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ISSUE 20 Create pixel art masterpieces | Photoshop relay | Masters of advertising | Vault49 interview
E TH T A R E CR VE E E
AG CSIO X-PCIAL E
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CREATE PIXEL ART
Read our step-by-step guide to pixel perfection
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LEARN TO LOGO
How smart design can take you to the top
HOW TO…
Master comic book effects
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high-res stock images on this issue’s CD
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Cover
Cover image Having grown up in a generation obsessed with spritefilled videogames, Gary Lucken’s colourful, vivid pixel worlds make sense. Creator of the renowned Army Of Trolls – Gary’s one-man army – he spends his days creating characters to include within his larger art works, or to put up for adoption to other sites. This issue Gary’s joining the AP team to show you how to create your very own pixel masterpiece. From the basic building blocks of isometric drawing to creating a whole townscape, you’ll be squaring up in no time. / For Gary’s tutorial, turn to page 64
Imageer: GARY LUCKEN
THE PIXEL IS ENJOYING A RENAISSANCE AS A NEW FORM OF ILLUSTRATION 3
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PERFECT PIXELS
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Gary J Lucken from Army Of Trolls reveals how to recreate this month’s cover image with a detailed guide to creating isometric pixel art
ISSUE #20
inside... LETTERS
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Our readers’ comments and feedback
INSIGHT
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News and showcases from around the globe All the latest events, exhibitions and awards A stunning portfolio from Raul Allen ‘Beep Beep ‘ out of the way for Neil Jeffery Gill Button’s quirky style is showcased
HELPDESK
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Your technical traumas shared with fellow readers and answered by our expert
THE COVER
Gary J Lucken from Army Of Trolls pushed those pixels to create this colourful town scene. Find out how he did it by turning to page 64
RESOURCES
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Vital assets to improve your Photoshop work
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Use your own images to create an action-packed comic strip
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Art galleries Books Plug-ins
THIS MONTH’S CD
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Superb stock art, the project files to go with this month’s issue and more!
B p s SU rn toave £price Tu d s ver an e co th
Mac and Adobe: The relationship
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The Photoshop Relay gets under way
Creating interplanetary Photoshop effects
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The unique style of Vault49
TECHNIQUES Hone your skills to perfection with our expert guides
FEATURES
COMIC CREATIONS
INTERVIEW: VAULT49
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MASTERS OF ADVERTISING
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Master imagery with scanned elements
PHOTOSHOP RELAY
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A tutorial that’s out of this world…
PEER PRESSURE
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The digital gurus share their secrets and techniques
The background of corporate branding
We’re halfway round the track with our tag-team design
Inspiring images from your Photoshop peers
ROUND UP: GRAPHICS TABLETS 7 80 All the offerings from Wacom
MAC AND ADOBE The perfect partnership
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Inspired by A Scanner Darkly, we look at comic art
SCANNED ART CREATE SPACE! INSIDER INFO EXPOSURE ADJUSTMENT How to get the most out of colours
PIXEL ART Recreate this month’s cover
INSIDER INFO BRIDGE EXTENSIONS Get more out of this app support
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Letters
Mailbox
Got a gripe with the magazine or do you love the tutorials and want more? Let us know by emailing the team at advancedpshop@ imagine-publishing.co.uk SUBJECT: The CD side FROM: Michael and Noelle I have just purchased issue 17 of Advanced Photoshop for the outrageous price of €10.66! Now, I know you have no control over the tax and duty applied to magazines here in Ireland, but when I went looking for the project images on the CD, that was when I really felt ripped off! On page six it clearly states ALL the project files to go with this month’s issue are on the disc. Not true. The layer effects project [ice maiden] directed me to www.istockphoto.com to buy the images needed for this project! You cannot be serious, as the great McEnroe once yelled. With Create Console Art I can buy images “relatively cheaply” at www.fotolia.com. Why not just dispense with the CD altogether and drop the price of your publication? Maybe then I could actually afford do some of your projects?
SUBJECT: Under pressure FROM: Simon Rudd Just wanted to say thank you for featuring my work in issue 18’s Peer Pressure section as well as giving me the Best In Show award and scanner. I look forward to the next issue. Editor replies: To see who won this issue’s top Peer Pressure prize, turn to page 75 and check out their work.
Shock horror NAME: Simon Rudd WEB: www.pompeysworst.co.uk EMAIL: [email protected] SOURCE: Original images from http://resurgere.deviantart.com, www.imageafter.com and www.sxc.hu Simon first became interested in image manipulation after he started visiting websites such as www.b3ta.com and www.tattyworld.org. “Most of my early efforts are best left forgotten, but as I started to learn more I started to mix my interest with horror and fantasy. My early horror art involved its fair share of very basic textures such as dry riverbeds or cracks blended over unmanipulated faces. Thankfully, I’ve come on a bit since then.” Simon is a self-employed photographic artist and manipulator and has been experimenting with Photoshop for around three years. “So far I haven’t worked on any big projects, but I’m hopeful that this will happen soon and I can begin to earn a living from something I love doing.
BE IN ST SH -8;7 OW 6> [ KIVV MZ
Image Effects>Comix. Its tiny 8.18K size means that it’ll download very quickly.
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sing your digital camera to take realistic photographs is so passé. Say hello to the latest thing: creating comic strips with your images. Inspired by Richard Linklater’s latest film A Scanner Darkly, it’s possible to quickly and easily convert images into cartoons using a free Photoshop action called Comix. Comix is a great set of three actions that attempt to recreate the look and feel of printed comics, including the rough halftone feel of cheap paper. But unless you’re inclined to dig through the steps in the Actions palette,
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Comix book action The decompressed Comix Action.atn file can be stored anywhere on your computer as it is a script not a plug-in and so needn’t reside in the plug-ins folder, as long as you keep it somewhere that’s easy to remember and reference so you’ll have it to hand when you need it. Best of all, it’s immediately available without restarting Photoshop.
A Scanner
Darkly
Richard Linklater’s new film, A Scanner Darkly, based on the book by Philip K Dick, utilises the same technique he used for his 2001 movie, Waking Life. The actors were shot digitally, rotoscoped (trimmed from the background) and then animated using a custom piece of software called Rotoshop. Bob Sabiston created the software specifically to create lifelike hand-drawn animations that looked just like comic books that had sprung into life.
the effects are pre-baked and relatively inflexible. This tutorial shows you not only how to get the best out of the Comix actions, but to also create your own comic-book style – and the techniques shown here are only the starting point for further experimentation. Photoshop is an incredible tool, able to transform snaps into the stuff you find in graphic novels. It also takes the pain out of repeating the technique for multiple images by allowing you to save custom steps as an action that can then be saved, reused and exported for others to use.
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Size matters Open up a photograph that you wish to convert to a comic art look. Andrew Purviance, Comix’s creator, recommends using large images because of the resolution of the effect, choosing images that are 1,000 to 2,000 pixels across for the best results. It also helps if the image is on a plain background and has plenty of contrast.
“THIS TUTORIAL SHOWS YOU HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN COMIC BOOK STYLE” 31
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MASTERCLASS 4
Action hero From the Actions palette (Window>Actions) you need to load the new Comix actions. Click the arrow at the top of the palette and choose Load Actions from the fly-out menu. Navigate to your actions and click Load. The actions should then be appended to your list of actions in the palette.
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The basic look Comix loads three actions into your palette: Comix, Comix Hue and Comix Halftone. Applying each is as simple as clicking the button and letting Photoshop do the rest. The default Comix action turns your photo into a stark black-and-white image with an additional grey tone to add a bit of detail.
Hue’s that girl? Open another image and this time give Comix Hue a whirl. It’s applied exactly like the previous action: just click on the Comix Hue button and Photoshop will step through the action, applying the effects. Comix Hue allows the original colour to show through in a pleasing fashion.
“PHOTOSHOP IS AN INCREDIBLE TOOL, ABLE TO TRANSFORM SNAPS INTO THE STUFF YOU FIND IN GRAPHIC NOVELS” 9 “XX TIME TO BE Text CONFIDENT, BE effects BOLD, AND TURN UP THE SATURATION LEVELS”
One-click wonders As with all these one-click effects, any changes you want to make have to be done in post, so you can play around with the layers to experiment with different looks. One non-destructive trick you can try is to create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Layers>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation) above the base image to play with the colour.
Introduce some colour Looking at the Layers palette (Window>Layers) you can see that the action has created several new layers. One of these layers is called ‘color here or hide’, and it’s here that you can introduce a bit of colour back into the altered image by adjusting the opacity or transparency mode.
Halftone heaven Comix Halftone, as the name suggests, attempts to mimic the look of cheap newsprint by introducing a coarse halftone screen for some of the midtone values. It also desaturates the image to create a more dramatic, less photographic effect.
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Trial and error By boosting the Saturation to +100 and subsequently adjusting the Hue, you can create odd colour schemes and strange lighting effects. After clicking OK you can go back and edit the effect at any time or even remove it completely by dragging the adjustment layer to the Layer palette’s trash icon.
Once you’ve created your comic-style artwork, you’ll want to furnish it with speech balloons and hand-drawn lettering for that graphic novel look. The best resource for this is the www. blambot.com site, created by talented lettering artist Nate Piekos. There you’ll find advice, inspiration, links, free fonts and EPS downloads of speech balloons and sound effects, such as KOOM! SPLORK! and TWUNK!
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Do it yourself!
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Create your own The Comix Actions are a fantastic shortcut, but they lack flexibility. It’s best to create your own effects, which you could turn into an action (see boxout). Open an image, use the Magic Wand to select the background and Select>Inverse to isolate the figure.
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Add some drama Select Layer>New>Layer via Cut to place the figure on its own layer. Fill the background with the foreground colour using Alt+Backspace (Windows) or Option+Backspace (Mac). Use the Custom Shape tool in Fill Pixels Mode (chosen from the Options bar at the top of the screen) and draw a dramatic shape behind the figure’s head as in our image below. Kapow!
Jump into
action If you’ve stumbled across a technique that you like, turning it into an action you can use on any image is simple. Bring up the Actions palette (Windows>Actions), turn off Button Mode using the fly-out menu at the top of the palette if it’s on, click New Actions give your action a name, and start recording. When you’re done, click Stop and your action is ready to be used, or even exported so that someone else can use it!
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FX factory Make a copy of the figure by dragging the layer onto the New Layer icon, and with the duplicate selected choose Filter>Filter Gallery. This opens up an effects factory. Choose Cutout and adjust the Number of Levels and Edge Simplicity sliders until you’re happy.
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Get definition On another duplicate layer, boost the contrast with the Levels dialog (Image>Adjustments> Levels). Drag the black and white triangles closer together to bleach out unwanted detail while clearly defining areas such as the mouth and eyes.
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Stamp it! With the new contrasting layer, return to the filter and chose Sketch>Stamp. This will reduce the image to black and white with no grey, but emphasise transitions such as the jaw line. Adjust the Light/Dark Balance and Smoothness to get the effect you want.
“COMIX HUE ALLOWS THE ORIGINAL COLOUR TO SHOW THROUGH” 16
Hand-drawn finish Ensuring the Stamp layer is above the Cutout layer, change the layer’s transparency mode to Multiply using the drop menu at the top of the Layers palette. Anything white will become transparent, leaving opaque black. Combined with the flat posterised colours, the effect is like a hand-inked illustration.
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Background treatment Time to do something interesting with the background image. Select the white shape and choose Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. For the Blur Method choose Zoom and for the quality select Draft (the rougher the effect the better). The zoom amount is dependent on your resolution – it might take a bit of trial and error to get it right as there is no meaningful preview.
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Visit the gallery Matte the shape onto the background layer (if it’s not already) and select the background. Pay another trip to the Filter Gallery to choose our old friend Cutout from the Artistic section. When you’re happy with the results click OK.
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MASTERCLASS Creating printing-press effects
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Get started With this final comic-book image, the aim is to recreate the coarse halftone screen of the four-colour printing press in a more realistic way than the Comix action. To start, open up a dramatic photograph in Photoshop.
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Now clip Duplicate the layer by dragging it onto the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. With the copied layer selected, add a new Levels Adjustment Layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels), ensuring that Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask is selected.
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Boost the contrast As with the previous image, boost the contrast to create dense black areas and bleached out highlights. Maximise the edges of the image such as the eyes, mouth, nose and other features. Click OK to apply the effect.
Join the line Shift-click to select both the duplicate layer and the Adjustment Layer and combine them into a single layer (Layer>Merge Layers). Apply the Find Edges filter (Filter>Stylise>Find Edges), which turns the image into a multicoloured series of lines.
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Abstract thinking With the Find Edges layer remaining on top, change the Transparency mode to Multiply. Duplicate another base layer and apply the Median filter (Filter>Noise>Median). The bigger the radius value, the more abstract the image becomes, so a value between 5 and 15 (depending on the resolution of your image) should suffice.
Homemade touches Using a brush, paint in some keylines in black or white (or a combination). This will give your image a hand-drawn, cartoonish look. With the saturated background layer copy selected, choose the Color Halftone filter (Filter>Pixelate>Color Halftone).
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Beef it up Desaturate the image to black and white (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation) by dragging the Saturation slider to the left. Get rid of the wispy pale grey lines and beef up the thicker lines by increasing the contrast with the Levels (Image>Adjustments>Levels).
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Default settings The default angle values are fine, but you may want to adjust the Max. Radius value. The result will vary with your image’s resolution, but a starting point of five pixels should be fine. Click OK to apply. 5
“DON’T BE AFRAID TO BOOST SATURATION; THIS IS A COMIC ILLUSTRATION, AFTER ALL” 34
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Masters of
Advertising
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MASTERS OF ADVERTISING It might be the simplest thing you ever create, but a successful logo needs to convey a world of information in just one glance. Advanced Photoshop looks at some of the highs and lows in the life of the logo
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f you step into an Apple Store to buy an iPod or an iMac, you enter a chapel dedicated to one of the most recognisable brands on the planet. Everywhere you look – on the walls, on the packaging, on the computers themselves – you’ll find the logo: a simple silhouette of an Apple with a bite taken out. The Zen-like simplicity of the logo has undergone many revisions in its time, reducing any extraneous complexity to arrive at a modern icon. It originated with a fussy woodcutstyle logo for Apple Computer designed by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne which depicted Sir Isaac Newton sat beneath an apple tree, clearly waiting for inspiration to strike his noggin. This was quickly replaced by the classic rainbowstriped Apple logo created by designer Rob Janoff in 1976. The rainbow logo remained the symbol for Apple until Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO in 1997 and in 1998 presented a new version of the logo: a glossy, silvery-grey apple. Over recent years this has been refined further (together with the change of corporate typeface from Apple Garamond to Myriad) to become a simple outline usually expressed in white, black or grey, depending on the context.
The history of Apple’s logo is a microcosm for the evolution of all logos and the journey towards simplification. Reducing a logo to its essentials leads to faster recognition and differentiation in a market saturated with companies vying for attention and retention. The same process can be seen with the rebrands for FedEx, Intel, IBM and many others. The word logo is a shortened version of the word logotype, which originates from the 19th century and is a compound of the Greek logos, meaning ‘word’, and the English word type. The 1800s were a time of industrial expansion, and businesses increasingly became national or even international institutions rather than local ones. This increased competition led to a drive to create the first corporate identities. Although early logos and identifiers had been used for centuries, such as printer’s marks, which were simplified line drawing equivalents of more complex trademark devices such as shields, fleur-de-lis and calligraphic characters, the 19th century was the birth of the logo in the modern sense of building brand awareness and loyalty.
Illustration by Chintu Shah
BY JASON ARBER
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Feature CREATING A LOGO When creating a logo, there are several common sense guidelines you should consider. In addition to ensuring that the design is appropriate for the individual or company concerned, design the logo using a vector-based illustration application such as Adobe Illustrator. The logo may need to be scaled to large sizes and designing something with a fixed resolution in a raster application may not be a good idea. Import your vector design into Photoshop if you need a bitmap version of it. Ensure that your logo works well in black and white and at very small sizes, because you never know under what conditions your logo will be viewed and printed. Avoid gimmicks, such as filter effects, because they can date very quickly and a successful logo should last for years.
