Advanced Photoshop 2006.03 - Issue 20

FREE CD! Project files, textures, font sets, stock art…ISSUE 20 Create pixel art masterpieces | Photoshop relay | Masters of advertising | Vault49 interview COVERCRSESIXAPTHEPTICSAEIIGASSTELHUEE CREATE PIXEL ART Read our step-by-step guide to pixel perfectionwww.advancedphotoshop.co.uk ISSUE 2IS0SN 1748-7277 £5.99 20 9 771748 727009 LEARN TO LOGO HOW TO… high-res stock ISSUE 20 How smart design Master comic images on this can take you to the top book effects issue’s CD

Cover Cover image Imageer: GARY LUCKEN Having grown up in a generation obsessed with sprite- filled videogames, Gary Lucken’s colourful, vivid pixel ERAILNELNJNUETOASWHYITSEIRFSNAPOAGTIRNXAIMCEOELNOIAFSS worlds make sense. Creator of the renowned Army Of Trolls – Gary’s one-man army – he spends his days creating characters to include within his larger art works, or to put up for adoption to other sites. This issue Gary’s joining the AP team to show you how to create your very own pixel masterpiece. From the basic building blocks of isometric drawing to creating a whole townscape, you’ll be squaring up in no time. /For Gary’s tutorial, turn to page 64 3 Advanced Photoshop



Recommends 8 PERFECT PIXELS 7 64 Gary J Lucken from Army Of Trolls reveals how to recreate this month’s cover image with a detailed guide to creating isometric pixel artISSUE #20inside... LETTERS 7 Our readers’ comments and feedback INSIGHT 7 10 News and showcases from around the globe All the latest events, exhibitions and awards 10 A stunning portfolio from Raul Allen 18 ‘Beep Beep ‘ out of the way for Neil Jeffery 20 Gill Button’s quirky style is showcased 22 HELPDESK 7 78 Your technical traumas shared with fellow readers and answered by our expert THE COVER RESOURCES 7 85 Gary J Lucken from Army Of Trolls Vital assets to improve your Photoshop work pushed those pixels to create this colourful town scene. Find out how 30 Mac and Adobe: The relationship 86 he did it by turning to page 64 Use your own images to Art galleries 90 STUauBtnrhndSeCtscoaRopvvIaeeBg£reEsp7.or.6i.fcfe create an action-packed Books 924 comic strip Plug-ins 94Advanced Photoshop THIS MONTH’S CD 7 96 Superb stock art, the project files to go with this month’s issue and more! 48 56 The Photoshop Relay Creating interplanetary gets under way Photoshop effects

24 The unique style of Vault49 TECHNIQUES Hone your skills to perfection with our expert guidesFEATURES COMIC CREATIONS 7 30 INTERVIEW: VAULT49 7 24 Inspired by A Scanner Darkly, we look at comic art The digital gurus share their secrets and techniques SCANNED ART 7 42 7 56MASTERS OF ADVERTISING 7 36 Master imagery with scanned elementsThe background of corporate branding CREATE SPACE! A tutorial that’s out of this world…PHOTOSHOP RELAY 7 48 INSIDER INFO 7 62 EXPOSURE ADJUSTMENT 7 64We’re halfway round the track with our tag-team design How to get the most out of coloursPEER PRESSURE 7 72 PIXEL ARTInspiring images from your Photoshop peers Recreate this month’s coverROUND UP: GRAPHICS TABLETS 7 80 INSIDER INFO 7 70All the offerings from Wacom BRIDGE EXTENSIONSMAC AND ADOBE 7 86 Get more out of this app supportThe perfect partnership 5 Advanced Photoshop

LettersMailboxGot a gripe with the magazine or do you lovethe tutorials and want more? Let us know byemailing the team at advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.ukSUBJECT: The CD side imagery yourselves. After all, who wants to create the “SGOYNEROCREUEIAOTCUYASMEN,LCNALEOSENTDTR”BHOEEEFROM: Michael and Noelle same art as thousands of other people when you canI have just purchased issue 17 of Advanced create something uniquely your own?Photoshop for the outrageous price of €10.66! Now, Iknow you have no control over the tax and duty SUBJECT: Under pressureapplied to magazines here in Ireland, but when I FROM: Simon Ruddwent looking for the project images on the CD, that Just wanted to say thank you for featuring my work inwas when I really felt ripped off! On page six it clearly issue 18’s Peer Pressure section as well as giving mestates ALL the project files to go with this month’s the Best In Show award and scanner. I look forward toissue are on the disc. Not true. The layer effects project the next issue.[ice maiden] directed me to www.istockphoto.comto buy the images needed for this project! You cannot Editor replies:be serious, as the great McEnroe once yelled. To see who won this issue’s top Peer Pressure prize, turn to page 75 and check out their work. With Create Console Art I can buy images“relatively cheaply” at www.fotolia.com. Why notjust dispense with the CD altogether and drop theprice of your publication? Maybe then I could actuallyafford do some of your projects?Editor replies: WE’RE LIVE!: For any queries regarding the my talents, become a part of this magazine, and lookWe’ve had similar cries for help from a number of magazine including back issues and subscriptions, forward to the day I frame my contribution.other readers and are doing our best to rectify the please visit the websiteproblem. All our contributors are urged to use source In closing, I love your publication and forum inimages that can be supplied on the disc or can be which I will be a major part of from this day forward.easily recreated so that you can take the source Photoshop is my passion. <MKPVQY]M[ Editor replies: For those of you who have yet to find our forum,Shock horror -I8BN;7E6SS>HTOW[KIVVMZW\ZM=X^;TM JQªa[ NWXW[=WMQPM\] Q\ OWQXR<NM\_^^VJ RUV\V]]M_ RJX^VXK\W[_MX ]NNWR[\\\UM NU RJW\ .XJJWX 9][KM`QQ<VX WNJ ^8M] VM]QR7ML_ N]KN¦\J QJ_ YWWN^U[ L W!\Q]X?N\RLZ^MSPJ^M JWN ,XVW ,`N1J/[]]W NN1IO<^X[T[[ )X 4 YRO4VM QJJXV1WP]+[XN-P [JYQN[\ SUBJECT: Hopelessly devoted please log on to www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk FROM: David Perry and follow the link .NAME: Simon Rudd Most of my work is a mix of blending modes, masking and I found your magazine in Barnes & Noble (in the US)WEB: www.pompeysworst.co.uk textures. I spend a lot of time looking through stock seven months back. It was truly the best Photoshop SUBJECT: Torn between tabletsEMAIL: simonrudd@pompeysworst.co.uk images trying to find the right picture to work with. Luckily, mag available; I fell in love. I have a subscription and I FROM: KitalomunSOURCE: Original images from http://resurgere.deviantart.com, there is a huge community of stock artists who provide will keep it until the day I die, or until they are no I want to buy a graphic tablet that helps me to write,www.imageafter.com and www.sxc.hu great images for us to work from.” longer offered (which I hope is never). I check the mail draw and colour in Photoshop. I’ve looked them up in with great anticipation each time I know a new eBay and to be honest there are quite a lot of brandsSimon first became interested in image manipulation after Advanced Photoshop issue is due. with different specifications. Which one should Ihe started visiting websites such as www.b3ta.com and choose? And the smaller it is, the cheaper it gets, so iswww.tattyworld.org. “Most of my early efforts are best left One day I hope to be featured or even included in a larger one better?forgotten, but as I started to learn more I started to mix my the Peer Pressure section, it’s a goal that I aminterest with horror and fantasy. My early horror art dedicated to. This has made me driven to produce Editor replies:involved its fair share of very basic textures such as dry more creative work, I am so driven that I’m A lot of people are experiencing the same thing as youriverbeds or cracks blended over unmanipulated faces. determined to make it happen even though my time right now. However, just because tablets are popularThankfully, I’ve come on a bit since then.” is limited. I know I’m on the ground floor of does not mean they’re right for your style of work. something special. Some people simply prefer to use a mouse and find Simon is a self-employed photographic artist and that the hundreds of pounds spent on a tablet is amanipulator and has been experimenting with Photoshop I post this not as a sappy attempt to win waste of money. We’d recommend you either try afor around three years. “So far I haven’t worked on any big favouritism, but to show my affection. I will, throughprojects, but I’m hopeful that this will happen soon and Ican begin to earn a living from something I love doing. FACTORY BIO: “I was asked to create an album cover, with the brief being a biomechanical zombie. I found an old factory picture from Stock.xchng, while the zombie was a source pic given to me by the guy who wanted the picture. I removed his mouth using the Clone Stamp Tool and the arm using Masking. I added the light beams coming in through the windows using the Lasso Tool, filling them with white and then using Gaussian Blur.”THIN SKIN: “Here I removed half BLOODY HELL: “This was an of her face using a layer mask and attempt to make a skeletal rotting placed a picture of a skull into the corpse that still had some flesh on it.hole. Using the Free Transform Tool I made this by placing a skull pictureto manoeuvre it into the right place, underneath the face and used a soft I then used the Burn tool on a low edge brush to mask part of the face.exposure to blend the skin and skull When I was happy with the effect Itogether. I finally added some meat added a number of skin and meat textures from http://resurgere. over the skull to look like flesh.” deviantart.com. Finally, the image was darkened using a Brightness/ Contrast adjustment layer.” WHITE ROOM: “I found a brilliant white room on Stock.xchng, I feltthis would look really good if it were made to look as if it had been left ina post-murder state, with blood on the floor and the wall. I added blood using a soft-edged brush and the Smudge Tool set on a low strength. When this was complete, it felt too empty so I included the girl with the gun and scrawled on the wall. I added a red and white cloud filter to the top layer and set the blending mode to Overlay.” 75 )L^IVKML8PW\W[PWXHORROR SHOW: Simon Rudd’s work was072-075_APM18_peerp.indd 75 2/5/06 10:45:33spotted on our forum, www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk. Post your creations and you could be next!8Advanced Photoshop

WORLDS APART: tSthreaigphtotiont From opposite sides of the earth Hi-Liter and Show time! Revjessecuster, two forum users, took up Subject: Capital events the Goddess challenge From: Mark Joth It seems like there’s a certain time of year whenfriend’s or turn to page 80 and take a look at our full there are more shows than days. Whetherround up of tablets before you buy. You could save they’re degree shows, exhibitions about theyourself a lot of problems. humble football or solo artist events, there’s always something to see.SUBJECT: Fantasy photos SUBJECT: Good goddess!FROM: E Goulder FROM: Chris Willis However, why are so many centred inI have just purchased issue 18 of Advanced Just wanted to drop you all a line to say what a London? What about those of us who livePhotoshop and really like the ideas in there. The only fantastic idea the Photoshop Challenge was in issue outside the city? Please can you suggest moreproblem I am having is that I would like to try the 18. It’s amazing that one word can mean such events to attend outside of the capital?fantasy lights but I don’t have a photo of a field of different things to two creative people. Here’s hopingpoppies nor do I have a field anywhere near me, so I you do another challenge soon! Subject: Football seasonwould be grateful if you could please help me find From: Dan Eleysomewhere to get a free poppy photo? Editor replies: After reading about it in your magazine, I Thanks for your thoughts, Chris. This issue we’re decided to tear myself away from the big-screenEditor replies: kicking off our Photoshop Relay and if you check out TV and wander past the Design Tank to see theFor some fantastic free images of poppy fields, check our forum, there are loads of head-to-heads going on Football Fever exhibition. Although I wouldn’tout stock.xchng (www.sxu.hu), where budding – Doorway, Impact and Goddess are just three we’ve have missed a game for it (it wasn’t that good!),photographers and artists upload their images for been watching progress. if you’re in the area it’s well worth a peek.the public to use, free of charge. Please check the site’sterms and conditions for more detail on how you can Subject: Over the ponduse the images. From: Greg Twinn A quick request. Although I know your SUBJECT: Ordering back issues magazine hits the stands in the America some FROM: Brian Huang time after it is released in the UK, I’d love to see Do you still have issues 16 and 17 of Advanced some more US-based events listed in your news pages. Is this possible? Photoshop for sale? I would like to order each one of Editor replies: them, so please let me know how to place my order. Glad you’re all out and about enjoying the summer’s wealth of design shows and events.FAB FREEBIES: For amazing free images, check Editor replies: Although we try to list events from all aroundout sites like stock.xchng or freeimages.co.uk For all back issue and subscription enquiries please the country and, indeed, other countries, this visit the website, www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk, isn’t always possible. We will, however, or call 0870 428 3068. endeavour to grant your request. If you know of any shows you think we should tell everyone about, why not drop us a line?OP“ORRNEEESVSDEUANRYIENI CSHLEOUCPDTEEIOTDNOI”NBETHFEEAPTEUERRED 9 Advanced Photoshop

