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ISSUE 42

PHOTO WORKSHOP
Expert brushwork | Split tones | Simulate 3D | Professional printing | Warp Transform | Interview: Dylan Cole

SPLIT
TONES
Stunning mono images with key
lighting and toning effects

FRE
CH
FROARAC
M T
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WO DAZE3RS
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HOW TO…

EXPERT
6-PAGE MASTERCLASS
Simulate 3D in Photoshop
Transform shapes and perspective
Use pro printing techniques
Showcase your work online

BRUSHWORK Explore Jitter and Shape Dynamics for striking results

SHAREYOUR
ARTWORK NOW
VISIT OURWEBSITE AT
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

ISSUE 42
ISSN 1748-7277 £5.99
42

9 771748 727009

GET ON OUR COVER pages of professional

Create a gallery on our website tips & essential step-
42
UE

and receive global exposure by-step tutorials

ISS

* Price correct at time of going to press

001_AVP42_CoverRobot4.indd 1 3/3/08 17:53:12

 Cover

Cover image
“This was a quite-fast personal project. I wanted to
capture the sense of strength that you are filled with
after you have overcome something hard and Imageer:
devastating. The whole image was created from MICHAL IVAN
scratch in Photoshop CS3 with my Wacom Intuos 2
tablet. I used my custom-made brushes: mostly
texture variations of hard, round brushes and various
splatter brushes. I started this as a very simple shape,
THIS IMAGE WAS A
which I was modifying until I was satisfied.”
/
QUITE-FAST PERSONAL
PROJECT
http://perzo.cgsociety.org

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 Keeping an eye on the latest trends in contemporary photography, art
and design, Insight sets out to snapshot innovation in the making
NVArt Digital Art Challenge winners announced
The winners of a worldwide contest run by NVIDIA and
CGSociety have been announced. The NVArt Digital Art
Challenge invited artists to submit computer-generated
imagery that could “only exist in a virtual, imaginary world”,
along the theme of ‘Amazing Creations’.
The winners were announced at a reception on 1 February,
held at the popular San Jose Museum of Art, and attendees
were also treated to a keynote talk by NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun
Huang, as well as words of wisdom from Lorne Lanning of
videogames company Oddworld Inhabitants and Mark
Snoswell of CGSociety.
The prestigious judging panel for the competition consisted
of representatives from CGSociety, NVIDIA and the Museum
of Art, along with notable names such as Pascal Blanche of
Ubisoft, Shelley Page of Dreamworks and Stephan Martiniere
of Midway Games.
The winners included Václav Pajkrt from the Czech Republic,
who came in first with Growth Of Cubic Bacteria, followed by
Brett Keyes of Canada with Corner Fire and Najeeb El-Faith of
Saudi Arabia with Leopardo.
The competition will continue throughout 2008, with
different themes being announced at regular intervals to help
uncover the best CG artists in the digital world. “NVIDIA has
always been inspired by the incredible creativity of 3D artists
and content creators. NVArt is our way of celebrating and
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010-012_AVP_42_News.indd 10
recognising their creativity,” says Jen-Hsun Huang. There are
few contests of this nature and Mark Snoswell, president
of CGSociety, explains why it is so important: “Throughout
the ages, artists have been dreamers and visionaries, creating
truly amazing and inspiring works of art. But they have been
limited by the physical media in which they work. The
NVArt competition embodies the attraction of digital art:
the opportunity to create compelling images free from
physical limitations.”
The gallery show has now ended at the Museum of Art, but
you can see the winners online at http://events.cgsociety.org/
NVArt/01/winners.php. The second NVArt competition has
just closed, the theme of which was ‘Architecture and
Landscape’, but winners were not available at the time of
going to press. Take a trip to http://events.cgsociety.org/
NVArt/02 to see the successful participants.
http://events.cgsociety.org/NVArt/
FIRST PLACE: Growth Of Cubic Bacteria by
Václav Pajkrt. Prizes totalled a whopping $21,000
USD, with first place winning 2x NVIDIA Quadro
FX 5500 cards and a week’s all inclusive holiday
valued at $10,000 (USD)
4/3/08 11:32:59
 DAZ Studio 3D Bridge
04.08
DAZ Productions has announced the beta version of
Studio 3D Bridge, a Photoshop plug-in for applying 3D
HOT
or
imagery and artwork to Photoshop projects.
A limited-time public beta version of the new
software is available for download free and is

NOT
compatible with Photoshop 7, CS, CS2 and CS3. As an
added bonus, DAZ is also offering a free 3D Bridge
Starter Bundle, valued at over $320 containing several
textures, hairstyles and poses.

HOT
3D PACKAGE: Studio 3D Bridge is available as a beta for free now, and “With a community of over 500,000 members, DAZ’s
you can also get the 3D Bridge Starter Bundle, which includes a range of goal is to continually bring 3D to the masses, and this
source files, including EmotiGuy, pictured above
product allows artists of all levels to incorporate 3D into
their workflow,” says Dan Farr, president of DAZ 3D.
The full first version of the Studio 3D Bridge software COTTON MONSTERS
will be available in spring this year, with the beta valid From $28
until 30 June 2008. http://cottonmonster.com
See our disc this month, where you will find DAZ’s 3D These cute critters are the work of
Studio Bridge for you to try out as well as the FREAK Jennifer Strunge and there are so
package, which contains some of the most popular many designs to choose from, there’s
fantasy figures, worth $109. one for everyone!

www.daz3d.com/3dbridge ZEPTONN PRINTS

From €99
www.zeptonn.nl/canvas.php
Jan Willem Wennekes, aka Zeptonn,
has released limited-edition canvas
prints, with only 20 canvases per
artwork available – so be quick!

iPHONE AND
iPOD TOUCH
£329 (for 16GB models)
www.apple.com/ukstore
If you haven’t hopped on the iPhone or
iPod touch bandwagon yet, Apple has
now released models with double the
memory at less than double the price.

Apple Aperture 2
Apple has updated its popular image-management and NEW AND PHOTOSHOP
NOT
IMPROVED:
photo-editing suite, Aperture, to make it faster, easier to use
and more powerful than the first incarnation.
The latest version MISTAKE
of the image- www.tennessean.com
There are over 100 new features, including a streamlined management
software is Red faces all around at the Memphis
user interface and a new image-processing engine. The available for just Flyer, which accidentally printed a
tools have been overhauled too, with options for highlight £129, or £65 as Photoshopped image rather than a
recovery, colour vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft- an upgrade real one changing the entire context of
edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning. the piece – kicking off a new debate
“Many of the most respected photographers on into the ethics of photomanipulation.
assignment all over the world trust Aperture to organise,
edit and deliver their images,” says Rob Schoeben, Apple’s
vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “With its
ADOBE STOCK
£19.99
simpler interface and lower price, anyone can take full www.adobe.com/products/
advantage of Aperture’s power.” creativesuite/stockphotos/
Working perfectly with Mac OS X, iLife, iWork, .Mac and Adobe’s royalty-free Stock Photo
Apple print products, this is sure to be a popular choice with www.apple.com/uk/aperture image service will be discontinued.
Mac users. Available for £129 from www.apple.com/ukstore. Standalone uninstallers are available
to remove it from CS packages.

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 insight
Spring camera releases
A whole host of new digital cameras has been released for EXILIM PRO EX-F1:
spring by the major players in the industry, offering Casio’s new high-end
creatives more technology at lower prices and in smaller prosumer model is

DIARY
reputed to have ‘the
form factors. world’s fastest burst
First up, Casio has announced five new additions to its shooting performance’
range of EXILIM products, with the most exciting being the

DATES
Pro EX-F1. The name gives a lot away, with its connotations SAMSUNG NV24HD
of professional quality and super-speed being its main (FAR RIGHT):
selling points. As well as capturing at full, high definition, it The NV24HD offers
high-definition shooting
will process up to 60 frames per second at the maximum
in a compact case for
six-megapixel resolution. Also being released are four even better images
compacts: the EX-S10, the world’s thinnest 10.1-megapixel
camera; the EX-Z80, which is both slim and stylish; and Samsung has strengthened most of its popular series
CAMERA PRESS AT 60 finally the EX-Z200 and EX-Z100 with wide-angle 28mm with new models. In the L-series of affordable, easy-to-use
Until 1 April lenses and 4x optical zooms. Prices are to be confirmed. compacts are the L100, L110 and L210, costing £99, £129
www.npg.org.uk Fujifilm has been even busier over the last couple of and £149 respectively, which feature a choice of
months and has added a whopping six new models to colourways and auto-everything features. The NV series,
National Portrait Gallery, London,
cover every type of user. The F100fd is our favourite, as it which is known for its style credentials as well as high-
England
offers a 12-megapixel CCD, ISO sensitivity to 12800, wide quality shooting, introduces the NV24HD (£249), the
dynamic range and face-detection technology. If you rely company’s first HD camera. Also coming to the NV range
LAUGHING IN A on your camera for perfect source images, then this are the NV4, NV30 and NV40, which all offer improved
FOREIGN LANGUAGE sounds like the one to cover all situations. Prices are yet to
be announced.
noise reduction.
Until 13 April
As well as this promising compact, look out for the
www.haywardgallery.org.uk
budget J10 and J50, the DSLR-styled S100FS, the 12x www.casio.com / www.fujifilm.com /
Hayward Gallery, London, England optical zoom F1000fd, the ten-megapixel S8100fd and the www.samsung.com
stylish Z20fd, which comes in five colours.
BABE (BRISTOL
ARTISTS BOOK
EVENT)
21-22 April
UK students at Microsoft Design Expo
The UK is being represented at the Microsof t Design
www.arnolfini.org.uk
Expo 2008 by students from the University of
Arnolfini, Bristol, England
Dundee in an annual design challenge. This is the
first time that the university has been invited to be
MAINSAIL ARTS part of the event, and are the only British
FESTIVAL organisation going.
19-20 April The students have been selected from Dundee’s
www.mainsailartsfestival.org Innovative Product Design and Interactive Media
Vinoy Waterfront Park, St Petersburg, Design courses, and will compete with other design
USA schools from across the world. The challenge set by
Microsof t this year is in the area of learning and
FOTOFEST education, and is looking for solutions to improve
daily life over a wide variety of users.
Until 20 April
“This is a great challenge for our students and INTERACTIVE MEDIA DESIGN: Students from this course will be
www.fotofest.org
one they are really relishing,” says Polly Duplock, undertaking challenges set by Microsoft at the Design Expo 2008
Various locations, Houston, USA
programme director for the Innovative Product
Design course. “Our courses in Innovative Product
Design and Interactive Media Design – and the
close relationship they enjoy – puts the University of
Dundee in a unique position within the United
Kingdom to tackle challenges such as those set by
the Microsof t Design Expo.”
The students are currently working on their ideas,
before one team is chosen to represent the
university, and the UK, at the Design Expo.

www.dundee.ac.uk:80/design/
bsc-innovative-design.php /
http://imd.dundee.ac.uk/ INNOVATIVE PRODUCT DESIGN: UK students will compete with design
schools from across the world at the Microsoft Design Expo 2008

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 insight
STOCK IMAGE: “Stock
image spun-off from
series of images created
for IDG Network World.
Tools: Photoshop”

UP:
BINARY SO
pe d fo r M IT ’s Media
“Develo s
ks to the user
Lab and spea te tools and
of ap prop ria
, digital or
technologies . Tools:
otherwise
ustrator,
Photoshop, Ill icture”
LiveP

John Still sio na l ph otographer, illustr

ator and designer
hig
with a talent for
h-e nd clients
a pro fes we alt h of
John Still is ma nip ulations, and has a his wh ole career
an d ph oto ge pa rt in
still-life works es. Ph oto graphy plays a hu on be gan with,
ser vic ati
clamouring for his design and illustr
ec tio n, as Sti ll ex plains: “My path to y and ph oto gra ph ic seeing. I
and dir graph
informed by, photo r in Florida and
and continues to be everything around me as a teenage I ultimately
ph ing co lle ge .
began photogra photographer in
nti nu ed to de ve lop my vision as a l an d co nc ep tua l control.”
co ca
still-life for its physi : “[I did a] Fine Art
program at the
gravitated to studio y photographic too y degree at the
ini ng is mo stl l Ph oto gra ph
Still’s tra
uth Flo rid a, an d then a Professiona I’m mostly self-taught
University of So the digital side, re.”
of Technology. On inars here and the
Rochester Institute du cti on wi th a few workshop/sem n? “I ex ten de d my
pro uatio
through on-the-job where did digital come into the eq gla ss enhanced
the se roo ts, lay ers of pla te
So from objects on s
embling stacks of nt from other setup
still-life work by ass es, adding multiple-exposed conte ain in a ne w set.
tur t ag
with airbrushed tex these sets layered
ye p
ing large prints of ed me to ideally jum
and re-photograph but my methods of working position then Illustrator and
e, cs,
Very labour intensiv of digital imaging. I bought early Ma
ve
right on the new wa looked back.”
ver d conceptual
Photoshop, and ne ls: “The physical an
ll rel ies on a wi de range of digital too nce what tools and workflow I reach
Sti n influe
y given project ca 3D CG vector. My
requirements for an all photographic and sometimes all
tim es it’s d Af ter Effects whether for
for first. Some
lly inv olv e Ph oto shop, Illustrator an Lig htWave, Vue and
primary tools usua e
I als o us e a mi xed bag of apps lik for video and
print or video purp
os es. ple FCstudio suite
3D co nte nt de ve lopment and the Ap l or no t, it is alw ays a part of
Poser for
Wh eth er Ph oto shop is a primary too .”
DVD projects. at some point
touches everything Still get? “I’ve done a few national
the workflow and does e
ts an d pro jec ts illustration for Tim
What kind of clien ars (AT &T an d Ca non) and editorial Re vie w,
consumer ads over
the ye Technology
tific American and ads, print
st recently for Scien en corporate B2B
magazine and mo ma jor ity of my wo rk ha s be
pla ys. ”
ve r, the ge dis
Germany. Howe eo, web and lar
orts, packaging, vid going: “I’m
collateral, annual rep , Still has plenty of work to keep him ent in motion
ing to the fut ure ing inv olv em
Look d continu in
about my recent an mpany. We’re living
particularly excited with a renewable energy start-up co gre at
wo rk ma nd
graphics design at potential and de jor
anges that hold gre tion can play a ma
a time of major ch tha t de sig n an d visual communica na l website or at
ibility . I be lie ve en on his pe rso
respons can be se n+S
r world.” Still’s work .aspx?assettype=image&artist=Joh
role in shaping ou m/ se arc h/S earch /js till/ (Stoc k–
es .co t/s to ck
www.gettyimag pot.com/artis
otonica), www.theis prints – ImageKind
).
till (Stock – Getty/Ph still.imagekind.com/one (Framed
til
iSpot.com) m and http://j
/ www.johnstill.com
and rapid
of high complexity
NV ER GE NC E: “We live in a world nes s of com plex ideas.
CO the rich
ng e. I bel ieve im ages can embrace ave 3D ”
cha , Lightw
otoshop, Illustrator
Tools: LivePicture, Ph

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 04.08

AUTODESK GIS: “Product

“ package (image
wraps around box and repeats throughout
documentation). Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator,
LivePicture, Lightwave3D”

CHUBB IT: “Signature

image for the CHUBB IT
group. Abacus modeled in
Silo, rendered in Vue. 3D
particle effects rendered
in After Effects. CREATE: “From per
sonal/
Compositing and promotional series
of images,
finishing in Photoshop” assembled in Photo
shop”

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014-015_AVP_42_Insight.indd 15 29/2/08 10:25:33

 insight
SOMEBODY TO LOVE: “This image was a
collaboration with my friend Jared
Nickerson. Again a new experiment for me
in terms of style, we employed a
combination of Illustrator and Photoshop”
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016-017_AVP_42_Insight.indd 16
Archan Nair
Archan Nair, or ArchanN as he is known by his friends across the virtual world of
the web, is a designer that transgressed creative boundaries successfully, with
some help from Photoshop. But Nair’s creative foundation in fact began in the
fashion industry.
Responsible for the family apparel manufacturing and export business, it wasn’t
until February 2006 that Nair fulfilled his creative potential. Creating his own
deviantART account, he began to share his compositions with a global audience
that clearly appreciated them. “I signed up to upload desktop screenshots as I was
heavily into Windows customisation,” explains Nair. “In a few months, I became
friends with a Windows skinner from the US. In July 2006, he gave me wallpaper
he’d made to play around with and remix. I had very little knowledge of Photoshop
at that time. I just played around with some layers here and there, and in five
minutes remixed the wallpaper and uploaded it to deviantART. I got a great
response from members from all around the world, appreciating my artwork. I got a
real high from that and that’s how I kicked off into digital art and illustration.”
There has been no stopping him from that day, trading the family business for
the love of the arts. This enthusiasm and energy reflects in Nair’s compositions, with
the vibrant colours, dynamic appearance and vigorous layouts. But with such a
distinct creative voice, Nair exclaims: “I don’t have a style and that’s my style. I create
everything, right from mixed-media abstracts, to illustrations and
photomanipulations, entirely dependent on the theme. I love to keep innovating
and trying new ideas and techniques, developing fresh results.”
He admits that Photoshop lends more than a helping hand in instigating this
innovation yet not forgetting the promise of traditional methods, “I sketch and draw
the entire idea on a sketchbook and get my concept laid down clear. Then I visualise
the final feel and effect, which I need to give to that particular artwork, and
accordingly go about using the various tools in Photoshop. Photoshop is the core. I
mostly use Brush and Pen tools, supported by the Dodge and Burn tools. It entirely
depends on what effect I need to create. It all comes in such a natural flow now, as if
I’m just eating or driving.”
Presently producing interactive designs for PepsiCo, leading India fashion brand
Blackberry’s and gearing up for a print ad campaign for The House of Valaya,
Beyond Beverage and more, Nair has plenty more to be enthusiastic about and it’s
sure to show in his stellar work.
/ www.croppedcircles.net
TURN ON THE BRIGHT SENSES:
“I feel that if a person has the creative
talent inside them, they should relax
their brain and let all their thoughts
and feelings out on the canvas”
A POEM:
ING YOU
I’M WRIT nnot be taught, it can
ca
“Creativity the process
overed and
only be disc is just endless”
ing
of discover
29/2/08 10:27:41
 04.08

EARTHLING: This vibrant composition portrays

two emotions: eagerness and curiosity: “Again,
this was completely constructed in Photoshop” TROPIC AL SL
US
also going to de H: “I’m
velop the
entire packaging
an
design for a prem d visual
ium juice
company. So th
ing
looking exciting s are
for sure”

ROBOTS ARE FOREVER MIX: “I use

Illustrator sometimes for vector shapes
and illustrations, fusing them with
Photoshop. But the entire creation is
done completely in Photoshop”

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 insight
created using multiple
ABSOLUTION: “The background was
created within a
gradient maps and gradients manually
uee layers were then
circular marquee. These circular marq
until I was happy”
altered through the blending options

IN RONALD WE TRUST: “Vector

DC TEMPLE: “The shapes with different gradients.
temple itself was Brush tool set to Round at a low size
created using Adob
e Photoshop. was used to create the dots around
Photoshop is perfec
t for sprucing up the piece. Levels and Curves are
colour and adding
little details that wonderful for giving your colours a
can really bring you
r artwork to a kick when they need it”
totally new level”

ys a
otomanipulation pla d
TED HUMANS: “Ph re use
WHEN GOD CREA an d Sm ud ge too l we
e. The Clone Stamp rn tools
big part on this on The Dodge and Bu
g effect on the face. rity”
to create the meltin g dro ple ts sol ida
s to give the meltin
were used afterward