In most cases, a logo consists of a symbol and the name of the company or organisation – there are only a handful of logos in existence that are easily recognisable without any text, which include Apple and Nike – and in many instances the logo includes a tagline or slogan, such as Nokia’s “Connecting People”. The creation of successful corporate identities, including the design of striking and memorable logotypes, is a dark art. A successful logo needs to convey more than uniqueness and individuality, but should also express the qualities and services of the company, group or individual. A good example would be the 1994 redesign of the Federal Express logo by Lindon Leader when he was senior design director at Landor Associates in San Francisco. Federal Express decided to contract the company’s name to FedEx, and Leader immediately saw the opportunity to create a logo that contained a hidden right-pointing arrow, something most people miss when giving the logo a cursory glance. Leader explained its creation in an interview with The Sneeze. “The power of the hidden arrow is simply that it is a ‘hidden bonus’. It is a positivereverse optical kind of thing: either you see it or you don’t. Importantly, not ‘getting the punch line’ by not seeing the arrow, does not reduce the impact of the logo’s essential communication.” He added, “Punch lines that need to be explained are neither funny nor memorable.” It’s curious to compare and contrast two similar logos for competitive products as they diverge over time. Coca-Cola, the carbonated beverage based on coca leaves and Kola nuts, was invented by John Stith Pemberton in the late 1880s, while its popular alternative, Pepsi-Cola, was created by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in 1898 and trademarked in 1903. Coca-Cola’s distinctive logo has been attributed to
BRAND AWARE
A LOGO NEEDS TO CONVEY MORE THAN UNIQUENESS AND INDIVIDUALITY – IT SHOULD ALSO EXPRESS THE QUALITIES AND SERVICES OF THE COMPANY Pemberton’s business partner Frank Mason Robinson, who not only came up with the name but also the cursive script used for the lettering. Pepsi-Cola’s original logo also used a similar, florid handwriting style, which was refined on a regular basis until 1962 when the company dropped the script in favour of an expanded sans-serif face. In 1943 the company incorporated what it called the “bottle cap” look into its logo by including a circle with a red top half and a dark blue bottom half, divided by a broad, wavy white line. This symbol has become a shorthand for the Pepsi brand, although it’s rare to see it unsupported by the word Pepsi. In 1991, Pepsi adopted the current typeface, a custom techno font, creating a modern look suiting its “Choice of a New Generation” slogan.
Always Coca-Cola By contrast, Coca-Cola’s current logo has changed very little over the years, and is almost indistinguishable from the version seen on the first “Contour” bottles of 1916. Coca-Cola does have a simplified sub-brand, consisting of the word Coke – the abbreviated term for the product – and is used for products such as Cherry Coke and Vanilla Coke. In many foreign territories, such as China, custom typefaces have been created using local alphabets and translations. Although in most parts of the world Coke outsells Pepsi, Pepsi has consistently gone for a youthful demographic by reinventing its logo to stay fashionably current. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has always stood for traditional values (such as promoting its brand with the friendly, jolly figure of Santa Claus during Christmas campaigns). But such is the strength of the Coca-Cola brand that it has come to symbolise not only the most popular carbonated drink in the world but also The United States of America, in the same way that Disney’s Mickey Mouse has. Such ubiquity has a
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Masters of advertising
ILOGO: Apple’s logo has been reduced to its most basic form for a modern iconic impact
DOWN IN ONE: Does Coca-Cola’s worldwide dominance come from the power of a memorable logo?
down side, and Coca-Cola is seen as part of America’s perceived cultural imperialism, paving the way for local alternatives such as the UK’s Qibla Cola, France’s Mecca-Cola and Iran’s Zam Zam Cola. The creation of Nike’s Swoosh logo is an interesting story. In 1971 Nike founder Phil Knight met Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student, in a hallway at Portland State University and offered her a few dollars an hour to do some work for him. “Representatives from Japan were coming for a presentation and Phil wanted some charts and graphs to show them,” recalls Davidson. “I did some design work for him, and then one day he asked me if I wanted to work on a shoe stripe. He said he needed more inventory control.” Needing a logo that suggested movement, Davidson began scribbling down some ideas. But Knight had a deadline so he grabbed one of her first solutions, telling Davidson, “I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.” Davidson was paid $35 for creating one of the most memorable logos of all time. But what most tales concerning this shockingly small fee don’t recount is that Knight presented Davidson with a gold Swoosh ring and Nike stock in 1983. As Davidson admits, “The stock has split three times since I received it, so I can definitely say that I have been well compensated for my design.” Another urban myth is that the Swoosh was inspired by wings on the famous statue of Nike, the winged goddess of victory, but when Davidson did her original design, the company was still called Blue Ribbon Sports. Whether the Swoosh logo ever grew on Knight is unknown, but it has remained at the core of the Nike brand for 35 years. In recent years Nike has lost the company’s name that used to reside in the bowl of the Swoosh, and the Solo Swoosh is now recognisable on its own. Critics of the company, angry at the poor conditions in the foreign sweatshops that produce Nike goods, have dubbed the logo “swooshtika”. In fact, the swastika is one of the world’s most misunderstood logos. For most people the
GROWING PAINS: Can you imagine your MacBook sporting the original Apple logo on the left?
X MARKS THE SPOT: Spot the hidden arrow in the 1994 redesign of the FedEx logo
SODA SO GOOD: Coca-Cola’s classic logo typeface, which has endured over 90 years
NEW GENERATION: Pepsi targeted a younger market with its Nineties design revamp
‘I DON’T LOVE IT, BUT IT WILL GROW ON ME.’ NIKE FOUNDER PHIL KNIGHT ON THE SWOOSH JUST DOING IT From its inception the Nike logo is a perfect example of one that has gone on to mean as much as the company it represents. Starting life in 1971 with the word Nike printed across a checkmark shaped design, the logo has evolved as the motif became so recognisable the company name was made redundant within the logo. Originally designed by graphic design student Carolyn Davidson for the fee of $35, the logo now appears across Nike’s entire portfolio and is one of the most recognisable brands in the world.
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Feature
LOS LOGOS
VIVA LOS LOGOS: To find out more about the organisation and to take a tour of Logos City, an archive of local logos and branding, visit www.loglogos.org
From Los Logos copyright Die Gestalten Verlag 2006
Can the proliferation of corporate logos wipe out the cultural heritage and individuality of our world? Los Logos, the Society for the Conservation of Urban Visual Heritage, created by Swiss designers büro destruct, wants to “protect, or at least conserve, the graphic appearance of the world’s cities.” Opposed to the globalisation of large, international companies and their omnipresent brands, Los Logos is attempting to save unique local branding, logos and typography. Los Logos has also produced a series of books collecting modern logos and branding published by Die Gestalten.
THE SWASTIKA IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST MISUNDERSTOOD LOGOS cross with arms bent at right angles is a symbol of Nazism, and is indelibly associated with right-wing fascist ideology and the murder of millions of Jews. Such negative connotations are at odds with the cross’ origins as a holy symbol in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Nazi party co-opted the swastika or Hakenkreuz (hooked cross) in 1920 as symbol of racial purity, believing that the Indian caste system had arisen as a method of preventing ethnic mixing. Following the Second World War, the German criminal code made public displays of the swastika illegal, but that didn’t stop neo-nazi groups continuing to use it. The swastika has become a taboo logo in most Western cultures, although it continues to crop up in unusual contexts. For example, bizarre religious UFO cult the Raëlian Movement, founded in the 1970s, controversially used a star of David and a swastika interleaved into a single symbol. Bowing to public pressure, the Raëlian logo was redesigned in 1991 to remove the swastika.
Logo ‘shoppers MODERN LIFE: The Los Logos books explore our relationship with logos and give examples of branding that has impact and style
CASE STUDY
As soon as a logo becomes popular, it throws itself open to the possibility of parody or culturejamming. Canadian political activist magazine Adbusters, founded by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz, often criticises large corporations and lampoons their logos.
PENGUIN
In 1935, Penguin Books founder Allen Lane was looking for a “dignified but flippant” name for his new venture and his secretary Joan Coles suggested Penguin. He then sent his office junior, Edward Young, out to London Zoo to draw a penguin for the logo. The simple logo, when paired with the typeface Gill Sans and the three-band design for the book covers, created a modern classic. Jan Tschichold, the modernist German typographer and designer, took charge of Penguin’s production between 1947-1949, unifying the grid structure and creating a standardised set of compositional rules. He refined the Penguin logo, creating the definitive version, until Pentagram updated it in 2003.
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Masters of advertising
BUST A MOVE: Adbusters’ take on the American flag gave a political spin on the role of the logo. Join the “new social activist movement of the information age” at www.adbusters.org
THE AT&T TEAM: AT&T’s new lower-case logo didn’t stir the design world like its Saul Bass predecessor A particularly famous example is its Brand America flag, which incorporates the logos of IBM, MTV, Playboy, Apple, Nike, Warner Bros and others instead of the traditional state stars. When singer George Michael was upset with Sony, his record label, he used a pair of headphones with the word Fony written on them in the style of Sony’s logo in the video for his 1996 single ‘Fast Love’ (Michael ironically ending up slinking back to Sony for later albums). More recently, Google’s logo has been parodied as Goolag (“exporting censorship, one search at a time”) by hacktivists protesting at Google’s censorship of its Chinese search engine. Being parodied is not the worst thing that can happen to a logo, however. Software maker Quark was embarrassed to discover that its new corporate identity, designed by SicolaMartin, a division of Y&R Brands, was the same as The Scottish Arts Council’s (and also Alcone’s, Artworkers’ and The Designers Network’s). In the press release to herald Quark’s new look, Susan Friedman, senior vice president of strategic relations, ironically claimed that the new logo “is one of the most articulate symbols of the new Quark, and I feel proud to have led the team that
THE CREATION OF SUCCESSFUL CORPORATE IDENTITIES IS A DARK ART
worked on it.” Within six months, in March 2006, Quark quietly announced another new logo. Asked about the logo mishap, a Quark spokesman said, “At the end of the day, the logo is a ‘q’ – and there’s a limited number of possible logo designs you can achieve with a single character. [We carried out] extensive checks to discover any similar existing logos… we evidently didn’t find them all.” When AT&T said goodbye to its classic Saul Bassdesigned logo in favour of a new version designed by Interbrand, very few people were impressed. Even fewer still found the accompanying explanation of the new logo contained in the official press release free of straw-clutching marketing speak: “The new logo reinvigorates the AT&T globe – one of the most recognized corporate symbols in the world. The new globe is three-dimensional, representing the expanding breadth and depth of services that the new AT&T family of companies provides to customers, as well as its global presence... Transparency was added to the globe to represent clarity and vision.” Sadly, such lame 6justifications are all too common among advertising agencies pitching corporate identities. But perhaps the worst fate that can befall a logo is that it unintentionally resembles male genitalia or a lewd act. Viral website B3TA recently launched its Phallic Logo Awards (www. b3ta.com/features/phalliclogoawards) leaving visitors scratching their heads wondering if the designers had taken leave of their senses before designing their dodgy logos. There are valuable lessons to be learned there for all budding logo designers. 5
HACKED OFF: After its involvement with censorship, hacktivists parodied the Google brand
STAR SIGN: This combination was always going to raise eyebrows, as the Raëlian Movement discovered
EXPRESS CHANGE: Great logo, shame it’s taken. Quark had to do a quick branding turnaround
FOUL BALL: Love it or hate it? The new ‘beachball’ AT&T logo has divided the design critics
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MASTERCLASS
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Applying scanned artwork Never underestimate the power of your scanner. Get back to the drawing board and add intricate elements to your images BY EMMA CAKE
T
ake a look at our interview with Vault49 on page 24 and you’ll see something very special indeed. The technique of combining fashionstyle photography with elaborate, overlaid elements is a really hot trick to master at the moment. There are many different ways you can approach this
ON THE DISC You’ll find all the elements you need to create this tutorial – ‘buttercup’, ‘curves’, ‘daisy’ and ‘model’ – on this month’s Advanced Photoshop CD. However, we suggest that you create your own elements for a truly unique piece of art.
OUR EXPERT
Emma Cake
Emma is pretty nifty with her camera and very good at Pictionary, which is odd as she has the drawing capability of a four-year old. Armed with some French Curve stencils, a few weeds, and a gullible colleague, she’ll prove that anyone can make creative Photoshop art.
style of work; some artists favour drawing vector elements in Illustrator and integrating them into the image later in Photoshop, while others are just so damn clever they can whip up some masterpieces using only the airbrush and an extra layer, like a Rolf Harris for the digital generation. Well, we’re a pretty creative bunch at Advanced Photoshop and know how to use Photoshop to wangle most concepts together. However, the majority of us can’t draw for toffee and even getting a straight line out of us is a bit of a mission. With the help of your scanner and a bit of artistic licence, even the most drawing-inept of you folk can use your own sketches in your Photoshop work. Over the next few pages we’re going to take a look to see how you can tweak some very basic scans and integrate them into your designs using a few core layering techniques. Honestly, it’s a doddle.
Perfecting your source images
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She’s got curves Start by opening up the main source image, ‘model’, on this month’s CD. The dimensions are perfect for starting our piece of art, but it could do with a little tweak using the Curves command. Press Apple/Cmd+M to open up the Curves dialog and alter the Input to 71 and the Output to 76 to increase the contrast a little. Alternatively, you can use your own photograph.
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Old-school art Now get a plain piece of A4 paper and start doodling. Anything goes really, just make sure there’s lots going on. If you’re not confident with your drawing then invest in some stencils. We found French Curves to be really handy with this design, and they were very cheap and easy to use too. Adding rough, sketchier elements to your design such as stars or hand-drawn flowers will make your image look earthier later on.
Capturing your
source picture
The key to any good design is a cracking source picture. We took this very simple but effective image ourselves so that it would fit in with the design we had in mind. You can easily recreate an image like this with your own digital camera. Lighting is the trickiest technique to master, but it’s possible to create an image using natural outdoor lighting with a few makeshift reflectors (you can use cardboard and tin foil for a cheap but effective substitute). Remember, you can always tweak exposure and colour using the Curves command in Photoshop. Alternatively, if the thought of getting behind the camera scares you, try to track down a suitable image from a stock site such as www.istockphoto.com or www.sxc.hu.
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Scanner skills It’s time to get scanning. Place your drawing on the scanner surface and alter your scanning settings so it imports your sketch to the best effect. Set the colour mode to Greyscale so you don’t end up with a nasty chromatic aberration effect, and boost the resolution right up to 600dpi. Once this has imported into Photoshop alter the Input Levels to 0, 0.59, 255, then alter the colour mode to RGB.
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Flip and flatten Select the corner of your curve design and copy and paste it, placing each version in each corner of the canvas. Make sure that none of the corners are symmetrical so your design doesn’t look too rigid. Alter your curve designs using the shortcut keys Apple/ Cmd+T and dragging the corners and by making flips using the menu Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. When you’re happy with the look, flatten the layers.
Colouring in Add another layer and call it ‘colour curves’. Colour in your selection using various colours chosen in the Foreground Swatch using a Soft Round Airbrush. Try to keep these colours pale and within the same colour range. Here we’ve chosen white and a small selection of pale greens.
“THE KEY TO ANY GOOD DESIGN IS A CRACKING SOURCE PICTURE”
Curves on top Select the entire canvas and copy and paste this onto a new layer on top of your model image and call it ‘curves original’. Reposition it so that it fits nicely on the canvas, as below. You’ll find this easier if you lower the opacity of the layer. Allow the curve design to interfere with the photograph if you like, with tendrils of foliage curling around the model’s hair.
Blur it Click out of the selection area to get rid of the marching ants and then toggle off the visibility of the original curves layer. We want to get rid of any harsh outlines, so select ‘colour curves’ and apply a Gaussian Blur filter (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) of 1.6 pixels.
A touch of magic Select every part of the curves design by shift-clicking with the Magic Wand Tool. Then, create a Layer Mask to get rid of the white background. It’s possible to save this selection as a working path to help you to avoid having to select these areas again.
Double up Duplicate the ‘colour curves’ layer and then drag this copy slightly to the right. Hit Apple/Cmd+T to make the bounding box appear and rotate this slightly counter-clockwise. Experiment with the position of this layer until you’re happy with the appearance. Lower the opacity of this layer to 66%.
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Multiply Add another duplicated layer but this time alter the blending mode to Multiply. Then adjust the Opacity to 90% and the Fill to 60%. Expand the bounding box so that the dimensions of the curves are different and move it around the canvas. Remember, you can also flip this selection vertically.
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Dodgy colour Add the final duplicated layer of ‘colour curves’ and then alter the blending mode to Color Dodge. Take the Fill of this down to around 50% to avoid your image being spoilt by an unsightly yellow. Decrease the size of this bounding box so it matches the size of the original canvas.
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Green sweep Add another layer and call it ‘airbrush’. Then with a Soft Round Airbrush draw a curved line over your image. Start with a dark green and then add more and more lines, using a lighter colour each time. Don’t worry about overlapping your photograph, we’ll sort that out soon enough, but make sure there are no white gaps.
“COMBINING FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY WITH ELABORATE ELEMENTS IS A REALLY HOT TRICK TO MASTER”
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Go over the rainbow With the ‘airbrush’ layer still selected, apply a Gaussian Blur by clicking on Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Adjust the Radius to 169.6 pixels, so that all the individual lines of the rainbow blend into one another. If you want to retain brighter tones then use a lower Radius.
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Layer masking Add a layer mask to this layer and select a Charcoal Brush, which can be found underneath the Natural Brush selection in the Brush Palette. This should make the area around the hair a little easier to mask. Adjust the size accordingly to suit your needs.
