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36

HIGH-QUALITY

BRUSHES

PLUS: STOCK PHOTOS & MORE

ISSUE ISSUE 6249 47

PA ES OF TECHG N TIPS AIQUES, PRO A ND DVICE

Add a dynamic edge to your artwork with these high-end lighting tricks

HOW TO...

9

771748 727009

62

£5.99

• Choose an animation course • Design for the music industry • Become a videogames designer • Use Photoshop to work with type

ISSUE 62 ISSN 1748-7277

Build fantasy landscapes | Cinematic lighting | Music design | Self-publishing | Liquify effects | Interview: James White

CINEMATIC LIGHTING INDUSTRY TECHNIQUES

ANCEDPHO .ADV TO SH WW W O

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K O.U P.C

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

BUILD FANTASY LANDSCAPES 5-PAGE WORKSHOP

Create a magical landscape scene using your own photography collection, collage skills and painting techniques

LIQUIFY EFFECTS

Master this essential tool and create vibrant lighting streaks

PUBLISH YOUR OWN ART BOOK An in-depth look at the self-publishing phenomenon and how to get in on it

14/9/09 18:10:40

Cover

Cover image Adel Adili created this composition for a 3D challenge run by CGNetwork called Grand Space Opera. The image depicts the concept of Star Olympics. Describing it on his website, Adili says: “I tried to portray the whole atmosphere of a modern world in a planet: the spaceships, the city in the foreground, the people.” We thought that it was a great blend of 3D and Photoshop work, as well as the striking colours that drew us into the image. www.adel3d.com

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Imageer: ADEL ADILI

“It is a great blend of 3D and Photoshop work” 3

Advanced Photoshop

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Editorial Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586200 Web: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk

www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/photoshopfaceoff www.photoshopdaily.co.uk

SM ITH

Ad a st m r an e g be dar ula ne d s rly f pr it tyle im ov of s m ef ide the and ers fe s d m d es c co ts. yn aga esig him .u ww am zi n se k/ w ic ne , m lf us .a c . T o in er d ine hi stl in /a va m s m y f du da nc at o or s m ed ic nt th try . ph ligh h h e ot tin e os g ho p.

Welcome to Advanced Photoshop

AD AM

Digital photography has changed the way that we take pictures. It’s easy to just keep snapping without the fear of running out of film at the crucial moment. As a result, it’s not uncommon to end up with hundreds of photos and no idea what to do with them all.

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BR ET MA LL EY

EL EN AS AV ITS KA YA

Co m d fo es bac ing i r f gn kg f iv e r ro e y r f ou m ea ro nd a m rs m , E a . T Lo le rk o n n e se do a S tin em n a g v or wh its ma e w o h ka na a ya g o r w k, s b is a em w v ee g en w. isi n r t el t h in ap en e th hi as r p e c av or fie its tfo ld ka lio ya at .co m .

Advanced Photoshop

Br et Ar Ma t a lle fro t Sy y is m ra fin di tra cus ish gi ve e in t ne al a llin Uni g up w ud g a ver h w lyw io nd sity is M w ed an te a F w. l d a n A ex ife Ph ch d in te as ot ing ge Co t rn w o al el sh ad s his mp m l. op va t ut in Se … nc hr er d. e i co m an ed lls m ore d . at

Digital or printed media packs are available on request. Commercial Director Ross Webster ☎ 01202 586418 [email protected] Head of Sales James Hanslip ☎ 01202 586423 [email protected] Advertising Manager Hang Deretz ☎ 01202 586442 [email protected] Advertising Sales Executive Dominic Johnston ☎ 01202 586436 [email protected]

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Interactive Media Manager Lee Groombridge Head of Digital Projects Stuart Dixon Senior Multimedia Editor Steve Litton [email protected]

International

NA TA LIE

JO HN SO N

Na m tali ag e i al azin s th so e e d re AP’ (ww ep se s r w ut a e ar rch gu .dp y ed tis in la h it lo ts. T g th r In oto or o ok h e du gr f D at is m es str ap ig se o se y f he ita lf- nt nt ea r.c l P pu h, ial tu o. h bl sh to re uk oto ish e t pi w ) a g in ak cs f rite nd rap g. es or r, s h he e an d ’s r in igit -d al ep th

Advanced Photoshop is available for licensing. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities.

