Illustrate With Photoshop Genius Guide Vol 1 Revised Edition

A comprehensive masterclass in becoming an instant expert

®

Illustrate with

The professional guide to mastering digital illustration

For every version of Adobe Photoshop, including CC

Welcome to

Now part of the Creative Cloud family, Adobe Photoshop is undoubtedly the most

popular image-editing software around. The appeal of Photoshop lies in the fact that it is

simple enough for a beginner to use to re-touch images as well as for a professional who

wants to manipulate and add advanced f nishing touches to their work. With its plethora

of tools and capabilities, it’s a software that gives the user an inf nite level of control.

Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide is written for advanced users who are looking to

take their Photoshop skills to the next level. The illustration section will show you how to

use assets to create artwork. Infographics are the new fad and we have an entire feature on

it from the best artists in the industry. Photoshop also lets you experiment with typefaces

and we’ll show you how to create some wonderful types of your own. Mixed media is a

fun section that will show you how to ef ortlessly blend graphics and images to create

professional f nished products. If you want to re-create the tutorials exactly as they are,

don’t worry, we’ve got all the assets used in the book on the free disc, along with premium

typefaces, 53 brushes, a texture pack and stock images for you to use in your projects.


®PhotoshopIllustrate with

®PhotoshopIllustrate with

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Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide Volume 1 Revised Edition © 2013 Imagine Publishing Ltd

ISBN 978-1908222886

FEATURE

18 Editorial Illustration

24 Editorial Artwork

30 Technical Illustration

34 Stylised Illustration

38 Sci-Fi Scenes

44 Creative Designs

50 Striking Pastels

56 Vexel Vehicles

FEATURE

64 Master Infographics

72 Build Infographics

76 Pixel Art

82 Poster Graphics

86 Shape Symmetry

90 Textures and Depth

94 Character Illustration

100 Vector Layers

106 Photoreal Icons

ILLUSTRATION

GRAPHICS

Contents

815 Illustration tips & tricks

Artists in the industry share their secrets to using

Adobe Photoshop

20486

120

6 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide

Fantasy Art

FEATURE

112 The Art of Type

120 Type Effects

124 Fluid Type

128 Illustrative Type

132 Collage-Style Type

136 Vintage Type

140 3D Type

146 Dynamic 3D Type

150 Typographic Designs

TYPOGRAPHY

MIXED MEDIA

Genius GuideIllustrate with Photoshop

90

172

72

FEATURE

156 Applying Mixed Media

166 Blending Mixed Media

172 Paint Textures

176 Master Polygons

182 Graphics and Photos

188 Type and Photos

192 The Pen Tool

198 Advanced Selections

204 Zero-Gravity Effects

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

Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 7

ARTISTS IN THE INDUSTRY SHARE THEIR SECRETS TO USING PHOTOSHOP IN ORDER TO

ENHANCE THEIR ILLUSTRATIONS, WHICH RANGE FROM EDITORIAL WORK TO PACKAGING

AND HIGH PROFILE ADVERTISING

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15 illustration tips & tricks

VINCENTE GARCIA

MORILLOwww.vicentegarciamorillo.com

To promote DJ sessions by electronic music

label Black Book Sessions, Vicente Garcia

Morillo created the Alive Objects series,

which encapsulates the artists and presents them as

just one entity: “In this case, I was playing with the

combination of elements that represent two of the

most popular musicians in Chicago and the L.A.

scene, respectively.”

“The first step is always to conceptualise the piece.

I consider this one of the most important phases of

the development process as this is the base of the

piece. I like to invest all the time that’s necessary to

come up with a good idea. Once I have the concept, I

start doing sketches of the composition and also the

analogue elements, such as drawing and painting, in

case I want them later. I create the vector elements

in Illustrator then import and edit them in Photoshop,

fitting them together like a jigsaw, then apply effects

like gradients, layer styles, shadows and noise. I like

to experiment, mixing methods and software in my

projects, adding elements like pencil drawings to my

artworks when I get the opportunity. I usually play

with Photoshop to edit the compositional elements

and finish my pieces, but I avoid photographic

finishes as I like to preserve an illustrated element.”

1. INVEST IN

A CONCEPT

DIEGO L. RODRIGUEZwww.paranoidme.com

Diego L. Rodriguez set about creating options for HBO’s How To Make It In America and

drew on inspiration from the Big Apple: “Once I presented this idea, the agency loved it

and they gave me the green light to create the poster. The brief came with some

promotional images for the second season of the show. They were good, but not exactly what I had in mind.

However, having the figure of Kid Cudi as a graphic inspired me to gather extra material. I had the structure

clear: start with the character’s portrait, then the body had to be connected to the buildings in some way, and

New York’s iconic symbols, and finally the slogan below the illustration. For the New York buildings, I had a

ton of pictures that I took back in 2009. I use a specific technique to manage shadows and highlights – I began

using it years ago for high-end retouching in skin or objects, then applied it to manipulations and illustration

work. Create a new layer above your illustration. Go to Edit>Fill>50% Grey and click OK. Put this grey layer in

Soft Light mode and reduce the Opacity to 30-50%. Take a soft brush, with Opacity 30-70%, and paint in those

zones where you would like to increase the shadows or highlights using only grayscale tones. This technique

is similar to Dodge and Burn, but allows more control over certain zones without affecting the main layer.”

2. MANAGE SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

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Illustrate with Photoshop

Genius Guide

ANDREA FEMERSTRANDwww.noukah.blogspot.co.uk

Concept artist and illustrator Andrea Femerstrand

regularly contributes illustrations to short stories

aimed at younger readers. This piece was created

for a short story in Swedish kids and teen magazine KP (KamratPosten):

“There’s always a section where young readers’ stories are published.

Usually, they’re around 10 to 14 years old. I use Photoshop for drawing

and painting and do all my work from scratch, the old fashioned way.

Layers, custom brushes and adjustment layers make my work much

faster and more efficient. I don’t have many secrets; mostly, I just paint.”

3. PAINT YOUR ILLUSTRATION MARK VERHAAGENwww.markverhaagen.com

Tasked with creating 36 robot playing cards for kids magazine

Bonbeck, Mark Verhaagen, the brain behind the Zoobles toy

line, had to build in originality and then deliver uniformity. “The

challenge here,” says Mark, “was to create 36 different robots, each of them looking

interesting. I started sketching a lot of robots, focusing on shape and character, bold

versus fragile, round versus square shapes, etc. I had to think about how the robots

would move and do things, which also helped determine their looks. I tried to keep

things simple, as the final illustrations wouldn’t be that big. All the robots and card

designs were made in Illustrator using fairly basic shapes and shading.”

Mark then turned to Photoshop for the final touches. To save time and to make

sure each card looked the same, he recorded Actions to use as part of his workflow.

“I primarily used Photoshop for adding texture and a glow effect around the robots,”

he explains. “As I was working with 36 different files, I saved a lot of time by using

Actions for these things. I also used an automate batch Action to save all the files

into formats.” The cards were featured in Bonbek magazine, where kids could cut

out the different cards to play with. Later, an actual card game was produced too.”

4. MAKE USE OF ACTIONS

■ Line drawing

I always start out with a rough

sketch or line drawing. After that, I

paint a rough colour scheme to

decide upon colours and overall

lighting. This illustration had to

cover a whole spread, with a lot of

empty space so that the text could

be added on top of it.

■ Block colours

When I’m satisfied, I move back to

the line drawing, lower the opacity

and create new layers underneath

it, and then start blocking

everything in with clean, solid

colours. I lock the transparency

for each layer and when I’m done

with that, it’s time to paint.

■ Add form and shading

I start fleshing out the painting,

working a lot with form and

shading. I create a separate layer

on top of everything to serve as

my ‘light’ in the piece. Separating

the regular layers from the light is

extremely helpful, since you can

work on one thing at a time.

© Andrea Femerstrand

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011

BRIAN MILLERwww.orlincultureshop.com

Artist, illustrator and

owner of The Orlin

Culture Shop Brian Miller created Totes

Adorbots, a two-hour style exploration in

response to a call for ‘cute vintage robots’, for

a potential picture book. “I worked from start

to finish in Photoshop CS6 using my Wacom

Cintiq,” he tells us. “I use the Lasso tool to

quickly create sharp edges where I need

them. However, it’s the years of study,

practice and exploration that

are most vital, no matter

what tool or medium

you’re using.”

5. WORK QUICKLY WITH A TABLET

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■ Simple silhouettes

I started with a blank canvas in

Photoshop and created simple

silhouettes for the robots, working

with big shapes first and details last.

It was important at this stage to work

with speed and boldness because of

the short time I had to create.

■ Limit the palette

With the basic silhouettes in

place, I picked a limited colour

palette; one colour for shadows,

one colour for the highlights.

Limiting my colour palette up

front helps me focus on stronger

designs and compositions.

■ Direct the imagination

It’s important for me to add only as

much detail as is needed to point

the viewer’s imagination in the

right direction. Too much detail

keeps the viewer’s imagination

from engaging with the piece,

which is the opposite of my goal.

■ Wear and tear

Once my silhouettes and colours

were established, I moved on to

detailing the piece. This was

actually a fairly quick process that

just involved me placing enough

specific details on the robot to

suggest overall wear and tear.

■ Mixed-media

Though I often sketch with traditional

materials, I love the challenge of

trying to create pieces in Photoshop

that blur the lines between traditional

and digital mediums.

■ Keep it simple

I use a limited number of brushes in

Photoshop to keep my approach as simple as

possible. This allows me to focus on the strength

of the drawing and design, not the tools.



Genius Guide

MARK

VERHAAGENwww.markverhaagen.com

When faced with a brief to create an image out

of a sound, Mark Verhaagen used his

imagination to turn the project into a vintage

science illustration. Audio designer David Kamp

(davidkamp.de) came up with the Sound

Creatures project in which he first created

imaginary creature sounds. He then sent these

audio files to selected illustrators, including

Mark, who used them as inspiration to create

images of fictional animals. The illustrations

and corresponding sounds can be seen on

www.sound-creatures.com. “The audio file

that I got featured some sort of sad trumpet

sound, so a trumpet-like nose was my starting

point for the look of the animal”, he says.

Once he’d created the main shapes of the

animals and plants in Illustrator, Mark exported

his various objects to Photoshop. “I added

shading using the Airbrush tool and then locked

transparent pixels in the Layers palette so I

could easily paint within the shape of an object.

Drawing the birds’ feathers was a bit more

tricky, but as soon as you have one feather in a

particular shape, you can re-use it. Use the Free

Transform, Skew and Warp tools to make each

feather look different to the last, and draw some

extra detail here and there to diversify them

further. When the illustration was ready I added

some textures so it would have a nice, old look.”

6. LOCK TRANSPARENT PIXELS

TOMSKI AND POLANSKIwww.tomskipolanski.com

In order to create eye-catching

packaging for a new vegan brand

started by a friend of theirs, Ila and

Luke of Tomski & Polanski envisioned a vintage feel: “We

started with classic floral patterns and then changed the

flowers for cupcakes and cocoa, before adding quality

typography. We used Photoshop to draw in the details of

patterns, to complete the composition and for the final

colouring and post-production, and used a lot of custom

brushes and a variety of preset Actions and filters. Since

we use a lot of textures we often add Smart Object layers,

which saves us a lot of work.”

7. USE SMART OBJECTS

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A trumpet-like nose was my starting point for the

animal’s look

STEVE SIMPSONwww.stevesimpson.com

Steve Simpson was given a brief

to create packaging for a frozen

yoghurt start-up that required a loud message to

kids declaring its contents yummy while also telling

parents it was healthy: “To do this, I decided to create

kid-friendly, energetic, cartoon-ish characters but

make the fruit more realistic.

“I was brought into the project by Dublin design

agency IDEA,” Steve tells us. “I was trusted to create

the look and feel for the project while the agency

looked after the client liaison and production. After

scanning my pencil sketch and setting up the size,

colour mode and resolution of the artwork – usually

at least twice the size that’s needed – I copied the

sketch to a new layer, reduced the Opacity and

Multiply’d the layer. This allowed me to trace the

artwork onto multiple layers beneath it. Once I had

the eyes, eyebrows, mouth, head, jumper, etc on

separate layers I looked at tweaking and balancing

the colours.” Steve also has some advice on colour:

“Try to pick a limited palette of colours before you

start. I put mine in a small swatch somewhere in the

image as a reminder while I’m working on it. I then

swap the colours around between elements until I’m

happy with the balance. Don’t be afraid to experiment

– grass isn’t always green and cows can be blue.”

8. REFINE YOUR COLOUR PALETTE

■ Final product

The three flavours of Chilly

Moo yoghurt – Strawberry,

Banana Strawberry and Mixed

Berry – are easily identifiable

by their completely distinct

but also complementary

colour palettes.

■ Label Top

Each of the Chilly

Moo characters

was adapted so

that it would fit the

different areas of

the packaging, such

as the lid label.

■ Rough sketches

All my work starts with

pencil sketches – lots and

lots of them. Over a couple

of days my extremely

rough ideas are moulded

into something more solid

and presentable. Usually,

I’ll present my rough

sketches, but with this

project I wanted to take

them a little further.

■ Defined colour palette

I coloured the sketches to

show how the characters

could represent different

flavours through the use

of colour, and how that

colour would come

together as a palette.

MAX GREGORwww.maxgregor.com

Max Gregor’s fashion

illustrations are a harmonious

mix of traditional sketches and digital finishes: “Here,

I started with drawings of the different elements of

the model’s outfit: her body drawn in pencil, an ink

drawing of her shawl and a few brush patterns

drawn in blue gauche. I then scanned all the images

and cleaned them with Levels, then used the Eraser

to remove messy lines and dust left from the scan. A

Color Overlay was key to this image as it allowed me

to add a flat graphic feel and still maintain the loose

organic detail of the brush stroke.”

9. UTILISE COLOR OVERLAY

SYD BRAKwww.sydbrak.co.uk

For this delicious array of

fruit, Syd Brak reached for the

Filter menu: “The idea was to illustrate a product’s

ingredients in a clean, healthy and appetising way.

I created rough images then enriched the colours

to an attractive and appetising level while retaining

a believable realism. It was important to ensure

the light source was constant on every object,

with an enhanced gloss to emphasise the liquidity

and create a sunny feel. I rely fairly heavily on the

subtleties of the Filter dialog to achieve a realistic

but painter-like quality, and avoid a plastic feel.”

11. DELVE INTO FILTERSWANCHANA

INTRASOMBATwww.kun-victorior.com

Wanchana Intrasombat, aka Vic,

created a series of character designs for a project

entitled Life. One is a mischievous boy scout on a trip

with his classmates: “My paintings and illustrations

are all done with Photoshop and a Wacom Intuos. It’s

the main tool I use and I just used the normal Brush

here. I also use the standard brush to sketch, and

sometimes create my own brushes for projects. For

me, the Brush is Photoshop’s most important tool; I

use it for all my work as though it was a traditional

tool. It’s similar to using real pencils and brushes.”

10. SKETCH WITH WACOM

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Genius Guide

SASHA

VINOGRADOVAwww.behance.net/MelaMel

Working to create four

characters in a detailed environment under the

heading of Mercenaries, Sasha Vinogradova

choose a funny and quirky style: “The first step

was character design and deciding how they

would look. Next I made a rough sketch of

compositions, colours and lights and then

created my scene and 3D models in 3DS Max

and ZBrush. I set up lights and materials in a

3D scene then rendered my image. After that I

added details like eyes, grass and hair, and also

some postproduction edits like air perspective

and colour/contrast correction. I created all the

sketches and textures for elements such as

the scarf in Photoshop. I also added some

details in postproduction. When you create an

image, try to keep the final result as clear as

you can in your mind and never ignore

composition. I love to add details, but if you

start adding them too soon without keeping

the entire image in mind then you risk losing

the integrity of your image. Finding your

favourite artists and researching their work is

a great way to improve your own.”

13. ILLUSTRATE

IN 3D



VINCENTE GARCIA

MORILLOwww.vicentegarciamorillo.com

Vicente Garcia Morillo worked on

Converse’s Pro Leather

campaign: “I had to present a graphic interpretation of

the Converse logo based on concepts relating to

urban street culture. Here, I represented basketball.

Once I got the concept, I did sketches of the

composition on paper for the client. After the concept

was approved I started to develop the digital phase. I

created all the vector elements in Adobe Illustrator

and then imported these into Photoshop. Here I

applied the Noise filter, which helps to provide a

uniform aspect and give the artwork some vibration.”

12. ADD NOISE

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© Sasha Vinogradova

YANA BEYLINSONwww.liquidpixelstudio.net

Yana Beylinson, principal of Liquid Pixel Studios,

took the vision of a family-owned business and

turned it into packaging for their range: “Casacao is a family-owned

producer of organic cocoa beans, nibs and powder. The farm is located

in the Dominican Republic, with its headquarters in New York. The initial

brief had multiple references to the organic nature of the business and

admiration of the beauty and health benefits of cacao plants. Photoshop

was a cornerstone of the process, as it is for all my illustration and

pattern work. After the drawing is scanned in, the entire process of

rendering, separating the elements and colouring is done in Photoshop.

The pattern is also created in Photoshop, with careful attention paid to

detail and the placement of elements. Each element, such as the outline

or silhouette of a bean, is cleaned and placed in a separate layer. One

simple plant illustration can use up to 10 layers. I use the Color Overlay

(in the Layer Style menu) technique to colour each layer; it’s the most

time-effective and easy-to-change method. For patterns, I duplicate

each plant, create a layer group for each, then try different positions. The

resulting files are very large so I make flattened TIFFs for production.”

15. COLOUR WITH COLOR OVERLAY

■ Logo application

The next step was

the typography and

logo design. Several

versions were

suggested and a

seal option was

selected. Several

variations and

colourings were

then presented.

■ Pencil drawing

The lovely shapes of

cocoa branches and

beans was a starting

point. It was

suggested to

create a line

drawing that

depicts a branch.

A series of pencil drafts was

created before a perfect

depiction was selected and

rendered in pen and ink.

■ Package label

An intricate pattern based on the cacao

branch illustration was decided upon. Again,

several versions and colour options were

shown in order to select the strongest version.

© Yana Beylinson

■ Work in lead

I create the base of my illustrations

using 5H to 8B pencils. This helped

me achieve a fantastic tonal range,

adding the depth and textures that

clients request.

■ Clean up

For the retouching

stage I use tools such

as the Clone Stamp and

Healing Brush to

remove unwanted

imperfections caused

by the traditional stage.

■ Add colour

I add base colours

using a Selective Color

adjustment, altering

the White, Neutral and

Black channels. I create

these colour layers

until I achieve the

desired look.

■ Pen Pressure

I tend to use a hard

round brush with Pen

Pressure set to Add

Details and like to add

softened tonal areas, as

seen in the waves.

MITCHELL NELSONwww.behance.net/mitchellnelson

14. PRESERVE YOUR TRADITIONAL FEEL

Mitchell Nelson was asked by

California-based publisher

Devious Publications to create a

quirky and unique logo, which had to tell a story

reflecting classical and vintage qualities: “I drew the

illustration with pencils and then scanned this into

Photoshop for postproduction and retouching.

Subtlety is the key; I try to remember why I start with

pencil in the first place and enhance its qualities

rather than destroy them. However, if you are after a

highly digital piece but still mix with traditional

media, strong contrasts of the two can give

contemporary looks.”

© Mitc

hell Nelson



Genius Guide

Discover expressive design

Illustration

38

24


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 Creative Designs Build a mechanical bug from stock

50 Striking Pastels Use filters and layers innovatively

56 Vexel Vehicles Develop realistic vexel artwork


30


44

5034

Genius Guide

Illustration


EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATIONWE 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

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 AGENTSSo 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

could get work. It didn’t make any sense!”

Realistically, for most artists seeking a career,

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

Genius Guide



001


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 mixed-

media 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 CYCLESEstablishing 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

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

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.”

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 hand-

drawn 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

002



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

Dra� ing Illustration about dra� ing and slipstreaming techniques used within triathlons© Andrew Archer/Art director Marco Crisari, Triathlete’s World

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.”

