Vector and photo mashup

Mix and match gritty photography with crazy vector splurges for a riotous, cartoonish effect.

Juxtaposing serious images and light-hearted elements can be a highly effective technique – look at the clever way Banksy replaces of guns with flowers in many of his artworks.

Photoshop offers you a way to achieve a comparable effect, in a polished fashion that’s considerably easier to achieve with pixels than spray paint. One way to give a fun twist to serious photos is by using vector elements, giving the finished piece a dose of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? styling.

While Illustrator is Adobe’s best-known vector program, Photoshop also has vector tools, which you’ll get familiar with in this tutorial. Rather than simply adding in flat layers for the blobs, we show you how to get the best from your vector art, starting with the drawing itself.

You’ll learn how to use layer blending options such as Bevel and Emboss, Inner Glow and Satin to lift your flat, lifeless shape layers into a 3D environment.

Finally, you’ll add motion blur and real-world effects to tie the vector elements into the final image. You can download the source images for free from www.sxc.hu; they are at tinyurl.com/c3terv for the mortar cannon and tinyurl.com/b426uv for the clouds.

01. Set up the canvas as A4 in portrait format at 300dpi. Open the mortar image and position it in the document. Resize it to 190% and then use the Clone Stamp tool (S) with a soft-edged brush to clone the background to fit (hold Alt/Opt to define the area you want to clone and then paint).

02. Select the Pen tool (P) ready to draw a path. Zoom in to 300% and draw a path around the end of the barrel of the mortar. Go to the Paths palette and create a selection from your path (Cmd/Ctrl + click on the path thumbnail). Duplicate the Mortar layer and go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection. Select the Layer Mask icon and apply a 0.8 pixel Gaussian blur to it (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur).

03. Select the Pen tool again, but this time set it to Shape Layers. Begin drawing dribbles of goo from the end of the barrel. Think about how thick goo would act in real-world physics as a starting point. Once you’ve dragged a point, hold down Alt/Opt while clicking on it to delete the outward handle. You can then drag a new handle to create a sharp corner.

04. Try and drag the anchor points at the start and end of each curve rather than mid curve, this should give you a more natural line. Once you’re finished drawing the dribble you can use the Direct Selection tool (in the Path Selection tool sub-menu of the Tools palette) to manipulate the anchor points and their curve handles.

05. Draw a big spurt to form the main shape of the goo explosion. It’s good practice to keep a hand on the keyboard while drawing, to switch quickly between the Direct Selection tool (A) and the Pen tool (P), so you can adjust and tweak on the fly. Name the layer ‘Big Spurt’

06. Now here’s where the magic happens. Select the ‘Big Spurt’ layer and go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options. We’ll start with Bevel and Emboss, which generally produce cheap-looking results until you begin to master the tool. Set them up exactly as shown here, and then tweak them slightly for your shape.

07. Next up is Inner Glow. There are far fewer settings to take into account, so set up as shown here. The main things are that the glow doesn’t spread right across any section of your shape, and that the colour is a lighter version of your shape colour (setting the blending mode to Screen will aid this).

08. Finally add Satin to give the shadows a boost and add a touch more depth and roundness. Changing the contour to Cove – Shallow will give better shadows where you need them. These settings can be applied to any layer by going to Layer > Layer Style > Copy Layer Style, then selecting your target layer and going to Layer > Layer Style > Paste Layer Style.

09. Draw in all the big gloops of goo to get the overall shape of the explosion. Move them up and down the Layers palette to create depth. The layer order will become more important once the smaller elements have been drawn in. It’s good practice to name all of your layers something appropriate – there will be many of them.

10. Punctuate the bigger spurts with smaller, faster-moving spurts. Mix it up with big, bulbous globules and thinner, stringier strands. Try adding some barrel runoff – this will need to be above the masked Barrel layer as opposed to the goo Spurt layers which go under it.

11. Draw in a few different small drops of goo; you’ll need to adjust the Inner Glow so it’s smaller, and also adjust the Bevel and Emboss. Select the Move tool (V), then hold Alt/Opt and drag a copy of each drop layer. Press Cmd/Ctrl + T to quickly resize and rotate them. Repeat this step until you have a load of drops everywhere.

12. Select all of the smaller drop layers and go to Layer > Merge Layers. Then select Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Set the amount to 6, the method to Zoom and move the blur’s centre to the tip of the barrel (this will take some trial and error). Duplicate the blur layer to strengthen the effect.

13. Create a levels adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels) at the top of the layer stack. Select the Adjustments Layers Mask thumbnail and fill it with black, so that the effects of the layer become invisible. We’ll be using this layer to create shadows rather than using blending modes or drawing on each individual layer. Refer to the Tip boxout to see how the shadows are achieved.

14. Open the clouds image you’ve downloaded and hit Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + U to desaturate it. Press Cmd/Ctrl + L to bring up the Levels palette and enter 40, 0.77 and 255 respectively into the Input Levels. Select the Burn tool set to Shadows with an exposure of around 50%. Take big soft-edged brush and burn all around the cloud, try not to encroach on the cloud itself too much.

15. Import the clouds into the document and change the layer blending mode to Screen. Position it under all the goo layers, resize it and mask off any areas you don’t want. Drag a copy of the layer into the middle of the goo layers, make this version smaller and rotate it. Finally, drag another copy to the top of the image. Adjust the opacity of each layer and try adding a motion blur.

16. Grading the final image is key to fusing the elements together. Use adjustment layers such as Gradient Map (set to Color Burn and Pin Light blending modes) and Curves. Run Shadow/Highlight (Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlights) on the Mortar image to remove darker areas, flatten all the shape layers, add a 0.8-pixel Gaussian blur (see step 2) and change the colour using Hue/Saturation.

James Davies

Create cool fantasy art

Dare to dream amazing scenes with help from Paul at Pixel Criminals.

