Tutorial files available at:

@ILE ?BS?KACBMFLQLPFLM AL RHQRQLOG?IDGICP

The magazine for Adobe Photoshop professionals

122

WHY 3D CANT SURVIVE WITHOUT PHOTOSHOP

a.OLGKBRPQOVGKPGEFQa.LPQMOLBRAQGLKQCAFKGNRCP
a+?PQCO""QLLIPa BBQCUQROCa!RGIBOC?IGPJ

Discover which add-ons you should have

to save time & improve your projects

INDUSTRY REVIEW

NEC
MULTISYNC
Take a look at the latest PA272W

desktop monitor for industry creatives

COMPOSITING TECHNIQUES

PHOTOREAL
FX
Work with colour correction, match
perspective & master selections

ISSUE 122

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NVIDIA QUADRO
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2014 PNY Technologies. The PNY Technologies logo is a registered trademark of PNY Technologies.
2014 NVIDIA Corporation. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA Quadro are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. All company and product names are trademarks
or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are as sociated. Features, pricing,
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Scan Computers
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ISSUE 122

CONTENTS

ISSUE 122

WELCOME
Welcome to the latest
issue of Advanced
Photoshop. Can you
envisage a time when
Photoshop will be the only
software needed for all
tasks? This month, we ask
3D artists if its a possibility.
ANNA LISA SAYWELL
Editor
IN THIS ISSUE:
PHOTOMANIPULATION
PHOTO EDITING
GRAPHICS
DIGITAL PAINTING
TYPOGRAPHY
NEW MEDIA

COVER IMAGE
BENJAMIN ERDT
http://ben-erdt.de
This 28-year-old artist
specialises in 3D and is
currently working at
Guerrilla Games doing
character work so who
better to work with to
create our VS cover than
him?! Take a look at his
work on page 34.

We all know that for 3D rendering, Photoshop is

not yet up to par. That being said, its likely that most
3D art workflows have involved using Photoshop at
one point or another. So, can 3D live on and render
Photoshop obsolete? Or will the updates of the
future mean that Photoshop will also include
rendering capabilities of its own? We pose this and
many more questions to the industry on page 34.
Elsewhere in the issue, take a look at the top 20
Photoshop plug-ins to see if theres something
youre missing or could do with purchasing. In all
likelihood, you are. If its tutorials youre after, we
have a vast array of photoreal, 3D and graphics
options for you, and we also look at the latest
monitor to join the extremely competitive market.
Dont forget about our free disc, which this month
links up with our 3D theme to give you expert video
tuition on 3D printing.

74 PHOTOREAL EFFECTS
WORKSHOP:

Learn to blend and composite images from

different sources to create a dynamic race scene

FIND US ONLINE:
@advancedpshop

/AdvancedPhotoshop
WORKSHOP:

.co.uk

68 BLEND GRAPHICS

Mix Photoshop and 3D software to create a

symmetrical and abstract pattern

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ISSUE 122

CONTENTS
EYE ON DESIGN
Whats hot, whos in and the
latest art & design happenings

06
08
10
16
18

THIS ISSUES PRO PANEL

Our contributors share Photoshop secrets
INDUSTRY NEWS
Adobe Lightroom goes mobile
PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW
Making it big
PROJECT FOCUS
Intricate 3D design
STUDIO INTERVIEW
Carbon

90 EXPLORING 3D PRINTING

46

COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP

26 20 OF THE BEST PLUG INS

004

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ISSUE 122

TECHNIQUES
Professional artists reveal their high-end Photoshop skills in
our easy-to-follow workshops

26
34
46
52
58
62

INDUSTRY FEATURE

20 of the best plug-ins

INDUSTRY FEATURE

3D vs Photoshop
WORKSHOP

Combine 3D & Photoshop

WORKSHOP

Build a fantasy photocomposite

HOW I MADE

Shiver Me Sneakers
WORKSHOP

Custom light UI elements

66
68
72
74
86
90

HOW I MADE

The Jungle

WORKSHOP

Blend graphics

#/.4%.43

REVIEWS
We put the latest creative kit,
books and apps to the test

80
85

FEATURE:
NEC MultiSync PA272W
REVIEW:
Elemente by Divine Project

HOW I MADE

Laputa

WORKSHOP

Photoreal effects
READER INTERVIEW

Creative retouching
RESOURCE PROJECT

Exploring 3D printing

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
SEE PAGE 24 OR 51 FOR THE LATEST OFFERS

18

CARBON STUDIO

96

ON YOUR DISC

Free with issue 122 of

Advanced Photoshop

TAILOR MADE
CREATIVE CONTENT
%XCLUSIVEVIDEOTUITIONFROM+IRK.ELSON
on how to use the new 3D print tools

86

CREATIVE RETOUCHING
PREMIUM RESOURCES
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EYE ON DESIGN THIS
ISSUES PRO PANEL
EYE ON DESIGN

THIS ISSUES PRO PANEL

OUR CONTRIBUTORS SHARE THEIR PROFESSIONAL TIPS AND TECHNIQUES TO
HELP YOU GET YOUR OWN WORK UP TO PAR
BENJAMIN ERDT

www.ben-erdt.de
For compositing this render of a
3D deep-sea creature, I rendered
many different passes to gain as
much control as possible over the final image
inside of Photoshop. Embedding a creature design
into its habitat can often be a plus when selling the
original design intent, as it tells the viewer more
about its story and how it interacts with the
environment it is in.
Discover more about 3D design in our
industry feature starting on p34

2013 ben-erdt.de

William Fu

AMREI HOFSTTTER

verticolab.com
If you wish to keep yourself and
your work in constant evolution,
dont limit your perception to
graphic design. Maintain an open and non-cynical
interest in everything that surrounds you, stay ahead
of whats relevant in contemporary culture, science
and technology, music, cinema, literature go
through life with an open mind, perceive and enjoy
everything as much as you can.
Learn how to combine Blender and Photoshop
in Hofsttters tutorial on p68
Amrei Hofsttter

WILLIAM FU

www.willfu.co.uk
I always use gradients within my images. They are so useful for lighting, mood and
atmosphere. Apply them using layer styles, as clipping masks and especially Gradient
Maps, which are great for giving the shadows, midtones and highlights dramatic colour to
suit the atmosphere and environment of your overall composition. They are also really easy to adjust and
experiment with.
Fu reveals his secrets to creating 3D-looking imagery over on p44

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The magazine for Adobe Photoshop professionals

DENIS KORNILOV
www.deniskornilov.com

At the final stage of my work I

almost always add sharpness. As
a result, I get more details and the
overall image become more attractive. One very
important point here is to not overdo it. Add
sharpness only in areas that you wish to accentuate,
but avoid sharpness in places that you dont want to
bring too much attention to.
Re-create one of Kornilovs images on p46

Imagine Publishing Ltd

Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill,
Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ
 +44 (0) 1202 586200
Web: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk
www.greatdigitalmags.com

Magazine team
Editor Anna-lisa Saywell
anna-lisa.saywell@imagine-publishing.co.uk
 01202 586243

Editor in Chief Dan Hutchinson

Production Editor Alicea Francis
Photographer James Sheppard
Senior Art Editor Duncan Crook
Head of Publishing Aaron Asadi
Head of Design Ross Andrews
Contributors

If you wish to keep your work

in constant evolution, dont
limit your perception to graphic
design. Maintain an open interest in
everything that surrounds you
Denis Kornilov

AMREI HOFSTTTER / HTTP://VERTICOLAB.COM

Chris McMahon, Larissa Mori, Julie Bassett, April Madden,

Denis Kornilov, Cyril Juliani, Amar Kakad, Amrei Hofsttter,
Simon Skellon, Kirk Nelson, Chris Christoforidis, Daniel
Bevan, Steve Mumby, Ben Stanley and Greg Whitaker

Advertising
Digital or printed media packs are available on request.
Advertising Director Matthew Balch
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Cover disc
Junior Web Designer Steve Dacombe
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International
Advanced Photoshop is available for licensing.
Contact the International department to discuss
partnership opportunities.
Head of International Licensing Cathy Blackman
 +44 (0) 1202 586401
licensing@imagine-publishing.co.uk

Subscriptions
Head of Subscriptions Gill Lambert
subscriptions@imagine-publishing.co.uk
For all subscription enquiries:
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Disclaimer

Makarand Baokar

AMAR KAKAD

www.amarkakad.info
It is paramount to organise your layers to ensure quick and easy access to them. I am a big
fan of Convert for Smart Filters, and having the ability to re-apply your effects is also
important as it allows fluidity and saves on time. Also, when necessary, keep merging your
layers as this reduces the file size.
On p74, Kakad shows you how to create a photoreal image using Photoshop effects

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited

material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the
copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine
may be reproduced in whole or part without the written
permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised
and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review.
Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all
information is correct at time of print, prices and availability
may change. This magazine is fully independent and not
affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.
Photoshop is either a registered trademark or trademark
of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/
or other countries and is used with express permission.
All $ prices are US Dollars unless otherwise stated.
If you submit material to Imagine Publishing via post,
email, social network or any other means, you automatically
grant Imagine Publishing an irrevocable, perpetual, royaltyfree license to use the images across its entire portfolio,
in print, online and digital, and to deliver the images to
existing and future clients, including but not limited to
international licensees for reproduction in international,
licensed editions of Imagine products. Any material you
submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken,
neither Imagine Publishing nor its employees, agents or
subcontractors shall be liable for the loss or damage.
Imagine Publishing Ltd 2014
ISSN 1748-7277

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EYE ON DESIGN INDUSTRY
NEWS
INDUSTRY NEWS

ADOBE LIGHTROOM
GOES MOBILE
THE CREATIVE CLOUD PHOTOGRAPHY PROGRAM
IS ENHANCED WITH THE NEW LIGHTROOM
MOBILE LINING UP ALONGSIDE PHOTOSHOP

ightroom users can now view and edit

their photographs on the move with the
new Lightroom mobile app for iPad, the
newest member of the ever-expanding
Adobe Photoshop family.
The app, which is only available as part of the
Creative Cloud, offers some powerful new
features for editing on the go. It offers nondestructive editing on files, with Smart Previews,
usually reserved for more powerful desktop
editing. It can process everything from photos
taken on the iPad itself to RAW camera files,
making it a great companion on location shoots.
Files taken on the iPad are also automatically
synced into Lightroom 5 when connected.
It syncs seamlessly with Lightroom 5 on a
desktop, including mobile edits, metadata and
collections. The tools are also instantly familiar to

Lightroom users, so the app will fit easily into the

professional workflow.
This app is likely to appeal to professional
photographers, as well as creative studios who
use Lightroom to process and manage large
volumes of images before taking them into
Photoshop for remastering.
With the launch of Adobe Lightroom mobile,
weve unlocked professional-class photographic
workflows from the confines of the desktop,
says Winston Hendrickson, vice president of
products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe.
Lightroom and Photoshop redefined digital
photography on the desktop and now,
photographers can perfect images wherever
they are and, via Adobe Creative Cloud,
seamlessly synchronise them back to their
desktop catalogue.

CREATIVE CLOUD
PHOTOGRAPHY PROGRAM
For photographers and retouchers who dont use any
of the web or design programs produced by Adobe,
then the most cost-efficient way of accessing all of the
relevant software via the Creative Cloud is through the
Creative Cloud Photography Program. This is a
dedicated package that includes Photoshop CC
alongside Lightroom, and now the new Lightroom
mobile. It still offers all of the benefits of Creative Cloud,
like the latest updates as soon as they are available for
no added cost, and 20GB online storage space, plus the
ability to share files with others. Subscribers also get a
Behance ProSite included in the package.
At the moment, this costs just 8.78/$9.99 a month,
which is a significant saving over the full Creative Cloud
Suite (at 46.88/$49.99 a month). However, this is a
limited-time offer so get it before it expires.

Lightroom and Photoshop redefined digital photography on

the desktop and now, photographers can perfect images
wherever they are

APP SUPPORT
At present, the Lightroom mobile app is only
available to those on any Creative Cloud

Easy syncing: Automatically

sync iPad edits to Lightroom 5 on
your desktop, and sync
Lightroom desktop edits back to
your iPad

subscription that gives them Lightroom 5, and to

users with an iPad 2 or higher. iPhone and Android
versions are in development.

008

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D&AD INTRODUCES
FREE MEMBERSHIP
THE CREATIVE INDUSTRYS LEADING PROFESSIONAL
AWARDS OPEN ITS ARCHIVES TO ALL UP AND
COMING AND ESTABLISHED DIGITAL ARTISTS AND
DESIGNERS FOR THE FIRST TIME

INTRODUCING
PHOTOSHOP
1 2 3 MAGAZINE
IMAGINE PUBLISHING LAUNCHES
NEW DIGITAL ONLY MAGAZINE TO
SHARE TIPS AND INSPIRATION WITH
PHOTOSHOP USERS ON THE GO
Photoshop 1-2-3, a new digital magazine
available now on the Apple Newsstand, is
designed to offer Photoshop users a quick and
easy way to learn new skills and techniques.
Created by the team behind Advanced
Photoshop and Photoshop Creative
magazines, the new title offers advice and
inspiration for digital artists and image editors
of all abilities, from beginner to experienced.
Each task is broken down into three key steps.
The first explains the goal of the project, the
second shares the essential techniques that
users need to master to reach that goal, and
finally it reveals the tricks of the trade to take
your Photoshop work to the next level.
Editor of the title, Charis Webster, says:
Photoshop 1-2-3 is unique in that it delivers
expert Photoshop advice in easily digested
bite-sized chunks. Weve worked hard to create
something different, and something tailored to
the digital audience, and Im incredibly proud of
the team and the final outcome.
Value for money is also assured, with a
monthly issue costing just 0.69/$0.99 and a
years subscription weighing in at 3.99/$4.99.
Find it now by searching for Photoshop 1-2-3
on the Apple Newsstand.

Digestible content: Each Photoshop task featured is broken

down into three steps to ensure that readers learn the skill
and then enhance it

D&AD has launched a new digital platform, which

offers free memberships for all for the first time in
its history. This is part of D&ADs commitment to
supporting the global creative industry.
The free membership will give users access to
the very best work from the archives of the
prestigious awards from the last 52 years, to help
inspire the next generation of creative talent. This
means that every ad, design, campaign, product,
agency and creative that has won an award since
the first ceremony in 1963 will be available to
browse through. The full archive will be available by
August this year; currently it goes back to 1990.
Tim Lindsay, chief executive at D&AD, says: A
look at D&ADs history tells a wonderful story. In
1962, the organisation was formed by a special
group of designers and art directors, who came
together to celebrate the best in commercial
creativity, and thats the spirit we continue today...
The new digital archive is a wonderful illustration of

the rich history of the industry and a fantastic

resource; one that we believe should be accessible
to all, regardless of who you are, or where in your
career you may be.
Members will also be able to explore and
interact with fellow creatives by highlighting work
they particularly admire through a new online
community. It also enables users to enter the
awards easily, download briefs and sign up to
events. Find out more at www.dandad.org.

Digital platform: The free membership option is part of the new

digital platform recently launched by D&AD

PHOTOSHOP DUE A SPRING CLEAN

THE NEXT REVISION OF PHOTOSHOP WILL STRIP AWAY SOME FEATURES THAT
ARE USED LESS TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW ADDITIONS TO THE PROGRAM

Flash extension panels replaced:

Flash-based extension panels, such
as Mini Bridge and Kuler, will no
longer be supported in favour of
HTML extensions

The Oil Paint filter and Flash-based extension panels are among the
features that wont be available in the next version of Photoshop.
Jeffrey Tranberry, senior product manager for Adobe Digital Imaging,
made the announcement on the Photoshop.com blog (https://blogs.
adobe.com/photoshopdotcom). He says: With each release of
Photoshop, our development team needs to do some architectural
spring-cleaning. As we modernise our code and add cool new
features, we sometimes have to make tough decisions to cull existing
features from the herd.
The decision on which features are cut is made based on a number
of factors, including customer usage and the cost involved in
maintaining and supporting changes in underlying technology. The
loss of the Oil Paint filter is unlikely to affect many professionals, but
the removal of Flash extension panels means no more Mini Bridge or
Kuler, as well as any third-party extensions installed that use Flash.
However, the migration from Flash-based panels to HTML has already
been introduced with Photoshop CC.
A change that is more likely to have an impact is that Photoshop
will no longer support Mac OS X 10.6, requiring 10.7 or later. Adobe
recommends that those who will be affected begin migration now
before Photoshop is released. The new version of Photoshop will
install side-by-side with older versions of the program, so you can run
two versions if you wish to maintain these features. No date has been
issued officially as to when the update will be released.

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EYE ON DESIGN PORTFOLIO
INTERVIEW
PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW

MAKING IT BIG
ANTHONY GARGASZ TELLS US HOW A BELIEF IN YOUR OWN
ABILITY IS KEY TO CREATING THE ART THAT WILL GET YOU NOTICED
www.anthonygargasz.com
@anthonygargasz

elf-described as a 21-year-old obsessed

with digital art, design, and the
progressive development of both, the
L.A.-based Anthony Gargasz is one digital
artist with big dreams and the passion to get where
he needs to be.
Gargaszs love for creating digital art was
discovered at the nascent age of 11. I originally used
MS paint because I became frustrated with how
difficult I found drawing to be, he tells us. A friend
then introduced me to Photoshop and I instantly
became infatuated with art and design. I dont know
what it was about it but there was something
unexplainable about creating digital art that made
me fall in love with it.
Gargaszs first jobs were web-related, with the
young artist designing forum skins a task that he
quickly grew out of. His deep-seated passion for
design saw him move onto bigger and better things,

from web forums to gig posters and print

campaigns, to setting up the international media
collective EvokeOne and beyond.
Throughout his career Gargasz has refused to
settle for anything less than that which he loves
design imbued with passion, love and the simple
desire to create
CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR
EDUCATION? HOW DID YOU DEVELOP
YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST?
Nearly everything I learnt was from networking
online with fellow passionate artists, who simply
wanted to share and develop their work. I attended
the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for about a month
before coming to the conclusion that art school
wasnt for me. There were some very basic
fundamentals that I had skipped over in my own
pursuit of digital art, but other than that I felt like I

was relearning what I already had in tutorials. The

graduating portfolios were very generic and not very
impressive, so I decided to take things into my own
hands. Dropping out of college really lit a fire [in me]
to take my career to the next level. I began spending
my time much more wisely and quit settling for less.
I believe that if there is a secret to getting good at
anything it is simply practice. A little talent will go a
long way if youre not afraid to work [hard].
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR STYLE, AND
WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT FROM THE REST?
My work is my work because Im always focusing on
versatility and creating a wow factor. I combine
organic elements, unique 3D forms and explosive
colours to create an aesthetic harmony. Fresh and
exciting work is created by always switching things
up. Whether it be learning a new program, trying a
new technique, or experimenting by merging styles,

01

01

Nick: One of several style frames made

for Nickelodeon that showcases
Gargaszs versatility, offering a colourful
contrast to other works Nickelodeon

02

Running: Theres a clear understanding

of shape and form in Gargaszs work, and
how they govern the way the viewer
takes in the image Anthony Gargasz

03

Art Junks: Gargaszs work is always

vibrant and chaotic, yet held together by
a very apparent grasp of visual designs
Anthony Gargasz

010
040

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The challenge inspires me

to show the world what Im
made of and express that Im not
a gun for hire, but more of a
weapon of mass creation

03

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EYE ON DESIGN PORTFOLIO
INTERVIEW
the more you innovate the more valuable your skill
set becomes.
When I first began creating digital art I didnt know
why I enjoyed it so much. I would get frustrated with
learning curves, finding inspiration and executing my
concepts flawlessly. I then realised that I enjoyed it
because the rush of creating made me happy. That
realisation instantly made the frustration disappear.
When you really enjoy what you do, you create fresh
and exciting work without even noticing.
WHAT IS IT LIKE DESIGNING KEY ART FOR THE
ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IN L.A.?
Its been an extremely fun, educational and
challenging experience. It turned out to be very
different to what it appeared to be, just as most
things in Hollywood are. The key art industry is
dominated by a select handful of companies who
handle the major blockbuster film and TV marketing,
while the rest of the smaller agencies deal with
lower budget, yet still handsomely profitable, film
houses and television networks.
The process of creating key art usually begins by
reading a script and/or watching a screener, then
rounds of creative explorations are executed based
on appropriate creative directions and client
feedback. Sometimes the rounds are directly
commissioned, but usually there are multiple
agencies bidding on the job. Once final artwork is
chosen, it is then finished to perfection, mechanicals
are created to scale to size and prepare for print.
My experience working at one of the largest
agencies was the complete opposite of what I
thought it would be. Its no secret that movies and TV
shows of similar genres have similar-looking
artwork. These tacky trends make getting innovative
ideas through to the client very difficult. However, the
thing that really drives me crazy is not being able to
show any of your work to the world. The business
side of me understands why so many NDAs are
involved, but the artist in me has a burning passion
to share everything I create with the world. I felt like I
was settling for less by accepting the role of being a
small cog in such a large machine of an agency, so I
decided to quit. I had the opportunity to work on films
such as World War Z, Now You See Me, The
Conjuring, Divergent, and many more, I just didnt
have the comfortable employee mindset to keep my
head down, mouth shut and execute prescribed ideas.
I then became partner in a small start-up agency
called SLS Ad Co to pursue every designers dream
of having creative freedom. Since then Ive had the
pleasure of working on films such as Hercules, Miss
Meadows, Life Of Crime, Garden Of Last Days and
The Most Wonderful Time. The projects Ive worked
on with have been the most challenging, because the
success of the project is completely up to my curated
team and I. This has forced us to be resourceful and
courageous. The challenge inspires me to show the
world what Im made.