18
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 Jonathan Wong
Part of the depthCORE con
pro, is an artist chewing
tingency, Jonathan Wong,
at the bit with projects in the
up-
although not a seasoned
pipeline for Tronic Studio
and -co min g onl ine
,
04.08
creative wallpaper for the
New York and producing
hy.
exhibition Des kto pog rap sistence and diligence in
-track success to his per ple of
Wong owes a lot of his fast g aro und in Photoshop a cou
s: “I started just messin in the
photography. He explain ign . I wa s just inte res ted
intention of pursuing des got more and more
years back. I really had no ld ach ieve. From then on, I just
the res ults it cou there! Everything
program and it just too k off from
ut designing, and development and
interested and serious abo my ow n per son al
has all been through
I’ve learned up until now art. ”
tion into design and fine eavours and endorses
self-motivated investiga has excelled in his creative end
Since tha t mo me nt, Wo ng
oto sho p is the ma in program I use for all
hout doubt: “Ph most intricate
the use of Photoshop wit litie s. Fro m the
tool with endless possibi tography, it is a
my work. It is a fantastic sprucing up some of my
ow n pho
ani pul atio n, to sim ply
photom glue.”
tools it has to offer. It’s my thod, as would
godsend. I utilise all the Wo ng isn’t open to evolving his me
me an tha t I do consists of
But that doesn’t iasm . “Th e wo rk
ative hunger and enthus entation. I use
be expected with his cre rk and exp erim
tion s, pho tom ani pul ations, vector-based wo g oth er programs. I’m
illustra learnin
primarily, but currently I’m h a nature he’s surely
Photoshop and Illustrator ady kno w.” Wit h suc
on what I alre
always looking to expand rather than later.
design industry sooner s: “I
to make his name in the con tem por ary dig ital designers when he explain
ng is kin dre d to a lot of . I am qui te mu lti-s tyle d.”
Wo anyway
inct style, at least not yet and not settle on
wouldn’t say I have a dist wa nt to try eve ryth ing
moment, I just and
He goes on to add: “At the will say is that it is sharp, colourful, eye-catching
gI
any one style yet. One thin
things.” most
energetic among other er than his own tenacity,
Wong has fou nd insp iration in other places oth s. “I thin k my favourite
e com pan ion
for certain creativ myself, I
notably the admiration behold. Even starting up
. His style is something to ose
digital artist is Colin Lee n and concise style and
he also see me d to cho
in awe . He had a ver y clea He add s: “Th e guy s over
was bad photographer either!”
t col our s. He’ s not a ts of top -qu ality
the perfec endless amoun
amazing as well. There are
at depthCORE are quite
digital artists about.”
/ www.artofwong.com
GENIE: “I used the brush es at different
of
opacities to build up the different levels
used
light. Curve layers and Dodge tools were
to create contrast and give it that glow”

SMOKE AND MIRRORS:

“A lot of brushing was used
on this to create the flame
effect. Some vector shapes
and brushes with Outer
Glow were applied to give
it that ‘wow’ factor and
bring out the detail”

SPARKLE:
“Collaboration wit
h
Theo Aarstma
(sumeco.net).). He
applied the 3D sha
pes
from Cinema 4D an
dI
spruced it up in
Photoshop. A lot of
line
and brushwork ag
ain
with various white
layers set on overla
y
and screen”

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 Letters
Mailbox
Do you have a question or opinion about the
magazine? Email your thoughts to
advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk
or visit www.advancedphotoshop/forum
SUBJECT: Brush compatibility
FROM: Colin Richardson
My girlfriend signed me up for a subscription
as a birthday gift, as I love using Photoshop.
But I have been trying to import the brushes
that come with the CD, but they all say that
they’re for the wrong version of Photoshop. Is
there a way to convert them for use with
Photoshop 7 at all?
I don’t like the new versions of Photoshop
since CS, CS2 and CS3 seem to be getting
more and more silly with their interfaces and
the need of a super computer just to press a
simple button. Anyway, I can’t afford it in the
first place.
Editor replies: Hi Colin. Thanks for your email.
We’re sorry that you have been unable to
use the great brushes on our CD. We will
endeavour to make sure that we include the
PNG image files for all brushes in the future
where possible so that you can use these to
generate your own brushes, as can all users of
pre-CS Photoshop packages.
SUBJECT: Bookazine misprint
FROM: Steven Baron
I am in the United States and recently I
purchased The Premium Collection Volume 2.
On page 85, in the first step of the Creating
Photomontages tutorial, written by Stewart
Michael Bruce, we are directed to open a new
window that is 230mm x 2,397mm. That is a
very odd-shaped canvas. Is that a misprint
and if so, what should the correct
measurements be?
Editor replies: Thank you for pointing this out
Steven. This is indeed a misprint – and following
“WE WILL ENDEAVOUR TO MAKE
SURE THAT WE INCLUDE THE PNG
IMAGE FILES FOR ALL BRUSHES”
22
Advanced Photoshop
022-023_AVP_42_Letters.indd 22
FREE BRUSHES: We will aim to include the image files
of brushes on our CD in the future
these instructions would lead to a rather large
image! The dimensions should be 230mm x
297mm, which is the size of a full-page in this
very magazine. We apologise for any confusion
caused by this. For anyone yet to check out our
latest bookazine, you can get The Premium
Collection from the Imagine eShop (www.
imagine-publishing.co.uk) and it includes 256
pages of tutorials and inspirational images with
all the resource files needed on the CD that
comes with it.
SUBJECT: Bookazine availability
FROM: Jason Linn
I recently bought the Advanced Photoshop:
The Premium Collection Volume 2, and I was
wondering if you guys still sell the first
volume to that? Thanks so much!
Editor replies: Our Premium Collections
bookazines have proved very popular and
unfortunately we have sold out of Volume 1. If
you want tutorials collected from earlier issues of
the magazine, then why not check out our
eMag? This is a collection of the full contents of
16 issues of Advanced Photoshop on one DVD,
with all the CD files you need to complete the
tutorials. It is available from the Imagine eShop
(www.imagine-publishing.co.uk) now.
SUBJECT: Easier upgrades
FROM: Terence
You gave totally the wrong answer to a reader
(Upgrading Issues, Mailbox, Advanced
Photoshop 39). He has a Mac two years or so
old and wanted to upgrade. How long is it
since you installed on a Mac I wonder…
On installation or first start-up of your new
computer you are given the opportunity to
import all your old user profiles, documents,
settings and applications from your old Mac.
All you need to do is connect the old Mac with
a FireWire cable to the new one and voilà! all is
transferred. You don’t even need to re-enter
authorisations or codes and your new desktop
looks the same as before. You can at any other
time run the Migration Assistant, which will do
this when you wish to. Note that only
documents in your Home folder will be
transferred, but there’s no problem
29/2/08 10:49:42

ADDED VALUE: Advanced Photoshop: The Premium
Collection Volume 2 is available now
transferring other folder contents by USB
memory, external hard disk, airport
connection or whatever. Having just had a
hard disk problem though, I would agree there
is no better insurance for valuable files than an
external hard disk. Fortunately, I was able to
rescue everything that was not already
archived to (double copies of ) DVD.
Editor replies: Thanks for writing in Terence.
Hopefully, your words of wisdom will help out
anyone in a similar situation. Keep your
comments and suggestions coming to the
usual address.
SUBJECT: Reader’s challenge
FROM: John Cornfield
I bought my first issue of Advanced
Photoshop, and I am impressed. I can’t wait to
get on with some of the tutorials, especially
022-023_AVP_42_Letters.indd 23
On the
forum
SUBJECT: Remove type from a
scanned doc
FROM: Graphic1
I scanned a document in Photoshop 7.0
and I saved it as a PSD. I am trying to take
some type out and put in type with a
different font without changing the
background. Help!!!!
FROM: revjessecuster
How about cloning the type away? How
much do you want to remove? If it’s just a
ESHOP: For all our products, visit the online store,
where you can pick up the great-value eMag little bit then zoom in, choose a source near
the word and, using a soft-edged brush,
the space scene. I have one question though: just go over the word. But I would suggest
on your ‘On the web’ you have a Reader’s you duplicate the background first. Select it
Challenge winner printed. How do you enter in the Layers palette and press Cmd/Ctrl+J.
this challenge? I looked on the website but This will copy and paste a new layer for you.
only saw the Peer Pressure challenge. Thanks!
FROM: Graphic1
Editor replies: Thanks for your query. You will find At times I was able to select an area with the
our monthly Reader’s Challenge on the forum at Marquee tool, select Inverse and create a
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum. Scroll new layer and the text and the background
down to the Peer Pressure section and look for a would be able to be selected and moved.
thread at the top with the latest challenge. But it doesn’t do this all the time.
Here you will find details of the theme for the
month and the deadline. We look forward to FROM: revjessecuster
seeing your entry! The winner gets printed in the If you make a Rectangle Marquee around
magazine in the next issue, so it’s a great way to some text and press Cmd/Ctrl+J this will
get exposure. copy it to a new layer.
FROM: kirk_3d
Right, the Cmd/Ctrl+J copies the selection
to a new layer, but only if you are currently
on a layer with something inside the
selection. (In Graphic1’s case I’m guessing
that should be the Background layer.)
Join the debate at
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum
EASY UPGRADES:
Migration Assistant
on a Mac can help
you transfer your
settings, files and
applications from an
old Mac to a new one
23
Advanced Photoshop
29/2/08 10:49:54
 Letters

On the web
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk
Our website and readers’ forum is perfect for
showing off Photoshop creations. We present
the best images on the site this month. Log on
and upload to get your images here next issue!
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
ARTIST: Jena DellaGrottaglia

Readers’ challenge
EMAIL: autumnsgoddess@aol.com
WEB: www.autumnsgoddess.deviantart.com
“The model here is a great friend of mine,
Sinisa Gavric. Some time ago I had asked THE RESULTS – NOVEMBER
him to take some pictures for me so that I
could make him an angel. Check out our monthly Readers’ Challenge at www.
He did this and I didn’t create anything for advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum and scroll down to the
ages. So about two weeks ago he asked me Peer Pressure section. Keep an eye out for the most recently
when I would make the picture. And this is announced challenge; winners are decided via an online poll.
the result! We’re pleased to announce the winner of our ‘Chinese New
Credits in this are also AnaRasha, Al- Year’ theme: Derek H. Cinalli, aka dcriler. “This image was
wafyh-stock, Bonnita-Stock and my own (all
painted using CS3 and a Wacom tablet. When I first thought
found at deviantART).”
about creating this image, dragons and fireworks came to
mind. I started researching Chinese New Year and quickly
learned that young children will often make their own lantern
VISUAL PLAYGROUND for the festival. It was then the concept for my image popped
ARTIST: Rik Oostenbroek into my head. It’s about a young girl who, in the middle of
EMAIL: rik@secretshowcase.com
making her own lantern (I had to build one myself to reference
WEB: www.secretshowcase.com
it), started daydreaming about what she loved the most during
Rik Oostenbroek is a successful 18-year-old graphic
designer from the Netherlands. Using his creativity and Chinese New Year: the fireworks. The image, with revisions,
imagination, he has proved himself on various online took around 12 hours to complete. I’d like to thank my family
communities out there that he is different and original. for the support and AP for publishing my art!”
Of course, all this spotlight has resulted various client
work and he is a respected and well-known artist. “This
piece was created using part of a 3D render by Joakim
Olaussen. I was in need of a place to chill at the time, so
this is it — a playground full of visual joy. 100% freestyle
illustrated in Adobe Photoshop.”

THE WAVES
ARTIST: Rebecca Parker
EMAIL: rebecca_parker@mac.com
WEB: www.rebecca-parker.co.uk
“The image The Waves is of the popular model Ivory
Flame. We used a Pre-Raphaelite painting by Dante
Gabriel Rossetti of redheaded Lizzy Siddal for the
basis of the pose. I added the waves and the spray
to represent the freshness and feel of the sea. The
outdoors features in all of my work as I live in a rural
place by the sea, so most of my images are based
on my own life and surroundings. The image was
created in Photoshop CS3. I use a Nikon D70 digital
camera for my model portraits. The background
image was purchased from www.istockphoto.com.”

24
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024_AVP_42_WebShowcase.indd 24 4/3/08 11:36:48

 Inter
view
DYLAN COLE
Professional matte painter, with
a number of huge movies under
his belt, and co-author of
Ballitic’s d’artiste: Matte Painting,
Dylan Cole shares his thoughts
D
ylan Cole describes himself as “just
a big goofball, sci-fi geek, guitarist,
metal head and fisherman”, but
we’d describe him as one of the most
influential matte painters, concept artists
and art directors around today.
The 28-year-old American has three
instructional DVDs from The Gnomon Workshop
(www.thegnomonworkshop.com) on matte-
painting techniques and was one of three co-
authors of Ballistic Publishing’s d’artiste: Matte
Painting. As well as sharing his skills with the
world, he has an incredibly successful career as a
matte painter for a number of Hollywood
blockbusters including The Lord Of The Rings: The
Return Of The King, Daredevil, I, Robot, Chronicles
of Riddick, The Aviator, The Golden Compass and
The Chronicles of Narnia. You may have also seen
the work that he has done for Coca-Cola on a
commercial/short film called Happiness Factory
26
Advanced Photoshop
026-031_AVP_42_Interview.indd 26
where we see a world that exists within a HUDSON CITY
vending machine, for which Cole produced (ABOVE): “Hudson
River School meets sci-fi.
around 30 matte paintings. More recently, he It is as blatant as possible
has just finished up some work for an HBO mini and I had a lot of fun with
series about John Adams, recreating colonial it. I coerced my wife,
Bethany, into posing for
Boston and New York. It is this final project that me in the backyard. This
Cole hopes to continue with in the future: is generally the type of
work that I will do if left to
“These period dramas are the type of work I
my own devices”
would like to do more of. I have done a lot of
fantasy and sci-fi, and that always has a strike
against you because the audience knows it is
not real no matter how well you create it. The
invisible stuff is always a fun challenge to see if
you can truly fool people.”
ICETRAIN AT
Young start SUNSET (RIGHT):
“This is a painting I did
Becoming an artist has always been part of for Daniel Simon’s book,
Cole’s plans: “I started out wanting to be a Cosmic Motors. Daniel
designed the vehicle
comic-book artist from ages 10 to 15. I then and gave me an initial
started dabbling in painting and that render to work with”
4/3/08 14:05:22
 Dylan Cole

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026-031_AVP_42_Interview.indd 27 4/3/08 14:08:13

 Inter
view
changed everything. I thought that I might want
to be a sci-fi or fantasy book cover artist. That
lasted for a couple of years until I saw The Art Of
Star Wars books and the matte-painting work of
people like Michael Pangrazio and Chris Evans. I
was incredibly enthralled with the idea of a
painting being in a movie and that just one guy
could do it.”
After finding this direction, Cole went to
UCLA to study Fine Art, but, despite completing
the course and doing well, he didn’t take to this
method of learning: “I was a more technically
minded painter who wanted to be instructed in
various techniques, whereas the program there
was geared more towards contemporary art and
did not teach much about art fundamentals.”
During his time at UCLA, he was lucky enough
to land an internship at ILM, which he describes
as “an absolutely amazing learning experience
for me”. He continues: “I went in there with
virtually no digital experience – just a few
decent landscape paintings. I pestered the
artists there endlessly and I learned more there
in 12 weeks than I did in four years [at college].
After the internship, I literally just sat in my room
and worked as long as it took for my work to
start to look like the pros’ work I had seen the
previous summer.”
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Advanced Photoshop
026-031_AVP_42_Interview.indd 28
THE INVISIBLE STUFF IS
ALWAYS A FUN CHALLENGE
TO SEE IF YOU CAN TRULY
FOOL PEOPLE
Turning pro
The hard work certainly paid off and he got his
first commission within a few months of
graduating from UCLA. This was for Illusion Arts,
the only company to respond after Cole sent his
portfolio out “to any company I could find an
address for”. Co-founder of Illusion Arts, Syd
Dutton, asked Cole to do some concept art on
Time Machine, though sadly a lack of work (after
the events of September 11 ground the industry
to a halt) meant that this experience lasted just a
month: “Experienced guys were out of work,
much less me. I only worked for three weeks
over the next eight months.”
But this didn’t stop Cole from pursuing his
dream: “I tried working with a representative
who got me a job on a music video. That
worked out well, but he was decent enough to
suggest that I work with someone who could
help me more. I ended up working with Melody
Meisel, the same representative who works with
Craig Mullins. I called her out of the blue and she
took a look at my work. Within a couple of
weeks, I was on a plane to Prague to work as a
concept artist for A Sound of Thunder. It really
snowballed after that. I came back home and
worked on Daredevil at Rhythm and Hues, and
then I was off to New Zealand to work on The
Return Of The King as a senior matte painter at
the age of 23. It was an eventful six months!”
Asked about his favourite project to date, it is
the latter that was the most memorable: “I think
the greatest experience so far has been The
Return Of The King. It was a tremendous
challenge on many levels, but I think I learned a
lot on the way. I also feel that I had a significant
contribution that could only have come from
moving down to New Zealand and being
4/3/08 14:08:31
 Dylan Cole

Urban Plateaus (above): “This Icetrain on a

started out as a slight New York extension, but Cliff (right):
kept growing. I used buildings from all over “Another painting for
the world, with a healthy dose of painting” Daniel’s book. A very rare
vertical painting from me. I
Moonview (below): “This is just a think my brain only works in
painting I did for fun. It started out as a sketch horizontal format. The
with more of a matte-painting style polish. I vertical idea was conceptual
was inspired by Syd Meads’ sketch of a city to show the height of the
built into the moon” cliff, as well as practical”

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 Inter
view
LOS ANGELES (TOP): “I
flew into Los Angeles at this
time of day and took a photo
that is buried under all of
those large structures”
ROCKS ALONG THE
BEACH (MIDDLE): “Dusk
is one of my favourite times of
day, because the lights are
starting to come on but there
is still enough light in the sky”
SUNSET CITY
(BOTTOM): “I had never
done a painting in this palette.
With the exception of a little
cloud texture, this is all just
painted in Photoshop”
30
Advanced Photoshop
026-031_AVP_42_Interview.indd 30
immersed in it for almost a year. You just
don’t get that connection to a project when
you are helping out for a few weeks on a
handful of shots, which is how freelancing is
most of the time.”
Nowadays, Cole does many different kinds of
work: “I am a freelance matte painter and
concept artist working out of my home, so that
means getting dressed and shaving are kept to a
bare minimum… or at least as little as my wife
can stand! Over the past year, I have worked on
at least one feature film, commercial,
videogame, fashion advertising campaign,
movie poster or TV mini series. It is the variety
that I love! Plus it is a bit of a guarantee that if
one industry goes south a little bit, such as the
recent writers’ strike in Hollywood, that there is
something else for me to work on.”
Despite his college education, most of Cole’s
skills have been self-taught or handed down
from his father who shared his own advice on
the rules of composition: “I was very fortunate in
that my dad had a very good knowledge of
perspective and he had taught me one-, two-
and three-point perspective by the time I was 11
years old. That has served me amazingly well.”
As well as his father, other artists have
inspired and enhanced Cole’s techniques: “Over
the last several years, I have worked closely with
Robert Stromberg, who is an amazing matte
painter. I have really learned a lot about
composition and the power of simplicity. Like a
lot of artists starting out, I had the tendency to
overcomplicate things and have too much
detail, simply because I could. Robert really
showed me how a simpler composition is much
more effective. With matte painting, it is about
leading the viewer’s eye and conveying a
message in a very short amount of time.”
Going digital
These days Photoshop plays a big part in Cole’s
workflow, but this is something that surprises
him: “It is incredibly ironic that I became a digital
artist, because when I was in high school, I
wanted nothing to do with digital. I was a total
traditional snob who thought I could do
anything with real paint and couldn’t be
bothered learning this computer gimmick! Well,
the joke was on me!” Photoshop is now key to
his process, as he explains: “Photoshop is my
main tool and I cannot imagine doing my work
4/3/08 14:09:55

without it. Nothing else comes close to it in
power and versatility. Though there are times
when I long for real paint because real paint
won’t crash on you at 3am before a deadline! Be
that as it may, the versatility and speed of
working digitally makes working traditionally
sadly obsolete.” The versatility is the very thing
that Cole embraces about the Adobe app: “One
of the best things about Photoshop is that there
is usually more than one way to do something,
so it is fun to see how others tackle a problem.”
When it comes to explaining his technique,
Cole states that he will use a number of different
skills to create an image, though most of his
work is a mix of photomanipulation and digital
painting. For his photography work, Cole prefers
to capture his own source images: “No vacation
is complete without at least a couple thousand
digital photos! I am a roadtripping nightmare
because I take three times as long to get
anywhere with all of the photo stops. My family
PHOTOSHOP IS MY MAIN TOOL AND I CANNOT
IMAGINE DOING MY WORK WITHOUT IT
026-031_AVP_42_Interview.indd 31
Dylan Cole
LAVA CITY: “I did this one
has learned to embrace this, even pointing out after The Return Of The
possible photo opportunities for me.” His King, so I think I had lava on
commissions can require more precise methods the brain! Actually, I was just
interested in working in this
of creation: “I will sometimes build miniatures to kind of sunset/dusk palette.
photograph as elements. I did this extensively This was done using typical
matte-painting techniques of
on Superman Returns. No two paintings are done
photomanipulation and
in exactly the same manner.” digital painting”
Looking forward, Cole has some grand plans
on a more personal level: “I am taking it easy
after a crazy 2007. I have a couple of things in
the works, but the main thing I want to work on
is my own book. Actually, I would probably like
to do two. One more of a typical ‘art of’ type
book and the other an illustrated story. This is
something I have been excited about for a long
time and I hope to have time to pursue it.”
We can’t wait to see what comes of these
publications, as any chance to learn about this
matte-painting master’s techniques and skills is
more than welcome. You can see more of Cole’s
work at www.dylancolestudio.com.
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4/3/08 14:10:09
 MASTERCLASS

32
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032-037_AVP_42_3Dhead.indd 32 29/2/08 11:12:29

 Work with 3D renders
Photoshop expert Nik Ainley talks us through working with a 3D
render to create an exploding head BY NIK AINLEY

T
his tutorial covers a whole range of Photoshop’s functions, but takes a particular look at two relative
ON THE DISC
newcomers: the Warp Transform tool and the advanced Brush settings.
A more general area explored here is using Photoshop to produce 3D effects. Photoshop is an excellent tool On the CD you will find the initial render
for simulating 3D as results can be produced far more quickly as well as giving a higher level of control than a 3D needed to start this tutorial and a
photo used to create some lighting effects
application could. While an exploding 3D effect can easily be done using particles and modifiers in a 3D program, the later on.
end result will be much harder to control compositionally.
To follow this tutorial you must have at least a medium understanding of Photoshop. It is not one for beginners. OUR EXPERT Nik Ainley
Due to the number and complexity of techniques being used not everything is spelled out in black and white and a Nik Ainley is a freelance illustrator and designer based in the
good knowledge of Photoshop terminology is required. UK. He has worked for many clients including Adobe, MTV and
British Airways but still finds time for personal art work.
Please note that Photoshop CS2 or CS3 is required for this tutorial for access to the Warp Transform tool.

