Advanced Photoshop Magazine 2006.07 - Issue 24

7/27/2019 Advanced Photoshop Magazine 2006.07 - Issue 24

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Project files, desktopdesigns, stock art

pages of professionaltips & essential step-

by-step tutorials

ISSUE 24 5.I

9 7 7 1 7 4 8 7 2 7 0 0 9

The ultimate compositing and retouching masterclass

HAND-PAINTLINE ART

Shade with your airbrush tool

HOW TOMaster slicing techniquesHandle colour managementAdd artistic elements to photos

PERFORMING ELEPHANTS!Bob Elsdale reveals the secrets behind

his head-turning Photoshop work

C R E A T E

T H I S

C O V E R

U S I N G

T H E F I L E

O N

T H E F R E

E C D

6-PAGE STEP-BY-ST

PHOTOSHOP WITH BITE

ART PRINT SERVICESCreate your own professional merchandise


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Cover imageOnce again Jerry Lofaros stunning artwork adorns the front page of AdvancedPhotoshop. However, this image is extra special as you have the chance to tryout the techniques yourself in the second instalment of our Creating art fromtoys Masterclass. Simply load up the CD found on the inside back cover andlocate the project file to get star ted.We hope that youll be astounded by the sheer amount of detail and carefullyapplied Photoshop techniques that were used to create the f inal image as muchas we were. To follow the steps used to create the cover turn to page 48

Imageer: JERRY LOFARO

THIS IMAGE IS EXTRASPECIAL AS YOU HAVE TCHANCE TO TRY OUT THTECHNIQUES YOURSELF

Cover

4Advanced Photoshop


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4/836Advanced Photoshop

inside...

ISSUE #24

THE COVERYou can test your Photoshopabilities and recreate this monthscover image by Jerry Lofaro usingthe starting image on the CD

LETTERS 7 10Our readers comments and feedback

INSIGHT 7 12News and showcases from around the globeAll the latest events, exhibitions and awards 12

Satoshi Matsuyama showcases his work 18

Check out Sue Masons wonderful portfolio 22

We feature the work of Wendy Farrow 24HELPDESK 7 78Your technical traumas shared with fellow readersand answered by our expert

RESOURCES 7 85Vital assets to improve your Photoshop work Printing services 86

Books 90

Fonts 92

Clip art 94

THIS MONTHS CD 7 96Superb stock art, project files to go with thismonths issue and more!

S U B S C

R I B E . . .

T u r n t o

p a g e 7 6

a n d s a v

e s o f f

t h e c o v

e r p r i c e 56

Tim Shelbourne shows youhow to recolour

48 Part two of JerryLofaros tutorial

MOVING ELEMENTS 7 32We show you how you can give your still images

a sense of motion by layering up and addingblurred and vector elements to a source image

42 How to colourand shadowline art

R e c o m m e

n d s


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FEATURES

INTERVIEW: BOB ELSDALE 7 26Find out how Bob creates his animal-based manipulations

COLOUR MANAGEMENT 7 36How to achieve perfect Photoshop results every time

MANGA COMPETITION 7 70We showcase the winners of Issue 22s Japanese challenge

PEER PRESSURE 7 72Inspiring and challenging images from your fellow readers

ROUND UP: MONITORS 7 80Display your work on these superb LCD models

PRINTING SERVICES 7 86Create your own merchandise and make more from your art

TECHNIQUES

Faster, better, more How can you work smarter?

ADDING MOVEMENT 7 32We show you how to bring still images to life

COLOUR AND SHADING 7 42Have fun learning the techniques of colouring line art

IMAGE RECOLOUR 7 56Learn how to dramatically alter light and colour

INSIDER INFOIMPORTING 7 62Place Illustrator files into Photoshop professionally

COLOUR CORRECTION 7 64Protect your copyright the easy way

INSIDER INFOSLICING 7 68Use the Slice Tool to create images for the web


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but it always takes me so long to find exactly whatIm after and I have to work around thecomposition of the image. I would love to be ableto have the skills to snap up my own images but Ihave no idea where to start. Im absolutely uselesswith a camera and Im not sure my 3 megapixelcompact is up to scratch. Are there any cheapcourses I can go on to gain a few skills?

Editor replies:Just because youre a great Photoshoppershouldnt mean that youre also an instantly greatphotographer. You should have the skills to fixproblematic images so dont worry if theyre notabsolutely perfect. Its more important to have theget up and go to snap up your own images, nomatter how mundane they are. Even the mostinanimate of objects can be very useful if youremaking up Photoshop art from scratch. If you didwant to become a master of the lens as well as amaster of layers then check out www.cityandguilds.com . You can search by postcodeto find a course that suits you. Alternatively, take alook at our sister magazine Digital Photographer. If youre worried that your camera isnt up to scratchthen there are plenty of reviews and buyers

guides to help you find some good deals.

SUBJECT: Out of AfricaFROM: Kidd via forumI was caught off guard by your wonderful

dvanced Photosh

On theforumBe part of the thriving AdvancedPhotoshop forum and chat with like-minded peers. Simply log onto www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum tosign up

Subject: Issue 22s Head to HeadFrom: LorraineA fabulous head to head from Rev. Im notnose-browning here, but I actually liked hisbetter. At least he put a dancer on it, Drewsheads could have been anywhere. Still, theywere both excellent.

Oh, and a timely article on Manga, seeingas Im just getting into this, and no, I am notan Otaku.

Subject: Photoshop gamesFrom: LorraineIf you happen to be suffering from creative

block why not go and see how accurate youcan be with your selections by logging ontowww.freshbloodinfo//games.php?id=no-name-game-1 . If you crack game one, trygame two, its hard. You may have todouble-click on the red dot to start. Bewarned, its addictive.

Subject: Brush setsFrom: Trinity-of-one These brush sets are non-commercial only,but theyre very nice!www.strangeangels.net

Subject: Scanning art tutorial, issue 20From: m.barnesIve just bought a French curve set fromwww.graphicsdirect.co.uk . I really like theidea of having hand-drawn elements; tome, hand-drawn means drawn andscanned in.

I WOULD LOVE TO BE ABLETO HAVE THE SKILLS TOSNAP UP MY OWN IMAGES

STARTING IMAGE: Take your time to

find the best starting image if you want tocreate Photoshop art to impress.

GAME DESIGN: Many of you have written in totell us how much you enjoyed Luke Ahearns featurelast issue

magazine whilst working by a news stand. Im justa beginner and its very hard to get a magazine likethis to inspire me in Ghana, Africa where Im from.Im having a blast with it!

Editor replies:Its fantastic to hear about all the far-flung cornersof the earth where Advanced Photoshop pops up.Wed love to hear from more overseas readers.


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Keeping an eye on the latest trends in contemporary photography, art and design, Insight sets outs to snapshot innovation in the making

12Advanced Photoshop

Telly-addicts among you are sure to have noticed BBC1s brandnew channel identity, which launched last month. In an attemptto modernise the brand impact of the channel, the forefathersof telly decided to ditch the dancing and gymnastics of theprevious idents in favour of something a little more design led.

Now the channel is symbolised by various connotations of a circle a symbol that has stuck with the channel for manyyears. Advanced Photoshop has cast its eye over at least eightnew graphics so far, each one adopting a creative take on thecircular formation. Among our favourites are the 3Dsynchronised swimming hippos (how could you not love them?)created by the Framestore CFC design team, who were alsoresponsible for the BBC Walking With series.

Other themes include four surfers riding the perfect tube of a

wave (below right), a circular stunt kite formation as well as aspiralling circle of light caused by a London apartment blocks

window reflections. The new identity is the brainchild of RedBee Media, with creative director Charlie Mawer taking the reinsof the project.

As anticipated, there has been a furore from the tight-fistedsector of licence-payers, who have voiced their disgust at TVlicence-payers money being ploughed into unnecessarydesign changes. But here at Advanced Photoshop we applaudthe Beeb for pulling their finger out and moving things forward any design developments are welcome break from thoseirritating clips before them.

The clips first aired at the beginning of October, so keep youreyes peeled!

BBC turns full circle

www.bbc.co.uk

W H A T IF ? : T he hi p pos w e r e c r e a t e d b y F r ame st or e C F C , and e x pl or e s w hat i t mi ght l ook l i k e i f ad ul t hi p pos c oul d sw i m

ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?: A favourite with theAdvanced Photoshop team, this can be seen on TV now

R IN G A R O S E S : T he children pla ying here were f ilmed in the

meadow of a garden at C oton Manor, C oton ,Northants

HANG TEN: This was filmed at Puerto Escondido on

Mexicos West Coast, famous for its regular big surf

FULL MOON: This depicts a group of people takingthe moon out and piecing it together on the horizonAll images BBC


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12.06

DIARYDATESSTATE OFTHE WORLDUntil 2 December

National Theatre, London

PLAYBOYUntil 7 April 2007

Proud Camden, London

AT THE EDGEOF SPACEUntil 7 January 2007

National Maritime Museum

Fired up with SparkFor those of you who are pining for a new project to sink yourteeth into, then the Spark Design Awards are the answer. Thisbrand-new competition is crying out for hot design talent toshow them what theyve got.