012

04

05

04

Hercules poster: Gargasz is currently a

partner at the LA-based advertising
agency SLS Ad Co, focused on creating
marketing for the entertainment
industry Millennium Films

06

05

Enduro: Working for a smaller agency

offers Gargas much more creative
freedom, and a chance to diverge from
the tacky trends of the blockbuster
industry SLS Ad Co

06

The Legend Of Hercules: The projects

Ive worked on with the start-up have
been the most challenging, because
[their success] is completely up to my
curated team and I Millennium Films

07

DMT: Gargasz originally started out as a

web designer on various forums, but
soon grew out of the role, looking for
bigger and better ways to explore his
artistic talent Anthony Gargasz

08

Anxious: Personal work is still incredibly

important to Gargasz, and often
combines organic elements, unique 3D
forms and explosive colour to create an
aesthetic harmony Anthony Gargasz

07

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EYE ON DESIGN PORTFOLIO
INTERVIEW

Delusions Of Grandeur: Ive always been intrigued by birds flying in

flocks, and imagine them being capable of forming into larger
masses Anthony Gargasz

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT SETTING YOURSELF

UP AS AN ARTIST WHO WORKS FOR SUCH BIG
NAME BRANDS?
The most important piece of career advice Ive ever
been given is that saying no creates value. So many
upcoming designers have adapted the mindset that
theyre going to have to settle for less at the
beginning of their career. From spec work, to pitches,
to itll be worth the exposure. [But thats not true]. If
you want to work with big brands, then you have to
truly value your work. If you want to value your
work, then you have to fully commit yourself to it.
Become obsessed, suffer, and commit yourself as a
samurai or monk would. Hard work and dedication
will never go unnoticed, regardless of what you think.
If you dont think your skill set is worth it to a big
brand, then they certainly wont either.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT EVOKEONE?
EvokeOne is an international media collective
founded in 2007, with a mission to develop and
showcase digital artists, musicians, and
photographers. It was started by a few creatives who
met online, worked together, and decided to bring
other creatives together to create brilliant work
together. Every few months our hand-picked artists

014

secretly develop an exhibition based on a central

theme to release to the public. It is a great example
of the power of collaboration and feedback. I would
say it has been the most important method of my
artistic development. In the near future we are
developing a new front-end of the site, cleaning up
the members list, and eventually leaning towards
hosting gallery events. We had our first live exhibition
release in Baltimore in November of 2011. The
publics reaction to tangible digital art in a gallery was
very inspiring to me. Im looking forward to seeing how
far the amazing artistic energy of the group can go.

who are. Stay inspired. I love the feeling of seeing

something so beautiful and awe-inspiring that I have
to stay up all night creating and trying to pass on the
inspiration I felt. Personal work ensures that you
always have creative momentum and has helped
me avoid the nightmare of creative block.

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS

YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE INDUSTRY?
You have to keep an open mind, accept forwardthinking styles, and be willing to share ideas with
other great minds. Digital art moves at a very fast
pace. Many people underestimate how competitive it
can be. There are always young, fresh artists
emerging, as well as artists who shift focus and give
up on the industry. The programs are developing just
as fast as the artists who use them. You have to be
willing to dedicate time to always be learning new
things. If youre not working as hard as you can to be
the best, there are plenty of other people out there

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PORTFOLIO TIPS
GARGASZ SHARES HIS TOP TIPS FOR SUCCEEDING IN
4(%#544(2/!47/2,$/&$%3)'.
BE OBSESSED
Not everyone has the courage and bravery to fully dedicate
themselves to their work. The ones who spend countless
hours perfecting it are the ones who will get the big projects,
be recognised and rewarded. Working smarter, harder, and
focusing on the big picture will take you to great heights.
COLLABORATE
Its common sense that two heads are better than one.
Working with others helps prepare you for working
professionally, gives you the opportunity to exchange
techniques, and create amazing artwork unlike anything
you couldve created on your own. Put your ego to the side
and allow others to help expand your artistic vision.
SAY NO
Saying no creates value. Dont let anyone say youre not
good enough. Your self worth will determine your success
as a designer. If you dont believe in quality over quantity
then youll be stuck designing whatever small businesses
with small budgets want to send your way.

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EYE ON DESIGN INTRICATE
3D DESIGN
PROJECT FOCUS

INTRICATE 3D DESIGN
JERICO SANTANDER TALKS US THROUGH THE BUILD UP OF THIS COMPLEX
ARTWORK AND HOW PHOTOSHOP WAS USED TO ADD TEXTURE AND DETAILS

T
ABOUT THE STUDIO
JERICO SANTANDER
www.jericosantander.com
Santander is a talented 3D artist,
illustrator and art director from
Spain, whose work is always
colourful, detailed and with a
healthy dose of surrealism. He has
worked for agencies from all over
the world and on a range of
projects with high-prole clients.

NAME OF PROJECT
THE FOUR SEASONS

here are a lot of things that can be used as

inspiration for a piece, from the world
around us to books and films. Having a
strong concept and the right inspiration is
key if you want to create believable, detailed artwork
that captures the imagination of an audience
essential for commercially driven design.
This incredibly intricate image by Jerico
Santander is the proof of this; the concept and
inspiration of the piece was determined at an early
stage, looking to represent the famous musical
masterpiece The Four Seasons by Vivaldi in a
modern and engaging manner, with reference to
classical 17th Century art. It also highlights how the
use of 3D modelling and Photoshop in combination
can create an almost illustrated look, as well as
high-quality visuals that lend themselves to a range
of purposes and end use. In this exclusive interview
with Santander, we find out more about how this
piece was built up and put together.
CAN YOU GIVE US AN OVERVIEW OF HOW THIS
PROJECT CAME ABOUT AND HOW IT WAS
INTENDED TO BE USED?
Kompost, a Zurich-based creative studio, came to
me with a very interesting, challenging proposal
illustration for one of its clients, Zurich Chamber
Orchestra. It was requested to be used as a key
visual for different media in Switzerland, mainly
print and web.

Characters sketch

Early sketch

016
040

WHAT WAS THE CONCEPT OF THE PROJECT

AND HOW CLOSE TO THE CONCEPT WAS THE
FINAL IMAGE?
The goal was to re-create an orchestra stage
representing Vivaldis piece The Four Seasons. It had
to be highly detailed; 17th Century painting-inspired
yet fresh and modern with regards to technique,
offering something new to the viewer. We [chose]
not to use perfect characters; some of them are
fleshy, some have got bizarre looks and funny facial
expressions, and they are holding stuff related to
their season as if they were instruments. We
needed to encourage the viewer to stop for a
moment to observe some of the little stories around
the piece.
DID YOU WORK FROM SKETCHES BEFORE YOU
STARTED TO MODEL THE IMAGE IN 3D, OR DID
YOU GO STRAIGHT INTO IT?
Yes, we did [do] some sketches for the stage and
the characters. Props to Leandro Panganiban, our
concept artist.
CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THE 3D
PROCESS THAT YOU USED TO BUILD UP THIS
COMPLEX DESIGN?
Most characters were sculpted in ZBrush. An
advantage of 3D illustration, as opposed to
animation, is that we dont necessarily need a
proper characters topology, so we can start
sculpting from a base mesh without caring at all
about edge flow of the polygon mesh. Same goes
with UVs; we didnt need to put much effort into
them since we are not animating. This makes the

National Geographic render passes

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Ambient occlusion

WorldMags.net

Trees and grass were generated

and shaded in Maya. There are
great tutorials from Alex Alvarez
at The Gnomon Workshop that I
highly recommend if you are
using Maya or Mental Ray

We started with default

perfect models, then
we posed and changed
them a bit in ZBrush;
some are rather fat,
some have long witch
noses and ugly faces

Elements such as the kissing fish, mice

and cheese, unicorn skull and knife
underground are over-painted in
Photoshop. This is done [because]
small 3D elements tend to get lost and
its hard to recognise them. It also
helps [to give] an illustration feeling

All images Jerico Santander

whole thing faster. The software of choice for setting

the scene and rendering was Maya and Mental Ray.
WHAT ROLE DID PHOTOSHOP HAVE TO PLAY
IN THE CREATION OF THIS IMAGE ONCE THE
RENDERING WAS COMPLETE?
Photoshops main role in this project was texturing
the characters, compositing the final render passes
and retouching and detailing the final product.
WHAT PHOTOSHOP TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
WOULD YOU SAY WERE KEY WHEN BUILDING
UP SUCH A DETAILED PIECE?
For this project, theres no particular technique I
used that brought the magic to the piece, but Id say
masking and colour corrections would have been
the most important part. Digital painting here and
there to try to break the 3D feeling [was also
important to the overall look].
WAS THERE A LOT OF TO ING AND FRO ING
WITH THE CLIENT? OR DID YOU HAVE A LOT OF
FREE REIGN TO ADAPT AS YOU WENT ALONG?
There were several rounds of feedback; not much

involved with the characters anatomy and creativity,

but mostly regarding the scene proportions,
background, lighting and certain elements
positioning. Feedback is something to expect from
such detailed jobs. Its crucial to define each stage of
the project in a timeline and make sure the client
understands the workflow well; for example, a week
for concept art and sketching, two weeks for
modelling, a week for lighting, texturing and
rendering, and three to four days for retouching.
Otherwise, a lot of time can get lost.

Sample clay characters

WHAT TIPS WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER

DIGITAL ARTISTS WANTING TO CREATE
SOMETHING AS DETAILED AS THIS PIECE?
Start focusing for a while in a field you particularly
enjoy and feel confident working in, say digital
painting, character modelling, or anything else. Then,
start to expand your knowledge by studying other
subjects from out of your comfort zone. Slowly, you
will start to understand everything behind an image
and will no longer wonder How was this piece
done? when you see stunning artwork printed
around your city.

WorldMags.net

017

WorldMags.net
EYE ON DESIGN STUDIO
INTERVIEW
STUDIO INTERVIEW

CARBON

HOW THIS CARDIFF BASED CREATIVE STUDIO

BRING FUN INTO EVERYTHING THEY DO FOR
A HOST OF BIG NAME CLIENTS

ost high-end creative studios are based

in capital cities, and Carbon is no
exception. Rather than being
headquartered in the UKs capital city
however, the BAFTA-winning creative team have
gone back to their roots and set up their base in the
Welsh capital, Cardiff. Creative director and founder
Michael Clague explains: Having worked in London
for three years following graduation, I was keen to
move back to my hometown of Cardiff. I found that
no agencies were doing the kind of work I wanted to
do, so I decided to set up my own company with an
aim of bringing exciting creative work into Wales.
And that is exactly what he and senior designer
and illustrator Logan Brinkley have done with
Carbon. Carbon is creative at its core, offering what
we believe to be a comprehensive service in design,
interactive, illustration and animation, explains
Clague. We like to be able to offer our clients the
complete package from concept, through design and
build to the finished product. Weve always actively
pursued creative work, and as a result we tend to get
approached by clients looking for a very creative
solution. This unwavering focus on creative briefs is
what I think sets us apart.
The Carbon team are happy to work across the
four core disciplines that make up their specialities
design, interactive, illustration and animation or
to focus specifically on one, depending on the clients
needs. Our commissions are reasonably well
balanced, with design and interactive being top
followed closely by illustration, then animation
making up a smaller chunk of the work. Some
clients know us just for one discipline while others
come to us for a full end-to-end service. We also
might work with other agencies to bring a single
service to their in-house team, Clague explains.
The majority of projects we do are interactive
websites. These require UX design, illustrated
elements, HTML5 development and occasionally
animated video elements. We find that the client will
come to us looking for one or two particular
services, but in order to make the project the best it
can be, we often find that we inject the various skills
we have to make the project even better.
Carbon is also unfazed by working with other
agencies to complete a client brief. Collaboration is a
key element of our business model, and working
with other agencies is something we really enjoy. We
have some great working relationships with a few

018

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WorldMags.net
ABOUT THE STUDIO
CARBON

Michael Clague,
Owner, Creative Director

Logan Brinkley,
Senior Designer/Illustrator

www.carbonstudio.co.uk
@carbonstudio

Carbon Studio

Cardi, Wales-based studio Carbon oers a

range of creative services across its core
skills of design, animation, illustration and
interactive. The team currently focuses
mainly on interactive design with a large dose
of fun.

WorldMags.net

019

WorldMags.net
EYE ON DESIGN STUDIO
INTERVIEW
WWF website - We worked with WWF to create a campaign website centred
around renewable energy. We used a mixture of bespoke illustration and the
latest HTML5 technologies to ensure a multi-platform solution

Carbon Studio

Second opinion - Brinkley talking through his latest

project with Kath. We always like to get a fresh pair of
eyes on a project we been looking at for a while

WWF

Museum Of Childhood, AMV BBDO We

teamed up with CIA and AMV BBDO to
create the campaign, Mind of a child eye
of an artist, which ties in with the theme
of this years Big Draw project, Draw
Tomorrow.

Carbon Studio

Carbon Studio

Just Skin And Bones Digital type exhibition

local and international agencies, working on projects

from Cardiff and London to New York. An agency we
have done a few great projects with is Naked
Communications, who have offices in London and
New York. We worked with their UK team to create
an interactive module to sit inside the Cadbury
Joyville website. Our role was to design and build a
self-contained HTML5 module to fit into their existing
Cadbury Joyville website, promoting the new
Cadbury Bubbly bar. This involved working closely
with Nakeds in-house team to ensure design
consistency and technical integration. We wanted to
use the uniqueness of the Bubbly bar itself to its best
advantage. We therefore created a 3D model of the
bar, which the user can explore in order to discover
the multimedia content hidden in the bubbles.

020
040

Another high-end client Carbon has recently

worked with is the World Wildlife Fund, and this
project also tied into their location in the Welsh
capital. We have been working with WWF for the
last few years creating various interactive projects
for Earth Hour. When WWF approached us to look at
the issues of renewable energy, we wanted to do
something different to a standard website. WWF
had already gathered their findings on renewable
energy usage and energy waste and briefed us to
present these facts back to the user in an engaging
way. They also wanted to take their findings to the
Welsh Assembly Government to highlight the issues.
Our idea was to create an interactive quiz centred
around the WWF renewable energy facts. The quiz
would allow the user to select from three options,

each giving a relevant animation. It would be created

in HTML5, allowing the team to take it and place it
directly in the government members hands. Mike
started by creating the framework layout and UI. It
needed to be a responsive design to work across
different devices and browsers. Alongside this,
Logan created bespoke illustrations for the quiz
questions. We then worked with our developer to
create the quiz. Once completed, WWF decided to set
up a campaign stand in the Welsh Assembly building
with the aim to engage with ministers directly. We
also went along with iPads all set up to run the
website on the 3G network.
Both members of the team have distinct roles in
which Photoshop has a huge part to play, as Clague
explains. I have a strong focus on UX design,

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net

CADBURY DAIRY
MILK BUBBLY
TO COINCIDE WITH THE RELEASE OF CADBURY
DAIRY MILK BUBBLY, CARBON WERE ASKED
TO CREATE AN INTERACTIVE MODULE

Cadbury

We were approached by Naked

Coms to bring our creative edge to a
self-contained part of the Cadbury
Joyville website. We had worked with
Naked Coms before on a Virgin
Atlantic project and recommissioned
from the success of that. Creating
such a fun project for such an
exciting brand was a dream brief for
us. And being a part of a national
campaign gave us great pride as we
saw our work reach millions. See it
for yourself at http://vimeo.
com/52382128.

01

CREATING THE CASING

04

WIRES AND BUTTONS

I started drawing three Smart Object

circles. The bottom one has a rounded gradient to
make it seem circular, the next has a pattern
overlay for texture and the top one has an inner
shadow to make it seem recessed.

Next I added more detailing to the case.

The wires were created by cutting out an image of
a hoover hose and making it metallic by
desaturating and adding highlights. The Close
button and plaque were drawn with the Pen tool
with layer effects to give a 3D feel.

02

PIPING AND SPEAKERS

05

SHINE AND NOTES

Next, using Smart Objects and the Pen

tool, I created the shapes for the piping and
speakers. I then used gradient overlays, inner
shadows and drop shadows to make them look
3D. I used a texture to make the speakers.

To finish I used the Circle tool with a white

to transparent linear gradient on. I set it to 0% Fill
and 30% Opacity to give a glass shine finish. The
chocolate notes were drawn in Illustrator and
imported. I then added a bevel layer effect in
chocolate colours.

03

SPEAKER CONE AND CHOCOLATE

06

THE REST OF THE DESIGN

I took a real chocolate texture and used

Content-Aware to fill the circle. Using Smart
Objects again, I created four circular shapes to
create my speaker cone. The cone part was
converted to a Smart Object and noise was added.

The remainder of the design was created

in much the same way: Smart Objects with
gradients, layer effects and textures. We created
the bar in 3D, which tilts left and right on mouse
movement. We exported the video as frames and
treated each frame to get the colours right.

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021

WorldMags.net
EYE ON DESIGN STUDIO
INTERVIEW
illustration and animation. I use Photoshop for the
majority of design tasks, taking full advantage of the
powerful production features and pixel-based layout
and grids. I also create illustrated elements in
Photoshop using Smart layers and effects to make
photorealistic artwork for projects. However, when it
comes to animation, Clague uses a mixture of After
Effects for pixel and Flash for vector-based
animations: My preferred animation platform is
Flash; not only is it vector-based, but I write the
majority of my animations in ActionScript code. Once
completed, the Flash animation is converted to a
QuickTime video for publication.
Logan has a deep passion for illustration as well
as design. Hes most at home in Illustrator, his tool of
choice for the majority of his illustration briefs. Any
vector-based animations that I create will first be
illustrated by Logan. He loves to create bold,
colourful and beautifully simple illustrations,
something he also brings into his design work. He
will often create illustrated content for his design
projects, creating bespoke content for the project as
hes designing it. Logan loves the production value
Photoshop can bring to his illustration; its great for
adding colour grading and depth to his work. I tend to
use Photoshop in two ways, the first being UX
design. The other way I use Photoshop is to create
photorealistic illustrations and design elements.
Logan tends to use Photoshop by importing his
vector-illustrated assets into Photoshop and
arranging them into designs. He also likes to create
his more conceptual illustrations in Photoshop, using
it as a comping tool for his vector work.
Photoshop is a lot like computer hardware: once
you experience the extra power and features of a
new update, its impossible to go back. As I use

Photoshop every day, its become an extension of

myself, allowing me to intuitively express my ideas
more effectively with each update. I love how quick it
is to professionally extract an image from its
background or fill in the gaps in an image using
Content-Aware.
The biggest impact on our workflow recently has
been Smart Objects, he continues. Not only do they
allow us to easily make client changes, but they
make it really simple to produce Retina-sized
graphics for mobile devices.