1 Opening the render

The first few steps involve importing the render
into Photoshop and tweaking it until it is suitable for use.
We want to remove the unwanted pixels such as the
background, fix any lighting and colour issues and
generally make it look as good as possible. Open the
render file in Photoshop.
2 Extraction
Now Poser provides an alpha channel with the
render but it considers the grid lines on the face to be
semi-transparent which isn’t what we want. Since the
head is a fairly simple shape we can just trace around it
with the Polygonal Lasso tool. Ignore the neck and
shoulders and copy this into a new document.
3 Colour fixes
We want to improve the contrast and colours.
First, run an Auto Levels (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+L) on the face
and fade it to a Luminosity blending mode (Cmd/
Ctrl+Shift+F). Then run an Auto Color (Shift+Cmd/
Ctrl+B). Darken the face using a Curves adjustment
(Cmd/Ctrl+M then pull the curve downwards slightly).

“PHOTOSHOP IS AN EXCELLENT TOOL FOR

SIMULATING 3D AS RESULTS CAN BE PRODUCED
MORE QUICKLY AS WELL AS GIVING A HIGHER LEVEL
OF CONTROL THAN A 3D APPLICATION COULD DO”
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032-037_AVP_42_3Dhead.indd 33 29/2/08 11:13:06

 MASTERCLASS
4 More colour fixes
You may notice that there are a few seemingly
random orange coloured blocks on the left-hand side of
the face. We should get rid of these. Roughly select
around the eye, ear and mouth and feather the selection
by 20 pixels or so. Then do a Hue/Saturation adjustment
(Cmd/Ctrl+U), choosing to adjust the reds and pull the
Saturation down by about 80 or so.
What is
Jitter?
When dealing with Photoshop’s advanced Brush
tools the term Jitter pops up a lot. Basically it
means ‘variation’ and represents how much
Photoshop will randomly vary a value. For
example, if the Size Jitter of a brush is set to
100%, whenever you use this brush the resulting
shapes will come out randomly sized between
1% and 100% of the original. Foreground/
Background Jitter on the other hand represents
how much Photoshop will vary the brush’s
colour between your current foreground and
background colours. A setting of 100% means
they will be randomly distributed between the
two. Note that here it will work out the in-
between values by mixing the two colours, not
by using the spectrum. Hence a Jitter from blue
to yellow will not produce any green.
34
Advanced Photoshop
032-037_AVP_42_3Dhead.indd 34
5 Dark mouth
To darken the mouth, trace around the inside of
the mouth using the Pen tool then convert the resulting
path to a selection. Create a new Levels adjustment layer
and pull the left and middle sliders to the right and the
right-hand slider on the Output levels to the left. Create
a new layer with the same selection and airbrush black
at the top of the mouth.
6 Render ready
Now we are ready to start pulling the head apart.
It’s a good idea at this point to create a copy of your
7 Magic wand
To make the job of selecting panels to pull off the
head much quicker we are going to use the Magic
head in case you ever mess up and need to go back. Wand tool. We could trace around them individually but
Just copy the layer and turn its visibility off. this would take ten times as long and the result wouldn’t
be much better. Set your Magic Wand so that it has a
Tolerance of about 10 with both Anti-alias and
Contiguous checked.
8 9
Panel selection Pulling apart
We are going to pull pieces off in several goes to Cut the selected panels from your face and place
give us more control over where they end up. Start at them into a new layer. Roughly realign them to where
the top of the head and start selecting panels at they used to be. This is where we get to play with the
random with the Magic Wand tool. Stick to the right- Warp Transform tool. On your new layer, right-click and
hand side of the face as we want the left-hand side to choose Warp from the menu. Now pull the corners and
remain recognisable throughout. lines of the transform box up and away from the face.
“PULL PIECES OFF IN SEVERAL
GOES TO GIVE MORE CONTROL
OVER WHERE THEY END UP”
5/3/08 10:40:02

13 Brushing up
It’s time to supplement our head with lots
more flying particles, this time created from scratch in
Photoshop. To do this we are going to use some of the
more advanced Brush settings available.
032-037_AVP_42_3Dhead.indd 35
“EXPERIMENT WITH THE WARP
TOOL HERE, SEEING HOW YOU
CAN MAKE THE PIECES SEEM TO
FLY OFF THE FACE WHILE
MAINTAINING SOME REALISM”
10 Pull, pull, pull
Really experiment with the Warp tool
here, seeing how you can make the pieces seem to fly
off the face while maintaining some realism. Once
you are happy with these panels, repeat on the rest of
the face. Use five or six different groups to get a real
sense of movement.
11 Clean as you go
This can be a fairly messy business, but
Photoshop’s tools should give you the control you need
to have the face come apart exactly as you want. Go in
and move individual panels around if you want. Add a
layer mask to the original face layer and use it to hide
panels that now look out of place on the far right.
12 A bit more depth
To give the flying panels a bit more depth we
will give them shadows. Give each layer containing your
pieces a Drop Shadow layer style. Use an Opacity of
about 50%, Distance of 30px and Size of 40px. Angle
each one differently so the shadow is towards the face.
14 The right brush
What we want for this image is a brush that
looks like a few pieces of panelling randomly arranged,
which we will need to make. Create a new Channel and
fill it with white. Now use the Polygonal Lasso tool to
draw out two or three panel shapes quite close to each
other and fill with black, something similar to that
shown in the screengrab. Keep the shapes quite generic
as we will be repeating them a lot and don’t want this to
be too obvious.
15 Advanced Brush settings
Now draw a rectangular selection around
your black pieces using the Rectangular Marquee tool
to group them together. Now you need to define this
as a new brush preset (Edit>Define Brush Preset)
calling it something memorable when prompted. To
control how we want these pieces to be scattered, we
need to change a few settings in the Brushes palette
(use Window>Brushes or F5 to view this if it is not
already open). Under Brush Tip Shape increase the
Spacing to around 150% or so. Under Shape Dynamics,
put the Size Jitter, Angle Jitter and Roundness Jitter
to 100%.
35
Advanced Photoshop
29/2/08 11:14:39
 MASTERCLASS
16 More brush dynamics
Still under Shape Dynamics, set the Minimum
Roundness to 5% and check the Flip X Jitter and Flip Y
Jitter boxes. Under Scattering check the Both Axes box
and increase the Scatter to about 500%. This has set our
brush up so when we use it we will get random
Particle scattered panels that should look like they are flying
17 Colourific
If we use the brush at the moment we get
the right shapes, but all the particles will be one colour.
To fix this we need to set our front and background
colours to the most extreme shades present in the head,
in this case a light grey and a dark orange. Now in your
Brushes palette under Color Dynamics set Foreground/

fun through the air. Background Jitter to 100%.

When it comes to spraying your fake panels

around, variation is the key to realism. Try
drawing and using several different brushes to
add more variety by following steps 14 through
to 17 using different shapes and settings. It only
takes a few seconds to set up a new brush preset
and it will help with the illusion that each shape
is individual. You can draw them all in the same
Channel and quickly build up a small library to
use throughout the tutorial, and they may come
in useful for future work. If, however, you end up
with lots of brushes you don’t want any more, it
shouldn’t take a minute to clean up. Use the
preset manager to quickly delete lots of brushes

18
(Edit>Preset Manager). Keeping your workspace
tidy will help you find what you need when you Spray and pray
start on a different project. Create a new
layer and use your brush to
scatter new panels around
the right side of the head. Just
play around and delete any
that look out of place. Use
several layers and intersperse
these with the panels you
chopped out of the head to
make sure the new ones are
at different levels.

19 New tones
We decided to change the colours of the
picture now as we often do when working on a picture.
To do this without flattening down, create adjustment
layers at the top of your layer stack. We used a Color
Balance layer to add more red into the highlights and
cyan to the shadows. Use a Hue/Saturation layer to drag
the oranges round a bit to red.
20 More spraying
To create even more movement in the
image, add a lot more particles out to the right of the
picture. Generally these should be smaller than the
previous panels, so before using the Panel brush reduce
the diameter under Brush Tip Shape in the Brushes
palette. Again, just play around with your brush until you
get what looks right.
21 Background work
The back is looking a little plain right now. To
make things a bit more interesting you can overlay any
interesting texture above the Background layer. Use a
Soft Light blending mode on this layer to keep the
effect subtle. On another layer use a soft brush to add a
few cloudy details. If you have time you can add far
more interesting things.

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 22 Light it up
The general form of the picture is now in place so it’s time for a few more details. Use the photo of a notice
board, coloured red and set to a Screen blending mode to do this. These go behind the right-hand side of the face to
23 Finishing touches
From here how much or little is done is
down to personal choice. We decided the background
give a techy feel to the picture. behind the left-hand side of the face is a bit too dark and
so brushed some red above the background to give it a
bit more weight. We also added some light-coloured
brushing around the right eye to drag focus to it.

24 Bright eyes
The eyes are a little dull and could do with
a touch of colour. Draw out two rough circular
selections over the irises of each eye and create a Hue/
Saturation adjustment layer above the head. Set this to
Colorize and change it to blue. To fix the shape, brush
black onto the layer’s mask at the top and bottom where
it overlaps the eyelids.

“ADD SOME LIGHT-COLOURED

BRUSHING AROUND THE RIGHT
EYE TO DRAG FOCUS TO IT”
25 26
Flatten first
There are some final changes that are best
made to a flattened image and would be difficult to
make to a fully layered one. Flatten your image and copy
into a new document; you want to keep your layered file
in case you need to go back and change something.
Run an Auto Color adjustment (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+B).
Explosive finish
To add a bit more movement to the picture
we are going to add some blurring. Duplicate your layer
and run a Radial Blur filter on it, set to Zoom and about
10 pixels. Add a layer mask to this layer filled with black.
Use the Gradient tool set from a light grey to transparent
and drag from the outside of the canvas inwards.
27 Tada!
That’s pretty much it for this tutorial. To
finalise the image flatten it once more, up the contrast
slightly and run a light Unsharp Mask over the whole
thing. A setting of 30, 0.8, 0 is fine for our purposes.
Hopefully, you should have something similar to the
image below by now!

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art
Feature
© Peter Jaworowski

the
art of
advertising
© Peter Jaworowski
© Adhemas Batista

© Adhemas Batista

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Designing for advertising campaigns can reap great riches,
both financial and artistic, but what does it take to work with
global brands and household names? Nick Spence finds out
PLAYSTATION 3 (ABOVE):
Stunning PlayStation 3 images
created by Peter Jaworowski for
UK advertising campaign ‘This Is
Living,’ the official slogan for
PlayStation 3 in Europe
COCA-COLA (LEFT & FAR
LEFT): Leading artists and
designers, including Adhemas
Batista, were asked to contribute
to the Coca-Cola Remix Art
Project. All depicted their own
interpretation of ‘The Coke Side
of Life’ philosophy
OAKLEY (CENTRE LEFT):
Part of a set of eight illustrations
by Peter Jaworowski, whose
work has featured in numerous
magazine and online profiles
038-043_AVP_42_Feature.indd 39
the art of advertising
F
or the designer the world of advertising
can offer great rewards, both financially
and creatively. It’s a chance to shine in the
spotlight, see your work alongside famous names, and
be involved with international brands and large-scale
campaigns whose heightened visibility should raise
your profile significantly. It’s also an opportunity to
collaborate with advertising agencies, art directors,
account managers, marketing departments,
photographers, stylists, fashion designers, models and
the brands themselves. For anyone used to providing
solutions from initial idea to finished design it can also
be a challenge, maintaining creative integrity while
pleasing corporations with established brand
identities and shareholders to keep happy.
As Vault49 (www.vault49.com), Jonathan Kenyon
and John Glasgow have built an impressive portfolio
of blue-chip clients since meeting on the Graphic
Design degree course at the London College of
Printing. Now based in New York, they have worked
with dozens of leading companies in little over five
years, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike, Levi’s, Microsoft
and Greenpeace. Originally known for their editorial
work, attracting advertising jobs was essential, due in
part to the notoriously low budgets offered by UK
publishers, although editorial budgets improve
significantly in the US.
“In the early days of Vault49 we treasured editorial
briefs because they were one of the few opportunities
available to us to get name recognition,” explains John
Glasgow. “The front cover we created for Flaunt
magazine in 2003 seems to have been a pivotal point in
our career and is referenced by many of our clients as
the first time they became aware of our work.”
39
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 Feature

Creative Q & A
Case Study

Bleed “ORGANISE YOUR PORTFOLIO WITH THE

WORK YOU WANT TO ATTRACT, AND
From a base in Oslo, Norway, graphic design agency
Bleed (www.bleed.no) has built an impressive
international clientele. Creative director and partner
Kjetil Wold explains the ins and outs. DON’T SHOW THINGS THAT YOU DON’T
Q When you are working with clients like Pepsi,
do you have to compromise your ideas to fit
WANT TO DO AGAIN” Adhemas Batista

their global vision?

A Clients like Pepsi allow us to challenge them

within the set vision of the brand. I think that
great ideas are often brought to life when you
© Pawel Nolbert

manage to challenge the brief and work with

creativity within the borders. We don’t do a lot of
compromising; if we believe in a solution we stick to it
and work more on discussing why we believe in it
rather than just pushing out new ideas all the time.
Pepsi has shown us a lot of respect for our creative
competence and that’s how we can develop unique
solutions that strengthen the brand and solutions.

Q Who do you generally deal with and can it be a

long process to get approval?

A We generally deal with the marketing manager

and category manager, first on local markets
then internationally. Once the overall concept is
approved, we are more or less free to develop our
ideas. It can take some time in the beginning of the
approval process, but once it’s blessed it moves ahead
fast, and it often has to in order to meet the deadlines.
MCDONALD’S (ABOVE): A series of downloaded

Q Does the client provide all the elements, logos Today the pair have learnt to view editorial briefs as
wallpapers produced by Pawel Nolbert, commissioned
and copy that you have to incorporate? by worldwide advertising agency DDB and Endorfine free advertising, a magazine’s readership more

A The client provides Bleed with the necessities, but

often Bleed develops most of the graphics
needed for the campaigns.
© Bleed
important than financial gain, so can be pernickety
about which briefs they select and the magazines they
are associated with. While editorial briefs can still offer

Q Do you generally provide all the advertising

strands, product branding, point of sale,
websites, and so on, to a client like Pepsi?
creative freedom and job satisfaction, advertising jobs
vary. “Advertising briefs are a mixed bag of goodies

A
and grief, but they’re definitely the most appealing in
It depends on the job, but often Bleed sets the
concept, develops the style, and sets up the terms of budgets and exposure,” says Glasgow. “It is
websites for Pepsi. The different elements are through our successful advertising work, which pays for us to
a developed tool kit folder sent and incorporated by experiment and take time away from commercial
other agencies on retail, events and advertising. briefs, so we greatly value the material benefits of such

Q And finally, with a client so high profile how

does it feel seeing the finished product?
jobs. It’s important to take the money they bring and
invest it back into ourselves and our studio.”

A Seeing the end result is always the highlight of

any project. Being satisfied with it and knowing
that people are being affected by your decisions is a
Creativity and compromise
Working for major brands can add major headaches as
great bonus.
decisions rest not with one individual, as with editorial
jobs, but many. “On the one hand we have projects
such as our Samsung work for Leo Burnett, where the
client affords us a large amount of creative freedom
and places enormous confidence in the abilities of
their artists,” insists Glasgow. “On the other hand, the
large teams of art directors who are often behind
every minute decision involved with advertising briefs
can provide a stifling environment where the product
created is one of compromise rather than creativity.”
Creative freedom always has the potential to be
hampered by whoever holds the purse strings, but
this is often no different in a small company than it is
in the largest of multinationals, explains Glasgow:
© Bleed “When a sole proprietor is writing us a cheque for
£5,000 of his own money, he cares just as much about

