Huge collection of Photoshop tutorials, tips and tricks to make you a better digital artist
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 nishing touches to their work. With its plethora of tools and capabilities, it’s a software that gives the user an in 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 e ortlessly blend graphics and images to create professional 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. A comprehensive masterclass in becoming an instant expert ® Photoshop Illustrate with ® Photoshop Illustrate with bookazine series Part of the Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth Dorset BH2 6EZ % +44 (0) 1202 586200 Website: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk Twitter: @Books_Imagine Facebook: www.facebook.com/ImagineBookazines Head of Publishing Aaron Asadi Head of Design Ross Andrews Production Editor Sherwin Coelho Senior Art Editor Greg Whitaker Design Sarah Bellman Photographer James Sheppard Printed by William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT Distributed in the UK & Eire by Imagine Publishing Ltd, www.imagineshop.co.uk. Tel 01202 586200 Distributed in Australia by Gordon & Gotch, Equinox Centre, 18 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086. Tel + 61 2 9972 8800 Distributed in the Rest of the World by Marketforce, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0SU Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this bookazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the bookazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This bookazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. Photoshop is either a registered trademark or trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries and is used with express permission. 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 8 15 Illustration tips & tricks Artists in the industry share their secrets to using Adobe Photoshop 204 86 120 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 Guide Illustrate 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 © V i n c e n t e G a r c i a M o r i l l o 8 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 15 illustration tips & tricks VINCENTE GARCIA MORILLO www.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. RODRIGUEZ www.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 © Vincente Garcia Morillo © Diego L. Rodriguez Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 9 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide ANDREA FEMERSTRAND www.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 VERHAAGEN www.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 © Mark Verhaagen 10 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 15 illustration tips & tricks [...]... filters and layers innovatively 56 Vexel Vehicles Develop realistic vexel artwork 24 16 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 38 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 44 34 50 30 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 17 Illustration EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION WE EXPLORE THE BEST INDUSTRY ROUTES AND WORKING PRACTICES WITH OUR GROUP OF PROFESSIONAL EDITORIAL ARTISTS, AS THEY REVEAL THEIR COMMERCIAL STYLES... 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 Illustrate with Photoshop ■ 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 011 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 11 15 illustration... Sasha Vinogradova 14 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 14 PRESERVE YOUR TRADITIONAL FEEL MITCHELL NELSON www.behance.net/mitchellnelson 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... 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 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 23 Illustration Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide EDITORIAL ARTWORK WE EXPLORE THE ART OF DESIGNING FOR EDITORIAL COMMISSIONS, WITH THE CONCEPT OF A FEATURE ON ZOMBIE MOVIES Zombies... any sense!” Realistically, for most artists seeking a career, Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 0 01 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 19 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... barrel as your reference guide to draw a small slanted rectangle 26 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide Drawing stubble can be very tricky Pick a tone or gradient similar to the gunman’s eyebrows Use this colour to draw around the beard area, set Opacity to 70%, then add one or two hairs with a small brush in order to boost their realism Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 10 CREATE THE MAIN ZOMBIE... 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.” 12 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide © Tomski and Polanski 7 USE SMART OBJECTS TOMSKI AND POLANSKI Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 8 REFINE YOUR COLOUR PALETTE STEVE... clean lines to work with, making it easier to select areas for adding colour and texture FEATHER FEATURES Start to create shapes for the feathers Build up overlapping lines using your scanned in artwork as well as adding some freehand details using the graphics tablet Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 35 Illustration COLOUR THE BIRDS FILL WITH GRADIENTS AND... a large, low-opacity Eraser to fade edges After any final compositional tweaks, we’re done Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 29 Illustration TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION REV YOUR CREATIVE ENGINES AND CREATE THIS GHOSTED TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION USING LAYER MASKS LINE DRAWING This technical illustration starts out as line art created from a basic sketch 30 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide OUR EXPERT... photography and music, and so on.” Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 0 01 | 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 003 002 | Dra ing Illustration about dra ing and slipstreaming techniques used within triathlons © Andrew . artwork Illustrate with Photoshop 30 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 17 44 50 34 Genius Guide Illustration 18 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide EDITORIAL. ultimately, buy Genius Guide Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide 19 Illustrate with Photoshop 0 01 20 Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide Illustration covering