Keeping an eye on the latest trends in contemporary photography, art and design, Insight sets out to snapshot innovation in the making Doing the splits c“uGWtsOhteoe’vCmfeiRressEretsAetEniTmrEitche:M,eAsfedohcvCroomebawnseecth’rasgeMsmoyeawdfarcroaarkomlseomptnislnetgergdaseiismndaegedtateAnhwcdahtioogtnhbeosreAtlrofdpeogonrroibgecdsertehuwLa.cieFvttisroeve”!re: www.adobe.com/uk With rumours abounding about the imminent arrival of CS3, Adobe Live! was always going to be surrounded by speculation. Would Banana Split (as it’s rumoured to be nicknamed) unify the look of all of Adobe’s applications so that they resemble Photoshop? As usual, the software giant is keeping tight-lipped about the 2007 arrival of its newest family member but rumours were rife on other Adobe apps. The reported proclamation of a Adobe Systems France spokesman that Adobe would halt the development of Freehand and GoLive, concentrating efforts instead on Illustrator and Dreamweaver, was one such story. It’s yet to be confirmed by Adobe, but with its recent acquisition of Macromedia reports have been widespread that slashes will be made to its massive app line-up. The rest of Adobe Live! – which was three years old this year – was dominated by the suggestion of the future of the Internet as an applications platform. For the latest news on Adobe products, events and seminars, check out www.adobe.com/uk. INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS: thcceatuahnl‘GJlsmeiuotonOodmpiftnmIeytaNbhngtiehgeeGarrrarensmmeotL,Raw”eafiIecledVotltvnyheweErotkrewx:ehileaupa“baudTltetsssiathriwoeeatiteeesnnetcnA’MtlhdolmhcdeeimcerneoaCosfsphbdruoa.kleorsgrFeeihwvrLothtoeieiiu,nvntlmyiyoregtg! McCashey was enthusiastic about the global appeal: “London was the second of seven events across Europe as Adobe Live! went truly international! With the final event in Utrecht at the end of June, we confidently expect that more than 15,000 people will have joined in the Adobe Live! experience”10 Advanced Photoshop

08.06HYBRID: “Logos, the holy crests ofconsumer culture, spread and mutatethe world over, constantly breeding andreproducing. The imagery within ourshow uses the world of insects withtheir own bite and sting as the visualtranslation of this idea. Crawling acrosscanvases and prints or presented instatuesque display cases, the insectappears and reappears in varied forms”An appetite for designIf you’re in need of a bit of creative Bite and Sting’s Appetite For I LOVE KIDS T SHIRT DESIGN: Fine art references can be found in some of the poster art oninspiration and want to check out one Domination exhibition refers to the display or in the screen printing that reveals both artistic obsession and ability. The show isof the country’s plethora of up-and- globalisation of branding, marketing essentially an exercise in innovative and intriguing graphic awarenesscoming design studios, pop down to and corporate domination.Appetite For Domination at theTrelick-Eight Studios, West London. Although still just a nipper in the eyes of the design world, the website Launching on 26 July for one week, packs a punch with some jaw-the exhibition presents the work of dropping and visually strikingnewly formed graphic design studio manipulations and illustrations.Bite and Sting. Exploring thecrossover between graphic design, For more information visit www.contemporary art and youth culture, biteandsting.com or catch the show.the event showcases art forms fromjewellery to graffiti and music, www.biteandsting.comarchitecture and fashion. Founded byCyril Moumen and Alex Cook in 2005, Rebel without a causeTfapahaC2cemaineamrepT8xioEdnninihshlAmaxsLidtyteMiasgpiuoubcnarsmaelhgoraiggoewtyroukcioilers.otnfiiaislfDyt-nnoonodtnmhtrggifgfhtssv,sfhau:tuypaeaatohTlethnlstlllfcliaeher,letdtosraeysisehetomntfu’sefoseaiIomobodommretsrlntrtinit.eavuiskiasilo,alteloergoultinsetashpmemfphdnweootloeeeshitffcene,onfeNorcVltdxtmlterwfaahghyaeafunteeroiisatoisbesoirtGaoAtvfaiioentmveftrotgdinaietetmsgiraihlsesssephnsGteteaaatoayaiahttsmtinvmhrnlooastlitrsehottotfieovhisirsonurwowtiuyettsswsgnuehgicf.Ntesrrcwaehaeotvitatlhnsheedehmspoie’raebisvs,ifstt.r2roelseaedaaf8tueoaiturtdenlJilronsnlugdtb.bnikhnesaiiedennRrceggeutohbnmeetiells 190©w7MmaK:OusSonaeDsMtlsffEtoioPsmRdraoeSpemrrrOotusrmrnoaHtnhilatuNen,ng1r-teBB9owne0Efoc6EBCkm.xöKeTptarEhtrcnMeRishsa,usGePrisroetesAinrtsumUrtimasoLmas,fsAnBheapr/eneP1armda8idnut7eathln6yeae.r VPs©FuiAoecVtuNhaan,naGdasGaOftttoheiGogrisnHhDw),eM, aVAlausmIcsNaresouCrtaiemxErr,deN1(atV8Tom8i,np9ci1.ceR8fnoe5tlri3VgVaia1onn8uGs9Gow0oggoh:hrk. 11 Advanced Photoshop

insight Going undercover PABLO PICASSO: Running until the end of July at the Hayward Gallery is Undercover Figure (Femme Assise), Surrealism: Picasso, Miró, Masson and the vision of Georges Bataille. Looking at the darker side to this mischievous art form, the exhibition 1930. An oil portrait will be looking at works from some of the genre’s greatest artists. from the Fondation Showcasing more than just paintings – film, music and ritual objects will Beyeler, Switzerland. also be explored – the exhibition attempts to change the idea of © Succession Picasso, surrealism as a movement about gentle humour. DACS 2006 Focusing on the likes of Picasso, Dali, Masson and Bataille through the 1920s, the show will feature a spectacular collection of disturbing and sexual surrealist art. And if looking around the exhibition isn’t enough for you, The Hayward is also offering a number of talks supporting the event. One, run by British artist Jake Chapman, looks at Bataille’s impact on contemporary artists like himself. Visit the site at www.hayward.org.uk for information. www.hayward.org.uk BuASñaNulFvDeIalLA,dsMLocOrreSDUeTan,IlpL1í.lL9a©y2FB8bRryi:OtDiLsMuihriesFUcBiltNmuedñCIunbHesytlILiaEtuunNitdse DCCJeeeAnnnCtstrQireeeUBdPoeEoimScffraépAraiddNtioioDnun,R1Pi9Éna8drB4uis.Os.PtMIrhFieouFltslAoeé.:eRPCNDuNar:ActRiChoea/nnMsaéeNelddAJf’aMraocromtDbmisMi,ot1.mdR9eeM3r0nN.e – PABLO PICASSO: The Three Dancers (La Danse), 1925. One of his most celebrated Surrealist works. Tate, London. © Succession Picasso, DACS 2006 JACQUES ANDRÉ BOIFFARD: Beneath the Mask, Pierre Prévert 1930. A photograph by this leading surrealist. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée National d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle. Purchased from Mme Densie Boiffard in 1984. Photo: CNAC/ MNAM Dist. RMN. © Philippe Migeat12 Advanced Photoshop

08.06 FRUIT DISPLAY: The late Patrick TWO’S COMPANY: Check out the website for Caulfield, CBE RA, created this work, examples of the artists’ work and for more entitled Fruit Display, in 1996. information on the books and exhibitions Collection Waddington Galleries. © Prudence Cuming Associates & Face off Estate of Patrick Caulfield HAPPY HOUR: Patrick If you want to see the best of the best Caulfield, CBE RA, also created in creative talent go head to head, Happy Hour in 1996. check out Wear It With Pride’s Two Collection Waddington Galleries. Faced exhibition. © Prudence Cuming Associates & Estate of Patrick Caulfield Pairing up creative individuals from photographers to toy makers, artMaking summer directors to illustrators, each duo hasbeautiful been tasked with creating a portrait of their team mate. Pairings include EboySince its conception in 1768, the Royal and Johnny Hardstaff, Kid Acne andAcademy Summer Exhibition has grown to Spencer Wilson, and Paul Willoughbybe the largest regular open contemporary and Ben Frost.exhibition in the world. Held every year, theevent is now an impressive 238 years old! The final pieces – which will range from sculptures and toys to hand Showcasing the work of a uniquely drawn or digital composed pieces –diverse range of artists due to the way will be displayed in a book andpieces are selected, the Summer Exhibition through exhibitions to be run all overis on show from 12 June until 20 August at the world. For more details and to seeBurlington House, London. the full list of participating artists, check out the website at www. Any artist is allowed to submit work for wearitwithpride.com/twofaced.the show and a selection panel then chooseswork by painters, sculptors, printmakers and EBOY: To see more of the work of contributorthe like to feature in the event. Around 1,000 eBoy check out its pixel-art based websiteworks are included, and following long hello.eboy.com/eboyAcademy tradition, an annually rotatingcommittee whose members are all (p3T2u1R09bO0)li1bsU.hEyMTdeD:diotoTinbornooynNupPst,riaciIInnceVet,cpracticing artists curates the exhibition. And it’s not just about the prestige ofbeing featured. Prizes at the event total amassive £70,000 and are assignedthroughout various categories. For your chance to see the show, this yearsporting the theme ‘From Life’, then visit thewebsite (www.royalacademy.org.uk),where you’ll find everything you need toknow about the world’s finest annual artexhibition. Enjoy the show! www.royalacademy.org.uk

insightA room with a Vista!With 2007 comes the expected arrival not only of Adobe’s CS3 SEARCH MENU: With thebut Vista, the first major overhaul of Windows in five years. Beta 2 in trial at the moment, all bugs should be exorcised Planned to coincide with the launch of the Office 2007 and by the 2007 launch date‘Longhorn’, the Windows Server system,Vista is already making waves. Thesuccessor to Windows XP, Vista looks setto offer better security, translucentwindows for easier scrolling as well as theability to record and play high-def TV.Already a year late for its estimatedarrival in 2005, the release has now beenpushed back twice with a fear it’ll bedelayed again. The company is stayingpositive, insisting it is confident ofmeeting its 2007 deadline.With the second major test version ofVista currently under way, Microsoft now GneoEwuTtPRtChE,eAmwDaeYkbe:sIisftueyroteoui’tsreeisetVhifiisnittk’allinrbegeaocdofybmourpycaihntiegbclakeneeds to prepare the public for thesystem’s arrival with its ‘Get Ready’website. Found at www.windowsvista.com/getready, the site provides a varietyof information and tools customers can useto prepare for Vista’s entrance.This includes information on Vista-readycomputers, upgrade advice and somebackground on the new package. It’s wellworth a browse if you think you’ll beaffected by the release.BIG SCREEN: The Wacom stylus looks and GisEVTistRaE-rAeaDdYy:oIfrycohue’crek tohuitntkhinegwoefbbsuityeintogsaeeneifwit’PllCb,emcaokmepsautriebiltefeels like a pen yet contains no batteries ormagnets. Instead it takes advantage of electro- Cintiq the bestmagnetic resonance technology developed byWacom in which radio waves are sent to the Proving once again that it really is the only company when itstylus and returned for position analysis comes to the tremendous tablet, Wacom has won a coveted red dot design award for its Cintiq 21UX. The Cintiq combines the use of a 21.3-inch TFT display directly with the innovative Intuos3 technology. Drawing straight onto the ‘screen’ allows the Cintiq 21UX to be used as a monitor or more like a sketchbook. And that’s not the only reason for its award success. With an accurate ICC profile for colour management, a specially coated, glare-free LCD and a display stand that allows 180º rotation, the Cintiq is as natural-feeling a tool as you could find. Competing against 4,000 other entries from 40 countries, the red dot awards are one of the largest design competitions worldwide, and a considerable accolade. To find out more about the red dot awards visit the site at www.red-dot.de, and for more information on Wacom and its products, check out our tablet round up on page 80. www.wacom-europe.com14 Advanced Photoshop

