Advanced Photoshop Issue 059

68 HIGH-RES

BRUSHES

PLUS: TEXTURES, PHOTOS & MORE

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ISSUE 59 ISSN 1748-7277

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Add a retro-futuristic edge to digital paintings with our in-depth, six-page Masterclass

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www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

STEAMPUNK

OTOSHOP.C O.U K

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Master steampunk | Photoreal effects | Perfect paths | Student showcase | Interview: Stjepan Sejic

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TH E T A CRE M STO

HOW TO…

• Perfect your paths • Create pro photoreal effects • Design metallic typography • Become a concept artist • Use CS4’s 3D Mesh function

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STUDENT SHOWCASE

The very best Photoshop artwork from today’s brightest students 23/6/09 15:34:36

Editorial Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586200 Web: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/photoshopfaceoff

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Welcome to Advanced Photoshop

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Steampunk, according to Wikipedia, ‘denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used – usually the 19th Century and often in the Victorian era of England – but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy’.

[email protected] ☎ 01202 586243

Editor in Chief Jo Cole

[email protected]

Senior Staff Writer Adam Smith Designer Stacey Grove Senior Sub Editor Colleen Johnson Sub Editor Sam Robson Group Art Editor Lora Barnes Head of Design Ross Andrews Theo Aartsma, Anthony Giacomino, April Madden, Jeffrey M.de Guzman, Kirk Nelson, Josie Reavely, Richard Roberts and Sarah Slee

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Advertising

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Digital or printed media packs are available on request. Commercial Director Ross Webster ☎ 01202 586418 [email protected] Head of Sales James Hanslip ☎ 01202 586423 [email protected] Advertising Manager Hang Deretz ☎ 01202 586442 [email protected] Advertising Sales Executive Stuart McBride ☎ 01202 586438 [email protected]

Cover disc

Interactive Media Manager Lee Groombridge Head of Digital Projects Stuart Dixon Senior Multimedia Editor Steve Litton [email protected]

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International

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[email protected] [email protected] http://twitter.com/advancedpshop

Editor Julie Easton

Contributors

For us, however, it represents an incredibly popular digital art genre that encompasses all disciplines, from painting to photomanipulation to 3D rendering. We have the very talented Jeffrey M.de Guzman on hand this month to show you how to use photo references and custom brushes to create a retrofuturistic painting, while Theo Aartsma takes a look at creating a steampunk-inspired typographical artwork. If you prefer photo-based Photoshop, then our main feature this issue takes an indepth look at high-end photoreal manipulations, with plenty of advice from the professionals who use these skills every day in the advertising arena. At the back of the magazine this issue, you will find that student artists have invaded our Industry section, as we display eight pages of the amazing entries we received into the Student Showcase 2009. This is our fourth year of running the section and it’s just getting bigger and better. Flip to page 72 now to check out the brightest young talents in the Photoshop world. Happy Photoshopping! Julie Easton

Magazine team

Advanced Photoshop is available for licensing. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities. International Manager Cathy Blackman ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586401 [email protected]

Subscriptions

Subscriptions Manager Lucy Nash [email protected] For all subscription enquiries: Email: [email protected] ☎ UK: 0844 848 8402 ☎ Overseas: +44 1795 592 880 13-issue subscription (UK) – £62.30 13-issue subscription (Europe) – £70 13-issue subscription (ROW) – £80

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Circulation & Export Manager Darren Pearce ☎ 01202 586200

Production

Production Director Jane Hawkins ☎ 01202 586200

AN TH ON Y

GIA CO MIN O

cu rr He ent Ant cu ly p ho de rre ur ny sig nt sui is a ne ly r ng 19 r a esi a p -y nd de ro ea st s in fes r-ol ud M si d en ilw on sel t. Y a al c f-t ou uke ar aug ca e, eer ht n Wi in di vi sc g gi ew o ra ta hi nsin phi l ar s o a c tis nl s a des t in fr ig e e w sho ela n. w w n w. c ce ag as ia e a co t .n et .

Founders

The next issue of Advanced Photoshop goes on sale 13 August 2009

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CONT RIBU TORS

Managing Director Damian Butt Finance Director Steven Boyd Creative Director Mark Kendrick

Printing & Distribution

Printed by St Ives Andover, West Portway, Andover, SP10 3SF Distributed by Seymour Distribution, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT 0207 429 4000

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Disclaimer

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. Photoshop is either a registered trademark or trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries and is used with express permission.

© Imagine Publishing Ltd 2009 ISSN 1748-7277

24/6/09 15:39:23

Cover

Cover image When we decided that we wanted a steampunk digital painting tutorial, we turned straight to Jeff. His Golden Bee image was the perfect inspiration, having been on the cover of the Limited Edition of Exposé 6. This image is named Double B as she’s a steampunk agent, but also the double of Golden Bee. You can learn how to re-create this image on page 36, and there is a free custom brush set on the disc to help you get the effects you need. www.jeffmdart.com

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Imageer: JEFFREY M.DE GUZMAN

“This image is named Double B as she’s a steampunk agent” 5

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STUDENT SHOWCASE Eight pages of student talent It’s the fourth year of our popular Student Showcase, and it’s the best year ever! The artwork will inspire whether you are already an established artist, a hobbyist, a student or just starting out with Photoshop. Turn to page 70 now to check out the great artwork and find out more about the students who created them.

ISSUE #59

inside... 48

Master this striking disintegration effect

COMMUNITY News Mailbox On the web Web challenge winners

INSIGHT The best digital artists around Brian Walker Marek Haiduk

THE COVER

Erik Johansson

Re-create this fantastic cover image with our digital painting Masterclass starting on page 36, written by the talented Jeffrey M.de Guzman

HELP Tips, techniques and problems solved Helpdesk

e b i r c s b u S now6!(UK/ ) e6 (US e pag e 26 Se or pag ) ROW

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The latest news, website images and readers’ thoughts from our mailbox and forum

INDUSTRY SECTION

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Essential advice for becoming a pro digital artist Interview: Philip Straub Feature: Student Showcase Career guide: Concept artist

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Steampunk-inspired typography

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Our pick of the best reader submissions this month

THIS MONTH’S CD Superb stock art, project files and more! CD guide

68 70 78

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We interview Stjepan Sejic

© Stjepan Sejic

FEATURES/REGULAR

TECHNIQUES

Insightful interviews and in-depth articles

Essential guides to professional Photoshop skills

INTERVIEW: STJEPAN SEJIC The Top Cow comics artists talks Witchblade, comics and covers

PHOTOREAL EFFECTS Industry experts reveal their top tips for high-end manipulations

SUBSCRIPTIONS Find out about our latest subscription prices and offers here

RESOURCES The latest hardware, software and books reviewed

READERS’ GALLERY The very best submissions from our readers this month

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MASTER STEAMPUNK An in-depth look at nailing this popular genre of digital painting

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METALLIC TYPOGRAPHY

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PATHS AND THE PEN TOOL

80

COLOURFUL ILLUSTRATIONS

90

HELPDESK

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Create typographical art inspired by steampunk

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Use these essential tools to create a disintegration effect

Bright colours and simple shapes make effective illustrations

Four pages of in-depth advice from a Photoshop expert

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25/6/09 15:08:17

The latest creative news from around the world

Community • Pg 08......................News • Pg 12 .................Mailbox • Pg 14 .................Website

D&AD Awards winners Each year since 1962, D&AD – a not-for-profit organisation that represents the international creative communities – has celebrated the cream of the design and advertising industry’s talent. The best work of the year appears in the D&AD Annual, while the most exciting new innovations are awarded Yellow Pencils, with Black Pencils awarded for work that’s considered to be really outstanding. The 2009 Awards Ceremony – held on 11 June at London’s Roundhouse – saw four Black Pencils awarded for the year’s most groundbreaking work, two of which went to advertising agency, Droga5 NYC. Further elusive Black Pencils went to Matt Dent in the Graphic Design category for his redesign of UK coins for the Royal Mint and – in Environmental Design – to BMW for Kinetic Sculpture by German interactive studio Art+Com. 54 Yellow Pencils were also awarded, recognising work that sets new benchmarks in creative excellence. Three Yellow Pencils went to Ghost Robot with Wanderlust for Björk in the Music Videos category. In Press and Poster Advertising, two Yellow Pencils were awarded to DDB London for ‘Wallace & Gromit in Alexander McQueen for Harvey Nichols’. ‘WERK No.16: Joe Magee Special’ by Work Advertising in Singapore also won two Yellow Pencils, both in the Graphic Design and Illustration category. D&AD president Garrick Hamm commented on the high standard of this year’s entries, enthusing: “The breadth of

creative work that’s been awarded this year is exceptional. We’re in the midst of a challenging time, and this work shows what the industry is capable of. The four Black Pencil winners demonstrate the power and all-encompassing nature of creativity – in education, politics and even in the change in our pockets. These winners are more than just great pieces of communication, as they change our behaviour and touch our lives.” Pioneering designer Michael Peters (OBE) has also been presented with the D&AD President’s Award by Garrick Hamm, in recognition of his invaluable contribution to creativity. As one of the select few to receive this honour, Peters joins an elite list alongside past recipients, including Jonathan Ive, Sir Alan Parker and Sir John Hegarty. D&AD president Garrick Hamm says: “Michael’s contribution to design is so great that you could be forgiven for thinking he would have received this award years ago. He has helped shape and revolutionise the industry into the business it is today. These days we use jargon like ‘360 branding’ and ‘joined-up thinking’, but Michael was doing it 20 years ago… He was fearless in front of some of the world’s biggest clients, and he gave other designers the self-confidence to stand up for themselves and command proper fees.” The winning entries from the D&AD Awards are showcased at a range of events and exhibitions across the globe, as well as at the aforementioned Awards Ceremony. The D&AD Annual – available online as well as in print from September – compiles the year’s best work, and all of the winning entries can be viewed online at http://awards.dandad.org/2009/.

http://awards.dandad.org/2009/

WINSOR & NEWTON INKS: Winsor & Newton Inks packaging COPYRIGHT: Michael Peters & Partners, 1973

WALLACE IN PAUL SMITH & GROMIT IN DUCHAMP: Yellow Pencil-winning poster campaign by DDB London

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24/6/09 15:19:44

Create digital graffiti with YrWall

News

bites FREEDOM TO CREATE

GREAT FOR EVENTS: YrWall is day available for hire from £1,200 per

ed by YrWall is a ‘digital graffiti wall’ creat with pixels. Instead Lumacoustics, which replaces paint of art with s work e of spraying paint, users creat puter to follow com a by ed track is invisible light that cutting-edge es utilis ll YrWa nts. eme mov t’s the artis lates the art of projection-mapped video, which emu fits of being bene d adde graffiti painting but has the

“Users create art with invisible light tracked by a computer to follow the artist’s movements”

INTERACTIVE DIGITAL GRAFFITI: A pop-out interface is provided, which enables the user to work with digital paint to create their own digital graffiti art

ing the artist to environmentally friendly and allow having it printed save and recall their work, as well as ll proved to YrWa rts. on anything from paper to T-shi Royal the at t even t recen be hugely popular at a uraged enco were ts gues re whe – Albert Hall – LOAD for able ll is avail to create their own digital art. YrWa t anen perm as well as short-term and long-term hire, a ing build dy alrea is and bespoke installations, ey, the British prestigious client list that includes Oakl val. Media Awards and Glastonbury Festi

www.yrwall.com

Free Photoshop plug-in

FREE EFFECTS: PhotoTools Lite is available from the OnOne website, where you can also watch a quickstart video

onOne Software has released PhotoTools 2 Lite, a Photoshop plug-in that’s easy to use and free! Downloading the Lite version equips you with 14 effects, each of which can be applied alone or combined to give your images a unique look. The plug-in works with CS2, CS3 and CS4, and is based on the award-winning PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition, utilising the same professional-grade tools. Using the free tools provided in the Lite download, you can dramatically alter the look and feel of your images with just a few clicks – with no prolevel photo-editing knowledge required. There are some more advanced functions available in the software, however, which you can learn how to master using over a dozen video tutorials on the onOne website, plus there are free weekly webinars and user-to-user forums to help you make the most of your images. www.ononesoftware.com

The Freedom to Create prize – which seeks to “honour artists on the front lines who promote social justice, build foundations for open societies and inspire the human spirit” – offers three categories: Main, Imprisoned Artist and Youth. The prize is open to all forms of art and has a total prize fund of $125,000 USD. You have until 14 August 2009 to submit entries. Visit www.freedomtocreateprize.com/ home.asp for more information.

COPYRIGHT: Philimon Bulaway

ADOBE CAMERA RAW UPDATE

Adobe has announced its latest Camera Raw 5.4 release candidate, free to download from www.adobe. com/downloads/updates. The new release adds RAW file support for an extra 26 cameras and camera backs, including the Canon EOS 500D (EOS Rebel T1i), Nikon D5000 and 18 Hasselblad models. Feedback can be provided on the Adobe User to User forum found at http://forums.adobe. com/community/cameraraw/.

ADOBE FLASH CATALYST

Adobe has announced a new professional interaction design tool that lets its users turn their artwork into stunning user interfaces without coding. To take a sneak peek, visit http://labs.adobe.com/ technologies/flashcatalyst/.

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Community In the news:

Q&A

BEN KAUFMAN

We chat to Ben Kaufman, the 22-year-old entrepreneur who founded quirky

Q: HOW CAN PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN QUIRKY?

A: Easily! Just sign up at www.quirky. com – you can post your own product idea for $99 or you can rate and influence other people’s ideas. You can also participate in other parts of the product’s development, naming, logos, taglines, etc.

Q: WHAT SORT OF PRODUCTS/IDEAS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? A: Right now, quirky is focused on non-electronic consumer products that can be retailed for under $150. We’ll expand this scope, but it is our starting point for now.

Portrait Professional 9 New from Anthropics Technology, Portrait Professional 9 is available as a standalone program or Photoshop plug-in, and promises to perfect your portraits with minimal effort. Portrait Professional 9 incorporates new ClearSkin automatic skin-enhancing technology and – according to the manufacturer – has been “trained in human appearance”, using thousands of photographs of people to help program it. The software therefore has what Anthropics terms as “a built-in ‘knowledge base’ of human beauty”, which means it’s able to analyse and enhance your portraits faster and more accurately. Portrait Professional 9 analyses each portrait individually, creating custom controls to help you enhance that person’s own particular features. This means that a subject with a double chin, for example, will cause the software to create a ‘jaw slider’ control to let you adjust the size of your model’s jaw. The software’s aforementioned ClearSkin technology helps to eradicate blemishes, age spots, wrinkles and other skin problems automatically, without removing the skin’s texture, for more natural-looking results. This technology

www.portraitprofessional.com

Q: WHAT’S YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF QUIRKY? A: To allow product ideas to come out of people’s heads and onto shelves, and to allow as many people as possible to have a part in making those things. I want people to feel what I felt at mophie – to walk down the street and see a quirky product and have that awesome feeling of “I had a part in making that…” Find out more at www.quirky.com

can also tackle grease and sweat on a subject’s face, adjust the lighting to relieve unflattering shadows, alter eye colour and subtly brighten eyes and teeth, among other options. Portrait Professional 9 ($99.95, approximately £61) is available for both PC and Mac platforms, and there’s the option of purchasing the Studio version ($149.95, approximately £92) to use in conjunction with Lightroom or Photoshop, which works directly with Camera Raw.

Get quirky DREAMS INTO REALITY: Subm it your product ideas to the people at quirky now! THE SLING BACK: This universal wire retractor is the first product successfully brought from sketch to store by quirky

Q: WHAT’S THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT YOU’VE CREATED USING THE QUIRKY SYSTEM SO FAR? A: Well, we’ve had three full products go through quirky’s process. We’ve got the Sling Back, a universal wire retractor, the Ouch Pouch, a funkier version of the traditional arm sling, and the Pressto, a tofu press. They show the diversity of quirky’s team. Now we just have to reach our presale threshold for these items.

BEFORE AND AFTER: The software can automatically enhance your portraits with high-quality results

Budding inventors take note! quir ky is the latest innovation to be launched by the 22-year-old entrepreneur who also founded mophie (www.mophie. com) and kluster (www.kluster.com ), Ben Kaufman. So what is it? quirky is a ‘social prod uct development company’ that aims to take grea t ideas and make them a reality. The team at quirky encourag es innovators from all walks of life to collaborate on the process of bringing an idea to fruition ‘from ideation, desi gn, naming, manufacturing, marketing right on through to sales’.

www.quirky.com

Kaufman explains: “I had this idea for retractable headphones (known as the Song Sling ). My parents remortgaged their house to give me a shot at this idea and I went through the process of going to China and getting it made. I loved playing a part in mak ing those products, and thought: ‘What if I could distribute that feeling to thousands of people, who could all feel like they had a part in making something?’ That ’s where quirky comes in.” You submit your idea, then the quirk y community has seven days to rate it. The quirky team picks the winning product to forward through the creat ion process. You’ll need to stump up $99 initially, whic h buys you a lot of valuable information even if your inno vation doesn’t get picked right away. “The cool thing is that if the quirky community doesn’t pick your idea, at least you have all these valuable ideas to go out and try it on your own.”

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24/6/09 15:37:08

Community

Mailbox Do you have a question about the magazine? Email your thoughts to [email protected] or visit www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum SUBJECT: Retro crazy! FROM: Sarah Howdle I went into my local Borders recently to pick up my usual digital arts magazine, but your last copy (issue 57) caught my eye. The bright colours, the retro font, the free stock imagery… well, I had to pick it up. Now I am a convert. I loved the articles and especially the interviews with inspirational artists. The Retro Graphics feature was especially good – it encouraged me to try some new styles with my artwork. And the tutorials taught me some new skills that I hadn’t tried before. I’ll be buying it again – thank you!

“One thing both my colleague at work and I are frustrated at is the lack of visits to the United Kingdom by the NAPP guys” visit with a seminar or two. The more people we get to join, the better chance we have. We have been made aware that Scott, Dave Cross and the NAPP offices know of this group, and have been fairly supportive of our request!

FROM: Dan James I have been a reader of Advanced Photoshop on and off for the last two years, and I have to say that issue 57 was my favourite issue to date – starting with that striking cover! The blend of features and tutorials was really great and I read everything from cover to cover. Keep it up!

NAPP IN THE UK: A Facebook group is devoted to getting the NAPP experts to come to the UK

Editor replies: Thank you both for your comments – it’s great to hear from both new and old readers. And thank you also for the other great letters and emails (and Tweets via @advancedpshop on

Twitter) that we received about the cover of our Retro Graphics issue. It was a great cover to work on, and Pete Harrison’s image is fantastic. Keep your comments coming.

SUBJECT: NAPP in the UK? FROM: Dave Clayton I have been using Photoshop since version 4.0. I decided to join NAPP last June. I use the online training available plus all the other resources supplied by NAPP, Kelby Training and the video podcasts by the NAPP team. However, one thing both my colleague at work and I are frustrated at is the lack of visits to the UK by the NAPP guys. We started up a Facebook group (www. facebook.com/home.php#/group. php?gid=103070619895) and have been Twittering various Photoshop groups and individuals to drum up some support to encourage Scott Kelby and the guys to pay us a RETRO GRAPHICS: Our last cover has received plenty of praise from readers – keep sending us your comments

Editor replies: Hi Dave, thanks for writing in. First of all, we’re big fans of your work over at Creative Rush (www.creativerush.co.uk) so it’s great to hear from you! Second of all, we are completely on board with your ideas – we would love to see the NAPP guys over on this side of the Atlantic! Advanced Photoshop readers can find out more on the Facebook group mentioned above, or write in with your views here!

SUBJECT: Industry advice FROM: Jo Cobbler I was intrigued to see your new Industry section and in general I did like it. I found the interview with Matt Gaser and the look at getting an agent really interesting to read. I think it’s a shame, though, that for the first instalment you haven’t chosen to feature a UK-based university in the magazine’s Uni Focus – we have some of the best courses in the world here! Still, I did find it a good addition to the magazine – especially for students like me! Editor replies: Glad you liked it Jo! It was a lot of hard work but we think that it is a great addition to the magazine, aimed at those who want to use Photoshop as part of their career. Last month our chosen course was based in the UK, but we do want to represent great courses from all around the world. If you’d like to see your course featured, please get in touch using the addresses in the strap below.

Write to us : Advanced Photoshop Mailbox, Imagine Publishing, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK, BH2 6EZ. Email us: advancedphotoshop@

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NEW!

toshop Advanced Pholu e3 Bookazine Vo m £12.99 SUBJECT: Inspirational artwork FROM: Jody Heppenstall Hi AP. I’m 18 and just getting into Photoshop art. I loved the retro images featured in your feature last issue. It inspired me to get going on my own colourful artwork. I haven’t finished this piece yet, but I wanted to let you see what I had done so far. It’s a background idea I am working on, using a couple of online tutorials, and I want to use it on a flyer for a band my friend is in. What do you think? Editor replies: Hi Jody, thanks for your letter. It’s great that you found our feature last issue inspirational, and I think that you have done a fantastic job on this background – especially as you are new to Photoshop. Submit your artwork to our forum at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/ forum and the lovely people on there can give you advice on works in progress as well as finished artwork.

SUBJECT: Credit concerns reply FROM: Lee Gough I am responding to the letter from Francis Geralds, issue 57, with regards about the comments made about images on the website. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t Photoshop created for this purpose, changing images, adding to images, etc? The advertising industry has used this program for that purpose since its release. As a budding Photoshop user myself, I have a vast amount of stock images on my hard drive that I use every day; I couldn’t create my images without them. I see stock images as a

INSPIRED BY RETRO: Artwork created by one

reader after issue 57’s retro special

tool to create the art I have in my mind and I am proud to take full credit for that work. Maybe Francis can’t understand that most of us do not have the resources to hire a studio for the day, pay a model, etc. Also, take a look at established artists like Brand Nu – many times I have been browsing iStock and noticed images that he has used in his work to create truly inspirational art. Flick through the pages of any digital art magazine, including Advanced Photoshop, and the regular contributors always use stock images (take the cover of issue 57). Stop the bitterness Francis, and appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into creating ‘art’ in all forms. Editor replies: Hi Lee, thanks for your response. I feel a debate coming on! Let us know your thoughts with an email, letter or forum post.

