Advanced Photoshop the Magazine for Adobe Photoshop Professionals 126 2014

The

SECRETS OF ADVERTISING

RETOUCHING TIPS FOR PROS30

UR OWN ERHERO

TEAM MIC ARTBUILD YOUR OWN

PHOTOSHOP BRUSHESCreate custom tools to streamline your workflow and stand out from the crowd

HOW TO PAINT

ANTASY WORLDSte-painting techniques for creating istic environments with photos

CREATE THIS

IMAGE

Compose a dynamic layout

Design character archetypes

Master pencilling & inking

Killer commercial art every time

ISSUE 126

Tutorial files available at:blog.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorial-files

NVIDIA® QUADRO®

#1 IN THE HEARTS, MINDS, AND WORKSTATIONS OF DESIGNERS EVERYWHERE

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To learn more visit www.pny.eu/quadro or

© 2014 PNY Technologies. The PNY Technologies logo is a registered trademark of PNY Technologies.

© 2014 NVIDIA Corporation. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA Quadro are trademarks and/or registered

trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. All company and product names are trademarks

or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are as sociated. Features, pricing,

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NVIDIA® Quadro® graphics cards are the most trusted in the world, empowering 80% of design professionals to do their best, most important work across the widest range of applications. Quadro solutions can help you accelerate your workflows, enhance your results, and maximize your productivity, whatever configuration, model size and complexity, or views you use.

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WELCOMEISSUE 126

Welcome to the latest issue of Advanced Photoshop. With comics-inspired movies going from strength to strength at the box office, we take a look at the original inspiration behind them.

IN THIS ISSUE:

WEB DESIGNADVERTISING

PHOTOMANIPULATIONDIGITAL PAINTING

APRIL MADDENEditor

This issue our cover features our very own

superhero team, created from scratch by illustrator

David Nakayama. Find out more on p52.

On p26 we delve into the world of advertising and

branding, looking at how composition, colour and

typography can tug on a viewer’s psychological

strings to get a message across. Then we move into

the sometimes-controversial area of retouching on

p34, where a selection of professionals share their

30 tips for perfect images. John Ross from The Art

of Retouching follows this up on p46 to craft an

image using both standard and creative techniques.

On p62 you’ll learn how to use Photoshop to

create icons and graphics for responsive web

designs across phones, tablets and desktops alike

with award-winning designer Rolf Anders Jensen.

Then we jump into some serious matte painting

techniques on p66 with Tony Andreas Rudolph Plus

there’s a host of interviews, r

you to explore and enjoy.

FIND US ONLI

@advancedpshop /AdvancedPhotoshop

.co.uk

003

ISSUE 126 CONTENTS

COVER IMAGE

Illustrator, concept artist and comic-book cover

creator David Nakayama walks us through the

process of designing a superhero team from

thumbnails to fi nal artwork. Check it out in

his tutorial on p52.

DAVID NAKAYAMAdna-1.deviantart.com

TYPOGRAPHYNEW MEDIA

WORKSHOP:

EPIC FANTASY LANDSCAPE COMPOSITE

66Combine photo elements and painting techniques to create photoreal concept art

46 WORKSHOP:

MASTER RETOUCHINGUse Photoshop to produce an image that combines standard retouching techniques with creative ones


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46 MASTER RETOUCHING

EYE ON DESIGNWhat’s hot, who’s in and the latest art & design happenings

CONTENTSISSUE 126

004

66 EPIC FANTASY LANDSCAPE CONCEPT

52 CREATE COMIC ART

FOR BACK ISSUES, BOOKS AND MERCHANDISE VISIT:

THIS ISSUE’S PRO PANELOur contributors share Photoshop secrets06INDUSTRY NEWSIntroducing Corel Painter 2015 08

10 PORTFOLIO INTERVIEWAdvantages of working with CGI

16 PROJECT FOCUSCreating a successful ad campaign

18 STUDIO INTERVIEWTrue North


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TECHNIQUESProfessional artists reveal their high-end Photoshop skills in our easy-to-follow workshops

Creative advertising26 INDUSTRY FEATURE

REVIEWSWe put the latest creative kitand apps to the test

80 FEATURE:UGEE Rainbow III vs Wacom Intuos Manga

84 REVIEW:Mischief

Free with issue 126 of Advanced Photoshop

PREMIUM RESOURCES

PLUS:

TAILOR�MADE CREATIVE CONTENT

96 ON YOUR DISC

Create comic art 52 WORKSHOP

Master retouching46 WORKSHOP

30 retouching tips for pros34 INDUSTRY FEATURE

Troller � Made of What You Are58 HOW I MADE

SEE PAGE 24 OR 51 FOR THE LATEST OFFERSSUBSCRIBE TODAY!

66 Epic fantasy landscape conceptWORKSHOP

62 RESPONSIVE DESIGN

26 CREATIVE ADVERTISING

ISSUE 126

Retro fantasy 72 READER INTERVIEW

A’khami 78 HOW I MADE

62 Responsive designWORKSHOP

Photography in a digital world 86 READER INTERVIEW


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EYE ON DESIGN THIS ISSUE’S PRO PANEL

THIS ISSUE’S PRO PANELMEET THE EXPERTS BEHIND THIS ISSUE’S AMAZING ARTWORK AND DISCOVER SOME OF THEIR TRADE SECRETS

EYE ON DESIGN

DAVID NAKAYAMAhttp://dna-1.deviantart.com

Using Window>Arrange>New Window for…, I always keep a duplicate window of whatever I’m working on open on my secondary monitor. This lets

me keep an eye on the overall image even as I’m focused on details, and unlike the Navigator, the image isn’t grainy or partially covered by a

distracting border box.

■ Create incredible comic art from scratch with Marvel superhero David Nakayama on p52

JOHN ROSSwww.theartofretouching.com

The best retouching is when no

one knows you have done

anything at all. Proper retouching

begins in pre-production, not

post-production. Know where you are going, and

how you are going to get there. On the back end,

keep your file structure clean and organised. No one

will see it, but it will make changes easier later.

■ Master pro retouching with John Ross in his

expert tutorial on p46 © Jo

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ROLF ANDERS JENSENwww.portfolio.works

Using Smart 34 x 34 Vector Objects to create icons in Illustrator and pasting them into your

Photoshop designs is the best and most seamless way to create SVG or Retina-ready

graphics for your developer, and they will love you for it. This is a great workaround instead

of having the designer save out 2x graphics for every icon in your user interface.

■ Discover more about creating web assets in Photoshop in Jensen’s tutorial on p62

TONY ANDREAS RUDOLPH www.zulusplitter.de

Photoshop has a lot of different, useful tools to select a part of a photo, like the Lasso tool,

Color Range or Magic Wand tools. Very often I use photos as a kind of brush. To select the

part I want, I can recommend the Quick Selection tool. This powerful tool works like a

brush and creates automatically smoothed selections.

■ Journey to a fantasy world with Rudolph as he explains how to use matte painting techniques in

imaginative scenes on p68

Proper retouching begins in pre-production, not post-production. Know where you are going, and how you are going to get there

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© Imagine Publishing Ltd 2014ISSN 1748-7277

Magazine teamEditor April Madden [email protected]

01202 586218

Editor in Chief Dan Hutchinson Production Editor Alicea FrancisSenior Designer Curtis Fermor-DunmanPhotographer James SheppardSenior Art Editor Duncan CrookPublishing Director Aaron AsadiHead of Design Ross AndrewsContributorsJulie Bassett, Rolf Anders Jensen, Larissa Mori, David Nakayama, Kirk Nelson, John Ross, Tony Andreas Rudolph, Anna-Lisa Saywell, Simon Skellon and Poz Watson

AdvertisingDigital or printed media packs are available on request.Head of Sales Hang Deretz

01202 [email protected] Manager Alex Carnegie

01202 [email protected]

Cover discJunior Web Designer Steve [email protected]

InternationalAdvanced Photoshop is available for licensing.Contact the International department to discusspartnership opportunities.Head of International Licensing Cathy Blackman

+44 (0) 1202 [email protected]

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UK: 0844 848 8402 Overseas: +44 (0) 1795 592 880

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Printing & DistributionPrinted by: William Gibbons & Sons Ltd, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XTDistributed in the UK & Eire by: Marketforce, Blue Fin Building,110 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0SU

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DisclaimerThe 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 magazine 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 magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine 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. All $ prices are US Dollars unless otherwise stated.

If you submit material to Imagine Publishing via post, email, social network or any other means, you automatically grant Imagine Publishing an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free license to use the images across its entire portfolio, in print, online and digital, and to deliver the images to existing and future clients, including but not limited to international licensees for reproduction in international, licensed editions of Imagine products. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Imagine Publishing nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for the loss or damage.

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The magazine for Adobe® Photoshop® professionals

JOHN ROSS / WWW.THEARTOFRETOUCHING.COM

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EYE ON DESIGN INDUSTRY NEWS

INTRODUCING COREL PAINTER 2015

THE LATEST ITERATION OF COREL’S PREMIUM DIGITAL PAINTING SOFTWARE IS MORE PHOTOSHOP�FRIENDLY THAN EVER

INDUSTRY NEWS

Corel Painter 2015 hit the

shelves in August, and it’s

looking like the best version

of Painter yet. Many digital

artists bounce their work between

Photoshop and Painter, using the

strengths of each program to craft the ultimate in

digital illustration.

Painter has always been Adobe file-friendly, but

this release sees it stepping up to the level of its

frequent partner, as it finally introduces 64-bit

NEW FEATURES Many of the libraries within

Painter have been updated,

with new toys to play with in

the Weaves, Patterns,

Selections, Papers and

Image Hose Nozzle libraries.

Flow Map textures allow you to

apply a texture to a piece of artwork

that will emerge as you paint, and you can

now transform your own images into Flow Maps

too. The Brush Tracking utility has also been

improved, allowing you to teach Painter your

preferred painting style, such as the levels of

pressure you typically use.

support for both Mac and PC. It’s also the fastest

version of Painter to date. Corel claims that it runs,

on average, 40 per cent faster than previous

versions, with brushes typically benchmarking at six

times faster than their predecessors. For digital

artists used to the speed of Photoshop CC, this is a

welcome performance boost.

Other new features include better stylus control

and support, known as Real Time Stylus, default UI

profiles for a range of different digital artists, such as

photo artists and illustrators, and of course the

obligatory new brush set that always wows

long-term Painter fans. 2015 is no different: the

Particle brushes it introduces are groundbreaking.

The Painter Advisory Council, a community of

digital artists who have been using the program for a

long time and know exactly what digital artists want

from it, have driven many of the innovations in

Painter 2015. Take a look at the new features they’ve

inspired right here!

Forward Escape by Painter Master Android Jones showcases the awesome possibilities of Painter’s latest iteration

Painter is associated with rich, painterly artwork, but in Dragon Hunter, Erik Holman shows off its clean, illustrative capabilities

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Painter’s Jitter controls allow for natural-looking

variance within your brushstrokes. You can now

achieve handmade, naturalistic variance without

constantly varying your settings. The Jitter

controls cover variations in colour, angle and

opacity for building up different hues, shapes and

shades, allowing you to create a truly organic

look with Painter’s extensive library of

real-media-inspired brushes.

The innovation that will really excite long-term

Painter fans and Photoshop users alike! Painter’s

new Particle brushes are inspired not by traditional

brushes but by physics itself. They come under three

different umbrellas: Gravity, Flow and Springs. Each

of these reacts to brushstrokes in different ways,

producing marks never before seen in digital

painting. They can be tightly controlled or allowed to

run free to create abstract effects, and are perfect for

glowing and fiery effects.

JITTER SMOOTHING

Much-loved digital painting tutor Don Seegmiller shows off the capabilities of the new Particle brushes in Dark Princess, also used as the box art for Painter 2015.

The new Particle brushes provide the ability to create fiery and glowing effects with the stroke of a stylus

Painter is a feature-packed piece of software and

can sometimes feel overwhelming. If you want to

use it for specific tasks, you can now set it to one

of three built-in UI profiles optimised for different

kinds of artwork. The Simple layout features

commonly used tools, the Photo Art profile

concentrates on image optimisation, cloning and

paintover tools, and the Illustration profile is

optimised for illustrators. When you open the

program, you can choose one of these profiles for

the project you’re working on directly from the

Welcome screen.

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PARTICLE BRUSHES

CUSTOMISED UI PROFILES


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EYE ON DESIGN PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW

CREATIVE RETOUCHER AND 3D EXPERT RADOSLAV ŽILINSKÝ ON CREATING IMAGES FOR BIG�NAME CLIENTS

PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW

ADVANTAGES OF WORKING WITH CGI

www.radoxist.comRadoxist_studio

CGI photography is not an easy field to

master, so when you throw 3D into the

mix, things can get very complicated. By

his own admission, Radoslav Žilinský

believes that artists should specialise in one area

rather than being just okay at everything – that way

clients know what to look for.

However, with experience working for big-name

clients including Saatchi & Saatchi and Magnum,

Žilinský’s creative flair seems to have no bounds.

“Now what really fascinates me about the industry is

the variety of requests that come to me. It always

surprises me, especially if you work with top art

directors and advertising agencies. Emerge a

submarine in the streets of Paris? No problem!”

TELL US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT YOUR

HISTORY AS AN ARTIST?

I was always fond of drawing and cartoons, but what

really made a difference was when I got a first release

of 3D software – 3ds Max. I had a long summer in

front of me, and an even longer software manual.

Page after page it revealed the mysteries of 3D CGI. It

was during that time that I became fascinated with

anything visual. It was just a first step.

Back then, CGI was new to clients and they were a little bit sceptical. Slowly, one project after another, they became more

confident and eventually understood the big advantages of CGI

010

WHAT WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS

THAT YOU LEARNT DURING YOUR EARLY

YEARS OF IMAGE�MAKING?

When I think about it, I’ve come to the conclusion that

there are lessons to be learnt all the time. This is

maybe the most important one too – the sole

realisation that everything happens [in order to] teach

us something. It is hard to give advice, because

everyone needs to learn something different.

Recently I have tried to meditate more – it gives me

more detachment and clears my mind. This helps

me to identify and learn the lessons.

YOU WORK A LOT IN CGI PHOTOGRAPHY AND

CREATIVE RETOUCHING. HOW DID YOU

SPECIALISE IN THAT?

I slowly realised that there are so many ways of

applying my talent and it is sometimes a bit

confusing. From making 3D models for games,

matte paintings for films, through to retouching for

advertising agencies, it is easy to get lost. Therefore

it is great to specialise and pick just what you are

best at. Then, for clients, it is much easier to identify

you from the crowd.

YOU SAY YOU’VE WORKED WITH SAATCHI &

SAATCHI BEFORE. WHAT WAS YOUR BRIEF

WITH THEM?

It is nice that you mentioned Saatchi & Saatchi,

because it is actually the agency I started

collaborating with back in 2010, and now we have

completed 51 projects together! Back then, CGI was

quite new to clients and they were a little bit

sceptical. Slowly, one project after another, they

became more confident and eventually understood

the big advantages of CGI. But if I could pick a

particular client of Saatchi & Saatchi, I would

definitely go for CSOB Bank. They were happy from

Last Minute: This is a perfect example of what we love to do the most. A neat combination of 3D CGI, fashion retouching, matte painting, photomanipulation and colour grading accompanied with a nice idea

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Flip Flop Visuals – Island: This was the first visual from a series. MUW Saatchi & Saatchi

commissioned us to do the series of image visuals for their client, travel agency Ruefa Reisen.

Flip Flop Visuals – Pool: This is the second visual from the travel series. From time to time, there is a project that you instantly fall in love with. Finally I can showcase it here

Flip Flop Visuals – Inflatable: Finally, the third visual from the Ruefa Reisen travel series commissioned by MUW Saatchi & Saatchi

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Football Visual: After receiving a brief of ‘the atmosphere of village football’, we knew that this was going to be a lot of fun during the production and photo shoot phase. It was a beautiful project!

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the start about using CGI and 3D, and we have done

many creative prints for them.

TELL US ABOUT MAGNUM’S 25TH BIRTHDAY

IMAGE CAMPAIGN. WHAT PART DID YOU PLAY

IN IT?

I was quite excited when LOLA Madrid came to me

to produce a visual for Magnum’s 25th birthday:

wrapping a Magnum in golden paper with a beautiful

bow on top. I always wanted to do something similar

to this, because the simple things are often the most

difficult. It was the first time my visual was tested on

people before launching on air, and thankfully it

passed successfully! In the end it was used as a

teasing visual on digital and social media for the new

Silver Magnum.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF

CREATING A COMMERCIAL IMAGE?

To stay confident. There are so many people adding

their input during the process. Meeting the visual

taste of an art director and client, consistently

watching over the quality of output of your

co-workers and keeping up with deadlines can be

difficult. So many things can go wrong, but you just

need to stay focused and believe in yourself. In the

end you often realise that everything went smoothly.

WHICH OF YOUR IMAGES ARE YOU MOST

PROUD OF AND WHY?

It is quite hard for me to maintain pride, because I’m

a person that loves to progress, and when you

progress, the love for your older work slowly

shrinks. I know that this is a little bit cruel, but it

applies to everything in life.

But if I have to pick one project, it would be my

series of flip flop visuals for Saatchi & Saatchi and

client Ruefa Reisen travel agency. I had a chance to

cooperate with one of the most talented art directors

and co-owner of Saatchi & Saatchi, Rasto Ulicny. I

learnt a lot from this project and it pushed my skills

much further.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL SEPARATES YOUR

ARTWORK FROM THE OTHERS?

It will sound surprising, but my personality. Even

through my work, I believe that the most important

part is to evolve as a human being, and when I

develop my personality it will reflect in my work too.

It’s a win-win situation. My work is not about my

visual talent, it is more about adding tons of tiny

details. Most importantly it’s about good

communication with your client and people around

you, having a helpful attitude, solving problems,

staying organised and not overloading yourself. I try

to do all of these things.

DO YOU PREFER WORKING IN 3D OR

PHOTOSHOP SOFTWARE?

It slowly shifted from 3D in the past to Photoshop in

013

Travel Luggage: We used a combination of 3D CGI and retouching for this project. The shoot was organised by Radoxist studio and a matte painting background was used to produce this visual

EYE ON DESIGN PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW

Do The Right Mix – UFO: The second in the series of 3D work completed for ‘Do the Right Mix – European Mobility Week’ with friends Jekyll ‘n Hyde

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■ THE BIG PICTURE Do not get stuck on the details too early. They are essential, but your image needs to work as a whole first. Work on the rough image and when you think it fits, move on to a deeper level of detail. After a few steps, do not forget to zoom out and check if everything is alright.

■ NEW TECHNIQUES It is good to master one technique, but try not to stay with your favourite one for too long. If you are stuck and not improving, try to learn a new tool. It will push the old one too. Look into fields like matte painting, concept art, photomanipulation, 3D, photography and retouching.

■ DO NOT BE AFRAID OF MURDER Every project counts, because you have definitely learnt something new. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to showcase them all. Just pick the best ones, with the most public reaction and kill the old ones. People are busy, so they need to know quickly who you are.

PORTFOLIO TIPS

PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW

the present. In the past I really enjoyed working with

the details in 3D, observing materials and mimicking

the real world. Now, I’m more into the emotion and

overall feeling of an image and with Photoshop, I get

quicker visual feedback. This allows me to do a

better job regarding the final result. So even though

Photoshop is more important to me, I always try not

to forget the things that I learnt in early years about

adding detail.

CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR

DAY�TO�DAY WORKING LIFE? ARE YOU OFTEN

WORKING ON MORE THAN ONE PROJECT?

My working life is dependent on the period I’m in. I

try to focus my work on one particular project,

because doing too many things at the same time

leads to nothing. For example, recently I have

focused more on advertising and redesigning my

website. It started with a feeling that I needed to

make another step as a studio. From now on, it will

go back to being about work, so it just naturally shifts

forward.

WHICH TECHNIQUE DO YOU FIND GETS YOU

THE MOST COMMISSIONS? IS THERE A GENRE

THAT IS MOST POPULAR WITH CLIENTS?

It is hard to tell. My visuals are rarely done using just

one technique, so I think what really attracts my

clients is my visual style, a combination of realism

and the illustrative look.

IS THERE AN ADVANTAGE TO WORKING FOR

A STUDIO AS OPPOSED TO FREELANCE?

I do not think that advantages are the most

important. The most important thing for anyone to

discover is whether your personality fits to freelance

or working in a studio. The only way to find out is to

try both. The more you try, the easier it is for you to

find out what works. Listen to your intuition and do

not mistake it for fear.

DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR ANY OTHER

FREELANCERS OR GRAPHIC ARTISTS TRYING

TO GET A FOOT IN THE DOOR?

I think that the most important thing is to realise

that it is not solely about your talent. I have to admit

that the biggest weakness of most artists is

communication. For me, communication is one of

the most important aspects of work or any

relationship, because I think that everything can be

solved just by talking.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? WHAT ARE YOU

WORKING ON?