08.06ONE THAT MADE IT: The show DDAIATREYSalso looks at those that made itfurther than just the blueprints PITTENWEEM ARTS FESTIVALFuturama, today PCUPDhorrooEblltjeaSeocnIcgtGtiCrioaoNonpnnEhFPcDReesrAypB:cCtOYihoCloinDev-niCaAetynrNrbdeMIe,EDarOnLrertetliLéatniaIiclBGnsoEsaof,mSfSFBKtrbraeIuinreNclrcitnDeu,.:r1e9, 88, Pittenweem, ScotlandHow often do you walk down the Well worth a look, even if it’s 5-13 Auguststreet and spot a block of flats, a just to be thankful that mostsupermarket or office that, in your of the projects never saw WHEN PHILIPopinion, is simply hideous? Looking the light of day. MET ISABELLAat some the far-out, and some justplain ugly designs, that didn’t make OCEAN NORTH: World Centre for Human Concerns, Cranbrook Art Museum, Michiganit off the blue prints is a new 2001-06, courtesy of Ocean North Until 27 Augustexhibition, Future City: Experimentand Utopia in Architecture. THE EUROPEAN DESIGN SHOW Showing at The Barbican, itselfquite a building to behold, the Millennium Galleries, Sheffieldexhibition will run from mid-June to Until 28 August17 September. BBC WALKING WITH Presenting a history of BEASTS EXHIBITIONarchitectural projects too idiotic toever build the event includes plans New Walk Museum, Leicesterfor hairy houses and floating cities, Until 3 Septemberalongside architectural in-jokes likea one-metre house. D&AD XCHANGE Featuring a Who’s Who of Londonarchitecture, the exhibition includes 4-5 September70 visionary projects by influentialand groundbreaking architects who ARTISTS SHOWhave challenged convention to 2006radically shape and influence theway we live, and what we live in. Leeds City Art Gallery Until 17 SeptemberAdoibsedwA’stiMashLBtrerirLmciubbtrSecioaunecMsttghtoiCnlInfuehLgtopiwEozlPofevSiDotgneh:rFry The great battleAiwntsDwetoftotAcoohAahrThfcrroenWfehtynutabetyweeoshmarllrsiootbleMgAoatewntroaeydgnhligodcul,okywtera.tt,cbsoFrliimtoltmosetb’hhshmoreoecemfeftthaspthmsywtiaitaereeeiotaensitftcn(ke,iwrMePheebenlxDsaoormiuectrFwvohtggcroe)fowueeievwaOsartetenboeiniwfv’ttuftfldhresltihoetc,bic”ewBnephgeatrfoaaiithunesashvrrecua,nteeeeeeetrtbxvuessOsdCpeaaprbltfrtheeyioefdtrwciilacoizcekntiineoektiaenlndderowleskgliyuoprdosiaelPickoilftysfcufhserwoeeyeososoruonnmsnetiifutotetoiolona’ysftrnvlpvfohoeoaoseeproodthrroaltwpmkmieMvhc’ssaoseeaeieitltcrctdiopftkirurteoefoeaehopadntsraefathaosftuttuueto.qhofreWtrsreuebtRebft.heiheloegeaoseeiugilttffrne,eiit.eAolMegseisntdrtitaascieots,slnrhlvb“ooobeTaaefswenhtnto’slwetwetifesiPtdatc.ivorllroleuoterobmdstocateukoApbssspmeduleeultioaptiAntyb.aowdeenrodiilIbeloinseugt BP PORTRAIT AWARD National Portrait Gallery Until 17 September LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL Various locations in London 15-30 September 15 Advanced Photoshop

insight SastmbfaoeliElagdvoesRceudnwokrraIfalgestiEcflesraeiolSnnhiwntugatoOenhivddatdeeFhaelitvegrnrrLkeiaerrnraaIenpyGndegaassueHanuslae.mdobTtTsfticbhkolpeoIiiinngIsovrs:”uaslee“osrodTfintbtuihahtistellhehisgteGebpirercuaabsaiscd;atdheyhicei.eeeknTsrnghetwrtseoITituutoohsnoeadld YEAH, I KILLED BILL: “This was an all-digital piece, which I originally started in Painter but quickly decided to move back to Photoshop. The image was created with a lot of scanned images collaged over the sketch. I then added some line work on top to unify everything” NOT SO LITTLE: “For this revision of Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood I wanted to go over the top, mixing paper texture with watercolour washes and acrylic ink spots. I also included digital photographs of my grandma’s robe and the glasses I used to wear as a kid (really!). I pieced everything together in Photoshop and tied it up with a red line that directed the eye around the image”18 Advanced Photoshop

Raul Allen 08.06Take a look at Raul’s luscious artwork and you’d be forgiven GARDEN OF WORDS: “Thefor thinking that his images were created by hand, with figures stand on a scanned papyruswatercolours. “I do some traditional art pieces but when paper cut directly in Photoshop to getworking digitally I mix several different techniques to the rough edge. The grass over that isachieve a warm and distinct look without hiding the fact that made by cutting and pasting somethe illustrations are digital.” Classically trained in Salamanca, scanned leaves with some saturationSpain, and later the Art Institute of Boston, Raul grounded his tweaks, while the figures are a mixtureartistic roots in drawing and painting but was encouraged to of digital collage and painting”start experimenting with as many techniques and approachesas possible. His first commission came from a response to a wtmiwlihnGimineatcithAelashfukigwaMgdseeneuoedolEIdrreeakutcwhOrsfatereeiinooatVrdhdmnstpEesbote.xthRruhDntuetu:esenatr“htboenFaasdaodddtilcrrpisdiofkntfaewghkekdperiresofeesrco,pnrueo.ra”itnlntinoadh-duuteerppost that a management group left at his college while he wasstill studying. “They wanted a simple sketch from a building to 19print onto umbrellas as a company gift. They didn’t pay muchbut it was a fairly easy job. After that, I started illustrating for Advanced Photoshopbooks and magazines.” For each of his images, Raul starts with a loose sketch inpencil or pen, which he scans in to adjust proportions andcomposition. “I print the sketch at the size I’m going to workto, mainly to keep the proportions as planned. I always aim todo the drawing quickly and energetically. I might add someslight tones with washes, then I scan this in and Photoshopbecomes my best friend. The scanned line drawing lies on topand I tint this line to integrate the overall picture. I use lots ofselections and masks to fill parts of the illustration with colourand texture. The textures are taken from my large, scannedresources I have stored in my computer.” Although Photoshophas many textures and patterns, Raul prefers to use his owncustom library. “To finish up, I usually add more details to themain element in the illustration with some brushstrokes orsoft spot graduations.” Raul has plenty of projects on the go. As well as designing apicture book for a publisher in California, he’s creating anadaptation of the novel Senseless by Stona Fitch to turn it intoa graphic novel. He’s also working on some short story comicsfor a book featuring different Spanish authors, which will bereleased in December./ www.rrallen.com

insightNeil JefferyWorking under the company title Beep Beep Illustration, Neil CAR PARTS: This illustration usesJeffery’s work has a distinctive fresh, vibrant feel about it. With a many layers with varying degrees ofbackground in fine art and specialising in drawing, painting and opacity. The image is most translucent in theprintmaking, Neil’s career wasn’t originally digitally based. centre to allow for easier viewing of the different parts, with less opacity towards the edges of the vehicle “I got started in digital illustration by just fiddling around with BLUE WATER: “I started out with a simple vectorsome drawing programs and found that I really enjoyed creating illustration and separated it into different layers. Thenimages with them. I began by doing some freelance design and I used the Liquify command to warp some elements,illustration on the side while I had a full-time job running a such as the guitar and the guitarist’s feet. Someprinting press. I later decided to pursue freelance work on a blurring effects were also used”full-time basis in 2003 and managed to gain a bit of exposurefrom an online portfolio.” Neil found a natural flair for drawing art after studying Fine Artat Fanshawe College, Ontario. All of his images start out as vectorart and he quickly sketches out a quick little thumbnail. “I don’t usually scan anything into the computer. I use adrawing tablet a bit, but most of the time the work is done with agood old mouse. I build the image up in much the same way asyou would an oil painting, adding layers of detail. I use Photoshopto add some final detail, such as highlights and filter effects.Sometimes it’s nice to add some blending to reduce the flat,chunky look of vector-based images.” Neil’s past projects have seen him create work in collaborationwith Tooth & Nail design, produce an ABC billboard in TimeSquare and join forces with Harper Collins as well as designingstoryboards and illustrations for a Barbie commercial. He iscurrently working on a technical illustration of cars with parts.“This is quite a bit different than the work I normally do, but it’s afun challenge.” You can purchase Neil’s glorious ‘Art Boxes’ by logging ontohttp://artboxproject.net, or why not spruce up your mobilewith his vibrant designs by ordering his illustrations aswallpaper at www.startmobile.net?/ www.beep-beep.caSuafcdaTLspoeahcOpndenilsWtsicqre.haeduTerDshisltatpAeeaasendNnapddidofsCtectdolEwleoiieg:nsbcon“hsIoafhtfwlltabelaharfnarefenelceclltectiewegottidvhehoserttenueihdngstebaeghgllneeuisegssirfcmetrhfoeeatoiucdilnfastpsspsgrlopehottartneaoehcrnadbieecdtiyeawfmfcamleieestprnhohneptirnatnere,pteabtddlerhuar.eteaytTdhewmhielorlesiuaust.hbpsttIitaocomr,catfskotofoigornoercInotu”huse.nidr20 Advanced Photoshop=

thBelrvioSulwaloUusrahdkysSPntjiussnsrtEoeapuegtRtwedpIitdrsoBeoaabeenrOsolgDsbeacyprYcoiersn’rste:yseaedas.oTsydcihtult-ooveeppisfmesdeaa(f,widlrfimw)onot.wtsw“itrahtHeoDhwg”edefeJ. 08.06WstPesevsitwInaxeeefitNgiltsncrreplluetreitDrmdaveeoreeoeerrYtsrBaaafseotioiitsplDhxnninlenpnutpetdAtutanasmlthhirYthciaieeenrnee:erdaastidiw“.unomtttbIiIrosogoowadlumiarmnngdtisafcGh.geeiifnakvtTeedduiptenrhooise‘etaaf’nettsuhdlnhattafteeetottvealteliof’lbPmencrKalanmoeaocelyrirstsc”oaemteehtkairksenasegstnrtwott,rapsesdEwofenaldwatuilhkdthlgnetieaeleefrdeisesrlnttteohsres vottcasoahnsChoroenetyamLopldiesrUna.aaeycgIreBchhnacstdairteehGgeeerwrahaadgIIdRltcrlsiieaeotngoLedeywthf:rseott.t“”erhbsFTtnawoeytheonreruodadttsvhhlysiarenoeseecygmdbbdteouysariessorccdc,fimikeotmrnghaagebraewtoaotugbihulfnrelaeentgawchsdonktesaphgIduBsaaercformcdohuiudrtsanyehtshddbey POOLSIDE: “I started with some simple vector shapes and used a few of the Ripple Filters to warp. I played around with the highlights by selecting areas with the Magic Wand and using Dodge and Burn. Finally, I applied a blur to the tiles so they appeared out-of-focus” 21 Advanced Photoshop

insight GO WITH A BANG: “I completed this alphabetical series for British Airways’ in- flight magazine. It was a sideways look at business terminology”Wmmoalifvnaa1tedgph1iacent:ezoaWil“nesrTihb1easrot1twiolw.teciaSerrnossaotttemshdaeat HARE AND TORTOISE: “This was created for a piece in The Times on many layers!” how women, unlike men, don’t take their workplace status for granted” DIRECT MAIL: “I was commissioned by a PR company to create an image for its website – this is a simple play on words. I made heavy use of levels to perfect the gritty texture in the background”22 Advanced Photoshop