Professionals and non-professionals alike are invited to enterfor the chance to win unprecedentedmedia coverage for the following year. Itcertainly sounds to us like a greatopportunity for newbies to the designstage looking for a launch pad into theindustry, or else those more experienceddesigners needing a bit of oomph toboost that flagging career.

There are a broad range of categoriesincluding graphics, product, transportand architecture to name a few and thegeneral deadline is 15 December 2006.

Previous entries have showcased

some exceptional talent, with just acouple of the entries featured to theright of this story.

If it sounds like something withinyour grasp, then hop onto www.sparkawards.com for more details. Its agreat opportunity to put all your Advanced Photoshop skills into practice!

TAXI ANYONE?: Anythinggoes with this competition,so get creative withwhatever whets your whistle A new taxi concept for Designtrust.org,New York. Bob Brunner,Industrial Designer,Pentagram Design

SKY HIGH: For thosewith a penchant for architectural design, thenthis competition lets your imagination run wild. Dubai Sun Tower,Michael Kirchmann,architect, SOM NY


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insight

14

Flake out

www.kapitza.com/shop

Adva ced Photoshop

If youre one of the masses who encourages the bombardment of prematureChristmas images and products into our lives long before weve even pulled outthe winter woollies, then youll probably be eager to hear about the newsnowflake vectors from Kapitza.

The Snow collection consists of 40 separate vector illustrations, which can beoverlayed to create the snowflake of your choice. Snowflake fanatics will bepleased to know that the EPS files can be edited in Adobe Illustrator, FreeHand,CorelDRAW and Xara Extreme.

Keeping it in the family, the snowflakes are the creation of London-basedsisters Petra and Nicole Kapitza, who forged their design partnership back in2004. They specialise in illustration and book design, as well as venturing intothe world of art and exhibitions too. They host a jam-packed website full of fonts, vector art and illustrations to buy, and we are particular fans of theirmost recent font release a pictographic representation of life in the East Endof London. If you fancy picking up a design delight or two, or simply need abit of inspiration, then log onto www.kapitza.com/shop .

B LO S S O M Y : T his i s an unusua l but st r i k i ng f ont mad e u p of 7 2 i mage s of pl ant s and f l ow e r s

ABSTRACT ART: If youneed graphics to use in your artwork then Kapitza offersgood prices and varied works

IN PERSON: Kapitza stockswork for every imaginablecategory, including thesecolourful images of people goingabout their daily lives

S N O W : T h e i n t r i c a t e s n o w f l a k e s

a r e t h e c r e a t i o n o f s i s t e r s P e t r a

a n d N i c o l e K a p i t z a


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12.06Head down to Photofusion gallery in LondonsColdharbour Lane this month to take a look at this yearswinners of the Shoot Brixton photography treasure hunt. The madcap event takes place in Brixton every year atown that plays host to some of the worlds most inspiringmusical artists.

The photography treasure hunt took place last monthand called upon the wit and creativity of the entrants tosolve clues and record their answers in the form of pictures. The hunt is based around clues about Brixtonsrich heritage and takes around five hours to complete.

The event is organised by creative events company,Shoot Experience, who organises events like these all overthe UK and USA.

Check out the antics of this years Brixton contestants atthe Photofusion gallery where all the winning images canbe viewed. If youre feeling energetic and are looking for

details of up-coming Shoot Experiences then log ontowww.shootexperience.com now.

Photo frenzy

DIARYDATES

Advanced Photos

WATER SLIDE: Be prepared for anything when you join the Shoot Experience. The Late Developers, shootexperience.com

Anyone for tea?:Creative types can get up to all sorts in theShoot Brixton event. Team ceasefire,shootexperience.com

www.shootexperience.com

DYSON STUDENTDESIGN COMPETITIONDeadline 18 December 2006

www.dyson.com/designaward

EPSON PRINTACADEMY SCHEDULE2 December

Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown Atlanta

STATE OF THEART SYMPOSIUM11 November 2006

New School of Design, New York

ROUGH BEAUTYEXHIBITION

Until 16 DecemberClampart Gallery, New York

ECTOPIAUntil 7 January

International Centre of Photography,New York

I f youre look ing to pack up your pro jec ts in to nea

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insight

Satoshi Matsuyama RIS IN G U P O N K E E H ALF P AS T T H E D AW N : T hi s s e c ond ima ge of a t w o- par t s e r i e s is e x hi bi t e d b y S a t os hi on a c anv as me as ur i n g a s t a g ge r i n g 7 6 -i nc he s x 10 2 -i nc he s Even the most impossible dream is made possible with Photoshop coinsJapanese artist Satoshi Matsuyama. Take a look at his images and youinstantly know where hes coming f rom; Satoshis idyllic landscapes areriddled with dramatic, glorious skies and a big helping of serenity. Conveyinga message to an audience is a big part of Satoshis style. A keen jazz andgospel musician as well as a digital ar tist Satoshi thinks that music and art arethe universal languages for the world. Just as I found that I had used musicto convey my passionate feelings to my audience, I could also use ar t.

Satoshi has built up a photographic library consisting of around 300 shots

taken on his Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II that he uses as a basis for his designs. Aseach image consists of so many high-res base photographs each creationmeasures between a staggering 30- 60GB, the largest and most elaboratedigital image data in the world and are the result of working 4am-6pm everyday. This vast size allows his images to be printed up to 80-inches in width,printed onto pure canvas and mounted on four wood panel. Being a taughtEvangelist the process of presenting the final artpiece is important to Satoshi,it is imperative that these works be displayed on the walls of galleriesaround the world. To truly understand the messages from our Creator theseworks must be viewed with the naked eye. Of course, a computer screendoesnt really do these images any justice, so Satoshi regularly exhibits hiswork worldwide./ www.love-peace-happiness.com

MANOA ALII ROYAL VAST : I dedicated this work to Tasuku Hamada

and his new company, Task PlanningCo Ltd. Our chief, Tasuku has only just begun on his master plan for Hawaii



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12.06

BREATH OF HEAVEN: This image is located at Lanikai (meaning Heavenly Sea and Sky) and theMokulua Islands of Oahu at dawn. My kids aresweeping in on a longboat

CALLED INTO HISMARVELLOUSLIGHT AT BALIHAI: God compacted thisblessed island into550-square miles. Analmost perfectly

round island withscenic beauty,natural wonder and a sense of mystery

KEE SUN UP: I arranged the moon and the birdsout of the golden section intentionally to create afloating, drifting atmosphere. This was a great suggestion by Japanese art master Ryan Shoda

dvanced Photosh


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insight

22

INVENTORS: A boo k cove r for Faber &Faber. The main imagery was created inIllustrator, while the explosion background was created in Photoshop using variousselections of found imagery

GIRAFFE 2: The characters were created in Illustrator and the background, patterns, shadows and glow highlights were added in Photoshop. The crumpets on thetree were photographed digitally and colour manipulated to make them blend into the tree

FESTIVAL: Created for MindGames magazine, thiswas done in Illustrator with patterns and shadowsadded in Photoshop

FAME: Entitled Fame joins the OCDClinic, this wascreated for www. poison-controlsbook, series 2 Fameand Misfortune

22


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12.06

SCOOTER: Rude Nan was a hand-drawn character that was scanned inand coloured up in Photoshop. A pattern fill was applied to Nans dress

Sue Mason didnt embrace digital technology fromthe outset, although you wouldnt guess looking ather illustrations. I was forced reluctantly onto acomputer when I got my first job on leaving

college, she tells us. Id managed to avoidcomputers before that, favouring the faithfulphotocopier, cutting, pasting and screenprinting. Then I started designing at Walker Books and myboss patiently introduced me to Photoshop. After afew years I decided to get the illustration up andrunning again, and by then it felt quite natural touse a digital medium.

Sue studied Foundation Art in Brighton, followedby a degree at the University of Northumbria,Newcastle. It was a good course because itallowed me to study both graphic design andillustration. Plus, we got to go to Barcelona and visitthe studios of artists like Mariscal and Peret. It wasall very inspiring and made me quite dewy-eyed.

To create her images Sue roughs them out first inpencil, scans them in and creates in Illustrator. Thisis then imported into Photoshop where textures,shadows and highlights are added. Alternatively, Iscan in a line work and then go straight toPhotoshop to build up colour, flator patterned.