DE RE KE MM ON S

4

Editor in Chief Jo Cole Senior Staff Writer Adam Smith Designer Stacey Grove Senior Sub Editor Colleen Johnson Sub Editor Sam Robson Group Art Editor Lora Barnes Head of Design Ross Andrews

Advertising

De re di for k ha ffe a s re rou be nt n en de t d vi an Se ech fiv cre ta e h ni e y ati rt is qu ea ng .co w e rs d m or s an no igi / a k a d w ta nd t st an l a w http yle d h rtw w : si a o co w.a //sh n h s m rk .u dv ad is a an k/ a o rs y us nc w e er ed ele na /s p m l. ha ho e do to nt. w sh el op em . en t.

International Manager Cathy Blackman ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586401 [email protected]

Subscriptions

Subscriptions Manager Lucy Nash [email protected] For all subscription enquiries: Email: [email protected] ☎ UK: 0844 848 8402 ☎ Overseas: +44 (0) 1795 592 880 13-issue subscription (UK) – £62.30 13-issue subscription (Europe) – £70 13-issue subscription (ROW) – £80

Circulation

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Production Director Jane Hawkins ☎ 01202 586200

Founders

KIR KN EL SO N

The next issue of Advanced Photoshop goes on sale 3 November 2009

[email protected] ☎ 01202 586243

Debbi Allen, David Cousens, Derek Emmons, Natalie Johnson, April Madden, Bret Malley, Kirk Nelson, Elena Savitskaya, Simon Skellon and Sarah Slee

W pu as bl hin K i g i ho cati ton rk i w on D s an to , P C ge ho are awa t i to a. rd n sh H -w to o e uc p als inn h Cre o in w a w g ith ti rit gr hi ve. es aph m Tu tu ic fo rn tor s a r a to ia r ll y p ls tist ou ag for in r e o t qu Ph 62 ur he er oto to sist ie s fin er s a ho d nd p- ou qu rela t an te da d rie s.

[email protected] [email protected] http://twitter.com/advancedpshop/

Editor Julie Easton

Contributors

That’s why this issue we have taken a look at the many things that you can do with personal photography to give images a new lease of light. Each of our Workshops takes photos as a starting point and, from there, builds them into a Photoshop masterpiece with very different results. For example, why not use your holiday snaps to create a fantasy landscape with simple collage and painting techniques? Turn to page 54 to see how. Or maybe you’d rather use model shots, in which case we have two great tutorials that incorporate lighting effects with great commercial value and also give your portraits punch. All of the Workshops will give you great styles, but what to do with your finished artwork? Well, one option is to enter the music design industry, a competitive yet fulfilling direction that many young artists are choosing to take. We have a big feature dedicated to this, from how to get started to what styles suit what genres. Our dedicated Industry section, starting on page 70, looks at how you can self-publish your own art book. Whether you want a personal keepsake, a professional-looking portfolio or a way to make some extra cash, there is plenty of information in here to point you in the right direction. As I write this, I’m preparing to visit Photoshop World in Las Vegas to see what’s going on in the wider world of Photoshop. By the time you read this, however, it’ll all be over for another year. Check out our full report in the next issue of Advanced Photoshop. Julie Easton

Magazine team

CONT RIBU TORS

Managing Director Damian Butt Finance Director Steven Boyd Creative Director Mark Kendrick

Printing & Distribution

Printed by St Ives Plymouth Ltd, Eastern Wood Road, Langage Industrial Estate, Plympton, Plymouth Distributed by Seymour Distribution, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT 0207 429 4000

☎

Disclaimer

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. Photoshop is either a registered trademark or trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries and is used with express permission.