Fantasy scenes are limited only by your imagination. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create amazing fantasy art using old photographs you never thought could be used, and learn how to use vibrant colour for that rich fantasy feel.

This tutorial will also polish your skills with blending modes, brushes, shadows, Photoshop effects and clipping masks to create a vibrant and extremely upbeat scene. This tutorial is all about fun – feel free to adapt it, adding your own elements.

Before you start this tutorial go to tinyurl.com/bwy2b9 to download and install the free cloud brushes created by javierzhx. The puddle image is by Beverley Bridge, who has kindly given her permission for us to use it. You can find the original picture at tinyurl.com/cdvgqw.

01. In Photoshop, open cobblepuddle. jpg from the cover disc, and rename the background layer ‘Backpuddle’. We then need to exaggerate the colour: go Select > Color Range, enter a fuzziness value of around 98 and select the brightest green colour in the grass. The grass will be highlighted but so will some parts of the cobbles. Hit Cmd/Ctrl + C to copy your selection then paste it (Cmd/Ctrl + V) in a new layer above. Name this layer ‘Grass’.

02. With the ‘Grass’ layer selected, click Image > Adjustments > Curves, make the output 74 and the input 91. Now select your ‘Backpuddle’ layer, right-click (Ctrl + click) and select Duplicate Layer; rename this as ‘Back puddle highlights’. Set this layer’s blending mode to Overlay to give some contrast. Holding Cmd/Ctrl, select all your layers, then Cmd/Ctrl + E to merge the layers together. Now rename this single layer ‘Background’.

03. Press Cmd/Ctrl + T to enter the Transform mode and at the top of the screen, click the button to switch between Free Transform and Warp modes, then warp the top of the image so that it looks like hills. Create a new layer underneath the ‘Background’ layer and call it ‘Sky’. Paint-bucket the layer white (Shift + F5) and then doubleclick the layer to open the Layer Styles menu. Give the layer a top-to-bottom gradient, with the top blue of #2870af and a bottom blue of #b3def8.

04. Select the Magic Wand tool and set the tolerance to 40, then select the puddle from the ‘Background’ layer. You’ll notice that you’ll only select a small section, so hold down the Shift key and continue clicking the rest of the blue of the puddle. Copy and paste the selection into a new layer called ‘Puddle’. Double-click the layer to open the Layer Style dialog box and give it a top-tobottom gradient of #addce9 to #184f6c.

05. Create a layer under ‘Puddle’ and merge this with the ‘Puddle’ layer by selecting both and pressing Cmd/Ctrl + E. Change the ‘Puddle’ layer’s blending mode to Saturation. Using the Eraser tool set to a soft, rounded brush at around 100 pixels, delete any blue from the ‘Puddle’ layer that runs over the cobbles or looks a little pixellated.

06. Create a new layer called ‘Puddlelight’, now with this layer selected, Cmd/Ctrl + click the picture preview of the ‘Puddle’ layer. Select the Paintbrush and paint some yellowy oranges and peach colours at the top of the puddle and some emerald blue at the bottom. Deselect your selection (Cmd/Ctrl + D) and drop the opacity to 57%.

07. In the Shape tool, select the ellipse. Create a yellow sun in the layer underneath ‘Background’ layer, and call the new shape layer ‘Sun’. Double-click this layer to open the Layer Style dialog and select ‘Outer Glow’, then enter these settings: Blend Mode – Normal (change the colour to yellow); Spread – 15%; Size – 250 pixels. Open the file grasshills.psd from the cover CD and drag the grass layer in. Place it above the ‘Sun’ layer and name it ‘Grass’.

08. With this new layer selected, go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/ Saturation and enter these settings: Hue = -2; Saturation = 31; Lightness = -7. Create a new layer called ‘Clouds’ above the ‘Sun’ layer. Select the Brush tool and the cloud brushes you downloaded at the beginning, and create some clouds and haze around the sun in white and peachy reds. Create a new layer behind the sun called ‘Sunhaze’ and use a soft, rounded brush in peach with a diameter of 1,400 pixels to paint a blob behind the sun.

09. Select the ‘Sunhaze’ and ‘Sun’ layers, then right-click (Ctrl + click) and select Duplicate Layers. Merge the two layers and name it ‘Grassreflect’. Select Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical and drag the ‘Grassreflect’ layer above the ‘Grass’ layer. Right-click (Ctrl + click) the ‘Glassreflect’ layer and select Create Clipping Mask. Change the blending mode to Hue and drag the layer to a good position on the grass to show the sun’s reflection.

10. With the soft, rounded brush, make various white blobs on a new layer called ‘Stars’ above the ‘Sky’ layer. Duplicate the ‘Stars’ layer and open the Transform tool (Cmd/Ctrl + T). Holding down Shift, shrink the duplicated ‘Stars copy’ layer down and place it over the ‘Sun’. Duplicate the ‘Stars copy’ layer and shrink it down even more and put it in the puddle to function as a reflection.

11. Open trees.psd on the cover CD to take a look at different trees I cut out from various old photos. Drag some onto the scene or make some of your own. To give the trees a shadow, duplicate the layer of a particular tree and flip it vertically (Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical). Position it under the tree and hit Cmd/Ctrl + T to rotate it at an angle. Then select Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation and set the lightness to -100. Now that it’s black, take the rounded Eraser tool and delete the tips and also fade the opacity. For trees further away or in a bunch, create a new layer under the tree and use the rounded paintbrush to paint some dark colour underneath. Repeat until you are happy with the trees in your scene.

12. You’ll need to add some light from the sun to the trees: select the tree you want to do this to, and create a new layer above it, naming it ‘Treelight’. Select your paintbrush and paint some yellow over the tree as sun reflections. Right-click (Ctrl + click) the layer ‘Treelight’ and select Create Clipping Mask, then change the blending mode Pin-Light’ and lower the opacity to about 80%. Do this to all trees that you feel need light and shade. Also select Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to change the trees’ colour to match the setting.