Currently, Sue is illustrating fictional titles withKingfisher publishers, A&C Black and BarringtonStoke. She has also just completed a sinister robot-theme book cover for Faber & Faber./ www.suemason.net

Sue Mason

ROCKET: A robot toy was photographed from all angles for this piece and colour-tweaked in Photoshop

APPLE: Alfi e Appl e was a char acte r crea ted in Illus trato r.The textures, shadows and toothbrush were added inPhotoshop and colour tweaks were carried out

BUBBLEGUM:These werecharacters

developed for theGreenwich Festival of Writing 2006. The pattern texturesand rattlemovement werecreated using layersat varyingtransparenciesin Photoshop


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insightWendy FarrowIn 1996 Wendy received an Award of Excellence fromthe Vancouver Film School in their Digital ImmersionCourse. Prior to this course I had never even touched

a computer and so it took me a while just to co-ordinate the mouse and the cursor.Her distinctive images dont instantly scream

Photoshop despite the fact it plays an essential part inthe design process. People often apologise for callingmy images paintings because they know they arecomprised entirely of my photography, but they havetrouble describing them as photographs, UK bornartist, Wendy Farrow tells us, to me, seeing my work as paintings is the greatest compliment.

When gathering starting images for her creationsWendy seeks out morsels of light that might belong ina Renaissance portrait and looks for emotional textures

and surface markings that look like something I mighthave painted if I had the patience.Photoshop comes into play right from the beginning

of Wendys art. Once I have scanned thetransparencies that I intend to use I open Photoshopand begin with the defining images as a base, a kind of under-painting layer on which to build. If the image ismore about the texture than the colour I will duplicateand desaturate it so that the colours do not rule outsubsequent layer choices. I then try layering on images

that I believe will convey the message or emotion thatIm after. Wendy erases, clones and swaps bits of textures from layer to layer, experimenting with order

and blends. When I start to see something takingshape it becomes easier to recognize what kinds of textures or objects I need to dig out of my library inorder to take it in the desired directions. In terms of Photoshop filters Wendy only tends to use the UnsharpMask and various blurring functions to soften, addintensity or provide a colour tone layer.

Keep an eye out for Wendys work at theInternational Art Fair in Toronto this November./ www.wendyfarrow.com

THIRST: Sometimes we get involved with peoplewho simply deplete us emotionally and spiritually

FROM BRIDGE: Standing on my favourite bridge over the Seine I could strongly sense the history of the city right up to that moment. This overwhelms me occasionally



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dvanced Photosh

SPILL: We need to learn to express our emotions when and where we feel them.Otherwise the pressure can cause irreparable damage

O N T H E W A Y : O f t e n I w oul d he a d out f or t he d a y w it h a pur pose , only t o be d r aw n i n anot he r d i r e c t i on b y t he l i ght

MORNING: Some people have a hard timeseeing the two faces in this creation. I have totrace them out or show them the sculpture. I like that because theyre able to see this as anabstract first and then they are pleasantly surprised by the underlying image

SOMEONE ELSE: This image is in referenceto our confining definition of beauty. Peopleask me if shes trapped on the inside lookingout, or the other way around. I suggest that its better if they answer that for themselves



B ob Elsdale lives in a quiet suburbanstreet in Willesden Green. Not only is ita home and a workplace, its also theresidence of a plethora of pets. There are cats,dogs, fish and more recently a loveable two-week-old piglet named Petal.

When we arrive at Bobs home, Petal issprawled out on a cushion in the living roomwithout a care in the world. Not even Tom andBarbara Good would have been able to

domesticate a pig so well.Theres a very valid reason why Petal is socarefully brought up and made to feelcompletely comfortable around her humanhousemates. Shell soon be playing a starringrole in Bobs intricately constructedPhotoshop-based work as part of hisforthcoming publication Pretty in Pink: Why itsgood to be a girl , and her experience in beinghandled will inevitably help a photoshoot go awhole lot smoother. Try picking up anundomesticated pig off the ground, and thebloodcurling squeals will quickly show you

that you have absolutely no chance of persuading the animal to take part in anykind of elaborate photoshoot!

The backgroundWith a background in advertising, Bob took astep away from the traditional stock imageryindustry to start a blossoming career creatingcomposite images. A country boy at heart,Bob was brought up surrounded by animals,

and like a Doctor Doolittle of the imagingworld, always had a knack of communicatingwith them in one way or another.

To confirm the success of his animal-basedimagery, you only have to check out theglobal shipments of his current book Grey Matter: Why its good to be old , a glorioushardback recently printed in over fivelanguages. The turnover of Bobs work ismassive, and conveniently has a longer shelf life than other stock imagery. (One of thegood things about animals is that they dontget hairstyles or clothes that go out of

BOB AND ROSIE: Many of the new imagesto be featured in Bob and Vasilisas forthcomingbook will feature Petals predecessor, Rosie

PET SHOPWe trotted up to North West London to meet the man behind magical animal-based Photoshop comps, Bob Elsdale, his young Russian associate, Vasilisa and his pet piglet, Petal


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Bob Elsdale


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Inter view

AND THERES PLENTY OF TIMETO GET ON BOARD: Elephants aresuch intelligent creatures

WATER RAT: This rat is either terrified and trembling at the thought of his inevitable deathfrom the waterfall below or an extreme sports rat you decide. Thats the beauty of Bobs work

VASILISA: My assistant, Vasilisa has great vision and aneagle eye for detail. Her childish mind rivals mine at times

Advanced Photoshop28



date.) Not bad for a post-graduate student whodropped out of a photography course at theLondon College of Printing almost 30 years agoand hasnt had a proper job since.

Although Bob is master behind the lens, thesuccess of his images comes down to his skill increating the most carefully constructed imagemanipulations. I always liked image manipulation,and had loads of experience doing that before

the computer came along, such as performingmanual methods on transparency and evenbefore that I did a lot of front projection work.

Despite his grounding in traditional filmphotography, Photoshop has played a part inBobs life since the original release. The ImageBank Photo Library, which I had a contract with,sent a few deserving people out to New York tosee a new image manipulation program at theApple Center and that was Photoshop 1.0. I wasgobsmacked and I loved it to pieces. I rushedback to the UK very motivated and bought myself a Mac, as big a speced Mac as you could possibly

get. I crammed as much memory into it as I could,and it was hugely expensive. The first Mac paidfor itself from the image manipulation feescharged on the first big job using Photoshop.

Take a look at Bobs images and you may behard-pressed to figure out exactly what has beencaptured straight with the lens and what hasbeen comped in Photoshop. This is partly to dowith the magical working relationship he haswith his models, but mainly the meticulousplanning involved before the shoots take place.

Ive always considered an image a success if itlooks as though Ive never been there in the firstplace and it isnt a comp, he tells us.

All Bobs images start with a brainstormingsession, with the help of his assistant, Vasilisa.Generally speaking, we draw out a plan of what

we want to do a little sketch. Vasilisa is a lotbetter at drawing than I am, but you can onlydraw it out so far. You can imagine what its likeworking with animals you never know quitewhat youre going to get, says Bob. Vasilisa adds,Some mornings I wake up and see a picture of what we should do in front of my eyes.

Inspect any of the images in either his Grey Matter or Pretty in Pink series and check out the detail

surrounding the comped construction, and youcant fail to be impressed. The sheer amount of detail in the shots is phenomenal, thanks to thewell photographed source imagery captured oneither a Hasselblad or a Canon EOS 1D Mark II. Ishoot on a green and blue screen so I can matte

Bob Elsdale

ABOVE: Bob wascommissioned totravel extensively for this one image. If youlook closely, eachsection aligns with thenext perfectly


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it out using Ultimatte AdvantEdge software. It actsas a Photoshop plug-in and is a real bargain.Youve got the technology of a whole blue/greenscreen motion picture with all the algorithmsincorporated in a 200-300 program.

Bob has access to two studios, one in Lambethand one down the bottom of his garden where hehas free rein to build up sets to suit the designconcept. As he begrudges using other peoplesbackgrounds, a lot of time is taken photographingevery single element to use within the image,even if it means jetting off around the world tocapture a trained elephant in Los Angeles orbackdrops of Sydney, Paris, Spain and London foran advertising promotion showing caf culturesaround the world. I shoot anything that needs

serious masking on a blue/green screen, as theUltimatte software makes it easy to mask out.Subjects like elephants dont need to be shot infront of a screen, as theyre hard-edged.

Unlike traditional masking methods inPhotoshop, the Ultimatte software that Bobheavily relies on to produce his images doesntrefer to edges, but transitions. Theres alwayssome degree of overlap between the backgroundand the foreground, so your image can suffer fromcontamination of the background into theforeground, Bob explains. If you photographsomething on a bright blue sky, you may not

notice but theres going to be some blue creepingaround the edge of that subject. Thats what theUltimatte software is very good at. If you shoot asubject on blue, it will extract everything blue andreplace it with background pixels in the comp.

The result is a masked image that showsminute precision. You get the right kind of transition to the point where you can mask photos of liquids and smoke, which normally

youd never be able to do. Ive worked with a fewother plug-ins but they dont work in the sameway. It sounds easy until you take a very close look at Bobs original images before Photoshop cameinto the equation, and you see how sharp andwell exposed his shots are.

