Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 142 i Advanced Photoshop

In this issue’s feature, we talk to industry experts about what makes a stunning portrait image. Discover pro tips and insider secrets for retouching, photomanipulation and digital painting, as photographers and artists reveal their favourite tools and techniques in Photoshop. This issue is also packed full of creative tutorials, including how to create a mech robot using stock photos, how to explore colour with blend modes, how to combine photos and illustrations, and lots more. And as if that wasn’t enough, we take a look inside animation company Wönky Films as well as interview Lois van Baarle on her impressive portfolio. Also, don’t miss the new readers’ challenge on p10 – upload your entry for a chance to win a Canon printer. Plus there are more than 400 free resources…

Challenge entries The best entries and overall challenge winner 1 Lindsey Henderson Oblivious “This is a surreal image of a model admiring her beautiful umbrella completely unaware of what is happening in her surroundings. I used all four of the images and then chose to go with a dark theme.” 2 Marcus Jones Phew! That Coffee Was Strong “I used the Polar Coordinates filter on the city image and did the same with the coffee cup. I then distorted the lady with the umbrella and placed her into the cup. It was all done in Elements 12.” 3 Corine Spring It Isn’t Teatime “All four of the challenge pictures were used for this entry. The theme I came up with is based on teatime, and other images – such as…

01 Research The idea was born years before production started. Directors Miki Cash and Tom Gasek came up with it in the early Nineties when catastrophic events at sea involving oil spills had been having devastating effects on wildlife and the sea. 02 Storyboard and animatic Work on the initial storyboard was started in the Nineties, and when resuming work on the film almost 20 years later they found that very little needed changing. The characters were kept exactly as initially illustrated by Elizabeth Buttler. 03 Set up Now not having to rely on using traditional 3D sets, Gasek and Cash were able to work from their own stop-motion setups. Utilising Dropbox and Skype to produce the film simultaneously across two continents. 04 Animation Claymation was used by animating Plasticine…

01 Hide unwanted areas Add layer masks (Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All) to hide the character shadows over the chessboard edges and to blend the child’s feet and the chess pieces on the grass. 02 Dodge and Burn Use the Dodge/Burn tools over a 50% neutral grey layer to enhance the light and dark areas of the images. Choose the appropriate range and a low exposure setting. 03 Group layers Keep the Layers palette more organised by creating layer groups. Now hold the Shift key and select similar layers, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+G. Don’t forget to rename the group. 04 Use blending modes Create a clipping layer over the Tower layer and change the blending mode to Colour. Choose a light yellow colour and paint the tower to create a yellowish effect.…

Essentials Works with Elements CS CC What you’ll learn Combine photos and illustrations to create an eye-catching composition Time taken 2 hours Expert Daniel Sinoca “I enjoy working with mixed-media compositions, because it gives me the freedom to use blending modes and other techniques to create exclusive digital masterpieces. I started to get involved in the digital world more than 10 years ago and have been working as a freelance artist ever since, creating all kinds of multimedia projects and tutorial guides.” Combining real-life photographs with a cartoon drawing or vector image is a great way to polish your Photoshop skills. In this tutorial, we’re mixing some swirly, decorative illustrations with a photo of a beautiful woman. We’ll start by using basic tools such as the Quick Selection tool to…

Essentials Works with Elements CS CC What you’ll learn How to create an out-of-bounds effect using masks and layer styles Time taken 2 hours Expert Daniel Sinoca “Creating an out-of-bounds effect is always great fun. With a few tweaks and the right technique, it’s possible to make any image jump right out of a frame to mimic a 3D effect. “I started to get involved in the digital world more than 10 years ago and have been working as a freelance artist ever since, creating all kinds of multimedia projects and tutorial guides.” Creating an out of bounds effect is a great way to learn new Photoshop skills. To make this popular effect you have to use several techniques and tools such as masks, selection tools, brushes, layer styles and…

About the artist Niklas Axelsson www.behance.net/ niklasaxelsson @NiklasPhoto Niklas Axelsson studied 3D animation and visualisation at the University of Trollhättan, near Gothenburg. Then he did a two-year course in photography and moved to Stockholm for an internship. He recently started working at Señor Retouch Studio (www.senjor.se), where he describes himself as thriving. Name of the project Animals Reconquer The World The idea for his Animals Reconquer The World images came to Niklas Axelsson when he was thinking about the serious topics of animal rights and the threat of extinction. The way to cover it, he decided was to “flip the idea around and turn it into something more surrealistic and ironic by trying to create an amusing image solution while keeping the serious meaning for animal rights and their survival.”…