MANAGING YOUR STYLEBe aware of your limitations and use these to your advantage – simplifying workfl ows when completing deadlines

FAMILIARISATIONWhen working with new clients, provide them with an example of your process so they understand how your roughs relate to the fi nal image

BE PUNCTUALHanding in your work early can be benefi cial. It calms your nerves and you have time if the editor suggests changes

QUICK TIPS

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

INTERVIEW

003

003 |

002 |

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


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

INTERVENTIONSo our artists aren’t only using digital media to

replicate traditional types, but also for cutting

production times extensively – keeping on top of

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

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.”

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

Design Week supplement”Cover illustration for Design Week’s Interaction supplement, part of a series of fi ve illustrations. Commissioned by Sam Freeman” © Andy Potts/Design Week

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

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

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

links to websites,” he explains. A usual brief

from Freeman will feature basic concepts, a full

brief and samples of the artist’s work he

particularly likes. “Being a weekly, the

turnaround time is often tight. At best, it’s a week

and at worst, it’s two days,” he reveals. “If it’s a

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.”

INTERVIEW

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

005

006 007

004

004 |

005 |

006|

007 |

Illustration



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.”

PROJECT RUNDOWNWE 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

the 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.

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

008 009 010

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 |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

009 |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

008|

Illustration


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.

WE EXPLORE THE ART OF DESIGNING FOR EDITORIAL COMMISSIONS, WITH THE CONCEPT OF A FEATURE ON ZOMBIE MOVIES

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.

03 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.

You will fi nd 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.

SOURCE FILES

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 fl yers, posters, logos, websites and more.

OUR EXPERT

SIMEON ELSON

www.simeonelson.co.uk

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 diff erent 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.

PEN A ZOMBIE POSTERMASTER THE PEN TOOL AND CREATE DYNAMIC VISUALS

EDITORIAL ARTWORK



Illustration

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.

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.

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%.

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.

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.

Experiment when using textures. Use diff erent 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 fi ddle about with the values to get the best results.

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

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.

QUICK TIP

10 CREATE THE MAIN ZOMBIE

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).



11 SWITCH TO

PHOTOSHOP

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.

13 WOOD TEXTURE

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.


Illustration

17 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.

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.

19 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%.

16 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.

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



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.

21 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.

22 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.

23 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.

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 fi le. Then position it in place of our previous gunman in our fi nal PSD fi le.


TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATIONREV YOUR CREATIVE ENGINES AND CREATE THIS GHOSTED

TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION USING LAYER MASKSYou can recreate this image by using the layered ‘linka_progress_shot1 (LAYERED).psd’ line art fi le provided on the CD or you can work from your own sketch.

SOURCE FILES

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

OUR EXPERT

TONY LINKA

www.tonylinka.com

LINE DRAWING

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

Illustration



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.

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

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.

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

WORK IN

PROGRESS FROM LINE-ART TO

FINISHED DESIGN

Step 2: Create the layered line art

Step 5: Paint the internal parts

Step 10: Start the ghosting effect

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


05 PARTS DEPARTMENT

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

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.

07 BACK SEAT DRIVER

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.

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.

09 UNDER THE HOOD

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.

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.

Illustration



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

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.

13 SHIFTING GEARS

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.


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.

15 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.

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.

EXPLORE STYLISED ILLUSTRATIONFLIGHT FRENZY

Illustration

OUR EXPERT

SOURCE FILESBEX GLOVER

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.

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.

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 hand-rendered and digital techniques, and are infl uenced by nature, fashion and street art.

Sketch.

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 refi ned 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.

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 hand-

drawn 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

In this tutorial I look at the process of creating a

stylised illustration with a harmonious and balanced feel

START WITH

A PENCILBUILD YOUR SKETCH

www.severnstudios.co.uk



Illustration

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,

01 GRADIENT TONES

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.

03 REMOVE LINES

Create a simplified style by removing detail

such as line work, leaving areas of colour and

texture mixed with negative space.

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.

04 SET THE SCENE

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

05 ADD ATMOSPHERE

Custom brush effects and the subtle use of blending

modes will help to add those atmospheric finishing touches.

COLOUR THE BIRDSFILL WITH GRADIENTS AND TEXTURES

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 on

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 fi rst 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 eff ective stylisation.

DEVELOPING STYLE



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.

02 HIGHLIGHT KEY SHAPES

Select spaces with the Magic Wand tool and Edit>Fill with

colour. The more contrast between textures and colour the better.

03 MIX AND MATCH

Combine wings and bodies to create a range

of different positions. Change the dynamic by putting

the wings in front or behind the bodies.

04 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.

TREEHOUSE CAFÉ MURALS2010, Real media, Photoshop

Illustrated murals for the walls of The Treehouse Café in a London-based department store, depicting a range of fl ora and fauna together in an enchanting woodland scene.

SELF PORTRAIT IN MARCHESA2010, 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 HOLE2010, Real media, Photoshop

Print design for collective Ink-dot’s Tonic exhibition in Bristol. A zebra quietly sips the magic water amid colourful, dancing fi sh.

CREATE SOME VARIETYADD INTEREST AND FLAIR WITH DIVERSE ILLUSTRATIVE ELEMENTS

ARTIST

SHOWCASESTUNNING STYLISED ART

FROM BEX’S PORTFOLIO

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

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.

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.

BUILD A STRIKING FUTURISTIC BATTLE SCENE USING STOCK PHOTOS, TEXTURES AND YOUR DIGITAL�PAINTING SKILLS

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.

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%).


SCI�FI SCENES

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.

SOURCE FILES

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 hisonline portfolio.

OUR EXPERT

ROB SHIELDS

www.robshields.net

PIECE TOGETHER THE FUTUREMAKE STOCK IMAGES WORK FOR YOU

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 defi ne our open canvas space. It also helped us to decide on a sleeker, faster robot, which was capable of fl ight. 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.

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

Illustration

Illustration


03 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 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.

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.

07 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.

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.

06 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.

04 DEFINE THE ROBOT

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.

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

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 defi nition.

QUICK TIP



10 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).

14 CURVES HIGHLIGHTS

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.

12 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.

11 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.

13 RECYCLE TEXTURES

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!

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.

QUICK TIP


Illustration

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.

17 FINALISE THE PLANE

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.

16 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.

15 PAINT ON COLOURS

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.



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%).

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.

23 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.

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

Illustration

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.

LEARN HOW THIS AMAZING MECHANICAL BUG WAS PUT TOGETHER USING STOCK IMAGERY, RENDERS AND PHOTOSHOP KNOW�HOW

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.

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’). Download the flying insect image from http://tinyurl.com/py43b66. Alternatively, search

for a different style of insect from any stock photography site 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.


CREATIVE DESIGNS

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.

OUR EXPERT

DEVIN SCHOEFFLER

www.ds9creations.com

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

MASTER MIXED MEDIA BLENDING LEARN TO BLEND ORGANIC AND NON-ORGANIC ELEMENTS


Illustration

03 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

08 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.

06 START YOUR ENGINES

Download the ‘Jet Engine’

stock image (http://tinyurl.com/

lbjgt3l) 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.

When working with a complex image, it can be easier to group components rather than naming every single layer. O� en, you may fi nd yourself adding and deleting layers just to try something new and it can become extremely tedious to label every one. Grouping layers will help youstay organised.

QUICK TIP



10 GEAR UP

Download a similar

‘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.

14 MORE GEARS

Download a ‘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.

12 BUILD THE

THORAX

Download the ‘Ski doo’ and

‘Mechanical concept in black/

white’ images from a stock

photo website. Also download

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.

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.

13 SHADE THE THORAX

Download a ‘Carbon Sport Exhaust’ image, cut it out and place two versions

of the image under the turbines that we built. 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.

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.

QUICK TIP


Illustration

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.

15 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.

16 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.

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.



20 BACKGROUND

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’).

21 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.

22 COLOUR ADJUST

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.

23 HIGH PASS

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-of-field effects around the beetle.

In order to create a truly cohesive end result we’ll focus the majority of

our attention on three aspects: lighting, shading and details.This will really help sell the final image.

Illustration



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

SOURCE FILES

STRIKING PASTELSUSE THE POWER OF PHOTOSHOP’S FILTERS AND LAYER

FUNCTIONALITIES TO CREATE ILLUSTRATIVE EFFECTS

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

ADAM SMITHwww.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

OUR EXPERT

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’.)

FROM PHOTO TO UNIQUE FASHION ARTWORK

Step 17: Replicate traditional media

Step 2: Separate into layers

Step 12: Texture your garment

01 SELECT SECTIONS

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.

DISSECT THE DETAILSSEPARATE YOUR SUBJECT INTO LAYERS TO MANAGE YOUR WORKFLOW

WORK IN

PROGRESS

03 ORGANISE THE GROUPS

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.


Illustration


04 SMOOTH THE SKIN

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.

05 ACHIEVE A PALE SKIN TONE

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.

06 FOCUS ON THE GARMENT BASE

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).

07 DEFINE FABRIC FOLDS

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.

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.

QUICK TIPGetting that doll-like look with your subject’s features is all-important 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.



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.

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’.

Here, apply a 30% Opacity, light-blue

soft brush to highlight knee and shin areas,

again creating contour

WORK WITH THE LIMBSCREATE STYLISED ELEMENTS USING TEXTURES, GRADIENTS AND TEXTURE BRUSHES


Illustration

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.

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.

APPAREL AND BACKDROPLEARN HOW TO LAYER TEXTURES TO CREATE CONTOURS AND DIRECT VIEWER ATTENTION

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.

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.



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).

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.

18 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.

QUICK TIPJuxtapose 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 butterfl ies. Copy and paste from bright texture stock to create an abstract fabric example.

ACHIEVE DEPTH WITH ABSTRACT SHADOWS

At this late stage there are still a few additions that you can make to further improve your fashion image, such as refi ning detail and tweaking colour. We also felt that the depth of fi eld 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.

WE SHOW YOU HOW TO USE COMMON PHOTOSHOP SELECTION OPTIONS

AND LAYERING TECHNIQUES TO MASTER REALISTIC VEXEL ART

Illustration

VEXEL VEHICLES

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

SOURCE FILES

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.

OUR EXPERT

THIBAUT MAETZ

www.thibautmaetz.com



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 defi ned, 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 fi nal 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 o� en be using manual PS tools like Dodge and Burn to apply gradient eff ects etc. The methodology for this tutorial is not without its fl aws, but it does guarantee to deliver realistic renderings.


Illustration


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.

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.

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.

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).

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 tobe fi nished.

QUICK TIP



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.

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.

10 CLIPPING MASKS

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.

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.

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

START IMAGES

For this tutorial we used a photo of a car that was shot outside. It therefore has many refl ections that can complicate the implementation of a vexel process. But at least with an approach like this you’re prepared for the diffi culties that may be encountered. If you don’t feel like taking on this type of image for your fi rst stab at vexel art, we recommend that you choose an image shot in a studio instead, where the refl ections are much less of an issue.

Once you have the basic method nailed then you can try portraits. Portraits are more diffi cult because there are very few uniform planes or well-defi ned 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.


Illustration

14 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.

15 LAYER LOVE

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.

16 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.

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.

QUICK TIP

12 COLOUR AREA

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.

13 FEATHER

EDGES

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 hard-

edged 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.



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.

18 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!

19 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.

20 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.

Generate for modern styles

Graphics


64 Master Infographics Top tips from experts in the industry

72 Build Infographics Present data in exciting ways

76 Pixel Art Create epic isometric pixel art with flair

82 Poster Graphics Advertise a product without using words

86 Shape Symmetry Combine organic and geometric forms

90 Textures and Depth Bring artwork to life with layered textures

94 Character Illustration Make a bespoke character design

100 Vector Layers Master CC’s new Vector Shape tools

106 Photoreal icons Illustrate realistic icons from scratch

82

100



94

72

Photoshop has proven to be an incredibly

powerful tool for image creation as well as image manipulation

86

90

ANTON EGOROVwww.behance.net/egorov

Anton Egorov is a freelance CG

artist who has worked for clients

including Toyota, Japan Tobacco

International and Saatchi & Saatchi LA. He created

this infographic on the area and population of Central

Asia and Mongolia for a client. He explains how to

create a theme with data: “Usually, after collecting the

information, it’s just a bunch of facts, some pages of

text and a couple of fearful tables into the bargain.

From this junk, we should carefully extract nice and

pretty data that we want show to our viewer. Ideally,

you can describe your purpose with one word. But

usually it’s several ones. In my case, it’s something +

something + entertainment. Despite that, I still respect

fully utilitarian infographics.”

BUILD INFOGRAPHICS WITH A THEME

© Anton Egorov Client: Japan Tobacco International. Agency: re:point - Kazakhstan

■ Add details

Some of the small details were

drawn with my tablet pen

■ Smoke effects

The black-and-white photo of the

smoke was used in Screen mode

■ Further details

Other details are simple, free 3D

models rendered in grey and

coloured with Photoshop

■ Landmarks

For famous sights, I made plain

3D models and textured them in

Photoshop using photos

■ 3D beginnings

At first, I rendered a simple 3D model of the pie using a plain

grey material, so I didn’t worry about perspective and shadows

■ Add textures

I mixed some textures and photos in

masked groups and used them in

Multiply mode above the 3D shot

Graphics


PROFESSIONAL DESIGNERS SHARE THEIR TOP TIPS FOR CREATING INFORMATIVE AND

VISUALLY APPEALING GRAPHICS THAT WORK HARD TO REPRESENT THE GIVEN DATA

SABRINA SMELKOwww.sabrinasmelko.com

Sabrina Smelko, illustrator and

designer, shares her top tips for

planning an infographic: “The first step to creating a

great infographic is gathering information – be that

from a client or not. You need to ask: What’s the

mood of the infographic? What are the dimensions

of the piece? What is the style? What medium is it

being created for? But most importantly, you need

the statistics. They are the bones that all great

infographics are based on. The right kind of stats are

also important: the more direct, the better. Any time

you can use concrete numbers or percentages, the

more hard-hitting the graphics.”

HOW TO PLAN AN

INFOGRAPHIC

© S

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01CLIENT REQUIREMENTS

I met with the great people at Bright Almond

over dinner. We chatted about their needs and I

gathered as much information about the project as

possible. At this stage, they also supplied me with

their brand guidelines that specified the colours and

fonts I had to use, so I could think about a look and

style to execute in.

02 EXPERIMENTATION

As Bright Almond spent some time fishing

for statistics, I started playing with styles, shapes and

the overall look of pieces in Illustrator before diving

into anything too specific. After this, I was supplied

with a long list of statistics from which I could pick

and choose the best nuggets of information.

03 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Once I established a look, I laid out the boxes

of soon-to-be text and graphics using a grid to

ensure the infographic would be visually balanced.

By this point, I had established a look and a layout,

gained knowledge of the dimensions, purpose and

usage of the infographic and was supplied with

colours and fonts, so it was a matter of filling in the

blanks. The only task left to do was to translate the

statistics into icons and illustrations in a visually

pleasing and educational way.

15

JONATHAN QUINTINwww.dribbble.com/STUDIOJQ

Jonathan Quintin, founder

and creative director of

STUDIOJQ, created this screen printed wedding

invitation infographic to celebrate the lives of a

couple getting married. He says that you need to

consider how people will view your infographics:

“It’s extremely important to consider all media

types and where the viewer will see your

infographics. When the big rave for infographics

started, most designed for a standard web

format, but these days you need to consider

animated elements and better ways to tell a

story. This helps to deliver [the data] in a much

more visual and interesting way.”

INFOGRAPHICS

IN A DIGITAL AGE

© S

TU

DIO

JQ



ALEXIS CUDDYREwww.alexiscuddyre.com

Graphic designer Alexis Cuddyre

has worked on data visualisation

projects for a range of clients through her current

employer, Digit. She tells us: “If the aim of your

infographic is to tell a story, it’s very important that you

don’t just include absolutely every single data point

that you’ve captured. It is the responsibility of the

team, not just the designer, to make sure the

visualisation has a carefully curated point of view. On

the other hand, there are really beautiful infographics,

especially in the interactive world, where the point of

the piece is less about explaining a single story and

more about encouraging the user to explore and play

with the data.” She collaborated with two other

designers to produce this ‘Notorious James Bond’

piece, which was entered into the Information is

Beautiful awards run by David McCandless, a

London-based author, writer and designer. The full

interactive piece is available to view at

http://notoriousbond.info.

USE INFOGRAPHICS TO TELL A STORY

© A

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■ Pick an angle

This was based on data released by Information is Beautiful. We looked at the data

and decided our story was going to be on what each actor was notorious for, be it the

highest number of kills, or the number of times the actor was presumed dead

■ Add context

Last, we added a third level of data along the left-hand side in the

format of a timeline, where all the movies were listed with their

respective ratings in order to provide additional context

■ Focal design

Each actor was labelled ‘Notorious for…’, which

influenced the design of the hero image

■ Project focus

This image is a single screen from an interactive infographic

called Notorious James Bond, created by Alexis Cuddyre,

Christina Winkless (www.christinawinkless.com) and David

Paul Rosser (www.davidpaulrosser.co.uk)

© M

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Tayl

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PAUL BUTTwww.sectiondesign.co.uk

Paul Butt is a freelance designer and has worked

with clients including the BBC, Wired, Which?, GQ,

the Financial Times and Ubuntu. When creating an infographic, he

explains that: “For me, information has the central priority, with graphic

design playing the supporting role in presenting it. I try to approach

projects with a rational process and everything has to have a reason for

being on the page. With that said, there are often little design tweaks

and flourishes that can be quite subtle, yet can really add character to a

piece. However, they should not obscure the main point of the graphic.”

Butt has a set procedure for ensuring that the information doesn’t get

lost in the design: “I try to work to a defined grid where I’ll lay out a wire

frame of the information, and then work out how to go about the

aesthetics. Always question what you are doing and think how other

people might interpret the work. Getting other people’s opinions can be

very valuable, as the design should be as accessible as possible.”

PRIORITISE THE INFORMATION

An earlier prototype for laying out the cyclists and the labels. In the end, I had much less space than I thought, so had to simplify these a lot more to fit in.”

A close-up of the detail, showing how the labelling had to fit around the graphic

■ Create balance

We included the same amount of supporting data on the right-hand

side as a secondary way of comparing across all the actors

© Section Design

Graphics


JAYMIE MCAMMONDwww.jaymiemcammond.com

Designer,

illustrator and

letterer Jaymie

McAmmond has worked for a huge

number of well-known clients across

the world. This amazing and detailed

infographic artwork was created as a

site-specific mural for Starbucks in

Toronto, and the actual mural stands

at a gigantic 10 x 20ft. It was created

using mixed media tools including

pencil, paper, chalk, charcoal,

Illustrator and Photoshop.

“When designing this type of mural,

I begin with sketches to determine

content, hierarchy of information,

composition and typography. During

this phase, I also draw any spot

illustrations I want to include. Although

it might be quicker to draw these

digitally, I find I get more control and

accuracy on paper. Next, I redraw the

illustrations and assemble the final

composition in Illustrator. Lastly, I add

texture and depth in Photoshop.

Since Photoshop brushes don’t

work at this scale, all of my textures

are hand crafted, scanned and

imported as separate layers. Although

the industry standard for printing

murals is 100-150dpi at full scale, I

work at 250dpi to retain maximum

detail in my textures. At the end of a

project, my files can be upwards of

20GB per image before flattening – a

speedy processor and extra RAM can

really help with this.”

One key element of McAmmond’s

work is the typography she uses to

bring her artwork to life: “Not all

infographics need typography to be

successful. There are lots of beautiful

infographics out there that have no

typography at all. However, I always

get really excited working with type.

Choosing the right typefaces is like

choosing the right cast for a film. The

information is like a script and the

typography are the actors that give it

meaning and bring it to life.”

CREATE MIXED MEDIA INFOGRAPHICS

© Jaymie McAmmond

ANNY TRUONGwww.behance.net/anniitron

Anny Truong, a

graphic designer for April Gold Bags, is one

of a growing number of designers who

have applied infographics to their CV as a

unique way of presenting information

about themselves. Truong advises to keep

things simple: “Infographics are meant to

present complex information quickly and

clearly. The last thing you want is to

confuse the viewer with something that

was meant to be simple. Keep it clean,

concise and visually appealing. A little bit of

humour or personality doesn’t hurt either.”