© Imagine Publishing Ltd 2009 ISSN 1748-7277

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THE ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP PODCAST www.imaginepodcasts.com You can now listen to Advanced Photoshop on the move with our new podcasts, available from the above website. Each month, we’ll be bringing you entertaining chat with Photoshop professionals to inspire you to expand your own artwork. We’ll be bringing you a new podcast every month, so make sure to bookmark the Imagine Podcasts homepage.

ISSUE #62

inside... 36

Learn to create crisp lighting effects

COMMUNITY News Mailbox On the web Web challenge winners

INSIGHT The best digital artists around Andrée Wallin Christopher Haines

THE COVER

Michal Sycz

Find out more about our fantastic cover artist Adel Adili on his personal website at www.adel3d.com, where you can see samples of his other work

Thomas Burden

HELP Tips, techniques and problems solved Helpdesk

e b i r c s b u S now6!(UK/ ) e6 (US e pag e 12 Se or pag ) ROW

08

The latest news, website images and readers’ thoughts from our mailbox and forum

INDUSTRY SECTION

08 14 16 18

20 20 42 60 68

62 62

70

Essential advice for becoming a pro digital artist Interview: Rolf Jenson Feature: Self-publishing Uni focus: Animation Production

84

The latest hardware and software reviewed in detail

90

Our pick of the best reader submissions this month

Career guide: Videogames designer

THIS MONTH’S CD Superb stock art, project files and more! CD guide

70 72 78 82

98 98

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In-depth interview with James White

© James White

FEATURES/REGULAR

TECHNIQUES

Insightful interviews and in-depth articles

Essential guides to professional Photoshop skills

INTERVIEW: JAMES WHITE We discover the inspiration behind his retro design style

MUSIC INDUSTRY DESIGN From T-shirts and posters to CD covers and logos uncovered

SUBSCRIPTIONS Find out about our latest subscription prices and offers here

RESOURCES The latest hardware, software and books reviewed

READERS’ GALLERY The very best submissions from our readers this month

22 28 66

CUTTING-EDGE LIGHTING Sharpen up your model stock with our guide to crisp lighting

44

BUILD FANTASY LANDSCAPES Create unique compositions using personal photography

GET ON OUR COVER! How to enter and what you can win

84

CINEMATIC LIGHTING

90

CREATIVE BOOK COVER ART

36

49 50

Transform photos into HDR pieces of Photoshop art

Design a dramatic scene using these professional techniques

54 7

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The latest creative news from around the world

Community • Pg 08......................News • Pg 14 .................Mailbox • Pg 16 .................Website

deviantART Portfolio

LOW-COST SOLUTION: Portfolios can be started with no costs – so it’s ideal if you’re just starting out GET STARTED: Once you’ve selected the artwork you want displayed, setting up a portfolio takes just minutes

If you’re looking for a way to push your profile and let people know about your art, then a portfolio site is where most people start. However, creating a portfolio page that is good to look at, easy to navigate and shows off your work to its best is often costly and time-consuming, and therefore left forgotten. deviantART has developed a new facet called Portfolio, where users can create bespoke pages with unique addresses to display their work. Member evile33 (http://evile33.deviantart.com/) says: “This is hands down the best thing deviantART has come up with. The design is sleek, simple and easy to use.” Creating a portfolio on deviantART saves artists from spending countless hours designing, programming and managing a website, or provides those already with a website with a sleek and professional-looking, easy-to-set-up additional online home. Ideal for those who may not know HTML or CSS that well and want a simple solution to market their artwork, the Portfolio feature is free in its basic format. Heidi Chambers, director of marketing at deviantART, explains: “With Portfolio,

