reader tutorial

Reader Tutorial: Wrestlerish Album Artwork by Chris Valentine

abduzeedo — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:32:44 +0000

This is a short case study on the album artwork I did for the South African band, Wrestlerish. There were at least 8 different illustrations for this album, so I've decided to focus on the portraits which I combined for the poster design and booklet.Apologies for the low res process pics, but I only had access to my phone during the drawing process.

Step 1

My first step when drawing portraits is to make sure all of the elements of the face are accurately positioned. I first block in the rough shape of the head, and then go in and add in rough positional marks for the nose, eyes, ears etc. I always work very closely from my photograph at this point and use my pencil to measure spaces and convert to the page accordingly. I use a Faber Castelle 0.5mm mechanical pencil with corresponding 2B lead and a putty eraser.

Step 2

I now begin fleshing out some of the details. Once I am 100% sure that the landmarks of the face are accurate, I can start detailing without worrying too much about likeness. I carefully analyse each element of the photograph & try to reproduce exactly what I see onto my drawing. This takes a lot of practice, but with time you start relating value in the photograph to different pressure levels with the pencil and it becomes easier to get your drawing true to the photograph.

Step 3

In this step I started with the beard. This was the most painful part of the drawing as it involved hundreds of tiny little pencil marks with different areas of light and dark. Always remember, the devil is in the details. I try to pick out the dark and light areas of the beard and shade accordingly, using tightly packed strokes for the dark areas and more sparse pencil marks for the light bits.

Step 4

Step 4 is essentially the polishing phase where I add in final details and make sure I've got the likeness right. If it doesn't look like the guy by now it's a bit of a problem; so always try and leave your dark shading until you're sure you have the likeness correct! This step is all about adding the finishing details and highlighting the smaller features of a person's face that aren't immediately noticeable.

Step 5

As you can see in the image, I like to work on A4 (29.7cm x 21.0cm) paper, normally 200GSM as it's heavy enough to handle acrylic inks without warping. I always use masking tape to attach the page to a hard board working surface to press on. Once I have finished my drawing, I scan it in at 600DPI and bring it into Photoshop.

Step 6

This is how a drawing typically ends up looking once it's ready to be integrated into my digital piece. I will normally drag the scan into a new document (with a size relative to the job description), and I'll use the levels adjustment layer to bring the darks out and improve the general contrast. I'll also go around the piece with a soft eraser and remove any marks I may have left on the page. It's also important to note that I set the layer's blending mode to 'Multiply'. This removes the white from the layer and leaves your pencil marks so you can work underneath them. Blending modes can be found in the dropdown menu above your layers palette which will say 'Normal' if you haven't changed it yet.

Conclusion

Once I had done this for each of the band members, I brought them all together into one huge canvas and messed around with various paint splatters and watercolor scans, as well as the cover artwork of the Johannesburg skyline. I would love to answer any questions you may have, so feel free to get in contact.

For more information about Chris Valentine visit his site at http://valentinedesign.co.za and follow his Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/christhecook

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

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Reader Tutorial: Flaming Car in Photoshop by Lincoln Soares

abduzeedo — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:56:23 +0000

This week’s tutorial we will show you how to create a flaming car. We saw this effect before and it’s quite simple but it’s a good exercise and the result is quite good. You can also apply this effect on other images.

So let’s do that.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. Make the background with a mix of black and red (#160000). Then with the image of a car with no background. For this first step the idea is get the outlines of the car for our image. To do that, it's pretty easy. Create a new layer by duplicating the car's layer. Rename it to "Base" and hide the original. Go to Image>Adjustments>Invert.

After that go to Filter>Stylize>Find Edges. Repeat the same thing again in order to have another layer but for the Blend Mode use Hard Light. After that you can merge those 2 layers into one.

Step 2

Your image will look like this:

Step 3

Now that we've gotten the cars outline we will have to apply the light effect on it so it will look like a flaming car.

In the same layer that we created in the step 1, let's apply a Gaussian Blur. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. The value will vary depending on the resolution you are working on. In my case I used 1.6 for the Radius. After that change the Blend Mode to Scree.

Duplicate the the layer keeping the same blend mode, however let's apply a Gaussian Blur again, go to Fitler>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use 3.6 pixels. Rename this layer to "Top". Duplicate the layer we created in the first step and merge it down with this one. Then duplicate the first layer again and rename it to Red and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Select Colorize and change the Saturation to 100. The Blend Mode of this layer will be Overlay.

Let's repeat this again to create the yellow version. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation and use 40 for the Hue. Do the same again to create an orange version, then for the Hue and Saturation use -22.

After that change the Opacity of the yellow and orange layers to 50% and put them inside a folder. You can do that by selection both and going to Layer>Group Layers. Then with the group select go to Layer>Vector Mask and then delete the outlines on the rear part of the car.

Step 4

Our effect is pretty much done. Now let's duplicate the original layer that we hid on the step 1. Select it and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue an Saturation. Select colorize and change the Saturation to 100. Put this layer in a folder and rename it to Car.

Step 5

Add a new layer and name it "Superior Line" before starting adding flames and other light rays. With the Brush Tool (B) with Hardness 0 add a line following the tires skid marks and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. I used 4.5 pixels for the radius. After that go again to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Use +76 for the Hue. Tip: You will have to do that for the right side tires and the left ones as well.

Step 6

Now let's start mixing some images in our composition. Get some flame images ad start adding them in your image. Notice that the flame images I have they are all in black background, that way you can use Screen for the Blend Mode and the black will be transparent.

Step 7

Keep adding more flames.

Step 8

Here I added another flame image. You can change the perspective of the image by going to Edit>Transform>Perspective. Once again use Screen for the Blend Mode, and if you wan the effect to be stronger, just duplicate the layer.

Img8

Step 9

Select one of the flames that you used for the skid mark and move it so it is underneath the car. Do that for the front and rear part of the car.

Step 10

Almost done. Let's add a few more details. Add a new layer and then with the Brush Tool (B), use a rounded brush with 0% Hardness to create some little spots of fire following the skid marks. Make sure you use different sizes for the spots like the image below.

Step 11

Duplicate the layer and go to Image>Adjustment>Hue and Saturation. Select Colorize and change the Saturation to 100 and the Lightness to -50. After that change the Blend Mode to Overlay. Duplicate that layer again and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Change the Hue to 76.

The next thing here is add an image of smoke like the image below.

Conclusion

That's it, our image is done. It takes a little time and work but the technique is quite simple. The end result is quite nice as well. I also hope you liked my first tutorial here at Abduzeedo. If you have any questions or want any asset I use here you can reach me at designsoares@hotmail.com

I am very happy to contribute with Abduzeedo, a blog that has helped me quite a lot.

Download Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

This tutorial was written by Lincoln Soares, an art director from São Paulo, Brazil. Lincoln has been working for over 5 years and you can check out more of his works at http://behance.com/lincolnsoares. You can also follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lincolnsoares.

About the author

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World Collabs 4 Winning Entry Tutorial by Mat Macquarrie

abduzeedo — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:04:50 +0000

Hello and welcome, this is a quick tutorial on how I created my poster concept for the World Collabs 4 competition. The tricky thing about planning a tutorial like this is, I created the elements with the 3D shapes from Joao Oliveira.

As a quick intro to this read, A World Collabs poster begins with one designer supplying some elements and the second designer adding to those elements to create a completed poster. My goal was to use the elements supplied by the collaborator as much as possible in creating my piece. For these steps, all I did was take the shapes, expand and rotate them to start forming my robot and it's environment. Later I pasted a robotic eye that I created for a previous project. A link to a separate tutorial detailing how I made the robotic eye can be found at the bottom of this page.

Robot Face

I started by trying to frame the environment for the face to hover in. I flipped the shapes around to create what I called a rubber-room effect on the sides. Then I just started layering shapes one at a time until the robot started to take shape.