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The eyes have it Zoom into the eyes and add another layer. Choose a shade of green and paint over the irises. Lower the Opacity and Fill of this layer to 80% so you can see the detail underneath and the colour blends in well. Then add another layer and paint the pupils with a deep black.
Easy
drawing To draw out the curves ready to scan, we used a selection of French Curve stencils. These are very easy to use, but will take a bit of practice. You will be able to pick up these stencils at any good drawing suppliers at a very reasonable price. We bought ours from the high street retailer Ryman the stationer. Call its customer service line on 0800 389 2147 to order your own stencils.
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Star light, star bright Add another layer and alter the colour to a leafy green. Use the Starburst brush to place bursts of light along the airbrushed rainbow. Then, when you’re happy with the placing, add another layer and alter the Starburst to white. Overlap the green as best as you can in one attempt with the white brush (notice how the green bursts underneath give it a 3D effect).
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Bright eyes Open up the Brush Palette and locate the Starburst – Small brush. Alter the foreground colour to white and apply some small bursts to the areas in the eye that have reflected the flash during the photo shoot. This is a very subtle effect but will brighten the eyes considerably.
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Build up buttercup Open up the ‘buttercup’ file found on this month’s CD and copy this into another layer on your artpiece. Create a new path called ‘buttercup’ in the Paths palette and then create an outline selection using the Pen Tool. Once you’re done with this, click on the ‘buttercup’ layer in the Layers Palette, press the Layer Mask button and the white area surrounding the buttercup will miraculously disappear.
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Adding flowers Press the shortcut keys Ctrl+T to display the bounding box and then reduce the scale of the buttercup to around 9%. Then drag and rotate the flower so it lies along the hair. Duplicate this layer three times and position each version of the buttercup on a different section of the hair. Remember, you can flip them horizontally so they don’t all look the same.
Scanner
settings The most important part in getting your own piece of scanned art to look great will depend on the settings you use to scan in your objects. We had to use two different settings in this tutorial. For the drawn curves it was important to use a Grayscale input in order to capture strong outlines and be able to give the image high contrast and make the blacks black and the whites white. The flowers were captured in RGB mode. We used a high-res Epson Expression 1680 Pro scanner set to 600dpi as this created an adequate enough file size to use on our digital image.
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Blending in Select the Eraser Tool and lower the opacity in the upper toolbar. Select each individual buttercup layer and carefully erase the stems of the flowers so they blend into the hair. Try to keep some areas of green so they don’t look as if they’ve just been plonked on.
“IF THE THOUGHT OF GETTING BEHIND THE CAMERA SCARES YOU, TRACK DOWN A SUITABLE IMAGE FROM A STOCK SITE” 46
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Daisy, daisy Open up the ‘daisy’ file on the CD and use the same technique to apply some daisies to the hair. Go careful with your pen selection before masking, making particularly sure that you are careful around the bottom right-hand side. You may find that you have to get rid of more of the stem for the flower to integrate into the hair successfully.
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Flower arranging We don’t want the flowers to all look the same. Applying a Warp effect to each daisy individually will give you the opportunity to alter the flowers so they merge nicely into the hair. You can access this by clicking Edit>Transform>Warp.
Adjusting
Curves To perfect your image’s exposure the most useful feature you can use is the Curves command. This takes a bit of getting used to, but once you find out how your image will react according to your curves peaks and troughs it will be far more accurate than adjusting Levels. The top right-hand section of the curves allows you to adjust highlights, the middle section alters midtones whereas the bottom left part manipulates shadows. Alternatively you can use the three separate pipette icons to set black, grey and white points.
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Colour Balance With all green in the image, it’s made it look as if the main model image is suffering from a slight cyan colour. Get rid of this by clicking on the ‘Background’ layer and bringing up the Color Balance command (Apple/Cmd+B). Counteract the cyan with some yellow, but add a small amount of red to the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights.
“IF YOU’RE NOT CONFIDENT WITH YOUR DRAWING THEN INVEST IN SOME STENCILS”
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Curve contrast The image can do with a bit of improvement to the contrast. Open up the Curves dialog and alter the Input to 26 and the Output to 31. Then, select the Magenta layer (make sure you’re in CMYK color mode) and alter the Input to 63 and the Output to 58.
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Green screen The last thing we want is the green to cast the hair. So zoom in and make sure you’ve completely applied a mask to the hair strands on the right. You can also use this step to reduce the rainbow if it’s looking a little right-heavy. 5
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Feature
WE’VE SPICED THINGS UP BY ADDING PLAYERS AND TAKING AWAY SOME RULES 48
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Photoshop Relay Relay challeng e
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James Dav ie Debbi Alle s vs n Emma Cak vs e
Photoshop Relay
What do you get when you let six artists loose on one image? The AP team gives Photoshop Relay a go
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e know you’ve all been awaiting its start as much as the World Cup, Wimbledon or the Olympics, but wait no more, the AP Photoshop Relay has begun. Giving six top competitors the chance to go head to head against one another’s creative talents, Photoshop Relay is the ultimate sport for the digitally obsessed this summer! Based on Photoshop Tennis, invented by Jim Coudal, the founder of a Chicago advertising and design agency, this Internet sport has taken off in massive way. Involving two players, Photoshop Tennis sends one image back and forth between the players, who add a layer each turn. Not enough of a challenge for us here at Imagine, we decided to spice things up by adding more players
and taking away some of the rules. Although all of our contestants must do their work in Photoshop, they can bring in elements they created in other apps or scan in textures, images or hand-drawn objects. And they’re not restricted to one layer – players can add as many as they like, but there’s no guarantee that extra layers mean extra chances to win! Taking place over two issues, we have three competitors this issue and three in issue 21. And kicking off the event is James Davies, Digital Photographer’s art editor and AP contributor…
ON THE DISC For those of you who missed issue 19 and the Shutterstock starting image, we’re providing it once again this month. You’ll also find the files, scans and useful bits from our contributors on this month’s disc to help you along your way.
Shutterstock www.shutterstock.com The AP Photoshop Relay starting image is one of Shutterstock’s thousands of images. The largest subscription-based stock photo agency in the world, Shutterstock was founded in 2003 and is now one of the fastest growing suppliers of royalty-free stock photography in the industry. Its outstanding collection of premium images combined with a user-friendly interface has made Shutterstock a trusted resource for an expanding global customer base. Shutterstock currently has nearly 800,000 images available to its subscribers, and that number increases every day.
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Feature
James Davies
Art editor, Digital Photographer
“A message to my Imagine homies regarding the Photoshizzle relizzle. I have started her up, now it’s up to each of you to apply your ‘knowledge’ and ‘mad skillz’ to make this more interesting. Word.”
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Getting started To start my leg, and the whole relay, I decided to take a different route to the expected and use the starting image as inspiration only for now, aiming to add it in later. Start by opening a new document and lay a gradient across the background. I chose a warm summery yellow hue.
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Give it sunshine The sun was the next element added. First create a simple sun shape, and then use the layer styles to apply an Outer Glow. Duplicate the sun four or five times and colour each one using Ctrl+U (Hue/Saturation). Play around so each is a varying shade of yellow and orange. Blur each layer using Gaussian Blur between 30-60 pixels. Finally adjust the blending mode to Color Burn, Screen and Overlay, alternating between the three until you have the desired glowing effect.
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Bring in the bird Open the Shutterstock image and, using a loose cutting style, cut out. Next, scan in a piece of folded paper (this is included on the CD), cut to fit and add to the stomach area of the bird, cutting off excess feathers and adding a shadow. This gives the impression that the whole bird has been cut out of paper.
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Photoshop Relay
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Adding texture Next, in order to add some texture to the image, scan in a piece of wood and use the Pen Tool to create a layer mask. In this instance we’re using a layer mask to reveal the wood texture underneath. By using curves you can optimise the tonal range. Complement this by adding other colour elements with similar layer masks scattered through the middle of the image. Add a drop shadow to elements in the foreground for depth.
Debbi Allen
Star t
Editor
“As editor of this fine magazine surely I hold some sway over who wins? So cakes, flowers, chocolates and diamond bribes welcomed – even though it’ll ultimately be me who triumphs!”
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Creating clouds To create the clouds, make a circle marquee. Apply a radial gradient from light blue grey to darker blue and using the Selection Tool, hold down Alt to create copies. Resize and place as many as you need to create your chosen cloud shape. Blur using a Gaussian Blur of around 12 then flatten the cloud layer and set Opacity to 70-80%.
Make it fly! Scan in and add a piece of string. Use the Burn Tool with a soft-feathered edge brush, set the range to midtones and the Exposure to 12 on the string. Now for the bird’s shadow. Create a new layer, hit Ctrl and click on the bird layer. With the Eyedropper select a dark brown fill from the wood. Deselect the marquee, add Gaussian Blur of 30 pixels, set blending mode to Multiply and Opacity to 55%. Delete any shadow on the gradient background.
Add a character I began by drawing a rough character to add more texture to the image and scanned this in. Select the Pen Tool, making sure Shape Layers is selected, and trace all the individual elements. If you set Fill to 0% while tracing, make sure you turn it back to 100% before you flatten and rasterize the layers. Resize and place within your image underneath the layer masks created earlier.
Get some action! To add detail to the cloud, on a new layer make a small circle and fill black. Create a new Action and begin recording. Using the Select Tool (V), hold down Alt+Shift and drag to the side, producing a copy along the horizontal plane. Stop recording. Play the action until the dots span the cloud. Select the dots layer and flatten. Repeat the process, this time dragging the row of dots downwards at 45 degrees.
Custom shape Next add these cartoon-ish clouds. I created the outline of a cloud shape in Illustrator, then imported it into Photoshop and turned it into a Custom Shape. You can of course do this in Photoshop. Select the Custom Shape Tool (U) and find your cloud. Go Layer>Rasterise>Layer, select white fill and apply.
Remove the extra Using the Pen with Paths selected, draw inside the cloud where you want the dots to be deleted, leaving white space, I used the outside line of the cloud as a guide. From the paths palette, Ctrl-click to turn it into a selection and hit delete. Then select the cloud layer and inverse the selection. Select the dots layer and hit delete to remove the dots on the outside of the cloud shape.
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Perfect the shadow We want the bird shadow to hit the new cloud like it is closer than the background, so select the bird shadow layer, drag a copy and move it left. Select the cloud layer icon so that a path appears around it, then select the original bird shadow layer and hit delete. With the new bird shadow layer in a position you’re happy with, select the cloud layer, inverse and delete all shadow outside of the cloud.
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Wooden birds Finally, using the Pen Tool, draw a path around the bird and copy the wood texture from before ensuring the bird path sits over the wood texture. Next, go to the Paths palette and, holding Ctrl, select the path icon and click Add Layer Mask. Make a copy and position on either side of the image to balance up the composition.
Emma Cake
Deputy editor
“My aim is to make this task as difficult as possible for the remaining candidates. James and Debbi haven’t really given me much to work with, but I’m sure I can work some magic and add some sparkle.”
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Red balloon First I created a new group called Balloon. Then, on my first layer for the Relay race, I used the Pen Tool to draw a hot air balloon shape in the top-right corner, changing the style swatch to Red Gel.
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Basket case Now for some detail. Add a new layer, and using a hard round airbrush set at a four-point size, sketch out a basic basket shape for the hot air balloon – I also added some people in at this stage.
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It’s on fire! Add another new layer, this time drawing the burner and flames using a selection of different fire-like colours from the swatch palette as below. Apply a Gaussian Blur of 1.0 pixels.
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Stamp your mark In a new layer select the Pattern Stamp Tool from the Tools palette. Select Colour paper option from the Styles drop-down menu and choose Gold Paper. Colour in the basket, then alter the Layer style to Luminosity.
Relay
passed on next month to
Ross Andre w Claire vs M s vs ark Kendrick
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Clouding over Select the cartoon cloud created earlier in the Layers palette and drag it so that it lies in front of the balloon using the Move Tool.
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Rainbow rays Add a new layer underneath the balloon and use a soft round airbrush with various different colours to draw out a rainbow. Soften this more by applying another Gaussian Blur with a radius of 3.9 pixels.
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Shine on Add some sparkle to your rainbow using the Stars brush found within the assorted brushes palette. Make them blend into the rainbow by altering the Layer style to Overlay.
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Step-by-step Workshops
CREATE SPACE! 7 PEER PRESSURE
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Check out this month’s readers’ gallery to find out what your fellow Advanced Photoshop readers have been getting up to. If you’re stuck for ideas then take a glance through these images for inspiration, learn some new techniques and check out what you’re up against in the big bad world of design. If you think you’re up to the challenge then get your designs to us by emailing [email protected] or posting them on our forum at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk.
You can’t be anything but impressed at the sight of a retro-style pixel art image. Despite the nostalgic feel and blocky appearance, a piece of pixel art is probably the most complex digital style you could ever master. With Gary J Lucken from Army of Trolls as your teacher, however, you’re in safe hands. Turn the page to find out how to design your own isometric pixel art.
Te ch n
Info
INSIDER INFO 1
EXPOSURE ADJUSTMENT
PIXEL ART 7 64
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It’s a whole new world out there, and this issue we show you how to create planets, stars and incredible outer-space effects with a few key Photoshop tools. Are you ready for blast-off?
INSIDER INFO 2
BRIDGE 62 EXTENSIONS
Perfect your 32-bpc photos on screen with the new High Dynamic Range functions in Photoshop CS2
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Expand and manipulate Bridge to suit your needs with a host of new tools and features to suit the creative professional
HELPDESK
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Is your Photoshop work making you break out in a cold sweat? Do you need a little helping hand? Our resident expert is here to help with a few top tips on controlling your errant app
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Step-by-step
Workshop
CREATE SPACE! Begun these Clone Tool wars have. Discover how to make stars, worlds and more without ever having to leave Photoshop BY ROSS ANDREWS
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iqu es Te ch n OUR EXPERT
PART ONE: STARS AND PLANETS
Ross Andrews
As group art editor Ross works on a range of creative titles here at Imagine Publishing, and he’s also a Photoshop supremo who can point your pixels in the right direction when it comes to inventive image creation.
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his was possibly the most fun we’ve had in Photoshop for years. Not because we’ve been getting bored of Adobe’s master app, you understand, but just because creating convincing cosmic artwork is something the Advanced Photoshop team has been dying to get its teeth into for ages. Inspired by the work of Greg Martin (www.artofgregmartin.com), we’re looking at bringing stellar beauty straight to your screen without having to resort to 3D applications to render worlds or star fields. The plan was to make use of Photoshop’s filters, shortcuts and tricks wherever possible. For the most part the techniques in this tutorial are not only deceptively simple, they are also flexible. Once you’ve followed the individual parts and understand how they work, try to revisit steps and experiment – after all, you’re trying to create, not re-create worlds, and with these techniques anyone can play god. But creating worlds takes a long time, and many of the results shown here get better the more you play with them. With that in mind we’ve split the tutorial up into two – this issue concentrates on the planets and star field, and next issue we’ll reveal how to create the fiery nebula.
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Creating space Your first step is to create a star field for the background. Unsurprisingly, this will start as a solid black document. Make the canvas larger than you need, and at a higher resolution – this allows you greater detail in the next few steps. Create a new layer called ‘Tiny Stars’ and fill it with black as well.
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Cloudy sky With the Bigger Stars and background layers visible, and the Bigger Stars layer active, click Add Layer Mask. Click on the Layer Mask thumbnail that appears and with black and white as the foreground and background, choose Filter>Render>Clouds. This will produce a mask that hides some of your stars.
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It’s all white Invert the Bigger Stars layer by choosing Image>Adjustments>Invert. This will make it white with black dots; enhance this effect by Choosing Image>Adjustments>Levels and typing 230, 1.00, 250 into the three Input levels boxes. Hit OK and then invert the layer again to revert it back to white dots on a black background.
Detail by hand The Clouds mask leaves a pattern. Disrupt this by choosing a large, soft black brush, set to a 30% Opacity, and remove more of the stars by painting black areas onto the Layer Mask. Repeat the process on the Tiny Stars layer, but begin painting directly onto the layer mask. Build up interesting star clusters and shapes.
The masked hero of space
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Get noisy Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Tick the Gaussian and Monochromatic settings and select a setting of around 10%. The effect will be subtle so punch it up a little, and add variety to the point size by using Image>Adjustments> Brightness/Contrast to decrease the Brightness to -40 but boost the Contrast by 75.
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Twinkle little star Duplicate the Tiny Stars layer and rename it ‘Bigger Stars’. Repeat the Brightness/Contrast command but take the Brightness down to -100. Boost the Contrast by about 60. This will bring out stronger, but fewer, points of light. Use the Scale Tool to increase the size of the layer to between two and three times bigger than the document canvas size.