13. Open fence.psd on the CD and drag it into your scene. This is a photo I took. Apply the shadow and light areas using the same effect you used on the trees in the previous steps.

14. Open flowers.psd on the CD: this is a bunch of flowers, insects, shadows and sparks of light. Again, these are from old pictures. Create shadows for the flowers in the same way you did for the fence and trees; create drop shadows in the Layer Styles dialog. To make water reflections, duplicate the flowers and transform and rotate them to reflect in the water using Cmd/Ctrl + T. Then use Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to create a ripple feel. Also use Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to change the colour of the flowers or give them a higher saturation. To give the leaves at the top-mid left a windy look, just duplicate the leaf layer and use the Filter > Stylize > Wind effect until it has warped and put the layer behind the leaves. Drop the opacity if need be.

15. Open raysoflight.psd on the cover CD and drag them over into your scene. These were created using a brush or shape, then modified using Outer Glow in the Layer Styles palette. Put them anywhere in the scene to help create that fantasy feel. Select the layer ‘Background’ and open the file field.psd on the cover CD. This is a picture I took of a field and used a soft brush to delete certain sections randomly. Drag this image into your scene on a layer above ‘Background’. Rename this new layer ‘Cobblehighlights’ and change the blending mode to Soft Light.

16. Open the file sky.psd on the cover CD. This is a sky from a picture I took. Increase its saturation and use the Eraser in a rounded brush to delete random sections. Then use the cloud brushes downloaded to add some more white clouds. Drag sky.psd into the layer above ‘Sky’ and name the layer ‘Skyclouds’ and position it appropriately.

17. Open the file on the CD titled burstlight.psd and drag it into your scene behind the ‘Sun’ layer. Title your new layer ‘Sunlight’ and position it behind the sun. Open the animalinsect.psd file on the CD and position them into your scene. These images were cut out again from old images, feel free to try your own. If you place anything over the water it needs to reflect in the water. Select the layer – in this case the ‘Bird’ layer and duplicate it and call this new layer ‘Birdreflect’. Then go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical and position this upside bird underneath the original bird. Cmd/Ctrl + T the reflection layer and while holding shift shrink it down, rotate it a little and finally change the opacity to 36%.

18. Finally, zoom into the image and feel free to change any of the flower colours or the green grass by using Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to suit the overall image. Clean up the puddle edges with the Eraser tool. Add shadows anywhere you feel it is necessary or add more flowers and animals. It’s totally up to you how far you want to go with this scene.

Paul Cowley

Earth-shaking Photoshop tips

For anyone who’s ever daydreamed about being bitten by a radioactive spider, the lure of extraordinary powers remains a distant fantasy.

Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t fake it: in this great tutorial, Fabio Sasso shows how to create a scene of an everyday superhero wreaking havoc on a city street with a sonic boom.

You’ll hone your skills at comping together photos and applying filters and colour adjustments, but more importantly you’ll also learn how to create the amazing sonic boom effects using advanced layer masks and layering of filters, one after another, so that they combine to create unique effects.

You’ll also get plenty of chances to play about with blurs, including Gaussian Blur and Motion Blur, and you’ll learn how to control the lighting of your image, giving it that faded sepia tint.

01. In Photoshop, create a new document measuring 2100-x-3500 pixels. We’ll need to put in a street view image: open iStockphoto urban scene.jpg from the cover CD. This image was taken by Anam and was kindly provided for free by iStockphoto.

02. Sometimes it’s really hard to find stock photos with the pose you want. Also even cheap digital cameras these days are really powerful, so sometimes it’s best just to take your own images. Open guy1.psd from the cover CD, place it in the image, and cut it out from its background. Name the layer ‘Man’.

03. With the ‘Man’ layer selected go to Layer > Layer Styles > Gradient Overlay. Set the blending mode to Multiply, set the colours to black and white, set the style as Linear and the angle to 90º. After that go Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Use -25 for the brightness and 58 for the contrast. Also go to Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation. Use 0 for the Hue, 23 for the Saturation and -5 for the Lightness.

04. Add a new layer on top of the guy’s layer and fill it with black, then go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask. Change the blending mode of the black layer to Color Dodge then with the Brush tool (B) use a very soft white brush and start painting some light effects on the edges of the arms, hands, face, and chest.

05. Now duplicate the ‘Street’ layer and with the Elliptical Marquee tool (L), create an ellipse. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection. Then holding Cmd/ Ctrl + click on the layer mask in the Layers palette to reload the marquee selection. Next, go to Filter > Distort > Zig Zag, and enter the following settings: amount – 15; ridges – 20; style – Pond Ripples. Finally, go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Change the amount to 10 and the quality to Best.

06. Repeat the same thing we did in the last step to create the effect for the man’s other hand. You can change some values to make them slightly different. Also create a new layer and select the Gradient tool (G). Then click to edit the gradient and change the type to Noise, roughness to 100% and tick both Restrict Colors and Add Transparency.

07. Select Angle Style for the gradient and fill the layer with it. Start the gradient from the centre of the left-hand ripple effect. Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate: that will transfer the layer to greyscale, then with the Eraser tool (E) start deleting the layer so you will only have a few rays of light. Then, go to Layer > Layer Styles > Gradient Overlay. Use orange, dark red, white, light blue and pink for the colours, Radial for the style and play with the scale. The idea is that you will have a pink edge with some blue, white and the light starts getting orange close to the centre of the effect.

08. Repeat the last step for the other hand’s effect. Again make it a bit different so it will look more natural. Also create a new layer on top of the street layer and paint the blue sky with white – we don’t want the happy blue sky of the photo.

