Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 138 i Advanced Photoshop

COVER IMAGE JOHN ROSS theartofretouching.com Beauty retouching can sometimes look too perfect, but expert John Ross is a master of the natural look. Join him on p26 to discover the secrets of successful retouching; what to leave in and what to clone out. The problem with retouching is that it can often go too far. We’ve all seen the terrifying examples of plastic-smooth skin, Liquify-ed limbs and eyes that just aren’t where they should be. Equally, there’s an ongoing dialogue about the potential pitfalls of retouching: the idea of ‘truth’ in photography and whether unattainably perfect images have a negative effect on some viewers. If only there was some middle ground, where images were retouched to enhance their natural beauty without swamping it with either badly-smudged smoothing or overt perfection...…

FLORA BORSI, 21, HUNGARY Hungarian fine-art photographer Flora Borsi is currently studying at Moholy-Nagy University and is best known in the Adobe Community as the woman behind the Photoshop CC 2014 Splash Screen. ZEV HOOVER, 16, USA If you were to stumble across Zev Hoover’s work online, you may be forgiven for thinking, due to its quality and spectacularly polished nature, that Hoover is well beyond his years. However, when Hoover started using Photoshop he was just eight years old and is now one of the most recognised and featured young artists under 25.…

Having the ability to re-imagine the world is a great asset for an artist to have, and Chris Labrooy has truly mastered this skill. Whether it’s twisting the bodies of cars or turning normal objects into typography, Chris proves that there are other ways to see the world. His work with textures, shapes and typography will wow the viewer every time. Transforming the known into something special creates a sense of artistic freedom and expression. YOUR ART IS WONDERFUL AND VERY INSPIRATIONAL. DID YOU HAVE ANY FORMAL TRAINING? I am self-taught on the technical side… 3D and rendering. Creativity however is unique to every person and your process is not only learned from others, but also through personal experimentation. WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER YOUR CURRENT STYLE AND HOW HAS IT…

ABOUT THE STUDIO ATOMHAWK www.atomhawk.com @atomhawk Atomhawk is an award winning digital art and design studio. It is a leading specialist creative provider of high-end concept art, UI/UX design, 2D and 3D animation, motion graphics and marketing imagery. At just six years old Atomhawk has already been involved in major projects including work with Marvel. “Photoshop is the key tool that we use to create these designs. It allows us to iterate quickly on projects at early stages, producing sketches for initial approval, then polish the imagery through to an awesome final standard” Creating striking, high-end visuals for huge blockbuster films, such as Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and best-selling videogames, like Mortal Kombat X, it’s hard to believe that Atomhawk studio is just six years young. It was founded…

OUR EXPERT JOHN ROSS www.TheArtofRetouching.com @ArtofRetouching John educates photographers and retouchers by helping them expand their creativity through Photoshop from his website, and the classes he teaches from New Haven, Connecticut. “I’ve always strived to be as realistic and natural as possible. My job as a retoucher is to support the photographer, not overpower him with my own style” John Ross’ career has always involved cleaning up images in some way or another. Having graduated from studying illustration and commercial design, he took a job at Marvel. “My job was to make small changes like fixing hands or hair, but the art needed to match the original artist’s style,” he explains. Eight years ago, after working in the print industry for 15 years, Ross decided that it was time for…

OUR EXPERT JOHN ROSS www.TheArtofRetouching.com @ArtofRetouching John educates photographers and retouchers by helping them expand their creativity through Photoshop from his website, and the classes he teaches from New Haven, Connecticut. SOURCE FILES You may purchase the main image from http://bit.ly/1Ti4NHU and you can find supporting images for the hair and skin on www.filesilo.co.uk/advancedphotoshop. WORK IN PROGRESS THE SUBTLE TRANSFORMATION OF BEAUTY Progress 1: General changes Progress 2: Detailed work Progress 3: Refinements Beauty retouching gets a bad reputation because all too often, the changes get pushed to an extreme, and the image loses all sense of what is realistic. When you know how to work the subtle magic of Photoshop, you can bring out the beauty in any given piece — flaws and all. When you think about the…