Right now I’m finishing a series of three visuals for

014

The most important thing for anyone to discover is whether your personality fits to freelance or working in a studio. The only

way to find out is to try both

TMP Worldwide London and their client Arup. It is the

kind of project I love the most and presents another

challenge for me. Hopefully I can share it with you in

the next few weeks, so stay tuned on my website or

social networks.

Dinosaurs:

Magnum’s 25th Birthday:


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Try it free at zenfolio.com/photobooks

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EYE ON DESIGN PROJECT FOCUS

PROJECT FOCUS

W hen Polish advertising agency byss.pl

was first approached to work on the

labels and key visuals for a client as

important as Original Source, it was up

to graphic designer Krzysztof Olak (www.behance.

net/krisolak) to use Photoshop to create the artwork

that would be perfect for the job.

“I had the pleasure of working on the Seasonal

Edition designs,” he explains, telling us that he was

given a lot of creative freedom to generate the ideas

that would eventually go into the ads. “Our team had

the idea to hint at the origin of the components and

fruits used in the Seasonal Editions within the label

design. In the 2013 Seasonal Editions there were two

fragrances: ‘Raspberry & Cocoa’ and ‘Mandarin &

Basil’. In the first one I made reference to Aztec

culture for the cocoa and my home country, Poland,

for the raspberry.”

The result of the team’s idea and Olak’s ingenious

work was a big success. So much so, in fact, that

byss.pl and Olak created another vibrant ad using the

same idea for the ‘Carambola’ Seasonal Edition

fragrance again in 2014. To find out more, Advanced

Photoshop spoke to Olak to discover exactly how he

did it.

WHEN WERE YOU FIRST INSPIRED TO LEARN

PHOTOSHOP AND USE IT AS A TOOL FOR

ADVANCING YOUR CAREER?

Well, since I was a little boy I have liked to draw, and

everyone told me I was a gifted guy. I won a lot of

drawing contests in primary school. I remember back

in 2009 a friend that I have known since my childhood

showed me some work by Peter Jaworowski. I was

really amazed by the power of Photoshop to the point

that I installed the CS2 version on my PC. From that

moment my curiosity turned into a hobby, and after a

year I had my first features and exposure on the web.

Two of my works have won a Featured Image award

on the Advanced Photoshop website.

I was spending my whole spare time learning the

tools and techniques in Photoshop back then,

constantly learning something new. I was really

determined to grow my skills in every field of design

and every award that I’ve achieved pushed me to

work more and more. Today I work full time as a

graphic designer in one of the best advertising/

interactive agencies in Poland.

WHAT PHOTOSHOP TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

DID YOU MAINLY USE TO CREATE THE AD?

DETAILS LIKE THE WATER ARE STUNNING!

Thank you! Mainly I used creative photo retouching

with photomanipulation and digital painting

techniques. As for the water, I used the good old Warp

tool with the Screen blending mode, and a lot of

water splashes were digitally painted. The key visuals

are based on stock photos. I also used a lot of clipping

masks to paint the shadows and highlights or other

image adjustments such as Brightness/Contrast,

Levels or Selective Color.

WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER USING SOFTWARE

OTHER THAN PHOTOSHOP TO CREATE ADS

SUCH AS THESE?

To be honest with you, no! I’ve been using Photoshop

since I can remember. If someone took Photoshop

away from me I would probably start using 3D

software to try to make ads like these. Of course, 3D

modelling takes a lot more time, and time is precious

when you work in an ad agency. Photoshop gives me

a range of opportunities to work on stock photos and

retouch; this software is irreplaceable for me.

HAVING SAID THAT, ARE THERE ANY TOOLS OR

FEATURES THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SEE IN THE

NEXT VERSION?

I work with the CS5 version at my agency and I really

miss some features that are available in CS6,

especially the layer search feature. I am the first to

admit that I’m not a tidy person when it comes to

naming each layer separately, that’s why I really love

this feature.

It’s also possible to not only use layer groups as

the basis of clipping masks, but also to apply layer

effects to an entire group. Previously, they could only

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Krzysztof Olak is a multidisciplinary designer who

lives and works in Stettin, Poland. A� er fi ve years of experience in the

industry, his work has been featured on Digital Art Served, Branding Served, Packaging

Design Served and in numerous magazines. Olak works full time as

a graphic designer at interactive agency byss.pl, where he works for

numerous clients such as Original Source and Carlsberg. He is also a

proud member of Goverdose Polish art collective.

KRZYSZTOF OLAKwww.behance.net/krisolak

ORIGINAL SOURCE SEAS

NAME OF PROJECT

040016

GRAPHIC DESIGNER KRZYSZTOF OLAK REVEALS HOW HE AND HIS TEAM CREATED THE ADS FOR ORIGINAL SOURCE’S SEASONAL EDITIONS

CREATING A SUCCESSFUL AD CAMPAIGN

2014 ‘Carambola’ ad

Ingredients as inspiration


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I had to make a background that indicated the carambola fruit origin, so I decided that I would make a photomanipulation using stock photos from Java. The biggest challenge was to make the packshot more interesting. To do that, I decided to wrap the package around with a carambola tree, an idea which all started with a simple sketch.

The tree was made by combining about 20 bark stock photos. To blend the bark together as one I used masks and a lot of retouching techniques and digital painting to paint branches or leaves. Some of the bark stocks were resized and stretched by using the Warp tool. After everything was blended together, I had to adjust every piece I used to build the tree. There were a lot of clipping masks used with adjustments like Selective Color, Curves and Shadows/Highlights painted with a simple soft brush.

The splashes are also stock photos resized and distorted with the Warp tool. I mostly used the Screen blending mode, and sometimes Linear Dodge on the bright sides of the background to make the water more visible.

be applied to individual layers. The Eyedropper tool

has also now been tweaked so that it can sample

underlying layers as if intervening adjustment layers

weren’t there, which makes patching and retouching

much easier. I’m a lucky owner of Photoshop CS6 and

it has all the features and functions I need to keep my

workflow going strong.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A

BEGINNER ON HOW THEY CAN QUICKLY

IMPROVE THEIR PHOTOSHOP SKILLS?

Only hard work can improve your skills quickly! Keep

an eye out for good tutorials and learn from them,

visit good design portals for inspiration, and join an

art collective where you can get feedback from other

designers and artists. Most importantly, love what

you do.

WHAT RESOURCES WOULD YOU RECOMMEND

TO OTHER BUDDING DIGITAL ARTISTS FOR

INSPIRATION AND LEARNING NEW SKILLS?

I’m a part of Goverdose art collective. You can get free

PSD files to download from our ‘Goverdose Academy’

page on Facebook. I suggest keeping an eye out for

some great free stuff and tutorials on there. I would

also recommend visiting ‘Psdtuts+’ for some

awesome tutorials.All i

mag

es ©

Wik

toria

Gry

niec

Extra details

Water effects


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STUDIO INTERVIEW

MEET THE MANCHESTER STUDIO THAT HELPS BUSINESSES BUILD EFFECTIVE BRAND IDENTITIES AND CAMPAIGNS THROUGH A STRONG TEAMWORK ETHOS AND AN UNDERSTANDING OF CLIENT NEEDS

TRUE NORTH

EYE ON DESIGN STUDIO INTERVIEW

018

At True North, every member of the team is

considered equally important, and it is by

working together that the studio can deliver

effective designs that help brands to drive

business. Head of artwork Ed Dunsdon believes that

this is what sets the studio apart from its peers. “In

my experience, the True North studio stands apart

from other studios because of the structure of the

design teams and the egalitarian culture that

permeates from the top down,” he says. “The teams,

led by senior designers and guided by the design

director and creative director, continually share and

discuss ideas from the concept stage through to final

artwork. There are no egos or dominant

personalities, which makes for a very calm, focused

and enjoyable creative environment.”

The studio was started 12 years ago by

co-founders Ady Bibby, Martin Carr and Craig

Webste. “They shared a ‘frustration with mediocrity’

and believed that there was a place for a really great

Manchester-based design agency,” says design

director Karen Hughes. “The original details of True

North were decided at a high-powered meeting in

the Sainsbury’s cafe in Denton. Despite these humble

beginnings, within six months of setting up they had

been appointed to the rosters of Bank of Scotland,

BMI, and worked on the launch of Imperial War

Museum North. From day one the driving force

behind True North has always been great ideas that

‘work’ for our clients and help drive business

success. To achieve this is a matter of strategy,

creativity and craft, and although there have been

many changes at True North over the years, this has

and always will remain the why and how we do what

we do.”

The reason for the success of the studio is down

to the collaborative efforts of the team members,

each pulling on their own strengths to the

requirements of the brief. “It’s about getting the right

team and the right expertise on the right jobs,” says

Hughes. “Our strategic and creative teams work

closely together from day one and throughout the

process to make sure we really understand the client

and deliver on their brief.”

This collaboration very much centres around the

client and their needs, with the studio team working

closely with them at every stage to ensure that the

final result is the very best that it can be. When asked

if True North is able to add its own style and input

into each brief, Hughes replies: “Rather than


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019

True North is an award-winning strategic branding agency based in the heart of the Northern Quarter in Manchester. Its ethos is

‘brands that drive business’, and they believe in simple ideas that make a big difference to brands and businesses.

TRUE NORTHABOUT THE STUDIO

www.thisistruenorth.co.uk@thisistruenorth

Karen HughesDesign Director

Sarah HardmanDesigner

Ed Dunsdon Head of Artwork

From day one the driving force behind True North has always been great ideas that ‘work’

for our clients and help drive business success

The studio works on a range of projects, predominately print-based, for well-known business clients


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4020


influence our clients with our own personal taste, we

help them to find their own style that helps them

capture and communicate who they are and what

they do. To make this happen, we start a long time

before we start kerning the type and looking at CMYK

breakdowns. It’s about really understanding the job in

hand. This means when we get a brief, we pull it

apart, get to grips with what the client actually wants

to get out of it, then we put it back together again. We

ask lots of questions, we involve all the stakeholders

and really get under the skin of our client’s

businesses and organisations.”

Because of this flexibility and ability to adapt to

meet each client’s needs, True North has attracted

some well-known businesses to its roster. A

particular standout project for the team was a recent

commission for a wayfinding job for Dunham

Massey, a National Trust property on the outskirts of

Greater Manchester. This job came off the back of

another, creating a set of guidelines for them to use

internally. Designer Sarah Hardman tells us more

about the brief: “A visual language was created to

help them push their proposition of ‘More than just a

walk in the park’, unifying all areas of the estate and

drawing visitors into areas they might not have

previously visited.” In February this year, Dunham

opened an impressive new visitor reception building

to facilitate its large number of visitors. True North’s

job was to design the wayfinding and environmental

graphics for the new build, helping people navigate

while bringing the story of Dunham to life through

material, interpretation spaces and the visual

language. “For the navigational elements we created

a modular system that could be applied consistently

throughout the space for ease of use,” explains

Hardman. “Once we had tackled the practical

A team of 11 legendary British footballers come together for the first time in Royal Mail’s Football Heroes stamps

England players illustrated through ash for our ‘New

Era, Old Enemy’ campaign for the Ashes at Old

Trafford in 2013

The studio enjoys “a very calm, focused and enjoyable

creative environment”

The team know how to relax in-between working hard to meet client briefs and deadlines


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021021

04 FINAL RETOUCHWorking from the marked-up proof, the retoucher has strengthened

the lighting on the leading edge, rounded the back and tidied the model’s hair.

The image has been cut out and layered so that it can be dropped into the

artwork files.

03 FIRST RETOUCHThe retouch increases the highlights

and overall lighting, enhancing the muscle

definition to give the impression of the surface

texture of the brain. At this stage the retouch is

shown to the designer and the creative director.

Amends are marked up on the proof and

returned to the retoucher.

05 PRACTICAL USEThe retouched image is now incorporated into client stationary. The

image is applied to the letterhead and the reverse of the business card.

02 STUDIO SHOTThis is the chosen image from the studio

shoot. The designer oversaw the shoot and planned

the lighting with the photographer to match as

closely as possible to the visual concepts.

SPORT PSYCHOLOGY BRAND IDENTITYARTWORK MANAGER ED DUNSDON TALKS US THROUGH THIS RECENT BRANDING PROJECT

01 SPORT PSYCHOLOGIST CONCEPTThis shows the initial concept for

the brand identity; a strong identity that helps

communicate the mental and physical elements

of sports psychology. It was built on the

observation that muscle definition of the human

body mirrors the brain.

The brief for this project was to “create an engaging brand identity based around the function of the company that is both professional and confident”


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040022


A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SARAH HARDMANDESIGNER SARAH TAKES US THROUGH A TYPICAL DAY AT TRUE NORTH

components of the wayfinding system, we could

then layer in ideas that had a bit more emotion, that

told a story, that communicated the brand and

engaged with its users. We had to consider the use

of the visual language in the environment and how it

could be used to talk to various audiences that

Dunham welcomes. Communicating on these

different levels brought us a lot of enjoyment, and it

was great to see people engaging with the space

while also being able to find where they need to go.”

True North isn’t afraid to tackle a challenging

project head on, as exhibited through the Dunham

project. Another recent example is a pilot project for

Sport England and Bury Council to encourage

women and girls to do more exercise. This type of

project needs much more than just good design, as

there are numerous other factors that need to be

considered from the outset. “The main challenge was

to get women to overcome their fears and barriers to

exercise,” says Hardman. “Our solution was to take

the intimidation out of exercise, showing women

they are not on their own. Therefore we created the

brand campaign ‘I Will If You Will’, which encouraged

women to support each other and get moving

together. The campaign involved creating a brand

video, six sheet campaigns, and campaign collateral,

which all showed real women of Bury, in real

situations, telling real stories, deliberately avoiding

the unrealistic, intimidating, size 8 model imagery

usually used to promote women’s exercise. The

response in Bury has been great, and so far the

campaign has been a huge success, with women

09:00 BREW ROUND With the ‘delayed trains’ excuses

out of the way, it is time for the morning brew. We all

do our best to avoid having to make it. If successful

in escaping the round, then yesterday’s timesheet

will always need completing.

10:30 MORNING BRIEFDue to the nature of my work,

there’s never really a typical day. A new project is

briefed this morning and I will get time to think

around the idea. More often than not a team of us

will get our heads together to gain stronger answers.

13:00 LUNCHTIME RUNRunning club commences at 1pm,

all abilities welcome. A slow, steady pace is run

along the canal, Manchester City Stadium being our

halfway marker. With a cold shower and a clear

head, we’re now ready for the afternoon.

sharing their positive stories and benefits of getting

more active.”

The team uses the Adobe suite of programs to

achieve its creative visions, including Photoshop,

Illustrator and InDesign. “Photoshop is an intrinsic

tool within the studio,” says Ed Dunsdon. “[It helps] to

manifest creative ideas and concepts. We use it at all

levels, from batch processing and contact sheets, to

retouching and full creative compositions. The

majority of our work is print-based, and imagery

plays an important part in bringing concepts to life,

from postage stamps to billboards.”

A combination of effective imagery and a strong

understanding of what a business needs from its

branding materials is certainly a recipe for success,

and will ensure a strong future for the operations of

True North. For Karen Hughes, it is the members of

the team that are the real secrets to its impressive

achievements: “The people who work here are what

make True North, and they will be what shapes True

North over coming years. Our team here is a great

mix of experiences; we’ve got people here from day

one who’ve been through it all a hundred times over,

mixed with enthusiastic young graduates who are

looking to make their mark. It’s this mix of people

and energy that makes the future of True North

really exciting, and there really is a feeling that the

best is yet to come.”

Our team here is a great mix of experiences; we’ve got people here from day one who’ve been through it all a hundred times

over, mixed with enthusiastic young graduates

An updatable timeline of events and exhibitions during the Wellcome Collection’s redevelopment project


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023023

TOP 5 PRODUCTION TIPS Ed Dunsdon shares his top tips for ensuring a seamless workflow

14:00 PHOTO SHOOT This afternoon I am out of the office

at a photo shoot for Bury Council, art directing our

photographer Stuart Hendry to capture how the real

women of Bury are getting more active as part of our

‘I Will If You Will’ campaign.

16:00 BACK TO WORKBack to the office to get cracking on

with the brief. I will spend a couple of hours

researching and scribbling down ideas before

sharing with the rest of the team in the design crit.

Not quite there yet, best keep thinking...

18:30 HOME TIMEWith the timesheets done, it’s now

time to put the Mac to sleep and call it a day (or

sometimes a night). On a good day it’s a 6.30pm

finish (if we’re lucky). Cue the race for the lift.

Maximum weight is 400kg!

■ PHOTOSHOP LAYERSAlways order and name your layers clearly and logically. This is especially important when working on multi-layer comps that someone else may need to pick up to work on.

■ RENAME FILESBatch Rename in Adobe Bridge is a quick and easy way to rename multiple image files.

■ NEVER DELETEWhen a designer, or client, asks you to take something out of a comp, never delete it – always mask it. They are bound to ask for it to be put back in.

■ HOUSEKEEPINGArtwork is about good housekeeping. Create a centralised resources point for all images and logos, so that the creative team is always using the latest versions.

■ CAN DOArtwork and production should be about ‘can do’ or ‘let’s see what we can do’ to assist the creatives to visualise their concepts. Be proactive, not reactive. Al

l art

icle

imag

es ©

True

Nor

th 2

014

Photoshop is an intrinsic tool within the studio,

helping to manifest creative ideas and concepts

The team work together on briefs to come up with ideas

Repositioning campaign encouraging people to ‘take another look’ at the National Portrait Gallery


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026

© A

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Crea

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reto

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“We worked very closely with the photographer to get the desired lighting in the studio, with respect to the selected backplates in which the bike and the rider were going to get comped into,” explains creative production studio PixelPaint


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CREATIVE ADVERTISING TECHNIQUES

WE TALK TO PROFESSIONALS WITH EXPERIENCE IN ALL OF THE KEY AREAS OF GOOD ADVERTISING DESIGN, AS THEY SHARE THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Creating effective advertising imagery is

the mark of a good designer, but there is

a lot more to it than simply making pretty

pictures. Yes, the key artwork needs to be

high-quality, attractive and engaging, but an

advertising image needs to be so much more. It is

the combination of the key artwork, text and

necessary information, put together in the most

effective composition; it is the right colours to

speak to the right target audience; and it is the

correct typeface to match the brand and the

message being conveyed.

Advertising imagery is often the result of a large

number of people from different disciplines

working together as one, including the client, an ad

agency, the art director, the designer/designers, CG

artists, retouchers and copywriters. To be dominant

in this field, you need to be flexible and resilient, as

numerous changes are likely to be made, but if the

end result is successful, then it can lead to bigger and

better things.

As a starting point, Emlyn Davies and Lewis

Williams of Bomper studio suggest that you break

your project down into stages so that you can tackle

each one effectively: “A solid understanding of how

design principles work in harmony can help you to

deconstruct an overwhelming artwork into a series

of elements, whose relationship to each other

determines the next logical step you need to

consider. Write a checklist, organise your workflow

and take it one element at a time. And remember,

composition is as much about whether it feels right

as whether it technically looks right. If something

just doesn’t feel right, change it.”

Being able to place all of these elements in the

right place is one thing, but it is skill with Photoshop

that brings it all together. Often, even the key

images themselves are complex composites,

bringing together studio shots and location

photography into a seamless whole. This is

something that creative retouchers Chirag Doshi

and Prasad Shetty of PixelPaint specialise in,

working with their clients to create bespoke

visuals that are high-quality and photorealistic,

even though they bring together different

photographic elements.

“For us at PixelPaint we think that for a really

good advertising visual the image should be

seamless, irrespective of any number of different

images comped in to create one image. We

believe in creating visual content [that is both]

emotional and engaging for the audience, and

where the essential elements (ideas, product or

cause) are highlighted at once.”

CONTRIBUTORSPIXELPAINT WWW.PIXELPAINT.INPixelPaint is a creative production studio based in India that specialises in creative retouching and CGI for still imagery. It combines the skills of Chirag Doshi and Prasad Shetty.

EMLYN DAVIES AND LEWIS WILLIAMS

BOMPERSTUDIO.COM Davies is the creative director (and founder) and Williams is the studio manager at

Bomper studio, a boutique CGI and design studio specialising in photorealistic 3D visualisations.

DMITRIY GLAZYRINWWW.WESTERNJACK.COM

Glazyrin is the production director at Western Jack, a CG production studio

specialising in photography, 3D graphics and retouching. The small team produces big work for a range of clients.

JONATHON GARRATTWWW.BEHANCE.NET/JGARRATT

Garratt is a graphic designer working for Marketing In Partnership (mipagency.

com). He does a lot of print ads for magazines, as well as campaign imagery for sports events.

SASHA VINOGRADOVA WWW.SASHAVINOGRADOVA.COM

Sasha Vinogradova is a Russian artist and graphic designer. She is currently working

in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles doing key visuals for movies and TV series.

