Table of contents for No. 154 in Photoshop Creative

On the surface, filters may look like one of Photoshop’s more basic features, but when you look closer, they can help you unlock a whole world of opportunities, whether it comes to adding subtle final effects to an artwork you’re tweaking, or dramatically transforming an image to create something stunning and unique. Turn to p14 for an in-depth guide to their many uses. In addition, our oil painting effects tutorial on p42 shows how you can use filters to turn a simple image into a striking portrait. If you’re looking for that extra dimension to make your art pop, we have not one, but two exciting 3D features. Our advanced 3D city tutorial on p58 will teach you to build a city in the sky, and the tutorial on p22…

Elissandro Pinto www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/ Elissandro Image of the issue Layers, blend modes and masking were vital in this image. The rhino was the first thing to be added to the scene, before the town was added to its back and everything was blended with adjustments and brushes. Caroline Julia Moore www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/ CJMArt I took the main photo of the two subjects at the studio and merged this with a woodland photograph that I’d taken. The image was stylised with Dodge and Burn, and a Color Lookup adjustment was applied. Alexander Kruglov www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/Shurelo I used a lot of layers and masks for the mood in this image. I used an image of an old gramophone from a museum and Liquified it to make it look like an unusual flower. I added my…

01 Black layer Only darken the inside shapes of the logo, eg the inside of the T. Firstly create a new layer above the T shape, fill with black, set Opacity: 70%. 02 Create a selection Start by creating a selection around the inside of the T shape. To select a shape layer, simply Cmd/right-click on its layer’s thumbnail. 03 Add a mask Now click the Add Layer Mask button located at the bottom of the Layers panel and create a mask over the new black layer. 04 Brush to erase With the mask thumbnail selected, ensure the Foreground colour is set to black and use the Brush Tool to erase any black fill you don’t need.…

01 The Type Tool You can easily transform any text into a 3D object. Grab the Type Tool (T), choose a bold font, define the colour and then type your text. 02 3D extrusion Now create a 3D layer. Right-click on the text layer and choose ‘New 3D Extrusion from Selected Layer’. In the Properties panel, adjust the Extrusion Depth to suit. 03 Bevelled edges In the Properties panel, click on the Cap button. Set the Bevel Width at 25, keep the Angle at 45° and change the contour to Cone. 04 Merge 3D In the Layers panel, hold down the Shift key and select the text layer and the map layer, then go to 3D>Merge 3D Layers. With the layers merged together, place on top of the building.…

About the artist Typhaine Le Gallo typhainelegallo.com/ Typhaine Le Gallo is originally from France but is currently living in Montreal, Canada. She studied mathematics before studying illustration with well-known Canadian illustrators Gerard Dubois, Steve Adams and Pol Turgeon. She has had work published by Carte Blanche and Chinese publishers, along with having work shown at exhibitions. Name of the project Little Red Boubou Finding one’s style in Photoshop is something that every digital artist does, but learning to develop and evolve your style is something altogether more challenging. With her Little Red Boubou project, a children’s book based on the fairy tale of Red Riding Hood, Typhaine Le Gallo took her original creative process and then adapted it for the needs of the project. The subsequent illustrations have been featured…

On the FileSilo Download your free resources at www.filesilo.co.uk/photoshopcreative CAN I USE WATERCOLOUR TEXTURES IN MY WORK? Watercolour textures are popular resources on the internet, and are great for incorporating into your projects. While you might want to use them as overlays for digital art or incorporate them into compositions, they can be central to creating beautiful textured artwork, too. Start off with an image and then go to the Fill Layer icon. Select Threshold to reduce the layer to just black and white. With your image now being two colours, drop in your watercolour textures; we’ve supplied some on the FileSilo to use. Set these to a Screen or Lighten blend mode and use the Levels adjustment to tweak the contrast and exposure of the textures. Finally, add a…

Textures Get crafty with your design using our 30 free textures Mock-up packs Make use of clothing and photo mock-ups in your design Tutorial files The assets and start photos you need to follow our tutorials On the FileSilo this issue… • 4 grungy photo mock-ups by Vibeke Alvestad Johansen worth $8 • 30 craft textures by Anna Komissarenko, $20 • 8 ladies tank top mock-ups by GoMedia, $37 • 200 light leaks by SparkleStock worth $5 • 180 lightning Strikes, by SparkleStock, $5 • A total of 604 resources worth $85 Log in to www.filesilo.co.uk/photoshopcreative Register to get instant access to this pack of must-have creative resources, how-to videos and tutorial assets The home of great downloads – exclusive to your favourite magazines from Future Publishing Secure and safe…