Weve always actively

pursued creative work, and
as a result we tend to get
approached by clients looking for
a very creative solution

Carbon has had some fantastic highlights in an

already burgeoning career, like winning our first
BAFTA for best interactive for the BBC Merlin
website. I designed that site when the company
consisted of just me, working out of the spare room
of my flat at the time! But by far and away the most
exciting time for Carbon is right now. Were really
excited about the new technologies were working
with, and are working on some fantastic creative
projects with clients all over the world.
At the core of the Carbon mindset is fun a fun
office, fun with Photoshop, fun projects to work on,
and this definitely comes out in their work. I think
our sense of fun is evident in our process and end
product, says Clague. We love to create things that
people enjoy, and this stems from our love of what
we do. It also shapes our direction, as we only work
on projects that we think we will enjoy and are right
for us as a company.

Change of scenery We find it really useful to escape

the desk to the meeting room to discuss a project. This is
where we have all our local client meetings too

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF LOGAN BRINKLEY

DISCOVER WHAT GOES ON IN THE CARBON STUDIO ON A TYPICAL DAY

08:00

2)3%!.$
3().%

After a bright and early 7:30am

wake up call, I usually leave my
Cardiff apartment at 8am and
head out to grab a quick coffee
before the cycle over to the
Carbon studio.

022
040

08:15

A MORNING
0)#+-%50

I grab my usual vanilla latte while

reading todays news on my
bookmarked design blogs and social
sites. I then have a quick look through
my calendar, preparing for the days
busy schedule.

08:30

!&4%2!3(/24"54
37%%4")+%2)$%|

Once I arrive at Carbon I take some short

time out to browse online and find some
inspiring stuff that I can add to my
inspiration folder which sits on my desktop.
I find this helps keep me motivated and
refreshed for the day ahead.

WorldMags.net

09:00

FIRST 4().'3&)234|

Now its time to get down

to work. First, I respond to any emails that I
have received since the previous day. Some
of our international clients will be in different
time zones, so it is important to keep on top
of any project management and
correspondence with them.

WorldMags.net

Universal Scene User

interface illustration

Carbon

TOP 5
PRODUCTION TIPS
DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
By making your designs perfect from the start they will get
signed off quicker and will already be ready for production.
USE SMART OBJECTS AND EFFECTS
This will allow you to easily make changes, wrap up complex
layers into a single object and create double-sized Retina assets.
USE GRID SYSTEMS
Setting up a grid should be the first thing you do, no matter how
small the project or design. This will enable pixel-perfect
designs every time.
CREATE DEVELOPER FRIENDLY PHOTOSHOP FILES
Structure and name your layers perfectly so your developer can
understand them. Dont use any effects that cant be merged
down into a single asset.
KEEP EVOLVING
Dont be afraid to relearn new techniques for processes youve
been using for years. Discovering new Photoshop features can
dramatically improve your workflow and creativity.

10:00

7)2%FRAMING

I continue wireframing for a new

Doctor Who project were working on for the BBC,
a regular client of ours. This is an invaluable
process to carry out before I move onto the design.
I can clearly plan the design direction while also
giving the client a better understanding of how it
will work.

Mizuno app The

Mizuno touch screen app
in Amsterdam

Mizuno

13:00

TIME FOR
LUNCH!

I managed not to eat at my

desk today (for once) and
instead grabbed some
gammon and eggs on the
waterfront in Cardiff Bay. It hit
the spot!

15:00

STORYBOARDING
ANIMATION

I then swiftly move onto another BBC

project, illustrating and storyboarding
for an upcoming animated video for
their new iWonder brand. This will see
me through to the end of the working
day at 6pm.

WorldMags.net

18:00

READY FOR THE

WEEKEND

I save and back up todays work,

then grab a quick beer at the
waterfront with the guys at work
and friends from another design
agency. Around 9pm I head to the
centre for dinner with my girlfriend.

023

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OF THE BEST

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EFFECTS 8
ONONE SOFTWARE

slusarenko on www.freeimages.com

www.ononeso ware.com / Approx 89/$150

onOne Software does a wide range of high-end plug-ins for
Photoshop that help you to edit, retouch, enhance and get creative with your
images. Perfect Effects is just one of these and is designed to add filter effects to
your photos. The filters can be customised to suit your needs and there are
various presets to help you get started. It can be used to replicate the look of
certain film effects, add dynamic contrast to photos, place selective lens blur and
emulate a HDR style, among other effects.
One of the reasons that we like onOne Softwares range of products is that they
are easy to use, but actually make a big difference. Many of the effects could be
created in Photoshop using the built-in tools, but it would take a lot longer to do
and would be more difficult to amend. Perfect Effects enables you to build up
filters in a Filter Stack, so you can combine different effects to get a distinct look.
You do pay a premium for a good filter package such as this one, so it is worth
reviewing the online supporting material to see what the program can do, as well
as make the most of the free trial available.

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20 OF THE BEST PLUG INS
02. TEXTURE ANARCHY
DIGITAL ANARCHY
www.digitalanarchy.com / Approx 77/$129
Texture Anarchy is a plug-in that lives up to its name, giving you access
to textures and borders that can be infinitely scaled without losing
quality, as well as giving you the ability to create your own designs. It is
split into three key plug-ins: Texture Explorer, which is the main area to
create seamless textures; Tiler Anarchy, for creating repeated
seamless designs; and Edge Anarchy to create borders. You use one of
the many built-in presets as a starting point from which you can begin
experimenting. The textures are created by layering one of 38 different
noise types on top of each other and combined to give different effects.
The textures are great for using in both 2D and 3D workflows, and they
can help to bring your typography to life. Once you have mastered the
basics, then there is a Lighting Editor and a Bump Well that enable you
to create powerful textures that have myriad professional applications.

TECHNIQUES

04. MACHINE WASH DELUXE

MISTER RETRO
www.misterretro.com / Approx 59/$99
Machine Wash is a set of texture filters that add an aged look to your designs. It
can make photographs look worn and vintage, but it is probably better applied to
graphic design projects, especially poster layouts and text. There are over 3,000
presets available within the program that offer different looks, and these effects
can be applied to your whole image or in a more targeted way.

01

BASIC SETTINGS

02

WASH OPTIONS

03

SURFACE DESIGN

Under Basic you can select from preset filters to apply to your design. If
you tick Filter Settings, you can see the textures that have been layered up to
create the effect, which helps you to see how filters are generated.

03. NKS5 NATURAL MEDIA

TOOLKIT
www.nkurence.com/blog / Free (donations accepted)
This plug-in is one for digital painters. In fact, its not
a plug-in as such; it is an extension that is installed
through the Adobe Extension Manager. It has been
created by an artist and it is a collection of natural
media, texturing and production tools. When you
install it, it adds a new palette into the Photoshop
workspace and it is packed with tools. You can use it
to create documents that look like real-media
products, such as paper, notepad, graph paper and
more. From there, you can draw with pencils, pens
and markers, as well as paint with watercolours.
There are texturing tools, guides and margins and
brush presets as well. When it is all put together, it
becomes a powerful alternative to Photoshops own
painting toolset, as the brushes are very realistic,
and simply the way that everything has been
collected together in one place means that there is a
lot less trawling through menus to complete
different tasks leaving you to get on with the actual
painting. This sort of extension for Photoshop shows
that its not just the well-known and expensive
packages that make a difference to your workflow.

Go into the Wash tab and you can begin to create your own look. Click on
Texture to load up the textures available and apply, then customise to suit your
needs. You can save any looks that you like so that you dont have to remember all
your combinations.

Once the texture is in place, add depth with the lighting and contrast
controls in the Surface tab, which help to add realism to the final design. Select the
Generate Effect in New Layer Above option before applying, so you can continue
working on it in Photoshop.

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05. SILVER EFEX PRO 2
GOOGLE NIK COLLECTION
www.google.com/nikcollection / Approx 89/$149
This plug-in is designed especially for creating striking black and
white photography. It emulates old film types, as well as adding
tones and borders to finish the look. The algorithms that are used
are very powerful so that you get a realistic result, but the whole
process is editable so that you can tweak it to get the image that
you want. There is a built-in History Browser so that you can
undo adjustments easily and re-apply, as well as a whole host of
tools to selectively alter your photo. The price quoted here is
actually for the Nik Collection bundle (you cant buy the products
individually any more), so for that price you also get Analog Efex
Pro, HDR Efex Pro, Dfine, Color Efex Pro, Viveza and Sharpener
Pro, which makes this quite a bargain.

Preset Library
Choose a preset from the panel
on the left to start your edit. You
can save your own presets to
appear here too (under Custom)
and import others

Global Adjustments
Here you can make adjustments
to your whole image by playing
with the sliders. You can always
undo if you are not happy with
the results

Selective Adjustments
By setting control points on your
image, you can target where you
make adjustments, which is
good for fine-tuning your effect

Further controls
You can also set Color Filter,
Film Type and Finishing
Adjustments using the panels
down the right for a more
precise result

06. FILTER FORGE

FILTER FORGE INC
www.lterforge.com / From approx 89/$149
Filter Forge is a plug-in that works in two key ways. First, it gives
you access to over 10,000 filters that have been created by its
community, which means that you can create some interesting
effects with little effort. The real power comes from the fact that
you can use the plug-in to create your own filters using the visual
node-based editor. It can be a bit complicated to get your head
around at first, so it is worth exploring the Support section on the
website, which has tutorials to follow to get started. Filter Forge
comes in three versions Basic, Standard and Professional so it
depends what functionality you need. For example, if you wanted
to create your own filters, you couldnt do that with the Basic
version, so it is worth considering one of the more advanced
suites. The Professional version is available on a subscription
model, which helps to manage the cost.

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20 OF THE BEST PLUG INS

TECHNIQUES

09. FLUID MASK 3

VERTUS
www.vertustech.com /
Approx 89/$149
Vertus Fluid Mask is one of
the best-known plug-ins for
masking in Photoshop, and it
is now in its third version. Its not cheap, but it does
offer a high-end solution to creating complex
masks on any subject and is a real timesaver if
you need a lot of extracting done. There is a free
trial available. Image processing time has been
greatly improved and it is packed with tools to help
you target image areas, no matter how finely
detailed.

Sample of website created in SiteGrinder - www.missiondesign.co.nz

07. SITEGRINDER 3
MEDIALAB
www.medialab.com / TBC
SiteGrinder is one of the best-known web design
plug-ins for Photoshop. It is designed for those who
want to create striking website designs, but dont have
the skill or the inclination to do any coding. You can
create a design using Photoshop, and SiteGrinder will
slice it and code it for you, which makes life a lot easier.
When you first get the plug-in, there is a sample PSD
for you to play with to understand how it all goes
together, but there is also an extensive Help section on
the website. There are various templates available as
well to give you a starting point if you need something
to base your design on.

10. TOPAZ
REMASK
TOPAZ LABS

08. NOISEWARE
IMAGENOMIC
www.imagenomic.com / Approx 48/$80
Noise is a problem many photographers
have to deal with. Photoshop can do a fair
job of removing it, but there are plug-ins
available that do the work quicker and
with better results, making a worthwhile
purchase. One of the best of these is
Noiseware by Imagenomic, which uses a
powerful algorithm to eliminate different
types of noise from your photos. It
manages to retain image quality and detail
during the process, which is the biggest
problem with any process that affects the
pixels in a photo. There is a free trial
available, so you can try it out, and it can
also be bought as part of a bundle with the
companys other plug-ins, including
Portraiture, which is also featured here.

www.topazlabs.com /
Approx 42/$70
This plug-in is designed to
make masking tasks
quick and easy, saving you time when working
on complex compositions. It is available as a free
trial, so you can try before you buy, but it lives up
to its promise of being simple to use with fast
results. It is designed for difficult masking tasks,
like hair or similarly coloured objects, and it
works using a painting system where you brush
over areas that need to be kept or discarded.

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Andreas Krappweis on www.freeimages.com

11. TOPAZ SIMPLIFY

TOPAZ LABS
www.topazlabs.com / Approx 24/$40
Not everyone is a natural with a paintbrush, digital or otherwise, which is why there are plenty of filters and
plug-ins for Photoshop that look to turn your photos into works of art in minutes. As with many filters of
this ilk, there are the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Topaz Simplify is one of the best, thanks to its
ability to create realistic results that look as though you have painstakingly painted in every minute detail.
There are various looks you can achieve, from watercolour to oil painting, and pencil sketch to charcoal.
The plug-in opens from within Photoshop and there are a number of presets to get you started with the
vague look you are after. You can customise all of the filters that you want to use with sliders down the
right of the screen. Its easy to completely change the look of a filter into something right for you, so not
every image will come out looking like a carbon copy of the one before it.
Despite the quality results, this is actually one of the cheaper plug-ins that we have looked at here. If you
need fine-art results, then this is definitely worth your consideration.

ENLARGE YOUR PHOTOS

12. BLOW UP 3
ALIEN SKIN SOFTWARE

13. PERFECT RESIZE 8

ONONE SOFTWARE

www.alienskin.com / Approx 59/$99

Sometimes there are photos that you want to use in your
designs and they are just not big enough. Its a cardinal sin
to simply upscale them without thinking about the result,
but there are plug-ins that enable you to get more inches
without losing quality. Blow Up uses a similar system to Photoshops Resize
command, so its instantly familiar. The difference is that it uses powerful
algorithms to maintain high quality without introducing any artefacts.

030

www.ononeso ware.com / Approx 89/$150

This is an industry-standard resizing application that uses
interpolation algorithms to enlarge photos to a high
standard. It comes in two versions: Standard and Premium. Weve only looked
at the Premium here as it works as a Photoshop plug-in, whereas the
Standard version is standalone only. Aside from that, the Premium option
also lets you batch edit, resize CMYK, Lab and Greyscale images, and opens
RAW camera files, making it the more appropriate choice.

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20 OF THE BEST PLUG INS
14. EXPOSURE 5
ALIEN SKIN SOFTWARE
www.alienskin.com / Approx 89/$149
Alien Skin Software creates a wide range of
high-end plug-ins for Photoshop users, but
one of the best is Exposure. It is designed to
help you emulate various traditional film
looks, such as lo-fi and old-school film types.
The results are realistic and professional,
unlike some of the cheaper filter programs
available that can look cheesy and over the
top. There are hundreds of presets built in that
apply different effects with a single click, and
these can be previewed before applying.
However, when you are using the program, it
is best to consider these presets as a starting
point for experimentation, as the best results
come from combining filters in different ways,
layering them up subtly to create something
completely unique.
The presets can be customised individually
too, so it is possible to have countless
combinations, ensuring that you dont get that
straight out of the box look. Those
customised presets and combinations can
then be saved so that you can build up a
library of your own personalised effects that
can be applied to any of your future projects
quickly. Version 5 of Exposure has been
updated with a brand new look and features,
so it is always worth an upgrade if you have
tried an earlier version, and there is a free trial
available too.
2013 peter nguyen

TECHNIQUES

THREE FREE
EXTENSIONS WORTH
TRYING
Photoshops Extension Manager has opened the
door for developers, artists and designers to come
up with panels and scripts that enhance the
functionality of Photoshop in a simple way. The
best part is that these are usually free, they are
easy to install and try out, and you can even create
your own (have a Google search to find out how).
We round up three extensions that we reckon are
worth a look.

15. GUIDEGUIDE
CAMERON
MCEFFEE
www.guideguide.me / Free
This simple palette is
designed for those who
work with grid layouts on a
regular basis web
designers, app designers and so on. It gives you
pixel-accurate columns, rows, midpoints and
baselines, created based on your documents or
selections. You can also save frequently used
grid setups for future use.

16. BLENDME.IN
BLENDME.IN
www.blendme.in / Free
This handy little panel gives
you access to thousands of
assets, such as vector icon
packs, that you can drag and
drop into your work. The
assets are all under the
Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which
means you can use them in your commercial
projects too. Its easy to install, and in the latest
version of the extension, you can add your own
files as a Collection to browse in the same way.

17. FONTSHOP
PLUGIN
FONTSHOP
INTERNATIONAL
www.fontshop.com / Free
This panel is linked to the
FontShop website and enables
you to browse any of its
150,000-plus fonts from within
a panel in Photoshop. This
comes in handy when working on layout
designs, as you can try out a font and see if it
works. You can get a preview of the font in your
document, search for a particular font and tag
your favourites.

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TECHNIQUES 20 OF
THE BEST PLUG INS
18. 3D INVIGORATOR
DIGITAL ANARCHY/ZAXWERKS INC

Image courtesy of Colin Cheer,

Electric Eye/Mighty Dots

www.digitalanarchy.com / Approx 119/$199

Although Photoshop now includes 3D-editing
capabilities, those with older versions or those who
want a little more control over their 3D objects can
give this plug-in a go. It gives a true 3D environment
inside Photoshop, using vector tools to draw and
edit 3D shapes. There is a Material Editor to build
textures and create striking 3D designs. You can use
vector shapes, text or Adobe Illustrator files to create
the base of your 3D object, so there are lots of
possibilities for creating all kinds of 3D graphics. In
the most recent version of the program, it is now
possible to import an image and map that image
onto a 3D object, as well as see shadows updated
live thanks to an improved OpenGL.

RETOUCH PORTRAITS
IN MINUTES
19. PORTRAITURE
IMAGENOMIC
www.imagenomic.com /
Approx 119/$200
This is an incredibly powerful plug-in
and one of the best for retouching
that we have come across. It does a
great job of auto-masking an image
to isolate skin tones and apply
smoothing based on a number of
presets. It can be customised and
edited to get the look you want, but
for batch retouching it does save a
lot of time over doing the whole
process manually.

02

01

AUTO ENHANCEMENTS

When you start the filter, it will automatically apply default retouching to your image, which gives
you a good base to work from. You can then use the sliders on the left in order to customise the finish.

PREVIEW

Make sure that you have a Preview view selected so that you can
see both the before and after, and zoom right in. This will enable you to work
with more precision. You can also save presets based on your edits if you get
a look you like.

032

03

PRESETS

There are a selection of presets that come in handy if you are

looking for a specific effect, such as High Key or Low Key. These are again
really good for setting the base look, which you can then tweak to suit your
final image.

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The right insurance

for YOU?
20. SOCIAL KIT
SOURCE
http://socialkit.madebysource.com / Free
This is a Photoshop extension that is designed to make light work of
creating templates for use on social media websites. It creates correctly
sized and ready-sliced templates for Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and
YouTube, which you can use to make customised designs for yourself or
your clients. It is automatically updated as you work so that you can see
exactly what your layout will look like before it goes live, and the extension
is updated as the social media sites implement new changes. This is the
kind of app that seems a bit simplistic at first, but actually there are some
very clever Facebook designs out there that use the profile picture and
cover design in a unique way. This extension will help you come up with
your own ideas and test them out before uploading to Facebook or any
other social media site.

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Imaging strives to give you excellent cover,
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For a quote or more information.

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Imaging Insurance can be contracted at: 2nd Floor, Juniper House, Warley Hill Business Park, Brentwood, CM13 3BE
Tel: 01277 243016, Fax: 0207 6558060, Email: info@imaginginsurance.co.uk

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CONTRIBUTORS

034

JAHIRUL AMIN

RICHARD CURTIS

BENJAMIN ERDT

ANDY JONES

WWW.JAHIRULAMIN.COM
Amin is a
generalist
with a
passion for
rigging and
animation.
He lectures in computer
animation at the NCCA.

"%(!.#%.%42)#(!2$
#524)3
Curtis is a
principal
solutions
consultant at
Adobe and is
the UK contact for
Photoshop software.

777"%.%2$4$%
Erdt is a
character
artist for
Guerrilla
Games in
Amsterdam
with a focus on next-gen
game characters.

!.$9*/.%3#2%!4)6%#/- !,+)2),%.+/7/2$02%33
.COM
Jones
started out
Kirilenko
studying
currently
sculpture,
works at
but now
Platige
works as
Image in
senior creative retoucher Warsaw as a 3D
for Mullen Advertising.
character artist.

ALEKS KIRILENKO

WILLIAM FU

BRENDAN MCCAFFREY

WWW.WILLFU.CO.UK
Fu studies
graphic
design and
currently
works full
time
alongside various
freelance projects.

WWW.BMCAFF.COM
McCaffrey is
a digital
illustrator
who
currently
produces
promotional artwork for
a variety of products.