09. Let’s add more elements to the composition, starting with a car. You can download the one I used for free from stock.xchng at tinyurl.com/cec9nr. Extract the background of the image and leave only the car, then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the amount to 10 pixels and the angle to 90º. You can reduce or increase the value too, if you like.

10. At this point I needed a very specific photo of a guy being hurled away by the power of the effect so again I decided to take the photo myself – this one is of me jumping over my bed. Import guy2.psd from the cover CD, extract the background and leave only the person and go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Set the brightness to 0 and the contrast to 100. Also go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/ Saturation. Use 0 for the hue, -60 for the saturation and -35 for the lightness. Create another layer on top of the flying man and go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask. Select the Brush tool (B) and with a very soft black brush start painting over the guy. Change the blending mode to Multiply and set the opacity to something between 80 and 100%. Name the layer ‘Flying Man’.

11. Select the ‘Flying Man’ layer and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the angle to -70º and the distance to 51%. Then open guy3.psd from the cover CD – this is another image I took of myself. Repeat the actions in Step 10 to comp the figure into the composition.

12. Add a new layer on top of the other layers and change the background and foreground colours to #dabe70 and #c1964f. Select Filter > Render > Clouds, then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, setting the radius to 15 pixels. Change the blending mode to Multiply and set the opacity to 80%. Then with the Eraser tool (E) delete the central area of the layer above the explosion effect.

13. With the Brush tool (B) in white, create some sparks. Go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur, then select Zoom, with an amount of 10 pixels; set the quality to Best. Also add another layer and repeat the Noise Gradient effect we created in the Step 7 to create more rays of lights. Change the blending mode of these two layers to Color Dodge.

14. Select all layers and duplicate them, so go to Layer > Merge Layers to merge all duplicated layers to one. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, set the amount to 20 pixels, and change the blending mode to Screen. This will add a nice glow to the image.

15. Grab a big, soft black brush and paint at the top and bottom of the image. This will create a vignette effect, which will draw viewers’ attention to the centre of the image.

Fabio Sasso

Photo shop / Illustrator CS3 / CS4 Tips

1] When working with multiple layers, it’s useful to work without collapsing the layers – this allows you to make changes easily and edit on the fly. However this can yield complicated files that are difficult to keep track of unless you’re meticulous about naming layers. To find a layer quickly, select the Move tool, hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click on the area you wish to modify. The layer will then be highlighted in the window.
- Richard Tilbury

2] You can modify the texture of any 3D layer by double clicking the sub-layer icon. This will open a child-document which can be edited using Photoshop’s tools. In order to update the changes on the 3D model, save the file and it will automatically update on the 3D model. To overwrite the original texture on your hard drive in Photoshop CS3, go to Layer > 3D Layers > Replace Textures. If you have Poser 7, you can export content using Content Exporter, a free public beta download: tinyurl.com/c78tf3. Photoshop Extended also supports other common 3D interchange formats, including KMZ (Google Earth/Sketchup), U3D (Acrobat 3D), 3DS (3D Studio) and DAE (Collada).
- Mark Mayers

3] It’s essential to pay close attention to the light sources at all times. It helps to make the scene more realistic.
- Paul Cowley

4] Drawing in shadows requires a little thought: in Step 13 you need to draw onto the levels adjustment layer mask using a small, soft-edged brush loaded with white. Set the brush opacity to 15%. In order to draw shadow you’ll need to Cmd/Ctrl + click the casting goo layer to create a selection, press Shift + Cmd/ Ctrl + I to invert the selection, then paint in the shadow. Repeat this process to add shadows to the rest of the goo layers.
- James Davies

5] Adjustment layers are a great way of making corrections to your work without affecting the original layer. Any colour adjustments you make in the adjustment layer applies to all the layers below that particular layer. You can turn this correction on or off simply by clicking on the Eye icon in the Layers palette. Combining different adjustment layers can create some great effects, especially when applying filters to the layer masks.
- Vince Fraser

6] Add a new layer above the placed image and label it ‘Background’. Now start adding your symbols by dragging their thumbnails onto the artboard. Use the grid, re-size and snap them into position – select shapes that match the underlying colour for best results. Vary their size and rotate and flip them as you work to avoid repetition.
- Mark Mayers

7] If you intend to get your work actually screen-printed then a few things are worth considering. Colours: The more colours you have the more screens you’ll need, which adds to the cost. Halftone: To achieve a greyscale or fullcolour effect, the printers use the halftone method, which prints lots of different-sized one-colour dots at different angles. Artwork: Screenprinters prefer to receive a greyscale image rather than you attempting to halftone (as in this tutorial) yourself. They will create the halftone from the grey channel.
- James Davies

8] Use Cmd/Ctrl+Y in Illustrator to show only path outlines, making it easier to work with overlapping shapes. Objects further away usually becomes more brighter and less detailed. Switching into the tools you can do with Shift + {toolkey}. You can press Alt/Opt while using the lasso tool to use the polygonal version so you don’t have to switch them.
- David Fuhrer

9] Light doesn’t bend as such, but if you look at reference images on the Internet you’ll see that where you have a strong light source, it appears to bend around objects, blurring them slightly. Try to use this principle, applying a small Gaussian blur to objects in direct proximity to your light source to help sell the idea of light distorting their appearance.
- Sam Hampton-Smith

10] Want to make your own printable stencils? Follow steps 5 to 11 on your chosen image, then delete the default channels – leaving only the three you created. Add type to the channels to indicate colour and also some thick registration marks. Now use the fly-out menu at the top of the channels palette and select Split Channels – this will generate three separate files. Print them out on card, or get them laminated, then use a scalpel to cut out the black areas including the registration ticks and you’re ready to go.
- Mark Mayers