“Submit your artwork to our forum and the lovely people on there can give you advice on works in progress as well as finished artwork”

imagine-publishing.co.uk. Twitter us: www.twitter.com/advancedpshop. Forum: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum

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shop Advanced Photoe 2 eMag Volum s 16 whole issue £19.99

Visit the

Advanced Photoshop online shop at

www.imagineshop.co.uk

for back issues, books and merchandise 25/6/09 15:31:53

Community

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! COLOUR MODEL

ARTIST: José Paulo Amorim Reis WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co. uk/user/zepaulo

“I love digital art and I’m learning every day with Photoshop professionals; my goal is to reach the level of quality of work performed by the professionals. I’m also working as a freelancer doing personal artwork. Advanced Photoshop has helped me greatly to progress and improve the quality of my work. To develop this artwork, I tried to give a colourful and beautiful effect to the image. I tried to mix the beauty of women with nature. The elements of nature (such as the leaves, dove, parrot, butterflies and ladybird) give a touch of delicacy to the picture. The colours are harmonious, reflecting the freshness of summer, and give glamour to the composition.”

BUTTERFLY

ARTIST: Vitalij Sicinava WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co. uk/user/chanting_stone “I think one of the most essential objectives of visual art and one of the most important tasks for an artist is to find a possibility to express and demonstrate the unique presence of magic and fluorescence in each moment of life and in life itself. Everything should seem absolutely natural, no matter how sophisticated and fabulous the colours, shapes and structure are. “I love to experiment. Butterfly was created using a lot of different brushes and light effects for the background. A picture of me with a butterfly on my face was taken while I was on holiday in New Zealand. I was inspired by the beauty of nature, by the beauty of each moment, its magic and peace.”

ORGANZA

ARTIST: Sandra Ojuri WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/sandie

“Having graduated from the London College of Communication with a degree in Graphic Design, I’ve since been looking for that all-important foot in the door. Always interested in eyecatching and beautiful design, I’ve taught myself Photoshop, Illustrator and a few 3D packages like CINEMA 4D and Maya. There was no specific direction or idea behind this piece; it was more a case of experimenting and pushing myself further by using hand-drawn elements. Playing on the notion of composition and colour, I started to displace the model quite a few times, transforming each layer and masking parts I didn’t need. I usually just go along with instinct in my work, topping it off with Gradient and Curve adjustment layers, which usually gets me to the end of my work.”

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Community

Web challenge The winners

Challenge reference: AP 058 On our website, www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/competitions.php, we run a web challenge where you are asked to create an image in Photoshop using at least one of three images provided. These challenges are updated monthly and they are becoming increasingly popular, so get your entries in for a chance to win. Check out the website for details of our latest challenge and how to enter. The winner will collect a special prize for that month (prizes change frequently) and will also have their design printed in the magazine, along with two runners-up.

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Our prize this month is a copy of Digital Painting in Photoshop, courtesy of Focal Press (www.focalpress.com). Acclaimed author Susan Bloom takes your Photoshop results from competent retouching of images to visually stunning reinterpretations of them.

Challenge start images

FROZEN VENICE ARTIST: Dominic Leatham WEB: N/A

“I filled the main roof colour with a snow and frost layer. I cut the ice flow and the sky from the Alaska image and blended it with the Venice image. The reflections were created by taking various building sections and flipping them vertically, then put on an Overlay layer. I created a custom icicle brush to add the icicles, a light grey gradient with hints of pink in the sky and reduced the Opacity to create some aerial perspective.”

DANCE LIKE NOBODY IS WATCHING ARTIST: Phang Tau Lean WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/ahlean

“This image was inspired by the idea of ‘living life with passion and no regrets’. Along with the dinosaur and bird stock photos, the image was desaturated and some Level adjustments were used to bring out the contrast. The claws of the dinosaur were scaled larger than its actual size to emphasise the danger waiting for the oblivious dancers. Brushes and the Clone Stamp tool were used to create a hand-smudged effect. The image was then filtered with angled strokes and ink outlines. Finally, I applied the textures and a warm filter to finish the old grunge atmosphere.”

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E B NE W IN W

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WINTER

ARTIST: Aiden Morse WEB: http://behance.net/aidenmorse

“I started with the image of the city and masked out the sky so I could add the mountain in the background. Then I brushed in the snow and icicles and edited the colour with a Gradient Overlay. After that, I cloned in some ice from the mountain image to add to the river. Finally, I used watercolour, spray paint and long-exposure light stock I shot myself to add texture and falling snow. With a few more edits to Levels and the saturation, I was finished. I started the image in Photoshop Elements 5 and finished it in Photoshop CS4.”

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Interview

STJEPAN SEJIC Popular Top Cow comics artist Stjepan Sejic reveals the commitment to his artistic vision and the fantasy genre, leading to his meteoric rise to the top of the comic-book industry

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Inter Stjepan Sejic view

R OF THE WITCHBLADE: WA VER: “A CO 7 12 UE ISS WITCHBLADES, friendships are

an issue where Witchblade cover for lly get to paint some action” fina I ere wh d an broken Copyright: Top Cow

RAVINE, PAGES 32 AND 33: “A spread from Ravine displaying two girls and a dragon. As far as fantasy is concerned, I’m actually inclined to functionality in design and always try to avoid skimpy leather lingerie being passed off as armour”

WITCHBLADE SPREAD – ANGELUS HERITAGE: “Another fun spread where I was asked to

make up a lot of new, never-seen Angelus bearers. This is due to the fact that the Top Cow universe revolves around generational artefact-based powers” COPYRIGHT: Top Cow

L

ike many of the comic heroes and heroines he portrays, Stjepan Sejic’s own creative destiny was bestowed almost by fate. Now a successful and mainstream comics artist for global comic publishing house Top Cow Productions, notably working on popular title Witchblade, Sejic recalls: “It wasn’t until I visited my first exhibition that I actually realised how far one can actually go into defining fantastic worlds and characters. In Croatia, most of the comics

were black-and-white Italian imports. At the time, that was my way of understanding and making comics. With the introduction of full-colour works into my world, things changed. It’s a funny coincidence, but that very day at my first comic exhibition on a blank wall stood a framed cover of a comic I’d never seen in my life. But the name etched into my memory – Witchblade.” With other people often forced to choose between their affinities, Sejic is fortunate his

passions, story writing and artwork, are encompassed into one challenging and inspiring industry. But Sejic’s own creative passage hasn’t been without adversity or obstacle. Back in college, his original pencilled samples went unnoticed by Top Cow. He strived to move on, as he explains: “I developed my classic painting techniques and just dreamt a lot. Then at college I started to visit the internet on a daily basis. Without a computer at home, this was my only source of online information. I worked hard, and for my birthday my parents bought me a computer and my late uncle bought me a small drawing tablet.” However, Sejic soon faced another challenge, as he reveals: “Colour blending became a really tedious process and was slowing everything down. But due to a lucky coincidence, when trying to make a waterfall brush with Photoshop’s Smudge tool, I discovered the software’s blending capabilities. This increased my productivity by about 60 per cent.”

Exploring abilities It’s common knowledge that the comic-art industry demands quality, and fast. Sejic now uses digital media to his full advantage to achieve this: “Photoshop is the equation, Photoshop is the X and constant value. It’s the solution,” he admits. “I’m self-taught in Photoshop, as the program itself is very intuitive and supplies me with all the tools I need to work efficiently.” So much so that Sejic has produced his own application techniques: “I’m not a big layers guy, except when it comes to Bevel layers.

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Interview

This proves itself to be a priceless tool when creating textures and shallow volumes, used in conjunction with my custom-made brushes. The layer is quite often set to a Multiply blending mode. On this layer I paint white to create raised edges. This keeps all of the colour and volume information from the base layer, simply adding a volume texture.” This technique is great for creating detailed chain mail or multiple-layered complex Witchblade armour, which can take up to two hours. Sejic also admits: “It takes little more than two to three minutes to apply my personal favourite technique, which is creating reflective surfaces and working on skin pigmentation by painting with brushes set to the Hard Light and Linear Light blending modes.” It’s this punctual, productive attitude that has moved him on to bigger and better things. A fantastic opportunity was presented when Top Cow’s penciller Tyler Kirkham, who wanted him to colour some of his works, contacted Sejic. “At the time I was already doing the comic Kade for Arcana Comics and was working on Warhammer cards. Kade was getting good numbers at the time so I presume that’s what helped,” admits Sejic.

RAVINE, PAGES 86 AND 87: “Nebezial, a character that has remained virtually unchanged during all eight years of Ravine’s development, except for his cool tail swords with special handles”

This colouring project was the step towards getting the gigs Sejic wanted. “The thing about it is that if you go to an editor and start claiming that you can do about 40 pages a month, they won’t take you seriously. It just sounds absurd. But if you play your cards right and do it one step at a time, it will hit them.” Sejic remembers vividly the day this occurred: “My editor at Top Cow at the time, Renae Geerlings, asked me to show her some of my own paintings. This was immediately after the colouring gig on The Darkness/Wolverine crossover and her response was: ‘Wait. So you can actually paint on your own?’” Sejic started work on his first title, The Darkness: Level 1, and after that Top Cow bestowed him with its big event book that summer, First Born. Just finishing his 22nd book in the Witchblade universe, with plans set in motion for another 28

issues to follow, Sejic isn’t letting the success go to his head. He’ll never forget what he owes it all to, as he reveals: “Essentially, every job has its way of making you pay your dues and colouring was mine. Still, even today when I look at The Darkness/ Wolverine, I can’t help but to think: ‘Damn, Tyler and I sure do make quite a team’.”

Creative arsenal Tenacity is another of Sejic’s adopted attitudes that has seen him shine in his respective field. Always striving to create work that is cinematically real, he envisaged comics with that ‘summer blockbuster’ feel. He reveals: “I’ve always been a rebellious person. I’ve never tried to do what others did. Back in my early days, people always criticised my work for being too clean. They told me I should emulate traditional painting. But I

“I didn’t want to emulate traditional painting. I worked on canvas, paper, walls; I painted a church and I didn’t want that in my digital style”

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Stjepan Sejic

The Darkness, issue 75 cover: “This

was a cover I did for the anniversary issue of Top Cow’s The Darkness and is probably my favourite” Copyright: Top Cow

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Interview

Conchords:

“I’ve always loved doing portraits, and creating illustrations of the movies, TV shows and games that inspired me is how I started out before I had any commissions. It’s something I continuously seem to return to, and naturally this has also steered the kind of commissions that I tend to get. Which is fine by me!”

Ravine, page 19: “This is a page from the first issue of Ravine. It’s a good example of what my style is about: stylish, cinematic realism. I put a lot of importance into the design of all characters”

didn’t want to emulate traditional painting. I worked on canvas, paper, walls; I painted a church and I didn’t want that in my digital style. I never wanted to emulate the styles of great digital illustrators and concept artists, preferring to create a style of my own.” He adds: “I wasn’t trained in this. I had no access to teachers or training DVDs, just me and my stubbornness. But I guess it got me through the rough times and to where I am today.” Sejic is keen to admit the influence of digital hardware on his method: “I do own a Cintiq but am partial to my tablet PC. For the last three years all of my work has been done on a Lenovo X60.” He also endorses the 3D capabilities of modern software. Nearly an expert in ZBrush and quite skilled in 3ds Max, he uses these to develop his understanding of anatomy and shading. He also admits: “These programs are extremely useful when creating comics, as they enable me to invent a character library of three-dimensional people. This is a very useful way to keep the consistency of characters without resorting to photo referencing.” But for all his rigging and rendering with advanced materials in 3ds Max, he always imports to Photoshop for upgrading and that final artistic touch. Having sampled and executed realism, the stylish over-rendered illustration of the Nineties, manga and cartoonist styles, Sejic admits that

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Stjepan Sejic LISBON SKETCH: “Sketching is so important to keep going, just because it’s a place to experiment and develop things that you wouldn’t necessarily want to try for the first time on a commission. Offf 2009 in Oerias, Portugal, was very inspiring and I’m making some drawings from the photos I took”

ultimately he always had an idea of where he wanted to go with his respective style: “I’ve got to admit that all of my evolution, all of my techniques and all of my skills are centred around one project, one story.” Unexpectedly, this isn’t Witchblade – it’s Sejic’s own vision, Ravine. Ravine plays a major part in Sejic’s appetite for the comic genre. Always longing to share this vision with the masses, he reveals: “Ravine is the project that made me want to draw comics, and after eight years of meticulous development it’s finally being produced. Top Cow will be publishing it, as announced at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con.” This character-driven epic fantasy – packed with paladins, wizards and dragons – will be presented in an innovative fashion. Sejic explains: “It’s made in a bit of an unusual format: 12 issues of 88-page comics with additional stories filling it up to 100 pages per issue. It is a fully painted comic,” and undoubtedly a precious piece of sequential art.

Devotion to style His dedicated approach to this project ultimately reflects his own passion for the fantasy genre, as Sejic reveals: “For Top Cow and Arcana I do comics and covers, while for Dynamite, Radical and Marvel I’ve only produced covers. I’m personally a genre-orientated guy who likes to be challenged. But I’m honestly not a big superhero fan.” Being at the height of his profession, Sejic enjoys the liberty to work with companies that publish his kind of material. “I love fantasy so Kade was right up my alley with Arcana, as was Radical’s Hercules cover or Dynamite’s Xena and Red Sonja covers. I also love sci-fi, horror and mystery so, of course, there is affection for Witchblade and Radical’s Hotwire covers. In the end I do what I like most of the time. The rest of the time I do superheroes,” he admits mischievously. Although he has achieved so much prematurely in this competitive industry, no official awards have come Sejic’s way as yet.

“The ability to persevere will be the difference between working an eighthour day job you hate or fulfilling your dreams”

RAVINE, PAGES 36 AND 37: “Brushes and Bevel layers save me a lot of time in creating images like this one. I love subsurface scattering of light. I guess that’s one of the reasons why I love painting dragons”

However, reflecting the measure of the man and his professional, focused attitude, he admits: “I’m relatively new to the comics industry so there is time for awards. But in the end these aren’t really that big in this business or what drives me. The ability to match speed and quality is what matters and that keeps my workload full most of the time, so I can’t complain.” Never straying from his goal, single-minded in what he wants to do and where he wants to be, Sejic has finally persevered and fulfilled his creative destiny. He’s come through some hard times and this has made him a better artist and a modest man, as he reveals: “I’m very confident as I know my strong sides. But I know and recognise those with greater skills, and this ability to be my own worst critic drives me to do more and better. I realise that I started out as an unskilled, stubborn artist from Croatia with little prosperity to get anywhere. But I worked hard, drew ten hours a day and it got me places. So if you want to get somewhere, don’t give up. Life will throw you some massive curve balls; it will try to break you at a certain moment but never let go of your dreams. The ability to persevere will be the difference between working an eight-hour day job you hate or fulfilling your dreams.” http://nebezial.deviantart.com/gallery/

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Feature

LSD s.r.l Photographers

Over the course of this feature you will see some of the stunning works of LSD Photographers, which is a well-known studio for its fantastic photomanipulation projects. You can find out more about the studio and its projects, by taking a visit to http://lsd.eu. PARTYPOKER COPYRIGHT: LSD Studio

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Photoreal effects

e r t o l h oa effects

Advanced Photoshop explores the techniques and digital processes that help shape some of the industry’s most aesthetic images

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n today’s commercial arena, we see first-hand how Photoshop is being pushed to its limits to capture the imaginations of both audiences and artists. This has become apparent in the branding and advertising arenas. Here, a distinct style has arisen; a digital hyperreality promoting contemporary and compelling photoreal imagery. Defying logic, Photoshop’s powerful creative sciences are being deployed to create stimulating and exciting designs. Look to the advertising campaigns for Gisele Bündchen’s line of designer sandals (www. sandaliagiselebundchen.com.br) or the Xbox 360 Rock Band 2 television advert for a mere flavour of photorealism. These examples are a drop in the creative ocean as industries across the globe go about promoting these styles. But with our heads turned by these images, precisely how accessible are these methods to aspiring artists? What techniques exist so you are able to replicate and reinvent styles? Well, Advanced Photoshop teams up with some of the industry’s leading artists and dissects their design processes, revealing that these inventive compositions are not beyond your creative comprehension. From sourcing stock to compositing images, professional retouching and postproduction corrective applications, we highlight numerous techniques and show you just how adept Photoshop is at delivering intuitive invention.

In the branding and advertising arenas, a distinct style has arisen; a digital hyperreality promoting contemporary and compelling photoreal imagery 29

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Feature With a photoreal style, photo stock becomes your creative bread and butter. It becomes the building blocks of every project, with artists dissecting and reconstructing high-resolution examples to great effect. But what are the best ways to obtain such material? Some artists invest in camera hardware to capture their own photographic samples, as the market provides some cost-effective solutions. Established photographer Marc Paeps (www. marcpaeps.com), having produced projects on behalf of top agencies TBWA and Leo Burnett, admits: “I work with a technical micrometric camera on which I have attached a professional 40-pixel digital back.” This allows Paeps to capture larger, more detailed imagery, as well as set a fixed focus throughout the shoot. This means a consistency in settings, making it easier to create composite images. However, this type of camera can be very expensive. If you’re looking for more cost-effective solutions, then Nikon’s D40 sets standards in accessibility and picture quality. With a maximum resolution of 3,008 x 2,000, averaging 8MB images, its lowest price of £246.29 (www.tesco.com) makes it a classic digital SLR purchase, offering high-end technology to enthusiasts. When working on commercial projects, clients will often finance photo stock and may even provide artists with their own photographer. However, sometimes you will need to consider the cost of photo stock yourself. Be aware that prices may vary, depending on the image size and licence. Take, for example, www.istockphoto. com. Working with a credit system, standard-licence high-resolution images can cost up to £15 (around $24). Extended licences can cost £68, which is roughly $109. Artists will tell you that this is a worthy purchase, as the standard of stock is very good in general. Making that extra investment for an extended licence means unlimited use of images in your projects. If these fees are an issue, then approaching freelance or enthusiastic photographers with incentives such as affordable payment or the ability to promote the design in their own portfolios can be beneficial. A simple email goes a long way. International artist Peter Jaworowski, co-owner of the Warsaw-based creative studio Ars Thanea (www.arsthanea.com), agrees as he explains: “By contacting them through their online portfolio you can agree on lighting and angles, which will make your life much easier when putting it all together in Photoshop later on.”

Range to select flat colour backgrounds. Alternatively, they paint out image elements with a black brush. Next, they select these with the Magic Wand tool. Masks are then applied in the Layers palette. To refine imperfections, artists zoom in up to 400%, applying a regular black brush at 20-40% Opacity, 5-10px in size. By selecting the Pen’s Path tool and scrutinising their application, artists will apply drawn paths and convert them to a selection in the Paths palette. Applying a layer mask follows back in the Layers palette. This technique gives artists flexibility going forward with its nondestructive way of working, as you’ll always be able to go back and edit the mask when necessary. However, experienced freelance photographer James Porto (www.jamesporto.com), having worked on projects for Kodak, IBM and GQ, demonstrates how he composites his images as he goes: “The way I tend to work is to start with the most dominant element, make a rough mask using the Pen’s Path tool and frame out the general look of the composition. I then add additional elements and backgrounds in separate layers and try to determine approximately where everything will be.” The image takes shape in a rough form, as Porto adds: “I then refine all the masks using brushes going around the entire edge of each element at a high magnification. Next, I refine the composition with the Move tool and Free Transform option to get all elements to the right scale and position.”

