132 Futuristic Type

154 Repoussé Tool

136 Fluid Type

158 3D Type

140 Electric Type

164 Type Designs

Explore the power of form in type design

Blend a 3D render with multiple stock images

Combine futuristic lighting with 3D type

Experiment with abstract shapes and textures

Create a striking typographic illustration

Build a personal font based on objects

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Make your own collage type with stock

Inflate settings for balloon-style type

Integrate 2D scenes with 3D renders

Pen a strong promotional design

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Illustrate with Photoshop

The creative community is harnessing design software to create ever more adventurous and dynamic letterforms

GENIUS GUIDE

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Typography

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001 | This image was created exclusively for Advanced Photoshop as a typical example of Steven Bonner’s stylish typography Illustration by Steven Bonner

002 | ‘Why Buy a Copy’: This was a type treatment created for Nike, for use on various apparel. The finished piece was applied using a retro-style glitter heat transfer © Luke Lucas

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Illustrate with Photoshop

GENIUS GUIDE

THE ART OF TYPE

WE EXPLORE THE POWER OF FORM IN CONTEMPORARY TYPEBASED DESIGN AND POSE THE QUESTION: IS THE WRITING ON THE WALL FOR TRADITIONAL TYPOGRAPHY?

In the past, typography has been informed by graphic design, a sophisticated pairing of art and letterform, wielded by a type art elite. In more recent times, however, these styles have trickled into the mainstream. Now designers from varying disciplines, whether that be traditional or digital illustration, or CG design, are signing up to provide their own contemporary take on type. Many of the artists featured in this article, which explores the reasons behind the dramatic rise of a more illustrative approach to typography, agree that greater opportunities afforded by digital mediums such as Photoshop have

meant style shifts have become far more blatant. Another explanation put forward is the expanded access to inspiration from all around the world. With this in mind, it’s perhaps not surprising that designers are exploring new aesthetic elements at such a rapid rate. In this feature we question artists on the personal influences behind their expressive type styles. We also ask if traditional rules are supporting or suffocating the evolution of typography, and how the creative community is harnessing design software to create ever more adventurous and dynamic letterforms, which, as time goes by, seem to have only one boundary: the creator’s imagination.

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‘NY Times’ – Dining cover illustration: This illustration was created for the Dining section of The New York Times to go alongside an article on the various characteristics of wine © Luke Lucas

‘A Penguin’: Gold Awardwinning typographic image making a slobbering penguin from the letter ‘a’ for the jacket cover of The Art Book © Steven Bonner

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That’s the beauty of working with type – the slightest adjustment of a detail on a letter can transform it from being masculine to feminine, aggressive to playful, fun to serious…

– Luke Lucas, www.lukelucas.com

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Typography Pictorial lettering. As a term it seems almost a paradox. However, this is a style that has been wholly embraced by the creative and commercial communities alike. This owes a lot to the fact that modern-day illustrators are now able to tap into an art form once considered exclusive to ‘specialists’. This new inclusivity has drawn greater numbers to this discipline, and many see this as an extremely exciting time for typography. This makes it all the more surprising to discover that many of the creatives deploying these styles today aren’t aware of one definitive reason for doing so. Our group of artists – some with a formal art education, some self taught and others transferring skills from alternative disciplines – provide a host of reasons why. Alex Varanese (www.alexvaranese.com) tells us: “I spent a pretty big chunk of my life in computer science and that left me with an instinct for rigidly geometric designs that can be hard to shake sometimes. Orthogonal and algorithmic thinking can be an asset in the world of type, of course, but there’s so much creative potential to unlock by breaking the grid that I feel continually compelled to try and overcome that reflex.” To put it in one friendly soundbite, the real pleasure this style invokes in creators and viewers alike is the chance to reinvent visual boundaries. Jordan Metcalf (http://jordan-metcalf.com) agrees: “We can only ever push such boundaries by allowing ourselves freedom to experiment. I spent a lot of time

doing so with lines, shading and texture within type in my own time, before ever being paid to do so. Having had complete freedom to explore led to a couple of ideas that seemed fresh to people, which thankfully led to some amazing commercial opportunities.” Stefan Chinof (http://chin2off.prosite.com) shares his view: “My own formula for success equates to experimenting plus curiosity times patience.” Luke Lucas (www.lukelucas.com) also reinforces this need to experiment. “That’s the beauty of working with type,” he explains to us. “The slightest adjustment of a detail on a letter can transform it from being masculine to feminine, aggressive to playful, fun to serious… This can be anything from the shape of the basic letterform to the integration of more descriptive illustrative elements within the type. The possibilities are relatively endless.” This approach couldn’t be more apparent than in the work of Steven Bonner (http://stevenbonner.com). His own digitally charged pictorial styles use many different techniques to achieve a particular feel, depending on the desired outcome. He explains: “In my ‘Believe and You Shall Achieve’ piece (show on the opposite page), I wanted to reference a Pathé news-style screen title, and so used a lot of grain and faux-3D while giving it a modern edge through the stronger colours in the ribbon type.” However, Bonner is looking to push boundaries even further, revealing: “I really want to take lettering out of the

Smart Object layers are a godsend… and allow me to make small non-destructive changes on the fly. It means I can get the tone of a piece right from the outset, but still make fundamental changes at a later stage – Steven Bonner, http://stevenbonner.com

005 | ‘Abject Diagonals’: “An example of my Metrobloc typeface. This particular piece presents the letterforms as diagonally hacked-up metal type” © Alex Varanese

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006 | ‘Eat Drink and Be Merry’: “This piece plays homage to the great typographer, graphic designer and art director, Herb Lubalin” © Luke Lucas

007 | ‘Break Fast’: “Personal project and first try-out of Motion Typo. Photoshop CS3 photomanipulation was applied to images, using quick masks and brushes” © Stefan Chinof

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PIPE DREAM

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WE DISCOVER HOW ILLUSTRATION PLAYS AS BIG A PART AS TYPOGRAPHY IN ALEX BELTECHI’S DESIGNS Pictorial type artist Alex Beltechi (www.behance.net/alexbeltechi) describes his exciting ‘Down the Drain’ image as “a meta-project, a personal project about creating projects”. It focuses on lost inspiration – the good ideas that come to us randomly but that never see the light of day. “Creativity is like water,” he explains. “It gushes out in streams of consciousness only to later drain through the cracks of time. In order to prevent that, I try to channel my ideas into individual works like this.” Well versed in expressive type design, as an artist he aims to blur the lines between what is written and what is depicted by merging the two. “My personal aim is to always balance it midway between readability and visual complexity.” His inclination to treat letters as an image started when creating typography from scratch. “Once you actually draw a letter, you realise that a [character] is nothing more than a standardised shape,” he says. “The distinctions that have been created over the centuries are just a force of habit. Contemporary typographic illustrators are simply using the tools freely available to them [to bridge this gulf].” While Beltechi is an artist who endorses CG – “I tend to create [assets] rather than use existing content such as stock photos” – he says our favourite app is the glue that binds his designs together. “Even though I may use vector or 3D software, my work always ends with Photoshop,” he reveals. “At the very least I’ll use it to separate my rendered objects with Alpha channel masks and correct the contrast and colours with adjustment layers.” In ‘Down the Drain’, pipes were made by using both vector and 3D software to generate the characters. The rust, water and foam were all drawn using a pen tablet in Photoshop. He explains: “When dealing with 3D renders, it’s easy to make them too clean and perfect, so they look less real. I like to age them in Photoshop by creating my own textures. My favourite way to do this is to fill a new blank layer with 50% Gray, add noise, apply a small amount of Gaussian Blur and then add an Overlay blending mode over specific sections. This creates a noise pattern similar to real photographs.”

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EARLY DRAFT

The first draft featured the word ‘going’ as part of the layout. I decided that there were too many hoses and not enough articulated plumbing, so in the end I eliminated the first word.

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LAYOUT

Here is the two-dimensional layout of the final treatment which I put together in Illustrator. I created all the pipes and hoses as paths, which were later turned into splines in CINEMA 4D. By applying a Sweep NURBS effect, I was able to create the final objects in exactly the same positions as in the Illustrator file.

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3D RENDER

These are the 3D rendered objects as portrayed right before applying materials, calibrating lighting and exporting as a raster file. After this stage, I drew the water and foam and retouched everything in Photoshop.

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‘Down the Drain’: “Down the Drain is my graphic manifesto to lost inspiration,” says Beltechi. “It’s about how every artist needs to capture and manipulate their creativity in order to use it to its maximum potential” © Alex Beltechi

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Typography

009 009 | ‘No Lies, Just Love’: “Personal type experiment. The piece contains lyrics from the Bright Eyes song of the same name” © Jordan Metcalf

010 | ‘Blocklab (White)’: “An amorphous cloud of cubic 3D shapes and typography fragments, intersecting with 2D streams of different overlapping letters” © Alex Varanese

011 | ‘Believe and You Shall Achieve’: A promotional image created for Bonner’s UK agent, jelly © Steven Bonner

digital realm and start playing with physical materials to create type. Right now I’m in the middle of several projects including crochet, glass and a set of steps. It could all be really fun stuff, but we’ll see…” Metcalf, on the other hand, has spent years in both illustrative and design work, establishing a running visual theme. Focusing primarily on using a black and white palette, he loves not just the aesthetic but also the reductive nature of this monochrome style. “I find black and white forced me to consider tone and contrast more,” he says. “I’ve played a lot with textural linework in my typography, using thin, offset strokes to create texture and pattern – like in my ‘No Lies, Just Love’ piece (above) – or offset tapered strokes for shading. I’ve also played a lot with gradients and shading techniques to [develop] form and depth.” Colour grading, texture, levels adjustments and cross

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012 | ‘Idea’: “A mural design commissioned by a large South African financial institution created to communicate the core brand value of creativity” © Jordan Metcalf

013 | ‘Artistic Image’: “Advertising agency brand development, created through extensive exploration of the Mesh tool in Illustrator CS3” © Stefan Chinof

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processing may seem like minor tweaks compared to the heavyweight work of vector illustration, photography or 3D modelling, but they’re utterly essential when it comes to capturing the kind of look that turns these otherwise raw materials into something cohesive and striking. Alex Varanese talks of a natural symbiosis between 2D and 3D: “The human sense of vision evolved to perceive the natural world of light, shadow, contour and colour that surrounds us in three dimensions. No matter how much we intellectualise ourselves in the modern world, those instincts don’t switch off when we turn our attention to a two-dimensional type treatment on a poster, gallery wall or magazine page. That’s why the same rules apply, as bizarre as that may seem sometimes, to the abstractions of letterforms. I like creating pieces that sit somewhere near the intersection of flat, vector intangibility and the convincing weight of elaborately rendered 3D scenes.” No doubt modern technology has played a significant role in the invention and elaboration of present designs. Artists can now take fanciful ideas and make them seem more real than ever before, far removed from traditional flat typographic examples. Bonner appreciates this, saying: “Placed in pictures, we can create realistic 100ft-high letters in a park or curl them around buildings – this freedom and ability to make the unreal happen is really exciting. It’s certainly something I want to explore more in the near future.” This has forced artists to shift their paradigm of what typographic design is and, indeed, what it could be. However, Bonner rarely uses 3D software to achieve his type work. He reveals: “I don’t really switch between 3D and Photoshop, but use Illustrator and Photoshop in tandem all the time. Smart Object layers are a godsend for me and allow me to make small non-destructive changes on the fly. It means I can get the tone of a piece right from the outset, but still make fundamental changes at a later stage – which, in a commercial world where clients will make last-minute alts, is crucial.” CINEMA 4D and similar CG packages certainly have a production value, but our pictorial typographers seem hesitant to use such software exclusively, still adhering to a hands-on approach indicative of more traditional principles. Chinof admits: “I’ve tried Xara 3D Maker but I prefer to make [through personal

Illustrate with Photoshop

GENIUS GUIDE

TYPE DIRECTORS CLUB

WE LOOK AT THIS GLOBAL ORGANISATION ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN TYPOGRAPHY

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The dominant goal of the Type Directors Club (TDC) for the past 65 years has been to raise both the quality and the profile of typography in the graphics and art communities. The TDC runs a range of creative programmes discussing the letterform – both its design and its usage. The TDC Salon is well known in the industry for having guest speakers who discuss their typefaces and their personal experiences using the letterform. What makes the TDC refreshing is that it appreciates both traditional and contemporary methods. Executive director, Carol Wahler, says: “Today’s world is the world of on-screen art. Typeface designers have been working on this for many years – designing typefaces for the screen. Young children are reading and writing on handheld tablets and smartphones; they’re the future. The need for typographic artwork is more important now than ever before.” Unlike some organisations, the TDC also merits the use of Photoshop in the production of typographic design. “Although not considered a dedicated typesetting tool, Photoshop is often called upon to do just that,” says Wahler. “Book designers often employ Photoshop to help create jackets when the need is for something more illustrative. Similarly, most movie posters are created and typeset using Photoshop. Effects such as warping, embossing or extruding type are easy to add now in Photoshop. Also not to be overlooked are the hundreds of filters and plug-ins that can be employed to create type that looks like chrome, wood, rust, smoke or embroidery, etc.” Log on to http://tdc.org for more information and to have your own designs considered for publication.

014 | 015 | Awards: The TDC holds two yearly type competitions: one for the use of type and the letterform in design and the other for typeface design. The winners are reproduced in the TDC’s Typography Annual, which is published by HarperCollins © TDC

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Typography 016 |

‘Do the Dew’: “Type treatment and art direction for Mountain Dew; the agency was TracyLocke. It was created through applying 3ds Max and Photoshop CS3 photomanipulation” © Stefan Chinof

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‘Solid All The Way Through’: “The first piece in my Urban Cartography series, which deconstructs the look of San Francisco’s Mission District into cube-shaped city fragments – combining these with streaks of typography arranged in the same 3D space” © Alex Varanese

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application]. Most of my projects are pure Photoshop. ‘Do the Dew’ (left) is an exception – starting as a 3D project as it was to become a motion graphic. When I sent the initial screens they liked it so much that they decided to stick with a static key visual.” Chinof received the 3D letters and then added the destruction and lighting effects personally in Photoshop. “The liquid part is a mixture of pictures and brushes,” he adds. Lucas reinforces Photoshop’s postproduction power, explaining: “3D software has its advantages in terms of the ease in a shift of angle and perspective, lighting, changing textures and colours, for example. But finishing details are often easier to apply after a render in Photoshop. You’re able to manually enhance a digital image to a level that the 3D programs can’t match on their own. In terms of working from PS to 3D software, texture, bump and reflection maps, etc, can be created in Photoshop, and then imported into a 3D environment and applied to a model, taking an object from a hyper-synthetic to a hyperreal render.” It seems that 3D applications play a greater role in motion graphics particularly, and in that area have made a considerable impact on type design. However, understandably, our artists creating still designs have adopted the necessary 3D functions that complement such production, chiefly through the benefit of cross-platform workflows. Varanese uses one of his own works as an example: “‘Solid All The Way Through’ [below], from my Urban Cartography series (below), is a particularly clear example of how greatly Photoshop plays in my workflow. The finished piece was rendered in numerous passes, allowing the sun’s shadows, glowing cube fragments and 3D typography to be merged together with far greater precision as Photoshop layers.” Once compiled into a single piece, some extensive colour treatment gave the originally neutral scene a harshly yellowed, sun-bleached finish which was intended to evoke a sense of wistful nostalgia and hazy memory. However, Varanese is at pains to point out that, much like their regards to traditional practices, artists can only adapt digital software to maximise creativity – with the outcome always paramount, technique secondary. “That

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GENIUS GUIDE

FLUIDTYPE EXPERIMENT EXPLORE THIS ELEMENTAL-INSPIRED TYPE ART, WHICH WAS MADE WITH A COMBINATION OF CG AND PHOTOSHOP BY CREATIVE STUDIO SKYRILL (WWW.SKYRILL.COM) 1. CREATE THE LETTERS We start by creating the letterform in 3ds Max based on an existing typeface. The letter was then extruded to give it a certain volume, which would be enough to work as a container for the particles that would re-form the letter.

2. FILL IT UP

The letter was then imported into RealFlow, and based on the letter, a number of emitters were placed inside to fill it up with particles. The speed of the emitters plays a key role in the final outcome.

3. BUILDING PRESSURE

Reducing and increasing the gravity and pressure levels of the particles enabled them to ‘explode’ in a more natural way, and create nice splashes once the original letterform object holding it was deactivated.

4. MESHING

Adding a mesh to the particles was done in RealFlow; a high Blend Factor and a low Radius Size were crucial to good results. A number of filters were also used at low settings such as the Relaxation filter.

5. REFINE THE LETTER

Using the Clone and Pen tools in Photoshop, new fluid shapes were drawn out in different sizes and then blended with the original letter in order to make the overall look of the final letter more natural.

6. ADJUST LIGHTING

Colour and lighting adjustments were done in Photoshop using Color Balance, along with Curves. The final image is made up of different layers put together using various PS blending modes such as Screen, Overlay and So Light.

emotional punch, subtle as it may be, was actually more important to me than all the 3D and digital work that went into the city scene itself,” Varanese says. Certain creatives still pride themselves on tradition, frowning upon Photoshop use, finding it the ‘lazy option’ that leans more towards the frivolous side of type design. However, our artists believe that traditional and contemporary styles needn’t be synonymous with each other. The strongest typography is that which fundamentally maintains the essence of language, while at the same time contrasts it with a visually striking execution – so why should present styles be regarded any differently? “I think that creative illustrated type and standard type communicate in very different ways and serve very different purposes, and I think they’ll coexist for as long as we have need for design and written language,” suggests Metcalf. The two styles, while being perfect in tandem, will always have their own place it seems, as Bonner adds: “Traditional typography needs to be legible for communication so type design will always need to follow a certain number of rules. Whereas pictorial lettering is different in that it wants the viewer to have another look and, in some cases, have to work to figure out what’s being said. They both communicate but in very distinct ways.” What our artists seem to be saying is that there are fundamental laws that govern the legibility of the written word, but they are only as relevant as the level of readability a particular brief demands, ie the grid, baseline and X height. However, typographic design is predominantly concerned with communicating a message or an idea. Metcalf continues: “I think the primary reason is that typographic illustration is being seen more as a viable standalone illustrative element as opposed to a supportive device for traditional illustration or design. This shift towards type being the medium and the message, as well as the increase in the number of creatives working in lettering and typographic art, has led to it becoming a far more lateral and experimental movement.” Tone, emotion and personality can all be conveyed through treatment and typographic style even without strict letterform legibility. Most importantly the developments in the world of type aren’t putting off or baffling audiences – quite the contrary, in fact, as illustrated type looks set only to grow in popularity. As Varanese finally says: “The power of implicit form is one of the most intriguing aspects of typography. Our minds are shockingly adept at extrapolating entire worlds of detail from the slightest hints of design, and that gives artists a lot of room to convey ideas in challenging or even counter-intuitive ways.”

Typographic illustration is being seen more as a viable standalone illustrative element as opposed to a supportive device for traditional design

– Jordan Metcalf, http://jordan-metcalf.com

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Typography

STRIKING TYPE EFFECTS BLEND A SIMPLE 3D RENDER WITH MULTIPLE STOCK PHOTOS TO CREATE STUNNING ARTWORK

OUR EXPERT BARTON DAMER

www.alreadybeenchewed.tv

In this tutorial we will combine a basic 3D render and composite an entire wildlife scene in Photoshop using a variety of royalty-free photos. Your final image will probably look quite different from ours depending on what sort of photos you choose to use, but the steps you take to create your composition will remain the same. It’s important to try to match your light source in the pictures you use. Most of the pictures used in this composition were taken on an overcast day where the shadows were very soft. If you are able to find overcast shots, it will free you up to composite the pictures without having to be too concerned about matching a strong light source and shadows. Photoshop is the weapon of choice and the app where we will spend most of our time. We will also be creating a very basic 3D render of typography using Cinema 4D R12, however you can download 3D renders online to work with in your piece.

Barton is a motion designer and digital artist who creates under his studio brand, Already Been Chewed LLC. For over 12 years, he has designed for a variety of mediums including print, web and TV.

SOURCE FILES

There is a stock pack of nature photos included on the disc that you can use to create your own unique final design. The images that we have used are not available for the disc.

START THE TEXT

LET’S WORK ON CREATING THE BASIC 3D RENDER

WORK IN PROGRESS

BUILD YOUR TYPE COMPOSITE

01

CREATE 3D TYPE IN CINEMA4D

Cinema4D allows you to type 3D text live and update without needing any other software. You can access the fonts that are active on your system. Within the Attributes Manager, you can control the depth of your text along with the size. You will want to create a Fillet Cap using the Caps tab of the Attributes Manager. You want a larger Radius than what looks natural because it’s going to serve as outer layer of bark on our tree typography. The actual Radius size will vary depending on the font size.

Step 5: Basic render

Step 10: Add detail to lettering

Step 15: Final adjustments

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03

APPLY TREE TEXTURES

First you will want to make your Motext editable. You will notice the text is separated into five parts: Cap 1, Cap 2, Rounding 1, Rounding 2 and P (or the letter you made editable). Apply your texture to the outside pieces of your letter leaving the front Cap. Once you’ve applied the texture, you will want to adjust the Projection (in the Attributes Manager) to Cubic and adjust the scale by choosing the # of Tiles for U and V until the bark is the size you want it. Create and apply a new texture to the face of the P by repeating Steps 2 and 3.

02

CREATE TREE TEXTURES

Start with a photo of tree bark and use Photoshop to create a duplicate image that will serve as a ‘bump map’. Convert the image to black and white and adjust the Levels so that the darks are very dark and the whites are very white. This mono version of the bark will be used to displace the textures applied to the type in C4D. Create a new material in C4D and apply the photo of the bark to the Color channel and the mono version to the Bump channel. Adjust the height of the bump to suit.

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STRIKING TYPE EFFECTS

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Typography 04

QUICK TIP

LIGHTING YOUR TYPOGRAPHY

The lighting of your typography will largely depend on the photographs you choose to make up the rest of your composition. It may help to choose these first, but you can at least get started with some basic lighting and then refine it later. You can use a plug-in for C4D called Greyscale Gorilla Light Kit to create a seamless white background and help light your scene. Regular lights within C4D will work fine too. The seamless floor is important since you will be using the cast shadow to help composite your scene in PS.

If creating a bump map for your texture still does not give you the desired depth to your bark, you can use Displacement within the Texture Channels. Load the same monochrome photo used on the bump map into the Displacement channel and adjust the settings. You will be able to control Height and Strength, and by turning on SubPolygon Displacement, you will get better detail.

05

CREATING WOODEN LOGS

09

ISOLATE FOLIAGE

You can outline the shape of a log directly in C4D using a Bezier Pen tool. After drawing an imperfect log shape, use Extrude Nurbs to create the desired length of your log. The Extrude Nurbs Attributes panel has the exact same options that the Motext offered. Set your Fillet Caps settings to be the same or whatever looks best in comparison to the size of your log shape. Repeat texturing as in Steps 2 and 3, then place your logs as desired within a letter or all of your letters.