Gill Button 08.06For as long as Gill can remember she’s had the passion to draw: “Iwas always a very traditional draftsperson and was alwayscompulsively drawing what I saw around me.” The early stages ofher career were as far removed from her present digital creations,as you can imagine. “The idea of turning digital always seemed tome to fly in the face of true creativity or real art and so I avoidedcomputers like the plague. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Istarted to use a Mac to scan artwork but soon began to see thatusing Photoshop was merely another tool and that it felt just asnatural as using a paintbrush.” She hasn’t looked back since. Button’s first venture into the professional world came as aresult of a degree show. “This proved to be a one-off and it tooka lot of trudging around London with my portfolio to get mycareer off the ground. I didn’t find this easy, but I now have agood batch of regular clients that include The Times, Tatler andBritish Airways.” She hasn’t forgotten her artist base altogetherand still draws lines on cartridge paper with a 4B pencil, scansthis in and then builds up the artwork in Photoshop. To create her distinctive style of artwork Gill tends to use thesame trusty techniques. “To create colour I often select thewhite area in an image and use the command Image>Adjustments>Selective Colour. This way, I can keep thetexture of the cartridge paper rather than Paint Bucketingwith totally flat colour. I usually incorporate photographicelements that I scan in, or shoot digitally and then mess withlevels, colours changes and transformations.” Gill now looks forward to the future and any interestingforthcoming projects that come her way. “You never quiteknow who will call, or email you next. I try to find time, whenI can, to create some personal work, as I think this helps afluid progression.”/ www.gillbutton.com OiTflblohuPocesouTtTsrsIatieMmitdniogeoInsSnu’fpTEdod:etrhu“vaIeecdwalcoetoepisoeliiognknunlgySresuacd”opntlpdhulimesmneinnt. I LITERAL THINKING: “This was created for a self-promotional series called ‘Literal Thinking’. Here I’ve applied a gradient – a tool I turn to very occasionally” 23 Advanced Photoshop

IvnietewrLIVINGTDHREEAMBorn in the UK, the Vault49 boysmoved to the Big Apple to pursuecreative dreams. Just two years on,they’re at the top of their gameJ onathan Kenyon and John Glasgow. GHOST TRAIN TOP : “This SCOTT LANGTON CHARMER You might not recognise their names, is a great example of what can be ABOVE : “Our recent exhibition OPPOSITE : “This image but odds are you’ve heard of Vault49 achieved through collaboration, was entitled The Greatest Show On(www.vault49.com). The faces behind the and working to the strengths of Earth, and framed and unframed was created by around 30hugely successful design studio, they’ve everyone involved with a project.” prints are for sale through our individually hand-drawnproduced artwork for MTV, Nike, Levi’s, EMI, Photography by Michael Creagh, website. A limited selection of elements, then put together inGreenpeace, Orange, VH1, Wrangler, design collaboration between prints are also available online Photoshop.” Photography byMicrosoft and Nintendo, to name but a few. Vault49 and Si Scott through www.coshuk.com” Rinze van Brug, design by Vault49 with Daryl Waller “Our artwork has been applied across atremendously wide range of mediums,” Jonathanenthuses. “Carpets for a Las Vegas casino,adorning The Guardian’s tent at Glastonbury, andhanging as a huge banner in Times Square.” Currently riding high after a hugely successfulLondon-based exhibition aptly entitled TheGreatest Show On Earth, the Vault49 two didn’tstart their creative lives knowing that they weredestined for such success. “When we wereyounger we never really conceived that we couldachieve what we have. We expected to be regulargraphic designers, creating annual reports andeditorial layouts. I remember getting into designbecause I was inspired by a Waitrose winebrochure that a friend of mine made.”Building an empireFor this creative duo the story begins at theLondon College of Printing where the pair24 Advanced Photoshop

Vault49 25 Advanced Photoshop

vInietewr HOOCHIE COOCHIE ABOVE : “We really started to push STAND AND DELIVER ABOVE : photographic and illustrations combinations in 2003, and it now forms a “One of our favourites from the London large part of the work we are commissioned for.” Photography by Stephan show, and a best-seller.” Photography by Langmanis, design by Vault49 with Daryl Waller Michael Creagh THIN WHITE DUKE: “This image first met: “We both graduated from the Graphic was part of our recent exhibition in Design BA in 2002.” London.” Photography by Michael Creagh and Rinze van Brug Jonathan went on to start a Masters at the Royal College of Art before quitting after two26 terms, partly because of the boredom of a lacklustre course, but predominantly because of Advanced Photoshop the increasing commercial success of the fledgling Vault49 design brand. Meanwhile, John had a brief stint working for another design company before the pair realised that they had sufficient work to keep them busy: “The briefs we were getting were much more interesting and exciting to us than further education or working for somebody else.” Not content with just giving up their day jobs, Vault49 then made the life-changing decision to make New York their home. “We decided to move to New York early in 2004 for a change of scenery and life, and to explore a new country and another part of the world. We first came here to attend a party thrown by one of our US clients in 2003, and it was such a buzz to be in New York with a purpose. It only took us a week after returning to London to commit to moving to New York.” Now both 28, the busy pairing has little time to reflect

Vault49on their career so far. “We didn’t move here conduct the majority of our photographic shoots DEDICATEprimarily to advance Vault49 as a company, in-house by means of the extended Vault49 ABOVE : “One ofinstead we came to New York for a life experience group of contributors. We have our own our earlier images inand it has proved to be everything that we production team including photographers, this style, and still onehoped for. Vault49 as a business is doing stylists, make-up and production and, we thrive of our favourites. Thisfantastically well over here and we are currently on briefs that give us this greater element of image continues toexpanding to meet demand. We’ve been really control. Vault49 art direction is becoming a attract a lot of clientswell received.” mainstay of our business, and we are very proud to us.” Photography by and happy with this progression to a larger team Katya Mayer In fact, the design team has been so successful because we now get to realise our vision in waysthat it has been able to depart from the purely that were not possible as the design duo we ROLL UP, ROLL UPprint-based design, “As well as working on two started out as.” But with all the commissions and RIGHT : “There are,very hush-hush global ad campaigns, Artful exhibitions that the team is currently involved in, of course, many timesDodger womenswear is just around the corner, developing new ideas must sometimes seem like when we have towhich keeps us very busy. We’re also beginning a the real hard work. Not so, apparently. produce rough conceptspersonal collaboration project with Chuck for clients, but our work isAnderson of NoPattern, and Nigel Dennis of “Brainstorming is a fundamental part of so intricate and detailedElectric Heat, which is a creative dream for us all.” planning our designs, and it is often the case that that rough drawings can more can be achieved in five minutes of idea never really express theWorking in tandem generation than can be in a week of working energy captured in our without inspiration. We generally avoid rough final work”With a client list sounding more like a page from drawings because we don’t really see the benefitWho’s Who and more work than they could have of them to us. John and I share such a keenhoped for, the Vault49 guys have developed a understanding of how each other’s mindvery unique and individualistic style. works that words are enough for us toCombining hand-drawn, photographic andvector artwork, which is then assembled through ICGRNEILTAEITOTINVEEFXOAPRCECRIDIIDMEEAENSNT.TSLAOTOIOKNOBUET TFHOERlayering with hand-drawn textures in Photoshop,Vault49 is one of the most recognisable brands inthe industry. “Most of our work involves multiple image andconcept combinations, which we bring togetherunder a unified theme,” Jonathan explains. “We 27 Advanced Photoshop

Ivnietewrpicture the same design structure as each other. LOUNGE ROOF drawings of our own which we often bring PARANOIA ABOVE : “This was produced forWe find that planning a design too far in advance ABOVE : “This is together within our designs.” E4’s Long Dark Summer campaign in 2004, and wascan inhibit the natural development of our work, about as exciting as designed within Photoshop and Illustrator using aand can remove the opportunity for creative commissions get. The science bit variety of bitmap textures and vector graphics”‘accidents’, which our work is, in a large part, built Behold, Theupon. In the past we’ve referred to our work as Guardian’s music tent With both members having graduated just four offices, some might be surprised they still rely on‘visual sampling’. We draw reference from at Glastonbury 2004. years ago, Vault49’s history is steeped in a mouse for their intricate artwork rather than aanything and everything, and have huge Every now and then Photoshop. “We’re part of the techie generation tablet. But what won’t come as a surprise are theircollections of scrapbooks containing cool bits of we get a brief which who have almost grown up using it in some way sources of inspiration, which range from anythingdesign, found ephemera, and doodles and reminds us what a or another. We began by crudely defacing friend’s to anywhere! great job we have” appearances during sixth form, and we’re now a lot better at defacing.” “Nothing is excluded as a source for drawing V49 LEFT : “We inspiration from, and we don’t really look in any use many iterations of So, when asked why they stick with the Adobe one place for reference. We try not to pay too this logo for our app, they both consider the question a strange much attention to the work of others, and are company identity. one. “It’s like asking us why we like our legs or happy to just follow our own wandering path. We This particular version arms. Photoshop is a part of our everyday routine. do recognise, however, that we are part of a is a collaboration It adds polish and sparkle to our printed work that contemporary design and pop culture in our between Vault49 and we can’t otherwise achieve. We use it because design methods and approach. When we first Daryl Waller” there is no other viable alternative, and we don’t started out, we researched in depth the work of really see the need for one with the work we Michael English, Julie Verhoeven, Alastair, create. It’s a tool in the creation of our designs, Alphonse Mucha, and Sixties psychedelia, but our nothing more, nothing less. references have become so diluted now that it’s hard even for us to pick out our influences. The transparency features of the Brush Tool are great for us. They are becoming a lot more useful Our viewpoint is mostly insular, and we’re to us with our Hed Kandi work.” more wrapped up in where Vault49 is going. With that in mind, all we try to see are the creative However, they’re not short of a scathing word briefs that are out there, and the many or two when it comes to the Pen Tool. “It’s opportunities around to make a difference. We rubbish. We don’t know why it can’t imitate the are, of course, heavily influenced by the talented functionality of the Pen Tool in Illustrator.” Working between two Macs and two PCs in their FBEEEHILITNI’NDSGOATUROREKOANWLOLNYWSSTUAHCTACITSEFSWYSEINAGRE28 Advanced Photoshop