LAUREN HOMWWW.HOMSWEETHOM.COM

Hom is a designer, illustrator and letterer based in Brooklyn, New York.

She combines hand-drawn lettering with her digital work to create a unique, whimsical style.


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http://mipagency.com

http://BOMPERSTUDIO.COM



028

TECHNIQUES CREATIVE ADVERTISING

Composition refers to the way that the different

elements of your design are put together. In

advertising, that may include a brand logo, a

strong selling message and more descriptive

and informative text. It’s a lot to balance all of

this in one small space, and often an advertising

image needs to work just as well when printed

in a magazine as it does when it’s posted as a

giant billboard.

Emlyn Davies and Lewis Williams know that

advertising artworks have a specific purpose or

focus, which is determined from the outset

through the brief or brand guidelines: “We try to

guide the viewer to firstly consume the image as

our entry point (establishing an emotional

connection), followed by the descriptive copy

(communicating the value), and finally the

product or brand (creating a lasting image) as

our exit point. Composition has the power to

control the viewer and can determine how much

impact an artwork has, how coherent its

message is, or even how long it holds the

viewer’s attention. The importance of

composition is huge; it truly is the foundation of

successful ad design.”

OFTEN YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO CREATE MULTIPLE IMAGES FOR A SINGLE CAMPAIGN, WHICH NEED TO LOOK AND FEEL SIMILAR TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY ACROSS A BRAND, AS THIS EXAMPLE FROM PIXELPAINT SHOWS

CONSISTENT COMPOSITIONS

COMPOSITION

© O

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“The client, Aciquick, wanted to portray the instantaneous effect of its product, which is

an antacid tablet relieving acidity quickly. The copy for this campaign reads: ‘Aciquick

– gets to work in six seconds’. For this project we worked closely with art director

Khurram Haque and creative director Nitin Srivastava at Oglivy, Delhi.

“We started off with the use of stock imagery for the animals; the dynamite was

crafted by us in order to achieve the real scraped look needed, and further shot by

photographer Dushyant Bhatt individually and as a group together. The vests seen in the

image are also shot individually, and finally all of these multi-part elements are comped

in to make it work as a seamless image.”

Doughnut retouch: Retouch of photography and CGI chocolate for Hurricane design studio

We think that for a really good advertising visual the

image should be seamless, irrespective of any number of different images comped in to create one image PixelPaint, www.pixelpaint.in


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029

EMLYN DAVIES AND LEWIS WILLIAMS OF BOMPER STUDIO TALK US THROUGH THIS IMAGE FOR THE CADBURY REBRAND AND NEW BAR SHAPE

KEEP COMPOSITION SIMPLE

“The hero of this campaign was the new branding and product shape.

Trying to showcase this without cluttering an ad is always a

challenge. We began the process by sketching several thumbnails, to

work out the optimal flow that would accommodate each of the

elements, and tried to scale back anything that was not required. We

utilised CGI to create the product shots for the newly rebranded bars,

along with the new format and shape for the smaller bars. Creating

elements entirely in 3D gave us the most flexibility later when

considering composition.

“Another benefit of CGI is the consistency of the visuals across

multiple variants, as well as any potential future campaigns.

Consistency is important in advertising, as we look to establish a

lasting connection between brand and consumer. We combined the CGI

elements and environment with dynamic typography, to better reflect

the new size and weight of the product. With some final reflections and

background highlights, we felt we had focused the design, and

captured everything that we set out to capture within one great visual.”

NBS brochure: 3D poseable characters for redtag design agency for the Nottingham Building society print and digital campaigns. Robin Hood and Maid Marian are out and about on the streets of Nottingham to launch the Nottingham’s Whole of Market mortgage campaign

© B

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Composition has the power to control the viewer and can determine how much impact an artwork has, how coherent

its message is, or even how long it holds the viewer’s attentionEmlyn Davies and Lewis Williams, www.bomperstudio.com

There are various ‘rules’ of composition that are

relevant to any piece of design work, no matter its

intended output. Things like the ‘rule of thirds’ or

the ‘golden ratio’ are what students are taught as

theory when studying the art of advertising design,

but it is quite something else to apply it to real-life

commissions. As well as thinking about what is

aesthetically pleasing, it is also essential to

consider the purpose of the advert: who is it trying

to target and what will encourage them to interact

with the product or service?

“Composition that engages the viewer,

establishes an emotional connection, holds their

attention and guides them to the important details

is important no matter what the audience,” says

the team at Bomper studio. “Meanwhile, designers

need to put themselves in the mind of the target

viewers and try to imagine what would grab (and

hold) their attention. Where the target is a

younger audience or the content a more

energetic brand or product, it may be more

effective to stick to a shorter eye path or a more

dynamic flow between elements, for example.

But we’ve found no quick and fast rules relating

certain target groups to specific composition

choices; ultimately it’s determined by the tone of

the brand and the emotion that the concept aims

to evoke.”

Putting this into practice requires a strong

workflow process that address all of these

concerns. For Emlyn Davies this starts with

looking at the brief and determining the key

points required within the advertisement. “We try

to follow a hierarchy of what is most important

– most often the message – and first tackle that

visual or typographic element. The branding of

the ad is very important too, and can range from

just subtly using the brand’s colours to flooding

the ad with logos.” From here, the team use

sketched thumbnails to work out what the best

flow of the required elements is. Next, assets can

be collated and put within the decided structure.

Of course, when working with clients and on

briefs, there are always going to be compositional

changes throughout the design process to

contend with. “Liaising with marketing teams

usually throws up amends to copy or headlines

within the middle of a job, so you always have to

be ready to adjust what you’ve already done, and

what you’ve planned to do next. Ultimately with

ads it’s about what looks right, as it has to have

its desired effect instantly – if we’re not

successful in grabbing the eye and the attention

of the viewer right away, most will either just

pass the billboard by or turn the page.”


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COLOUROnce a strong composition has been created, then

the next thing to consider is the colours that you

are going to use. This is both in terms of the

colours themselves and the shades of those

colours, but also colour correction in Photoshop of

key photography and other elements – especially

in complex compositions where multiple lighting

setups may have been used.

Colours can play a strong role in whether an

advert is successful in its goal of attracting an

audience, and their effect can be immediate.

“Printed advertisements are often seen for only a

few seconds. This time should suffice for attracting

attention and delivering the ad’s message,” says

Dmitriy Glazyrin of Western Jack. “A proper

combination of colours, shades and the overall

composition help place the key highlights and

focus on the main point [of the advertisement].”

This is true across the board when it comes to

advertising imagery, explains graphic designer

Jonathon Garratt: “I’ve always believed that

regardless of which market you are in, more often

than not aesthetics will be the deciding factor in

what you spend your money on. Picking the right

Choosing the right colours and knowing

what works best for your market is key if you want the attention of your customers Jonathon Garratt, behance.net/jgarratt

DMITRIY GLAZYRIN OF WESTERN JACK SHARES HIS TOP TIPS AND ADVICE ON WHY COLOUR IS SO IMPORTANT IN PRINT ADVERTISING

THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOUR

“Colours and shades often help convey

emotions and mood; a drawing can be dull,

lively, neutral or repulsive. Therefore, the

colour scheme is picked to match the scenario

of an ad print. There are many stereotypes and

standards here that every designer must know

and use. For instance, food images cannot be

lacklustre and bleak, and serious social

messages will look bizarre if rendered in

bright, vivid colours.

BEFORE FINAL COLOUR PROCESSING AFTER FINAL COLOUR PROCESSING

“I pick the colour scheme at the beginning

when I start creating a sketch. Later on, colours

can be adjusted at each stage, but final colour

correction of the ready print is a must in most

situations. For instance, in this image (pictured),

colours were corrected at the very end of the

process. Although the work had been officially

accepted, we continued looking for a colour that

would help us achieve the necessary effect and

make the print more expressive.”

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031

Red: A ‘hot’ colour that is often

associated with fire. However, it can also

be used to show that something is

important or special (because of the Hollywood

‘red carpet’ effect).

Orange: Part of the ‘warm’ family of

colours, orange is often used to show

energy (think vitamin C and vitality). It can

also give an autumnal feel in some tones.

Yellow: The colour of the sun, yellow

lightens and brightens an image, and is

associated with happiness, joy and

wellbeing. It can make viewers think of holidays

and relaxing.

Green: Part of the ‘cool’ family, green is

linked to nature (think grass and trees) as

well as environmental issues and being

eco-friendly. Green is also the colour of money.

Blue: Blue is a colour of contrast. It is a

sad colour (‘feeling blue’), but it’s also

associated with the sky, which can

invoke feelings of limitless possibilities (‘reach

for the sky’).

Purple: This is a regal colour and is often

used to show luxury. It can be a very rich

colour when used in this sense, but pastel

versions are romantic and spring-like.

Black: Part of the ‘neutral’ family, black

is a strong colour that is often associated

with both power and death. Practically, it

is also perfect for logos and typography, as it’s

not distracting.

White: Think white and the usual visual

images are those of purity and softness.

It’s also very clean and sterile. White space

is important in designs to give ‘breathing space’.

Brown: This is a down-to-earth colour, as

it makes viewers think of mud, trees,

nature and wood, making it great for tactile

or natural-looking designs.

Grey: A colour that is popular as an

alternative to white or black, especially for

logos or typography, as it creates a more

subtle effect. It can also look very business-like

and professional.

colours can make all the difference in grabbing the

consumer’s attention and ultimately making them

want to invest time and money into your design.”

So we know how important colours can be, but

how do you pick the right colours for your designs?

In the boxout on this page, we look in more detail

at what each colour ‘means’ and the connotations

associated with them. On top of that, there are

other things that you need to bear in mind. “Other

considerations with colour in advertising is the

brand and the target market. Choosing the right

colours and knowing what works best for your

market is key if you want the attention of your

Wooster Hound: Using a moodboard of designs that you like can help to determine the final colour scheme of a print ad, as demonstrated here by Western Jack’s design for Wooster Hound

THE RIGHT COLOURS CAN AFFECT THE IMPACT OF YOUR DESIGNS, SO FIND OUT WHAT MESSAGE YOU ARE SENDING WITH EACH COLOUR

GET THE MESSAGE ACROSS WITH COLOUR

customers,” says Jonathon Garratt. The youth

market, for example, traditionally responds better

to bright, vibrant imagery, whereas if you want to

attract business people, then sleek blacks and

greys are more effective.

One way to determine the colours that you want

to use is to study the work of others that has

proved successful. “Every project starts with

analysing the work of other authors; what

approaches were used, how similar scenarios

were portrayed, what quality of shading was

achieved,” says Glazyrin. “All concepts and ideas of

a new project are assembled on a large

moodboard, which helps to pick the necessary

colour scheme and overall style.”

Simplicity is also key, as too many colours can

confuse the eye and lose the viewer’s attention. “I

like to avoid using a large amount of varying

colours. Pick two or three colours/shades that

work well together and roll with them – this

creates strong, simple design that gets the point

across,” says Garratt.

When it comes to adding in the text to your

image, that also needs to match the colours of the

image and be bold enough that it can be read

without taking over the carefully constructed

artwork too much.

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Intercomp Lion: When working with food imagery, there are certain colour rules to be met. It needs to look appealing, so dull imagery wouldn’t work


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Typography is a key component of any print

advertisement – an ad is designed to give

information after all.

Getting the typography right is down to balancing

it with the imagery and any other assets (like a logo),

and choosing the right fonts to make the message

easy to read. “On a functional level, typography

provides the design with hierarchy. Hierarchy is vital

as it gives indication to important information and

balances the design,” says graphic designer

Jonathon Garratt.

Getting creative with your typefaces can be

effective, as the team at Western Jack know. They

take a different approach to lettering, as they don’t

use traditional fonts; instead handwriting and

calligraphy is applied to print ads. “We consider

handwork to be a more expressive method than the

usual typography, and our customers understand

that,” says Dmitriy Glazyrin. “Calligraphy and

typography help to reproduce the intonation of the

phrase – words can ‘shout’ or ‘fall apart’, or they can

be ‘strong’ or ‘soft’. The fact that we have a

handwriter in the our team and our ability to make

typography more atmospheric differentiates us from

most other CGI agencies.”

It’s also not unusual to come across an

advertisement that uses the typography as the main

focus, which can catch attention when done correctly,

agrees Garratt. “Typography is an important aspect of

advertisement, and a useful and effective tool for

your design. If it is done well enough it can work as

BOTH FORMS OF TYPOGRAPHY CAN BE INCREDIBLY EFFECTIVE, AS LONG AS IT IS MATCHED TO THE OTHER ELEMENTS IN THE ADVERTISEMENT AND THE TARGET AUDIENCE, AS THESE SAMPLES SHOW

SIMPLE VS DECORATIVE

TYPOGRAPHY

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Pernod: Western Jack doesn’t use traditional fonts; for type work on print ads they create hand lettering and calligraphy

the sole feature of the design, removing any need for

a graphic or hero image”.

One typographic designer who does this well is

Lauren Hom, as she explains her process: “When I’m

designing a piece that’s purely typographic, I first

have to take into consideration the importance of

each word. This helps me determine which words

are illustrated bigger, bolder and fancier, and which

words are smaller, simpler, and more subdued.

That’s also how I balance creativity and legibility.”

FYI: “This is a branding project for a new TV network: FYI,” explains Vinogradova. “The three letters represent different directions of the new network – lifestyle, fashion and food – so the letters of the logo

were made in different ‘materials’, representing these directions”

“[It was a challenge] to create a legible logo in one colour,” says designer Sasha Vinogradova. “Before approval of the final

version, we explored different colours and angles. As part of the new branding, the logo changes depending on the TV show”


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■ Helvetica

AMERICAN APPAREL,

NESTLÉ, LUFTHANSA

Despite being around for over

five decades, this is still a

popular font for advertising

designers and is one of the most

recognisable around.

■ Myriad

APPLE, LINKEDIN, ADOBE

Originally designed for Adobe

Systems. When Apple took on

Myriad (‘Apple Myriad’) as its

corporate typeface in 2002, this

font took on a new popularity in

big brand advertising and logos.

■ Futura

ABSOLUT, IKEA �CUSTOM, UNTIL 2010�, VOLKSWAGEN �CUSTOM�

Futura is famous for being the font that advertised planet Earth (on the

commemorative plaque left on the moon). Lots of big companies use

customised versions of the font, including IKEA.

■ Garamond

ABERCROMBIE & FITCH

This serif font is one of the oldest

still in use and is popular for

printed works as it is considered

very readable. It has also been

identified as ‘toner-efficient’.

■ Gill Sans

BBC, TOMMY HILFIGER, PENGUIN

A sans-serif typeface that has been around since it was

designed by Eric Gill in 1926. He was inspired by the

Johnston typeface for the London Underground, and Gill

Sans is the font used on classic Penguin Books from 1935.

It remains popular with big brands.

TOP 5 FONTS IN ADVERTISINGKEY FONTS THAT ARE WORTH EVERY DESIGNER KNOWING AND USING IN THEIR PRINT DESIGNS

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30IT ISN’T JUST REMOVING SPOTS AND MAKING PEOPLE THINNER. RETOUCHING HAS BECOME A PROFESSION WITH SPECIALITIES AND AN ARTISTIC ENDEAVOUR IN ITS OWN RIGHT

FOR PROSRETOUCHING TIPS

PHOTO EDITING

“Commercial beauty and fashion retouchers have

quite a streamlined set of tools,” says retoucher

Daniel Meadows (www.dmd-digital-retouching.

com). “The foundations are Clone/Heal, Dodge and

Burn with filters, paint brushes and masks, but the

majority of the time you’ll find yourself hitting J, S

and O (Healing Brush, Clone Stamp and Dodge/Burn

respectively), although most retouchers, including

myself, have their own dodge and burn system.

“A great way to give yourself a little extra control is

to create two Curves adjustment layers, one with the

midpoint lowered to burn, and the other raised to

dodge. Black mask these out and paint on the mask

with white to bring in the effect as locally as you’d

like. This gives you the opportunity to tweak the

curve at any point in your workflow and to work

completely non-destructively… quick fixes won’t

work until you’ve got the basics covered.

“So much of being a good retoucher is having exceptional

communication skills, and being honest and reliable,” says Ashlee

Gray (www.ashleegrayretouch.com). “It may sound silly, but over

the years I’ve learned that clear communication is key. Retouchers

are hired to interpret and execute other people’s visions on a daily

basis; however, I believe it’s just as important for retouchers to have a

vision of their own and bring more than what’s expected to the table.

“First, I like to find out as much as I can about the client and their

brand by researching previous work to get a feel for what they like.

Often times they pass along inspiration or detailed retouching notes

that help me to understand how far to go with the images. Some

clients come to me with very specific retouching notes to make sure

things don’t get overlooked for any reason. Retouching notes are a

great starting point, especially when there are tight deadlines. On the

other hand, there are some people who hire me based on my work

and trust that I can bring my vision to the table. If this is the case, we

have some sort of creative conversation where I ask a lot of

questions and send samples to make sure I’m on the right track and

not wasting time.”

01. KNOW YOUR TOOLS

02. BE COMMUNICATIVE AND CREATIVE

“There are a number of plug-ins or techniques

around that blast somewhere around the middle

radius of a shot and make them appear smooth

while retaining texture. This sounds great in theory

and they’re extremely tempting to overuse because

the results are dramatic, but it’s an obvious and

unrealistic approach avoided by the majority of the

clients you’ll be hoping to work with.

“Once you’ve got the foundations of dodge and

burn (I cover this on my blog), you can start to

implement a few of these quick fixes, such as

Frequency Separation and inverted High Pass to

complement your workflow. It’s all about learning

how to work correctly before fighting dirty! It’s also

hugely important to regularly look through fashion

magazines; they’re full of the kind of ads you’ll be

hoping to work with, and trends in post-processing

do change.” © A

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TECHNIQUES 30 RETOUCHING TIPS FOR PROS

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03. FROM FLAW TO FINISHCHARN S. BEDI TALKS THROUGH SHOOTING

AND RETOUCHING THIS MUA IMAGE

In the pink: “Already having used nice vibrant colours on the nails and eyes, I then decided in post to add a nice pink poppy tone to the background rather than keeping it white as originally shot.”

Take your time: “Never give up! Beauty retouching is so time-consuming that it will always take longer than fashion or editorial. It’s easy to judge if an image has been rushed.”

Nice gnashers: “Sometimes I leave flaws on images on purpose to help create a sense of reality. Flaws on this image that I left were the not-so-perfect teeth (but almost perfect).”

Tools of the trade: “It’s a good idea to invest in a decent tablet. I use the Wacom Intuos5 Large on my Mac Pro, and an Intuos5 Small on my MacBook Pro. I also have a preference of using the spring-loaded nib on my Intuos pens.”

Laughter lines: “Leave some wrinkles on the image rather than softening them down too much.”

Retro retouching: “I had the opportunity of shooting this great image. MUA was going for an Audrey Hepburn-style pose.”


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036


ASHLEE GRAY EXPLAINS HER WORKFLOW ON THIS IMAGE SHOT BY FRANKLIN THOMPSON

“Some of the most common fixes are eyelashes not

being stuck on properly, hair coming across the

eyes, and uneven lipstick,” says beauty retoucher

Charn S. Bedi (www.thebeautyretoucher.com).

“When retouching macro lip shots, spit on the gums

can be annoying as the light reflects off it, causing a

shine. I have a library of eyelashes taken and

neatened up from previous work to aid me if I ever

have to re-create them. The trickiest thing to retouch

in beauty is hair as it is so fine. I zoom in very close

for hair retouching to remove strands of hair that go

against the natural flow of the hair style. This helps

to refine the hair to make it look neater. This then

enables me to fill in dark areas to make it look more

full bodied and healthy. I use various amounts of

layers and clone brushes with different blend modes

to get to the final result, finishing off with a dodge

and burn to create contouring and a nice shine.”

04. A MODEL JOB

06. LIPSTICK AND SPIT

01 A MODEL JOB Once I open an image, I start by creating a

blank layer and begin drawing notes all over the

image with a bright-coloured brush. This helps me

visualise what I want to accomplish before I start

working on the specific areas.

02 LUSTROUS LOCKSFrom there, I’d like to say I always start at

the same place, but usually it’s with the things I find

the most distracting. It’s often hard to look past big

blemishes, hairs going through the eyes, or even

areas that need colour correction. In this case, the

skin has been cleaned, all flyaways and cross hairs

have been removed, and additional hair has been

added to the right side.

03 BURNING BONE STRUCTUREThis is now complete with dodging and

burning to bring out bone structure and shine to the

hair, with colour and toning added. Finally, a High

Pass with a layer mask was used to sharpen the hair

in some areas, and a small amount of grain added.

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Every blocked pore

For Daniel Meadows, much of the retoucher’s job is bridging the gap

between what the naked eye sees, and what the increasingly

sophisticated camera does. “With modern lenses we can achieve very

sharp images,” he says, “and unfortunately with that comes a detailed

record of every hair and blocked pore, every irregular eyelash. The eye

doesn’t tend to pick up on these tiny details in real life, but with close,

sharp beauty shots we tend to even these out before print for the

benefit of the shot.”