Effects

Once the robot was complete, I added a glow effect on the upper left of the skull-plate. I selected a wide circle brush and set the hardness to 0 and 70% flow and threw a quick dot and set it's layer style to Linear-dodge.

Final Result

I figured the blue/black colour palette would be pretty popular among other entries so I wanted to change it to something else. I opened channel mixer and tweaked it until the dark blues turned to the gold/plum colour that I have now. Then I just layered a quick title and a signature and I'm done.

I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

To learn how I created the robotic eye, I created a tutorial showing the steps in painting it.. Also check out my Web site http://www.matmacquarrie.ca/

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

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Reader Tutorial: The Revolution Artwork by Aoiro Studio

guest — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 02:06:07 +0000

There we are about one month since my last tutorial with Abduzeedo! And here am I again with another tutorial for you guys! First I wanted to thank Abduzeedo again for giving me this great opportunity for sharing my knowledge. I will show you how to create a super light effect using blending options, shapes and tools in Photoshop.

This was an artwork for a cover album named: "The Revolution". The idea behind this artwork was to combine the colors of Trance music and the evolution. I did some researchs on Trance albums and they seems to use a lot the blue color so I picked blue. I could have chosen some red for expressing the evolution but why not orange! I wanted to make it different! I won't be telling you all the steps in detail but I'll be giving you hints that will help you make your "own"design.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. The size I am using is 2560x1600 pixels. Then you take the gradient tool (g) and you make a gradient using "Foreground to Background", so from black to a dark blue (#050655)

Step 2

Now type the word: "REVOLUTION" and place it right in the middle. I've used the font named: "Dekar" and you can find in the in the Weekly Friday Fresh Free Fonts of Abduzeedo. Here's the link. Next rasterize the layer type.

After I wanted to create a little perspective view with my word "REVOLUTION"; so I took the perspective tool and I dragged each side of my word to make it kind of go in the back. It gives the impression that the word "REVOLUTION" has been pulled towards the back a little.

Step 3

Ok, let's start to have some fun! I duplicate the "REVOLUTION" Layer and added a borderline by using a white stroke of 2 pixels. Then you select the whole layer and erase the content of the layer. What would be left, would be the white stroke of the word "REVOLUTION". This is my technique for making an easy stroke line. Then I placed it to give it some kind of a 3D look.

Step 4

Then I've used the same technique I did for my World Collabs 3 Winner Artwork Tutorial to create a white base by using the "outer glow" of the blending options. After create a new layer and take the radial gradient tool (g) and use "Foreground to Transparent" from black to cyan (#00d2ff). Don't forget to blend the layer to "overlay&quot;.

Step 5

Let's add some flares! I took the same flares that Abduzeedo used on his Easy Casino Style Sign in Photoshop Tutorial. The flares are from an image and you can download it here. After resizing the image and deleting all the parts that you won't need from the image; I just placed them randomly and duplicate it and resize it.

Step 6

After I added some lighting lines and I went crazy! It's the same process like the flares, you place them and duplicate them but don't forget to blend the layer to "overlay". Just play with the lines, have a concept and try to be creative!

Step 7

Afterwards, I added some stock shapes from my library, I blended them in the background of the word "REVOLUTION" and I also added a few shapes where the foreground color were black. I wanted to create some depth for the background. I knew I would be adding another color to my design, so I didn't wanted to be too full of rich colors.

Step 8

Now it's time to add the new elements and color. Like I said earlier, I decide to choose the orange color; what I did here it's I filled my shapes with the orange color (#fb863a) and played with the blending options. In this case, I've used "overlay" of course and "soft light".

Step 9

Now create a new layer and take the radial gradient tool (g) and use "Foreground to Transparent" from dark orange (#5a472f) to orange (#fb863a). I really like to play with the blending options, this is really what gives that vibrant light effect. Take the same layer and put it to "overlay".

Step 10

The final touch, I added the word "THE" and overlay it! For "la pièce de résistance", I took a stock grunge image and put it on top of my layers and blend it to "screen". And voilà there you have it. The Revolution

About the Author

Hi guys! My name's François Hoang and my alias's Aoiro Studio. I am a self-taught freelance graphic designer from Montreal, Canada. I've been designing for the last 4 years and really have a huge passion for creative work that makes a difference in our world. I am currently working as a freelancer with private clients on different commercial projects. I can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/aoirostudio , Facebook and Behance, as well as my online portfolio on AoiroStudio.com.

Reader Photoshop Tutorial: Sisters by Marcos Torres

guest — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:33:15 +0000

Celebrating Halloween, Marcos Torres will show us how to create a sort of creepy composition playing with some textures, photos and blend modes in Photoshop. The name of this piece is called Sisters and it's perfect for this halloween time.

Step 1

First off, open Photoshop and create a new document. This new document should have 1680 x 1050 pixels. Now, I used an image of a wood texture, you can download it here. Open the photo and paste it on the 1680 x 1050 canvas.

Step 2

Then you have to duplicate this layer (ctrl + J / command + J) and desaturate it (ctrl + shift + U / command + shift + U). After this, choose the Blending Mode called Soft Light. This will make the image more sharp and dark.

Step 3

Now go to Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast panel and adjust Brightness to 0 and contrast to 100. This will make the texture more sharp and dark.

Step 4

Go again to Adjustments, then the Levels panel and adjust the levels to 26 / 1,00 / 255 , just like the picture below. Now this texture is almost dramatic as we wanted.

Step 5

Go again to Adjustments, then Curves. Now we have to make three points on this curves graphic, adjust the first one with Output 54 an Input 102, just like the picture below.

Adjust the second one with Output 24 an Input 34, just like the picture below.

And finally, adjust the third one with Output 148 an Input 176, just like the picture below.

Now we’re done with the Background, the result should be like this:

Step 6

Now download this little girls photo here. Open it in Photoshop, copy and paste it in the canvas. Then using the Free Transform ( ctrl + T / command + T ) , resize it and rotate till you got this:

Done that, create a rectangle using the Rectangle Tool ( U ) and place his layer before the photo, the result should be this, creating a white border on the picture:

Step 7

Desaturate the image ( ctrl + shift + U / command + shift + U ), then using the Brush Tool ( B ) cover the girls eyes with black. Now with the Smudge Tool ( the one with a finger pointing ) use a 8 pixels diameter brush to create this expressions on the girls lips, the result should be like these:

Step 8

Duplicate the girls layer ( ctrl + J / command + J ) and choose the Blending Mode called Hard Light. The image will get more dark and heavy with this.

Step 9

Duplicate the first girls layer ( ctrl + shift + J / command + ctrl + J ) and put it the top. Go to Filters > Other > High Pass and adjust Radius to 9,9 pixels, just like the picture below.

Then, choose the Blending Mode called Soft Light, your image should get sharpier like this:

Step 10

Create a new layer ( ctrl + shift + n / command + shift + n ) and draw these tears on the girls faces with the Brush Tool ( B ), then choose the Blending Mode called Soft Light.

In order to make it more evident, duplicate this layer ( ctrl + J / command + J ) and you should get this:

Step 11

Select the girls photo ( ctrl + click / command + click ) and make a new layer ( ctrl + shift + N / command + shift + N ).

Now create a radial gradient in this area with the Gradient Tool ( G ), you should get something like these:

Then, change the Opacity of this layer to 70 % , he’s going to get like this:

Finally, choose the Blending Mode called Multiply, the light oh the gilrs pic will get more centralized and harmonic, your result should be like the image below:

Step 12

Remember the white rectangle? So, select him ( ctrl + click / command + click ) and create a new layer ( ctrl + shift + N / command + shift + N ). Now get this paper texture here and desaturate it ( ctrl + shift + U / command + shift + U ). Copy and paste it right in the white rectangle selection, like this:

Now choose the Blending Mode called Darken.