11] Instead of using markers and pens to create a dripping effect, try getting some watered-down black paint and putting a small amount onto paper. Grab a straw and gently blow the paint around the paper. Hey presto – drips.
- Craig Shields

12] You can use any kind of stock image that is blurred to create the same sort of lighting and colours that the Nebula stock has. Just make sure you set the layers’ blending modes to Screen and take the saturation up all the way.
- Craig Shields

13] Double-click on the Pencil tool to bring up the options for adjusting preferences such as Fidelity and Smoothness. It’s important to experiment with different setting until you find one that feels appropriate. Practice drawing abstract shapes, which overlap in the image. By adjusting the transparencies of these overlaid objects, you can add dimension to the shade.
- Patrick Auletto

14] A good way to sharpen up a digital illustration is to use the High Pass filter (Filters > Other > High Pass). Duplicate the image layer and apply the filter with an amount of 0.3 to 0.7, depending on the picture quality. Set the blending mode to Hard Light and adjust the opacity for the best result.
- Sakke Soini

15] If your document is CMYK you will have to ensure the black you create is a ‘rich’ black made up of four colours e.g C = 100, M = 100, Y= 100, K = 100 – otherwise the blending mode will not translate properly.

If you find adding the inner glow leaves a line of fill colour around the edge of the shape, add a small white stroke to it. As we are removing the white with the screen blending mode, it will disappear.
- James Arnott

Merge photos into digital paintings

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to integrate photographic elements into your digital painting to add an unbeatable sense of realism and textural detail.

Digital painting maestro Richard Tilbury shows how photography can complement your artwork without necessarily disrupting the realism of your painted aspects.

Of course, the painted image you’re creating will partly dictate the types of photos you end up using – and the act of selecting these images can be a key part of the creative process.

You’ll explore the key techniques used to blend photos into digital paintings, and the types of image adjustments that will ensure your photos work seamlessly with the digitally painted elements.

You’ll also learn how blending modes and brush selections can play a crucial role in integrating photos. These are important techniques within digital painting – particularly in concept work, for example for computer game environments – and can be hugely effective when it comes to enhancing your images. When used together, the tricks you’ll learn will help you add richness, vitality and believability to your artworks.

01. Start by creating a new canvas in Photoshop measuring 4691-x-3508 pixels, with a resolution of 300dpi. Now using only greyscale brushes (black to white) start to block in your composition very roughly, thinking in terms of tonal values and where you want to place your light source.

02. Don’t be afraid to make random marks at this stage, and use a number of custom and textured brushes to suggest the forms. At least three brushes have been employed to describe the tree here, with the standard Hard Round brush used to draw the trunks. Keep this tonal stage on a single layer to begin with and think purely in terms of shape and areas of light and dark. step ow.

03. Now create a new layer (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + N). This will be your initial colour scheme, so choose an appropriate scale of greens and start blocking in, being sure to set the blending mode to Overlay (in the top left of the Layers palette, next to opacity). The actual colours can be seen in the bottom right.

04. Now open a suitable sky image (you can download one for free from stock.xchng at (tinyurl.com/c5uho9) and select an area that will fit into the painting. Copy and paste this into your image and, using a soft-edged Eraser (Airbrush Soft Round is good) blend the edges. Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and adjust the sliders to help integrate it better.

05. Now open the image file Trees01.jpg from the cover disc and go to Select > Color Range. Using the Eyedropper, select the sky area and set the fuzziness to 200. Now go to Select > Inverse (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + I) and then copy and paste this into your image.

06. Now go to Edit > Transform > Scale and resize the trees so they match the scale in the painting. To better integrate them go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance (Cmd/Ctrl + B), ramp up the yellow value and slightly increase the red. Now set the blending mode to Overlay and use a soft eraser to delete some of the bright sky edges.

07. Now let’s repeat the process for other sections of the opposite treeline. Open the image file DSCF0014. jpg from the cover disc and Trees01.jpg again, and use the Lasso tool to draw a rough selection area around the sections highlighted in red. Copy and paste these into the painting and resize them accordingly.

08. Here you can see how various selections have been pasted in and transformed to blend in. Trees 01.jpg is in the bottom right (with the blending mode set to Normal and the opacity at 75%) and the other tree occupies the far left (again, set to Normal at 65% opacity). Experiment with the Blending modes and the Opacity values as well as the Color Balance to maintain the tonal range established at the beginning.

09. Now for the foreground: open the files P1000186.jpg and b14vickysheperd006.jpg (this came from tinyurl.com/c4nkrb) on the cover disc. Make a rough selection around the areas highlighted above in red. These will occupy the right-hand side of our image. As in the previous steps, alter the brightness and contrast to match the lighting and scale accordingly. Don’t be concerned about them being perfectly integrated at this stage – focus again on the tonal range and contrast.

10. Once the image adjustments are made, select the Eraser tool (E) and use a textured brush with some randomness or scattering in order to erase an irregular shape. This will help blend it in better and make the edges between the photo and painted elements less discernible.

11. For the left side of the tree canopy, open the file b17geoff_vane027.jpg from the cover CD (this came from tinyurl.com/dhkj5n) and open it. Select the sky area, invert the selection as we did before, then copy and paste the trees and building into our image. Here we’ll use another method of blending the photo into the picture. Go to Image > Adjustments > Curves (Cmd/Ctrl + M) and then click on the line, creating two points to tone down the lighting.

12. To form the base of this tree line open b17maartent1366.jpg from the cover CD (this came from tinyurl.com/c9zuq2). Make a selection area as shown in red. Copy and paste this into the image and scale and colour-correct it so that it blends. Use the Clone Stamp tool to fill the remaining area. Use a textured brush to form an irregular edge in a similar fashion to the method of erasing.