Jeffrey Smith – whose work rings with symmetry and symbolism – is a painter. His medium just happens to be Photoshop. What Only Exists In The Mind is “an interpretation of nostalgia, the painting depicting the scenery of where I grew up as a child,” says Smith (www.sonarfates.com). “The mountains, rivers, and the endless horizon. I wanted to paint this because I often think of how beautiful and special that place is to me, and now as an adult I have moved.” He explains that he began the piece “with a sketch, line art just sketched into Photoshop. Underneath that sketch layer I began the mountain and the hills on the horizon, working towards the foreground with the river.” He used his own custom brushes, and relied heavily on the…

OUR EXPERT ANDRE VILLANUEVA www.000-000-0000.com Originally from the Philippines, Andre now resides with his family in Alabama, USA. He discovered Photoshop while in school and it has gradually overtaken his life. SOURCE FILES On FileSilo (www.filesilo.co.uk/ advancedphotoshop) there is a starting model and textures for you to use when following along with the tutorial. WORK IN PROGRESS FROM SKIN TO SHIMMERING METAL Progress 1: Polish the model Progress 2: Apply Plastic Wrap, Chrome, and Displace filters Progress 3: Process with adjustments Altering skin is a great way to give your portraits an interesting and eye-catching twist. Learn how to ensheath the starting model in fresh and futuristic metallic lustre. Filters, blend modes, and adjustments will be key to creating the effect. The Median filter will be employed to smooth the model’s…

Photographing moss and rocks is different than photographing other textures. Vintage textures, coffee stains, sketchy textures and paint splatter textures can all be scanned into your computer. Rocks, moss, and other natural elements have a more three-dimensional texture, which can’t be scanned. After all, you can’t just go throwing rocks on a scanner, we’ve tried. It doesn’t end well. This tutorial will show you how to get out of the studio and shoot natural, outdoor textures. The steps are basic, but if you follow the simple formula, you will soon be an expert at obtaining your own rock and moss textures. In addition, many of these steps can be applied to much more than rocks and moss. For this tutorial, the focus will be rocks due to their variations and…

To access FileSilo, please visit www.filesilo.co.uk/advancedphotoshop 02 If you’re a print subscriber, you can easily unlock all the content by entering your unique Web ID. Your Web ID is the eight-digit alphanumeric code printed above your address details on the mailing labels of your subscription copies. It can also be found on your renewal letters. 03 You can access FileSilo on any desktop, tablet or smartphone device using any popular browser (such as Safari, Firefox or Google Chrome). However, we recommend that you use a desktop to download content, as you may not be able to download files to your phone or tablet. 04 If you have any problems with accessing content on FileSilo, or with the registration process, take a look at the FAQs online or email filesilohelp@imagine-publishing.co.uk. NEED…

ALEX LANIER www.laniercreations.com Digitally painting your 2D characters into a 3D base environment can have great results when done correctly. When you export your 3D environment into Photoshop, you now need to paint your 2D characters into the scene. You first need to add your perspective guidelines so your characters match the background. These perspective guidelines will help you pose your characters correctly especially when dealing with dynamic and awkward camera angles. • Get more pro compositing advice from Alex Lanier in his complete guide on p52 MARTIN DE PASQUALE www.martindepasquale.com Look around you, and see how things look and react in reality; the glass reflection on a surface, how it casts a shadow on a particular area or with a specific light. Observe everything, take photographs, annotate them, and…

Polarr, known for its browser-based photo editing app online, has recently launched an image editor for iOS that competes with some of the best pro-level image editors on the iOS platform – while maintaining its ease of use. The editing platform originally began (somewhat unconventionally) as a completely free, advanced online editor that after picking up pace with followers in their droves later evolved into the Polarr iOS app, which also makes many pro editing features previously found in expensive and complicated software easy to use and available for free. Contrary to popular belief the team at Polarr has always claimed that they are not a Photoshop competitor. “We don’t offer layers/masks or vector creation.” However, Polarr still offers all the essential tools for advanced light and colour controls. Key…