CREATE AN

INFOGRAPHIC

CV

© Anny Truong

Infographics are meant to present complex information quickly and clearly. Keep it clean, concise and visually appealing



RANDY KRUMwww.infonewt.com

Randy Krum is a well-known

name in the world of

infographics, as the man behind

www.coolinfographics.com, a collection of the best

infographics around. He is also the president of

InfoNewt, an infographic design and visual

consulting company. He explains why infographics

are so appealing: “The science behind why

infographics work is very compelling. The Picture

Superiority Effect states that audiences are likely to

remember 65 per cent of the content presented if the

text is combined with visuals to convey the

message. Compare that number to only ten per cent

remembered by audiences from text alone, and it’s

clear that this is a huge advantage to anyone that

uses information design to tell a story in an

infographic. Design infographics to tell a story really

well. Most readers will only look at one for five to ten

seconds, and not at the whole thing. An infographic

designer needs to focus on communicating the

main message of the design in that short amount of

time in order to successfully reach most of the

audience. Don’t include extra data just because it’s

available, as that will confuse and clutter the design.”

DON’T FORGET THE DATA © 2010 InfoNewt, LLC, Design by

Randy Krum

TIFFANY FARRANT�GONZALEZwww.tiffanyfarrant.co.uk

Freelance information designer

Tiffany Farrant-Gonzalez has a

lot of experience when it comes to working with

data. Having worked for major corporations around

the world, including companies Google and

American Express, she says: “The Open Data

movement has recently seen both countries and

large organisations release previously hidden data

out into the world. This now means that there is a

fantastic array of sources out there to visualise: from

the economy and healthcare to the extinction rate

and environmental data. The Guardian Datablog

(www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog) keeps an

A-Z list of open data sources and Andy Kirk, who

runs www.visualisingdata.com, has also compiled

a fantastic list of open data sources as well as

services that work with or curate social, map-based,

weather and travel data.”

FIND GOOD DATA TO ILLUSTRATE

© T

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Graphics


LAWRENCE WHITELEYwww.wond.co.uk

Lawrence Whiteley is a designer and

director at Wond. He explains that

creating an infographic that is easy to understand in a glance

is “not as crucial as designing something people feel is

worthy of a glance. A captivating design whets the appetite

for soaking up the information. If you give the viewer curiosity

then you have a hook, opening us up to learn.” In order to

achieve this, he advises: “A hierarchy of design helping the

viewer to navigate and a nice amount of breathing room are

a solid foundation, but it would be nothing without a seductive

colour palette and some graphic flair. Overcrowding will put

people off.”

CAPTIVATE YOUR

AUDIENCE

© Wond Ltd 2013 © Gary Corr 2013

INFOGR8www.infogr8.com

infogr8 designed this quirky infographic

based on a survey by GetLenses. The

agency was tasked with creating a visual story reflecting the

frustrating problems glasses wearers suffer in 2013. The design

proves that infographics can be fun: “The data doesn’t have to

always be serious, but it must be accurate in order to hold

integrity. Each project has different objectives, audiences and

formats to consider. The way we approach the data needs to

reflect that each time, with open, fresh and innovative thinking.”

The company has some essential advice when it comes to

introducing humour: “It’s crucial that the data never gets lost in

the design, regardless of the angle you’re taking. Without being

able to grasp the subject at hand straight away or at least have

a basic understanding of it, you’ve just created an attractive

piece of graphic design. However, with this specific infographic

we were given a bit more freedom by the client and therefore

decided to go with a more playful, humorous direction that fitted

the target audience and the message we were trying to convey.”

INJECT HUMOUR

INTO INFOGRAPHICS

© Produced by infogr8, illustrated by infogr8’s Stavros Siamptanis

A hierarchy of design helping the viewer to navigate and breathing room are a solid foundation. Overcrowding will put people off



MAKE YOUR INFOGRAPHIC EASY TO SHARE

JOHN PRINGwww.designbysoap.co.uk

John Pring is the

director of Inbound

Marketing and Content

Creation at Designbysoap. He explains the

importance of making an infographic easy

to share so that it has the widest reach:

“Ensure the page you publish the

infographic on has social media sharing

buttons, making it easy for the reader to

share the content. You can include any

number of social platforms for a user to

engage with, but I would certainly

recommend including Twitter, Facebook,

Pinterest, StumbleUpon and Google+.

Include a HTML embed code with your

infographic, to allow people to copy and

paste the code to embed the infographic on

their own site. An added benefit of this is

that you can include a credit link back to

your own site in the embed code, sending

in more traffic.

In order to encourage sharing, you need

to think about three main elements; the

data, the design and the subsequent

promotion of the artwork.

The data is integral to the success of

your infographic, as it is the angle from

which you decide to approach the

information. The data should be at least

one of three things: informative,

educational or entertaining. Similarly, the

story is hugely important – much like a

journalist does, it’s better to approach and

visualise the data with a story in mind.

The design is a crucial part of

encouraging sharing – you can have the

most interesting data in the world and a

great angle to approach, but if the design is

poor then you’ll struggle to effectively

promote the infographic and will be unlikely

to see much engagement in the way of

social media sharing.

Lastly, the way in which you promote

and spread your infographic will

dramatically affect how it’s shared across

social media platforms. Publishing an

infographic on your site and submitting it to

a few infographic submission sites will

likely result in only a handful of social

shares, whereas approaching an influencer

such as Mashable and getting your design

published on their site will almost certainly

give you hundreds (if not thousands) of

social shares.”© Official Charts Company and Designbysoap Ltd, 2013

MICHELLE

HYEMIN LEEwww.milee.co

Michelle Hyemin Lee

created One Beverage, an infographic that

visualises the process of making a drink using

an espresso machine. Information is delivered in

a circular graph to resemble both a cup and a

clock, and is based on Starbucks Coffee

Company’s Masterna espresso. An important

part in the creation of this graphic was a relevant

and simple colour palette: “When designing One

Beverage, I selected colours in a subtle range of

browns and warm greys to visually suggest the

topic and contribute in efficiently organising and

delivering the information. Subtle and neutral

colours are chosen not only to visualise, but also

help the viewer to easily read and understand

the information. I believe that choosing a

relevant and effective colour palette is one of the

most crucial tasks when designing an

information graphic, because it is a dominant

communication tool. It can effectively suggest

the content at glance. An irrelevant or eyesore

colour palette can repel the viewer from reading

the information or convey the wrong message.”

PICK THE RIGHT

COLOUR PALETTE

© Michelle Hyemin Lee

Graphics


GARY CORRwww.garycorr.co.uk

One difficult thing to achieve

with infographics is balancing

lots of information in one artwork. This is something

that Gary Corr has achieved in his CV project. The

majority of the work is based on typography, so it

was important to get all the elements weighted

correctly for it to work. “Typography played a huge

part in my CV. This was like a sort of cover letter for

me, but using nice typography. I also made it into a

nice piece of visual art. I wanted to create something

that was bold and stood out, creating a memorable

style that communicates quite strongly. A fair bit of

planning was involved: first, you need to decide

which information is going into the CV. As well as the

usual CV info, I wanted to include some lighthearted

facts that would paint a picture of my personality.

Also, I spent time researching others that had been

already done. I wanted to create an original layout

that I hadn’t seen before which would stand out. I

used an unusual shape and fold to achieve this.”

STAND OUT FROM

THE CROWD

Gary’s infographic CV has an original layout that folds down small so that it is easy to carry around for networking purposes

Thinking outside of the box will make Corr stand out from the many other CVs received by design agencies every day – a definite edge as a recent graduate

KIM GLAZEBROOKwww.kimberleyglazebrook.co.uk

Kim Glazebrook is a graphic

and web designer, and she

created this infographic for NHS 5 Boroughs to

help young people deal with depression. When

working for clients like the NHS, it is important to

make sure that your facts are correct when

creating your design: “With an infographic, and

especially this one, it is vitally important to check

the data is correct, as providing incorrect advice

could be very harmful.”

ALWAYS CHECK

YOUR FACTS

© Kimberley Glazebrook and NHS 5 Boroughs Partnership



BUILD INFOGRAPHICS IN PHOTOSHOPCREATE EXCITING STYLES USING NEW TOOLS

IN THE LATEST VERSION OF PHOTOSHOP

Information graphics, or infographics, are visual representations of information, data or expert

knowledge. Styles for these pieces vary, but are usually inspired by the topics presented, which is the

case with the example we will be using here.

In this tutorial we show you how to create your very own infographic, using an example displaying how

our Facebook community uses Photoshop. This means we’re giving our graphic design a digital style,

inspired by futuristic looks seen in web design, cinema and the design industry.

In keeping with the futuristic theme we also explore how new Photoshop tools can be used to augment

this digital style. We show you how to apply and edit the new Shape tool options used to create and improve

your infographic bar and dial charts. We also take a look at basic yet effective ways to add 3D looks to your

designs by applying the new 3D Extrusion functionality.

Old favourite Photoshop tools also make an appearance, helping you express the impact of your special

effects. By the end of this tutorial you’ll have learnt a few more awesome Photoshop style techniques.

FROM SKETCH TO FINAL GRAPHIC PRESENTATION

01 START WITH A SKETCH

Creating multiple layout sketches of your

infographic is a great starting point. Here you can

revise the sequence of applied graphics, fine-tune

the styles of your graphs and charts and even

contemplate image colours all before you’ve even

begun. Once you’ve decided on your layout you can

scan, copy and paste it into Photoshop.

02 THE GRID

Use your sketch as the blueprint for

applying your guides in Photoshop. You can

activate these by choosing View>Rulers. Simply

drag and drop to designate applicable areas in your

layout. One thing to remember is to keep the

spacing between objects and fonts consistent. Of

course a certain amount of eyeing will take place.

BUILD ELEMENTSUSE BLENDING MODES, LAYER MASKS AND NEW CS6 SHAPE OPTIONS

WORK IN

PROGRESS

03 BEGIN A GRAPH

As our infographic is fuelled by

Photoshop-related data we want our style to have

a futuristic digital look, so the form follows the

function. We start by building our first graph. As

we’re working with percentages out of 100, create

a new document 100mm high by 10mm wide at

300dpi. Apply horizontal guides to increments of

10mm, top to bottom. Step 12: Enhance the composition

Step 7: Build design elements using Shape tools

Step 1: Devise your layout with

rough sketching

Adam is our resident Photoshop expert, but before a life in digital art he was an illustrative graduate. Here he brings his illustration and graphics skills to the table to create this tutorial.

OUR EXPERT

ADAM SMITH

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

On the disc you will fi nd the ‘Infographic Swatch.aco’ fi le used to apply the colour scheme in this image, as well as the world map PSD to complete Steps 12 and 13.

SOURCE FILES


Graphics

04 BUILD A GRAPH

Here we’re building a graph with six categories so we need to use six bars. Use your guides to

create individual bars – each one’s height corresponding with a percentage. For instance, 57 per cent would

be 57mm. Create these bars using the Rectangle Shape tool in a new document. Copy and paste each one

into your infographic, aligning equally using guides, or if you have CS6 the automated Smart Guides.

Activate your Swatches panel and load the ‘Infographic Swatch.aco’ file supplied.

05 ADD GRADIENTS

Your new swatch contains the key

colours you’ll be applying. Start by selecting a blue-

grey tone and fill your Background layer with this.

Activate and add a gradient to each graph bar

shape by selecting fx>Gradient Overlay. Set a

teal-to-light-beige style, then set the Scale initially

to 100%. Smooth your gradient then position to

reflect an increase of values, for instance the more

concentrated the teal the lower the percentage.

Tweak Scale values to alter accordingly.

06 GET A PIXEL EFFECT

Duplicate each bar shape layer and

Cmd/Ctrl-click each, selecting Rasterize layer

style to flatten. Select each duplicate layer and

apply a Gaussian Blur with a pixel Radius

between 16 and 26 and a square Cell Size

Mosaic filter between 8 and 16. This should

result in a pixelated effect. Edit each duplicate

layer’s Size and Edge, using the Transform>

Size handles. Next, activate all duplicates and

original shape layers and merge all, adding a

70% Opacity Screen blending mode.

07 APPLY THE ELLIPSE SHAPE TOOL

Cmd/Ctrl-click all original shape layers

and pick the Shape tool. Open the Stroke options,

setting a white Fill at 0.4pt Stroke Width. Add layer

masks to all the original shape layers, using a 30%

Opacity black brush to the bottom of your layer

masks. Select the Ellipse Shape tool, draw a circle,

duplicate it, decrease its size and place it inside the

original shape. Cmd/Ctrl-click the duplicate the

circle layer thumbnail, make a selection, add a

layer mask to the original circle and invert it.

08 CREATE A DIAL

CHART BASE

Delete the duplicate ellipse

shape layer. Set your original

circle shape layer colour to a

slightly lighter variation of

dark navy (1d1f21). Convert

this layer to a Smart Object

then apply a Rasterize layer.

Add a Stroke layer style (fx),

setting Size at 1px, Position to

Inside and Color to dark navy.

Add an Inner Shadow layer

style (fx), setting Angle at 120

degrees, Opacity at 50%,

Distance at 7px and Size at

29px. Apply a hot orange

Outer Glow layer style (fx),

setting Opacity to 60% and

Blend Mode to Screen. Tweak

Spread and Size values.

QUICK TIP We have grouped many of our layers in this tutorial as Smart Objects. However, if you are copy and pasting existing Smart Object elements to use again, remember changes will update all associated layers such as shape, shape copy and shape copy 2. Sometimes it’s best to build then import infographic elements.


Graphics

09 ADD CHART VALUES

Duplicate your circle layer

and apply a Rasterize layer style.

Cmd/Ctrl-click the original circle

layer thumbnail and erase it from the

selection in your duplicate layer. Set

the duplicate to Color Dodge and hit

Cmd/Ctrl+U, setting Hue to 20.

Duplicate your original circle shape

layer, naming this ‘dial’ and placing it

at the top of the stack. Delete all layer

styles. Use guides to split this

duplicate layer into four sections then

select the Rectangle Marquee tool.

Add a layer mask to the bottom-right

section of your shape then invert it.

10 FINALISE THE DIAL CHART

Add a navy-to-teal Gradient Overlay layer

style to your dial layer, positioning accordingly. Also

apply Bevel & Emboss, setting Style to Inner Bevel,

Size at 5px, Angle at 131 degrees, Highlight Mode

Opacity at 36% and an Inner Glow set to 88%

Opacity Screen Blend Mode. Set Technique to

Softer, Color to a lighter teal, Choke to 19%, Size to

43px and activate Edge. Finally apply a Drop

Shadow, setting the Blend Mode to Multiply,

Opacity to 23%, Angle to 131 degrees, Distance to

25 px and Size to 25px.

11 SEE THROUGH THE EFFECT

Duplicate the dial layer and apply a

Rasterize layer style. Set a 35% Opacity Color

Dodge. Convert the original layer to a Smart Object

and add a layer mask to both dials. Cmd/Ctrl-click

your duplicate dial layer thumbnail, making a

selection, then apply to both this and the previous

duplicate layer’s mask. Use a soft black brush at

35% Opacity. Apply a Screen blending mode to

your duplicate dial layer and set the Opacity to 50%.

12 NEW 3D OPTIONS

Open the ‘world map.psd’ supplied, then

drag and drop the world map group into your

image, resizing it to fit your guides. Apply a

light-teal Gradient Overlay to each shape in the

group. Choose a group layer and select 3D>New

3D Extrusion from Selected Layer. Tilt your 3D

layer away from you to create depth. Go to the

Whole Scene>Mesh options and correspond your

Extrusion Depth to your information values.

13 RELIGHT AND ADD COLOUR

Deactivate Catch and Cast Shadows

options. With your guides showing, drag your

Infinite Light handle in front of your 3D layer.

Activate the Environment options and change the

IBL colour to teal. Apply these to all your shape

layers in the world map group, then Cmd/Ctrl-click

each layer, picking Raster 3D. Duplicate your world

map group, converting this new group to a Smart

Object, then rasterise it and add mosaic effects.

REAPPLY WHAT YOU’VE LEARNT

From here you have acquired several techniques that you can add to new

infographic elements. For the clock dials in the bottom-left of the image we

just copy and past the original dial layer, resize, position and cut away

transparent sections to present new chart values. Feel free to reposition

elements accordingly – CS6 Smart Guides will help you achieve symmetry.

Apply font styles and text that is legible so people can read the data.

Choose a group layer and select 3D>New 3D Extrusion from Selected Layer. Tilt your 3D layer away from you to create

depth. Go to Whole Scene>Mesh options and correspond your Extrusion Depth to your info values

BRING IN 3D CONTENTCREATE 3D ELEMENTS USING NEW CS6 EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGY



Graphics

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

SOURCE FILES

REDISCOVERPIXEL ARTCREATE EPIC ISOMETRIC PIXEL ART WITH SOME

CANNY DUPLICATION AND A BIT OF FLAIR

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

CHRIS MALBON,AKA MELBSwww.chrismalbon.co.uk/blog

OUR EXPERT

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.

MAKE A SCENE OF TOTAL DESTRUCTION

Step 24: Go with the glow

Step 9: Lay out your city

Step 13: Lay into your city

01 ISOMETRIC GRID

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.

PIXEL�BY�PIXEL PROCESSRECYCLING ELEMENTS AND A LITTLE IMAGINATION GO A LONG WAY

WORK IN

PROGRESS

03 CREATE A PIXEL BRUSH

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!




Graphics

04 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.

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

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.

07 SKYSCRAPER DETAILS

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!

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.

QUICK TIPRemember 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.



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.

10 HELICOPTERS

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.

11 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.

12 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.

13 ORGANISE YOUR ARMY

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.

This scene is about destruction so be creative

with your lines. Create black fills and place them over the buildings

to give the impression of holes and burnt areas

WATCH THIS SPACEMAKE THE MOST OF EVERY AREA OF THE PS CANVAS

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.

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.

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.

001 003002


Graphics

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.

16 PIXELA

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.

17 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.

18 PIXELA 3: DETAILS

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.

ORGANISED CHAOS

When creating an illustration as hectic as this, it’s best to keep all the elements in separate folders within their own master fi le 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.

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.

BRING IN THE MONSTERINTRODUCE THE STAR OF THE SHOW: PIXELA



20 HORNS

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.

21 TRAILS

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.

22 THINK GREENERY

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.

23 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.

24 GLOW EFFECTS

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!

19 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.

QUICK TIPOnce you have drawn your pixel art, don’t try rescaling it. This will blur the pixelsand automatically give everything an anti-aliased look, and you will lose that all-important clean pixel fi nish.


Graphics

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.

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

POSTER GRAPHICS

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

SOURCE FILES

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-profi le clients. He’s currently working at BaseKit.

OUR EXPERT

JOSH OVERTONwww.overtongraphics.com

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

http://www.overtongraphics.com



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.

03 ADD SOME SHAPES

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.

01 SET UP THE DOCUMENT

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!

MAKE MULTIVALENT ILLUSTRATIONSLEARN HOW TO SELL WITHOUT WORDS

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 defi ned. 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.

Graphics


08 DUPLICATE AND ROTATE

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.

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 benefi t the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume a specifi c 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.

06 SKEW

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.

05 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.

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.



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.

10 SHADOW

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.

11 POSITION THE LOGO

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.

12 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.

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

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.

USE BOTH GEOMETRIC AND ORGANIC FORMS TO CREATE FRESH

AND UNIQUE SYMMETRY WITHIN YOUR GRAPHICAL DESIGNS

02 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.

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.

Creating such bespoke [graphic] projects is never

easy, but the common factor that does bind them together is symmetry

Graphics

SYMMETRY WITH SHAPES

You’ll fi nd 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).

SOURCE FILES

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

OUR EXPERT

ADAM SMITH

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk


PLAYING WITH SHAPESBLEND ABSTRACT AND REALISTIC CONCEPTS FOR IMPACT

http://www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

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.

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.

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.

06 HEAD’S UP

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.

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.

04 SKULL SKYLINE 3

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.