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© Pawel Nolbert
ensuring we communicate his message, as do the
creatives and account handlers on multi-million dollar
agency accounts.” With so much financially at stake it
can also be best to avoid politics when so many want
their say. “The larger the company and the more
money involved and that can mean there’s a lot more
people to please,” warns Glasgow. “The best agency art
directors shield the designers from internal and client
politics and form a close team with their creatives,
rather than exchanging power-plays.”
Know the jargon
Making the step from small editorial jobs to large
advertising campaigns requires both self-belief and
the ability to at least look like you know what you are
doing. For those trying to get a foot through a
potentially lucrative door, dealing with big budgets
and bigger advertising agencies can seem daunting.
“When we built Vault49 we had no idea how to handle
discourse with international brands and large ad
agencies,” remembers Glasgow. “Many of their
meetings would involve them seeming like the strong,
silent types when presented with a series of
advertising jargon, acronyms and technical requests.
The reality is we would leave the meeting and be
“I TRY TO DO MY WORK WELL AND HAVE
MY WEBSITE FILLED WITH PROJECTS
THAT CATCH THE EYES OF THE
‘INDUSTRY’” Pawel Nolbert, Hello Color
038-043_AVP_42_Feature.indd 41
the art of advertising
FANTA (ABOVE): As Hello Color, Pawel Nolbert
produced this wallpaper design for drinks brand Fanta,
commissioned by creative studio Ars Thanea
NIKE AIR (RIGHT): Set of billboard illustrations for a
Nike Air Lab exhibition in Warsaw, Poland, designed by
Peter Jaworowski, who has also produced a series of
Nike press ads
straight on the phone to fellow students, teachers and
a few professionals we knew, asking them questions
such as: ‘What is a purchase order?’ and ‘What the hell
is a Chromalin and how can we provide one?’”
Quick to learn, the team at Vault49 made sure they
were never caught out twice by the same question
and learnt on the job as advertising commissions
came in, researching accordingly. Even now they are
not too big to admit they frequently need to do their
homework. “There are many occasions even now
where we commit ourselves to requests, then take a
crash-course in building the knowledge-base we need
to fulfil those requests. We’re thirsty for new
challenges as much as anything else.”
New challenges help build new skills and attract
new clients and opportunities. The nature of
advertising means your work is potentially seen by
millions everywhere, from magazines, billboards and
© Peter Jaworowski
high street stores to website banners and mobile
devices. Hello Color’s (www.hellocolor.com) Polish-
based designer and illustrator Pawel Nolbert has risen
to the challenge, creating striking work for clients such
as Citroën, Nike, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. Seeing
such work finished and displayed for all to see is a
rewarding experience. “It’s always nice to see that your
work is exposed to a high number of people that see it
everyday on a billboard, on the street or in the subway
and it’s even more exciting to know what feelings the
advertisement brings out in people,” enthuses Nolbert.
“I usually have a lot of positive feedback on my work
made for extensive advertising campaigns for big
clients and it keeps me motivated to do more of that
kind of work and to do it the best I can.”
As a freelancer Nolbert will generally deal with the
advertising agency or creative agency who have
commissioned him rather than the clients themselves,
the agency acting as bridge between the two. The
client will normally provide copy, logos and any
elements, pack shots for example, needed to be
included in the ad. “That makes the whole process
much easier, to have the photos shot especially for the
campaign, otherwise I use stock photos and that
usually involves a lot of retouching and post work to
make it look as it is meant to be.”
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 Feature
Although little direct contact can mean lack of clear
communication, this is rarely unique to major
advertising jobs. “Every client has some higher or lower
expectations as to how the final artwork will look in
the end. Whether it is a small web illustration or a huge
billboard, it’s not always easy to get the point right,
especially in advertising, where there is a strong
emphasis on a creative idea. Sometimes it takes a lot
of different approaches to redraw that perfect shape
that the client or the creatives from the agency drew
in their minds,” says Nolbert.
Attracting clients
The growth of the internet has helped blur the
boundaries between design studios collaborating on
briefs and individuals such as Nolbert working mostly
on their own. While it’s clear both can compete to
attract those potentially lucrative advertising jobs,
individuals need to work hard to promote their skills.
“I just try to do my work well and to have my website
up to date, filled with cool projects that catch the eyes
of the industry,” explains Nolbert. “I focus on being
shown on a lot of design portals and blogs and other
design-related websites, as that’s where the clients
know me from.”
Also based in Poland, Peter Jaworowski,
professionally known as The Hejz (www.hejz.com), is
another who has embraced the internet to catch the
attention of international corporations such as Nokia,
Nike, Coca-Cola, Intel and Samsung. “When you
“ADVERTISING BRIEFS ARE A MIXED BAG
OF GOODIES AND GRIEF, BUT THEY’RE
DEFINITELY THE MOST APPEALING IN
TERMS OF EXPOSURE”
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038-043_AVP_42_Feature.indd 42
© Vault 49
MASTERCARD (RIGHT): Vault49’s ad for
MasterCard, just one of the many blue-chip companies
the duo have worked for. Founded in May 2002,
Vault49’s impressive portfolio spans typography,
photography, illustration, and art direction
produce quality projects and post them around the
web on different design portals and online galleries,
you can attract interest from advertising agencies.
Starting off can be difficult, but success breeds
success,” insists Jaworowski. “When other companies
see what you are capable of they will be more likely to
hire you.”
Showcasing only your best work along with a
willingness to collaborate and work under duress can
also reap rewards. “Brands really care about their
product as well as advertising presence. They need to
feel that you will help them attract more clients with © Vault 49
your work. That’s why you need a well-crafted
portfolio, but you also need to have skills to
collaborate with a team or work under pressure.” myself or even ask someone in a different country to
Jaworowski’s own endeavours to promote his work take a photo, although that wouldn’t be the same. A
are helped by London-based agent Début Art, who friend did tell me he saw my work for Oakley all over a
also helps to promote the work of Vault49. “Having shop near Disneyland. It was very uplifting to know
some really good representation and help from my that one of my friends recognised it with a smile on
agent is great, and generally most of the projects I do their face.”
are international,” explains Jaworowski. Although that For someone used to supplying art for editorials,
can mean never seeing the work as it was intended to working to scale to produce images for advertising
be seen. “The main problem with my work is that most billboards, posters and in-store graphics can be a new
of my projects are going everywhere else in the world challenge. Vector images can be easily scaled, but
except Poland. It’s really hard to see some of the stuff pixels deteriorate once enlarged. “It’s impossible to
make a billboard campaign in full size and 300dpi
resolution, those files would be way too big,”
suggests Jaworowski. “So basically you have to make
an image to the scale of 1:10 and decrease the dpi to
as low as 72-100 sometimes. You look at billboards
normally from some distance, so they don’t have to be
John Glasgow, Vault49
razor sharp as they do when you are looking at them
very closely.”
5/3/08 09:51:14

© Adhemas Batista
Working for advertising clients also requires you to
sometimes reinforce often subtle messages and adapt
designs for different brands and models to suit diverse
markets both globally and across social groups and
generations. “Some advertisements for Nokia mobiles
that are dedicated to businessmen have to be
conservative, whereas other ads and illustrations for
phones aimed at young people can have more flow.”
The amount of lush decorative illustration Jaworowski
adds to an image can also be determined by the size
and demands of the client. “Of course, the bigger the
client the more you need to be careful with what you
add to the image. You need to have in mind that each
company has its own brand book that you have to
obey. You need to see a little with the eyes of the
client. They will usually want a really nice illustration
but at the same time they don’t want to cover or
overcrowd their product.”
Target your audience
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, art director, designer and
illustrator Adhemas Batista (www.adhemas.com) has
worked with some of the most creative advertising
agencies and large companies worldwide. Now based
in Los Angeles, clients include Toyota, Absolut Vodka,
Coca-Cola, Symantec and Microsoft. For Batista the
most evident difference between editorial and
advertising work is the timeline: “Usually advertising
work offers a little bit more time to get things done,
and does have a bigger budget.” Attracting clients
from far-flung places including Berlin, London, Oslo,
New York and Paris was triggered initially by some
crucial exposure a few years ago. “I got some exposure
for my work in 2005, and since then I’ve received
periodic emails from clients around the globe.”
Fortunately, so far Batista has had more or less free
creative reign despite the size and status of many of
his clients. A distinct marketable style, along with a
038-043_AVP_42_Feature.indd 43
the art of advertising
KISS FM (LEFT): From his
home in Los Angeles,
California, Adhemas Batista
created packaging designs
for London-based dance
music radio station Kiss FM,
including this ‘Kiss Does
Funky House’ compilation
ICE CREAM (BELOW):
Born in São Paulo, Brazil,
Adhemas Batista is an art
director, designer and
illustrator based in Los
Angeles, California, where
he attracts an international
client base from around
the world
© Adhemas Batista
strong vibrant online portfolio and the ability to
network and promote new work on creative websites
and blogs, has helped him attract international clients.
“The secret is to keep your name out there and in
people’s minds,” insists Batista. “The most important
thing is to reach the right people. The buyers of your
work, the creative managers and the creative directors,
need to know you exist.”
Another key to success, suggests Batista, is to
showcase the kind of work you wish to attract,
targeting potential advertising clients with work that
might fit their vision: “Organise your portfolio with the
work you want to attract, and don’t show things that
you don’t want to do again. If you sell coffee and
people know that you sell coffee, those interested in
coffee will come to get coffee, but if you no longer like
to make coffee, try to show only your teas, and people
who like tea will come.”
Ultimately, working with cutting-edge designers
may add much needed credibility, especially to tired
brands, but the fundamentals of advertising remain
paramount. Maintaining a strong, clear message while
being creative can be tricky, requiring many skills to
combine the two, but the best designers achieve this
to strengthen both the brand and their own standing.
Creative Q & A
Case Study
Brand Nu
As Brand Nu (www.brandnu.co.uk), illustrator and
graphic designer Radim Malinic continues to attract a
range of clients, recently commissioned by advertising
agency VCCP for O2’s latest campaign ‘Segmentation.’
Q Who approached who and was the job very
much a collaborative project?
A I was approached by VCCP via my agent Jelly
(www.jellylondon.com). It was looking for
someone with my type of illustration style and
managed to find me. From the beginning I was quite
surprised how much of a say I could have; the art
director was interested in all the ideas that I brought
to the table.
QA
And specifically what role did VCCP play?
O2 is one of its main accounts and VCCP usually
come up with a number of creative routes
before any campaign gets the green light.
Q Did you have more or less the same creative
freedom working with others?
A It was kind of unusual to have a lot of people
running around me and working on elements
that I would normally do myself. I had freedom to art
direct the shoots, when models and props were shot
for compositions to get what I felt would work the
best. To be honest I had more creative freedom than I
would expect on a job of this scale.
Q You’ve described the 02 illustrations as being
a real eye-opener, how so?
A Most of the projects I’ve done involved me doing
a lot of work and making decisions myself. It was
great for the overall control and freedom. This time I
had an art director, project managers, retouchers and
artworkers at my disposal so I could concentrate on
what I do best. I enjoyed it a lot.
Q
Finally, what advice would you give to others
hoping to attract similar big name clients?
A
If you consistently put out quality work, keep
your portfolio up-to-date, believe in what you
do, the big guns will come and find you. Lastly, your
work needs to be compatible with the world of
advertising. If you’re doing mad abstract 3D stuff,
don’t expect Muller Light to knock on your door.
© Radim Malinic
43
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 MASTERCLASS

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 Space designs
ON THE DISC
Files you’ll find on the CD include the full,
final resolution image, reference photos,
texture overlaid photos used and the
colour table used for creating this
illustration, as well as a few custom brushes
and textures.

OUR EXPERT Mike Corriero

Mike is a freelance concept artist and illustrator for the

A transformation of shapes and perspective – creating videogame and film industries. His work has been featured in the
Ballistic Publishing series Exposé. Some of his clients include

a space scene with a compositional flow of elements

Radical Entertainment and Liquid Development to which he has
contributed work for projects delivered to Flagship Studios and
Ensemble Studios. See www.mikecorriero.com.
BY MIKE CORRIERO

I
n this workshop you’ll learn some quick shortcuts to creating detail without painting every little window,
light, hole and port in a large spaceship structure. You’ll also learn how to add colour and atmosphere to what
would otherwise be a very dull black void of space. To prepare for this workshop you’ll need to take a look at some
reference photos of similar subject matter including silver or reflective metal, space nebulas and space shuttles.
It’s important to just get an idea of how these industrial design elements are constructed. In order to prepare the
colour palette used here we’ve produced a colour table based on a photo of some silver metal through the use of the
‘Save for web’ option and switching the file to a GIF, which will break the main colours down into a table that can be Image
saved. Photoshop has every tool you need to perform this task and it’s very easy to produce crisp as well as painterly
shapes, patterns and strokes through a variety of tricks. You always learn something new about Photoshop even after
years of use.
reference
Prior to starting any piece of work, be it
illustration or concept art, you should always

1 2
Thumbnail composition
The first step is to create thumbnail sketches to
get the composition right – you can see the ones for this
tutorial on the disc. Each thumbnail consists of similar
elements that were necessary for this scene; the main
focal point being the large spacecraft accompanied by a
few planets and stars. It’s kept simple in each
composition, but each thumbnail varies the layout, size
and spacing of these objects, along with varied lighting.
Speckled transition
Using the Gradient tool, choose two colours of
similar hue and a small difference in value angled from
one corner to another. With a Custom brush, lay down a
couple of strokes as shown in the screengrab and then
use the Smudge tool and Motion Blur filter to give the
flat colour a bit of texture. This is to offset the smooth
colour transition, which is too boring to work on top of
in this sort of project.
grab relevant references to the subject matter.
We’re not painting a space nebula in the
painting, but we’re using the colours created by
its energy to provide some added interest to the
background. We’ve also got a space shuttle
engine, a silver reflective portion of a car and a
space station on hand. Some of these photos will
make up the colour scheme and others may be
incorporated as photo textures, but all of them
will be used as reference.

3 Perspective
Off canvas set a vanishing point and just lay down
a couple of quick perspective lines. This doesn’t need to
be too technical and it’s really just there as a guide. We’re
not looking to create a realistic 3D piece of art, more so
just the suggestion of shapes.

“JUST BECAUSE AN AREA MAY

BE HIDDEN IN SHADOW DOESN’T
ALWAYS MEAN IT NEEDS TO BE
A COMPLETE SILHOUETTE”
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 MASTERCLASS
4 Break up the shapes
The flat graphic shape is then broken up into
planes of light and dark and varying angles. Using the
5 Shine and pattern
In order to boost the
hues and darken and lighten
Polygonal and Elliptical Marquee tools, select some values that will become focal
shapes and fill them with a gradient transition. This will points of this spaceship,
start to provide some form and lighting to work with. produce a gradient transition
of light to dark on an Overlay
layer. Continuing with the
design, use the Elliptical
Marquee tool to create some
planes and apply a
patterned brush texture.

6 Planets
Refer to the thumbnail sketch that was chosen in
Step 1 and apply a Gradient fill to a circled selection. To
position the planets where they appear in the original
sketch they are kept on their own layer, as is the main
spaceship and background. This will allow us to
reposition and play with the layout of elements.

“THE LITTLE THINGS OFTEN

ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN THEY
SEEM AND THEY USUALLY HELP
SELL AN IMAGE”
7 8 9
Flip, check and refine
You’ll notice we’ve flipped the canvas at this point.
This is to check if the perspective and lighting of the
Color Balance
At this point flatten the image, but place it on a
new layer while keeping the rest of the elements
Panel texture
A large spaceship would most likely be
constructed of many parts. So, using a few custom
shapes is working the way we want. It’s best to check separate. A quick adjustment to the colour helps darken brushes and square brushes, begin breaking the planes
this early on before continuing any further so you can fix the value and bring the image closer to the colour down into panels and smaller shapes that follow the
the flaws. We’re also starting to add some mechanical scheme we’re looking to achieve. A few corners are larger forms. In addition, a custom texture is applied so
elements and finer shapes. curved and a repetition of circular elements added. that the surface of the ship looks a bit worn.

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 10 Lit ports, spacing and beams
Using the Brush tool, click on one spot and
hold down Shift, then click where you want a straight
line to connect. By selecting the Square brush with a
slight angle and tip shape, you can create a row of lights
by adding more or less spacing to your brush selection.
Find this in Brushes>Brush Presets>Brush Tip Shape.
13 Blending in
The end result of Soft Light layers can be
blended to fit in perfectly with your existing colour
scheme and angles, or transformed to fit the correct
perspective, shape or size. It’s simple to go in and add to
the design element of the photo texture or erase areas
that don’t suit your concept.
15 Constructing
surface elements
In continuation with the circular
theme and curved angles, small
transmission and oval platforms
are added as well as large open
docking stations and port bays.
Some piping lines are defined
from values created by the
photo texture. This is why
producing low-opacity layers
can sometimes create
unexpected but efficient ideas.
044-049_AVP_42_SpaceshipMC.indd 47
11 Overlaying photo texture
Sometimes the quickest and most effective
way to produce interesting shapes can be done through
photo textures. Take the space shuttle, for example. If we
angle it and Free Transform it into perspective, warp the
angles and erase various areas, it can produce
something unexpected.
14 Value adjusting
As with most images, especially something
that consists of an industrial design element or
perspective, the image is flipped. The values have been
adjusted to get the full range between the light and
dark platforms. We’ve fitted the photo texture into place
and added connecting curves to the circular panels.
12 Reproduction of soft light
You can either use the Stamp tool and paint
the more interesting shapes of the photo wherever you
wish, or you can use the Lasso tools to select, copy and
paste areas to create a repetition of design. Set the layer
to Soft Light and continue to duplicate the layer, so that
only the dark and lights become stronger.
Shape
repetition
Throughout the image you’ll notice a repetition
of shapes. It’s the repetition of oval and circular
shapes that will help tie the whole concept
together. The spaceship consists of a number of
oval and circular shapes that complement the
shape of the dominant planets in view. The
repetition of shapes in this sort of concept will
help push the perspective and make it more
believable, as a similar object gets smaller in
depth. The majority of the repeated shapes take
place in the focal point.
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Advanced Photoshop
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 MASTERCLASS
16 Planet surface texture
Using the Elliptical Marquee
tool, select the largest planet and
begin adding some additional details
for patterns of mountains, surface
level, craters, clouds and other
Focal textures. The opposite end of the

point planet is backlit in a cool blue, whereas

the side hit by the light source is more
defined. Inverting the texture with
The overall focal point of the entire painting is
light and dark values will help make
located at the centre of the triangle, which
moves from one planet to the next to the tip of the depth pop out.
the spaceship out of view and back to the first
planet. The repetitive shapes also help create a
circular focal point that fits directly into the
triangle. This all draws the viewer’s attention
into the hot spot and lightest value of the image,
which consist of the most details. Value,
saturation, angles and shapes all lead the
viewer’s eye around an image and ultimately to
the main focal point.
17 Colourful black space
We never started out with a complete black
even though this is outer space. Instead we gradually
18 Bezier curve design
Making good use of Photoshop’s tools, for
this next part we’re going to start with the Pen tool to
adjust the values and saturation as we move along. Take create a quick Bezier curve around the large port holes.
an airbrush with the brush presets adjusted to Scatter With the Pen tool selected, just click once for point A
along with the Roundness and Angle tilted. With the and again where you want point B to end. Once you’ve
opacity set on low and varying complementary colours, selected point B you just drag the tool in the direction
just overlap them to create a colourful nebula-like hue. you want to create a smooth curved angle.

19 Multiple arches
Reproducing the Bezier curve, we’ve taken
the Eraser and just erased a portion of the bottom edge.
On the duplicated curve we’ve erased more of the curve
and set it above the original to produce a layered arch
design. This layer can just be duplicated, and
repositioned and transformed to fit around the
remaining ports.
20 Colour where it’s needed
We felt that the saturation could use a little
boost so we upped the level by a 12 count. However, if
you only want to saturate a selection without affecting
the rest of the image, just duplicate the layer and after
boosting the saturation erase what’s not needed with a
soft-edged airbrush. Then, just flatten the two layers to
create the final effect.
21 Shining cluster of stars
We’re using a custom-shaped brush for the
stars. Under the Brush Presets select Scatter, Size and
Angle Jitter, Minimum Diameter and Spacing. Then,
duplicate the layer and apply a Gaussian Blur set to
Overlay. Now duplicate it and set it to Screen. These
layers will provide a nice glow effect and you can erase
where you want to lessen the brightness.

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044-049_AVP_42_SpaceshipMC.indd 48 29/2/08 11:23:08

 “SOMETIMES THE QUICKEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE
WAY TO PRODUCE INTERESTING SHAPES CAN BE
DONE THROUGH PHOTO TEXTURES”
22 23 Minor detail
Though it may go unnoticed by most
viewers, add detail towards the back region of the ship
Value check point
Coming down to the last stretch, just as we
have been flipping the image to check for flaws that
with more panels, bolts and cross beams in the may need adjusting, we’re now turning the image into
darkness. We’re also adding some recognisable Greyscale in order to more easily see how the light and
elements and lines breaking up and connecting some darks are working. It’s much easier to see the values of
larger shapes. The little things often account for more an image without the saturation of hues playing tricks
than they seem and they are usually what help sell an on your eyes.
image to the viewer. It makes it appear more realistic
and it means that should any study the image in detail,
there is always more to keep dragging them in for
another glance.

24 Details in the dark

Just because an area
may be hidden in shadow
doesn’t always mean it needs to
be a complete silhouette. Due to
the fact that this scene is in space
and the majority of the
background is very dark, we’re
keeping the value of the ship’s
shadow just above that of the
darkness of space. Using the
photo texture process, we’re
providing subdued windows,
ports and details to this region.

25 Warping space
To add a bit of smoky atmosphere we’re
using two custom brushes and the Warp Transform tool
to give the smoke a more fluid look in space. We’re
working at a larger scale, but this effect will be shrunken
and then duplicated and distorted to be placed around
another portion of the ship. Overlapping two colours set
on a low opacity brings out a multitude of hues.
26 Final corrections
With the image flipped for the final time,
we’re checking the large ports and decided to correct
the angle in which they were first set. To do this, just
select the area and duplicate the selection. Then, using
the Perspective Transformation editing option, we’re
fixing the angles so they appear to fit better on top of
the panels.
27 The once over
The image is, in effect, finished. At this point
you can make last-minute details and adjustments. In
our case, edging is bulked up, values and hues are
checked and adjusted. It’s often best to leave yourself a
full day to walk away from the painting and then come
back to it and check these things again. This is to see it
with fresh eyes in case you missed anything.