05. ACHIEVING SYMMETRY

Even eyes

“Another one of those things the naked eye doesn’t tend to pick up on

but the lens notices is the symmetry of the eyes. My own left eye is

slightly higher than my right. No-one would ever pick up on it but you

can tell if I point it out on my driver’s license! At the other end of my

workflow, I usually leave sharpening and colour treatments until the

last steps. It’s important not to oversharpen your working file at the

start or you’re giving yourself a lot more work.”

Dipping a fashion toe

“Quite often I’ll receive a sidecar XMP file with RAWs if the

photographer knows the look they’re going for, but some of the most

fun projects are those where I’m encouraged to experiment with

colour treatments. I’ve frequently got my head in a fashion magazine,

so there are always a few styles I’m looking to try something new

with for the right shot.”

Glowing skin

“With beauty work, skin is probably the most time-consuming part of

the process, as texture must be retained. In advertising and editorial at

the high end, each part of the skin is carefully dodged and burned to

even out texture and maintain realism. I usually start with

compositional adjustments. Sometimes a hand, for example, will be

better positioned in an outtake from the set, so occasionally there’s

some compositing.”© T

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ASHLEE GRAY TALKS THROUGH HER RETOUCHING ON THIS IMAGE

“For me, an image has gone too far when you’ve lost natural texture,

dimension and shape,” says Ashlee Gray. “Texture can be lost by a

number of ways, blurring and cloning are probably the top two.

Dimension is often lost by removing natural smile lines completely,

making the whites of the eyes too white, and by removing shadows

under the eyes or lips. Having a basic understanding of anatomy is

really important so that tools like Liquify aren’t abused when trying to

shape parts of the body. In the end if retouching goes too far it looks

cheap and tacky. I suggest keeping it simple by polishing the skin while

keeping some natural elements such as moles or freckles. On the other

hand, those who are learning how to retouch often forget about the

body parts matching the face. The face will look clean and polished but

the arms, hands, and legs will all be a different skin tone. Don’t forget

about the rest of the body!”

“The best retouchers have a solid understanding of light, anatomy and composition,”

explains Daniel Meadows. “It’s helpful to study the planes of the face, of the way light and

shadow behave from a traditional art standpoint. Good make-up tutorials that deal with

contouring are also a great source of knowledge and inspiration. There are centuries of

sound advice from before we had Photoshop or even photography – be sure to learn from

them! One of the most important things to learn as a beginner is what a flaw is or isn’t. I

engage online with a lot of beginner retouchers and try to offer advice where I can, and I

know how easy it is to be over-enthusiastic. Lines under the eyes, moles, freckles, beauty

spots, perfectly natural neck creases, I’ve seen them all wiped out. Usually the question

‘why?’ is enough to prompt a eureka moment of ‘you know, I’m really not sure!’ Beauty

retouching isn’t about creating a wax model. You learn as you go that less is often more,

that if it isn’t improving the shot it really isn’t worth doing simply because you have the

tools to do so. Remember that the brand or photographer chose the model for a reason.

Slightly contour an unfortunately squished bit by all means, improve a line a little for

composition, but the small percentage of retouchers whose first instinct is to make

someone thinner need to re-evaluate their methods.”

“A good retoucher is someone who will

obviously go above and beyond their client’s

expectations, without being asked,” argues Bedi.

“After all, the final result of the image will also

reflect on their reputation. I generally start by

looking at an image to see what I think has to be

done to it, then send my client back a marked up

version with notes. Normally they will add to the

mark up. If I think too much has been added, I

usually flag it up straight away as I wouldn’t want

to give them back something that may look like

a waxwork, or just overly retouched. I am

strongly against the term ‘it can be fixed in post’.

This screams at me if I am sent an image where

the hair and make-up has not been done

properly, which is where the line is crossed for

too much retouching to be done. I have had to

deal with a few of these in recent times where I

have had to just turn the job down.”

07. FACE TO THE FORE

08. A FACE TOO FAR 09. ARTISTIC, NOT ANOREXIC

10. ABOVE AND BEYOND

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A sharp hairline: Her hair had some subtle motion and a beautiful shape so it was pretty minimal work, only removing cross hairs and a few distracting flyaways, as well as cleaning up the hairline.

Bringing the burn: The main focus was bringing out her eyes and the gold of the eye shadow. I built in dimension using dodging and burning and also put a tone on the background that made it a little cooler.

Horizontal power: We picked this one to help break up all the other vertical shots. This beauty shot allowed us to get much tighter and really focus on her beauty.

Making the cut: The image was part of an editorial we did for Factice magazine. It wasn’t part of the original selection; it wasn’t until we were almost finished with the retouching of the others that we added this one in, to make the story a little more well rounded.

Clothing concerns: The top she had was pretty structured and fit her really well, so it only required a bit of shaping around her shoulder area.

Facial freestyle: When I don’t know how to tackle tricky things I like to do what I call ‘freestyling’. It’s basically creating a new layer and telling myself I’m going to problem solve using any way I can think of, and if it doesn’t work out I’ll just delete the layer, grab another coffee and start all over.


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“My first stop on any image is clean-up: removing any dust, lens spots, sensor marks and

so on,” explains Barry Craig (www.barrycraig.co.uk and www.digital-giant.com). “This is

the work that needs to be done regardless of client comments. The process after this

varies depending on the image. If there are elements to be composited into the main

scene, I will repeat the clean-up on these then extract them with the Pen tool. Then I will

build a low-res composition to show the client before the high-res retouching begins.

Clients usually have an end product in mind; more often than not they have concept art that

the art director has drawn or commissioned. The role of the retoucher is to take this

concept to the very strongest final image it can be. There’s still a lot of magic involved and

the client still expects a lot of creative initiative to be taken.”

“Create a rectangle and add a gradient from one end to the other,”

instructs Mark Gilvey (www.mgcre8v.com). “Now put a mark through

it and try to restore the gradient to its original state. Why? You will see

this linear gradient in many different things; architecture, walls ceilings,

a sheet of paper on a table, a sign and so on. If you can restore the

gradient, chances are you can reconstruct or restore it in a real retouch.

Before I start with a composite, a retouch, restoration, or any type of

major work that I will do in Photoshop, I will look the parts over as if I’m

about to write a piece of music and assess what needs to be done and

weigh that against my confidence to be able to do it. Then I begin the

composition. I know it sounds goofy but some work is like that. You

have to get your skills and your confidence to a level where you can be

the conductor, and that takes years of practice.”

11. CLEAN UP BEFORE CREATIVITY

12. TUNE YOUR INSTRUMENT

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Client comments: Taking the feedback

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“This shot was a nightmare to get right,” says Barry Craig of the Adidas

MiCoach series he worked on. “The poor guy had to do the same

aggressive sprint all day until the client was happy that they’d captured

the energy well enough. The explosions in the image were shot

separately in the studio, so we used a mannequin to get a sense of how

they would interact with a body. The shape and direction of the

explosions are supposed to be representative of the particular

movement that the player is performing, so the clouds were shaped

using numerous different shots. I actually ended up making a number

of brushes shaped like clouds and explosions from the material we shot

to help shape the explosion how the client wanted it. Having brushes

shaped like this was the only way to flexibly sculpt the explosion with

speed and accuracy while the client was still making comments. Once

we had the general shape and size confirmed, we could go in and

improve it, add fine detail, shadowing, interaction with the player and so

on. I also had to change the entire background. The client liked the

player’s shape and expression in this shot, but not the amount of smoke

or the lighting in the background, so I ended up building a composite of

a few of the other shots from the day’s shooting.”

13. PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

Explosive images: The explosion was shot separately, with a mannequin taking the place of the player

Serial options: Because it was a series of images, Craig could borrow bits and pieces

from other shots

Bring on the brushes: Craig made brushes shaped like clouds and explosions from the material shot to complete the image


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BARRY CRAIG EXPLAINS THE WORK HE DID ON THIS IMAGE FROM PHOTOGRAPHER DAVID WESTPHAL

14. ADDING ATMOSPHERE

01 This is the image after basic clean-up. There

is some nice light in the sky and some point-of-

interest light in the tent, but these both need to be

enhanced. We also need to think about the client and

what the product is trying to communicate. Let’s

start with the sky.

02 While on location, the photographer was

able to capture some longer exposure shots of the

night sky. To add a little more life into this shot, I’m

just going to use one of these shots to add some

stars to the sky and lift the colour to a more

attractive blue. Already the image is looking more

alive. The product being advertised in this instance is

a bluetooth speaker that also features party light.

Keeping this in mind, the next step is to add some

directional, coloured lighting to the tent.

03 Adding some lighting, glows, and rays to

the tent really helps to lift the whole image. There’s

lots to consider when adding lighting effects,

highlights on the sand and glows on the dunes

behind, for example. We’ve also had to create a

shadow for the boy in the tent. When the image

was shot there was still no physical product in

existence, so as part of the final stage we will also

add in the speaker, which was shot at a later date

in the studio.

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“The most important skill for a good retoucher is an eye for realism,” adds Craig. “Even when you’re

working on a fantastical image you have to base it in reality. Lighting and physics will give the game away if

they aren’t correct. You also have to be patient; there’s lots of ground work to be done on any composition,

all of it important to the final result. The most common issues are adding or removing features that

couldn’t be physically altered on location; removing streetlights, buildings, logos, cars, people and so on.

Where possible, the photographer will shoot plates to the left or right of the obstruction to aid in removing

them, but this is only really common in a photographer who is used to working with a retoucher. The

trickiest things can be complicated image extensions for new layouts. These are usually required last

minute, meaning the photographer likely didn’t shoot any material to aid with the job.”

15. MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

30 RETOUCHING TIPS FOR PROS TECHNIQUES


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To improve your own retouching work, McLaughlin

advises that you look at other great photography for

inspiration. “Truly awesome images have been

expertly retouched as well as superbly shot, as

what’s left out can be as critical as what’s left in.

Quite often I’ll study an image to get an

understanding of the lighting setups used as much

as the retouching techniques. If the retouching has

been done well, you’ll probably have a hard time

telling what the retoucher has done!

“My own rule of thumb is not to let the viewer see

my lights or modifiers reflected anywhere in the

subject, and definitely no dust left on there. When you

look at even a well-cleaned product straight from

“Colour casts and removing unwanted items,

logos, and extending backgrounds and floors are

the most common changes,” says Andy

McLaughlin (http://tcistudio.co.uk). “Often the

trickiest are seemingly the simplest. Extending

areas like floors can be tricky and can require

re-creating your own textures and custom

brushes to match the original textures. Clone

Stamping and Content-Aware Fill may give you a

starting point, but are often affected by light

gradients and vignetting caused by light fall-off.

Clone Stamping these types of surfaces can just

create a blotchy mess. In my own work, the most

common retouching is bleaching backgrounds

and making dark areas clean. I use a lot of

channel masking to create accurate selections

for layer masks and adjustment layers. I retouch

a lot of my own photography and I think that

understanding the image as a photographer

makes me a better retoucher and visa versa.”

“Many finished images are what we lovingly refer to

as ‘Frankensteined’,” jokes Nancy Lund Springer

(http://nlsretoucher.com). “It is very common in

product retouching to not receive ‘golden’ samples,

as the product has not been fully developed; but the

packaging, including the images for that packaging,

needs to be developed. You may sometimes get a

crude image of the product in whatever iteration of

production it happens to be in accompanied by a

printed schematic that represents the final size,

17. FIND YOUR OWN STYLE16. PRODUCT PROBLEMS

18. KEEP THE CLIENT IN MIND

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proportion, materials, colours and graphics for that

particular product. A retoucher’s job is to make that

image believably match the schematic. There are

some tricks to this type of retouching that

incorporate a lot of drawing techniques, a good

imagination and a determination to make a

less-than-perfect image look amazing.

“Patience and discipline are important traits for

retouchers, along with speed, and a good eye for

detail. Good retouchers have a passion for their

work. They also must have a good understanding

of colour correction, lighting, shadows and

compositing. You have to be willing to ask questions,

step out of your comfort zone and experiment. You

must be willing to accept advice and criticism. You

need to have a solid understanding of your tools and

keyboard shortcuts to access them. The ability to

seamlessly move from one project to another when

priorities change is very important. And it is critical

that you understand your client’s vision to envision

the final results. The most successful retouchers

understand the value of customer service.”


camera, there’s loads of fine dust on there; get rid of

it. Create your own set of golden rules regarding

what you always fix or change, or faults to fix every

time. Before you know it, you’ll have your own style.

In my own work I love to explore mixing graphic art,

photography and retouching, I love enhancing my

own product photography with light painting as well

as freezing liquids with flash and incorporating the

results. They are often unexpected and unusual,

especially with liquid.

“I believe that the combination of creative

retouching and the different photography techniques

brings an element of surprise and an unusual twist

to displaying products, and some interesting graphic

arts images.”


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“The golden rule of retouching is that the final product must look natural,” says Nancy Lund

Springer. “The image should be perfect to your client’s specifications, without leaving a

trace that a retoucher has been there. Assessing the image, especially images that are

problematic, is the first step. This generally takes a few minutes. There are many problems

that may need to be overcome, from moiré and false colour artefacts, strange waves or

rings of colour and tone rippling over fabric, to imperfections in skin, facial hair on women,

wrinkles needing removal in fabric, seams that don’t match… the list is endless. While the

toolset needed to address these problems remains the same, the image always dictates

which combination of myriad techniques will be used. I usually start with what I determine

to be the most difficult area in order to overcome difficult obstacles at the beginning of the

project rather than at the end. Sometimes you just need take some deep breaths and start.

When faced with a daunting retouching task, I look to one of the most relevant expressions

for inspiration: it’s like eating an elephant; just take one bite at a time.”

“There can also be an array of problems overlooked by your client that

need to be addressed, but due to the extra time it might take, may not

have been budgeted into the project,” adds Lund Springer. “An example

of a retouching job I once had is typical of this scenario. We were asked

to retouch a very dark image of two models in Egyptian costumes

flanked by a beautiful gold-encrusted sarcophagus and large vases.

Upon review of the image with a creative director, there didn’t seem to

be a lot of work involved in post-retouching and [it] was budgeted

accordingly. However, when I opened the RAW image, it was revealed

that the vases and sarcophagus were placed on wooden crates to make

them at a higher level to fit into the shot properly. Also, the fabric used

for a backdrop was too long and fell in waves on the ground, and some

objects unrelated to the shot were in full view. My task was to cover

these distractions by compositing parts of other existing elements into

the shot.”

20. ASSESS THE IMAGE 21. BEWARE HIDDEN JOBS

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Pro retoucher Brian York (www.brnyrk.com) outlines his workflow: “First,

process the RAW files, which I prefer to do myself to ensure highlight and

shadow detail is preserved, just slightly under what the final contrast of the

image may be. Since the majority of what I do is compositing, I start with

cutting out the elements and creating Smart Objects, always with a layer mask

inside. Then I add everything to the composition to make sure the processing of

the elements are all at a good starting point. Using Smart Objects for the

elements means I can always go back and replace the base image if needed,

regardless of any transformations applied. Basic clean-up would later be done

inside the Smart Object. Smart Objects are important when compositing as

they allow me to retain the transformation points after they are applied, so I can

go back and make subtle tweaks if needed. I recently had to create a tapered

mug from a straight sided mug and apply an embossed logo. The alterations to

the ice and condensation of the mug were dealt with and then put into a Smart

Object to create transformations. This allowed me to be able to tweak the shape

to the client’s specifications at any point while retaining the original image

inside the Smart Object to make changes easier.”

19. USE SMART OBJECTS

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002 Three become one

“This is one of my all time favorite projects because

we got to pickle Carrie Brownstein and Fred

Armisen,” continues Hilmers. “It was a dream come

true. This one needed a lot of TLC because it was

basically three original shots – each actor behind

Plexi and an image of a pickle jar with green liquid.

They really needed work when it came to depth of

field, colour shift, shading and then warping to

emulate the feel of being submerged in liquid. Smart

Objects had a heavy part to play in this shot. A fun

little side note – those are my homemade pickles in

the jar with them.”

GRETCHEN HILMERS WORKED ON THIS IMAGE, FEATURING THE DANCERS OF THE MIAMI CITY BALLET, AND DESCRIBES HER GENERAL APPROACH TO COMPOSITING WORK

22. QUESTIONS OF COMPOSITION

23. PERFECT, BUT NOT TOO PERFECT

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Getting down to business: “I start on any gross stuff first…nose hair, food in teeth, boogers, acne… I just want to get that out of the way so I can move onto the fun, creative stuff.”

Zoom in: “Don’t work at anything less than 200%. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received redos and when I zoom in past 100% it’s a disaster. Sure…maybe you can get away with something when it’s only printed at 9 x 12, but that doesn’t mean you should deliver it that way.”

Fabric fusses: “Every fabric is different but the general method is to match up the colour and then either create a pattern stamp or use small patches of a high pass layer to re-create the texture. It can take a lot of time, and I know the general rule is to just try to re-create it and throw a bunch of noise on top, but when you work on an image at 200% or more you notice that inconsistency. It’s really important to me that things line up, even such a small detail. Sure, 99% of people won’t notice, but I’ll know.”

Hair hassles: “Usually hair needs some work. While I personally like natural, more crazy stray hairs a lot of other people don’t. There’s a delicate balance between sculpting hair shape to avoid the dreaded helmet head, removing flyaways and then drawing them back in where they look natural.”

Don’t go too far: “There are times when so much has been changed that reality just feels off. There’s the phenomena of the uncanny valley, which is when you just know something is off. It generally applies to people, but I strongly feel we can sense it with everything. There’s just a moment when something changes and an image can go downhill, and when it does, it usually goes downhill quickly.”

Work together: “Of course, there’s only so much a retoucher can do, and starting off with a beautiful photo and a great relationship with a client can really help. Every client has a particular style, and it’s up to the retoucher to be able to assist with making that extra step while maintaining the integrity of the original work. That’s why I always look at what I do as teamwork.”

001 Never work with children or animals

“One of the big tricks here was capturing the feel of the little feathers on the edges,”

explains Gretchen Hilmers (www.g-tou.com). “One of the most important aspects of the

composites is to clean up the seams. When you’re compositing, the joining edges need a

little TLC and that usually starts with blending, adding textures and ensuring the depth of

field is correct. Sometimes there are faint lines that occur around the edges of figures, and

while I use several methods of fixing, I like to use a layer on Darken or Lighten and clone

the background elements up to the edge. But I think the real secret to any composite is

how you shape with light and shadow because that will really bring the elements together.”

004 Balancing the real

“Working with Gregg Segal is always a blast because his images

usually have a large amount of humour in them. He’s also one of

those shooters that are really good at getting things in one take, but

when it comes to animals it usually doesn’t matter how good you are

because they don’t seem to like taking direction. This was a little tricky

in that there’s the combined lighting of the figures and the

environment, so trying to find a balance between natural and artificial

was a bit of a trick.”

003 Portrait polishing

“It’s extremely common for a portrait to need a new

background colour, or in the case of advertising, for

the subject to be able to be placed on any number of

backgrounds. That’s where silo’ing comes into play,

and you need to be able to either mask hair out

perfectly, or be able to hand draw it in convincingly.

The four subjects for this campaign all needed

backgrounds that had more impact, and so they all

had to be removed.”

001

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27. IF YOU WANT TO GET INTO COMPOSITING…“Study how light works, how a camera sees objects

and space,” says Brian York. “Become good at

painting in Photoshop. Make composites for practise,

and always refine the way you do things and lay out

a file. Buy a monitor made for colour-critical work

and learn to use a Wacom tablet.

“Most of what I do involves basic tasks; just done

with a lot of finesse. Things I use a lot are brushes,

Curves and Smart Objects. I have found it valuable to

become good at creating detail from nothing, and

brushes are instrumental in that. I have a huge trove

of brushes that I have created for various things over

the years. Many people use Levels, but Curves gives

you a lot of finesse over contrast and saturation that

is just not possible with levels; especially when

dealing with skin tones.”

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“Be patient,” advises Rob DiCaterino, a high-end

digital imaging specialist. “Photo restoration can

be slow, painstaking, time consuming, and yes,

even boring, but good results are extremely

satisfying and worth the effort to both my clients

and me. It’s win-win. Zoom in close and pay

attention to detail. Global filters are usually too

heavy-handed and destructive; use layer masks to

apply them locally instead, as needed. Understand

histograms and the info panel, and use spatial

frequencies to your advantage.

“Successful retouchers are also proficient with

a pen tablet, use profiled and calibrated displays,

understand colour theory and management, and

create Actions to increase efficiency. They are

interpreters, translating clients’ notes into the end

product. They are good at sales, marketing, and

customer service in order to attract and retain

happy, paying clients. They are responsible

enough to work out realistic deadlines with clients

up front… and stick to those deadlines. They trust

the info panel… and their eyes. They handle

rejection well. And they always continue to learn.