Graphics

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, eff ects can be used intuitively to create a sense of the third dimension. Just experiment to get the right look.

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.

SANDY SPHERES

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.

12 SYMMETRICAL SHAPES

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.

10 3D REALISM

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.

13 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.

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.

16 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’).

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.


QUICK TIP

Symmetry can be easily achieved when looking beyond the fi tting 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.


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

SOURCE FILES

USE TEXTURES TO ADD DEPTHLAYER PHOTOGRAPHIC TEXTURES AND OBJECTS TO BRING

YOUR GRAPHIC ARTWORK TO LIFE

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.

THOMAS BURDEN

www.therewillbeunicorns.com

OUR EXPERT

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to construct this seasonal graffiti-inspired image from elements

drawn exclusively in Photoshop. 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 producing 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?

BUILDING UP OUR COLOURFUL DESIGN

Step 11: Work up the textures

Step 1: Start out with the flat image

Step 8: Add more elements

01 OPEN UP THE SOURCE FILES

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 the 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).

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.

ADD DEPTH TO ILLUSTRATIONSLET’S TURN SOMETHING FLAT INTO AMAZING ARTWORK

WORK IN

PROGRESS

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.

Graphics


http://www.therewillbeunicorns.com

04 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.

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

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.

07 ADD SPRINKLES

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.

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.

QUICK TIPA 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 fi le them so you can quickly locate them in the future.

Graphics


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

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.

13 ADJUST THE COLOURS

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.

Using uniform angles and perspective in this

way means that compositions and repeat patterns can be filled out

really quickly

APPLY TEXTURESUSE ADJUSTMENT OPTIONS TO TARGET IMAGE AREAS



TEXTURED CHARACTER ILLUSTRATIONMAKE A BESPOKE CHARACTER DESIGN FOR A T�SHIRT USING

VECTORS IN ILLUSTRATOR AND TEXTURES IN PHOTOSHOP

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a textured character illustration with the aim to be able to

print onto a T-shirt. Digital T-shirt printing has become more and more advanced and artists now

have greater freedom to apply colours, textures and any details they want.

The entire process will be explained and you’ll pick up some useful tips and tricks for using both Illustrator

and Photoshop. You can apply these techniques to any other illustration you wish to create in a similar style,

so don’t feel constrained by our concept. After creating a vector illustration in Illustrator we will move into

Photoshop to add textures and finishing details.

Photoshop’s blending modes, custom brush settings and layering features make adding textures to

artwork easy. Before you begin you will need to think about who will be wearing the T-shirt, who is your target

market and what sort of style you would like your artwork or character to portray. Will it be humorous, dark,

vintage or cute for kids? The textures we’ll be adding in this tutorial can either be created from scratch using

photos, handmade markings, or sourced from stock websites.

01 MAKE A SKETCH

First create a rough concept sketch of the

character. You can do this either using traditional

media or directly in Photoshop – whatever you feel

most comfortable with. In this tutorial we are using

an original monster character that has been

sketched in pencil and scanned into the computer.

02 SET UP THE ILLUSTRATOR DOCUMENT

We’ll start in Illustrator by creating a new

document, placing the sketch on the canvas and

selecting File>Place. After placing the image and

fitting it to the canvas, we want to set it up for tracing.

Bring up the Layer Options, select Template and Dim

Images to 30%, then lock the layer.

03 SWATCHES AND GLOBAL COVERS

Your new document will have preset

swatches, but it’s a good idea to start with a fresh

canvas. Create new swatches or pick a set from the

Swatch Library. Bring up the Swatch Options and

make sure the Global checkbox is activated.

Changing the tint of a global colour swatch will

change anywhere it is used across the document.

CONCEPT YOUR CHARACTERINVENT THE RIGHT IMAGE AS THE BASE FOR YOUR COLOUR AND TEXTURE WORK

Graphics


SOURCE FILES

On the CD we have included the image files used to create the Photoshop texture overlay effects in the tutorial, as well the starter sketch. These assets can be used freely in any commercial and non-commercial project.

ANNA JOHNSTONEwww.anna-johnstone.com

OUR EXPERT

Anna Johnstone is a freelance illustrator based in Nelson, New Zealand. Working with both traditional and digital-media cartoons, cat memes and monsters inspire her creation of whimsical and upbeat characters.

http://www.anna-johnstone.com

04 ESTABLISH THE BASE

Begin by creating a new layer and naming it

for easy identification later. Use the Pen tool to trace

the basic silhouettes of the face, tail, arms and legs.

Think of these shapes as the base that we will be

building on, adding further detail on top later. Use the

Pathfinder>Minus Front option to punch out the face

of the character. These shapes are kept together on

the same layer because they will have the same

colour applied to them later.

06 DRAW IN THE TAIL

The tail needs a different option applied in

the Pathfinder window. Select the tail marking and

Copy>Paste in Place, then grab both the marking and

the base of the tail and in the Pathfinder menu apply

the Minus Front option. This causes the base of the

tail to be cut back to the shape of the marking above.

However, now the base of the tail is on the wrong

layer, so in the Layers panel we need to drag it back

onto the layer below.

05 BRING IN SOME DETAIL

Trace around the markings on the fur, trim your markings to the shapes below using the Pathfinder

tool, then select an arm and Copy>Edit>Paste in Place. Highlight the top copy of the arm and marking shape

then select Pathfinder>Intersect. Now the marking is fitted to the arm shape with any excess trimmed off.

Repeat this with the face and any other markings that need to be trimmed to fit your character’s edges.

07 SHIRTS AND PANTS

By now you should be used to using the Pathfinder tool to trim your overlapping shapes. Trace and

set up the T-shirt, shorts and horns on their own layers. As they are all unique elements it’s good practise to

keep them separate. This makes it quicker to find and edit them later on. Using the Pathfinder tool to punch

out and tidy up any overlapping paths can greatly speed up the tracing process and help keep your outlines

and fills tidy.

08 BUILD UP THE FACE

To draw up the face of the character, we

need to create a new layer and move it below the

rest. This will be for the mouth and the main face

colour. We need to cut parts out with the Pathfinder

again to get the shapes we need. To create the open

mouth, first trace around the shape, make a copy

and use the Object>Arrange>Send to Back option.

Select both the face and mouth and use the Exclude

option in the Pathfinder window.

QUICK TIP

When choosing a design idea

to turn into a cool T-shirt, it

helps to think about whether it

would be something you

would wear. If you show your

design to your friends and

colleagues and get good

feedback, the chances are

you’re onto a good thing.

Graphics


10 INJECT A BASE COLOUR

Once you have everything traced and ready

to go, select the objects on each layer and fill with

one of the preset swatches. Continue until you have

all the basic colours filled in and nothing has outlines.

The global colours will come in handy. If any of our

colours need tweaking it’s very easy to apply the

changes across the whole illustration as they are

linked to their respective Global Swatch. This is a

good time to experiment with different tone

combinations and tints.

11 ARRANGE FURTHER DETAILS

Now we have all of our flat base colours

fixed, we’ll work on the finer details. Drag the Sketch

layer to the top of the Layers panel and double-click.

Uncheck the Dim Images option and press OK.

Highlight the sketch and in the Transparency panel

set the blending mode to Multiply with Opacity set at

30%. Now we can see where the details need to go

on top of the character. Lock the layer again so that

you don’t end up drawing on it.

12 ENHANCE THE FUR

To create the fur details we are going to use

the Paintbrush tool. On the bottom bar of the

dropdown Brush menu click the New Brush icon. Set

the Diameter to 2pt with a Variation of 2pt and

choose the Pressure setting for Roundness. Tablet

users have an advantage here as these settings will

mean that the stroke we create will vary in thickness

depending on how much pressure is applied. Now

go ahead and add some fur detail to your character.

13 MOVE TO PHOTOSHOP

Now that we have finished with creating the

vector side of our illustration in Illustrator, we can

move over to Photoshop. This is the part where we

get to create some awesome textures and add

tangibility in our image, as well as some essential

finishing touches. Open a new document and set the

size to the same dimensions that we used in our

Illustrator file back in Step 2. Set the resolution at

300dpi. Color Mode should be set to CMYK.

09 TRACE THE DETAILS

Now keep going and trace around the rest of the details such the birds, T-shirt symbol and the

lighting in this image. Once again cut each of the inside shapes out with the Pathfinder. To keep things

organised, make sure your shapes are on their correct layers, in the right order.

COLOUR THE SHAPESCREATE SOLID LAYERS AND ADD BRUSHES TO COLOUR YOUR ILLUSTRATION

003 Our new document in Illustrator is all set up, with the colour palette sorted and the rough illustration sketch imported.

002We have created named and organised our layers and traced around the main shapes of our character design.

001We have cut out and fitted our shapes to the character, using the Pathfinder tool to make sure none of our colours overlap one another.

001 002 003



The global colours will come in handy. If any of our colours need tweaking it’s very easy to apply the changes across the

whole illustration as they are linked to their respective Global Swatch

WORK WITH TEXTURESAPPLY CLIPPING MASKS WITH SMART OBJECTS

14 USE TEXTURE AND LEVELS

Open the supplied ‘texture_1.jpg’ file, copy and paste it into your Photoshop document, then rotate and

position it. Desaturate the image by selecting Hue/Saturation and setting the Saturation at 0. Apply a Levels

adjustment layer on top of your texture and boost the contrast. Levels brings out the detail of the texture and

also gives a more grainy look, which adds a nice aesthetic. Clip this Levels layer to the Texture layer so that

you can edit it later, once you have overlaid it on the illustration.

17 KEEP PLACING TEXTURES

Add more textures to bring depth and

highlights across the illustration. Open the ‘splatters.

jpg’ file supplied, which was created with

watercolour paint splattered on paper. Use Levels to

define the contrast between white and black. Create

a new layer below your texture layer and apply a

solid white tone. Select the white area around your

splatters with the Magic Wand tool and delete. This

separates the texture from the background and

makes it easy to select these in the next step.

15 IMPORT INTO PHOTOSHOP

Reactivate Illustrator then select and copy

your all of your character-related layers except the

original Sketch layer. Copy and paste this selection

into Photoshop. Make sure you select Smart Object

from Photoshop’s Paste options. Smart Objects

enable you to make changes to your illustration in

Illustrator if needed by double-clicking the illustration

icon in the Layers panel. Any changes you make in

Illustrator are automatically updated in the

Photoshop document after you save in Illustrator.

18 ACHIEVE HIGHLIGHTS AND SHADOWS

Use the Lasso tool to select a part of the

texture you would like to use. Copy and paste this

into your character image in Photoshop. Clip the

texture layer to the illustration layer, then set the

blending mode to Multiply or Screen depending on

whether you would like this particular effect to be a

highlight or a shadow. You can adjust the texture’s

intensity by tweaking the opacity and reuse the same

texture in different places across the illustration, or

even repeat this technique with varying selections.

16 ADJUST THE ELEMENTS

Move your Illustration layer below the

Texture layer if it isn’t already. Set the blending mode

of your texture to Soft Light and adjust the opacity

until you achieve a nice balance between texture and

colour. Here we have used a setting of 80% Opacity.

You don’t want your texture to look too

overpowering, as it can make the illustration less

appealing – remember, less is more. This enables

details previously added in Illustrator to stand out

with the texture laid over the top.

QUICK TIP

Remember to always take the T-shirt fabric

colour into consideration. If you want your design

to pop, it pays to choose tones that will

complement the illustration. It’s a good idea to

test your design by super-imposing it onto a

T-shirt in Photoshop before printing.

Graphics


19 MAKE A BESPOKE BACKGROUND

Our character is coming together nicely, so let’s add a background to make him pop off the T-shirt a

bit more. In this case the backdrop doesn’t need to be complex or highly detailed, we don’t want to detract

from the character too much. An easy way to create a background is to use Photoshop’s default textured

brushes. Change the Opacity of the Illustration layer to around 20%. Then choose a brush and adjust the

Transparency of the brush to around 60%.


Use the brush we just created to paint

some sparkles around the character. These will sit

over top of the background. Choose a lighter colour

for the sparkles to make them stand out from the

background. Try to add a variety of sizes as this will

help create depth. Adding extra details such as these

also enhances the narrative of the image. Little

details make the difference between an illustration

looking boring or exciting.

23 EXPORT YOUR IMAGE

Now we are ready to pack up and send our

character to print. To export your illustration you will

need to save it as a high-resolution PDF file, clicking

File>Save As>Format>Photoshop PDF. Most printers

can handle a wide variety of file types, but PDF is the

industry standard and should be easy for the printer

to manage. In this case a PDF has the advantage

over a flat JPEG or TIFF, as it’s able to preserve the

sharp outlines of our vector illustration.

20 ENHANCE THE DEPTH

Hide the visibility of the Illustration layer

and shade in the circle that you just drew, making

the centre of the circle darker by going over it a few

more times. This adds more depth behind the

character and helps him stand out more. Make the

Illustration layer visible and if needed change the

position and scale of the circle, using the

Edit>Transform controls, so it sits behind.

21 USE A CUSTOM DUAL BRUSH

To draw details we will make a custom

brush that combines both the basic round brush and

a textured brush, so the brushstrokes match the rest

of the illustration. Choose a round brush and open up

Window>Brush. Select the Dual Brush option on the

left side panel and pick a textured brush option. The

blending mode should be set to Linear Burn. Adjust

the Spacing slider until the result looks like chalk.

PRINT COSTS

The number of colours and applied style is often

dictated by budget and the print process. There

are two main printing techniques prevalent in the

T-shirt industry. If you’re going to be screen-

printing your T-shirt, keep in mind that each

colour will require an additional silk screen. This

means it can be more expensive the more colours

you have in your design. It’s more cost-effective

for larger runs, however, and often higher quality.



TECHNIQUES MASTER VECTOR LAYERS IN CS6

Graphics


HOW TO USE VECTOR LAYERS IN CCUSE CC’S NEW STROKE AND FILL SETTINGS PLUS THE

VECTOR SHAPE TOOLS TO CREATE A VIBRANT ILLUSTRATION

Photoshop Creative Cloud 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.

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 CC’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.

FROM SIMPLE DESIGN TO IN-DEPTH ILLUSTRATION

Step 24: Line everything up

Step 1: Initial stages

Step 16: Build around focal point

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.

PREPARE THE IMAGESET UP THE BACKGROUND AND SOURCE PRELIMINARY VECTORS

WORK IN

PROGRESS

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.

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

GORDON REID

www.middleboop.com

OUR EXPERT

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

SOURCE FILES



http://www.middleboop.com

04 PEN TOOL

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.

05 MAKE SHAPES FROM PHOTOS

WeÕre 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.

06 CREATE A FOCAL POINT

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.

07 START BLENDING

Bring in your treated photo assets from the

earlier steps Ð 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, itÕs 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.

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.

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

Graphics


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.

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.

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

GET TO GRIPS WITH THE CC TOOLSDEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF NEW VECTOR FEATURES IN PHOTOSHOP

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

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

001 002

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.

003



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.

16 OPTIONAL ILLUSTRATOR WORK

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.

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.

18 SELECTIVE COLOUR

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.

CHOOSE COLOUR WISELYAs 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 fl y 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.

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.

VECTOR SHAPESBLEND NEW TOOLS WITH FAVOURED TECHNIQUES

QUICK TIPWe 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.

Graphics


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.

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

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.

23 FURTHER CURVES

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.

QUICK TIPThe 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.




Graphics



01CANVAS 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).

PAINT PHOTOREAL ICONSCREATE ILLUSTRATED ICONS USING PHOTOSHOPÕS SHAPE, GRADIENT AND BRUSH TOOLS

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

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.

STATIONERY POT ICON DESIGNCREATE A STYLISH ICON USING VECTOR SHAPES AND GRADIENTS

WORK IN

PROGRESS FROM BASIC SHAPES TO FINAL RENDERING

Step 2: Basic shapes

Step 5: Lighting and reflections

Step 15: Add the objects

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

Mirko is an award-winning visual designer and Adobe Certifi ed Expert from Italy. He is passionate about learning and teaching Adobe So� ware and discovering new techniques for his graphic works.

OUR EXPERT

MIRKO SANTANGELO

www.mirkosantangelo.com

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

SOURCE FILES

http://www.mirkosantangelo.com

Graphics


05BRISTLES 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.

04BRUSHES

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.

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.

02DEFINE 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.

03MASKING 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.



06PENCIL

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.

07FELT 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.

08RULER

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.

09FINAL 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.

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 by simply using the right styles

http://www.jammurch.deviantart.com

Give your message impact

Typography


120

112 The Art of Type Explore the power of form in type design

120 Type Effects Blend a 3D render with multiple stock images

124 Fluid Type Experiment with abstract shapes and textures

128 Illustrative Type Build typefaces using stock imagery

132 Collage-Style Type Create personalised type using stock

136 Vintage Type Replicate effective retro typography

140 3D Type Integrate 2D scenes with 3D renders

146 Dynamic 3D Type Create ancient 3D type with layers

150 Typographic Designs Pen a strong promotional design

150



128

The creative community is harnessing design software

to create even more adventurous and dynamic letterforms

140

146

136


Typography

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

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

001



THE ART OF TYPEWE EXPLORE THE POWER OF FORM IN CONTEMPORARY TYPE�BASED 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.

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

003 |

‘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 Award-winning typographic image making a slobbering penguin from the letter ‘a’ for the jacket cover of The Art Book© Steven Bonner

004 |

003

004

002

http://www.lukelucas.com


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

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

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

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

007 |

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

006

007005

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

http://www.alexvaranese.com

http://stevenbonner.com

http://chin2off.prosite.com

http://www.lukelucas.com

http://stevenbonner.com



PIPE DREAM

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.”

WE DISCOVER HOW ILLUSTRATION PLAYS AS BIG A

PART AS TYPOGRAPHY IN ALEX BELTECHI’S DESIGNS

01 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.

02 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.

03 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.

008 |‘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

008

http://www.behance.net/alexbeltechi


Typography

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

012 |

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

011 |

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

010 |

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

009 |

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

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

010

009

013 |

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



WE LOOK AT THIS GLOBAL ORGANISATION

ENCOURAGING INNOVATION IN TYPOGRAPHY

012

013

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

011

TYPE DIRECTORS CLUB

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 byHarperCollins © TDC

http://tdc.org


Typography

‘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

017 |‘Solid All The Way Through’:“The fi rst 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

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

016

017

016 |



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.”

EXPLORE THIS ELEMENTAL-INSPIRED TYPE ART, WHICH WAS MADE WITH A COMBINATION OF CG AND PHOTOSHOP BY CREATIVE STUDIO SKYRILL (WWW.SKYRILL.COM)

2. FILL IT UPThe letter was then imported into RealFlow, and based on the letter, a number of emitters were placed inside to fi ll it up with particles. The speed of the emitters plays a key role in the fi nal outcome.

3. BUILDING PRESSUREReducing 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. MESHINGAdding 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 fi lters were also used at low settings such as the Relaxation fi lter.

5. REFINE THE LETTERUsing the Clone and Pen tools in Photoshop, new fl uid shapes were drawn out in diff erent sizes and then blended with the original letter in order to make the overall look of the fi nal letter more natural.

6. ADJUST LIGHTINGColour and lighting adjustments were done in Photoshop using Color Balance, along with Curves. The fi nal image is made up of diff erent layers put together using various PS blending modes such as Screen, Overlay and So� Light.

1. CREATE THE LETTERSWe 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.

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

FLUID�TYPE EXPERIMENT

http://WWW.SKYRILL.COM

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

SOURCE FILES

STRIKING TYPE EFFECTSBLEND A SIMPLE 3D RENDER WITH MULTIPLE STOCK

PHOTOS TO CREATE STUNNING ARTWORK

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.

OUR EXPERT

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.

BUILD YOUR TYPE COMPOSITE

Step 15: Final adjustments

Step 5: Basic render

Step 10: Add detail to lettering

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.

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.

START THE TEXTLET’S WORK ON CREATING THE BASIC 3D RENDER

WORK IN

PROGRESS

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.

BARTON DAMER

www.alreadybeenchewed.tv

Typography


http://www.alreadybeenchewed.tv

0121



04 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.