LONDON DAY TRIP. ALLER-RETOUR (RIGHT): Another project produced on behalf of TBWA agency for Eurostar. A great example of cutting and compositing highresolution stock COPYRIGHT: Marc Paeps CLIENT: Eurostar AGENCY: TBWA BREAKOUT (BELOW, TOP): “This image was made for Degree antiperspirant. It was a rare case in advertising where we were given a verbal brief and were asked to create the entire visual” COPYRIGHT: James Porto FAITES VOUS VOTRE PROPRE FILM, LISEZ UN LIVR (BELOW, BOTTOM): A prime example of how filter and colour adjustments really determine the mood in this style COPYRIGHT: Marc Paeps CLIENT: Filigrane AGENCY: Air

Under construction

Jaworowski’s answer leads us to our next question – how do you put together a composition from your photo stock? Artists will first use an array of Photoshop tools to cut and recomposite designs. Quick Mask and Filter>Extract options are quick ways to cut out image elements, but with such a detailed style more precise means are preferred. Layer masks coupled with advanced tools play an important role here. Artists will often duplicate the highest contrast channel in the Channels palette, leaving it the only one visible. Applying Curves or Levels follows so they can clearly define image edges. Once the general shape of the object is established, artists will apply Select>Color

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Photoreal effects

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With a photoreal style, photo stock becomes the building blocks of every project, with artists dissecting and reconstructing high-resolution examples to great effect

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TIP Creating distance

Desaturate certain parts of the image to create the illusion of depth. The background should always look a little desaturated in comparison to the foreground

Essential hardware Recommended kit for those home-based photo studios We appreciate that some enthusiastic artists and photographers will want to produce their own photo stock. This, of course, has its own advantage of getting the exact shots you want, but it can be a heavy investment. So here are some effective solutions for starting out your own home studio. We’ve revealed Nikon’s D40 is an effective hardware solution. However, for those coming to terms with photography, Fujifilm provides an excellent brand with the FinePix S1000fd. Weighing in at an even more economical £117.39 (www.argos.co.uk), this model meets technologies halfway. With manual control over aperture and shutter speed and ten-megapixel quality, it takes all the advantages of DSLR technology without the necessity for interchangeable lenses. Studio ready-made kits are also valuable. Prices can range between $39.99 (around £24.99; www.handhelditems.com), up to $1,549.95 (about £947.48) and beyond (www.bhphotovideo.com). The difference in price undoubtedly determines the quality of your kit. Better diffuse capabilities mean that you can specify your light source in your projects to a better degree. One example is the Elinchrom D-Lite 2 (www. warehouseexpress.com). At £189 (approximately $311), it’s designed to work perfectly with digital cameras. This camera offers amateurs and enthusiasts the same amount of light at the same duration and same colour temperature when the digitally controlled flash is fired. PLEASE NOTE: All prices correct at the time of going to press

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Feature Building up adjustments International freelance artist Pete Jaworowski reveals how he uniformed this image’s effect

To enhance the glass explosion effect, I applied Levels to the corresponding layers, which evened out the exposure. This way, the elements were not too black or dark but just right in light and texture

To ease monocolour, I selected the model and applied both Color Balance and Curves. This brought out the contrast in colour and light, creating a difference between the model and the background

Sparkles and glows were added to increase the dynamism of the entire piece by applying Pen tool layers. Setting an Overlay blending mode and adding Outer Glow brings out effects

At the end, I slightly altered the brightness and contrast using the relative Photoshop options, so the little sparks and details shine through more

Adding two blue photo filters set to Overlay on top of all my image layers created a cool colour cast and calm mood. The blue light was also more natural to the theme

SELF REFLECT COPYRIGHT: Ars Thanea

TIP

TIP

Pay attention to detail throughout your application. The really small changes can really make a difference and polish your final image

When working with many adjustments and effects, stay organised. Put everything into layer groups with different colours and titles

Consideration

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Organisation

Attention to detail coupled with attentive application of Photoshop’s Clone tool goes a long way, too. Without scrutiny, this style loses credibility

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Applying the previous techniques will allow you to construct your compositions with immaculate photographic elements. But what effects follow to produce realism in your images? How are your photo elements integrated? Porto adds: “Once converting to a selection and applying a layer mask, you must activate this. Do so by clicking on the layer mask icon in the actual layer. Run the Filter>Other>Minimum filter set to two pixels, then apply a one-pixel Gaussian Blur. The Pen tool cuts like a razor. This application will first contract the mask and then soften it, giving a natural edge against your new background.” Attention to detail coupled with attentive application of Photoshop’s Clone tool goes a long way, too. Without scrutiny, this style loses credibility. Jaworowski reveals: “To remove small details or cover them, I use the Clone tool or just simply apply a 20% Opacity brush with Pen Pressure in the Brush Presets switched on, using a similar

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Photoreal effects image tone. By using these tools, you can hide or improve many skin imperfections or unnecessary lighting that ruins your vision.” Correcting exposure and lighting using Photoshop’s adjustment options also produces authentic effects. Artists will often apply two live Curve layers to the compositions – one for highlights, the other for shadows – selected from the ‘Create a new fill or adjustment layer’ option at the foot of the Layers palette. Inside each individual layer setting, artists will increase and decrease the Output values by altering anchor points, in turn increasing highlights and shadows. These layer masks on the Curves layer will then be activated and reverted back to their original state by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+I. By selecting a 20% Opacity white brush, artists will manually apply exposure by painting onto the layer masks. Alternatively, for a more straightforward application, artists will apply to an Overlay-Neutral layer. Holding Opt/Alt and clicking the ‘Create a new layer’ option at the foot of the Layers palette lets you set the blending mode to Overlay and activate the Fill with the OverlayNeutral colour option in the settings. This produces a greyed-out layer, where artists will apply black-andwhite lowered opacity brushes to create manual exposure and heighten image definition. This is like applying Burn and Dodge tools, but not as destructive.

THE RED BULLETIN (RIGHT): This image is part of a series produced as cover illustrations created between 2007 and 2008 for The Red Bulletin COPYRIGHT: Ars Thanea MARTINI ASTI ELEMENTS (FAR RIGHT): This image is a great example of how depth of field can produce realism within a piece. It was a finalist in the World Luxury Awards 2008 COPYRIGHT: Ars Thanea MARTINI SODA (BELOW) COPYRIGHT: LSD Studio

Effective solutions

However, there is the hazard of colour distortion with these techniques, as Porto explains: “If a single element in the composition is incorrectly lit or the colour is off, it destroys the illusion of realism. Each element is lit according to where it appears in the composition. Attention to matching light direction and quality at the photography stage lets you drop stock in perfectly at the digital stage. The Color Balance adjustment option, on the other hand, is something that Photoshop is very good at, helping harmonise each image element.” If you adhere to Porto’s advice, then lighting effects rather than amendments will start to shape your composition. HDR (high dynamic range) imagery is a prime example. This contemporary effect can be replicated to an extent within Photoshop. This process is particularly simple and uses the power of Photoshop’s blending modes, and can also be applied to an image as a whole or altered for individual elements. Artists will begin by selecting the image layer, then duplicating and desaturating it. A 50% Opacity Overlay blending mode is then applied followed by Gaussian Blur, with settings dependent on what strength effect you want. Ultimately, you will end up with a soft focus. Then a new merged layer is produced above these by pressing Cmd+Opt+Shift+E (or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E on a PC). This is then duplicated, with the layer set to the Screen blending mode. Duplication is repeated, resetting the blending mode to Multiply. Opacity values for both duplicated layers can be altered to determine the strength of effects. Overlay-Neutral effects can also be coupled with the previous effect to complement your visual outcomes. However, some artists will seek more accessible solutions, like investing in plug-in

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Feature software, such as HDRsoft’s Photomatix (www. hdrsoft.com). This economic alternative provides a free trial before the necessity to purchase at a retail price of $99 (£60.85). Other harmonising effects can be applied using Photoshop’s adjustment options, for instance the Photo Filter, which is usually applied to treat colour casts but can generally be applied to do the opposite and create them. Artists will also apply a Hue/Saturation layer from the ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ options. Saturation levels are then decreased for all tones in the Hue/Saturation Edit drop-down options. This technique is known as selective saturation. With this, artists can distinguish where effects should be applied in the image’s colour spectrum. Layer masks are applied as well, using black brushes with Opacity set to a low value to determine the preferred colour or saturation strength. Creating such diffused styles using this technique serves two purposes, as Jaworowski explains: “In gritty images it’s easier to cover some imperfections. What’s more, the colours are closer to the world we live in so there’s more of a chance the image will affect its target audience when used commercially.”

FREAK WEATHER (RIGHT): This image was made for New York Magazine on the subject of how climate change will affect New York City COPYRIGHT: James Porto SLOPPYJOE G (BELOW, TOP): One image from the 2007 Chick-fil-A calendar where the theme was Cowboy Cows in various guises, urging us all to ‘Eat more chicken’ COPYRIGHT: James Porto MIEUX VAUT PARTIR AVANT (BELOW, BOTTOM): This piece of work reveals how saturation can create depth COPYRIGHT: Marc Paeps CLIENT: Eurostar AGENCY: TBWA

Polishing compositions

Localising any of these effects to individual image elements is simple with Photoshop. Porto reveals that artists will often apply a 100% Quick Mask or appropriate selection tools before applying their adjustment techniques. When directly selecting options from the ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ options, he explains: “If I make a Curve adjustment layer, I do it while holding the Opt/Alt key. This way, you can check the ‘Use previous layer to create clipping mask’ box. Adjusting the curve will apply the correction to your selected area only.” Applying a 100% white brush and painting on the adjustment layer’s mask will then apply clipped effects to other image areas. Specifying blur and sharpening effects definitely maximises the authenticity and aesthetics within your photoreal images. Usually a process left until the final stages of the design, artists will use numerous sharpening techniques, such as the Unsharp Mask filter, before blurring specific image areas. Effects can be applied to image edges, isolated elements or whole compositions. This sharpness adds to the heightened reality of this style. The most common and quick-fire sharpening technique used by professional artists, however, is the application of the High Pass filter. Applied generally to a composition as a whole, artists will duplicate their image layer then apply a Multiply blending mode. Next, High Pass is selected from the Filter>Other options. A two- or three-pixel radius will often create sufficient effects. Layers can be duplicated to add more delineation, too. With a razor-sharp image the blurring can begin, and the most intuitive way to apply this is by producing a depth map. Artists can do this by opening the Color Range option and applying Midtones from the Select drop-down options. With a selection active, an Alpha channel is produced in the Channels palette. Artists will paint out image areas they want unaffected by the blur

effects with a black brush. Applying white will have the adverse effect. Next, a one-pixel Radius Blur is applied and the depth map is complete. Artists then activate the Layers palette and select Lens Blur from the Filter>Blur options. With the Depth Map Source set to Alpha 1, Iris settings can be edited to determine the blur amounts. Applying this technique to a duplicated layer allows layer mask editing and total control over effects. Alternatively, Quick Masks can be applied to isolate image areas for standard blur options, or if your image is still in bits you can apply manually in a gradual process with the Blur tool at varying opacities. Now aware of just how straightforward, effective and efficient these photographic effects can be, how do you finally present your work within the creative industry? Representation from a reputable agency is certainly advantageous, while Porto adds: “Young photographers should begin promoting their names and images nonstop. It works best over time and consistency is key. Attention to simple branding concepts also helps.” Your work is more likely to be noticed if you pay it more creative attention, as Paeps concludes: “It’s necessary to be obsessive with your design at all times. This style is an exercise of precision.”

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Photoreal effects Composing photo elements Piece together vivid photoreal images using simple Photoshop tools and stock Mission Design (www.mission.no) knows just how effective photorealism is within advertising commodities in the branding sector. Mission’s senior designer Karl Martin Sætren reveals how to achieve the effects presented in its attractive project ‘Wildlife’.

1. Contrast and background

4. Details

Now to add some detail. The bird was treated to match the image contrast and lighting, using previous techniques. Then apply a layer mask, hiding elements of the bird layer you don’t want. Add a new layer with a Multiply blending mode set below the bird. Then use a black brush to paint in the bird’s shadow.

Start by applying a Levels adjustment layer and, holding down the Opt/Alt button, drag the white adjustment arrow towards the centre. This whites out the background. Do the same thing with the black arrow to darken the model. Once satisfied, merge effects into a single layer. Repeat this step for the wildlife stock.

5. Composition 2. Masking

Both images are pasted into the same document. Paint out the human head on a new layer then overlap the animal head layer at 50% Opacity. After scaling and rotating this, apply a layer mask and used the Brush tool to make a smooth transition from the head to the neck.

“

COPYRIGHT: Design, art direction and postproduction: Mission (www.mission.no) PHOTOGRAPHY: Pål Laukli (www.tinagent.no)

Young photographers should begin promoting their names and images nonstop. It works best over time and consistency is key

3. Liquify

Select the body layer and isolate the neck area using the Rectangular Marquee tool before activating the Liquify filter. Activate Show Backdrop, setting a 50% Opacity. Apply the Forward Warp tool with a big brush size, pulling the neck area up to fit with the animal head.

“

TIP

The last step is to create a good composition. Make a series of pictures creating variation. Some ought to be cropped closer, and others inverted. Some are meant to be aggressive, others to be calmer. Then scan the ink experiments and apply to the pictures, giving them different blending modes to disrupt the purely photographic look.

Modifications

Correct imperfections with the Clone tool, the Healing tool or the Dodge and Burn tools to preserve the photographic content as faithfully as possible PLEASE NOTE: All prices correct at the time of going to press

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MASTERCLASS

ateer e r C covthis thFeind oimutahgoewftreodmfroomur stic ea is fantaer was crnish in th cov art to fi terclass st o Mas pr

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Master

steampunk styles Learn how to add retrofuturistic elements to your digital paintings

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reating a steampunk-themed portrait is very fun to do. It has loads of elements that can be put in, such as glass and metals, as well as the usual Victorian-style outfits. Common accessories are metallic goggles, ray guns and headphones. But sometimes painting machines and reflective materials can intimidate a painter, especially creating realistic ones. This is because light and colour varies depending on how the light source is set in a specific environment and the object’s structure. To overcome this, you must understand how certain materials, like metal, glass, cloth and leather, reflect and absorb light. You must also observe how a material’s texture characteristics flow and make up an object. In this walkthrough you will learn how to effectively paint specific materials, such as metal, glass, leather and cloth. But here’s the twist: you will paint the image until it

is almost complete using only one brush, the default Circle brush set to Pen Pressure with Opacity and Flow at 100% . Through this, you will be able to concentrate and understand the basics without relying heavily on custom brushes to do the job for you. You won’t learn magical tips and tricks, which most of the time are only applicable for a specific design. Instead, you’ll get the right foundation and basics in painting. To finish, instead of using photos to add texture to the image, you’ll use custom brushes to help add volume to the materials. Patience is needed in creating this image, as it takes time and understanding. Remember, a delicious soup doesn’t just come from a can nor is it made from instant cubes, but it comes about by combining all manner of fresh ingredients, carefully prepared and then cooked over a decent amount of time. Now it’s time to start creating and cook up a storm!

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Sketch and studies It is forever drilled into artists that they should always start with sketches and see what works and what doesn’t. It is better to know at this early stage if your design will work well with the entire composition. It’s good to spend time here rather than learn that things don’t work out after you have already painted most of the image.

Block and define shapes Start off with a predetermined light source or use Filter>Render>Lighting Effects to quickly do it for you. Defining shapes and adding shadows will make it easier for you to know where the light is coming from. You don’t need to dwell too much on details at this point, as you first need to sort out the overall lighting and outline sketches to correct every angle and proportion before getting bogged down by extra details.

ON THE DISC On the cover disc, you will find the set of brushes needed for this tutorial, mostly used in adding textures. Also included is the isometric drawing sheet as an additional reference.

OUR EXPERT

Jeffrey M.de Guzman

Jeffrey M.de Guzman is a concept artist and matte painter for a VFX company in Makati City, Philippines. He is an Excellence Award winner for Golden Bee in the Portrait Painted category for Ballistic Publishing’s Exposé 6, which was also chosen as the cover for the Limited Edition. Other works of his have also been published in Exotique 3 and 4, as well as appearing on the cover of Advanced Photoshop. www.jeffmdart.com

Know isometrics, volume and light Before jumping in, you need to understand the basics of isometric drawing. This will give you a more solid look with your design structure. By knowing its compositional grain, you are able to mimic how a certain material is made. This will show how highlights, reflections and shadows behave. Take, for example, a cylinder and a pipe. If it was rendered without knowing the structure, realism would never be achieved. Upon knowing the basic idea of it, adding volume to a flat image ought to be easy. You can quickly determine which part will be well lit, where shadows fall off and how reflections and textures behave.

“You must understand how materials like metal, glass and cloth reflect and absorb light and colour” 37

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MASTERCLASS 3

Design the backpack At this stage, paint it loose and let your design ideas flow. Try to think what looks good first and then edit it later on. Don’t lose sight of the fact that your design should show function and sensibility. It should not only look good, but it must also look right. Draw your inspiration from different types of engines, as it will give you loads of ideas to start with.

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Use the Rectangle tool After designing your machine, you can now start refining it to the last detail. Using the Shape tools, choose the Rectangle and outline your design. You may Free Transform it as well, using Cmd/Ctrl+T, to precisely fit it in. While still on the Rectangle tool, shift to the Brush tool, Cmd/Ctrl+B, reduce the Brush Size to 1 and hit Enter to render the path. Go back to the Rectangle tool, Cmd/ Ctrl+U, and hit Enter to clear the path.

Colour wash (previsualisation) An essential addition to your workflow is knowing the colour theme and harmony of your image early on. You will be able to determine what material to paint and how their colours affect each other when placed side by side. With this understanding, you will be able to easily paint materials in their realistic nature.

Use the Pen tool Once two points are placed, the lever arm can be adjusted to the desired curve by holding Opt/Alt. By holding Cmd/Ctrl, a point can be repositioned to another place. To create multiple line paths, hold Cmd/Ctrl and click in the canvas space to deactivate the existing line or path. Then switch to the Brush tool, reduce the Brush Size to 1 and hit Enter to have it rendered. Go back to the Pen tool, Cmd/Ctrl+P, and hit Enter to clear the path.

Know your composition A good portrait needs to have a good and balanced composition. Eyes need to flow freely in the image based on the elements you have created. From the face, which is the focal point, to the backpack, which is the secondary point of interest, adding details like a watch, gauges and ray gun directs the eye flow around the image. Also, hand poses and angles help build a strong composition.

Steampunk ideas Steampunk denotes technology during the Victorian era in England where steam power was widely used. This theme has been popularised with the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. This can be a great resource when looking for steampunk references. Also, one famous website discusses in-depth steampunk engine design techniques, which can be found at www.crabfu. com in the steam toys category. It teaches how a steam engine works and how to design it, while steam-powered toys have actually been created. You might not be able to totally understand the technical aspect of it, but knowing the basics of steam power will give you an idea. Another inspirational reference are the engines of motorcycles. Not only were they created to be aesthetically pleasing, but they are functional as well. They are some of the most intricate designs that can be found easily to give you an idea about creating a steampunk engine. You can find great motorcycle designs that are custom-made at www.westcoastchoppers.com/choppers.

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Background Although the background is only sky, it plays a big factor, as this will serve as the basis of your colour palette, just as the colour of the ocean is affected when it reflects the clouds and sky. With the skin brush from back in issue 48 (www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorials. php), first paint in cloud formations with a base colour. Adjust the hues as you add highlights and shadows to it.

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Build the cylinder Press U to switch to the Shape tool, then choose Ellipse. Hold Shift and drag to create a perfect circle. Free Transform and distort to fit the Free Transform border with the isometric guidelines. The central rotating axis point should be in line where the cylinder’s central diameter is located. Convert to a line stroke using the Brush tool. Create the biggest circle first then duplicate it, resize while holding Shift and reposition.

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Paint pipes Create the base of the pipe and turn on the Preserve Transparency button. With the light source set, gradually paint strokes following the path of the pipe. The more you build up strokes, the more realistic it gets as reflections and shadows are easily copied this way. Gradually adjust colour tones while doing this. Highlights and reflections are elongated in a pipe’s nature, so there is no need to be accurate. Suggestions of these would be enough, as it won’t be readable anyway.

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Paint the cylinder Once all the outlines are in place, merge all outline layers and lower the Opacity to 35%. Add a new layer beneath the guidelines and paint the base colour first. Turn on the Preserve Transparency button so that you don’t have any worries about painting outside the base. Paint in the direction following its grain structure. Continue to build up your paint strokes, as this gives a natural look to it. Emphasise shadows and highlights using the Dodge and Burn tools.

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Pipe base To create the base of the pipes, start off with the Ellipse and create a circle, then Free Transform to fit the pipe’s diameter. Duplicate and position to the other end. Switch to the Pen tool, mark two points creating a straight line then create another point to where the curve ends. While still holding on the left, click and drag until it fits the curve. Repeat the process until you have completed it. Switch to the Brush tool and press Enter to have the paths lined out.

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Make the heat sink With the Rectangle tool, Free Transform and fit in one part of the heat sink. Right-click and fill the path with any colour. Duplicate the layer, drag below the previous layer and adjust the colour so that it’s darker than the previous. On the first piece of the heat sink, use the Dodge tool to brighten the middle part. Hold Shift to create a straight line on an angle, then merge both layers.

“Always reserve one piece of the heat sink plate in case it is needed for later”

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Assemble the heat sink With the first piece done, duplicate the layers and carefully align them according to the guidelines and spaces. Merge all heat sink layers and then desaturate with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+U. Pull up the Hue/Saturation palette and colourise with a colour between a light brown and gold. Always reserve one piece of the heat sink plate in case it is needed for later.

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Disc base This is the same procedure as the cylinder. But unlike that, this shows a flat surface with a little angle, showing very little amount of perspective shift. Simply create a circle and Free Transform following the guidelines. Duplicate the circle and resize using the central pivot point of the Free Transform as a guide to correctly put it in place.

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Paint the disc Now paint the base and turn on the layer’s Preserve Transparency button. Paint with strokes coming from the disc’s circumference towards the centre with a small circular brush. Add light-coloured highlights in a circular path following the boundary and add the same strokes for the dark part on the opposite side. Again paint with strokes coming from the boundary towards the centre, and complete the rendering with the Dodge tool.

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Flat surfaces Create a path using the Rectangle tool, and then right-click Fill with a gold colour to act as a base colour. Pick another colour lighter than the base and use a circular brush to paint with multiple, almost perfect vertical strokes, changing the colour hues with every stroke. Since this is a flat surface, this may act like a mirror, perfectly capturing a reflection. So check if the surface being rendered has to reflect something else.

Quick tip By holding the Shift button, you can easily create straight horizontal and vertical lines with the Brush tool. Hold the Shift button while tapping or clicking with the left mouse button from end to end creates a straight line on different angles. This can also be used with the Eraser, Dodge and Burn tools.

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Easy glass technique Since the material is transparent, the only thing you need to know is how its reflection and highlights behave based on its shape. For a cylinder, the idea is the same as a pipe. For flat circular surfaces take a look at how you rendered the disc, and for the gauges simply follow the contour. Lightly paint highlights with a white colour following the objects’ grain structure.

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Leathers The leathers are also made of a shiny material and light bounce from it. Follow the contour and shape when painting over it using a brown colour. Then use the Burn tool for shadowed areas and the Dodge tool to add highlights. This will give enough volume where the material contours. Add a new layer on top of it set to Soft Light, then lightly paint a desaturated blue on shadowed parts and light orange on areas near the highlights for a believable leather look. Finally, merge both layers.