www.deviantart.com

users don’t have to learn any code, pay for hosting or worry about what format their customers will want their art delivered in. Our team talked to portfolio experts – school admission departments, professional art buyers, headhunters, etc – and asked them about their preferences. We discussed everything from portfolio background colour to thumbnail sizes and learnt that the details in navigation and composition can really make or break a portfolio. Our final design reflects all of these nuances. Because we went through this process, our members get the peace of mind that their artwork is shown in the best possible light.” During Portfolio’s first few months, 50,000 were set up, with that expected to triple by early 2010. Chambers described the response as “one of our most well-received launches”. If you’d like to set up your own deviantART Portfolio, turn to page 10 where you can read our simple five-step guide, which will help you get set up in matter of minutes. All you need to do now is decide which pieces to display…

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DigiDudes designed by the quirky community For the photographers among you, the quirky community – made up of artists who design and develop product ideas for sale – has released a portable camera tripod and key chain, which bucks the usual black-and-silver design. Named DigiDudes, the product is simple to use. Just screw the head off and put your camera in its place. Priced at $19.99, the portable supports come in five designs, which can be viewed on the website (www.

THE LINE-UP: The DigiDudes are available in five different designs, and are priced at $19.99 GET INVOLVED: Got a great idea? Submit it and be in with a chance of make your design a reality – and making some cash, too!

www.quirky.com/products

“Just screw the head off and put your camera in its place” quirky.com/products) and will help rid your shots of unwanted shake and blur without lugging round a cumbersome and weighty tripod. If you want to see your products developed by quirky, then sign up as a user and you can post ideas to be rated by the rest of the community. The lucky designs that make it through to development and sales can make 30 cents of every dollar for the community. Here, community covers both the original designer as well as all people who voted, commented and rated the project idea along the way.

Hybrids: the next gen revealed IFA convention, September saw Berlin hosting the 2009 ing were imag al digit in where the next innovations d. revealed to the worl ments from the One of the most exciting announce third d convention was the hotly anticipate ra, the generation of Micro Four Thirds came to be d case show was h Panasonic GF1, whic . alists journ UK of ful hand a by n test-drive pact Designed to be neoclassic, the com away from interchangeable lens camera is a step s no that’ body slim a its predecessors with g the irmin Conf . pact com large a bigger than weight size, itise prior to e mov ’s turer ufac man d at step-up and ease of use, the camera is aime es in a biliti capa -like users who want DSLR . body se -to-u easy , compact ces Pricing has yet to be revealed, but sour E-P1, pus Olym the rumour it will be similar to innovative and with exceptional image quality, My Colors, as well as and cus Defo l hera Perip like features well worth it. an on-board flash, the £500+ will be

www.panasonic.com

News

bites ISTOCKPHOTO GIVES AWAY $45,000! iStockphoto’s 2009 Punctum Day rewarded six top artists for creative excellence and “profound emotional impact” of their work. Now in its third year, the competition finalists were chosen by the website’s community of over six million members, with winners being announced for best photo, vector, video, flash, audio and design of the year. Each victor takes away a $5,000 cash prize.

LAST CHANCE!

It’s your final chance to enter the Digital Photographer of the Year Awards 2009, which closes 5 November. Prizes include a Canon DSLR kit and the chance to have your work exhibited in an exclusive, three-week showcase at the New Forest Gallery. Visit www. dphotographer.co.uk for details.

NEW TECH WEBSITE

After a new camera, lens or photographic accessory? Then look no further than the fantastic new site launched by Imagine Publishing, www.digicambuyer.co.uk. The innovative new website allows users to read in-depth reviews of all the latest gadgets and compare up to four side by side, making your buying choices even easier.

of the GF1 is that of an DESIGN CLASSIC: The look and feel viewfinder is an optional advanced compact, although the red pounds extra and will set you back a few hund

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Community In the news:

Find work with a little helping hand

Q&A

Heidi Chambers We speak to Heidi Chambers, director of marketing at deviantART DIGITAL DISPLAY: The homepage of Digital Creatives

Q: WHERE DID THE IDEA COME FROM FOR DEVIANTART TO CREATE PORTFOLIO? A: The deviantART community has been asking for Portfolio for a long time. Many of our members, or deviants, are heading into college or are looking for their next freelance creative job and felt as if their deviantART galleries weren’t presented in a format that was professional enough to show schools and prospective employers. Portfolio eliminates community features like comments and critiques, and allows artists the opportunity to present their artwork in the most professional way possible.