05 CREATING WOODEN LOGS

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

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.

07 BACKGROUND COMPOSITING

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.

YouÕll probably need to adjust the Hue/Saturation

in order to bring their color temperatures closer in

appearance.

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.

09 ISOLATE FOLIAGE

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.

QUICK TIPIf 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 Sub-Polygon Displacement, you will get better detail.

Typography


http://Veer.com

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

BRINGING THE SCENE TOGETHERCOMPOSITING YOUR STOCK PHOTOS

10 COMPOSITING

THE FOLIAGE

Once youÕve 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 too

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.

11 ISOLATE ANIMALS USING THE

PEN TOOL

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 youÕve 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.12

ADD ORGANIC DETAIL

You may want to add more organic-

looking 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.

13 REFINING THE COMPOSITION

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.

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.

15 COLOR CORRECTION

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.




Typography

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

SOURCE FILES

DESIGN FLUID TYPE WITH ADDED POPBE BOLD AND EXPERIMENT WITH NEW WAYS OF ILLUSTRATING

TYPOGRAPHY WITH ABSTRACT SHAPES AND TEXTURES

Radim, aka Brand Nu, provides practical knowledge and working tips on how to make abstract typography with fl uid textures.

RADIM MALINIC

www.brandnu.co.uk

OUR EXPERTHow 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.

BREWING UP OURBUBBLY TEXT DESIGN

Step 13: Work in some depth

Step 1: Create flowing shapes

Step 5: Supersize your canvas

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.

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILYGET TO GRIPS WITH PHOTOSHOPÕS SIBLING: ILLUSTRATOR

WORK IN

PROGRESS

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).



http://www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorials.php

http://www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorials.php

http://www.brandnu.co.uk

04 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 weÕre 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.

05 SUPERSIZE YOUR CANVAS

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 Ð 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?

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 Ð most importantly Ð 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.

07 SHINY FLUID EFFECTS

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.

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 doesnÕt always work well; using a layer

mask means we can tidy up and tweak afterwards.

QUICK TIPWhile weÕre 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 thatthey stand out better.

09 FOREVER FLOWING BUBBLES

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.


Typography

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.

12 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.

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.

14 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.

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

GOING IN CIRCLESADDING IN THAT EXTRA POP



ILLUSTRATIVE TYPEDISCOVER HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN TYPEFACE USING STOCK

IMAGERY AND PHOTOSHOP COLOUR ADJUSTMENTS

Both illustrative and collage type are a

growing trend among digital artists,

combating the saturation of 3D styles and

breathing life back into a stale genre. As collage type

is experimental, it provides a lure of invention that

sparks the imagination.

A solid sense of composition goes a long way

when producing a successful image like this,

enabling you to understand how one element relates

to others around it. As always patience is a virtue, as

it can take a long time to construct the forms of all

the various elements and ordering them. By being

meticulous you can appreciate the joy of this style; all

you need to do is play with your elements and keep

working until they strike you.

A bucket-load of stock imagery that corresponds

to your theme is essential. Arm yourself with as

many examples as possible that display numerous

positions, perspectives and orientations. These are

needed to match and signify your font shapes.

As always, Photoshop ties your designs together,

with colour adjustments letting you control the

vibrancy of your elements and Levels paving the way

to balanced lighting. Gradients can boost colour and

custom brushes will bring your mixed-media and

collage looks to life.

01 JUSTIFY YOUR TYPE

Start by creating a font sheet in Photoshop.

Apply as many styles as possible, considering the

correlation between these and your theme, which in

this case is tourist photography. A blocky typeface is

suited to such mechanical and structured forms, so

we’ve chosen Chaparral Pro as our base.

03SPLIT UP VARIED BACKGROUNDS

Sadly, separating your elements from the

existing background won’t always be easy. For

less-routine backdrops, apply Selections using the

Pen Path tool, then perfect selection edges using the

Refine Edge object and apply a layer mask to isolate

your option. Layer masks will come in handy when

editing later in the workflow.

02SEPARATE SOLID BACKGROUNDS

A large chunk of your time will be taken up

cutting out image elements from existing backdrops.

For a solid-colour background, simply apply the

Magic Wand at a Tolerance of 25, add a layer mask

and invert this before saving. Automate this

technique by saving it as an Action.

BUILD YOUR COLLAGE TYPE

Progress 3: Apply brushes

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 2: Amend colours

Progress 1: Place your elements

A large chunk of your time will be taken up cutting out image elements from existing backdrops. For a solid-colour

background, simply apply the Magic Wand at a Tolerance of 25

Typography


ADAM SMITHwww.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

OUR EXPERT

Adam is our resident Photoshop enthusiast ready to pit his design skills against almost any style. Here he shows you how to tackle type made from photo stock.

SOURCE FILESNumerous JPEG stock images have been supplied, which you can use to experiment with your own styles. Also supplied are sets of mixed-media brushes, which will help you to create the exact looks in this tutorial.

http://www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

04DRAG, DROP AND

CONVERT ELEMENTS

With all your images removed

from their backgrounds, itÕs time

to drag and drop them into your

main image, which also ensures

your layer masks stay attached.

Convert all your newly imported

image layers to Smart Objects,

de-scale and arrange them away

from your type. By making these

Smart Objects you will be able to

alter the image size without

causing distortion and keep your

options open when compositing.

Placing away from your text lets

you easily organise things.

07EDIT THE LIGHTING

This can be quite a painstaking procedure,

but itÕs essential to maintain uniformity in your

elements. You may find that some of your image

elements actually have a similar level of exposure,

but some may seem a lot darker or lighter. Target

where these images are, then apply Levels to correct

the exposure. Also use your new adjustment layerÕs

layer mask to target lighting with a paintbrush. Make

sure that your Levels adjustment layer only affects

the layer in question by clipping this layer to it.

05MAKE CAREFUL PLACEMENT

Now you can start to create the building

blocks for your letterforms using your Smart

Objects. ItÕs important that you scrutinise the

placement of your elements, so they initiate and

accentuate the shapes of your fonts. For example,

weÕve used the image of an arm holding a camera to

mimic the curvature of our letter S. We admit to

using the Transform>Warp tool to fit our element to

the typeface, which we get away with as weÕre using

an organic image (a human arm).

08ALTER THE COLOUR

Changing tones in the

scene isnÕt always a concern, but

random splashes of colour from

various objects can really help

your final effect. However, there is

nothing wrong with boosting the

vibrancy of existing colours. While

this technique is relatively easy, it

will still require focus. Apply a

Hue/Saturation adjustment layer

and set appropriate values in your

Saturation and Brightness sliders

for the relevant colour options.

You can also use your attached

layer mask and a low-opacity

black soft brush to work original

colours back in where you feel

they are needed.

06BUILD UP LETTERFORMS

DonÕt be afraid to edit the images. ThatÕs why

we have applied layer masks so you can work out

elements at any time. For example, try using an

angled camera lens to again re-create the curve in

your letter S. Continue to look for elements that will

fit a specific space in the letter, pay attention to the

layering and shapes of the images and also notice

the relation of their different sizes. As we have more

letters to create, weÕve increased the size of our

stock to combat any repetition.

QUICK TIP

Want to get rid of product

branding, logos and type? This

is easy using Content-Aware

Fill. Simply pick the affected

area, press Shift+F5 and select

this option, which will fill in the

selected area with

surrounding tones. More often

than not this creates a

seamless fill.

Typography


09THE IMAGE SO FAR

As we have used a lot of camera and lens stock, the image has been saturated with dark tones,

affecting the splashes of colour, which now seem minimal. We’ve combated this by increasing the vibrancy

of our image and applying gradient shapes.

10 ADD GRADIENT SHAPES

We’ve introduced more colours to our image

with the use of gradient shapes. They have been

added using the Elliptical Shape tool, applied

specifically to the camera lenses. This is a lot easier

with the new CS6 Shape tool Fill options. You can

layer your shapes, combining Screen, Overlay and

Vivid Light to affect detail. Make sure you do this

inside your Smart Objects, which will automatically

update effects in all duplicate layers and enable you

to resize non-destructively.

13 MAKE A BACKGROUND

We’ve completed our effect by creating more

painted layers throughout our layer stacks. We’ve

painted to a Screen blending mode layer using a 50%

grey soft brush. Make sure you clip these new paint

layers to stop noticeable overlapping. We’ve also

complemented our background by scattering photo

elements then applying Gaussian Blur to simulate a

depth-of-field effect. Finally we’ve merged all our

layers, sharpened and applied Add Noise at an

Amount of 2%.

11 DODGE AND BURN CONTOUR

If you plan to resize your elements, dodge and

burn them separately by opening each Smart Object

and then Opt/Alt-clicking the Create New Layer icon.

In the New Layer dialog box we’ve set Mode to

Overlay and activated the Fill with the Overlay-

neutral colour option. This will create a 50%

greyscale image that you can paint with low-opacity

brushes. White will add highlights and black will

create shadow. You can add this to the top of your

layer stack if you don’t plan to resize any letter layers.

12 MORE GRADIENTS

Bring better depth by adding black-to-

transparent gradients to our image elements that fall

behind others. Opacity, scale and positioning will vary

and we’ve also emphasised our collage effect using

mixed-media textures. You can do this by loading

‘brushfx-paint-splatters-set-1’ brush set supplied

and applying black ink splats to a new layer set

behind all the image elements. Use different styles,

sizes and Brush Tip>Angles to vary effects, matching

the direction and edges of your image layers.

ENHANCE YOUR PIECEWIELD PHOTOSHOP ADJUSTMENT OPTIONS TO ENHANCE TONALITY AND LIGHTING

ADDING SOME FLARE

The smallest details can really improve the whole feel of your collage type. Here we’ve added a bit of

surrealism by including camera flashes. These have been created by making a black square and applying a

Filter>Render>105mm Prime Lens Flare. Pull your light streaks using the Smudge tool and set a Screen

blending mode to layer the effect.

Larger details are also important, as your backdrop must be suitable and it must enable your type to

jump off the page. Sometimes a solid white or black will suffice. We’ve experimented with this expressive

style and alternatively applied a landscape photo that has then been heavily blurred. This creates a soft yet

vibrant backdrop that lets your detailed type shine.

001We increased the vibrancy of the red, blue, yellow, green and magenta tones in our image by targeting them with the useful Hue/Saturation adjustment option.

002We’ve used CS6 Vector Shape with Gradient Fill settings to create gradient lenses in our cameras. These have been modified using various blending modes.

003We will improve the contours of our photo elements by applying dodging and burning techniques. This clearly defines form and will improve your texturing later on.

001

002

003




Typography

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

OUR EXPERT

LUCA MOLNAR

www.lucamolnar.com

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.

SOURCE FILES

IN THIS TUTORIAL WE WILL BE CREATING PERSONALISED

COLLAGE�STYLE TYPE USING ILLUSTRATIONS AND STOCK

CREATE COLLAGE�STYLE TYPOGRAPHY

http://www.lucamolnar.com



01MAKE 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.

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.

BUILD THE BASIC LETTERINGGET YOUR FONT RIGHT AND ADD PATTERNS

WORK IN

PROGRESS BUILDING UP ONE LETTER AT A TIME

Step 5: Work with stock photos

Step 6: Finish the first letter

Step 9: Final touches

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

http://mixel.cc

Typography


05SPICE 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/right-

click, 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.

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.

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 diff erent layer styles can make some interesting light eff ects, taking your artwork to the next level. We’re sure you will have quite a few happy accidents!

03ADD 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!



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

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.

08 REPEAT FOR B AND C

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.

Typography


USING BOTH PHOTOSHOP AND ILLUSTRATOR, WE SHOW

YOU HOW TO REPLICATE EFFECTIVE RETRO TYPOGRAPHY

CREATE STYLISH VINTAGE TYPE

Typography is a fundamental part of

day-to-day life. It’s everywhere we look, but

so much of today’s typography lacks any

creative flair.

Typography in the past, particularly in signs,

tended to be more visually pleasing. Inspired by

hand-painted enamel signs and old typographic

posters, here we’ll show you how to replicate classic

vintage-style typography.

A lot of time will be spent creating the type in

Illustrator. This is where we’ll add detail to the type

using options, such as the Offset Path, blends and

the Pen tool. In Photoshop we’ll apply texture using

various blending modes and use brush techniques

to mimic cracks and creases. We’ll also explore

tweaking hue and saturation, as well as Curves

layers, to enhance tones. Some textures and details

in Photoshop will complete the piece.

03 ADDING TEXTURE

Now apply some texture. Open up a dark grunge texture in Photoshop and invert it by going to

Image>Adjustments>Invert. Once this is done, drag the JPEG into your document and set the blending mode

to Overlay. To make the grunge texture more intense, go to Image>Adjustments>Levels and increase the

black to darken the texture.

02 BORDER AND GRADIENT

We want to give this piece a border, so create

a new layer, fill it with a solid colour and then drag

each edge in by 10mm. Next apply a Gradient

Overlay within the Layer Style dialog, selecting the

Foreground to Background gradient. Set the Style as

Radial, the Angle at 60 degrees and the Scale at

150%, making sure the Reverse box is ticked. Put the

Opacity of this layer to 25%.

01PICK A DOCUMENT SIZE

First you will need to decide on the size of

your document. Take into account whether the

finished image will be printed or solely used on the

web. In this case it will be printed, so we’ll open a

new 235 x 303mm portrait document in Photoshop,

making sure it has a white background.FROM SIMPLE TYPE TO DYNAMIC RESULTS

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Apply texture

Progress 2: Make the type

Progress 3: Add final details

BEGIN APPLYING TEXTUREBUILD UP MATERIAL EFFECTS IN PHOTOSHOP BEFORE ADDING TEXT

LOGS MATTHEWS

www.logsmatthews.co.uk

OUR EXPERT

Logs Matthews is a 23-year-old, self-taught, freelance graphic designer from the north-west of England. Here he shows you how to create stylish vintage typography using both Photoshop and Illustrator.



http://www.logsmatthews.co.uk

09MOVE BACK TO PHOTOSHOP

Now the type is done, copy and paste it into

your Photoshop document as a Smart Object. This

enables you to make changes to the type if

necessary, without opening the original Illustrator

file. Just double-click the Smart Object thumbnail on

the type layer to open it in Illustrator. When changes

have been made, hit Save and it will automatically

amend the type in Photoshop.

08INTRODUCE DEPTH TO SANS SERIF TEXT

Copy and paste the word ‘work’ into a new

layer and place it underneath your original layer.

Position the word down and right to use as a guide.

Back with the original layer, use the Pen tool to draw

in the 3D shapes. Apply a gold gradient, copy and

paste these, fill them red, then send them to the back

to add even more depth. Do this once more and fill

them with grey to replicate a shadow.

06DETAIL THE SANS SERIF TEXT

Now grab the Line Segment tool to draw a

line above and below the Sans Serif words, giving

them a 1pt Stroke. Set these lines to a beige tone

(#C2B59B). To multiply the lines, double-click the

Blend tool and a Blend Options box will appear.

Select Specified Steps from the dropdown menu and

type the number of steps you would like. Click the

end point of the top line and then the parallel point of

the bottom line to multiply the lines evenly.

10GIVE THE TYPE TEXTURE

Now we need to copy the grunge layer and

place it above the type layer. Set the blending mode

to Multiply and the Opacity to 60%. We only want this

texture layer to affect the type, so hit Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/

Alt+G to clip the texture into the type layer. By adding

a mask to this layer, and using a small soft brush

with an Opacity of 60%, you can roughly mask out

some of the areas where there is too much texture.

07CLIPPING THE LINES

Now send the lines to the

back. Copy and paste the inner text,

give it a beige Stroke of 1pt and put it

to one side. Select the inner text you

grouped in Step 5 and go to Object>

Compound Path>Make. With the

inner text still selected, hold Shift,

select the lines, then go to Object>

Clipping Mask>Make. Doing this will

clip the lines into the inner text. Now

drag the beige outlined text that you

put aside over the clipped lines, then

fill the black letters with a dark-red

tone that’s suitable.

05OFFSET THE SANS SERIF TEXT

In preparation for detailing the Sans Serif

text, we need to offset it. Begin with the word ‘work’

and go to Object>Path>Offset Path, then set the

Offset to 2mm. Once you’ve offset the path, reselect

the word and go to Object>Ungroup. While holding

the Shift key down, select the inner parts of the word

and go to Object>Group. The inner parts of the Sans

Serif words will be used as a clipping mask for some

of the line details.

04INPUT THE TEXT

In Illustrator, open a new 235 x 303mm

portrait document and lay out the phrase ‘work hard

and be nice to people’. We’re aiming to produce a

vintage typography feel by applying a bold Sans Serif

font to the words ‘work’ and ‘nice’, as well as a bold

Serif font to the words ‘and be’. Now apply a Script

font to the words ‘hard’ and ‘to people’, for a softer

contrasting effect between the texts. Outline all of the

text by going to Type>Create Outlines.

APPLY SOME MORE DEPTH GIVE A 3D LOOK TO YOUR TEXT USING THE PEN TOOL

QUICK TIP

Try to add layers as you create your type. You can

do this by using the Offset Path tool multiple

times, giving your type very thin borders. Once

you have a few borders, apply gold gradients to

some and fill others with white. This will help

embellish your type further.

We’re aiming to produce a vintage typography feel by

applying a bold Sans Serif font to the words ‘work’ and ‘nice’

Typography


14FINISHING TOUCH

Now that the image is complete, we want to

add one final effect to bring it all together. Save a

copy of your PSD, flatten it, then go to Filter>Noise>

Add Noise. Use an Amount of 10% to give your

image a subtle grain texture, making your piece look

less digital and more vintage.

11ADJUST YOUR TONES

To enhance the colours we’ll need to add a new Hue/Saturation layer above the type layer, increasing

the Saturation to make the colours more vibrant. If there’s a specific colour that you want to target, you can

select it from the Hue/Saturation dropdown. Also, add a new Curves layer above the type layer, setting the

Output at 125 and the Input at 137, to make the colours even richer.

13DRAW IN CRACKS

Adding cracks is a great way to age an image.

This technique is easier with a graphics tablet and

pen but can still be achieved with a mouse. First

insert a new layer, select a hard round brush – with

the Size set at around 6px and the Opacity at 100%

– and start drawing in some cracks. Once you’re

happy with the cracks, go to Layer>Smart

Object>Create Smart Object. Set the layer’s blending

mode to Multiply and set the Opacity to 20%.

12MASK EDGES AND DODGE/BURN

To re-create faded edges, start by adding a

layer mask to the gradient layer. Using a 400px soft

brush with 60% Opacity, begin masking out small

areas towards the edges. Now target individual areas

of the grunge layer, use the Burn tool with the Range

set to Midtones, brush Size set at 300px and the

Opacity set at 45%, then begin to darken them. On

the other hand, if any areas need lightening, use the

Dodge tool with the same brush settings.

SMALL DETAILS

Adding small details can take a lot of time, but

they really add quality to a piece of work. Starting

with the banner, make a thin triangle shape and

place it horizontally at one end of the main

rectangle. Copy and paste this underneath and

use the same blending technique as used in Step

6. The number of steps will vary on the size of

your banner. Repeat this on the other side of the

rectangle and the inside of the banner. Once

positioned, set the blending mode to Multiply and

set the Opacity at 25%.

QUICK TIP

Adding noise is great for making a piece of work

look less digitally made. When adding noise to a

piece of work, make sure you decide whether the

piece warrants it. Sometimes adding noise can

make what was a bright glossy image look dull

and washed out.

ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES USE HUE/SATURATION AND CURVES LAYERS



Typography


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

SOURCE FILES

WORK WITH3D TYPECREATE BASIC 3D RENDERS IN CINEMA

4D AND INTEGRATE INTO A 2D SCENE

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

BARTON DAMERwww.alreadybeenchewed.tv

OUR EXPERT

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.

FROM 3D TYPE TO FINISHED ARTWORK

Step 14: Unify the image

Step 1: Illustrator sketch

Step 8: CINEMA 4D render

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 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.

PREPARING THE TYPETAKE AN ILLUSTRATOR SKETCH INTO CINEMA 4D

WORK IN

PROGRESS



http://www.alreadybeenchewed.tv

Typography


04 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.