Its action stations at Bob Elsdales studio atthe moment, with around another 10 or 12images still to be created for Pretty in Pink , but forthe time being everything is on hold until Petalthe piglet has grown big enough to stand in as areplacement for his previous pig and model, Rosie.We pretty much know what the images are


going to be shots of her with birthday cakes andother retail therapy-based images.

Whatever Bob and Vasilisa come up with, youcan be sure itll not only be a great example of Photoshop but will raise a smile from any viewer./ Bob Elsdales and Vasilisas book Grey Matter: Whits good to be old is at all good book stores.

Inter view

TOP: Entitled Feel free, you can do

anything you like, thelandscape was shot at Saunton Sandsin Devon

ABOVE: To keep thecolour paletteconsistent with the pink theme of thebook, the decision wasmade to remove thisimage altogether

W e h a v e 3 s i g n e d c o p i e s o f B o b s l a t e s t

b o o k G r e y M a t t e r : W h y i t s g o o d t o b e

o l d t o g i v e a w a y . T o s t a n d a c h a n c e o f

w i n n i n g , s e n d i n y o u r a n i m a l - b a s e d

i m a g e s t o e m m a .c a k e @ i m a g i n e -

p u b l i s h i n g .c o .u k . La b e l y o u r e m a i l

c l e a r l y w i t h t h e s u b j e c t h e a d e r G r e y

M a t t e r c o m p e t i t i o n . W i n n e r s w i l l b e

n o t i e d b y 2 0 t h o f D e c e m b e r .

W I N


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T heres nothing more exciting for a Photoshopartist than being given a luscious sourcephotograph to play around with.You dont have to worry about sitting in front of a

blank, white canvas staring longingly for inspiration asmost of the hard work has already been done for you. If you have been asked to adorn your photographs with

1 Set up your canvas The original image doesntoffer much room forexperimenting in Photoshopand it would be better if thecanvas was larger to give usmore room for manoeuvre.Weve added more canvasto the top and bottom of the image by altering thecanvas size (Image>CanvasSize) and adjusting theheight to 297mm.

Give your images a senseof movement using vector overlays and blur effects

illustrative elements there are a few procedures youshould bare in mind. Its no good simply placingelements over your source image with no recognitionfor the shots style and composition.

Take a look at the original image in the bottom right.Its a cracking snap the way it is, but the wind-blown hairand the pose of the model simply scream out for some

3 Masking motionWe only want a hint of motion, as we dontwant to spoil the image, so its essential to mask outsome of the blurred layer. Weve added a mask to thisupper layer and altered the Soft Round Airbrush with alowered opacity of around 80 per cent to erase out themotion blur over the face, shoulders, chest and legsleaving just the hair blurred.

4 Framing The image could do with some framing to make itstand out more, so a black area has been created at thetop and at the bottom of the canvas. Some diagonalstripes have been added to give the frame more impact.You will find this easier if you create these lines on aseparate canvas and then place them on your artwork. The second set of lines can simply be copied and flippedso that they both look identical.

Adding movement tophotographs

If you would like to try this effec t on the imagefeatured here, go to www.istockphoto.com andenter the reference number 00000151194.However, to really get your head around workingwith photographs, we suggest that you try thetechniques out on your own images.

Source

image

subtle added elements with a sense of movement. Overthe next couple of pages were going to take youthrough the process of adding elements to this photo.Our intention isnt to heavily manipulate the original file,but more to help the image along by including layersthat promote the aesthetics. The end image shouldresult in a synergy of photography and Photoshop.

2 In a blur Weve made a selection using the RectangularMarquee Tool, copied this and added it onto a new layer. Then, a Motion Blur has been added with an angle of 31 degrees and a distance of 20 pixels.


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6 Floral hair Because of the windswept look of the hair, itsperfect for adding floral elements. Adding vector clipsfrom Illustrator will give your black elements impact, butyou can recreate this just as easily drawing shapes withyour Pen Tool in Photoshop. You have to do this onintuition, so just shift around the layers.

7 Bring me sunshineWe want to bring a sense of motion into theimage and so weve created some sunbursts inIllustrator. Weve placed these into our design and thenused the Warp Tool to twirl the rays slightly and distort.Be careful not to warp them too much though, as you

dont want them to look like a spiral.

5 Adding cloudsWeve grabbed some images of clouds, snappedfrom outside the window, and added them onto ourimage. A Screen blending mode has been used to helpthem blend into the image, but some masking wasrequired to get rid of the nasty grey areas. Some sparkles

have also been added. These are just dots of a brushwith an Outer Glow layer style applied.

10 The birdsYou dont have to be restricted to onlyextending elements of the photograph. It can look greatif you add random elements to your image. Here wevetraced the outline of a photograph of a bird, copied theimage several times, tweaking shape size as we wentalong, and pasted them all into one layer on top of our

artwork. It just gives it a sense of a bit more motion.

11 SpotlightAt the moment the top and the bottom of theimage dont look as if theyre part of the photograph. Inthe bottom left hand corner weve drawn a basic whiteellipse using the Ellipse Tool. This has been given afaded outline by applying a Motion Blur in exactly thesame way as we applied it to the main photograph.

8 Add some scratchesIf youre placing vector graphics onto your canvastheres the danger of it looking too clean cut. Wevescanned in a scratched surface and placed them nearthe diagonal lines to make the image look a little grittierand more Photoshop-esque.

The Pen Tool in Photoshop

can work similarly to the PenTool in Illustrator. Once youvecreated a curve or path you canfill the selection with the PaintBucket Tool. Photoshops Shapetools can also be used togenerate vectors. With thesetools you can create a wholehost of shapes such asrectangles, lines and polygons.You can easily add these tophotographs by simply placingthem on a separate layer.

Work with the

Pen tool

9 SparklesIn separate layers youcan add more glows to theimage. Its possible to fake a3D look with these glows.You can create them byadding dots onto the imageusing a soft white roundairbrush. Layering up dotsand experimenting with theGaussian Blur helps you toachieve the sparkle effect.



17 Colour me goodAs long as your lines are on a separate layeryou can experiment with colour. One of the easiest waysto add colour to a white line is to paint over it on anoverlapping layer, using several brighter colours in thespectrum. Alter the blending mode to Overlay andthen you can merge the two layers together. As long asyou then apply a Gaussian Blur, the line will blend wellinto the image.

14 Even more elementsWeve really gone to town with the extravector elements and have included another whiteflower brush on the left-hand side of the image. Itsnormally not a good idea to add so many details on aphotograph. However, as the model is placed in thecentre, and theres such a lot of blank space around theedge, it literally cries out for some vector attention.

15 Dashing linesWe dont really have any moving elementsover the model so weve fixed that by adding somediagonal lines. Its worth adding these one at a time andzooming out of your image to take a step back andassess the appearance. The easiest way to add lines is touse the Line Tool in the toolbar.

12 Elaborate brushesKeep your eye out for free brushes on theInternet. Brushes dont always have to comprise of smallsoft round airbrushes. Some of the more intricatebrushes can come in useful if you want to add a quick detail here or there. Remember, if you want to make the

new brush blend in well to your image you can apply alow opacity mask to rub it in slightly.

13 More vectorsIts time to startgetting intricateagain by addingmore vector designs

around the edge of the photo. You canalways repositionand rescale theseelements at a laterstage so dont worrytoo much about itlooking overbearing.Once youve finishedyour design you canalways tweak it. Thats the beauty of using layers.

16 Blurring linesThe best way to blend the lines into yourimage is to apply a Gaussian Blur. The amount of blurwill depend on the Radius of the pixels you set andyou should assess these settings separately.

If you would like to modify an existing brushby, for example, adjusting the brush tip shape,you stand in danger of losing your adjustments.To save a modified version of a brush, click theCreate New Brush icon at the bottom of theBrushes palette and choose the New BrushPreset. Name your modified brush and click OK.Your new brush will then appear every timeyou open up the Brush palette.

Saving your

brushes

18 Subtle detailsDont forget to think about the more subtleadditions to your image. This will give your final artpiecethe polish it needs to stand out from the crowd. Forexample, weve just applied a very simple and smallGaussian Blur airbrush on the sunglasses.

19 Plenty of motionWe want to make sure that theres plentygoing on in the image, so use this final step to copyelements that already exist in the page and spread themaround the canvas. When youre happy you can flattenthe file. However, we suggest you keep a layered versiontoo you never know when bits will come in handy. 5



FeatureILLUSTRATOR: Chuck Anderson / NoPattern


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COLOUR MANAGEMENT

M a ny a lo n g w o rd h a s b e e n sa id o r w rit t e n a b o u t co lo r m a n a g e m e n t a n d I m su re t h e re a re so m e p e o p le o u t t h e re w h o re a lly k n ow w h a t t h ey re t a lk in g a b o u t . Un f o r t u n a t e ly , m o st o f t h o se t h a t I h a v e m e t h av e t a lk e d b la t a n t ru b b ish . I v e just com

e back f r om Photok ina , the b iggest p hotogr ap hic tr ade f air in the w or ld . T her e I m et som eone w ho actually called h imse lf Mr . Color . Ha ha , I thought . So w hat gem s of in f or m ation is he going to g iv e m e? And d ir ect ly he cam e up w ith the b est gag of the day . He inf or m ed m e that a PC could only p r int p er f ect color and a Mac w as not capab le of p r oducing p r ints of the sam e qualit y . I had alw ay s thought that all of the af or em ent ioned w e r e com pute r s, so d idn t under stand his ar gum ent unt il som eone ment ioned to m e he

w as se lling a sof tw ar e solution on ly f or the W indow s p lat f or m . Need I say m or e? In the f ollow ing a r t icle I sha ll tr y to ex p lain how I w or k w ith colo r in r eal-w or ld situations and hopef ully I w ill dem y stif y som e of the m or e b af f ling quest ions su r r ound ing co lor m anagem ent.