Right click on this image and select Blending Options > Drop Shadow and adjust Opacity to 100% , Distance to 0 pixels , Spread to 23% and Size to 35 pixels. The final result should be this:

Step 13

Duplicate this texture layer ( ctrl + J / command + J ) and use the Invert effect ( ctrl + I / command + I ). Change it Blending Mode to Soft Light, make a Mask and clear with the Brush Tool ( B ) these areas:

Step 14

Create a new layer ( ctrl + shift + n / command + shift + n ) and draw with the Brush Tool ( B ) with black some tiny lines in the mouth of the girls to enhance it gloomy look.

Create a new layer ( ctrl + shift + n / command + shift + n ) and draw with the Brush Tool ( B ) with red the nose of the girls, like a clown ( a bad clown in this case), then choose the Blending Mode called Soft Light, you may get this result:

Step 15

Choose the whole girls image selection by clicking on the white rectangle layer ( ctrl + click / command + click ) than create a new layer ( ctrl + shift + n / command + shift + n ) and make a linear gradient like this with the Gradient Tool ( G ).

Then change it’s Opacity to 45%, it should get like this:

Choose the Blending Mode called Multiply and we’re done with the girls manipulation.

Step 16

Download the image of the pin here. Cut it and his shadow with the Lasso ( L ) or the Pen Tool ( P ), copy and paste it on the canvas. Using the Free Transform ( ctrl + T / command + T ) rotate and put the pin and his shadow like this:

Separate the Shadow and the pin in two different layers by cutting and duplicating. Now select the shadow layer and change it opacity to 70%, then select the Blending Mode called Multiply, this shall be the result:

Step 17

Now we have to make this pin more gloomy, duplicate the pin layer ( ctrl + shift +J / command + shift + J ) , desaturate it ( ctrl + shift + U / command + shift +U ) and chosse the Blending Mode called Soft Light, it shall get darker.

Duplicate the original layer of the pin ( ctrl + J / command + J ) and go to Filters > Other > High Pass and adjust Radius to 9,9 pixels, just like the picture below.

Then select the Blending Mode called Overlay and you should get this result:

Step 18

To get a more realistic effect of the pin, i used a Crack Brush, there are lot of this kind of brush to download, you can have some of them here. Try to get this crack on the end of the pin in order to look like the photo was perforated.

Step 19

Now the blood is a splatter brush in red color, you can download some of this here. Try to find one with little drops to look more like blood. After that, choose the Blending Mode called Multiply, you should get this result:

Step 20

Final step, now we have to make a main light for all the picture, so create a new layer ( ctrl + shift + n / command + shift + n ) and with the Gradient Tool ( G ) create a radial gradient with it’s center close to the right side of the canvas, see the example below:

Choose the Blending Mode called Overlay and we’re done.

Conclusion

There are many ways to achieve this final result, but basically, you just have to know how to use textures and blending modes wisely.

Click on the image for full preview

Download the Photoshop File

Download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the Author

Hey buddies! I'm Marcos Torres, a 19 year old art director/freelancer from Brazil, I'm here to bring some new interesting stuff to you. You can see my portfolio at http://flickr.com/marcostorres. Any request or jobs opportunities contact me via email to marcostorres90@gmail.com, also follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/marcos333 to get in touch with cool design news.

Reader Tutorial: Planet X Matte Painting in Photoshop

guest — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:28:28 +0000

In today's feature film industry, productions are in constant need of digital set extensions or matte painting, the correct term for this type of work. If you don't know exactly what it is, a matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit.

Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques to combine a matte-painted image with live-action footage. At its best, depending on the skill levels of the artists and technicians, the effect is "seamless" and creates environments that would otherwise be impossible to film.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create that using some photos, 3D rendered models in 3DS Max and Photoshop.

Step 1

Make a rough sketch of the scene that we are going to create. Drawing the rough sketch makes the work easier in finding the appropriate images for the scene. The image used for this tutorial can be found here http://night-fate-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1q5yrw

Step 2

Open a new canvas in Photoshop with 16:9 resolution(1280x720px) .

Step 3

Import the image onto the canvas for which we are going to create the set-extension. Name the image as "base plate".

Step 4

Now mask half the body of the model using the Pen Tool(P) , and separate the selection into a new layer. This layer will be helpful in the coming steps.

Step 5

Select a center point in the image which represents the vanishing point to draw the perspective lines. Now by using the Line Tool(U) draw the perspective lines from the vanishing point. Drawing the perspective makes the work easier while arranging the images and the 3d models.

Step 6

In this step we are going to create a city which is far beyond the hills. Naturally the city appears to be blurred and dim in color when it is seen very far away. The image here fits perfectly to the scene, you can download it at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/709616.

1) Mask out the sky from the City image using the Magic Wand Tool(W) .
2) Now place the city layer on the right side of the image as shown in the image below and erase the unwanted part of the city using the Eraser Tool(E) .
3) color correct the 'City' layer using the Curves(Image>Adjustments>Curves) to blend with the main image.

Step 7

1) To create the tall tower as drawn in the sketch, open the image of 'brudge khalifa' (http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=dubai%20buildings&order=9&offset=48#/d2c...) and mask the shape of the building using the Pen Tool.
2) Now save the mask by right clicking on the mask and select 'Save Selection'.Then give a name to the mask and save it.

Step 8

1) Create a new layer and open the saved mask from Select>Load Selection, and paint the selection with #909da1 color.
2) Now increase the Exposure value of the tower to +0.14.

Step 9

Here we have the 3d 'dome' models same as designed in sketch, rendered out in occlusion and with texture using 3DS-max. You can download the 3D dome at http://leostarkoneru.deviantart.com/art/3d-domes-179534553

1) With the perspective layer on, arrange the occlusion rendered dome to the right as shown and name the layer as 'acl dome'..
2) Now place the textured dome on the 'acl dome' and reduce it's Opacity to 61%.
3) According to the main image the sun light is coming from the right side, so duplicate the textured dome layer and color correct the layer using the Curves to get the sun light effect on dome.Name the layer as 'light'.
4) Now by using the Soft Eraser Tool(E) erase the left side of the light layer to give the dark shadow to the dome. Then select all the layers of dome and Merge them together and name it as 'dome 1'.

Step 10

Since the dome is resting on soft sand, there must be some sand covering the bottom of the dome.In this step we will be digitally painting the sand at the bottom of the dome.

1) Make a new layer and paint the sand as shown using the Soft Round Brush(B) with #7d7466 color selected.
2) Now reduce the Opacity of the brush to 75% and paint on the previous paint using #64584b color.
3) Again repeat the previous step using #303028 color with the brush opacity set to 26%.

Step 11

Now duplicate the 'dome 1' layer and name it as 'dome2' then flip it horizontally and place it on the left as shown.

Step 12

1) Similarly as the previous step duplicate the dome2 layer and name it as dome3 then resize it using the Move Tool(V) as per the sketch. Place this layer under the model layer that we cut in the Step 4.
2) As the object goes further from the camera it gets blurred, so add Gaussian Blur(Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) of Radius 0.7px.

Step 13

Repeat Step 12 to arrange dome 4 and dome group. After arranging the domes apply Gaussian Blur of Radius 1.4px to dome 4 and to 'dome group' add Gaussian Blur of radius 2.0px.

Step 14

1) Now import the planet image (http://superiorgamer.deviantart.com/art/Stock-Planet-1-60715114?q=boost%...) onto the canvas and change it's Blending Mode to Screen.
2) Repeat the previous step and resize the planet using the Move Tool to create a moon to the planet.

Step 15

Since this is a desert scene there must be some sand flying with the wind. Using the 'Softly Whisper' brush (http://zoozee.deviantart.com/art/Cloud-Brushes-II-48222245?q=boost%3Apop...) paint the sand flying with the color #e5d7c5.