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Gonna be a big star Choose Edit>Free Transform and scale the Bigger Stars layer back to around the same size as the canvas. Hold the cursor outside the transformation box and click and drag to rotate the layer by 180 degrees. Set the layer mode to Screen. Duplicate this layer and rename it Biggest Stars, set the layer mode to Screen and use Free Transform to rotate it 30 degrees and scale it up to about 150%.
This tutorial makes heavy use of layer masks, and you may be wondering why they’re used when the Eraser Tool might very well do. The answer is that layer masks allow far more flexibility. Should you change you mind about something you’ve deleted you can go back to the mask and use a white brush to paint the element back in. You can also use filters on them for creative results (see step six).
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Stargazing Switch to the Biggest Stars layer and repeat the cloudless layer mask technique, but this time add fewer but very bright stars in small tight clusters. The trick is to imagine you’re adding in the constellations, star by star. The final result is the basis of your star field, so commit to it by flattening the image.
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Step-by-step
Workshop Make more planets Once you have the general planet layer structure built up you can easily experiment with more textures by preparing them in the same way you did in steps 12 and 13 and then dragging the texture into the layer stack. You can even combine layers from more than one texture for interesting effects.
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Punch it up Finally, to give your star field even more punch, flatten all the layers and then duplicate the background. Set the copy’s layer mode to Linear Dodge and adjust the Opacity to taste. You may also want to give the blacks a little more depth by using Image>Adjustments>Levels and pulling the black arrow to the right a little.
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That’s no moon Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and hold down the Shift key to create a circular selection. Copy this to a new layer. With the circular selection active go to Filter>Distort> Spherize. Use a setting of 100%, and then repeat for good measure! Use Image>Image Size to resize your image back to its original dimensions.
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Attack of the clone Add some texture by switching to a large, soft Clone Tool, set to Screen mode and clone in more stars. Try and build up interesting, dusty sprays of stars. To add an ethereal glow, duplicate your layer, and set the copy to Linear Dodge. Choose Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and run it at about ten pixels. Colour your glow layer using Image>Adjustments>Color Balance.
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Genesis The world was created in seven steps – maybe more if we get carried away. Find yourself a stony texture (Mayang’s free textures at www. mayang.com/textures is a great free resource to take a look at), open in a new document and resize it to a planet size. Convert the background into a layer, and double your canvas size. Using a large, soft clone brush, click with the brush instead of the usual brush strokes.
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Stratus quo Fill the background layer with black, and then create three layers above your texture. Apple+click (Mac users) or Ctrl+click (PC users) the texture layer in the Layer palette to load it as a selection and then use that selection to create a dark blue disc on the first blank layer with two black discs above it. Name them ‘Colour’, ‘Shading’ and the top one ‘Atmosphere’.
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Tiny flares Create a new layer and fill it with black. Choose Filter>Render>Lens Flare and apply a 50% 105mm Prime flare. Set your flare layer’s mode to Screen and then use the Free Transform Tool to scale the flare down. Use the Eraser Tool to edit out any of the starburst effects if they bug you. Duplicate this starburst a few times over the image, each time scaling it and adjusting its opacity so it doesn’t appear too uniform.
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Let there be light Now you’re ready to bring your planet to life. Select the Atmosphere layer and choose Layer>Layer Style>Inner Shadow. Set the mode to Screen, the colour to a light cyan and the Global Light angle to -10. Drag the Distance and Size sliders right up – depending on the size of your image – but don’t hit OK just yet…
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World a-glow Add an Outer Glow using the same cyan and a Screen blending mode. Drag the Size slider up to create a halo, then add an Inner Glow, again to a cyan screen. Increase the size of the glow. Hit OK and create a new layer below the Atmosphere. Switch back to the Atmosphere layer and use Layer>Merge Down.
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Eclipse Switch to the Shading layer and move it above the Atmosphere layer. Drag the disc up and to the right so that it masks the top-right third of the atmosphere glow. Go to Filter>Blur> Gaussian Blur and apply a 95-pixel blur to the circle. With the shading layer active, load the texture shape selection again (as in step 14), choose Select>Inverse and then hit Delete to remove the surplus parts of the shading shape.
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Mask the atmosphere Add a layer mask to the Atmosphere layer and use a soft black brush at a low opacity to gently remove most of the remaining glow on the top-right side of the planet. When you’re done, Control- (Mac) or right- (PC) click the Layer Mask thumbnail and choose Apply Layer Mask. Drag the Texture layer above the Colour layer.
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Forest moon Set the layer mode of the Texture layer to Screen and your planet will really start to come to life. You may want to decrease the saturation using Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation to bring some of the blue colour back. Reduce the opacity of this layer to 33% and then duplicate it twice (set both of these copies to Screen as well).
Noisy zooming If you apply the Add Noise filter in step two and it seems to produce no result outside of the filter’s preview, try changing the zoom level on the document outside the Add Noise dialog. At some zoom levels the noise interferes with the display pixels and disappears – change the magnification and it pops right back.
“WE’RE LOOKING AT BRINGING STELLAR BEAUTY STRAIGHT TO YOUR SCREEN” 22
Cloud cover Rename this layer ‘Clouds’ and the original texture layer ‘Land’. Decrease the Opacity of your Shading layer to 95 so that more of the textures show through. Duplicate the Land layer and apply Filter>Stylize>Emboss with a Angle of -15, Height of 1 and the Amount right up to 500%. Duplicate this embossed layer and call one ‘Land Highlights’ and the other ‘Land Shadow’.
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Terra-former Use the Free Transform Tool to rotate each of these duplicate layers; the amount will depend on your texture, keep experimenting to find details you like the look of. When you’re happy, merge the layers back together; keeping the result applied as Screen. You may then want to boost the contrast of the texture using Levels or Brightness/Contrast.
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Leveller of worlds With the Land Highlights layer active, open Levels. Type 145, 1.00 and 210 into the Input Levels fields and hit OK. Switch to the Land Shadow layer and do the same, but using the numbers 87, 1.00 and 116. Set the Highlights layer to Linear Dodge at 50% Opacity and the Shadow layer to Multiply at 70%. Boost the brightness of the Clouds layer slightly.
Weather man Duplicate your texture layer again and set it to Screen. Select Image>Adjustments> Levels and pull both the black and white triangles toward the centre (in this case the Input Levels were 57, 0.91, 150; this will create a hard clouds effect). Use the Free Transform Tool again to rotate this layer until it gives the best effect.
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“EXPERIMENT TO FIND DETAILS YOU LIKE THE LOOK OF”
Perfect circles When you’re creating your circular selection in step 24 there’s a trick to getting it just right. Instead of selecting from the topright corner and dragging down, use the twirl shape to help you select. Look at the spiral and you’ll easily be able to spot the centre. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and position your cursor at that point. Hold down Shift and Option and drag outwards (PC users select Alt+drag here), and the selection will grow from the centre.
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Get perspective Using the Move Tool, drag the planet onto the star field document; move it into position and scale it if necessary. Drag the rings into the document as well and switch to the Free Transform Tool. Hold down the Option key (Mac) or Alt key (PC) and you can apply extreme distortions to each corner handle in turn. Here we’ve flipped it over, pushed the top corners in and down and pulled the bottom corner out and down to give some extreme perspective.
Spin the ring No real planet is complete without rings, so make some. Create a new document, slightly bigger than your planet, and fill it with black. Create a new layer, and with black and white as your colours choose Filter>Render> Clouds. Open Filter>Distort>Twirl and apply it 999 degrees to give a spinning effect.
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Ring of fire Add a Layer mask to the layer and make a circular selection. With the Layer mask active choose Select>Inverse and fill the outer area with black. Make a smaller circular selection inside the twirl and fill it with black as well. Apply the layer mask from the contextual menu.
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Finish it off Colourise your rings using Hue/ Saturation and then duplicate the layer. Set both ring layers to Screen. Make the lower copy active and head to Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur to apply a reasonably strong blur and give the rings a soft glow. And that’s it; your image is done for now. Next issue we show how to build the nebula and add final colouring to the planet to make it red. 5
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Mask the rings Add a layer mask to the rings layer and load the planet selection into it. Fill this with black. Draw a marquee around the areas of the rings that should be visible and fill it with white to bring them back. Click the chain symbols between the layer mask and layer thumbnails. This will allow you to reposition your rings later on.
Next month: the nebula Tip top twirling
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Noisy ring To give the rings some grain go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise and apply a 20% Gaussian Monochromatic setting. Finally you can delete the background black layer. You’re now ready to combine your images together so open up your planet file and the background star field you made earlier.
If your twirl in step 24 doesn’t seem quite, erm, ‘twirly’ enough, just repeat the filter until you get the result you are looking for. Many filters can benefit from repeat runnings, such as the Spherize filter you used earlier and the Difference Clouds filter you’ll be using to make the nebula.
Be sure to check back with us next issue as we reveal how to create a swirling, whirling nebula to finish off the celestial sky. We’ll explore more of the effects of the Cloud filter and different blending modes. Next issue goes on sale 17 August.
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Insider
Info
Decent Exposure To complement the new high dynamic range capabilities in Photoshop CS2, Adobe has added the Exposure command, which allows you to better visualise your 32 bit-per-channel photos on screen
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imply stated, the term ‘dynamic range’ refers to the range of brightness values from the darkest black above featureless black, to the brightest white below featureless white. In the visible world, this range far exceeds the limits of human vision, but our eyes have the ability to adapt to very different brightness levels. Conversely, the majority of cameras and monitors can only capture and display a fixed dynamic range. One option for achieving greater perceived dynamic range is with the new Merge to HDR command, which allows photographers to combine a series of bracketed exposures into a single high dynamic range (HDR) image. HDR images store luminance values using 32-bpc (bits per channel) floating-point math to represent the entire dynamic range of the visible world.
OUR EXPERT
Trevor Morris
Trevor Morris is an official Photoshop beta tester and amateur digital photographer with more than a dozen years’ design experience. He works as a senior graphic designer for a Canadian web design company and also maintains the Photoshop-centric website GFX™ (http://user.fundy.net/morris).
How many colours is 32-bpc? A single 32-bpc (bits per channel) RGB image has: ● 7.9 x 10 28 colours ● 79, 228, 162, 514, 264, 337, 593, 543, 950, 336 colours ● 79 octillion colours Now that’s a big box of crayons!
Exposure adjustments Given that the number of colours in an HDR image is far beyond the capabilities of any display device, Photoshop provides you with a few tools to make the visualisation of this data more meaningful. One of these tools is the Exposure command (Image>Adjustment s>Exposure), a sort of 32-bit equivalent of the standard Brightness/Contrast adjustment command: however, unlike Brightness/Contrast, changes made with Exposure are largely reversible for 32-bit images. (Note that although the Exposure command can be used with 8and 16-bpc images, it was specifically designed for making exposure adjustments to 32-bpc HDR images.) The Exposure dialog offers the following controls:
Adjusting HDR previews To adjust the preview of a 32-bit image, choose View>32-Bit Preview Options. This Options dialog offers two preview methods: Exposure And Gamma, which adjusts the brightness and contrast, and Highlight Compression, which compresses the highlight. Preview settings are stored with the HDR image; however, all the HDR image information remains intact. You can also adjust the preview of an HDR image by clicking the right-facing triangle in the status bar of the document window and choosing Show>32-bit Exposure from the menu. Drag the slider to set the white point for viewing the HDR image; double-click the slider to reset it to the default (middle) position.
DIALOG OPTIONS: The Exposure dialog allows you to better visualize your 32-bit images by adjusting Exposure, Offset and Gamma. Here, the eyedroppers were used to identify the highlights, shadows and midtones, then Gamma was adjusted. ● Exposure (highlights): Adjusts the brightness/darkness of the image, with minimal effect in the extreme shadows. Move the slider left to darken the image, and right to brighten the image. Values are in increments equivalent to f-stops (from -20 to +20). So, for example, an adjustment of +1.50 or -1.50 would be analogous to widening (opening) or reducing (closing) the aperture by 11/2 stops, respectively. ● Offset (shadows): Darkens the shadows and midtones (from -0.5 to +0.5) with minimal affect on the highlights in the image. ● Gamma (midtones): Adjusts the image gamma (from 0.1 to 9.99), using a simple power function, with negative values mirrored around zero (ie, values remain negative but are adjusted as if they were positive).
● The Exposure dialog also has a set of eyedroppers, but instead of affecting all colour channels as they do in the Levels and Curves dialogs, they only adjust the image’s luminance values. ● Set Black Point: Sets the Offset (shadows), shifting the pixel that you click to zero. ● Set White Point: Sets the Exposure (highlights), shifting the point you click to white (1.0 for HDR images). ● Set Gray Point (Midtone): Sets the Exposure (highlights), making the value you click middle grey. ● The Save and Load buttons allow you to save your exposure adjustment settings (as an .eap file) and apply them to other HDR images. ● As with most Photoshop dialogs, holding down Opt/Alt will change the Cancel button into a Reset button.
“OUR EYES HAVE THE ABILITY TO ADAPT TO VERY DIFFERENT BRIGHTNESS LEVELS”
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BUILD A PIXEL TOWN Learn the theory and techniques behind isometric pixel art then use this to create your own pixel town… BY GARY J LUCKEN
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ixel art is cute, compact, colourful and beautiful to look at. It’s also very time-consuming to create and adheres to a strict set of rules, which requires a large amount of dedication and patience. Pioneered by the videogame artists of the last 20 years, pixel art has grown into a valid illustration medium. It’s a modern art form but it also has a nostalgic feel that few recent art styles can lay claim to, bringing back memories of late nights in front of the Super Nintendo for a whole legion of 20- to 30-somethings. The pixel is currently relegated to the handheld and mobile gaming market while 3D games wow the crowds on the next-generation of videogame consoles. However, with the success of artists like Eboy and
OUR EXPERT
Gary J Lucken
Gary J Lucken is a videogame-obsessed North London-based artist who specialises in pixel art. He’s influenced by the golden age of sprite-based gaming and is the creator of pixel wonderland www.armyoftrolls.co.uk.
my own Army of Trolls, the pixel is enjoying a renaissance as a new form of illustration. Isometric pixel art can create wonderfully busy scenes that you can stare at for ages and still not notice all the finer details, and of course it can be used to make sprite-based videogames and animated GIFs. It’s also perfect for website design as its low colour count makes for cool-looking images with small file sizes. In this tutorial I will explain some of the theory and rules behind isometric pixel art and then take you through the stages to create your own buildings. Hopefully you will be able to take this knowledge and create your own detailed pixel art cities. Pushing pixels can be very timeconsuming and requires a great deal of patience, but it can also be one of the most rewarding and addictive art forms there is. If you can scale the steep learning curve you’ll be creating your own striking pixel art in no time. Although I work in ImageReady, you can follow the tutorial in Photoshop too – just ensure your resolution is set to 72dpi, not 300dpi.
“IT’S SOMETIMES JUST AS IMPORTANT WHERE YOU DO NOT PLACE A PIXEL AS WHERE YOU DO PLACE ONE” Pixel art programs Personally, I used Adobe ImageReady to create all my artwork. It has all the functionality of Photoshop but restricts you to a 72dpi workspace that is perfect for pixel art. That’s not to say it’s the only program to create your pixel art in – even MSPaint that comes with Photoshop is perfectly adequate to create pixel artwork. Some other programs that are perfect for pixel art are: Promotion: http://cosmigo.com/promotion/index.php Graphicsgale: www.humanbalance.net/gale/us Paint Shop Pro: www.corel.co.uk
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Setting up Create a new Photoshop document, making sure the resolution is set to 72dpi and not 300dpi. Then, select the Pencil Tool and choose the smallest brush size, making sure anti-aliasing is turned off (pixel art does not use anti-aliasing unless it is done by hand). All pixel art is created at 72dpi – this is why I tend to use ImageReady to create my work, because it is a perfectly suited environment for creating pixel-based artwork.
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A new view When you create pixel art you will work with a zoomed-in view most of the time, but it does help to also see what your creation will look like at 100%. To do this in Photoshop go to Window>Arrange>New Window For – this will make a duplicate view of your image. Leave this sitting to the side at as you work.
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Colours! Some people find it helpful to create a palette of colours next to their image, which can aid colour choices making it quick and easy to switch between hues. All you need to do is place a block of colour next to your image as you use each new shade – this helps to keep track of the hues you’re using when working on colour-restricted videogame pixel art.
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Workshop Make it your own
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Get closer Zoom in close to your pixel art – this way you can concentrate on the close-up details. Remember, you also have the 100% view to one side so can see if your art is heading the way you expected at any time. Pixel art differs from conventional art because you are massively restricted to a limited number of squares and colours with which to create your images. It’s sometimes just as important where you do not place a pixel as where you do place one.
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An isometric cube First we need to lay down the foundations of our pixel city. Take the Pencil Tool and create a square by drawing two pixels along, moving one pixel up and then two along. Once you have a line that is about 30 steps long you can duplicate it then flip it to make the other sides of your square. This saves time and means that you do not have to hand-draw every last pixel.