W hen y ou ar e w or k ing in Photoshop , y ou hav e the op tion of choosing d if f e r ent color spaces as y our w or k ing color space . Co lor sp aces av ailab le w ith Photoshop use e ithe r the RGB, Lab, or CMY K co lor mode l. Each colo r space also encom passes a p ar t icular co lor gam ut . So w hen w or k ing in Photoshop , y ou need to decide w hich color m ode RGB, CMY K , or Lab m ak es the m ost sense f or y our ty p e of w or k .

Lost alr eady ? OK , let s f ir st d iscuss the color gam ut issue . If y ou a r e ou tp ut ting y our w or k on d ig ital p r inte r s or com p ute r m onito r s y ou also need to consider the colo r gam ut o f these dev ices. T he color gam ut of a CMY K f ile is m uch sm aller than the colo r gam ut o f the hum an ey e, the Lab co lor space. If y ou a r e only outpu tt ing to CMY K b ut y ou a r e w or k ing w ith in the Lab color sp ace, y ou m ay be constan tly d isap pointed b ecause m any o f the colo r s y ou w ou ld see on the scr een could not actually be r ep r oduced in p r in ting. T he colo r gam ut of com pute r m onitor s and color p r inter s is m uch lar ge r than that of CMY K . Ideally w e w ou ld w or k in a colo r space that encom p asses the en tir e co lor gam ut of all the inpu t scanner s o r d ig ita l cam er as, d isp lay m onitor s, photogr ap h ic and ink -based p r in ter s, bu t in r eality th is is r ar e ly the case.

M ent i on c ol our ma nagement t o most a r t i st s a nd t he y ma y possi bl y r un i n t he ot her d i r ec t i on. R obi n P r est on e x pl a i ns a l l , so y ou d on t ha v e t o be sc a r ed a n y mor eM anag e me nt

Colour

Advanced Photosh


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brightness and contrast of the image, as well assharpen the image, without modifying the overallcolour. Using Levels to look at a histogram of theLightness channel of a Lab image is similar tolooking at a histogram of RGB, all three channels at

the same time. The color values in Lab are stored inthe a and b channels. The a channel controls thered/green range of color, and the b channel controlsthe yellow/blue range. Most of us are used toworking with color using red, green, and bluealong with their complements of cyan, magenta,and yellow. Using a and b takes a little getting usedto, and it works pretty well in Photoshop if youstart out with a file that is very close to what youwant. When you have to make major color shiftswith the a and b channels in Photoshop, this can bemore difficult.

Working in RGB is probably the most common way

people work with digital images. The sensors onscanners actually scan in RGB, digital camerascapture images in RGB, most digital imagingsoftware uses RGB as the default space, RGB is theformat for images on the web, RGB is the formatused to print on digital printers and is the preferredformat for Epson and HP printers. There are lots of reasons to work in RGB and its the color modelthats most fully supported by Photoshop.Photoshop allows you to also look at and work withcolor using other color models, like Lab, Hue/Saturation/Lightness and CMYK. You need to learnwhen and why it makes sense to work with color ina model other than RGB. For most people most of the time RGB is the color model they will becomemost familiar with and use most often. Working inRGB is a way to look at and interpret color data, butwithin the RGB world there are also differentinterpretations of RGB data.

When using the RGB color model in Photoshop,you usually want to pick an RGB working space foreach file that you work with. With Photoshop, youuse the Edit>Color Settings dialog in the WorkingSpaces RGB area to specify the gamut and othercharacteristics of your RGB space. You can choosean RGB color space that has a wider gamut thanyour monitor and Photoshop will adjust the displayof your space to preview as accurately as it can onyour monitor, but Photoshop will not clip the colors

that are outside of the monitors gamut from yourRGB file. That way you will still see those colourswhen you print the image.

With Photoshop its easier to work with differentRGB color spaces for different purposes. You need tochange your preferences or your file needs to beconverted to your standard space for the file to bedisplayed correctly. You also have the flexibility towork on many files at the same time each with adifferent RGB workspace and yet each file will bedisplayed correctly on the screen. Photoshop willsimultaneously display files in Lab color and various

Now lets discuss the color model issue. What wehave available in Photoshop is Lab, RGB and CMYK.In the Image>Mode menu, there are also Indexcolor, Duo-tone and Grayscale, but these really go inthe category of special case models that we onlywork with under certain circumstances.

The Lab model has the advantage that its colorgamut encompasses all the colors that the humaneye can see. This is a very wide gamut and wouldcertainly encompass the devices we will be workingwith in the future. I worked a lot in the Lab colourspace using Photoshop, mostly for scanning, whichhas now been taken over by digital photography. Iuse Photoshop to do my overall color correctionand to convert from 16-bits per channel color, whichis the mode given to me when I open up my RAWfiles or scans. I convert down to 8-bits per channelas a Lab file, which I then use in Photoshop to dofinal masking and tweaking with layers. I now work with RGB ICC profiles. As there are certain featuresof Photoshop that are not available when workingin Lab color. To see what these are, useImage>Mode>Lab Color to convert one of your RGB

images into Lab, then browse through thePhotoshop menus and notice the ones that are nowdisabled and highlighted in light grey.

Sometimes I used the Lab color space for my artprints, but the potential problem with the Lab spaceis that it encompasses a larger gamut than most of the output devices I was using. Another potentialproblem with Lab is that the tools for working inLab within Photoshop are sometimes not as easy towork with than when working in RGB. In the Labspace, there are three channels: Lightness, a, andb. The Lightness channel allows you to adjust the

COLOR MODE: When you open up a new canvas in Photoshop youll be asked which Color Mode you want to work in. You need to decide which profile will best suit your work

LAB HAS ALLTHE COLORSTHE HUMAN EYECAN SEE



COLOUR MANAGEMENT

CMYK color spaces correctly on the screen as well.The RGB Working Space that you set in Edit>ColorSettings is the RGB space that will be assigned toand used to view new RGB files and is also the spacethat untagged files, those with no assigned profile,will be viewed in on the screen.

Using the RGB pop-up menu, you can choosefrom the default RGB spaces Adobe has provided. If you choose the top Custom RGB choice, you can alsoenter your own Gamma, plus your own color space,which can be imported as a new RGB space. As Iwork for different countries in Europe, I mostly useECI.RGB, which is bigger than Adobe RGB. Unlessyou have the tools available to measure the gamutof your input and output devices and create your

own RGB workspace, you should probably pick oneof the spaces provided by Adobe or something thatseems to be moving toward becoming some sort of an industry standard. Of the spaces provided byAdobe, only four of them have much interest topeople dealing with professional images. I willdescribe those here, and you can look in the

Photoshop manual for information about the otherspaces if you think you might want to use them. Thefour most commonly used spaces are Adobe RGB,ColorMatchRGB, sRGB, and AppleRGB.

The widest gamut of these spaces, Adobe RGB,was originally a proposed standard for HDTVproduction. But more importantly, its gamutincludes essentially the entire CMYK gamut andmore because it also better encompasses the gamutof things like digital cameras, various Epson and HPprinters and other more advanced color outputdevices. If you set your RGB working space to AdobeRGB, you will be least likely to be throwing outvalues that youll be able to see in most of todaysdigital output devices, and yet the gamut is not solarge that youll be wasting a lot of your color spaceand risking posterization problems.

ColorMatch profiles are used mostly in NorthAmerica; ColorMatch RGB space has a smaller gamut

than Adobe RGB but a bigger gamut than sRGB andAppleRGB. This space is based on an earlier industrystandard for quality colour work. There are a fewadvantages to the ColorMatch RGB space, especiallyfor people who are doing print work. One advantageis that it has a fairly large gamut, at least for CMYK print work.