“My motto is, ‘There are ten different ways to

accomplish the same thing in Photoshop.’ I learn

26. KEEP LEARNINGas many ways as I can so I have more options to

approach any given situation. Some retouchers

might struggle through a situation using only one

or two techniques, but I’ll know some additional

ones that allow me to complete that step more

quickly. That’s one of the things I love about what I

do – retouching fulfils the part of my brain that

craves problem solving and logic, and allows me to

achieve many personal victories on a daily basis.”

24. MASK OUT“Using a Wacom tablet and pen, I set a brush at 90% Hardness and a smaller size and go all the

way around the object at 200% zoom, painting black on the layer mask with an opposite-coloured

background behind it,” explains Brian York. “If, for example, I am masking out a bottle on a white

background, I put a black background solid colour layer behind it, and then I know it will look great

on anything. Some people get caught up in a lot of Photoshop trickery to get a mask, but for me a

mask is about how the edges look visually when cut out. This direct visual process allows me to

inspect every edge, and once I go around an object like this I know it is perfect. I’m a bit obsessive

about masks, and want to know that it is right. However, in saying all of that I don’t discount

sophisticated techniques in getting masks; I just prefer this method most of the time.”

“The biggest challenge in photo restoration is having

to reconstruct missing or destroyed parts of an

image,” says Mark Gilvey. “When there is little or no

source material to work from, this can be difficult to

work with. I had a photo of a brother and sister like

this. Some people looked at the damage in the lower

right corner and thought it was an ice sculpture, but

it wasn’t. The photo was just missing emulsion. I had

to reconstruct the entire area of his plaid coat.

Basically, I guessed at what it would look like on his

side vs a sleeve. I sampled certain areas onto new

layers and pushed and pulled them until they looked

close. I think I put 20 hours into this one image, going

way beyond the client’s budget, but I stuck to their

budget because I wanted to see if I could do it. I

wasn’t going to let it beat me!”

25. RESTORATION

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01 THE PROJECTSince June 2013, DiCaterino has

volunteered for CARE for Sandy, which offers free

digital restoration services for individuals and

families with photos damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

CARE stands for Cherished Albums Restoration

Effort and is made possible by the efforts of

generous retouchers worldwide. This is one image

he received from a family in Long Beach, NY, who

wish to remain anonymous. You can volunteer

yourself at www.careforsandy.org.

02 THE METHODThe damage was severe, and in this case

DiCaterino’s main technique was Split Frequency,

but sometimes he has to be more creative: “Good,

successful retouchers are artists, craftspeople, and

technicians. They are analytical. They mentally

deconstruct each image, envision the end result,

and quickly formulate the steps to achieve it. They

show restraint, know when to apply a specific filter,

and invent unconventional uses for them to speed

up the workflow.”

03 THE RESULTAfter colour correction, this is the final

image that the family got back. As DiCaterino notes,

Photoshop is “an incredibly powerful tool that helps

produce amazing results in the right hands – in my

case, restoring priceless memories and preserving

history. Photo restoration is its own form of time

travel and I find it fascinating and gratifying.”

…to the bottom: “There were all kinds of ugly stuff on the tarmac. I just cloned good parts over the bad parts and extended the image to the bottom of the scan by continuing to clone.”

“The main problems are usually rips, creases, stains, and fading,” says

DiCaterino. “The trickiest is repairing damage to a photo printed on

paper that features a textured pattern, which was popular several

decades ago. Many retouchers blur the texture out or apply FFT, but to

me, restoring a photo means returning it to its original state, texture and

all. To retain that detail, I use the Healing Brush, Frequency Separations,

Channels, and so on. It can be a painstaking process depending on the

severity and location of the damage, but the results are true to the

original and more representative of the photo’s era. For lightly damaged

or faded photos, it’s easy to know when I’m finished. For badly damaged

photos or ones with major colour shifts, it can be more difficult. In those

cases, when I think I’m done I’ll revisit the photo the next day with fresh

eyes and make any necessary adjustments. Sometimes, I even ask a

colleague to quickly evaluate my work and see if anything looks off.

“Retouching and restoration is best when it looks natural, as if

nothing had been done to the image. It becomes too much when it

looks obviously phony, plastic, processed, or otherwise manipulated.

I’ve seen a lot of restorations that look soft, airbrushed, cut out, and/or

borderline-cartoonish. If the background is in bad shape, fix it, don’t just

cover it up with a gradient. If the original photo contains film grain, keep

it, don’t surface blur it to death. Like recorded music, when too much

noise reduction is applied, the fine details are lost. By retaining fine

detail, I succeed in preserving history. Yes, doing it that way is more

challenging, but the results are better.”

30. GROUP SHOTS

29. HOW TO HEAL28. BRING THE PAST TO LIFE

Plane sailing: “The jet had some flaws covering it including dust and other types of crud that were probably

combination of making a selection with the Lasso tool and running Dust & Scratches on it where there are large

by one or two pixels and set the top layer to Darken and then use a layer mask to apply the fix in specific areas. The Healing Brush and Patch tools would just grab crud from other areas.”

Duplicate the issue:

Everyone at their best 1: “This was the most important part and had to really stand out so each person could be identified. The mid tone was completely mud and the

duplicating the background layer and sharpened the life

Everyone at their best 2: “There were still some light specs in the dark areas that revealed themselves. Next I added a Curves adjustment layer and increased the contrast by a lot. Then I added a layer mask for each of these two layers and painted the lightened/sharpened people back into view.”

From the top…:

the top. I made it just dark enough to give the canopy separation but look like it was in front of the same sky. I also extended the image off the top just so there was extra. This was done by tracing the sky with the Pen tool and filling it with a gentle gradient.”


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+44 (0) 800 180 4801 [email protected] www.workstationspecialists.com

© Copyright Workstation Specialists – Acecad Software Ltd. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their

respective owners.

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047

MASTER RETOUCHING TECHNIQUES

USE PHOTOSHOP TO PRODUCE AN IMAGE THAT COMBINES STANDARD RETOUCHING TECHNIQUES WITH CREATIVE ONES

MASTER RETOUCHING

W hen working on composite images, you

will often find yourself jumping back

and forth from one element to the other.

As you continue to manipulate the

layers and masks, you will often find that colour and

tone that looked good before may not match the

evolution of the final image.

The success of a composite image relies on the

artist’s ability to make changes and tweaks

throughout the creative process. One way to give

more flexibility is by using adjustment layers for

lighting effects, rather than a blank layer with a

paintbrush. Besides the usual Opacity and blend

RETOUCH THE MODELSTART WITH BASICS LIKE CLONING, COLOUR AND TONAL CHANGES

PHOTOMANIPULATION

modes, you will also have additional sliders and

options for greater efficiency.

Expand your creativity by also introducing Smart

Objects to your workflow. At any point in time, you can

go back to the original RAW file and make the same

changes there, without the need for more layers and

masks. Used with Smart Filters, you can make

changes to the filter’s settings whenever you want.

Layer effects allow you to build upon existing

layers, without the need to create more layers and

do extra work with the Brush tool. They are another

great way to enhance your images within a

non-destructive workflow.

01 CAMERA RAW FILTEROpen ‘Imensia.tif’ from the disc. In the Layers

panel, Ctrl/right-click and select Convert to Smart

Object. Use Filter>Camera Raw Filter to begin doing

some basic colour and tonal corrections. Click OK.

Smart Objects will give you flexibility in a non-

destructive workflow. This is great when working with

composites. Name this Layer ‘Original Model’.

02 CAMERA RAW AND SMART OBJECTSWith CS6 and older, you can use Camera

Raw’s Preferences to open ‘All Supported TIFFs’,

which will open this image in Camera Raw to make

changes. To go from Camera Raw to Photoshop,

hold down the Shift key. It will change Open Image

to Open Object. You will now have access to these

changes later for further tweaking.

03 PREPARE THE MODEL Create a new blank layer

for your cloning and touch-up.

Smooth out the skin, enhance the

eyes, and clean up some flyaway

hair. Some wrinkles can be

removed with the Healing Brush,

while others may prefer Dodge

and Burn. You will make many

adjustments later, but starting

with a clean image will lead to the

best final results.

FROM STUDIO TO COMPOSITE FANTASY

WORK IN PROGRESS

Progress 1: Prep the photos

Progress 2: Compositing

Progress 3: Final effects

JOHN ROSSwww.TheArtofRetouching.com@ArtofRetouching

OUR EXPERT

Ross specialises in portrait and composite retouching. He has worked in advertising and editorial for 20 years, and lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut.

SOURCE FILESOn the supplied disc, you can find the model and disk-shape images. The additional images and brushes can be found at deviantart.com and shutterstock.com.


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TECHNIQUES MASTER RETOUCHING

QUICK TIP

Photoshop CC now supports linked Smart

Objects. This means you can work on a full size

image in great detail. After saving, you can link it

to another document at whatever size you want,

without the need to double or triple the size of

your final composite while working on it.

04 ANOTHER SMART OBJECT Select all the layers and Convert to Smart Object. Name it

‘Retouched Model Bottom’, and change the Opacity to 95%. To make

changes to the model later, you can go back to this base image by

double-clicking the Smart Object layer. This layer will contain all of the

corrections you have made to the model. If you want to change it later, just

double-click again, and a new window will open. Make your changes and

then save the adjusted image.

05 BEGIN COMPOSITINGCreate a layer mask for the model’s Smart Object layer and loosely cut her

out using a brush on the layer mask. Close is good enough because you can fix this

later when you have a better idea of how it will look when it’s all put together. Place a

galaxy image like http://tinyurl.com/lxya5t8 from deviantART behind the model. Use

the Camera Raw or Camera Raw filter method like before to make the colour and

tonal changes. Place all these visible layers into a folder called ‘Back’.

06 PLACE THE DISKOpen the image ‘Disk.psd’ that you can find

on the supplied disc. Drag and drop the Disk layer

containing the shape underneath the model’s layer

and above the Galaxy layer. Move the Disk layer into

position behind the model’s body. Use Opt/Alt while

clicking on the Disk layer to create a selection of the

shape, and then click the Add Layer Mask icon at

bottom of the Layers panel. Change the blending

mode of the Disk layer to Screen. This will give a

mask of the intricate shape.

07 ADD THE DISK’S LAYER EFFECTSSelect all the pixels on the Disk layer and

delete them. All you want is the shape as a mask –

the pixels will not matter. Use the FX icon at the

bottom of the Layers panel and enable Outer Glow

with settings of Screen, 75% Opacity, Size 56%, and

pick a blue colour. Next, enable Drop Shadow with a

black colour set to 75% Opacity, Distance of 10, and

Size of 5. All the other settings can remain as

defaults. Click OK.

08 ADD THE DISK’S GLOWFrom the disk centre, use the Elliptical

Marquee while holding down the Shift key. Select a

Curves adjustment layer. Move the curve up, and set

to Luminosity blend mode. This goes above the Back

folder. Name it ‘Disk Glow’. Use Layer FX to select

Outer Glow, Precise, and Size of 81, with the rest

default. Place Disk Glow into a new group folder

called ‘Disk Glow Cutout’. Add a white layer mask to

the group, using a black brush to stop the glow from

crossing over the model’s legs.


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049

12 BEGIN THE BLENDINGNow that you can begin to see it come

together, you can really start fine-tuning the layer

masks for the two model layers. For the bottom

model layer, you should keep the body tight and let

the gravel at the bottom fade up into the sky. Mask

the loose hair, and let the wispy parts blow around.

For the top layer, keep the parts you want the

natural colour and erase away, starting at the

chest. You can continue to clean these masks up

later, as needed.

11 ADD GLOW AND STAR BURSTSUnder the Retouched Model Top layer,

create a new Curves adjustment layer. Pull up on the

middle of the curve to lighten over the image. Fill the

mask with black to hide the effect, then use a white

brush to paint in a glow under the Top Model with

various brushes of different sizes and shapes. Create

multiple Curves layers, with different settings, and

different opacities. You can find many custom

brushes perfect for the task at http://www.

deviantart.com/morelikethis/99002450.

13 ADD A GRADIENT MAP Above the Texture layer, add a Gradient

Map adjustment layer. Click on the gradient’s

drop-down, and then the sprocket. You will see

many new types to choose from. For now, choose

Photographic Toning. Cycle through the options until

you find one you like. A blue one would be nice. On

the layer mask, paint away the top half of the image

with a black brush. Blend it in so that while a

different colour, the bottom gradient merges with

the top area seamlessly.

10 DUPLICATE THE MODELSelect the Retouched Model Bottom layer,

and drag it onto the New Blank Layer icon. This will

create a second model layer, but still reference the

same embedded Smart Object. So if you want to

alter one Smart Object, it will apply the same change

to the other layer. Place it above the Texture folder.

Name it ‘Retouched Model Top’, with 100% Opacity.

Paint on the layer mask to erase the lower half of the

layer. This will make more sense in the next step.

09 ADD TEXTUREAbove the Back folder, create a new folder called ‘Texture’. Inside, place a textured image layer of

your choice like http://tinyurl.com/mrgl6fv from deviantART and cover it over the whole image. Drop the

Opacity down to 15% with a blend mode of Difference. This begins to add a painterly effect. Add a layer mask,

and paint black to remove the effect from the top half of the image, where you want to retain the details. White

will be on the bottom, revealing the texture effect.

REFINE THE MODEL AND LIGHTINGADD TEXTURE, LIGHTING AND LAYER BLENDING

Smart Objects can go back to the original RAW files

without a need for extra layers


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050

GROUNDING THE SCENEADD DEPTH, EMOTION AND CHARACTER WITH THE FINISHING

TECHNIQUES MASTER RETOUCHING

QUICK TIP

By using the Brush panel’s Shape Dynamics, you can adjust the Size Jitter, Fade Jitter, and Roundness

Jitter. When you paint with the brush now, it will randomly change many of your brush settings as you

paint. There’s also Scattering, Texture, and Wet Edges, as some of the many options available.

FOCUS ON THE FOCAL POINT

When retouching, direct the viewer’s eye to where

you want them to go. Bring the focus to the most

important areas. Warm colours come forward,

cool colours go backwards… bright tone comes

forward, dark tone goes backward. With these

simple principles, you can guide the viewer

through the image. In a portrait, the face should be

the brightest and warmest. By creating darker

barriers around the sides and lower part of the

image, you can often hold the viewer’s attention

much longer. The darker and cooler areas do not

need to be severe; even subtle shifts can lead to

favourable results.

14 ADD TEXTURE LIGHT Above the Texture layer, add a Curves layer

if you want to lighten up the image. With all these

layers being added, the image starts to get too dark.

This should really start adding depth to the image,

now that you have had a chance to play with the

tonal range. Remember, you want to see the details

of the texture in the lower areas of the frame, as

well as ensure that the upper body remains the

focal point of the image.

15 ADD TEXTURE SHADOWSUnder the Texture layer, make a Curves

adjustment layer. Bring the curve down around half

way. Fill the mask with black. With a white brush,

you can start to paint back in the darker tone around

the lower half of the image. Focus it on the left and

right sides, as well as over the gravel at the bottom.

Avoid painting over the model’s legs. You want to try

and keep this detail, not darken it up. We will add

details back in the next step.

16 ADD GEOMETRIC SHAPESBy using image 166758839 from

Shutterstock or similar, you can add geometric

patterns to the lower half of the image, off in the

distance. Apply the shape to a Curves layer mask,

but do not apply any changes with the Curves tool.

Instead, use Layer FX with Outer Glow of blue, and a

Size of 29px. Also add a Drop Shadow with a

Distance of 31px and Size of 16px. Set the layer’s

blend mode to Screen.

17 DUPLICATE GEOMETRIC SHAPESSelect the Curves layer with the geometric

shapes on it, and use Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate the

layer. On the lower version, go into the Layer FX and

disable Outer Glow and Drop Shadow, then enable

Stroke with a Size 46px, Position: Outer, Blend Mode:

Soft Light, and Opacity: 7%. This blend mode should

be Normal. To match the glow of the circular shape

behind the model, add your own halo around these

new geometric shapes. You could use a brush, or

Layer FX with a mask for accuracy.

18 ADD PAINT SPLATTERMake a new Curves adjustment layer on top of everything. Bring the middle of the curve up half way,

and fill the layer mask with black. Using a white custom brush with paint splatters from http://mouritsada-

stock.deviantart.com/art/Brush-Pack-Splashes-Of-Paint-94180220, you can add splashes of paint

around the image. For variety, adjust the Opacity of the layer, or arc of the curve. You can use one Curves

adjustment layer, or several with different settings. Also try some Layer FX like Outer Glow for added realism.


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In the case of comic art, theme and colour story

go hand-in-hand


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053

CREATE COMIC ART TECHNIQUES

CREATE A VISUALLY STRIKING AND DIVERSE TEAM OF ARCHETYPAL SUPERHEROES!

CREATE COMIC ART

T he super team is a comic book staple (think

Avengers, X-Men, or Justice League) – a

motley crew of specialists who, as a unit,

can tackle threats too large for any one of

them alone. Each member wields unique powers

and abilities that have to read at a glance on the

comic book page.

In this tutorial, learn how to design and illustrate a

wide range of characters with powers to suit any

situation. You’ll use body type, pose, theme and

colour palette to differentiate each member and

DESIGN THE SUPERHEROESCHOOSE YOUR CHARACTERS AND COLOUR THEMES

DIGITAL PAINTING

make it crystal clear to the reader exactly who does

what. Photoshop is the perfect tool for this because its

layer management is second to none, and you’ll need

that while juggling all five of these character stacks at

once. Likewise, you’ll rely on Photoshop’s excellent

colour blending modes and adjustment effects to help

you keep each figure popping off the page, yet also a

properly balanced member of the group.

Quick note: in the line art ‘inking’ phase, a

pressure-sensitive input device is essential, and a line

stabilisation plug-in is definitely helpful.

01 CREATE BASIC SILHOUETTESStart simply, with basic body shapes. In

comics, most characters fall into one of three

standard categories: male, big male, and female.

Select five familiar archetypes: the tank-like Brute,

energy-casting Elemental, inventor/tech expert

Gadgeteer, the Psychic, and urban combatant the

Hunter. To make a balanced roster, opt for two

males, two females, and a big male.

02 CHOOSE THEMES AND COLOURSIn the case of comic art, theme and colour

story go hand-in-hand. At this early ideation stage, it

can be helpful to fill the silhouettes you have drawn

up with various colors to see what jumps out. In the

case of the Elemental, warm hues suggest a fire

theme and immediately lead to ideas for the next

step. With the Brute, all you really need to do is avoid

green…*wink*

03 EXPLORE BROADLYNow you can let the

imagination – and stylus –

wander. For the Brute, how about

some Kirby geometric design?

What if he’s reptilian? Futuristic?

Try anything that makes sense

and has a clear, obvious theme.

On the Elemental, you can explore

more and less humanity, places

where the fire might replace her

skin. Or hey, what if she’s not

human at all?

BUILD THE TEAM

WORK IN PROGRESS

Progress 1: Design the characters

Progress 2: Compose the elements

Progress 3: Detail the illustration

DAVID NAKAYAMAhttp://dna-1.deviantart.com

OUR EXPERT

Illustrator and concept artist currently working for San Francisco-based KIXEYE. He works in both digitally painted and comic book styles and freelances for Marvel Comics, Corvus Belli, and others.


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054

TECHNIQUES CREATE COMIC ART

QUICK TIP

How awesome is Liquify? It’s one of the most useful tools in Photoshop and gives the artist a tremendous

advantage over drawing traditionally by making small adjustments a snap. Use Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+X for

quicker access. The Forward Warp tool is incredibly intuitive and, honestly, all you really need.

04 CHOOSE THE TEAMConsider origin stories and day-to-day routines – what are the

characters’ home countries or timelines? Who trained them and what’s

their MO now? A useful layer setup might include a base layer with colour

tint layer Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt-clipped to it, foreground layer for things in

front (armour, straps), and background layer for capes, tails, etc. With a

nice spread of options to choose from, you can pick the standouts from

each category, but also consider what the group’s going to look like as a

whole. Ultimately, you need to settle on a nice diverse ensemble.

05 FRAME THE ILLUSTRATIONNow you need to figure out a compelling illustration that gives each

superhero a moment to shine while communicating his or her power and role in the

team. Give each figure its own layer for line art, and stay loose as you sketch out

different poses. As they begin to overlap, separate each one with a layer of flat grey.

Place each set (lines and grey) in a folder to stay organised, and set the lines layer to

Multiply so the black lines remain crisp against the grey.

06 MAKE REVISIONS TO THE LAYOUTWith this setup, you can freely move

characters around in the composition, flipping,

scaling, and redrawing as needed. Eventually, you

will arrive at a promising layout. At this point, the

editor indicates that the image might be used as a

cover, but with all the real estate accounted for by the

figures themselves, there’s none left for logos and

text blurbs. Fortunately, our setup makes this an

easy revision. Be sure to account for ALL

compositional elements as early as possible, or you

risk something important being covered up later.