Step 16

Adding a Lens Flair to the scene makes it more natural. Go to Filter>Render>Lens Flair and choose 35mm Prime and increase it's brightness to 135%.

Step 17

From this step we will be using Lightroom 3 for color correcting the image. Lightroom 3 is very easy to use and we can get an amazing result in a very short time.

1) Import the saved photoshop file into Lightroom and choose 'color Creative-Bleach Bypass' preset from Saved Presets list.
2) Now move to Develop and change the exposure to -0.99, Temp=+6, Fill Light=20.
3) Set the value of Lens Vignetting Amount to -70 to get the dark corners.

Conclusion

About the Author

Santosh is a freelance graphic designer based in India. He recently completed his college courses majoring in 2D Animation, and has decided to continue on to Film Production. His weapon of choice: Photoshop. You can see more of Santosh's work via santosh' portfolio. Connect with him through Twitter.

Flashing Design in Photoshop by Mike Speero

abduzeedo — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 02:41:23 +0000

The tutorial of this week is very special, it's from Mike Speero, a graphic designer from Gothenburg, Sweden. Mike has been featured in several books, magazines, done interviews, had a poster up on a fancy Italian galleria and soon he will be selling skateboards as well.

So in this tutorial he will show you how he created one the "Flashing" design, one of his works from his portfolio which in he mixes a photo of girl with splashes of milk and light effects to create a beautiful artowork.. We also highly recommend that you visit Mike's website and check out his portfolio, it's really cool.

Step 1

Mask out the girl. Push the button in the circle, so you get the white field in your layer next to your image. Then use pen-tool or a brush with black color to erase the background. (Make sure you draw on the white field and not the picture itself)

Step 2

Make the model grey by going to Image>Adjustments>Hue/saturation. Drag the middle anchor to the grey field. An easier way is to hit cmd+shift+U.

Create a new white layer and place it in the bottom. Layer>New fill layer>Solid color.

Then size your model up or down. In this case, I shrunk her a little bit to fit the picture better. Use cmd+T to change the size. (When in use, you can always experiment by holding down shift, ctrl and cmd sometimes to get different results.)

Step 3

Time to duplicate. Go to Layer>Duplicate Layer or press cmd+J. Then go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. The top layer should now point down to the layer beneath.

Step 4

This treatment is for the top layer. Image>Adjustments>Shadow Highlights. Click in the box "show more options". Then change Shadows: Amount to 100 and Adjustments: Midtone Contrast to -100.

Step 5

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Approx 3.0 blur. Then in Blending Mode change the status from Normal to Lighten. Next to the blending mode there's the Opacity box. Make sure it's says 70%.

Also, in the clipping mask field, paint over the face so it's not that blurry.

If you did everything right, it should look something like the picture below.

Step 6

Duplicate the bottom layer and place it on the top. Then place it in the clipping mask.

Then for the top layer Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlights. See below for the numbers. And last Blending Mode>Lighten.

Step 7

Make a new duplicate from the top layer. This time only use the right hand. Mask away the rest. Then go to Image>Adjustments>Curves. If it's not that white as you wanted it to be, go to Blending Mode and change to Lighten. Duplicate the hand. Mark both hand layers and merge them by Layers>Merge Layers.

Keep the layer in the clipping mask.

Step 8

Make the background Black. Double click on the layer and go to Color Overlay>Double Click on the red rectangle and choose the color black.

Time for some splashes. Open up your splash picture in a separate window. Then go to Select>Color Range. Get as much of the content you want and press OK. In many cases the selection is for the things you don't want. To fix that go to Select>Inverse. Now copy the splash into the window we work in.

Make the splash grey by cmd+shift+U. Repeat Step 7 to make it more white.

Step 9

I never use the eraser, only the mask. Use the mask to fix with the splash so it fits the boot. This layer should be on top and not be placed into the model mask.

Next. Play around with a spray brush. Do however you want here. Change the opacity on some for a good mix of light. Add some special brushes as well. These should be in the mask.

Keep in mind: The 2 model layers in the mask should always be on the top. The things we put in there from now on, shall be placed in the bottom.

Step 10

Now we add the splashes again. Bring in new ones or just duplicate the one from before.

Step 11

Use the spray brush to paint in some colors. One layer for each color.

Step 12

Time to fix with the background. Create a new layer above the background layer. Use the Lasso-Tool and draw a triangle shaped form. When it's active, use a brush to paint outside the selected area to get this cool effect.

Step 13

Back to a white background again. But with a little extra grey in the middle. Double-click on the layer and follow the picture below.

Step 14

More splashes, but this time, put them behind the model and not in the mask.

Make some Triangles and Circles. I used purple for the triangles and white for the circles. The Opacity is lowered on both symbols. You can find them in your shape-tool options palette.

Create a shape with Lasso-tool that is in line with the previous lines in the background and move it up a little. Then you get an extra effect. I used purple color and lowered the opacity to 5%.

Step 15

Throw in some balls or whatever you like. I made mine in Illustrator and added some effects with the mesh tool there. Then I pasted them into photoshop and in Blending Mode changed them to Screen.

Use the brush to paint some shadows in the back. You can also use white to mix it up.

Step 16

Light effects. I'm gonna show you how to do them. This is a quick lecture. You gonna have to practice a little to master it.

Step 17

Make some bling bling stars and brush up the white parts so they really shine. Just some simple finishing stuff.

Create 2 new layers and place them on the very top and do like this:

Step 18

Check over your image for weird stuff. The hand looks a little strange so far. Create a new layer and place it in the model mask. Pick a white brush to paint the edges of the hand so it looks sweet.

And here's the final picture!

Download the Photoshop file

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

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Reader Tutorial: Mixing Brushes and Layers in Photoshop by Josh Overton

guest — Mon, 03 May 2010 10:47:59 +0000

Following our series of Reader Tutorials, Josh Overton, a graphic designer from Bristol UK will show us how to create a really cool design mixing simple layering techniques with custom brushes using Photoshop.

If you want to contribute with your tutorial just let us know, send us a preview via email to abduzeedo@abduzeedo.com

Step 1

To start with, open a new document in Photoshop with the dimensions 3508x4961 pixels and a resolution of 300 pixels/inch. Then create a gradient overlay for the background with the colours #778989 and #cbcfce and then angle the gradient at -61 degrees.

Step 2

Then using the custom brushes, you can download them here, with the colour #010207 (which is just off black) and setting the flow and opacity down a little you can start to build up something similar to the below image.

Step 3

With the custom brushes try to use these settings in the brushes toolbar with different brushes and at different sizes to help create a random effect so your brush doesn't look like a single stroke. Also because the brush is at a lower flow and opacity, if you go over a bit again with a new click it will get darker so you can build up an effect like mine.

Step 4

Now hide that layer and create a new layer. Then use some of the dot brushes and place them down where you want. Next erase them with a big eraser similar to the brush you used in the last step making sure the opacity and flow are about 50% so you can erase them softly over time to get the result as in the image.

Step 5

With about 3 different layers for different brushes, build up your base to look similar to this. Again experiment with the different brushes supplied and change the settings in the brush panel like shown in an earlier step and don't forget to erase over certain parts and around the edges to smooth things out.

Step 6

Don't be put off if you think that it looks odd, as the separate layers can do, as you can see in this image with only one layer showing. However all combined they create a nice effect with many different looks.

Step 7

For the lines I created a layer underneath all of the previous layers except the gradient background layer and used the pen tool to create one line at a time by following these steps:

1: Select "Pen Tool", then make sure "Paths" is selected at the top (it is one of the buttons below "Edit" and "Image", just hover the mouse over until it says "Paths" and select that one).
2: On your new layer draw a line from the top left to the bottom right, adding a curve, then select "Paths", which is a tab next to your layers panel. Then make sure a round basic hard edged brush is selected as 15px in size. Now right click the path in the "Paths" section with the brush tool selected and click "Stroke Path", then tick the box "Stimulate pressure" and click "OK" and you should get the desired line.
3: Now with your other layers showing (but still only working on the lines layer) you can start filling in gaps with lines how you please and sometimes use "Stimulate Pressure" and sometimes not. Also remember to use different colours for your lines.