13. To add detail to the foreground trees open images P1000194.jpg and P1000206.jpg from the cover disc. Make a rough selection around the main tree and ivy in the first photo and the far left tree from the other one. Once integrated you can then repeat the process and use the Clone Stamp tool to fill in the gaps. The sky areas can be deleted with the Eraser tool or by going to Select > Color Range and removing it this way.

14. We’re onto the final steps now. Add in the three characters, which you’ll be painting in manually. The key here again is to get the tonal range correct. Start by simply blocking in a silhouette, as often the shape of your characters will determine how the viewer reads them, particularly when they’re in shadow, as in this instance.

15. Once you’re satisfied, start filling the characters in with colour, making sure to keep the tonal range narrow and the brightness low. Often a well-placed highlight is enough to suggest form and the brain easily fills in the gap, but bear in mind where the light is coming from. Paste in photos of clothing, hair and so on to blend the characters in more, using the techniques you’ve learned so far.

16. In the final stage, flatten the layers and then make refinements on a new layer. I added some sun glare by using a soft round airbrush and painting a white circular shape next to the right hand tree. Then go to Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow and apply a pale yellow. Click OK and then set the layer’s blending mode to Hard Light with around 80% opacity.

Author:- Richard Tilbury

Best of the Web - April 2009

Apr 30th in Web Roundups by Grant Friedman

Each month we scour the Internet in search of the best vector content on the web. April was another great month for the vector design community with tons of excellent tutorials, freebies, and articles to choose from. Take a moment to review some of our favorite picks for the month of April!

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42 Questions Every Freelancer Should Ask Their Clients

Freelance projects sometimes involve working with a person for an extended period of time. This article from Freelance Folder presents you with a list of 42 questions that you should ask your clients before you begin a project.

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Create 3D effects in Photo shop

Seamlessly integrate 3D elements using Photoshop Extended.

In this tutorial Mark Mayers show you how to seamlessly blend 3D models into your 2D composites using Photoshop Extended. You’ll discover how easy it is to roll, rotate and slide complex models within 3D space.

We’ll start off by transforming an everyday city scene into a war zone by incorporating a dramatic sky, then adding some spectacular explosion effects.

Next, we’ll use Poser to load and export some Martian war machines to wreak havoc in the streets. We’ll then build up the scene by adding some extra details, such as shadows and atmospheric effects using layers and blending modes.

While a similar image could be accomplished using a dedicated 3D application, it would mean a steep learning curve for users who are new to 3D – which is why these techniques are ideal for Photoshop artists.

We’ve used CS3 Extended for this tutorial. If you’ve got CS4 Extended you can still follow along, though Adobe has moved the position of some of the editing tools in step 8. See the application’s Help pages for more information.

01. In Photoshop create a new RGB canvas at 300dpi in portrait orientation, measuring 21-x-29.7cm with the Background Contents set to White. The city image I have used here is by Wanner Cavagnolle and can be downloaded for free from tinyurl.com/dyx8so. Open the city image in Photoshop and drag and drop it as a new layer into your working file. Resize as shown.

02. Switch to your Channels palette and cycle through each one in turn to determine which one holds the most contrast for buildings – in this case it’s the blue channel. Duplicate it by dragging the thumbnail into the Create New Channel icon. Open the Levels palette (Cmd/Ctrl + L) and set the black point to 169 and the white point to 242. Now use a black, hard-edged brush to fill the buildings and a white bush to fill the sky. Draw closed paths around any remaining areas, then generate selections and fill them.

03. Cmd/Ctrl + click the Duplicate Channel thumbnail to generate a selection, then highlight your composite channel. Switch to your layers palette and hit Cmd/Ctrl + J to float the selection as a new layer, then name it ‘Buildings’.

Now delete the original, as well as the white background layers. Clip a Colour Balance adjustment layer setting the midtone red to -33, then clip a Levels adjustment layer setting the midtone Input to 0.66 and the Output whitepoint to 236. Add all these layers into a group folder called ‘Background’.

04. Open Sky.jpg from the cover CD and drag and drop it as a new layer beneath the ‘Buildings’, naming it ‘Sky’. Clip a Levels adjustment layer to it, setting the midtone Input to 0.75. Next drag and drop Fireball.psd from the CD above the ‘Sky’ adjustment layer. Set the blending mode to Screen and Transform (Cmd/Ctrl + T) and position it. Duplicate the layer a few times and re-size as required. Name these layers ‘Fire 1’, ‘Fire 2’, and so on.

05. Zoom in and check the edges on the ‘Buildings’ layer. You may need to defringe by a pixel or so (Layer > Matting > Defringe). Now eradicate any oddly coloured halos by selecting Image > Adjustments > Replace Color and picking areas with the Eyedropper. Now blend, using the Replacement Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders. You can also use the Clone tool to erase the people crossing the road.

06. Our Martian war machine was bought for a small charge from Daz 3D. Download it from tinyurl.com/d7hr37. Install the Poser figure, then after reading the ReadMe files, launch Poser and load and pose the model as required. Now select File > Export > Wavefront OBJ, and in the next dialog box select Single Frame. In the Hierarchy window, tick the bottom geometry box and leave the Universe and Ground boxes unticked.

You’ll then have to save and name the file – I called mine Machine_1.obj. It’s important to save this within a new folder. In the final dialog box, tick Include Figure Names in Polygon Groups, and Weld Body Part Seams. When the export process is complete, you’ll need to copy the texture into the folder you saved the .OBJ file in – these can be found in: Poser Application Folder > Runtime > Textures > KuroKuma. I only copied the MWMachine.jpg – as Meshwire1.jpg and Meshwire2.jpg apply to an unused prop and the others are Poser lighting maps.

07. Collapse the ‘Background’ folder, then import the model by selecting Layer > 3D Layers > New Layer from 3D File and navigating to the Machine_1.obj file. When the import has finished, you’ll see a new 3D layer indicated by a cube icon and its texture as sub-layer. Double-click the layer thumbnail to activate 3D mode and you’ll notice the toolbar changes.