The sRGB RGB color space is the current defaultfor Photoshop users. This option is good for peoplewho are primarily working on images intended foruse on the web and want to see what they aregoing to look like on a typical end users monitor.The problem with sRGB is that it is the smallestgamut space of the four, and working in thisspace will mean that you are potentially throwingout certain colors, even for CMYK print work, andyou are certainly throwing out colors if you areplanning to output to a digital printer.Photographers working on art prints should changetheir RGB working space to something other

WIDER GAMUTS: Accessing your RGB workspacewill allow you to adjust the display of your space asaccurately as it can on your monitor

LAB LEVELS: With the Levels command in Lab mode you can control red/green and yellow/blue ranges

SRGB IS THE CURRENT DEFAULTFOR PHOTOSHOP USERS



Feature

CALIBRATION IN A BOX: There are a number of hardware and software calibration options

that you may have to print that image several times,and at several sizes and on different types of paper.For these situations its better if you have your

master image in RGB. Then, when you resize the fileyou can get more exact sharpening and you canalso more accurately generate new CMYK separations for different papers and printers. Mostof us will be using the same image in print, on theweb and for output to printers. Because the RGBspace is bigger in color gamut than CMYK, it makesmore sense to leave our master image in RGB. If youdo still decide to create your master images inCMYK, remember that some of the Photoshop filtersdont work in CMYK. In any case, while viewing yourCMYK images on the screen, even if the conversionwas done elsewhere, Photoshop compensates forthe appearance of the image on the screen basedon the CMYK profile the image is tagged with. If theimage isnt tagged with a profile, Photoshop willdisplay it using the CMYK settings you set for yourCMYK working space using Edit>Color Settings. If you open an image that was separated to be used ina 20 per cent dot gain situation and display it inPhotoshop with a CMYK working space set up for 30per cent gain, the image will appear too dark on thescreen. When you reset to 20 per cent, the sameimage appears correct.

A very useful technique, especially when workingon the highest-quality art prints, is to do 16-bitdigital capture, then work in 16-bit per colorchannel mode instead of 8-bit color. This gives youup to 16 bits per RGB, Lab, or CMYK channel of

information. Photoshop supports Marquee andLasso selection, Cropping, Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Brightness/Contrast,Channel Mixer, the Eyedropper, the Add Noise, Dustand Scratches, Median, Solarize, High Pass,Gaussian Blur and Unsharp Mask filters, the RubberStamp and several other tools in 16-bit per channelcolor mode. Layers of all kinds are not supported atmore than 8-bits per channel so you will not want todo all your work in 16-bit per channel mode. Toconvert an image to 16-bit color, just chooseImage>Mode>6 Bits/Channel. You can actually do

EASY OPTION: A free and easy way of calibrating your system on a Mac computer

T HE BENEFITSOF MASTERINGCOLOR AREPHENOMENAL FORA PROFESSIONALDIGITAL ARTIST

your overall color correction on 16-bit per channelfiles using Photoshop to improve the histogram,colors and contrast of that original raw data withoutthrowing away any information. This allows you todo one raw image and then save that and be able tomake most of your image decisions later or overagain without actually using the original data.So that was the teccie bit, but for those of you whoneed to know about using colo r in a simplified waythis is for you To calibrate your screen there arefairly affordable calibration hardware and softwaresolutions such as the ColourVision Spyder2Pro but,theres another method for Mac users thats free!

If using a Mac you go into System Preferences

and open Display. Click on the Color button andthen on Calibrate. This will take through a series of setups and when finished you can name the profile.As I also said, you should be opening the file youregoing to work with in the profile of your choice, andif doing your own printing, use the profile of thepaper manufacture.

Admittedly, it a rather complex and mind-boggling technique to get your head around butthe benefits of mastering color management arephenomenal for a professional digital artist whoseeks perfection in their prints.

than sRGB. If you are working in a larger gamutspace, like Adobe RGB or Lab, and you want tocreate an image for the web, you could useImage>Mode>Convert to Profile to convert a copyof your file from the larger space into sRGB for web

use. This would allow you to do your main work inAdobe RGB or Lab space and keep more colors. Youcan use sRGB to preview the work as it will look onthe average web users monitor, resave the fileunder a different name, or save in JPEG format forweb consumption in the sRGB space that isoptimised for that market. I dont like words likestandard colour spaces, because when you have topander to everyones wishes it usually means thatthe quality goes down instead of up.

The AppleRGB space is based on the old standardApple 13 Trinitron color monitor. There areprobably a lot of files out there in this space

because older Illustrator and Photoshop versionshave been using it as their default RGB space for along time. Its gamut is not that much better thansRGB, so I dont really suggest you use this as acurrent RGB working space.

Some photographers and imaging professionalsmay choose to develop their own custom RGBworking space. This can be done by creating an ICCprofile of certain data that you like to work with. Itcan also be carried out by modifying an existingRGB working space to add a wider range of color ina particular area, like reds or greens for example. If you go to the top of the pop-up menu for your RGBWorking Space, you can choose Custom and thenedit the Gamma, White Point and XY Primaries tocreate your own custom color space.

The CMYK print gamut is smaller overall than thegamut of any of the RGB color spaces just discussedabove. However, there are a few colors CMYK canprint that sRGB and Apple RGB dont include. Thesedays, its not that common for people to haveimages that are only used in CMYK print. Even if youare using an image for just CMYK print, it is likely


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1 Scanning your artFor pencil/ black and white drawings, I always scanmy images with the grayscale setting at 300dpi. Grayscaleis preferable to a line art scan because a line art scan willalways lose some detail, adversely affecting the quality of your image right from the start. 300 dpi is the minimumresolution required for a good quality print.

Ill start this tutorial with a confession: I used to

be scared of colour.

Okay, I wasnt actually scared of it, but I used tohate painting on my pencil drawings because Id lose

what made them unique. (Actually, I used to hatepainting because I kept getting paint on my clothes, itwas starting to get expensive!). Then in 2003 I sawsomebody colour underneath his lines by using layerson Photoshop and I was instantly converted! In thebiggest turnaround since St Paul thought I might justpop down to Damascus for some milk I now loveusing colour in my work.

The purpose of this tutorial is to show you one of themany approaches you can use Photoshop to colouryour artwork. Im not saying that this is the definitiveway to colour, but it works for me! Ill cover everything

from scanning in your image, choosing a colourscheme to suit the image, using custom brushes, layermasks, the history brush, adjustment layers, ambientlight sources and how to catch a giant octopus. Well,maybe not that last one!

For this tutorial you are going to need a black andwhite drawing (or you can use my original sketch,which can be found on this months cover CD),

Photoshop and your trusty graphics tablet. Good luck with the tutorial!

OUR EXPERT David CousensDavid is a freelance illustrator based in the SouthWest of England. He is quickly making a name forhimself with his distinctive line-work, drawingpictures of attractive women, robots and the alwaysloveable Skull-Kidd! www.coolsurface.com

ON THE DISC

You can use the steps in this tutorial to help you colo ur in your ownline art. Alternatively, if you dont fe el confident drawing up yourown artwork you can use the file gone fishing-lines.jpg as a guide.

Adding colour andshading to line art

Discover how your graphics tablet can help you turn your simple black and white sketches into vibrantly coloured, eye catching digital paintings

2 Become well adjustedConvert the image to RGB (Image>Mode>RGB Color).Select Image>Adjustments> Levels The levels box has 2peaks. Slide the black triangle under the middle of the leftpeak and the white triangle under the middle of the righthand peak.

4 Make a backgroundCreate a backgroundlayer (click Layer>New Layer orpress Shift + Ctrl + N) and nameit Background. So fill the layerwith blue using the Paint Bucket Tool (press G). Now add a lighterblue gradient fill from the topright corner towards thebottom left ensuring the tool isset to Foreground to Transparent this will allowyou to add a subtle gradient.

CHOOSE COLOURCAREFULLY!USING THEWRONG COLOURSWILL HARM THEFINAL IMAGE!

3 Go forth and Multiply You want to start colouring without harming the linework, so click Layer>New>Background from Layer (or double-click on the background layer in the layers palette). Name thisnew layer Lines and set the layer properties to Multiply. Wecan now create new layers underneath the Lines layer anddraw underneath the lines without harming them.


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6 Choose Colour carefully!Various blue hues will be used for Skull-Kidd and hisballoon, as these are his established colours. We want toadd drama, so the Octopus will be bright Orange tocontrast with everything else in the image.

10 Dont dodge your colours, pick them!A common mistake is to use Dodge & Burn to makehighlights and shadows. Dont feel bad, weve all done it! The dodge/burn tools add white/black respectively, whilethis is okay in small amounts if you try to shade an imagepurely with this method the colours wont look as rich asthey could. Instead, use the colour picker and chooseappropriate colours.

7 Heres where the fun starts!Create a new layer called Bones and Octopus.Select a Soft Round Airbrush (press B) with an opacity of around 60% (this will let you build up the colours gradually).Zoom out to 25% so that you can view the whole imageand start to add colour.

11 Make a difference, then blend inUse your paintbrush at 58% opacity to subtlyadd more range to the shadows. Make one part of theshadow darker than the other, using nearby colours, e.g.Purple and red. Dont worry about keeping within thelines instead focus on using good brushstrokes. Blendin any obvious differences in the shading with theairbrush at 29%.