Step 8

By now your image should be looking similar to below. We can now add the face to the image.

Step 9

This is the before and after shot of how the face should look. I simply found a face on Google images by searching for "model face". This one is supplied on the PSD file which can be downloaded too.

All I did here was cut around the face with the "Magnetic Lasso Tool" and then "Desaturate" it and adjust the "Curves" so you can see some real contrast in the shadows on her face.

Step 10

Now we place the face over the desired area (I rotated the face slightly) and with several new layers on top we build up over her face using the same techniques for the brushes from earlier trying to match the colours to the shades surrounding her face. The "Ink Dropper" tool can help to choose the colours from her face.

Step 11

Almost done now. Simply add some brush strokes from her eye on a new layer in the colour red and set it to "Multiply" in the layer properties. When happy with it duplicate the layer and set that to multiply to darken the effect.

Conclusion

There"s your final image minus the text. Thank you.

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the Author

Josh J Overton is a young freelancer graphic designer from Bristol, UK. His favorite tool is Adobe Photoshop and you can get more information about him at http://www.overtongraphics.com

Reader Tutorial: Easy Digital Painting in Photoshop

guest — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:50:25 +0000

This tutorial will walk you through the simple steps used to turn a regular photograph into an interesting digital painting illustration, using Photoshop's Filter Gallery and the Smudge Tool. Depending on the photograph you choose, it shouldn't take you more than a couple of hours to complete.

Before I begin, I must give a huge thanks to @kidhelios / for allowing me to use his photo of George Auckland (my old boss from the BBC) as the source for this illustration.

Preview

The first thing to do is to resize the photo to your desired output size. This is important as the Filter Gallery effects are heavily pixel based and if you resize after you've finished your work, it can blend them all back together and lessen the overall effect. My photo was taken with an original iPhone and is only 480x640 pixels. I wanted the final illustration to be bigger so I enlarged the image size to 960 pixels high and also increased the canvas width to 1200. Next I boosted the Brightness and Contrast to help the Filter Gallery effects really pick out the noise from the iPhone's less-than-brilliant camera. The easiest way to do this is with an adjustment layer, as it is non-destructive.

Next we need to drop out the background, fix any problems and prepare the photo for the filters. I'll leave you to choose your own way of removing the background, but I prefer straightforward painting in the Layer Mask, for the level of control is gives you. You can be fairly rough with elements like the hair as they'll be fixed when we get on to the smudging part later on. In my original photo, the subject's left shoulder has been cropped from the frame, so that needs to be put back in. I've just copied the right shoulder and flipped it across to the left, tweaking a few bits along the way. Again, it doesn't need to be precise and photo-realistic at all, as long as the basic shape is right and you pay attention to the highlights, shadows and overall tone of the area.

Now we are finished with our basic image adjustments, it's time to apply the filters.

Load your Layer Mask as a selection (hold down the Apple key and click the Layer Mask) and Copy Merged (Apple-Shift-C), then Paste into a new layer. If you find that the pasted version has moved slightly, just reposition it over the original - quickly flipping the Blend Mode to 'Difference' can help, when everything is black, the two layers are aligned.

Select the bottom layer of the three and apply the 'Poster Edges' effect from the Filter Gallery. Tweak the settings until you get some nice black lines defining areas of you subject, almost like cartoon outlines.

On the next layer up, apply the 'Accented Edges' effect. This one should brighten up your image and add some nice highlights. Set the Blend Mode to 'Overlay'.

On the third layer, apply the 'Glowing Edges' effect. Don't worry that your image has suddenly gone black, the extra highlights and neon glows will be perfect once you set the Blend Mode to 'Lighten' and reduce the Opacity down to 50%.

Obviously, all of these settings are specific to this photo and may not be right for yours, so feel free to tinker and tweak until you're happy, maybe even try out some of the other filters. When you're done you should end up with something like this.

Now for the fun part.

With your three Filter Gallery layers visible, Select All, Copy Merged and Paste once more, and make sure the pasted copy lines up with the other again. Duplicate this layer (so you have a merged back-up) and then this is layer that we will be painting, but before we start there are two little tweaks to Photoshop's default settings we should change first. In the Preferences, go to Performance and up the number of History States saved to at least 200 if you haven't already. The second tweak is in Keyboard Shortcuts from the Edit menu, and is to change the usual Undo command (good old Apple-Z) to activate Step Backward instead. This allows you to quickly go back through those 200 history states if something doesn't look right.

OK, now for the fun part...

Select the Smudge Tool - it's the third option of the Blur/Sharpen tool - and choose a smallish soft brush, with the Strength set to 50%. Now just start brushing your image and blend the combined Filter effects back together to resemble brush strokes. The key here is 'short, controlled bursts' and to follow the natural lines and curves of your subject. Go with the contours of the skin, the curls of the hair, the patterns of the clothing and so on. Be careful not to bend any of the black lines away from their curves, if you do then Apple-Z is your new best friend.

Other useful keyboard shortcuts to know for this process are the square bracket keys - [ ] - which reduce and increase your brush size, and the number keys, which will alter the strength of the smudge effect (remember; 0 sets it to 100%, 9 to 90% etc)

(200% zoom view with arrows showing the approximate direction and click duration for the Smudge Tool)

Keep going like this, working methodically around the subject. When you do the hair, you can tidy up your rough mask from earlier by extending whispy hairs out from the head when you smudge them and also correct any other areas that you're not happy with - I altered the cloned lapel of the jacket while smudging as I didn't think I had the angle right first time.

Once you've finished your painting, you'll need a background. I've used and tweaked Fabio's excellent space background tutorial and added a spiral galaxy from the NASA archive for mine. As a finishing touch I've duplicated my painted layer, given it a high Gaussian Blur and moved it below the painting layer to add an overall glow to the image. If you plan on painting your background using the same effect, it's useful to keep it separate from your foreground image so you don't end up smudging the two together.

About the Author

My name is Nathan Barry and I'm currently a freelance Web Designer/Coder, after spending nearly 10 years building websites for the BBC. I also write for Wired's GeekDad blog http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/discotechnological and I'm a keen photographer and full-time Dad. You can follow me on twitter @GeekDadNath if you like. Thanks for reading!

Reader Tutorial: Wind Blow by Francesco di Pietro

abduzeedo — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:53:57 +0000

Francesco di Pietro is an illustrator from Italy and he has created this really cool video tutorial or a sort of time-lapse video showing you how to draw a cool face illustration in Photoshop from scratch. The tutorial is called "wind blow tutorial" and it's definitely worth checking out.

For more information about Francesco, visit his DeviantArt profile. His portfolio is full of really cool illustrations.

Final Result

Video Tutorial

wind blow tutorial from francesco di pietro on Vimeo.

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Reader Tutorial: Geometric Flower Effect Logo in Illustrator

Tomas Varil — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:49:40 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you how I made this nice logo for one of my clients in Czech Republic. Feel free to use it as inspiration, but please do not copy it in any form. All copyrights belong to the owner whom I made it for. Last but not least, please excuse Czech language appearing in the dialog boxes on pictures; I use a localized version of illustrator.

The final product will look like this:

Step 1

We'll start by making a new document with 180 mm width and height. If you do not like it you can select whatever dimensions you want. Then we will make one horizontal and one vertical guide positioned directly in the center of the document.