08. When the Edit icon is highlighted, here’s what each tool does: A returns the object to its original position; B rotates; C rolls; D drags; E slides; F scales; G lets you enter coordinates; H is a pop-out View menu; I deletes the current view; J saves the current view; K is a popout Lighting and Appearance menu; L is a pop-out crosssection menu; M shows animation settings; N cancels the transformation; and O commits the transformation. Use the following settings to position the model: 8.7322 for all Position fields; Orientation: X = 12, Y = 22, Z = 0 and 10 for all Scale fields. Then select the Single Light From Eye Lighting preset.

09 Add another tripod by duplicating your 3D layer. Use the Slide and Drag tools to pull it away from the foreground, then the Rotate tool to turn it slightly to the right. As this object is in the distance, you can position its layer beneath the foreground tripod. Now add a layer mask and paint out areas that would naturally be hidden, such as the right leg and the foreground vehicles.

10. Drop a slightly different posed tripod in behind the first two, then position and mask. Now open Sky.jpg again and use Quickmask to make a feathered selection. Copy and paste this above the tripods at the bottom of the canvas, then invert it (Cmd/Ctrl + I). Open Hue/Saturation (Cmd/Ctrl + U), tick the Colorize option and use the following settings: Hue – 33; Saturation – 64; blending mode – Vivid Light; opacity – 30% and label it ‘Smoke’. Next, add some foreground fire as you did in step 4, and name the layers accordingly. You can now add masks to the ‘Fire’ and ‘Smoke’ layers using Linear and Radial Gradients within selections generated from the tripod layers.

11. Organize your layers by adding all of the tripods into a group folder called ‘3D models’, then drag the remaining layers into another group folder labelled ‘Foreground FX’. Next, select Layer > 3D Layers > New Layer from 3D File and navigate to Explosion.3ds from the CD. This model was created by simply adding an ‘Explosion Deformer’ to some simple shapes in Cinema 4D. Position at the bottom within the ‘Foreground FX’ folder. Now access 3D Mode, set the Scale fields to 5 and position to the left. Duplicate the layer a few times, modify their positions in 3D space and shuffle their stacking order as shown.

12. To make the scene convincing, it’s important that the 3D elements interact with the 2D background. Add a new group folder below the ‘3D models’ folder and label it ‘Shadows’. Generate a selection from the foreground tripod and fill with black on a new layer within the ‘Shadows’ folder. Set the blending mode to Multiply, drop the opacity to 60%, rotate the layer by 180°, flip it horizontally, then squash and distort it using the Transform Perspective tool. Now add more shadow layers using the same process.

13. Add a new layer at the bottom within the ‘Foreground FX’ folder, and fill it with black. Now select Filter > Render > Lens Flare, pick the 35mm Prime preset and set the Brightness to 115%. Now set the blending mode to Screen, move it over the foreground tripod and label it ‘Lens flare 1’. Now add a Hue/Saturation adjustment, ticking Colorize, then setting the Hue to 0 and the Saturation to 32. Duplicate/scale the layer and move over the remaining tripods and label them accordingly.

14. The colours are too vibrant, so add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer above all the group folders and use the following settings: red Saturation – -30; yellow Saturation – -65; Lightness – +18; green Hue – +41; Saturation – -38; cyan Saturation – -17. Add the helicopters as 3D layers in the distance, lowering their opacity to around 60%. The helicopter I’ve used can be downloaded for free from tinyurl.com/d5hvzm.

15. At this point I decided to add a car wreck to the foreground. The wreck image I’ve used can be downloaded for free from tinyurl.com/csbgbs. Open the image and use the Pen tool set to Paths to isolate the car. Then generate a selection from your path and copy and paste it into the ‘Background’ folder, clipping it to the ‘Buildings’ layer. Label it ‘Car’ and resize and position as shown. Now add a shadow layer, as detailed in step 12.

16. When you’re happy with the composition, go to each 3D layer in turn and select Layer > 3D Layers > Rasterize (or 3D > Rasterize in Photoshop CS4). Duplicate your first ‘Explosion’ layer, move it above the original and label it ‘Explosion blur’, then add a Motion Blur of 15 pixels and an angle of -24º, and set the blending mode to Lighten.

Repeat this for the other ‘Explosion’ layers and vary the effect by using the Soft Light blending mode. Fine-tune the image by using the Dodge and Burn tools on the ‘Car’ layer to match the scenes’ lighting. Finally, give the blades of the helicopters a slight motion blur and drop the opacity of the top Hue/ Saturation layer to 80%.

Author:-Mark Mayers

Tip

You can modify the texture of any 3D layer by doubleclicking the sub-layer icon. This will open a child-document which can be edited using Photoshop’s tools. In order to update the changes on the 3D model, save the file and it will automatically update on the 3D model. To overwrite the original texture on your hard drive in Photoshop CS3, go to Layer > 3D Layers > Replace Textures. If you have Poser 7, you can export content using Content Exporter, a free public beta download: tinyurl.com/c78tf3. Photoshop Extended also supports other common 3D interchange formats, including KMZ (Google Earth/Sketchup), U3D (Acrobat 3D), 3DS (3D Studio) and DAE (Collada).

Create ice-cold image effects

The arctic freshness of this image is familiar enough from countless drink and toothpaste commercials – and in this tutorial, Photoshop master Fabio Sasso shows you how to reliably fake the effect from the warmth of your studio.

Sasso is a master at making miniscule tweaks to layer styles, and in this tutorial you’ll give the entire Layer Styles palette a good workout to create amazing effects, such as the apparently 3D water droplets that stud the outside of the bottle.