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The fabric Know your folds as this will show how believable and realistic the rendering can end up. Use a 50% grey for the shadowed areas and 10% grey on areas that are lit. White and colour values for the lit areas should stay almost at the same level, as this absorbs light and doesn’t reflect it. Add a new layer on top set to Soft Light and lightly paint light yellow over it.

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Fabric texture Using the scratch brush created back in issue 48 (also included on the CD), add a new layer and set it to Overlay. Choose a white colour and randomly paint over the fabric. Erase out parts where textures are less noticeable, often in the shadowed areas. Don’t forget to individually warp each texture to fit the fabric’s contour. Once done, merge with the fabric layer.

Patterns overlay To make the fabric look more interesting, small patterns act as good additions. Quickly create a brush using an overlapping letter B with the Text tool on two layers merged on a new document. Next, add a new layer on top of the fabric set to Overlay, then randomly brush in the patterns to different spots. Use the Lasso tool (Cmd/Ctrl+L) and, one by one, select the pattern and Free Transform to use the warp function, then warp each pattern according to the fabric’s contour. Now use the Dodge and Burn tools to emphasise the pattern’s shadows and highlights.

“Since the material is transparent, the only thing you need to know is how its reflection and highlights behave based on its shape. For a cylinder, the idea is the same as a pipe” 40

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Design the ray gun The ray gun’s design is a standard offering, but give it a few twists by adding different elements and details. Using the same techniques learnt with the engine, like backpack elements, you can easily repeat the same procedure and apply it here. Also, quickly block in shapes and see if the design fits the overall image.

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Paint the ray gun The same techniques also apply in painting the parts. Separate individual pieces onto different layers, so that it is easy to render them later on. Once completed, merge all layer parts and finish off with the Dodge tool on areas where light reflects the most to be able emphasise metallic parts of it. Add a new Overlay layer and paint subtle textures using the pores brush.

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Gem pattern Now you need to determine the cut you will be giving to the stone. Create a simple pattern and lay it out to the position where you will paint the gem. Lower the pattern guide’s Opacity to 40%. You need to establish the lighting and perspective to make it look believable. Quickly block out shapes to build the form.

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Paint the gem Rather than painting the entire gem, you need to tackle one facet at a time, beginning with the side where your light source is. Because every cut on the jewellery has a different angle and direction, colour and light reacts differently, too. Not only is this reflective, but light will pass through it as well. Paint dark areas of colour to apply depth to it.

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Colour additions and corrections You can easily adjust colours and target specific areas by duplicating your image and creating colour variations to parts that you want to enhance. This could be adding more cyan to areas of the leather, adding yellow to metal highlights, etc. Put all variations in a clipping mask with a layer mask filled with black. On the layer mask, use a brush with white as the foreground colour. This lets you reveal the portion where brushing is being applied to. Colours of certain parts can now be added and corrected by painting them all over again.

“Because every cut on the jewellery has a different angle and direction, colour and light reacts differently, too”

Texture overlays Once every element has been completed, merge them all up. This way, it will be easier to add textures to it. Add an Overlay layer to the image and use the custom brushes created in past Workshops, included on the CD. Use the cracks brush for the machine, the pores brush for the leather and skin and the scratch brush for the cloth. Erase away any unwanted portions.

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Frame and noise Create a simple textured frame above the background set to Hard Light and lower the Opacity to 75%. Add a new layer filled with white. Go to Filter> Noise>Add Noise and set it to 12%. Set the layer to Multiply and lower the layer Opacity to 5%. Adding noise mimics photo grains, which gives it a slightly nondigital rendered look to it. Flatten all the layers and you’re done!

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insight 50 Lashes: “50 stands of thread were combined and stuck to the model’s eyelid. Crystals were added to their ends for a glamorous touch”

Skin Dee p: clay shards “A number of w These were ere created. th and arrang en coloured ed as nece ssary in order to crea appearance te the of a bizarre DIY beauty kit scene”

Nickelodeon Kid ’s Choice Award 20 08: “This television promotion al artwork was produced in col laboration with Roger”

tellite Sirius Sa n his televisio “T : io d Ra as t artwork w ep nc co rt adve llaboration co in ed uc prod d Country” with King an

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: g On Me Countin t of se r be “A num ers was cookie cutt te the used to crea al met illusion of in the openings s in. The card model’s sk lly fu re ca were and arranged ed within photograph ir” ha ’s el od the m

ple 4 step: “A sim g usin technique of from the same feet es to different angl . The appear as four s wa main concern to for positioning n” sio capture the illu

Brian Walker Website: www.lickthesun.com Clients: Plastic Fantastic, blank_space gallery, Precious Fleshous, Horus & Deloris Gallery (solo show) Plastic Fantastic, blank_space gallery (solo show) Projections 08, Cremorne Theatre (group show) Advantageous is the word to sum up the attitude of digital artist Brian Walker. Starting his freelance career as a photographer during and after university for the State Library of New South Wales, Walker went on to work for numerous advertising agencies. But he soon began to realise that creativity was severely lacking in his design life. This led Walker on an overseas trip to London with his now wife, where he stayed for a year. “I began concentrating on my photography and had some fun commissions,” he explains. Over time he progressively taught himself more about photography and developed his own style. “I would photograph models for agencies and collaborate with hair and make-up students. I worked with emerging fashion designers, always looking for fresher and more eccentric styles. From there I began exhibiting and working on various editorials, but still focused on my work as a practising artist,” Walker adds. Walker still loves to draw traditionally, with his sketches becoming the visual, manual and creative dictator at his photoshoots. “From these initial strange ideas I begin to work through every detail I see, necessary to produce the image, such as props, rough outfits and the hair and make-up I am thinking of,” he explains. Digital application then fleshes out these designs, with his final works having an uncanny resemblance to their sketch-based siblings. Walker’s overall style is one that challenges the line between reality and the surreal, through a playfully kitsch approach. “I am a concept junkie,” he embellishes. “I relish a tasty piece of brain tickling. I guess that explains my obsession with popular culture.”

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Step-by-step

Workshop

METALLIC TYPOGRAPHY Create a steampunk-style type using stock images and Photoshop ON THE DISC On the cover disc you’ll find three Photoshop files: one with how the grid was constructed, one of how the letter ‘Y’ is constructed in Photoshop and one of the final composition with its layering.

OUR EXPERT

Theo Aartsma

Theo Aartsma is a 27-year-old freelance graphic designer/ illustrator from the Netherlands. With his Sumeco identity, he primarily specialises in experimental 3D and illustrated typography. www.sumeco.net

T

his issue we’re being inspired by Steampunk left, right and centre! If you’ve been trying out our digital painting tutorial on page 36, then what we’ve got here is the perfect typography to go with it. In this tutorial, we take a look at what’s involved in creating a steampunk-style type. This will involve Neo-Victorian ornaments combined with industrial elements from the era of steam technology, all using stock imagery or even your own photography. Because these are both strong and distinct in visual language, the two elements hugely inspire many illustrators and digital artists in their work.

First of all, we will be focusing on how to set up a structure for a piece of illustrated typography, which can be applied to any typographical piece of work. After that, we will be using Photoshop to construct a letter using different elements from stock photos and then bring it together to make it look like a whole. The last step will be to present the illustration suitably. For this walkthrough, you won’t need anything more than just plain old Photoshop and some metallic stock images. We used CS3, but it can be done just as well with other versions of the program, as we are only going to be using basic functions like cutting and brushwork.

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“The style of steampunk is characterised by very straight industrial beams, while other elements combined with ornaments flow around these”

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Set up the document Go straight to Photoshop and create a new document. We’ve done our research on the subject in order to find out how to make this style work. Adjust the settings so that the canvas is sized to A3 and positioned as landscape, set to 420mm by 297mm at 300dpi.

Make a sample By now, you should have an idea of which shapes are going to be used and where they are going to be placed. However, it’s useful to create a sample to make sure that what you’re planning is actually possible. The screenshot shows an example of this, focusing at this point on gaining an idea of the sample’s structure.

Get a structure It is clear that the lines of the ornament are very straight. The style of steampunk is characterised by very straight industrial beams, while other elements combined with ornaments flow over and around these. Symmetry is also clearly in evidence. Circles are good to make the joints, as they were a common geometrical form used in the steam industry. These can also be covered in ornaments.

Lay out a grid The type needs very straight lines in order to fit into the theme. First of all, fill your background with a black colour. To obtain a grid, create a new layer and draw a square (hold Shift while drawing) with the Rectangle tool, using a white colour. Drop the alpha down a bit, then repeat a few more times to create a structure similar to the one in the screenshot. An example is on the CD.

Activate the rulers Merge these layers and, holding Opt/Alt and Shift, drag and copy them to match the structure in the screenshot. The green lines are the guides that are going to be added. First, turn on Photoshop’s rulers (Cmd/Ctrl+;). With the rulers activated, click and drag guides from the rulers onto the canvas and cover the complete structure in this way.

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Design the type Next, draw a type on a new layer similar to the one shown in the screenshot. The Rectangle tool is useful for doing this. Bear in mind that it can be pretty rough at this stage, as it is only going to be used for reference. Keep the type within the letter frame and the centre struts while placing it over middle of the line. Once done, roughly halve the transparency and then turn off the guides.

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Look for stock At this stage, the letters need a bit more character. You can look for good stock on the internet, or alternatively you can shoot your own. For this walkthrough, free stock was used from www.cgtextures. com, which is one of the best stock resources for textures on the web. Once good examples are found, they need cutting and trimming, for which the Pen tool or Polygon Lasso tool are useful.

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Step-by-step

Workshop 8

Cut stock with the Pen tool To cut out an ornament, first select the Pen tool. Draw the path using the Cmd/Ctrl and Opt/Alt keys to modify it while drawing. After you have closed the path, go to the Paths panel and make a selection from the path to cut out.

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Import the elements When some of the elements are cut out, you can begin importing them to your type canvas. Just keep adding as many elements as possible, as the more variety there is, the better your type will be for it. In other words, the less you have to duplicate, the better.

Work with Levels Don’t be afraid to try out different ways of working. For example, instead of working with Levels, you could also use Curves. These are a little more precise for tweaking, whereas Levels generally aid a faster workflow. To find out more about how this works, visit www. cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/levels. htm. This website gives a good overview of the possibilities of the tool.

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Move into place To avoid cluttering the canvas, start to resize and Free Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T) pieces and try to fit them in the places you would like to see them. Follow this up by desaturating (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+U) the elements. In terms of practicality, the next few steps will concentrate on the ‘Y’ only.

“Add as many elements as possible, as the more variety there is, the better your type will be. In other words, the less you have to duplicate, the better”

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Layering Bear in mind that for the structure you need the circle shapes for the joints and beams for the struts. Next, layer everything on top of each other. It’s best to have the circle shapes on top and the beams on the bottom. Place most of the ornaments between the circles and the beams, and then some above the circles and some below the beams.

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Levels matching Not every photo matches well with the others. It’s not the colour that is the issue here; instead, this effect is mostly due to the Levels. Adjust these where necessary. Play around with the sliders and aim to match the Levels settings with those of another image.

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All together After all the elements are in there and in place with the right values, it should look similar to the screenshot. It doesn’t take long to create all of the other letters in the same way as this one, but it means you will probably need even more images.

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Solve problems with shadows Add shadows to the little elements so they merge better. This is also a good way to mask some of the problems with Levels and lighting that couldn’t be solved earlier. Creases and lighting problems are among the issues that casting shadows onto objects can resolve.

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Add shadows Next, select the layer that you want to add shadow to, then hold Cmd/Ctrl+H and click on that layer to make a selection of it. Now, on a new layer, use a soft black brush sized to around 35 to 45 and brush in some shadow. You can control the density of the shadow with the Opacity setting. This should be done for every layer that needs shadow.

“Add shadows to the little elements so they merge a bit better. This is also a good way to mask some of the problems with Levels and lighting”

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Global shadow After you have completed the shadows for each layer, merge all the layers and give the whole type a global shadow. This can be done in exactly the same way as the previous step. It will help make the typography look less flat and more like a whole.

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Colour palette Now that it is all combined, it’s time to add some colours again. Create a small colour palette on a new layer, and then choose colours you think will suit the theme. After creating the palette and a new layer, make a selection of the type (hold Cmd/Ctrl+H and click on the layer) and start brushing with a big soft brush with one of the selected colours. Set the blending mode of the colour layer to Color and bring the Opacity down to 57.

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Copper colour The colours need a good copper feel to them, gained by getting textures from CGTextures once more. Before importing the main copper texture into the canvas, give it a large Gaussian Blur. Repeat this step with an oxidised green copper texture, giving it a smaller blur to keep more speckles.

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More colours Import the textures and place them on top of the type. Make a selection of the type (hold Cmd/Ctrl+H and click on the layer), then inverse it to delete the part of the textures you don’t want. Play with the layer modes to see what works best, though you may find that Multiply and Overlay work the best.

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The background The last step is to present it within a nice environment. Merge all the type and colour layers to tweak the letter spacing and composition; a light background works well here, perhaps with a very light background gradient. With a large brush, paint a vignette effect for the borders.

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Step-by-step

Workshop

PATHS AND THE PEN TOOL Master these two key Photoshop tools and you can create this stunning disintegration effect using any stock photo

T

he point of this tutorial is to learn how to take an ordinary photo and manipulate it so that it looks pulled apart. This effect can be described as ‘disintegrating’. To follow this tutorial successfully, it is important to have a broad understanding of all of the tools in the palette box. It is necessary to have a somewhat extensive knowledge of fundamental tools, such as the Pen tool, the Brush tool and the Gradient tool. The piece Self Reflect by Peter

Artwork © Richard Roberts

ON THE DISC The image that we used is from iStockphoto.com, image number ‘8745043’. However, we have included some model shots on the disc for you to use, or you can pick any of your own.

OUR EXPERT

Richard Roberts

Richard is an aspiring freelance designer and artist located in the US. He was born in the UK and his interest in designing started four years ago. Recently, he opened his online portfolio and freelance website at www. theotherstream.com.

“It is necessary to have a somewhat extensive knowledge of fundamental tools, such as the Pen tool, the Brush tool and the Gradient tool”

1

Base image The first step is to get your base stock image. Once you have done that, start to cut out the female from her original background. When you have her cut out, create a tan gradient background using light and dark tans. Once you have the background set, apply a white Radial Gradient behind her head for lighting. Now go to Image>Apply Image and it will create a new layer of everything you have made merged together. This layer is crucial, as it will be known as the stock layer from now on.

Jaworowski was inspiration for creating this tutorial, which you can see on page 32 this issue, demonstrating one way to produce the disintegrating effect with a photograph. Photoshop is the program of choice when performing this tutorial, as it is simply the best photo-editing program with endless possibilities. Using Photoshop and starting from scratch produces original artwork against using plug-ins, which gives less control over the finished product.

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Pen tool Next, start to create the disintegrating effect. First, grab the Pen tool, making sure that it is on the Paths settings and not the Shape Layers option. Once you have that ready, duplicate the stock photo and start making paths, creating random shapes. When you have a few, right-click and click Make Selection. Once that’s done, click Cmd/Ctrl+J and move the shapes over a bit from their original positions. This will distort the image a bit, which is what you want.

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Making shapes Create small shapes using the same process, but this time zoom in a few times for detail. After you have made about ten small shapes or more, right-click the duplicated stock image, click Add Selection and all the paths you created will turn into selected shapes. Hit Cmd/ Ctrl+J and move the shapes a bit over from the original position to make it seem as if they’re getting pulled from her.

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Model photo from iStockphoto.com. Image number: 8745043. Photographer: Quavondo

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Step-by-step

Workshop 4

Pondering the Pen tool

Path tool Next, create paths around certain body parts, such as the lips, eyes and cheeks. Cut out each part separately on its own layer using the Path tool method explained previously. Then move each body part to the side of the female to add a surreal touch to the piece. Keep an eye out for the placement, as you don’t want to disrupt the composition of the piece, so be sure to pick a good place.

Using the Pen tool is basically what this whole tutorial is about. If you lack the knowledge of it, you may have some trouble with this tutorial. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you out. We have provided an image pointing out which tool is the Pen tool and what setting you need to have it on to create paths. The yellow circle at the top is the setting that you need it on to have paths. The other yellow circle in the toolbar points out the Pen tool. You can also see a random shape making four points. After the shape was made, we right-clicked the shape and a box comes up as shown in the screenshot. Click OK and leave the default settings, as you will then see a selection come up around your shape. Click Cmd/Ctrl+J and your selection creates a shape. Make sure that you’re doing it on your duplicated stock layer.

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Disintegrating effect Zoom in three to four times on the image and use the Pen tool to draw paths, creating very small round shapes on the edge of the arms, shoulders, etc. After you have made a good 20 or so of them, right-click and make a selection again, hit Cmd/Ctrl+J and move the shapes off the body, with some touching and some not. This will create a disintegrating effect for that part in particular.

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Pull shapes Create shapes on the duplicated stock image layer, but this time create bigger rectangular shapes of the upper body. Move them upwards as that will be the direction of the overall piece. This step can be repeated, but try to create shapes more from the background. Once created, move the background shapes towards the skin. This will appear as though the skin is disintegrating with some parts missing.

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Shirt The next step is to focus on the shirt. For this, create a variety of paths with different shapes on each side of the shirt towards the edges. After you have a good amount and variety, make the selection and hit Cmd/Ctrl+J on the duplicated stock layer, then move the shapes to the side a bit to give the effect of it being pulled away in pieces.

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Upper body Continue to follow the same process, duplicating more shapes on the upper body. Create long, thin rectangle shapes on the neck and the shoulders facing upwards, then zoom in and create small circle shapes on the shoulder area. Be sure to make as many as you want to show that the skin is coming apart. Also, cut out part of the cheek and move it out to the side. This will add to the piece overall when it’s finished.

Arms Continue to do the same thing to the other shoulder as you did in the previous step. Make sure you have an overall direction with all the shapes you are creating and duplicating. Now turn your focus onto the left arm. Zoom in a few times until you can see only the edge of the arm, then click your duplicated stock layer that you keep going back to with every step and start making little circle shapes on the background and edge of the arm. Once you have over 20 or so, make a selection and hit Cmd/Ctrl+J, moving them towards the edge of the arm. This will create the appearance that parts of the arm are being pulled out.

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Shirt sides The next step is to keep creating shapes on the side of the arms and around the body. Keep building it up over time, as the more you have, the better the detail and the better the overall end result. Now focus on the sides of the shirt. Create 20 to 30 small shapes on each side of the background of the stock images, particularly small circular shapes. Create the selection and hit Cmd/Ctrl+J on the stock photo image. Then move your shapes inward.

Small details Now you need to focus on very small details, which add to the piece, making it more realistic and adding far greater detail. Zoom in very close to the image, pick a part of the skin and create very small shapes. Make a good 30 or 40 of these. After you have done this and the shapes are created, move the shapes on the edge of the body, using the method that you have been doing throughout the tutorial to make it appear that small particles are being pulled off the female. After you have done this once, duplicate this layer and move the particles to different parts of the body. This saves time and also allows you to add more small particles in different places.

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Strips Now start to make some shapes using paths, but this time create very long strips. Have them facing upwards as if they were getting pulled up off her. Create paths on the shirt, shoulders, skin, neck, etc. After you have a few, make the selection the stock image layer, create the shapes and then proceed to move them upwards.

Hair shapes We now move on to the hair in the photo, which doesn’t need a lot of work. Create some more shapes throughout the hair and the area surrounding it. Once completed, make a selection and duplicate it from the stock layer, then move it to the left and repeat the process for the right-hand side. This will create disintegrating effects around the head to complement the rest.

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Particles Next, just keep adding small particles. Follow the previous step but create the small shapes in different parts, for example, create some on the background, some on the shirt, some on the skin. Keep doing this until you have added them all around the image, creating a lot of details.

“The shapes become more interesting because they consist of other shapes you have previously made” Quick tip It is a good idea to add a blur to some of the shapes as you go along. Do this by using the Blur tool. This helps to create depth in the artwork, as it looks as if these pieces are being pulled away from the model at speed. Just blur as many as looks right for your composition.

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Hair styles Now revert your attention back to the hair. Zoom in very close as done in previous steps and create very small circle shapes on the hair using paths, and make a selection on the stock layer then duplicate it. Once done, move them to the sides to create effects coming off the hair.

New layer Start to bring in some more shapes around the sides and around the neck, creating an overall upwards direction. Blur some parts for depth as you did in the previous step. Go to the top of your layers and follow Image>Apply Image, and this will create a layer with everything you have done so far. Use this as the stock image that you create shapes out of. The benefit of this is that the shapes become more interesting because they consist of other shapes you have previously made.

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Step-by-step

Workshop Quick tip One helpful piece of information to know is that if you take a small brush sized 10 or smaller and you pick the same colour as your background, you can draw on the background hitting into the model. This will create an effect of her denigrating. Try doing this to add small details.

19

Further details Now we move onto adding a few more details here and there. Go to the top of your layers and go to Image>Apply Image. Now take your Pen tool and create some paths. Make different shapes, some small detailed ones and some other large ones. The key is to make sure you have some direction to the larger shapes. After you have created them, right-click and select Make Selection, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+J and you’ll have some more shapes. Then proceed to move the shapes wherever you want. Placement is key so be patient and careful when placing the shapes.

22

Finishing touches The next step just involves adding finishing touches. Create a black-and-white Gradient Map and switch the layer blending mode to Luminosity. This will improve the overall lighting as well as bring out the tones of the piece. You can also play with the Contrast settings until it looks just right.

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Moving shapes Creating all of the shapes is a long tedious task, but in the end the outcome pays off. For this step, keep creating small particle shapes as shown in previous steps and have them scattered around the edge of the body and on the body for more details. Also, start to create some more shapes using paths and then create a selection on the stock layer. Move these shapes around the neck, blurring some for depth.