05THE 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.

06 APPLY THE SPLINE WRAP

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.

07LIGHTING

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.

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.

QUICK TIPWe 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.

03 BASIC CYLINDERS

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.



09MODELLING 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.

10RENDER 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.

11 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.

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

WORK ON THE DETAILSADD DETAIL AND SHADOW IN CINEMA 4D


Typography

15COLOUR 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.

14MATCH VALUES

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.

BUILDING THE SCENEBRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

QUICK TIPThere are diff erent Eff ectors that can be applied to Mograph Cloner objects within C4D. A Random Eff ector 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.

12CHOOSE 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.

13PLACE 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.



16MAKE A SPLASH!

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.

17SCREEN 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.

18CUSTOM 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.

19ADD 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.

BUBBLE REFLECTIONSWhen creating a custom texture for the water bubbles, you’ll want to use Transparency and add Refraction to the settings. Refl ection will help with realism as well. In order to get some interesting refl ections 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 refl ections by simply dropping in one of the gradient environments that come with the product.

http://www.greyscalegorilla.com

http://www.greyscalegorilla.com

In this tutorial we’ll prepare a scene by merging

two photographs, using layer masks and the

Eraser tool. We’ll then create 3D type that we’ll

extrude and position around the scene as well as show

how to use bevels, lighting and position the camera.

We want to give the illusion that the type is heavy and

made of eroding brick. To achieve this we’ll use stock

photography for texturing and play with various blending

modes to create dynamic effects.

If you are new to the 3D world, just take it easy and

follow the steps slowly. It can be frustrating for a

beginner, but with practise you’ll master the 3D space.

If you are familiar with 3D software like CINEMA 4D or

3ds Max, you should pick it up quite quickly.

The scene is set at the enchanting Ta Prohm Temple,

Angkor, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, not far from

the famous Angkor Wat. Here, strangler fig trees and

creeping lichens devour ruins. If you haven’t had a

chance to visit this wonderful place and experience the

surreal environment, we advise you to book it in for

your next trip. It’s simply amazing for photography and

drawing studies.

01COMBINE TWO IMAGES

Download the original image from

Dreamstime (number 25807894). Open ‘Cover

Ground.jpg’ supplied, then copy and paste it onto

the Dreamstime image as a separate layer. Position

and create a layer mask. Using the Eraser tool,

paint out the ruins and the tree so that the ground

merges seamlessly with the bottom image, go to

Edit>Transform>Warp to help cover this.

02 INSERT 3D TYPE AND EXTRUDE

Select the Type tool and key in ‘3D’,

choosing a font that will work well with the concept.

We chose to use the font Sans Black as it has bold

characteristics and works well in 3D. With the Type

layer selected in the Layer panel, go to

Type>Extrude to 3D to extrude the type. Try different

font options and see what you feel works best for

your piece.

03POSITION IN 3D SPACE

When in 3D mode you get different panels

to work with. It’s a good idea to get familiar with all

the navigation tools and the 3D Layer panel. Click

the various navigation tools at the top and see how

the scene behaves. With the main selection tool,

click the 3D layer and play with the axis handles to

get comfortable with them.

WORK IN

PROGRESS COMBINE STOCK AND 3D TYPE

Step 1: Prepare the scene

Step 6: Add type and extrude

Step 10: Craft and finesse

DISCOVER HOW TO CREATE ANCIENT 3D TYPE BY

COMBINING TEXT AND TEXTURED LAYER BLENDING MODES

CREATE DYNAMIC 3D TYPE

Marcus is a digital artist and 3D typography lover. He works across many creative disciplines on a day-to-day basis, where Photoshop is the main ingredient.

OUR EXPERT

MARCUS BYRNE

www.marcusbyrne.comwww.behance.net/mobdesign

To download the main image visit Dreamstime and download No. 25807894. On the disc you can fi nd multiple textures to sample and use.

SOURCE FILES

GET STARTED ON YOUR SCENEDOWNLOAD THE BASE IMAGE AND CREATE THE 3D TEXT


Typography

http://www.marcusbyrne.com

http://www.behance.net/mobdesign

05SPLIT THE EXTRUSION AND TEXTURE

Next we need to split the extrusion. With the layer selected, go to

3D>Split Extrusion. Open the Type folder in the 3D Layer panel to see the

different letters. Click the 3D faces and see them selected on the comp. Use the

Properties box to change the materials. In Diffuse, click Load Texture and add in

‘Type Base Texture 02.jpg’ supplied. Repeat this on all the faces, Front, Bevel and

Extrusion, then repeat on both letters.

04ADJUST EXTRUSION AND THE BEVELLED EDGE

Go to the Properties menu to see the Extrude options. In Mesh, make

sure Cast and Catch Shadows are ticked. In Deform, set the Extrusion Depth to

250, Twist to 0 and Taper to 100%. In Caps, set the Bevel Width to 13% and Angle

to 45 degrees, then play with the contour edges. All these settings depend on

the effects you like. There are so many options and variables within these

panels, so experiment and see what happens.

08REFINE COMPOSITION

AND ADD LIGHT

Try a range different angles for the

letters in order to optimise. The trick

here is to imagine how heavy letters

made of stone would behave. By

moving the letters around we can pull

them forwards, backwards and rotate

every angle. Add light by selecting the

3D layer and click Infinite Light in the

3D Layer panel. Move the light until it

looks like the shadows are realistic.

Set the Color to white and the Shadow

Softness to about 16%.

06MERGE AND WORK OUT THE COMPOSITION

Add a new text layer and type ‘EXPOSED’. Add an extrusion and then

bevel. Select both layers using the Cmd/Ctrl key then hit Cmd/Ctrl+E. This puts

both 3D and EXPOSED in the same 3D layer. Use the Selection tool and click a

letter in the 3D panel. You will see a small 3D widget that enables you to move in

the 3D space (X,Y,Z), each axis is coloured with red (X), green (Y) and blue (Z).

Move each letter around the scene and work out a rough composition.

07CHANGE CAMERA SETTINGS

When you look at the original photo you’ll see that the lens used is quite

wide as we can see the top of the middle tree and the windows in the ruins look

quite distorted. Next let’s change our camera to 17mm. Select Current View in

the 3D panel and change the FOV (Field of View) to 17. You may need to resize

your text a few times throughout this process and position the text back into the

scene. Make sure to use the 3D mode tools and pan back.

When working in the 3D world, it’s a

good idea to play around with various

camera settings and lighting. Another

way to help with letter positions is to go to

View>Show>3D Secondary View. A Top

View window will appear in the top-left of

the workspace.

ESSENTIAL FOR 3D


Typography

RENDERS AND TEXTURESADD THE LAST FEW TOUCHES TO YOUR TEXT

09MANIPULATE THE STONES

When you’re happy with the letter placements, camera and lighting, it’s time to add some

Photoshop magic. Turn off all the layers except the Background, which can be flattened. It’s a good

idea to keep a copy somewhere to be safe. Cut out various ground stones with the Selection tool and

keep them on separate layers. Think about how the letters interact and lean against the stones. You

will need to use the masking and clone tools to get a good result.

11RENDER IN HIGH RESOLUTION

To change the Render settings go to

Photoshop>Preferences>3D. Here you can change

the Ray Tracer to 10 for maximum renders.

Duplicate the 3D layer so you have a copy and

make one invisible. When the Type layer is

rendered, Cmd/Ctrl-click it and select Rasterize 3D.

Lower the Render settings and see what your

computer can handle. The more RAM you have, the

faster the render speed.

12FINAL TEXTURES USING DIFFERENT

STOCK IMAGES

It’s now time to spruce up the image and really

make the type seem ancient. Browse through one

of the wall textures supplied and copy it into the

scene. Next, experiment with different Blend

Modes. We found that the Overlay setting works

really well, so mask it to the type. We’ve supplied

more textures for you to use, so have fun and

experiment with the other letters.

13FINESSE AND GRADE

When you’re finished with all the letter

texturing and have placed the stones around the

scene, it’s now time for finessing and grading. Since

the scene is old and ancient, some Noise and High

Pass filters will work really well and add depth to

the image. Use dark colours to overlay and paint

into various areas of the scene, creating shadows

and making the type pop out a little. Add a layer on

top, fill with white, add noise and set to Multiply.

10POSITION AND REFINE

The texture needs to work better, so to

replace it select each face separately and, in the

Materials panel, go to Diffuse>Replace Texture and

insert the ‘Base Texture_Type.jpg’ file supplied. This

texture works better with the ruins. For fun, try a

few other textures or create your own. Refine the

stones with your Photoshop skills by placing them

around and in front of the type. Cut out some of the

tree roots and place them on top of the word 3D.

Since the scene is old and ancient, some Noise and

High Pass filters will work really well and add texture

To activate Photoshop’s Texture Library, select a 3D object

on the canvas and, in the 3D panel, go to Materials and click

the Texture Ball image. The textures are great for a base,

but to add dimension and create a realistic feel, it’s best to

add extra layers and play with the blending modes. There

are an abundance of free websites where you can download

textures: sxc.hu, www.textureking.com and www.

freestocktextures.com to name just a few.

TEXTURES



http://www.textureking.com

http://www.freestocktextures.com

http://www.freestocktextures.com


Typography

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.

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.

COMBINE THE PEN TOOL WITH SOME INSPIRING WORDS TO CREATE

A STRONG PROMOTIONAL DESIGN

TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGNS

On the CD is a Word document with links to three SXC fi les that were used to complete this illustration.

SOURCE FILES

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.

OUR EXPERT

LUCA MOLNAR

http://lucamolnar.com

http://lucamolnar.com



01 DRAW

THE

LETTERS

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.

02 CREATE 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.

03 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!

04 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/right-

click>Stroke Path. Experiment with settings to make the letters look as natural as possible.

05 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.

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.

Typography


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.

09 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.

10 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.

06 WRAP UP THE

WORDS

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.

07 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.

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, re-check them for typos



11 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.

12 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.

14 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.

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 diff erent objects (fl owers, animals and fl ying lines) or if trying to fi t a lot of text into an awkwardly shaped object, etc.

Seamlessly integrate elements

Mixed media

188

156 Applying Mixed Media Explore the popularity of mixed media

166 Blending Mixed Media Use brushes for an inspired illustration

172 Paint Textures Incorporate paint textures effectively

176 Master Polygons Produce portraits using geometric shapes

182 Graphics and Photos Blend photos with painted elements

188 Type and photos Integrate bold type and kinetic photos

192 The Pen Tool Make shapes with your artwork

198 Advanced Selections Develop an energetic composite

204 Zero-Gravity Effects Use blend modes, dodge and burn


176



198

166

Genius Guide

204

172

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 signifi er 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 signifi er 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 eff ectively. 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.


Mixed media

APPLYING

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 Goldfi sh 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 diff erent

worlds – that of the real (paper, brush, ink) and the

virtual (so� ware, graphics tablet), and the gathering of

two diff erent eras.”

MIXED MEDIA

Goldfi sh, 2009

An example of combining digital textures with typography and inking to

create a digital/traditional hybrid.© Florian Nicolle. 001

001 |

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.

As Raphaël Vicenzi puts it, this style is: “The bridge between the

hand-made approach and the benefi ts of digital tools. I think it’s where

the boundaries are blurred that makes it diffi cult 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 diff erent 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 diff erent 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 graffi ti 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 specifi c

light-bulb moment that led him down the mixed media path. He says: “I

was a teenager when I fi rst saw Dave McKean’s work, and it defi nitely

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


Mixed media

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

Butterfl ies, 2009, mixed media.

A combination of pencils, coloured pencils and inks with varying digital techniques produces an organic look.

© L Filipe dos Santos

002 003

002 |

003 |

It is interesting to catch any situation - a scene, a pose of a random passer-by - and transform the image into an artwork

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

‘Crucifi xion;, he searched for: “A face that showed a

wicked, inscrutable expression that would catch the

viewer’s attention immediately. A� er 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 fi nal steps I added splatter and textures to

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.

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.

WEB: www.xkire.de SOFTWARE: Photoshop CS2, Painter X

ERIK SCHUMACHER

INTERVIEW:

Erik used this image to experiment with new techniques in Painter

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



Sit Down, 2010, Photoshop and Illustrator.

Her mix of vectors and photomanipulation has fused in a very unique way

© Jana Jelovac

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

004 005

004 |

005 |

http://www.xkire.de

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.

ARTIST: Raphael Vicenzi SOFTWARE: Photoshop YEAR: 2010

WILD MOTHER

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

that directed the image”. He explains: “The title and

typography came a� erwards, 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.”


Mixed media

Mixed

Media

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 fi nds another

strength in versatility, with dos Santos commenting

that it off ers the artist the possibility of experimenting

with various diff erent 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 defi ned, 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

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 defi ne

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 fi rst, and then edited on

the computer. He uses Photoshop brushes a lot,

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

QUICK TIP

Images in this style tend to be roughly composed, almost sketchy. Pieces are more atmospheric if not entirely planned out.



Luna, 2010, Photoshop, Illustrator.

This required a ballpoint pen, coloured ink, china ink and brush work before it reached digital realms

© Florian Nicolle

Deer, 2008. Photoshop.

With this image, the clarity that mixed media can achieve is clear

© Tetsuya Toshima

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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ed

ia

Artists are free to concentrate on their art rather than worrying about the latest clever techniques or the hottest piece of kit


Mixed media

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

design updated with the digital.” And the feeling is the

same for all these artists. Working in a fl exible 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 fi nd 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

Foreteller, 2009. Photoshop.

This images owes more of its visual look to artisan printing techniques.

© Alexander Ovchinnikov

Sis, 2010. Photoshop.

“I don’t have a specifi c way of doing things. I prefer to let subconscious impressions guide me”

© Raphaël Vicenzi

Bathroom, 2008. Photoshop. ‘Floating-in’ colour is a technique from watercolour and inking, but you can use it with digital brushes too.


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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 fi rst

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 o� en 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

QUICK TIPHand-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 o� en come in useful.

What inspired you to work in this style?

I’m inspired by Frank Miller and Peter Max’s

works, as well as fi lm and musical posters of

the Seventies, classic American comics, and

fi lms 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.

WEB: www.not-for-sale.ru

SOFTWARE: Photoshop

ALEXANDER OVCHINNIKOV

INTERVIEW:



My Nature, 2008. , Photoshop.

“Hand-drawn stuff is essential, but digital tools are also unavoidable because of the wonders they can create”


F-Spirit, 2008. Photoshop. This image demonstrates the so� ness that mixing the analog and the digital can achieve.

© Tetsuya Toshima

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http://www.not-for-sale.ru

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 fi nds that her fl oaty, 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 eff ective.”

In the case of a print advert for

Raspberry Absolut Vodka that Lotie

created in 2006, she traced the image on

paper fi rst, and then drew the basics of

her illustration around this. Then Lotie

scanned the lot into the computer and

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.”

WEB: www.lotie.com SOFTWARE: Photoshop

CASE STUDY WITH LOTIE


Mixed media

http://www.lotie.com

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 so� ware was appearing everywhere,

and that was refl ected 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 fi nally the novelty is no longer a

novelty. Nowadays I think that the fi nal result, the

fi nal illustration, is the most important thing, no

matter what process was involved in its making.”

sources: “These days it is almost mandatory to

draw on other media to fi nish 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

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



Unicorn, 2010. Photoshop.Here Alexander has used ink marks in a less traditional way rather than exploiting the classic inky look.© Alexander Ovchinnikov

Car, 2009. ink/Photoshop.© Florian Nicolle

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USE PHOTOSHOP BRUSHES, DRAWN ELEMENTS AND OTHER

TOOLS TO BUILD AN INSPIRED EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION

BLENDING MIXED MEDIA

Over the next few steps you’ll learn how to

use different techniques to build this inspired

digital collage. We’ll mainly be using

hand-made textures, the Lasso tool, brushes,

gradients and masks. We’ll start with a model

portrait, modify it and add different elements such as

hand-drawn make-up tools. We’ll also place

coloured brushstrokes on top of the model and then

remove aspects we don’t need. Once the main

features have been created and set in place it’s only

a matter of finishing the illustration with type and

then distressing the image slightly.

The key here is to experiment and take a

hand-made approach to achieve a nice balance.

Photoshop enables us to build up colours and effects

that would be near impossible to create rapidly with

real-world media. Although the process seems

linear, the illustration can be made with a few

back-and-forth adjustments, as well as experiments,

to find the final composition, colours and shapes.

FROM BASIC PORTRAIT TO

VIBRANT RESULT

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Build the base

Progress 2: Brush on elements

Progress 3: Add final effects

THE FOUNDATIONS IMPORT A PORTRAIT IMAGE INTO YOUR CANVAS

01START WITH A STOCK PHOTO

We start by creating a new canvas of 235 x

302mm at 300dpi and drag the model onto the

canvas. Next, detour the original image with the Pen

tool (P) and desaturate it (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+U). You can

slightly boost up the blacks and whites with the

Curves panel.

02TRANSFORM THE FEATURES

Duplicate the image twice, change the layer

mode to Multiply for the second copy, select the two

bottom layers and merge them. Add a layer mask

and fill the Foreground with black on the first layer to

hide the image. Use a soft brush set to white (Opacity

at around 40 %) to reveal the darker skin beneath.

03ENHANCE COLOURS

Select the top portrait image and create a

new layer beneath it. Fill this with a gradient (G) and

set it to Soft Light. Add a new layer beneath this, fill it

with another gradient but reduce its Opacity to

around 85%. Now use the Eraser tool (E) to remove

any parts covering the face.


RAPHAËL VICENZIwww.mydeadpony.com

OUR EXPERT

Raphaël Vicenzi, aka mydeadpony, is a Belgian illustrator whose creations are often used for magazine editorials. He is represented by Colagene.

SOURCE FILESOn the disc you will find textures and brushes used to create this image. You will need your own model image.

Mixed media

http://www.mydeadpony.com

04ADD IN NEW FEATURES

On a new canvas weÕll create a circle with

the Ellipse tool (U+Shift-drag to constrain the circle)

without a Stroke. Pick a tone, Ctrl/right-click, select

Rasterize then place a texture on top of the circle and

create a clipping mask with the texture layer (Cmd/

Ctrl+Opt/Alt+G). Set this layer to Divide, bring down

the Opacity to around 50% and merge. Create a copy

of this and resize it accordingly. You can also add a

circle filled with a pattern in the same way.

05IMPORT YOUR ELEMENTS

Now itÕs time to bring the new elements into

the original illustration. Drag them with the Selection

tool (V) in the original document and place them

behind the portrait layers. Playing with the effects is

key to finding balance, so keep adding more features

to further refine the distribution and donÕt hesitate to

move them around if needed. WeÕll also add a new

circle on another layer filled with an off-white colour

behind the portrait.

06CREATE MAKE-UP

On a layer above the portrait weÕll use

brushes from the Brush Preset palette (B) made

from scanned textures. Apply around the eyes to

create some original make-up, then softly erase the

parts that arenÕt needed with the Eraser tool at

around 40%. Also, paint the lips in red on a new layer

and set this to Linear Burn. WeÕll also tone down the

left and right side of the lips by softly removing the

colour with the Eraser tool set at around 30%.

08LAYER ON MORE MAKE-UP

You can draw even more elements using

different brushes on a layer. Create various layers (in

this case we need to place them in different areas)

then add swirling black lines next to the eye with a

small brush. Next weÕll draw two circles for the

cheeks and a brushstroke set to Darken placed next

to the head. WeÕll also add a few painted strokes

(using varying opacity) to bring some blue make-up

around the eyes.

07APPLY COLOURED SHAPES

On a new layer weÕll roughly create different-sized blobs by hand using the Lasso tool. You can click on

the Add icon to avoid holding Shift while making a few of these. WeÕll use the Gradient tool to fill these with

different gradients of our choice. Two more layers can be added in this way (dropping the previous selection

each time) with different-sized blobs. These can be placed and resized (Edit>Transform/Scale) accordingly

until weÕre happy with the composition.