Q: HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE CREATED THEM SO FAR? A: In roughly the last month, during our initial push we easily topped 50,000 portfolios created by deviants. We’re ecstatic about its early success and expect to see that number double or triple by early next year.

Q: WHAT’S THE PROCESS FOR SETTING UP A PORTFOLIO? A: Setting up a Portfolio is done through a simple five-step wizard: First, you choose a colour theme, navigation and layout structure. Second, title your Portfolio and fill in your contact details. Third of all, you create a personal artist statement and upload a photo. Fourth, upload artwork from your hard drive or import work directly from deviantART. Fifth, you choose a domain to host your Portfolio and then you publish. Learn more at www.deviantart.com

If you’ve just graduated, finding work in the career of your choice will be top of your to-do list. Most artists resign themselves to months – if not years – working in other industries, while they wait for that perfect job to arise. This is where Matt O’Shea comes in. A recent graduate of the University of Portsmouth (UK), O’Shea has developed a specialist website to help creative graduates find work. Showcasing the work of digital artists looking for employment, http://digital-creatives.com/ allows potential employers to contact those featured directly –

meaning no middlemen and no charges. “It’s a not-forprofit site,” explains O’Shea. “And it’s an attempt to give young creatives some exposure and help them become the next big thing.” O’Shea graduated from Portsmouth with a 2:1 this summer, but will continue to work with the institution to get his website off the ground. “We have offered to help O’Shea by providing student volunteers as his venture grows and develops should he need it,” says Helen Fuge of the University’s Department Of Employability. However, O’Shea doesn’t need any help, having already secured a career as a digital media executive. “I was one of the lucky ones and got an internship within days of finishing my course and was then offered a full-time job two months later, but I wanted to set the website up to help others who are still hunting for work.” The website will feature two students or recent graduates per week within the advertising, postproduction, graphic design, animation and other creative industries. To get involved, visit the site today!

http://digital-creatives.com/

Get innovative ST550 DUAL LCDS: A range of still and moving images will be available to down load to occupy the front LCD

Last month, we reported on the growing trend in digital cameras to push the boundaries and start adding mor e innovative features on board. Heading this up was Fujifilm, producing a 3D stills cam era, and Nikon, with its new projector-cam era hybrid. Now Samsung has joined the part y with a camera featuring two LCD screens. The ST550 and ST500 employ dual LCDs to help compose self-portraits or to entertain child ren when posing for images. In a closed mee ting with UK journalists, SS Park (vice presiden t, Strategy Marketing, Digital Media Business at Samsung) said: “We are fulfilling the needs of the cons umer that aren’t met.” Talking about digital humanism – incorporating technology into our lives – the com pany is focusing on designing cameras that will succ eed to become a truly next-gen device, utilising trends like social networking. To do this, Samsung has also introduce d the ST1000 – a compact with built-in Wi-Fi and FPS capability, allowing

www.samsungcamera.co.uk

users to email images straight from their camera. And that’s not the end of the innovation eithe r, with Park agreeing that the ability to add captions to imag es via your camera is a possibility for future generations. Finally, the much-anticipated NX came ra prototype body has been displayed to the publ ic amid much hype. Park confirmed that the camera is in “field test stage” so the camera is likely to appear late 2009 or early 2010. The new camera is another in the hybrid sector; it’s not a compact, not a DSLR and making it stand out even more is the fact that the NX will feature an APSC-sized sensor – something no other camera of this ilk can boast! The NX will also feature the manufacturer’s Dream II processor.