07 BEGIN PENCILLINGNow create a new document at the final

output size. Drag over the existing sketch layers and

create a new layer above these filled with white.

Reduce its Opacity to about 85%. Now you can start

pencilling in earnest, using the sketched-in poses as

a base. Use the same layer setup as before – lines

on Multiply and grey fill. It’s important here to be

loose and energetic with your marks, so use a rough

chalk brush (or something similar) to ensure you

don’t get overly precious with the lines.

08 FINAL PENCILSRepeat the process for each character,

and from time to time, check your work for

drawing mistakes by flipping the whole canvas

horizontally. It’s an old illustrator’s trick and an

essential one: looking at your work in the mirror

immediately lays bare anatomy problems,

especially on faces. You’ll see right away that one

eye is too high, for example. Fortunately,

Photoshop has the perfect tool to fix these issues

without totally redrawing everything. Use Filter/

Liquify to quickly push things back into place.


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055

12 FLAT THE COLOURFinally it’s time to bring this illustration to

life with colour, and the first step is to create some

‘flats’ – ie specific groupings of flat local colour that

fit perfectly into the ink lines you established earlier.

Flats are both a base layer for the rendering to

come as well as a master selection tool. Placed on

a separate layer or in Channels, you can use the

Magic Wand to easily select specific areas of the

figure to work on while keeping colour boundaries

perfectly defined.

11 CHOOSE YOUR LINE ‘FLAVOUR’Think about context when choosing a type

of line: use heavier lines for shadows and outlines

and thinner ones for interior detail. Soft round lines

work best for the female form and, likewise,

squared-off angular lines for males. On effects like

fire, try a rough dry brush. When inking machined

metal objects, use Shift-click to rule perfectly

straight lines. To make circular forms, use the Pen

tool or make a circle with a hard round brush, then

delete all but the outer line with a hard round eraser.

13 CONSIDER OUTSOURCINGAnother helpful note about flats: many

professional colourists in the comic field rely on

dedicated flatters to take care of this step for

them, at the cost of about $10-12 per page. This

portion of the colouring process is time-

consuming, repetitive work that doesn’t require a

professional, so if the cost to time ratio makes

sense for you, by all means make use of these

incredibly helpful and dedicated artists, available

on deviantART and elsewhere.

10 INK UP CLOSESimilar to step 7, you will be starting fresh

with a new process. To streamline the total number

of layers, feel free to bake down or trash the older

ones (ie you no longer need the sketch layers, as

the pencils will now serve that purpose, and those

can be collapsed). While inking, it’s best to zoom in

fairly close. During this process, your aim is to

create precise, final lines, so rely on your Wacom

tablet or Cintiq to create smooth, sharp marks with

varying weight.

09 ARRIVING AT FINAL LINESSo far, you’ve explored a wide range of possible designs for your superhero team, cherry-picked the

best of them, composed a layout that lets all five characters shine (while still leaving plenty of room for text

blurbs), and worked out almost all of the line art details in a rough pencil pass.

TIGHTEN THE ILLUSTRATIONBEGIN INKING AND ADD THE COLOUR

001 PREP FOR INKThings are coming into focus, but the drawing remains ambiguous in places and will need to be clarified

002 DOUBLE�CHECK Before moving on, double-check anatomy and eliminate tangents. This is the foundation, and it needs to be rock-solid

003 NEXT STEPSIn the next step you’ll lock in your character art, committing sketchy pencil marks to solid black ink lines

001

003

002This is the foundation and it needs to be rock-solid


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056

RENDER IN COLOURADD HIGHLIGHTS, SHADOWS, TEXTURE AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

TECHNIQUES CREATE COMIC ART

QUICK TIP

At the top of the Layers panel there are four icons for locking layers. The first of these – Lock Transparent

Layers – is really useful for manipulating line art. Turn it on, and you’ll only be able to paint over existing

pixels and nothing else, making it easy to do re-tints.

PAINTING METAL SURFACES

Rendering metal surfaces can be tricky. Often in a

beginner’s work, the shadows aren’t black enough

and the lights aren’t white enough. Even more

frequently, they aren’t positioned next to each

other properly. Grab yourself some chrome

reference and note this great rule of thumb: put

strong lights and darks RIGHT NEXT to each other.

The name of the game is contrast – the more, the

better – and you want the border of the shadow

immediately next to the solid white of the lit area.

14 PAINT HARD LIGHT SHADOWSWhere to start with the rendering? One

approach is to choose a cool, dark grey and paint it

over your flats on a Hard Light layer. The beauty of

this is that it’s additive, casting the look of a shadow

over your local colors without overwriting them

completely (as with Normal mode). Even better, the

shadows thus created have built-in saturation, which

looks far better than simply turning up the black.

Since you’ll be reusing this colour repeatedly, create

a swatch of it on a separate layer and use the

Eyedropper as needed to select it.

15 ADD SHADOW AND TEXTUREThere are many approaches to

rendering, which is the process of adding

volume and texture to round out and surface a

form. Dodge and Burn (or alternatively, a brush

set to Soft Light) can be helpful as a first pass,

roughing in the basic lights and darks in no time.

From there, soft and hard-edged brushes will

finish the job. In areas of intense light, it helps to

lighten portions of the line layer. Add texture by

erasing out of the Hard Light shadow layer or

simply painting on top.

16 SPECULAR WHITESFor matte surfaces, this level of rendering

might be sufficient, but for materials like metal,

glass, and even skin, you’ll need much brighter

whites to show the proper level of specularity. Above

the shadow layer, clip a new light layer, and because

you’re looking for the brightest, most intense whites

here, set it to Normal mode. On skin surfaces, use

the white sparingly – just a single hotspot at the apex

of a lit area should be ample. On metal or wet

surfaces, use larger swaths of whites running down

the length of a form.

17 SPECIAL EFFECTSNow for the bells and whistles that really

bring an illustration together. When colouring energy

effects, you have to give the sense that they’re

insubstantial compared with the actual figures. For

starters, lock the layer (see Quick Tip) and paint the

lines of the fire (or lightning, etc) in a light, saturated

colour. Next, create a new Hard Light layer and build

up a glow with a soft round brush set at around 25%

Opacity. Add and subtract until you achieve the

desired effect.


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18 SPECIAL EFFECTS 2Energy is light, of course, and it should have an effect on nearby figures. Make

sure you account for this as you near the end of the colouring phase. Again, use a Hard

Light setting and paint with the same colour you used before, but this time on a layer

clipped to the target figure’s flats. Pay careful attention to the direction of the light, and

only paint on surfaces that are actually facing it. The effect is only convincing if the

application is applied selectively.

057

QUICK TIP

Adjustment layers (found under

Image>Adjustments or at the bottom of the

Layers panel) are your best friend at the end of an

illustration. Color Balance and Photo Filter are

great tools when unifying a mess of disparate

colours under one unifying tint. Levels and Curves

adjust the global distribution of darks and lights.

19 CONCENTRATE FOCUSTo finish up, step back from the piece and see what needs extra

attention. When dealing with multiple overlapping figures, they’ll often

compete for attention and require a certain amount of dialing back. For

example, the reds on the Telepath feel a little too strong in the context of

the overall piece, so you can create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer,

clip it to her flats, and selectively reduce (using a layer mask) the

saturation on her bottom half.

20 CREATE DEPTH OF FIELDNext, you’ll need to make sure the figures in the background

recede where they overlap the figures in the foreground. Case in point:

the Brute’s elbow. Using the Eyedropper, select the background colour

and, on a new layer set to about 60%, paint in a bit of atmospheric

perspective. This makes the individual figures read a lot more strongly,

keeping the viewer’s attention where you want it. Add similar layers

over the Gadgeteer’s shin and Elemental’s knees – anywhere one figure

is in front of another.

21 BRING IT TOGETHERLastly, you need to do a few tweaks to help

unify the group of five figures as one united whole.

First, select ALL the figure layers (minus the soft

glow effect layers) at once and Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+E

to Stamp Layers, ie create a flattened copy of all the

selected layers. Now you have a silhouette of the

whole group to which you can apply a coloured

stroke (pink/purple here because it complements

the yellow background). Finally, add Levels and Color

Balance correction layers on top.


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HOW I MADE

TROLLER � MADE OF WHAT YOU ARE

SAAD MOOSAJEEHOW THIS STRIKING ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN WAS ABLE TO SHOWCASE AMAZING PHOTOSHOP SKILLS AS WELL AS SELL THE CAR’S STRENGTHS

TECHNIQUES HOW I MADE

F reelance visual artist and designer Saad

Moosajee (www.saadart.com; @Saadart)

created this billboard advertisement for

agency JWT Brazil’s Troller car campaign.

Moosajee was commissioned by the agency to

visually depict the merits of the car. “The Troller is a

well-known off-road car in Brazil, famous for being

extremely durable and tough,” he says. “Troller is one

of the few Brazilian cars that can handle all aspects

of its diverse environment. This versatility makes it

attractive to various demographics in the country.

When creating the campaign, our goal was to make

the car more popular among those who are

interested in a reliable off-road vehicle. In terms of

design and art direction, the visual objective was to

show Troller’s close relationship to both consumers

and Brazil’s indigenous landscapes.”

It was brought together through

photomanipulation, 3D rendering (in CINEMA 4D)

and digital painting. “The 3D objects were intertwined

with the surrounding wildlife and planes. I was able

to achieve this effect through heavy manipulation of

the images and 3D objects with the Puppet Warp and

Transform tools.”

I was able to achieve this effect through heavy

manipulation of the images and 3D objects with the Puppet Warp and Transform tools

© C

lient

: Tro

ller;

Agen

cy: J

WT

Braz

il; A

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irect

ion:

Thi

ago

Arrig

hi, P

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Hef

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n: S

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059

01 ORIGINAL PLATEI began by working on the original background plate for the image. The perspective of the floor

in the photograph and free-flowing branches made this an ideal plate based on the brief provided.

03 MORE BLENDING Further integration of the 3D objects into the environment. Here I roughly

placed the figure and the 3D branches. I then began working on the atmosphere of

the forest by darkening and desaturating the whole environment.

02 BRING IN 3DTo create the forest, I cut up 3D objects and wove them

into the branches of the photograph. I also began integrating some

of the animals and reworking their colour and light.


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060

MOOSAJEE SHARES HIS TOP TIP FOR WORKING ON PROJECTS LIKE THISCREATE MORE SPACE


06 CHANGE OF MODELIn this image I shifted the placement of foreground objects to be

more central, and then added the second half of the car to the composition.

The figure was swapped out by request of the agency’s art directors to

someone ethnically Brazilian.

04 THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE Re-creating the forest atmosphere required balancing dark, mysterious

tones against areas of intense illumination. To accomplish this I manipulated

another light source into the background, which also allowed for more

atmospheric perspective.

05 THE CAR’S THE STARHere I began roughing in the Troller car. The car was made by

cutting up a stock image and re-creating the inside with digital painting

and 3D renders. I then overpainted the whole thing to match the

environment’s lighting.

07 REFINE THE DETAILS I eventually increased the quantity of the light coming from the back

light source to help illuminate the forest atmosphere. A warm, orange-green

tinted light was used. I then manipulated the ground plane with more renders

and stock textures.

08 FINAL TOUCHESThe client eventually allowed for the figure to be replaced again and

the car to be coloured. I digitally painted each half of the car to align with the

hue of the main light source, giving the image a more unified aesthetic. The

lighting was also once again boosted from the background, this time

spreading into the foreground.

When working in photomanipulation, consider how focus and atmospheric

perspective can be employed to provide more space in your piece. In the

early stages of the JWT illustration, the piece didn’t have much depth or

space because the background values weren’t really receding. Managing

how bright and clear something is as it fades away can be a quick and

simple way to create more space in an invented environment.


WorldMags.net



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WorldMags.net



063

RESPONSIVE DESIGN TECHNIQUES

CREATE A RESPONSIVE FRONT PAGE WITH PRESENTATION MATERIALRESPONSIVE DESIGN

A s well as having to design for desktop,

tablet and smartphone, and deciding

whether to use fluid or non-fluid content

grids, responsive design bears yet another

challenge: making sure all your assets look sharp on

HD screens. If it were only @2x, this would be rather

easy. But with the dozens of sizes and resolution

types that Android devices bring with them –

sometimes as high as @4x – things get more

complex. This tutorial will focus on how to design a

responsive website, and how to easily prepare it for

client presentations along the way. We will be

looking into everything from setting up the ideal

GETTING STARTEDPREPARE THE DOCUMENT AND CREATE THE GRAPHICS

WEB DESIGN

Photoshop document as a template to work from, to

working with grids, guidelines and vector Smart

Objects, which allow you to create SVG files for your

final website that can be animated on rollover and

work perfectly on Retina screens.

While most graphic assets like images will still look

acceptable when scaled a tad up or down, it’s not as

easy when it comes to icons. There’s a simple reason

for that: icons are usually much more filigree and

detailed than most other image assets. Thin outlines

especially don’t scale well. There are two great

solutions that are lightweight and incredibly easy to

implement and use: SVG sprites or icon fonts.

01 SET UP THE DOCUMENTStart by designing in 1600px in width,

with a safe zone of 1000px in height. Then you

know anything within the 1600 x 1000px will be

available at the desktop version of the site. And

it’s easy to prepare the presentation in monitor

screens later, as the ratio also works in an image

of a cinema screen that is 1440 x 900px.

02 PICK COLOURS AND THINK MOBILEThe first thing to do after setting up the

document is to add three guidelines: one that

defines the centre of the document and two more

that define the 640px mobile height. You can also

search for images to base your colour inspiration

on, which can be taken from the product trends

and similar.

03 START FROM THE TOPStart out by doing the navigation. Just

get an icon next to text and see how it looks with

the chosen colours. I chose a margin of 75px from

the edge. Create basic icons, like the menu icon,

straight in Photoshop. You can then re-create

them later in Illustrator just to make sure you

have it in vector for SVG output later.

FROM RAW TO RESPONSIVE

WORK IN PROGRESS

Progress 1: Create the SVG-ready icons

Progress 2: Add the graphics

Progress 3: Prepare for mobile

ROLF A. JENSENwww.portfolio.works@rolfajensen

OUR EXPERT

Rolf A. Jensen is an international award-winning Norwegian art director, designer and co-founder of Good Morning, an interactive design agency. In a career spanning over a decade, he’s worked with clients such as DreamWorks, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros, Ford, Sony and Toyota.

SOURCE FILESIncluded on the disc is the final Photoshop file of the web design as well as presentation and vector resources. The main image is available at www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo-sensual-couple/184738880.

With the dozens of sizes and resolution types that

Android devices bring with them – sometimes as high as @4x –things can get complex


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064

TECHNIQUES RESPONSIVE DESIGN

QUICK TIP

Double-click on your Vector Smart Object while

in Photoshop and it will open in Illustrator, then

click File>Save As and choose SVG from the file

options. You will have exported a perfectly

scalable web icon.

04 MAFor the social icons, make one 36 x 36px in Illustrator and use

that as a template for the rest of the icons. After pasting it into Photoshop,

click on it and select ‘New Smart Object Via Copy’. This will avoid conflict

between the icons you copy and reuse on your website, as if you were to

make an adjustment to one of them, it would apply to all icons you’ve

copied. Social icons can be found on the disc.

05 Tone down the image by creating a new layer on top and fill it with colour

#202020. Set the Opacity to 50%. Add a Black & White adjustment layer and boost the

Exposure to give the image a traditional fashion look. As a last touch, add the colour on top

of the layers. Make sure it’s above the Black & White layer, otherwise the colour won’t be

visible. Hit [G] and fill the layer with bronze (#ad825d). Select Color blending mode and set

the Opacity to 10%.

06 SVCreate a new document in Illustrator. Set

the values to 36 x 36px. Now click the Round

Rectangle tool and drag a line 25px in width and

2.5px in height, duplicate it three times and rotate the

lines 45 degrees to create a diamond square.

Duplicate this and move it up as seen on the image,

then select the two diamonds with the Selection tool,

change the colour to white and copy and paste it into

your Photoshop document. Place the graphic in the

centre underneath your title treatment.

07 In Photoshop, use the Rectangle tool and

drag to make a bronze shape 250 x 50px. Choose a

font with less detail for the smaller text and buttons.

I’ve used Cabin from Google Web fonts – it’s also

included on the disc. After placing the text in the

centre of the shape you just created, make sure the

size of the text is 18pt and set to regular. Now you’ve

just created your ‘rollover’ for the button, as you will

do the buttons in the same style as the 2pt circles

you have around your social icons and the 2pt

diamond graphics.

08 After you’ve created the rollover state for

your button, it’s easy to make the normal state, since

this is going to be an outline that gets filled in on

rollover. Simply make two new rectangle shapes,

which are 2px in height and 250px wide (the button’s

width). Do the same with two new shapes that are

50px in height and 2px in width to create the vertical

sides for the button. If you are using Photoshop CC,

you can simply select all four rectangle shape layers

and merge them into one shape.


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065

12 PREPARE FOR PRESENTATIONIt’s always great to show your client how

the design will look in a browser, to give them the

picture of how things will be aligned and scaled on

a computer screen and a mobile screen. On the

disc, you can find some pre-made assets of an

iMac screen and an iPhone. These are great tools

to help sell your design and create a better

awareness on the client’s side of how the final

outcome will look and feel.

11 After you have re-organised the folder and

layers, it’s time to re-organise the position and sizes.

A few key rules are to scale all your icons to about 30

per cent of what they were on desktop. If your icons

are already small in the desktop design, you might

want to double that scale. Another tip is to never use

a text size less than 24pt – it’s just going to be hard to

read on a mobile screen. Place a new layer on top of

your mobile folder and create two black shapes to the

sides of the workspace so you have all your focus on

the centre part where the mobile design will be. Make

a new margin from the edge of the design at 30px on

both sides to keep some space between your

elements and the edge of the screen.

13 Open up ‘iMac_screen.psd’ from the disc,

double-click the layer called ‘Put your design here’,

then open up your PSD file with the web design. Go

to Image>Image Size and scale it down to 1440 x

900px, then with the mobile folder off, merge the

desktop folder with all the layers and drag it over to

the Smart Object called ‘Screen_11’ that you opened

from ‘iMac_screen.psd’. Now make sure it’s centred

and save it. Repeat the same steps for the ‘iPhone_

screen.psd’ to get the phone screen.

10

Make two new folders on top of all your layers (click

on the folder icon at the bottom of your Layers panel

or hit Cmd/Ctrl+G). Name them ‘Desktop’ and

‘Mobile’. After that, copy all your current layers into

the desktop folder, and copy all the layers a second

time into your mobile folder. Do this by Shift-

selecting all the layers (besides the two recently

created folders called Desktop and Mobile), and drag

all the layers into the folder while holding Opt/Alt

down on your keyboard.

09 FINISHING DESKTOPNow let’s finish up on the desktop design. Add a few more details like the slide options on the left

side that indicates that the imagery in the background can be interactive in some way. Then take a look at the

mobile safe-zone, marked red on the picture. You now need to make sure all of your elements can scale and

work down to that space. It’s a simple matter of re-organising your elements so they fit within the safe zone,

with some space on the sides.

REDESIGN FOR MOBILEADJUST THE SIZE AND POSITIONING OF ELEMENTS FOR MOBILE DEVICES

001 HELPING HANDSet up a grid and use existing industry imagery for inspiration and colour reference

002 WORKING WITH FONTSResearch typography and place in a nice header text to make a bold statement in the centre of the design

003 PREPARING FOR MOBILEReorganise the elements from your desktop design into their own folder so it fits on a mobile screen

001

003

002

It’s always great to show your client how the design

will look in a browser, to give them the picture of how things will be aligned and scaled

ICON FONTS VS SVGS

There aren’t fundamental differences between the two when you just want to display a couple of resolution-

independent monotone icons on your site. Of the two, icon fonts have greater support of out-of-date software, so

if you’re working on a larger scale project that is expected to get great traffic from less techy audiences, you might

want to go with icon fonts. If, however, you want to use the power of recent browsers and mobile OSs, then SVGs

are for you. While creating icon fonts is a bit of setup work and you’ll probably look into a proper software tool

that’ll help you do it, SVGs don’t require anything. Simply export to the format from Illustrator and your job is done.


WorldMags.net



TONY ANDREAS RUDOLPHwww.zulusplitter.de

OUR EXPERT

Rudolph is a digital matte painter and concept artist, and has worked on projects like Guardians Of The Galaxy, Jupiter Ascending, Captain America 2 and Divergent.

SOURCE FILESOn the disc provided with this issue, you will find the full-size 3D render and all the passes needed to complete this tutorial.