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3D VS PHOTOSHOP

TECHNIQUES

PHOTOSHOP IS AN
INTEGRAL PART OF THE 3D
PIPELINE, TURNING RAW
RENDERS INTO BEAUTIFUL
WORKS OF ART. HOWEVER,
WITH PHOTOSHOP CCS 3D
TOOLS GROWING EVER
MORE ADVANCED, COULD
WE ENVISION A FUTURE
WHERE FURTHER CG
SOFTWARE WONT BE
NEEDED AT ALL?

ZENO PELGRIMS

WWW.THEPIXELPRO.COM
WWW.GRAFFIK.BE
Kirk Nelson
Pelgrims is
is an
a 3D artist
awardwith a
winning
passion for
graphics
telling
artist, and is
stories
also a recognised Adobe through pixels, currently
Certified Expert.
studying at the NCCA.

ADAM SACCO

DAVE SCOTLAND

WWW.SOULTY.COM
WWW.CGSWOT.COM
Sacco is a
Scotland has
freelance 3D
over 13
character
years of CGI
artist. He
production
has worked
experience,
on a variety
working for
of different projects for some of the biggest
international clients.
names in entertainment.

Benjamin Erdt

KIRK NELSON

Photoshop has always been an central part of the 3D

workflow. Raw 3D renders on their own simply lack
atmosphere and visual punch its up to Photoshop
and its powerful suite of post-processing tools to
bring the image to completion. Even animated 3D,
which doesnt require Photoshop during the later
stages of a project, will still make use of it at some
point in the pipeline. I would compare my use of
Photoshop to bookends, says creative retoucher and
3D artist Andy Jones. I use it in the beginning to
concept and figure out where Im going, then again at
the end for texturing and compositing.
Guerrilla Games character artist Benjamin Erdt
uses Photoshop for a number of tasks. Photoshop
has always been a great and useful addition to my 3D
workflow, he tells us. Its a great helper for a wide
range of tasks such as look development, texture
creation and post effects.
A process for which I use Photoshop almost
exclusively is creating texture colour concepts for
creature design, he continues. The layer system
makes experimenting with different skin types less
destructive. If carefully organised using Photoshop
layers, an approved skin colour concept can be easily
rebuilt using 3D painting software.
However, as useful as Photoshop has proven itself
to be over the years, could the 3D process survive
without it? Could we conceive of a future where
Photoshop is an unnecessary tool in the 3D pipeline,
where software such as Maya have evolved to a point
where its own digital painting applications could
perform everything Adobes tools can and more?
Conversely, could Photoshops 3D tools ever become
so refined that applications like ZBrush are no longer
required? We spoke to some of the top 3D artists
working today to find the answer.

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TECHNIQUES 3D VS
PHOTOSHOP
THE BATTLE BEGINS
Its no secret that there are several tools currently
encroaching on Photoshops dominance. For
instance, while Photoshop has always been an
incredibly powerful tool when it comes to creating 2D
textures to wrap around an object, new painting
software such as The Foundrys MARI which allows
artists to paint directly onto a 3D model are
becoming increasingly popular. Could such tools ever
reach the point where it could viably replace
Photoshops job in the pipeline?
Replacement, no, but they work together
wonderfully, explains Jones. I use ZBrush to create
various texture maps, such as diffuse, specular,
glossiness and so on, but I will always make
adjustments in Photoshop for speed and comfort. I
think that Photoshop and other such software must
remain separate. 3D packages do heaps of things
and sometimes its nice to just get into Photoshop
and deal with familiar friendly layers and 2D images.
Anything Ive seen in 3D packages attempting to
emulate Photoshop has not been as robust, and at
the same time appears far too complex.
I still take advantage of Photoshops great 2D
features, which are not available yet in 3D painting
software, says Erdt. Personally, when doing 3D
textures, I use Photoshop as a compiler for layers
and maps generated within other programs like
MARI or Quixels DDO, so to me its still a powerful
tool to achieve the desired results.
Like Jones, Erdt believes that the ideal toolset
remains a combination of several programs, with
each tailored to a specific task. Right now,
Photoshop is still an industry standard among 2D
software and there is no similar tool with the same
structure and flexibility, so setting up a Photoshopfree pipeline can be quite costly, he explains.
Features like Particle Painting in Substance Painter;
the node-based approach of Substance Designer; the

procedural method of DDO; the ability to paint on

millions of polygons inside of ZBrush, Mudbox or
3D-Coat; the support for very high texture
resolutions, Ptex and different shading models inside
of MARI and so on theyre all big pluses for 3D
software over Photoshop. However, in order to catch
up more with Photoshop, I think current 3D software
needs to combine more of its features, be more
flexible, stable and less demanding of the hardware.
Nevertheless, while it always remains very
difficult to predict what might happen in the next five
or 20 years, Erdt believes 3D texturing is one area
Photoshop really needs to catch up on. Painting
directly on a mesh provides way more control for
directing colours, tone, patterns and so on, as the
final result can be seen directly on the 3D model
rather than unwrapping a UV. Appropriate software
has existed for many years and it keeps growing fast
while Photoshop seems to fall behind. So, from a 3D
painting perspective, a future for 3D without
Photoshop is imaginable under the current
circumstances. But then things can always change.

Digital-Tutors

AdamJones
Spizak
Andy

THE PROS AND CONS OF PHOTOSHOP

Zeno Pelgrims

OUR PANEL GIVE THEIR EXPERT OPINIONS ON THE SOFTWARE

Andy Jones
Pros: Photoshop has a great UI, solid core features, robust file
management and almost infinite possibilities once you know how.
Cons: The brush engines are ageing, it has downright shameful 3D
capabilities and some features do not use current computing power.
Adam Sacco
Pros: The best features are really the simple image-editing functions
and the Spot Healing Brush for fixing seams and normal maps.
Cons: It would be great to paint in 3D with realistic shaders. Maybe
Adobe could adopt some real-time viewports for live previews.
Zeno Pelgrims
Pros: I like that you can easily execute certain tasks using Actions.
They allow you to record certain steps and then save those.
Cons: Photoshop needs better EXR support.

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Andy Jones

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Anything Ive seen in 3D
packages attempting to
emulate Photoshop has not been
as robust, and at the same time
appears far too complex
Andy Jones, www.andyjonescreative.com

3D DETAILING IN POST
ANDY JONES REVEALS A GREAT TECHNIQUE FOR ADDING BELIEVABLE DETAILS TO YOUR FINAL RENDER

Set up: Start with your render on the bottom of

the stack. Pop a new layer on top, and on this layer
go into layer effects and choose Bevel & Emboss.
Tweak the Bevel settings to match your scene,
choose a dark colour from your scene for the
shadows and do the same for the light. Use the little
preview on the left to help here.

Further prep: Now select the layer and change

the blending option to Soft Light. Go to your Brushes
panel and select a small, hard, round brush to paint
with. You can leave the pressure sensitivity off for
now to get used to how this looks. Next, grab a
medium-grey from the colour picker. Find a spot
that is well lit and lay down a line.

Now for the fun: Start exploring the amazing

options you have here! Play with all the perimeters
and brushes. If youre finding a problem seeing it in
the shadows or highlights, set the blend mode in
the layer effects menu for both to Normal. This
technique has many applications, with just enough
depth to fool the eye.

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TECHNIQUES 3D VS
PHOTOSHOP

Dave Scotland

THE ARTISTS
PERSPECTIVE
Zeno Pelgrims, an animation student at
Bournemouth Universitys NCCA, is in agreement
that when it comes to 3D texture painting, 3D
tools replaced Photoshop a long time ago. While
Photoshop is my image manipulation and
preparation weapon of choice, MARI is my
number one texture painting tool, he tells us.
Very few artists still do all of their texture work
inside a 2D painting package like Photoshop.
The Foundry also develops NUKE, a nodebased digital compositing application that is
currently the industry standard for film and
television projects. Today it encompasses a range
of capabilities that compositing pro Dave Scotland
has found can be an excellent replacement for
some tasks previously completed in Photoshop.
Today I often use NUKE for many of my 2D
paint and rotoscoping tasks, he explains. The
heart of both applications is pixel data processing
manipulation of RGBA data at the pixel level.
Photoshop and NUKE just go about it in a

038

When someone puts all of these features into one application,

and does it well, there will be no need to use Photoshop in the
3D pipeline Dave Scotland, www.cgswot.com
different way. Having said this, many tools are
quite similar the most obvious being the brush.
Many of the processes are the same and the
settings feel like they come from the same place.
Not only is NUKE compatible with Photoshop
files, it has the ability to import a PSD file and
keep most of the formatting inherent in the file,
including layers, folders, masks and blending
modes, continues Scotland. In fact, the
Photoshop to NUKE pipeline is so good, it is used
regularly by designers and matte painters. This
allows the design work to be done in Photoshop,
where it belongs, and for the compositing and
VFX work to be done in NUKE, where it belongs.
But should these tasks stay where they
belong? Given the track record of The Foundrys
development team, I certainly believe they could
implement features into the NUKE environment,
which could replace Photoshop, but something

tells me their aspirations are firmly grounded

elsewhere, says Scotland. After all, why spend
the time, effort and most importantly, the money,
to develop a toolset that already exists and has a
very strong community?
Most artists agree that as Photoshop does
what it does so well, theres simply no need to try
and replace it. Its difficult to imagine a future
without Photoshop its burnt into the different
pipelines people have set up, says Pelgrims. If a
company would develop an image manipulation
tool that is specifically tailored to the needs of 3D
artists while still being as solid as Photoshop I
personally think it could be replaced within
months. However, that tool would need to be able
to mask out certain texture inconsistencies from
photographs, remove highlights and shadows or
create bump maps from textures for these
tasks today, Photoshop remains the way to go.

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TOP PHOTOSHOP TECHNIQUES
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY STUDENT ZENO PELGRIMS REVEALS THE TOP 3D USES HES FOUND FOR PHOTOSHOP
001 Happy Meal textures
This Happy Meal texture map was
created exclusively in Photoshop.
The texturing for this asset
consisted mainly of text and
vector work, which happens to be
one of the areas that I still feel
more comfortable doing in
Photoshop than MARI.

002 Removing shadows

I removed the majority of the
lighting information with the
Shadows/Highlights function in
Photoshop. It looks like nothing
really has changed, but with a
simple Levels adjustment on a
Luminosity duplicate, you can
clearly see how much has actually
been altered.

Andy Jones

003 Magical eyes

A few touch-ups always have to
be done in order to make the
image pop. One adjustment I
always make is a correction to the
lighting in the eyes. By using the
Burn tool on the side of the eye
under the highlight and the Dodge
tool on the opposite side, you give
the eyes a lot more depth.

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Benjamin Erdt

PHOTOSHOP GOES 3D
Its not just 3D software thats encroaching on
Photoshops territory, but also Photoshop thats
making baby steps into the world of 3D, with a suite
of basic 3D tools that even extend to 3D printing
support. Could they ever grow into an intricate,
standalone tool?
Personally, I dont use the 3D tools in Photoshop,
begins 3D artist Aleks Kirilenko. Thats most likely
because I didnt know they even existed until recently,
but as far I as I know, those tools arent exactly the
best when it comes to 3D texturing. I know there are
some good changes made to them in the CC version,
but I think its just too early at this stage to look at
those tools as your primary go-to place when you
have something like MARI at your disposal.
For Kirk Nelson, the tools are best used for 3D
text and compositing, but not a great deal more.
However, he expects a number of improvements in
the coming years. The modelling in Photoshop is
really limited and theres not a lot of creation
possibilities when compared to dedicated 3D
software. I believe Photoshop will never be a robust
modeller, and right now we basically just have to get
creative with extrusions. So, I would really like to see
the addition of Boolean operations the process of
adding or subtracting 3D shapes together to form a
new mesh. I would also expect to see the renderer
improve pretty dramatically within the next few
years. Adding IBL was a big step, and we see

040

performance gains in other areas of the program

through the Mercury Graphics Engine. So I would
expect to see a more accurate, faster render pretty
soon from Adobe.

Adding IBL was a big step,

and we see performance
gains in other areas of the
program through the Mercury
Graphics Engine
Kirk Nelson, www.thepixelpro.com
For Nelson, however, Photoshop will never
expand to be a fully-fledged 3D program, just as
Maya or 3ds Max will likely never evolve to include
their own Photoshop-level painting tools. That
would be too broad a range of application, he
explains. I think any single piece of gear that
attempted to do that would end up doing many
things, but none of them very well. That would be
similar to expecting a general physician to also be
able to perform all medical specialties from brain
surgery to cancer treatment!
For Kirilenko, its not just the depth of Photoshop,
but also the speed, that will ensure the program
remains a key tool in any artists pipeline. While 3D
can be slow and laborious, Photoshop can get things

done fast. Things like concept art are where

Photoshop shines, he explains. When working to
deadlines, people can create a fairly simple model
and import all of this raw material into Photoshop. At
this point the artist can do whatever he or she wants
with the images and bring them closer to the original
idea. Whether its adding a background and
retouching the lighting, doing texturing on top of the
image, fixing some elements of the model itself it
all can be done in Photoshop thanks to its vast
variety of tools. Photoshop allows a much higher
flexibility and freedom than any other software I can
think of. Im not being conservative Photoshop is
just too powerful a tool to abandon it, whether youre
doing 3D or 2D. Its as simple as that.

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Kirk Nelson

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COMPOSITING BATTY

Benjamin Erdt

BENJAMIN ERDT USES THREE STEPS TO DEMONSTRATE HOW PHOTOSHOP CAN BE USED TO ENHANCE A SPEED SCULPT CREATED WITH ZBRUSH

Rendering layers: Next to the basic passes like AO, Shadow,

Diffuse, Mask, Cavity and Depth, render additional spec and light
layers using the LightCaps feature in ZBrush. This image displays
a selection of layers to be used in Photoshop.

Basic composition: This step is more experimental. Using the

previously rendered layers I laid down to find the basic
composition, I blended them together and adjusted each individual
layer using Opacity, Levels and Hue/Saturation.

Final tweaks: For final tweaks I made the ears look fleshier,
adding sharper highlights to wetter areas around the eyes and
nose, blending the fur to the skin, adding more skin texture and
sculpting with lights and shadows for better readability.

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TECHNIQUES 3D VS
PHOTOSHOP
3D POST PROCESS TIPS

Andy Jones

OUR PANEL OF EXPERTS OFFER THEIR TOP TIPS FOR TOUCHING UP

COMPLETED 3D RENDERS
Adam Sacco
For texture painting, try saving your brush
presets for future use so you dont have to adjust
or search for them all the time.
The Content-Aware Fill function can be used to fill in the
negative area on UV maps.
Try using the Color Balance adjustment layer instead of the
Levels to add contrast and colour grading.
Zeno Pelgrims
You can quickly create an industry-standard
bump map from your diffuse texture maps with
the High Pass filter.
If you have to make some tileable textures, the Offset
function is really great. The only thing you have to do is paint
out the seams with the Clone Stamp tool!
You can check whether the lighting in your photographs is
evenly distributed by duplicating your layer, blending it with the
luminosity option and playing with the levels. If you then want to
change the lighting a bit, you can just mask out certain areas.
Dave Scotland
Learn the importance of resolution when it
comes to painting texture maps. Finding the right
balance between detail and file size can make all
the difference to your workflow and quality.
Always work with lossless files and never use JPEG files.
This definitely applies to input files like texture maps. The
compression inherent in JPEGs will reduce the quality of your
work, and they can also cause viewport and final render delays.
Avoid using PSD files as 3D texture maps. Thats a whole lot
of extra data the 3D application has to process and can also
cause instability issues.

Kirk Nelson

Benjamin Erdt

Kirk Nelson
Only create what you are going to see. Dont
worry about texturing the back of an object that
you only render the front of.
Rendering is the biggest bottleneck in 3D work. Photoshop
can render in the background while you work on other things.
So let that render be cooking while you catch up on email or
read your favourite blogs.
Learn the art of seamless textures. Its not really that hard,
and is massively helpful!
Brendan McCaffrey
Add photo-based effects to 3D renders. I like to
layer real lens flares and grunge maps over 3D
renders to help sell the image. This can be much
faster and more controllable than adding these in the render or
in the textures.
Add scratches, mud and damage. I often render two
versions of a car model, the first being the full beauty version
and the second being the bare metal underneath or
alternatively a muddy material. Then using layer masking I can
add scratches and damage to the paintwork really quickly.

042

Srgio Merces 2013

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Namco

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Srgio Merces 2013

USING PHOTOSHOPS 3D TOOLS

3D ARTIST JAHIRUL AMIN DISCUSSES HIS EXPERIENCES IN USING PHOTOSHOPS 3D TOOLS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
As a long-time user of Photoshop, I was interested to see how well its 3D tools would perform for texture painting, so I
did a little test to find out. Having Photoshops powerful toolkit at my disposal, and therefore being able to use my
favourite brushes, the colour correction tools and the layering system, felt great. Bringing OBJ files in is just as simple
as with any image file, then if the object has UVs, you can get painting straightaway, and if not then you can create the
UVs directly in Photoshop.
There are a few different painting methods such as Live 3D Painting and Projection Painting that allow you to pick
and choose the best mode for the job at hand. You can edit the default lighting, add Image Based Lighting and play with
the material properties of the object very easily. I did find that it did not seem as smooth as being in a 3D painting tool,
however, mainly down to having to constantly switch tools to either paint on the object or navigate the scene.
In general, I think that if you mainly work in 2D but do some 3D work, then this package should more than happily do
the trick. However, if the bulk of your bread and butter comes from creating 3D assets with some additional 2D work,
then I think you may be drawn to a more tailored package. Nevertheless, its exciting to see how Photoshop has
developed for the 3D market and Im looking forward to seeing how it gets pushed further.

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William Fu

ADOBE SPEAKS OUT

2)#(!2$#524)302).#)0!,3/,54)/.3#/.35,4!.4
$)')4!,)-!').'!4!"/"%5+2%6%!,33/-%/&4(%
,%33%2+./7."%.%&)43/&0(/4/3(/03$4//,3
EASILY CREATE 3D EXTRUDED TEXT,
INCLUDING TEXT FROM CREATIVE CLOUDS
TYPEKIT DESKTOP FONTS
Since Photoshop CS6, it has become very simple
to convert and extrude a piece of text into 3D, as
well as to light it and move shadows around in
real-time. Now, with the inclusion of Typekit in
Photoshop CC and in particular the ability to
download desktop fonts from Typekit (included in
some of the Creative Cloud plans), its now easy
to download and convert any desktop font into 3D
text at any point in time. The 3D extrusions that
are made in Photoshop CC (text, shapes and
paths), have the ability to have the source
definition modified at any time. This means that if
you change your mind or need to refresh your
design, you can change it easily.
INSERTING 3D OBJECTS INTO A 2D SCENE
MASKS, BLENDING MODES AND MORE
Photoshop CC 3D now makes use of the
vanishing point grid technology to tell Photoshop
CC about the 3D perspective in a 2D scene. This
makes it easy for a Photoshop CC 3D designer to

044

q"ENJAMIN%RDT

place a 3D object into a 2D scene, light it and

place the shadows as if they were there when the
photograph was taken.
PAINTING ON 3D OBJECTS USING THE BRUSH
Painting with brushes in Photoshop CC now
makes use of the graphics processor in the
computer, which allows users to achieve fast and
precise painting. 3D Photoshop designers can use
the GPU accelerated brush to paint directly onto a
3D model.
REPAIR TEXTURES ON 3D OBJECTS,
ESPECIALLY AROUND A 3D SCANNED IMAGE
3D objects are made up of the mesh and the
texture/diffuse layer. Photoshop CC is able to
re-map and create UVs based on a precedence of
seams or distortion. Photoshop CC also enables
both the diffuse map and the 3D model to open at
the same time and, using the cursor, visually
track where on the model the cursor is located.
Having this ability to work on the 3D and the
2D texture at the same time means that all of
Photoshop CCs 2D tools (Content-Aware Patch,
Spot Healing and the Healing Brush to name a
few) can be used on the 2D side (diffuse layer).
Also, as Photoshop is layer-based, any type of
static layer can be added to the diffuse layer for
additional texture and brush painting.