06

RENDER SETTINGS

07

BACKGROUND COMPOSITING

The Render Settings in C4D are a key part of the final output. Before opening this dialog box, add a Compositing Tag to your text and make sure Object Buffer is turned on. Then you will be able to add an Object Buffer to your Multi-Pass settings inside of the Render Settings box. By including the Object Buffer as a Multi-Pass image, you will have a separate render of just the text so that you do not have to cut out the background in Photoshop. You can also control the size of the render to be really large for print or other.

Move into Photoshop now. The background starts to take shape quickly when you have a few strong photos. Use a soft-edged black brush on a layer mask to gently blend the edges of different photos together. Your photo selection may require you to use the Pen tool and isolate specific objects. You’ll probably need to adjust the Hue/Saturation in order to bring their color temperatures closer in appearance.

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08

COMPOSITING THE 3D TYPE

Open your full render and the Multi-Pass render you set up in Step 6. The type can be isolated off of the background using the black and white alpha channel as a selection. However, you will want a copy of the full render with shadows on a different layer. Set the layer containing the shadow to Multiply in the Layers palette. Adjust the transparency of the layer for darker or lighter shadows to be cast across your field photograph.

Choose a variety of foliage pictures to start with. Again, think about lighting as you make your selection. Veer.com has a variety of foliage already available on a white background. You can use Color Range to make your selection and delete the background. In the Color Range palette you can choose a Fuzziness setting, which will give you more control over how much of that colour to include in across the entire image.

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BRINGING THE SCENE TOGETHER

You must keep in mind the large scene you’ve already started compositing as well as compare the pictures to each other for similarity in lighting

COMPOSITING YOUR STOCK PHOTOS

10

COMPOSITING THE FOLIAGE

Once you’ve isolated your foliage off of its background, the rest is simply placing the images around the type where you feel it looks most natural. You can Scale, Flip, Rotate and adjust Hue/Saturation to get a large variety of foliage without feeling to repetitive. Because there is no direct light source overpowering any of the images, you can get away with a lot here. Only a handful of foliage photos are needed to create all of the ones you see in the final piece. However, the more photos you can use the better your results.

12

ADD ORGANIC DETAIL

13

REFINING THE COMPOSITION

ISOLATE ANIMALS USING THE PEN TOOL

15

COLOR CORRECTION

Often, you will have to rely on the Pen tool to cut certain elements from your photos. While there are many tricks to save time, the Pen tool ends up being a very reliable method to get the results you need. Again, choose the pictures of your animals keeping the lighting in mind. You must keep in mind the large scene you’ve already started compositing as well as compare the pictures to each other for similarity in lighting. You may need to adjust the Levels as well as Hue/Saturation to get the pictures to composite well together.

You may want to add more organiclooking detail to your 3D typography. Try to find nature objects of interest. The blending of real wooden limbs or knobs, using layer masks and brushes, will help quite a bit in the overall look of the text. Repeat Step 11 to isolate a portion of your photograph from its original environment. Again, you may need to adjust the Hue/Saturation of the image once you paste it into your composition. Levels may need adjusting too.

Look for ways to highlight your typography from the background. A fog in the environment will help to blend the images being composed and give you an added element that will add interest. Choose the Brush tool in Photoshop and lightly airbrush a transparent white to create some fog where certain areas of your background need blending or highlighting. Use the Opacity value of the layer and adjust accordingly.

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14

DEVELOP THE DEPTH OF YOUR COMPOSITION

Depth is a basic design principal in this kind of composition that will definitely help to improve your composition. Consider your foreground, middleground and background, and think through whether or not adding some elements to one of those areas will improve your piece. Using Steps 9 or 11, add in new trees or other elements as needed.

You can use adjustment layers over the top of all your layers to help unify the look of the piece. If you want to add warmth to the piece, use a Photo Filter adjustment layer. You can choose a preset or choose your own colour for tinting the artwork. Combine multiple adjustment layers by adding a new one for the Levels. Levels allow you to tweak the tones of your darks, midtones and whites with great control.

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Typography

FUTURISTIC TYPOGRAPHY

USE ONLY PHOTOSHOP TOOLS TO COMBINE FUTURISTIC LIGHTING AND 3D TYPE

This tutorial is aimed at creatives who already know their way around Photoshop. Intermediate to advanced users shouldn’t have a problem completing this tutorial, while for novices it might prove to be more of a challenge – yet ultimately it’s achievable with a little patience and perseverance. In this workshop, we’ll show you some techniques and an in-depth walkthrough on how to create your own 3D letterforms. Once the letters are complete we will focus on the shading and lighting, which will help you achieve styles associated with modern sci-fi epics such as TRON: Legacy and The Matrix – a look that is very popular right now. On top of this we’ll show you

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how to incorporate great-looking lighting effects into any artwork through nothing more than the native Photoshop options. Although the basic shapes of the letters could easily have been made in 3D software, we wanted to show that it’s just as easy to use Photoshop – and that there are even benefits of doing so. The main advantage is that we can keep our artwork more stylistic, achieving an original look that wouldn’t be possible in 3D, with a combination of special effects that use little more than shape layers, brushes and layer masks – throwing in some Gaussian Blur and blending modes just to make the image pop at the end.

OUR EXPERT THEO AARTSMA

http://cargocollective.com/ theoaartsma Theo is a 28-year-old full-time freelance illustrator and designer from Holland. He is best known for his typographic illustration work. influenced by nature, fashion and street art.

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01

CONCEPT LETTERFORMS

We want to create the word ‘virtual’, so we begin by simply sketching out individual letterforms. This can be done either traditionally or digitally – whichever method you prefer to use. While sketching, you can start to develop your concept. The idea behind these letters is that they all consist of the same two rectangles that can be manipulated to fit each character.

04

02

STRUCTURE LETTERFORMS

Once we have a nice shape for the individual characters it’s time to structure them so that they look as if they belong together. In the example you can see the most important choices we made to structure the letters using Photoshop’s Pen Shape tool. Make sure to work with a large canvas for this so you can later rescale your letters as you see fit.

3D TRANSFORMATION

Merge your letter layers and duplicate this layer. Reselect the original layer beneath and move it right and up, as seen in the screenshot. By doing this, you create the back side of the letters, using space on the left as a reference for filling in the gaps. Work up the sides by opening a new layer, selecting sides with the Polygonal Lasso tool, and then filling them with a red colour for better distinction.

05

03

COMPOSE THE WORD

QUICK TIP To make a fast selection of a layer cutout, hold down Cmd/Ctrl+H, then go to the image thumbnail in the Layers palette. This is very useful when doing brushwork on masks such as shading. It can leave an ugly edge on your selection, so it helps to expand the selection by 1 pixel (Select> Modify>Expand).

Create a new document with the dimensions 25 x 25cm at 300dpi, and then copy and paste in the individual letter shapes. Once all the letters have been imported, you can start playing around with their positions, trying to create the best possible composition to fit the space available. Keep typographical rules like kerning in mind when doing this.

3D TRANSFORMATION 2

With all sides complete, delete the back side. Now we can start basic shading. Decide on where the light is coming from; in this image it’s the top-left on the front side. Then give every side a shade, starting with the front side to set a midpoint. Use the Color Overlay layer style and go through all the different layers this way.

06 We want to create the word ‘virtual’, so we begin by simply sketching out the letterforms. This can be done either traditionally or digitally – whichever method you prefer to use

EXTRA BLOCKS

We decide that we want to have interlinking blocks connecting the letter shapes to create a better sense of flow within the composition. We repeat the same process that we used in Steps 4 and 5 to create these additional elements. Make sure to create them on a new layer which sits on top of the letter layers as this will come in handy later on in the tutorial.

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Typography 07

ADD DROP SHADOWS

09

LETTER SHADING

Here we created a few rectangles on a new background layer so we have a good view of the letterforms and shadows to maintain a more realistic perspective. Next you can add another layer in between the letters and background onto which you can brush the letterforms’ shadows pretty roughly with a standard soft brush.

08

FINISH THE SHADOWS

Lower the opacity of the drop shadow to taste and remove the roughness of the shadow edge with the Eraser tool. Also create a little soft black line below the letters, then lower its opacity. This adds that extra touch of realism. Remember that corners are always a little bit darker than the objects themselves because it’s harder for light to reach these places.

TYPOGRAPHY 101 The part of this typographic illustration that we aren’t going into deeply is the basic theory needed to grasp a better understanding of the style. This is knowledge that you can’t teach in a single tutorial, because it covers so many different aspects. These things can be learnt over time via experimentation, but it’s probably wise to also do some reading and studying around the subject. Because there is already so much work done in this field a good place to start would be The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. This book is so well known in the industry that it oen goes simply by the name: Bringhurst. You can find copies through various sellers via Amazon, though not usually new.

To add extra shading to the corners, select the layers holding Cmd/Ctrl+H and click the relevant thumbnail in the Layers palette. Then, in a new layer, fill this selection with black and, using the Eraser tool, remove the centre before lowering opacity. We did this for all of the letters’ planes using a new layer whenever necessary.

Lower the opacity of the drop shadow to taste and remove the roughness of the shadow edge with the Eraser tool

10

COLOUR CHANGES

Until now we have done everything with the lights on, so replace your background with a solid black layer. Make colour changes to the letters with the Color Picker, darkening tones. To give the letters a little more shine select the front side, create a new layer and apply a 25% Opacity transparentwhite to fully-transparent Radial gradient starting at the centre of the letters and fading out to the edges.

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11

GROUND REFLECTION

For ground reflections make copies of the front of the letters. Then flip both these copies using Cmd/Ctrl+T and Flip Vertical. Position one as the reflection of the front of the letters and one for the back. Use the Polygonal Lasso and Fill tools to add in the side elements. Then use Color Overlay to choose colours for the reflections.

12

GROUND REFLECTION 2

Merge the back and sides with the front layer and apply a large soft eraser to fade out the reflection. First select the top letters and, at the bottom left of the selection, hold down the eraser and move it to the right. Once done, repeat this process for the letters on the bottom row.

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13

15

REFLECTION ACCENTS

14

LIT-UP EDGES 2

Add a new layer under the Stroke layer and merge the two. Apply a soft eraser to parts of the lines. Make a selection from the Stroke layer. Create a new layer (delete the merged layer) and apply a hard brush to add different colours. Use the Eyedropper tool to pick tones from the image.

Next add the bright-coloured accents. Most of these can be duplicated, moved and flipped to save time, though some may need a bit of editing with the Polygonal Lasso tool. To tone down the reflection we use a 40% Opacity eraser to brush away some of the brightness.

LIT-UP EDGES

Add lines to letter edges so it looks as if light is almost breaking out of the type. Select all the side parts of the letters using Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+H on the layer images in the Layers palette. Then, on a new layer, fill this selection. Open the Layer Style options, setting Advanced Blending Fill Opacity to 0%. Next set the Stroke size to 10px and position to Inside within the same set of options.

16

GLOWS

Now it’s time to add some glows. This can be achieved by duplicating the lines layer from the previous step and adding a Gaussian Blur. For the second glow we take the standard soft brush and, on a new layer, brush over the bright-coloured blocks. Use the Eyedropper tool for a coherent colour scheme. After brushing, play with the opacity to control the effect’s intensity.

Add extra shine to the type by making a selection of the front side of the letters and adding Select> Modify> Contract at 10px. On a new layer, use a soft brush to add light spots…

17

18

SPOT LIGHTS

Add extra shine to the type by making a selection of the front side of the letters and adding Select>Modify>Contract at 10px. On a new layer, use a soft brush to add large light spots in the upper-left corner of each letter. After creating light spots lower the opacity to match the scene’s lighting. Also move the layer a little to the left and down to better fit the perspective.

QUICK TIP Isometric 3D is the easiest way to produce 3D on a 2D plane. It’s easier because of how the perspective lines work. They’re always parallel to each other and have the same angle on the X and Y axes. Isometric 3D is used a lot in pixel art so this is a good area to look for a little inspiration. For more examples, check out www.drububu.com /tutorial.

ADD MORE ELEMENTS

Here we add a series of 7px lines and six-sided polygon shapes in conforming colours on a new layer on top of the letters. Use a soft eraser to fade parts of the shapes and ends of the lines. Duplicate the layer and use Gaussian Blur again to give the items a nice glow. The same technique is also used to create the little glowing lines in the ground reflections.

19

INTENSE HIGHLIGHTS

Finally we need to focus on making the light effects really pop. Achieve this by adding a new layer at the top of the layer stack. With a soft white brush – in various sizes – add spots to the brightest places. Use the light spots from Step 17 as a reference. As a last step we set this layer to the Overlay blending mode and play with the opacity to get the best intensity.

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DESIGN FLUID TYPE WITH ADDED POP BE BOLD AND EXPERIMENT WITH NEW WAYS OF ILLUSTRATING TYPOGRAPHY WITH ABSTRACT SHAPES AND TEXTURES

How often do you find yourself wondering how to carry out a client brief or personal project? You could take a collage approach, maybe mixed media, or even 3D. All of these options can be tried and tested within an hour, without getting your hands dirty or messing up your studio. That’s the great thing about digital art; but breaking the ‘design rules’ can be even more exciting. Custom typography can also be approached in many different ways, usually by butchering an existing font, tweaking the shapes until we like what we see. But how about pushing the envelope a bit further? Does the type need to be instantly legible? Since we’re not creating a headline or logo, we can really let loose and, for once, consider style over substance. In this tutorial, we’ll design the word ‘Fizz’ from abstract fluid shapes. Feel free to experiment with every step to personalise results. We will only be using basic Photoshop tools – giving you the freedom to deviate from this workshop if you so wish. Pay close attention to steps using Shape Layers and Smart Objects, but as for the rest, just let your imagination lead the way.

WORK IN PROGRESS

BREWING UP OUR BUBBLY TEXT DESIGN

OUR EXPERT RADIM MALINIC

www.brandnu.co.uk Radim, aka Brand Nu, provides practical knowledge and working tips on how to make abstract typography with fluid textures.

SOURCE FILES

There are no files on the CD for this, but you can get the original AI file from www.advancedphotoshop. co.uk/tutorials.php.

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

GET TO GRIPS WITH PHOTOSHOP’S SIBLING: ILLUSTRATOR

01

FROM A TO B

Many PS users don’t ‘get’ Illustrator. For some reason, they can’t get their head around the app. The beauty is most often in its simplicity so let’s start in that vein. Draw simple swoosh shapes and adjust curves for a smoother look. Arrange these shapes to create the word ‘Fizz’.

02

FILL THE CANVAS

You should have a surplus of swooshes that can be used to fill the space around our type. The main idea is to complement the movement of the central message. We are trying to re-create the bubbly feel of champagne in vector form. Although it is abstract, focus on the fluidity of the design.

Step 1: Create flowing shapes

Step 5: Supersize your canvas

Step 13: Work in some depth

03

COLOUR BLENDS

Now each of the objects will need to be split into two curves to give us the option to make stroke blends. This can be tedious, so let’s use a system that will also give our keyboard fingers a little workout. Swap Fill Color to Stroke (X), copy the shape (Cmd/ Ctrl+C), hit A to highlight one half, Delete to remove the curve, lock the result (Cmd/Ctrl+2), Paste in Place (Cmd/Ctrl+F), remove the other part and unlock (Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+2). Then select both and make the blend (Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+B).

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Typography 04

QUICK TIP

FINAL PREPARATIONS

Now we have the type and colour spectrum to work with, we need to build up some bubbles. There are one or two methods we will use in Photoshop to cut down on time and the number of layers, but it would be a shame not to prepare a few more elements in Illustrator while we’re here! Simple circles can be given extra dimension via the Gradient Mesh tool (U) and adding lighter colour tones. Also make a couple of copies of the main type element to use later in the main PS layout.

While we’re creating a fun design that works well as an exercise in typography, if you were creating something similar for a commercial project then you would need to ensure that the typography is clearly legible. Consider making the letters a shade darker or lighter so that they stand out better.

05

SUPERSIZE YOUR CANVAS

09

FOREVER FLOWING BUBBLES

Why not work in an oversized canvas of A4 or even A3? You never know when you may want to print your work as a poster etc. Copy and paste in the main swoosh artwork as a Smart Vector Object, apply Quick Mask (Q) and fill it with 30% black to knock everything back – other than the main type which should stay at 100%. You can achieve this by pasting only the Fizz type and creating an active selection. Then select the swoosh layer and fill it with white.

06

SHAPE OR VECTOR?

07

SHINY FLUID EFFECTS

When pasting elements from Illustrator into Photoshop you are always presented with four options. However, for a non-destructive and ultra-flexible way of working, we would recommend always selecting either the Smart Object or Shape Layer options. Both of these will retain the original vector information, which means they can be scaled and edited without – most importantly – losing any of the quality. In this step, bring in just the flat vector swooshes group as a Shape Layer and place it at the top of your layer stack.

Working with the same layer as Step 6, go to the Blending Options dialog. Adjust Fill to 0% and Opacity to 60%; this will hide all colour content of the shape but will let any effect added show through. Jump to Bevel and Emboss to work up a nice shine across the canvas. Use an Inner Bevel style with a Smooth technique to add a 3D-like finish. Experiment with the Size and Smooth parameters to see what effect you like.

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08

GLOW OUTLINE

From the Illustrator assets, bring in the Fizz outline with a white stroke and add on top of the main layer. Apply an Outer Glow layer style. Brush out some of the corners and edges via a Quick Mask (Q) selection. For best effect, be sure to turn the layer into a group and add the mask to that. Effects tend to interact with the current state, which doesn’t always work well; using a layer mask means we can tidy up and tweak afterwards.

Although at first they seem a little out of place, the green circles will work great in our champagne scene. Add one into the main canvas as a Smart Object and set its blending to Linear Dodge (Add). This will work perfectly against the background, with its subtle 3D effect. Hold Opt/Alt to copy the object, filling in gaps between the type and outer shapes. Repeat until the whole document is looking busy but balanced.

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GOING IN CIRCLES

The most efficient workflow is to stay in one area and use various brush sizes to fill the space, before moving on to the next and repeating

ADDING IN THAT EXTRA POP

10

FILL THE GAPS

Step 9 added many extra layers, so put them in one group for easy navigation. Now, we will fill the extra space around the graphic bubbles using a hard round brush. Adjust Foreground Color to CMYK 5,6,25,0, using the square bracket keys to increase/decrease brush size. The most efficient workflow is to stay in one area and use various brush sizes to fill the space, before moving on to the next and repeating.

11

KEEP ON ADDING

On top of some of the circles we just made, add orange dots – around 75% in size of the originals – to create a button effect. You will not need too many of these – leave some space for later. Next create a new layer (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+N) and name it ‘Top Bubbles’. Hit B to call up the Brush tool and press F5 for options. Enable Shape Dynamics and Scattering, drastically decrease the tip size and brush over the type and its immediate vicinity in very small circles.

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EYE-POPPING BUBBLES

From the AI file, import 3D spheres as Smart Objects. As earlier, hold Opt/Alt to copy shapes to speed up your process. The idea here is to emphasise the Fizz type with some bubble-like effects. Once happy with the positioning, select one of these spheres and attach a Drop Shadow style. The shadow colour works best as a brownish tone, for better blending. Copy the layer style and paste onto all other spheres for consistency.

THE YELLOW STAGES

During the process we have grown accustomed to our colour spectrum. The question to ask come the end is: are the colours as strong as they can be? The yellow tones might be okay in print, but we want them to really sing. So via a Selective Color adjustment layer, under the Yellows channel, we set Magenta to +5 and Yellow to +10. Next, on a Hue/Saturation layer, we bump up Saturation to +15 and lower Lightness to -5.

13

WORK ON PERSPECTIVE

Next up, we will add a bit more depth to the main type, once again to place more emphasis on this focal point. Since our main shape is transparent, put all spheres into one group below the main type layer and make a selection from the type only; now apply a Quick Mask (Q) to this group. This will hide anything behind the type and leave a number of spheres/bubbles peeking out around the edges of the letters.

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Typography

MASTER ELECTRIC TYPOGRAPHY LEARN HOW TO CREATE A STRIKING TYPOGRAPHY ILLUSTRATION IN PHOTOSHOP

In this tutorial you will learn how to apply lighting effects to typography in Photoshop. This effect could be used for a band logo, poster or album cover. We have chosen to start with the typeface Museo Sans, modifying certain letters to create a logo-type. We will then build up layers of detail, and bring in some perspective, reflections and shadows to give a 3D brushed metal effect. By using mostly vector layer shapes we will keep all the flexibility of Adobe Illustrator, while utilising some great lighting effects in Photoshop. Starting in black and white values, the basic principle will be to create layer shapes and apply Gradient Overlay layer styles, which will remain editable throughout the process. This enables you to edit parts of the illustration as you go, which would be difficult using standard pixel layers. The techniques shown can be used to create whatever shapes you like around the typography. As a final effect we will be adding colour to the image and painting in some neon lights and reflections to bring the illustration to life. If you don’t have the typeface then don’t worry, you can find vector text as a starting point for this illustration online at http://blog.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorial-files.

WORK IN PROGRESS

BUILDING UP THE IMAGE

Step 3: Create the base plate

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www.neondreams.com.au

I am a freelance designer from Perth, Australia. With ten years experience in digital media, my aim is to create striking and unique designs.

BASE ILLUSTRATION

TAKE THE FILE SUPPLIED ONLINE AND BUILD THE BASE OF THE ILLUSTRATION

01

GET A TYPOGRAPHY BASE

03

CREATE A BASE PLATE

Create a new 235 x 302mm document, and fill the Background layer with black. Place the supplied ‘base typography.eps’ file into the document (File>Place). Rasterise the layer and separate each word, then apply Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay to them. Click the gradient to edit it and use settings similar to the screenshot. Insert a white Stroke layer style, set to 5px.

Step 6: Add in objects

Step 13: Boost light effects

OUR EXPERT CHRISTOPHER HAINES

Using the Pen tool (P) with the setting on Shape Layers, draw an upside-down pyramid shape and apply the same Gradient Overlay layer style as the typography, with the black sitting right under the words acting as a shadow. Duplicate this layer and move it down three times to create some levels.

02

USE BEVELS

Create a new layer and, starting with the letter R, use the Pen tool to draw a trapezoid shape on the left side, just in from the white stroke. Convert this to a selection and draw in a horizontal gradient using a simple black-to-white setting. Vertically make it dark grey at the bottom to white at the top. Repeat this around the letter R, drawing the gradient in different directions.

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Typography 04

QUICK TIP

MAKE PYRAMIDS AND DIAMONDS

To copy a layer style that is being applied to a layer, to another layer, Alt-click and drag the layer style onto the desired layer. This keeps the existing layer style intact while also copying it to the new layer.