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Community

Mailbox Do you have a question about the magazine? Email your thoughts to [email protected] or visit www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum

going to be differences in taste and opinion, and we do try to include a wide range of styles. It seems that you maybe got a bit unlucky as AP 57 was our retro graphics issue, and as such contained a feature and Masterclass dedicated to this particular style, while it is also a popular effect to re-create at the moment and we like to stay on top of the current trends. Soon enough, no doubt, a different style will be the one in vogue, and we’ll be here to help out again!

SUBJECT: Global warmth FROM: Polly Carpenter

MORE VARIETY: Do you feel that we’re focusing too much on one particular style?

SUBJECT: Repetitive retro FROM: Jeff Walker Hello. I hope that this email finds its way to understanding ears. I have been concerned about the pictures presented in Advanced Photoshop for many months. There is a consistent pattern of imagery in the magazine that is quite concerning. Almost all of the imagery is the same. The subject is either a human, torso, head or face. Surrounding the subject matter are whimsical lines, shapes and patterns. All of these images could have been created by the same artist. For instance, you can find over 25 examples in issue 57 alone. The cover, images on pages 8, 13, 14 (two), 17 (two), 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 36, 37, 42-43 (three), 68, 69 (two), 78, 79 (two), 91 (two), 93 (without a human) and a few others that are borderline. I purchase your magazine for inspiration, but this monotonous, endless and stale stream of imagery must end. Diversity is desperately needed. Editor replies: Hi Jeff, and thanks for writing in. We appreciate that with our vast readership there are

Hi AP team. I’ve just received my copy of issue 61 and wanted to congratulate you on a fantastic feature on global design. It gave me a great insight into artists’ attitudes around the world, and has inspired me to vary my style accordingly! Keep up the good work. Editor replies: Glad you liked it, Polly! We’ve had a very warm reception to that feature, and are happy to hear that it was so inspiring. Remember, change is good, so never be afraid to experiment with new styles – even if they seem daunting at first, chances are you’ll surprise yourself with a fantastic end product!

GLOBAL DESIGNS: Don’t be scared to try out unfamiliar methods from AP’s tutorials. Practice makes perfect, although you might land on your feet first time!

“We’re not prejudiced in any way when it comes to selecting models” SUBJECT: Workshop praise FROM: Thomas Ciccone First of all, I just wanted to say thanks for the beautiful Student Showcase in issue 59 of AP. It was so nice to see some of my work in such a great magazine! Next, I absolutely have to say thanks again for a great Workshop (Paths and the Pen Tool) to create a disintegrating effect. I was recently granted a great commission for several print advertisements, but I was faced with an incredibly tight deadline to complete them. So I had to really rely on the many great short cuts and tips that I find in the pages of AP. Specifically, I wanted to incorporate a disintegration effect into one of the ads I was working on, and I remembered the Workshop that I had just recently read. So I scanned the Workshop quickly and applied some of the techniques to my own image. The step-by-step tutorial was so clearly laid out and explained that I was able to quickly grasp the method and applications to help me achieve the effect I was going for. That was probably what was so helpful and seriously saved me tons of time, and I got what I was looking to achieve. So thanks again – and again for stuff you’ll probably put in future issues! I’m attaching the image for you to see… maybe you can throw it in one of the next issues to show to people that AP really works! Editor replies: Hi Tom, we’re really pleased that we could help you to create such a striking image as Icarian. It’s always great to see examples of readers’ work that were inspired by the tutorials in Advanced Photoshop; they, in turn, inspire us back, thus completing the circle of our community! If any other readers are particularly proud of images that they’ve created after following one of our step-by-step guides, then we’re always glad to see them.

Write to us : Advanced Photoshop Mailbox, Imagine Publishing, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK, BH2 6EZ. Email us: advancedphotoshop@

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im

shop: Advanced Photo on Vol 1 llecti The Premium Co ages of advice 6p Digital edition: 25 for only £9.99!