This may sound like its notworth your time, but it reallyis an effective way of managing your workflow.You can very quickly getcarried away with addinglayers to your file and easilylose track of what is on eachlayer. If you have a straypixel or two that needediting but youre unsure of which layer theyre hidingon, you can select the MoveTool (press V) move the mouse pointer over thepixels and right click the mouse, youll see a listof layers that have a pixel in this space so youcan quickly click to select the appropriate layerto get rid of those nasty pixels!

Name your layers

5 You dont have to use blue!Weve picked blue for the background as this imageis based at sea, but backgrounds can be any colour as longas it isnt very saturated and fits the mood. Its hard for thehuman eye to gauge colours against a bright background,so, instead, any fairly neutral colour will suffice.

8 Fill the clothesMake a new layer called clothes. Use the MagicWand (press W) on the Lines layer. Select theappropriate areas to colour, click on the clothes layerand use the paint bucket (press G) to fill the selection.Repeat until youve filled the Skull-Kidds clothes.

9 Brushing UpNow take a hard-edgedbrush with an opacity of 60%and start to add some darkershading to the characters. Imusing a custom hard edgebrush that has an airbrushquality called mybrooshdeveloped by the very talented Thierry Doizon which hegenerously gives for free at hiswebsite: www.barontieri.com



12 History lessonUse the History Brush as an eraser for any areasthat you accidentally went over whilst shading in the laststep, it will revert colours to their previous state as opposedto erasing them, leaving your new shading only where youneed it and your original colours as they were.

13 Use it, then flatten it!Create a new layer called Temp shadow layer.Use the Hard Brush to create a shadow on top of theballoon, underneath Skull-Kidds feet. Use an airbrush inthe same way as in step 11 to blend the shadow. If yourehappy with the shadow, merge it with the layer below

(Ctrl + E) to keep the file size down.

16 Look better with a mask! The seas colour has altered as a result of theoverlay. Make the foreground darker by creating a newlayer filled with dark blue, then add a layer mask (click thecircle in the square icon in the Layers palette). Use thegradient fill to mask out the top right area of the layer.

14 Now sea here To make the sea look more authentic, open sea fromabove.jpeg, select and copy it(Ctrl + A and Ctrl + C) then paste itabove the background layer. Transform the layer (Ctrl + T)holding shift to constrain theproportions whilst dragging thecorner to fit the screen. Set thelayer properties to Overlay andthe opacity to 58% .

When people paint digitally, they frequentlyzoom in too close and end up using brushesthat are far too small! If you were trying tocover a canvas with paint, you wouldnt use asmall detail brush would you? The same goesfor digital painting. You should always aim touse as big a brush as possible less paintstrokes mean that your workflow willdrastically increase and your chances of straining your wrist will be greatly reduced.Also if you zoom out to 25% you wont haveany pixelation of your image, and you wontget too hung up on the details. The only timeyou should go in closer than 50% is for veryimportant details, such as faces. You dontneed to render every tiny detail in your image,in fact you shouldnt, itll distract the viewerfrom the main focus of the picture! Use thesquare bracket keys [ and ] respectively todecrease and increase the size of the currentbrush youre using.

Stop getting

so close

15 Its all getting a bit blurry Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (press M)and drag it across the top third of the sea overlay layer.Apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) at a radiusof around 6 pixels (use your judgement) to make the sealook like its fading as it gets further away.

17 Remove white filter Filters have a bad reputation, which is of tenwarranted, but some can be quite useful. A filter calledRemove White (download it from www.photoshop-filters.com/html/macks.htm for free) can be used to help youcolour your lines. Copy the Lines layer into a new layercalled second lines and run the filter. It will remove thewhite without harming your line quality.


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22Getting all

misty hereCreate a new layer namedmist (Guess what weregoing to do here!). Still usingthe airbrush with the samesetting as the previous step,lightly add some mist in thetop half of the picture tosuggest distance. Also addsome underneath Skull-Kidds balloon to make himseem higher up.

19 Colouring the linesColouring lines will help make things look more natural. The only lines Im leaving black are the eyesand eyebrows of Skull-Kidd and the Octopus. For the restof the lines on the image, select a very dark colour thatsrelated to the main colour, such as a dark red line for thered shorts or a dark blue for Skull-Kidds bones.

24 Adding ambient lightAmbient light is not from a direct source (egthe sun) but light that has bounced off something else.Notice Skull-Kidds head has light reflecting from his T-shirt, the sea and the looming tentacle. Its a smalltouch, but it makes all of the elements in the picturelook like they exist in the same space.

20 Use custom brushes to add texture To avoid the artificial look that you getworking with Photoshops default brushes, you can usetextured custom brushes to get a variety of looks. Iveused a custom brush on the tentacles, set to screen at60%, so that the texture and colour builds up, making it

look more complex and visually interesting.

SmartselectionsIf youre trying to speed things up with the FloodFill option but have loads of tiny areas to fill thatare all the same colour, using the Magic Wand Tool

will become very tedious. Instead use thePolygonal Lasso Tool to click a border aroundeverything you need selected. Then subtract theunnecessary areas by holding the alt key andclicking them away. The selection will still onlyneed one click of the Paint Bucket even though itnow looks like numerous different selections. If you subtract too much, you can always add it back by holding the shift key, which allows you toreselect it. If you want to hide your selectionwithout getting rid of it just press Ctrl + H to hidethe marching ants. Press Ctrl + H again to seethem back again.

18 Lock it upNow that youve removed the white, youreleft with transparent pixels in their place. Lock thetransparent pixels on the Lines layer (click on the smallchessboard icon in the layers palette). This means thatyou can only edit existing pixels, allowing you to replace

the black lines with a different colour by simply movingthe paintbrush over them.

21Make the octopus look like its in

the sea and not on top of it!Create a new layer above the Lines layer. Use a texturedbrush at 40% opacity to build up the surf where the octopusmeets the water. Use light blue shades to make it morerealistic. Use the airbrush tool at 29% to create sea spray.

23 Sea change The sea is a bit too similar in hue to theballoon, they dont seem like theyre far enough apart.Bring up the Hue/Saturation dialogue box (Ctrl + U) forthe background layer and alter the sea with the hueslider and drag the saturation slider to the left to pushthe sea into the background. The balloon now clearlyreads in the foreground.



25 Tidying upBy now, you should have a good few straycolours around the pic where we werent colouring insidethe lines its time to get rid of them so we can get a betteridea of what the finalised image will look like. For any pixelsthat you want to eliminate but cant find, use the tip in the

Name your Layers sidebar

27 Make the most of what youalready have The fishing rod layer is pretty empty so use this forcolouring the smaller details instead of adding anotherlayer; it will keep your file size down. Press the spacebarto bring up the hand tool that allows you drag thecanvas around to help speed things up here.

29 Focus! The two main focal points of this image areSkull-Kidd and the octopus head, so we need to up thesaturation of them. For Skull-Kidd, take a white softairbrush and make the base white a lot more vibrant onthe Bones and Octopus layer (this will not cover theshading on the Fishing Rod layer).

30 Tighten the details to finish off Finally, take a good look at your image tomake sure there arent any errors or stray pixels, andmake sure that you made all of the changes youintended to; theres nothing worse than sending off apiece to print and then realising your name wasnt onthe final image!

28 Get in lineWhen we locked theLines layer the fishing linesuffered a bit of aliasing. To fix thisunlock the Lines layer and selectthe line with the magic wand tool.Go to the surf layer and use theairbrush to paint over theselection. Because the selection iswider than the line, use the erasertool to trim the excess.

26 Guess what were going to namethis layer!Using the Magic Wand, select the rod on the Lines layerholding shift to select every part of it. Create a new layerto colour the fishing rod. Render the fishing rod fully; itsonly small and this way you wont have to worry about it

again. If you havent already, Colour its lines on thesecond lines layer.

31 Bonus tip! Levelling upIf youre happy with your image generally butthe colours could look a tad more vibrant select the toplayer (Ctrl A) and Copy Merge into a new layer (Shift +Ctrl + C, then Ctrl V). This will give you a new flat layer onyour image that allows you to play around with thelevels (Ctrl L)5

A sensitivematter Remember to set up your graphics tablet with a highlevel of sensitivity. Not only does this allow you tomake the most of Photoshops versatile brushes, butit reduces the risk of getting RSI (repetitive straininjury). RSI is a common complaint among artistswho use their arm/hands in unnatural positions on aregular basis. Not only does it hurt, which isnt fun,but it can also stop you being able to draw for aperiod of time, which is torture! Remember to set upyour working environment very carefully, as its bothyour health and your career that can be on the line,neither of which you should risk!


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1 LandscapingIm now ready to devote time to developing thebackground scene. I did some more toy photography in this case taking some shots of a plastic T Rex skull thatwas about an inch in size. I like to shoot models againstdifferent coloured papers to produce interesting effects.

2 Skull placingI selected and dropped the skull into thebackground and used the Transform Tool (Cmd/ Apple+T) to put it into place.