Duplicate the pyramid shapes and flip them vertically, then move to the top. Scale down to the size of the word Electric, then apply a soft drop shadow to each of the shapes to help separate them. At the peak, create a new diamond shape layer as before and apply a Gradient Overlay layer style. Duplicate the layer four times and scale down into quarters. Scale down again to create a slight bevel edge, changing the gradient to solid black. Duplicate all of these layers then scale down again and add a drop shadow to the bottom layer.

05

Behind the sphere and diamond shapes, use a large soft brush set to white and low opacity to paint a slight glow in behind the object

06

ADD OBJECTS

07

INCLUDE TECH SHAPES

Make a new layer – using the Ellipse tool (U) set to Paths – create an oval, then add a rectangle the same width to form a tube. Convert this to a selection and draw a reflective horizontal gradient. Create a new layer and draw another oval to cap off the tube, then merge the layer. Duplicate, scale and move them to create an interesting pillar shape. Create a new ellipse layer shape above the pillar and apply a Radial Gradient Overlay.

Duplicate your pillar shape and move a couple around on the base plate to add some more interest to the composition. Also put some pillars in between each corner of the lower pyramids to add to the structure. Repeat this process with your sphere and diamond shapes throughout the image. Behind the sphere and diamond shapes, use a large soft brush set to white and low opacity to paint a slight glow in behind the object. On another layer paint in some soft shadows underneath the objects in black.

Create a new layer and then use the Rectangle tool (U) to create a small grid of boxes on the letter R. Use the Pen tool to draw some technical shapes on the surface. To create a stroke along a path, set your brush size to 3px then, with the Brush tool selected (B), hit Enter. Continue adding details in solid black and white, depending on which has the best contrast against the gradient background of the letter.

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SHAPE TUBES

08

INPUTS

On the letter N, create a new layer and draw a small circle with the Ellipse tool (U), holding Shift to keep it uniform. Duplicate and scale down then change the gradient so the black sits lower towards the bottom. Add a soft drop shadow to each layer. Duplicate a circle, scale it down and remove all layer styles so the shape is just black. Move all of these layers into a folder and name it ‘Input’. Duplicate this folder and place at points around the composition.

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TURN UP THE GLOW

MAKE THE LAST STYLISTIC APPLICATIONS TO YOUR PIECE

09

TURN UP THE HIGHLIGHTS

On a new layer, use the Ellipse tool to draw a small white oval over one of the letter edges. Ctrl/ right-click the layer and rasterise it. Go to Filter>Gaussian Blur and set it to 4px. Add an Outer Glow layer style, set the Opacity to 65% and the Size to 24px. Duplicate this layer and arrange the copies around the edges of the letters to create some highlights.

ELECTRIC RAIN

The last effects needed to add a finishing touch to the image are some flashing neon lights, or electric rain. Create a new folder just above the Background layer called ‘Rain’. Create a new layer and make a tall oval selection using the Ellipse tool, with a light blue-towhite gradient (white in the centre, blue on the outside). Transform this layer (Cmd/Ctrl+T) so it becomes a very thin oval. Go to Filter>Motion blur and experiment to get the effect you want. Rotate this about 65-degrees, duplicate and arrange throughout the image.

10

PLACE REFLECTIONS

13

BOOST LIGHT EFFECTS

To add some reflection to the base plate, we need to duplicate all of the layers for the word Rain, as well as the pillars and other shapes. Merge these layers and select Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical. Set the layer style to Overlay and Opacity to 70%. Select Filter>Gaussian Blur and set to 4px. Add a layer mask and paint out where the reflection goes over the base plate. Continue to repeat this process for any other objects sitting on the base plate.

To add some reflection to the base plate, we need to duplicate all of the layers for the word Rain, as well as the pillars and other shapes. Merge these layers and select Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical

11

IMPROVE BACKGROUND GLOW

Just above the Background layer, create a new layer called ‘Glow’. Fill this with a light blue set to 50%. Add a layer mask and draw a large radial gradient out from the centre, white in the middle to black on the outside. As the centre is now too bright, use a soft black brush with low opacity to paint out some of the centre to make it darker. This adds glow to the outer areas while still giving the letters enough contrast off the background.

12

BRING FURTHER COLOUR

Select all the main steel objects and turn off any drop shadows. Duplicate and merge these layers then Cmd/Ctrl-click on the thumbnail of the layer to make a selection. Apply this to a folder layer mask and call this ‘Adjustments’. Select a purple radial gradient and apply to the locked layer, set to Overlay. Create a new layer and fill with black. Go to Filter>Noise and set it to 100%. Set the Blend Mode to Soft Light at 50% Opacity.

Add a new Levels adjustment layer and move the middle slider to about 0.58. This will help to darken the darker areas of the image, adding some contrast and helping the image to pop. Add a new layer set to Color Dodge. Select a neon blue colour and, using a soft brush, paint some blue highlights over the steel shapes. This extra detail helps to add variety in the colour and values of the metal surface.

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Typography

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FOUND OBJECT TYPOGRAPHY

CREATE A FONT UNIQUE TO YOUR PERSONALITY BY BASING IT ON A COLLECTION OF THEMED ITEMS Sometimes we keep things just because they ‘might be useful’. When clearing out a shed, I found some rusty old odds and ends; I took a closer look and began to see that these objects and shapes still had something to offer, and with a little imagination might fit together to make lettering and images. I tried forming basic words and letter shapes, which quickly developed into trying out the whole alphabet in both upper and lower case. From these rather crude beginnings, the ‘Any Old Iron’ lettering was born! I documented the found 3D objects with a digital camera, which gave me more scope and let me use some interesting scrapshapes many times. This helped tie the lettering together, so they were more of a set. Putting the shapes into Photoshop pulled things together even more, allowing slight colour edits and resizing, but at the same

time letting me keep a balance between the haphazard nature of the scraps that appealed in the first place, and the uniformity needed for a set of letters. Mixing traditional collage with objects and digital technology offered more practicality with the font, creating more uses and not limiting the number of times a shape or letter could be created and used, or restricting the size of a letter. It also allowed development with other images and textures without losing the original appeal.

WORK IN PROGRESS

TRANSFORM JUNK INTO TYPOGRAPHY

OUR EXPERT GEMMA HART

www.rockgem.deviantart.com Digital artist Gemma explains the techniques behind their amazing artwork “I’m a Wolverhampton uni graduate with a passion for creating; keen on combining traditional media like collage with digital effects in Photoshop. When creating pieces, I oen recycle the old into something new.”

Step 4: Planning

When clearing out a shed, I found some rusty old odds and ends; I took a closer look and began to see that these objects and shapes still had something to offer, and with a little imagination might fit together RECYCLING WITH A TWIST

Step 12: Erase background

FIND SOME SUITABLE OBJECTS

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03

FIND SOME OBJECTS

The process begins away from the computer and very much in finding the right objects to use. In this instance, I use miscellaneous junk items things that could easily be bought from a hardware store but I chose to use odds and ends that I found when clearing out a shed to give more character to the letters.

02

BE SELECTIVE

Not all the pieces of scraps found are useful. Whittle down the selection to more interesting shapes or shapes that are useful and better suited to your needs. The key is to find things that already hind at letter shapes or that might be used for multiple letter shapes.

Step 22: Hue and Saturation

BASIC LETTER SHAPES

Open a blank document in Photoshop with a white background, then add a second layer using the Text tool to type out the alphabet in capitals; make this layer 30% Transparency. These letters are only a guide. ou can do this either one letter at a time or all 26 in one go.

Step 29: Numbers

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Typography TRANSFORM JUNK INTO TYPOGRAPHY

START LOOKING FOR SOME STUFF TO USE

04

PLANNING YOUR LETERING

Add a third layer and select a 5px Brush tool at 50% Transparency. Using the shapes you have found in your scraps, begin to draw over the basic lettering shapes to create the thumbnails of how you might like each of the letters to look.

06

ASSEMBLE YOUR LETTERS

With a printout of your thumbs to hand, begn to piece together your basic letter shapes. It doesn’t matter if they are a little crooked - the idea of the typography is that it’s made from junk; but try not to over-complicate the shapes, otherwise the letter shapes start to become lost.

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MAKE NOTES

07

DECISIONS

The thumbnails do not have to be that accurate, but when referring back to them on a printout sometimes it can be be unclear what some of the sketchy lines represent. I find it really helps to open a notepad document and jot down which pieces of scrap you intend to use for each letter.

Decisions can always be changed. If you find a shape that might be a better fit than in your first plan or is more practical, then go for it. There is no right or wrong way, although it helps to try and keep the letters a similar size.

QUICK TIP If you don’t want to spend time creating all 26 letters, obviously some of them can be used more than once. The letter N rotated 90 degrees right can become the letter Z, or the letter V can be duplicated and used to create a W, which in turn could be rotated 180 degrees to create the M!

08

RECOGNISING AND REUSING

To tie the letters together, it’s handy to use the same pieces for multiple letters. Working with found objects has a certain quirkiness, especially when it comes to recognisable shapes. As well as nuts and bolts, other things included were a handcuff-shaped key ring and a zip tab.

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09

LUCK

Do not always go for the obvious choice, although with some of the letters this is unavoidable. Go with your instinct and visual appeal; choose what you feel stands out as the better option. On occasion, with luck, you might find an object that will fit the letter you want perfectly.

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10

PHOTOGRAPHING THE LETTERS

Position your found objects as you want them on a flat white background and photgraph them. It’s a longer process, but I found it easier to photograph one letter at a time. Load the images onto the computer and use the Photoshop Crop tool to resize. I made mine 25 centimetres by 25 centimetres.

11

ENHANCE

13

NARROW DOWN THE NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS

I began the process with found objects that were rusted. They were the ideal way of giving the ‘old iron’ feel to the font - but this rusted look can be enhanced using the Photoshop Variation tool, adding a little more red and yellow to the midtones.

12

ERASE THE BACKGROUND

The letter is the importamt shape you want here. The background of the photograph is surplus to requirements, so erase it with the Magic Eraser tool. It can be a little fiddly, but if you use oddments such as chains or objects with holes in them, remember to erase the little pieces of background in the gaps.

Having 26 individual Photoshop documents can be confusing - creating a larger new document and copy/pasting the letters into it helped me keep track of them far more easily. To cut down on the number of layers, I saved this as a PNG document, you don’t have to, but I found it helped.

16

MAKE FEWER LAYERS AND DOCUMENTS

Too many layers and documents open at any one time can get confusing, so reduce them if you can and put all your letters in one document. It helps keep track of them far better with one document to hand instead of 26 or more.

14

PLANNING THE LOWER CASE

With the optional lower case, not all the letters need to be considered - just the ones that differ greatly from their upper case counterparts. If it helps, plot the remainder out in thumbnails in Photoshop.

15

USE SOME OF THE UPPERCASE

Some of the letters can be created from the upper case letters by resizing. I made the lower case 17 centimetres by 17 centimetres unless they were taller letters or letters with ‘tails’. I made those 17 centimetres wide by 25 centimetres high.

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Typography PUT THE LETTERING TO USE

AS EASY AS A, B, C...

17

ASSEMBLING THE WORDS

19

NEATNESS

Create a fresh Photoshop document in the size you desire; I have a habit of working on one that’s a little larger than I need it to be and resizing at a later stage. Use the Select tool to select letters and copy/paste them into the fresh document, resizing them as you see fit to begin to build up words.

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EXCLAMATION POINT

Punctuation in this found object lettering is easy enough. The lower case letter ‘i’ can be dismantled - the cog shape used for the dot on the top easily becoming a full stop. Likewise, the entire letter can be easily rotated 180 degrees to give the exclamation point.

Don’t worry if some of the letters are a little crooked - it adds to the character of the typography. The letters are made from junk, so being a little out of line adds to it.

20

MORE PHOTOGRAPHS

Photoshop does have various crackle effect filters, but as this typography is about found objects, it’s only apt to continue with the theme. As the lettering is made from scraps and rusted metal and the font very much mixed media, I moved toward looking for ‘found textures’ of rust and peeling paints that could be adapted to be a background.

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DEVELOPING THE BACKGROUND

The background is something that can be experimented with. It could be left quite plain, but in order to fit in with the ‘old iron’ tehme aand effect of the lettering, I decided to try and incorporate some paint and rust.

ADD A BIT MORE DETAIL

I used the Photoshop Burn tool set to a 300px soft round brush at 50% Pressure to randomly darken areas such as in the corners and background almost haphazardly, to add a little more detail and depth.

22

HUE AND SATURATION

Use the Hue and Saturation tools in Photoshop to remove some of the colour and make the rust texture for the background lighter and look slightly washed-out. If needed, resize before using the Blur More filter to soften some of the lines.

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24

ENHANCE THE LETTERS

Bring back the file of your lettering, then use the Photoshop Brightness and Contrast tools just a little to make the shapes a bit bolder. Don’t overdo it, or else you’ll lose a lot of the detail in the lettering shapes, and in turn, their character.

25 27

PUT THE TWO TOGETHER

Possibly the easiest stage! Copy your text layer and paste it onto your background layer. Make sure the two work together and that the background won’t overpower the text - only enhance it. If necessary, tweak a little more with the Hue and Saturation tools.

26

MERGE AND RESIZE

Copy the merged layers so you have just one, then check the size; if the image is a fractional larger you can either resize or crop down to the size you need. With this done, select an area around the edge of the image about one centimetre wide.

ADDING A BORDER

Using the Burn tool again set to a 300px soft round brush at 50% Pressure, go over the selected area haphazardly and slightly unevenly, just to darken it enough to hint at a border around the piece.

28

FINAL DETAILS

Using some of the photos rejected from creating the initial letter shapes, add a scattering of a few nuts and cogs near the edges. They can help frame the typography, almost as if they’ve rolled away from the main text.

QUICK TIP This typography can work well in a range of different colours - although I chose to stick to the more natural rust tones of the original found objects used to create the typography. Don’t be tempted to oversaturate. Keep the colours quite muted to prevent the image from looking too garish.

29

NUMBERS

After creating the all lettering, I decided to sneak the date into the corner. A few more found objects later, and numbers 1 to 9 are assembled - the zero adapted from the letter O, and the 6 and 9 being interchangeable.

30

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Check over the final image. Make any minor adjustments to the brightness and contrast or the hue and saturation to suit your personal taste. Remember, this typography is supposed to look worn-out.

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Typography

CREATE COLLAGESTYLE TYPOGRAPHY

IN THIS TUTORIAL WE WILL BE CREATING PERSONALISED COLLAGESTYLE TYPE USING ILLUSTRATIONS AND STOCK

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OUR EXPERT LUCA MOLNAR

www.lucamolnar.com

Luca is a freelancer from Hungary. She has recently launched her own T-shirt brand, Miss Future.

SOURCE FILES

On the disc is stock photography and Luca’s own illustrations that she used for the typography. These illustrations are copyright to Luca and can only be used for completing the tutorial.

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In this tutorial, we will be creating three collage-style letters and then organising the letters into a single layout in order to create a final composition. For the letters, we will use our own previously created illustrations and also some stock photographs to make the typography even more varied and exciting. This collage style of lettering is undergoing somewhat of a resurgence, thanks to the popularity of the Mixel app for iPad (http://mixel.cc), which enables users to build simple collages from their photos. There are some great examples of Mixel typography out there, notably from Senongo Akpem (www.behance.

net/senongo). We are looking to create a similar style, but using only the tools in Photoshop. You will need to have a good knowledge of Photoshop in order to get through this tutorial. Another great thing about this style of typography is the fact that we can make it very quickly. We will finish one letter in about an hour, which means that we can then finish the whole typographic illustration in three to four hours. Photoshop is without doubt the best software to create a piece like this. All the tools you’ll need are laid out for you, so this is exactly the kind of project the program excels with.

We will finish one letter in about an hour, which means that we can finish the whole typographic illustration in three to four hours. Photoshop is without doubt the best software to create a piece like this… it’s exactly the kind of project the program excels with

WORK IN PROGRESS

BUILDING UP ONE LETTER AT A TIME

Step 5: Work with stock photos

Step 6: Finish the first letter

BUILD THE BASIC LETTERING

GET YOUR FONT RIGHT AND ADD PATTERNS

01

Step 9: Final touches

MAKE A NEW DOCUMENT

We will be creating the three letters (A, B, C) separately. First make a new document of 2,500 x 3,000px at 300dpi. This is a pretty big document, which is always useful because it enables us to work on the details. Now we select a light grey for the background. After that we add a new layer, select a big, soft brush (700px), set the colour to white and paint a little on the centre of the document. Go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set Radius to 250px.

02

SHAPE THE BASIC LETTER TYPE

Choose the Type tool and select the Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold font, set the Size to 700pt and simply write ‘A’. This letter will be like a guide to us and it will help build our collage. Naturally you can choose any kind of typeface, anything that you think looks cool. After this stage, we will be rasterising (Ctrl/right-click and Layer>Rasterize Type) our type layer. This will make it easier to alter the A if needed.

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Typography 03

QUICK TIP Play with layer styles as much as you can in order to put some light in your piece. There are so many of them, and different layer styles can make some interesting light effects, taking your artwork to the next level. We’re sure you will have quite a few happy accidents!

ADD PATTERNS

Now for the fun part. Choose three or four of your favourite illustrations, it’s best if you choose works with the same or a very similar colour scheme. Open the first illustration and drop it on the main document. Set the Opacity to around 50% so we are able to see the letter under the illustration, which can make working with it easier. You can resize the illustration we just dropped on the main document if needed.

There are so many different layer styles, and some styles can make interesting light effects, taking your artwork to the next level. We’re sure you will have quite a few happy accidents!

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04

CUT OUT YOUR TYPE

Select the amazing Pen tool and make a random shape with it, then Ctrl/right-click and choose Make Selection. Now select the Rectangle Marquee tool, go above our selection, Ctrl/right-click and pick Layer via Copy. You just copied your first pattern! You can see that we have it on a separate layer. Now move it on the letter A and place it somewhere where you judge it looks best. After this we have to repeat this step several times with all of our chosen illustrations until our letter is completely covered with patterns.

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SPICE UP THE TYPE

Our first letter looks pretty cool already. However, we can still add some smooth details. Open one of the flower stock images supplied, select the Pen tool and cut out the first flower. Ctrl/rightclick, choose Make Selection, then select the Rectangle Marquee tool, go above our selection and Ctrl/right-click, selecting Layer via Copy. After that continue to cut out three more flowers and a beautiful frog. Now all we have to do is to drop our flowers into the main file and duplicate (Ctrl/ right-click on the layer and hit Duplicate Layer) a few times.

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06

MAKE A MOVE

The letter is a little too static. We set the background layers (first three layers) to non-visible, Ctrl/right-click on a visible layer and choose Merge Visible. After this, Ctrl/right-click on the merged layer and select Duplicate Layer. Now place the new layer above the others. Go to Filters>Blur>Motion Blur, set the Angle to 0 and the Distance to 139. Select the Eraser tool, choose a large soft brush and delete some parts of the blurred image until it starts looking nice.

07

LIGHT IT UP

08

REPEAT FOR B AND C

We are going to add some sparkling light to our work. First we add a new layer and set the blending mode to Overlay, which is a very good option if you want to add some natural-looking light to your work. Ideally you’ll have some downloaded light brushes, but if you don’t have any then just choose a medium-sized white brush. Click parts of the work that you want to highlight.

After finishing the letter A, we’ll be creating two more letters (B and C). Simply repeat the previous steps. You can choose to use different illustrations for each letter or use the same ones. However, if you decide to use different illustrations and stock images for each letter, then we suggest using varying colour schemes for the letters. This way all of your letters will be individual and more fun to look at.

09

BRING ALL THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS TOGETHER

Create a new document of 2,776 x 2,404px at 300dpi. Drop all three letters into this document without their grey background and place them in a pyramid formation. Select the Pen tool, set the brush size to 7pt and the colour to white, then add a new layer above all other layers. Next create a similar path with the Pen tool to the one shown above, Ctrl/ right-click and select Stroke Path.

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Typography

USE THE REPOUSSÉ TOOL FOR 3D TYPE USE THE INFLATE SETTINGS OF THE REPOUSSÉ TOOL TO CREATE BALLOONSTYLE LETTERING

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OUR EXPERT NIK AINLEY

www.shinybinary.com

Nik Ainley is a digital illustrator based in the UK. He has been producing personal and commissioned illustrations for an array of clients for over a decade.

SOURCE FILES

The environmental HDR files used for image reflections in this tutorial can be purchased from www.aversis. be/hdri/hdri-collections.htm, or for free for non-commercial projects at www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.

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In this tutorial you’ll use the Repoussé tool (CS5 Extended) to produce 3D lettering that mimics the look of glossy helium balloons. The bloated effect produced by the Inflate option within Repoussé, combined with the advanced reflections the 3D system enables, work together perfectly to achieve this cool look. The end result is something that couldn’t be achieved at the same level of refinement without using this Photoshop 3D option set. Working with 3D in Photoshop has several advantages over dedicated 3D programs. One of these is familiarity with the way Photoshop works. 3D software can have a steep learning curve and be daunting for beginners.

Photoshop enables very quick, interactive editing of 3D scenes compared to the process in other 3D applications. That usually involves editing without being able to see the end result, rendering the image and then going back to editing, repeating until done. Photoshop enables you to edit parameters directly and see the results instantly, resulting in a much smoother workflow. A decent level of understanding of some of Photoshop’s more basic functions, such as layers and selections, will be essential in order to complete this tutorial. Any experience with full 3D software or the concepts used in 3D graphics could also help, but isn’t essential.

The bloated effect produced by the Inflate option within Repoussé, combined with the advanced reflections the 3D system enables, work together perfectly to achieve this look. The end result is something that couldn’t be achieved without using this Photoshop 3D option set

WORK IN PROGRESS

FROM FLAT TEXT TO FINISHED EFFECT

Step 1: Start with flat type

Step 6: Type in position, with reflections

LAY OUT THE TEXT AND MAKE IT 3D

TYPE THE WORDS TO START YOUR PIECE

01

Step 8: Finished image with background

MAKE YOUR TYPE

The first step involves getting the basic letters right. Choose a font that suits being made into 3D balloon shapes. The letters should have a decent amount of curvature – you don’t want them looking overly angular. You’ll actually only be dealing with the front of the letters, not extruded sides, so the letters need to be substantial. Here we have used a font called EFF Albert (http://thefonts.com/M/ PageFr/Albert.htm).

02

USE THE REPOUSSÉ OPTION

Turn flat lettering into 3D shapes by using the 3D panel, choosing Repoussé, then Text Layer. Set the Depth of Extrude to 0, Inflate Strength and Angle to 0.4 at 90 degrees respectively. Also set the Mesh Quality to Best since you’re dealing with curved shapes. For the material set the colour to grey and use the lighting to add more tone. Change the colours of the lights in the 3D panel to what you feel looks good, in this case a mixture of greens and blues. You can also increase the Gloss and Shine values to get a plastic look.