49
Advanced Photoshop

044-049_AVP_42_SpaceshipMC.indd 49 29/2/08 11:23:26

 Step-by-step
Workshop

50
Advanced Photoshop

050-054_AVP_42_PhotoManipWS.indd50 50 29/2/08 11:26:21

 PHOTO EFFECTS
Welcome spring in style with a colourful photomanipulation
S
pring marks the transition from
winter into summer. So for this tutorial
we are going to add some warm spring
colours to a cold black-and-white photograph
using brushes, blending modes and the
Gradient tool just to name a few. With a basic
understanding of the brush features you can
1 Background texture
Let’s start by creating a new file, setting
the Width to 230mm and the Height 297mm,
with a resolution of 300dpi. Choose a Color
Profile of your preference – we’re going to use
RGB as standard. We also tend to set the screen
display to Proof Colors – Working CMYK (Cmd/
Ctrl+Y) so we can preview our work in CMYK
mode while working in RGB. This gives you a
clear idea of what you will end up with and you
won’t get any nasty shocks later. Open the
resource images folder on the CD and drag
‘Texture.jpg’ into the canvas.
2 Slowly but surely
Open ‘Drink stains.jpg’ from the files on
the free CD and copy and paste it into the
canvas, setting the blending mode to Multiply
with 100% Opacity. We then duplicate the layer,
but set the blending mode to Lighten. This will
give us our basic background texture and now
we can add some different vectors elements to
bring it to life.
“YOU DON’T
NEED TO BE
ACCURATE
WHEN YOU’RE
PAINTING TO
GET GOOD
RESULTS”
050-054_AVP_42_PhotoManipWS.indd51 51
ON THE DISC
You will find all the source images
you need to follow Vince’s tutorial
on this month’s cover disc.
However, to get a full grasp of the
techniques involved, we
recommend trying out the brush
techniques on your own
photographs to see what effects
create some interesting effects combined with you can create.
blending modes. The trick here is not to OUR EXPERT Vince Fraser
overpower, but complement the original Vince Fraser is a freelance digital illustrator based in London
source image with subtle elements. Once you who has worked for various clients including British Airways,
PC World, BBC and T-mobile. He has ten years’ experience in
have completed this you can experiment with the field of digital arts. Visit: http://thedb.com/vincefraser or
your own findings and combine the www.myspace.com/vincefraser. The model image used
here is courtesy of www.myspace.com/ricokinnard.
techniques to create inspiring work.
3 Different elements
Open the ‘Horizontal lines.psd’ (prepared
earlier in Illustrator) and drag the layer into the
canvas. Go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All
then, using the Brush tool, create a large, soft,
round brush with a 300px diameter and a 35%
Opacity and start masking out the edges of the
lines till you get the desired effect. Set the
blending mode to Screen with a 46% Opacity.
Large brush sizes
Using large soft brushes in Photoshop, for example 300-
600 pixels, can take a long time to perform the task. There
could be a number of reasons for this but the main reason
is usually memory (RAM), so you may need to upgrade your
computer just so it can cope with the tasks better. Also a
faster processor and video card play a big factor too, but if
you have a relatively new system you shouldn’t need to
worry about this too much. Also try shutting down any
programs that are open when you are using Photoshop as
this can also slow the system down.
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Advanced Photoshop
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 Step-by-step
Workshop
4 Depth
Now we slowly begin to add more vector
elements to build up depth and texture. First we
open the ‘Tree.psd’ file and drag it into the
canvas, arranging it to the right side, and set the
blending mode to Overlay. Repeat this process
with the ‘Circle ring.psd’ file, but add a layer
mask with a similar brush as before and slowly
mask out the bottom half of the ring and set the
blending mode to Screen. Last, add the ‘Tear
drop.psd’ file and set the mode to Overlay. See
below for a better idea of positioning.
7 Model
Import the file named ‘Model.jpg’ found
on the CD. We’re going to use this image as our
main focal point for the composition. Simply
make a selection around the portrait; this can be
done using either the Magic Wand or Pen tool.
We prefer to use the Pen tool for greater
accuracy and control. Once this is done simply
copy and paste it into the canvas and slightly
resize it down using the Transform>Scale tool so
it fits comfortably.
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050-054_AVP_42_PhotoManipWS.indd52 52
5 Time to brush up!
Create a new layer called ‘Yellow Brush’
then, using a large, soft, round brush with a
6 Shadow
Repeat this process with a new layer
called ‘Grey Brush’, but this time use the brush at
400px diameter and the Brush Preset Options the top of the illustration so it looks something
set to Shape Dynamics and Smoothing, we like the screenshot then set the blending mode
begin to paint on our canvas. The colour to Multiply and duplicate the layer. Now the
chosen here is a yellow (R = 239, G = 233, B = 58) basic background is prepared, it’s time to add
and we slowly begin by making random marks the main focal point.
with a low Opacity value of 15%. Gradually
build up the Opacity till you get a nice subtle
effect in different areas. See the screenshot
below for an idea of where things could go.
8 A stroke away!
To make a selection of the model, use
the Magic Wand tool with the ‘Add to selection’
setting active and select the background first
then go to Select>Similar. Once this is done
simply inverse (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+I) the selection
while it is still active. Create a new layer called
‘Model Stroke’ and create a white stroke with a
Width of 4px with an Outside location around
the outline of the model, then go to
Select>Modify>Expand and expand the
selection by 20 pixels. Repeat the stroke with a
Width of 3px. Do this a few times, but changing
the Expand selection to 50 pixels and the
Stroke Width to 2px, then set the blending
mode to Overlay. Last, duplicate the layer and
set to Overlay.
9 Intensify the lighting effect
Create a new layer called ‘Orange Brush’
and, using the same selection technique as in
the previous step, make a selection around the
model. Using the Linear Gradient tool set the
gradient to Foreground to Transparent and
create an orange colour (R = 251, G = 179, B =
141) which is going to be used as our lighting.
With the selection active, click and drag the
orange gradient from the bottom of the canvas
pointing upwards about a quarter of the way,
then set the blending mode to Normal.
29/2/08 11:27:25
 10 Selecting the
Foreground to
Transparent gradient
11 Shimmer
Create a new layer called ‘Shimmer’
and, with different soft brush sizes ranging from
Repeat this with a ‘Green 10px to 60px in diameter, make some random
Brush’ layer (R = 215, G = 224, B white dots in different places, then add a pale
= 143), but this time click from yellow Outer Glow layer style with the Blend
the left side of the model and Mode set to Screen. Set the Opacity to 75%,
drag halfway across to the right Noise and Spread to 0%, Element Size to 13px
and set to Lighten blending and Quality Range to 50%. Place it just to the
mode. Again we repeat this right side of the model’s hair, duplicate the layer
process a few times so we end and reposition it in the bottom-right.
up with ‘Red (R = =215, G = 7, B
= 83), Pink (R = 233, G = 194, B
= 213) and Blue (R = 0, G = 115,
B = 170) Brush layers’. For each
layer we used the Gradient tool
in different areas and
experimented with the Screen,
Overlay and Hue blending
modes until happy.

12 Enhance colours
With a very large 500px soft brush
set to 20% Opacity, gently paint over the
bottom of the canvas slowly building up the
depth of colour. When you are happy with
what you have created here, set the blending
mode to Overlay. You don’t need to be very
accurate when you’re painting to get good
results, as this style is very freehand. Once
again duplicate this layer.

13 Face
Go back to Step 7 and using the
Polygonal Lasso tool with a 30px Feather make
a selection around the model’s face and copy
(Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+C) and paste into your
document (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+V). Again it doesn’t
have to be accurate .You should now have a
layer with just the model’s face, which we
rename as a ‘Face’ layer and move it to the top
of the Layers palette.

14 Advanced Shadow
Techniques
15 Make-up
Using the right colour combinations
are very important and can make or break an
Duplicate the original ‘Model’ layer then add a illustration, so we are going to add a bright
layer mask and gently mask over the outline green streak of colour over the eyes of the
areas of the model and rename the layer model. First, duplicate the ‘Circle ring’ layer from
‘Model Copy Mask’. Step 4 and adjust the colour to a green hue
using the Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation
command and rename it ‘Green Circle Eye Mask’.
Mask out the areas you don’t want using the
layer mask and finally add a Gaussian Blur filter
with a Radius of 8px on the layer so you get a
nice soft feel. Set the layer to Overlay.

53
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050-054_AVP_42_PhotoManipWS.indd53 53 29/2/08 11:27:44

 Step-by-step
Workshop
Custom brushes
Please keep in mind that this is just one simple way of
using brushes in Photoshop. Depending on the effect you
want, this process can become quite involved and the
boundaries are endless. But, just to get your foot in the
door, this exercise should give you a great starting point
on understanding how brush techniques can be fun in
Photoshop. If you’re looking for custom brushes there are a
number of websites where you can download free brushes
such as www.photoshopsupport.com/tools/brushes.
html. Or why not create your own custom brushes for that
unique and individual touch?
17 More make-up
Using the same techniques in Step
10, we add more colour to the hair, this time
using a purple and orange brush over different
areas to accentuate the hair again on separate
layers and named accordingly. Not forgetting to
experiment with the blending modes. Then we
add some pink blusher using a very soft brush
just over the cheek area and a peachy colour of
the eyelid set to Overlay mode. Make a
selection around the lips of the model and fill it
with a purple colour. Gaussian Blur the layer and
set it to Overlay.
“WITH THE ‘VECTOR 20
CIRCLE’, ‘STAR’
AND ‘TREE’ FILES
OPEN, EXPERIMENT
WITH COLOUR
ADJUSTMENTS,
BLENDING MODES
AND OPACITIES ON
EACH ONE”
54
Advanced Photoshop
050-054_AVP_42_PhotoManipWS.indd54 54
16 Fine hair
Now to add some extra
hair strands we open the ‘Model.jpg’
file again and carefully choose an
area and make a selection around a
strand of hair then copy and paste
it into the canvas. To soften the
edge we add a layer mask at one
end of the strand then reposition it
over the existing hair. Repeat this
four times so you have five, separate
layers with single strands on each
one. Try repositioning them using
the Transform>Rotate tool in
different areas.
18 More background colour
Create two separate layers called
‘Blue Brush’ and ‘Olive Brush’. Repeat the brush
techniques used earlier varying the size and
opacity each time while changing the blending
modes. Again the key to this is to use a large
brush with a low opacity in the areas where
there isn’t much colour without over doing it.
Use the Lighten blending mode for the ‘Olive
Brush’ layer and the Overlay mode for the ‘Blue
Brush’ layer.
19
More vectors
To make the composition more
interesting we add a few finishing touches
using some vector shapes supplied on the CD.
With the ‘Vector circle’, ‘Star’ and ‘Tree’
Photoshop files open, experiment with colour
adjustments, blending modes and opacities on
each one.
I see red!
Using a 600px soft brush with a 21 Final additions.
We’re almost done! It was pretty easy
20% Opacity, paint a circular shape in the top
right-hand corner and name it ‘Big Red Brush’
wasn’t it? Now if you wish, make some final
adjustments. We’ve chosen to add a ‘White
set to Screen. Duplicate this layer and set to
Overlay, then finally duplicate it again but this
Brush’ layer over the bottom of the canvas and
an ‘Aqua Brush’ layer over the face area with
time move it to the bottom left-hand side. both layers set to Overlay.
5/3/08 10:07:48
 Step-by-step
Workshop

56
Advanced Photoshop

056-059_AVP_42_Car.indd 56 4/3/08 11:45:11

 CONCEPT CAR DESIGNS
From sketch to final render, we have all the Photoshop skills you need
W
ouldn’t it be great to come up with
your own design for a car? Building
a concept car might seem like a
difficult task and often uses 3D programs to
render the original image, but we’re going to
show you a much easier way.
We’ll be starting from a sketch and then using
Paths and the Dodge and Burn tools to make
realistic paintwork, including highlights and
shadows for that ‘studio showcase’ feel.
“WE PREFER RED BECAUSE
IT IS EASIER TO USE DODGE
AND BURN TOOLS ON IT”
056-059_AVP_42_Car.indd 57
The Photoshop techniques used are not that
hard to follow, whatever your skill level, but you
will need a sketch to work on in the first
instance. Let your imagination run wild, or stick
to a more conservative design – it’s up to you.
By making use of layer groups and proper
naming conventions, it is easy to keep track of
our project, enabling you to come back in at any
point and make changes to the design or colour
as suits your needs.
1 In the beginning
Open your base sketch. You can render it
in any size, but if you want to get it printed, aim
for half a page at 300dpi as a minimum.
Duplicate the image layer (Cmd/Ctrl+J), create a
new empty layer in between and fill it with
white. Over the top layer create four main
groups of layers and rename them as ‘body’,
‘headlights’, ‘windows’ and ‘wheels’. This will be
more organised and save us some time.
2 Starting to render
Reduce Layer 1’s Opacity to 30%, so that
we can clearly see the layers below it. Take the
Pen tool and start creating a path around the
shape of the car, then make a selection. Open a
new layer in ‘body’ group, add your path layer to
this, then fill that path with midtone red colour.
We prefer red because it is easier to use Dodge
and Burn tools on it.
ON THE DISC
There are no files on the disc for
this tutorial. You will need a sketch
of your own to start working on.
OUR EXPERT Emre Husmen
Our tutor, Emre, is currently studying in his second year of
Transportation Design in Istituto Europeo di Design Torino.
He is also working as one of the Hot Wheels illustrators.
Start with a sketch
This image started with a sketch, which
is shown to the left. It is important at
this stage to get the perspective right
so that it helps when you are adding
your light sources to the image. As
we’re looking at concept cars, you can
choose to have a little fun with your
sketch. Or you can build up a realistic-
looking car that could easily be the
next model for a popular car
manufacturer. If you aren’t sure about
getting the sketch right, use a
reference photo to get started, and
then add your concepts afterwards.
3
Filling the paths with colours
Keep creating new paths as you have just
done for the air intakes and grills at the front of
the car and fill them with dark grey in new layers.
You can use your existing paths to create new
shapes using the options in the Make Selection
command when you right-click on paths.
57
Advanced Photoshop
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 Step-by-step
Workshop
4 Creating paths of the other shapes
Before starting shading the layers, create
paths of the headlights, windows and wheels,
just to see the form of the car and shade it
correctly. Once we fill the window layer with dark
grey, we select parts that can be seen through
the glass, then fill them with white on a new layer
and reduce its Opacity to 25%.
5 Tyres and wheels
Use the Ellipse tool to create a path for
tyres. However, you would be better to create
two different paths for front and rear tyres
because of their angles. Once you make the
ellipse, press Cmd/Ctrl+T to arrange its angle
position. Then, just create a new layer and fill
with dark grey. Duplicate your ellipse paths and
use them the same way to create wheel layers
and make them lighter grey.

6 Shadow and
tyre surfaces
Create another path as
the shape of the shadow
and fill it with black in a
new layer. Also fill the
tyre holes with black in
another layer.

7 Some other details

Select and fill all the other parts left and
let’s start shading the layers. Also, put a simple
8 Shading
Before starting
to shade the car, it is
background in with the Gradient tool. always better to
understand where the
light source is in the
space. In this rendering
we used one main
and one secondary
light source as shown
on the image, then we
started using Dodge
and Burn tools to
shade the layers. We
used a 200-300px soft,
round airbrush with
20% Exposure.

“BEFORE STARTING 9 More and

more details

TO SHADE THE Select some curves of

the car and make them

CAR, IT IS ALWAYS visible by using the

Burn tool, then add

BETTER TO other details as much as

you can. Also, select the

UNDERSTAND headlights to make

them look shiny and fill

WHERE THE LIGHT with white in a new

layer. Use the same

SOURCE IS” technique to make the

windows look shiny.

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Advanced Photoshop

056-059_AVP_42_Car.indd 58 5/3/08 10:11:00

 “USE A 3-5PX, 100% EXPOSURE WHITE, HARD,
ROUND BRUSH TO MAKE SOME PARTS LOOK SHINY”
10 Door cuts…
Draw the cut line with the Pen tool,
and go to the Paths section. See your path there
as the name ‘Shape # Vector Mask’, double-click
on it, then press OK. Then go back to Layers
section and open a new layer above body layers.
Select the size of the brush – we used 2px black,
hard, round brush. Now, go back to Paths again
and right-click on the path you created earlier.
Select the Stroke Path option. Do not check the
Simulate Pressure option and make sure there is
no selection anywhere on the image, press Cmd/
Ctrl+D and then OK.

11 Giving depth to cut lines

Once you create the black door line
12 Shadow and background
Work a little more on the body details
and shadows. We have placed another, simple
on a layer, duplicate it with Cmd/Ctrl+J and invert gradient background. First of all, duplicate the
the lower layer’s colour with Cmd/Ctrl+I – it will shadow layer that you created before, then go to
become white. Then apply an Overlay blending Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and make the Radius
mode to it and move it with Move tool a couple 10.0, then click OK. Then duplicate this layer again
of pixels away from the black door cut line (we and go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur of 15 degrees
reduced its Opacity to 50%). Apply the same with a distance of around 440 pixels. Remove
some parts of it under the tyres and make that
area cleaner. Make the base shadow layer’s
Opacity 30%.

13 Paint job
To make body paint look shiny, we
have got to select the reflection parts first and
put a little contrast in those areas with the
Dodge or Burn tools. We can also make the
cores darker with the Burn tool. Then, start filling
the lighter areas with a soft, white airbrush, but
don’t make it too white. We’ve also added new
rims to the drawing from a reference picture but
you can draw them yourself if you prefer, or
source your own image.

14 Adding shine
On this step, we
used 100-200px and 20%
Exposure with a white
airbrush on a new, top layer.
Then we used a 3-5px and
100% Exposure white, hard,
round brush to make some
parts look shiny.
15 Final rendering
Merge all the layers above the
shadow layers, duplicate and apply to the lower
layer a Filter>Blur>Motion Blur effect with a 90
degree Angle and 700px Distance. Then flip it
vertically and remove the extra parts. Now you
can change the background to the way you want
it to be in the final shot and add some colour with
an Overlay blending mode. You can also easily
change the colour of the car by adjusting its hue
and saturation with the Cmd/Ctrl+U command.

59
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056-059_AVP_42_Car.indd 59 5/3/08 10:17:32

 Step-by-step
Workshop
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60
Advanced Photoshop

060-064_AVP_42_ReaderWS.indd 60 5/3/08 10:12:48

 CREATE A MECHANICAL ANGEL
The nuts and bolts of creating a fantastic machine by way of a few basic Photoshop tools

I
f you’re anything like us, some of the
fondest memories you may have as a
child are the times spent with building
blocks. Those tiny blocks of plastic or wood
could be a fuselage on a jet airplane one day
and a castle’s gateway the next – they were
limitless. They allowed you to start from the
ground up in creating anything your
imagination allowed.
The process explained in this tutorial follows
in the footsteps of the mighty building block,
as it demonstrates how Photoshop lets you
build complex images one piece at a time.
While photomontage techniques are
ON THE DISC
common these days, the montage process
On the CD, you’ll find a line
we’ll outline takes a different course. drawing, which will serve as the
Instead of blending images to form a more blueprint for this tutorial (‘line_
work.tif’), an ‘Elements.psd’ file
abstract piece, we’ll start out with a tight idea containing pieces of her
first and then loosen things up as we go. To mechanics, ‘Decals.psd’ and the
achieve the look of our mechanical angel, it final low-res layered PSD for
reference. The texture used for her
will be necessary to handle and organise a body is freely available from www.
large volume of layers, which may turn some sxc.hu, image number ‘721445’.
people away. If you’re looking for a more OUR EXPERT Tyson Koerper
time-sensitive demonstration, we encourage Tyson Koerper is a full-time freelance illustrator
you to simplify the line drawing or skip the and designer, and has been an avid Photoshop artist for
over seven years. Visit www.tkoerper.com
rendering of some of her bodily segments.

1 Set up your main document

Begin with an A4-sized document with
Resolution set to 300. Fill the background with
No substitute for pencil and paper
solid black. Layers can pile up fast, so this size is
large enough to retain detail, but small enough We almost always begin with a line drawing to solidify our
overall agenda before firing up the computer. Despite the
to keep file size and CPU slowdown to a
amazing things we can do within a given software
minimum. Also, set the Color Mode to RGB for
program, the intuitive process of mind to hand to paper is
more flexibility when designing. Save this file as
still irreplaceable in the conceptualisation stage. For this
‘Mech_Angel.psd’.
particular piece, we used a live model and traced over the
photograph to get the pose and the proportions correct.

2
To carry out the mechanised angel idea, we hand-drew her
Set up your workspace wings and placement of additional elements. We made
Open ‘line_work.tif’ from the source sure that each segment of her body was broken down into
files on the CD at the back of this issue. Go to a single shape, which is key to this particular process. It’s
Edit>Select All, then copy and paste this image also important not to get too carried away at first and
into your ‘Mech_Angel.psd’ document on its overwhelm yourself in the beginning, as you can still add
own layer. Name this layer ‘Line Work’ and place segments later.
it above your Background layer. Set this layer’s
Opacity to about 50% using the slider in the
Layers palette.

