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Computer ArtsJuly 2008 www.computerarts.co.uk

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Technique 57

02 Reduce the opacity of the stone texture to about 40% and change itsblending mode to Hard Light. Unlink the Layer Mask from the stone texture and selectthe layer. Now you can move it around, resize and rotate if you want to include thedetails from the texture you want to be on your rock.

01Open main.psd from the CD. Create a new group using Ctrl/Cmd+G and

name it rock1. Select and copy one of the Bryce renders and the stone texture intoyour new group (the texture should be on top of the object). Make an outline selectionof the render and add a Layer Mask to the texture layer.

03 Repeat this procedure with the floor texture, butkeep the opacity at 100%. Since this texture has fewersignificant details and more of a direction or flow, Ivetransformed it to fit with the render. Ive resized, rotated andused the Warp function slightly (Edit>Transform>Warp), andchanged the blending mode to Hard Light as well.

Photoshop CS2 or later

Buildinga texturedvisual treat

Digital artist MagnusKjllconjures up animpossible landscapecombining naturephotography and vectors

Ive always loved 3D modelling.Or rather, Ive always lovedimagining the possibilities it holds. Whenever Ive braced myselfenough to finally give it some serious attention, I usually end upfrustrated because of the technical challenges. Obviously I donthave the patience to dedicate my spare time to a 3D program, so itsbest for me to concentrate on what I know. And thats takingsomething ugly and dull into Photoshop and turning it intosomething more attractive and, more importantly, something that ismy own idea.

In this tutorial I will demonstrate some of the techniquesIve come to use over the years, and outline my general workingprocess for creating a digital artwork in Photoshop. The piece Imdiscussing is a spiritual sequel to an illustration I made for

depthCORE back in December.

Magnus KjllBased in

Stockholm, Swedishillustrator MagnusKjll has beencreating digitalartwork since 2002and also works in

graphic design,branding and webdesign. He has beena member of theinternationalcollectivedepthCORE since2006. To find outmore see http://depthcore.com.

On the discThe files you need tocomplete thistutorial can be foundin Disc Contents\Resources\advanced.

Time needed1.5-2 hours

SkillsBlending modesLayer MasksObjecttransformations

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08 Use Layer Masks and erase with a smo oth brush or a gradient at the edgesof the objects to merge them together. You can just erase on the l ayer, but I prefer touse a Layer Mask. Ive also added a dark brown to transparent gradient on one of thelayers that will be in the back.

07 Duplicate the object a couple of times and transform them with the Warpfunction to fit. You can also use a Distort filter such as Twirl, but the quality will dropheavily if you go too far with the transformation. So try to keep it subtle.

06 At this stage youre just creating the rough buildingblocks, so wait until you figure the comp osition out beforestarting on the finer details. Here Ive made three rocks that Iwill use to build the foundation. Lets start from the top.

05 Repeat Steps 1-4 with the other objects. Rememberto experiment with the textures. You can make severaldifferent-looking rocks from the same object by using differentparts of the texture, Dodging and Burning it differently or justby transforming the object itself.

04 Select your group and Merge it (Ctrl/Cmd+E). Now using a soft brush ataround 200px, Burn/Dodge the midtones slightly to give your object a light profile. Youwant to keep the colours quite neutral, but you can adjust the Color Balance withPreserve Luminosity checked to enhance your Burning and Dodging and to tweak thecolours a little.

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12 Ive added a few more details to the structure here.Theyre basically cut-outs with a few transformations andcolour adjustments, but its up to you what you do in yourversion. Keep everything quite pale and desaturated.

13 Now to add some 2D shapes to liven things up.Create a document the same size and resolution and name it2D.psd. With the Line tool (U), draw four vertical stripes indifferent widths and colours.

10 Import stock2.jpg from the CD and create a roughselection around the bottom trees you dont have to be tooprecise. Copy and Paste into main.psd, resize and make surethe layer is at the front (Ctrl/Cmd+shift+]).

11 Change its blending mode toLighten to hide the darker areas of thelayer. Thicken the forest with more treecut-outs, resizing some of them.

09 Now to add detail. Import stock1.jpg from the disc.Outline the ruin and Paste it into main.psd. Reduce saturationslightly (Ctrl/Cmd+U). Resize it to fit, add a Layer Mask andsmooth out its edges to merge it with the other objects.

14 Place them in a group, merge the group and copy thenew layer (Ctrl/Cmd+J). Now transform the layer, eithermanually with Warp or with a filter Shear, Twirl and Wave areall suitable for this.

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20 Last but not least finalise the colours. There areliterally hundreds of ways to experiment with colours inPhotoshop, so play around until you find something you like.For this illustration Ive used layers with different blendingmodes, Color Balance and Hue/Saturation.

19 Now to add grunge effects. You need water-basedpaint, paper and a scanner or good camera. Import the imageinto Photoshop and use the Pen tool or Magic Wand to outlinethe paint stain, then define it as a custom shape. Here I havefour ring shapes in a group with a vector mask added to it.


Save your layersWhenever you merge a group in Photoshop, you might want tosave a copy of it with the layers intact you can duplicate thegroup and hide the copy. But your PSD file will soon becomehuge if you save a copy of every group you merge. So Irecommend saving the copies in a separate Photoshop filewhile keeping the main file clear of hidden layers that wouldslow everything down.

17 Copy the text layer, press Ctrl/Cmd+T, rotate 3.5 degrees and increase thesize to about 108%. Repeat until you reach the c anvas edge. Convert all the text layersto shapes (Layer>Text>ConvertToShape). Each circle of dots is now a shape layer.

18 Here Ive added more simple 2D shapes. Ive picked asimple colour theme and added a background pattern to framethe structure.

15 Make four or five versions, place together and merge.Make a triangular selection, Copy and Paste a bunch of big andsmall triangle cut-outs and place in an attractive pattern.Group, merge, name the new layer 2d1 and import to main.psd.

16 Return to 2D.psd. Create a large circle towards thetop of the canvas. With the Type tool (T) click on the bottom ofthe circles vector path. Select a font with round dots. Type dotsall around the path, making sure the font spacing is even.

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