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Typography 03

ARRANGE THE LETTERS

You’ll need to move the letters around while keeping them in the same 3D layer so that they interact via reflections and shadows. To do this choose 3D>Repoussé>Split Repoussé Meshes. In the 3D panel you can then select Filter by: Meshes to see the letters have been separated. Selecting each letter individually, move them into place using the Mesh Transform tools (not the Object Transform tools). Spend some time getting the positioning right as once you progress it will become difficult to move them again.

QUICK TIP To produce selections of individual letters, you can turn off the visibilities of the meshes you don’t want selected. This can be done in the Filter by: Meshes section in the 3D panel. Once this is done you can Cmd/Ctrl-click on the layer’s thumbnail. You now have a selection based on the letter or letters that are still visible.

04

CREATE CREASES

To add the dimples with helium balloon surfaces, use bump maps. Here, black represents low areas and white represents high. Since you’ve split the meshes, you have to treat letters individually. For each letter, create an image that is basically just the flat letter in white and draw in small shapes in black that will become the dimples. Load these with Edit the Bump Texture in the 3D Material panel, adjusting the value to whatever looks best. The U Scale in the Edit Properties of the map might need to be adjusted so that the map aligns with the letters properly. This value depends on the size of the word, but we’ve set it at 5.

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RENDER YOUR 3D

Up until now you’ll have been working with the 3D render settings quality set to Interactive. This is fast, but not suitable for the final image. You need to set the quality to Ray Traced Final. This will produce the correct reflections, anti-aliasing the letters. The process of rendering can take quite a while depending on how big your scene and how fast your computer is, up to hours at a time. You’ll see blue squares appear over your image while rendering, which will disappear when the process has finished.

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06

ADD REFLECTIONS

What this achieves is letters that reflect each other, but nothing else. You need to add a texture to the material. Environmental HDR images are best as these give a full 360-degree image to reflect. To have better control of the reflections, add them on their own layers. Duplicate the letters’ layer, setting their material’s Diffuse colour to black, adding environment texture. Reduce Gloss and Shine to 0 and set Reflection to 85%. Change the blending mode to Screen.

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Environmental HDR images are best as these give a full 360-degree image to reflect. To have better control of the reflections, add them on their own layers. Duplicate the letters’ layer, setting their material’s Diffuse colour to black, adding environment texture

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REFLECTION FALLOFF

To affect the relative strengths of the reflection in different parts of the letters, you can use textures just like a bump map. Here white represents reflection and vice-versa for black. You can produce a map like this by simply using a copy of the original flat text layer, adding an Inner Glow Layer Style (fx). Using Gaussian Blur to repeatedly blend two tones together produces a far more smooth result.

LAYER THE REFLECTIONS

Adding further reflections can create a richer effect. Duplicate the reflection layer and change the environmental texture. Choose one that complements the existing reflections, setting the blending mode to Soft Light. You can further control the blending of reflection layers by using the Blend If controls from the Layer Style panel (fx). By blending away the darker tones you can prevent the reflections becoming too heavy.

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CHANGE THE COLOURS

Having the balloons all the same colour is a bit boring so you should use adjustment layers to fix this. Gradient Map layers set to Soft Light are a good way to achieve effects. For more radical recolouring, start off with a Gradient Map in a Normal blending mode. Building more adjustment layers on top, you can control the exact balance of colours and light on each letter. Using contrasting tones for neighbouring letters increases legibility.

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WORK WITH 3D TYPE CREATE BASIC 3D RENDERS IN CINEMA 4D AND INTEGRATE INTO A 2D SCENE

In this tutorial we will combine basic 3D renders along with photography from all different royalty-free sites including iStockphoto, Wikipedia Commons and the Library of Congress online archives. Your final image will probably look quite different from ours, as you’ll be using your own images, but the steps you take to create your composition will remain the same. Compositing images from different sources can often be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Whether you are trying to match the light source across multiple photos or struggling with consistent hue and temperature values, a treated look to your image will help to unify your composition. Ensure you have the Creative Suite – we will be using CS5.5. Photoshop will be our weapon of choice. We will also be creating some very basic 3D renders using CINEMA 4D and Illustrator. If you have yet to incorporate a 3D program into your design process, this exercise will be a great starting point. We are using basic geometric shapes and a deformer called Spline Wrap to create the typographic rollercoaster, our focus. Then we will build the rest of our scene in Photoshop by combining several photos and adding a vintage look.

WORK IN PROGRESS

FROM 3D TYPE TO FINISHED ARTWORK

Step 1: Illustrator sketch

OUR EXPERT BARTON DAMER

www.alreadybeenchewed.tv

Barton is a motion designer and digital artist with 12 years’ experience who creates under his studio brand, Already Been Chewed, LLC.

SOURCE FILES

Included on the disc is a CINEMA 4D file with the main Spline Wrap active so you can learn from some of the adjustments made in the tutorial.

PREPARING THE TYPE

TAKE AN ILLUSTRATOR SKETCH INTO CINEMA 4D

01

CREATE A VECTOR PATH

Using Illustrator, we will draw a vector path that acts as the spline for our 3D typography. For this concept, we should choose a font that will work well as one line connected between all the letters and is still legible, we chose to use Cursive. Use the Pen tool to draw the spline and save as an Illustrator 8 file. Note: we will not be able to import into C4D if we save as any other legacy.

02 Step 8: CINEMA 4D render

Step 14: Unify the image

ADJUST PATH

Within CINEMA 4D, we Merge (File>Merge) the path we created in Illustrator. Then we can select a specific point from the path and adjust it forwards or backwards in Z space. This gives our spline depth and prevents our text from intersecting with itself later. Each point of the vector path contains handles that we can pull to smooth our path as we move the vector points.

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Typography 03

QUICK TIP

BASIC CYLINDERS

We can use photographs of real metal or even rusty metal to texture our rollercoaster track. For even more realism, we can apply bump maps to our texture. Simply Greyscale the image and adjust the Levels in Photoshop for more contrast between the white and blacks of the greyscale image. The bump map gives real depth to your texture based on the black and white points.

Use three basic cylinders within C4D and rotate them to lie horizontal, making a base for our rollercoaster track. Because we are going to wrap them around the path we imported from Illustrator, we need to increase the number of segments in the height of each cylinder. We can crank the number of height segments way up for now, making the Spline Wrap smoother once we’ve applied it.

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BEZIER TOOL MODELLING

Before we work on applying the Spline Wrap, it’s important to finish modelling our rollercoaster track. That way we only have to apply it once rather than to each object that makes up the track. With that in mind, we can either finish drawing the track with the Bezier tool inside of CINEMA 4D or we can jump back into Illustrator and export another path. Draw the last part of the track in Illustrator if you are more comfortable that way and export for C4D (as we did in Step 1). Merge it into C4D (just like Step 2). Then drag the vector path underneath an Extrude Nurb and adjust the settings until you get the desired effect.

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APPLY THE SPLINE WRAP

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LIGHTING

Now the moment we’ve been waiting for! We’re ready to apply the Spline Wrap to our entire rollercoaster track. First we need to group the three Cylinders with our Cloner Object. Then applying the Spline Wrap will transform everything inside of the group. If you get some odd results, it’s probably because the axis of the Spline Wrap needs to be changed to X, Y, or Z depending on the position and rotation of your centre point. Now go into the Spline Wrap settings and adjust the Rotation of our track to look better based on how it reacts within each letter.

As we will be compositing images from different sources and lighting, make note of the light source in the images and see if you can come close to matching them. Focus on the direction of the light and the types of shadows being cast. Will we be compositing into another picture that has strong daylight and hard shadows? Or more overcast and softer shadows? However, the vintage treatment will help to unify everything.

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08

TEXTURE

The textures we need to create for this project are very basic, which is why this tutorial is a nice introduction to 3D. The Material Editor enables us to customise all sorts of options. We simply need a bright colour for our track since a lot of rollercoasters are painted a bright primary colour. By default, the Specular is turned on and we should leave it that way unless we decide otherwise. We don’t want reflections on our rollercoaster track, so a basic hue adjustment should be fine for our purposes.

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THE MOGRAPH CLONER

The Mograph Cloner enables us to make copies of our Extrude Nurb object. In the Settings we can offset, rotate and scale along with many other options. For this we want to choose a lot of copies and space them out to be the length of our cylinders we created earlier. In the Attributes Manager of our Cloner, we can choose to space it out along the X, Y or Z axis. By default, the Cloner is Linear so we don’t need to change that, but it could easily be used as Radial, Object or Grid Array for various uses.

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WORK ON THE DETAILS

ADD DETAIL AND SHADOW IN CINEMA 4D

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MODELLING THE DETAILS

We can add details to our typography by using basic shapes within C4D, such as cylinders for the legs and cylinders inside of an Array for the bolts around the legs. Just like Step 8, we can create a new texture, choosing a colour that will not compete with the rollercoaster track so the two aren’t confused. Once you’ve created one set of legs, copy, paste and reposition them around the type.

Choosing photos that have softer shadows and a light source that is evenly lit will help us to combine a variety of images from different sources

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RENDER ALPHA CHANNELS

CINEMA 4D enables us to render out the track in high resolution for print. We can also create alpha channels around just the rollercoaster so that we don’t have to trace and cut out the background from CINEMA 4D inside of Photoshop. Simply apply a Compositing tag from the Objects window and enable Object Buffer. In render settings, turn on Multi-Pass and choose Object Buffer, then select a location to save the fully rendered image with the Object Buffer.

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RENDERING SHADOWS

One thing to note about our Render Settings is the Ambient Occlusion feature. When you enable Ambient Occlusion in the Render Settings, it renders more realistic shadows than if you were to leave it off. It takes a little bit longer to render but the added detail is worth it. Since this is a print piece, the render time really doesn’t matter as if it were motion. Under Multi-Pass, in our Render settings, we can enable Shadows and it will render them separately on its own layer. That way you have some flexibility when compositing in Photoshop to darken your shadows as needed.

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Typography 12

CHOOSE PHOTOS

One of the challenges in choosing photos to support our typography is the variety of sources that have to be combined. It’s best to look for photographs that have similar lighting, if at all possible. Choosing photos that have softer shadows and a light source that is evenly lit will help us to combine a variety of images from different sources. Look for all daylight, or all nighttime pictures for instance. Alternatively, look for photos where the position of the sun is very similar, or in the case of a nighttime shot, the position and intensity of the moon.

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PLACE AND CUT OUT IMAGES

Once we find images to help finish our composition, we can begin to lay them out and isolate them from their background in Photoshop. There are various methods we can use but we would suggest the Pen tool for non-organic objects. Some objects require using a different method, which we will look at. Your decision will vary with the background of the image you need to cut out, though combining methods works well.

BUILDING THE SCENE

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

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QUICK TIP

MATCH VALUES

There are different Effectors that can be applied to Mograph Cloner objects within C4D. A Random Effector can be applied to give variation in the size, rotation and position of the bubbles used. This makes it very easy to create a unique cluster of water bubbles in just a few clicks.

Begin matching the values of all the pictures by adjusting the Hue/Saturation, bringing down the saturation of each object, whilst not completely desaturating the images. Adjusting the Levels will help as well. Try to increase the darks and brighten the whites until the images look similarly toned. Next, use an adjustment layer over the entire canvas to decrease Saturation.

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COLOUR TINT

We can now add some colour tinting on new layers and really start to unify our piece. Using the Airbrush tool, choose a large brush, a warm colour (brown) and paint over certain areas of the image. Blending modes will do all the work for you. Try Soft Light or Overlay and adjust the Opacity. Use multiple layers with a variety of colours over select areas of the composition.

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MAKE A SPLASH!

BUBBLE REFLECTIONS

Using Color Range to make a selection, we isolate just the white caps of the waves. The Fuzziness enables you to control a range of values in the waves you want to include. We can then copy, paste, flip, rotate and reposition the same waves to create a group of them. Or we can use several different photos of waves to customise the direction the waves are crashing in our scene.

When creating a custom texture for the water bubbles, you’ll want to use Transparency and add Refraction to the settings. Reflection will help with realism as well. In order to get some interesting reflections in the water bubbles, you’ll need to add some sort of an environment. We can create a custom sky or background image or use a third-party product called GSG Light Kit Pro (www. greyscalegorilla.com). This plug-in for CINEMA 4D comes with presets that include gradient backgrounds or studio backgrounds among others. It’s a great way to get some really nice reflections by simply dropping in one of the gradient environments that come with the product.

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SCREEN MODE

We can also add detail to our water and bubbles by using photographs set to Screen mode. There are a lot of great stock images available including video clips online. Often, the stock video clips are shot at 1,080p, which is a high enough res for our needs. The water bubbles are pretty small in the composition so a still grab from the video works just fine. Desaturate your image and adjust the Levels so that the darks are completely black and don’t show when the layer is set to Screen.

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CUSTOM WATER BUBBLES

We can customise our own water bubbles by blending in some renders from C4D. By using the Cloner Object (Step 5) and creating a new texture (Step 8), we can create a stream of bubbles with various camera angles. A Random Effector can be applied to the Cloner Object as well to give the bubbles variation in size, rotation and position. We render with an alpha channel (see Step 10) and place into our composition. Try these bubbles at Normal, Screen or Overlay blending mode.

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ADD THE VINTAGE TREATMENT

Using a stock image of paper that has a consistent texture to it, we can add layers of grain that will affect the darks and lights of the artwork. Setting the paper layer to Soft Light will give you some nice grain. For more control, we can duplicate our layer of paper and be able to set it to Screen mode. The layer set to Screen will enable us to add a lot of grain to the darks of our artwork, making it feel vintage. Adjust the Levels and Opacity of the layers to achieve the desired effect.

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Typography

TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGNS

COMBINE THE PEN TOOL WITH SOME INSPIRING WORDS TO CREATE A STRONG PROMOTIONAL DESIGN In this tutorial you can learn how to create typography within the boundaries of an everyday object – in this case, a trainer. To recreate this illustration you don’t have to be a Photoshop professional, as it really isn’t difficult to make, but it looks very cool nonetheless and you can adapt the illustration to other ideas relatively easily. You will need a scanner or a camera for the drawing part and you will need some water splash stock as well, if you decide to create a fresh background for the main work.

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When we started on this piece, we had so many ideas with this concept as it was possible to go in so many directions. We finally decided to use the shape of a sneaker; first, because we have an obsession with them and, second, because we know many of you feel the same way! The text part was a bit trickier, but we decided to write some lines about art and creativity. You can write anything you want to share with the world. It’s a great way to get a message across if you are the type of artist who likes to express themselves via words as well as design.

OUR EXPERT LUCA MOLNAR

http://lucamolnar.com

Luca is a 20-year-old digital artist from Hungary. In the past few years she has worked for MTV Networks, Ogilvy Group and Universal Music, among others.

SOURCE FILES

On the CD is a Word document with links to three SXC files that were used to complete this illustration.

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DRAW THE LETTERS

Select the Pen tool and start redoing the letters. Choose a fun colour and then Ctrl/right-click>Fill Path. Try to have a new layer for every letter, in case you want to change something on the type later. Play with the boldness and size of the letters to give them more character.

Often when creating an illustration, it is best to start with drawing out the initial composition. First we did a quick outline of the shoe with the Pen tool in Photoshop, then printed it and started drawing. Try to figure out an overall inspiring message to get across in the work.

QUICK TIP When adding lighting to your illustration always try to play with blending modes. Choosing the right mode (usually Overlay or Screen) can be the key to a great piece. However, be careful; if you add too many lights, it can turn your artwork into a disaster.

CREATE THE LETTERS

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CHOOSE MORE COLOURS

We want to make it very vivid; to achieve this choose three bright colours. We opt for pink, purple and light blue, but you can select any shades you want. Now keep creating the letters using the pencil sketch as a template; be patient – there are lots!

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ADD HIGHLIGHTS

Merge a few layers to have one word or line per layer, then go to Select>Load Selection and add a new layer. Choose a lighter tone to the word’s colour, select a large soft brush and start painting highlights.

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HANDWRITTEN WORDS

You may choose to create some handwritten-looking words. Using the Pen tool, simply draw the shape of the letters, then select a small brush (5px), plus the Pen tool again, and Ctrl/rightclick>Stroke Path. Experiment with settings to make the letters look as natural as possible.

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Typography 06

07

WRAP UP THE WORDS

IT’S A SHOE-IN

Let’s start putting together the sneaker now. Use the Pen tool, choose white, redraw the shape of the shoe and then Ctrl/right-click>Fill Path. Next Ctrl/right-click the layer and choose Blending Options, go to Stroke, select a dark grey and set the Size to 8px.

Finally, it’s time to finish the rest of the typography. Draw all the letters with the Pen tool and don’t forget to add some highlights to each word to make them consistent. After you’ve finished the words, read them a few times to make sure you don’t have any typos.

Draw all the letters with the Pen tool and don’t forget to add some highlights to each word to make them consistent. After you’ve finished the words, read check them for typos

08

ALL IN THE DETAILS

We have to add details to the sneaker to make it look more real. Use the Pen tool again to draw the different parts of the shoe; keep every new shape on a new layer. Then Ctrl/right-click on the layer, choose Blending Options and add a grey stroke, paler than the main shoe outline. This will help to distinguish the various areas of the trainer.

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ADD SOME DARKNESS

Choose the parts of the shoe we just made in the previous step and go to Select>Load Selection. Add a new layer, selecting a big soft brush and light grey as the colour. Now start painting the edges of the sneaker elements; you will immediately see that they look more realistic.

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BACKGROUND

Now that we’ve finished the typography and the shoe, the only thing left to do is to put together a background. Select the Gradient tool and choose two colours (white and light grey) set at 100% Opacity. Choose the Radial gradient and apply it to a new layer, which is placed under all of the other layers.

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KEEP ON DRAWING Don’t get scared, we’re not suggesting that you learn to draw like Da Vinci! However, it can be very helpful to plan your illustration on paper, especially if you want to produce a more detailed piece. Draw a sketch, scan it, open it in Photoshop and then start working it up with the Pen tool. This can help a lot, ensuring you don’t get lost amid all the possibilities in Photoshop and you can stay focused on the task at hand. This method can really save the day if you are creating a detailed piece with lots of different objects (flowers, animals and flying lines) or if trying to fit a lot of text into an awkwardly shaped object, etc.

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GET EDGY

It all looks a little flat now; to make the background look more dramatic, let’s work up edges. Add a new layer above the background, select a 2,500px soft brush (dark grey) and then click on the shoe edges. If it doesn’t look right, try using Filters>Blur> Gaussian Blur.

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SPLASH OUT

We will now add some water splashes to the background. First open a splash image (see the links on the disc for the free stock images that we used) and use the Pen tool to cut them out. Do your best to cut edges as neatly as you can. Now drop the splashes into the work, place under the sneaker and duplicate several times to taste.

13

MAKE IT SHINE

We have to add some lights to make the water more dynamic. Add a new layer above the splashes, set the layer style to Overlay and then select a soft brush, or any other brushes you use for adding lights. Start applying accents to parts of the water, keeping a light source in mind.

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SEEING STARS

Only do this if you feel you need some more lights. Download a star brush; there are plenty of these available for free online. Add it to your Brushes menu, add a new layer and place some shiny stars. Be careful here though; add too many and the work could end up looking tacky.

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Mixed Media Seamlessly integrate elements 170 Applying Mixed Media Explore the popularity of mixed media

180 Digital Collage

Make a digital montage with impact

184 Paint Textures

Incorporate paint textures effectively

188 Freshy Style

Reproduce an ultra-contemporay style

192 Event Design

Create a vibrant cinema poster

198 Type and photos

Integrate bold type and kinetic photos

202 Creative Design

Build a mechanical bug from stock

208 Surreal Illustration

Use focal points for complex pieces

212 Photo-Illustration

Add illustration to photographed scenes

218 Advanced Selections Develop an energetic composite

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Mixed Media

APPLYING

MIXED MEDIA

IT’S RAW, IT’S REAL AND IT CAN BE ROUGH, BUT MIXED MEDIA ART IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY POPULAR. POZ WATSON INVESTIGATES Mixed media illustrations are nothing new. In the last few years, however, a wave of artists have brought to them a new level of sophistication as well as a grounding of genuine artistic talent. Whereas they were once thought of as a slightly amateurish mishmash of elements – the epitome of the try-too-hard student or the over-eager photographer – they’ve now become a style that’s a force to be reckoned with, even competing with the ubiquitous slick vector look in its commercial appeal. The inky, arty look has reached new heights as skilful artists from around the world have mastered blending digital and non-digital elements, and mixed media has been reborn. According to Alexander Ovchinnikov – who by day is creative director of the Moscow-based creative agency MILK – this style has been around in its current form for only two or three years. His personal work used to focus on black and white comics, which has segued nicely into what he is now producing. And another adherent of the style, Florian Nicolle – whose 2009 image Goldfish graces this very page – explains that: “I call this technique the ‘Tradigital’ because it mixes traditional art with digital art. It is characterised, in my opinion, by the confrontation between two different worlds – that of the real (paper, brush, ink) and the virtual (soware, graphics tablet), and the gathering of two different eras.”

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QUICK TIPS A graphics tablet is highly recommended for this type of technical illustration. Whether you’re painting the exterior of your car or ghosting in its components, the tablet’s pressure sensitivity can’t be beaten. Hit F5 to go into your Brush menu, and turn on Pen Pressure for the Size and Opacity controls. Ink is the key visual signifier in the new mixed media arsenal. Keep it washy and spontaneous if you’re scanning in inked art, or experiment with digital brushes. Texture is an instant signifier that the image has been created on or with real media, even if it hasn’t. Several painting packages will allow you to import and use a texture effectively. Remember to lower the opacity of layers so it doesn’t show through. Found patterns add a nice touch to hybrid illustrations. Use them on layers set to Multiply to darken them and make them more transparent. This will give you a fantastic silkscreen or lithograph look like a traditional print.

001 | Goldfish, 2009 An example of combining digital textures with typography and inking to create a digital/traditional hybrid. © Florian Nicolle.