Select the Ellipse tool (L), create the ellipse, fill it with no color, select black outline and put it in the center of the document. I made one 160 mm high and 40 mm wide. So it will look something like this:

Step 2

Now, we are going to copy the ellipse 8 times around the circle. Easiest way to do this is to use Rotate Tool (R). So select the ellipse, click on the Rotate Tool (R), hold down ALT and click on the center of the ellipse, dialog box should appear. Enter 20 in angle and click on copy button. You will get this:

Step 3

Now press CTRL+D 7 times and you get to this point:

Step 4

We can now delete the guide lines; we do not need them later. The easiest part of this tutorial is done, now we are starting with ant work :-) We need to divide the final product in to small pieces. We are going to make it using Pathfinder. So select all ellipses and go to Window>Pathfinder and click on Divide:

Step 5

Now press Shift+CTRL+G to ungroup all objects. We are going to delete all needless objects. It is all 5 inner circles composed of 18 objects. So, 3 outer circles of objects remain as on the picture below.

Step 6

We are going to play with gradients now. It will be quite long but the output will be awesome. So let’s start: select the objects with Direct Selection Tool (A) (press Shift and click on each object) and apply a gradient from C30 M100 Y0 K0 to C30 M100 Y0 K80 like the image below:

Step 7

Then select another group of 6 objects and apply gradient from C80 M100 Y0 K0 to C80 M100 Y0 K80, here we go:

Step 8

Select another following group of 6 objects and apply gradient from C0 M100 Y100 K0 to C0 M100 Y100 K80. You’ll get something like this:

Step 9

For now you have enough information to know how to apply gradients for other groups of 6 objects.

4th group gradient from C0 M50 Y100 K0 to C0 M50 Y100 K80
5th group gradient from C0 M0 Y100 K0 to C0 M0 Y100 K80
6th group gradient from C50 M0 Y100 K0 to C50 M0 Y100 K80
7th group gradient from C100 M0 Y100 K0 to C100 M0 Y100 K80
8th group gradient from C100 M0 Y0 K0 to C100 M0 Y0 K80
9th group gradient from C100 M100 Y0 K0 to C100 M100 Y0 K80

If all went well you will get something like this:

Step 10

Now we are almost done, just remove the black outlines from all objects. And you are done with the output. This output does not correspond to physics. But applying the gradients to specific directions on each object, which our flower consists of, can make for some pretty awesome effects. It can be done by selecting each object, clicking on a Gradient Tool (G) and playing with it. Like these two examples:

Conclusion

First example is a bit complicated I will explain it later. Second example goes out from our output made in this tutorial. It was made only by rotating a gradient in proper direction on each object.

If you were able to make the second example, then change the Blending mode to Darken and copy it. On the copy - you have to make axial symmetry of each object or gradient. You can make it by axial mirroring or just by rotating the gradient to opposite side of object. If you are done with it, just put the copy over the original one and you will get the output like in the first example.

About the Author

My name is Tomas Varil. I am from Prague (Czech Republic). I have no design or art school background. I studied electronic computer systems in high school and I now study biology at university. All I have learned in graphic design, I learned by myself, through reading great blogs or web pages like abduzeedo.com. I first started 6 years ago as DTP operator and retoucher. Now I work in advertising agency as a graphic designer and production manager and I am starting my own corporate identity freelance project on www.tomasvaril.com (pages are under construction).

Reader Tutorial: Colorful Light Effect in GIMP

guest — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:31:13 +0000

I was browsing the other day and saw a Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1 with a beautiful wallpaper on it and thought to myself "Can I make one that looks like it but using only GIMP?"

And guess what? I could! And with this tutorial so can you.

Step 1

We first create a new document, you can make it any size, though I used 1600 x 1200. Setting by default Black as your Foreground color, we can ask in the advanced options to use it as our background.

Step 2

We now create a new layer, this time it should be transparent.

Step 3

Using Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise we fill our New Layer. Play with the values until you find the one that works for you, I preferred to size it 6 in both X and Y.

Step 4

Set the New Layer opacity to something between 15 and 30. I went with 20. While we are at it, rename this Layer to Clouds.

Step 5

Create a New Layer and using the Rectangle Selection Tool (R) create a rectangle that's as wide as your document but only 10 pixels in height. Fill that with #cccccc. Duplicate this layer 3 times.

Step 6

Select the lowest Line Layer, go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur and select 70 as your Blur Radius.

Repeat this step for the next two layers above it, only setting the Blur Radius to 30 for one and 10 for

the other.

There should be still one Line Layer with no Gaussian Blur above them all.

Step 7

Create a new layer and use the Stripes Fine pattern to fill it. We'll call it ScanLines.

Step 8

Create another new layer and fill it with using the Blend Tool (L) and the Full saturation spectrum CW gradient from left to right (Press the Ctrl Key to keep your line horizontal). We'll call this one Colorful.

Step 9

Place the ScanLines Layer below the last of the Line Layers.

Step 10

Go to Filters > Blur > Motion Blur and use 256 in Lenght at an angle of 90 degrees on the Clouds Layer.

The Final Touch

We add the logo and duplicate it twice and using Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur by 70 and 10 each, leaving the third, without any Gaussian Blurring, on top of them and making sure they arebelow the Colorful Layer.

You can play with it by inserting another layer and filling it with black, painting some circles and applying Gaussian Blurr and setting this layer just above the Clouds Layer and setting its mode to Multiply.

About the Author

Hi! Ricardo Francés here, a freelance web programmer/designer from El Salvador with a passion for open source software. I sometimes post at twitter (username: squidjam) and write for my site at http://squidjam.com

It's a real pleasure and I feel honored by this opportunity. Thanks!

Reader Tutorial: Create Vintage Traveler Diary in Photoshop

guest — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:02:08 +0000

In this reader tutorial Nikola Lazarevic aka Colaja from Nis, Serbia will show us how to create a very stylish vintage traveler diary in Photoshop. We will mix brushes with stock photos and blend modes to achieve the effect.

Let's take a look at our final image.

STEP 1:

Let's start by creating new document in photoshop. Mine is 1680x1050 pixels. Name this file diary.psd. Fill the background with #e5dfd3.

Download soft grunge texture from Bittbox. I picked up second one (free_high_res_texture_102), and palce it above the background layer. Command + T to resize it the way You like, and lower the opacity to 70%. Let's name this layer "background texture".

Now download Waterlogged Map Brushes by ~Arbenting. Create new layer above "background texture" and name it "map". Set foreground color to #463003. Now pick up the brush tool (B), load Waterlogged Map Brushes by ~Arbenting, choose map3, set master diameter to around 1557 and place the map in the middle of layer "map". Lower the "map" opacity to 75%.

Select all three layers (background, background texture and map) by holding the command key (or control on PC) and left mouse click on every layer, then hit command + G (ctrl + G on PC), and group these layers in Group and named this Group "BACKGROUND".

STEP 2:

I found excellent picture of old Notebook. Download it and open in photoshop. Now we're going to cut out the notebook. Use Magic Wand Tool (W) to select white background, hit command + shift + I to inverse selection, so that the nootebook is now selected. Command + C to copy selection, and paste it into our diary.psd file. Name this layer "notebook", resize it and rotate a bit (Command + T) and place it somewhere in the center, but a little on the left.

Now, we want to have same pictures between pages. To achieve that effect we need to do the following steps:

Duplicate "notebook" layer (Command + J);
Name this layer "notebook top";
Now pick up the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and start selecting around notebook pages.

Inverse the selection by pressing Command + Shift + I and delete the part that we don't need.

We'll going to give a life to a pages. Set the foreground color to #463003, create new layer above "notebook top", pick up the brush tool (B), and choose the map you like, I picked it map2, set diameter around 330px and paint with this brush in the lower right page part of notebook. Rotate this layer to match notebook paper orientation, lower opacity to 50% and name this layer "right page 1".

Create new layer, name it "right page 2", use the brush tool (B), choose another map, I choose map3, set the diameter around 450px, and paint upper part of right notebook paper. Rotate this layer to match notebook paper orientation. Lower the opacity to 50%.