Problem solving Now go through the piece to see if you can rotate any pieces for better direction and overall flow. Add some soft white or black brushing with an Overlay blending mode for dimension. Where you want lighting to have more contrast, add black brushing on Soft Light. Also, do the same thing if you want to add shading or more dimension to a shape.

Lighting effects Take a yellow soft brush sized to 15 or smaller, and start to brush strokes on different parts of the shapes you have made. Set the blending mode to Linear Dodge, then take the Eraser and erase parts of the yellow strokes to give a more neutral fine edge to them. Take a black soft brush and go over where you have added the lighting effect using the Soft Light blending mode. Add a black-and-white Gradient Map to the piece and set to Luminosity.

Cleaning up After you have done this, go back through your layers and delete all the layers that you made to make the shapes, as they are not needed any more. These are the ones that when designing the piece, you selected Image>Apply Image to make shapes from. After you have made them, make sure that you delete that layer you made.

23

Sharpen The final step is to go to Image> Apply Image. Then go to Filter and then Sharpen. If some parts look like they have been sharpened too much, take a soft round brush, set to 50% Opacity, and go over the parts that are too sharpened.

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insight Marek Haiduk Website: www.marekhaiduk.de Clients: Fox Atomic, Financial Times (Germany), Museum of Tourism, Meran, Italy Marek Haiduk describes himself in one word – “autodidact” – and it fits like a glove. You see, Haiduk is an artist who has acquired a great deal of creative knowledge despite no formal education. Experimentation and online activity has been his teacher. This is certainly reflected in his mixed-media style and creative method. Haiduk believes that too many plug-ins and filters can become misleading, but not altogether useless. However, he likes to stick to standard cut-and-paste methods, applied to his scanned images using drawn vector paths. “It’s a bit old-school, but for me it’s the best and fastest way. Especially when working with a graphics tablet,” he admits. However, Haiduk has embraced the nondestructive capabilities of digital media, namely layer masks. “I use these so the original image is still intact. In fact, I use layer masks for nearly everything, much like adjustment layers. I often only alter the Levels and adjust Hue/Saturation. I like to keep the grainy and old look of my images, so I don’t retouch too much.” His graphic style has won him many admirers in the editorial sector. Fox Atomic and Athesia publishing house (www.athesiadruck.it/en) are notable additions to his client list. The latter gave him his first big break. Sourced online by GGG/ Design Factory (www.gruppegut.it), his work was included in the title Being Parents – Growing Up With Children, an advisory book for parents. This undoubtedly led to bigger and better things, with Haiduk presently producing work for the Financial Times newspaper in his native Germany. the MBA ur ncerning created co can you finance yo as w is h “T : ow sources” Studies Administration). H ey g on in m c t n en s Fina sines differ oking for aster of Bu degree (M image resembles lo ermany) 2009 is (G Th es s? m ie stud cial Ti ht: Finan Copyrig

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Revoluti on wanted to st : “I ay mostly mon ochrome with this on e, only showing a bi t of red. Usually, I am fo working with nd of minimum co lours in my personal works”

Comic-Con: “Two-inone illustration for an article for the upcoming Comic-Con in the US. These two pieces are part of a series about the convention. I decided on the coloured stripes, which are, in fact, parts of a shirt found in a style magazine from the late Fifties” Copyright: Fox Atomic 2009

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Step-by-step

Workshop

COLOURFUL ILLUSTRATIONS Use stock images and Photoshop’s tools to emulate a popular abstract style

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ON THE DISC There are no files on the CD as you can follow this tutorial using any stock images you like. We’ll tell you which free Stock.XCHNG images we used as we go through the tutorial.

OUR EXPERT

Anthony Giacomino

Anthony is a 19-year-old self-taught digital artist pursuing a professional career in graphic design. He resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a freelance designer and student. You can take a look at his online showcase at www.agiaco.net.

A

bstract is becoming more popular in advertising, so learning the basics of creating colourful shapes and abstract compositions will help expand your design knowledge in addition to thinking outside of the box. In this tutorial, we will learn how to create a bright and colourful abstract design, teaching versatile techniques that can be applied to many other projects. While Adobe Illustrator does offer vector graphics, Photoshop is still a great program for abstract design because of the Transform tools and the Liquify filter. Manipulating shapes is much easier because of the variety of tools and features that are specific to Photoshop. In this walkthrough, we will explore different ways of using the Liquify feature to create malleable lines, Transform tools such as Warp and Distort, and creating colourful gradients and shapes on a light blue background. Basic guidelines for creating an interesting composition will be covered as well. This tutorial is written assuming you know the very basics of navigation and tools in Photoshop. Photoshop CS3 or higher is preferred, as tools like Warp only exist in the newest versions.

Expand your thinking

“Learning the basics of creating colourful shapes and abstract compositions will help expand your design knowledge”

When starting an abstract design, it is important to unleash your creativity through experimentation. Photoshop offers plenty of features, and with a little bit of thinking you will be able to create many interesting combinations of shapes, colours and patterns. Try not to limit yourself to only the tools you are familiar with, but instead explore Photoshop in its entirety to learn more. Experimenting is a crucial aspect of abstract design, so expect to make a lot of projects specifically for practice. The more you practise, the more tools will be at your disposal for creating that stunning abstract piece you have been waiting for.

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Step-by-step

Workshop 1

Start to make shapes Create a new document at your chosen size (ours is 350 x 305mm, 300dpi). Fill the Background layer with white if it’s not already. Create a new layer and, using the Polygonal Lasso tool, create a long triangle. Select the Gradient tool and create a gradient with the following three colours: ‘00a1c2’, ‘e2ff22’ and ‘f81b60’. Drag the Linear Gradient from one end to the other inside of the selection.

2

Add some 3D perspective Zoom in on the triangle. Create a new layer below the triangle layer, then use the Polygonal Lasso to draw out a thin portion on the long edge of the triangle as shown. Using the same gradient as before, drag from one end to another, but make sure that the colours flow in opposite directions to add interest and give the illusion of 3D. You can Burn and Dodge to blend and add 3D depth.

Bring some movement to the shapes With other copies of the merged shapes, navigate to Filter>Liquify. Use the Forward Warp tool and Mirror tool with a large brush size and distort the triangles to your liking. Experiment with Transform tools to add dimension, such as Distort and Warp. You’re aiming to get a collection of different malleable shapes on different layers.

Start duplicating Create a new copy-merged layer (hide the white Background layer, Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/ Alt+Shift+E, then reshow the Background), which also saves the original layers. Start to duplicate this triangle. Through rotation and resizing (Cmd/ Ctrl+T), we can place other interesting duplications around the large shape. Feel free to save individual triangle layers in a group, but create a copy-merged layer as before at the top of the one main shape to work with.

4

“Use the Forward Warp and Mirror tools and distort the triangles to your liking. Repeat multiple times on different shapes to get a variety of malleable blob shapes”

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3

Useful filter technique Copy this merged shaped a number of times. On some of the merged copies of the triangles, navigate to Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates. Leave the default option as Rectangular to Polar and click OK. For some shapes, only perform it once and on others repeat the filter. Play with the rotation and size until you have an assortment of shapes to arrange later on.

6

Arrange the elements Using some of the liquefied shapes you have, begin to arrange them into an interesting composition. Ours will flow horizontally in somewhat of an ‘S’ shape. You can add some circles into the composition using the same gradient as before. For some circles, try inverting the colours with Cmd/Ctrl+I to get some blue and purple tones. Now that you have a base, continue to add small details from other layers..

7

Create a blue background Select the colours ‘0746d4’ and ‘07b6ae’ for the Foreground and Background. Using a Radial Gradient, drag the line from the centre to the outside of the canvas on your white Background layer (turn off the shape layers so you can see what you’re doing). Using the Dodge tool, set the Range to Highlights and click the mouse multiple times using a soft brush to create balls of light.

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8

Lighting effects Make a new layer on top and fill it with black. Navigate to Filter>Render>Lens Flare and select a 105mm Prime with a Brightness of anywhere from 30-80. Now select Filter> Distort>Polar Coordinates and use Rectangular to Polar again. This will bend the light, then set the blending mode to Screen to show just the light spots. Repeat, resize and rotate many lights to position around the canvas.

9

Reuse the triangles Next, locate the original triangle you created earlier on and hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to size it down a bit. Create a curve of triangles by duplicating them and then simply resizing and rotating. Start to fill the background with abstract blue shapes and setting the blending mode to Overlay or Screen. Adjust the Opacity to around 25%. Make sure these details are noticeable, but still very subtle.

10

Add some wildlife Open up the bird images (image numbers ‘257465’ and ‘847050’ from www.sxc.hu) and cut using the Magic Wand tool. Navigate to Layer>Matting>Defringe and use the default settings. Press Cmd/Ctrl+T and hold Shift to scale the birds down. We can add subtle shadows with a black brush and a Motion Blur (at the same angle) at about 15-20% Opacity. Add a small hat on top of the bird using triangles and shapes from the Pen tool.

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Everything could use something sweet Open the lollipop stock (number ‘1024965’ from www.sxc.hu) and crop the white using the Magic Wand tool. Place it on top of one of the shapes and make an oval at the base to give the illusion that it’s in a hole. Add a shadow for the stick and then place them in a line. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+ U and select -3 for the Brightness, as each stick becomes more distant. We made the bird holding one in its mouth, too.

“If you tend to have trouble with colours, try going to www. colourlovers.com. It might save you experimenting with colours for hours. It should also help you learn which ones go together”

Quick tip If you tend to have trouble with colours, try going to www.colourlovers.com. This website is packed with pre-made colour palettes to use in designs, so it might save you the hassle of experimenting with colours for hours. It should also help you learn which ones go together and which ones clash.

12

Final details Continue to add some lighting effects. Put in some circles and shapes in the background on Overlay. Open the piano keys image (‘928484’ from www.sxc.hu) and cut with the Magic Wand tool. Play with the Distort and Warp tools to give it perspective. Add lighting on top using the technique you learned before. Insert any other small details to your liking and keep the techniques you’ve learnt in mind!

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Finishing touches Navigate to Image>Adjustments> Brightness/Contrast and set the Contrast to 5 and set Brightness to -2. Under the Adjustments menu again, navigate to Color Balance and set the Blues and Cyans on Midtones and Highlights to 3. Once the final image is merged, select Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen and set Amount to about 13%.

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insight g: “I Anlagd Översvämnin won a Scandinavian photo photo. challenge in 2007 with this salves” It was inspired by Rob Gon

Go Your Own Road: “I think this is one of my most popular creations. I wanted to plant a road in a different way; first I thought about having a truck making the road in a similar way, but I like having people in my pictures so this became the final photo instead”

Erik Johansson Website: www.alltelleringet.com Clients: Dragster Gothenburg, Ogilvey Cape Town, Jerhammar Norrköping

ng at sea. sister worki Sea: “My Work At of my first successful ” e This was on ulations back in 2007 ip photoman

Erik Johansson is a 24-year-old freelance photographer and Computer Engineering student with a penchant for photomanipulation. He has been snapping photos since he got his first digital camera back in 2000, which is when he discovered how much he enjoyed manipulating photos. It was investing in a DSLR that really moved his artwork forward. “In the spring of 2007 I was out on a walk with a friend who bought a DSLR about a year earlier. I thought it was a really nice camera compared to my compact camera and decided to buy one myself,” Johansson says. “Once again I discovered how fun it was to manipulate photos, but this time I started to do more serious manipulations and bigger projects. It started as a hobby, but during the past year I have begun to do some work for different advertisement agencies.” Surprisingly, Johansson is self-taught, picking up tips from web tutorials and magazines. He works on a number of personal projects, from which the images shown here stem, and he’s currently working with Ogilvey with some photos for a campaign for WWF. His images use two key elements: a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Photoshop: “I use no other software and only work with photos I have captured myself. When I have found the right environment and have taken the photos I need, the work in Photoshop begins. I want to create the unexpected and sometimes impossible; Photoshop is the tool that gets me there.”

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Stryktålig : Germany a fe “Inspired by an ad I saw in w years ago; I don’t remem name of it bu ber the t the idea wa s that people were flat”

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Q&A

Helpdesk

Our expert Kirk Nelson Kirk has been a graphic artist for over 11 years in the Washington DC Metro area. He writes tutorials for our sister publication Photoshop Creative, and opens letters, checks emails and hangs around the AP forum online, all for the good of our Helpdesk. If you’re having quibbles with Photoshop, Kirk’s your man with the plan!

This month Kirk Nelson, our Helpdesk expert, takes on more readers’ Photoshop challenges, queries and quibbles

A mirror brush

Q

Little-known fact: Shhh! It’s

Hey there Helpdesk hero. I’ve been working a lot with retouching and using the Clone Stamp tool. There have been many times when I’ve been working on a subject matter that’s somewhat symmetrical when I have wished the cloning could be mirrored instead of just a straight translation. Is there an easy way to do that? Alison McTaggart

A

Alison, there are several layer-based methods to tackle the issue you have brought up here. And while those are perfectly legitimate techniques, I would really like to take one of the few chances I have to shed light on a little secret feature in Photoshop. Now, when I say secret, I mean features that are hidden in such obscure ways that it’s clear Adobe never wants anyone to stumble across them. Open up the Clone Source panel and enter a negative value in the Width setting (usually -100%). Now Opt/Altclick to set your source point, and when you start painting Photoshop will mirror the source across an imaginary line in the centre of your source point and paint point. If you’ve never explored this Clone Source panel, take a few minutes to get familiar with it, as there’s more hidden treasures to be discovered!

Strange styles

Q

Hello Advanced Photoshop Helpdesk. I wanted to thank you for the great job you do on the magazine; I can’t put it down and always eagerly wait for the next issue to hit the stands. I’m hoping you can help me with an issue I’m having with the

IT’s no stroke: When is a stroke not really a stroke? When it’s a fill. Fade it anyway!

a secret, but you can reflect a source for cloning

tip k c i u Q

e Sourc Clone u to w e n s yo The allow rce panel to five sou p tile u u f e defin . No more ga s in g creat settin at res t p ! attem ast setting p

Stroke layer style. I have some text with a stroke, but when I try to add a layer mask and fade the text out with a gradient, the text colour fades but is also replaced with a fill of the stroke colour! What’s going on? Henry Tyler

A

selection and Dodge, because I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work very well at all. The lightening is too uneven and it’s almost impossible to get the selection to match just right. Fran

A

Hey there Henry. You’ve stumbled upon a very odd quirk of the Stroke layer style. Instead of being the outline we expect it to be, it appears to really be a fill that’s simply x pixels larger than the object it’s applied to. This is particularly odd when you consider that lowering the layer’s Fill setting leaves the outline stroke as you would imagine. Regardless of the quirky stroke implementation, what you are really seeing is true of any layer style. By default, they ignore masks. You have to specifically instruct Photoshop to have the styles obey the mask. Open the Layer Style dialog box and look under the Advanced Blending section in the Blending Options area. Just check the box labelled Layer Mask Hides Effects to make that pesky stroke behave itself!

Relax, there is a better way. That vignette effect, where the edges of the photo are slightly darker than the rest, is pretty popular and usually folks are trying to find a way to add it. So what to do if it’s already there and you don’t want it? Not surprisingly, the filter that can be used to add a vignette can also be used to remove it. Go to Filter>Distort>Lens Correction, and when the screen-sized dialog box comes up, first turn off the grid checkbox, because it’s never actually helpful and usually gets in the way. Then look under the Vignette section. Slide the Amount slider towards the right to lighten the photo edges. Depending on the photo, you’ll need to adjust this carefully and possibly tweak the Midpoint slider as well.

Vignette removal

Hit the high notes

Q

Dear Helpdesk, is there a good way of removing a lens vignette from a photo? And please don’t tell me to try a feathered

Q

Hi there, this isn’t so much of a technical question, but more of a general workflow question. We have a small team of designers

Send your emails to us at [email protected] or post a message on our forum board at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum.

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Kirby Krackle

Q

Hey there Helpdesk man. I’ve got a true graphics geek challenge for you. A measure of your artistic prowess, if you will. A test of your graphical worth, if you are willing to accept it. Good sir, I now throw down the gauntlet and challenge you to the Kirby Krackle! Chris Brown

A

Work this Helpdesk long enough and eventually someone’s going to come along and throw down such a challenge! It’s why I always carry a supply of Kirby dots in my utility belt. The Kirby Krackle is an affectionate name for an effect made famous by legendary comic book artist, Jack Kirby. The idea is to use several various-sized circles to define the negative space around an energy field to give it a type of fractal pattern along the edge.

1 A BENCHMARK FEATURE: The Lens Distortion filter can remove vignettes from photographs as well as add them under a single art director. We all use Photoshop as our primary design tool, and often we swap PSD files because different artists will be assigned different elements of a single design. We frequently need to have an accompanying text file to explain the directions pertaining to the piece, to contain customer feedback and more. It seems almost impossible to keep this text file with the corresponding PSD file. We’ve tried using text layers in Photoshop itself, but that just led to a mess because it was frequently confusing as to what was an instruction and what was part of the design. Have you run into this issue and how do you deal with it? Cassidy Beakmann

A

Cassidy, you are addressing a very real concern. Clear communication is essential for any team to be successful. Having directions and feedback written in a form that stays with the design file is a great solution. Adobe thought of this several versions ago and implemented a solution with a feature that still never gets much use: Notes. These are like little yellow sticky notes that stay with your PSD file. They are easy to use and turn on and off, and are perfect for communicating vital design information to your fellow designer (or even notes to yourself for future reference.)

Notes used to enjoy a prominent position on the toolbar; apparently Adobe expected everybody to be using these as often as their real-world equivalents. Nobody did. So they have since been buried deep under the Eyedropper tool fly-out. Dig them out again, and you’ll discover just how handy they can be.

Top tip: Are you proaliasing or anti-aliasing? Photoshop isn’t great for working with small type. At lower resolutions, text becomes smudged and irregular. However, only so much can be done. It helps to understand the way Photoshop uses anti-aliasing on text. Edge pixels are half-filled in an attempt to prevent sharp jagged edges. Five different modes are provided to handle the antialiasing approach: None, Sharp, Crisp, Strong and Smooth. In the image below, you can see text using each approach magnified by 500 per cent. There are only subtle differences between them, but those small changes can add up.

Prep time Begin with a comic character isolated on a layer. On a layer beneath the character, create a rough shape filled with the colour for the energy field. Over this, create a new layer for the first round of Kirby dots!

2

Custom brush Open the Brushes panel and select a small hard-edged brush. In the Brush Shape area, adjust the Spacing until you can see individual dots. Enable Shape Dynamics and set the Size Jitter to around 60%. Enable Scattering and check the Both Axes box, setting the Scatter amount to around 500%.

3

Energy fist! Use the custom brush to paint in black dots along the edge of the energy field. Use mid-sized dots right at the edge then decrease the size as you paint in towards the centre. For an added effect, add more coloured dots on a layer over the black dots to give a more seamless transition.

TAKE NOTE: Keep track of design instructions with

digital Post-its!

FIVE DEGREES OF SEPARATION: Learn how to

control the appearance of small text

Remember to specify whether you’re using a PC or Mac and the version of Photoshop you have.

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Q&A

CONTROL POINTS: Use the mode icons and Combine button to get control of your paths

Curve wrangling

Q

Howdy Helpdesk! How would I go about copying and pasting control points from one portion of a curve to another? I’m trying to draw out an ornate picture frame and I’ve got one corner drawn exactly how I want it. How do I copy those control points to the other three corners in order to form a single shape? Chris Clairmont

A

Subtract, Intersect and Exclude. These modes are particularly important when paired with the Combine button that appears when you select the Path Selection tool. They allow you to shape the paths by using other paths to add or cut away from the shape. To save yourself extra work, first draw out only the initial corner and extend the frame only to the midpoints along the sides. Then use the Path Selection tool to pick the shape path. Press Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy that shape. Make sure the Add mode icon is enabled, then paste it back in with Cmd/Ctrl+V. The pasted shape will be selected automatically; be careful not to select anything else and go to Edit>Transform Path>Flip Horizontal. Slide the pasted path down until the edges match up with the original path. Press the Combine button to join the two paths together into one to form the top half of the frame. Repeat this same process to copy, paste, flip and join the bottom half as well. NORMAL SERVICE: Contain the adjustment layer by setting the group’s blending mode to Normal

Group adjustments

Q

Greetings Helpdesk! Great magazine by the way, best I’ve come by. This may seem a bit obscure, but it’s something that’s really been bugging me. Is there any way to group an adjustment layer with several other layers and have the adjustment limited only to the layers in that group? I keep getting the layers outside the group receiving the adjustment as well. I’ve tried clipping the adjustment layer to the group, but that doesn’t work. Cecil Cuttersome

A

Cecil, dear chap, I am going to go ahead and guess that you have tried solving this by using some very intricate mask work, haven’t you? If so, you will have discovered that this technique works, but the mask then needs to be rebuilt every time a layer inside the group is moved or altered. And that becomes more painful and tedious than defragging your hard drive by hand.

Chris, the best way to do this is by using something I like to call Curve Booleans. When working with curves, you’ll notice there are different mode icons along the top Options bar: Add,

Top tip: Filter fanatic Filters can frequently be frowned upon in Photoshop circles, as so many artists are almost afraid to use them. So let’s be clear. It’s really the amateurish use of filters that’s frowned upon. Even the most experienced digital artist uses good old Gaussian Blur on a regular basis! Here are a handful of tips that will help move your filter fun beyond that of random button pressing! •

• •

•

Immediately after running any filter, Edit> Fade can reduce the filter’s opacity and change the applied blending mode. The Filter Gallery allows you to stack filters for combined effects. Applying filters to a Smart Object allows you to go back and edit the settings, and even use a mask on the filter effect. Some filters, such as Lens Blur and Lighting Effects, allow you to load your own selections when they are saved as channels.