Essentials Time taken 2 hours Expert Moe Pike Soe “Whenever I work on a piece of art, one of my main focuses is how the different light sources affect each of the objects in the composition. Depending on the location of the object, the reflection of the light is varied. If an object is directly in front of the light source, I would brush around the edges of the object to create a rim-light effect. “I’m a self-taught freelance digital artist and designer from Yangon, Myanmar. I started using Photoshop in junior year of my high school and started my career in 2011. I’ve had the opportunity to work with clients from around the world including international corporations such as Nike and Nissan. I am currently developing my skills at…

WHAT DOES THE SMART BRUSH DO AND HOW CAN I USE IT IN MY PICTURES? The Smart Brush is located in the Enhance section of the toolbar on the left-hand side of Elements. It’s used to brush quick effects onto your pictures, such as blue skies or enhanced brightness, and it works similarly to the Quick Selection in that you select the area of the image that you would like to brush. On from there, Elements creates a mask and the effect is applied to that mask. These are simple photo-editing effects that you can apply through other means; for example the Blue Skies effect is just a layer of blue set to Colour Burn. This means that you can tone down the opacity or alter the blend mode of…

Creating the backdrop To start, I added stars and nebulae to the sky. The blue tone was created with a Gradient Map adjustment layer and brushes were used to bring out the magical glow. Adding the citadel I rendered the spires of the citadel in a 3D program and saved them as a PNG, which I then imported into Photoshop. I then add a layer of fog with brushes. Inserting the foreground I added the subject, in this case Death, and the mound of skulls. I then used custom light brushes to create the magical highlights glowing from the blade. Completing the shot Next, I blended together the picture with adjustments and added these tiny creatures. This particular picture was designed with the intention of printing for a poster.…

There’s nothing more inspiring than surfing the internet and seeing what other artists are creating, and we really encourage you to do so. Here are some of our favourite pictures that caught our attention recently, from some of the world’s most exciting artists and designers. Amr Elshamy www.behance.net/hotamr “This started as a project in Cinema 4D, but the most fun part for me was later in Photoshop. I enjoyed adding the two earths, inserting some stars and nebula textures to the background, and balancing the colour and shade.” Emi Haze www.emihaze.com “The idea behind this picture was to convey the balance between reality and fantasy, dream and utopia. I wanted colour and sensitivity to be the focus of this picture, and for the subject to melt into the clouds in…

Have you taken a picture that needs a little more oomph? Using a blend mode is the perfect way to take your image-making to the next level. They allow you to specify how a layer interacts with the image below it. Simply select a layer and choose a blend mode from the drop-down menu. As well as the ever-popular double-exposure effect, you can use blend modes to add to and enhance your watery captures. Use a Darken mode like Multiply to bring in moody undercurrents, a lighten mode like Screen to import frothing surges, or a contrast mode like Soft Light to borrow a bit of both dark and light features. Need to get a little wild? Use Overlay for surreal fun. Employ blend modes to enhance sophisticated designs, or…

01 Start with the shine Create a new document of 200x200 pixels, 300dpi. Fill with black and go to Filter>Lighting Effects>Lens Flare. Select the default one and then Distort>Polar Coordinates>Polar to Rectangular. 02 Select and whiten Flip your lens flare vertically, then go to Polar Coordinates. Select Rectangular to Polar. Go to Channels and hit the Load Channel As Selection icon. Now insert a new layer and fill white three times. 03 Insert the bulb Paste a lightbulb into the picture. Use the Option/Alt key along with the brush to select colours and brush out the filament. Hit Multiply. 04 Add colour and shade Add a black fill layer beneath the other layers, mask out the centre, and insert a fill layer of #4db1eb before clipping it to the gradient.…

01 Draw a sketch Create a new document (Cmd/ Ctrl+N). Then grab the Brush tool (B). Choose a hard-tip brush and draw a rough sketch of your flourish art to mark the path. 02 Set the brush Hit F5 to open the Brush Tip Shape panel. Set the brush Size to 20px and Spacing: 1%. Now hit D on your keyboard to set the default Foreground/ Background colours. 03 Use the Pen tool Now go and grab the Pen tool (P), then click and drag outwards to set the anchor points. Use the Option/Alt or the Cmd/Ctrl keys to adjust the direction of the lines. 04 Create the stroke Place the mouse cursor over an anchor point and Ctrl/right-click. Choose Stroke Path, check Simulate Pressure and hit OK. Ctrl/right-click again…

Portraiture is one of the most popular and rewarding genres for photographers and artists alike, and mastering the Photoshop skills needed to produce a captivating characterisation is key. Whether you are retouching, creating a photomanipulation or making a digital painting from scratch, there isn’t much that’s more impressive than a well executed portrait depicting emotion and creativity. Over the next few pages we have collected the best professional insider secrets for producing the most engaging and intriguing people studies possible. Discover the key tools needed in Photoshop for retouched perfection, as well as achieving natural-looking skin, enhancing the eyes, dealing with male skin and defining muscle highlights. We’ve also covered the tricks to combining different images to make the ultimate creative portrait and how to paint a stunning portrait in…