3 Add the texture

Now we need to
import a metal texture.
Select and copy all, and
paste it into the main
document. Name the
layer ‘Texture’ and place it
directly underneath the
‘Line Work’ layer. To note,
we found this texture at
www.sxc.hu, image
number ‘721445’.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop
4 Use the Pen tool to trace the
first shape
Select the ‘Texture’ layer and move it over her
left leg. Next, select the Pen tool, make sure your
Paths palette is open and zoom in close enough
to trace over the shape of her leg’s mid-section.
Smooth, clean lines are key. If your Pen work
looks jagged around the corners, don’t hesitate
to Cmd/Ctrl+Z to backtrack.
7 Add a gradient layer style
This step will give the piece a rusty, grungier
feel. Double-click the ‘Upper Leg’ layer to bring up
Layer Style options. Check the Gradient Overlay
box and set the first colour to R = 215, G = 185,
B = 95 and the second colour to R = 75, G = 57,
B = 40, setting Style to Multiply and Opacity to
50%. Apply this layer style to each layer as you go.
“THE PROCESS
EXPLAINED IN THIS 10
TUTORIAL
FOLLOWS IN THE
FOOTSTEPS OF
THE MIGHTY
BUILDING BLOCK”
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060-064_AVP_42_ReaderWS.indd 62
5 Create the first segment
With your Paths palette open, Cmd/right-
click the path you just created. From the menu,
6 Render the first segment
Turn ‘Texture’ and ‘Line Work’ layers off by
clicking the eye icon in the Layers palette next to
choose ‘Make Selection’. In the dialog box, give these two layers. With the ‘Upper Leg’ the only
the selection a Feather Radius of 1 or 2 pixels. Go visible layer above the background, select this
to your Layers palette and select the ‘Texture’ layer. Select the Brush tool and set its Style to
layer. Copy and paste from your selection. Multiply, Opacity to 30%, Size to about 50px and
Photoshop will paste it into place over the line colour to black. Use the Brush tool to slowly
work. Name this new layer ‘Upper Leg’. render its form.
8 Continue to build her up
Repeat steps 4-7 for each segment of her
body. This will take time and there is a learning
curve, but persistence pays off. Feel free to
simplify this process by making fewer segments.
Remember to name each layer accordingly and
rotate the ‘Texture’ layer as you work to keep the
pattern believable. After her body, create her
wings using the same method. See the next
step on how to keep things organised.
9 Organise your document
By now you’ve realised that the layer-
intensive work can get out of control. To better
organise your document, click on the folder
icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to
create a new group folder. You can drag your
layers into this folder and name the group as
you would any layer. Remember to also pay
attention as to how you’ve stacked your layers,
and adjust when necessary.
Give your angel some
creative flair
If you notice, we have given our angel a hairstyle
reminiscent of a Fifties pinup girl. This takes the
somewhat dark nature of the image and gives it
some much-needed character. It’s important to
continue developing the concept as you go,
without feeling too constrained by the original
sketch. Simply use the Pen tool to freehand any
new shape you need (see step 4), or print the
piece and work freehand.
5/3/08 10:13:14
 11 Begin adding mechanical
elements to your image
Once you’ve cropped and shaded each portion
of her body, it’s time to start placing some
mechanical elements. Open ‘elements.psd’ from
the CD and select the ‘Bearing’ layer. Copy this
layer, switch to your main document and paste
it. Position the new ‘Bearing’ layer behind her left
shoulder, adjust the size with the Transform tool
and add shading as in step 6. This is precise work
that could take a little while to get right, but it’s
worth it in the end!

12 Create a vent

Use your Pen tool to create a path
that follows the contours of her left side torso.
Make a new layer in the layer group containing
her mid-section at the top of the layer stack,
name it ‘Vent’ and make a selection from this
path with a 1 or 2px Feather, the same as you
did in step 5. Turn this path into a selection.
13
Render the vent
Use your Brush tool and set its Mode
to Multiply, Opacity to 30%, Size to 30px and set
your Foreground Color to black. Begin shading
from the top of your selection, one pass of the
brush at a time, and work your way down,
leaving the black to taper off near the bottom.
This gives the illusion that the metal flairs out at
the top and tapers towards the bottom.

“DESPITE THE AMAZING

THINGS WE CAN DO IN
PHOTOSHOP, THE PROCESS
OF MIND TO HAND TO
PAPER IS IRREPLACEABLE”
14 Complete the vent with a
mesh texture
Open ‘elements.psd’ from the CD. Highlight the
‘Vent’ layer, select and copy the vent texture.
Switch to your main document and paste this
texture above the Vent layer you just created.
Use your Eraser with a 30% Opacity to slowly
brush back the texture to conform to the
interior of the vent. When satisfied, right-click
the ‘Texture’ layer and merge it down to your
‘Vent’ layer.

15 Continue adding mechanics

With ‘elements.psd’ open,
highlight the ‘Gear’ layer, copy and paste it
into the main document. Place this gear
behind her body and above her wing, and
name it ‘Large Gear’. Do the same for the
exhaust pipe and bearings. Note that we’ve
placed the gasoline cap on her left thigh. Use
the Transform tool when needed to achieve
proper size and perspective.
16 Add the chains
With ‘elements.psd’ open, copy the
‘Chain Loop’ layer and paste it above the ‘Large
Gear’ on her wing. Use the Transform tool to
manipulate the chain’s size and angle to fit to
the chain as if it were a bicycle gear. Duplicate
this layer, and again use the Transform tool to
get it to conform to the smaller gear. Keep these
layers separate (unmerged) for now so we can
continue to work on them.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop
17 Connect the chains
Now that both chain loops look fitted,
go back to your ‘elements.psd’, copy and paste the
‘Straight Chain’ layer. This part is a bit tricky, so keep
the Transform function in mind when doing this.
Place the straight chain segment between the two
loops and adjust the size and angle accordingly. If
needed, re-adjust the chain’s loops to get
everything aligned. Once aligned merge all the
chain layers and name the single layer ‘Chain 1’.
18 Creatively use typography
Instead of using the Pen tool to draw
new shapes, an interesting technique is to take
advantage of typographic elements. We used a
graffiti font (Raseone, from Highground Industries)
and its glyph character set to achieve some of the
shapes. Type the character to get the shape you
want, make a selection of the layer, and with the
selection active, copy and paste from your ‘Texture’
layer. Place the new shape and adjust.
19 Customise your angel
Open ‘Decals.psd’. Feel free to use
these or create your own. Highlight the ‘Arm
Band’ layer, copy and paste it into your main
document. Create a new layer group called
‘Decals’ and paste the arm band into this group.
For the arm band, we gave it a blending mode
of Multiply, Opacity of 80% and we used the
Eraser to brush it back to conform to her arm
and blend it in.

Collect your own pieces 20 Prepare the

background
To create the background
gradient, simply create a new
Downloading stock photography is a great way to save layer at the bottom of your
time if you can find what you’re looking for. However, if
layer stack and fill it with black.
you’re looking for a more interactive and rewarding
Pick a nice blue colour and use
approach, you can use your digital camera to gather
the Gradient tool’s editor to set
elements from around your environment. The technique
the gradient of the Foreground
used for this tutorial is, for the most part, an advanced
to Transparent. Click and drag
form of photomontage. As an example, the exhaust pipe
used in this tutorial was from a photo we took of a truck the Gradient tool to get the
parked near our workplace one day, after we thought it right effect. On the same layer,
could be useful for this style. You never know where and pick a brown and create the
when you’ll stumble upon inspiration, so always keep an ground colour.
eye out for it.

21 Add texture and atmosphere

Use a digital camera or download an
image of some clouds in the sky. Paste the sky
photo into your document and desaturate it
(Image>Adjustments>Desaturate). Experiment
with Layer Styles to get a desired look. We used
a Soft Light style set to 50% Opacity and used a
7px Gaussian Blur. Use your Eraser tool to blend
the edges further.
22 Fit and finish
As you can see, we’ve added a barrel
for her to perch on, created in the same way as
her mechanical elements. We added a butterfly
and an obscure industrial scene in the
background. Using a Custom brush, you can also
add highlights in certain areas. We finished the
piece off with a Levels adjustment layer to get
the contrast correct.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop
KEY LIGHTING AND SPLIT TONES
Follow this technique tutorial and get two for the price of one when working in monotone
P
hotographers embracing the
dynamics of Photoshop CS3 will no
doubt enjoy the benefits of its black-
and-white creative science. However, before
this, photographers had to use an array of
techniques that excelled the aesthetics of their
imagery. This technique tutorial will reveal two
such practices that can be applied across the
most common versions of the software.
We introduce the techniques of key lighting
and split toning, showing you how to create
complementary greyscale compositions for both
screen and print, then bring them back with an
66
Advanced Photoshop
066-068_AVP_42_Split.indd 66
almost surreal edge using the originality of split
toning. You’ll discover the full creative potential
of Photoshop’s tools, specifically the benefits
that Channels can provide, how Curves and
Levels coupled with blending modes can create
subtle yet potential image-changing effects, and
even a little trick known as the overlay-neutral
layer, which works much like the method
painting with light.
No other software will provide photographers
with such opportunities as Photoshop and here
you’ll be getting two for one so read on and
create that next, original snapshot.
‘
ON THE DISC
Users can apply all the effects in
this tutorial on three dramatic
scenes provided on this month’s
CD. Each comes with its own
appealing perspective and
dramatic skyline, so pick whichever
one you like.
OUR EXPERT Adam Smith
Adam’s job is to relate to the readers contemporary
techniques and styles and this tutorial is no exception, with
Adam endorsing the technique to create stunning photo
effects and have fun in the process. Photographic post-
production is a huge use of Photoshop, so he will unravel
just a couple of possible processes here.
29/2/08 11:34:08
‘ 1 Choosing a channel
Start by opening the ‘Wide angle
Harbridge Court.tif’ and duplicate your layer
from the layer options. Next, activate your
Channels palette and select your Red Channel.
Use the Rectangle Marquee tool to actively
select this channel. Select Edit>Copy, activate
the Layers palette and paste in your Red
Channel. Next activate the ‘Create new fill or
adjustment layer’ drop options.

2 Applying curves
Select the Curves option and in the
Curves dialog box click and drag from the
centre to the top left. Apply an Output of
172, Input of 145. Selecting Channels
Ctrl-click the Blue Channel thumbnail.
Activate your layers once more and choose
Select>Similar, using the Lasso tool to make
appropriate deselection. Now Copy>Paste an
individual sky layer.
3 Skyline selection
Naming this layer ‘Sky’, apply Levels from
the ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ options,
clicking OK instantly. Now Cmd/Ctrl-click the
layer, selecting Clipping Mask. This will isolate
the levels effect to your ‘Sky’ layer only.
Open your Levels options and apply Input
Levels of 65, 1.00 and 245 or values that at least
create a soft exposure between the light and
shadow play.

“THE EFFECTS WILL NOW

ONLY BE APPLIED TO YOUR
MIDTONES... WITHOUT
BLOWING YOUR HIGHLIGHTS”
4 Overlay-neutral layer
Hold Alt and select the ‘Create new
layer’ icon at the foot of the Layers palette. In
these options set the blending mode to
Overlay and then activate the Fill with
Overlay-Neutral Color (50% Gray). This will
now create a layer that works much in the
same fashion as the method of painting with
light. So, proceed by selecting a soft-edged
brush set to 10% Opacity.
5 Highlights and lowlights
Now meticulously set the Foreground
Color to black and apply the brush, using
the bracket keys to alternate sizes, to create
shadow. Applying a white brush will do the
opposite, creating highlights within the
compositions. This ultimately defines strong
exposure. Utilise the zoom functions to get in
close and be meticulous.

Blow out 6 Channel Mixer

After application you can decrease the
percentage of the layer’s Opacity for desired
effects, each different in accordance to the
You may find, when applying Channel image itself. We’ve dropped the Opacity to 50%
Mixer, Gradient Map and Curves in our composition. Next activate the ‘Create a
adjustments, that elements of your
new fill or adjustment layer’ and select Channel
image may blow or bleed light, causing
Mixer. Activate Monochrome and in the Source
problems when printing. However,
Channels apply 60% Red, 30% Green, 30% Blue
adjustments layers all come standard an
and -10% Constant.
with Applied Layer Mask utility and it’s
better to select a soft brush of no more
than 15% Opacity and rub away at these
various layers to soften such effects. It
can really make a difference in the long
run taking approximately 15 minutes.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop
7 Preferred choice
Again these are values that relate to the
image in the tutorial and when applied to other
imagery these values may be altered but the
overall effect will be the same, adding definition
to your image contrast precisely. Again, drop
your Opacity for desired effects. We’ve applied
one at 60%. Now proceed once more to the
previous options selecting Gradient Map.
10 Fine comb
At this stage you can always go back
over the image adjusting, as all layers are live. Be
as meticulous as possible. What you’ll end up
with is a high contrast black-and-white image.
But for that little extra tone why not apply some
split toning?
“CREATE A LAYER 12
THAT WORKS IN
THE SAME FASHION
AS PAINTING
WITH LIGHT”
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Advanced Photoshop
066-068_AVP_42_Split.indd 68
8 Hint of contrast
Activate Dither from the Gradient Options
and then the Gradient Editor options. Select
9 Midtones
With this selection, activate once again
the ‘New fill or adjustment layer’ options and
Black, White Gradient from the Presets and OK to once more select Curves. Obviously the effects
apply. Decrease your Opacity to between 50-60%. will now only be applied to your Midtones and
Now select the Rectangle Marquee tool and Ctrl- this should allow you to create exposure here
click/right-click on the canvas, selecting Color without blowing your highlights too far. Again,
Range from the drop options, applying Midtones values apply on image and effect. We have set
from the Select options. an Output of 60, Input 0f 82.
11 Hue and saturation
Start by applying Hue/Saturation from the ‘New fill or adjustment layer’ options. Activate
the Colorize option, setting Hue to 25, Saturation to 100. Now select Image>Apply Image and click
OK. Now, duplicate the new Hue layer and press Cmd/Ctrl+I, inverting the effect. Open your Hue/
Saturation dialog box for this layer, applying a Hue of 195.
Final effects
Apply one more Hue/Saturation
adjustment layer, only dropping the Saturation
value to -75. From here you can alter the Hue
sliders in the previous adjustment layers for
alternative and diverse split-toning effects. Try
converting to CMYK and add a Channel Mixer
adjustment layer. In the end you’ll have learnt
two proficient effects in one tutorial. Now
that’s not bad.
29/2/08 11:34:52
 Helpdesk
Five more readers’ problems solved by our in-house expert, including
sharpening techniques and optimising Photoshop BY ADAM SMITH
PRE-CS: Those who use earlier versions than CS can obtain
similar effects by using the Unsharp Mask filter
SHARPEST TOOL IN THE BOX
I’m compiling a set of photographs for my
end-of-year show at university and am
looking for some handy skills to tidy up my
collection. I’ve been experimenting with
contemporary techniques such as draganizing
and sharpening my images. But I’ve found
that in some cases these effects severely
heighten the amount of noise in an image. Is
there a good way to get rid of this?
Charlotte Smith, Portsmouth
Well there is a way to reduce noise simply Charlotte;
its effects are noticeable before you apply these types
of special effects, but they will still help resolve the
majority of issues afterwards. Simply open the photo
HELPDESK
CALL FOR QUESTIONS
Want help with Photoshop?
Send your emails to us at:
advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk
or post a message on our forum board at
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum.
Remember to specify whether you’re using
a PC or Mac and the version number of
your edition of Photoshop.
70
Advanced Photoshop
070-071_AVP_42_Helpdesk.indd 70
in question and then select your Channels palette.
Activate your Red and Green (RGB) or Magenta, Yellow
and Black (CMYK) by Shift-clicking these. Blue/Cyan
is the noisiest channel so it has been excluded. Of
course, we still wish to see the effects applied to the
whole image, so press the ‘~’ key. Now, with all but
Blue channel active, select Filter>Sharpen>Smart
Sharpen. Your Radius will apply your sharpen effect
and Amount will apply the strength of the effect. Set
Remove to Lens Blur and activate the More Accurate
option. Upon satisfaction your image will seem
sharper and less grained.
PERFORMANCE
I’m one of those artists who loves
experimentation, hating to discard
any work I do just in case it could
come in handy later. This definitely
applies to all my digital work, as
Photoshop makes the integration
of other imagery so easy. But
sometimes my images can be
pretty big with loads of layers,
and I am bouncing between
Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Not surprisingly I’m concerned
with the performance of my
TOP UP: If your efficiency percentage runs below 75%
maybe think about investing in a bit more RAM
Photoshop. Is there a way to keep a tab on
how it’s doing, after designating scratch disk
procedures and safeguarding against
workflow stalling in hindsight?
Simon Trigg, Leicester
This can be a common problem when multitasking
and there are ways of checking that your software,
namely Photoshop, is performing to its optimum
capacity. It’s not uncommon for Photoshop to get
a bit slow when involved in large-scale imagery.
This could well be due to your machine using more
than its capable RAM, spilling into your scratch discs.
Basically this means it slows your response time
and limits your creative capabilities, as you are
aware, Simon.
Designating scratch disks serves a purpose but
there are also other options in Photoshop to consider.
You can select Preferences>Performance and in this
option assign the required RAM preferable to your
Photoshop use. The higher the percentage, the more
essential Photoshop should be to all other software.
Also, when working on your design you can keep an
eye on performance by accessing the Document drop-
options, selected from the foot of your image. Usually
displaying file dimensions, selecting Show>Efficiency
4/3/08 11:52:33

HIDE AND SEEK: If the option is greyed out, then
activate the Pen tool drop option, by selecting the
Geometry option finding a checkbox for Magnetic
will reveal if Photoshop is running at maximum
capacity. 100% will mean certainly, 75% is minimum in
such cases.
WORST-KEPT SECRET
I’ve recently started illustrating using
Photoshop. Using its many types of filter
effects and brushes, it’s really easy and so
much fun. However, I am struggling with the
Pen tool a bit when I want to create solid and
precise shapes. I am practising all the time,
but are there ways to master this tool quickly?
Adriel Garcia, San Fernando, LA
Well Adriel, practice makes perfect in the case of the
Pen tool. This seemingly simple tool can become a
special advantage when digitally illustrating, useful
for practices such as cartoon animation and technical
illustration among others. However, saying this,
there is a slight way to cheat that enthusiasts may
not yet be aware of. The Pen tool options do provide
a Magnetic Pen tool. This feature isn’t presented in
the Pen type option. Instead, to access, select the
Freeform Pen tool from the Toolbox options. You
should then see the Magnetic checkbox. Activate
this and you can use this function to intuitively select
desired edges.
070-071_AVP_42_Helpdesk.indd 71
es
n iqu
ch
Te
MOUSE PROBLEMS
I’ve been saving up my pennies now for
some time and am thinking about changing
my office computer to suit my creative
needs. I’m looking for a high-end
performance mouse to go with it, as a lot of
my work is labour-intensive, producing quite
a bit of commercial design. I suppose I’m
looking for something practical, comfortable
with a few new additions to show off to my
creative buddies. Any ideas?
Adam T, Manchester
There are plenty of cool, contemporary mouse
technologies on the market at the present time, but
it is essential to know what suits. The Kensington
SlimBlade Trackball Mouse is a great piece of hardware,
OPACITY LEVELS: Altering the Opacity of your brush, designed to work anywhere, at any time and on
applied to the Alpha Channel, is essential for precise effects
any surface. However, its functions are minimal and
for more work-intensive purposes you may wish to
purchase the Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless
Air Mouse. Sleek and sexy this mouse will complement
any expert workstation. It sports maximum comfort
through its ergonomic form and offers an alternative
to the scroll wheel, a touch-sensitive scroll panel,
which offers amazingly fast and accurate scrolling. Its
‘Freespace motion sensing’ technology allows it to
operate in mid-air much like a remote control. Snazzy.
DEPTH OF FIELD
I am working on some product
photography for a friend’s website. I am
trying to get a good effect when
focusing on the product and blurring
the boundaries. I have tried the Blur
tools, but the effects leave a lot to be
desired. I’m sure you guys can think of
a more professional effect?
Jake, Swansea
Well, there is one technique Jake, which is
simple but effective. Cmd/Ctrl-click your
layer thumbnail and then activate your
Channels palette. Click the ‘Save selection
as a channel’ button, creating an Alpha
Channel. Cmd/Ctrl+D to deactivate your
selection and then select a soft-edged brush
set to black. Now with your Alpha Channel
layer active paint out your product and any
other visual value you wish to keep. Activate
your Background layer in the Layers palette
and select Filter>Blur>Lens Blur. Simply set
the Depth Map Source drop option to your
Alpha Channel and alter other settings for
desired effects. You should now have achieved
the technique known as depth of field.
71
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4/3/08 11:53:00
 Insider
Info
INSIDER
INFO
Web Photo Gallery
More memorable automation from Photoshop that offers web
enthusiasts the chance to showcase their work with minimal effort