Jump to hyperspace!

Q

Helpdesk guy, first of all, thanks for all the great answers you give to us readers. They are always informative and entertaining. I can tell by some of your past references to pop culture that you are the right guy to ask for this one. I’m trying to get that warp drive effect seen through the window of ships in the Star Wars movies. Any ideas? Sean Murphy

1

Super star field Start with a black-filled canvas and go to Filter> Noise>Add Noise. Set Amount to 15% and check the Monochromatic box. Next, use Levels to greatly increase the contrast and then go to Filter>Artistic>Poster Edges, setting the Edge Thickness to 1, Intensity to 10 and Posterization to 2.

A

HATS OFF: Learn how to make filters work for you

Wait a second, surely this is a trick question, isn’t it? Star Wars didn’t have warp drives, that was Star Trek. Han, Luke, Leia and friends would jump to hyperspace, which, by the way, ain’t like dusting crops! I’m sorry about having to call you on that Sean, but seriously, I’ve got some geek credibility to hold up here! However, the good news is that I can answer your question.

Send your emails to us at [email protected] or post a message on our forum board at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum.

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Quick t ip

If you n eed precisio more n when paintin g, pre Lock ke ss the Caps y your br to change ush ou tl crossha ine to irs

“In the case of silky smooth waterfall imagery… the effect isn’t difficult to pull off before or after the shutter button” Well, I have a wonderfully simple solution for you. Go to the group that contains the adjustment layer and change the group’s blending mode from the default Pass Through to Normal. Yes, that’s it. That’s all there is to it. It really is that simple. Don’t believe me? Go try for yourself!

Q

Water softener

I’m looking through a bunch of waterfall images and I see many of them have this effect where the water looks soft and silky. Instead of individual splashes, I see streaks of white. It seems to be a pretty popular effect, as I’ve seen it in work from a variety of photographers. Is this effect in-camera or is it Photoshopped? In either case, how do I do that? Chase Matthensen

WHITEWATER CRAFTING: How to get that silky

smooth waterfall effect

Ah Chase, you’ve entered into one of my favourite games: ‘real or Photoshop?’ In the case of silky smooth waterfall imagery, it really could be either. The effect isn’t difficult to pull off before or after the shutter button. The most common method is to capture it in-camera. What you are really seeing is a motion blur of the water as it runs by. To capture this, slow your shutter speed down to stay open long enough to see the blur (use a tripod to steady the camera). You will probably have to adjust the ISO and aperture to compensate for the extra light.

If the terms tripod, aperture and ISO made you skip that last paragraph, then you might be better off doing the effect in Photoshop. The steps will vary for individual photos, but the basic technique is still the same. Load the luminosity selection (Cmd/Ctrl-click on the composite channel) and copy that to a new layer (Cmd/Ctrl+J). Duplicate this luminosity layer and begin cutting out different water directions. On each cutout, use the Motion Blur filter set to the appropriate direction and distance. On the original luminosity layer, use the Smudge brush with a Spatter brush tip set to a low strength to smooth out the areas the Motion Blur filter can’t quite reach.

2

3

A

Star stretcher Use the Threshold adjustment to give a tight star field and then go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur with Amount set to 1,005, Method set to Zoom and Quality at Best. Duplicate the layer and set the duplicate blending mode to Linear Dodge (Add). Keep creating duplicates until you start to get a strong hyperspace effect.

Make the jump Combine all the star field blur layers together and make a duplicate of the merged layer. Run a fivepixel Gaussian Blur on the duplicate and set the blending mode to Screen. Add another layer set to Overlay and run a blue-and-white cloud filter on it. Finally, put an image of your cockpit on the top.

Remember to specify whether you’re using a PC or Mac and the version of Photoshop you have.

CS4 spotlight Create 3D meshes in Photoshop CS4 Extended One of the new 3D features found in Photoshop CS4 Extended is the New Mesh from Greyscale command. This command uses the greyscale values of a layer as a depth map to create a 3D model. While that may sound a bit esoteric, it’s not as complicated as it seems. Basically, the layer is turned into a 3D polygonal mesh, the white areas are pulled up and the dark areas are pushed down. Photoshop offers several different projection types for this feature, ranging from the standard plane to wrapping the effect around a sphere. Photoshop is fairly sensitive to the levels of grey in the image it uses. In fact, if you are attempting to create a mesh with a high and low difference that isn’t mountainous, you will need to greatly decrease the contrast of the greyscale file. Photoshop picks up even subtle variations and even the slightest difference is translated into the mesh. Utilising this feature effectively can open a whole new realm of possibilities for your designs. Pair this with the Clouds filter to easily generate a mountainous terrain, or use it in place of the Displacement filter to create true indentations in a brick wall. While this isn’t the most glorious of model creation tools, it’s a tremendous entry into the 3D realm and we eagerly look forward to Adobe pushing further down this path.

ANOTHER DIMENSION: Create a 3D mountain

in Photoshop

WE DON’T NEED NO EDUCATION: True

displacement of bricks in a wall

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INDUSTRY

I N D U S T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Inside guide to everything that you need to know to make it as a professional digital artist, including university and college courses, industry advice and interviews with pros » Pg 68........................Industry interview » Pg 70 .........................Student showcase » Pg 78 ...........................................Career focus

A WAKING DREAM: “An image from Utherworlds. There’s not really an easy way to describe what this painting represents in the story of Utherworlds, but in its simplest form it depicts the conflict between dreams and nightmares”

An interview with…

PHILIP STRAUB Meet the man behind the newly released Utherworlds book and website

P

About the insider

Job Art director Clients Nickelodeon, Magic: The Gathering, Sci Fi Channel, Electronic Arts, Universal Studios, Fisher-Price and more Awards Illustrations featured in Exposé and Spectrum 4 publications, illustrations awarded in the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles’ annual competition and a total of 12 CGTalk Choice awards Websites www.utherworlds. com, www.philipstraub.com Biography One of the bestknown names in illustration, Philip Straub is a hard-working man. He’s featured in all the best art books of recent years, is a judge and board member for many Ballistic Publishing publications and has worked for a massive list of well-known clients. He’s also featured on the cover of Advanced Photoshop (issue 36)

hilip Straub has done it. After years of hard work, his Utherworlds book and website experience is complete and is available from Ballistic Publishing (watch out for our review soon). The book is one unlike any other, a must-have for fans of the fantasy genre. We sat him down to have a chat about this mammoth project, a real labour of love. Advanced Photoshop: Thanks for talking to us, Phil. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the kind of work that you do? Philip Straub: I actually do a bunch of different things, but my primary role has been as an art director in the games industry for quite a few years. I started out in publishing working for American illustrator Mercer Mayer, producing art for 35 children’s books. In 1996 I began my career in the games industry, producing a CDROM game based on one of Mercer’s children’s properties. To date I’ve worked as a lead or art director on over 25 PC and console titles, but I’ve always kept my hand in building my freelance clientele as a concept artist and illustrator. Over the last five years or so I’ve built a licensing business for my work, and my licensed designs are appearing on a variety of products, such as books, games, wall murals, scrapbooks, gifts, puzzles, stationery and textiles.

Advanced Photoshop: Tell us a little more about the Utherworlds project. Philip Straub: Certainly! At the end of 2007 I completed my studio art direction duties at NCsoft and decided that I would take the time I needed to complete the Utherworlds book I’d been trying to finish for nearly four years. The book is an original novel of about 60,000 words, over 100 full-colour illustrations, two unique written languages, a spoken language and a ton of maps that define the world. The story revolves around the concept of dreams and nightmares and their connection to the conscious and unconscious thoughts of sentient beings, especially humans. Our main character is thrown directly into conflict when his family goes missing and he finds himself in the Realm of Nightmares with no memory of who he

THE CLOUDING: “In the Lands of Hate, there is a

place known as Lake Odium. Here, the most vile creatures dwell, the atmosphere is toxic and the sounds piercing. Humans are afflicted with what is know as The Clouding. The Clouding causes flesh to burn, eyes to bleed and hallucinations. This is one of many visions you might see when experiencing The Clouding”

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INTERVIEW

“The book is an original novel of about 60,000 words, over 100 fullcolour illustrations, two unique written languages, a spoken language and a ton of maps”

WINTER DAWN: “An image created for Utherworlds, my illustrated novel and website. This depicts Lealinnia, the guardian of Hope in The Realm of Dreams in one of her many forms”

AADYASHA (RIGHT): “An image from my Utherworlds

book and site. Born of The Nightmare Realm, Aadyasha is a creature of The Lands of Vensialas. Her scent is intoxicating, her smile disarming and her voice sweet like the chiming of angels. While everything about her is meant to seduce and entice, there is a childlike innocence that lies within her – this is her weakness and her strength all at once” was or how he got there. He must find his past and understand how it is tied to both his future and the future of the known universe. In addition to the book, there is an interactive website I’ve been working on with a few folks that will have supplemental material to the book – almost like a field guide with additional information folks can find to enrich the story. But, if someone doesn’t have the book, it can be an introduction to the mythology of Utherworlds. The website features an original soundtrack produced by Alan Hewitt, a well-known composer. The animations and development side of things was handled primarily by

UNOHLA: “This painting from the Utherworlds illustrated novel is one of a few double-page spreads that span nearly 34 inches across. Unohla is the Lands of Truth and Knowledge in the Dream Realm”

Mark Stefanowicz. Stefanowicz is a veteran in the games industry, having worked on a ton of game titles and is a very accomplished artist in his own right. Advanced Photoshop: Do you have any current projects you’re working on/projects lined up for the future? Philip Straub: I just finished a fairly large commission for National Geographic that should see the light of day later in the year. I’m doing some cards for Magic: The Gathering and I have few book covers lined up. I’m also working as art director for a Big Fish Games title that I think is really

going to push the boundaries of what is possible in the casual game space. Advanced Photoshop: What techniques do you use to create your images? Where does Photoshop come into the equation? Philip Straub: My tools of choice are Photoshop, Painter and Maya for much of my illustration and concept work. Photoshop has been a cornerstone to my development process since I began producing my artwork digitally. My technique varies depending upon the desired output. Sometimes I just do a ‘stream of consciousness’ rough greyscale sketch in Photoshop or Painter to find a good composition and layout. Other times, I might go right into colour if I feel confident about the subject matter and have a clear vision in my mind. Advanced Photoshop: What would be your advice for artists hoping to follow in your footsteps? Philip Straub: It comes down to a couple of things really: determination, practice, more determination and more practice. All of the creative fields are extremely competitive and require an immense amount of dedication. Working at refining your craft every day is of paramount importance. The people who strive to grow and stay open to learning more are the ones who find true success and evolve.

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INDUSTRY Student showcase I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

STUDENT 2009 SHOWCASE Amazing Photoshop artwork by students from around the world

W

elcome to the fourth instalment of our popular Student Showcase, presented annually and first featured way back in issue 17 in 2006 (which also featured a certain Adam Smith, now senior staff writer of this very title!). Each year, we are amazed by the standard of work on show by those studying art-based courses. Many of the artists featured here are receiving paid commissions before they have even graduated, promising no lack of artistic talent in the digital art world in the future. The students this year have their own personal websites to promote their artwork; they are actively involved in online communities and are regulars in forums, competitions and art collectives, proving that even the best courses can only take you so far. We believe that each and every one of the ten amazing artists and designers featured here will go a long way, so expect to see them featured among these pages again, as they achieve more recognition in the future. Over the next eight pages, we take a look at the students’ artwork, their hopes for the future, how their courses have helped them to develop and how they are progressing their Photoshop skills.

ECOFRESH (MAIN IMAGE): “Someone’s also called it Abstract Madness. It’s slightly bigger than A2 and there’s a lot of small different things going around, like stock pictures, vectors and simple 3D renders” Copyright: Mateusz Sypien

“Even if I decide to run my own studio in the future, I will never become a typical boss. My desk will be standing Get your work featured! next to my Here at Advanced Photoshop, we’re keen to promote the colleagues’” artwork of up-and-coming artists and designers, which is – Mateusz Sypien

why we have so many ways that you can get your work seen, whether you are a student or not. First, we have our regular five-page Readers’ gallery, which anyone can submit images for. See page 90 of this issue to find out more about how you can be considered for inclusion. We also have our popular online gallery site at www. advancedphotoshop.co.uk. It’s free to join and your images could be selected as a Featured Gallery, Pic of the Week or showcased in the Exposure section on our free magazine cover disc. Finally, if you are a student then we have a Uni Focus section to highlight student work every issue – simply send us details of your course and some samples of your artwork and we’ll do the rest.

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F E AT U R E

Artist info

GENERATIONM: “This was a concept for the front cover for MTV’s Insight book, which will be produced by The Youth Conspiracy. This concept shows a young person who is standing against the wall of reality” Copyright: Mateusz Sypien

Mateusz Sypien Course: BSc Media Technology and Production Institution: Bradford University; School of Computing, Informatics and Media Personal portfolio site: www.digi-mental.com Year on course: First Mat is 26 and already building up a large online presence, with recognition on the Advanced Photoshop, Photoshop Creative, popwhore.com, j3mag.uniqsole.com and bestphotoshoptutorials.net websites and communities.

RIDE OR DIE: “A collaboration between me and Krzysztof Zdunkiewicz (www.zdunkiewicz. pl), a young designer from Warsaw” Copyright: Mateusz Sypien, Krzysztof Zdunkiewicz Q. How would you describe your style and where do your influences come from? A. Funky fresh colour boost! The biggest influence in my life is music, as it pushes me forward and gives me a lot of ideas. Books, comics, movies, everyday facts… it’s all life. Q. What essential pieces of design kit do you use to produce your artwork? A. Adobe Creative Suite forever! I use different applications, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, 3ds Max and even a little bit of After Effects. Everything depends on the project and my needs. I’m still trying to sharpen my skills in different areas.

Q. Have you had any paid commissions to date? A. Yes, I have had a couple. I have designed a front cover for The Seed Ecoversity magazine, done a piece with Lacoste shoes and I won a competition with a brief for the front cover and layout design of the MTV Insight book announced by The Youth Conspiracy. Q. Where do you see yourself in ten years? A. I will still be working hard to inspire people like me. Seriously, even if I decide to run my own studio in the future, I will never become a typical boss. My desk will be standing next to my colleagues’ and I will be part of the team.

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INDUSTRY Student showcase I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Artist info

GIRL POWER (MAIN IMAGE): “I wanted to create an image that illustrated a girl with awesome power, like a goddess or queen of the seas, and that is how I came up with Girl Power” Copyright: Justin Otte

DREAMS: “I wanted to capture the feeling of what this woman would be dreaming about had she really been asleep, so I called it Dreams” Copyright: Justin Otte

Justin Otte Course: Graphic Design Major Institution: Long Beach City College, CA, USA Personal portfolio site: www.behance.net/jotte Year on course: Second Justin is 23 years old and has a number of skills under his belt. His work is a blend of 95 per cent Photoshop and five per cent Illustrator, and he uses a Wacom Intuos4 tablet. His work has also been featured as a Daily Inspiration on Abduzeedo.

Q. How would you describe your style? A. I guess I haven’t really found my style yet, but I tend to turn more towards photomanipulation type work vs the whole 3D and vector-based stuff. Although I would like to get more into that, I prefer doing retouching and photo illustration. To me, I like to create scenes that cannot be captured on camera, like surrealism and fantasy. I like to create the feeling that something is real that cannot exist. Q. Can you explain the inventive ways in which you use Photoshop within your work? A. Everything I do, or 90 per cent of it anyway, has no plan – I just do it. When I do my art, I don’t want to create something that has

been done before. It’s not even a conscious decision that I make. I have always naturally, without thought, drifted away from the usual clichéd type of work out there. Q. Where do you see yourself in ten years? A. I see myself doing high-end retouching for some of the best agencies in world, using both 3D and 2D. Maya is one program that I have been wanting to learn, but I will most likely have to transfer to another school to get the proper education that I need. High-end retouching and photo illustration is my passion, and in ten years I plan on taking the lead in what I do and amazing the world with my talent. But who knows, I could be wrong. Only time can tell.

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F E AT U R E

Artist info Alexander Reeve Course: Multimedia Design Institution: Bradford University; Swinburne University of Technology Personal portfolio site: www.behance.net/mimetic Year on course: Second 20-year-old Alex uses a range of software to complete his works, including Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Maya and RealFlow. To date, he has had some paid commissions and is about to start work on an album cover – something that he is really looking forward to.

Artist info

Q. How has your course helped to improve your artwork? A. My work has improved many times over as a result of my course, not necessarily from the technical skills that we learn but for the motivation it provides to work and to become a better designer and artist.

DISSOLVED GIRL: “This piece came to me while I was experimenting with fluids, and it grew from there” Copyright: Alexander Reeve

ATRIUM: “This was an experiment with incorporating fluids into work” Copyright: Alexander Reeve

Q. How would you describe your style and where do your influences come from? A. I enjoy experimenting with a wide variety of different styles. I find it hard to label myself as a particular one, because I believe it should be about the piece of art rather than its particular style. My biggest influences and inspirations would have to be artists and designers such as Peter Jaworowski, Justin Maller, Pete Harrison and many others.

Ee Venn Soh Q. How would you describe your style and where do your influences come from? A. My works are a saturated mixed media of colours, balance, shapes and photomanipulation. I am greatly inspired by art from the US, UK, Japan and European countries. I am also particularly interested in sci-fi, retro and classic artwork from the good old times. I feel indebted for the advantages we now possess.

YABAZZ: “It is a basketball illustration work for my client based in Germany. The concepts behind the artwork are about urbanism, vibrant and energy” Copyright: Ee Venn Soh

Q. Can you explain the inventive ways in which you use Photoshop within your work? A. I am particularly interested in colours and shapes. I normally use the Brush tool, Pen tool and layer styles to create small details within my artwork. Having good stock photos has also saved me a lot of time. There aren’t any secret techniques behind my work. It is all about the concept and how I carry out the idea.

Course: BSc (Computer Science), specialising in image processing, computer graphics and humancomputer interactions Institution: University of Auckland, New Zealand Personal portfolio site: www.behance.net/vennsoh Year on course: Third Ee Venn Soh has been published in a number of international magazines, including Advanced Photoshop, Almanac of AsiaPacific IV and Layers. He’s also had exhibitions in Malaysia, the US, Singapore and Greece, all at the tender age of 23!

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INDUSTRY Student showcase

Artist info

I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

At 16 years old, Jonathan is beginning his creative venture. He has already produced web-based and DVD cover projects and hopes to expand his diverse style – inspired mostly by music genres – next year on a Graphic Design course. He sees himself as an established member of a graphic design team in years to come.

Q. How would you describe your style and where do your influences come from? A. My style has a poetical feel, incorporating elements of fantasy and surrealism. I use weird colour combinations, which makes it unique. Inspiration comes when I don’t expect it to come; life itself is quite a big inspiration to me. Q. What essential pieces of design kit do you use to produce your artwork? A. Photoshop is my main tool, but from time to time I do like to use other software as well: CINEMA 4D to make 3D elements; ArtRage to sketch; these days I also try to use Corel Painter but I just can’t adapt to the interface as I have worked for seven years with Photoshop. Drawing on paper is an important part for me, as you learn the hard way instead of manipulating digitally. Q. Have you had any paid commissions? A. I am working on a web project for Super Sako, an Armenian rapper, singer and producer. It’s going well, as he is openminded to a new style, which motivates me to design something new. Sometimes on other projects the communication with the client made me go nuts! But in the end, they were happy with the results.

ANX, COLLABORATION WITH ENKERA: “A collaboration with my friend about how the anxiety about death can be very beautiful” Copyright: Jonathan Sipkema and Enkera Q. What extracurricular activities do you indulge in to improve your design skills? A. I spend a lot of time on deviantART, a well-known online community for artists. I also like to keep in contact with graphic designer friends. This way I always get good critique on my work.

Q. Can you explain the inventive ways in which you use Photoshop within your work? A. I establish a colour scheme and a picture I like, then make something original out of these. My favourite tools are Sponge, Burn and Dodge and I also love to apply Color Range.

HUMAN NATURE: “A world in a human’s hand, created for a Crestock contest” Copyright: Armen Mnatsakanjan

Artist info

Course: Advertisement and Publicity Institution: High School CSG Het Noordik Personal portfolio site: www.jonathansipkema.com Year on course: Fourth

DANCE: “In this piece I wanted to show the movement of the body through dance and create elegance” Copyright: Jonathan Sipkema

Jonathan Sipkema

Armen Mnatsakanjan Course: Communication and Multimedia Design Institution: NHL; Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden Personal portfolio site: www.young-dream.net Year on course: First year Armen has been in both the UK and Dutch versions of Advanced Photoshop, as well as in Publish magazine. He dreams of being a professional illustrator/ designer working for an agency like Saddington & Baynes and has even been thinking of starting his own agency.

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Artist info

F E AT U R E

Kristina Gehrmann Course: Classical Academic Drawing/Painting Institution: Angel Academy of Art, Florence Personal portfolio site: www.mondhase.com Year on course: First year (2008-2011) Kristina is a 20-year-old student who has already received recognition for her work through her course, receiving the O. und I. Wunsch-Stiftung Foundation scholarship for studies at Angel Academy of Art. Her style is influenced by artwork of the past, such as Renaissance and baroque painting, as well as the work of the Pre-Raphaelites.