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MAKING 2D LOOK 3D
CREATIVE RETOUCHER WILLIAM FU DISCUSSES HOW
$,//+).')-!'%3#!."%-!$%).$3/&47!2%
I start any project thinking about the tones,
colours and various compositions that I want to
experiment with. The most important would be
image sourcing; the better the base images are,
the better the final piece will look. When using
only 2D, this is important as most photos will
have completely different characteristics in
resolution, detail, colour and lighting. The main
dinosaurs in this image (above left) were created
by using photos of plastic T-Rex as the base
image from there techniques of painting and
overlaying textures were carried out to enhance
features such as the mouth, teeth and skin.
Its important to consider depth early and
often when thinking about the various levels and
how much detail should go in these. When
working solely in 2D, it helps to plan this
beforehand, as it will allow you to manipulate the
photos according to the level the elements will
sit. This can be seen by the distant silhouetted
birds and the detailed foreground foliage leaves.
Having the layers organised and grouped, named
with their respective depth level, is always a good
way to help when adding elements and details.

WorldMags.net

3D digital painting
Now available on Mac

Imagined by

Justin Holt
Created with

thefoundry.co.uk/mari

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046

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COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP

TECHNIQUES

PHOTOMANIPULATION

COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP

USE 3D RENDERS AND STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY TO
CREATE A MOODY, RAINY SCENE

ne of the most important components of

any artwork is emotion. Every piece you
create must evoke a reaction from the
viewer, be it sorrow, joy or anger. While
the emotions may be different, so long as your art is
filled with them it will be a success. This is no easy
feat, as being able to portray a mood without using
dialogue, music and movement is a skill that even
the most experienced artists struggle to achieve.
But fear not, as this tutorial will show you how to do
just that to create a piece in Photoshop that is filled
with emotion and has a poignant, somber mood.

In this particular case the artwork you will be

creating is an atmospheric, rainy scene. Youll learn
how to combine 3D and stock photography, use
layer masks and then apply adjustment layers to
add effects. You will also learn how to create rain
a notoriously difficult subject to paint using
several custom brushes. You will then discover how
to form a realistic puddle with ripples and a
reflection using the Distort filter. Finally, you will
finish your artwork by adding fine details to really
make the viewer lose themselves in the piece. Lets
get started!

BUILDING THE COMPOSITION

PLACE ALL THE SOURCE IMAGES INTO ONE SCENE

01

PICK A DOCUMENT SIZE

Go to File>New and set the image size to

5200 x 4500px, then hit OK. Now open Bike_render.
psd. Duplicate the layers named Bike, Bike _
shadow and Asphalt_reflection to the main working
document you just created (select all layers and go to
Layers>Duplicate Layer, then select your main
working document in the Destination drop-down)
and scale these layers until you are happy with the
composition. Set the Bike_shadow layer blending
mode to Multiply and Asphalt_reflection to Overlay.
Remove any unwanted areas by adding layer masks
(select the layer to which you want to add a mask
and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal) and paint on it
with a soft transparent black brush.

02

PLACING THE GROUND

First, you need to choose where your

motorcycle will stand. Go to www.shutterstock.
com and download image ID 90776978. Open this
image in Photoshop and duplicate the background to
the main working document. Scale the ground to fit
the bike. Increase the contrast slightly using Curves.
Create a layer mask and remove the city in the
background by painting on the mask with a soft
black brush. Use a soft white brush to draw a light
spot under the bike on a new layer set to Vivid Light.
Now adjust the ground brightness using a
Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. You will find
this by pressing the adjustment layer icon in the
bottom of the Layers panel.

OUR EXPERT
DENIS KORNILOV

www.deniskornilov.com
Kornilov is an advertising copywriter,
photographer, retoucher and CG
artist based in Moscow, Russia. His
past clients include Sony, Subaru,
Michelin, Bosch and Siemens,
among many others.

SOURCE FILES
On the disc you will find the 3D
render PSD along with custom rain
brushes and links to the stock
imagery used.

WORK IN
PROGRESS
FROM MUNDANE TO
MOODY

Progress 1: Raw render

Progress 2: Composition

03

ADD THE CITY

Now you need a nice background. Go to

Shutterstock and download image ID 115337044.
Repeat the same operations by placing and scaling
this image into the working document. Add a layer
mask and remove everything in the image except
the city. Use Hue/Saturation and Curves
adjustments layers with masks to achieve the right
colour and contrast.

Progress 3: Final image

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TECHNIQUES COMBINE
3D & PHOTOSHOP
QUICK TIP
Grouping your layers is very useful. Group the layers belonging to one object and name the group so that it
is clear what is inside. This will help you to easily find the required object, and you will immediately see
what kind of adjustment layers are related to it.

04

DRAMATIC SKY

Download image 60963079 from

Shutterstock. Place your new sky above the city
layer. Again use Hue/Saturation and Curves to make
the sky more attractive. Now group all the sky layers
including the adjustments and hide everything
except the city. Using the Magic Wand and Lasso
tool, select the old city sky. Now select the sky group,
add a mask, and fix all problem places by painting on
it with a soft transparent black brush.

07

05

FOG

Now you need to highlight the bike. The

easiest way to do this is to add the fog behind. Create
a new layer behind the bike and paint the fog with a
soft transparent brush. Then create another layer, set
the blending mode to Vivid Light and draw some
highlights on the ground behind the bike. You can
also reduce the intensity of the fog by creating a new
layer over the fog with Multiply blending mode and
painting on it with a soft dark brush.

LENS FLARE

For more realism lets add a lens flare. Create a new layer above your light rays and fill it with a black
colour (go to Edit>Fill and in the Contents options choose Black from the drop-down list). Now go to
Filter>Render>Lens Flare. Place your flare in the top-left corner, set the lens Style to 105mm Prime and hit
the OK button. Now change the layers blending mode to Screen. You can also move and transform your Lens
Flare layer to get a better look and position.

048

06

THE LIGHT

08

VIGNETTING

If you have fog, there should be light rays.

Create a new layer in front of the bike and draw
some vertical light rays using a soft light-blue brush.
Then transform what you have just drawn using
perspective transformation (Edit>Transform>
Perspective) so that the top two points are connected
in the middle. The light rays should now be coming
from one point. Rotate them (Edit>Transform>
Rotate) and place them in the upper-left corner.
Adjust the layer transparency to give the rays a nice
look. To get a soft fade for your rays, add a layer
mask, and using the Gradient tool, draw a black to
white gradient on the mask.

One of the most important things in almost

every art piece is the accent on the main object. Lets
add some vignetting to bring more attention to your
bike. Create a new layer above all and set the
blending mode to Multiply. Using a soft black brush,
paint some black shadowing around the bike closer
to the edges of the canvas. Adjust the layer
transparency using a layer mask.

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LET IT RAIN!
USE CUSTOM BRUSHES AND THE DISPLACE FILTER TO CREATE RAIN AND A PUDDLE

09

CREATING THE RAIN

Now its time to add some falling water to your composition. Import the custom rain brushes on the
disc to your brushes library: choose the Brush tool and Ctrl/right-click anywhere on canvas, then left-click on
the gear icon in the top corner and choose Load Brushes from the menu. Now find Bike_rain_brushes.abr
and double-click on it. Voila, you have three rain brushes: one for rain, one for rain hitting the bike, and one for
the ripples. Now choose the first brush and set the brush colour to white. This is all you need to draw the rain.
001

003

10

RAIN HITTING THE BIKE

Now you have your rain, but it doesnt

interact with the bike as it would in reality. Lets fix
this up. Choose the second custom brush provided
on the disc and create a new layer above the bike,
then draw some rain splashes on all surfaces of the
bike where rain could hit. Now remove any
unnecessary splashes using a layer mask. Its not
easy the first time, but all you need is practice. To
achieve a more realistic look for the rain, you have to
experiment with brush size and transparency.

002

To achieve a more realistic

look for the rain, you have
to experiment with brush size
and transparency

001 TINY DROPS

Create a new layer under the bike. Set

the brush Size to 50 and paint until all
the canvas, with the exception of the
lowest part, is covered with dense rain

002 MEDIUM DROPS

Create another layer under the bike and

set the brush Size to 100, then start
painting bigger drops of rain to imply a
sense of depth in your image

003 LARGE DROPS

Create one more layer but this time place

it above the bike. Using a 200-400px
brush, draw some large drops. Now add
Gaussian Blur and blur your drops a bit

13
11

CREATING A PUDDLE 1

Create a new layer above the fog and fill it

with a dark-grey colour. Now open the layer blending
options and move the Underlying right slider to the
left until you get the right puddle border. Open
Bike_render.psd and copy the Puddle_reflection
layer into the document. Place this layer above the
puddle layer. Go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. Now
you will see a reflection on the surface of puddle.

12

CREATING A PUDDLE 2

The puddle is complete, but the rain is still

falling, so you need to add some raindrops rippling in
the puddle. Create a new layer over the bike
reflection. Choose the third custom brush, set the
brush colour to light blue and draw some ripples on
the puddle surface. Use a layer mask to hide some
ripples that you dont want to be visible. You need to
use different brush sizes to get a realistic texture.

CREATING A PUDDLE 3

You should have nice ripples, but the bike

reflection now has to be distorted. Lets add
distortion using the Displace filter. First you need to
make a displacement map. In the Layers panel,
select your ripples texture. Go to Layer>Duplicate
Layer and choose New from the drop-down menu in
the Destination options. Now create a new layer
under the ripples texture and fill it with a black colour.
Save this document as Displacement_map.psd. Go
to the main working document and select the bike
puddle reflection layer. Go to Filter>Distort>Displace
and set the Horizontal scale to 50 and the Vertical
scale to 0, then hit OK. In the opened window, select
Displacement_map.psd and hit OK again.

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TECHNIQUES COMBINE
3D & PHOTOSHOP
FINAL DETAILS
USE DIFFERENT ADJUSTMENT LAYERS, BLENDING MODES AND FILTERS TO FINALISE THE ARTWORK

14

ENHANCING CONTRAST

Now its time to add more depth to your

artwork. Select the top layer in the Layers panel,
then click on the adjustments icon in the bottom of
the panel and choose Curves. Drag down the lower
part of the curve to add more contrast to the image.
Use a layer mask to hide any unnecessary areas if
needed. You could even use several Curves layers to
get a better result.
QUICK TIP
Experiment with adjustment layers until you find
an effect that you are happy with. Colour, contrast
and hue are all important components of any
work of art. Only through experimentation will
you find your own style.

17

ADD COLOUR

18

FINAL SHARPENING

To add more colours, first click on the

adjustments icon in the bottom of Layers panel and
choose Color Balance. Select Shadows. Move the
Cyan/Red slider to the left slightly and the Yellow/
Blue slider to the right. Then select Highlights and
move the Yellow/Blue to the left a bit. Set this layers
blending mode to Color. You can use Hue/Saturation
adjustment layers with masks to enhance colour,
and also create a new layer with a Vivid Light blend
mode and paint over it with a soft white brush.

16

BIKE DETAILS

Now its time to add more details to the

bike. First you need to add some glossiness. Create a
new layer above all and set the blending mode to
Screen. Now, using a soft white brush, paint some
highlights in the brightest places. Secondly, create a
new layer and set the blending mode to Overlay. By
painting on this layer with a white brush you can
make some details brighter. Also use Hue/
Saturation and Brightness/Contrast layers to make
the bike details look better.

NOISE AND ABERRATIONS

To give your artwork a more realistic look,

lets use two filters: Add Noise and Lens Correction.
Create a new layer above all and fill it with 50% grey
(Go to Edit>Fill and choose 50% Gray from the
Contents drop-down menu, then hit OK). Then go to
Filter>Noise>Add Noise and set the Amount to 10%,
Distribution to Gaussian and hit OK again. Set the
layers blending mode to Overlay. Now go to
Select>All, then Edit>Copy Merged, then Edit>Paste
and finally go to Filter>Lens Correction>Custom and
set the Fix Red/Cyan Fringe slider to -50. Hit OK.

050

15

Finally, use the High Pass filter to sharpen your artwork. This will add more detail and make your
image more attractive. Duplicate the layer that you just created (Layer>Duplicate Layer>OK). Now go to
Filter>Other>High Pass and set the Radius to 3. Hit OK. Then go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. Set the
layers blending mode to Overlay. You can also add a layer mask and, using a soft black brush, remove any
overly sharp areas or areas you dont want to be sharp. Adjust the opacity of the layer to decrease the
sharpness slightly. Your moody artwork is now complete!

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052

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BUILD A FANTASY PHOTOCOMPOSITE

TECHNIQUES

PHOTOMANIPULATION

BUILD A FANTASY
PHOTOCOMPOSITE
JENNIFER CIRPICI TAKES YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS OF
CREATING THIS HOLLYWOOD INSPIRED ENVIRONMENT

hat you will learn in this tutorial are

several basic but essential techniques
to create a scene comprising multiple
photos. This workshop is inspired by
the lush, mountainous scenery in the movie Avatar.
The Zhangjiajie Mountains, located in China, inspired
the makers of Avatar to create the floating Hallelujah
Mountains; they also inspired us and we used stock
imagery of this range to create this artwork. Well go
into how you can combine real and painted elements
(the essence of matte painting) in depth.

Over the course of these steps well also look at

how you can blend stock easily and how essential
colouring is when it comes to setting an atmosphere.
This guide will not only help you to create these
Avatar-esque floating mountains, but also to
improve your future photomanipulations. Unlike the
scenes created for the film, you will only be using
Photoshop to achieve these effects. We recommend,
however, that you look up the inspiring Avatar
scenes first, or better still, (re)watch the movie to get
a few ideas for the composition and tone of the piece.

OUR EXPERT
JENNIFER CIRPICI

www.breakingcanvas.com

Cirpici is a self-taught graphic

designer and illustrator from the
Netherlands. She studied graphic
design, has worked for several big
agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi and
Leo Burnett, and is currently a
freelance digital artist.

CREATE A LUSH ENVIRONMENT

MANAGE YOUR STOCK, COLOURS AND BLENDING

WORK IN
PROGRESS
FROM REAL TO FANTASY

Progress 1: Stock search

Progress 2: Shadows & accents

01

STOCK SEARCH

The first step is to find some high-quality

mountain stock images. The sky was white in our
image and we wanted to add some clouds, so we
searched for good sky photos, pasted them over the
landscape, then blended using layer masks as well as
the Overlay, Multiply and Normal modes.

02

BRING IN SOME COLOUR

To add the green tint, create a new layer

filled with #f6f6e5 and set to Multiply. Now create a
new layer set to Multiply, but fill this with a bluish
gradient at 36% Opacity. Use Curves to up the
contrast and tweak the greens with a Color Balance
adjustment layer.

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Progress 3: More mist

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TECHNIQUES BUILD
A FANTASY PHOTOCOMPOSITE
QUICK TIP
You may find that you get stuck sometimes, and lose inspiration or motivation to continue with your
artwork. Some of the best solutions are to either sleep on it, take a couple of steps back from your screen
or, as we did in this tutorial, just change the perspective by flipping it horizontally.

03

MOUNTAINS AND BIRDS

Now add in some mountains from another

stock photo. Set the layers blending mode to Multiply
with an Opacity of 68%, then make the mountains a
little greyer so that they all blend well together. Blur
the mountains using the Gaussian Blur filter set to a
Radius of 5px because they are further away and this
will create a greater sense of depth. Finally, find
some nice bird images and paste them into the
composition, using the Edit>Transform options to
match the scenes perspective and scale.

04

FLOATING MOUNTAINS

With the help of CGTextures (www.cgtextures.com), source some free landscape stock images and
blend them together to produce a mountain reminiscent of those in Avatar. This is very much a matter of
artistic licence so you will have to decide on the scale, shape and which materials constitute your mountain
when you come to constructing it. As previously demonstrated, use layer masks to bring elements together,
as this will help to blend effectively using black and white brushes. Also, make sure that when you are using
these brushes that you are working with a low Flow value as this will help to achieve a smooth blend.

06
05

GRADIENT SHADING

Select the floating mountain and, with a black to transparent gradient, create a shadow at the bottom
of the scene, fading out towards the top of the image. Lower the Opacity to 28% and repeat this step. Select
parts of the mountains from the background and paste into the bottom to give it more texture. Well go into
more depth with this in a moment. At this stage, its a good idea to take a final look and check youre happy
with the composition. To do this, go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal.

054

DEPTH AND HIGHLIGHTS

To create depth and highlights, use a small,

hard brush, painting with black where you want to
generate a bit more shadow. Set this layer to the Soft
Light blending mode and lower the Opacity to around
70% with the brush Flow at 70% too. Follow the
same process with a hard white brush, this time
creating highlights with the layer set to Overlay. You
can use this technique with all your
photomanipulation projects to great effect.

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MAKE THE FANTASTICAL REAL
THE SECRET IS IN THE DETAILS

07

ADD SOME CLOUDS

To add realism to the floating mountain and

to establish its significant scale and airborne
position, import some clouds, placing them around
the bottom of the mountain. Render the clouds with
channels, put them on a new layer and then invert it
(Cmd/Ctrl+I). Now select the black parts (the clouds)
with the Magic Wand tool and erase the rest. Blur the
clouds with Filter>Motion Blur to lend them a greater
sense of movement.

08

SHADOWS, ACCENTS AND EERIE MIST

As this project goes on, and the more that you work on the mountain, the more likely you are to
notice that it requires more details. At this stage, for example, we decided that this image needs more
shadows and highlights. Repeat step 6 and go into more detail using a smaller brush. Its time-consuming
work, but this effort will pay dividends when it comes to the final result. To generate a mist effect, take a soft
brush, sample the colour from the background with the Eyedropper tool, and brush over the mountain and
background before switching to Soft Light blending.

10
09

ADD SOME PLANTS

In Avatar, the floating islands have long, vine-like plants to help people move from one island to
another, and you can also create these in your scene. Take a hard brush and draw some simple lines to get
the basic plant forms from one mountain to another. Then, with a green colour, add more lines over the first
set and then a final group of lines in a lighter tone for shading. You can also set some of the lines to Overlay.

MORE CURVE CHANGES

You can now add some shady plants to the

bottom of the scene and around the base of the
floating mountain. You can do this very simply by
taking the hard brush again and, with a grey colour,
drawing in plants that are hanging down. The trick is
that they dont have to look exactly like plants when
zoomed in, but when you zoom out they should look
convincingly like the silhouettes of trees or shrubs.
You only have to make these plants as complicated
as you want to.

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TECHNIQUES BUILD
A FANTASY PHOTOCOMPOSITE
THE FINAL TOUCHES
WRAP UP YOUR FANTASY WORLD

12
11

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

13

SPLASH OUT

Once again you need to add more highlights you can never get enough of them! The more you
have, the more detail there will be in your scene and the better it will ultimately look. You can also add a bit of
green here and there with a hard brush. By doing this you give the image a more digitally painted feeling, but
dont forget to make sure that everything blends well together, with no one area stealing the show.

Before making a waterfall, look up some

references to get an idea of the basic structure. As
you will see, there isnt too much detail in a waterfall
its basically a white cloud. Take a soft brush at
around 150px, brush a thick line in white and then
apply Soft Light blending at 25% Opacity. This is the
start of the waterfall and shows how its floating. You
can now add a couple of finer lines either side of the
waterfall to serve as edges.

056

14

MOUNTAIN EDGES

Because you could never render the rock in

a way that makes the plants at the edges look good
too, you need to add your own flora and fauna to the
mountain edges. This will help to better blend the
mountain into the sky and reduce that copy and
pasted feel. Again, you dont have to paint the plants
or leaves very realistically as theyre in the distance
and shrouded by mist. But be sure not to use only
one colour when doing this always add in highlight
and shadow tones too.

WATERFALL DETAILS

With a soft brush sized around 500px, brush once more into the waterfall, but lower the Opacity to
28% and set the blending mode to Soft Light. For details, zoom in and use a hard brush to make a couple of
small strokes and then, on a new layer, add a series of lines. If they look too hard, you can blur them a bit. Add
vertical lines until satisfied, then apply some smoky mist underneath the cascade.

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QUICK TIP
When you digitally paint, you can use the Rotate View tool to navigate your whole screen. This way you can
paint more detailed elements without having to turn your head. It makes everything much more
comfortable to do.

16
15

RAINBOW EFFECT

Waterfalls can often be seen with a rainbow near them due to light refracting through the moving
water. Create a subtle rainbow with your hard brush, as per the screenshot, lowering the Opacity to 80%.
Change the layer to the Soft Light mode and apply a Gaussian blur so that the rainbow doesnt draw too much
attention. With the soft brush set to the Soft Light mode, add a little more mist coming off the waterfall.