You’ll also develop your own custom brushes and make use of an amazing free smoke brush – both of which will stand you in good stead with your future Photoshop projects.

01. First, set the background colour: in a new Photoshop document, create a fill of a solid jade green (I used #90aea7) or a chilly mid-blue. Then add a new layer and select Filter > Render > Clouds, ensuring you have black and white as the background and foreground colours respectively. Then select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, setting the radius to 180 pixels, and change the blending mode to Overlay.

02. Now let’s make the background lighter. With the cloudy layer selected, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Set the white input levels to 165 – this will increase the white areas of the image, creating a good background effect that’s highly versatile for a range of projects, and a great alternative to more conventional linear or radial gradients.

03. Next, we need to create the icy floor the bottle sits on. Add a new layer and fill it with white. Then go to Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint, setting the type to Medium Dots. Then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the distance to 80 pixels and the angle to 0º. You might need to resize the layer a little bit after the Motion Blur filter, as the edges won’t be uniform and the same as in the middle of the layer.

04. The idea here is to make the floor fade away as though it’s an infinite background. We’ll be using a quick mask to do that. Hit Q to enter the Quick Mask mode and select the Gradient Tool (E). Create a gradient starting close to the bottom and going to the centre of the document. The red area in the quick mask mode is the part that will be shown; the transparent area will be hidden. When you’re happy with it, hit Q again and the quick mask will be transformed to a marquee selection. Then go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.

05. For the bottle, we’ll be using an image from iStockphoto.com, which you can buy for a small cost from tinyurl.com/bzs9p7. The image already has a clipping path; import it into the document.

06. To create the frozen-bottle effect, we need to create a brush that will give us a frosted effect. To do that repeat the same filter we used for the floor. Add a new layer and fill it with white, then go to Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint. Select the Elliptical Marquee tool (M) and change the feather option to 50 pixels, then create an elliptical selection and go to Edit > Define Brush Preset. Rename the brush to ‘Frosted’.

07. Go to Window > Brushes ( F5) and select the ‘Frosted’ brush, then enter the following settings to change the brush’s behaviour: in the Brush Tip Shape menu, change the spacing to 10%. In the Shape Dynamics menu, set the size jitter to 100% and the minimum diameter to 20%. In the Scattering menu, change the scatter to 120% and the count to 5. In Other Dynamics, set the opacity jitter to 50% and the flow jitter to 20%.

08. Now create another layer above the bottle layer and start painting using the Frosted Brush. It’s important to paint only over the bottle area, so use the Pen tool (P) to create a path around the bottle, then right-click (Cmd + click) and choose Make a Selection. Convert this selection a layer mask (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection) to mask out everything but the bottle, then paint using this mask.

09. Now let’s add a thick ice layer is some areas of the bottle. To do that we’ll need to create another brush. Go to the Brush Engine (F5) and select a regular rounded brush of about 100 pixels. Then enter the following settings: in the Shape Dynamics menu, set the size jitter to 100% and the minimum diameter to 1%. In the Scattering menu, set the scatter to 0% and the count to 3. In the Texture menu, select the Noise pattern and change the scale to 20%. In the Other Dynamics menu, set opacity jitter to 50% and the flow jitter to 40%.

10. Add another layer and mask it as in step 8, to make sure that you will paint only over the bottle area. Select your new brush in white and start painting some areas that will be frozen. Change the sizes of the brush using the keyboard shortcuts [ and ] to create a varied, more realistic effect – paint with a big brush first and then a very small one. Use a very light grey to create details, such as the shadows right below the bottle cap and the bottom of the neck of the bottle. These little details with the grey brush will add a great depth to the ice effect.

11. Add another layer and, using the same brush at a small diameter, carefully paint a border around the bottle: this will create the rough frozen edge. Also paint over the edges of the ice in the middle of the bottle to create a subtle 3D effect.

12. Add another layer, this time right above the frosted-effect layer and, using a normal rounded brush, paint some circles that will become water dots. Vary the size, but make most of them small, with only a couple of larger ones. Then select Layer > Layer Styles > Drop Shadow, setting this to 40% opacity, with the blend mode set to Color Burn, the distance set to 1 pixel and the size set to 2 pixels. Next, select the Inner Shadow menu and use 75% opacity, set the angle to 90º, the distance to 0 pixels and the size to 1 pixel. In the Bevel and Emboss menu, enter the following settings: depth – 730%; size – 4 pixels; soften – 3 pixels; angle – 151º; altitude – 37º; shadow mode – Color Burn with 30% opacity, in a dark red.

13. To create the frozen text is simple. First type in your text – to keep it simple I used ‘ICE’ – then add another layer and start painting with the Ice brush we created in step 9. The important thing here is to make sure that the edges are not too uniform, you can even use the Eraser Tool (E) with the Ice brush to erase some areas. Next, use the Layer Style menu to create a shadow (Layer > Layer Styles > Drop Shadow). Set the angle to 90º, the opacity to 30%, the distance to 1 pixel and the size to 1 pixel. Finally, go to Edit > Transform > Warp – you can select a predefined setting or create one – and use it to make the text follow the bottle’s cylindrical shape. Make the height bigger in the centre of the text and shorter in the areas close to the edge of the bottle.

14. Go to tinyurl.com/2madgw and download the free brush set; once you’ve installed and activated the smoke brush, create a new layer beneath the bottle layer, and paint some small wisps of smoke around the bottle, as shown here.

15. Group all the layers involved in the bottle (not the floor or background layers) and duplicate the group. Go to Layer > Merge Group and then Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, specifying a radius of 30 pixels. Change the blending mode to Screen and the opacity to 70%. Select the Eraser tool (E) and delete some areas. You’re trying to fake the effect of being in a cold environment. Keep adding details to the composition, such as some clouds in the background and a reflection on the floor.

Author:- Fabio Sasso