ICARIAN: Regular reader Tom Ciccone credits one of AP’s Workshops for helping him create this fantastic composition. Have you been similarly inspired? Email in and let us know!

SUBJECT: Less ladies, more men? FROM: June Young I read Jenny Hawkyard’s letter in issue 60 with interest as I had also noticed the same thing, the tendency to use mainly glamorous female models in artwork. You only have to look through issue 60 to see that she has a point. Yes, there are tutorials this issue that feature fantasy trolls or geometric artwork, but you only have to look on pages 14, 15 and again on page 56 to see multiple uses of a woman as the subject. I realise most of the designers who you feature and who you use for tutorials are men, but I am sure there are quite a lot of lady readers who wouldn’t object if, occasionally, you used a good-looking chap for some of your articles. Seriously, I enjoy your magazine even though I am very much an amateur and have learnt a lot from you over the last year, but the photographs I work with cover still life, children, older women and men as well as young women, so it would be good to have articles and tutorials that feature a wider range of people and ones that are a bit less biased in favour of glamorous young women. Editor replies: Thanks for writing in June, we always appreciate the input of our readers, and do try and

cater accordingly. After they read your letter, the two men on the AP magazine team offered themselves up as models for future tutorials – for your sake and ours, they gently declined! Seriously, though, we do keep an eye out for the best stock out there, and we’re not prejudiced in any way, shape or form when it comes to selecting models.

shop Advanced Photoe 2 eMag Volum

n one disc 16 whole issues o ! for only £19.99

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shape the direction of Advanced Photoshop by letting us know your thoughts

imagine-publishing.co.uk. Twitter us: http://twitter.com/advancedpshop/. Forum: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum

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for back issues, books and merchandise

16/9/09 15:41:54

Community

On the web www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

Our website and readers’ forum is perfect for showing off Photoshop creations. We present the best images on the site this month. Log on and upload to get your images here next issue!

GATES OF DELIRIUM

ARTIST: Eduardo Lopez WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/edlo

“Vue was used to create the base landscape using a technique called Hypertextured Terrain. From there, I jumped to CINEMA 4D to render the ship in the correct position and lighting setup using the base plate as a background, but rendering only the ship with an alpha channel so I could have complete control later in Photoshop. Finally, the render was retouched. From Curves to Color Overlays, several correction layers were applied to the whole image and to single layers. I used creative mask brushing so the effect of this layer was applied at several different levels on selected parts of the image.”

FEARLESS

ARTIST: Deni Dessastra WEB: www. advancedphotoshop. co.uk/user/29pro Deni Dessastra is the man behind doeasembilanpro, a tough graphic designer hailing from Indonesia. Now he’s the base owner of 29pro Studio in Singkawang. “I based the idea for Fearless on a Jay Lim quote: ‘Your first enemy is your mind’. I used collage techniques in Photoshop CS4, and almost all of the images that are used here are free from www.sxc.hu.”

ZERO GRAVITY

ARTIST: Geir Akselsen WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/geironimo

“The idea for Zero Gravity came one day when I was watching a documentary about space. The image was shot in different stages. The first image was of the empty bathroom, then we put the little girl on a bench inside the bathroom. We had fishing line tied to her braided hair so that it would appear as being in zero gravity. We took a lot of different shots before we were happy with the outcome. All of the elements flying around were also taken hanging from a fishing line one by one. In the end, the elements and the girl were cut out in Photoshop and fitted together with the first image we took of the bathroom.”

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WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/ generallee “I visit the Advanced Photoshop website almost every day. Checking out the galleries of other creatives is such a valuable source of inspiration and the feedback from my own gallery has been absolutely amazing.”

