Photoshop

Create a digital paper sculpture in 16 simple steps

Photoshop
Richard Nabarro explains how to layer a mixture of imagery to build an abstract, paper-infused design.In this tutorial, we'll take a close look at how to plan and gather imagery for use in an abstract manipulation. I find that this design process is playful by nature and generally encourages a large degree of experimentation as you go along.It's always interesting to see what can be created from limited resources. In this particular case, we're talking about some blank sheets of coloured paper. This is when things start to become abstracted and geometric shapes are everything. I'll show you how to transform your boring sheets of paper for the better, and how to effectively bring them into the digital realm.The inspiration for this paper-infused design style comes from a range of work, incl...

These fantasy tropical fish will inspire you to paint

Photoshop
Atomhawk artist Viktoria Gavrilenko invents new breeds of fantasy fish for fun.My most important tip is to sit down and gather some references of tropical fish. Many of the tropical fish that we know of live on the world's coral reefs, so Googling "The Great Barrier Reef", for example, should be sufficient to get you started on gathering inspirational material.You'll notice from the photos that many tropical fish are, of course, colourful. My second tip is therefore to have your fish swimming in fairly bright, happy colours.Tropical fish often feature diverse patterns across their bodies, which you can use as inspiration to create some cool fantasy patterns of your own.In addition, keep in mind the often flat, leaf-shaped bodies of the fish. Using that shape in your design would make the f...

Rapid site prototyping in Photoshop CC

Photoshop
Photoshop CC offers a comprehensive toolset for mocking up websites quickly and easily. Antony Kitson explains how to use the key features to get an idea across to a client or developer.Photoshop has always been a great tool for site prototyping. With every new revision it has added more functionality for web designers wanting to quickly mock up an idea to share with a client or build a design ready for a developer.New features in Photoshop CC include the ability to isolate layers, tweak corners with the live rounded rectangle feature, and the ability to copy CSS attributes from individual layers. This useful guide looks at common prototyping methods, using the breadth of Photoshop's tools to create a developer- and client-friendly page mockup.01. Use GuideGuideSet up a docu...

3 ways to fix perspective errors in Photoshop

Photoshop
Angled images are easy to tweak in Photoshop. Here's how. Some common problems you will encounter when photographing buildings is a combination of perspective errors and barrel distortion from the camera. Fortunately this is easy to fix. All it takes is some time and patience. First off, we will look at an image with a combination barrel distortion and perspective errors. The simplest way to fix the barrel distortion is to make use of the Lens Correction filter which accesses profiles of different cameras and will apply that profile to the image you have. After that, we will fix the perspective distortion. To get started, go to Filter>Lens Correction. In the Lens Correction dialog box you see a preview of your image before any correction has been applied. Directly below the image i...

10 free Photoshop brushes for painting clothes

DIGITAL ART, Photoshop
Download the best Photoshop and Corel Painter brushes for painting fabric and costumes.The various options offered by today's painting software are not only making it possible for digital artists to recreate all of the effects of traditional media, but also enabling them to create their own brushes of a kind that were inaccessible to the old masters. Such custom brushes – made manually or extracted from photographs – are a wonderful and innovative way to add texture to paintings and have now become a standard tool among digital artists.In the first part of this three-part workshop, I presented various useful brushes for painting characters. In this second part I am going to look at costumes and the brushes that might be useful for creating, or speeding up the process of painting ...

10 free Photoshop brushes for painting nature

DIGITAL ART, Photoshop
Marta Dahlig concludes her guide to custom brushes by revealing the best for painting environments and nature.In this three-part workshop, I've tried to lay out the general rules and custom brush settings to as well as show some tips and tricks on unconventional ways to use them. The first partwas devoted to painting characters, the second part described painting textiles. Now, we have come to the third and final part, which will be devoted to enhancing landscapes and everything that you might find useful for painting nature.The majority of brushes described here are photograph based for the sake of realism and have been created in Photoshop. However, where possible, I am also going to write down the settings for standard Corel Painter brushes.Download all 10 brush...

Create illustrated type for advertising

3D, Photoshop
Speed up your workflow in Photoshop and pick up some essential tricks along the way. Kyle Wilkinson shows you how.When a client needs an image-led solution to a problem as soon as possible, you often have to rely on your Photoshop workflow and in-depth knowledge of tricks and techniques. These factors usually dictate whether you can get through the project by the end of the day, rather than by the start of the next morning.In this guide, we're going to use a fictional brief in which a sports company is looking to feature a slogan in an illustrated style. It's a common type of commission and one that you should be able to whizz through in very little time – as long as you have the correct workflow in place. In fact, we think you'll be surprised by the impressive results that can be achieved...

Create a transparent version of a drawing in Photoshop

DIGITAL ART, Photoshop
American illustrator Tony Foti explains how to create a transparent copy of a paper sketch to paint under.With the scanned image imported in Photoshop (File>Import>Your Device), adjust the level sliders until only the lines you want are leftI find my line work is a lot cleaner when I'm using a pencil and paper, so I work this way quite often. Place a loose piece of paper under your drawing hand to prevent smudging the page.Once the drawing is finished, you can either import it with a scanner or take a photograph. The latter option generally produces less-satisfactory results, although I'm aware that not everyone has access to a scanner.Open the Channels window, hold Ctrl and click the RGB layer. This will highlight all of the white space. Inverting the selection will highlight the dr...

The key to creating photoreal renders

3D, Maya, Photoshop, Realistic Photo
Digital artist Vinnie LaCour shows you how to get the most out of the new features in V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max.Getting renders to read as realistic is one of the more difficult aspects of 3D. Achieving a realistic look is definitely important, but thething that really helps to sell it is having the image tell a story or convey a feeling.Many artists try to achieve this in their scenes using specific render settings or physically based properties, but for me it has always been more about having a setup that can start off as something that could be considered accurate, but then allows the artist the control to adjust and manipulate those properties in order to achieve a certain look or feel in their render.V-Ray has always done a great job of giving you the tools to set up a scene that renders ...

How to create realistic 3D hair and fur

3D, Cinema 4D, Maya, Photoshop
CG artist Rouhollah Toghyani shows how to model a cute creature with fluffy hair and fur ready for animation.Creating realistic and pleasing hair and fur is, artistically and technically, one of the biggest challenges in CG. The artist tries to create a believable hairstyle or fur based on concepts or whatever references they have to hand.I want to create a hair system that can easily be used in different animation scenes and keeps its integrity with the character. It must also meet the requirements of the project when it comes to dynamics and collisions.In this tutorial I will be using Yeti, a hair plug-in for Maya, butthe principals are applicable to any software and pipeline. I am going to create hair and fur for a cute monster that I designed, modelled and textured myself. I will treat...