Create another new layer, name it "left page", pick up the brush tool (B), choose another map, I choose map4, set the diameter around 600px, and paint over left notebook page. Rotate and move this layer so you get something like this.

Lower the opacity to 50%. Now we should have something like this.

Apply the following layer style to "notebook" layer:

STEP 3:

Download the polaroid photo and open it in photoshop. Double click on background layer and then clik OK so that this layer become editable. Save this file as ploaroid.psd because we will be using it for creating our polaroid photos.

For creating polaroid photos I used some of my pictures that I took this summer in Greece. You can find some of them on a flickr. So picked up photo you want, open in photoshop, copy and paste it in polaroid.psd. Command + T (Ctrl + T) to rotate a bit to catch polaroid orientation. Name this layer "photo".

Now hide photo layer, click on layer0, use magic wand tool (W) to select black square in polaroid.

Unhide photo layer, select it, inverse selection with Command + Shift + I, and hit backspace to delete unwanted parts of photo. Now deselect (Command + D). You should have something like this.

We want our photo to look old, so download Heavy Scratch brushes, open the brush tool (B), load Heavy Scratch brushes, pick up Scratch Heavy brush, set diameter to max 2500px, create new layer above "photo" layer, and paint with brush tool. Name this layer "scratch". Resize it to be bigger then the polaroid.

Then hide "scratch" layer, select "layer0", use magic wand tool (W) to select white background, Command + Shift + I to inverse selection, unhide "scratch" layer, select it, inverse selection once again and hit backspace to delete unwanted part of "scratch" layer. Lower the fill to 30%.

Photo now look scratchy but not old enough. To give more vintage look do next: Choose Create new fill or adjusment layer, choose photo filter, warming filter (85) for filter, set Density to 77% and click OK.

This one is now look pretty good and old enough.

STEP 4:

Select all layers, choose Layer>Merge Layers. Now pick up magic wand tool (W), select white background, inverse selection,

Copy it, and paste it in diary.psd between "notebook" and "notebook top" layers, and name this layer "photo 01 bp". Resize it and rotate, and place it on the left between pages like this.

Apply drop shadow layer style to "photo 01 bp".

Now create another polaroid photo and place it also between pages, using the above method. Name this layer "photo 02 bp" and apply Drop Shadow layer style to this layer, same as previous. We should have something like this.

Create another polaroid photo using the above method and this one we're going to place it on open pages. Name this layer "photo03".

Create paperclip to hold this photo. Set the foreground color to #583f0d, open custom shape tool, find paperclip shape, and draw paperclip. Hold Shift key to constrain proportions. Resize it and rotate. Name this layer "paperclip". Be sure that this layer is above "photo03" layer. Rasterize this layer and apply following "Bevel And Emboss" style to this layer.

We need to delete some parts of paperclip, choose eraser tool (E), pick Hard Round 5px, and start erasing.

Ok, let's continue. Create another polaroid photo, insert it in diary.psd, name this layer "photo04", and place it below "photo03" layer.

Let's add more details. Download Sticky Tape Photoshop Brushes, load into photoshop, set the foreground color to #dab05d, pick up brush tool (B), then pick up brush SpoonGraphics Tape2, set diameter to 116px, create new layer above "photo04", paint with brush tool. Name this layer "sticky tape 1" and apply drop shadow effect.

Duplicate "sticky tape 1" layer and clear layer style. We should have something like this.

With this, the left page is finished.

Now let's move on to the right page. Let's add Paragraph layer. To add a Paragraph layer you must create the bounding box first. You can Click and Drag the cursor diagonally until you've got your desired size. Write some text into Paragraph layer. I used font Journal. Set the text color to #463003, rotate and resize it to fit the right page of notebook. Name this layer "text".

Make this page a little more dirty and grunge. Download Coffee Stain 1 photo, open in photoshop, copy and paste it into dairy.psd. Name this layer "caffe strain page". Change the Blend Mode to Multiply. Resize it and palce it above "text" layer.

Now download Torn PostCard, open it in photoshop, select white background with Magic Wand Tool (W), inverse selection,

copy and paste into our photoshop file. Name this layer "map background". Resize it, rotate and place it on top of the right page. Add Drop Shadow Effect.

Select "map background" with Command + Click on thumbnail, create new layer, make sure that foreground color is #463003, pick up Brush Tool (B), choose any of the Waterlogged Map Brushes by ~Arbenting and paint it over. Name this layer "map1" and lower the opacity to 60%.

Add sticky tape, using the above method, to hold "map1" to the page.

Let's add a small detail to the pages. Download Italian Flag, open it in photoshop, with Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) make a selection, copy and paste it into diary.psd.

Name this layer "italian flag", resize it, rotate it and place it below "photo03". Now go to Image - Adjusments - Photo Filter.

And apply Drop Shadow Effect.

With this we finished notebook.

STEP 5:

Let's add more details! Create couple of polaroid photos, palce it into BACKGROUND group, in separate layers, above layer "map", give them a names starting with "photo 05 bg" respectivly. Apply Drop Shadow Effect to every layer.

Now add Cofee Stain over top picture. Create new layer, name it "caffe strain big", use Coffee Stain 1 photo, change the Blend Mode to Multiply, resize it and place it over photo.

STEP 6:

We'll add a cup of coffee now. Download Isolated Cup of Strong Coffee, open it in photoshop, open Paths, hold Command Key and click on Path thumbnail to select cup of coffee.

Copy and paste it into dairy.psd, name this layer "caffee" and place it on top. Resize it, apply Drop Shadow Effect.

Make it old. Go to Image - Adjusments - Photo Filter.

This is what we have now.

STEP 7:

Let's add compass. You can download compass from my flickr photostream. Extract compass from background, copy and paste it into diary.psd. Name this layer "compass". Place this layer below "caffee" layer. Go to Image - Adjusments - Photo Filter.

Add Drop Shadow Effect.

Make it a liitle bit scratchy. Create new layer above "compass" layer, name it "compass scratch", set the foreground color to #000000, pick up the brush tool, choose Scratch Heavy brush, select compass by holding Command Key and click on compass layer thumbnail, select "compass scratch" layer, and paint it with brush tool. Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light.

This one is looking pretty good right now.

STEP 8:

It's time to finish. Let's add the final detail. Write out the word abduzeedo using some random font. I used HumstSlab712 Blk and set it in this colour #c5c6ba. Set the font size to 120px. Change the blending mode to Colour Burn and add a 1px stroke.

Now duplicate this layer, and lower the opacity to 65%, blend mode is still Colour Burn.

And this is it.

Hope You all enjoy this tutorial.

About the author

Hi! My name is Nikola Lazarevic aka Colaja from Nis, Serbia. I'm web designer and photoshop addict! I started webexpedition18 less then a year ago. And of course, You can find me on Twitter!

Reader Tutorial: 16bits Vector Style Illustration

guest — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:45:32 +0000

Mario! everyday he saves the princess! Between some enthusiasts he is a great hero, outside and inside the gamers world, he is one of my favorite characters, so I decided to show how to vectorize a Mario from super nes with illustrator. The same process can be used for any other game or character.

What you will need?

- A Super Nintendo emulator called Snes9x - Download it here
- A rom from Super Mario World - Download it here
- Photoshop and Illustrator, in this case I used CS4
- A hot chocolate mug if it's cold, and in case it's hot, lots of coke

What you will get?

Step 1

Ok, let's open our emulator. Click at the snes9x icon to start the game. Click at File/Load Game or simply ctrl+O.

Step 2

Go to the place where you saved the rom of the SMW to run the game and then you need to Open a room (or two clicks). If everything goes right, you will see nintendo's logo and the game will begin.

Step 3

Now you need to capture de screen image (print screen) to get our Mario. Then past it at photoshop.