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EPIC FANTASY LANDSCAPE CONCEPT

COMBINE PHOTO ELEMENTS AND PAINTING TECHNIQUES TO CREATE PHOTOREAL CONCEPT ART

EPIC FANTASY LANDSCAPE CONCEPT TECHNIQUES

L earn how to use a 3D block mesh, photo

bashing and digital painting techniques to

create an epic fantasy kingdom scene. The

combination of Maya and the renderer Chaos

Group V-Ray will help you to set up the perspective

and basic lighting for the final scene. The use of

photos will help you to create the first details for the

PHOTOMANIPULATION

image and generate a photoreal touch. You will then

use digital painting techniques to match, merge and

change the photos to the way you want them, which

will help you to create a final concept.

This is an advanced Photoshop tutorial, for artists

who have a bit more experience with this program or

someone who wants to push their skills to a new

level. You will be using photos to make up most of the

base, which you can find on the web. Here, stock sites

like CGTextures, Texturepilot or deviantART were used.

Shop around to find images to suit your own scene. On

the disc provided with this issue, you will find the 3D

render and all passes. When you have these

downloaded, you’re ready to begin.


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03 EXTEND THE PHOTOS The next stage is the extension of photo elements by copying the images and painting on top of

them. Duplicate the sky image with Cmd/Ctrl+J and put it under the original sky. Than use the Move tool to

move it to the right. Make another copy and move it down. After that, merge the sky layers together and use

the Brush tool with a chalk brush to paint a seamless edge between all the sky parts.

04 MATCH THE ELEMENTSNow it’s time to match the mountain with

the sky. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+B for Color Balance to match

the colours. Select Shadows and add a bit of cyan to

the mountain. Press OK and open the Hue/

Saturation dialog with Cmd/Ctrl+U. Go to the cyan

and blue channel and pull down the Saturation.

Create a new layer behind the mountain layer. Use

the Lasso tool to make a shape for the distant

mountains. Pick a shadow colour from the mountain

and fill the selection with this colour.

068

TECHNIQUES EPIC FANTASY LANDSCAPE CONCEPT

02 FIRST PHOTOBASHThe next step is the background. For a

better overview, create a group by clicking the group

icon in the Layers panel. To browse the photos you

want to use in the image, the best way is to use

Adobe Bridge or Adobe Mini Bridge. To activate the

Mini Bridge, go to File>Browse in Mini Bridge. When

you find the right images for the background,

double-click on the thumbnail in Mini Bridge to open

them. Use the Move tool to move the image into

your PSD file.01 3D BLOCK SKETCH

Create a new document with a size of 5661 x 3669 pixels and

300dpi. You will start by using a 3D render. The 3D render was created

with Autodesk Maya and V-Ray. You can use other 3D programs and

renderers to create a similar image, like CINEMA 4D or Google

SketchUp. The 3D mesh will help to give you the basic composition,

perspective and lighting for the scene. For this painting, the 3D part was

completed in around two to three hours. Render out different passes

like Diffuse or RGB.

THE PHOTOREAL CONCEPT

WORK IN PROGRESS

Progress 2: Using the photo bashing technique

Progress 3: Painting on top

Progress 1: From 3D to 2D

The 3D mesh will help to give you the basic

composition, perspective and lighting for the scene


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069

07 THE MIDDLE BACKGROUND MOUNTAINNow you can repeat the same techniques

as used in the steps before. Try to match the shape

of the 3D render to the scene as much as possible,

as well as the lighting direction. Create a new group

and call it something like ‘midground mountain’.

Import the images into your Photoshop file and place

them by using the Move tool. Then create a layer

mask for every image you want to add and paint the

shapes. Here, tree images were used to create a

base for the mountain.

06 OVERPAINT THE WATERFALLSNow you need to match the waterfall size by

painting on top of the waterfall. Create a new layer on

top of the waterfall layer and use a chalk brush. Pick a

dark colour from a nearby area and just paint some

lines on the waterfall. Then add some smaller islands

and stones. Go to Image>Image Rotate>Flip Horizontal

to have a fresh eye and check the perspective and

scale. Create a new layer and set it to Lighten. Pick the

sun colour and paint some highlights over the waterfall

where the light hits.

05 ADD THE WATERFALLSOther than the sun rays, the background

needs another interesting element – the waterfalls.

To create these, use two different waterfall images.

To paint the shapes of the waterfalls, create a layer

mask by clicking on the layer mask icon in the

Layers panel and paint with the round brush in black

to change the shape. It’s important to look at the size

of the trees – the waterfalls shouldn’t be bigger than

the trees on the mountain. After that, match the

colours again with Color Balance.

QUICK TIP

If you want to select a part of a reference image you picked for the painting, use the Quick Selection tool to

create a fast and accurate selection. Sometimes the Quick Selection tool creates better results than Color

Range selection or the Magic Wand tool.

08 OVERPAINT THE MOUNTAINThe next step is another overpaint and colour matching. You

need to match the grassy top and the forest to the rocky mountain

image. To match the colours, use the Match Color adjustment. Go to

Image>Adjustments>Match Color. Select the PSD file as a source and

the layer you want to match this layer. After you have done this, create a

new layer for the overpaint and paint the edges between the images, as

well as painting in some trees on the light side of the mountain.

09 PAINT THE SNOWY DISTANT MOUNTAINSFlip the image again to get a fresh eye. Create a new group. Use the 3D part as a

base, but extend the shape a bit more with the Lasso tool. Import a snowy mountain and

put it into the PSD file. Use Color Balance to match the colours. When you have done this,

create a new layer over the mountain. This layer will be a cloud layer. Use the Brush tool

and a cloud brush. Pick a cloudy colour from the sky layer and paint the clouds.


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070

TECHNIQUES EPIC FANTASY LANDSCAPE CONCEPT

QUICK TIP

When you work with 3D, be sure to render out as

many passes as possible, including Diffuse,

Ambient Occlusion, and shadow and light passes.

You can then combine these passes with the layer

blending methods in Photoshop, like Multiply,

Darken and Lighten.

13 MOUNTAIN, CLOUDS AND FOREGROUNDLook for some cloudy mountains. Use the

Quick Selection tool to select the cloud and move it

into the PSD. Match the colours with Color Balance.

Move one cloud on top of the mountain group and

one behind. Paint in some details on the top

cathedral. For the foreground, use three images for

the water and two for the riverside in front of the

gate and copy them three times. Merge the images

again by painting on top of it. The colours are

matched with Color Balance.

10 MIDGROUND MOUNTAINCreate another new layer. Select the part of

the mountain you want to add details to with the

Lasso and click on the mask icon in the Layers

panel. Now the group must have the mask in nearly

the same shape as the mountain. Import some

more grassy mountain images. Here just two

different ones were copied and moved around so that

they did not look like duplicates of each other. Create

a mask for every image and paint some areas away

if it ever starts to look too similar.

14 MAIN CATHEDRAL, GATE AND RIVERSIDECreate a new group. Select the main

cathedral and make a layer mask out of it. Use

cathedral textures to add some basic details and

paint on top of it. Do the same with the bridge and

the wall. For these elements, just use some old

stone textures you can find at CGTextures or

Texturepilot. Copy the image from the riverside on

the left and put it between the tree images you added

before. For the tree, use just one image and paint on

top of every layer to create randomness.

11 PAINT THE SUN AND SKYCreate a new layer inside the mountain

group. Pick the colour of the darker cloud and

change the layer mode to Multiply. Fill the layer with

the colour and paint the elements away on the mask

where the sun hits the mountain. After, create a new

group with a mask. Inside this group, add a Color

Balance adjustment and match the light side of the

mountain with the sun colour. Then create a new

layer in Lighten mode, picking the sun colour, and

paint the sunny side of the mountain.

15 FINAL STEPNow add some textures to the remaining

parts. Create a new layer and paint some city smoke

with a cloud brush. Use a knight image, scale it and

paint on top of it to create some randomness. Then

create another new layer, pick the sun colour and

paint all the sunny parts with a soft brush to create a

moody feeling. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E to

create a master copy. Then go to Filter>Blur>

Gaussian Blur set 4%. Change the layer mode to

Lighten at 75%. Done.

12 FINAL DETAILS OF THE MOUNTAINHere, some rocky parts of the mountain

didn’t match the buildings and smaller cathedrals.

Create a new layer on top of the latest layers you

created. Pick a colour from the rocks and start

painting on some rocks near the buildings to create

something like platforms that the buildings are built

on. Be sure to repaint as much as possible, like the

existing rocks. Use a chalk brush with a texture for

this part. The result should show nearly no difference

between the original rocks.


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OLI ROGERS EXPLAINS HOW HE TAUGHT HIMSELF TO USE PHOTOSHOP TO CREATE THE FANTASTICAL AND MYSTERIOUS, WITH A RETRO TWIST

READER INTERVIEW

RETRO FANTASY

READER INTERVIEW RETRO FANTASY

OUR READER

072

OLI ROGERS, AKA STEGOSAURUSwww.olirogers.artworkfolio.com

O li Rogers first began to use Photoshop as

an art student, five years ago. Using

online tutorials and magazines to teach

himself, he gradually shifted from

working with pencils, a paintbrush and an airbrush

to his graphics tablet; painting all things weird,

fantastical, surreal and mysterious – though

usually with a retro flavor. “That airbrush was way

too noisy anyway!” he begins.

BEING SELF�TAUGHT, WHAT PARTS OF YOUR

WORK WOULD YOU SAY YOU FIND PHOTOSHOP

TO BE MOST USEFUL FOR?

Almost all of my work is now made entirely in

Photoshop. I used to scan pencil drawings and work

them up, but these days it’s all digital from the inception

of the image. I love the flexibility of digital work, and

that’s one reason why I think it’s a great learning tool for

illustration. You can make so many decisions that you’d

have to be incredibly brave to attempt on a physical

piece that you’ve been slaving over for days. There’s no

I’m often asked if I use photomanipulation in my images.

The answer is no; all of the work you see here is made from scratch


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All a

rtic

le im

ages

© O

li Ro

gers

Zpiral Galaxy: Rogers explains: “With this poster I seek to answer the question that seems to be on everyone’s lips these days: What if the makers of ‘80s Saturday morning cartoons had been into the esoteric knowledge traditions of the ancient world, and hallucinogenic drugs?”


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Brushes: You can render all manner of finishes using a very limited range of brushes; in this image, four

Lighting: Multiply layers are great for adding shadows to elements that have already been rendered, and I sometimes use Overlay for highlights

Love For The Haters: “One of my personal favourite poster designs, based on a mixture of Hindu and Bollywood imagery with the addition of some subtle ‘80s pop elements,” says Rogers. “As you can see, I like to create illustrative mash-ups. The design is inspired by something very important once said by Martin Luther King Jr.: ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’”

Pattern: When making intricate patterns you can copy and paste repeated elements, but for realism make sure they don’t appear too identical

Texture: You can overlay a subtle photo texture to add interest to an otherwise flat surface, but don’t go too crazy


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RETRO FANTASY READER INTERVIEW

075

fear of ruining your work, so you can be as daring as

you like in terms of experimentation.

DO YOU FEEL AS THOUGH YOUR STYLE HAS

CHANGED A LOT SINCE YOU FIRST BEGAN TO

USE PHOTOSHOP?

I suppose I’d describe my style as highly rendered digital

painting, but that’s definitely evolved considerably over

my time using Photoshop. To begin with I just wanted a

new way to colour my traditional drawings.

WHAT PROJECT THAT YOU HAVE USED

PHOTOSHOP FOR DO YOU FEEL MOST PROUD

OF HAVING WORKED ON?

I graduated from university eighteen months ago, so

I’m really just starting out in my career. I still consider

one of my student projects, which was an entry for the

Macmillan Prize for children’s books, as a bit of a

milestone. It was called The Tremendous Moustache,

and it was about a friendly woodland creature with

magical facial hair. I didn’t win anything, but I’m still fond

of the project as it was really the first work in which my

digital skills started to catch up with my imagination,

and other people seem to like it too. Looking at it now,

though, I can see that I’ve definitely come a long way

since then.

Using separate layers for each element from

the rough stage allows you to play around

with the composition of your painting until

you get the most effective layout possible.

Don’t expect Photoshop to create things for

you. You’ll need the same foundation of basic

art skills as you would for work created with

physical paints and canvas. Practise!

It can be easier to paint complex forms in

monochrome first, then use Color layers to

add ‘glazes’ of colour. You can then tweak

these with Overlay and Color Balance

adjustment layers.

I use adjustment layers for adding the

finishing touches to a painting. Hue/

Saturation and Color Balance can pull your

palette together, and Levels can add extra

punch. Have a play.

Look to magazines like Advanced

Photoshop for useful technical tips and

creative inspiration, but don’t just copy

others’ content unless it’s strictly for practice.

Your style should be your own.

TOP FIVE DESIGN TIPS

As you can probably tell, I’m really into ‘80s airbrush art – the kind of fantasy and sci-fi stuff that was all over movie posters,

record covers and videogame boxes

Truth Hurts: Like most of his art, this poster was inspired by ‘80s airbrush art. It was also inspired by a lyric from David Bowie’s ‘Underground’: “Don’t tell me truth hurts, little girl, ‘cause it hurts like hell.”

Gold: “An editorial illustration that symbolises the financial struggle of working in the creative industries as the ‘Magnum Opus’, the alchemical quest to turn lead into gold. In this case, it’s pencil lead,” explains Rogers


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040076

READER INTERVIEW RETRO FANTASY

WHAT OTHER ARTISTS DO YOU FEEL HAVE

BEEN MOST INFLUENTIAL AND INSPIRING

TO YOU?

As you can probably tell, I’m really into ‘80s airbrush

art – the kind of fantasy and sci-fi stuff that was all

over movie posters, record covers and videogame

boxes. Also, imagery from the picture books that I

read as a small child still leaks into my work here and

there. In terms of individual artists, I’ve always been

into Edward Gorey (although of course my digital

work is a world away from his pen-and-ink

drawings), and at this moment I can’t get enough of

Christopher Conn Askew and Femke Hiemstra’s stuff.

It’s magical.

WHAT ARE THE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

YOU WOULD SAY ARE YOUR FAVOURITES?

I’m often asked if I use photomanipulation in my

images. The answer is no; all of the work you see

here is made from scratch. Then there’s the classic

question, “Which bits did you do?”, to which the

answer is “All of them.” Besides the odd font and the

occasional hint of a photo texture, nothing goes into

my work that wasn’t generated by me, using primarily

the basic soft and hard round brushes, along with a

slightly ragged-edged brush. Besides that, I’ll make a

few adjustments to the levels and colour balance but

that’s really it. Cmd/Ctrl+Z is my other favourite

feature – you don’t get that on a physical canvas.

DO YOU FEEL IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ARTISTS

TO LEARN A VARIETY OF SKILLS, SUCH AS

BOTH DIGITAL AND TRADITIONAL ART?

Definitely – although, you probably won’t get too far as

a digital artist if you haven’t got a good grounding in

traditional art skills. As a digital painter you most

definitely still need to know how to draw, and even if

you are a photomanipulator you will still need to know

how to compose an image and how to pick a palette.

But then, I think that working digitally can help you

learn these things. As an artist you need to

experiment with all the different media that you can

get your hands on – how else will you find out what

you’re good at?

Full Boar: “Here we see a bunch of Victorian socialites engaged in worshipping a pyrotechnic boar-cannon,” tells Rogers

Crafty & Furious: This album cover, called Crafty & Furious, was made for a dance music producer, featuring a dinosaur Jesus chilling in downtown Miami.


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© E

lena

Mat

yush

I imagined my character with iridescent scales, so I decided to add something reptilian to her design – a dragon’s chest


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AMATEUR DIGITAL ARTIST ELENA MATYUSH TAKES US THROUGH THE PROCESS OF PAINTING AN EYE�CATCHING FANTASY CREATURE PORTRAIT

HOW I MADE

A’KHAMIELENA MATYUSH

079

Elena Matyush (http://leinara.deviantart.

com) first developed the idea for her

recent digital character painting from

none other than a simple sketch: a cute

face with large eyes and long ears whose eyes

she fell in love with. “I imagined the delicate

creature looking up with naive and surprising

sight at a glowing butterfly, which was ultimately

replaced by the jellyfish,” she explains.

From the very beginning, Matyush’s plan was

to make the image colourful and vibrant, with

surrealistic elements such as luminous plants

added in. “I didn’t want it to look like Pandora,

though,” Matyush continues. “I imagined my

01 DEFINING THE COLOURSI started with a line sketch of the character, then defined the basic colours for the whole picture.

To do this, I created two layers under the creature to sketch the colour layout for both the background

and the character separately.

02 CHARACTER AND BACKGROUNDI used a simple, round brush with hard

edges to shape the trees, then used the Dual Brush

so that the leaves wouldn’t look duplicated. When the

main part of the background was done, I moved onto

the character. I used the Pen tool>Make Selection in

order to make the edges of her body sharp.

03 BRINGING IT TO LIFEIt was then time to work with the details. I

created a new layer onto which I put the tracery, then

applied Transform>Warp and placed it onto the

stripes. Finally, I moved onto the jellyfish. To make

the tentacles perfectly smooth, I used the Pen

tool>Stroke Path>Brush, then used Transform>Warp

to make my jellyfish less flat.

character with iridescent scales, so I decided to

add something reptilian to her design – a

dragon’s chest. For a long time I didn’t know

what to call this creature, so during the entire

process I called her a lizard. I then finally decided

to give her a name – A’khami.” After 183 layers,

the adorable sketch was finally brought to life.



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http://leinara.deviantart.com

http://leinara.deviantart.com



080

SPECS:

APPROX £53$90

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WE PIT THESE TWO RIVAL TABLETS AGAINST EACH OTHER TO FIND OUT WHICH IS BEST FOR LESS THAN £100

REVIEWS UGEE RAINBOW III VS WACOM INTUOS MANGA

UGEE RAINBOW III VSWACOM INTUOS MANGA

VS

You don’t need to spend a fortune when

looking for your next creative device, and

when it comes to graphics tablets this is

especially true. For less than £100 you can

have a capable tablet that combines the latest

technology with a simple, functional design. Now

your instincts may lean towards the Wacom Intuos

Manga before we even get started, but it can

sometimes pay to consider the underdogs, like this

one by a Chinese company, UGEE. Although,

straight off the bat, this Intuos edition from Wacom

comes shipped with a full version of Manga Studio

Debut 4, which includes integrated colour palettes

and thousands of halftone patterns and brushes.

But for those of you who are just on the look-out

for a tablet to complement your Photoshop

artwork, perhaps as a more portable addition to a

larger tablet, then either one of these could be just

right for you. Join us as we challenge these two

graphics tablets side-by-side to see which is the

best buy for under £100.

SPECS:

£90 $99

www.wacom.com


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http://www.ugee.net



081

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION WHICH TABLET HAS MORE ERGONOMIC APPEAL?

UGEE RAINBOW III THIS GRAPHICS TABLET IS THE MOST AFFORDABLE OUT OF THE TWO, AND PROVIDES A LARGE ACTIVE AREA FOR MORE FREEDOM ACROSS THE CANVAS. DISREGARD THE FACT THAT THIS IS WITHOUT ANY OF

STANDS ITS GROUND BY PROVIDING A BETTER RESOLUTION FOR PRECISION PAINTING.

On initial glance, we’re immediately drawn to the

difference in physical dimensions between these two

graphics tablets. The Rainbow III has three inches

more active area than Wacom’s Intuos Manga. Not

that size makes a huge difference in this case,

because we found it surprisingly easy to adapt our

pen movements to the more confined space of the

Intuos Manga after a few short moments. We did

find that the Rainbow III was more comfortable to

paint with, and in terms of ergonomics, the broader

edging and raised hot keys down one side of the

tablet sat better on the lap; as opposed to the

squarer and flatter Intuos Manga. We also found the

Rainbow III easier to operate, having all the hot keys

at close reach with one hand while the other hand

operated its pen. With the Intuos Manga, two hot

keys are set in both of its top corners, so no matter

whether you’re a left or right-handed artist, you’ll have

to cross arms over to utilise all four of these. The

Intuos Manga is still better equipped for left-handed

artists; because of its symmetry, you’re not required to

turn the tablet 180 degrees, which isn’t the case for the

Rainbow III. In order to use the tablet’s hot keys with

our right hand, we had to turn it completely around

and accept the inwardly protruding USB cable, as

opposed to its more natural position of facing away.

No wireless connectivity leaves you reaching for the

USB cable, but it’s long enough to reach across an averagely sized workspace

A chunkier pen is sometimes easier to handle for those with larger hands

The raised edge of this tablet is just right for operating the hot keys with one hand and painting with the other

Rainbow colour themes: If shades of brown are not quite your style, then there is a black

version available


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082

REVIEWS UGEE RAINBOW III VS WACOM INTUOS MANGA

OUT OF THE BOX?THE EXTRA KIT THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Both tablets do have their own surprises out of the

box. With the Rainbow III, you are welcomed with a

pen holder that stashes away a number of spare

nibs, too. This is a neat way to keep the pen

accessible in your studio, but Wacom’s solution to

this is a little different.