Vault49 SERVE CHILLED ABOVE : ““Vault49 took on the street, because that person has VENUS footsteps. However, when you’re as confident in over all the Hed Kandi artwork in September 2005, parted with their hard-earned cash to own ABOVE : “A great your abilities as these guys, that’s no problem. and this remains one of our most challenging and something that we’ve created. Somehow, beauty shot, put “Let hands-on experimentation be the ignition exciting briefs. We look forward to helping keep this that’s a greater affirmation of our design together in Illustrator for ideas and development, and be on the look- brand at the forefront of design” than being chosen for a corporate and Photoshop.” out for creative accidents. Vault49 began as a advertising campaign (much as we Photography by design duo specialising in screen-printing, andcollaborators we work with, and the work we welcome them!).” Michael Creagh and our in-house approach is largely derived from thecreate together often drives our own personal Rinze van Brug limitations and processes required throughwork forward.” By holding onto such a definitive style screen-printing, even though we no longer have many design companies would begin to a printing studio in New York. Our love of limitedForward thinking feel run-of-the-mill, however you get the colours, texture, and attention to detail have feeling this will never be the case for the emerged in no small part because of our hands-And it’s not just their inspirations that drive Vault49 duo. on approach to creating our design work.”Vault49 upwards, “We’re highly motivated, notleast because we are making a living for ourselves “We’re our own best competition, and As for the future? “We see Vault49 as a brandby using our own hands. It’s a really satisfying we’re always trying to out-do ourselves. rather than specifically a design company, and wefeeling to know that we are behind our own We’re kept as busy as we want to be, and see unbridled potential for the development ofsuccess – and failure – and that the path we we’re grateful that we haven’t had to try and branded products and services. We have a longchoose to follow is of our own making. out-do anyone to stay this way. We have a lot way to develop before directing our first film, but of faith in our own ability to adapt to changing Our work for the Artful Dodger clothing label environments, and so far so good! we would never exclude it!” 5is a very exciting project for us, and challenging,too, in the best possible way. Vault49 and our “There is a lot of hackneyed and unimaginativemany collaborators are an intrinsic part of this design work around which never fails tobrand, and we feel very passionate about driving disappoint, and our clients often see thethe success of the label. Nothing gives us more difference we provide in detail and sophistication.pleasure than seeing our designs on somebody Importantly, when we come across another company’s work who we respect, we try and work with them, rather than against them. Our primary goal is to produce the best design around, and if that is achieved through working with others then that’s all the more fun. Perhaps that is what keeps us from falling behind, for we are always willing to acknowledge areas where we might be weak, and we seek to work with others who complement us.” With just a few years in the business under their belts, the temptation might be to not dole out advice for those following in their 29 Advanced Photoshop

MASTERCLASS 30 Advanced Photoshop

Create comic ADSacarnknleyrbook art Richard Linklater’sLooking at three different ways to create fantastic new film, A Scannercomic book art, this tutorial will transform even your Darkly, based on themost mundane images into works of art book by Philip K Dick, utilises the same BY JASON ARBER technique he used for his 2001 movie, Waking Life. The actors were shot digitally, rotoscoped (trimmed from the background) and then animated using a custom piece of software called Rotoshop. Bob Sabiston created the software specifically to create lifelike hand-drawn animations that looked just like comic books that had sprung into life. ON THE DISC U sing your digital camera to take realistic the effects are pre-baked and relatively inflexible. This photographs is so passé. Say hello to the tutorial shows you not only how to get the best out Although Jason’s images were all from latest thing: creating comic strips with your of the Comix actions, but to also create your own www.istockphoto.com, it’d be much more images. Inspired by Richard Linklater’s latest film A comic-book style – and the techniques shown here are fun to use the same techniques on any of Scanner Darkly, it’s possible to quickly and easily only the starting point for further experimentation. your own images of family and friends. convert images into cartoons using a free Photoshop Alternatively, why not check out www.sxc. action called Comix. Photoshop is an incredible tool, able to transform hu for some amazing free photos? snaps into the stuff you find in graphic novels. It also Comix is a great set of three actions that attempt to takes the pain out of repeating the technique for OUR EXPERT Jason Arber recreate the look and feel of printed comics, including multiple images by allowing you to save custom steps the rough halftone feel of cheap paper. But unless you’re as an action that can then be saved, reused and As creative director of design collective Children of Finland, Jason inclined to dig through the steps in the Actions palette, exported for others to use. is well placed to instruct you on how best to position your pixels. He also contributes to that online creative powerhouse, 2 Comix book action 3 Size matters www.pixelsurgeon.com and is a regular AP writer. The decompressed Comix Open up a photograph that you wish to convert to a comic art look. Action.atn file can be stored Andrew Purviance, Comix’s creator, recommends using large images becauseGet the strip style anywhere on your computer as it is of the resolution of the effect, choosing images that are 1,000 to 2,000 pixels a script not a plug-in and so across for the best results. It also helps if the image is on a plain background1 Get downloading needn’t reside in the plug-ins and has plenty of contrast. Download the free Comix Photoshop Actions by folder, as long as you keep itAndrew Purviance from Adobe Studio Exchange (share. somewhere that’s easy tostudio.adobe.com) and navigating to Photoshop> remember and reference so you’llActions>Image Effects>Comix. Its tiny 8.18K size means have it to hand when you need it.that it’ll download very quickly. Best of all, it’s immediately available without restarting Photoshop.“HCTOOHWMISICTTOBUOCTOROKERAISATTLEYSYLHEOO”UWRSOYWONU 31 Advanced Photoshop

MASTERCLASS4 Action hero 5 The basic look 6 Introduce some colour From the Actions palette (Window>Actions) you Comix loads three actions into your palette: Looking at the Layers palette (Window>Layers)need to load the new Comix actions. Click the arrow at Comix, Comix Hue and Comix Halftone. Applying each you can see that the action has created several newthe top of the palette and choose Load Actions from the is as simple as clicking the button and letting Photoshop layers. One of these layers is called ‘color here or hide’,fly-out menu. Navigate to your actions and click Load. do the rest. The default Comix action turns your photo and it’s here that you can introduce a bit of colour backThe actions should then be appended to your list of into a stark black-and-white image with an additional into the altered image by adjusting the opacity oractions in the palette. grey tone to add a bit of detail. transparency mode. 7 Hue’s that girl? 8 Halftone heaven Open another image and this time give Comix Comix Halftone, as the name suggests, attempts Hue a whirl. It’s applied exactly like the previous action: to mimic the look of cheap newsprint by introducing a just click on the Comix Hue button and Photoshop will coarse halftone screen for some of the midtone values. step through the action, applying the effects. Comix It also desaturates the image to create a more dramatic, Hue allows the original colour to show through in a less photographic effect. pleasing fashion.ATT“STFNPIOHRONNNHEAOVADIONEPLNST,ICLSSNTOASRFUISBG”NEOFHLRTDREFOAOIMBPPTYLHOOIESIUC 9 One-click wonders 10 Trial and error“XX TIME TO BEText As with all these one-click effects, any changes By boosting the Saturation to +100 andBCeOOfLNfeDF,cIDAtENsNDTT, BUERNOnceyou’vecreatedyourcomic-styleartwork, you want to make have to be done in post, so you can subsequently adjusting the Hue, you can create oddUP THEyou’ll want to furnish it with speech balloons play around with the layers to experiment with different colour schemes and strange lighting effects. After looks. One non-destructive trick you can try is to create clicking OK you can go back and edit the effect at any and hand-drawn lettering for that graphic novel a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Layers>New time or even remove it completely by dragging the Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation) above the base adjustment layer to the Layer palette’s trash icon.SATURATIONlook. The best resource for this is the www. image to play with the colour. blambot.com site, created by talented letteringLEVELS”artist Nate Piekos. There you’ll find advice, inspiration, links, free fonts and EPS downloads of speech balloons and sound effects, such as KOOM! SPLORK! and TWUNK!32 Advanced Photoshop

Do it yourself! 12 Add some drama aJumcptiiontno Select Layer>New>Layer via Cut to place the11 Create your own figure on its own layer. Fill the background with the If you’ve stumbled across a technique that you The Comix Actions are a fantastic shortcut, foreground colour using Alt+Backspace (Windows) or like, turning it into an action you can use on anybut they lack flexibility. It’s best to create your own Option+Backspace (Mac). Use the Custom Shape tool in image is simple. Bring up the Actions paletteeffects, which you could turn into an action (see Fill Pixels Mode (chosen from the Options bar at the top (Windows>Actions), turn off Button Mode usingboxout). Open an image, use the Magic Wand to select of the screen) and draw a dramatic shape behind the the fly-out menu at the top of the palette if it’sthe background and Select>Inverse to isolate the figure. figure’s head as in our image below. Kapow! on, click New Actions give your action a name, and start recording. When you’re done, click Stop and your action is ready to be used, or even exported so that someone else can use it!13 FX factory 14 Get definition 15 Stamp it! Make a copy of the figure by dragging the On another duplicate layer, boost the With the new contrasting layer, return to thelayer onto the New Layer icon, and with the duplicate contrast with the Levels dialog (Image>Adjustments> filter and chose Sketch>Stamp. This will reduce theselected choose Filter>Filter Gallery. This opens up an Levels). Drag the black and white triangles closer image to black and white with no grey, but emphasiseeffects factory. Choose Cutout and adjust the Number together to bleach out unwanted detail while clearly transitions such as the jaw line. Adjust the Light/Darkof Levels and Edge Simplicity sliders until you’re happy. defining areas such as the mouth and eyes. Balance and Smoothness to get the effect you want.“CCOOLMOUIXRHTUOESAHLOLWOWTSHRTOHUEGOHR”IGINAL16 Hand-drawn finish 17 Background treatment 18 Visit the gallery Ensuring the Stamp layer is above the Cutout Time to do something interesting with the Matte the shape onto the background layerlayer, change the layer’s transparency mode to Multiply background image. Select the white shape and choose (if it’s not already) and select the background. Payusing the drop menu at the top of the Layers palette. Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. For the Blur Method choose another trip to the Filter Gallery to choose our old friendAnything white will become transparent, leaving Zoom and for the quality select Draft (the rougher the Cutout from the Artistic section. When you’re happyopaque black. Combined with the flat posterised effect the better). The zoom amount is dependent on with the results click OK.colours, the effect is like a hand-inked illustration. your resolution – it might take a bit of trial and error to get it right as there is no meaningful preview. 33 Advanced Photoshop

MASTERCLASSCreating printing-press effects19 Get started 20 Now clip With this final Duplicatecomic-book image, the aim is the layer by dragging itto recreate the coarse halftone onto the New Layer iconscreen of the four-colour at the bottom of theprinting press in a more realistic Layers palette. With theway than the Comix action. To copied layer selected,start, open up a dramatic add a new Levelsphotograph in Photoshop. Adjustment Layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels), ensuring that Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask is selected.21 Boost the contrast 22 Join the line 23 Beef it up As with the previous image, boost the Shift-click to select both the duplicate layer Desaturate the image to black and whitecontrast to create dense black areas and bleached out and the Adjustment Layer and combine them into a (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation) by dragging thehighlights. Maximise the edges of the image such as the single layer (Layer>Merge Layers). Apply the Find Edges Saturation slider to the left. Get rid of the wispy paleeyes, mouth, nose and other features. Click OK to apply filter (Filter>Stylise>Find Edges), which turns the image grey lines and beef up the thicker lines by increasing thethe effect. into a multicoloured series of lines. contrast with the Levels (Image>Adjustments>Levels).24 Abstract thinking 25 Homemade touches 26 Default settings With the Find Edges layer remaining on top, Using a brush, paint in The default angle values are fine, but you may want to adjustchange the Transparency mode to Multiply. Duplicate some keylines in black or white (or a the Max. Radius value. The result will vary with your image’s resolution,another base layer and apply the Median filter combination). This will give your image(Filter>Noise>Median). The bigger the radius value, the a hand-drawn, cartoonish look. With the but a starting point of five pixels should be fine. Click OK to apply. 5more abstract the image becomes, so a value between saturated background layer copy5 and 15 (depending on the resolution of your image) selected, choose the Color Halftoneshould suffice. filter (Filter>Pixelate>Color Halftone). IS“LDALOTUNUS’TRTARBTAEITOAINOF;NRT,AHAIIDFSTTIESORABAOCLOOLSM”TIC34 Advanced Photoshop