Step 4

Now, with the crop tool (C) select only Mario.

Step 5

Now we will clean the scenario. You can do that manually with the selection tool or via Color Range.

Step 6

Click at the most visible color as below:

Step 7

At the 'not selected' parts you can use the selection. In summary: the main thing is to select the character or that it out of it, depends on your method.

Mario with the scenario selected, then I pressed delete.

Cool!

Step 8

After that, open Illustrator. Select our Mario from photoshop and paste it here. Then click on it and go to Live Trace> Tracing Options.

Step 9

Select the options as below and give a priority to the option Preview so our result will we showed in real time as the selections are activated.

Mode: Color
Max Color: 256
Blur: 0px
Path: Fitting: 0px
Minimun Area: 0px
Corner Angle: 0px

So do a Trace (at the Mode option, then you can alternate the Color, Greyscale and Black/White), this way you will have different looks in a gameboy style. Go to Object> Expand and click ok.

Step 10

Now your image became a Vector, so now ungroup it (Ctrl+Shift+G).

Step 11

Select the small dirty parts and the white background that are at the image and delete them.

Step 12

Some fonts in a pixel style will do great with our Mario.

And our image is ready! You can also do some posters with this, in a bigger size. There is no limit for your creativity... and ok I know that you didn't drink your chocolate or coke. :)

I hope you liked the tutorial!!

To download the illustrator file from this tutorial click here.

About the author

My name is Fabrício Falco and I live in Curitiba, Brazil. Actually I've been knocking my head as a freelancer doing some wordpress and joomla websites. Check out my personal website and also add me to your facebook.

Edited by GisMullr

Reader Tutorial: Create a Grungy Poster In Photoshop

MateToth — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:56:37 +0000

The Reader Tutorial series is a place inside Abduzeedo where the main idea is to let our readers contribute to the site, share their experiences and talent! So feel free to get in touch with us if you have a tut you would like to see here. :)

So check out Máté Tóth's tutorial

In this very easy tutorial we will create a really cool skater poster in our favorite image editor program, Photoshop. My aim with this tutorial is to show you how to find and use awesome free stuff around the net. It's an ideal tutorial for Photoshop newbies. We'll use tons of layers, blending modes, textures and a lot of useful stuff. Check it out!

Sites you'll need:

Free brushes:
Brusheezy - http://www.brusheezy.com/
Brushking - http://www.brushking.eu/

Free textures:
Texture Lovers- http://www.texturelovers.com/

Free stock photos:
Stock xchng- http://www.sxc.hu/

All in one:
deviantART- http://www.deviantart.com/
Bittbox- http://www.bittbox.com/

Ok, if you bookmarked these extremely useful pages, let's start working on the poster...

This will be our final result!

Step 1

First create a new document, with white background. The size should be around 700x1000px.

Step 2

Let's create a stylish background! The main element of it will be a victorian grunge texture. Click here to download it. Extraxt it and open 01.jpeg with photoshop. It's much bigger than our canvas, so resize it. Create a new folder called "background". Create a new layer in that folder and paste the texture. Name the texture "victorian".

Step 3

Now you'll need a grunge texture pack. I downloaded this. Extract your package and open one. (open 03.jpeg if you use the same pack as I do) Resize it and paste into a new layer called "grunge". Set it's bland mode to Multiply. Don't be scared, it should disappear. Now select "victorian" layer and go to Layer> Layer mask> Reveal all. Select the Gradient tool (G) and select Linear gradient. Make the gradient from the bottom of the canvas to it's top. If you want a perfect line, hold down the Shift key.

Step 4

Looks cool, isn't it? And we only used 2 textures so far! Let's make it even better! Download a Rising sun brush pack. Head to brusheezy.com to do that. Here is the link for the brushes. Load it, choose the color #bfb385 pick one of the brushes, and paint it on a new layer called "rising". Go to Layer> Layer mask> Reveal all and do the same mask as we did in Step 3. (Linear gradient from the bottom to the top with white foreground and black background color) Set the layer's blending mode to Soft light.

Step 5

Now we need some nice clouds. Head to brusheezy.com again, and search for cloud brushes. I used this pack. Believe me, it's a pack that every designer must have. Create a new layer in the background folder. Name it "clouds". Select one of the cloud brushes and paint it to the new layer. I suggest you pushing the mouse button twice to make it look stronger. That's it, we have a really stylish grungy background.

Step 6

Here comes the most important step: finding our skater. I found a really cool photo on deviantART by Grape-Stock. Here is the link to it. Grab the Pen tool (P) and put anchor points all over the skater's outline. Don't forget to zoom in to make a nice selection. If you're ready, pick the Path selection tool (A), right-click on your path and select Make selection. If you feel like your path isn't perfect, set 1px for Feather radious. Now you're skater is selected, press Ctrl+Shift+I to inverse the selection, this way you'll select everything but the skater. If you don't like using hot keys, go to Select> Inverse to do this. You have to use this technique to delete the background between the skater's legs.

Step 7

Now create a new layer called "skater" above the "background" folder and paste your skater. Place it somewhere around the clouds. If the skater's edges are wrong somewhere, grab a smooth eraser to correct it. Now we have to edit the colors of the skater. Go to Image> Adjustments> Hue/saturation and set the saturation to -50. If you use an other picture, you may need to set it to something else. Now go to Image> Adjustments> Brightness/contrast and set the contrast to 100.

Step 8

OK it looks pretty cool so far. Now we'll add the text to the top. Create a new folder called "text bg.". It have to be placed between the "skater" and the "background" folder. Now we need a lot of paper textures. I got some from DA. Check out this, this and this. You only have to search for "paper texture" on DA or head over to texturelovers.com. It's a brand new site with tons of textures. So open some paper textures with PS and cut out little pieces from them. Then paste the pieces into the "text bg." folder. Don't forget to name the layers. The name should the letter you'll place on it. So if your text will be skate or die, name them s, k, a, t, e and so on. Try to use different paper textures, or always paste different parts of one texture. Move and resize the pieces with the Free transform (Ctrl+T). If you don't like the color of the tone of a paper, go to Image> Adjustments> Color/saturation and set the amounts. To make the paper more realistic, make tears with a default eraser shape shown on the picture below.

Step 9

Wow, it was quite long time to make that. Now it's an easier step. Create a new folder called "text" above "text bg.". We'll put our letters in this folder. Go to dafont.com. This site is one of the best source of free fonts. On the top of the page you can see categories. Choose Fancy> Distorted and download some of them. I suggest you trying this, this, this and this. Now put your letters to your background. try to use as many different fonts as you can. Resize and move them with Free transform (Ctrl+T).

Step 10

Give the text more style. Create a new folder between "text bg." and "text", nad name it text effects. Download webdesignerdepot.com's awesome brush freebie here. It will perfectly fit our design. Pick the color of your fonts and create a new layer in "text effects". Paint with your new brushes behind the letters.

Step 11

Here come the final touches. The next steps depend on you. Go back to brusheezy.com and download some grungy, splatter, punk brushes. It's your choice. In the tutorial I'm using this, this and the previously downloaded pack from webdesignerdepot.com.Paint something behind the skater, that should look cool. Remember to create it on a new layer, placed behind the skater. An other thing you can try is to make a copy of the "skater" layer, place it behund the original one, set it totally black, and apply Gaussian blur on it with 10px of Radius.

Conclusion

I think it was an extremely easy tutorial, so it's an ideal tut for beginners to get to know with layers, blending modes and textures. Here's our very own stylish skater poster:

Wanna make it sick?

Head over to sxc.hu and search for dog photos. use the techniques you learned in this tutorial to select the og's head and replace it with your skater's head.

About the author

My nam is Máté Tóth, a freelancer grahic and web-designer living in Pécs, Hungary. I couldn't live without Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @MateToth90.

Edited by GisMullr