P
hotoshop’s creative sciences are well known for making complex
practices simply accessible. Web Photo Gallery is an option that adheres
to this value. Selecting File>Automate>Web Photo Gallery (Mac) or
Program Files/Adobe/Photoshop CS3/Presets/Web Photo Gallery (Windows)
activates options providing creatives with the opportunity to produce a home
page with subsequent thumbnail images and gallery pages, sporting full-size
imagery. A multitude of interface style options are provided to satisfy the aesthetic
wants of every user.
The Web Photo Gallery dialog box
OUR EXPERT Adam Smith provides users with a set of concise
Staff writer Adam Smith has been an avid user of options, split into three distinct
Adobe Photoshop for over seven years and has seen
sections. Select from the Styles drop LARGE VIEW: Thumbnails can be clicked on CUSTOMISE: You have a few layout options
many modifications, recognising and appreciating the
to preview a larger version, but be sure to add a that can be applied to your pages to show off your
awesome benefits of evolving creative sciences. menu in the Site options one of the 20 copyright notice work at its best
presets available, including Centred
Frame, Dotted Border and Flash. Upon clicking Destination, users Large Images – You can
Modify After entering your email, you can
browse to your images using the Source
must select a folder in which to store
the images and HTML pages for the
activate ‘Add numerical links’, which
places a numeric sequence relating to
Web Photo Gallery allows users to Images options. Alternatively, you can produced gallery. Next users can your gallery pages. This option is again
customise templates through choose images before opening, using assume a more creative stance by available for some site Styles only. The
editing its HTML files. For example, the Selected Images in Adobe Bridge. selecting the Formatting Options. Resize Image option resizes the source
to set the background colour of the Click the Include All Sub folders option. These include six preferences, each images. You can select a preset size
page to green, replace the token
with specialist design properties: from the drop-down menu or enter a
%BGCOLOR% with ‘%33D608%’. All
THUMBNAIL PREVIEW: When choosing a custom value. You can also choose
tokens must be in uppercase, and
begin and end with the % symbol.
Style, the Web Photo Gallery provides an active
thumbnail to give users a visual indication of the
General – This provides you with Constrain for Height, Width or Both.
intended layout file extension solutions, encoding and JPEG Quality determines the quality
metadata options. The Extensions drop- of images.
down menu offers you the choice to
choose from either .htm or .html as the Thumbnails – This option allows
extensions. You can then apply further users to define the Border pixel size, the
options such as using UTF 8 encoding for thumbnail resolution and define the
URL, add width and height attributions amount of image Columns and Rows.
for images and preserve all metadata. Titles Use determines what captions are
displayed, including Copyright, Filename,
Banner – This provides the ability to Descriptions and Credits, and again Font
input text options that appear on each style and size are applicable.
individual gallery page. You can choose
to incorporate Site Name, Photographer, Custom Colours – You can
Contact Info, Date, Font Type and Size. define your own page complexion using
These options are limited to Arial, Courier these options. Not applicable with all
New, Helvetica and Times New Roman, style options, it allows you to select tones
sizes 1 to 7, and operate with certain from the Color Picker palette for gallery
Style types only. elements including Background, Banner,
Text, Active Link, Link and Visited Link.

Best results Security – Content specifies the

Be mindful when utilising the Resize
Image option. Photoshop uses the
default image interpolation method
set in Preferences. Choose Bicubic
Sharper as the default for best
results when reducing image size.
displayed text, including Filename,
Description, Credits, Title or Copyright,
to display text drawn from the File Info
box. You can customise, selecting
Custom Text. Position and Rotation
options provide the ability to align and
place the text at varying angles.

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 Our pick of the best reader submissions
sent to us this month

P
eer Pressure has once again been inundated with a volume of great
artworks. The chosen entries this month offer an array of insights into the
creative mind, sharing and revealing individual approaches and skills. We
always include your email and web address, so interested parties can get in touch.
All you have to do is send us high-quality TIFFs or JPEGs (RGB or CMYK) at 300dpi,
which can be printed at a minimum size of 15 x 15cm. Send us low-res versions to
advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk – we’ll get back to you for higher-
resolution work if needed. Alternatively, log on to our forum at www.
advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum. We cannot provide individual image assessment.
Each issue we select one image to be ‘Best in Show’, and that lucky person will
win a fantastic prize, courtesy of The Illustration Source (www.illustration-source.
com), which is a great way to get your work seen. So, what are you waiting for?

Good things come in threes

NAME: Miranda Adria
EMAIL: neugotisch@hotmail.com
WEB: http://bitchinblack.deviantart.com

Miranda Adria’s deviantART page caught our eye a while back, so it is a

pleasure to be able to show off her work here. Adria explains how she started
off in digital art: “I’ve been working with Photoshop since version 3.0 and have
been an avid addict ever since. Most of the work I do is photomanipulation,
taking several images (my own or free stock) and creating something new and
different. However, I also enjoy doing digital paintings, mixed-media pieces,
fractal art and photography.”
On these specific pieces, she says: “These three pieces are a triptych
based on the concept of Heaven, Earth and Hell. The model in each was
resized from a small stock image and completely repainted. In all
three pieces, the wings were painted from scratch and all the other
BEST
IN SHOW
stock used was my own.”
You can find out where the model images came from in the
captions for each of the images in the bottom-right. For more about
Adria and her collection of work, check out her deviantART site.

EARTH (ABOVE): Adria has painted over the original stock

image and added extra details and elements for this earthbound
composition. Stock ref: http://massochrist.deviantart.com/

HEAVEN (FAR LEFT): These images together form a powerful

triptych, whereby three images work together to portray a
common theme. Stock ref: http://exbeauty.deviantart.com/

HELL (LEFT): The darkest of the compositions is used to portray

Hell, with the wings far more devilish and bat-like than the
others. Stock ref: http://tess-stock.deviantart.com/

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IPOD NANO: “I saw a
picture of an iPod
somewhere and I knew it
wouldn’t be too hard to
make, so I just started and
three hours later I had a
clean, photorealistic iPod”
078-082_AVP_42_PeerPressure.indd79 79
es
n iqu
ch
Te
BIKE RED (LEFT): “I think
my main goal is to surprise
people that my Photoshop
renders aren’t 3D”
WOSPEL (BELOW): “I
hope that one day I could
get a job in advertisement
or commercials. A lot of 3D
is used these days in
commercials and I think it
would be a hard but fun
job to do”
Unique designs
NAME: Michael Mahy
EMAIL: michael.mahy@gmail.com
WEB: www.michaelmahy.be
Michael Mahy is a 23-year-old student working towards a Diploma in
Multimedia and Communication Technology from the PIH School
Institute in Kortrijk. The course involves the knowledge of 3Ds Max
and most of the Adobe programs, such as Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator,
Premiere, After Effects, InDesign and Dreamweaver. He currently
studies Digital Arts and Entertainment at the same school to become
more specialised in 3D and concept art.
He explains his work: “The last few months I’ve been working more
and more with Photoshop instead of 3Ds Max. I love creating
photorealistic renders. It’s actually not as hard as some people might
think it is. First you sketch something that you want to render and then
you scan it so you can open it in Photoshop. You then proceed by
going over every drawn line with the use of paths and the Pen tool, fill
these up in separate layers and add some shade by using the Burn
and Dodge tools. After that you draw new paths for the reflections and
that’s what makes it realistic. What I like about this process is that
everybody can do it. You don’t have to be a skilled artist to use the Pen
tool. It’s incredibly easy to use and to get beautiful shapes with it.
Without the Pen tool I wouldn’t be able to do any of these images.”
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 Discover the thinking behind the art

Surreal
manipulations
NAME: David Waters
EMAIL: david@ishbu.com
WEB: http://ishbu.com
SOURCES: sxc.hu, stockxpert.com and crestock.com

“I started digitally designing when I was a freshman in

high school. I played select soccer and during the
winter indoor session I tore my ACL (Anterior Cruciate
Ligament). I had surgery the following summer and
was essentially stuck in my bedroom for a while. My
mom got me a copy of Photoshop and I began
designing small graphics, then web design and
printable media and eventually digital illustration.
I have yet to receive a commission for my digital
illustration (I am available for freelance!) as I’m fairly
new to it. Before I was freelancing with web designs
and for a while I had two graphic design jobs with the
University. I am still studying graphic design at the
University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.
ECOSYSTEM #9: TELEFANTASY: “The piece started
Once I get a concept in my mind, I scout out good with the phone image, which was originally connected
stock photos. From then on I put on my headphones to the base. I found various stock images I thought
and into Photoshop I plunge. My work has taken on would be useful, such as the spray from a fire hose, the
many styles, but these last months I’ve become very grass, roots, fish and water effects”
particular to realism and surrealism. My images are DICHOTOMY: “I found multiple cloud stocks and
usually crisp and vibrant; the lighting, colours, and compiled them together using selections and layer
masks. I started to build my concept further and
contrast area always exaggerated. But I try to keep in
collected more stocks like the lightbulb. Later I went
mind perspective, light source, scale, etc, in an effort back in and did some burning and dodging and
to make my artwork more engaging.” created adjustment layers to bring it all together”

THE THREE FLAVORS OF FATE: “With

my concept in mind, I first collected all the
stocks I would need. I started with the
bottle, and isolated it with a selection via
the Pen tool. Once I had a selection of the
bottle, I used this in placing the rest of my
stock photos. I created shadows of the
bottle by filling a selection of the bottle,
distorting it to match the perspective of
the ground, and blurred it a bit towards
the top and lowered opacity”

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 es
n iqu
ch
Te
best in
Traditional to digital
NAME: Jenny Hawkyard
EMAIL: jezhawkdesign@mac.com
WEB: http://jezhawk.deviantart.com

Hawkyard tells us a bit about herself: “I’m currently

studying graphic design in Ontario, Canada, though
I’m originally from England and I thought I’d kill two
birds with one stone by coming over to Canada to
study, which means I got to study and travel at the

show
same time!
I only really got into using Photoshop in my first
year of my course, when I spent the whole summer
prior to my first semester trying to learn everything I
could about Adobe programs, so that I got a bit of a Sponsored by…
head start. Not only is Miranda Adria this
I find most of my inspiration from deviantART, month’s Best in Show, she has also
which gave me somewhere to display my work won a year’s full Option 3
and get some critique at the same time. I’m not membership to The Illustration
ashamed to say that I’m on there most days, or on Source, worth £150 and Featured
some kind of portfolio site looking at new techniques Artist slot for April. The Illustration
and finding out what’s new and what I could do next Source Ltd is the newest source of
original art, freelance illustrators,
with my artwork.
photographers, artists and
I’ve explored all sorts of different techniques designers on the net. Visit www.
through Photoshop, I love creating photomontages, illustration-source.com for more
but more recently I’ve been focusing on developing information. If you’d like to stand a
my illustrative work within this medium. I’m chance of winning an Illustration
particularly inspired by some of the great traditional Source portfolio, send your images
artists and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham, to advancedpshop@imagine-
Edward Burne Jones and Susan Seddon Boulet.” publishing.co.uk.

JACK FROST: “Jack Frost was created when I was in a very wintery mood. Image requirements
I scanned in a pencil sketch and went from there. Photoshop’s blending You’ll stand a better chance of
modes did a great job of making the icy wings have a more translucent seeing your work in print if you
and shimmery feel” adhere to the following criteria:
make sure that your images are
high-quality TIFFs or JPEGs (RGB or
CMYK), 300dpi minimum, and can
be printed at 15 x 15cm minimum.
Don’t forget to include a small text
file detailing how you created your
work as well.

Terms and conditions

By submitting images to Advanced
Photoshop’s Peer Pressure, you
hereby grant Imagine Publishing
and, if relevant, clients to whom the
relevant work has been provided,
an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-
free licence to use such intellectual
property in relation to work similar
IN THE GLOAMING (TOP): “In The or equivalent to the work. This
Gloaming was created after reading
includes the right to showcase work
Keith Donohue’s Stolen Child. I
wanted to create something that on multimedia formats. By
had a mysterious and magical feel to submitting work you also confirm
it. I started from just sketching on top that your images do not infringe
of a texture layer and lightening or any copyright regulations should
darkening certain areas with the they be published.
Dodge/Burn tools. I also used some
custom shapes for certain elements”
EPONA (ABOVE): “I start with a
great texture and see what pops out
at me. I start a simple sketch and
then add more details, using
different blending modes to create a
glowing effect. I use the standard
brushes provided by Photoshop, as
well as some of my own, which I
THE PRIZE: Check out The Illustration
create on the fly if I want a certain
Source’s website to see the portfolios of
effect. I use the Eraser tool a lot too”
previous winners of Best in Show

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 Discover the thinking behind the art

Portrait pieces
NAME: Asif Iqbal
EMAIL: aiqbal66@gmail.com
WEB: www.asifiqbal.net

Asif Iqbal lives in New Jersey, USA. He went to the School of

Visual Arts in NYC. After he graduated from school, he
eventually ended up painting romance novel covers in New
York. A few years ago, he started getting interested in
photography and, more recently, he is developing a ‘photo
illustration’ style of art using Photoshop, combining his love for
photography and illustration.

DARK DEB (ABOVE): “No one piece is

the same. I start with the raw image and
adjust exposure and settings to what I feel the
image warrants”

PULP (TOP LEFT): “Recently, I have been

playing around with HDR especially on
the backgrounds”

LADY IN RED (LEFT): “There’s a lot of playing

with a lot of layers, dodging and burning,
blending modes, high pass and median
filters, curves adjustments, Gaussian Blur, layer
masks, etc”

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 Feature

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Are the possibilities in the world of print
running low or are modern advancements
inking in success for a new era?
Adam Smith explores…
I
n today’s society of instant access, the
proficiency of all art styles is on the dramatic
rise. Swept aside are the notions that an art
education will put you in good stead and many artists
are going it alone, developing competent techniques
and methods.
But is this widespread digital supremacy affecting
the more traditional standards of presentation? Is the
world of print suffering or in decline due to the fervour
for these online galleries? Or like many other creative
disciplines, is it evolving and transgressing boundaries
to prosper and survive?
It’s certainly beneficial to be educated in all
occurring and existing methods if you really want
your artwork to perform to its full potential. After all,
presentation is two-thirds the creative law. Without
fully understanding its capabilities, the work itself will
no doubt fail to aesthetically deliver. How should an
artist stage their composition? What factors define the
correct choices? Does the product itself determine it
all? These are aspects we strive to discover, informing
you of innovative and paramount print practices in
the process.
084-088_AVP_42_Feature.indd 85
Pretty in print
One fact still remains certain. For well over a century,
creatives have benefited from an expanding selection
of print solutions. From the emergence of screen-
printing in 1907, through to inkjet, dye-sublimation
and digital press as early as 1993, artists have so many
prominent modes, as well as materials, to show off
their work.
Modern enthusiastic designers and artists should
not underestimate the potential of such home-based
hardware. Companies such as Canon, Epson, Mimaki
and ColorSpan, to mention a few, have provided
professional solutions that have ultimately expanded
the horizons of artists, producing products such as
portfolios, limited-edition prints and gallery work. The
inkjet print process has not only founded a new
industry, but also has transgressed into its own
category, known as Giclée, a name given to distinguish
fine-art prints from the commonly known industrial Iris
Proofs at the time of the early Nineties.
But Giclée printing is defined by more than mere
title. This process, commonly applied in the
reproduction of two-dimensional, photographic and
computer-generated artwork, employs the CcMmYK
colour model, including Light Magenta and Light Cyan.
The benefits of this serve to increase the apparent
resolution and colour gamut, allowing smoother
gradient transitions in produced work and in essence is
seen to be an economical alternative considering the
use and scale of the creative product.
McFaul, the seaside south-coast international design
studio, has endorsed such methods when related to its
own small-scale projects. Ollie Munden, McFaul’s lead
designer, explains: “The only thing we print in-house is
our portfolio. The quality of desktop printers is pretty
good, and the one we’ve been using for years is still
going strong and giving us great prints.” He goes on to
add: “We did three bespoke designs inspired by the
graphics from the Carhartt shop redesign and had
them printed as limited-edition Giclée prints on
Somerset Fine Art paper.” If it’s good enough for top
producers like McFaul, it surely benefits the enthusiast
market, propelling design to a professional standard.
But Munden does seem to suggest that the design
or idea eventually determines the most appropriate
print process, in most cases, and when furthering this
line of questioning, he insists: “For any commercial
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 Feature

Past meets present

The Canvas Loft is a studio breathing new life
into established styles through modern
practices. Chris Tyrell, joint owner of The Canvas
Loft with son Daniel Tyrell, explains: “The main
printing we do is onto canvas. The texture and
brushstrokes of the image in an old master are
reproduced as part of the image making it look
as though it was real, whereas the high contrast
between colours and lines in an illustration can
equally be reproduced with the high resolution
of the print process. With the wrapping of the
canvas around a gallery frame it brings the old
masters right up to date giving them a
contemporary look alongside today’s masters.
“The key point to our success is to be able
to offer the best quality of print on whatever
media we use, so to achieve this we use the
latest 12-colour, large-format inkjet printer; this
way we can produce excellent colour
reproduction compared to most other printing
methods. We also have a fully
calibrated studio, which allows
us to create profiles across our
media, which is key to printing photography
and art so that we can produce consistent
colour reproduction.”
Chris Tyrell also provides his insight into the
best print materials for enthusiasts saying: “The
most expensive is not always the best and the
cheapest is not necessarily the worst. It all
depends on how or what you are printing it with.
The best media will still look bad on an
uncalibrated, £30 desktop printer. The best way
would be to select just a handful of companies
and buy their sample packs, which are in general
quite cheap, and if you do use a colour-managed
workflow then there would usually be profiles
available on their website. Doing it this way, you
can judge for yourself the paper that best suits
your images before deciding to buy. ”
All images © The Canvas Loft

work we will always use one of our printing partners.
That way we know that everything will be spot on and
obviously using these printers enables us to think
about printing in its widest sense, which, for us, is
exactly why we do what we do!”
Liberal thinking and working with these preferred
partners, providing professional practice, has seen
McFaul studio produce some of the most innovative
and imaginative print projects in recent times, notably
the 2007 Christmas design of Carhartt’s Covent Garden
flagship store.
Thinking big
Neil Duerden, freelance illustrator of 15 years and
founder of Modern English, suggests that in certain
instances it’s the print process that determines the art
and design. When questioned if certain print material
works best with certain styles, he adds: “This is just
common sense. If you are designing a piece that’s
going to be used for newsprint, you wouldn’t design
complex graphics, you’d just use black and white.” This
©
Mc
suited to very flat graphic style.” Spot UV, or UV Coating,
is a process that applies ultraviolet cure coating to
specific spot locations on an image. This is suitable over
a range of material including smooth, uncoated papers
and heavyweights. Drying virtually instantaneously
when exposed to the correct level of UV light, design
projects can resolve quickly, and printed pages with UV
Coating applied can be very shiny or flattened to a
matte finish.
Munden suggests another conscientious alternative
by saying: “Clear UV on black or white is lovely! It adds a
new layer or dimension to the piece. It always provides
the ‘wow’ factor when people first see it.” Duerden
concurs by throwing his own preferred creative print
method into the ring: “I love to use spot colours and
when I get a brief that demands this or Spot UV, then
it’s even better. I also love it when you design
packaging that allows for special print procedures like
foil on a cool board – the effect is so eye catching.”
Also known as ‘foil blocking’, this latter process can
be a real magnum opus for package and graphic

rational thinking will certainly help designers like designers, but its influences are becoming common in
Fau

Duerden, who work to tight briefs, prevail and variant products. The basic process results in the foil
l

ultimately create artwork that delivers aesthetically. attaching itself to the product in the form of your
However, sometimes common sense goes out of the image adding panache and a selection of colours are
window and imagination prevails, as Munden says: “We available, with gold and silver most common. However,
have used a lot of Spot UV over the past year, which is be mindful that with foil blocking a lot of small details
can be lost, due to the solid nature of the material.
This element is something to be attentive towards.
Just because something looks attractive and exciting
does not mean it will work for every project, reiterating
FISCAL FAVOURITE: “Digital
printing is becoming so good. It’s
quicker and cheaper so it’s no
surprise that it is becoming more
widely used,” says Ollie Munden
of McFaul