There’s nothing that you can’t replicate in pixel art form – if you don’t quite fancy the challenge of an entire town, start by creating a few small sprites like the little penguin on the left and build up to a metropolis that way. You can duplicate and re-use elements too (check out the balloon seller in the main image), making the process far less time-consuming. Although pixel art by its nature is quite linear, that doesn’t mean you can’t develop a trademark style. Incorporate your own sprites into every pixel world you create as a type of signature, or work on your own ways of reflecting light or representing faces – it is these small details that will make your work stand out as unique and catch a commissioner’s eye. As ever, let the Advanced Photoshop team know how you get on with pixelling!
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Join the corners You should now have a top and bottom to your cube, but we still need to join up the edges. With the Pen Tool, join each bottom corner to its corresponding top corner. Once you have a completed cube, link the layers and flatten them using Merge Layers.
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Adding colour Now we need to add some colour to our cube. Select a light green colour and fill in the top section of the cube with the Fill Tool, then tidy up any leftover black pixels. Now choose a darker green and fill the right-hand side, then fill the lefthand side with an even darker green.
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Along and up A traditional hand-drawn isometric viewpoint is based on a 30-degree angle, but due to the nature of the computer screen it cannot display a line of this angle smoothly without anti-aliasing, which we don’t want. Isometric pixel art is created at an angle of 25.565 degrees, so the easiest way to draw a line at this angle is to draw two pixels along, move one pixel upwards then draw two more pixels across and so on until you have a slanted line.
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Square dealing Now you have your pixel square, duplicate it into a new layer and then you can place this wherever you want. The higher you place it, the deeper the cube will be.
Highlighting edges You can get a nice effect on your cube by highlighting the edges. To do this choose a lighter green than the colour you filled the top of the cube with and colour each pixel along the front edge in this lighter colour (also colour the front corner of your cube). This technique is used often in isometric pixel art, as it softens the colours and creates a nice edge effect.
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“YOU CAN 13 GET A NICE EFFECT ON YOUR PIXEL CUBE BY HIGHLIGHTING THE EDGES” 11
Road trip Create a new layer, choose a grey colour and draw a line using the two along, one up method until you have what looks like a thick grey line. This is our road tile. Notice I have also created a kerb and placed road markings on the road. Experiment with the techniques you have learned to make your own road system.
Down and dirty As this green cube will form the base of our city’s foundation I have coloured the bottom section brown. To do this, select a nice earthy brown and pixel along the centre of the front of your cube (remembering the two along, one up rule). I have added a few more tones to give it an earthier look.
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Building block Now let’s create a building. First draw a square as we did in the first stages of the tile tutorial and then duplicate and raise the second square to the desired height of your building. Remember to join the edges as before.
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Joining the tiles Duplicate the foundation and place the cubes next to each other to make a larger ground area. For the purpose of this tutorial I have kept things simple with just four cubes, but you can keep creating new ground tiles until you are happy with the size of your foundation.
Internet ideas
There are lots of great pixel art sites online, all with their own unique style. It’s great fun and can be very inspiring to click through these colourful websites: ● www.armyoftrolls.co.uk (my site) ● www.kennethfejer.dk ● www.eboy.com/eboy ● www.adamtierney.com ● www.spriteart.com/main.html ● http://finalredemption.com The pixelopolis forums are full of very talented and helpful artists, just stick to the rules of the forum address below and you’ll get all the help you need. ● www.pixel-arts.org/pixelopolis/ index.php
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Adding the roof terrace Our building isn’t very interesting as a plain rectangle, so let’s add a more interesting roof. The roof section is created from lots of different-sized squares, which are just thinner/ wider versions of the original buildings. Create any details like this in new layers, move them around until you are happy with the results, then merge all the layers.
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Basic colour Join the edges with vertical lines, Merge layers, and fill in the building with your chosen colour. Remember that many of the objects in isometric pixel art can be created by joining lots of smaller squares together.
“IF YOU CAN SCALE THE STEEP LEARNING CURVE, YOU’LL BE CREATING YOUR OWN STRIKING PIXEL ART IN NO TIME” 67
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Study the masters
When dealing with type in pixel art, it helps to have a selection of bitmap fonts. A bitmap font is a font specifically created to be viewed on screen. It is made from pixels with no anti-aliasing as opposed to a true type font, which is made up of lines and curves and is typically used in print. Many people refer to bitmap or pixel fonts as ‘screen fonts’, and if you want to use type in your pixel art illustrations then a bitmap font is a must. You’ll find all the bitmap fonts you will ever need here: www.dafont.com/bitmap.php.
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Windows and doors Every building needs windows, so let’s create some. Study the pictures below and try to recreate the windows and doors. There’s no need to stick to the exact size, as a little variation can be a good thing. Again, create them on a separate layer and then duplicate the windows until you have as many as you want.
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Shady dealings See the big happy sun? Well that’s our light source for the building. Taking this as the source of the light, re-colour the surfaces of the building. The left side will catch the light, while the right side needs to be much darker.
Define and outline Using a similar method as we explored in the first part of the tutorial, I have highlighted the inside edges of the building, those within the black outside outline. Also notice how I colour the black outline a darker shade of the main colour. This really helps to give your pixel art a unique look, as sometimes the black outlines can be very harsh on the eye.
One great way to learn pixel art techniques is to study the masters, there are a large amount of websites specialising in sprite rips: videogame artwork ripped straight out of 2D pixel-based games. You can learn a great deal about pixel art from downloading these sprites opening them up in Photoshop and studying them. I recommend you check out this website as it collects together some amazing game artwork from Nintendo, Capcom, Square and Sega. Remember, though: passing off edits of these sprites as your own work is frowned upon in the pixel community. It’s okay to learn from them but not okay to steal. http://sprites. fireball20xl.com/ NSA/HTML/Poke
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Bricking it Using a darker shade I have created brickwork on the top of the building – with a little practise you can add all sorts of textures to your pixel art. A good tip is to draw a small square of your texture and then map this to your building by copying and pasting it using layers.
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Put it all together Now that we have the basics of our building we can place it on the foundations we made earlier on – simply open the layer that contains your foundations and then drag or copy it into the building document and place it where you think it looks best.
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Adding detail This is just an example of what you can achieve with pixel art; below you’ll see that I have spruced up my building with some signs, a police car and a few characters standing outside. After a while you will start to have a large amount of elements you can use for future images, so remember to build your pixel library by saving the individual elements in separate files.
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Creating Mr Pixel To create the Mr Pixel character portrait, I first did a quick pencil drawing and scanned it in. Try to draw your character as close to actual size as possible as this will make it easier to pixel over – there’s no need to worry about too much detail either, as it will just confuse things.
“ONE GREAT WAY TO LEARN PIXEL ART TECHNIQUES IS TO STUDY THE MASTERS” 27
Highlighting Mr Pixel Once you have shaded your character you can start to add highlights, but notice how I haven’t gone over the top with the highlights. Using them sparingly can produce a much better effect than getting too carried away.
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Create the outline Create another layer above the original scan and pixel over the top, picking out the outlines and finer details. Try to keep things neat and tidy, but don’t worry too much as you can always neaten things up later. If you want to you can copy and paste elements to keep things symmetrical (as you can see both eyes are the same just copied and flipped).
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Give him some shade Now let’s get some shading on Mr Pixel. Choose a light source and darken the side of the face opposite to where the light will hit. I always try to avoid using greys or variations of colours with more black in them – as you can see from the picture below I used a blue to shade the darker areas of the white shirt, this helps me to get a bright colourful effect.
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Finishing touches Now that we’ve shaded and highlighted our character, it’s time to finish him off. Try to remove any remaining black pixels that fall inside the main outline, and notice how instead of the black outline of the eyes and nose I have used a darker skin tone or a similar shade. Now Mr Pixel is ready for action. 5
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Colouring him in Once you have your basic outline, start to fill large areas with your chosen colours. For this you can use the Fill Tool, just make sure that anti-aliasing is unchecked and that tolerance is set to 0. Then fill away, colouring in large sections with your chosen tones.
Pixel art for print All pixel art is done at a screen resolution of 72dpi, but artwork for print is normally supplied at 200-300dpi. If you produce pixel-based artwork for print the printers may ask for your file to be at a high resolution. There is really no need to up the resolution of pixel art but you can do this in Photoshop by going to Image>Image Size then select Nearest Neighbor from the resample image drop-down menu. It’s safer to up the res by multiples of 72dpi, for example 144dpi, 288dpi and so on.
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INSIDER INFO
Insider
Info
Building a better Bridge
Adobe Bridge has a modest interface and a generous complement of tools and features, but by leveraging Bridge’s powerful scripting API you can extend the app to suit your needs
OUR EXPERT
Trevor Morris
Trevor Morris is an official Photoshop beta tester and amateur digital photographer with more than a dozen years’ design experience. He works as a senior graphic designer for a Canadian web design company and also maintains the Photoshop-centric website GFX™ (http://user.fundy.net/morris).
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dobe Bridge is a firstgeneration application, written from the ground up to replace the now defunct Photoshop File Browser. Yet, in spite of its infancy, Bridge is highly configurable and extensible, thanks to its support for ExtendScript (Adobe’s extended implementation of JavaScript). Among other things, ExtendScript allows you to create custom commands and user interface components using your preferred text editor (or ExtendScript Toolkit, a simple scripting interface that installs with Bridge).
A real-world example
FILENAME TO TITLE: Another free script, this adds a command to the Tools menu that writes the title of selected files to their IPTC Title fields
Consider this example. Occasionally, I post my photographs online, and when I do I like to include some associated camera metadata (eg, make, model, exposure, ISO speed, etc). However, since Bridge doesn’t currently have any commands for exporting metadata, I’d have to type the metadata by hand – a rather tedious and error-prone exercise that I’d just as soon avoid. So, I wrote a script to display the desired metadata as part of a formatted string, which I can then copy and paste into another application. Now when I select a photo shot with my Nikon D70, and choose Edit>Copy Camera
Bridge-building resources Here are several resources where you can learn more about Bridge scripts: ● Adobe Bridge Scripting Reference – a must-have reference for anyone who plans to write their own Bridge scripts: www.adobe.com/products/ creativesuite/pdfs/bridge_javascript_ref.pdf ● Adobe Studio Exchange – example scripts for Bridge: http://share.studio.adobe.com/axBrowseSubmit.asp?c=222 ● PS-Scripts – unofficial Photoshop and Bridge scripting community forum: www.ps-scripts.com/bb/ Official Adobe Bridge Forums: ● Adobe Bridge Forum (Mac): http://tinyurl.com/bskku ● Adobe Bridge Forum (Windows): http://tinyurl.com/d6cvf ● Adobe Bridge Scripting Forum: http://tinyurl.com/8uw34
BROWSEBAR: This script, which you can get hold of for free at the Adobe Studio Exchange website, allows you to browse images through typing a navigational path Metadata, a dialog appears with the following text (for example): “This photo was captured with a Nikon D70 (1/125s @ f/4.5, ISO 200, FL 70 mm).” And because it’s a script, I can include whichever pieces of metadata I like and format the output any way I choose. You can also write workflow automation scripts that interact with one or more or all of the applications in the Creative Suite. In fact, many of the workflow automation commands that ship with the Creative Suite applications are themselves scripts, including Bridge’s own Script Manager, Bridge Center, and the Adobe Stock Photo service. The possibilities are virtually limitless.
Plenty of options Admittedly, not everyone is cut out for scripting. We ‘creative types’ tend to be predominately right-brained, and scripting is a left-brain activity that can
METADATA SCRIPT: I created a script that allows me to include a list of details about how the photos were taken take a lot of time and patience to master. Fortunately, there are a lot of really useful scripts already available on the Internet, most of which are free (and those that aren’t tend to be very reasonably priced). Copy Camera Metadata is the script mentioned above, which displays a formatted string of camera metadata that may be copied to the clipboard (including camera make, model, exposure, bias/compensation, ISO speed, and focal length). The script adds
“IN SPITE OF ITS INFANCY, BRIDGE IS HIGHLY CONFIGURABLE AND EXTENSIBLE”
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“SCRIPTING IS A LEFT-BRAIN ACTIVITY THAT CAN TAKE A LOT OF TIME AND PATIENCE TO MASTER” DR BROWN’S 1-2-3 JPEG (LEFT), IMPORT FROM CAMERA (ABOVE): Yet more free scripts to enhance your working life, these are available from Dr Brown’s site and the Adobe Studio Exchange respectively and are quick and very easy to install a Copy Camera Metadata command to the Edit menu, and works for one or more selected files, or all files if none are selected. The script is available for free from the following address: http://user. fundy.net/morris/downloads/scripts/ CopyCameraMetadata_BR.jsx BrowseBar is a must-have script that adds a location bar to Bridge, allowing you to navigate by typing or pasting a path. BrowseBar also provides a New Window button that opens the current inserted path in a new Bridge window. It’s available for free from the Adobe Studio Exchange website (provided you accept the standard licence agreement): http://share.studio.adobe.com/ axBrowseSubmit.asp?c=222 View Navigator adds a menu command to the bottom of the Window menu for each new Bridge window, allowing you to quickly switch/navigate between them. The script is available for free from the Adobe Studio Exchange site (provided you accept the licence agreement): http://share.studio.adobe. com/axBrowseSubmit.asp?c=222 Filename to Title adds a ‘Write Filename to IPTC Title Field’ command to the Tools menu, which writes the title of the selected files to their respective IPTC Title fields. The script operates on one or more selected files, or all files if no files are selected. You may download this script for free from the following address: http://damuseful.com/pages/ PimpMyBridge.html Import from Camera is a Bridge fullfeatured automation script that greatly simplifies the process of importing images from your camera (or any other removable media). Its powerful batch renaming options allow you to rename
imported files using customisable templates, while optionally preserving the original filename in metadata. Import from Camera also allows you to apply (append or replace) metadata templates, create duplicate/backup copies of each photo, and render the associated Bridge thumbnails and previews. Once installed, the Import from Camera dialog is accessed via Bridge’s Tools menu. Import from Camera is available as a ZIP archive, which includes the main script, several supporting script libraries, and user manual. The script is available for free from the Adobe Studio Exchange website (provided you accept the licence agreement): http://share.studio.adobe. com/axBrowseSubmit.asp?c=222 Dr. Browns’ Services 1.4 is a set of timesaving scripts for Adobe Photoshop CS2 (currently available in English only) that may be invoked from Bridge. Services include: ● Merge-A-Matic: Combines multiple images into a single, layered document inside Photoshop (ideal for animations). ● Place-A-Matic: Places the selected images (including Camera Raw files) as Smart Objects into a single, layered document inside Photoshop (ideal for tone-mapped composites). ● Caption Maker: Adds customisable metadata captions to your images, and includes resizing/sharpening controls. ● 1-2-3 JPEG: Processes three variations of JPEG images, and optionally applies the designated action. ● Auto Correct: automatically corrects all selected colour images by applying Auto Color and Auto Levels. ● Manual Correct: Corrects all selected colour images based on manual
The advantages of ExtendScript ExtendScript files may be identified by their .jsx extension. ExtendScript offers all of the standard JavaScript features, in additional to the following features: ● Platform-independent file and folder representation (meaning that scripts written on an Apple Mac will work on a Windows-based machine without modification). Levels and Hue/Saturation adjustments made to the first selected image. ● Black-n-White: Converts all selected colour images to black-and-white based on the manual Hue/Saturation adjustment made to the first image. All of Dr Browns’ Services are provided in a single ‘easy installer’ (available for Mac and PC), making the installation quick and painless. The installer is also designed to update any previous installation of Dr Brown’s Services. The installer, as well as several instruction QuickTime videos are available for free download from Dr Brown’s site a www. russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html.
Installation is easy Installing scripts is a straightforward process, involving little more than placing them into the StartupScripts folder and restarting the application. For a default install of Bridge, the StartupScripts folder is located here: Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/ Adobe/StartupScripts/ PC: C:\Program Files\Common Files\ Adobe\StartupScripts You can also access the StartupScripts folder by opening Bridge Preferences (Cmd/Ctrl+K), and clicking Reveal (located near the bottom of the General panel). Once you’ve placed the scripts into the StartupScripts folder and restarted Bridge, your scripts should be available. How they’re accessed and where they’re located depends on the scripts themselves.
● Tools for creating extensible script-based user interfaces. Bridge also installs with ExtendScript Toolkit, an interactive development and debugging environment with basic text-editing features and syntax highlighting. ExtendScript Toolkit makes it easy to create and debug scripts for any of the Creative Suite applications.
VIEW NAVIGATOR: This script makes working with Bridge faster, adding a menu option for each Bridge window
Bridge updates If you haven’t already, make sure that you get the Bridge 1.0.4 update from Adobe’s website. ● PC: www.adobe.com/support/ downloads/product.jsp?product =108&platform=Windows ● Mac: www.adobe.com/support/ downloads/product.jsp?produ ct=108&platform=Macintosh This patch greatly improves the stability and speed of Adobe Bridge, plus adds a few enhancements.