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002 | Nebula, 2009, Photoshop This Indian ink/Photoshop piece was created by Lotie for the ‘So Natural’ exhibition at le Cube, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France © Lotie

003 | Butterflies, 2009, mixed media. A combination of pencils, coloured pencils and inks with varying digital techniques produces an organic look. © L Filipe dos Santos

As Raphaël Vicenzi puts it, this style is: “The bridge between the hand-made approach and the benefits of digital tools. I think it’s where the boundaries are blurred that makes it difficult to tell what is computer generated and what is not.” And as Portuguese artist L Filipe dos Santos (aka Corcoise) sees it: “I think I wouldn’t call this a style but a technique, a making-process. I know too many different styles made in this way to call it a ‘style’. Anyway, if I had to come up with a name for it, maybe organic-digital, binary-mess… I truly don’t know, nothing decent comes to mind.” Rather than a style then, this new mixed media approach is more a way of thinking about digital art. It’s just art again, with different tools and methods, sure, but the end result is what matters, rather than the technological way it was produced. For Vicenzi, it is all about being inspired. He lists graffiti artists, street art and collages as things he has drawn from, noting that: “I decided I might as well borrow from all the genres I liked and put them all on the same canvas while adding a more feminine element into it.” For dos Santos, there was a more specific light-bulb moment that led him down the mixed media path. He says: “I was a teenager when I first saw Dave McKean’s work, and it definitely pressed some buttons inside me I didn’t know I had.” For Lotie, however, there never needed to be anything to kick-start her interest in the mixed media world, since she has worked in this style since the beginning of her career. She explains: “I began by drawing only with Indian ink. I scanned these drawings and I did colours in Photoshop. But

QUICK TIP Create your own watercolours, doodles and drips, and keep a large library of them available. If inspiration goes stale, you can make new stock images for yourself. One single drawn element can liven up an entire illustration.

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It is interesting to catch any situation - a scene, a pose of a random passer-by - and transform the image into an artwork gradually I looked for materials, for elements in the photographs of magazines. Soon I made my own photos, to which I added textures and shapes – mixes to be made with my drawings.” It is a similar jumping-off point for Ovchinnikov, who says that: “If I work with photos I always use my own pictures (never from photo banks or libraries).” He goes on to explain that it’s the real world that he wants to take into his illustration work, calling them, “Photos without production, street photos, which I take on Moscow streets or while travelling. It is interesting to me to catch any situation – a scene, a pose of a random passer-by – and then transform the image into an

artwork. It’s a part of my creative experiment.” Erik Schumacher, who works in this mixed media style but also produces straight digital paintings of epic landscapes, does use stock photos for his work, and sees them as being no less creative. For his image ‘Crucifixion;, he searched for: “A face that showed a wicked, inscrutable expression that would catch the viewer’s attention immediately. Aer that I enhanced the background of the portrait with some rough linework, and also overpainted the face for an artistic and painted look. Corel Painter comes in useful while experimenting with various brushes and painting styles. In the final steps I added splatter and textures to

INTERVIEW: ERIK SCHUMACHER WEB: www.xkire.de SOFTWARE: Photoshop CS2, Painter X WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS OF THIS STYLE? I can tell stories with my art, express my feelings. Using stock photos instead of pure digital painting also saves a lot of time Additionally, the techniques are very easy to learn, even for newbie painters, yet the result looks great most of the time.

004 | Sit Down, 2010, Photoshop and Illustrator. Her mix of vectors and photomanipulation has fused in a very unique way © Jana Jelovac

005 | Broken-hearted Heroes, 2010, Photoshop. The variety of styles and mediums on here is what builds to give this piece of personal work strength. © JRaphael Vicenzi

Erik used this image to experiment with new techniques in Painter

WHAT ARE ITS WEAKNESSES? Having recourse to stock images is still important for the creation of this kind of work. The fact that this style is fairly easy to realise proves disadvantageous at the same time. Artists have to be original in subject and concept in order to stand out.

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Mixed Media

Mixed Media

BRUSHING IT TOGETHER The striped elements were created in Illustrator, and Raphael also turned them into brushes so they could be reused again for future projects.

WILD ANIMALS The zebra came from a source book, and Raphael explains that: “It made me think of savannas, heat and the sun - which gave me ideas for the colours.”

BACK TO BASICS This is a stock image of some old paper that Raphael used to give the whole piece more depth and coherence.

WILD MOTHER

ARTIST: Raphael Vicenzi SOFTWARE: Photoshop YEAR: 2010 This piece, combining female elegance with animal power, was loosely inspired by the book Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clasissa Pinkola Estés. Brussels-based illustrator Raphaël Vicenzi explains: “This is about the wild creative principle animating living things. It’s also about the wild things inside us, either prey or predator.” The image wasn’t carefully planned out before Raphaël began work on it, however. Rather, the end product is the result of “a few external impressions

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that directed the image”. He explains: “The title and typography came aerwards, while I just tried to keep the idea of wild animals and a feminine creative force.” His work involves a lot of trial and error “adding layers, removing parts, playing with colours until it has depth”. It’s through this process that Raphaël feels out just what an image is supposed to be and achieve: “Sometimes it doesn’t make sense until one element gives it a meaning I hadn’t thought about.”

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QUICK TIP Images in this style tend to be roughly composed, almost sketchy. Pieces are more atmospheric if not entirely planned out.

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006 | Deer, 2008. Photoshop. With this image, the clarity that mixed media can achieve is clear © Tetsuya Toshima

007 | Luna, 2010, Photoshop, Illustrator. This required a ballpoint pen, coloured ink, china ink and brush work before it reached digital realms © Florian Nicolle

I try to keep the whole thing close to what I’d achieve if I were not using a computer; I aim to express ideas without using too much technique 008 | Walking With a Beast, 2009, Photoshop. Alexander says: “I use objects that aren’t meant to be brushes, eg stones” © Alexander Ovchinnikov

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my composition to give the piece a rough and dirty look, with action and a nice amount of detail.” For Vicenzi’s image Despite All This Confusion, he too started with the image of a woman, although this one was drawn. From there, he says: “I slowly built up the textures and layers, playing with masks to define new shapes and changing the colours of the elements. I try to keep the whole thing close to what I would achieve if I were not using a computer, because I aim to express emotions and ideas without using too much technique and eye-candy.” As Alexander Ovchinnikov puts it: “It is very important for me that the computer remains only an instrument for compilation of elements and their editing.” And this embracing of technology – but only as a means to an end – seems to unite those who work in a mixed media style. For Ovchinnikov, this means that all his lines are drawn by hand first, and then edited on the computer. He uses Photoshop brushes a lot,

but reveals: “I always use my own brushes and never the ‘ready’ ones.” Which is perhaps the perfect encapsulation of just what the whole mixed media approach is about. On a more practical note, mixed media finds another strength in versatility, with dos Santos commenting that it offers the artist the possibility of experimenting with various different solutions by using only one image. “That saves time, hard hand-work, and you can come up with something that you would never even dream about.” But perhaps more importantly, the hand-made side of things means it appeals to the real artist within. “It adds a hand-made feel that is dynamic and warmer, which helps to convey emotions more easily,” says Vicenzi. “You are mixing things up. The sum of all the parts will make it more interesting visually since it is not easily defined, because depending on the artist it will borrow more from one style than the other.” For Japanese artist Tetsuya Toshima, the personal touch gives mixed media “the ability to create works full of originality that don’t give a sense of déjà vu to those who look at them”. For Lotie, the mixed media approach allows her to produce something that lies somewhere between “tradition and modernity”. She says: “The traditional drawing gives a traditional and classy dimension, and the digital anchors it in the modernity. The clients generally appreciate this style of drawing in the ‘ancient style’, like engravings, but they also like the global trendy aspect.” The freedom of the mixed media approach – its

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Mixed Media 009

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Artists are free to concentrate on their art rather than worrying about the latest clever techniques or the hottest piece of kit 009 | Bathroom, 2008. Photoshop. ‘Floating-in’ colour is a technique from watercolour and inking, but you can use it with digital brushes too. © L Filipe dos Santos

011 | Foreteller, 2009. Photoshop. This images owes more of its visual look to artisan printing techniques. © Alexander Ovchinnikov

fusion of hand-made passion and digital convenience – means that the artists operating within it are free to concentrate on their art rather than worrying about the latest clever techniques or the hottest piece of kit. Schumacher explains that, for him: “It is a very creative style which gives you the opportunity to create sketchy or even abstract pieces with a special traditional feel to them, although they are entirely digitally made.” And for Nicolle: ”I think this technique has become popular because it opens doors to many new possibilities. There could be a return to the fashion of traditional

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010 | Sis, 2010. Photoshop. “I don’t have a specific way of doing things. I prefer to let subconscious impressions guide me” © Raphaël Vicenzi

design updated with the digital.” And the feeling is the same for all these artists. Working in a flexible way, using whatever elements interest them and ignoring those that don’t, is less a deliberate choice and more like the obvious and natural way that an artist should work. For Lotie, it allows her to work on subjects she’s interested in: “I always liked taking photos of nature. Soon I wanted to incorporate my drawings into these photos, to intertwine the whole. Nature inspired my drawing, and therefore it was natural to incorporate her into my drawings.” And it’s the organic part of the compositions that can make them so special. Nicolle says: “This technique can give a lot of expression and liveliness to a composition, because it retains the richness of traditional painting – colours, gestures, accidents.” Jana Jelovac is another artist who creates work that feels very natural. She says: “Artworks I present are not made to be pretty or ugly. In the process of developing an artwork, I’m not thinking ‘Are people going to like it?” – I just let it go and do everything that goes through my mind in that particular moment. They are all spontaneous and closely related to music.” But of course, there are disadvantages to the mixed media way of working, not least that you have to generate or find a lot of elements before you can begin work – it isn’t just you and your computer against the world. And if you aren’t a photographer this probably does mean using

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INTERVIEW: ALEXANDER OVCHINNIKOV WEB: www.not-for-sale.ru SOFTWARE: Photoshop

012 stock images at least sometimes, which as well as potentially restraining your creative impulses, can also be expensive. It’s also a style that results in very big images, which can be a hindrance, albeit not one that should put an artist off. And while dos Santos points out that its most ‘dangerous’ weakness is the risk of an artist becoming used to some kind of pre-formatted way of working, he also notes that it can happen with any style or technique. In artistic terms, working with mixed media seems to be all about the upside. Jana notes: “This is the first time I’m thinking about my style’s weaknesses, and maybe it could be the bareness that it has, because all my artworks are very personal so that people can see my exposed vulnerability.” And as the slick vector machine has rolled on without really producing anything new, the mixed media look has become more and more popular with clients as well as artists. As Lotie notes, it is perfect for advertising because its tendrils can be wrapped around a product, but it’s used in many other ways too. Nicolle comments that it is “popular because it is alive,” while Toshima reports that clients oen say that “they have never seen this kind of work”. Vicenzi agrees that clients want something striking, but also points out that its unpredictability can be a downside. But if there’s anything that deserves to be unpredictable, then it’s art, so perhaps this isn’t really a downside at all. So what does the future hold for the mixed media artist? Erik Schumacher thinks there will be more and more crossover between styles and techniques and

012 | My Nature, 2008. , Photoshop. “Hand-drawn stuff is essential, but digital tools are also unavoidable because of the wonders they can create” © L Filipe dos Santos

QUICK TIP Hand-drawn elements can sometimes come off too clean, so use Photoshop to combine them with photographic textures and add realistic details. Blending modes like So Light, Overlay or Hard Light oen come in useful.

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What inspired you to work in this style? I’m inspired by Frank Miller and Peter Max’s works, as well as film and musical posters of the Seventies, classic American comics, and films by Tim Burton and Alfred Hitchcock. In classical painting I like Pablo Picasso, Hieronimus Bosch and Egon Schiele. Will this style continue to develop, do you think? I’m certain this graphic design style will continue developing. Nowadays many young digital artists are turning to the use of various ‘live’ textures and elements and their compilations in their works, so this style will grow and develop. Are there any particular artists working in this style that you admire? I like to observe what is happening in all the visual arts – every day there are new artists rising up, changing and improving the existing styles. I cannot name anyone in particular, but there are many of them in the world now.

013 | F-Spirit, 2008. Photoshop. This image demonstrates the soness that mixing the analog and the digital can achieve. © Tetsuya Toshima

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CASE STUDY WITH LOTIE WEB: www.lotie.com SOFTWARE: Photoshop Mixed media guru Lotie has been combining her hand drawings with a variety of digital elements since she graduated and began her career in 2003. She finds that her floaty, dream-like take on the mixed media technique is popular in particular with advertising clients, because it’s the perfect way to encase a product within a particular illustration. As Lotie explains to us: “A photograph or a video of the product in movement, the whole surrounded with drawings, is rather effective.” In the case of a print advert for Raspberry Absolut Vodka that Lotie created in 2006, she traced the image on paper first, and then drew the basics of her illustration around this. Then Lotie scanned the lot into the computer and

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added it to the photograph of the bottle. From there, she worked on the colours in Photoshop. For Paris-based Lotie, the beauty of this approach is that it allows her images to be more organic and more real than they would be if they were created purely digitally. She does work for clothing labels such as Triiad and Undiz, as well as for magazines and advertising clients, and she sees no reason for her style to change any time soon. As she points out: “The mixed media look has always existed… since the beginning of the advertising industry. I don’t think that it’s out of date. The style of the drawn environment can change according to the fashions, but I think, not this technique.”

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I think the final result is the most important thing, no matter what process was involved in its making

QUICK TIP Even when you’ve found a style that suits you, it’s good to keep trying new styles and ways of working, even if it’s just in personal projects

sources: “These days it is almost mandatory to draw on other media to finish projects. Among matte painters the use of 3D programs such as 3D Max or landscape generators like Terragen is very popular. In manipulations and paintings, fractals from Apophysis are used frequently.” Erik tells us he’s sure the style is going to

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015 | Car, 2009. ink/Photoshop. © Florian Nicolle

014 | Unicorn, 2010. Photoshop. Here Alexander has used ink marks in a less traditional way rather than exploiting the classic inky look. © Alexander Ovchinnikov

remain popular, but he also notes that: “The scene has to develop to survive in the long term. The quality of images is steadily improving, and also clients will expect more from artists. People have to come up with new techniques to refresh this style once in a while.” Lotie is one of many illustrators would like to see the mixed media approach produce: “More intricacies between the media, more harmony, more meeting between the reality and imagination.” She adds that mixed media has always been around in some form or another: “The style of the drawn environment can change according to the fashions, but I think, not this technique.” Jana Jelovac doesn’t worry that the style has an expiration date either, because she says that she simply isn’t interested in: “So-called ‘trendy’ graphic design, and for me it really doesn’t matter what is selling on the market. Also, my style is constantly changing, so I think something new and fresh will always come from me.” Ultimately, the current passion for mixed media does seem to be less of a trend and more a return to art basics. As dos Santos sees it, people have got too hyped up by what a computer can do: “Innovative soware was appearing everywhere, and that was reflected in the pictures made back in the Nineties. But then the fascination with what a machine could do started fading to a more balanced level, and finally the novelty is no longer a novelty. Nowadays I think that the final result, the final illustration, is the most important thing, no matter what process was involved in its making.”

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Mixed Media

Layers play an integral role in this workshop and the layer effects, along with masks, make blending elements together seamless

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MIXED MEDIA DIGITAL COLLAGE

Mix your creative processes together to create stunning digital montages with impact

Digital collage has been a popular art-form for professionals and amateurs alike for many years. It’s a lively, vivid way to express your creativity and great for amalgamating spare elements or for giving commissioned work a hand-made feel. All of the starting files are provided on this issue’s disc so begin by opening these in Photoshop. We are using Photoshop CS2 in this tutorial but the techniques used can be re-created in newer versions. Of all creative programs, Photoshop offers the most freedom when producing art such as this. Layers play an integral role in this workshop and the layer effects, along with masks, make blending elements together seamless. Mixed media collages always look more complex than they really are as the same techniques and elements can be re-used throughout the artwork. We kick off the tutorial by running through correct scanning procedures so, if you did want to start the illustration with your own resources, get your scanner warmed up. We then move on to the main bulk of this step-by-step: creating the collage in Photoshop. The main tools we’ll be using are blending modes and masks – the must-know features for collage creation – as well as considering how to use layers effectively.

OUR EXPERT DANIELLE DIXON

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/ Dani Taylor Aer graduating in Illustration, Dani has been working in the publishing industry sampling many digital drawing programs. Photoshop is still her favourite for the high degree of creativity it offers artists

SOURCE FILES

There is a whole stack of files on this months free disc, ranging from hand-drawn flowers to paint splatters and ripped paper – in fact, everything you need to re-create this illustration.

CREATE A PRINT/DIGITAL COLLAGE

LEARN TO INTEGRATE DIFFERENT SOURCES OF MEDIA

01

SET UP YOUR SCANNER

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SAVE YOUR ART

Switch on your scanner and open Photoshop. Go to File>Import and select your scanner. If it doesn’t appear here then use your scanner program in Applications instead. The scan software will show an option box; these options differ between models but the basics are the same.

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HIGH RESOLUTION

Set the resolution to 300dpi or above; using a lower dpi will result in the scan being too small to use. In collage work, you want massive starting images so that you can resize and crop however you wish. Keep scanning in textures and drawings as a personal stock library will save you a lot of effort in future.

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PREVIEW

In your scanner menu there will be a preview option. Always preview before actually scanning your image, as this way you will know if your document settings are correct (eg we used the photograph option for paint splats). On a less technical note, you can also check if the placement on the scanner bed is accurate. Once happy with the settings and positioning scan the item and the image will open in Photoshop.

Save all of your images with related titles, eg ‘Green smudge’. This way you can scan through your artwork library and pick pieces precisely and quickly. Create a new canvas in Photoshop; we are working on the dimensions 23 x 30cm. Now open the images from the disc, some of your own or a combination of the two.

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DRAG AND DROP

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MASKS CONTINUED

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PEN TOOL SHAPES

Drag all of your opened scans into your new canvas. When they’re all there make them invisible (press the eye icons in the Layers palette). Position the ripped paper pieces and make sure the flowers are visible. We’ll start off with the main structure of the piece, as finalising this will help us build the composition around it.

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MASK AWAY UNWANTED AREAS

Make the flowers invisible for now and select the top ripped paper piece in the layer stack. Add a mask (found at the base of the Layers palette) and make sure the colours in your toolbar are set to Foreground: Black and Background: White. Pick a large hard-edged brush set to100% Opacity and then erase the unwanted white area of this layer.

Decrease the brush size and Opacity to 30% as you work along the ripped paper line. If you want to repair some of the mask, simply switch the Foreground/Background colours to White/Black. Using masks to hide unwanted areas is a key mixed media technique. By using masks nothing is permanently erased. You can precisely cut around items with the Pen tool and delete onto a mask or use the Brush or Lasso tools.

Select the Pen tool set to Shape layers and the colour white. Draw around the flower leaving a few millimetres so it sits on a white cut-out shape. Don’t be too neat as we’re looking to achieve a hand-drawn effect. When finished, Shift-click this layer and the flower layer in the Layers palette and hit Cmd/Ctrl+G to group. Repeat for the other flower.

QUICK TIP Make sure you clean off the glass in the scanner before starting this work. If you are scanning a lot of mixed media elements, then transfer will pass from piece to piece. To resolve this, use a very small amount of glass cleaner on some kitchen towel and avoid fluffy fabrics such as dusters as this will make it worse. You might be suprised how the tiniest specks/fibres which the scanners are able to pick up.

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FLOWERS

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ADD THE COLOUR

SCAN OPTIONS Scanning option menus will vary between makes and models but all offer roughly the same functions. You will be able to select the type of document you are scanning, the content of what you are scanning and a range of colour options. Play around with these settings as, when scanning hand-drawn and household items, the effects can need tweaking. The flower example here worked best when scanned in as a document. As a photo, the colours were more washed out and some of the hand-drawn marks lost.

Make the main flower visible and position it where you want it. Select the Lasso tool and make a loose selection around the flower. Add a mask to the flower layer and the unwanted white background will disappear. If the wrong part of the selection vanishes, press Cmd/Ctrl+I to invert the mask. Repeat this process for the other lily.

Feel free to add whatever textures you desire, but if you’re following this tutorial, switch on the ‘Main background smudge’ already dropped into your canvas. Set the blending mode to Multiply and lower its Opacity to 65%. Next make the ‘Orange texture’ layer visible, setting it to Multiply, 100% Opacity.

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CREATIVE MASK PAINTING

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ADD SOME DEPTH

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FINAL EMBELLISHMENTS

Some of the orange backgrounds are a bit heavy in places so we want to mask these off, but set your brush up so it replicates the original brush marks. Add a mask to the layer, select the Brush tool at 70% Opacity and bring up the Brushes menu. Under Brush Tip Shape select an oil pastel brush and increase the brush’s Spacing for greater texture.

Make ‘scan flower 1’ visible, position it in the top left corner, then add a mask to erase the background and set to Multiply. Select the Brush tool set to Multiply and 50% Opacity, select a dark brown colour and add a new layer under the flowers in the Layers palette. Now paint in some shadows so the image doesn’t look so flat.

Use the Pen tool to trace some leaf shapes and the Ellipse tool to create some circles. To finish the circles, we decrease the shapes’ Fill to 0% and add a Stroke, which can be found in the ‘Add a layer style’ menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. Nothing is fixed, so you can play with the composition until you’re happy with it.

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VECTOR COLOURS

Select the Pen tool, set to Shape layers in the Options bar. Pick a bright yellow and draw a triangle so it sits underneath the flower and shadow layers. Click a point to start the shape and end it in the same place. Repeat this process with various bold colours/ shapes – you might want to make changes to your composition too.

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BUILD UP THE COMPOSITION

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LAYER STRUCTURE

QUICK TIP

Paint onto the mask layer erasing areas that you find unnecessary. Continue working through all of the layers, turning them on and off, seeing where they work best. It’s best to be brutal; if they’re not working, hide them and move on – don’t feel you have to include everything. We have used the files ‘Paint blobs’ and ‘Green smudge’ to add more colour.

Grouping and labelling layers is vital when working with a collage. It will make it easier to find things and, when you are picking and moving layers around on the canvas, it makes the process a lot quicker. Grouping items also helps if you need to resize elements, which is something you’re likely to do a lot during this type of creative process.

We are working with many layers in this project. Moving them around can result in some powerful effects. As you can see from the layer order in our screenshot, the texture layers are woven in among the vectors, hiding some areas, adding depth and complexity.

The texture layers are woven in among the vectors, hiding some areas, adding depth and complexity

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USING PAINT TEXTURES Josh Overton breaks down his popular Stoop to Conquer image to show us how to use paint textures effectively Digital painting and illustration has come a long way over the last ten years. It keeps becoming more and more accessible to the public through the use of software such as the Adobe Creative Suite and Photoshop CS5 in particular. It has reached the stage, with so many artists out there, that ideas come easily, but it’s down to us to try and push our imaginations to come up with something novel as opposed to recreating styles that already exist. We are all aware that the majority of designs using paint splatters as the main element tend to consist of a person jumping in mid-air and either having paint thrown over them or becoming part of them. This can lead to a lot of portfolios comprising very similar work and – if possible – we need to avoid this. We need to fire up our passion for original design and encourage artists to have the confidence to set trends rather than simply follow them. This tutorial takes a look at just what can be achieved if we move away from traditional human subjects and transform the paint splatter textures into something more tangible and integral to the work.

OUR EXPERT JOSH OVERTON

www.overtongraphics.com

Josh is a graphic designer based in the UK. He focuses mainly on digital and print illustration and has worked with a number of high-profile clients.