17

MOUNTAIN SHADOW

Because its a floating mountain, you need

to add its shadow to the area its suspended over. We
decided to put some shadow on the rocky column
closest to it and on the ground using the soft brush
set to black at a lowered opacity. Make sure you
never do just one shadow for realism, apply
several layers of shadow that become darker the
closer they get to the object. Dont mess too much
with the blending options when it comes to shadows,
either, as they need to be almost completely black.

MORE MIST

As one of the final steps, you are going to

add yet more mist around the floating mountain and
make the vegetation around the edges a little
greener. The mist will help the mountain merge
seamlessly with everything else in the scene and it
also enhances the surreal and mysterious mood you
want the image to have. Never make your mist too
white, though. Instead, use a colour in the same
shade as the background, so in this case give it a
green tint. Switch the mist layer to the Soft Light
blending mode and set the Opacity to 30%.

18

FINAL TOUCHES

Now you can play with Brightness/Contrast, Levels and Curves

adjustment layers. To get focus in this artwork, you can also create a
black to white radial gradient on a new layer set to Soft Light and 30%
Opacity. The white circle goes wherever you want to draw focus. Create
a new layer, fill it with black and go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise (12.5%
and Monochromatic). Set this layer to Soft Light and just 5% Opacity.
Last but not least, wrap up the image with a Smart Sharpen filter.

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CUSTOM BRUSHES
For this tutorial, we didnt just
use Photoshops standard
hard and soft brushes, but we
also used a brush set from
one of our favourite artists,
Dan LuVisi. You can download
the set for free from his
deviantART gallery at http://
danluvisiart.deviantart.com/
gallery/9827508?rnrd=2384.
Do read the usage instructions
before you use them though.
LuVisi is a great artist and this
is a fantastic resource, so
theyre worth downloading
when working on a matte
painting project like this.

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Sonar Fates Limited

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TECHNIQUES

HOW I MADE

HOW I MADE

SHIVER ME SNEAKERS
DEAN FALSIFY COOK

THIS TALENTED ARTIST, WHO WORKS UNDER THE MONIKER OF SONAR

FATES LIMITED, SHARES THE SECRETS OF HIS ILLUSTRATIVE STYLE

ean Falsify Cook, aka Sonar Fates

(www.sonarfates.com) is a
UK-based designer and illustrator.
This design was Cooks winning
entry to an Adidas Originals competition
hosted by Talenthouse. The brief was to use
elements of Adidas to create a unique
concept for its Originals line. As soon as I
read the brief, says Cook, I knew I wanted
to create something fun and of mini-epic
proportions using characters that I had been
developing for my forthcoming comic.

I quickly settled on the idea of a pirate ship

negotiating the treacherous high seas
looking for Adidas Originals bounty, but as it
turned out they were not the only ones in
search of the prized loot
Cook envisioned the whole campaign as
a series of tales of this boats encounters as
it ventured to unknown places seeking
Adidas merchandise. The image ended up
being printed in VICE magazine as a special
pop-up feature. Here Cook shows us how
he transformed it from a simple sketch

01

ROUGH SKETCH

Everything begins with a loose sketch in my

Moleskine. Im not thinking about fundamentals at this
stage, as all I am trying to do is explore my mind a little.

02

INTO
PHOTOSHOP

03

SURFACE DETAILS

I import photos of the

sketches into Photoshop
and begin to block in the
shapes to help me better
understand the
composition. This
particular piece was a
simple, face-on
perspective, so not a lot
of work was required
regarding vanishing
points, etc.

I begin to add surface details with the Pen and

Gradient tools, which help to break up the blocky
shapes. Im a sucker for details so I probably go
overboard with this step on most of my pieces.

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04

05

LIGHTING

I like to create the

illusion of form in my work
and this is accomplished
by imagining how the light
will affect my shapes. This
is perhaps the most
crucial part of my whole
process and is where an
understanding of art
fundamentals really helps.

06

SPECULAR HIGHLIGHTS

To create intense specular highlights, I warp primitive shapes inside

a group set to the Color Dodge blending mode. This is a trick I use a lot.

OCEAN LAYERS

This was the first time I had attempted to illustrate the ocean, but I
achieved this particular look by using simple shapes and gradients set to a low
opacity. I slowly built up the layers until the desired result was achieved.

07

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

My process is very technical, but I think it is

important to take a painterly attitude and let things build up
and develop on their own. It is important for me to let my
sub-conscious speak thats where we can find the magic.

THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE

DEAN SHARES HIS TOP TIP FOR CREATING STRIKING DESIGNS
I think it is the duty of every creative to be inspired by as wide a spectrum
of influences as possible. So my bonus tip would be to read more, watch
more, experience more and understand more. Develop an unquenchable
desire for knowledge and watch it drip back into your work.

08

COMBINING ADJUSTMENT LAYERS

The final step on any piece is experimenting with adjustment layers

and combinations of them. These can have a very dramatic effect on your image
and should never be neglected. My problem is deciding which works best!

060

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WorldMags.net

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062

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CUSTOM LIGHT UI ELEMENTS

TECHNIQUES

GRAPHICS

CUSTOM LIGHT UI
ELEMENTS
DESIGN FULLY SCALABLE UI KIT ELEMENTS WITH VECTOR
SHAPES AND LAYER STYLES

visually appealing user interface plays a

key role in a project involving interactive
elements. It should be assuredly simple,
intuitive, unobtrusive and pleasant to use.
This is something that many designers strive for,
and will often have a knock-on effect on the
success of the application or device.
In this tutorial, we aim to achieve this simplicity
through shapes, artificial depth and lighting. You will
learn how to design a dial using vector shapes and

layer styles, and how to manage light and shadow

effects to achieve a design that is both clean and
eye-catching.
As we know today, bitmap or Smart Object
scaling can produce softer edges, whereas
Photoshop vector shapes maintain their sharpness.
As we seek to preserve the sharpness of shapes at
any resolution, it is necessary to use the vector
shapes available in Photoshop. These techniques
can then be re-used in other design projects.

www.behance.net/cyriljuliane
Juliani is a self-taught graphic
designer from France. He has a
passion for all kinds of creative
media and worked widely in the
electronic dance music industry
until now.

SOURCE FILES

VECTOR BASED ELEMENTS

Go to www.bariol.com to find the

font needed in this project. It is free
to use.

ESTABLISH A WORK PLAN IDENTIFYING KEY ELEMENTS

01

OUR EXPERT
CYRIL JULIANI

DOCUMENT SETUP

As your document
should fit with every standard
resolution, start with a reasonable
minimum resolution. Go to
File>New and set Width at 1024px,
Height at 768px and Resolution at
72dpi. You can easily increase the
pixel density later for any other
resolution requirements. Also, add
horizontal and vertical guides
(View>New Guide) and centre
them in the document.

WORK IN
PROGRESS
DIAL FROM START TO FINISH

Progress 1: Main shapes

Progress 2: Shadows and pointer

02

BACKGROUND COLOUR

A light background will be used to contrast

the darker effects from layer styles. Pick a light
colour (#e0e0e0) and press Opt/Alt+Delete to fill the
background layer. You can add a subtle gradient
effect to give the global light a main direction. Add a
standard Gradient Overlay layer style, setting the
gradient to Linear style from black to white and
Opacity to 2%.

03

BASIC SHAPES

Three vector shapes are used to create the

dial, along with one extra circle that outlines the
outer ring. To create your own, first select the Ellipse
tool, then draw a centred circle and adjust the Radius
to 350px. Next, make two duplicates and rescale
them (Cmd/Ctrl+T) to 315px. Do the same for
another duplicate with a diameter set to 530px,
drawing the outer ring.

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Progress 3: Circular selection

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TECHNIQUES CUSTOM
LIGHT UI ELEMENTS

04

POSITION MARKERS

You are going to make the outer markers.

With the Ellipse tool, make a 25px diameter circle in
the outer ring at the top of the dial. It will be the
activated marker. Duplicate (Cmd/Ctrl+J) and
transform this circle (Cmd/Ctrl+T). Hold Opt/Alt to
drag the circles anchor to the centre of the dial.
Rotate it from an angle of 45. Press Enter and
repeat the operation six times by duplicating and
rotating (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+T). You can group the layers
for normal markers and take the top marker apart in
the Layers panel.

05

INNER DIAL EFFECTS

To give the user interface elements a

realistic appearance, just analyse shape, light and
shadow interactions around you. You will use the
same approach according to the top lighting. Go back
to the very first circle you created and add a Linear
Gradient with very soft greyscale (#d4d4d4 to
#f7f7f7). Then, use a black Inner Shadow, setting
Opacity to 8%, Angle to -90, and both Distance and
Size to 8px. You can also add a Drop Shadow, setting
Opacity to 16%, Angle to 90, Distance to 3px and
Size to 10px.

To give the user interface elements a realistic appearance,

analyse shape, light and shadow interactions around you

06

INNER DIAL GRADIENTS

Apply a Linear Gradient to an inner circle

with softer greyscale (#dedede to #ededed). Set both
Inner Shadow and Drop Shadow to white and
Normal blend mode, respectively setting Opacity to
60% and 60%, Angle to -90 and 90, Distance to 4px
and 2px, and Size to 5px and 5px. For the other circle,
set the Fill Opacity in the Blending Options to 0%.
Then, set both Inner Shadow and Drop Shadow to
black, respectively setting Opacity to 5% and 7%,
Angle to 90 and -90, Distance to 5px and 3px and
Size to 21px and 5px.

QUICK TIP
A realistic scene can be improved by several types of shade: cast shadows of objects, which can be sharp
or soft; limited shadow at the intersections of objects; ambient shadow, which is broader; or blurred,
discrete and core shadow on objects subtracted from the incident light rays.

07

MAIN DROP SHADOW

Duplicate the first circle again and set the

Opacity to 23%. Apply a Color Overlay style, setting
the colour to black, deselect any other style and
move this layer under the dial layer. Move the circle
down by 50px by holding Opt/Alt. Then, display the
properties values (Window>Properties) of the vector
shape and set Feather to 27px for the vector mask.

064

08

DIAL POINTER

Now that the dial is created, you can make its pointer. Select the Rounded Rectangle tool, set the
Radius to 15px and draw a rounded rectangle, setting Width to 25px and Height to 120px. Make sure the shape
is central on the vertical guide at the top of the dial, slightly exceeding the top edge by about 10px. For the next
part, the pointer must be integrated into the dial, so a subtle depth effect is needed.

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LAYER STYLES

SETTINGS IN PHOTOSHOP
There are many resources that allow you to
create quality designs using layer styles in
Photoshop. These are a popular way to achieve
any effect with the right knowledge and
experience. Only technical approaches change
and should be exploited in piece. In this way,
learn to handle each setting individually and ask
yourself how to combine them to achieve a
particular look.
For example, gradients are powerful for
adding depth to any design. Combined with the
right style, you can create shapes that interact
with the environment, such as light reflections,
shadows and textures.

USE THESE OPTIONS TO CREATE SHINY AND EMBEDDED ELEMENTS

09

DIM LED LIGHT

In a bright environment, its always useful to

accentuate light sources with an eye-catching colour
variation instead of outer glow effects degrading
lighting quality. In this way, apply a Gradient Overlay,
choose the Linear style and use the standard black
and white gradient. Then, add a Color Overlay, setting
a bluish colour (#65b5f0) and Opacity to 83%. The
idea is to give a way to the pointer by highlighting the
outermost side.

10

DIM LED LIGHT 2

Lighting can be added with an Inner Glow

use a bluish colour (#7fc9ff), setting the blend
mode to Color Dodge, Opacity to 30%, Source to
Center, Size to 10px and Contour to Half Round. Also,
you could try to add some volume with a glass
effect. Apply a Bevel & Emboss style, setting the Size
to 4px, a Shading Angle to 90 and Altitude to 50,
Highlight Mode Opacity to 70% and finally Shadow
Mode to 20%.

In a bright environment, its always useful to accentuate light

sources with an eye-catching colour variation instead of outer
glow effects degrading lighting quality

11

DIM LED LIGHT 3

Finally, you can enhance this volume effect

using an Outer Glow with Color set to grey (#b5b5b5),
Opacity to 100%, Blend Mode to Normal and Size to
5px. Also, add a Drop Shadow, setting Blend Mode to
Normal with a white colour, Distance to 9px and Size
to 5px, at an angle of 90. This style allows you to
show light at the outer edge of the pointer, taking
into account the overall lighting. You should now
have a coherent object with a modern and soft look.

12

EMBEDDED POSITION MARKERS

Now that you have a pointer, you need to

give it some functionality. Apply a Color Overlay to
the top marker with a grey colour (#969696) and a
Stroke, setting Size to 2px, Position to Outside, Fill
Type to Gradient and a greyscale Linear gradient
(#c0c0c0 to #e9e9e9) from top to bottom at an angle
of -90. Copy and paste this layer style to each layer,
drawing a position marker. Make sure that these
layers are underneath the shadows from the dial.

13

ACTIVATED MARKER AND OUTER RING

Select the top marker and as you already

did before for the dial pointer, add the same Inner
Glow and change the Color Overlay (#65b5f0). Finally,
select the outer ring layer and add a black Inner
Glow, setting Opacity to 6px and a Stroke setting Size
to 1px, Blend Mode to Lighten, Opacity to 80%, Fill
Type to Gradient, and a Linear black to white gradient
at an angle of -90. For the final touch, add text as in
the example with the Bariol font.

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I MADE

HOW I MADE

THE JUNGLE

SYLVAIN
BILODEAU
FREELANCE ARTIST SYLVAIN BILODEAU TAKES US THROUGH
THE MAKING OF HIS URBAN JUNGLE

ylvain Bilodeau reveals the creation behind

this mixed-media illustration he named
The Jungle.
Without letting go of his expertise in
traditional art, Bilodeau uses Photoshop to re-create
watercolour and inking effects that he learned
before getting hold of the program. So The Jungle is

more of a reflection of how he uses Photoshop to

digitalise his foundations in art, and we think hes
done a fine job.
But its not just about Photoshop with this image,
as he had to call upon additional software to make
the dynamic visuals involved. CINEMA 4D was
instrumental in forming the complete picture.

When asked what inspires him, he explains:

Music is a big part in my creative process. It always
starts with music. Im also inspired a lot by fashion
photography and 3D imagery. So The Jungle is a
blend of what inspires me the most.
If you like what you see here, why not head over
to Bilodeaus portfolio at www.sylver.biz.

02

EMPLOY BACKGROUND

03

ENHANCEMENTS

I used 3D renders for the background

composition, and layer masks to clean things up. At
this stage I wanted to experiment with different
positions. If you are aiming for an abstract feel, I
strongly recommend learning 3D in CINEMA 4D.

01

BASIC SETUP

The model was cut out using the Pen tool. I worked with layer masks to eliminate the unwanted
sections of the body. Then I added the tattoos using Darken blend mode and lowered the Opacity.

066

I worked with halftone images to add

fuzziness, and used different blend modes as well.
For the final tweaks I used the Vibrance, Levels,
Curves and Black & White adjustment layers. Layer
masks are crucial to use with each adjustment.

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BLEND GRAPHICS

TECHNIQUES

GRAPHICS

BLEND GRAPHICS
MIX PHOTOSHOP AND 3D SOFTWARE TO CREATE A
SYMMETRICAL, ABSTRACT IMAGE COMPOSITION

f you are a videogame enthusiast or designer

and you enjoy experimenting, then this tutorial
is for you. In it, you will learn how to combine
3D and 2D software to create an artwork in
Photoshop using just a single object previously
sculpted in Blender.
Blender is an amazing 3D program, and on top of
this, its free! Go to www.blender.org to download it
for all operating systems. Trying out a completely
new program might be a bit intimidating at first, but
as you will learn in this tutorial, brilliant artwork can
be created with only basic knowledge. There are
loads of great beginner tutorials on the internet that

will make you familiar with the basics. You dont

need to be an expert just dive into it, play around
and have fun! Through persistent trial and error you
will improve.
Symmetrical compositions can be very powerful,
but its important to create details that capture the
eye and use interesting colour contrasts to make it
look dynamic, especially when only using one
element as a base. Through repetition you can
achieve an exciting, almost fractal effect.
You will also add classic Eighties-inspired
videogame elements to round up the image and
give it that final retro touch.

http://verticolab.com

Amrei Hofsttter is a freelance

illustrator, designer and
science-fiction fanatic living and
working in Berlin. She mostly
creates her colourful, geometrical
designs for fashion and music labels.

SOURCE FILES

BUILD IN BLENDER
CREATE 3D SHAPES IN BLENDER BEFORE COMPOSING IN PHOTOSHOP

01

OUR EXPERT
AMREI HOFSTTTER

OPEN BLENDER

First you will create the

3D object as a base for your
composition. Download, install
and open the Blender software.
Upon start it will automatically
open up a new file in 3D view with
a default cube in the centre. As
you want your final image to be
robotic and geometrical, this cube
is just what you need.

Files for this tutorial can be found at

http://blog.advancedphotoshop.co.
uk/tutorial-files. You will find the
Blender file with the 3D object used
for this image. Manipulate it or
experiment with different
perspectives to create a new
composition.

WORK IN
PROGRESS
FROM SIMPLE CUBE TO
ROBOT VILLAIN

Progress 1: Shapes in Blender

02

SCULPT AN ABSTRACT OBJECT

Switch from Object mode to Edit mode to

sculpt the cube. Manipulate vertices, edges and faces
in whatever way you want. Give different colours and
transparency to different parts of the shape. Copy
and paste several objects together. Add light sources
like spots or lamps to add atmosphere to the scene.

03

PREPARE FOR PHOTOSHOP

Press [0] to see how your rendered result

will look from the point of view of the camera. This is
the perspective your rendered image will have.
Move, scale (select the object then press [S]) or spin
(select the object then press [R]) the object around
and find the most interesting perspective.

Symmetrical compositions can be very powerful, but its

important to create details that capture the eye
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Progress 2: Comp in Photoshop

Progress 3: Add final details

069

WorldMags.net
TECHNIQUES BLEND
GRAPHICS
QUICK TIP
In a Photoshop file with many layers it can become difficult to maintain an overview and
find the layer a specific element of your work is located on. For quick access to a layer,
click on a graphic while pressing Cmd/Ctrl to open the layer selection window.

04

SWITCH TO PHOTOSHOP

06

CREATE AN INTRIGUING COMPOSITION

05

The time has come to finish your Blender work. In the render section of Blender
you can increase the image size. Go to Render>Image then Image>Save as Image to
export your image file. Open Photoshop and open the exported PNG file. As you will see, it
maintained the colour and transparency effects you applied in Blender, but it has now a dull
grey background you need to get rid of. Go around the object with the Polygonal Lasso tool,
remembering to make enough steps on the way. Crop out the background.

You will have come up with several different

elements, so now its time to put them all together.
As your composition is symmetrical, its important to
make it as exciting as possible though colours and
outstanding elements. Blend them together
differently. Use the Hue/Saturation option to change
the colour of some elements using a contrasting
colour palette. Make some parts stand out more by
playing with the intensity of the colours. By giving the
outer elements a different, darker colour than the
centre, you will give the composition a layered look
with more depth.

070

07

EXPERIMENT WITH ABSTRACT SHAPES

Open a new document in Photoshop with rectangular

dimensions. Add a black background with the Paint Bucket tool. Drag
and drop the cropped object into the new file. Now the fun part begins!
You want to make something that appears mechanical and robotic
what interesting graphics and patterns can you create with it? Copy it
and reflect it horizontally and vertically, put pieces together, cut off
elements, rotate it, and put layers on top of each other while playing
with the layer blending modes. You can create entirely new shapes!

!$$!4(2%%$)-%.3)/.!,%&&%#4

It already looks quite interesting, but the

composition still seems a little flat. What you want is
for some elements to stand out and appear closer to
the foreground. You can do this with a subtle use of
the Glow layer style. Place some small pieces into
the centre, copy it and move it downwards a little.
Now double-click the layer and add Style>Outer Glow
with an intense blue colour, Screen blending mode
and an Opacity of about 30%, not more. Now it looks
like its floating in the foreground.

08

ADD GLASS

You want your machine to have some

glassy, transparent elements. To create the glass,
draw a simple black rectangle with the Rectangle
tool. Use the Direct Selection tool to create an
interesting shape. Set the blending mode of the layer
to Exclusion. Double-click on the layer to access the
layer effects and add Style>Inner Glow, set to Screen
blending mode and with 90% Opacity. Duplicate and
rotate the shapes to make them look like several
layers of glass.