LULLABY: “A scene from the Thirty Years’ War that ended in 1648 and left the Germanspeaking countries and duchies in ruins” Copyright: Kristina Gehrmann

DEATH OF SALOME: “How Salome, daughter of King Herodes, died, according to an old legend. She was dancing on a frozen pond when the ice broke and she fell in. Eventually, the sharp ice fragments would sever her head from her body. She died the same way as the man whom she had brought to death, and not even her mother Herodias was able to save her” Copyright: Kristina Gehrmann

Q. What extracurricular activities do you indulge in to improve your design skills?? A. On weekends or sometimes after school, I use my notebook for digital painting, either working on personal pieces and studies or on paid commissions. I also participate in online forums, such as the one on ConceptArt.org, and post my art in online communities for feedback. Q. Can you explain the inventive ways in which you use Photoshop within your work? A. My digital paintings are 100 per cent painted in Photoshop. I make a sketch of everything – mostly a small concept sketch, no wider than 500 pixels – on a

coloured canvas. As soon as I feel it’s working, I make a quite exact line drawing on a bigger canvas (about 2,000-3,000 pixels wide) of the same colour. On a new layer, I block in all colours, light and shadow. Then everything is refining and detailing. Q. How has your course helped to improve your artwork? A. At Angel Academy of Art, the focus is on learning how to ‘see’. This skill helps with all forms of drawing and painting that are based on the observation of nature. Also, we learn to take our time to render something as perfectly as possible and to control the medium used.

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INDUSTRY Student showcase I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Q. What extracurricular activities do you indulge in to improve your design skills? A. Not too long ago I was accepted into the online art group Intrinsic Nature (www. intrinsicnature.org). They are a talented bunch there who offer one another consistent motivation and in-depth feedback. The artists, including myself, have really grown over the past few months, and that is clear as you progress through the art exhibits. Q. Have you had any paid commissions to date? A. I’m currently designing as a paid intern for Youth Unlimited, a youth ministry located in Toronto. The experience is invaluable and so far things have been going great. I think it’s essential for any designer to get some hands-on experience before they enter the workforce, so I feel grateful that I’ve been blessed with such an opportunity.

Artist info

ART BECOMES ME: “This piece is about my love for art, and my appreciation for it in everyday life. How that when you’re an artist, things just appear different” Copyright: Kyle Kargov SCORCHED: “A cover design (sans type) for a novel about pyrokinetic killers. The black fire and ravens represent death” Copyright: Kyle Kargov

Q. What essential pieces of design kit do you use to produce your artwork? A. My toolbox consists of a sketchpad, graphics tablet, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and, of course, Advanced Photoshop. I begin sketching out whatever crazy ideas may pop into my head and begin to develop those ideas in Photoshop. I use Illustrator for some stylish vector elements and InDesign for type. I often refer to Advanced Photoshop on how to realise those ideas, which is a great help.

Kyle Kargov Course: Graphic Design Institution: Seneca College Personal portfolio site: www.behance.net/blastd Year on course: Third year Toronto-based designer Kyle Kargov is a young and enthusiastic artist with high aspirations. Originally a web designer, Kyle has leapt out of his comfort zone to gain experience in a multitude of artistic styles. His desire to produce unique digital solutions for a diverse clientele has motivated him to experiment in a variety of different design medians, particularly those involving Adobe Photoshop.

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F E AT U R E

Artist info

WICKED: “The contrast and paradox of beauty and virulence” Credit: Pauline Nordin (model); Pavel Ythjall (photo) Copyright: Thomas Ciccone

Thomas Ciccone Course: Fundamentals of Typography(justcompleted); Intro to Flash (enrolled) Institution: Sessions.edu (Online School of Design) Personal portfolio site: www.pixlmix.com

HARBINGER: “A play on psychological tumult and how it can manifest in the physical or real. What lies beneath is always apparent outwardly in time” Copyright: Thomas Ciccone

Thomas is primarily selftaught in digital art, but is currently enrolled on a threeyear Advanced Certificate in Web Design, as well as undertaking an MA in Psychology at San Diego State University. He has twice been a runner-up in Advanced Photoshop web challenges, so this is not the first time his artwork has graced these pages.

Q. Can you explain the inventive ways in which you use Photoshop within your work? A. I always like to try new things and techniques that I come across. However, I have found that I consistently incorporate certain techniques or applications in much of the work I do. More specifically, I like to utilise the

layering capacity of Photoshop. I consistently utilise many adjustment layers to add highlight, shadow, lighting, colour and emphasis to most of my work. I’m constantly playing with Overlay and lighting adjustment layers – brushing highlights and shadows, and merging multiple overlays to get even small effects.

AEON, FRONT 3/4: “Capturing the dynamic lines of the car front to back. Fading of colour and detail is a very traditional technique” Copyright: David Eburah

Artist info

Q. How would you describe your style and where do your influences come from? A. I aim to blend the more traditional qualities of vehicle design art with newer, more dynamic styles. I also work quickly, leaving visible line work and brush marks, which in turn give the render that bit more character. Q. Where do you see yourself in ten years? A. I would like to imagine myself continuing concept work for the entertainment industry. I have secured a place at the Royal College of Art on its famous MA Vehicle Design Course for two years, beginning September 2009, so I’m remaining openminded to potential employment routes.” Q. How has your course helped to improve your artwork? A. My understanding of design and the quality of my concept artwork have relied on my course and the friends that I have made on it. The course has a large emphasis on very traditional sketching and rendering techniques. I think this shows up within my current style.

David Eburah Course: Automotive Design Institution: Coventry University Personal portfolio site: www.davideburah.com Year on course: Fourth

AEON, INTERIOR THEME: “This design was loosely inspired by the forms of WipEout, the iconic computer game” Copyright: David Eburah

David is a 22-year-old student in his final year of his course at Coventry University. He has been a finalist in numerous design competitions. He has had work displayed at the Detroit Motor Show, Canadian Motor Show, FIAT Design Centre in Turin, Building Centre in London and within various design publications.

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INDUSTRY Career focus I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Get the job you want with tailored advice from industry insiders

So you want to be a…

Concept artist

If you aspire to create concept artwork for films, comics and videogames, then read on for some hints on how to get a job in the industry Introducing the experts

Maxime Desmettre Maxime works for Ubisoft Montreal; he’s created images for Prince of Persia and is currently working on Assassin’s Creed 2. www.maxisland.net Devon Cady-Lee Devon is employed by Turbine Entertainment. His portfolio includes work on the Lord of the Rings videogames and Dungeons & Dragons Online. www.gorrem.com Per Haagensen Per is a freelance illustrator and concept artist for Funcom. His previous projects include work on the Age of Conan and Lord of the Rings: Conquest videogames. www.artbyper.com Goran Bukvic Goran has worked in concept art for eight years. His clients include Electronic Arts, Propaganda Games, Disney Interactive and Pandemic Studios. www.crazybrush.com

What’s the best way to create original artwork?

“Keep faithful to your style – mimicking other artists’ work is great in order to learn, but doing it for too long will prevent you from finding your own identity”

Maxime Desmettre Concept artist Ubisoft Montreal

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ancy creating artwork for your favourite film or videogame franchise? That’s what the role of concept artist could involve. It’s a highly specialised yet highly creative job that involves working closely with the project’s art director or producer to visualise their ideas in order to develop quick sketches into finished renderings. We spoke with four concept artists to get their advice on securing a job in this sector.

MEDIEVAL W AR piece by Goran, RIOR: A personal which also serve the home page s as illu website to show stration of his case his talents © GORAN BU KVIC

What skills do I need? What are the essential skills that a concept artist needs? Per Haagensen: You need a good foundation of traditional art skills and an understanding of different styles. You should always be open to exploring new designs and ideas through proper research and experimentation. Devon Cady-Lee: Draftsmanship, the ability to understand forms in space and being able to illustrate them for others. A keen sense of design and problemsolving skills help in making believable artwork.

Maxime Desmettre: A good portfolio in concept art is a simple one. Don’t put too much in, and keep a coherent level of quality – this means getting rid of the unattractive ones, even if you’re attached to them. If you have an attractive portfolio then you’ll be able to convince an art director to hire you with as few as ten pieces of artwork in your hands. If you are not sure about which artwork to put in your portfolio, then you could ask some trustworthy people or even an industry professional what he or she thinks about your work.

What about putting together a portfolio?

What’s the best way to get work experience?

I’d like to present a decent portfolio to clients or potential employers – any tips?

I’d like to get a feel for the industry. How can I do this? Devon Cady-Lee: There are a lot of private developers that are always producing games and animations on a lower scale than company-funded projects. You can always try working with them to understand the production pipeline from concept to the finished product. It will also give you a sense of what it’s like to be under the pressure of a deadline, which is really important to get used to. These types of projects usually pay very little or not at all, as they are strictly for the experience. Per Haagensen: You could try freelancing as a concept artist; it is a lot easier to get into, as it is low risk for a studio. Another benefit is that you can test yourself within the typical work environment.

Is it best to work freelance or in-house? I can’t decide whether to work for myself or a company – what do you suggest? Per Haagensen: Working in-house is great because you will learn from others and get instant feedback. You’re THE WICKED: Haagensen made this illustration for a university project where he had to concept three characters and an environment for them based on local buildings in his neighbourhood. He compiled these individual concepts into something of a movie poster presentation © 2008 PER ØYVIND HAAGENSEN

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CA R EER FOCUS

Industry insight A closer look at how one designer got into the world of concept art Goran Bukvic Concept designer Crazy Brush

also more likely to develop much faster and more diversely as an artist there than when working alone at a home studio. Maxime Desmettre: Personally, I would go in-house. This will be the best work environment to learn among experienced people, see what they do on the same tasks and gather contacts for a potential freelance career. Devon Cady-Lee: In-house can have work benefits, like health insurance and pensions. Your salary is guaranteed every month, too. Working freelance means you need to be constantly promoting yourself as an artist, attending conventions and getting your name out. However, you will most likely have a wider variety of work because you will have different projects from different clients, and you can manage your own hours instead of going to work 9-5.

PRINCE OF PERSIA – HIGH CASTLE: Maxime created this piece of concept art for the latest Prince of Persia videogame © MAXIME DESMETTRE, UBISOFT

How do I find out if my artwork is any good? Per Haagensen “Get feedback. Try to expose your work to people in the Concept artist industry as much as possible – online forums are great for Funcom this. You should always compare your best pieces to similar

Any other tips? Do you have any other career advice for a wannabe concept artist? Per Haagensen: You should always push yourself towards your uppermost potential. Also, be aware of the quality level of what other professional artists are producing and constantly compare your art to this level.

078-079_AVP_59_IndustryCareer.in79 79

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work from successful artists”

Want to know more?

Does the job pay well? What sort of salary should I expect to start on? Devon Cady-Lee: In my opinion, a respectable starting salary is about $40-45k. Maxime Desmettre: Even to start with a salary will vary a lot depending on the field you’re applying for (movie vs videogame, for example). Moreover, the salary difference between countries can be significant, which makes it difficult to give an exact figure. However, concept artists usually get a decent wage – in videogames it’s better than level or texture artists with the same level of experience – and it seems to be harder to find people in this field of expertise.

“My father was a sculptor so I grew up among art and artists. He was a crucial influence in my life, both when it comes to art and the way I see things today. I eventually ended up following his path and studied Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo (Bosnia). When I moved to Toronto, Canada, I started to shift my career interests from fine arts back to comics, animation and games, which led to my three years at Sheridan College studying Classical Animation. I stayed in the animation field for a few years and, as turbulent as the industry was, sometimes struggled to find work. Luckily, I always knew what I wanted to do, so giving up and doing something else was never an option. At some point, my work drew some attention from the gaming world and I had a chance to work on a six-month, off-site contract with Pandemic Studios, Australia, doing realistic character design. I’ve been working in games ever since and really enjoy the darker subject matter and the way the gaming production pipeline works. I would love to work on movies too but these days they are pretty much the same thing. I am fortunate to be able to work from home, which gives me the chance to catch the creative bug whenever it comes, day or night, and give it my all.”

Learn more about becoming a concept artist with this selection of great resources

Inspirational websites www.conceptart.org www.cgsociety.org

WHAT OTHER SOFTWARE PACKAGES WILL I BE USING?

Photoshop and Corel Painter are the most common pieces of software used to produce concept art, so it’s best to ensure that you’re very familiar with these programs. In addition to that, knowledge of various 3D applications such as 3ds Max, Maya and even the modelling tool ZBrush can be a benefit to you as well, however, it’s not normally an essential requirement for the role.

Essential training

BSc (Hons) Games Concepts Design

Cost: £3,145 (per year) Location: Staffordshire University Website: http://tinyurl.com/staffordshire-uni/

BA (hons) Game Art & Design

Cost: £3,225 (per year) Location: Futureworks Media School, Manchester Website: http://tinyurl.com/ futureworks-course/

Must-have resources Massive Black

Author: Ballistic Publisher: Ballistic Publishing Price: £46.49 Website: www.ballisticpublishing.com

Concept Design 2

Author: Various Publisher: Titan Books Ltd Price: £19.49 Website: http://titanbooks.com/

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Canon EOS 500D

Canon’s latest 15.1MP model with HD movie recording promises to pack a punch on paper – does it deliver? LIGHTWEIGHT BUILD: A plastic outer shell encases an aluminium chassis, keeping the camera light enough for prolonged shoots

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he latest launch from Canon slots perfectly into the mid-range DSLR category, replacing the older 450D. The EOS 500D builds on the success of its predecessor, carrying over a few choice features as well as integrating some new ones, which we will look at in more detail momentarily. In the hand, the EOS 500D feels fairly solid and well made, although you’re acutely aware of its plastic construction, which takes the shine off it to some degree. The grip is sculpted to accommodate your digits and is rubberised for added comfort.

“The EOS 500D builds on its predecessor, carrying over a few choice features as well as integrating some new ones”

On the back of the camera, a large, bright 920,000-dot, three-inch LCD takes centre stage, framed by a smattering of controls. Above and to the left, a Menu button offers dedicated access to the 500D’s uncluttered menu system, and a DISP. (Display) button turns the LCD on and off. To the right, an exposure compensation button highlights an on-screen scale that lets you fine-tune your exposure, below which sits the Live View/Record button. The usual four-way control pad and OK button combo offers further soft key access to frequently used settings, including WB, AF mode, Picture Styles and Drive mode, keeping you from having to delve into the menu system too often. In operation the interface performs well, with most settings being quick to access without having to trawl through the main menus. The one exception to this rule is the Format command. Often you’ll want to clear your memory quickly, but to do so with the 500D you have to enter the menu system, scroll five tabs over to the right then four items down, with a further three button presses required to complete the process. This does mean that you're unlikely to format your cards by accident,

but it is a bit of a cumbersome system when you’re in a hurry. Saving the Format command in the customisable My Menu settings does save a bit of time, however. One of the 500D’s headline features is its ability to shoot full HD (1,080p) movies – a quality that puts it ahead of its rivals and broadens its appeal among the creative community. At the highest resolution (1,920 x 1,080), video is shot at 20fps – fine for most applications – but dropping the quality down to 1,280 x 720 buys you 30fps, which looks smoother, if less detailed. If you intend to shoot a lot of top-resolution movies with the 500D, make sure you’ve got plenty of space, as just 57 seconds of footage fills 265MB of storage space (shoot 20-minute videos regularly and it’ll soon stack up). You’re also restricted by the fact the camera can only record sound in mono and there’s no facility to attach an external microphone, so serious movie enthusiasts will probably want to look towards the pricier 5D Mark II instead. The 500D sports a useful Live View function, which performs well in bright conditions, less so in low light or overcast situations where the AF system struggles to find a lock. We were also somewhat puzzled as to why you can’t access

DETAIL: The 500D’s 15.1MP sensor captures plenty of sharp detail

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Nikon D5000

CREATIVE CONTROL: The 500D’s Creative Zone exposure modes let you control settings like the depth of field in your images

the feature when shooting in any of the Basic exposure modes – only the Creative ones. The 500D’s 15.1MP resolution trumps the competition and – in addition to the aforementioned HD video capability – Canon has shoehorned a few other top-notch features to further broaden this camera’s appeal. For less experienced photographers, there’s a plethora of automatic Scene modes to choose from, falling into what Canon terms as the camera’s Basic

Zone. These include Portrait, Landscape, Closeup, Sports and Night Portrait, among others. Seasoned enthusiasts are also well catered for, with the Creative Zone offering the full range of semi and fully manual exposure modes, in addition to the somewhat anonymous CA and A-DEP options that are also featured. CA (Creative Auto) sits somewhere in-between the Basic and Creative Zones, allowing you to hand over most of the control to the camera but still allowing you to alter options like picture brightness, depth of field and Picture Style, offering a bit more control than the camera’s full Auto mode. A-DEP stands for Automatic Depth of Field AE – basically, all you have to do to keep your subject in sharp focus is ensure the red AF points seen through the viewfinder cover it/ them. The camera then automatically picks the necessary aperture to keep them all in focus. Driven by the latest generation DIGIC 4 processor, whichever of the 500D’s modes you choose to shoot with, you can expect sharp, detailed and vibrant images straight out of the camera, and plenty of extra detail to be resolved from RAW files, too. With a native sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200 and well-controlled noise throughout, you’re able to obtain sharp shots in all manner of lighting conditions, with minimal noise reduction needed during postproduction work. You can expand this range further via an option in the Custom menu, which unlocks further options right up to ISO 12800 (equivalent); however, unless you’re a fan of pointillism we would recommend you steer clear of these. 5 Manufacturer: Canon Web: www.canon.com Price: £969.99/$899.99 (with kit lens) Req: 15.1MP CMOS sensor Full HD (1,080p) movies Up to ISO 12800 for low-light shooting Three-inch Clear View LCD with Live View mode DIGIC 4

GREAT FEATURES: The Canon EOS 500D boasts an impressive feature set to satisfy advanced photo enthusiasts

SUMMARY: Overall, the EOS 500D represents a solid option for any developing enthusiast, with a good balance of automatic and more advanced functions, and a few standout features that set it apart from the competition.

8/10

Manufacturer: Nikon Web: www.nikon.co.uk Price: £719.99/$729.95 (body only) Spec: 12.3MP DX-format CMOS sensor D-Movie mode with sound Vari-angle LCD monitor Live View 11-point autofocus system with 3D Focus Tracking

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Competitors

Nikon’s latest DSLR, the D5000, is aimed at photography enthusiasts with an additional penchant for making movies. This camera’s 2.7-inch vari-angle LCD flips out from the body to allow the user to take better shots from awkward angles using the camera’s Live View mode, and incorporates the D-Movie mode pioneered by the Nikon D90. The D5000 sports an 11-point AF system with 3D Focus Tracking to help you keep up with the action and can shoot continuously at a rate of 4fps, which should satisfy the trigger-happy sports enthusiast. Auto Active D-Lighting restores lost shadow and highlight detail in high-contrast captures, and Nikon promises low-noise images throughout the D5000’s ISO sensitivity range (200 to 3200).

9/10 Sony Alpha 380 Manufacturer: Sony Web: www.sony.co.uk Price: £699/$849.99 (with kit lens) Spec: 14.2MP CCD sensor BIONZ processor SteadyShot INSIDE Quick AF Live View 2.7-inch tilt LCD The lightweight Alpha 380 is the latest addition to Sony’s Alpha DSLR range. Pitched as an ideal companion for jet-set photographers, the compact body incorporates Sony’s SteadyShot INSIDE technology to help combat camera shake. In addition, Quick AF Live View is complemented by a 2.7-inch tilting LCD for easier composition of high- and lowangle shots. In-built D-Range Optimizer with Advanced mode adjusts brightness and contrast to improve backlit scenes, and the camera’s HDMI output is coupled with PhotoTV HD to enhance still image playback on compatible BRAVIA TVs.

8/10

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Nikon COOLPIX S630

The latest compact from Nikon to attempt to get a grip on the point-and-shoot market Manufacturer: Nikon Web: www.nikon.com Price: £290/$280 Spec: Megapixels: 12 Resolution: 3,984 x 2,656 Lens data: f/3.5-5.3 (37-260mm) Zoom: 7x optical, 4x digital Focus/macro: 60cm-inf/2cm-inf Shooting modes: A, P, 17 scenes Weight: 140g (excl. batteries) Dimensions: 96.5 x 57.5 x 25.5mm Storage: 44MB int, SD/SDHC LCD: 2.7 inches

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hile Nikon’s top-flight DSLR range has a solid reputation, the manufacturer has struggled to replicate the same level of success in the point-and shoot category. So does this new model break the mould? The S630 sports an unusual inward curvature of the right side, offering a slightly thicker end, known as the ‘Sure Grip’ and aimed at providing a more comfortable finger fit. Elsewhere, the aesthetics are much more traditional. The top edge hosts an On/Off button and zoom dial. A 2.7-inch LCD screen, featuring a market-average 230,000 pixels, shares the rear panel with the aforementioned grip as well as a Rotary Multi Selector and buttons for Shoot mode, Playback, Menu and Delete. Connections and batterycum-card compartment are securely tucked away. On the whole it’s a pleasingly stylish bit of kit, but one small niggle is the positioning of the Exp Comp symbol, which has been relegated onto the right edge of the device. Its feature set can claim to offer more than many of its peers: a 12MP CCD sensor when competitors in this price range hover around 10MP, and 7x optical zoom Nikkor lens (usual for the price point is 5x) with a wider aperture

FLASH RANGE: The flash range on this compact works to 5.5 metres, which isn’t a bad stretch

ra came latesst and e h t For release eviews, ily pth r in-dedated da up

range than most (f3.5-5.3). It offers one of the highest ISO capabilities we’ve seen for its stature (6400), white balance can be affected through five preset options and slow sync is included in the flash palette. What’s more, the internal memory of 44MB will accommodate a handful more shots than the market-standard 24MB, and users may need the extra room as the camera can deliver up to 11fps in Continuous mode. Operating the S630 is as simple as the brand makes out. The Scene mode is easy to navigate to and use, and inputting your own choice of commands – such as white balance, exposure compensation and flash – is a doddle. More advanced photographers may lament at the restriction of Auto, but there are ways of using the scene feature set creatively. The image results of the S630 are equally surprising. 90 per cent of the time the compact excels, punching out shots with little lag that

CONTROLS AND BUTTONS: Sensible methodical layout of buttons

resonate bright, lifelike colours, rich blacks, crisp details and strong texture. There are few exposure qualms when using Scene modes, but in Auto there’s a tendency for overexposure. On the whole, metering is fantastic. Flash is strong, but marginally dilutes skin tones and flattens textures. Chromatic aberrations occur in some instances, mainly on overcast days or in low light. Noise is uncomfortably visible at ISO 800 and above and features in the shadows at 400 and above. Finally, results at full zoom house a significant amount of noise with subjects blocky and distorted, the results of which are quite unusable. 5 SUMMARY: A stylish compact that is capable of producing sharp results and is easy to operate. However, perhaps the S630 is pitching slightly above its weight in terms of its price tag at the moment

BATTERY LIFE: This point-and-shoot kept going and going

MEMORY AND STORAGE: A larger-thanaverage internal memory of 44MB

6/10

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Alien Skin Snap Art 2 A painterly plug-in for Photoshop, but can it challenge the best? Manufacturer: Alien Skin Web: www.alienskin.com Price: $199 (£125 approximately) Req: PC: Intel Pentium 4, Windows XP or higher Mac: PowerPC G5, OS X 10.4.11 or higher Adobe Photoshop CS3 or higher; Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or higher (PC); Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 or higher (Mac)

SIMPLE TO USE: The interface is, like all Alien Skin plugins, easy to understand from the first time that you open it, with a selection of presets

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igital painting is a hot topic right now, with programs vying with each other to produce effects that are ever more realistic. Advanced users of Photoshop or Corel Painter are masters of making the digital look real, but for those not blessed with the years of practice required or the patience to attain them, there is another way. Snap Art 2 is a plug-in that boasts a range of real-media effects, from the craggy, smeary look of impasto brushstrokes to the slightly misaligned smoothness of comic art. For those who want to quickly and easily transform their photos into works of digital art, we’re told that it can work like a dream. Except when it doesn’t, that is. Snap Art 2 is supposed to be compatible with Photoshop CS4 and lower, Photoshop Elements (a minimum of Version 6 on the PC or 4 on the Mac) and Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. Admittedly, these programs have disparate and sometimes completely illogical ways of loading plug-ins, but Snap Art 2 doesn’t make any of them easier unless you’re running CS4. If that’s the case, it will launch its own little program window, on which you can find all of its effects as well as the Help key and menu options sadly lacking and much needed when using this plugin with other imaging programs. There is, then, a clear benefit for Photoshop CS4 users when compared to performance in other programs.