Language barrier ● Note that although Photoshop and other Creative Suite applications support AppleScript (on MacOS), VisualBasic Script (on Windows) and JavaScript (on both MacOS and Windows), Bridge scripts can only be written in JavaScript (ExtendScript).
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Eye-catching imagery that inspires and challenges
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he Advanced Photoshop team isn’t going to be swayed by the nearby glistening sands and the prospect of a 99 with Flake during these summer months. Needless to say we’re as enthusiastic about our Photoshop work as ever before, which is a good job as our readers have done us proud with their latest creations. We’ve been busy browsing through your submissions to find the best examples of your digital work. Sending your images in to us for inclusion in Peer Pressure is an ideal way to get your name out there. You never know who’s browsing through the magazine looking for new, fresh talent! There’s also the opportunity to kick-start your career and see your image on the front cover. If you’d like to see your own work on these pages, please send us low-res versions to [email protected] and we’ll get back to you for more information and higher resolution copies if we want to print them. Alternatively, please log on to our forum website at www.advancedphotoshop. co.uk and scroll down to Peer Pressure in the Creative Projects section to post a link to your image samples. You’ll stand a better chance of seeing your work in print if you adhere to the following criteria: make sure that your images are high-quality TIFFs or JPEGs (RGB or CMYK), 300dpi minimum, and can be printed at 15cm x 15cm minimum. Don’t forget to include a short text file detailing how you created your work, too.
Edward Scissorhands Bobblehead By submitting images to Advanced Photoshop’s Peer Pressure, or posting links on the forum you hereby grant Imagine and, if relevant, clients to whom the relevant work has been provided, an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free licence to use intellectual property in relation to work similar or equivalent to the work. This includes the right to showcase work on multimedia formats.
NAME: Meowza Katz EMAIL: [email protected] SOURCES: www.sxc.hu Meowza Katz wanted to create an image that was full of fantasy, yet had a sense of reality in it. “For an image with this style and many painted elements, the Smudge Tool becomes my greatest ally.” Meowza brought in rough source images to form the basic composition and then used the Smudge Tool set at varying pressure levels to give everything a painted look. “I carried out the facial areas by roughing in certain areas of colour using the Brush Tool and then used the Smudge Tool set at a pressure of 40-50% to smooth and form the painting to my liking. For the body, parts of various action figures were used to assemble the character,” Meowza tells us. “Creating an image like this was a great lesson in freestyle Photoshop painting, where a lot of the elements need to be hand-drawn. A little background in general drawing never hurts either!”
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iqu es Te ch n City Skyline NAME: Sageeporn Hannarong EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.shannarong.com Sageeporn is a recent graduate in MA Computer Imaging in Architecture from the University of Westminster. “I created this image last Christmas when I was working on my online portfolio, so I was in a big festive mood.” This image was created by filling the background with solid grey and creating a new layer with a transparent yellow gradient. Sageeporn then built another layer and created the wallpapered background on the image using a Fill>Custom Pattern. “I created the branches by overlapping a photograph and tweaking the brightness and contrast until it became black and white. The blend option of the branch layer was set to Darken, while the skyscrapers were set to Difference.”
Doorway NAME: Jamie Beer EMAIL: [email protected] Jamie Beer created this image as part of a head-to-head challenge on Advanced Photoshop’s forum. The theme of the project was ‘Doorway’. “I began by taking photographs of doorways at different angles, trying to find interesting perspectives. I didn’t end up using these photographs in the image but used them to find the right composition.” Once Jamie had decided on the composition he marked out the shape of the doorway with the Polygonal Lasso Tool and filled this area with black and grey. “I needed to add another aspect to the image so I chose a photo of my hand that I cut out using the Pen Tool before duplicating and transforming to form a second hand. I used a black and grey gradient map to change the colour and tone as well as adding in white shapes to make them slightly more abstract.” The wallpaper was created by making a brush out of the hand shape. Finally, a beam of light was created from the door to the floor.
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Discover the thinking behind the art
Body chops NAME: Patrik Blomqvist EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.patrikland.se “The obvious secret behind my ‘body chops’ is a tripod,” Patrik Blomqvist from Sweden tells us. “The possibilities are endless with a tripod and an infrared remote control.” For his ‘Ikea’ shot Patrik took about 20 images, including an empty scene, and simply removed all the necessary parts. “This kind of image requires a bit of planning and it’s quite hard work. I try to give shadows extra attention, but they are easily missed.” Patrik used precision selections when getting rid of the unwanted ‘parts’ using the Pen Tool. His second image is a tribute to Salvador Dali. Heads and legs were moulded in Photoshop using the Liquify filter and some heavy cutting and pasting. “The scene is built from scratch using a perspective warped texture for the floor and a simple texture for the back wall. Reflections were added to create realism in this unreal image. These were duplicates of the ‘legs’ rotated vertically and faded. The blending mode was set to Overlay and the opacity to 40%. The shadows were painted with solid black in a separate layer and then blurred with Gaussian blur with the opacity set to around 30%.”
Jammin’ NAME: Greg Tappella EMAIL: [email protected] Greg Tappella created this image from source files on www.shutterstock.com. “I wanted to try to create a ‘dirtier’, more distressed version of this popular style. I copied the main images many times, posterized them and changed the threshold to retain some of the main details. On another layer I used both a Find Edges filter and High Pass. I continued to blend all of these layers together until I can up with something that I was happy with. I then copied the layer and used the Fibers filter along with the Mezzotint filter to give it the textured look I had hoped for.”
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Vibrant illustrations NAME: Demitri Nezis EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.theaoi.com/artist/demitrinezis/index.html Demitri Nezis is a practising freelance illustrator who is now based in London after graduating from the University of Portsmouth, where he studied illustration. Demitri developed his design skills after a stint as a street artist and graffiti writer in Athens, where he was brought up. This style has a strong influence in his digital creations. “Street art is free for everyone. I see the urban landscape as a gallery, it’s the best way of getting everyday people closer to art.” Demitri’s past projects have involved working with the Hellenic Air Force in Athens and taking part in an art project at Japan’s Design Fiesta Gallery in Tokyo.
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Helpdesk We’re awash with hardware queries this issue, so our technical expert reveals the best kit to complement your creativity BY JULIE EASTON BIG IT UP I have recently started looking at getting a large-format printer and I was wondering if you have any suggestions on what models to look at? Ideally I would like a maximum of 22 inches. Hope you can help. James Tucker, via email
BEE ME UP: Good macro shots are harder to achieve than they look, but they can be used in a variety of ways
GET CLOSER
Epson does a wide range of large-format printers, which all offer superb printing quality. If price is a consideration then the Epson Pro 4000 is the lowest-priced model, available for around £1,500 online. However, this only supports up to 17 inches and may not be enough to suit your requirements. The best of the range, balancing printing size and price, is probably the Epson 7800. This retails for around £2,400, but it does allow you to print up to 24 inches and images look so crisp and clear that it’s worth every penny. Inks are expensive, but they have good life and you can print onto any media you want, including canvas. You might want to have a look on eBay if you fancy this model but not the cost. When we looked there were a few 7800s going for just under £2,000, and some even better prices on inks.
I really want to get some good macro shots of flowers with an abstract twist in order to use them in digital illustrations. I have tried many times to get the perfect shot, but I find that my shots lack texture, which is what I really need for this to work. I use a Nikon D50 with the 18-55mm kit lens.
RAW DEALING I have recently upgraded my film SLR to a digital model and I want to shoot in RAW to maintain more image detail. I have Photoshop CS and I wondered if it was worth upgrading to get the additional camera support in Camera RAW in CS2, or whether I am better off buying another RAW-editing program and sticking with CS. John Logan, via email
Sarah Hamworthy, via email It is easy to think that capturing something like a flower close-up is relatively simple, but in actual fact it is a real skill. First of all you need patience to find the right flower for your needs. Don’t think you can just see one and start snapping! Lighting is key here, and as tempting as it might be to get out in the sunshine, try to avoid shooting in bright weather. In order for you to make the most of a flower’s texture you will find it easier to capture detail on overcast days. Using a flash is usually a big no-no, but occasionally a fillin flash used from a distance can help counteract shadows. The biggest thing to bear in mind, though, is the composition. If you’re using the image in digital artwork then you want to keep the shot as clean as possible and free from background distractions so that cutting out is a much simpler task.
IN THE RAW: RawShooter Premium is a good standalone conversion option, but you could upgrade to CS2 instead
PRO MODEL: The Epson 7800 is the pro choice for large-format printing
More and more photographers are realising the benefits of shooting in RAW and as such there are dozens of programs out there offering conversion capabilities. The bonus of shooting in RAW is being able to select important camera settings in post-production rather than at the time, which is great if you need your image perfectly exposed and sharp to boot. All cameras that can shoot in RAW have their own conversion packages included. Some of these, such as Nikon Capture, are pretty good, but they don’t stand up to the dedicated options. The best standalone option is probably Pixmantic’s RawShooter Premium, the pay-for version of RawShooter Essentials. This is a complete workflow solution and it’s super-fast at processing your pictures. However, your best bet is to upgrade to Photoshop CS2, as the built-in Camera RAW does the job admirably, plus you’ll reap the benefits of the other new additions to the software.
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iqu es Te ch n PHOTOSHOP SHORTCUTS NICE BOD: Spend money on lenses and a good body rather than more megapixels when it comes to buying your first DSLR
WHICH SLR? I have only just started to explore the possibilities of Photoshop, having been an illustrator for many years. I’m learning a lot about photography and want to get a new camera, but I have no idea what model to go for. I want a good SLR, but I don’t know if there is much difference between six megapixels and ten megapixels, or whether the money is better spent on lenses and a better zoom. Jane Doran, via email It really depends what you are going to be using the camera for. If you are going to be taking shots for printing at no larger than A4, or using images within other forms of digital art, then there is not really much point spending out on massive megapixels. Once you get over six there’s really not a great deal of difference in quality at that size. If you are printing in larger formats, then your megapixel count will matter. If you fall into the former category then you would do better to invest in a good strong body and a selection of quality zoom lenses. The best way to start is to look for a camera that comes with a lens kit, as this will enable you to get a feel for the model and you’ll soon find out the limitations of the included lenses and know what you need to invest in. The Olympus E-500 DSLR is a good starting camera and you can get it from www.digital-cameras.com for around £640 with two lenses.
I have always worked with Photoshop Elements and have only recently made the trade up to Photoshop CS2. I work with layers every day and in Elements I could hold down Alt and click with the mouse on a layer thumbnail in order to select everything on that layer. I can’t seem to do this in Photoshop. Is there a way to get around this? I am having trouble learning all the shortcuts!
FLAT OUT: The CanoScan LiDE 500F offers compact and stylish film scanning
Steven Mills, via email The way shortcuts work do vary from Photoshop Elements to Photoshop CS2. The one that you’re looking for is to right-click on the layer thumbnail and select Layer Transparency, which will neatly select everything on that layer. If you are working on a Mac and don’t have a Mighty Mouse with right-click functionality then you will need to Ctrl+click to get the same menu up. You can certainly improve your speed and workflow by learning the shortcuts in Photoshop, and you can view a full list of available shortcuts at http://user.fundy.net/ morris/?photoshop01.shtml, where you can also download a copy for future reference.
WORKING FLAT OUT I have been using an old Epson scanner that came with my computer when I bought it two years ago, and I really need to upgrade. I want to be able to scan a variety of objects and import them into Photoshop, some of which don’t even fit into my scanner. I also want to be able to scan transparencies and film negatives. Simon Costa, via email
CLICK TRICK: Right-click or Ctrl+click on a layer thumbnail to select everything on that layer
There are some great scanners around at the moment that will suit your requirements. If you would like to stick with the Epson range, then why not take a look at the Perfection V700 Photo? You can scan almost anything, including 35mm, medium-format and large-format films. It’s also one of the first scanners to offer 6400x9600dpi scanning for under £500. If you’d rather move away from Epson, however, then there are some other good options over in the Canon camp. The Canon CanoScan LiDE 500F, for example, is super-sleek and ultra-slim, yet offers a film adaptor and dedicated technologies to help you get the best from your scans.
COME A CROPPER In order for my digital photos to print to a standard 7x5 borderless format, I have to slightly crop each one to a specific size (I am currently using an Olympus E500 with a 4/5 format). Is there a way in which I can preset a ‘cropping mask’ in Photoshop of the required specific size that can then be applied to each image for cropping? At the moment I have to crop each image, check the image size and then recrop as often as is necessary until I get it right! I am using Photoshop CS2. Graham, via email The easiest way to make sure that your images are cropped at 7x5 is to use the options bar at the top of the screen when the Crop Tool is selected. Here you can enter a specific height and width and your crop box will be restricted to this aspect ratio, meaning that you always get a perfect-sized image.
DOWNSIZING: Use the Crop Tool’s options to
fix the cropping box size for perfect proportions
HELPDESK CALL FOR QUESTIONS Want help with your Photoshop problems? Then let our team of experts sort you out. Send your emails to us at: [email protected] Remember to specify whether you are using a PC or Mac and the version number of your edition of Photoshop.
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tab lets
GRAPHICS TABLETS
Here’s some serious medication to ease the pain of any suffering Photoshopper
F
or any Photoshop user who takes their digital art seriously, a gadget that makes work easier or more natural to use is welcomed. Creating designs laboriously with a mouse that has a mind of its own and only allows you to draw awkward, inaccurate lines isn’t very inspiring. Without access to the brush dynamics and accuracy, you’re only playing with half of Photoshop’s power. In our opinion, getting a graphics tablet is more important than splashing out on a fancy monitor, and the great news is that it doesn’t have to be an expensive venture. There’s very little competition when it comes to the production of graphics tablets, with Wacom leading the way. However, the company does such a grand job that we’re not complaining at all. Over the next few pages we’re going to take a look at the different models available from Wacom. We’ll be catering for everyone from those with tight budgets to professional artists who need a serious piece of kit. For each model we will be exploring their features and benefits. If you’ve never had the chance to experiment with a graphics tablet then we’ll take you through the artistic possibilities and show you how to customise your tablet to achieve the best effects. Once you’ve taken the first dip into the wonderful world of Wacom, you’ll never want to look back.
The Graphire4 Series The Graphire4 series is the first port of call for those who want to test out the benefits of a graphics tablet without exhausting their budget. Although it’s aimed more towards the consumer market rather than the professional, you can enjoy all the essential features such as pressure sensitivity and high-resolution accuracy. The Graphire4 series is available in five different versions: Graphire4 Classic, Graphire4 Classic XL, Graphire4 Studio, Graphire4 Studio XL and Graphire Bluetooth. New features have been added since previous Graphire models – ExpressKeys to which you can assign preferred shortcuts or macros, a scroll wheel that will help you to navigate a window up and down (just like the scroll wheel on a mouse) and a photo frame to secure images in the tablet ready to trace. Although the Graphire4 is Wacom’s budget range, the tablets feel incredibly professional and give you the chance to create and manipulate artwork with impressive accuracy.
Graphire4 Classic Dimensions : 208 x 203.8 x 17.8mm Active area: 127.6 x 92.8mm (A6) Weight: 500g Resolution: 2,000 dpi Pressure levels: 512 Accuracy: +/- 0.5mm SRP: £63.82
ducts log on ation on Wacom pro For further inform om or e.c op eur mwww.waco to the website at 31 08 744 telephone 0207
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Hardware
Setting up your
Wacom tablet
TECH HELP
ROUND UP ALTHOUGH THE GRAPHIRE4 IS WACOM’S BUDGET RANGE, THE TABLETS FEEL INCREDIBLY PROFESSIONAL
Graphire4 Classic XL Dimensions: 278 x 263.8 x 18mm Active area: 208 x 150.8mm (A5) Weight: 860g Resolution: 2,000 dpi Pressure levels: 512 Accuracy: +/- 0.5mm SRP: £127.65
Graphire4 Studio XL Dimensions: 278 x 263.8 x 18mm Active area: 208.8 x 150.8mm (A5) Weight: 860g Resolution: 2,000 dpi Pressure levels: 512 Accuracy: +/-0.5mm SRP: £153.18
Graphire4 Studio Dimensions: 208 x 203.8 x 17.8mm Active area: 127.6 x 92.8mm (A6) Weight: 500g Resolution: 2,000 dpi Pressure levels: 512 Accuracy: +/-0.5mm SRP: £93.61
Graphire Bluetooth Dimensions: 257 x 24.3 x 280mm Active area: 208.8 x 150.8mm (A5) Weight: 860g Resolution: 2,000 dpi Pressure levels: 512 Accuracy: +/-0.5mm SRP: £161.69
The Graphire4 Series
Installing You can simply plug and play your Wacom tablet into your computer, but you will find that you don’t have access to any of the special features or be able to use the customised settings. Luckily, setting up your tablet is simple. Inside the box contents you will find an installation CD. All you need to do is insert the CD-ROM into the drive and follow the instructions.