MAadstevres orftising36 Advanced Photoshop

MASTERS OF ADVERTISINGIt might be the simplest thing you ever create, but a successful logo needsto convey a world of information in just one glance. Advanced Photoshoplooks at some of the highs and lows in the life of the logoBY JASON ARBER I f you step into an Apple Store to buy an iPod or an The history of Apple’s logo is a microcosm for the iMac, you enter a chapel dedicated to one of the evolution of all logos and the journey towards most recognisable brands on the planet. simplification. Reducing a logo to its essentials leads to Everywhere you look – on the walls, on the packaging, faster recognition and differentiation in a market saturated on the computers themselves – you’ll find the logo: a with companies vying for attention and retention. The simple silhouette of an Apple with a bite taken out. same process can be seen with the rebrands for FedEx, Intel, IBM and many others. The Zen-like simplicity of the logo has undergone many revisions in its time, reducing any extraneous complexity to The word logo is a shortened version of the word arrive at a modern icon. It originated with a fussy woodcut- logotype, which originates from the 19th century and is a style logo for Apple Computer designed by Steve Jobs and compound of the Greek logos, meaning ‘word’, and the Ronald Wayne which depicted Sir Isaac Newton sat beneath English word type. The 1800s were a time of industrial an apple tree, clearly waiting for inspiration to strike his expansion, and businesses increasingly became national or noggin. This was quickly replaced by the classic rainbow- even international institutions rather than local ones. This striped Apple logo created by designer Rob Janoff in 1976. increased competition led to a drive to create the first corporate identities. The rainbow logo remained the symbol for Apple until Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO in 1997 and in 1998 Although early logos and identifiers had been used for presented a new version of the logo: a glossy, silvery-grey centuries, such as printer’s marks, which were simplified line apple. Over recent years this has been refined further drawing equivalents of more complex trademark devices (together with the change of corporate typeface from Apple such as shields, fleur-de-lis and calligraphic characters, the Garamond to Myriad) to become a simple outline usually 19th century was the birth of the logo in the modern expressed in white, black or grey, depending on the context. sense of building brand awareness and loyalty. Illustration by Chintu Shah 37 Advanced Photoshop

FeatureCREATING A LOGO A LOGO NEEDS TO CONVEY MORE When creating a logo, there are several common THAN UNIQUENESS sense guidelines you should consider. In addition AND INDIVIDUALITY to ensuring that the design is appropriate for the – IT SHOULD ALSO individual or company concerned, design the EXPRESS THE logo using a vector-based illustration application QUALITIES AND such as Adobe Illustrator. The logo may need to SERVICES OF THE be scaled to large sizes and designing something COMPANY with a fixed resolution in a raster application may not be a good idea. Import your vector design into Photoshop if you need a bitmap version of it. Ensure that your logo works well in black and white and at very small sizes, because you never know under what conditions your logo will be viewed and printed. Avoid gimmicks, such as filter effects, because they can date very quickly and a successful logo should last for years. BRAND AWARE In most cases, a logo Pemberton’s business partner Frank Mason consists of a symbol and Robinson, who not only came up with the name but the name of the also the cursive script used for the lettering. company or organisation – there are only a handful of logos in existence that are easily recognisable Pepsi-Cola’s original logo also used a similar, without any text, which include Apple and Nike – florid handwriting style, which was refined on a and in many instances the logo includes a tagline or regular basis until 1962 when the company dropped slogan, such as Nokia’s “Connecting People”. the script in favour of an expanded sans-serif face. In The creation of successful corporate identities, 1943 the company incorporated what it called the including the design of striking and memorable “bottle cap” look into its logo by including a circle logotypes, is a dark art. A successful logo needs to with a red top half and a dark blue bottom half, convey more than uniqueness and individuality, but divided by a broad, wavy white line. This symbol has should also express the qualities and services of the become a shorthand for the Pepsi brand, although company, group or individual. A good example it’s rare to see it unsupported by the word Pepsi. In would be the 1994 redesign of the Federal Express 1991, Pepsi adopted the current typeface, a custom logo by Lindon Leader when he was senior design techno font, creating a modern look suiting its director at Landor Associates in San Francisco. “Choice of a New Generation” slogan. Federal Express decided to contract the company’s name to FedEx, and Leader immediately saw the Always Coca-Cola opportunity to create a logo that contained a hidden right-pointing arrow, something most By contrast, Coca-Cola’s current logo has changed people miss when giving the logo a cursory glance. very little over the years, and is almost Leader explained its creation in an interview with indistinguishable from the version seen on the first The Sneeze. “The power of the hidden arrow is “Contour” bottles of 1916. Coca-Cola does have a simply that it is a ‘hidden bonus’. It is a positive- simplified sub-brand, consisting of the word Coke – reverse optical kind of thing: either you see it or you the abbreviated term for the product – and is used don’t. Importantly, not ‘getting the punch line’ by for products such as Cherry Coke and Vanilla Coke. not seeing the arrow, does not reduce the impact of In many foreign territories, such as China, custom the logo’s essential communication.” He added, typefaces have been created using local alphabets “Punch lines that need to be explained are neither and translations. funny nor memorable.” It’s curious to compare and contrast two similar Although in most parts of the world Coke outsells logos for competitive products as they diverge Pepsi, Pepsi has consistently gone for a youthful over time. Coca-Cola, the carbonated beverage demographic by reinventing its logo to stay based on coca leaves and Kola nuts, was fashionably current. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has invented by John Stith Pemberton in the late always stood for traditional values (such as 1880s, while its popular alternative, Pepsi-Cola, promoting its brand with the friendly, jolly figure of was created by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in Santa Claus during Christmas campaigns). 1898 and trademarked in 1903. Coca-Cola’s distinctive logo has been attributed to But such is the strength of the Coca-Cola brand that it has come to symbolise not only the most popular carbonated drink in the world but also The United States of America, in the same way that Disney’s Mickey Mouse has. Such ubiquity has a38 Advanced Photoshop

Masters of advertisingDOWN IN ONE: Does ILOGO: Apple’s logo hasCoca-Cola’s worldwide been reduced to its mostdominance come from the basic form for a modernpower of a memorable logo? iconic impactdown side, and Coca-Cola is seen as part of America’s GROWING PAINS: Can you imagine your MacBook X MARKS THE SPOT: Spot the hidden arrow in theperceived cultural imperialism, paving the way for sporting the original Apple logo on the left? 1994 redesign of the FedEx logolocal alternatives such as the UK’s Qibla Cola, France’sMecca-Cola and Iran’s Zam Zam Cola. SODA SO GOOD: Coca-Cola’s classic logo typeface, NEW GENERATION: Pepsi targeted a younger which has endured over 90 years market with its Nineties design revamp The creation of Nike’s Swoosh logo is an interestingstory. In 1971 Nike founder Phil Knight met Carolyn ‘I DON’T LOVE IT, BUT IT WILL GROWDavidson, a graphic design student, in a hallway at ON ME.’ NIKE FOUNDER PHIL KNIGHT ONPortland State University and offered her a few dollars THE SWOOSHan hour to do some work for him. “Representativesfrom Japan were coming for a presentation and Phil JUST DOING ITwanted some charts and graphs to show them,” recallsDavidson. “I did some design work for him, and then From its inception the Nike logo is a perfectone day he asked me if I wanted to work on a shoe example of one that has gone on to mean as muchstripe. He said he needed more inventory control.” as the company it represents. Needing a logo that suggested movement, Starting life in 1971 with the word Nike printedDavidson began scribbling down some ideas. But across a checkmark shaped design, the logoKnight had a deadline so he grabbed one of her first has evolved as the motif became so recognisablesolutions, telling Davidson, “I don’t love it, but it will the company name was made redundant withingrow on me.” Davidson was paid $35 for creating one the logo.of the most memorable logos of all time. Originally designed by graphic design student But what most tales concerning this shockingly Carolyn Davidson for the fee of $35, the logosmall fee don’t recount is that Knight presentedDavidson with a gold Swoosh ring and Nike stock in now appears across Nike’s1983. As Davidson admits, “The stock has split three entire portfolio and is one oftimes since I received it, so I can definitely say that I the most recognisable brandshave been well compensated for my design.” Another in the world.urban myth is that the Swoosh was inspired by wingson the famous statue of Nike, the winged goddess ofvictory, but when Davidson did her original design, thecompany was still called Blue Ribbon Sports. Whether the Swoosh logo ever grew on Knight isunknown, but it has remained at the core of the Nikebrand for 35 years. In recent years Nike has lost thecompany’s name that used to reside in the bowl of theSwoosh, and the Solo Swoosh is now recognisable onits own. Critics of the company, angry at the poorconditions in the foreign sweatshops that produceNike goods, have dubbed the logo “swooshtika”. In fact, the swastika is one of the world’s mostmisunderstood logos. For most people the 39 Advanced Photoshop

Feature VIVA LOS LOGOS: To find out more From Los Logos copyright Die Gestalten Verlag 2006 LOS LOGOS THE SWASTIKA about the organisation and to take a IS ONE OF THE tour of Logos City, an archive of local Can the proliferation of corporate WORLD’S MOST logos wipe out the cultural heritage MISUNDERSTOOD logos and branding, visit and individuality of our world? LOGOS www.loglogos.org Los Logos, the Society for the Conservation of Urban Visual Heritage, cross with arms bent at right angles is a symbol of created by Swiss designers büro Nazism, and is indelibly associated with right-wing destruct, wants to “protect, or at least fascist ideology and the murder of millions of Jews. Such negative connotations are at odds with the conserve, the graphic appearance of cross’ origins as a holy symbol in Hinduism, Jainism the world’s cities.” Opposed to the and Buddhism. globalisation of large, international companies and their omnipresent brands, The Nazi party co-opted the swastika or Los Logos is attempting to save unique local Hakenkreuz (hooked cross) in 1920 as symbol of branding, logos and typography. racial purity, believing that the Indian caste system Los Logos has also produced a series of had arisen as a method of preventing ethnic mixing. books collecting modern logos and branding Following the Second World War, the German published by Die Gestalten. criminal code made public displays of the swastika illegal, but that didn’t stop neo-nazi groups MODERN LIFE: The Los Logos books explore continuing to use it. our relationship with logos and give examples of branding that has impact and style The swastika has become a taboo logo in most Western cultures, although it continues to crop up in unusual contexts. For example, bizarre religious UFO cult the Raëlian Movement, founded in the 1970s, controversially used a star of David and a swastika interleaved into a single symbol. Bowing to public pressure, the Raëlian logo was redesigned in 1991 to remove the swastika. Logo ‘shoppers As soon as a logo becomes popular, it throws itself open to the possibility of parody or culture- jamming. Canadian political activist magazine Adbusters, founded by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz, often criticises large corporations and lampoons their logos. CASE STUDY PENGUIN In 1935, Penguin Books founder Allen Lane was looking for a “dignified but flippant” name for his new venture and his secretary Joan Coles suggested Penguin. He then sent his office junior, Edward Young, out to London Zoo to draw a penguin for the logo. The simple logo, when paired with the typeface Gill Sans and the three-band design for the book covers, created a modern classic. Jan Tschichold, the modernist German typographer and designer, took charge of Penguin’s production between 1947-1949, unifying the grid structure and creating a standardised set of compositional rules. He refined the Penguin logo, creating the definitive version, until Pentagram updated it in 2003.40 Advanced Photoshop