FOCUS REGIONS: The ability to add focus regions means that you can tailor the effect more precisely than in the previous incarnation

Get the plug-in running and you’ll have access to a reasonably good range of effects. All are designed to make photos or Photoshop projects look more ‘arty’. Some offer better results than others. The Pointillism filter – designed to reproduce the small, dotted brushstrokes of broken colour seen in the work of artists like Seurat – is noisy and cast with red, making your images look like something from a cheaply videoed art installation rather than a classic of 19th Century painting. The Comics filter can produce some excellent bold linear effects when used with the right kind of image. The Impasto filter gives reasonably good results, producing appreciably thick brushstrokes at the expense of fine detail, but there’s a certain sameness to them. Experienced users of digital imaging software will soon conclude that Snap Art 2 is a nice enough set of filters, but it doesn’t produce the more organic-looking results that Corel Painter’s Autopainting feature does using its unique

SKETCH EFFECT: There are a number of different art effects to choose from, emulating traditional materials

PAINT TEXTURE: The textures are designed so that they look realistic when printed on canvas

Smart Stroke and Smart Settings features. You are always aware that you are looking at a filtered photograph. Where Snap Art 2 does do better than its main competitor, apart from on price, is in its ability to allow you to section off parts of an image and apply different levels of effects to them. This does allow you to create a more fluid application of the filter’s brushstrokes and keep the details you want sharp while deliberately fading others. This is a great function in any imaging product. Sadly, we reckon you’re better off looking at one of those instead of Alien Skin’s Snap Art 2. 5 SUMMARY: Real-media filters are great for applying paint effects, but this particular one has a few problems and should only really be used in Photoshop CS4.

6/10

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Photoshop CS4 Video and Animation

Discover how to create animation using Photoshop – in 3D! Manufacturer: PhotoshopCAFE Web: www.photoshopcafe.com Price: $99.99 (£62.70 approximately) Req: Windows XP or Mac OS X 10 DVD-ROM drive Speakers and headphones Minimum screen resolution of 1,024 x 768

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he first and perhaps the most awesome thing you’ll notice upon opening this tutorial DVD is that there is a pair of 3D glasses in the box. The second is that the program you spent years creating images in has been moonlighting as an animation resource for ages, and it’s actually pretty packed with features. This tutorial from Macworld expert Jeff Foster will show you what those are, how they work and what you as a Photoshop user can do with them. The tutorial kicks off with a guide to how animation in Photoshop works, and it does require you to be pretty familiar with the program straightaway. The first thing Foster demonstrates is the Animation workspace and how it rearranges the program interface, adding the Animation Timeline, reorganising tools and providing easy access to functions you may have never realised Photoshop had. This simple, logical approach permeates the entire disc – chapters are bitesize and Foster’s decisive on-screen manoeuvring shows you exactly where to go and what to do. Projects start out simple, like opening short video files and learning about video layers. These work in much the same way as still images and you’ll see this theme repeated

KEYFRAMES: Macworld expert Jeff Foster teaches the basics of transitions, such as keyframes (pictured), screen wipes, fades and the Animation Timeline

throughout. Foster makes sure that you’re aware of the similarities between these tools and regular imaging ones, so you have a good idea of what to expect from them and what you can do with them. This is the reason why you need to know your way around Photoshop first before approaching this disc. Once the basics have been covered – layers, text animation and basic movement (such as bouncing a ball) – the tutorial moves on to video editing. Foster makes no bones about the fact that Photoshop is not a dedicated video editor and that you can’t expect it to have all of the functionality you’d expect from, for example, Adobe Premiere. What he does do is teach you the basics of transitions, including screen wipes and fades, keyframes and the Animation Timeline. From there it’s on to filters, masks, green-screen compositing and applying effects like liquid and clouds. You’ll learn how to clean up old film footage and make new digital video look antique. It’s after this intense yet approachable course in animation that the 3D fun begins, and every so often this is shamelessly denoted with flashing text screaming ‘Get 3D glasses now!’ It’s

VIDEO LAYERS: Projects range from the simple, such as opening short video files and learning about video layers, to the more in-depth tasks of video editing

the tutorial DVD equivalent of watching a sci-fi movie at a Fifties drive-in, and while it’s cheesy, it’s nonetheless amusing and adds a frisson of cinematic flavour to the proceedings. Created by an expert with a clear and friendly teaching style, distributed under the auspices of the PhotoshopCAFE tips and tutorials website (www.photoshopcafe.com) and boasting a great unique selling point, this is a wellstructured and professionally produced DVD tutorial. Fast loading and Flash-based, four and a half hours of tuition justifies its $100 price tag for those who want to discover animation with Photoshop CS4 – after all, it saves you purchasing additional and expensive animation software! 5 SUMMARY: An excellent guide to Photoshop’s capabilities for animation; it is easy to follow, full of information, well produced and a must if you’re interested in the subject.

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Printing with Adobe Photoshop CS4 A thorough look at what you can do in Photoshop to get better print quality Author/Publisher: Tim Daly/Focal Press Web: www.focalpress.com Price: £24.99/$39.99 About: Entire workflow covered to result in better photographic prints Practical jargon-free advice to getting the best out of your prints Authored by working photographer Tim Daly, also an acclaimed educator 18 in-depth chapters from Shooting Essentials to Digital On-Demand Services

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rinting can sometimes feel like a bit of a dark art. In essence it’s simple – you just hit Print! – but for those of us for whom the quality of our prints is really important, then it’s a lot more in-depth encompassing good colour management and an understanding of colour theory. This is where Printing with Adobe Photoshop CS4 comes into play. Like all Focal Press titles, it does what it says on the cover and has an expert author, in this case working photographer Tim Daly. While the book is aimed at getting perfect photographic prints, the advice inside will work just as well for all types of digital art, so don’t discard it because of its photoheavy slant. The topic of printing is broken down over more than 280 pages, so you’re getting a lot of advice for your cash, which just goes to show how complex a topic it can be.

Like all good instructional guides, this tome follows a logical workflow to help you achieve good prints from the very start of photo creation. For example, the first chapter looks at Shooting Essentials: how you can make your shots better to aid accurate printing in the future. This covers things like RAW vs JPEG and using light meters for better exposure. Moving on, there is an in-depth look at colour management, which is where anyone can pick up from, photographer or not. Then it moves through file processing, looking at Photoshop tools to help improve your images (while it is CS4-focused, most of the tools and techniques are not version-specific). There are some more creative chapters too, looking at creating special effects or working in monotone, before it moves onto preparing images for print. This has some basic advice on choosing a printer and preparing for any type of printing, including inkjet and C-type. There’s also a lot of information on printer profiles, which is handy for more experienced artists and designers. Latter sections, looking at soft proofing and evaluating print quality, will be better suited to those looking to print for display or portfolio purposes – commercial endeavours always benefit from impeccable quality. Overall, this is a great book that covers everything you need to know about accurate printing. Sample imagery is photographic, but the advice will translate to perfecting graphics and digital art. If printing is an important part of your workflow, then this is your one-stop manual. 5

Photo perfect: An in-depth guide to getting perfect photographic prints from Photoshop

Summary: Slanted towards photography, but packed to the brim with handy printing advice for CS4 users. Covers an entire workflow, in and out of Photoshop, giving you an overview of what makes a good print.

9/10

The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Layers Book A hands-on guide to using the power of layers in Photoshop Authors/Publisher: Richard Lynch/Focal Press Web: www.focalpress.com Price: £22.99/$39.95 About: Correct and enhance colour, fix composition problems and repair damage and flaws Isolate image areas for changes, adjustments and experimentation Layer blending, clipping masks, Opacity, Fill, layer masks and so on explained Comes with a free CD

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ayers are the most important Photoshop tool for most digital photographers, artists and designers. This book is a dedicated look at layers and what you can do with them, aimed at users of CS4 but with much of the advice covering all versions of the software. It’s hard to believe that you can fill 290 pages just on layers, but author Richard Lynch has done just that. There are ten chapters, each covering a specific feature on layers, from image isolation to layer masks, applying layer effects to advanced

blending using the Blend If command. Each of the techniques is accompanied by large-scale screenshots that show you what is being taught clearly. There are also a number of coloured boxes throughout, denoting tasks (‘Try it now’ boxes) and quick tips. The tasks that it sets for you come after written instruction and are laid out as a series of listed steps. These are easy to follow so that you can learn hands-on. There is a free CD that comes with the book that has the files that you need to complete the tasks, which is a real bonus. The CD also contains a set of custom actions to help you get through sections of the book faster to get quickly to the bits that you need. The actual editorial and the educational portions are fantastic and it’s very easy to learn the skills – even advanced users will get a lot out of this. Our main complaint with the title is that it is not very visually exciting, with very little artwork. Though it’s not needed to provide information, it would be nice to have some colour breaking up the book to make it less intensive. You do get a lot of information for your money and those new to layers in Photoshop, or who want to get more from them, will definitely benefit. 5

Value for money: As well as over 290 pages, there is also a free CD that comes with the book to help you learn

Summary: Though there is good advice for advanced users, this is better suited to those coming at Photoshop for the first time and want to progress to more advanced skills. The lack of artwork makes it less visually interesting.

7/10

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Exposé 7

The seventh collection of the ‘finest digital art in the known universe’ Author/Publisher: Ballistic Publishing Web: www.ballisticpublishing.com Price: Soft cover: $64; hard cover $75; Limited Edition $170 (approximately £40; £47; £106) About: 20 categories of artwork Image captions detailing software used, artist name and country Biography of Grand Master Ralph McQuarrie Introduction by Mark Snoswell, the president of CGSociety and creative director of Ballistic Publishing

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xposé 7 is the latest art book to come from the Ballistic Publishing stable, showing off a wide collection of fantastic digital art. It’s simply a coffee-table book, full of glorious images spread out over more than 200 pages. There’s no instruction – that’s what the d’artiste series is for – instead, just a simple showcase. The quality of this year’s 391 images is as high as it has ever been before, but with a judging panel that includes Max Dennison, Phil Straub (see our interview on page 68) and Chris Stoski, that comes as no surprise whatsoever. It opens, as the series always does, with a biography of the edition’s chosen Grand Master. This time around that’s Ralph McQuarrie, who is best known for his work on the original Star Wars series. His images are sublime and his story inspirational.

Soak it up, though, as it’s the only bit of editorial in the book. After that, you launch straight into the first of 20 categories. These change from edition to edition, depending hugely on the work that is submitted, and this time around new categories include Steampunk and Robotic/Cyborg to meet the rising quantity of artwork in these genres. Each category presents first its chosen Master in that genre, followed by all the Excellence awards. Trends tend to pop up in these books, and this time around it’s clear that there are more fantasy and sci-fi images submitted than ever before, which is also reflected in the new category additions. At the back of the book are the handy Index pages, which lists all the artists featured and their contact details, which is a great way of checking out digital art talent to help you with your own projects. If you liked the first six editions of Exposé, then you’ll know exactly what to expect here and you won’t be disappointed. 5

TOUCH OF GOLD: The cover image is painted in Photoshop by Bente Schlick from Germany

SUMMARY: Inspirational images, this is a tried-and-tested format by Ballistic Publishing that contains no surprises if you’ve seen the previous incarnations, but why change something that works so well?

9/10

Black and White An in-depth guide to monochromatic imagery in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom Authors/Publisher: Leslie Alsheimer, Bryan O’Neil Hughes/Focal Press Web: www.focalpress.com Price: £22.99/$39.95 About: Illustrated by professional-level photography Dedicated chapters for Photoshop and Lightroom users Extended introduction looking at ‘taking the shot’ In-depth workflow practices explored Covers printing and scanning techniques

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lack-and-white photography can appear simple from the outset – take a colour image into Photoshop, convert using one of the many monochromatic methods and you’re done. Well, not quite. Not if you want to create black-and-white images with a perfect tonal spread, balanced exposure, impact and focus. The way you shoot, edit and print monochrome images is all-important when it comes to creating images that pop off the page. Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom is a dedicated book ‘for photographers, by

photographers’, looking at the ways that Photoshop and Lightroom can help improve your workflow. There is a long introduction to the book that talks about photography, composition and creativity, which is great if you’re a keen photographer needing inspiration. There is then a map showing five phases of a good workflow solution, which is also a guide to the way that the book is laid out. It all seems quite technical on first glance, but when you start going through the chapters the information is well delivered and easy to follow. Author Leslie Alsheimer is a photographer herself, so there are plenty of images inside to help you on your path to taking better black-and-white shots, as well as splashes of colour when illustrating before and afters. The information is very thorough, split into Photoshop and Lightroom sections so that you can get to the bits you need quickly. This is version two of this book, so a lot of the information is repeated from the first version but with updated sections to cover CS4 functions and the latest Lightroom release. Overall, there are a lot of great tips and techniques, but you need to have a specific interest in monochrome photography to get much out of it. At the time of going to press, the eBook version is available now and the printed version will be out soon. 5

DEDICATED ADVICE: Does what it says on the cover, looking at tips and techniques for getting better monochrome shots

SUMMARY: If black-and-white photography is a particular interest for you, then this is probably the most informative and educational book we’ve come across in the genre; however, it is very specific.

7/10

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A sh ! N WuI e Flbasite iq we th n u r wo

SPEECHLESS: “Semifinalist submission for NVIDIA’s Speak Visual: Design Digital competition”

We showcase the very best of your artwork

Readers’

GALLERY

9 9 £

FABRI

CATE: “The Un iversity of Washington’s planners cove r design for the years 2009 -2010”

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T d a n ncedpsho s a nd ca . We le e s en plea s es to adv a clud i ng t it 0 -word bio ages i mag .co.u k , i n el l a s a 15 solut ion i m es as w i m ag er-re s h i ng pu bl i e i mages , u for h igh r. En su re d T I F Fs a o e h y e t s for ck to en to app compres a n a l so et b a n s c w i l l g u a re cho s 300dpi u u m . You for mat ion m i n i i f yo i la ble a he i n ag i ne m t h m it a c v a re a Ds , 15 x 15 on a CD w toshop, I m The Best in o r P S r i m a g e s n c e d P ho d H o u s e , on y ou th, dv a Show winner send i red to A ng, R ich m u r nemou i u o h B q , s e l i r l l i b H each month gets Pu d EZ , h mo n BH2 6 a fantastic prize 33 R ic Dor set , i ngdom dK from OhFolio.com, Un ite

worth £99. See page 94 for full details. www.ohfolio.com

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Daniel Ra WEB: http://cornerstone.carbonmade. com/

“My designs have helped fund multiple causes, including an organisation called New Life Presbyterian” Daniel Ra

“I’m a 19-year-old freshman attending the University of Washington, majoring in Cell Biology and hoping to become an oral surgeon one day. Once a sponsored skateboarder who was raised in Guam, I currently reside in Seattle. I was introduced to design during my sophomore year in high school from a friend, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year due to diabetes-related causes. Having been an officer of at least four student-run organisations and working 20 hours a week while attending soccer practice, I was forced to postpone my practices in design during my junior year in high school. In senior year I started to pick it up again, and have been actively designing ever since. My designs have helped fund multiple causes, including an organisation called New Life Presbyterian, for which I raised over a grand in funds by designing and selling shirts for their annual Mexico mission.”

ANIMOSITY: “For Luminarium’s VI exhibit entitled Illuminate”

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Readers’ gallery Sean Harris Ferguson WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/devian “I’m a 24-year-old graphic artist living in Bethel, Connecticut, with a degree in Visual Communication. I’m a member of the digital art group Raster (www. rasterized.org), run by Keith Kennedy and Luis Araujo. These two people, as well as the members of Raster, have helped me grow so much in my work. I have been creating digital art since I was 14 when I began to play with Photoshop. It became an instant addiction. The best gift digital art has is the ability to inspire the uninspired. Each of my pieces represents a significant time in my life, from depression to heartbreak, personality changes to joyous times, death to life. I try to invoke these emotions to the viewers through my work, feel what I felt during these times or strike a memory within them. I don’t control my emotions, I just make them digital.”

BEST IN SHOW

EVERYTHIN

G’ told me she wa S BLUE: “After my wife s no heart broke. Try t in love any more, my ing to get some of that emotion out an d how painful it felt during this time turned into this”

PIECE OF ME: “My father passed away in 2008. When he did, it felt like he took a piece of me with him. While grieving, I started to create this piece. This piece means a great amount to me. Rest in peace Robert W. Ferguson”

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TURE: THE ADVEN this ally feel that

“I re es the spirit image captur e of the song Th gels An Adventure by iginal . Or and Airwaves pdtnc. :// photo by http / m deviantart.co

“Each of my pieces represents a significant time in my life, from depression to heartbreak, personality changes to joyous times, death to life” Sean Harris Ferguson

SHATTER: “This was inspired by Feeder’s song Shatter. I used the same photograph as the base for four separate images, which was challenging yet enjoyable”

Liam Wong WEB: www.eluu.co.uk

OF BLOOD, LOVE AND TEARS:

“During my marriage, things were not as easy as they appeared. It takes a lot of emotion and strength to keep things running smoothly. Each element in this image has a significant representation”

“I am a digital artist situated in Scotland. I am currently a student at the University of Abertay, Dundee. I began using Photoshop in my free time while still at school, at which point it was very much a hobby. After discovering the advantages of digital art, I was instantly hooked. Since then, I have been constantly learning new software, including Maya, ZBrush and the remainder of Adobe’s Creative Suite. As a result, my portfolio covers not only photomanipulations but also 3D, animation and web design. In an effort to further my knowledge of digital art, this summer I will be taking part in the games competition ‘Dare to be Digital’, where I will be creating art assets for a game to be created within ten weeks.”

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HYPERGRAF: “A collaboration with James Knowles for The Luminarium’s Illuminate exhibit. We wanted to create a strong contrast between a rough background and the smooth futuristic graffiti”

090-094_AVP_59_ReadersGallery.in94 94

Past examples:

Advanced Photoshop

9 9 £

• A unique Flash website template and CMS hosting service

WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/ SmilingDemon

94

H RT O W

Each month, one of the featured artists is selected as Best in Show. This artist will win a fantastic prize, courtesy of ohfolio.com. The lucky winner will receive a year’s subscription to the website service, a fully designed Flash website template and a free domain name.

Alastair Temple “I am 19 and study Civil Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. In my spare time I love to create, whether it is via the medium of photography or through digital art. I enjoy participating within art groups, co-running The Luminarium (www.theluminarium.net) and contributing to Intrinsic Nature (www.intrinsicnature.org). The beauty of an art group is that it can offer a reliable foundation for providing feedback on your work and present the incentive to design and improve. Collaborating on big team projects and individual pieces is a great way to share knowledge and a brilliant way to produce something unique; combining the skills of many talented artists is elemental in creating a piece that may not have come to exist through the mind of one artist. My own art often consists of 3D abstracts, and I employ strong textures to provide depth that you can almost feel.”

What you can win…

Readers’ gallery

• Create and edit your own website content, using the easy-tounderstand tools • Templates designed by artists • Host up to 2,000 images Terms and conditions

THE TR

IP Luminariu : “This was created for m show the ’s Prismatic release. The un Iw bright colo real feeling of a trip anted to with the ured abstra ct”

By submitting images to Advanced Photoshop’s Readers’ Gallery, 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 or equivalent to the work. This includes the right to showcase work on multimedia formats. By submitting work, you also confirm that your images do not infringe any copyright regulations should they be published.

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