Challenge entries The best entries and overall challenge winner 1 Sheri Emerson Space Detective I used Polar Coordinates to make rings from the rockets, duplicated and blurred for glow. I put the arctic scene in the background, filtered and added a desaturated rainbow ribbon. 2 Bob Parsi Love, Strategy & War I created a movie poster theme based on Love, Strategy and War. I created this design using all images provided. I used a lot of masking, layer adjustments, blurs, blending and more. 3 Previatti Consanni Don’t Worry, Be Happy This image uses a main subject as the focus, with a spacey background. The background was created with adjustments, layers and blend modes. 4 Neil Kelly Spaceman This depicts a spaceman landing on a planet once inhabited by humans, but…

On the FileSilo Download your free resources at www.filesilo.co.uk/photoshopcreative Essentials Works with What you’ll learn Combine images for a double-exposure effect using masks Time taken 2 hours Expert Andre Villanueva “Layer masks and blend modes are features I can’t live without. I especially love doing double-exposure experiments and surprising myself with combinations. “I discovered Photoshop while studying web design. After graduating, I taught in the media arts department. I’m now art director for a tech company, soothing my inner instructor by sharing techniques with readers.” Double-exposure imagery has roots in photography. A juxtaposing of two (or even more) images due to multiple exposures, this technique oftentimes yields startlingly beautiful visuals. You’ve more than likely seen this effect on album covers, advertisements and posters. Double exposures can be achieved in Photoshop…

On the FileSilo Download your free resources at www.filesilo.co.uk/photoshopcreative Essentials Works with What you’ll learn How to use filters to apply an abstract painting effect on a photo Time taken 1-3 hours Expert BÜRO UFHO “We found that combining Photoshop’s Oil Paint filter with other filters can yield some interesting results. “Being both an artist, under the moniker kittozutto, and graphic design studio, BÜRO UFHO, we have been using Photoshop for over 10 years. In 2015, we had the privilege to be invited by Adobe, together with 70 artists, to celebrate its 25th Anniversary of Photoshop.” There are several ways to create an oil painting effect in Photoshop. The fastest and easiest way is a rather cool feature, aptly named the Oil Paint filter. It enables you to take any…

Gradient maps Gradient maps add different hues, depending on where light and dark tones are. They’re great for transforming the entire colour of an image with a few clicks. Colour Balance The Colour Balance adjustment will enhance the colours already in an image. Tweak between Cyan/Red, Magenta/Green and Yellow/Blue. Colour Lookup For a professional-looking tone, Colour Lookup can help. Choose from the drop-down menus and switch the blend mode to lessen the effect if need be. Curves The Curves feature is a versatile adjustment: use it to alter the red, green or blue of your image, as well as the whites, blacks, lights and darks.…

On the FileSilo Download your free resources at www.filesilo.co.uk/photoshopcreative Essentials Time taken 2 hours Expert Daniel Sinoca “Sometimes I think Photoshop is truly out of this world – I can create planets, galaxies, stars and add a variety of special effects to a sketch using only the amazing tools, filters, and features that are bundled in the software. I have always loved science-fiction stories – the idea of exploring new planets and being an astronaut were part of my childhood dreams. Well, thanks to Photoshop, now I can finally satisfy those dreams and create my own space compositions. “I started to get involved in the digital world more than 15 years ago and have been working as a freelance artist ever since, creating all kinds of multimedia projects and tutorial…

ADJUST ACCORDINGLY Use precise adjustments to get the best out of the colours and tones of your final composition. PLAY WITH PLANETS Check out the other supplied planets in the resources, and experiment with different spheres in the image. On the FileSilo Download your free resources at www.filesilo.co.uk/photoshopcreative For as long as night has followed day, humans have been obsessed with the moon, whether they’ve been viewing it through a telescope, or landing on it in the 1960s and 1970s. Artistically though, it makes a great focus for a composition! In this project, we’re going to explore how to make a composition realistic in tone, if not in scale. The idea is simple: our subject is placing a moon into the sky with help from a step ladder, and so…