Setting up Once your tablet has been installed, open up System Preferences or locate your tablet in your Control Panel. You need to make sure that Photoshop CS2 has been added as one of your applications. You can then work through the Pen, Eraser and Mapping options to make sure that your tablet is set up to suit your needs and your display settings.
Brush preferences You won’t be able to make the most of your tablet settings unless you explore your brush preferences. There’s no right or wrong way to set up your tool, as it all depends on the brush you have selected. Open up Window>Brush, and click on any of the options on the left-hand side of the palette then adjust the dropdown menus to alter the behaviour of your pen.
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The Intuos3 series
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The Intuos3 series The Intuos3 series is the third generation of graphics tablet tailored to digital professionals. The Intuos3 series is available in six different sizes; Intuos3 A3 Wide, Intuos3 A4 Oversize, Intuos3 A4, Intuos3 A5 Wide, Intuos A5 and Intuos3 A6. The variable-sized active area of the tablets is designed to simulate a paper feel, while the ExpressKeys and Touch Strips enable the design to use the tablet as the primary tool on the desk. You can really get creative, with a range of input devices comprising Grip Pen, Mouse, Airbrush, Art Marker, Classic Pen, InkPen and Lens Cursor. Each input source allows you to approach your work with a new creative slant and gives as much freedom as you would have working on a canvas. The Intuos3 range will fit nicely into any modern setup with its sleek and sophisticated design. However, think carefully about the size of tablet you require as the larger versions (from A5 up) take up quite a bit of room and you will need plenty of desk space if you also need access to your keyboard.
THE INTUOS3 RANGE WILL FIT NICELY INTO ANY MODERN SETUP WITH ITS SOPHISTICATED DESIGN
Intuos3 A6 Dimensions: 23.9 x 21.7 x 1.3cm Active area: 12.7 x 10.1cm (A6) Weight: 600g Touch Strip controller: One, at left side of tablet Number of ExpressKeys: 4, at the left side of tablet Pressure levels: 1,024 Accuracy: +/-0.25mm SRP: £129.99
Intuos3 A4 Dimensions: 44.0 x 34.0 x 1.4cm Active area: 30.5 x 23cm (A4) Weight 1,800g Touch strip controller: 2, at left and right side of tablet Number of ExpressKeys: Eight, four on each side of tablet Pressure levels: 1,024 Accuracy +/-0.25mm SRP: £309.99
Intuos3 A5 Dimensions: 34.5 x 26.2 x 1.3cm Active area: 20.3 x 15.2cm (A5) Weight: 1,000g Touch Strip controller: Two, at left and right side of tablet Number of ExpressKeys: 8, 4 on each side of tablet Pressure levels: 1,024 Accuracy: +/-0.25mm SRP: £199.99
Intuos3 A3 Wide Dimensions: 62.2 x 42.9 x 3.6cm Active area: 48.8 x 30.5cm Weight: 3,000g Touch Strip controller: Two, at left and right side of tablet Number of ExpressKeys: 8, 4 on each side of tablet Pressure levels: 1,024 Accuracy: +/-0.25mm SRP: £509.99
Intuos3 A5 Wide Dimensions: 41.8 x 26.2 x 1.4cm Active area: 27.1 x 15.9cm Weight: 1,000g Touch Strip controller: Two, at left and right side of tablet Number of ExpressKeys: 8, 4 on each side of tablet Pressure levels: 1, 024 Accuracy: +/-0.25mm SRP: £255.31
Intuos3 A4 Oversize Dimensions: 42.9 x 44.0 x 3.6cm Active area: 30.5 x 30.5cm Weight: 2,100g Touch Strip controller: Two, at left and right side of tablet Number of ExpressKeys: Eight, four on each side of tablet Pressure levels: 1,024 Accuracy: +/-0.25mm SRP: £379.99
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Hardware
Cintiq 21UX
ROUND UP Customised settings Different effects created with customised settings and various input devices Pen Pressure
Scatter
Rotation
The revolutionary Cintiq 21UX Interactive Pen display is the rather glamorous sister of the graphics tablet. To work the Interactive Pen Display you ‘draw’ on the actual 21.3-inch flatscreen display itself, just as you would do with a pen on paper. There’s the chance to experiment with different input devices using the Cintiq Grip Pen with replaceable nibs, as well as the Cintiq Airbrush, or you can cut costs by using the same pens as you use on Intuos3’s system. As with the Intuos3 range of graphics tablets, you can increase your efficiency and ditch your keyboard with the integrated ExpressKeys and Touch Strips. LCD Screen: TFT active matrix LCD Screen Size: 54.2cm Display Area: 432 x 324mm Resolution: 1,600 x 1,200 pixels Colour Depth: 16.7 million colours (24 bit) Pressure Levels: 1,024 Weight (including stand): 10.2kg Weight (excluding stand): 8.5kg Driver software: Windows 2000/XP, Mac OS X 10.2.6 or higher SRP: £1,899
Making the
most of tools
ACCESSORIES
Cintiq 21UX
There’s a wealth of accessories you can use to really get creative with your graphics tablets. Take a look at the Input devices by logging on to www.wacomeurope.com. There are three specific devices that will europe.com work wonders for your Photoshop designs. These are;
Intuos3 Grip Pen
THE REVOLUTIONARY CINTIQ 21UX IS THE GLAMOROUS SISTER OF THE GRAPHICS TABLET
Trust tablets As we’ve already mentioned, there’s very little competition when it comes to graphics tablets. The only other main manufacturer is Trust, although its products only support Windows systems and not Mac. Each tablet offers 512 levels of pressure sensitivity and function buttons. For more information visit www.trust.com.
The standard pen for the Intuos3 tablet system, equipped with a waisted rubberised grip area to reduce strain. The pen has 1,024 different pressure levels as well as tilt sensitivity of up to 60 degrees. The nibs of the pen can be altered through the standard nib to a stroke and felt nib. The tip of the pen also doubles up as an eraser and you can customise this to be just as pressure-sensitive as the pen tip.
Intuos3 Airbrush The Airbrush offers a realistic simulation of ink application with spray distance and tilt giving it the performance of a real life spray can. The stylus wheel gives 1,024 different levels of fine graduations. The brush also recognises the tilt angle of 60 degrees. Again, the tip of the brush acts as a customisable eraser.
Intuos3 Art Marker The Art Marker is modelled on the traditional felt marker and has an angled tip that enables the designer to draw variable strokes. The pen’s tip is either made or plastic or real felt, depending on the nib you choose and you can change the width of your stroke by turning the pen’s barrel along its 180-degree longitudinal axis.
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Giving you the creative edge
Whatever your Photoshop desire, we have the resources to make it happen
technology
86
How does Apple’s new Intel infatuation affect our favourite app?
art galleries
90
Expand your inspirational sphere with these fantastic day trips
books
92
Reviewing the latest and greatest publications in design
mends Recom Army of Trolls
plug-ins PIXEL PERFECTION:
94
Expand Photoshop’s capabilities with these handy downloads
Think inside the box on PAGE 92
E
very issue we take a look at sources of inspiration for your Photoshop art. Whether you head to the bookshelves or to the Internet, as creatives we’re always searching for new images to excite us. This issue we thought we’d give you something new. Looking to art galleries for a source of creativity, leaf through our collection of the best museums and galleries to visit countrywide and we’ll give you our honest opinion. If you’d rather stick to a book then you’re catered for too. Whether you need a publication to help you master the basics of Photoshop or you’re after something with a bit more creative flair, there’s something for all. Finally, we all love a great plug-in, especially if it’s free, so we’ve tracked down a huge selection of downloads that you can try out. Just turn the page to find all the resources you need to start creating.
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IN b T ta asic EL b ke t IN ar ase lon ask SID b e d g si E W ase stic Ma er n P : P th ind d M kin cs. usin hot erfo e M o a g M g os rm w a ac s s cs o to th ny the hop ing Bo ta r o e cr In c r ok t- pt ir P ea tel an Pr up ing ow tive o’s op fo er s Bo tio r t PC ot n w he ca it m h p
Feature
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Mac & Adobe
Mac & Adobe
When Apple announced it was to use Intel chips in its Macs the computer industry was delighted, but for the creative industry it was a different story BY NATALIE JOHNSON
A
pple’s announcement brought an end to its decade-long relationship with IBM. The idea of using Intel chips in Macs was raised by Apple as long ago as 1985, shortly after Jobs was forced out of his own company. In 1991 Apple and IBM began discussing the feasibility of swapping hardware and software technologies. Eventually PowerPC was created, but while Apple took it up the PC market stuck with Intel chips. “Our goal is to provide our customers with the best personal computers in the world, and looking ahead Intel has the strongest processor roadmap by far,” said Steve Jobs at the 2005 WWDC. “It’s been ten years since our transition to the PowerPC, and we think Intel’s technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next ten years.” The reasons stated for the change were vague, but industry insiders have suggested motives, ranging from the reputed dangerously high temperatures the G5-class PowerPC chips generated to IBM’s supply problems. Also, it was implied that the future
PowerPC roadmap wouldn’t fulfil Apple’s needs in terms of computing power. Steve Jobs exclaimed to his eager audience of Mac devotees that the transition would begin in June 2006 (a year after the WWDC announcement) and would be complete by the end of 2007. In fact, Apple launched its first Intel based model on 10 January 2006 with the release of the MacBook Pro, and a revised versions of the iMac. A month later, on 28 February, the Intelbased Mac Mini was introduced to the world. Apple’s latest addition was the 13-inch MacBook released on May 16th, completing the line of Intelbased laptops. According to reports, Jobs has indicated that the changeover could be completed as early as the end of this year.
Along came Adobe At the time executives at Adobe were pleased with Apple’s plans to switch. “We think this is a really smart move on Apple’s part and plan to create future versions of our Creative Suite for Macintosh that
WILL CS3 BETTER HANDLE THE PACE AND POWER CREATIVE PROS DEMAND IF THEY CONTINUE TO USE AN INTELBASED MAC?
11 JANUARY 2005: Apple introduces the Mac Mini to the world. The company enhanced the memory and released it with double the memory. Eleven months after the first version, Apple delivers the Mac Mini with Intel Core Duo
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Feature UNOFFICIAL PHOTOSHOP BENCHMARK TRIALS In an unofficial benchmark trial carried out by the MacWorld website in May, the new 13-inch MacBook surpassed the iBook G4 in all tests except the Photoshop one, which was run on Apple’s Rosetta emulation technology. The same was true of the new MacBook Pro and its predecessor the 15-inch PowerBook G4. The following results show the time it took each Mac to perform a set of 14 tasks using a 50MB file, with the memory set to 70 per cent and History reduced to minimum.
CHIP ‘SHOP: In the unofficial test there was a marked difference between the handling of Photoshop work
MacBook 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo 2.53
support both PowerPC and Intel processors,” urged Bruce Chizen, CEO of Adobe, who participated in the keynote address. So when Apple launched its first Intel-packed product six months early, Adobe was left to play catch-up. Industry pundits argue that Adobe went along with Apple’s originally proposed time-frame and was developing the eagerly awaited CS3 as the Intel-compatible package. So when the eager beavers at Apple moved the goal posts by half a year, the software producer was forced to provide CS2 owners with a plug-in allowing them to use the applications on their newly purchased Intel-based Macs, rather than re-release CS2 as a Universal application that would run on both Intel and PowerPC based systems. Adobe simply made minor adjustments to the suite enabling it to run within Apple’s Rosetta environment on Intel-based Mac computers. Rosetta is an emulation layer that runs on top of the Tiger operating system and converts key commands written for PowerPC chips into ones that the Intel chips can interpret. This process has been criticized by creative pros; the extra layer restricts some of the performance of the new hardware as the chips are not running a native application. “Adobe’s creative applications have not been extensively tested under Rosetta, so customers may run into compatibility and
THE NEW 13-INCH MACBOOK SURPASSED THE IBOOK G4 IN ALL TESTS EXCEPT THE PHOTOSHOP ONE
MacBook 2GHz Intel Core Duo 2.38
14” iBook 1.42GHz G4 1.49
17” MacBook Pro 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo 2.26
other issues running these applications,” explained Nick Peart, UK and Ireland PR manager at Adobe. “Adobe Creative Suite does have one known issue: one component, Version Cue Workspace (server), does not run under Rosetta. We will continue to track and communicate any known issues through our technical Support Knowledgebase at www.adobe. com/support/main.html. Adobe and Apple have been partners for many years and we work as closely as possible to create the best possible products for our shared customers.” Currently, the only Adobe product to run natively on the machines is Lightroom (a beta is available from labs.adobe.com) the company’s own answer to Aperture.
The latest launch The latest Intel-based Mac, the 13-inch MacBook, runs its native applications up to fives times faster than its PowerPC-based predecessor the iBook G4, but independent reports claim that it runs Photoshop twice as slow. No official comparative performance results have been released for running Photoshop on the old and new Macs from either company, and as such many independent trials have been carried out. The majority of tests show that the app on average runs around twice as fast on the older Mac siblings, although the reliability of these tests is questionable. According to a benchmark test carried out by staff at the MacWorld website the 13-inch MacBook out powered the fastest iBook G4 in all but one of their tests – the Photoshop test (see the boxout above for the results of this test). As these tests were carried out under unofficial conditions it is recommended not to take them as evidence but comment. For many the subjectivity of expert creatives is proof enough. “Using Photoshop CS2 on my new Intel Mac was one of the most painful experiences I have had and that includes trying to use Quark through Classic.” Says Mat McCartan, senior designer on the Mac magazine iCreate. “Rosetta is one
15” PowerBook 1.67GHz G4 1.34
20” iMac 2GHz Intel Core Duo 2.31
of the most pointless programmes Apple has ever given us. It moves slower than Classic and its redraw rate is pathetic. All I can say is wait for CS3 or – sin of all sins – load up Bootcamp and get a Windows version.”