Mixed media

10 BRING IN TEXTURE

Open the scanned watercolour texture then drag and drop it on top of all the

layers. Create a layer mask for the texture by clicking the icon at the bottom of the

Layers palette and then set this texture layer to Linear Burn. With a brush picked from

the Brush Preset palette we can mask selected areas while varying the size and

Opacity (between 80% and 30%). We’ll add splatters by selecting another brush and

applying blues and oranges.

11INCLUDE MORE ASSETS

We’ll now add other scanned elements into the illustration, such as a

wing and plant shape. Select the shape of the wing, create a gradient fill set

to Hard Light and then merge these layers. Next select the shape of the

plant, place it on top of a black-and-white scanned texture, Ctrl/right-click

the layer mask and choose Apply Layer Mask.

09 USE BRUSHSTROKES

On a new layer we’ll add a few coloured brushstrokes to bring more colours to the illustration. Pick different

brushes, vary their size via the Brush Preset palette and choose vivid tones from the Color palette. A bit of trial and

error is required, so it’s best to play around and see if something worth keeping appears.

QUICK TIP

The various elements used for an

illustration don’t need to be

complicated in themselves, but

applying and finding the right place

for them within the illustration will

help build something more

interesting for the final result.

Experiment with what works best

for you.

BUILD LAYERS AND ELEMENTS APPLY STROKES WITH YOUR BRUSHES AND TWEAK THE COMPOSITION

001 002 003

001We add in blobs of vivid colour with the Lasso tool and then fill these selections with a gradient.

002Layer on strokes over the eyes to create the make-up and then add a few more hand-made doodles.

003

Paint random brushstrokes with brushes of various sizes to find an interesting look for the illustration.



Apply around the eyes to create

some original make-up, then softly

erase the parts that aren’t needed with the Eraser tool at around 40%. Paint the lips in red on a new layer and set this to Linear Burn

FINALISE THE IMAGE REFINE YOUR MEDIA AND COMPLETE THE STYLISED EFFECTS

14REUSE AND RECYCLE

On the portrait layer, select the face of the model with the Elliptical Marquee tool,

create a copy on a new layer then choose Edit>Transform/Scale to reduce it to around

16%. We can then use an old mirror illustration from a source book and place it on the

canvas. We’ll create some lines with a simple black brush from the mirror to the face and

then merge these layers. Make a copy of these layers, flip them horizontally and place

them accordingly.

15APPLY MORE ASSETS

Now we’ll open a separate document to bring in new elements.

These are drawn directly into Photoshop with different brushes, while

observing reference material. We don’t want these to look realistic, so

just loosely draw them to maintain a hand-made look. The powder case

object can be colourised with pink and blue tones using a simple brush.

When you’re done, import these objects back into the original image

and position them.

12PLACE THE MEDIA

Add the new elements then move them around to find places

they’ll fit. By rotating, reducing and using different blending modes such

as Multiply, Lighten and Luminosity, we can experiment and find

effective combinations. You can place these new additions behind

existing elements if needed. Always remain flexible and try not to

overwhelm the result.

13INJECT SMALL

DETAILS

Create a line with the Line

tool, input a Weight of 2

pixels, select a gradient

and then rasterise it. We

can add a small circle

using the Ellipse tool and

constrain it with Shift.

Choose a red Fill without

adding a Stroke in the

Ellipse tool palette, then

rasterise this layer. Create

three circles using the

same method and fill

them with a grey gradient.


Mixed media

17SLIGHTLY DISTRESS THE IMAGE

Use the Clone Stamp tool (S) with a large

brush to distress the image, then add a new layer

and select Current & Below under the Sample

dropdown menu. Next, Opt/Alt-click to copy sections

of the image and then position them where required

using the Selection tool (V). Place this layer

underneath the coloured brushstrokes and other

elements so we can still see them and read the

words more clearly.

18FINALISE THE ILLUSTRATION

To finish, bring up the Curves panel in the

Properties palette and slightly boost the dark and

light areas. This may not be necessary if the

illustration is already quite vivid. Bring down the

Opacity to around 25% so it only slightly enhances

the image without overdoing it. We are now ready to

save the image at a high resolution. As weÕve kept

most of the layers intact we are able to rework the

illustration if needed.

16INCLUDE TYPOGRAPHY

Applying your own handwriting to add

typographic elements will continue the unique

hand-made aesthetic weÕre developing. Using the

same colour as the background, on a new layer

placed on top of the coloured strokes, we can write

something that suits the piece, in this case ÔMixed

MediaÕ. Write the words on a new layer using a

simple brush, vary the size to achieve some

authentic inconsistencies and set the layer to Screen.

TEXTURES

ItÕs more rewarding to create your own textures

from watercolours, acrylic paints or hand-drawn

doodles and then use them in your illustration

when brought in at a high resolution. A scanned

texture can be drastically changed with the help

of adjustment layers such as Hue/Saturation or

Brightness/Contrast to give them a sharper look

and feel. You can also add different textures on

top of one another then play with different layer

modes and opacities to add depth. Alternatively

you can easily turn these scanned textures into

Photoshop brushes to reuse in your projects.



The key is to experiment and take a hand-made

approach to achieve a nice balance. Photoshop enables us to build up

effects that would be near impossible to create rapidly with real-world media

Mixed media

03

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.

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.

02

TEXTURED BACKGROUND

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.

04

ADJUST THE WINGS’ COLOUR

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.

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.

We need to get back to our passion for design and

encourage artists to have the confidence to set trends rather than follow them

Included on this months disc is the Photoshop fi le of Stoop to Conquer at a smaller resolution. Also supplied are the various paint splatter textures which were used in the tutorial.

SOURCE FILES

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-profi le clients.

OUR EXPERT

JOSH OVERTONwww.overtongraphics.com

USING PAINT TEXTURES

ILLUSTRATE WITH BESPOKE TEXTURESCOMBINE AN EAGLE-EYE FOR DETAIL WITH PAINTED MEDIA


http://www.overtongraphics.com


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.

10

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.

08

PREDATOR

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.

07 MERGE AND FLIP

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.

09

HEY PRESTO

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.

06 RINSE AND REPEAT

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.

Shoot in neutral lighting and avoid

shadows of yourself or the camera on your paper

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.

PHOTOGRAPHING PAINT



14

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.

11

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.

15 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.

12 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.

13 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.

16 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!

Use a simple brush to add a nice glow effect

to each wing to provide some further depth and texture

LEARN HOW TO PRODUCE CREATIVE PORTRAITS USING

GEOMETRIC SHAPES AND PHOTOSHOP’S COLOUR ADJUSTMENTS

MASTER POLYGONS

RYAN BARBER

www.behance.net/rbarber

OUR EXPERT

Ryan is an illustrator, graphic designer and art director based in Los Angeles. Connecting with his clients and subjects on an emotional level is important to him for producing good work.

The popularity of isometric shapes in digital

art can be explained in many ways. This

blocky style is retro, it’s shiny and there’s a

lot of play involved when creating. There are plenty of

great examples online to get inspired by – www.

polygonheroes.com and the works of our artist Ryan

Barber (www.behance.net/rbarber), for example. In

this tutorial we’ll show you how to work from a

model photo, combining both Photoshop and

Illustrator to create exciting shape styles.

We’ll begin by using Illustrator’s Pen tool, and

show you how to trace a grid of carefully mapped

triangles on top of a photo. A more interesting

isometric illustration will have a map of triangles

that’s not evenly distributed. Therefore, we will be

adding and subtracting anchor points, and using the

Direct Selection tool to adjust triangle corners, in

order to distribute our shapes.

We’ll be using the Eyedropper tool, gradients and

swatches too, showing how these are all used to fill

and affect colour. After the initial vector drawing is

complete we’ll then take our design into Photoshop.

Here we’ll explore how to make overall colour

changes to our rendered design, using Gradient

Overlay, Levels and other color adjustments to

achieve a fantastic final image.

FROM ILLUSTRATOR TO PHOTOSHOP

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Begin the grid

Progress 2: Colour the shapes

Progress 3: Add adjustments

BUILD A BLUEPRINTUSE ILLUSTRATOR’S SHAPE AND SELECTION TOOLS TO BUILD A SHAPE GRID

03 PEN TOOL COLOUR

Now that your image is

locked you are ready to apply the

Pen tool, so activate it. Make the

Fill colour transparent and set the

Stroke colour to something that

will be easily visible when laid on

top of the image. In this case, a

bright magenta will suffice.

01PREPARATION

The first phase involves tracing a series of

triangles on top of a photograph, in Adobe Illustrator.

Create a new file at 6.66 inches x 10 inches. Hit File>

Place and find a start image. In this case we have

used a Dreamstime model (#18986388). Once the

file has been placed into Illustrator, lock the image.

02 LOCKING YOUR IMAGE

You can lock the image in one of two ways:

either lock the layer in the Layers palette or highlight

the image and then press Cmd/Ctrl+2. All your work

will be laid directly on top of this image. Once you are

done with the illustration, you won’t need the base

image any longer.

Mixed media


http://www.behance.net/rbarber

http://www.polygonheroes.com

http://www.polygonheroes.com

http://www.behance.net/rbarber

EXTRA VIDEO

TUITION ON THE DISC



04PEN TOOL WEIGHT

The next step is to set the weight of our Pen

tool’s stroke. We don’t need this to be too thick as our

marks will only work as guides. In the Stroke palette,

set a thickness of 0.02 inches – this will keep the

illustration thin enough for us to still be able to see

most of the photograph underneath. If your view of

the photograph’s details is obstructed then it will be

more difficult to map the grid.

07SECOND TRIANGLE

Activate the Direct Selection tool by pressing the A key. Our selection tool’s cursor will change in

colour from black to white. Click on the top triangle’s uppermost anchor point. Drag that anchor point down

and slightly to the right, as you can see in our example. The second triangle will now only share one common

side with the first triangle. We’ll keep on repeating this process of copying, pasting and dragging one anchor

point at a time until the photograph is covered with triangles.

08N TRIANGLES

Copy the second triangle with Cmd/Ctrl+C

and paste it on top of itself with Cmd/Ctrl+F. Apply

the Direct Selection tool to this third triangle’s top

anchor point and then drag it down as shown. The

third triangle should now only share one side with

the second triangle. We’re starting to get the hang of

this sort of application.

05FIRST TRIANGLE

It is now time to start mapping out a series

of adjacent triangles on top of the base photo. No

other shapes should be used here, and each triangle

should roughly cover one solid area of colour. Squint

when you’re looking at the start image – this helps

you to separate out the areas of colour. Draw the first

triangle by clicking at the top of the model’s hair then

completing a triangle that covers that section of hair.

06COPY AND PASTE

Select the first triangle and then copy it by

pressing Cmd/Ctrl+C. Paste it on top of itself by

pressing Cmd/Ctrl+F. We want this new triangle to

be adjacent to the first triangle. In other words, it will

share only one side with it. It’s important to generate

new triangles by copying them directly from the ones

that have been created before; if we don’t, our grid

will have holes and cracks in between the shapes.

QUICK TIP

The more detailed the grid becomes, the more

the viewer will want to look at it. Decide which

areas of the image you want them to focus on.

These areas should have smaller, more detailed

triangles. To create apparent contrast, add some

areas that are more basic.

Mixed media


10 CONTINUE THE GRID

It’s easy to just make all triangles the same

size because it speeds up the process. However,

resist the temptation. Really focus on varying the

sizes and shapes of the triangles. The more we vary

the locations of our shapes, the more unique our

illustration becomes. The reference images in the

screenshot, for example, show two circular shapes;

one is much more interesting than the other. So with

that in mind, continue mapping out your grid.

11SOLID COLOUR

You’ve got your grid – now it’s polygon time.

Grab the Eyedropper and sample a dark skin tone

from beneath the triangle we plan to colour first (see

the next screenshot). Add it to the Swatches palette

and the New Swatch window will then appear. If

you’re planning to print an illustration then set this to

CMYK mode. If you’re using an illustration online

then set this to RGB mode instead. Apply the Direct

Selection to the triangle and click on the new swatch.

12 GRADIENT SWATCH

Press I to activate the Eyedropper. In the

reference image, the red triangle has a light tan

colour and fades to a darker brown. Sample the tan

area to update the Fill colour in the Toolbar. Drag that

Fill colour to the Swatches palette, then repeat for

the brown colour. Drag both swatches into your

Gradient palette, delete the default black and white

swatches, then adjust the gradient slider so the tan

and brown colours are at opposite ends of the slider.

13 APPLYING A GRADIENT

From the upper-left corner of the Gradient

palette, drag the Gradient swatch to the Swatches

Palette. Click on a triangle and then the new swatch;

this applies it to the triangle. To specify the location

and direction of the gradient, select the triangle, hit G

and click where you want the gradient to begin, then

drag the cursor to the end point. Repeat this click-

and-drag process in different locations, adjusting the

gradient slider, until it represents the photo’s colours.

09 WORK WITH ANCHOR POINTS

Most triangles will share one common side with another triangle, but some triangles will only share a

portion of another triangle’s side. We’ll use the Add and Subtract Anchor Point tools to make precise edits to

the length of one of our triangle’s sides. This will provide much more flexibility in how we lay our grid out.

FILL IN COLOUR USE ILLUSTRATOR’S TONAL OPTIONS TO CREATE SOLID SHAPES

Really focus on varying the sizes and shapes of the

triangles. The more we vary the locations of our shapes, the more unique our illustration becomes

001We copied and pasted our initial triangle on top of itself, creating the second one. This is the triangle we want to edit.

002Select the right corner of the second triangle. Drag it to the left, to shorten the side, then use the Add Anchor Point tool.

003Select the second triangle. Activate the Subtract Anchor Point tool and click the far-right anchor point to remove it.

003 002 001



WORKING IN PHOTOSHOP FIND OUT HOW TO APPLY DETAILED ADJUSTMENT SETTINGS TO CREATE STYLISH EFFECTS

14ADJACENT COLOUR

As we fill our grid shapes with colours and gradients, we need to ensure we can clearly distinguish all

of our triangles. If any start to merge together then the image will begin to appear flat and lack that third

dimension. Colour hues, colour values or gradient angles may need to be adjusted. Refer to the base photo

for reference and remember; you should always be able to distinguish the edge of every side of every triangle.

15BEGIN WORK IN PHOTOSHOP

It’s time to add some colour adjustments and

lighting effects in Photoshop. Hit Select All then Copy.

Now open up Photoshop and create a new

document by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+N. Photoshop will

automatically set up the file to fit the dimensions of

your illustration. Once again, if you want to get this

printed then set your workspace to Image>Mode>

CMYK. If you want this illustration to be used online,

select Image>Mode and the choose the RGB colour

mode instead. Apply ‘Paste as ‘Pixels’ and press OK.

16BRING HAIR INTO PHOTOSHOP

We’re going to change the model’s hair so it

includes vibrant purple tones. In Illustrator, lock the

photograph by selecting it and pressing Cmd/Ctrl+2.

Select all of the shapes that form the hair, except the

buzzed area around her ears. Individually select each

triangle with the regular selection tool; hold down

Shift and click on each desired triangle, continuing to

add to the selection. Once you have the hair, hit Cmd/

Ctrl+C. Switch over to Photoshop and then paste.

17RENAME LAYERS

Back in Photoshop, we now have two

separate layers. The complete illustration should be

on the bottom layer and the layer with just the hair

should be set at the top of the stack. Change the hair

layer’s name from Layer 2 to Hair by double-clicking

directly on the layer’s name; a white box will appear

around it. Type in Hair and then press the Return key.

It’s always good practice to keep all layers intuitively

labeled, no matter how few layers a file may contain.

18LAYER STYLES

Now that we have an editable hair layer, we

can make colour changes to it. Double-click just to

the right of the Hair layer’s name; the Layer Style

dialog will appear. In the left-hand column of options

there are a lots of different Layer Styles. Select

Gradient Overlay. Photoshop will default the gradient

style to black and white, which will be previewed for

us. If you don’t see the applied gradient overlay, tick

the Preview checkbox under the New Style button.

QUICK TIP

Mapping out all the triangles perfectly in one go is

almost impossible. You’ll need to adjust areas so

that all the triangles butt up against each other

cleanly. Select all shapes and fill them with 100%

black. Remember which shapes need adjusting,

undo the black fill and then adjust accordingly.

Mixed media


19APPLY COLOR BURN

Set this Gradient Overlay’s blend mode to

Color Burn. This blend mode creates an interesting

effect by looking at the colour channel information

and then darkening the base colour, which it does by

increasing the contrast between the base and blend

colours. The next thing for us to do is click on the

gradient slider to activate the Gradient Editor. Here

we will specify which swatches will use.

20COLOUR STOPS

The first thing to do is to click on the small

black swatch at the bottom-left of the gradient slider.

This will activate the colour stop at the bottom-left of

the gradient, which you’ll find under the Stops

section at the very bottom of the window. Ours is a

black stop colour, as seen in the upper of the two

windows shown below; click on it to activate the

Select Stop Color dialog, which defaults to red.

21LONG HAIR BECOMES PURPLE

Click and select an area of purple in the

Select Color Stop colour swatch. Notice how the

woman’s hair now looks slightly purple. Click OK

twice to continue. We don’t want the purple to stand

out too much – it will look more realistic to dial the

opacity back a little bit. In the Layer Style dialog set

Opacity to 70%, Style to Linear, Angle to -100˚, Scale

to 75% and check the Align with Layer tickbox.

22ADJUST BUZZED HAIR’S COLOUR

The polygons are beginning to pop now as these vibrant gradients work with the defined edges. Next

we’ll make the model’s buzzed hair a darker purple. In Illustrator, copy these areas then paste into Photoshop.

Now we apply our new Gradient Overlay to this. Set the Gradient Overlay’s blend mode to Color Burn. Set

Opacity to 85%, Angle to 140˚, Scale to 115%, and then set the stop colour’s RGB values to R:83, G:0, B:136.

24ADD LEVELS

To finish, head to the bottom of the Layers

palette and click the Create New Fill or Adjustment

Layer icon, then select Levels. Holding down the Alt

key, click in-between the Ring Levels layer and the

Ring layer. Any edits you make in the Adjustments

palette will now be applied to the layer below it.

Change the first Output Level value to 45, as shown.

23ADJUST THE RING’S COLOUR

We’re going to make the ring a baby blue

colour. Go to Illustrator then copy and paste the ring

into Photoshop. Set the Gradient Overlay’s blend

mode to Overlay, then set Opacity to 100%, Angle to

119˚ and Scale to 150%. In the Gradient Editor, set

the left-hand swatch’s RGB values to R:168, G:209,

B:255 and the right-hand one to R:58, G:146, B:255.

QUICK TIP

Experiment further with blend modes by applying

a relatively low contrast photograph on top of

your illustration. Press Cmd/Ctrl+U to adjust

Hue/Saturation and activate Colorize. In the

Layers palette, select the drop-down menu to

play with different blend modes. The results are

fun and will make your image even more unique.




Mixed media


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

SOURCE FILES

BLEND GRAPHICS AND PHOTOSLEARN HOW TO COMBINE ILLUSTRATIVE, PAINTERLY ELEMENTS WITH AN ENERGETIC PHOTO

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.

MIKE HARRISON

www.destill.net

OUR EXPERTIn 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.

THREE IMPORTANT STAGES OF THE PROCESS

Step 16: It’s all in the details

Step 4: Place adjustment layers

Step 9: The base layer of paint texture

01CUT 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.

02CREATE 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.

PREPARATION AND ADJUSTMENTSLET’S GET STARTED WITH THE BASE MODEL

WORK IN

PROGRESS


http://www.destill.net

Mixed media


04INCLUDE 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.

05APPLY 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.

06INSERT A TEXTURE TO THE

BACKGROUND

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.

07INITIAL WATERCOLOUR TEXTURE

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.

08ADD 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.

QUICK TIPWhen 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.

03APPLY HIGHLIGHTS, SHADOWS AND

ADJUSTMENTS

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.

http://www.unsigneddesign.com/watercolor

http://www.unsigneddesign.com/watercolor



09SELECT 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.

10BACKGROUND 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.

11FOREGROUND

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.

To make the illustration more dynamic, energised

and painterly, we’re going to add a combination of paint splatters

INTRODUCE MORE COLOURUSE COLOUR EFFECTS TO BRING ACTION TO THE IMAGE

Mixed media


15PAINT 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.