With work featured by TheStudentShow along with Behance’s Photoshop and Illustration galleries online, Carolina Rempto is a digital artist who’s already seen critical acclaim for her work, not to mention thousands of views. As someone deeply passionate about digital painting, Carolina is constantly undergoing exciting new projects. We asked her about her favourite ones, and what tips she has for beginners. Have you always been interested in art and design? I’ve always been the kind of kid that was quiet and drawing something. At first I was drawing dresses and princesses, when I grew up a little I started to copy the comics that I read in my favourite teenage magazines. When I was about to begin a Graphic Design course, I started to learn Photoshop and it soon became…

Inspiration can strike from anywhere, and that’s something that Maciej Matuszak, a graphic designer who works for an advertising agency by day, embraces. Though all his work looks different, he takes influence from all over, including his surroundings. “I come from a very beautiful country,” he says of Poland. “I encourage everyone to visit.” We caught up with Maciej to find out how he creates his amazing work. Can you tell us where your inspiration comes from? Often everything goes straight from my head to the computer. At the beginning I search for different photographs. Often when I browse for images, I find something special, and then when I have the idea, I start building from there. Do you have a message you try and convey in your work? I…

Creating the background I started to composite the background together by masking two pictures: the sky and the roots. I wanted the image to look bright and warm. Plant some trees Next I added some trees, using Channels to cut them out, as I find it to be a simple way to isolate colour in a layer. I added shade all over and matched light relative to where the sun was in the photo. Building the composition In this step, I added the rest of the trees, using a brush and the appropriate settings. I created flying pollen to show that the paradise is beginning to recover. Adjustments The last step was to adjust the composition as a whole with the appropriate colour, which I did using Curves and Color…

There’s nothing more inspiring than surfing the internet and seeing what other artists are creating, and we encourage you to do so. Here are some of our favourite pictures that caught our attention recently, from some of the world’s most exciting artists and designers. Rafael Boo www.behance.net/rafaelboo This was created with the smoke cut out and applied using blend modes, and space elements added. The smoke was given a colour temperature, light effects and spots using gradient maps, Curves and blend modes. Risfan Fariansyah www.behance.net/rsvn This was created in Photoshop and Lightroom. The Transform tools were key in creating a surreal environment, masking helped to bring all the elements into the final image and blend modes helped unify the elements. Chatchanok Wongvachara www.behance.net/ chatchanokwong The artwork was created drawing that…

Essentials Time taken 10 hours The artist Alexandru Savescu “I’m an artist who dabbles in a variety of styles, from traditional pen and ink illustrations and experimental printing, to digital painting and short animations ww . h pixe . I list ro Egon ite s.com Schiele @th ix , Sergio lprosit Toppi s , Moebius, Andrei Tarkovsky, Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino as key influences. “I have been a finalist three years in a row in the Folio Society and House of Illustration international competition in 2015, 2016 and also 2017.” “My focus has always been on narrative and conceptual illustration,” says Alexandru Savescu, a Romanian illustrator and graphic designer currently residing in London. “I am passionate about portraiture, traditional drawing and printing techniques.” Alexandru’s appreciation for all art forms…

FACEBOOK LOGO/PROFILE – 180 X 180PX Any logo or profile picture must be a minimum of 180 x 180px, but it’ll appear as 160 x 160px and be displayed throughout as 32 x 32px. COVER PHOTO – 828 X 515PX Any images used for your cover photo will be stretched to 828 x 515px, but you can upload an image that’s a minimum of 399 x 150px. TWITTER LOGO/PROFILE – 400 X 400PX The logo or profile image area on Twitter uploads as 400 x 400px. You can upload JPEGs, PNGs or GIFs. COVER PHOTO – 1500 X 500PX Any image you upload as your cover photo should be a wide landscape, but Twitter will reduce it to 1500 x 500px. Keep the main focus in the middle of the…

01 Save image In Photoshop Elements, finish step 18 and save the image. Go to File>Save as. Name your image and Save as type: JPEG, then click Save. 02 Open the file Open Camera RAW in Elements; go to File>Open in Camera RAW or click Opt/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+O. Locate the JPEG image you saved and click Open. 03 Tweak the settings Keep the Exposure at 0, set the Contrast to 10, Highlights to 0, Shadows to 20, Whites to 20, Blacks to 0, Clarity to 20, Vibrance to 30, Saturation to 0 and click Open Image. 04 Vignette effect Go to Filter>Correct Camera Distortion. Set the Vignette Amount to -100 and Midpoint to +70 and then click OK. Save your image by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+S.…