L ast issue we started a mammoth tutorial frommodel master, Jerry Lofaro. In part one Jerryled you through the early stages of creatingPhotoshop artwork using toys as a basis.

Issue 23s tutorial taught you how to position yourmodels and work on composition, only spending ashort length of time discussing the finishing details andairbrushing techniques. The half-way point was a littlecrude, but it pinpointed where our subjects would sit onthe canvas plus the majority of the scenic elements that

would go into the final piece. Now we reveal the lastmagic steps towards achieving your finished print.

Jerry explains: I continue to hack away at theillustration, experimenting and discarding imagery as Imove towards a finish. And that of course, is the beautyof Photoshop the ability to play with complicatedideas and images without tearing your hair out.

Over the next few pages well add some moreelements to the piece and completely transform yourimage with the help of the Liquify Tool.

OUR EXPERT Jerry LofaroJerry has been a doodler ever since he could hold apencil. A complete lover of Photoshop, he wouldntuse anything else. He has plenty of diverse projectsunder his belt including illustrations for CelestialSeasoningsproducts and Trojan condoms.

ON THE DISC

If you started to create your own model artwork in last months Advanced Photoshop you can use this second part to help youperfect Jerrys gorgeous style. Alternatively, you can find Jerryswork in progress image on this months CD.

Creating art from toys:part two

THE BEAUTYOF PHOTOSHOP,

OF COURSE, ISTHE ABILITY TOEASILY PLAYAROUND WITHIDEAS WITHOUTTEARING YOURHAIR OUT

3 CloudsI played around with the skull colour a bit and alsotweaked the brightness and contrast. I then startedchecking out some cloud variations to give thebackground a bit more impact.

Add the finishing details to your model artwork piece in this second instalment BY JERRY LOFARO

4 SkullscapeI picked out a rock formation from my photosof different trips out Westand dropped it under theskull layer I placed on the

landscape. After selectingthe skull, I inversed theselection, moved to therock layer and deleted theextraneous rock so that itwould conform to theskulls shape. I then startedgently erasing out of theskull layer at about 30%pressure, exposing thetexture below.


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7 Transforming and distortingI played around with the jaws by transforming and distorting them over the hood, but I realisedthat it wasnt quite working the way I anticipated and decided I would just freely paint the hood.

5 Skull detailsHeres a detail of the skull. I also started tossing inother rock formations and blending them in to make theskull sit better on the image.

The Liquify filter is an extremely powerfulcommand that can completely transform animage. However, as it s a fairly complex tool tomaster, its rarely used with success. The Liquifyfilter houses a set of painting tools that distortsand transforms regions of an image bymanipulating pixels. The filter containsmasking tools which you can use to protectareas of an image from being distorted. You canalso overlay a mesh grid onto your image togauge the effects of the distortion as you applyit to your artwork.

Using

Liquify

6 Car hoodI moved back toworking on the car. In tryingto visualise the hood, Ivetaken some more photos of dinosaur models in the

position of the car. Ivereduced the backgroundsopacity in order to help mefocus on the car.

9 Liquify Using the Smudge tool in the Liquify filter, Icontinued to push the car around. I started to roughlyindicate the teeth coming out of the bumper as well.

8 Smudge the hoodKeeping my photos close for reference, I startedmanipulating the hood by using the Smudge tool setbetween 50 and 70%.

10 TeethI then roughed out the top teeth. As I becamemore comfortable with the arrangement, I later reshapedeach tooth by erasing with a hard Eraser or by lassoingand deleting out.



15 Colour and intensity After enhancing the eyes colour and intensity, Istarted adjusting the teeth colour by first desaturatingeach teeth layer (top and bottom). I also grabbed nostrilsfrom a Komodo Dragon and tried them on for size.

11 Perfect shadingNot yet concerned with colour, I then burned insome shadows and dodged in some highlights. Afterduplicating the teeth layer I turned it upside down inpreparation for placing the teeth in the bottom jaw.

12 Photoshop dentistry I selected each tooth and enlarged anddistorted it into place. Although it may appear tedious, thisbit of creative dentistry is a lot of fun and moves quickly.

13 Using the Navigator Because I did this with the art blown up large on the right-hand monitor, it was helpful to enlargeNavigator on the left-hand screen. This meant I could glance over and get a better sense of my composition, andsaved me from needing to zoom in and out as I worked.

14 EyesAfter deleting the toys headlights, I startedtransforming various crocodile eye references on layersbeneath the car layer.

16 RevolvingteethContinuing to work onthe teeth, I found it easierto do so when I revolvedthe canvas clockwise (orcounter clockwise) toachieve a comfortable

angle because I like tofreehand shadows andhighlights with Burn andDodge.

ALTHOUGH ITMAY APPEARTEDIOUS, THISBIT OFCREATIVEPHOTOSHOPDENTISTRY IS ALOT OF FUN ANDMOVES QUICKLY


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21 Car enhancementsIn order to further enhance the car, I made acopy of the car layer. I then darkened it by turning thebrightness down 20%.

22 Revealing highlightsMy next step was to erase out of the carcopy layer which revealed brighter highlightsunderneath. In my experience, I have found that thistechnique gives a nice sheen.

17 ReflectionsOnce Id accomplished the general look of the teeth, I added a cool, reflecting light on the shadowside while playing around with the overall colour.

20Temporary placements

After spending some time developing thebackground with my Western photos (Arches NationalPark, Utah and Valley of Fire, Nevada), I got back to thenostrils. After Googling various chrome references, Ifound this shot of a PT Cruisers tail light rims inspiring. Ialso temporarily placed a kangaroo crossing sign on theleft and added a shadow under the car.

18 WindshieldAfter selecting the inside of the windshield with the Magic Wand Tool, I used the Color Picker in order tochoose a dark green. My next step was to apply an Edit/Fill at 100%.

19Painting light

After turning down the windshield layersopacity to around 20%, I created a new layer above itand then gently painted in a cool, reflecting light. Iadded highlights with my brush at 10%.

I HAVE FOUNDTHAT THETECHNIQUE OFERASING OUT OFA LAYER GIVESA NICE SHEEN



23 On the sideNext, I grabbed a back-lit landscape shot and then transformed it onto the side of the car. I then reducedthe opacity of that particular layer to 30%.

25 LandscapeI started topopulate the backgroundwith models andpreviously illustrateddinosaurs and create thesilhouette of thetriceratops for theDinosaur Crossing sign.Its pretty common in ruralareas of the US to find roadsigns with bullet holes inthem, so I thought itwould be fun to have araptor bite mark out of thisone which I created bysimply erasing it out.

27 EnhancingI further enhanced the car by painting inbrighter highlights, then by increasing the contrast. Ialso increased the contrast on some of the otherelements, mostly at 5%. A shadow has been added onthe car under the drivers arm.

28 PteradactylsI continued to add more elements by raidingmy archive of illustrations. I added Pteradactyls to theimage on a separate layer, making sure the positionsand angles were varied.

26 Soften the cliffsAfter finishing the raptors features, I startedto soften the background by first applying a GaussianBlur to the hills. I then used the Median filter in Noise tosoften the cliffs on the right.

24 More teethI then turned my attention back to the raptorsby borrowing elements from an older illustration andtransforming them into place.

29 Motion Blur I copied each raptors layer, placed itunderneath and deleted everything except the tail. Ithen applied a Motion Blur. I repeated this step with theback of the car to bring in some movement. Generally,as my final step I will use the Blur tool at 100% per centand run it along every edge of each element to avoid

anything looking cut out.5



Step-by-step Workshop

RADICAL IMAGE RECOLOUR

O ne of the greatest strengths of Photoshop is having the tools atyour finger tips, not only to makesubtle adjustments to an image, but also,

when the opportunity presents itself, tocompletely transform an image intosomething entirely unlike the original shot.Simply by manipulating tone and colour wecan turn day into night, summer into winter,and generally mess with reality, withstunningly realistic results.

Taking this tone and colour manipulation tothe extreme, here well take a singularlyunimpressive and flat digital image, andtransform it into a brooding, dramatic vision,turning a bright sunlit scene into a dark,mysterious vision.

Tim Shelbourne shows how you can use Photoshop CS2 to dramatically transformthe tones and colours in your digital images by using powerful adjustment layers.

There are a vast range of tools withinPhotoshop that can help us achieve this effect,and well begin by shifting the tones in theoriginal via the Curves command. Well also use

the Selective Colour command to adjust some of the original Hues in the start image, to shadesmore suited to the effect were looking for in thefinished piece. Solid Colour layers will be used inconjunction with layer Blending Modes to work even more tonal and colour magic. We top thislist of effects off by using the wonderfullypowerful Lighting Effects filter.

Although we could use the above commandsvia Photoshop menus, far more creative optionsare available by using these commands viaAdjustment Layers. One of the biggestadvantages of Adjustment Layers is the fact

that they come complete with Layer Masksattached, and we can use these to paint withlight and tone for a comple

Documents

Advanced Photoshop Magazine 2006.07 - Issue 24