SOURCE FILES

Included on this months disc is the Photoshop file of Stoop to Conquer at a smaller resolution. Also supplied are the various paint splatter textures which were used in the tutorial.

ILLUSTRATE WITH BESPOKE TEXTURES

COMBINE AN EAGLE-EYE FOR DETAIL WITH PAINTED MEDIA

01

SET UP A PRINT-READY FILE

The first step is to establish the file size we will be working with. Set your document to the International Paper Size A3, at 300dpi. This is ideal because you can print up to A2 posters with this document size at no loss of quality, while saving a few megabytes on your computer.

We need to get back to our passion for design and encourage artists to have the confidence to set trends rather than follow them

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02

TEXTURED BACKGROUND

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ADJUST THE WINGS’ COLOUR

Next we find a backdrop. We’re using a textured background (supplied in the main image document: ‘low res Stoop to Conquer.psd’); however any image will do. Remember everything here is only a guide to you creating something special of your own.

Now we have our chosen shape, we merge all the paint splatter layers and then desaturate the image using Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+U. Next, we access the Hue/Saturation tool in Image>Adjustments. Here we tick Colorize and then choose a colour for our linked paint splatters using the sliders. Make sure the blending mode is set to Multiply for all wings.

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PAINT SPLATTERS

Using the supplied paint splatter images, we cut around each one, simply using the Magic Wand tool with a Tolerance of about 5-20. For this tutorial we have made all the paint splats look like shapes based loosely on wings.

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Mixed Media 05

ROTATE AND MOVE

Having established our basic structure, we duplicate the layer (Cmd/Ctrl+J) and then rotate and reposition it. Using our colour slider again (Cmd/Ctrl+U), we transform the colour completely. The result should be close to what is shown in the image below. Again make sure that the blending mode is set to Multiply.

PHOTOGRAPHING PAINT It’s not that difficult to photograph your own paint textures, and they come in handy for many kinds of projects. Get your hands on some paint and splash it on white paper (which makes extraction easier when you bring the image to Photoshop). Get creative with as many shapes as you can, then grab your camera. Try to shoot in neutral lighting and avoid shadows of yourself or the camera on your paper surface. Set your camera to its Macro focus mode to pick up the detail at a close range and snap away. It may take a few attempts to get exposure and focus right, but building up a personal stock library can really pay dividends.

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MASH-UP

First make about three or four copies of the eagle layer that we have cut out. Hide all bar one and set the blending mode of this to Overlay. This should all-but look like the final image now. Now reveal another eagle layer (above the Overlay layer) and cut off the dark body of the eagle, leaving only the head and feet looking natural.

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06

RINSE AND REPEAT

08

PREDATOR

All we do now is repeat the duplications (Cmd/Ctrl+J), the transformations (via Cmd/Ctrl+T) and re-colourisations until we have a nice big wing span as shown in the image. All of a sudden the main structure of our image is really coming together. From this point we could go on to create a range of designs, but this time we will focus on making the bald eagle.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we are using a stock image of a bald eagle, but any other bird of your choosing will suffice – and this choice can really affect the overall dynamic. Carefully cut around the stock image using the Magic Wand, Pen and Eraser tools. Work particularly carefully around the head and body, but don’t worry about individual feathers.

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MERGE AND FLIP

09

HEY PRESTO

At this stage we select all the wing layers by holding down Cmd/Ctrl and clicking on each layer in the Layers tab. Now we duplicate them all, flip them with Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal and rotate them so that they look as if they could be the tail feathers of the bird.

The image should look fairly complete, except that the eagle’s body in its natural state doesn’t really fit with the extravagant wings. Now begins the fairly detailed process of getting his body to blend in with his wings. This involves a mash-up of the wings over the black/brown body which we then blend.

Shoot in neutral lighting and avoid shadows of yourself or the camera on your paper

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EAGLE DRUMSTICKS

Feel free to darken the Overlay layer with the Burn tool (use the ‘O’ key). Work around the legs and the neck as in the image for this step so it appears attached to the untouched head and feet. All that’s left to do is to add some of the paint splatters from the wings.

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GREEN BODY WINGS

For this step, we need to duplicate some wing layers and then colour them in a faded green before applying a Multiply blending mode. We can then begin using the Eraser tool in order to get this layer to fit within the eagle’s body shape. Show the eagle layers again to help with this step; we have just hidden the layers temporarily for the sake of the tutorial.

PEN TOOL

On a separate layer, using the Pen tool, click at the base of the first wing, then click and hold at the tip of the wing and bend the line to align with the wing shape. In the Paths tab, we right-click the path and click Stroke Path, then select Brush from the dropdown menu and, lastly, enable Simulate Pressure.

ONE LAST BODY PART

Here we simply repeat the previous step, but this time creating a pink wing layer on the body. Additionally, we have aligned this layer with the legs in order to add some colour to this otherwise fairly bare area. All that’s left for us to do now is show all the layers and apply the finishing touches.

Use a simple brush to add a nice glow effect to each wing to provide some further depth and texture

ADD SOME GLOW

To add another dimension we can use the Pen tool and colour match each wing. Use a simple brush to add a nice glow effect to each wing to provide some further depth and texture. First go to the Brushes panel and choose the default round brush sized around 70px.

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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Make sure that the line made is set to Multiply or another blending mode that suits the line. Then repeat the process for each wing, matching the colours for best effect. And there we have it – a manipulated image using paint splatters that doesn’t involve someone jumping through paint. Let your imagination soar, and see what you can create!

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FRESH STYLE FOR SPORTS

We show you how to reproduce this ultra-contemporary style, using photo stock, Photoshop effects and your own illustrated elements Andy Potts, Darren Hopes and Paul Holland are just a few of the commercial artists currently producing a very distinct mixed-media illustration style, with photo stock playing an integral role in creating these visions, used as both a guide and as a medium unto itself, alongside art-worked elements. Such an immediate style has no right or wrong outcome, and is ultimately open to both approach and application. However, there are a few techniques that will give you a strong starting point to realise an authentic interpretation, and this is what we set out to show you here. This step-by-step reveals many solutions, taken from both inside and outside our favourite image-editing app. Traditional textures and scanned sketch images meet PS blending modes for maximum diversity. We also reveal how to apply intuitive blending and layer style options for rich tones to make your image pop, while layer masks help tie visuals together. But the real bonus of this style is that you don’t need to be a pro – you can really fly into this with gusto and adapt the methods to meet your own needs.

OUR EXPERT ADAM SMITH

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/Adam

With a BA Hons in Illustration, AP’s reviews editor Adam Smith looks forward to a digital renaissance in style, and sets out to see if he still has some illustrative flair to share...

SOURCE FILES

This tutorial provides a host of sketch textures free to apply in your own artwork. Building and cloud photo stock, as well as the ‘sign.psd’ image used to produce the backdrop are included. The model image is provided by iStockphoto, and there are links to several other free stock images.

CREATE A FRESH ILLUSTRATIVE STYLE

ADD ENERGY AND IMPACT TO SPORTS SCENES VIA MIXED MEDIA

01

02

BASICS

Begin by opening your document (235 x 302mm, 300dpi). Copy and paste a crumpled paper texture into your document, resize if necessary, then decrease the Fill value to around 40%. Duplicate several times, experimenting with Levels on each layer to get the contours and exposure to taste, before opening the model image (iStockphoto’s ‘Runner’).

MODEL SELECTIONS

Cut out your model by tracing edges using the Pen Path tool, selecting the Paths palette and Cmd/Ctrl-clicking the Path layer. Copy and paste the model layer into your image document. Using the same process, select your model’s shorts and shirt, and import onto separate layers (Cmd/Ctrl+J).

03

COLOURED SILHOUETTE

Cmd/Ctrl-click your model layer thumbnail, making an active selection. Select Solid Color from the ‘Create new fill or adjustment’ drop options at the base of the Layers palette. We’ve applied an orange tone. Now duplicate your model layer, place above your orange fill and decrease to 10% Opacity. Mask out any facial detail.

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The real bonus of this style is that you don’t need to be a pro – you can really fly into this with gusto and adapt the methods to meet your own needs

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Mixed Media 04

COLOURED EXPOSURE

Duplicate your model copy layer, place this at the top of the stack and set a Screen blending mode. Hide all layers bar the Fill and model copy types. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/ Alt+Shift+E to create a new merged layer. Use Levels to boost exposure and get richer colours with Image>Adjustments>Variations>More Red. Apply a Soft Light blending mode to this new merged layer. Delete/hide your second model copy layer.

05

COLOURED EXPOSURE 2

Use the attached layer mask to erase and let through softer orange tones from the model copy/Fill layers beneath, preserving only highlighted areas. Duplicate your new merged layer, delete the layer mask and change tones to purple using Hue/Saturation sliders. Applying a new layer mask, erase highlighted edges and preserve shadowed areas.

06

DETAILS

This process will wash out a lot of detail. To bring a bit back into our foreground leg, accentuating motion, simply duplicate your original model, place this above your purple model layer, and integrate tones using Hue/ Saturation and Variations options. Apply a layer mask, and softly erase all detail except the knee area and surrounding muscle tension.

MIXEDMEDIA DISTRIBUTION

07

DETAILS 2

Merge all related model layers as in Step 4. Select the shorts layer, Cmd/Ctrl+I, applying a Red Color Overlay from the Layer Style options; set blending to Multiply. Cmd/ Ctrl-click the shirt layer thumbnail, activate your newly merged layer, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+I and apply a layer mask. Combine your merged model layer and shorts layer together into a new layer. Now hide all others bar this one.

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Now resize this layer smaller and place to the right. Apply a layer mask. Open SXC’s ‘Canvas Texture 1’ image, selecting painted elements with the Magic Wand tool, then pasting into your image. Place over your model’s lower leg, Cmd/Ctrl-click the layer thumbnail, then erase from your merged model layer mask with an 80% Opacity black chalk brush.

When applying textures, try to find natural edges that complement form and movement such as clothing

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MIXED-MEDIA SELECTIONS

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QUICK TIP With all good illustration, no matter the style, it must have context. Themes and topics of inspiration will dictate and inspire iconography and image visuals applied. This helps create interesting visual cues instead of less relevant elements, perhaps associated with more surreal digital genres.

VISUAL VALUES

The top cutout looks hollow, so duplicate your model, match the scale of your merged model, and select Image>Adjustments> Hue/ Saturation>Colorize, tweaking sliders to give your duplicate model layer an all-over green tone. Set Opacity to 20% and apply a layer mask, erasing from the torso to leave only the T-shirt.

By this stage you will have the basic style established, determining the form and focal points of your image. Now you can apply mixed-media textures freely – be expressive and don’t be too fussy. Experiment when applying these with Overlay, Screen, Multiply, Linear Light and Color Dodge blending modes – to shade and highlight certain areas. However, when applying textures, try to find natural edges that complement form and movement. We recommend focusing on re-creating existing structure in areas such as clothing, anatomy and hair; essentially this lends an air of seamless flow to your work.

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MIXED-MEDIA EFFECT

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BACKDROP DETAILS

See boxout to better understand how to apply mixed media. We’ve applied SXC’s ‘Palette 10’ acrylic texture – rescaled and oriented to the shorts with Screen blending, to the hind leg with Multiply, and to the head and shoulders with Vivid Light, Linear Light and Color Dodge. We’ve added SXC’s ‘Untitled’ splat texture too, set to Luminosity, to imitate mud splats off our model’s foot.

Open the ‘TudorHouse Single.tif’ image, select and erase the sky, then place into your scene. Cmd/Ctrl-click this layer’s thumbnail, making a selection. Create a new layer, place behind your building layer and fill with a grey-blue. Set Soft Light blending to the building layer (30% Opacity), invert, then select and erase white wall elements. For subtler effects, boost Hue/Saturation>Lightness.

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GO APE

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SKY EXPOSURE

Create a stronger shadow by duplicating your previous merged model layer, and resize and position using Transform>Distort. Press Cmd/ Ctrl+U, dropping Saturation and Lightness to -100, and set the blending mode to Vivid Light. Now open the ‘Baby Gorilla Walking and Clapping’ image from SXC. Use selection tools to copy and paste into your main document, duplicating, rescaling and positioning, as in the example. Also apply Hue/ Saturation>Colorize to enhance blue tones.

Reposition and distort as you like, then merge these two layers into a new separate layer (Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E). We’ve integrated the bottom building edge using a mask with a Linear Burn blending mode. Create a new layer on top, set the blending mode to Multiply and apply a 60% dark grey-to-transparent gradient from the top-left corner to your model’s right shoulder.

QUICK TIP Typography can really add to an Illustrative Image of this style. Experiment with font types to add a unique aesthetic appeal - that complements shape and form or accentuates direction. Numbers and symbols can also be used as a form of iconography, relating to running metaphors or other themes.

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GO APE 2

We’ve created the rest of the ape using the Pen Shape tool, layering one arm above the head layer and applying mixed-media textures for interest. We use the same Pen settings to create the ribbons, making it look as if our ape is holding back our runner as he breaks through – symbolic of ‘getting that monkey off your back’.

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SKY EXPOSURE 2

Create a new layer on top with an orange-to-transparent gradient, from the top-right to the runner’s left shoulder. Set an Overlay blending mode and duplicate. You can create complementary texture effects by applying Screen, Hard Light and Linear Light blending modes. We’ve used our own and SXC’s ‘Untitled’, ‘psychedelic nature 12’ and ‘painted wall 1’ examples.

We’ve created Pen Shape layers, set to Multiply blending, in order to juxtapose textures

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FINAL ADDITIONS

We’ve created Pen Shape layers, set to Multiply blending, in order to juxtapose textures. Apply more line layers and sketch textures. The cloud is added as a crude cutout, set to 76% Hard Light and the light falling on our model is a solid shape set to Screen, with masking. Import ‘sign.psd’ from the CD onto its own layer, position and scale.

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Mixed Media

STRIKING EVENT DESIGN

USE PHOTOSHOP SELECTION TOOLS AND FILTERS TO CREATE A VIBRANT MOVIELIKE POSTER

This tutorial looks at how to apply both template-based and creative skills to a movie poster design – including composition and type treatment. Above all it demonstrates just how imperative Photoshop is in creating highly detailed and precise photo-based portraits, in Domaradzki’s signature vexel style, primarily using the Lasso tool. Lighting effects also feature heavily, showing you how to specifically apply the Motion Blur filter and various layer styles to achieve energised effects. Deselect (Cmd/Ctrl+D) will be used frequently in this process; each time you fill the shapes created with the Lasso tool, you’ll need to use this shortcut to make your workflow smoother and more efficient. Finding the right photo reference for the poster is fairly easy – it’s much harder to find the right title. As this is a fictional movie poster, we’ve come up with fictional credits and a real quote that fits the themes of the final piece. Before approaching this tutorial – or indeed any type of design – we encourage you to make at least a rough sketch of the general composition so you’ve got something to work towards from the off.

WORK IN PROGRESS

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION – MAKE A FILM POSTER!

OUR EXPERT GRZEGORZ DOMARADZKI www.iamgabz.com

32-year-old freelance illustrator and graphic designer Grzegorz works in Poznań, Poland. He specialises in everything from portraiture to snowboard art and T-shirt designs.

SOURCE FILES

On the CD is a Small version of the model from iStockphoto. There are also links to other stock used.

GENERAL COMPOSITION

LASSO YOURSELF A PRECISE AND EYECATCHING PORTRAIT

01

BACKGROUND/PHOTO

02

HEAD’S UP

Create a new file and fill the background with blue (#3b4c86). Open up the iStockphoto file on this issue’s disc named ‘13785293Small.jpg’ and place it in the centre of your canvas. We will be using it as a reference for the main portrait. Desaturate the photo by pressing Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+U and lower the Opacity to 70%.

Step 6: Hair extensions

Step 12: Get things in motion

Step 17: Make some noise

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Create a new layer and, using the Lasso tool, make a precise selection of the head, hair and neck; you will have to add some hair at the top and bottom of the photo since the original is cropped. Fill the selection with a light grey colour. Create a clipping mask of the desaturated photo layer for an easier shading process in the next few steps.

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Courtesy of

iStockphoto

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SHADING

Edit the photo Opacity to 30%, then create a new layer, applying a clipping mask to the main shape layer. Start with blacks for the darkest parts of the photo and whites for the brightest areas. Zoom in at 200% when creating each of the Lasso tool shapes and fill with the same colour you’re working on. Remember that holding Shift will add to a selection, while holding Opt/Alt will delete from it.

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SHADING 2

With the specular extremes now covered, it’s time to turn our attention to the image’s midtones. We don’t want to use more than six colours including the main shape, so create a new layer underneath the black and white layer, choose a dark grey and, using the Lasso tool once more, fill all the midtone areas where they appear on the reference photo. Remember that you can switch off the photo layer from time to time to better see how the work is progressing.

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SHADING 3

Below the previous layers created in Steps 3 and 4, create two new ones: these will be for two further grey tones that you will be applying via several more Lasso tool shapes. The variation in greys is crucial to building up depth in the model’s face. Place a lighter shade of grey above the main head shape. The other one should be tonally somewhere between layers that are below and above it. Your character portrait is almost finished now – however, do not delete the photo layer, as we will be using it later on.

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THINGS ARE STARTING TO GET HAIRY... Create a new non-clipped masked layer on top of all the previous layers and add some extra thin flyaway hair shapes to give a more natural look; fill these with the same grey colour that was used on the main head shape. Note, they look particularly good in darker areas. From now on, when using head selections, don’t forget to add the selection (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift-click on the thumbnail) of these extra hair elements.

QUICK TIP

Don’t be afraid of using too many adjustment layers, erasing parts of them and/ or changing their layer modes later on. It may surprise you how many great effects they can produce along the way.

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Use the Eyedropper tool and a hard round brush to apply more colour marks randomly over the image. The colour of each mark should match the colours beneath it

SHOULDERS AND SKY

Our main character needs some shoulders. Use the Pen tool to create a path and, after, make a selection (Cmd/Ctrl+ Shift-click on the path) and fill with white. Now open the ‘Skies0220’ image from www. cgtextures.com, placing it just above the background. Apply an Overlay blending mode and reset Opacity to 40%. Then, add a new layer mask and use black soft-edged brushes to erase the entire lower edge of the texture.

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A TOUCH OF VIOLET

Create a Levels adjustment layer, resetting the Midtones slider to -0,87; this will make your digital sketch that bit darker. Now create a new layer and fill it with violet (#a791c5). Change the layer’s Opacity to 70% and apply a Hard Light blend mode. Add a layer mask and apply a soft black brush to a selection of the head, shoulders and extra hair – erasing parts of the face and background on the right-hand side.

FILL THE IMAGE WITH LIGHT

APPLYING LIGHTING EFFECTS WITH ROUND BRUSHES AND MOTION BLUR

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MEDIAN FILTER

Let’s go back to the photo we used as reference. Switch it back on and move to the top of the layer stack. Apply the Median filter with the Radius at 6px. Change the blending mode to Soft Light at 50% Opacity. Create a layer mask and remove the hair and whole background, so you’re left with just the face. On another layer, use a Linear white-totransparent gradient, applying it left to right. Use a soft brush and layer mask to remove it entirely from the background and some parts of the face, then wrap up with an Overlay blending mode.

MOTION BLUR

Create a new layer, using a hard round brush, graphics tablet and a light blue colour (#44b3e6) to make a series of spontaneous marks over the head. Apply a Motion Blur with Distance pushed to its maximum and Angle to 90 degrees. Also switch to Hard Light blending mode. On another layer make the same type of brushmarks, but this time use a white colour, covering the shoulders and the added-in Lasso shapes. Apply a 90-degree Motion Blur at 376px Distance to these.

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IN THE PINK

On a new layer, add a Radial gradient with a pink colour (#f05fa5) in the top-right corner – with Overlay blending. Use a soft brush and layer mask to remove it from the background entirely, isolating it to the model’s head. Now let’s add a Hue/ Saturation adjustment layer. Activate Colorize and set values to: Hue 0, Saturation 64 and Lightness -7. Apply to a selection of the main Lasso shapes – ie shoulders and extra hair – leaving Colorize values affecting only the bottom of the background and the top of the head.

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Mixed Media 12

MOTION BLUR 2

Create another new layer. Use the Eyedropper tool and a hard round brush to apply more colour marks randomly over the image. The colour of each mark should more or less match the colours beneath it. Apply another 90-degree Motion Blur at 376px Distance, with Hard Light blending. On a new layer apply a yellow (#fbf49f)-to-transparent Linear gradient, from left to right. Use an Overlay blending mode and a layer mask to remove effects from the background – leaving them mainly on the left side of the face.

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CONSIDER SATURATION

Add another Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Enable Colorize and apply: Hue 254, Saturation 29 and Lightness 23. Erase from the background using a soft brush; this adjustment is to light up the right side of the model’s face. On a new layer, add yellow (#f7f381) shapes drawn with a hard round brush, along with some Elliptical Marquee shapes at varied opacity. Lastly, apply a 90-degree Motion Blur set to 376px Distance.

COMPOSITIONAL ADDITIONS

ADD DIGITAL ELEMENTS AND TYPOGRAPHY TO COMPLETE THE POSTER

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WORK UP TEXTURE

On a new layer add some red (#da2a2a) shapes applied with Motion Blur, using previous techniques. Open the ‘ConcreteBunker0698’ texture from CGTextures and then go to Image>Adjustments> Threshold and set the Level at 112. Now, using Select>Color Range with Fuzziness at maximum, separate the black from the white. Move the selection onto the canvas and fill it with red (#da2a2a) on a new layer. We only need to use parts of this texture, so scale, move and erase bits to get the best mixed-media results.

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DIGITAL CIRCLES

Select the Elliptical Marquee tool and, holding Shift, apply a few circles around, giving each a 6px stroke and filling with corresponding colours. Now apply a layer mask. Open a grungy texture and go to Select>Color Range, colour picking one of the main image tones. Drag and use the texture selection to erase parts of the circles.

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MAGNETIC LASSO STROKES Create a new layer. Activate the Magnetic Lasso tool and slide it along the centre of the artwork to get a fine digital selection. Go to Edit> Stroke and apply a red (#da2a2a) 2px stroke. Again, use a selection of ‘dirty’ texture to get rid of some parts of the stroke and place it somewhere near the eyes or forehead. Repeat the process on another layer with a white stroke, then Motion Blur it to get some more light-strobe effects.

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DRAWING WITH THE LASSO TOOL

When working on larger shapes, don’t let your hand get tired too quickly – just leave parts of the selection simplified. You can always make them more detailed later. Either create each shape one at a time or use the Shi key to add one selection to another, and fill it with colour all in one go. Sometimes a created shape needs some correction aer being filled with colour, so simply use the Lasso tool where needed and fill it again, hiding the unwanted parts. Applying ultra-thin shapes is a skill worth perfecting. All you need to do is zoom in and practise. To add even more detail to already complicated shapes use the Opt/Alt key to select and cut out areas from inside the shape.