• PUT IN THE HOURS For my work, I feel that it is important to work hard on my projects and put in a lot of hours. The more hours I put in, the more chance there is of stumbling across those happy inspirational accidents. • DON’T RUSH YOUR PROJECTS Do not be afraid to step away from a personal project for a few weeks or even months. It is good to let a project breathe for a little time before revisiting it. You can always come back to a project any time and then you will have a fresh outlook. • GET A GOOD CHAIR If you are at your computer all day then it is important to be comfortable. My Herman Miller chair is one of my best…

Want to learn how to manage an efficient, non-destructive workflow, get the most from Photoshop and master the key skills you need to become a pro retoucher? John Ross is holding an all-day Beauty and Fashion Studio Workflow class in East Norwich, NY, on 4 October 2015. Covering everything from shooting to final edits, this is your chance to see him at work, and to ask those Photoshop questions you have been dying to know. Not only will you enhance your Photoshop and photography skills, but you will also learn about what it takes to succeed in the industry – whether you’re a freelancer, a retouching newbie, or an aspiring photographer. Prices were still to be confirmed at the time of going to press. The event is being held at…

OUR EXPERT ALEX LANIER www.laniercreations.com @laniercreations A self-taught artist with a background in architecture, Alex Lanier is a freelance concept artist and illustrator best known for his creative innovation and attention to detail. In this article we will focus on compositing different images together to create a vibrant and fun generic drink illustration full of energy. First do a little search to find as many image assets related to your project as possible. Having a large variety to choose from will help the compositing process go smoothly. We will also learn different Photoshop shortcuts and tricks that will help you bring your image to life. Photoshop has many more options that will take your work to the next level, and learning the essentials from this tutorial will open your mind…

Brazilian illustrator Daniel Bogni (www.danielbogni.com) believes in telling stories with his work. He approaches his art with the vision that it will mean different things to different people.”I personally think this is very cool, mainly because what I try to express is interpreted differently depending on the person who is seeing the art and his emotional state,” he says. In the case of Finding That Place he was inspired by a friend who likes hiking, and says he wanted to convey “a sense of freedom, adventure and at the same time bring some peace.” And to do that, the 26-year-old employed a fairly simple process. He always starts with a simple sketch – “the simplest possible actually” – and uses the same core Photoshop tools: the brushes, Color Dodge, Multiply,…

Earlier this year Adobe – to celebrate reaching its milestone 25th birthday – launched its campaign to find 25 artists under 25 that were the most creative visual artists in their age group , representing the most innovative, forward-looking work out there and showing the world what the next generation of Photoshop artists is made of via a commission from Adobe. With some of the global 25 under 25 chosen, we caught up with the UK winner Tom Anders-Watkins, to find out about his commission, his goals and where he sees himself in ten years time. Tom Anders-Watkins is a 20-year-old student studying Creative Advertising at the University of Lincoln. An aspiring art director and self-taught designer, he has produced a vast portfolio of creative pieces. Check them out at…

Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, created by Go Media, returned for its sixth year this August. For three days, senior creatives, entrepreneurs, artists, students, and fans gathered in Cleveland, USA to learn, be inspired, collaborate, network and celebrate their passion for art and design. “Weapons of Mass Creation is a young grassroots movement to inspire and enable the creative mind. We believe that good things happen when ideas and talents are shared within the community. This mentality manifests itself in the lifestyle of a Weapon of Mass Creation: a person who defies the hand they’re dealt and makes stuff happen.” The event was packed with intoxicating design, talks by design pros like Michael Bierut, incredible amounts of inspiration, authentic networking and a chance to build a sense of community. Attendees…