Masters of advertising BUST A MOVE: Adbusters’ take on the American flag gave a political spin on the role of the logo. Join the “new social activist movement of the information age” at www.adbusters.orgTHE AT&T TEAM: AT&T’s new lower-case logo didn’t stir the design world like its Saul Bass predecessorA particularly famous example is its Brand America worked on it.” Within six months, in March 2006, HACKED OFF: After its involvement withflag, which incorporates the logos of IBM, MTV, Quark quietly announced another new logo. censorship, hacktivists parodied the Google brandPlayboy, Apple, Nike, Warner Bros and others insteadof the traditional state stars. Asked about the logo mishap, a Quark STAR SIGN: This combination was always going to spokesman said, “At the end of the day, the logo is a raise eyebrows, as the Raëlian Movement discovered When singer George Michael was upset with Sony, ‘q’ – and there’s a limited number of possible logo EXPRESS CHANGE: Great logo, shame it’s taken.his record label, he used a pair of headphones with designs you can achieve with a single character. [We Quark had to do a quick branding turnaroundthe word Fony written on them in the style of Sony’s carried out] extensive checks to discover any similarlogo in the video for his 1996 single ‘Fast Love’ existing logos… we evidently didn’t find them all.” FOUL BALL: Love it or hate it? The new ‘beachball’(Michael ironically ending up slinking back to Sony for AT&T logo has divided the design criticslater albums). More recently, Google’s logo has been When AT&T said goodbye to its classic Saul Bass-parodied as Goolag (“exporting censorship, one designed logo in favour of a new version designed 41search at a time”) by hacktivists protesting at Google’s by Interbrand, very few people were impressed.censorship of its Chinese search engine. Even fewer still found the accompanying Advanced Photoshop explanation of the new logo contained in the official Being parodied is not the worst thing that can press release free of straw-clutching marketinghappen to a logo, however. Software maker Quark speak: “The new logo reinvigorates the AT&T globewas embarrassed to discover that its new corporate – one of the most recognized corporate symbols inidentity, designed by SicolaMartin, a division of Y&R the world. The new globe is three-dimensional,Brands, was the same as The Scottish Arts Council’s representing the expanding breadth and depth of(and also Alcone’s, Artworkers’ and The Designers services that the new AT&T family of companiesNetwork’s). In the press release to herald Quark’s new provides to customers, as well as its globallook, Susan Friedman, senior vice president of presence... Transparency was added to the globe tostrategic relations, ironically claimed that the new represent clarity and vision.” Sadly, such lamelogo “is one of the most articulate symbols of the newQuark, and I feel proud to have led the team that 6justifications are all too common among advertising THE CREATION agencies pitching corporate identities.OF SUCCESSFUL But perhaps the worst fate that can befall aCORPORATEIDENTITIES IS A logo is that it unintentionally resembles maleDARK ART genitalia or a lewd act. Viral website B3TA recently launched its Phallic Logo Awards (www. b3ta.com/features/phalliclogoawards) leaving visitors scratching their heads wondering if the designers had taken leave of their senses before designing their dodgy logos. There are valuable lessons to be learned there for all budding logo designers. 5

MASTERCLASS 42 Advanced Photoshop

Applying scannedartwork CpsaoipcututrruicnrgeeyourNever underestimate the power of your scanner.Get back to the drawing board and add intricate The key to any goodelements to your images BY EMMA CAKE design is a cracking source picture. WeT ake a look at our interview with Vault49 on style of work; some artists favour drawing vector took this very simple page 24 and you’ll see something very special elements in Illustrator and integrating them into the but effective image indeed. The technique of combining fashion- image later in Photoshop, while others are just so damn ourselves so that itstyle photography with elaborate, overlaid elements clever they can whip up some masterpieces using only would fit in with theis a really hot trick to master at the moment. the airbrush and an extra layer, like a Rolf Harris for the design we had in digital generation. mind. You can easily There are many different ways you can approach this recreate an image Well, we’re a pretty creative bunch at Advanced like this with your own digital camera. Lighting is ON THE DISC Photoshop and know how to use Photoshop to wangle the trickiest technique to master, but it’s most concepts together. However, the majority of us possible to create an image using natural You’ll find all the elements you need to can’t draw for toffee and even getting a straight line out outdoor lighting with a few makeshift reflectors create this tutorial – ‘buttercup’, ‘curves’, of us is a bit of a mission. With the help of your scanner (you can use cardboard and tin foil for a cheap ‘daisy’ and ‘model’ – on this month’s and a bit of artistic licence, even the most drawing-inept but effective substitute). Advanced Photoshop CD. However, we of you folk can use your own sketches in your Photoshop Remember, you can always tweak exposure suggest that you create your own elements work. Over the next few pages we’re going to take a look and colour using the Curves command in for a truly unique piece of art. to see how you can tweak some very basic scans and Photoshop. Alternatively, if the thought of integrate them into your designs using a few core getting behind the camera scares you, try to OUR EXPERT Emma Cake layering techniques. Honestly, it’s a doddle. track down a suitable image from a stock site such as www.istockphoto.com or www.sxc.hu. Emma is pretty nifty with her camera and very good at Pictionary, which is odd as she has the drawing capability of a four-year old. 3 Scanner skills Armed with some French Curve stencils, a few weeds, and a gullible It’s time to get scanning. Place your drawing on colleague, she’ll prove that anyone can make creative Photoshop art. the scanner surface and alter your scanning settings so it imports your sketch to the best effect. Set the colourPerfecting your source images mode to Greyscale so you don’t end up with a nasty chromatic aberration effect, and boost the resolution1 She’s got curves 2 Old-school art right up to 600dpi. Once this has imported into Start by opening up the main source image, Now get a plain piece of A4 paper and start Photoshop alter the Input Levels to 0, 0.59, 255, then‘model’, on this month’s CD. The dimensions are perfect doodling. Anything goes really, just make sure there’s alter the colour mode to RGB.for starting our piece of art, but it could do with a little lots going on. If you’re not confident with your drawingtweak using the Curves command. Press Apple/Cmd+M then invest in some stencils. We found French Curves toto open up the Curves dialog and alter the Input to 71 be really handy with this design, and they were veryand the Output to 76 to increase the contrast a little. cheap and easy to use too. Adding rough, sketchierAlternatively, you can use your own photograph. elements to your design such as stars or hand-drawn flowers will make your image look earthier later on. 43 Advanced Photoshop

MASTERCLASS4 Flip and flatten 5 Curves on top 6 A touch of magic Select the corner of your curve design and copy Select the entire canvas and copy and paste this Select every part of the curves design byand paste it, placing each version in each corner of the onto a new layer on top of your model image and call it shift-clicking with the Magic Wand Tool. Then, create acanvas. Make sure that none of the corners are ‘curves original’. Reposition it so that it fits nicely on the Layer Mask to get rid of the white background. It’ssymmetrical so your design doesn’t look too rigid. Alter canvas, as below. You’ll find this easier if you lower the possible to save this selection as a working path to helpyour curve designs using the shortcut keys Apple/ opacity of the layer. Allow the curve design to interfere you to avoid having to select these areas again.Cmd+T and dragging the corners and by making flips with the photograph if you like, with tendrils of foliageusing the menu Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. When curling around the model’s hair.you’re happy with the look, flatten the layers.7 Colouring in 8 Blur it 9 Double up Add another layer and call it ‘colour curves’. Colour Click out of the selection area to get rid of the Duplicate the ‘colour curves’ layer and then dragin your selection using various colours chosen in the marching ants and then toggle off the visibility of the this copy slightly to the right. Hit Apple/Cmd+T to makeForeground Swatch using a Soft Round Airbrush. Try to original curves layer. We want to get rid of any harsh the bounding box appear and rotate this slightlykeep these colours pale and within the same colour outlines, so select ‘colour curves’ and apply a Gaussian counter-clockwise. Experiment with the position of thisrange. Here we’ve chosen white and a small selection of Blur filter (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) of 1.6 pixels. layer until you’re happy with the appearance. Lower thepale greens. opacity of this layer to 66%. “TDHEACEPSNRISICYKAGOTECNUGUYKORIRSINOCTEGOADE” 10 Multiply Add another44 duplicated layer but this time alter the blending mode to Advanced Photoshop Multiply. Then adjust the Opacity to 90% and the Fill to 60%. Expand the bounding box so that the dimensions of the curves are different and move it around the canvas. Remember, you can also flip this selection vertically.

11 Dodgy colour 12 Green sweep TRWPEEF“MCALLRHEAIOTAESOAISCMHMBHTLTKOLIBOEOEYRTIGNNRNAORHT”ITNAOSEGPTIHSYA Add the final duplicated layer of ‘colour Add another layer and call it ‘airbrush’. Thencurves’ and then alter the blending mode to Color with a Soft Round Airbrush draw a curved line over yourDodge. Take the Fill of this down to around 50% to avoid image. Start with a dark green and then add more andyour image being spoilt by an unsightly yellow. more lines, using a lighter colour each time. Don’t worryDecrease the size of this bounding box so it matches the about overlapping your photograph, we’ll sort that outsize of the original canvas. soon enough, but make sure there are no white gaps.13 Go over the rainbow With the ‘airbrush’ layer still selected, apply aGaussian Blur by clicking on Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur.Adjust the Radius to 169.6 pixels, so that all the individuallines of the rainbow blend into one another. If you wantto retain brighter tones then use a lower Radius.15 The eyes have it 14 Layer masking Zoom into the eyes Add a layer mask to this layer and select a Charcoal Brush, which can be found underneath the Natural Brushand add another layer. Choose a selection in the Brush Palette. This should make the area around the hair a little easier to mask. Adjust the sizeshade of green and paint over accordingly to suit your needs.the irises. Lower the Opacity andFill of this layer to 80% so you dEarsyawingcan see the detailunderneath and the colour To draw out the curves ready to scan, we used ablends in well. Then add selection of French Curve stencils. These are veryanother layer and paint the easy to use, but will take a bit of practice. Youpupils with a deep black. will be able to pick up these stencils at any good drawing suppliers at a very reasonable price. We bought ours from the high street retailer Ryman the stationer. Call its customer service line on 0800 389 2147 to order your own stencils. 45 Advanced Photoshop

MASTERCLASS16 Bright eyes 17 Star light, star bright Open up the Add another layer and alter the colour to aBrush Palette and locate the leafy green. Use the Starburst brush to place bursts ofStarburst – Small brush. light along the airbrushed rainbow. Then, when you’reAlter the foreground colour happy with the placing, add another layer and alter theto white and apply some Starburst to white. Overlap the green as best as you cansmall bursts to the areas in in one attempt with the white brush (notice how thethe eye that have reflected green bursts underneath give it a 3D effect).the flash during the photoshoot. This is a very subtleeffect but will brighten theeyes considerably. 18 Build up buttercup 19 Adding flowers Open up the ‘buttercup’ file found on this Press the shortcut keys Ctrl+T to display the month’s CD and copy this into another layer on your bounding box and then reduce the scale of the artpiece. Create a new path called ‘buttercup’ in the buttercup to around 9%. Then drag and rotate the Paths palette and then create an outline selection using flower so it lies along the hair. Duplicate this layer three the Pen Tool. Once you’re done with this, click on the times and position each version of the buttercup on a ‘buttercup’ layer in the Layers Palette, press the Layer different section of the hair. Remember, you can flip Mask button and the white area surrounding the them horizontally so they don’t all look the same. buttercup will miraculously disappear.ScannersettingsThe most important part in getting your own 20 Blending inpiece of scanned art to look great will depend Select the Eraseron the settings you use to scan in your objects. Tool and lower the opacity inWe had to use two different settings in this the upper toolbar. Select eachtutorial. For the drawn curves it was important individual buttercup layer andto use a Grayscale input in order to capture carefully erase the stems of thestrong outlines and be able to give the image flowers so they blend into thehigh contrast and make the blacks black and hair. Try to keep some areas ofthe whites white. The flowers were captured in green so they don’t look as ifRGB mode. We used a high-res Epson they’ve just been plonked on.Expression 1680 Pro scanner set to 600dpi asthis created an adequate enough file size to useon our digital image.TC“GIMIRAEFATMATGTCEHEIKRNEFAGDTROSBHOWCEOMAHNURIGANAEHDSSSTTTUYOOHITOFCEAUKB, SLEITE”46 Advanced Photoshop