Using a very tight-fitting fabric tag along the top of

the tablet, one end of the pen is squeezed into the

holder; it does mean, however, that it’s never too far

away at a moment’s notice. If Manga is your genre of

choice, then having Manga Studio Debut 4 software

and resources all bundled might tip the scales. The

pen of the Rainbow III does require charging via a

WACOM INTUOS MANGA

The Intuos Manga is thin and

obtrusive if carrying with additional luggage

The Intuos finish:

separate cable that connects to the top end. With a

battery life of supposedly 5,000 hours, this isn’t

something that restricted creativity when working

with the tablet in Photoshop.

One major disadvantage of the Rainbow III’s pen is

that it’s minus an eraser. To work around this, it was

possible to set one of the hot keys to

Photoshop’s Eraser tool, but then we

had to sacrifice a second hot key to

jump back to the Brush

tool once the eraser

was done with.

is a joy to create with and when connected

tangled up with cables

slipped inside this handy

pen holder


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083

AND THE WINNER IS... WACOM INTUOS MANGA

Although not without its foibles, Wacom’s tablet really

comes into its stride when using the multi-touch

commands for full control over a wide range of gesture

functions and navigational aids, which is something the

Rainbow III can’t provide. Lightweight and wireless (with

the additional accessory kit), this makes the Intuos Manga

the more portable tablet out of the two, and it’s for these

reasons that it has come out on top.

UNDER THE SURFACE

Although, on the surface, the Rainbow III might not

be much of a looker, it does feature twice as many

pressure levels and double the resolution compared

to the Intuos Manga. In fact, this is more in line with

Wacom’s Pro range and even the company’s

high-end Cintiq models. The Rainbow III doesn’t give

you the same level of customisation as you have

with the Intuos Manga, and on top of this Wacom’s

multi-touch, gesture commands makes it much

more natural to move, rotate and pan across the

canvas as paint is applied. Being considerate of the

price mark of both of these tablets, the plastic

surface of the active area was more noticeable on

the Rainbow III during our tests when put up against

the smoother surface of the Intuos Manga. That’s not

to say the Rainbow III was entirely out-performed,

however, giving a more than acceptable painting

experience inside of Photoshop.

shortcuts


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Until now, digital artists have always had to

make compromises. You can use

raster-based software like Photoshop to

work with pixel-based images, taking

advantage of the rich shifts in shade and tone that

they can create, but hampered by the dreaded

jaggies when it comes to resizing images for higher

resolutions than you started with. Or you can use

vector-based software like Illustrator that allows you

to create images that can be scaled up with no loss

of resolution, but be forced to eschew subtle tonal

shifts in favour of crisp lines and colour delineations.

You couldn’t have both – until now.

Mischief lets you have your cake and eat it, as the

drawing and painting program makes use of a new

and intriguing development called Adaptively

Sampled Distance Fields. This new way of

representing digital shapes, invented and patented by

the brains behind Mischief, offers fast rendering,

high-quality anti-aliasing, and the ability to represent

variable, textured strokes that can be rescaled

without losing quality. Put simply, Mischief offers you

an infinitely scalable canvas with painterly

mark-making that won’t lose resolution when you

scale it up. As disruptive technologies go, this

innovation is potentially huge.

Adobe, then, will be relieved to note that Mischief

is a simple program, far from offering all that

Photoshop is capable of. It has a limited range of

brushes and tools, no blending modes or layer

adjustments (beyond basic opacity controls), and no

support for PSD files. All it does is let you sketch and

paint with a few simple brushes. The thing is, those

simple brushes happen to be very good. Pencils

provide a naturalistic sketchy look. Conte crayons

give soft, textured, buildable colour. Markers offer a

tactile, felt-pen look and feel, while Highlighters can

give a soft, semi-transparent glaze. Calligraphy

brushes offer crisp, elegant strokes while Erasers –

well, they do what Erasers do. It’s a simple feature

set, but for digital painters who work in a

predominantly traditional way, with sketching, inking,

shading and colouring, it’s perfect.

If you’re happy bouncing between Photoshop and

other programs and you don’t mind dancing around

THIS DIGITAL PAINTING PROGRAM PROMISES A RADICAL INNOVATION, BUT IS IT COMPLEX ENOUGH FOR TODAY’S PHOTOSHOP FAN?

MISCHIEFREVIEW

■ TOOLS PALETTEThe Tools palette is shockingly simplistic for Photoshop

users, featuring a Rectangular Marquee, Brush tool,

various shape and line presets, Eyedropper, Zoom, Undo

and 100% Size command.

■ BRUSHESMischief’s capsule collection of brushes

include pencils, Conte crayons (aka

coloured pencils), markers,

highlighters, calligraphy pens and

erasers. It’s a small set, but it’s all you

need for a realistic hand-drawn look.

■ BRUSH CONTROLSBrush controls are basic, offering

Width (size) and Opacity controls plus a

full colour palette. You can drag and

drop colours into the Saved box on the

right for ease of use. You can also

control paper colour here.

■ LAYERS PALETTENo blend modes, no adjustments, no

Styles or Effects – just simple layers for

you to build up artwork on. Make sure

you merge before exporting your image

to a Photoshop-readable format, as

PSDs aren’t supported.

MADE WITH MISCHIEFA LOOK AT MISCHIEF’S SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE SKETCHING AND PAINTING TOOLSET


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http://www.madewithmischief.com



085

TOP 5…PHOTOSHOP BRUSH REPOSITORIES

BRUSHEEZYwww.brusheezy.comWith free Photoshop brushes, patterns and textures as well as premium

content available, Brusheezy is a great resource for finding brushes and other assets that can be used in both personal and commercial art projects.

Features: 6/10Ease of use: 8/10Value for money: 8/10Quality of results: 9/10

VERDICT

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

CREATE SOME ARTWORKDISCOVER MISCHIEF’S SKETCHING AND COLOURING TOOLS AND HOW TO USE THEM

01 START WITH A SKETCH Grab your graphics tablet, open Mischief (note the

lack of dialog box asking you what size and

resolution you require) and make a new layer. Grab

the low-opacity Pencil tool, set it to a soft 2B-style

grey and start to draw a portrait. You can build up

shading by choosing one of the higher opacity

pencils or by manually adjusting the Width and

Opacity of the tool you’re using.

02 ADD BASIC COLOUR Grab the low-opacity Conte crayon, set it to a

neutral flesh tone and make a new layer. Start to

colour your drawing, concentrating colour in areas

that you want to emerge from the image. Use the

erasers to clean up and soften edges. You can

build up soft shading and highlights on new layers

by choosing shadow and highlight tones based on

your midtone.

03 ADD MORE COLOUR Make another layer, choose a warm red-pink

and select the low-opacity Highlighter. Add a

blush of colour to the cheeks and lips. Make

another layer, choose a deeper, more

saturated tone of the same hue, and run it over

the top lip to add depth and definition. Clean up

the edges with the diffused Eraser for a soft,

subtly shaded look.

MISCHIEF REVIEWS

with PNG and JPEG files to export your artwork in a Photoshop-

usable format, Mischief’s realistic brushes and ease of use make it

well worth taking for a spin. It’s the infinitely scalable digital painting

aspect that is the most exciting innovation about Mischief though, so

even if it’s not your thing then it’s worth keeping an eye on how it

develops. You can bet that Adobe will be.

Mischief is an exciting innovation in the digital painting field, although other kinds of Photoshop enthusiasts will find its feature set lacking in regular image-editing tools.

MYPHOTOSHOP BRUSHESwww.myphotoshopbrushes.comThis website is packed with free brushes and much more, but look at

the terms and conditions for each resource carefully – some are okay to use commercially, but others can only be used for personal projects.

CREATIVE MARKET www.creativemarket.comThis premium site features individually priced brushes, photos,

graphics and much more. It’s not cheap, but every week the site offers six hand-picked freebies to newsletter subscribers, which is great value. All are usable in commercial projects.

DEVIANTARTwww.deviantart.comHead to the Resources and Stock

Images section of deviantART and go to Application Resources>Photoshop brushes for mainly free, but some premium, content. Always check the terms and conditions though as many have very strict usage rules.

BRUSHLOVERSwww.brushlovers.comMany of the free and premium

brushes on this site are okay to use on commercial projects, but the onus is on you to establish this with the individual brush author, so check before you start a commercial project!

This sequence below by Sav Scatola shows off the possibilities of Mischief’s infinitely scalable canvas, as he zooms in on the decorative elements at the top of the tower

© S

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capabilities of Mischief’s small but perfectly formed brush set


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http://brushlovers.com

http://zhille.tumblr.com

http://www.brusheezy.com

http://www.myphotoshopbrushes.com

http://www.creativemarket.com



PHOTOGRAPHER AND DIGITAL ARTIST ARTHUR RAMSEY SHOWCASES HIS CREATIVE STREAK AND DISCUSSES THE IMPORTANCE OF SELECTIONS

READER INTERVIEW

READER INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY IN A DIGITAL WORLD

086

F or talented photographer Arthur Ramsey,

creating digital art was never a part of his

image workflow. Starting out using film

cameras and traditional darkroom

processes, it wasn’t until another photographer

introduced Ramsey to the world of digital editing that

he started exploring manipulation techniques.

“I used to be a fine-arts artist mostly selling images

in galleries. This part of my life has really transitioned

into what I would call a hobby, but it is a hobby that

helps me learn techniques and brings zest to my

commercial work.”

COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK

AND WHAT PERSUADED YOU TO CREATE

DIGITAL ART?

I have been a professional photographer for 25 years,

and I work for myself under the business name of

Ramsey Still Imaging. Since launching into digital

editing, I now bring a camera and simple lighting to a

law firm, take pictures of their employees, and make all

the images look like they were taken in a high-tech

studio. My wedding photography is also much more

creative now. I do trash-the-dress shots of brides, and

it’s all done in Photoshop so their beautiful dresses stay

OUR READERARTHUR RAMSEYwww.ramseystillimaging.com

PHOTOGRAPHY IN A DIGITAL WORLD

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Urban Alice And Morphing Statues: I used personal stock to make this urban fairytale of my own


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http://faestock.deviantart.com



Hungry: Changing a daylight picture to night isn’t too complicated, but I then added 3D texture to create zombie effects and painted portions of the photo

Joy: I made a selection of the red scarf and copied to a new layer, then duplicated this layer many times, spreading pieces

to fill a larger space, then merged. Finally I used the Clone Stamp tool with a leaf brush to make the floating leaves

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My style is really about light and how that light interacts in each environment. It is diversified and always changing


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http://jlior.deviantart.com

http://nhuval-stock.deviantart.com



Lighting: I used greyscale mapping on a daylight image and used models from stock sites

Cooling colours: After merging greyscale with daylight and duplicating the layer, I then made a Gradient Map, set the coloured layer to Color blending mode, reduced the Opacity and added a blue Cooling Filter

Ripple effect: A great way to distort objects is to use the ripple effect. I used this for the hand under the water

Painting: I used a custom brush to reduce noise and sharpen local areas on the face of the model in the foreground

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http://forestfairy-stock.deviantart.com



your viewers. I also like being able to purchase the

magazines and books from your website.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT USING

PHOTOSHOP FOR YOUR ART?

It’s like a master mechanic’s toolbox to the auto

mechanic. My Dad taught me as a kid that there is a

right tool for each part of a project. The goal is

familiarity with each tool. I actually use everything

including the 3D workspace. I have learnt that every

image is different and must be treated as such;

therefore all the tools become indispensable.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ANY

NOVICES WHO ARE THINKING ABOUT

TURNING PROFESSIONAL?

Never give up on an image. One of my more recent

images in my gallery entitled Living Sacrifice-Mask was

an image that I almost gave up trying to create. Deep in

my heart I knew I couldn’t let go of the vision and give

up. The idea of the image was to bring a peacock

texture into the entire image. If you let an image get the

best of you, you’re resigning from growth. Also, it is a

great idea to create a library of your own personal stock

to work from.

PHOTOGRAPHY IN A DIGITAL WORLD READER INTERVIEW

089

With my photo pieces displayed out in front of me

with the light source, I then merged the pieces into

one layer and duplicated it. I turned the duplicated

layer into a drawing with a white background, then

added a layer above it set to Multiply and filled it

with black, reducing its Opacity to 87%. With the

default soft brush set only to smoothing, I painted

different shades of grey on the layer. Using saved

selections, I was able to exert a lot of control over

the lighting values. Finally, I reduced the drawing

layer Opacity to about 20%, merged the two layers,

and set it to Multiply.

DESIGN TIPSbeautiful. I had a couple who wanted me to turn the

wedding party into zombies, so we staged the shots!

HOW DO YOU APPROACH YOUR PROJECTS?

DO YOU HAVE A SET STYLE?

My style is really about light and how that light interacts

in each environment. It is diversified and always

changing. I feel like I am a lot like Alfred Hitchcock with

a somewhat strange sense of humour and a love for

dark elements of art. I seek to ‘show’ elements of an

unseen world.

WHAT PHOTOSHOP PIECE IS YOUR FAVOURITE

AND WHY?

Urban Alice is my favourite because it’s about creating

my own fantasy story. The model is from Deviant Art,

and she does such a nice job of bringing stock that has

virtually an unlimited potential for photomanipulations.

I like the mystery in Urban Alice and the breaking of

rules that says Alice has to be seated at a table with the

Mad Hatter or falling into a rabbit hole.

ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES THAT

YOU REGULARLY USE WHEN BUILDING

DIGITAL IMAGES?

The most important feature is to save your selections.

Saving selections provides more control over the image

and is great for creating the tonal range. I always paint

my tonal range in levels of grey on a layer set to

Multiply blending mode. I follow the old-school

teachings of Ansel Adams, who was a great

photographer and darkroom artist. His teaching on the

zone system still underlies the fundamentals of

creating shadow and light. Photoshop is built on

old-school theories.

WHY DO YOU USE THE ADVANCED

PHOTOSHOP WEBSITE?

I love to post my artwork on the Advanced Photoshop

website. I feel like I get a more honest response from

THE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES RAMSEY USED TO

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Living Sacrifice-Mask: This image utilises textures from a peacock, which had to be

defined using the tip provided herein

The Need For Speed: Using my own stock

images here helped me create my own brand.

This and many of my other images use my own

stock for backgrounds

Swim, Angeles, Swim: I drew the octopus body, filled it with grey, and

enhanced it in a 3D workspace

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http://mariaamanda.deviantart.com

http://la--boheme.deviantart.com



PAINT SPLATTERS

RESOURCE PROJECT

incorporating touches of grunge and other

elements into their work. In this project we will

walk you through the process of creating and using

your very own! We will explore the methods of

using three very different types of inks to produce

several different results that can be used to add

real-life paint splatters and splashes to your clean

digital works. Follow along with this project, which

is quick, cheap, easy, and a lot of fun!

CREATE REAL�MEDIA GRUNGE BRUSHESDigital art is frequently known as a medium

marked by clean designs, pristine lines,

exact placement and perfect alignment. In

many ways, digital art can feel very cold

and digital because it lacks the bit of chaos that fills

the real world. Just a touch of grunge or a small

splatter of paint can add significant visual interest

and excitement to a design. Traditional artists have

known this for generations and have been


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091

PAINT SPLATTERS ON THE DISC

PAINT SPLATTERS WITH ACRYLIC PAINTSUSE BASIC ACRYLICS TO CREATE INTERESTING PAINT SPLATTERS

04 CAPTUREYou can digitise your paint splatters by

either scanning them or photographing them.

Photographing will give them more depth and tone

while scanning will make them appear flatter.

05 CLEAN UPOnce in the computer, clean up any little

drops that are distracting from the main splatter.

Too many little droplets will make the splatter

harder to use because there will be more paint

pieces to deal with. The simpler the better for these.

You can always add individual dots where you want

in specific projects.

03 SPLATTER VARIETY Different brushes produce different types of

splatters. Regular brushes produce smaller drops,

watercolour brushes create large blobs and a

toothbrush will make a fine mist of paint. Experiment

with brush-flicking methods to create different effects.

02 SPLATTERMix the paint and water until you get an

almost glue-like consistency. This will make

splattering easy. Just fill the brush with paint and

flick it onto the paper.

01 MATERIALSTo make paint splatters with acrylic paints you’ll need acrylic paint, a variety of brushes, a large sheet

of paper and some water to mix with the paint so it splatters better.


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Different types of paint have different effects when used. Here we’ll look at four

different types of paint and how they work when splattering.

TYPES OF PAINTAN EXPLANATION OF DIFFERENT PAINTS TO USE TO SPLATTER

Oil paint: Oil paint is obviously

oil-based; it takes a long time

to dry and is very thick unless

diluted with turpentine or a

similar substance. It also

separates and leaves oil stains

on paper unless it’s prepared

first. Therefore it is not a good

candidate for splattering.

India ink: India ink isn’t technically a paint, but it

works very similarly to watercolours. However,

it is more highly pigmented, and therefore even

though it’s in a convenient dropper bottle that’s

perfect for paint splatters, it should be diluted

first for the best colour and the least waste.

Watercolour: Watercolour splatters are thin and transparent, which

makes them great for blending into photos for cool effects. You can

also manipulate the splatters easily to make them as precise as you

want them for a specific project. Just paint the shape you want and

fill it with more water.

Acrylic: Acrylic paint is cheap

and easily accessible. It comes

in a variety of colours and has

the most diversity when it

comes to the splatters that

can be made. When mixed

with only a little water, the

splatters are thick and opaque

but with more water they can

look like watercolour.


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093

PAINT SPLATTERS ON THE DISC

Working with digitised paint splashes can be a lot of fun and bring a much

needed addition of visual interest to an otherwise somewhat bland design. In

this example, we began with an attractive text design. The placement and

colours are good, yet still rather boring and plain. But adding a slightly tilted

angle to the camera view along with several paint splashes and splatters for

DESIGNING WITH GRUNGEUSE PAINT SPLATTERS TO SPICE UP A DIGITAL DESIGN

texture creates a visually compelling and interesting piece. These paint

splashes can be used as simple layers and positioned precisely, but that

frequently defeats the purpose of adding an element of randomness. Using

the splashes as brushes allows the use of the scattering, angle jitters and flip

jitters from the brush properties to create chaotic sprays of paint spots. Be

sure to still use layers for blending modes and matching the sprays to the

perspective of the scene. Then see just how much more exciting a design can

be if everything isn’t perfect and pristine!

GET A LARGER SPLASH FROM THINNER PAINTSUSING INDIA INK AND WATERCOLOURS TO CREATE SPLATTERS

02 DROP ITFor watercolours, gather lot of water and a

little bit of colour in your brush. Hold it over the paper

and wait for the paint to drip off the brush. Try

dropping it from different heights for different effects.

03 SCAN OR PHOTOGRAPHAgain, you can either photograph or scan

these. If your paper is lightweight like standard

printer paper then you may get some warping, so it’s

a good idea to photograph these while they’re wet.

01 MATERIALSWhen using either India ink or

watercolours, you’ll need a brush that holds lots

of liquid, water, lots of paper, watercolour paint

or India ink.


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HOW TO CREATE SPIDER SPLATTERSCREATIVE METHOD FOR CRAFTING MORE INTERESTING SPLATTERS

02 BLOWUsing a hand pump or a straw, blow air

directly into the centre of your puddle of colour.

Continue blowing to create the desired shape. You

can blow from any direction to create some very

interesting, complex splatters.

03 SCAN OR PHOTOGRAPHThe uses for these splatters are endless.

You can create specific shapes by carefully blowing

the ink around. But as you can tell these can take up

a lot of space, so make sure they’re not too close

together or you’ll have a hard time separating them

once they’re scanned in.

01 DROPDrop either watercolour or India ink as you usually would to get a splatter, but load the brush or

dropper more than you normally would. Make sure you have space on your paper to do this – you’ll need it.

rovided you with this assortment of fun, energetic paint

s for you to use. Use them to add colour, interest and a touch of

your personal designs.

ON

TH

E D

ISC PAINT SPLATTERS

COLLECTION OF 15 PAINT SPLASHES, SPLATTERS, AND DROPS

ON THE DISC PAINT SPLATTERS


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Learn in style

Discover more with the Book series’ expert, accessible tutorials for photography, 3D art, Photoshop, web design and more

The

Series

TM

BUY YOUR COPY TODAYPrint edition available at www.imagineshop.co.uk


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To get the most out of your digital editions, be sure to enjoy all of our fantastic features, including:

Many of the fi les you’re looking for can be found on the magazine’s website


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TUTORIALS INTERVIEWS EXPERT GUIDES BEGINNER ADVICE

CREATE THE ART OF THE FUTURE

ON SALE NOW:> Photoreal 3D > Arch-vis > Visual eff ects > Animation > 3D printing

www.3dar tistonline .com



INDUSTRY INSIGHT

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PLUSH TOY VIGILANTESBROUGHT TO LIFE USING MODO

Matt Burniston uses MODO to model, animate and render his

The Mega Plush.

Created with

thefoundry.co.uk/modoWorldMags.netWorldMags.net

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http://thefoundry.co.uk/modo




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Documents

Advanced Photoshop the Magazine for Adobe Photoshop Professionals 126 2014