ABOUT THE ARTIST OSCAR RAMOS www.piensapositivo.cl Ramos started his career early by learning the basics of illustration and graphic design. After working in animation-based roles for many years Ramos then decided to devote 100 per cent of his time to illustration. He has since worked with numerous ad agencies around the world and for clients including Coca-Cola, Mazda, Puma, Opel, and Honda. NAME OF PROJECT TRASH WHEELS ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PACKAGING Oscar Ramos is a talented concept illustrator revered for his signature and unique style in the animation industry. It all started early on with an absolute and complete love of drawing, Ramos then quickly excelled in both the animation and illustration genre; “I studied graphic design because I loved to draw as a kid and loved toys. Luckily I found…

10:00 MEETING TIME Each week the production team and principal artists get together to discuss what’s on, how the week is panning out and any challenges on the horizon. By having an open forum early in the week, we make sure we’re prepared for whatever lies ahead! 11:00 ARTISt one-to-one Every member of the team has a regular meeting with a principal artist and member of the production team. This is a great time for two-way feedback and to discuss areas like training and career development. 13:00 LEARNING LUNCH Once a month, one of our artists takes the team through a tutorial of how they work on a specific technique. This week, we learned how Charlie Bowater creates realistic digital skin when she paints. 14:00 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Networking in the…

1. START IN RAW Start your image processing with a RAW processor like Camera Raw or Lightroom before bringing it into Photoshop. Remember that those tools are designed specifically for photographs, and you will achieve the desired results faster and with greater accuracy. 2. DON’T GO TOO CLOSE-UP Unless you expect the image will be printed at 400%, then don’t work in Photoshop that way. Stop pixel-peeping; no one will ever see that detail but you. Be concerned more with the overall impression than the technical precision. 3. VIEW IN TWO WINDOWS Go to Window>Arrange>New Window to create a second display of the image. You can keep one window zoomed out, while you zoom in for more detailed work. This will keep you focused on how everything looks at once,…

01 CREATE A CONCEPT SKETCH Draw a few quick thumbnails sketches to figure out different ways to express your idea. Keep thumbnail sketches small and you’ll instantly be able to see whether a composition works or doesn’t. You can sketch these on paper or in Photoshop, whichever is easier for you to refer to when you’re making decisions about which one to progress with. 02 DECIDE ON THE COMPOSITION Work on a few concepts for the composition layout. Figure out what elements might work and those that won’t work. Start to think about the basic light source and where you want it to come from, so that later you have a guide to place shadows and highlights. 03 CHOOSE PERFECT PICTURES CONSISTENT LIGHTING Look for images that have similar lighting…

OUR EXPERT MARTÍN DE PASQUALE www.martindepasquale.com Martin De Pasquale is 26 years old and comes from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Working as a photographer, art director and designer, he has his own studio in the city. He says that, “I always try to find new ideas, new ways of working to achieve interesting results.” SOURCE FILES Head to www.filesilo.co.uk/ advancedphotoshop to access Zipper Render (JPG), textures, and a .obj file to make new renders for the composition. WORK IN PROGRESS FROM SKETCH TO FINISHED ARTWORK Progress 1: Base image Progress 2: Make the zipper effect Progress 3: Add details Photomanipulation is a great way to show other worlds, illustrate ideas, and detach people from reality. In this tutorial we will show you how to create a completely new reality and try to…

Award-winning professional digital artist Luke Bailey has been interested and passionate about art since a very young age. A few years ago he began seriously pursuing digital art and quickly found that it was a genre that he loved. The services he offers range from book cover design to logos and custom art. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE? I would describe my style as being very dreamlike and surreal. In most pieces, I like to add exaggerated lighting effects to really give a fantasy feel to my creations. HOW AND WHEN DID YOU FIRST START USING PHOTOSHOP? It all started when I was just 14, when my friend Bartosz Wozniak (only 16 at the time), was interested in photography and he introduced me to Photoshop. He began teaching me…