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WorldMags.net
BRING POWER TO THE PAGE
ADJUST THE COMPOSITION AND ADD RETRO SPECIAL EFFECTS

09

LET IT BREATHE!

Revise your image. Your composition might have got too big and be filling up too
much space on the canvas. You need to reduce the size of the graphic to give it some free
space to breathe and maximise its impact. Lots of designers are scared of empty space,
but you will see the difference immediately.
003

10

ADD FADING LASER BEAMS

You now want to open up the composition by adding some

laser beams that subtly connect the graphic to the background. Copy
several pairs of the glass shapes you made in the previous step and
arrange them, getting wider towards the outside. To make them fade,
use this simple trick: make a white rectangle and place it on top of the
light beams. Add Layer Style>Inner Glow>Multiply>100% Black and set
the layer to Multiply. The light seems like its fading. Should some outer
parts of the glow still be visible, cover them with a black brush.

002

IMPORTING FROM BLENDER INTO PHOTOSHOP

Should you work with the Photoshop Extended version, you can
import Blender objects directly into Photoshop without having to
crop off a background and even rotate them in 3D! To do that, open
your Blender file, go to Blender Export>Export file as Wavefront
(.obj). Now open Photoshop, open the OBJ file, double-click on the
layer and you will have a top menu popping up with several options.
Should you have applied a texture to your mesh, you can
double-click on Texture in the Layers panel to apply changes.

001

001 REPEAT OBJECTS

Make several new graphical

elements by experimenting with
one basic object

002 COMPOSITION

Create a powerful composition by

putting the pieces together on a
big and small scale

003 PACK A PUNCH

Give your composition a layered

appearance by applying layer
effects to some elements

Reduce the size of the graphic to give it some free

space to breathe and maximise its impact

11

ADD A GLOWING CENTRE

You want the eye to be drawn towards its

centre. Videogame villains always have a weak spot,
so you will give it a bright target right in the middle.
Create a diamond-like shape with the Rectangle tool.
Give it an intense magenta colour and set the
blending mode to Overlay. Copy it, scale the copy,
and set it to Multiply with a bright pink. Copy and
scale it once more, now in white. Give each target an
Outer Glow in Screen mode in its respective colour.

12

A LITTLE BIT OF RETRO

You want to give your image a nice, retro

videogame touch, so you want to create a classic
wireframe grid. You could do this by drawing all the
lines separately, but there is a much quicker way via
creating a pattern: open up a square-shaped new
document, select all, go to Edit>Stroke and fill the
line with black. Now go to Edit>Define Pattern, open
a new document and go to Edit>Fill>Pattern. Now
use the Free Transform tool to give it perspective.

13

THE FINAL STAGE

Place your grid into the image and put it

below your robot villain. Add a new layer, fill it with
the Paint Bucket tool and give it a Radial gradient in
the layer effects palette, which you can access by
double-clicking on the layer in the Layers panel. Set
the gradient from inside blue to outside black, then
experiment with its dimensions until you find the
right size. Now your robot is floating above a glowing
grid fading into darkness.

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071

TECHNIQUES HOWWorldMags.net
I MADE

Nik Ainley

072

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WorldMags.net
HOW I MADE

LAPUTA

NIK
AINLEY
NIK AINLEY EXPLAINS HIS TRIBUTE TO STUDIO GHIBLI WITH LAPUTA,
AND HOW HE USED PHOTOSHOP COMBINED WITH 3D TO CREATE IT

reated as a tribute to one of his favourite Studio Ghibli films Laputa, also known as Castle In The Sky,
UK-based digital illustrator Nik Ainley (www.shinybinary.com) chose to create this scene to be a
simple character study, with the grass and plants used to test ZBrushs FiberMesh system.
I did the majority of the modelling in 3ds Max as it is the 3D environment I am most familiar with,
Ainley explains, Once this was done I imported the model into ZBrush for the next stage. A very simple
clay-like material was used for the robot as this matched what was described in the film. The scene was then
lit with a simple three-point light system, and ZBrush was used to produce a series of renders at different
settings to give more flexibility in post-production. It was then that the renders were taken and composited in
Photoshop to complete the final piece.

A very simple clay-like

material was used for the
robot as this matched what
was described in the film

02

APPLYING MASKS AND

ADJUSTMENT LAYERS

03

FINAL DETAILS

Using a render with different parts of the model in

red, green and blue allowed me to create masks
from the different RGB channels. Adjustment layers
with various blending modes and masks produced in
the previous step then allowed the image to be
tweaked in a controlled fashion.

01

IMPORTING FROM 3D

First I imported the main diffuse render into Photoshop and used the rendered alpha channel to
extract the model from its background. Since I wanted the focus to be on the model, I added a very simple
background, just a few gradients and clouds using the Brush tool.

Blending other renders, such as an ambient

occlusion render and cavity map, helped to bring out
detail. The final step was to add a little bit of depth of
field blur. Using the depth map feature in lens blur
and a rendered depth map made this more precise.

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073

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074

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WorldMags.net
PHOTOREAL EFFECTS

TECHNIQUES

PHOTOMANIPULATION

PHOTOREAL EFFECTS
LEARN TO BLEND AND COMPOSITE IMAGES FROM DIFFERENT
SOURCES TO CREATE A DYNAMIC RACE SCENE

nhance your compositing skills and learn

how to create a photoreal image with this
tutorial. You will be taken through all the
phases right from inception to completion,
learning new techniques in the process. This will
also open avenues for new methods of approach
and execution.
You will start by aligning your assets, followed by
cutting the car and brushing in the shadows. You
will also be taken through removing objects and
extending sets, as well as converting daytime
scenes to night and converting static imagery into a
dynamic shot. You will learn to add visual effects

such as smoke, water splashes, reflections, colour

leaks and rain. We will also take you through adding
subtle details such as lights on buildings and
improving contrast and shape.
Amidst all the Photoshop tools available, the
most important tool will always be your eye. It is not
about punching certain numbers in to obtain the
right effects; there is no standard formula. Use your
eye to determine if you need to add or remove
elements, or if the composition is okay as it is.
By the end of this tutorial, you will have a better
understanding of compositing assets to create
striking visual imagery.

OUR EXPERT
AMAR KAKAD

www.amarkakad.info

Amar Kakad is a creative retoucher

and 2D/3D CGI artist. His passion lies
in creating dynamic visual imagery.
His ambition is to one day direct a
dance video combining projection
mapping and VFX.

SOURCE FILES

COMBINE AND ALIGN IMAGES

SCALE AND MATCH PERSPECTIVE BEFORE ADDING EFFECTS

01

On the disc you will find the full list of

stock images used and where to
download them from.

ADD SOURCE FILES

TO STACK

Before you begin, you need to

download both the car and
background files from the source
disc and load them into a stack in
Photoshop (File>Script>Load files
into stack). Make sure the Car
layer is over the Background
layer. Once the car is overlaid, use
the Pen tool to mask the car from
its original background.

WORK IN
PROGRESS
FROM INCEPTION TO
COMPLETION

Progress 1: Align the photos

Progress 2: Create the effects

02

ALIGN BOTH IMAGES

Angle the car to make it more dynamic.

Again, the most important tool is your eye. Scale,
align and use the Perspective tool to match it closely
to the perspective of the road, but be careful not to
distort it too much. Use Edit>Transform>Perspective
to alter the perspective of the car to match the road.

03

BRUSH IN THE SHADOW

The next step is to duplicate the Car layer

and place it below, then title it Shadow. Invert the
mask to reveal the shadow of the car and mask the
areas you want to keep. You can also change the
blending mode of this layer to Overlay to blend it
nicely onto the road.

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Progress 3: Colour and shape

075

WorldMags.net
TECHNIQUES PHOTOREAL
EFFECTS

04

CLONING AND EXTENSION

Now you need to remove the cones on the

road in the foreground. You can do this using the
Clone Stamp tool. Over your Background layer,
create a new blank layer. Enable your Clone Stamp
tool and from the main Toolbar on the top, enable
Current & Top. Now, using neighbouring areas of the
road, remove the cones. In this case, as the car will
cover the majority of the road, it does not have to be
too precise. Do the same for the buildings.

07

05

ADD BLUR TO THE BACKGROUND

It is now time to blur the road to give the

image a sense of movement and speed. Since this is
a linear movement, you can create this using
Filter>Blur> Radial Blur. Use an Amount of about
5-10 based on the speed you want to portray. In this
case use 7. Under the Blur Method options, enable
Zoom, under the Quality options, use Best, and in
Blur Center, match the centre of the grid to the
horizon of the background.

REFLECTIONS ON THE ROAD

08

WATER SPLASH

You now need to create a reflection on the

road, as you are creating a rainy scene, which will
result in a reflective surface. What you need to do is
make a copy of your Car layer and flip it vertically.
Apply Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to give it a hazy feel
and also reduce the Opacity to keep the intensity
minimal. You can use a value of 3 in this case. You
will also need to repeat this process for the
background buildings.

SMOKE

You will now add smoke behind the car for a dramatic effect reason being that when a fast car
comes into contact with tar, it generates a smoky effect. Look for free smoke images on Google and
www.cgtextures.com. Find something against a darker background. Bring in the image and place it behind
the car and surrounding areas of the wheels. Set it to Screen mode. This makes it transparent. If you see other
artefacts, mask them out using the Brush tool.
QUICK TIP
If you want to add a blur, before applying, convert this layer to a Smart Filter and apply it. You will find this
under Filter>Convert for Smart Filters. This technique allows you to click on the layer and amend the value.
This is a non-destructive technique.

076

06

Since this is going to be a rainy scene, you

will need to add water splashes behind the car and
surrounding areas of the wheels. Search for water
splash images on www.cgtextures.com. Find
something against a darker background. As in the
previous step, bring in the image and place it behind
the car and surrounding areas of the wheels, then
set it to Screen. Mask out artefacts with the Brush.

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WorldMags.net
INTEGRATE OTHER ELEMENTS
ADD OTHER DRAMATIC EFFECTS AND COLOUR GRADE

09

RAIN

12

CAR LIGHT STREAKS

Time to make it pour. To create the rain, add

a new layer and fill it with black. Go to Filter>Noise>
Add Noise. Set an Amount of 100, Gaussian
Distribution and enable Monochromatic. Scale this
layer to 300-400%, then add Filter>Blur>Motion Blur.
In this case angle it at 70-85 so it is not completely
straight and set an Amount between 100-150. Put
this in Screen mode and add a Curves adjustment for
some additional contrast.

For creating car light streaks, search for

free images on www.deviantart.com. Look for
images that are on dark backgrounds, preferably
black. Place the images behind the car and position
them accordingly. Change the blend mode to Screen.
Brush out any artefacts you do not require. In certain
instances you will need to distort them and also
apply a Gaussian Blur of value 1 to eliminate
artefacts. You can change their colours with Hue/
Saturation depending on your choice. In this case you
can leave it on white.

10

DARKEN THE BACKGROUND

13

CONTRAST, GRADING AND SHAPE

Now you need to grade the image. As you

are creating a night scene, you will use adjustment
layers that help to darken images. Use Curves for
darkening the top and bottom section and also for
contrast. Use Hue/Saturation for desaturation. In this
case, reduce the Saturation to -5. Also use Exposure
and Brightness/Contrast to darken the imagery. Use
Color Balance to add blues. Keep the car bright by
adding lightness with the Curves tool.

11

COLOUR LEAKS AND FLARES

To add colour leaks and flares, you will need

to create a new layer and set it to Screen. Use bright
colours such as red, orange, yellow and blue, then
paint across areas of the image with varying brush
opacities. In terms of placement for flares, you can
use them to enhance the traffic lights, lights within
the buildings, etc. Approach this effect by enhancing
the lit areas and then start brushing across areas
that could provide more dynamism to the shot.

This is where you will need to enhance the image to bring out colour, grit and dynamism using colour
adjustments. These can be found in the Layers panel under the adjustment layers section. You can start with
the Color Balance tool. Adjust the midtones by adding a value of -10 for Cyan, 5 for Green and 5 for Blue. Also
add Photo Filter using Green and reduce the Opacity to 20% so it is subtle. Add a Curves layer with an
increased contrast, which helps accentuate the texture.

Amidst all the Photoshop tools available, the most

important tool is your eye
WorldMags.net

077

WorldMags.net
TECHNIQUES PHOTOREAL
EFFECTS
ADJUSTING FINER DETAILS
USE THE UNSHARP MASK TO KEEP FOCUS ON THE CAR

14

SWITCH ON THE LIGHTS

Since you have converted a daytime shot

into a night scene, it would be nice to add lights to the
buildings on top to help add realism. Create a new
layer and using the Lasso tool, draw the shape of a
window the size of the one you would like to add
lights to. Fill with white and change the blending
mode to Overlay, then reduce the opacity to your
liking, as it will vary for each. Apply Gaussian Blur of
2-3 to soften the edges.

15

SHARPEN

You have almost reached the end of the

tutorial. You will now need to sharpen your main
subject in the image, which is the car. You will also
need to merge all layers for this step. Go to Layer>
Merge Visible. Apply Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask.
Under Amount, use a value of 100. For Radius, use a
value of 4 and a Threshold of 1. Watch how sharp the
image is. Mask this layer and only brush in the areas
of the car.

16

HOTSPOTS

To give the car a glossy and shiny feel, you

will now add hotspots. These are spots of light you
generally find on the edges of objects or alongside
them, depending on the angle of light that reflects on
them. Create a new blank layer and using a soft
brush, place them on areas around the car. Generally
you can add 2-3 of these. You can also add a tint of
colour using Hue/Saturation. In this case you can
add a yellow tint.

QUICK TIP
When brushing for masking or for adding colours, use varying brush opacities as it helps in the process of
blending, just like an artist would with their brush strokes. It gives you more fluidity. Also, keep merging
your files and layers along the way to reduce the file size.

17

NOISE

For the last couple of steps, you will need to

add some noise over the top of your image. The
reason for adding it is to conceal certain artefacts
and banding that may have been caused and
generated in the image during the process of
blending, grading and compositing assets. Create a
blank layer. Fill it with 50% Gray. Set this layer to
Overlay mode. Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Add a
value of 2-5 depending on how subtle you would like
to keep it.

078

18

VIGNETTE

Towards the end, add a vignette to pop the

car from the rest of the image. Add a Curves
adjustment, increase the darkness and mask it.
Brush with varying opacities alongside the border of
the image only to reveal the dark areas and leaving
the car region untouched. You can also use Exposure
and the Brightness/Contrast tool for creating
vignettes, applying a similar principle of masking. If
you feel the need to add a more tonal value, use the
Color Balance tool as well.

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COLOUR LEAKS
With regards to painting colour leaks, keep
painting with varying brush opacities and also
using soft brushes. Mixing colours with different
blending modes can create nice effects. If you are
trying to creating a sun burst effect, you can paint
a yellow spot for example and change its
blending mode to Color Dodge. It will look odd at
first, but then reduce the Opacity to around
10-20%. In certain cases, it tends to give nice
hotspots. This technique can also be adopted for
creating fog and haze, so long as you remember
to paint with softer brushes and varying opacities.

Learn in style
WorldMags.net

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TM

Series
Discover more with the Book series expert, accessible tutorials for
photography, 3D art, Photoshop, web design and more

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WorldMags.net
REVIEWS NEC MULTISYNC
PA272W

080

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WorldMags.net

NEC MULTISYNC PA272W

WE TAKE NECS LATEST HIGH SPEC REFERENCE PANEL OUT FOR A SPIN TO
SEE HOW IT SLOTS INTO A STUDIO ENVIRONMENT
www.necdisplay.com
www.nec-display-solutions.co.uk
SPECIFICATIONS:
mV
mGLAFQAPCCL
mKQPCQNMLQCRGKC
mBM@C0%

839 EXCL. VAT

$1,299

he PA272W joins a growing list of

professional displays that don the
Reference nametag. This is not just a word
used to fill out its brand name, but more of a
symbol or mark of its elite status among panel

technology of today. With a list of features that are

bound to impress any digital artist, this has set a
benchmark for many other monitors to follow. Also,
the Reference name has become something of a
selling point.
As part of its prestigious title, Reference panels
are hand-tested in the factory, so what comes out of
the box is always the best of the best. NEC promises
uncompromising image quality with the PA272W,
and it does well to deliver this in a couple of different
ways. Firstly, we should point out that it uses a 10-bit
LED display that features in-plane switching (IPS)
technology, which gives wider viewing angles while
maintaining consistent colours at the same time.
Displaying depth and clarity across its matte 27-inch
screen was no sweat, and the monitors 3D look-up
table offers a complete customisation of colour
spaces. We discovered this to be very useful when
working with a number of ICC profiles for different

print outputs, and would also be beneficial for

adapting to custom colour profiles delivered by a
third party.
Some of the more productivity-enhancing
features that can be seen in this latest MultiSync
include a built-in picture-by-picture mode, which
places a video frame inside the full screen display, so
youre able to work with two different signal inputs at
any one time. In order to maintain a visual quality
thats worthy of its Reference title, NEC has injected
ColorComp technology into this panel for optimal
colour uniformity at all times which is just one
reason why artwork and images appear so detailed
compared to a standard display. And its for these
reasons that this particular MultiSync stands out as a
true performer among panels.
NEC has also been very careful not to restrict its
new MultiSync in terms of versatility and mobility.
Turn the page to learn more

Physical credentials: Weighing in at nearly 13 kilos, this is no lightweight panel. It has a

quick-release, height-adjustable stand (with a range of five centimetres) for making sure
that viewing angles are just right

Built to last: The tilting mechanism on the back allows for smooth and precise angling to
suit your desk space. Once in place, it sits firmly on the stand

Colour quality: Working on the display with Photoshop, we found that resolution and pixel
depth all came together to give stunning visuals and colour-accurate results

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081

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REVIEWS NEC MULTISYNC
PA272W
A GLANCE AT
THE PA272W
WORKING YOUR WAY AROUND THIS MONITOR

Neat and tidy: Having so many

connections, this cable tidy feature

helps to keep the workspace free from
straggling wires

Work in portrait mode: The

option to rotate the screen 90

degrees to face you in portrait
mode is advantageous, and
not something thats
commonly seen in panels

Making the right

connections: A single HDMI

port, DisplayPort (mini
version also included), as well
as DVI-D (Dual Link)
connections provide all the
necessary links to get synced
up to a hard drive

The CableComp feature goes to great lengths to

reduce colour shift if using longer input cables (up to
30 metres with digital panels and 100 metres with
analogue cables). But it doesnt stop there, as NEC
has made this display to suit potential demands of a
larger studio atmosphere and not just for singlescreen setups. What were talking about is the
monitors hidden gem, and it comes in the form of
TileComp and TileMatrix technology working
harmoniously together. What these can do is give
you the choice to build up your own stack of displays
(up to 10 in total) without the need for supporting
hardware there should be nothing preventing such
an ostentatious arrangement of panels (minus the

082

financial dent!). TileComp is what goes to work

smoothing out the visuals and compensating for
optical nuisances and shifts for better overall visuals.
This will eliminate any distracting transitions
between neighbouring panels in a stack.
If thats all a little too high profile, however, then
this can work as a great monitor for more low-key
environments as well, such as the home. Its
intelligent too, with auto black level and brightness
meters detecting the lighting conditions while youre
working to shape its backlighting to the setting thats
most comfortable for the eyes. Squeezing the
monitor into your workspace might take some
thought, as this isnt the most discrete panel

available. The panel itself is nearly nine centimetres

deep and weighs nearly 13 kilos, so manoeuvring
such a cumbersome screen is a two-handed affair.
But once we had moved it into the right position, we
soon forgot about its weight and size and all the
attention turned towards the quality of the picture.
The colour accuracy and detail in the darks to
midtones were what really caught our attention.
Being able to create artwork across multiple
platforms, from camera through to printer, with an
accurate representation of colours is a blessing. This
was not only an enjoyable experience, but one we
could also come to rely on from the moment its
switched on.

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WorldMags.net
MARKET
COMPETITORS
A LOOK AT OTHER
).#(
0!.%,3

EIZO CG277
www.eizo.co.uk
1,340 (excl. VAT) / approx $2,244
This 27-inch top-spec display by EIZO also boasts
99% Adobe RGB colour coverage, along with a
built-in self-calibration sensor. Scheduled calibration
can be programmed even if the panel is switched
off. Like the MultiSync PA272W, this features a
glare-free IPS panel for improved viewing.