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© The Art Surgery
HIGH EXPECTATIONS: “Digital print offers the
turnaround times people have come to expect, if not
the quality,” says Aidan Halliwell
BEST RECIPE (RIGHT): “We have manipulated the
traditional offerings from print houses, combining
digital techniques and systems with bespoke, hand-
finished quality,” says Halliwell
the point that obtaining cohesion between the correct
material and hardware when producing is paramount
for best effects.
Doing your creative homework is essential. But with
the expansion of the capability of print hardware
limitations are, in paradox, seemingly limited. It is this
factor that has essentially led to modern designers
flourishing in the production of outwardly unorthodox
and innovative print projects, excelling the medium
and allure of physical design.
Referring back to McFaul’s Carhartt print production
again, all becomes apparent. Munden explains:
“[ColourLink] did some really nice stuff with digitally
printed clear and frosted vinyl die cut and applied to
mirrored acrylic. This allowed you to cut away bits of
the print to reveal a reflective surface! Very cool and
shiny too!” He adds: “Another nice touch that we
employed in the store was graphics printed on
Floortex, a material that adheres to the floor and won’t
scuff up too much! It’s definitely proved its worth, as
we visited the shop recently and it still looks super
good even after the Christmas rush!”
Finished to perfection
Phil Holt, projects director at ColourLink (www.
wyndeham-colourlink.co.uk), explains: “We used
various printers and equipment to deliver efficient
You see more photo realistic
prints and colour-intense graphics
that would have looked muddy
with process printing
084-088_AVP_42_Feature.indd 87
Pretty in print
© The Art Surgery
effects in the Carhartt project. These included two UV-
curing printers, a VUTEK QS and a Zund UVjet,
providing the ability to print white ink as well as with a
UV spot varnish. Importantly, these enable us to print
onto hundreds of substrates including acrylics, metal
and wood. We can even take a door off its hinges and
print directly on to it.”
These are a few examples of the superlative
apparatus available to modern designers and design
studios, so it’s no surprise that there is an evident
increase in experimental production. Another studio
following these trends is The Art Surgery (www.
theartsurgery.co.uk). A design, gallery and furniture
studio based in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, The Art
Surgery employs large-format Epson inkjet printers
and, less frequently, solvent-based printing processes
to supply novel lifestyle products including waterproof
print and attractive wallpapers.
Aidan Halliwell, director and owner, provides his
own thoughts on the studio’s print ventures.
Versed in both the experimentation of traditional
© The Art Surgery
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 Feature
and contemporary techniques, he explains: “Digital
print offers the turnaround times people have come to
expect, if not the quality. For the really special jobs we
are working on, such as industry fashion books and
projects for premier football clubs, we use an Italian
firm that uses stochastic printing techniques producing
amazing quality, coupled with excellent binding and
finishing options. The end results are outstanding. We
are also currently looking at printing direct to surface
applications. For example, direct print onto wood for
furniture and also printed 3D objects.”
This printing upon 3D objects, a fundamental
evolution from 2D printing, is merely more fuel for
creative licence that modern designers have taken full
advantage of, pushing the boundaries of creativity and
expanding the medium’s horizons. Notably slow
starters, digital press and 3D printing were still in their
infancy back in 1996, yet over a decade later these
processes are bringing successful alternative printing
practices into the 21st Century with a bang.
This is now very prevalent in the emerging apparel
and designer toy arena. Now a hotbed for some of the
industry’s most exciting and expressive graphic design
and illustrative talent, it was no coincidence that this
flourishing creative sector found its feet in
correspondence to the emerging 3D and digital
hardware at the time, both back the early Nineties.
One process known for creation is ‘pad printing’. This
sees the transfer of an image from one surface to
another. The cliché, made from a hard polymer or steel,
is configured with the desired design and then etched
less than 1/1,000th of an inch deep, acting as a reservoir
for the ink. In turn the pad presses against the cliché
surface, picks up the design and transfers it by pressing
against an object. The unique properties of the silicone
pad allow it to transfer to a variety of surfaces.
den
© Neil Duer
© Neil Duerden
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084-088_AVP_42_Feature.indd 88
© McFaul
MORE FROM MCFAUL (RIGHT): “We also
work very closely with print company Atomic.
They successfully printed nearly 400 meters of
glass vinyl, 7 coach wraps and 20 pillar wraps!“
© McFaul
Even strictly acclimatised designed apparel,
most notably T-shirts, are being assimilated by such
modern practice and testing. Sammy Hecklewood,
creative director of the Hecklewood franchise, explains:
“For the most part, T-shirts still rely heavily on screen
printing. Not only is it perfect for the one- to three-
colour prints we typically put out, but also we’re very
careful to treat the process as an art more than a
manufacturing process. All of our garments are still
screened by hand – and I think consumers appreciate
that personal touch to some extent.”
Experimentation
Hecklewood has definitely seen the benefits of new
printing processes: “Although digital printing has
started to creep into the industry a little bit for more
complex jobs, you see a lot more photo-realistic prints
and colour-intense graphics that would have looked
muddy with process printing. We’ve definitely
experimented with non-traditional ways to screen print
graphics that achieve something unique. Usually, you
have a few colours separated out for specific pieces of
the graphic but we’ve done a few shirts where layers
It’s still inspiring to see something
tactile in our day-to-day. We’d be
bored without it
overlap and the ink is thinned out or altered somehow
to create a new effect. We’ve done a couple of
Anaglyph (3D) prints this way.”
So is the medium of print suffering from digital
oppression? No. In fact, the digital nature of modern
design is entwined with the successful modern
methods and results. Is the print method defined by
the design? Rarely, as the proficient extent of
technology only encourages comprehensive creation.
Some, like Duerden, can see the potential pitfalls:
“Prints can be useful for seeing your work or group
discussions, but with most top-end illustrators, working
on dual 30-inch monitors, you can view projects at
actual size any time you wish.” However, there seems a
romance attached to print, as Ollie Munden of McFaul
concludes: “There is something very precious in leafing
through a beautiful book. If that book is wonderfully
printed the experience is so much more intense on the
senses. Print will always prevail, as we all need to own
wonderful things. In this transient existence it is good
to be able to call something our own. With all our
gadgets, it’s still inspiring to see something tactile in
our day-to-day. We’d be bored without it.”
ALL THE DIFFERENCE (LEFT):
“My work mostly ends up
being printed CMYK for
magazines, which means as long
as your monitors are calibrated
correctly everything’s fine,” says
Neil Duerden
5/3/08 14:13:41
resources

Casio EX-Z1080
A compact that seems to implement numerous
creative devices. But are they practical?
Specifications
Manufacturer: Casio
Web: www.casio.co.uk
Price: £140/$279.99
Spec: Manual focus
41 BEST SHOT modes
2.6-inch TFT colour LCD,
115,000 pixels
USB 2.0 Hi-Speed compatible
11.4MB internal memory
Auto, manual, 6 fixed mode
white balance
1/2-1/1,000sec shutter speed
7fps high-speed continuous
shooting (1,600 x 1,200)
Summary: A resourceful camera, with
ACTUAL SIZE:
practical functions for all types of creative These two images
user. It doesn’t fail to meet the ever-evolving demonstrate just
how small the
standard of advancements in the popular camera is. The
EXILIM range. depth is just
24mm and it weighs
Rating: 4/5 only 125g

“CAPABLE FOR DISCIPLINES SUCH AS PHOTOMONTAGE AND

TEXTURING FOR IMPORTING INTO DIGITAL PROJECTS”
COMPACT: Not only is the EX-Z1080 noticeably compact,
but also notably lightweight making it instantly accessible
everywhere you go
O
ne of two new releases from
Casio’s paramount EXILIM range,
the EX-Z1080 is a handheld
camera packed with great range of
creative functions for its compact size.
This camera has a wealth of features that
should be suitable for creatives across the
breadth of digital disciplines. Its obvious
lustrous appearance, with black shell and
metallic finish, screams professionalism (other
colours are available), and it’s an aesthetic as
well as ergonomic pleasure when considering
its smooth, easy-to-handle edges. Compact
enough to fit the tightest of pockets and
made for transportation, it’s a product ready
to use at all times. This means that artists
should never again pass by that creative
resource or inspiration.
Also apparent is the camera’s 10.1
megapixels, splashed onto the front of the
casing. Though less than its counterpart
product, the EX-1200, it’s quite capable of
capturing and producing photography that
can be printed at large sizes. Of course, this
megapixel amount means that creatives can
get a good-quality image for those more
intricate and professional-standard images,
suitable for print projects such as gallery work
and editorial design, and certainly capable for
disciplines such as photomontage and
texturing for importing into digital projects.
The camera is also capable of high-
sensitivity photography up to a maximum of
ISO 6400, combating blur caused by the
shakes and ideal for photographing those
darker scenes.
But lest not forget, pixels aren’t everything.
This camera also obtains some great internal
options that provide even further creative
licence. Those enthusiasts among you,
perhaps not yet familiar with the
fundamentals of photography, can access the
newly updated BEST SHOT options. This is
essentially the EXILIM’s version of the standard
scene mode, although presenting users with a
vast range of specialised settings. Practical
favourite presets still feature, providing
sample scene thumbnails referring to your
photo type and automatically applying
settings upon selection. However, the option
updates provided by this product display
advancements and attention to contemporary

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consumers. Now users can select BEST SHOT
options for movie-based capture as well as
still, the most innovative of which being the
For YouTube alternative. Corroborated by the
EXILIM series’ Engine 2.0 high-performance
image-processing module, all video captures
adhere to a high-compression rate. This serves
up small file size at high visual quality. The
modern H.264/AVC video encoding, together
with this YouTube capture mode, ensure that
users are able to shoot and save movies on
this camera at optimum size, quality and other
settings suitable to YouTube. Users can easily
locate and access the BEST SHOT option by
clicking the BS button on the back of the
camera and it comes standard with the
unique YouTube Uploader for Casio software,
enabling users to upload movies to YouTube
in as few as two steps.
Other standard options are the EX-Z1080’s
11.4MB internal memory, which will get you a
few shots before inputting a memory card.
But considering the memory card device,
coupled with this hardware’s rechargeable
lithium-ion battery technology, creative and
traditional users alike will be able to record
an impressive photography resource. This
super-life addition, once fully charged,
impressively allows users to take no less than
370 shots. So those supplying stock for
online, royalty-free sites such as stock.xchng
and iStockphoto.com can really get a good
day’s work in one shoot, benefiting the bank
balance in turn.
Of course, we try to be subjective about
all our products as to obtain a balanced
review for our readership and so we took
this hardware for a test run. After a photo
shoot session in varied locations, we found
090-091_AVP_42_Review.indd 91
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Test shots
ZOOMING IN: While the 3x optical zoom may
seem a little limited, you don’t get any of the
distortion related to longer lengths
STYLISH FEATURES: Anti-Shake DPS reduces blur
that can be caused by shaky hands and subject
movement by utilising high shutter speeds and
sensitivity settings. It also offers a dedicated YouTube
shooting mode. This is not a product without a sense of
style, however. Implementing aesthetic choice, the EX- WIDE: Again, there are no distortions at the wide
Z1080 comes in four standard colours: blue, black, grey end of the zoom range, and images are sharp right
and pink, so you can look good while out and about, to the very edges
whilst being reassured of good quality
the results ultimately pleasing. Both in
gloom and the brilliance of the bright day
sun, the EX-Z1080 coped extremely well.
This camera controls harsh highlights
and exposure, allowing the vibrancy of
colour to shine through. Exposure is not
blown and shadows are detailed. The colours
produced were fantastic and vibrant in green
and blues especially. No barrel distortion or
pincushion distortion is noticeable at either
end of the zoom range either.
The one reservation that some artists may
have, especially those perhaps using heavily
textured resources, is that again this camera’s
zoom is somewhat wanting. This was
apparent in its counterpart product, the EX-
1200. It provides a 3x optical zoom, which in COLOURS: Saturation is generally very good and
all fairness isn’t brilliant in scope, but it does there is little magenta fringing to be seen in high-
still combine this with a 4x digital zoom to contrast areas of the scene
supply a 12x zoom in all, though digital zoom
does lead to increased pixelation. However,
the capability of the zoom will suit most
creatives and those of you with interest in
digital painting may well find this camera
also productive.
Styles such as figurative and portrait are
complemented alike by more of the EX-
Z1080’s face-detection technology. Combine
this with the auto-tracking AF system using
motion analysis technology, and you have SCENE MODES: Pick the right BEST SHOT mode
photography that maintains both sharp focus for the scene that you are shooting to get the right
spread of tones and contrast
and correct exposure for a human face. 5
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Image Doctor 2
The latest upgrade to Alien Skin’s retouching software
Manufacturer: Alien Skin Software
Web: www.alienskin.com
Price: £101.60/$199
Req: Photoshop CS2 or later, Photoshop Elements 4 or
later (Mac), Photoshop Elements 5 or later (Win)
1,024 x 768 or greater monitor resolution
Intel Pentium 4 processor, Windows XP
or later (Win)
PowerPC G5 processor or Intel processor,
Mac OS X 10.4.0 or later (Mac)
A lien Skin Software is one of the better Photoshop
plug-in manufacturers around, making tedious
tasks much easier by combining the functions you would
usually use in Photoshop into easy all-in-one packages.
Image Doctor 2 promises to provide users with algorithms
that “can save what would be the perfect photo from the
trash bin, while saving you hour upon hour of Photoshop
work trying to fix it”. A rather big promise, as retouching
photos in Photoshop can be time-consuming but effective.
Therefore, for this to take over from manual controls, the
results have to excel in a short space of time.
So does Image Doctor 2 really deliver on such promises?
Well, you’ll notice that upon installation, the plug-in
provides five filter options in the Photoshop Filters sub-menu.
Each delivers specialist treatment helping improve any
photo library.
All filters are compatible with 8- and 16-bit images,
meaning this software is RAW compatible, functioning in
Grayscale or RGB modes. On-screen navigation is effortless
with the obvious interface; Move, Zoom and Navigation
thumbnails are all standard and there are useful interactive
options, such as the Show Original button, which allows users
to toggle between filtered and unfiltered versions of the
image. There’s also the Split Screen Preview function, which
allows users to view the original and filtered image in half,
providing many convenient types of visual orientation.
A Setting list is offered with each filter applied. These are
presented in two varieties – Factory Setting and User Settings
– which are saveable as easy as in Photoshop. A folder icon
SOLUTION: When you want to remove an object from a transverse
background, use multiple selections for best effects
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identifies each specialised category, for instance ‘Soften deep
wrinkles or oily skin’ (Skin Softener filter). Upon activation, the
selected setting will apply its own remembered controls.
These can, of course, be manipulated further in the Basic
menu through a set of easy-to-manoeuvre slide bars. All
seemingly effortless you may well think, however this is
still a software with a few teething problems when
concerning performance.
A prime example is the Smart Fill filter. What we felt
may well be a real defining factor for this product, eventually
failed to deliver. On promise was a filter that intelligently
samples patches around the selected area, smoothly
recombining to create a contiguous background texture in
the object’s place. In all fairness this was provided, however to
our regret not as smoothly as first imagined. This filter
performs to a substantial level when presented with an image
of continuous or symmetrical background. However, when
presented with a more complex background it struggles to
deliver desired effects. Summary: After comprehensive use
The Dust and Scratch Remover filter did, however, deliver Image Doctor 2 is an intuitive product
to a high standard. Making active selections, it instantly that delivers proficient standards.
samples surrounding textures, recombining them inside your Perhaps not quite as responsive as first
imagined, if applying the appropriate
selection. This is not to say that this cannot be achieved
selections it is particularly competent.
efficiently in Photoshop, but considering you can then make
Rating: 3/5
further selections, simply pressing Ctrl/Cmd+F to reapply this
filter time and again, this option truly provides one of the
market’s fastest texture-repair solutions. BEFORE
Blemish Concealer and Skin Softener work equally as well,
although we did encounter a few mishaps when using the
latter, so be mindful. It works to optimum effect when
running the filter separately on homogeneous areas. The JPEG
Repair filter seemed, much like the Smart Fill filter, a selling
point for this product, but unlike its mentioned counterpart, it
provides the desired solution. With a few clicks of the
Deblocking and Blur Amount options its application really
does combat compression artefacts. It won’t restore lost
detail, but will create pleasing aesthetics.
The plug-in does work, but at £100, you need to be doing a
lot of retouching to make it worth it. 5
SOFT TOUCH: Retouching capabilities are
expansive, with Skin Softener and Blemish
Concealer providing beautifying techniques
© Tibor Fazakas, Stock.xchng, ‘766592_72575576.jpg’ AFTER
SMOOTH BLENDING: This software does excel in providing solutions
that offer smooth blending with the balance of the photo
4/3/08 11:57:51

CD-Art: Innovation in CD Packaging Design
Discover both creative and technical disciplines of CD art creation
Manufacturer: Rotovision
Web: www.rotovision.com
Price: £12.99/$25.67
Spec: Full-colour design examples
Four specialist sections covering traditional
and contemporary practice
Updated to include interactive and
downloadable artwork
Designer contact list
C D-Art: Innovation in CD Packaging Design is a best-
selling title that presents some of the finest CD covers
from around the globe. From the introduction, the newest
innovations and changes in this design industry are addressed
and incorporated. It deals with developments in the music
industry in terms of presentation, packaging material and new
work produced, all presented in depth in the inclusive chapters.
These sections provide a true wealth of case studies, each
accompanied by dynamic and attractive imagery and
annotations, revealing processes, equipment used, record
labels and the responsible design studios. Each example
provides insight into how the designers involved in these
disciplines truly excite the senses of sight and touch.
The attractive and clear-cut layout of this title enables a
totally enjoyable and understandable aesthetic experience,
with evident learning along the way. But it seems to be a bit
more concerned with relation and inspiration than education.
It’s a real keepsake that will keep the creative juices flowing.
After all, the album cover has provided some of the graphic
design industry’s finest examples and this book puts them out
Brainworks
Meditation & Mind-Hacks For Creatives
Manufacturer: Headstuff Books, SIMIAN
Web: www.headstuffbooks.com/www.amazon.co.uk
Price: £12.95/$25.59
Spec: 182 pages packed with psychological
techniques
15 insightful chapters
Covering key lifestyle issues such as diet,
relaxation, sitting and meditation
Practical exercises presented for practice
O ne of numerous new-age titles by Isle of Wight
publishing house Headstuff Books, this is a book
that at first glance seems rudimentary. A seemingly simple
paperback, with particularly uninspiring layout and black-
and-white print, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a less
desirable title on the market. Then again it’s more likely down
to preference.
Brainworks: Meditation & Mind-Hacks For Creatives is no
doubt less attractive than many of its counterpart
publications, however we found it to be quite an enthralling
read once started. This title is presented by the informative
092-093_AVP_42_Resources.indd 93
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there for all to see. Each section concerns itself with
contemporary creative opportunities, such as Materials,
providing examples on how to utilise materials such as wood,
steel, zinc surfacing, acetate printing, foil-embossing and much
more. There’s also Interaction, which presents dynamic ways
that consumers can interact with opening or using the CD
packaging physically.
This updated version certainly doesn’t fail to provide lavish
traditional examples, yet also goes beyond the exterior and Summary: A lavishly presented title that
involves another innovative section, Extending the Experience. provides so many fine, inspirational
visuals and work processes. With its
This concerns innovative examples of furthering the
informative and aesthetic nature, it’s a
consumer’s CD experience, through contemporary creative
real tour-de-force concerning CD art.
modes such as changing the insert booklet into a full-blown
Rating: 5/5
book or computer-readable imagery on the disc. 5
and authoritative Simon Jackson, who has 25 years’
meditation, hypnosis and NLP experience to match his 30
years in the creative industry in the gaming, journalism and
PR industries, making him the perfect candidate to delve
inside our minds.
Each case study is related to aspects of stress, the adversity
it causes and Jackson’s advisory solutions. Fundamentally it’s a
title that rationalises and resolves such issues for the benefit
of those involved in creativity on a daily basis, be it
professional or students on an intensive education course. All
15 chapters provide something new, relating topics such as
The Loop, showing creatives how to overcome prevarication,
seeing creativity in new terms as a flow of interlinked ideas.
There is plenty of scientific credibility to support
techniques such as meditation, dieting and relaxation
techniques or Chakra, as well as perhaps more exotic
techniques such as The Paper Ball Test and generating Metta.
Of course, this will always be a title open to subjectivity and
some may feel it’s good in theory, less so in practice but again Summary: This ‘lifestyle manual’
dependent on how much you believe in the practices related. provides creatives with an informative
It is definitely not a title for the cynics out there! In all, read. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea
and seemingly subjective it’s susceptible
productivity depends on you, the reader, so if this is a title that
to certain responsive readership.
seems the answer to all your woes, it’s a particular bargain at
Rating: 3/5
£12.95 ($25.59). 5
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