Surreal compositions are some of the most popular Photoshop projects on the internet. They grab your attention with just a simple premise: they’re either mind-bending, or you just don’t expect to see that combination of objects in the same shot. Though it’s a software package primarily intended for photo editing, it’s just as easy to create an exciting composition in Elements. Water is a particularly difficult material to work with, but with the Transform tool, layers and masks, it’s easy to bend splashes to fit onto candles. Using blend mode tricks, you can give the illusion of translucency, and adjustments can unify your layers to make the final picture look believable. These watery candles look great and by learning the techniques used, you can experiment with all kinds of interesting…

Having collaborated on projects for Coca-Cola and being featured on the packaging for Wacom’s new Intuos products, Lois van Baarle has created a wonderful career as a freelance artist. Her artwork is 100 per cent digital and she utilises Photoshop from start to finish, normally sticking to one brush per project. Your artwork reflects Japanese art, Art Nouveau and possibly a little Disney. What were some of your main influences as you developed your style? I’d say the three main influences are already listed in the question! I usually describe my own work as a mixture of Art Nouveau, Disney and manga. My primary inspiration is the artwork of Alphonse Mucha. I was also heavily inspired by Aurore Demilly and other French comic artists. What are your favourite Photoshop tools?…

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Morning coffee 10:00 The day is usually kickstarted with a cup of coffee, while going through that morning’s emails and preparing for the day ahead. Animation portal review 10:30 WÖNKY runs an online animation portal called Show Me The Animation dedicated to showcasing independent animation. Time in the morning is allocated to review the latest submissions. Wireframes and planning 11:00 Before jumping into any code, time is always spent working up plans on paper or specialised wireframing software. This provides time to work out project flow and logic before getting stuck in. Code, code, code! 13:30 Time to get stuck in to some development. Depending on the particular job this can vary from day to day; being a small studio means often turning my hand to different languages and platforms.…

Essentials Works with What you’ll learn Play with colour via brushwork, blend modes and adjustment layers Time taken 1-2 hours Expert Andre Villanueva “I enjoy how Photoshop allows me to unleash colour upon my designs and artwork. Two of my favourite methods are painting with Color Fill layers and getting interesting layer blends by spinning through the blend modes. I discovered Photoshop when studying web design. I’m now art director for a tech company, soothing my inner instructor by sharing techniques.” Colour is one of the key considerations when working with art and design. As with any important tool or feature, knowing how to use and deploy colour is essential. Once you internalise the various ways you can unleash it, you are able to devote more energy into having fun…

01 Add some depth To enhance the realism of your image, add some depth to the scene. Duplicate the lower snow layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, then enter a value of 9.0px. 02 Fade out the blur Now add a new layer mask to the blurred snow layer, select the Gradient tool set to Linear and Black, White. Click at the bottom of your image and then drag upwards. 03 Colour fade Colours appear richer in the foreground and fade further away. To replicate this effect, add a new layer at the top of the layer stack with blending mode: Overlay. 04 Apply a gradient Use the Gradient tool again with the same settings as before, but with 25% Opacity. Click and drag from the bottom of the image…

Wood grain textures High quality wooden texture maps perfect for crafting your own 3D letter blocks, or any other object that needs to look like it is made out of wood. Wood grain bump textures These grayscale textures are the form fitting partners of the wooden diffuse maps. Use them to add roughness and texture to the wooden objects Custom HDR images Three custom-made HDR images to use for a variety of outdoor lighting environments. Each unique in its colour palette and overall brightness.…

Essentials Time taken 2 hours Expert Andre Villanueva “www The whole .thepixelprosit concept of ss.com selections @thepixelprosit used to terrify me. I would purposefully avoid selection tools, opting instead to apply edits canvas-wide. Obviously I didn’t get very far doing this. “As I gained more experience and confidence working with selections, I realised that they are integral to digital imaging, and I now use them in just about every piece I work on. “I discovered Photoshop while studying web design. After graduating, I taught for five years in the media arts department. I’m now art director for a tech company in southeast US, soothing my inner instructor by sharing techniques with readers.” For more of Andre’s excellent work head to www.000-000-0000.com. What better way to make an impact than to…

My goal is always to create the kind of artwork I want to see,” says Randy Monteith. Randy taught himself how to use Photoshop and has been using it for around 12 years. He’s since created artwork for magazines and heavy metal bands. How does he achieve his unique style though? We put him on the spot to ask about his creative process. How does your working process usually begin? I have an image in my head and I start to build it in stages. Sometimes what I start out creating takes several turns and then comes out better than I initially imagined. Sometimes wanting to use a new technique is how I begin. What tools and techniques do you love to use? The Displace filter is one of my…