DELL U2713H
www.dell.co.uk
806 / $1,000
The U2713H by Dell is more affordable than the
MultiSync PA272W, and features PremierColor
technology that displays colour accurately right out
of the box. USB 3.0 and HDMI connections make this
model a convenient addition to the workspace.
External devices: Dual USB connections give you the
ability to link up multiple devices such as scanners
and printers for a flexible production line

GB-R LED backlighting is one of the reasons that

the PA272W comes at a high price. But its this
technology that produces an impressively large
Adobe RGB colour space of over 99%. How does it
work? As green and blue LEDs emit light, they
stimulate the red phosphor spots to form a clean,
white light source. These light sources are planted
around the edges of the panel, and using a guiding
system, white light is distributed seamlessly and
evenly from one end of the screen to the other. This
white light has been developed with colour filters to
bring colour spaces to an optimal level and end up
being highly accurate. Whats more, not only are
heating and ageing effects maintained, but
production costs are also controlled in the factory.
The display is teeming with technology that gets
to work at making colours look at their best in

Photoshop. Along with GB-R LED backlighting that

ensures an accurately presented colour space, there
have been additional improvements made to its
overall performance. The PA272W has been given a
better response time, now at seven milliseconds, to
reduce pixel ghosting that is sometimes present in
moving visuals on some displays. This is partnered
with Rapid Response technology for smoother pixels
transition. Another feature that has been updated
includes a new minimum brightness setting
compared to predecessors, now able to go down as
low as 20cd/m2, which is ideal for working under
dim lighting conditions. All this control makes
working with the display all the more pleasurable.
Performance is matched with build quality, in what is
an excellently crafted panel for professional-end
users of a range of creative application.

VIEWSONIC VP2772
www.viewsoniceurope.com
699 (excl. VAT) / $1,020 (excl. tax)
ViewSonic has injected its own SuperClear
technology into the VP2772 to bring exceptional
viewing quality for Photoshop users and
photographers. Covering 99% of Adobe RGB colour
space with a 14-bit look-up table, this sizes up
evenly with the MultiSync PA272W.

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WorldMags.net
REVIEWS NEC MULTISYNC
PA272W
Look and feel: A satin diffuser gives

cleaner image quality and auto brightness,

black level and contrast modes mean it
can intelligently adjust itself according to
the surroundings

Whether youre a retoucher, painter, designer or

photographer, colour accuracy has always played a
pivotal role in Photoshop. Being able to see detail in
every channel across varying colour spaces is an
important factor to consider. So its no wonder that a
careful approach has to be taken in the decisionmaking when upgrading to your next monitor;
especially with price tags that can rise much higher
than that of the PA272W.
The colour technology that sits behind this
MultiSync is truly second-to-none, even having come
to expect professional panels to give true colours
without any questions asked. In reality thats not
always the case, but the PA272W comes close to
making this a dream come true.

084

Theres much more to this panel than first meets

the eye. Perhaps too understated for its own good, it
demands respect from the outset, and we found that
not only does it produce the goods visually, but it also
caters for expanding studio and exhibition spaces
ideal for those looking for a heavy-duty display to
handle demanding work conditions.
Weve come to expect a level of professional
consistency with NECs Reference range, and the
standards keep on rising. For Photoshop artists, its
shaping up to be a bright future especially if the
latest developments in 4K Ultra HD havent quite
grabbed the attention of everyone. Although upfront
costs are steep with Reference panels, this is a
worthwhile upgrade.

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Energy consumption: An ambient light

sensor and a carbon footprint meter mean

its easy to keep track of energy usage
over long periods of use, so we could be
more environmentally conscious

Quality control: The 27-inch panel, with

GB-R LED backlighting, keeps colour

uniformity true during long and intensive
Photoshop projects

VERDICT
Features: 9/10
Ease of use: 8/10
Quality of results: 9/10
Value for money: 7/10

FINAL SCORE:

8/10

WorldMags.net
ELEMENTE BY DIVINE PROJECTREVIEWS

ELEMENTE BY
DIVINE PROJECT

NO MORE CODE!
$)6).%%,%-%.4%#2%!4%3!./.%8)34%.4
BRIDGE BETWEEN PHOTOSHOP AND
WORDPRESS

CREATE WORDPRESS THEMES IN PHOTOSHOP NO

CODE REQUIRED EVER
www.divine-project.com
a MMOLU_DLO#CSCILMCO_DLO.COPLK?IDLO#CSCILMCODLO.COPLK?Ia5GKBLTP4GPQ?6.

ransitioning a web design from Photoshop

to code has always been a somewhat
specialised skill set, especially if a web
designer intends to translate the design
into a WordPress template. Navigating the labyrinth
of code, style sheets, widgets and plug-ins is almost
enough to drive any artist mad!
Tools to translate Photoshop files into web code
have usually ranged from inflexible to unreliable.
They tend to either be so simplistically structured
that every site they create appears to be a cookie
cutter clone, or they are so needlessly complex that
a designer might as well just learn how to do the
coding themselves!
Divine Elemente is a Photoshop plug-in that takes
almost all the pain out of producing an attractive,
custom WordPress site. The plug-in follows in a long
tradition of What You See is What You Get
(WYSIWYG) editors. The workflow is smartly thought
out as it places Photoshop in the middle of the
production workflow, not the beginning. This means
Photoshop templates are provided as well as a
Layout Creator. Designers easily choose which

WordPress elements should be included in the

design and where they live on the page. Divine
Elemente takes those choices and creates a
Photoshop wireframe of the site. The wireframe is
easy to use by anyone with moderate knowledge of
Photoshop just place content into the clearly
labelled layer groups. Publishing the site is about as
straightforward as it possibly can be when dealing
with unknown servers, user permissions and
arbitrary folder paths.
Divine Elemente finds itself solidly on the elusive
middle ground between being overcomplicated and
inflexibly simple. Theres plenty of depth to add and
tweak custom elements or features, but also a
simple enough workflow that a new user can
produce a site in under an hour.

VERDICT: 

LAYOUT CREATOR
The Layout Creator module provides an easy
method of selecting WordPress elements by
way of checkboxes. Select your choices and
then export the PSD wireframe.

ANIMATIONS AND MORE

Easily create and adjust complicated items like
banner animations or menu interactions by
using the Publish Editor. Select the item on the
main canvas and just adjust the properties as
needed.

Divine Elemente provides a muchneeded bridge over the gap between

Photoshop and WordPress. This plug-in
is a must for any designer who doesnt
want to code.

WORK WITH PSD WIREFRAMES

The Photoshop templates are well marked, and
easily laid out. The idea of having preestablished layer groups to contain custom
content is ingenious. Just place your custom
layers into the correct group!

960 GRID

Divine Elemente is the ideal plug-in for the Photoshop designer who wants to create WordPress sites, but
doesnt want to bother with learning HTML, CSS or PHP

WorldMags.net

Divine Elemente includes a brilliant wizard-like

tool to take the pain (and maths) out of planning
your 960 grids when designing web layouts. The
tool sets up the columns and gutters for you.

085

READER INTERVIEWWorldMags.net
CREATIVE RETOUCHING

READER INTERVIEW

CREATIVE RETOUCHING

24 YEAR OLD DIGITAL ARTIST DAVID ROYA REVEALS HOW HE EXPANDED HIS
SKILL SET FOR PROFESSIONAL WORK

hough only 24, David Roya already has an

impressive portfolio and experience working
for clients such as IKEA. Working mainly
within graphics design and retouching, hes
been experimenting with Photoshop since his
teenage years.
COULD YOU PLEASE TELL US MORE ABOUT
HOW YOU FIRST WERE INSPIRED TO CREATE
DIGITAL ARTWORK?
Ive been interested in digital art and drawing since I was
a kid. I sometimes bought a book only for the cover, or a
DVD because of the cover art. I realised how much it
meant to me for something to have a good visual
representation, and I wanted to be able to create such
art myself. I usually have a pretty clear idea of what I
want before I start working in Photoshop, but

sometimes I simply evolve the picture within the

program. I could have a rough sketch or an idea but
they are nothing without my tools.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR OWN STYLE?
I would say I have a pretty modern style. A lot of my
inspiration comes from todays games and movies,
which comes through in my work. Although I have
changed my style a bit since my early days in
Photoshop, my interests remain the same. Of

OUR READER
DAVID ROYA
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/
user/Tri5tate
http://Tri5tate.deviantart.com

Naming, grouping and

colour marking your layers
is essential to having control over
a bigger project

All article images David Roya

Age Of Piracy: I was inspired to do an environmental matte

painting on the landscapes from the latest Assassins Creed game,
since I found them so beautiful. The image is a mix of photos and
painting and took me about four hours to do, says Roya

086

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WorldMags.net

A Steady Stream Of Madness: There are some times when we all can
relate to this feeling, but maybe not quite so vibrantly. Although in my
case there is no dark story behind this image, I only created it because
I thought it looked cool

Siege Of Shanghai: Ive been a big Battlefield fan for many years, so I wanted
to make a wallpaper for the gaming franchise. It gained a lot of appreciation
and attention on the web, which is really fun

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WorldMags.net
Environments: Its important to make
the environment look seamless by
adding highlights and shadows on
objects. I painted some highlights in
Overlay mode to bring the scene to life

Texturing: The mountains are made

from rock textures. I created them by
drawing a selection on the texture based
on how I wanted the composition to
look. By using photos, you get a lot of
free texture

088

course, looking back at my older pictures, I think

they look pretty bad, but I remember that was
mostly due to a lack of skill, which limited my ideas.
Ever since I first started to use Photoshop, I wanted
to be able to create those epic movie posters and
game ads, and now I feel I finally have the abilities to
do so, and it will only get better.

Because of the size of the project, it gave me

confirmation that I was still up to par in the industry,
which I think everyone needs sometimes. When I
was finished with the project and had a happy client,
for me that meant that I knew I could handle work
for bigger companies as well. That was very
important and still makes me very proud of myself.

WHAT PHOTOSHOP PROJECT DO YOU FEEL

MOST PROUD OF HAVING WORKED ON
THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER?
Im usually more proud of projects that have given
me greater skills. Thats why Im mostly proud of my
personal projects such as Extraction and Lost
Legends, because I feel that theyve evolved me as
an artist the most.
Last year I worked for IKEA, producing their
yearly catalogue. [This was] a project that allowed
me to expand on my retouching skill set a lot.

WERE THERE ANY CHALLENGES TO CREATING

A PROJECT FOR SUCH A LARGE CLIENT?
The IKEA catalogue is the biggest piece of printed
matter in the world. The job involved retouching and
correcting hundreds of images directly from camera,
or with a 3D program. It did get stressful at times,
but it helped me master new techniques fast and
pay close attention to detail. [These are] skills that
also followed me into digital art, where I strive to
create realistic-looking artwork, even though the
scenes I create are sometimes surreal.

WHAT ARE THE TECHNIQUES YOU WOULD SAY

ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER WHEN
CREATING WORK USING PHOTOSHOP?
For me, layers are the most fundamental. Organising
them is very important if you want structure,
otherwise youll spend too much time scrolling
through the Layers panel. Naming, grouping and
colour marking your layers is essential to having
control over a bigger project. There are some times
when I totally forget this rule, which is kind of
frustrating in a PSD file with over 250 layers.
DO YOU FEEL IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ARTISTS TO
LEARN A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT SKILLS, SUCH
AS BOTH GRAPHICS DESIGN AND RETOUCHING?
Yes, definitely. Firstly, to pay the bills. You want to be
able to take assignments from a broader range of
clients. It also makes you more versatile, and
increases the chances of developing better

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WorldMags.net
CREATIVE RETOUCHING READER INTERVIEW

Fog: The fog was created using a custom

brush. Not only did it give the picture
depth, it also makes the cliffs seem
more pronounced

Characters: Placing a human in your

scene gives you a sense of scale. I
painted this guy using references from
the game Assassins Creed

Era: This image was a lot of fun to make. Its a movie poster for an
upcoming sci-fi movie called Era, directed by a friend of mine named
Ted Karlsson. The suit is actually real. I shot it in a studio, brought it
into Photoshop and added the environment

TOP FIVE DESIGN TIPS

Take advantage of Photoshop. Combine
photos with painting and youll see why you
dont need to be a master at drawing to
produce digital art with great details.
Create images based on your interests to
begin with. Its easier to get ideas on
something you like, rather than trying to
create something youre not passionate about.
Dont be afraid of the end result, or youll never
create something original. If it wont come out
like you thought, look at it like practice.
Study how things behave and interact with
each other. This is important if you want
things to appear realistic. Sometimes a small
contact shadow can make a big difference.
Im not the first to say this, but get yourself a
tablet. It wont help you go through the menus
faster, but try painting with a mouse and youll
see why you need one.

techniques. Some areas actually benefit from prior

knowledge, such as a matte painter with an
illustration background. Trying to learn new areas is
never wrong, but remember that it can be
challenging to remain great at one or another if you
dont learn how to combine them.
CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU
ASPIRE TO ACHIEVE IN THE FUTURE? WHERE
DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS TIME?
I want to always keep improving my skills and trying
to learn new areas to have fewer limitations. My
ultimate goal is to work as a digital marketing artist
for a bigger games or movie company.
Sweden, where Im currently based, is pretty
limited within those areas, but I have an older
brother who works in the movie industry in the
States, so its possible that Ill be moving there to
widen my possibilities!

Sleepless: This picture is made up from stock images from Shutterstock.com (they have some great stocks), pictures I shot myself and
stuff I drew. It took about 6-7 hours in Photoshop and has 184 layers (yes, I usually have a lot of layers in my PSDs!)

WorldMags.net

089

WorldMags.net

RESOURCE PROJECT

EXPLORING 3D PRINTING
LEARN HOW TO TURN YOUR DIGITAL CREATION INTO A PHYSICAL OBJECT

ne of the most exciting new technologies to

find its way into our hands is 3D printing.
Thats the process of taking a digitally
created 3D model and turning it into a real,
physical object. The technology has been around for
a few years, but has yet to become widely accessible.
That is slowly changing as small, consumer-level 3D
printers are becoming more and more available.
Additionally, the latest release of Photoshop CC
included support for 3D printing. Not only can you

090

create or import models into Photoshop and prepare

them for 3D printing, but theres even the option to
print directly to a provider, Shapeways.com, through
the application itself.
For our resource project, we decided to take the
new 3D printing capabilities for a spin. We will show
you how we developed, prepared, and printed a real
3D chess piece. Special thanks to Danko Arlington
(www.dankoarlington.com) who graciously allowed
us to use their 3D printer and even provided photos

and expert insight into the process. Be sure to check

out our interview with them for a fascinating look
into how this technology is impacting the
manufacturing industry.
Additionally, take a look on the cover disc for our
video tutorial, where we walk through the entire
process of creating the digital 3D model to holding
the finished object in your hand. Soon youll be able
to bring anything to life, all you need to begin is a
little inspiration

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WorldMags.net
EXPLORING 3D PRINTING

ON THE DISC

CREATING THE 3D MODEL

CRAFT A REAL CHESS PIECE, DIGITALLY

02

CONVERT TO 3D

01

OUTLINE

Begin by using the Pen tool to draw out a profile curve of the main body of the chess piece. Dont
include the mane, ears or pedestal those will be added later.

Go to 3D>New 3D Extrusion from Selected

Layer. Photoshop will convert to the 3D workspace
and extrude the path into a three-dimensional object.
Adjust the Extrude setting to an appropriate width.

03

BEVELLED EDGES

05

FINISHED PIECE

03

EXPORT THE FILE

Start with a standard Bevel preset, then

adjust the Bevel and Inflation settings in the Cap tab
to create edges and sides to the piece that have
depth and are not simple, flat edges.

04

ADD MORE EXTRUSIONS

The ears and the mane are added using the

same method of drawing a shape and extruding it in
3D. Once the additional pieces are created, select
them all and go to 3D>Merge 3D Layers.

Ctrl/right-click in the 3D panel and choose

Add Cylinder to create a pedestal. Add a sphere in the
same way and scale it down vertically to create the
pedestal top.

PREPARING FOR 3D PRINTING

SEND THE FILE OFF TO A 3D PRINTER

01

UNIFY SCENE

Go to 3D>Unify Scene for 3D Printing. This

will merge all the meshes and materials into a single
continuous piece. If you want multiple colours, you
need to print multiple pieces.

02

3D PRINT PROPERTIES

In the new 3D Print Properties panel, select

a printing source. To export a file for a local printer,
choose the Local option. Be sure to set the
appropriate volume and size for the object.

Press the Start Print button to export the

object to an STL file. Photoshop prepares a preview
of the file, and allows you to choose whether or not
you should include support structures.

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091

WorldMags.net

TURNING PIXELS TO PLASTIC

THE PRINT HEAD LAYS DOWN ROWS OF MATERIAL IN MUCH THE SAME WAY A TRADITIONAL PRINTER LAYS DOWN INK
The Fortus 900mc allows
Danko Arlington to print larger
objects than most other 3D
printers. The print envelope on
this machine is 24 x 36 x 36 (61
x 92 x 92cm).

092
040

The cartridge of print material

comes in a spool that holds
less than 250 square cm of
material. The material of choice
feeds out much like a string
trimmer line.

Every tenth layer of support

material has one layer of build
material. The dissimilar
materials make it easier to
separate when pulling, peeling
and chipping the stuff off.

WorldMags.net

The print material is only

0.25mm thick and it separates
easily from the main build,
making the support material
removal much easier and with
less risk of damage.

WorldMags.net
EXPLORING 3D PRINTING

ON THE DISC

PRINT 3D DIRECTLY FROM PHOTOSHOP

02).49/52/"*%#4!43(!0%7!93#/-$)2%#4,9&2/-0(/4/3(/0
Size matters!
Digital files are
easy to scale.
Physical materials
are not quite so
friendly to arbitrary
enlargement

The printed model

must be a single
piece and a single
colour, but there
are many different
types of material
to choose from

Adobe has
partnered with
Shapeways.com
to provide easy
access to 3D
printing tech. Just
select the option
from the Print To
drop-down menu
to get things going!

The choice of
material has the
biggest impact on
price. This 10cm
model prints in
ceramic for about
30/$50, but raw
silver totals over
1,800/$3,000!

DANKO ARLINGTON
/,$3#(//,-!.5&!#452).').4(%-/$%2.!'%
Danko Arlington (www.dankoarlington.com)
initially specialised in patternmaking and die
casting. It was a business built around the hot,
heavy, gritty work of sand moulds, molten metal
and highly skilled workmen training apprentices.
But as technology advanced, and more
manufacturing moved offshore, president John

Danko found that skilled patternmakers were a

dying breed. The work was there, but the
workforce was not. So in 2010 Danko installed
large-scale 3D printers to replace patternmakers.
Now two 3D printers run almost continuously 24
hours a day, 7 days a week creating silicone dyes
to support the foundry. The job that once required

a warehouse full of experienced woodworkers is

now being performed by two machines.
However, Danko speculates that widespread
residential use is still several years out. The raw
material is still very expensive, he explains. It will
be quite some time before it is cost-effective to
print personal figurines and ornaments.

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093

WorldMags.net
ON THE DISC EXPLORING
3D PRINTING
FROM THE SCREEN INTO YOUR HANDS
HOW TO FINISH UP THE FINAL PRINTED RESULTS

02

REMOVE SUPPORT MATERIAL

03

SAND AND SMOOTH

Carefully remove the support material from

the model. While it does break away, it is not soft.
You will require tools to chip, scrape and pry the
support material off without scratching or damaging
the build material.

01

AFTER PRINTING

ON THE DISC

The model comes out of the printing machine with the support material, or scaffolding, still attached.
This ensures the print material stays in position during printing. It is designed to be broken away afterwards.

094

Use some sandpaper or a woodworking

block to sand away any rough edges or blemishes
from the finished model. The variety of print material
will determine how much finishing is required.

3D CHESS PIECES
PRINT OUT A WHOLE SET OF CUSTOM CHESS PIECES!
Weve included 3D files to create every piece on the chessboard. Add your own custom flair and design and then print out
your very own custom set!

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CREATEWorldMags.net
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