21 Daisy, daisy 22 Flower arranging Adjusting Open up the ‘daisy’ file on the CD and use We don’t want the flowers to all look thethe same technique to apply some daisies to the hair. same. Applying a Warp effect to each daisy individually CurvesGo careful with your pen selection before masking, will give you the opportunity to alter the flowers so theymaking particularly sure that you are careful around the merge nicely into the hair. You can access this by clicking To perfect your image’s exposure the mostbottom right-hand side. You may find that you have to Edit>Transform>Warp. useful feature you can use is the Curvesget rid of more of the stem for the flower to integrate command. This takes a bit of getting used to, butinto the hair successfully. once you find out how your image will react according to your curves peaks and troughs it23 Colour will be far more accurate than adjusting Levels. Balance The top right-hand section of the curves allowsWith all green in the you to adjust highlights, the middle sectionimage, it’s made it look as alters midtones whereas the bottom left partif the main model image manipulates shadows. Alternatively you can useis suffering from a slight the three separate pipette icons to set black,cyan colour. Get rid of this grey and white points.by clicking on the‘Background’ layer and SWDI“CNIRTOFVITENAEYHNFWSOCIYTDIUNILEO’GIRSNNUE”TTRSHNOEOMNTEbringing up the ColorBalance command(Apple/Cmd+B).Counteract the cyan withsome yellow, but add asmall amount of red tothe Shadows, Midtonesand Highlights.24 Curve contrast The image can do with a bit of improvementto the contrast. Open up the Curves dialog and alter theInput to 26 and the Output to 31. Then, select theMagenta layer (make sure you’re in CMYK color mode)and alter the Input to 63 and the Output to 58. 25 Green screen The last thing we want is the green to cast the hair. So zoom in and make sure you’ve completely applied a mask to the hair strands on the right. You can also use this step to reduce the rainbow if it’s looking a little right-heavy. 5 47 Advanced Photoshop

Feature WE’VE SPICED THINGS UP BY ADDING PALWAAYYERSSOMAENDRUTLAEKSING48 Advanced Photoshop

Photoshop Relay cRhealallyengers EDJamembmebasi ACDlaalevknieevssvsPhotoshopWhatdoyougetwhenyouletsixRelay artistslooseononeimage?TheAP team gives Photoshop Relay a goW e know you’ve all been awaiting its and taking away some of the rules. Although all of our start as much as the World Cup, contestants must do their work in Photoshop, they can Wimbledon or the Olympics, but wait bring in elements they created in other apps or scan inno more, the AP Photoshop Relay has begun. textures, images or hand-drawn objects. And they’reGiving six top competitors the chance to go head not restricted to one layer – players can add as many asto head against one another’s creative talents, they like, but there’s no guarantee that extra layersPhotoshop Relay is the ultimate sport for the mean extra chances to win!digitally obsessed this summer! Taking place over two issues, we have three Based on Photoshop Tennis, invented by Jim Coudal, competitors this issue and three in issue 21. Andthe founder of a Chicago advertising and design kicking off the event is James Davies, Digitalagency, this Internet sport has taken off in massive way. Photographer’s art editor and AP contributor…Involving two players, Photoshop Tennis sends oneimage back and forth between the players, who add a ON THE DISClayer each turn. For those of you who missed issue 19 and the Shutterstock starting Not enough of a challenge for us here at Imagine, image, we’re providing it once again this month. You’ll also find thewe decided to spice things up by adding more players files, scans and useful bits from our contributors on this month’s disc to help you along your way.Shutterstockwww.shutterstock.comThe AP Photoshop Relay starting image is one ofShutterstock’s thousands of images. The largestsubscription-based stock photo agency in theworld, Shutterstock was founded in 2003 and isnow one of the fastest growing suppliers ofroyalty-free stock photography in the industry. Itsoutstanding collection of premium imagescombined with a user-friendly interface has madeShutterstock a trusted resource for an expandingglobal customer base. Shutterstock currently hasnearly 800,000 images available to its subscribers,and that number increases every day. 49 Advanced Photoshop

Feature 1 Getting started To start my leg, and the whole relay, I decided toJames Davies Art editor, Digital Photographer take a different route to the expected and use the starting image as inspiration only for now, aiming to add “A message to my it in later. Start by opening a new document and lay a Imagine homies gradient across the background. I chose a warm regarding the summery yellow hue. Photoshizzle relizzle. I have started her up, now it’s up to each of you to apply your ‘knowledge’ and ‘mad skillz’ to make this more interesting. Word.” Start 3 Give it sunshine The sun was the next element added. First create a simple sun shape, and then use the layer styles to apply an Outer Glow. Duplicate the sun four or five times and colour each one using Ctrl+U (Hue/Saturation). Play around so each is a varying shade of yellow and orange. Blur each layer using Gaussian Blur between 30-60 pixels. Finally adjust the blending mode to Color Burn, Screen and Overlay, alternating between the three until you have the desired glowing effect. 5 Bring in the bird Open the Shutterstock image and, using a loose cutting style, cut out. Next, scan in a piece of folded paper (this is included on the CD), cut to fit and add to the stomach area of the bird, cutting off excess feathers and adding a shadow. This gives the impression that the whole bird has been cut out of paper. Pass50 Advanced Photoshop

Photoshop Relay2 Adding texture Debbi Start Next, in order to add some texture to the image, Allen Editorscan in a piece of wood and use the Pen Tool to create alayer mask. In this instance we’re using a layer mask to “As editor of thisreveal the wood texture underneath. By using curves you fine magazinecan optimise the tonal range. Complement this by surely I holdadding other colour elements with similar layer masks some sway overscattered through the middle of the image. Add a drop who wins? Soshadow to elements in the foreground for depth. cakes, flowers, chocolates and4 Creating clouds diamond bribes welcomed – To create the clouds, make a circle marquee. Apply even though it’ll ultimately bea radial gradient from light blue grey to darker blue and me who triumphs!”using the Selection Tool, hold down Alt to create copies.Resize and place as many as you need to create your 1 Add a character 2 Custom shapechosen cloud shape. Blur using a Gaussian Blur of around I began by drawing a rough character to add Next add these cartoon-ish clouds. I created12 then flatten the cloud layer and set Opacity to 70-80%. more texture to the image and scanned this in. the outline of a cloud shape in Illustrator, then Select the Pen Tool, making sure Shape Layers is imported it into Photoshop and turned it into a selected, and trace all the individual elements. If you Custom Shape. You can of course do this in set Fill to 0% while tracing, make sure you turn it Photoshop. Select the Custom Shape Tool (U) and back to 100% before you flatten and rasterize the find your cloud. Go Layer>Rasterise>Layer, select layers. Resize and place within your image white fill and apply. underneath the layer masks created earlier.6 Make it fly! 3 Get some action! 4 Remove the extra Scan in and add a piece of string. Use the Burn Tool To add detail to the cloud, on a new layer Using the Pen with Paths selected, draw insidewith a soft-feathered edge brush, set the range to mid- make a small circle and fill black. Create a new Action the cloud where you want the dots to be deleted,tones and the Exposure to 12 on the string. Now for the and begin recording. Using the Select Tool (V), hold leaving white space, I used the outside line of thebird’s shadow. Create a new layer, hit Ctrl and click on the down Alt+Shift and drag to the side, producing a cloud as a guide. From the paths palette, Ctrl-click tobird layer. With the Eyedropper select a dark brown fill copy along the horizontal plane. Stop recording. Play turn it into a selection and hit delete. Then select thefrom the wood. Deselect the marquee, add Gaussian Blur the action until the dots span the cloud. Select the cloud layer and inverse the selection. Select the dotsof 30 pixels, set blending mode to Multiply and Opacity dots layer and flatten. Repeat the process, this time layer and hit delete to remove the dots on theto 55%. Delete any shadow on the gradient background. dragging the row of dots downwards at 45 degrees. outside of the cloud shape. 51 Advanced Photoshop

Feature5 Perfect the shadow 6 Wooden birds Emma We want the bird shadow to hit the new cloud Finally, using the Pen Tool, draw a path around Cake Deputy editorlike it is closer than the background, so select the the bird and copy the wood texture from beforebird shadow layer, drag a copy and move it left. ensuring the bird path sits over the wood texture. “My aim is to makeSelect the cloud layer icon so that a path appears Next, go to the Paths palette and, holding Ctrl, select this task as difficult asaround it, then select the original bird shadow layer the path icon and click Add Layer Mask. Make a copy possible for theand hit delete. With the new bird shadow layer in a and position on either side of the image to balance remaining candidates.position you’re happy with, select the cloud layer, up the composition. James and Debbiinverse and delete all shadow outside of the cloud. haven’t really given me much to work with, but I’m sure I can work some magic and add some sparkle.” Start 1 Red balloon First I created a new group called Balloon. Then, on my first layer for the Relay race, I used the Pen Tool to draw a hot air balloon shape in the top-right corner, changing the style swatch to Red Gel. 2 Basket case Now for some detail. Add a new layer, and using a hard round airbrush set at a four-point size, sketch out a basic basket shape for the hot air balloon – I also added some people in at this stage. Pass52 Advanced Photoshop

Photoshop Relay3 It’s on fire! Add another new layer, this time drawing theburner and flames using a selection of different fire-likecolours from the swatch palette as below. Apply aGaussian Blur of 1.0 pixels.4 Stamp your mark In a new layer select the Pattern Stamp Tool fromthe Tools palette. Select Colour paper option from theStyles drop-down menu and choose Gold Paper. Colourin the basket, then alter the Layer style to Luminosity.5 Clouding over 6 Rainbow rays npReaxsetsemldaoonynth to Select the cartoon cloud created earlier in the Add a new layer underneath the balloon and use aLayers palette and drag it so that it lies in front of the soft round airbrush with various different colours to draw KCReolansidsrerAicvnksdMreawrks vsballoon using the Move Tool. out a rainbow. Soften this more by applying another Gaussian Blur with a radius of 3.9 pixels. 7 Shine on Add some sparkle to your rainbow using the Stars brush found within the assorted brushes palette. Make them blend into the rainbow by altering the Layer style to Overlay. 53 Advanced Photoshop

Step-by-step Workshops CREATE SPACE! 7 56 It’s a whole new world out there, and this issue we show you how toPEER PRESSURE 7 72 create planets, stars and incredible outer-space effects with a few key Photoshop tools. Are you ready for blast-off?Check out this month’s readers’ gallery to find out what your fellow PIXEL ARTAdvanced Photoshop readers have been getting up to. If you’re stuck forideas then take a glance through these images for inspiration, learn some 7 64new techniques and check out what you’re up against in the big badworld of design. If you think you’re up to the challenge then get your You can’t be anythingdesigns to us by emailing advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk or but impressed at theposting them on our forum at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk. sight of a retro-style pixel art image. Despite theIInnsfidoer Techniques nostalgic feel and blocky appearance, a piece of pixel art is probably the most complex digital style you could ever master. With Gary J Lucken from Army of Trolls as your teacher, however, you’re in safe hands. Turn the page to find out how to design your own isometric pixel art.INSIDER INFO 1 INSIDER INFO 2EXPOSURE 62 BRIDGE 70 HELPDESK 7 78ADJUSTMENT EXTENSIONSPerfect your 32-bpc photos on Expand and manipulate Bridge to Is your Photoshop work making you break outscreen with the new High suit your needs with a host of in a cold sweat? Do you need a little helpingDynamic Range functions in new tools and features to suit the hand? Our resident expert is here to help withPhotoshop CS2 creative professional a few top tips on controlling your errant app 55 Advanced Photoshop