NOISE FILTER

Fill a new layer with white. Apply a Noise filter with an Amount of 24% Uniform. Desaturate the layer (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+U), applying Multiply blending at 40% Opacity. At this stage the image needs greater saturation. To fix this, add a new Hue/Saturation layer: Hue 0, Saturation 10 and Lightness -5. Since this is a fictional poster you can now search for a quote and title befitting the work on the internet, or use the same as we did.

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FINISH WITH TYPOGRAPHY

We used white 11pt system font (Courier) for the quote, with the author beneath. Write your title – in our case ‘Flash’ – large; we used 143pt Alte Haas Grotesk Bold. Rasterise it, add a layer mask and use a 50% Linear gradient to erase from right to left. Duplicate the layer, remove the mask and apply a Motion Blur (90 degrees, 430px Distance) to get the shaking effect. Add in fictional credits and then your poster is ready to grace any billboard!

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Mixed Media

BLEND TYPE AND PHOTOS

MASTER THE SKILLS TO INTEGRATE BOLD TYPOGRAPHY WITH KINETIC PHOTOGRAPHY

OUR EXPERT JOSIP KELAVA

In this tutorial we shall combine typography and photography to create an engaging and bold illustration. When looking at the dancer in the photograph you will see that the body parts intertwine with the letters that, while hard to decipher, are an intriguing reference to dance movements and choreography. As dancing, like any art, can be interpreted variously by different people, we shall use this as inspiration to create this illustration. We must remember that dance is an expression of movement, therefore we shall create the type to wrap around the dancer, as if it were dancing on its own. One of the ways to create a striking image is to add a juxtaposition of elements. The dancer is meant to be quite sensual while the typography is quite rigid and sharp. This enables the illustration to become more engaging for the viewer. Using Photoshop as our main editor for this demonstration is the best way we can play with colours and frame our typography to best wrap around the dancer. Photoshop offers us a quick and easy way to contour the typography and colour our dancer, through its masking features and editing capabilities.

WORK IN PROGRESS

THE STAGES OF DESIGN

Step 2: Set up the letters

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SOURCE FILES

On this disc you will find a layered PSD of the typography we used. You will also need to download the start photo from Dreamstime, image number ‘21231119’ if you wish to use the same image as us, or substitute it with one of your own.

MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING

LET’S GET STARTED WITH CREATING TYPE

01

UTILISE THREE SIMPLE SHAPES

03

ADD MORE CHARACTERS

We will only use circles, rectangles and triangles to create the letters for this design. Start by creating a new document at 235 x 302mm and invert the page. Press ‘U’ on the keyboard to open up the Shape tool and create the three white shapes. Use the toolbar above to select different shapes, click and hold Shift to help create symmetrical shapes.

Step 9: Play with the Gradient tool

Step 13: Place the text

www.josipkelava.com

Josip is a senior designer at Clemenger BBDO in Melbourne. His style consists of playing with lurid typography and balance, making his work bold, confident and memorable.

The letter A can be left as our triangle shape, however the letter N can be used by cutting the triangle in half and adding a rectangle. To do this, duplicate the triangle first. Press ‘U’ on the keyboard to open up the Shape toolbox then select Rectangle as your shape to begin the editing process.

02

SET UP THE LETTERS

To start with a concept, we came up with three words that relate to the image; ‘danser avec moi’ is French for ‘dance with me’. To create the letter ‘D’ we are going to edit our circle. Duplicate the circle and hit the ‘A’ key to use the Direct Selection tool and click on the left edge of the circle. Hit the Delete button and your circle should look like the letter D.

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Mixed Media 04

QUICK TIP

EDIT THE BASIC SHAPES

Keyboard shortcuts save so much time when quickly selecting and editing colours. Pressing Shift+X to quickly swap between Foreground and Background colours saves you more time than clicking the colours with your mouse. Another shortcut is to use the Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt when highlighting over the layer thumbnail to quickly select and deselect images.

Click on the Vector Mask thumbnail in your Layers palette. Draw a rectangle from the left side of the bottom to the tip of the triangle. This will appear to cut the triangle in half. Then press the + key on your keyboard to add a rectangle, completing the letter N. The next few letters will be relatively easy to create. Use the Ellipse tool to make two circles that represent an abstract letter S. Pick the Rectangle tool to create the shapes for the letter E.

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The letter A can be flipped vertically to create the letter V, just like the letter D can be flipped horizontally to create the letter C

06

COMPLETE ALL THE LETTERS

07

PLACE THE PHOTOGRAPH

To create the letter R we first make a smaller circle using the Ellipse tool and then a square using the Rectangle tool. To create an equal-sided square or circle, hold down Shift while you click and drag the mouse to create the shape. Press A to use the Direct Selection tool and click on the top-right corner of the square shape. Hit the Delete button and you should have an acute triangle shape to complete the letter R.

Now that you have formed all the shapes, you can duplicate them to complete the rest of the characters. The letter A can be flipped vertically to create the letter V, just like the letter D can be flipped horizontally to create the letter C. The letter M is made by using the same triangle we used to create the letter N. Simply duplicate and flip one of the triangles horizontally and position as needed. The letter O is created by using the Ellipse tool and the letter I can be borrowed from the stem of our letter N.

Now we’ll edit the photograph. First open up a new document with the same dimensions as before (235 x 302mm) and insert the dancer image. The image should be about 20% smaller than the document size so we need to fill in the missing pixels. Press W, select the Magic Wand tool and click on the white space around the image. Press Shift+F5 to open up the Fill Command and use Content-Aware as your Fill.

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MIX THE SHAPES

08

ADD COLOUR TO THE BACKGROUND

Now we’ll focus on the background. In your Adjustments window select Exposure, slide it to -0.1 and the Gamma Correction to 0.65. Add a new Vibrance adjustment layer then crank Vibrance and Saturation all the way up to the top. Now make your Foreground colour ‘b6c7da’ and your Background colour ‘807d94’. Press Shift+X to swap between the Foreground and Background colours. Add a new layer and hit the ‘G’ key to access the Gradient tool. Make sure you use a Linear Gradient and that the Gradient goes from Foreground to Transparent.

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INTRODUCE COLOUR GRADIENTS

ADD WAVES OF COLOUR TO CHANGE THE MOOD

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PLAY WITH THE GRADIENT TOOL

Apply the blue gradient from the bottom to the middle of the image and repeat the same for the purple gradient, but from the top to the middle. Set the blending mode to Color and set it to 85% Opacity. Now repeat this same process but with different colours. First add a new layer, this time choosing ‘d1cecb’ as your neutral colour and ‘b5c2c8’ as your metal-blue colour. However, this time make the gradient go from Foreground to Background instead of Transparency. Set this layer to 30% Opacity.

PLAY WITH DIFFERENT TYPOGRAPHY STYLES

There are many fonts to choose from, some better than others. The best thing to do is to experiment with your own typographic style and create your own fonts. Take a look at www.typographyserved.com for inspiration on typographic work to complement your style. But if you’re having trouble creating your own font, one of the best resources for bold typography is on www. hypefortype.com where you will find plenty of exclusive fonts to download. If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, take a look at www.tendollarfonts.com to find even bolder and unique typeface designs.

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COMPLETE THE BACKGROUND

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PLACE THE TEXT

Now let’s apply the geometric background to this document by creating a new layer and importing the document. Set the blending mode to Divide and change the Opacity to 80%. Make a duplicate of our original model image and set her to the top of the layers using Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+]. Press ‘W’ to use the Quick Selection tool and set the brush Size to 10. You can quickly change the Size by pressing ‘[‘ and ‘]’.

Photoshop enables you to refine the edge of your mask. Click on the Refine Edge tool to adjust the hair and other tricky selections

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CUT OUT THE DANCER

With the Quick Selection tool, click from the tip of her fingers and start tracking down the image slowly until it’s completely selected. Click on the Refine Edge tool to adjust tricky selections. Click OK to turn the dancer into a mask. Apply a Black and White adjustment layer and set it to Auto. Make the adjustment layer affect all layers below by holding down the Opt/Alt key and rolling your mouse between it and the masked layer.

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FINISH THE COLOUR

Now apply a Gradient Map adjustment layer of rich black-to-purple (‘2e2b4a’) to white. Using a soft brush, mask out any areas you don’t want coloured purple. Now apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, set with Hue at 205 and the Saturation at 80. This will add some more blue to the image. Finally change the Opacity to 36%. Mask out any areas you don’t want to be coloured, in this example we only coloured the torso blue.

Group all your elements from the type design document and duplicate the files to the dancer image. Add a vector mask to the group layer and, with an 80% hard brush, start to find interesting intersecting ways the dancer can wrap around the type. Start brushing away the layer mask. This part is open up for experimentation, so add a little more detail by applying a soft shadow to make the dancer pop more from the type.

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Mixed Media

CREATIVE DESIGNS LEARN HOW THIS AMAZING MECHANICAL BUG WAS PUT TOGETHER USING STOCK IMAGERY, RENDERS AND PHOTOSHOP KNOWHOW In this tutorial we’ll be showing you how to effectively combine a large number of elements into one convincing scene. We’ll do this by carefully blending them together using a variety of Photoshop tools and techniques. In addition we’ll explore ways to use brush presets to achieve more random, organic-looking features that will help bring life to our robo-bug image. In order to create a truly cohesive end result we’ll focus the majority of our attention on

lighting, shading and details that will really help sell the final image. You should have fairly good knowledge of basic Photoshop features such as the Transform tool, layer masks, blending options and of managing layers. This workshop is based on several popular designs that fuse organic creatures with mechanical parts. These types of projects are great for fine-tuning your skill to blend images together and, more generally, can be an ideal opportunity to push your imagination.

This workshop is based on several popular designs that fuse organic creatures with mechanical parts. These types of projects are great for fine-tuning your skill to blend images together

OUR EXPERT DEVIN SCHOEFFLER

www.ds9creations.com

Devin is a freelance web and graphic designer with more than seven years’ professional experience and an extensive list of clients from all around the world.

SOURCE FILES

There are three renders and a brush set included. All photos are from iStockphoto and some are available on the CD, with a list of links for the others. You can use your own mechanical stock or the ones in the ‘mechanical photo pack’ provided.

MASTER MIXED MEDIA BLENDING

LEARN TO BLEND ORGANIC AND NON-ORGANIC ELEMENTS

01

GETTING STARTED

Begin by creating a new image, 235 x 300mm, 300dpi in RGB. Create a new layer and fill it with white (‘#ffffff’). Open up the ‘flying insect green beetle’ image (see the link on the disc) and cut it out from the background using your Pen tool. Go to Image> Adjustments> Levels and enter 32, 1.09 and 239 into the fields.

02

CLEAN UP

Our photo has a few flaws that may look off in our final piece so we need to zoom in and clean them up. Use the Spot Healing Brush tool with a Diameter of 55px and a Hardness of 0% to remove all of the white chips from the carapace of the beetle.

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Mixed Media 04

ADD SHADOWS

Make another layer (name it ‘Shadows’) and set it to Soft Light with 80% Opacity. Use a large soft brush coloured black and begin adding shadows to the image in the same way that we added lighting in the previous step. You may wish to add extra layers of shadow and light. Again, use the photo as a guide and simply exaggerate the lighting and shadows already established inthe image.

03

QUICK TIP When working with a complex image, it can be easier to group components rather than naming every single layer. Oen, you may find yourself adding and deleting layers just to try something new and it can become extremely tedious to label every one. Grouping layers will help you stay organised.

ADD LIGHTING

To give our beetle an ultra-realistic and slightly unearthly look, we need to amplify the lighting and shading. Add a new layer, setting it to Overlay with 60% Opacity. Use a large soft brush filled with white (‘#ffffff’) and apply highlights. Use the photo as a guide for specular.

05

INSERT HAIR

In our first step we lost a bit of detail when cutting out the beetle – mainly the creepy insect hair that covers the legs and back of our bug. To get that detail back, we’re going to use a brush to reinsert it. Select the default Dune Grass brush and use the Eyedropper tool to sample a colour from part of the beetle. Use the brush’s default setting to carefully add hair to the back and legs.

06

START YOUR ENGINES

Now it’s time to start adding some machinery to our beetle. Open up the ‘Jet Engine’ stock image and cut it out from its background using the Pen tool. Place this into a layer group and call it ‘Engine’. Go to Image>Adjustments> Brightness/ Contrast and set the Brightness to +33 and the Contrast to +52.

08

07

COLOUR THE ENGINE

Isolate the blue of the engine and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. Set Hue to -120, Saturation to -16 and Lightness to -24. Use the Eyedropper tool to sample colour and use a soft brush to paint over reflections. Then go to Filter>Noise and add 1% Uniform, Monochromatic noise to the green paint.

ENGINE SEAMS

Since we painted over the engine seams we’ll need to redraw them. Make a new layer and set it to Soft Light. Set your brush to 3px at 100% Hardness and ‘#000000’ for the colour. Use your Pen tool to make an arc on the engine. Then go to the Path Selection tool, Ctrl/right-click the path you made and select Stroke Path. Repeat this step, but stroke the path with a white brush and place the two lines next to each other to form the seam.

09

SHADE THE ENGINE

Repeat Steps 3 and 4, but this time for the engine. Add a new layer for your lighting and a new layer for your shadows. Once you’ve finished shading your engine, duplicate the Engine layer group and place it under the beetle image. Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform mode and scale the engine down slightly and move it to the beetle’s right side.

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10

GEAR UP

12

BUILD THE THORAX

13

SHADE THE THORAX

Grab the ‘Metallic Gear’ image and cut it out from its background. Scale it and place it around the beetle’s neck. Once you’re happy with its position, add it to a new group and call it ‘Gear’. Apply a layer mask to the group to hide the gear behind the wings and head of the insect.

11

SHADE THE GEAR

Go to Brightness/ Contrast. Set the Brightness to +2 and the Contrast to +100. Next go to Hue/Saturation and set the Saturation to -57. This will help the gear to match the other metallic components of the bug. Just like the engine, repeat Steps 3 and 4 with the gear and add highlights and shadows where appropriate.

QUICK TIP Continuous blending is necessary to bring all of these separate images together in one convincing piece. You’ll need to experiment with the Brightness, Contrast, Hue and Saturation of every element you intend to combine in order to give them a cohesive look.

Open the ‘Ski doo’ and ‘Mechanical concept in black/ white’ images from the links on the disc. Also open the ‘Gear’ image at this stage. Cut out the black plastic piece to the rear of the seat on the snowmobile as well as the big metal skid. Cut out both gears and arrange them over the thorax of the bug, where you feel they work best. Adjust the Brightness, Contrast, Hue and Saturation of each image to ensure they match the colour scheme and style of the rest of the image.

Open the ‘Carbon Sport Exhaust’ image, cut it out and place two versions of the image under the turbines that we built earlier. Just as we’ve been doing from the start, add two layers and proceed to shade and light the elements. Use the shadows to help hide parts of the images that may look out of place or that don’t fit together.

14

MORE GEARS

Open the ‘Cog’ image and place it between the wings of the beetle. Duplicate the gear twice and stack these behind one another. Tone the Brightness, Contrast, Hue and Saturation to match the rest of the composition and then apply shadows and light as previously.

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16

ABSTRACTS

Now our bug is starting to look pretty mechanised. Open up the 3D abstract renders (on the disc) and place them accordingly. You’ll want to place one of them on top of the thorax imagery we created in Steps 12 and 13 and set it to Linear Dodge blending mode at 90% Opacity. The renders will help add a bit more of an organic and chaotic feel.

WINGS

Open the ‘wings.png’ image from the disc and place them into the main image. You’ll want to duplicate the wing on the right and move it to the left, scaling it horizontally to help sell the perspective of the image. There’s really no wrong way to place these more abstract elements; you might even try using a derivative of your favourite grunge brush to give them a unique finish.

17

MIX IT UP

Take one of the 3D renders we used in Step 15 and place it over the head of the beetle. Set the layer to Screen at about 85% Opacity. Duplicate that layer and flip it horizontally, applying it to the other side of the head. Repeat this step, applying a 3D render to the jet turbine we incorporated earlier; this will serve as a reflection for the shiny engine.

19

GLOWS

Make a new layer (0% Fill and Opacity) and add a ring around the centre of the top gear with a hard brush (around 5px). In the blending options, add an Inner Glow set to Color Dodge (‘#fbe31a’), with Choke at 23% and Size at 174px. Now add an Outer Glow (‘#ff7800’), with Choke at 11%, Size at 27px. Use these same techniques to apply various glows to the engines and exhaust pipes.

18

ADD SOME CHAOS

Load the ‘beetle_brush.abr’ provided on the CD into your Brushes palette. This brush is set up with a high Scatter, Size and Angle Jitter to provide a really random look when used. Make a new layer and take a few swipes with the brush around the wings and back of the beetle to simulate the pieces flying off of it.

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BACKGROUND

22

COLOUR ADJUST

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HIGH PASS

Make a layer group under the bug and call it ‘Background’. Use a Radial gradient to fill the layer from white (‘#ffffff’) to a light grey tone (‘#bbbbbb’).

SHADOWS

Use a big soft brush to add a main shadow under the bug. Once you have that, draw a shape with a marquee tool from the end of each leg back under the belly of the beetle. Fill it with black then go to Filter>Gaussian Blur and use a Radius of 9. Adjust the opacity of these shadow layers to get them to blend together.

Place a Color Adjustment layer over the background and floor shadows and then set the Midtones to Cyan 0, Green +43 and Blue +33. You can also add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer of the entire image and tweak the settings to help develop a more cohesive colour scheme.

As a final step, merge the entire image and Paste a copy on top (Cmd/ Ctrl+Opt/Alt+ Shift+E). Set this layer to Overlay at 75% Opacity and go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set it to about 4.5px. You can also use the random brush we used earlier plus a Gaussian Blur to apply some depth-offield effects around the beetle.

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SURREAL ILLUSTRATION

HOW TO CREATE A COMPLEX DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION WITH BRIGHT COLOURED ELEMENTS BUILT UP AROUND A CENTRAL FOCAL POINT OUR EXPERT GORDON REID

In this tutorial we will run through how to create an exciting and vibrant illustration that is based around a model focal point. You will learn how to easily complete a surrealist-inspired piece using a range of objects, turning them into brightly coloured vector shapes created completely in Photoshop, adding simple touches to really bring them to life. We will show you how to integrate rough and dirty background layers into the mix, properly tackle those tricky tasks, like cutting out the hair from the rest of the model, and master the Pen tool quickly and easily. In preparation for the tutorial, we would advise you to check out one of the many stock sites and find a suitable model for this piece, preferably one with long hair as in our example. This will act as the main focal point for the image and something that we can use as a starting point to build the illustration around. It will also be useful to spend some time researching various objects that you might like to trace and bring to life through the magic of Photoshop. Our model is from www.dreamstime.com, image number ‘20956743’.

WORK IN PROGRESS

BUILD UP THE ILLUSTRATION

www.middleboop.com

Gordon started out in 2009, working for clients in the music industry. Current clients include Advanced Photoshop, Maxim, Malibu, Sprite and 4AD. He is also editor of the successful Middle Boop site.

SOURCE FILES

On the disc you will find a few handy layers and vectors we have included that will aid you in the completion of this tutorial.

CREATE A BRIGHT AND EXCITING ILLUSTRATION

USE PHOTOSHOP TO BRING LIFE TO FLAT VECTOR SHAPES

01

LEVELS

03

EXTRACT THE HAIR

Once you have chosen your model image, it’s always good to start off sorting out the Levels of the picture to make sure it will work well with the planned illustration. This can also be edited later. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+L and adjust the image accordingly, as shown in the screenshot.

02

PEN TOOL

Time to get to grips with the Pen tool (P). Set it to Paths and cut the model out. You can hold down Opt/Alt or Cmd/Ctrl to aid in cutting out some of the more awkward corners and edges of your subject. It’s also useful to create a duplicate of the model (hold down Opt/Alt and drag).

Step 3: Extract the hair

Step 8: Create detailed elements

Step 10: Experiment with effects

Hair is often the trickiest part of working with a model. Try using Filter>Extract in earlier versions of Photoshop. Use the Brush tool to go around a selected part of the hair. If you don’t get a good result the first time, then use the Filter>Extract tool a number of times to make sure the extraction looks as slick as possible.

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DON’T HAVE EXTRACT?

If you don’t have the Extract filter and you are using CS5, then you can use the Refine Edge option instead. Make sure that your selection is active and go to Select> Refine Edge. Use the tools here to alter the selection radius and tick Decontaminate Colors to help get rid of unwanted background showing through the hair areas. You won’t get a perfect result, the same as with using Extract, but we are going to work further on the hair in the next steps.

06

USE THE CLONE TOOL

07

GRADIENT

QUICK TIP

Remember the basics when creating a complex tutorial with lots of layers. Name your layers so you can locate each piece quickly, save as you go and group layers or enter them into a folder as frequently as possible.

05

CLEAN UP THE HAIR

08

CREATE BESPOKE VECTORS

Once you have gathered the elements of the hair that you are happy with, add a black background layer with the hair in the foreground. Now go around any unwanted edges using the Pen tool and a medium-sized Eraser set to around 60px with the Hardness set to 0% to clean the hair up. With the background set to black, areas that require more attention are more easily seen than on white. This is always a technique that is good to keep in mind whenever you are making any difficult cutouts.

There will be parts of the hair that still need amending so go to the Clone tool (S) and, using a medium-sized brush of around 85px with the Hardness at 0%, pick a part of the hair that is of a similar light and texture to the area you want to cover. Now hold down Opt/Alt, click and then use the brush to get rid of those last bits of unwanted background. This will take some time, but it is worth getting it right in the first place.

Now to experiment with the colours for the background. Ideally, for this piece we want a bright, cold-coloured background to blend in with the model and equally contrast with the warm, brightly-coloured elements we are going to add. Go through the colour swatches and select Pantone Solid Coated, then with the Gradient tool selected (G), create a straight line from the centre of the piece going downwards to the bottom. Keep experimenting until you find a gradient that fits the piece and the style of image that you are going for.

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Now we’ll create some vibrant shapes made to look like different objects, in this instance we’re creating a lipstick. You can either trace an existing photo or use the grids and rulers (Cmd/ Ctrl+R) to draw out your own. Use the Pen tool set to Shape Layers and create three simple rectangles using bold colours. Use the guides and the grid (Cmd/Ctrl+’) to line up your vectors and make sure each object is straight.

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TURN FLAT VECTORS INTO 3DLOOKING OBJECTS

USE BLENDING OPTIONS TO ADD A WHOLE NEW DEPTH TO YOUR VECTOR SHAPES

09

BLENDING OPTIONS

Once you have created some of your flat vector objects, they can be spruced up a bit. Using the lipstick from Step 8, merge the three layers then go to Blending Options from the Layer Style menu and pick Inner Shadow. First edit the angle as to where you are hoping to place the vector. Once this is okay, set Distance to around 10px, Choke to 13% and Size to around 25%. This should create a shadow around the image, giving a 3D effect.