Future speculation Intel Corp, the world’s largest microchip manufacturer, has recently released plans for its next-generation of Intel chip, ‘Merom’ notebook processor. Reports suggest the company will unleash two waves of updates including the replacement of the ‘Yonah’ chip found in Apple’s current line of Intel Macs. The first wave of Merom chips is due to start making their way into the MacBook Pro notebooks this autumn as part of a seasonal refresh prior to the Christmas shopping period. If this happens Adobe may have to revise again how the hardware will run its Creative Suite. So what then for the future for Apple and Adobe and the Photoshop using population? Will CS3 better handle the pace and power creative pros demand if they continue to use an Intel-based Mac? Adobe has publicly stated that they plan to support PowerPC, Intel Macs and Windows based computers with the next version of Creative Suite, and if the company’s track record of delivering new creative products every 18-24 months is anything to go by, creatives may not get the update until the second quarter of 2007. Is it a case of the hare and the tortoise? Has Apple really got that far ahead by launching Intel-based products before application leaders like Adobe heard the starting gun? If market share is anything to go by, perhaps not. Gartner, an independent analyst group, reported the Californian Mac producer still isn’t as successful as its PC rivals, with its share of the worldwide market tumbling from 2.2 to 2.0 per cent. Furthermore the figures show the company’s share in its native country made for concerned reading, 3.6 per cent down from 3.8 per cent last year. Or maybe it’s Adobe who should pull its creative socks up and move the launch of CS3 forward to please its baying herd of followers. Only time will tell. 5
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Mac & Adobe
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SMALL WONDERS: The small components that are causing a whole world of debate, argument and upset. They may improve the speed and capability of an Apple Mac’s native applications, but programs like Photoshop need a plug-in to operate
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resources
art galleries
With the summer in full swing, get out and about for some inspiration from your local art gallery
The Barbican
Day tripping
Address: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS Web: www.barbican.org.uk Phone: 0207 6384141
Modern Art Oxford
T
he Barbican is a rare treat for the artist. Housing a diverse range of world-class art – from dance and music to painting and film – under one roof, The Barbican is unique experience. Since opening its doors to the public in 1982, almost 27 million people have visited the seven-acre site. Split into two areas, The Barbican Art Gallery and The Curve house the museum’s collection of visual arts. The Curve is home to a series of new commissions created especially for the gallery by contemporary artists while the Art Gallery showcases work of more renowned artists, with a dynamic mix of art, photography, architecture and design. Hosting a range of exhibitions, as well as organising touring exhibitions that travel the world, every visit to The mends Recom Barbican is a new experience. Currently, a visit to the Art Gallery will see you taking a walk through futuristic cities, whet your appetite for the real thing. Upcoming while in The Curve up-and-coming artist Tomas Saraceno will exhibitions listed include Future City: Experiment present his vision of the future. and Utopia in Architecture, which runs until mid-September Although some of the exhibitions and events at The Barbican (check out this issue’s Bulletin for more), and coverage of are free, you’ll find a small (around £6) fee applicable to some of inventive sculptor Richard Wilson’s work later in the year. You’d the occasions. For more information on any of the aspects of be mad to miss it! 5 The Barbican or to see what’s on, check out the website. A Rating: 5/5 fantastically easy to navigate and informative online portal, it’ll
Tate Liverpool Address: Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB Web: www.tate.org.uk/liverpool Phone: 0151 702740
O
ne of the family of four Tate museums, Tate Liverpool is situated in the heart of the Liverpool Docks. With the fame of its two London-based siblings the Tate Liverpool is often overlooked, yet after opening nearly two decades ago in 1988 it’s now as well-established and well-loved as the other galleries. Situated in a converted warehouse, the museum has brought some of the UK’s best-loved art to the north west and has played a part in the regeneration of the run-down docks area. As well as housing an impressive range of 20th and 21st-century artwork, the Tate Liverpool has a fantastic range of temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Showcasing the work of modern artists like Bruce Nauman, whose work has inspired artists since the Seventies, the museum’s exhibition programme is international in scope. Future events to look out for include Liverpool Biennial: International 06, where Tate Liverpool will be collaborating with the Biennia’s exhibition team to realise new commissions by many of the most interesting artists from around the world, some showing for the first time in the UK. Although the museum may have fewer exhibitions than some based in the country’s capital, Tate Liverpool does a
Address: 30 Pembroke Street, Oxford, OX1 1BP Web: www.modernartoxford.org.uk Phone: 01865 722733
Proving that to be great, you don’t have to be based in London is Modern Art Oxford. The largest gallery devoted to modern and contemporary art in the south east, it has a constantly changing programme of art events that maintain its reputation for high-quality exhibitions. Currently presenting Out Of Beirut, a comprehensive exhibition of the work of artists, performers and writers emerging from the formerly war-torn city, it’s a thought-provoking view. To keep you up to date on what’s on at the Modern Art Oxford, check out the Stay In Touch section of the website, where you can sign up for regular email updates. 5 Rating:
3/5
The Saatchi Gallery Address: Currently moving venue Web: www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk Phone: TBA
The past home of exhibitions from Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Boris Mikhailov, The Saatchi Gallery has always aimed to present the work of young artists or those not often showcased in the UK. Now reaching an audience of around 600,000 a year, The Saatchi Gallery has had to find itself a new home. Moving to Chelsea, the gallery will open again in early 2007 in the Duke of York’s HQ, Sloane Square. Occupying the entire 50,000square-foot building, The Saatchi Gallery will encompass a bookshop, educational facilities and a café. For a virtual tour of the new gallery, visit the website at www.saatchi-gallery.co. uk. Let’s hope the real thing is a good as the virtual museum. 5 Rating:
3/5
The Animation Art Gallery Address: 13-14 Great Castle Street, London, W1W 8LS Web: www.theanimationartgallery.com Phone: 0207 2551456
fantastic job of bringing a wide-ranging, diverse selection of artworks to Liverpool. And from a city that has been voted the European Capital of Culture for 2008, we’d expect no less. Set to become stratospherically cool. 5 Rating:
4/5
From the best original animation cels, sketches and concept art to gallery exclusive Recom commissioned pop art mends canvasses, this art gallery is a joy to look at or buy from. Hosting a range of events that see the voices of Bart and Lisa Simpson come to London, or a Hat Party in celebration of new Dr Seuss artwork, The Animation Art Gallery provides probably the most fun you can have at an art gallery. Situated off of London’s Regent Street or at the new Glasgow gallery in Debenhams on Argyle Street, you can pick up a reasonably priced piece of art that could really mean something to you. 5 Rating:
5/5
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resources
Gallery of Modern Art
Day tripping Victoria and Albert Address: Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL Web: www.vam.ac.uk Phone: 0207 9422000
If you want a diverse range of exhibitions, events and collections, look no further than the V&A. From Modernism: Designing a New World to Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design, there’s something for everyone at one of the country’s best-looking museums. Situated just a stone’s throw from the Science Museum and the National History Museum, these three free attractions can make for the perfect day of inspiration. Whether you want to draw the world’s largest mammal or be inspired by a costume collection, there’s plenty to look at. For the museum’s full listing of events, visit its user-friendly site. 5 Rating:
5/5
Design Museum Address: Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD Web: www.designmuseum.org Phone: 0870 8339955
The host of the Designer Of The Year exhibition earlier Recom mends this year, the Design Museum is one of the world’s leading museums of modern and contemporary design. With a website that attracts over one and a half million visitors a year, The Design Museum has one of the world’s most popular design sites. Providing a huge and accessible online research archive, the website has won numerous awards in its own right. The museum is no second-class institution either. Celebrating design in every form – fashion, architecture, graphics, multimedia – over 200,000 people visited last year alone and the museum has recently taken on the role as the UK’s largest museum provider of design educational resources. 5 Rating:
5/5
The Photographers’ Gallery Address: 5 & 8 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7HY Web: www.photonet.org.uk Phone: 0207 8311772
The Photographers’ Gallery, the first independent gallery in Britain devoted to photography, was founded in 1971. Developing a reputation as the UK’s primary venue for contemporary photography, one of the gallery’s major achievements has been to establish photography within a wide viewing public, making it popular and accessible. The gallery was the first in the country to show key names such as André Kertész, Jacques-Henri Lartigue and Irving Penn, and has an integrated programme of exhibitions to present the most innovative developments in photography as well as nurturing new talent. Currently expanding to envelop a new space on Ramillies Street, London, this gallery is on the up. 5 Rating:
4/5
Address: Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, G1 3AH Web: www.glasgowmuseums.com Phone: 0141 2291996
B
eing the second most visited contemporary art gallery outside of London, the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is a must-visit if you’re in the Glasgow area. Offering a unique programme of temporary exhibitions and workshops, the gallery has something for everyone – no matter what your medium of interest. Displaying work by local and international artists as well as running events like the Annual Art Competition for Young People sets the GoMA apart from the rest. Opened a decade ago in 1996, the Gallery of Modern Art is housed in an elegant, neo-classical building at the heart of the vibrant city. Refurbished to house the city’s contemporary art collection, the building is an appealing combination of old and new architecture, incorporating a number of artists’ commissions, and plays host to numerous exhibitions. Enthralling millions of visitors over its seven years, the Gallery continues to evolve and is attracting new audiences every day. And Material World, one of its current exhibitions, can take some credit for this. The sculpture-based event features work from the likes of Damien Hirst, Claire Barclay and Richard Deacon among others, and ends on 25 September. Later in the year you can enjoy November’s Contemporary Collection, which features work bought by Glasgow Museums’ Contemporary Art Purchasing Panel. This exhibition includes
work by Claire Barclay, Lucy Skaer and Douglas Gordon. For more information on current events, or to subscribe to Preview, the magazine of Glasgow museums, log on to the website, where you’ll also find links to all of Glasgow’s other major galleries including The Burrell Collection, which includes sculpture by Rodin and works of art by Degas and Cézanne. 5 Rating:
4/5
Red Rag Gallery Address: 5-7 Church Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, GL54 1BB Web: www.redraggallery.co.uk Phone: 01451 832563
T
here are some galleries that everyone has heard of: The Tate, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, the list goes on. To find inspiration from lesser-known artists and less popular genres you generally need to scout out smaller galleries. Red Rag Modern British Art Gallery specialises in fine contemporary art, sculpture and contemporary paintings from present day British and Scottish artists. Although not ideal if you’re looking for inspiration purely in the digital art or photography field, the gallery is an ideal place to find up-andcoming artists before their prices shoot through the roof, and let’s face it, whether it is sketched, painted or moulded, the use of colour, form, perspective and the like is always a useful study. Based in some historic Cotswold buildings that were once studios to artists John Blockley and Moira Huntly, the Red Rag gallery has one of the largest displays of British art in the UK. Couple the historic surroundings with the regular exhibitions of solo artists’ work and you end up with a fabulously inspiring gallery that’s also a great day out. Although its lack of city centre location could put some visitors off, if you’re in the locale there are plenty of other
galleries around. For more information about exhibitions in that area, or any other, check out Red Rag’s gallery map, available on the website. It’s a really handy tool for finding exactly the artist or type of work you’re after. 5 Rating:
4/5
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resources
books
Whether you want some technical tips or some imaging inspiration, there’s a book to suit
Further reading
Photoshop CS2 Visual Encyclopedia
Photoshop Elements 4: The Art Of Digital Photography
Author: Stephen Romaniello Publisher: Wiley Price: £25.99 ISBN: 0764598600 Web: eu.wiley.com
Author: Mikkel Aaland Publisher: Sybex Price: £19.99 ISBN: 0782144462 Web: eu.wiley.com
W
e all know it can take a while to become completely comfortable with new software, and when that software is as all-encompassing as Creative Suite 2, you can really be in trouble. Photoshop CS2 Visual Encyclopedia does exactly what it says in the title. It gives you a complete A-Z run-through of all the CS2 features, explaining what they do and how to use them, accompanied by images to illustrate each point. Although this might sound a little basic for the advanced Photoshop user, there are some tricks and tips in here that might just prove invaluable to your imaging. Whether you want a more in-depth knowledge of clipping groups or you simply read the Tips, Warnings or Try This at the end of each chapter, your work can only get better with the help of this guide. Written by Stephen Romaniello, the author of Mastering Photoshop 6, Photoshop 7 Savvy, Photoshop CS Savvy, and Photoshop CS2 Savvy, the book covers tools first then takes a look at the techniques behind the tools. Written in an authoritative and informative yet easy-to-follow manner, CS2
Encyclopedia is packed full of essential explanations and step-by-steps to help the visual artist. A must-read for all up-and-coming artists and those new to CS2, although it might cover old ground to those of you who have had some more experience. 5 Rating:
3/5
Character Design For Mobile Devices Author: NFGMan Publisher: RotoVision Price: £30 ISBN: 2940361126 Web: www.rotovision.com
I
RE OF ADER Adva FE nce R Char d Photoshop rea ders a M ct c foroboile Deevr Desig an buy with nl ice n For To ta free post y £27 s k e hotli adva age and .99 re ne on ntage pack
f you’ve read our Create Your Own Pixel Art tutorial, you agi 01 of fe might already be itching to make 20 Jurence num476 54 this offer,ng (UK only 10 c ly to the eber JF01 80 and all the ). something for your phone, PDA or nd of 4. Of quote Octob fer v home computer screen. For those of er 20 alid frthe om 06 you in need of a bit more persuasion of the brilliance of this art form, look no further than this volume. Looking at the unique challenges faced by the creatives behind designing icons for mobile devices, this is chock-full of Recom vibrant art and colourful characters. mends A constantly changing process due to technological handheld console and features pages of colour advancements and new creative blood, designing for this character images together with their own history and the medium can be an extremely restrictive process, and not just inspirations behind them. through space constraints. Whether you want to design for your PSP, the DS or your new Looking at the mobile characters that have gone on to Motorola phone, there’s inspiration galore here for you and become icons, as well as looking at the profiles of the best in the although this might be out of your usual book budget, it’s well business and giving you some simple examples to get your own worth a splurge. 5 artwork started, this book is a delight to read and simply great to look at. Exploring the development of mobile game characters, Rating: 5/5 this read provides a detailed narrative of the history of the
Although as digital artists we’re aware of the techniques and tricks needed to create illustrations and artworks using Photoshop, tweaking your photographs can be a useful skill we often overlook. From importing and managing files to correcting colour, sharpening and adding a copyright watermark, this book covers all you need to get started. If if you already know the basics, then the chapters of perfecting your outside shots, interiors, products and faces may prove to be important tools. The section covering handling panoramics with photomerge is particularly useful. The images give this book a real lift in what could be a dull and tired read. There are some useful pages, but on the whole there are better books out there. 5 Rating:
2/5
Manga Clip Art Author: Hayden Scott-Baron Publisher: Ilex Price: £14.99 ISBN: 1904705839 Web: www.ilex-press.com
Alongside comic pop art, manga has developed into one of the most popular art forms in the world. Providing you with all the elements you need to create your own, professional looking manga illustrations is Manga Clip Art. Supplied with a CD packed full of high-res clip art, the book allows even those without any experience of the art form to create a ready-to-print image. But don’t think it’s all done for you. With the guidance provided within this hardback you’ll soon develop your own unique style, as well as learning the basics of how to create, colour and render original manga creations. A book for lovers of the genre. 5 Rating:
4/5
The Digital Canvas Author: Jonathan Raimes, Malcolm Garrett Publisher: Ilex Price: £19.95 ISBN: 1904705766 Web: www.ilex-press.com
Although most of us believe that Photoshop is Adobe’s finest app, it’s not its only one. The Digital Canvas looks at how easy it is to create fantastic artwork using the range of Photoshop, Illustrator and Painter features. Aimed at both beginners and advanced users, this books features a massive 350 images inside its 192 pages – a pretty good ratio! Looking at everything from the manipulation of basic lines, shapes and colours to the experimental art of John Maeda, this book is the ideal companion next to your tablet. 5 Rating:
4/5
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resources
plug-ins
Enhance Photoshop’s potential with these fantastic plug-ins available for download
Exposure
Special effects
Developer: Alien Skin Software Price: US$99/£54 (upgrade) Web: www.alienskin.com
AlgoShop
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t hasn’t been so long since the country’s photographers switched en masse to digital. Now, through Photoshop and apps like it, we strive to get that feel of real film back. Exposure from Alien Skin Software helps bring the look and feel of film to digital photographs. Effects that can be achieved include realistic film grain, simulating the characteristics of dozens of film stocks. If you miss the distinctive look of film photography then check out the Exposure examples page, where you can see the effects you’re buying before you shell out your cash. Useful, but you can achieve similar effects without the £54 outlay. 5 Rating:
3/5
Developer: Algolith Price: US$89.95/£49 Web: www.algolith.com
Designed specifically for Photoshop CS and CS2, this is a simple plug-in providing improved image quality. Tidying up some of the regular problems found within digital photography, AlgoShop focuses on the blotchy irregular patches known as Mosquito noise as well as the noise created at the time of image capture (ISO noise). With a simple and user-friendly interface which allows you easy access to a before-andafter preview, AlgoShop is certainly selfexplanatory to use. It’s a useful tool for anyone who spends a lot of time cleaning up new digital or archived images, and the results can be quite impressive. 5 Rating:
LunarCell
4/5
EtchTone v1.21 Developer: Andromeda Price: US$98/£53 (full) Web: www.andromeda.com
Developer: Flaming Pear Price: US$40/£21 (as part of a bundle) Web: www.flamingpear.com
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f your regularly create space scenes within Photoshop you’ll know that plenty of texture and great sky shots are an essential. LunarCell is a plug-in that’s dedicated to accurately recreating planets, and even allows you to download live cloud pictures from weather satellites. Download the free demo version to get to grips with the plug-in, or for just £21 you can buy the full plug-in alongside two others – SolarCell (for fantasy-style suns) and Glitterato (realistic star bursts and nebulas). This is an inexpensive bundle, but unless you have a specific use for lots of space images it might be best left on the shelf. 5 Rating:
3/5
EtchTone is a rather niche creative plug-in that allows you to simulate the look of a steel etching starting with just a black-andwhite photograph. Depending upon the end effect desired, the plug-in will either Overlay the etch or Blend the etch to give a classic old printing look. You can also buy this as part of a larger bundle (Artistic Screening Tools, US$225/£121), which includes Cutline and Screens. Making results you can already achieve with Photoshop a lot easier, unless you’re having a lot of trouble mastering the Adobe techniques, these really aren’t worth the money. 5 Rating:
2/5
Three-D Luxe v3 Developer: Andromeda Price: US$109/£59 (full) Web: www.andromeda.com
PhotoFreebies Developer: The Plugin Site Price: Free Web: www.thepluginsite.com
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f you’re looking for a plug-in, you can’t go far wrong looking on a resource called The Plugin Site. From plugins to organise your other plug-ins to frame and photo effects, there’s something for every need and every pocket. PhotoFreebies is a collection of free plug-ins designed to perform an array of photo manips and effects. Whether you want black and white, sepia or to remove transparency, this plug-in has it all. This won’t work with Photoshop versions lower than 7 on a Mac 3 on Windows, but all compatibility can be checked via the site before you download. 5 Rating:
If you want to get your head around 3D without the expense of some of the high-end 3D packages, then this plug-in might just be what you’re after. With an even easier-to-use new interface, this is superior to its predecessor in more than one way. Now able to wrap textures and combine images from within Photoshop, Three-D can help you create high-quality rendered 3D objects from your own images and stock photography. Also providing you a selection of textures and surfaces within the plug-in, new features include Stressed, Rivoted, Aged and Alien sculpted surfaces, offering the full gamut of interesting creative options. Upgrade from previous versions for just US$19.95/£11. 5 Rating:
4/5
3/5
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