14INTEGRATE 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.

FINISH UP THE ILLUSTRATIONADD MORE FLOW AND DETAIL FOR REAL VIBRANCY

QUICK TIPWhen 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 diff erent from one another.

12PLACE 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.

13DRAW 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.



16ALTER 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.

17FINER 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.

18FINAL 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.

BRING OUT TONES WITH CURVES

The photo in an illustration like this, containing an athlete, can always benefi t 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 fi ll 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 eff ect.

Mixed media


BLEND TYPE AND PHOTOSMASTER THE SKILLS TO INTEGRATE BOLD TYPOGRAPHY

WITH KINETIC PHOTOGRAPHY

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.

THE STAGES OF DESIGN

Step 13: Place the text

Step 2: Set up the letters

Step 9: Play with the Gradient tool

01 UTILISE THREE SIMPLE SHAPES

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.

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.

MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHINGLET’S GET STARTED WITH CREATING TYPE

WORK IN

PROGRESS

03 ADD MORE CHARACTERS

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.

On this disc you will fi nd 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.

SOURCE FILES

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.

JOSIP KELAVAwww.josipkelava.com

OUR EXPERT

http://www.josipkelava.com

Genius Guide




Mixed media

05 MIX THE SHAPES

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.

QUICK TIPKeyboard 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.

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.

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

04 EDIT THE BASIC SHAPES

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.

06 COMPLETE ALL THE LETTERS

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.

07 PLACE THE PHOTOGRAPH

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.



09 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.

10 COMPLETE THE BACKGROUND

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 ‘]’.

11 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.

12 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.

13 PLACE THE TEXT

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.

Photoshop enables you to refine the edge of your mask. Click on the Refine Edge

tool to adjust the hair and other tricky selections

INTRODUCE COLOUR GRADIENTSADD WAVES OF COLOUR TO CHANGE THE MOOD

PLAY WITH DIFFERENT

TYPOGRAPHY STYLESThere 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.

http://www.typographyserved.com

http://www.hypefortype.com

http://www.hypefortype.com

http://www.tendollarfonts.com

ALTERNATE

OPTION

Mixed media


USE SIMPLE PHOTOSHOP TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO MAKE

STUNNING GEOMETRIC SHAPES IN YOUR ARTWORK

MASTER THE PEN TOOL

Sometimes the most striking designs are the

ones that are actually very simple and

straightforward to achieve. Minimalism is

incredibly popular in the design world right now, with

geometric shapes taking precedence in web design, and

with fashion artwork hot on its heels. This tutorial will

show you how to use basic Photoshop techniques to

achieve a simple but beautiful photomanipulation that

could easily grace the cover of any glossy magazine.

CINEMA 4D will be used to render shapes, which will

then be imported into Photoshop. Flower photos were

used as a reference for the beige and rose colour

palette. Tools are not used extensively; this tutorial

instead encourages you to have fun making an

eye-catching but minimalist image. You will need to

use basic colouring techniques, the Pen tool and

blending modes, then play around with clipping

masks, layer styles and filters to finish. Let’s start!

WORKING WITH PHOTOGRAPHYUSE THE PEN TOOL FOR FULL CONTROL

03 REMOVE SKIN DEFECTS

To remove skin

imperfections, select them with a

round Selection tool and press

Shift+Delete, with the Content

Aware option switched on. You

can also use the Lasso tool for a

quick way to remove small

defects. With fashion artwork,

even the smallest imperfections

must be corrected, as this is the

thing that’s going to sell your

product to consumers.

01SEPARATE THE MODEL

Purchase the model photo (ID 30914224)

from Dreamstime.com. First, you need to cut out

the model from the background. Select the Pen tool

in Shape mode and start cutting around her. Leave

the head and hair for the next step. After selecting

the whole body, copy the layer from the selection.

02 CUT OUT THE HAIR

Cut out the head and hair and duplicate the

Blue channel. Select a soft round brush and switch

its mode to Overlay. Start colouring the hair black. To

colour white spaces, switch the brush mode back to

Normal. Go to Select>Load Selection and load the

Blue Copy channel. Copy the selection.

FROM STUDIO IMAGE TO FASHION ARTWORK

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Original image

Progress 2: Adding shapes

Progress 3: Final touches

TOMASZ KARTASIŃSKI/ WAGNER

www.behance.net/krv

OUR EXPERT

Kartasiński is a 24-year-old art director and graphic designer based in Warsaw, Poland. He is a huge fan of minimalism and music, in which he finds a lot of inspiration, and specialises in fashion artwork.



With fashion artwork, even the smallest imperfections

must be corrected, as this is what will sell your product

http://Dreamstime.com

http://www.behance.net/krv

08PLAY WITH BLENDING MODES

You can experiment with different blending

modes, as sometimes other modes will give you

better effects. You can always choose another colour

for the background or for the overlaying layer if need

be. The key is to stick to the palette and make the

whole artwork as smooth as possible in terms of

colour. ThatÕs why your palette layer is so important:

it helps you to keep the right mood within your

artwork. If you are happy with the colouring, you

should stick with it until the final colour correction.

06ADJUST THE SHAPE

To achieve a good shape for the dress, you

need to re-position the anchor points and delete

some of them. To do so, choose the Direct Selection

tool from your toolbar or hit the A key on your

keyboard. You need to make the dress as simple as

possible, so delete the points that are close to each

other. Leave just one point and go to another group.

Long, sharp lines will look much better than short

ones. In a while, you will reposition all of the points to

fit your renders.

05SHAPE OF THE DRESS

Using the Pen tool (P) with the Shape option selected, start drawing the main shape of the dress. It

should be sharp edged. You can adjust the anchor points with the Direct Selection tool by holding down the

Opt/Alt key while drawing with the Pen tool. When complete, once again leave this layer. You will be placing

pre-rendered shapes into it later. You can always go back and adjust the main shape, depending on the final

shape of the dress you want to make.

07APPLY COLOUR

Now go back to your colour palette. You

need to pick the main colour for the dress and one

that will overlay the whole artwork and background.

Set a new layer above your dress shape and simply

fill it with your chosen colour, setting the blending

mode to Overlay. Pick another less saturated colour

and place it on a new layer in the background. For

great results, copy this layer (Cmd/Ctrl+J) and place

it above all the other layers, setting the blending

mode to Color Burn.

04CHOOSE THE RIGHT COLOURS

ItÕs always a good idea to have a reference

colour palette. In this case, photos of flowers were

used. With the Eyedropper tool, select a couple of

colours from the reference images to build the

palette. Understated rose and beige colours were

chosen to give the model a sense of pure, natural

beauty. Now, create a new layer using Cmd/

Ctrl+Shift+N and make a couple of spots with the

picked colours using the Brush tool, then leave this

layer. You will need it later on.

QUICK TIP

Your reference colour palette is your best friend.

It helps you to keep the mood of your artwork

perfect and is one of the essentials to a

successful image. It can be simple, based on just

three or four colours, or larger, with many other

shades for the background, skin or environment.

It all depends on what you want to achieve.

Mixed media


GIVE YOUR IMAGE AN EDGY LOOKMIX PRE-RENDERED IMAGES WITH THE MODEL

09FINDING THE BEST SHAPE

A flat shape isn’t enough, so you need to use

pre-rendered images made in CINEMA 4D. The most

important thing is to set together parts of the

renders to fake the dress material. It must look as

realistic as possible. Take your time and think about

how you can connect separate elements. This is the

part where you can improvise and experiment. It is a

good idea is to search for some reference photos of

clothes and see how they lie on the models. Any

research you can do will benefit you.

12REPOSITIONING

When you have made your dress composition, you need to reposition your base shape. Select the

dress shape layer, hit A for the Direct Selection tool and move the points to fit your render shapes. There is no

need to follow them directly, but you need to stick with the lines. After the moving part is done, you can start

adding some colour. First of all, make a clipping mask from all the render layers to your dress shape layer so

that you can start adding some colour.

13COLOURING

Let’s head back to colour you chose at the

beginning for the dress. Move it above all the clipped

layers to the dress layer. Set the blending mode to

Overlay to give the colour effect a good look. You can

also play with others shades of your base colour, but

in this situation shapes are already a little bit shaded,

so a single colour should do the job.

10CUTTING SHAPES

You need separate elements that will fit

perfectly into your artwork. You can open pre-

rendered images and start cutting those shapes.

With the Pen tool (P) and Path option selected, start

cutting interesting pieces. After selecting the shape,

simply Ctrl/right-click>Make Selection, set Feather

Radius to 0 and hit OK. With this selection, hit Cmd/

Ctrl+J to create a layer via the selection. After that,

press Cmd/Ctrl+D to deselect. Go back to the main

image layer and separate another piece.

11MAKING THE COMPOSITION

When you have all of the shapes that you

need, you can start making the composition. Start

placing shapes over the dress shape and scale or

rotate the elements. You can also Distort or Warp

them to fit the fabric form. Remember to keep all of

the lines straight and try not to bend individual

elements too hard. It is okay for pieces to overlap.

The shading will be done in the next steps. Feel free

to transform elements as you like, but maintain a

realistic look.



Feel free to transform the elements as you like, but

try and maintain a realistic look

15SHADE THE HAND

Create a new layer beneath your hand layer

and select a round brush set at 50% Hardness. Draw

shadow onto the bottom-right side of the hand.

Shadows on the original image will help you to

decide the direction of your own shading. After that,

set layer Opacity to 40% and set the blending mode

to Overlay. Make another new layer, draw smaller

shadows and set Opacity to 60% on the first layer.

Then make shadows on the darkest places and set

their Opacity to 100%.

16MORE SHADOWS

You will now need to add more shadows on

the model’s body to help create extra depth and

more of a sense of realism. To be precise, make a

new layer with the clipping mask to the body layer.

With a soft round brush set at 100% Opacity and

1300 pixels, start shading in areas of the legs, hands

and neck that are beneath the dress. Set the layer

Opacity to 60%. Now you can use the Eraser tool (E)

to adjust the shadows and fit them correctly to the

body shape.

18ADD FLARES

This simple technique adds a more exciting

look to the dress edges. Simply create a new layer,

and with a white soft brush draw one spot. Then,

using a brush half that size, draw another spot in the

middle of first one. After that, hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to

transform this layer, and just scale in vertically to

make it look like an optical flare. Set the blending

mode to Overlay and rotate it to fit the edges. Copy

this layer (Cmd/Ctrl+J) and add it to the other edge,

changing the size of your flare.

17EVEN MORE SHADOWS

Now it’s time to focus on the dress. You need

to add some more depth to a couple of the

fragments and cast shadows. Use the Polygonal

Lasso tool to draw a shape and fill it with a black

colour. On a new layer over the rendered shapes, fill

the selection with black and go to Filter>Blur>

Gaussian Blur and set it to 5. You have to make it

look realistic as possible, so shadow will be smaller

nearer the connection of the shapes and will

disappear at the ends.

14ADD DEPTH

Now you will need to pull out the model’s

right hand from underneath the dress to add some

depth to your image. All you need to do is cut the

hand out from the original image using the Pen tool.

You will then need to make a selection with a 0.5

pixel Feather Radius and then hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy

the selection to a new layer. The next few steps of

the tutorial will show you how to add shadows to the

dress and the model to make the whole image look

more realistic.

TAKE CARE OF THE DETAILSPULL OUT SOME FANCY SHADING AND LIGHTS

CREATING 3D SHAPES

In this tutorial, you need to use pre-rendered

shapes made in CINEMA 4D. These are simple

cubes sliced with the Knife tool and then modified

point-by-point to achieve interesting shapes.

There are many more techniques you can use to

make these. You can find web-based shape

generators or just start playing with Photoshop.

With the Pen tool, you can draw shapes and fill

them with gradients to obtain similar effects.

Mixed media


Mixed media

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

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.

EXPERT PHOTOSHOP ARTIST MIKE CAMPAU BREAKS DOWN HIS

POPULAR SNOW JUNGLE ARTWORK TO SHOW US HOW IT’S DONE

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.

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.

ADVANCED SELECTIONS

On the CD you will fi nd 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 fi nd alternatives for.

SOURCE FILES

Mike is currently the creative director and lead digital artist at SeventhStreet, a small, collaborative design studio that’s located in Birmingham, Michigan.

OUR EXPERT

MIKE CAMPAU

www.seventhstreetstudio.com

Create a dynamic scene that integrates colour

type, multiple stock photos and hand-painted elements

DEVELOP ENERGETIC COMPOSITESUSE STOCK PHOTOS IN CONJUNCTION WITH MIXED MEDIA


http://www.seventhstreetstudio.com


03 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

QUICK TIP

Mixed media



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 PLACE YOUR 3D

TYPE INTO THE

SCENE

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.

12 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.

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.

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.


Mixed media

17 ADD SOME SHADOWS

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.

18 ADD SOME SNOW

SPRAY

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.

14 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.



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.

20 BLEND YOUR PAINT

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.

21 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.

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.

QUICK TIP

Mixed media


CREATE THIS FUN IMAGE

BY USING DIFFERENT

BLEND MODES, DODGE

AND BURN AND MORE

This image was inspired after watching a

documentary about space. To make an

image like this all you need is a simple

camera (or some stock images) along with basic

Photoshop skills, here using CS6.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use HDR

images with dodging and burning to achieve a

stylised effect on your image. We will show you how

to use different Blend Mode techniques, basic skin

retouching and explain working with your layers in a

non-destructive way. This means you can always fall

back on each step and change your settings if you

want to make adjustments. Some people prefer an

image with a lot of punch in the colours and some

take a subtle approach, it’s up to you how you want

to apply them in this tutorial. The great thing about

working with Smart Objects and adjustment layers is

that you are always in control.

There are a lot of different programs on the

market that can give your images an instantly

stylised look, but we prefer using Photoshop since it

provides a controlled working environment when

editing images. You can also achieve some very

impressive results in Photoshop by using basic but

effective techniques.

ZERO�GRAVITY EFFECTS

Geir akselsenhttp://supafly.no

OUR EXPERT

Geir Akselsen works as a photographer and web designer for an advertising agency in Norway. He started his career as a web designer, but has recently switched to mainly photography work.

SOURCE FILESWe have supplied all the images and elements used in the tutorial. The layered Photoshop files are also provided for reference as you follow the tutorial.



http://supafly.no

01ADJUST THE IMAGE

Open the image of the girl and hit Cmd/Ctrl+J

to duplicate the layer. Change the Blend Mode of the

duplicated layer to Vivid Light. Press Cmd/Ctrl+I to

invert the layer. Go to your Filter menu, choose

Blur>Surface Blur, set Radius and Threshold to 63,

click OK. Press Shift+Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+E to get a

new layer and delete the previous layer you applied

the blur effect to. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay.

04RETOUCH THE SKIN

Duplicate the Background layer and set its

Blend Mode to Vivid Light. Press Cmd/Ctrl+I to invert

the layer and convert it to a Smart Object. Choose

Filter>Other>High Pass, pick a Radius of 10, click OK.

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, choose a Radius of

2. Add a black layer mask to the Smart Object,

choose a white brush and paint on the layer mask.

07PLACE THE GIRL IN THE BACKGROUND

Import the little girl to the bathroom background. Go to File>Place and

double-click on the JPEG file of the girl you made earlier, then hit Enter. This will

open as a Smart Object, so we need to Ctrl/right-click on the Girl layer and choose

Rasterize Layer to make it editable. We now need to choose the Rectangular

Marquee tool to quickly cut away all the excess areas of the imported image.

02MANIPULATE THE SKIN

In the top menu go to Layer>New>New

Layer and in the dialog box name it ‘Soft’. Apply Soft

Light blending mode, adjust the Fill to 50% grey and

click OK. Choose the Dodge tool with a brush Size of

around 35 and Midtones and Exposure set to 15%.

Now we’ll dodge around her eyes to make the dark

areas lighter. If you want to apply the Burn tool, hold

down the Opt/Alt key to darken areas.

05OBSERVE YOUR CHANGES

The final steps are now finished. To see the

transformation, hold the Opt/Alt key while pressing

the little eye on the Background layer. This enables

you to see the changes. Save the Photoshop file in

case you want to go back and edit. After saving the

file, export the final image of the girl as a JPEG for

use in the main image. Now we can move to the

easier and less time-consuming parts of the project.

08CUT UP THE IMAGE

Zoom in to about 300%, choose the Polygonal Lasso tool and set a

1px Feather. Vary the Feather amount as you see fit, on some areas we’ll use

2 or 3px. Cut in small increments, so if you accidently cut in an area you don’t

want to, you can press the backspace button and Photoshop will revert to your

last move. When you come to the hair, increase the Feather to 5px.

03DODGE AND BURN THE CLOTHES

Again add a new layer, but this time name it

‘Hard’, set it to Overlay with a Fill of 50% grey and

click OK. Choose the Dodge tool, set Midtones and

Exposure to 15%. Press and hold the Opt/Alt key to

darken the shadier areas a little bit. This makes the

wrinkles in her clothes stand out and shine a little bit

more. Change the brush Size as you see fit when

making these alterations, so you can flexibly react to

how the image is taking shape.

06INSERT THE BACKGROUND

Open the bathroom background image, then

go to Image>Adjustments>HDR Toning. Put the

following values in the Settings window: Method

Local Adaption, Radius: 80px, Strength: 3.72,

Gamma: 1, Exposure: -0.32, Detail: +208%, Shadow:

+26, Highlight: +5, Vibrance: +39 and Saturation: +50.

If you want to use different settings, feel free to play

around with the numbers to suit your personal taste.

Mixed media


09ADJUST THE BACKGROUND

After we finish cutting out the girl we can adjust the Background colour a little. Click

on your Background layer, go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation and click

OK. In the Settings window we use the following: Hue: +11, Saturation: -3 and Lightness:

+5. Now adjust the colour of the girl a little by going to Image>Adjustments> Curves>Blue

Channel, set Output to 120, Input to 125 and click OK.

QUICK TIP

When using the Dodge and

Burn tool we recommend you

use a 50% grey layer. This will

give you much more control

over your tweaks. You can

always fall back and edit parts

by applying grey to the areas

you wish to change in the

Dodge and Burn layer.

10ADD MORE ELEMENTS

Now letÕs import the rest of the elements. Just like Steps 7 and

8, go to File>Place and double-click on the JPEG file you wish to import

then hit Enter. Choose the Rasterize layer to make it editable. Adjust the

element down in size a little to make it fit with the image and remember

to maintain the aspect ratio while doing this. For the last element, you

can add the water thatÕs been provided as its own PSD file.

13THE FINAL STEP

Now the image is more crisp after applying an

overall HDR Toning adjustment. Use your Clone Stamp

tool to remove the halo around the drawer handles, with

brush Size at around 45 and Flow at 75%. Add an

adjustment layer in Selective Color and choose Neutrals:

Cyan: 0, Magenta: 0, Yellow: 8 and Black: +10. Save the

final image and youÕve finished with the last step. There

are so many different possibilities you can choose when

messing with colour, so feel free to experiment.

11ALTER THE COLOUR

Now that you have all the elements added and

carefully put in place, you can play around a little with

the colour on each of them. We added some more

contrast to the objects and further blue in the Curves

layer to all the metal surfaces and the water. On some

of the items you can see the string we used to hold

them up for the photography shoot. This is easily

remedied with some application of the Clone Stamp

tool. Have fun choosing which items you want to be

floating where.

12MAKE FINISHING TOUCHES

Press the Hue/Saturation layer, add a new adjustment layer

above it, then choose Brightness and Contrast (-8 Brightness, -23

Contrast). Now weÕll add a new adjustment layer in Selective Color

above all the other layers. Choose Neutrals: Cyan: 0 Magenta: 0,

Yellow: -11 and Black: -2. Now save the image as a JPEG. Open the

file and choose HDR Toning, Local Adaption, Radius: 1 px, Strength:

3.40, Gamma: 1.00, Exposure: 0, Detail: +300, Shadow: 0%,

Highlight: 0%, Vibrance: +53 and Saturation: +20.



If you want to apply the Burn tool while

dodging, just press and hold down the Opt/Alt

key to darken areas of the image

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