CHOOSE YOUR SHAPES

Tracing objects like the lips and rainbow can have dramatic effects on the outcome of the final piece. This is a good habit to get into as the results can really make or break the image. When following a tutorial it’s good to experiment and make the artwork your own. Why not research some more shapes that you feel would look effective with the sort of treatment we’ve given them here and try editing them too?

10

INNER GLOW

13

THE FINAL DETAILS

Once your blends are looking effective, tick the Inner Glow box, using a beige colour and set Technique to Softer, Source to Centre, Size to 100px and Choke to around 13px. Set the Opacity down to 75%. This should give off the effect of a shine. There is no right or wrong way to set these effects, as each object will require different settings. It would also be beneficial to experiment with the Outer Glow options if you want your image to appear brighter and stand out from the background.

With the background set to black, areas that require more attention are more easily seen than on white. This is a technique that is good to keep in mind whenever you are making any difficult cutouts

11

FLESH OUT THE PIECE

Now it’s time to start adding more colourful elements to the piece to flesh it out and make it more vibrant. Have a look at the examples and create similar objects. Use warming colours such as reds and pinks for the vectors, as we’ll use contrasting colours in the background so these will stand out more. Duplicate images and blend them into the background by applying blending modes such as Color Burn, Multiply and Overlay.

12

BLEND AND MINIMISE

At this stage the image can all too easily look cluttered, so start taking elements away or blending them in more. Take the lips for instance: go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to about 2 or 3 to emphasise the depth in the image. Add more texture to the background by selecting a layer such as the black and white star. Go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur, set the Method to Zoom, Quality to Best and Amount to around 20 to 30.

Now it’s time to add the finishing touches. With the Background gradient selected, go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Set the Amount to around 12.65% and set the Distribution to Gaussian. To add even more texture to the background, photocopy some card or rough paper, change the Levels so that it’s quite bright and set it behind the coloured gradient. Set the gradient layer to Multiply and turn the opacity down, and we’re finished!

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COMBINE PHOTOS WITH ILLUSTRATION

DISCOVER THE ART OF COUPLING ILLUSTRATION WITH A PHOTOGRAPHIC SCENE

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OUR EXPERT GEO LAW

www.getaloadageo.co.uk

Geo has been freelancing as an illustrator for the past three years, with regular clients in his local city of Sheffield, working with night clubs, design agencies and fashion, using a mix of hand-drawn illustration with soware to finish.

SOURCE FILES

Illustrations and Photo

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ARTIST SHOWCASE WE TAKE A LOOK AT GEO LAW’S PAST WORK

Alice In Wonderland, 2010 Pencil, ink and Illustrator Promotional item for the opening of a new bar in Nottingham. Characters were drawn separately then pieced together. PLAN YOUR MASTERPIECE Plan how you wish to merge your illustration with a chosen photo, and look at what kind of characters are best suited to depict within the scene and where they will stand within the picture.

Untitled, 2009 Photography, pen, PS, Illustrator

Self-promotional Christmas card; photographer James Brown, stylist Natasha Lyons, model Lydia D. Ward.

This tutorial will focus on techniques to merge hand-drawn, illustrated graphics with digital photography. This achieved look has been adopted for many campaigns and fashion illustrations for its fantasy-induced mix of real life and imagination. A lot of my current work borders on imaginary monsters and settings, which I create in my head and reference towards a childlike stance. By mixing photography and illustration together you can create scenes that seem to pop out of another world and into our own. Graphic designers like Vault 49 (www.vault49.com) are very good at utilising intricate illustrations with cleanly produced photography. The techniques in this tutorial are quite simplistic in their execution but still need thought when it comes to finishing off the piece. Within the final image, the touches on the shadows have been considered as well as areas that have been airbrushed to show prominence and perspective. The first step would be to either find a photo or start with a sketch. By finding the right photo you can base your illustration around it. www.istockphoto.com is a popular site where stock photography can be purchased, but if you

MIST Cut out pieces of mist and place around the photo. Select Mist layers, go Layers>Merge Layers.

don’t wish to part with your money then you can always take your own photos or collaborate with a photographer. If sketching and doodling is your first step, you can look for a photo that plays well to the intentions of your illustration. Sometimes the wackier the illustration the better it can be used within your chosen photo. The context of the scene you’re creating is up to you, whether you choose a subtle approach or one that jumps out of the page. Always pencil down your intended layout, so you can plan which areas of the photo will become useful for spacing or crowding out with your characters and flourishes. Again, depending on what you draw or design, it’s always good to remember that your illustration will become a focal point against the photo

Beardy, 2009 Photography, pen and Photoshop

Part of the ‘Bad Dandruff’ collection. I focused on portraits and hairstyles, drawing in creatures to add in a little fun.

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LIVE TRACE Scan in your drawings and use Adobe Illustrator to transform them into vectors by using Live Trace to polish. Name and save PDF files for ‘Characters’ and a separate one for ‘Mist’.

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APPLYING THE ILLUSTRATION

MERGE YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS TO A PHOTOGRAPH USING PHOTOSHOP

01

PLAN Sketch out where to place characters and elements. Work the illustration around them and consider the areas to balance out.

DELETE THE MIST Select the Mist layer and go to the Layers panel. Set the Opacity to 70% before deleting away areas that interact with the photo.

COLOUR PALETTE Depending on the photo you choose to work with, always be mindful of your colour palette when touching up the illustrations and photograph itself. It’s always important to balance the feel of the illustrated areas with the photographic capture, so they don’t look too misplaced with each other.

PLACE CHARACTERS Open the AI file where your characters are saved; select them individually using the Lasso (L) to cut them out, and drag into the photo.

itself, so give your drawings a purpose within the piece. If you choose to have characters, give them a focus – make them funny, angry, sad, happy or outrageous. If your work is to be abstract, consider how the illustration visually balances out as a piece. You can always choose to crowd out the composition or focus on one hand-drawn feature. For this tutorial I’ve opted for a busy scene but not wanted to overpower it with too much, as the photo itself will balance the illustration. I always hand-draw my illustrations in black pen, and use programs to gloss and smooth over the rough edges. I use Photoshop to clean up excess dirt and redraw broken lines on the scanned work, then adjust the colour levels by using the Magic Wand to select all black lines and make them look darker. I then import it to Illustrator where I use the Live Trace function to convert the image into vectors, which gives the work a smoother, cleaner line. If the scans have been edited with darker lines this helps the Live Trace. Once this is done I save the file and import it back to Photoshop where I cut out the images I’ll use as layers and then save as a high-res PSD file. The colour palette is important, but it can depend on many things – the photograph or the context of your illustration. You can choose whether to have the illustration clash and stand out from the photo or have all the components in your piece work together and merge. Again, this depends on the look you’re trying to achieve. I adjusted the photo first by playing with the saturation levels and slightly dulling the colour by going to Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation. Alternatively, you can adjust the colour balance and channels according to how you want to execute your image. Within the tutorial I considered the colour palette to have a bright range but a more pastel tone. The photo itself has a

02

CHARACTERS The characters will be the focal point of the scene, so make them lively. Deciding on the colour palette is also important.

03

DELETE Once the illustrative parts are done, flatten the layers into groups, in this case ‘Characters’/‘Mist’. Delete areas that correspond and work around the scene.

04

DETAILS Add colour and shadows to the

characters. Be mindful of the shadows – it’s important to merge the illustration with the photo.

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1 2

5

4 3

DISSECT AN IMAGE

ART STRUCTURE EXPLORED

DELETE CHARACTERS Select each character and edit according to how they fit the scene. If some are standing in the mist, they will need to be airbrushed by using the Eraser tool (E).

COLOUR PALETTE When applying colour, use the Magic Wand (W), select isolated areas (Contiguous On) and use the Paint Bucket tool (G).

BLUR EDGES At the moment, the mist layer needs soening up, as it looks too sharp against the photo. Select the layer then go to Filter>Blur>Blur More.

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nice excess of colour, so I chose to avoid any slight visual clashes when applying colour to my characters and flourishes. I used the Paint Bucket tool on individual character layers combined with the Magic Wand to isolate areas I wanted to colour fill. The same was applied to the mist illustration, where I used the Magic Wand to select the black lines then adjusted them to a lighter grey to complement the colours in the background. When I work with an illustrated photomontage, I tend to use Photoshop to piece the work together. All my characters are on separate layers, which I label, and once their position is set I place them in a group folder in the Layers tab for easy access. I first positioned the mist drawing pieces over the scene according to how I’d planned it in the sketch, then merged them as a separate layer independent from the photo. If you don’t wish to merge the mist as one layer yet, you can save the layers in a group folder – just remember to label it accordingly. Once the layers have been merged, this makes it easier when you have to erase the parts that will play with the photos’ perspective and interactivity. You’ll see in the main image that some of the clouds and flourishes hug and hang over different parts of the stone courtyard. The same will be done with the characters’ layer. Working from my previous sketch, I chose areas where characters and the mist would sit in front and behind parts of the photo. When erasing or carving away bits of the layers, it’s best to lighten their opacity in the Layers tab so it’s easier to see the photo beneath or the corresponding layer. Consider how your illustration blends within the foreground and the background of the scene. Once all the characters and flourishes are carved and temporarily in place, you can look at the details that will bring the image to life. Adding shadows will connect your illustration with the photo, so darken areas where the mist or characters touch; consider where your light source is coming from and duplicate the background layer (photo) in case you

1

CHARACTERS IN THE MIST Once the characters’ positions were decided, their Opacity was dimmed to 70% so that it was easy to airbrush away the parts that were supposed to be hidden.

2

THE MIST Part of the mist was erased

3

SHARPEN THE PHOTOGRAPH

4

SHADOWS For more realism, shadows were applied to the illustrated objects by using the Burn tool at full settings and airbrushing over the background layer to create added darker areas.

5

FOG A stock fog PSD file was dragged

to fit around features of the photo. To make things easier, the Opacity was dimmed to 70% to help pinpoint parts that were to be hidden by the obstacles. Certain parts of the foreground were given emphasis with the Burn tool, and a dimmed Opacity of around 80%, to darken the areas in front of the mist.

into the document to soften up the illustrated mist layers. These images were placed in front of the mist layers and dimmed to around 75% Opacity.

wish to start again. Use the Burn tool to paint on a dark wash in your chosen areas. Don’t overdo it – shadows don’t need to be pitch black in a photo; we’re looking for a subtle touch here. I’ve applied shadows where the mist hangs in front of the brickwork and where characters are within the scene. The mist illustration itself might look a bit too sharp against the photo, as it’s an imported vector file. To rectify this use a simple Blur filter in PS, which will soften the layer and make it look more translucent. I’ve also added stock PSD fog layers, downloaded from www.officialpsds.com. These layers can be duplicated to place in front and behind the mist layer to create depth within the fog and mist, which is another way of slightly softening the illustration. You can also play with the levels of opacity with these layers, creating a light or thick fog (whichever you please). It can also be a good way to

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I have applied these simple techniques in a subtle way

dull any colours that you deem to be a bit too sharp in the photo background. The finishing touch requires the Burn tool to darken areas of the photo to make them more prominent next to the illustrated bits. In the main image you can see that where the mist wraps around the bottom of the stairs and touches the stonework is where I’ve applied light strokes with the Burn tool to give the photo a subtly sharper look. This tool darkens the contrast and ‘burns’ the colour, so be careful to not overdo it with multiple strokes. Always pan out and have a good look at how well the piece visually balances out – whether some bits are too subdued or more shadows need to be added. I’ve applied these techniques in a subtle way, and looked for the images to merge into each other, but of course you can decide on the tone of your own work yourself.

ADD SHADOW Select the photograph and background layers to burn shadows behind the layers. Use the Burn tool (O) and it will paint a dark wash that resembles a shade.

FOG To add depth to the mist, drag in a fog PSD file and duplicate where necessary to give the illustration more life. You can download stock files such as these from the web.

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ADVANCED SELECTIONS

OUR EXPERT MIKE CAMPAU

www.seventhstreetstudio.com

Mike is currently the creative director and lead digital artist at SeventhStreet, a small, collaborative design studio that’s located in Birmingham, Michigan.

EXPERT PHOTOSHOP ARTIST MIKE CAMPAU BREAKS DOWN HIS POPULAR SNOW JUNGLE ARTWORK TO SHOW US HOW IT’S DONE The inspiration and motivation for Snow Jungle came about after finishing another piece called Urban Jungle for Advanced Photoshop’s iStockphoto Create a Cover contest (issue 65). Over the next five pages, we are going to show you how to re-create the style for yourself. In this tutorial we will assume you already have a degree of Photoshop knowledge and we will be bypassing some of the standard functions, such as how to create layer masks and use Curves and Hue/Saturation. What we will be focusing on is

SOURCE FILES

On the CD you will find some of Mike’s own resources to help you with this tutorial. A lot of iStockphoto images are also used, and we have provided most of these for you on the disc, plus links to a couple more that you will need to purchase or find alternatives for.

how to create a dynamic scene that integrates colour type, multiple stock photos and some hand-painted elements. You will not need any colour knowledge, as the colour type will be provided for you. We will also be covering some basic masking techniques, how to use Calculations to isolate objects, how to incorporate hand-painted textures into your scene and, finally, how to add finishing touches to your piece to help tie the whole composition together.

DEVELOP ENERGETIC COMPOSITES

Create a dynamic scene that integrates colour type, multiple stock photos and handpainted elements

USE STOCK PHOTOS IN CONJUNCTION WITH MIXED MEDIA

01

START WITH YOUR HERO

To kick off, we need to isolate our hero image. Open the image of the snowboarder (iStockphoto’s ‘Snowboarder In The Air’). Next open the Calculations dialog (Image>Calculations). For Source 1 select the Red channel and click the Invert checkbox. For Source 2 select the Blue channel, and for the blending mode choose Add with these settings: Opacity 100%, Offset -110 and Scale 1, with the Result as New Channel. Calculations are used on a number of occasions in this tutorial to isolate objects, so make sure you have a full understanding of this tool.

02

TWEAK THE NEW CHANNEL

Now go into your Channels window, select the new channel and open up the Levels dialog (Image>Adjustments>Levels). Slide the shadow and highlight points closer together so that you start to get a black-and-white silhouette. Don’t crush the numbers too close, as you might start to lose some of the important edge details. For this image, we will use 129 for the black point and 211 for the white point.

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CLEAN UP YOUR CHANNEL

Use your Brush tool set to Overlay and start to black out desired areas. Some areas may need a couple of passes. Do the same thing for white areas with a white brush. When done, make a selection from your new channel and create a layer mask for your snowboarder.

05

04

SNOWBOARDER COLOUR

Our snowboarder is a little too bright and has some neon greens that won’t fit into our colour scheme, so use a Curves adjustment layer to bring down the midtones, and Hue/Saturation to slide the green-yellow colour into our orange colour palette. Once you are happy with the colour and tone, merge your layers and apply the layer mask.

SET UP YOUR LAYOUT

Now the snowboarder’s ready, let’s work up the background. Create a new image, 3,500 x 5,000px with a white background. Create a new layer. Use your Gradient tool set to black-to-transparent and create a gradient from the bottom and top ending in the top third of the canvas; set the Opacity to 30%. This boosts the feeling of depth and will help when building the background. Now drag your snowboarder onto this file and set him above the gradient.

QUICK TIP Clipping groups are a great way to work on objects that have been isolated with transparency. Simply hold down the Opt/Alt key while clicking on the line between two layers. This enables the bottom layer to lock in the transparency of the layers above.

06

BACKGROUND SCENE

Now we need to build our base background scene. Open up the clouds (‘Showing the way’ from iStockphoto) and two mountain images (we’re using ‘Mountain’ and ‘The Alps Mountains’). Drag all three images onto your new file. Scale the images so they reach edge to edge and give each one a new layer mask. Using a large soft brush start to blend the hard edges out and combine the three elements into one scene. We don’t have to worry about being overly precise with our mask because most of this will be blended or covered with other elements.

07

3D TYPE

With our background roughed in and our hero in place, it’s time to build the type. This could be done straight out of a 3D program, but for our example, we’ll use PS to achieve the same effect. Open the supplied type file (‘SnowJungle_3dtype.psd’) and make a selection with your Square Marquee tool just below the typeface. Use the Transform and Warp tools to add drama and Liquify to tweak any areas that don’t quite line up.

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08

TYPE ICE TEXTURE

Now for applying the ice texture. Open the image of ice – iStockphoto’s ‘Semless frost (ice)’ – and drag it onto the type file. Use Free Transform on it to closely match the shape of the type. Now make a clipping group using your type layer and set it to Overlay. You will need to duplicate the layer a couple of times to get the effect we are looking for. Mask out any areas that get too dark or too light.

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09

FINISH THE TYPE

Apply a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the type overall and then another to brighten just the top of the text, masking out shadowy areas on the bottom. Since this is a bright snow scene, it really needs to shine so use Hue/Saturation to desaturate it overall. The final 3D type (‘3dtype_finished.psd’) is on the CD for reference.

10

SCENE

PLACE YOUR 3D TYPE INTO THE

Now drag your type image into your scene file. Position it so that it is behind the snowboarder and centre the text over his head. The type is a little dark for our winter scene, so we will add a white-to-transparent gradient layer going from the bottom to the top. This will help us blend it into the scene as we begin to add more elements.

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11

ADD MORE ELEMENTS

Our scene is looking a little sparse, so we need to add more elements to help our snowboarder feel at home. Open up the image of the chairlift (iStockphoto’s ‘Ski lift up a mountain’), ski lodge (‘Mountain Home’) and pine trees (the two ‘Winter Scenics’ images). Using Calculations and layer masks (as we did in Step 1) begin to isolate the chairlift, trees and lodge. Once you have them isolated, drag them onto your scene file behind the 3D type layer and position them appropriately.

FOREGROUND SNOW

We want to add some interest into the bottom of the scene, and right now the snow is too dark and has some distracting lines. So let’s open the stock photo of the snow pile (‘snow on the mountain #1’ from iStockphoto). Drag it into your scene and place it at the base of the composition. Create a layer mask and blend it into the existing snow.

13

BUILD THE HALFPIPE

Now it’s time to build the halfpipe that the snowboarder is riding. Open the supplied stock (iStockphoto’s ‘Empty Half-pipe’). We want this element to be floating in our scene, so we will have to cut out the curved portion and re-create the edges to give it depth. Start by using your Pen tool to draw a path around the shape of the halfpipe. Once complete, make a selection from your path, then copy and paste it into a new layer.

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BEND THE PIPE

On the new layer you created from the halfpipe shape, use Transform and Warp to make the shape more symmetrical. We are going to be duplicating and flipping the layer to add the right side, so try to keep that in mind when working on the shape. Once transformed, use your Square Marquee tool to select the right-hand side and delete it. Duplicate the layer, horizontally flip it and line up the centre points so that they overlap slightly.

15

ADD SHAPE TO THE PIPE

Now that we have our halfpipe taking shape, go in with the Clone Stamp tool and clean up any areas where the two halves clashed. Next open up the ‘snow on the mountain #1’ stock again and use our previous Calculations technique to isolate the snow from the sky. Now drag the snow image onto the halfpipe file and rotate 180 degrees so that the snow bumps are at the bottom of the halfpipe shape. Duplicate this layer and Transform it to fit around the base of the halfpipe.

16

FINISH THE HALFPIPE

Merge halfpipe layers and, with a layer mask, start to blend the bottom snow mounds for a nice transition. Merge all visible layers. To match up colours, use Hue/Saturation to desaturate the halfpipe, then Curves to add back a cool tone. Now for the final piece of the pipe.

17

ADD SOME SHADOWS

18

ADD SOME SNOW SPRAY

Drag your final halfpipe piece (‘halfpipe.psd’) into your scene file and position it below the snowboarder, but in front of your 3D type and background elements. To create the illusion that the halfpipe is floating we need to add a Drop Shadow under the halfpipe. Create a new layer, and use your Circular Marquee tool to select an area just below the halfpipe. Now Feather the selection by 100 pixels. Use your Eyedropper tool to select a dark shadow portion from any part of the existing snow and fill your selection with this colour. Now deselect and use Motion Blur set to 0 degrees and 200 pixels to help blend the shadow and give it a more natural feel. To finish the shadow, set the layer to Multiply.

The image needs some activity, so we are going to add some snow spray. Open up the spray image (‘Wave crashing against rock’ from iStockphoto). To isolate just the water spray, duplicate the Blue channel and apply Levels with the black point at 60 and white point at 126. Next make a selection from your new channel then copy and paste the spray into your scene file. Set this layer to Screen and start to have fun. Add it to areas to frame focal points.

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19

BLEND PAINTED ELEMENTS

Open up paint stock (‘Watercolored Background’, ‘Painted watercolor mess’ and ‘Painted watercolor background’, plus ‘Paints_texture.jpg’). We need to isolate these elements, so for each case duplicate the Blue channel and apply Levels to crush the white and black points. In this case we don’t want to make it pure black and white, as we want to retain the brushstrokes. Once you have a nice alpha, make a selection and import brushstrokes into your scene.

QUICK TIP To use an object as your transparency mask when working, simply hold down Opt/Alt and then click between the two layers in order to constrain the active area of the top layer to the base layer.

20

BLEND YOUR PAINT

21

Now we have our brushstrokes in our scene, change their layer properties to Color, Multiply, Color Burn or Overlay. Experiment with which combination of these works best for the various areas of the scene. Typically, Overlay doesn’t work very well with a bright white area, so use Multiply or Color Burn in this case, and use the Overlay and Color in areas that have tone. Start to duplicate the various brushstrokes into different layers and then combine them to create even more unique painted areas.

SOME ICE

To jazz up the halfpipe, we can add some icicles (iStockphoto’s ‘Icicles Gauss distribution’). Duplicate the Blue channel and use Levels to crush the black and white points. Place icicles into the scene and, just as we did in Step 15, duplicate and Transform the ice to follow the shape of the halfpipe and blend with layer masks.

22

TIE ELEMENTS TOGETHER

It’s always a good idea to apply an overall effect in work composed from multiple photos. In this case, we Copy then merge the entire image into a new layer (Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/ Alt+Shift+E) and duplicate that layer. On the first copy merged layer, go into Filter>Other>High Pass and set the pixels to 2.1. Now change the blending mode to Linear Light at 50% Opacity. Do the same thing to the duplicated layer, but this time use 178.5 for the High Pass value and set Opacity to 10%.

23

FINAL CORRECTIONS

The colour seems too vibrant for a winter scene, so using a Hue/Saturation layer on top of everything, desaturate the whole image by -50. Create a new layer, set blending to Soft Light and brush in some blue around the edges. Now use Curves layers with masks to brighten some of the snow and type and darken the snowboarder.

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