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SCOTT POLLARD

WEB: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/ scottpollard “I have been a designer for around five years now and throughout that time it has become extremely important to show my work online. Advanced Photoshop’s online gallery helps me further my presence across the internet and it allows so many people to enjoy my work. Since setting up my gallery I have had over 40,000 views and a lot of them take a further look on my main website, so I highly recommend setting up a gallery!”

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Community

Web challenge The winners

Challenge reference: AP 061 On our website, www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/competitions.php, we run a web challenge where you are asked to create an image in Photoshop using at least one of three images provided. These challenges are updated monthly and they are becoming increasingly popular, so get your entries in for a chance to win. Check out the website for details of our latest challenge and how to enter. The winner will collect a special prize for that month (prizes change frequently) and will also have their design printed in the magazine, along with the runners-up.

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Our prize this month for the Web Winner is a copy of Art and Design in Photoshop by Steve Caplin courtesy of Focal Press (www.focalpress.com). In this unique book, acclaimed master of photomontage and visual trickery Caplin shows you how to stretch your creative boundaries. It also comes with a free CD-ROM.

Challenge start images

MIDNIGHT SYMPHONY ARTIST: Meg Pietrzyk

“This image was inspired by an original photo. When I first saw it, I exactly knew what my work should look like. Birds are very strong creatures, but also soft and beautiful. I tried to show those attributes with the structure of ribbons emanating from it, making all of them using the Pen tool. Next, using Photoshop’s blending options I applied a Gradient Overlay in the proper direction. The background was made using a soft brush and Motion Blur, created over several layers. The moon was an unplanned thing, as I decided that this detail would be an ideal closing element.”

FEATHERS IN THE CLOUDS ARTIST: Elkilani Maliuna WEB: www.elkilanimaliuna.co.uk

“My aim for this design was for it to be a modern, stylish and vibrant work, hence the use of different shapes – such as squares, circles, lines and others – used in various sizes to add some harmony. I began the design process by cutting out the bird by using the Pen tool, then duplicating the layer and keeping it for further use. I started arranging the other birds around and behind the main object. To achieve the final result I used loads of techniques, from the Pen tool and adjustment layers to the Brush tool, as well as my own photography in the case of the pillars and flowers. Organic items were used to give the composition a natural and lively finish, while flying birds were added for movement and a colour was added to complete the vivid look.”

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DAWN

ARTIST: Attila KeresztÈnyi

“I like the atmosphere of a dawn, and tried applying this mood to the picture. When I saw the picture of the rock, it reminded me of the island from The Count of Monte Cristo. The only original parts are the rocks on the right and the water. Everything was placed in Photoshop and then a lighting effect rendered by hand was applied.”

TRICK OR TREAT? ARTIST: Parinaz Shajareh WEB: http://parinazshajareh.cgsociety.org/

R B E E W I NN W

“I regard anthropomorphism as one of the best ways to tell a story, especially when a great deal of personification can be used. So my goal was giving the bird human traits, while keeping it as a logical extension of its individual personalities and also give the viewer some surprises! After doing some initial sketches (in Photoshop) while remaining faithful to the viewing angle of the bird in the photo, I did a monochrome underpainting using the original bird as a collage piece. Gradually, I defined shapes, added colour and built up textures. I gave the bird a Halloween costume so that it felt more like it belonged to the environment.”

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insight e Jane: “Jane is on of the few in characters I have re my gallery, and he a she is posing with giant metal squid”

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Andrée Wallin Website: www.andreewallin.com Clients: Sony, Disney, concept artist for RealtimeUK (www. realtimeuk.com) Swedish concept artist Andrée Wallin clearly remembers his venture into art and design, and has taken much from the experience. It wasn’t long after being introduced to digital media and Photoshop that he experienced his first commercial brief, obtained through the most random of circumstances, as he explains: “My first commission was for a company in Sweden that did graphic design for the web. I met the company director on a forum for progressive metal, of all places, where I had posted some of my paintings. I was commissioned to do a couple of designs for a web page, which later led to a couple more for Windows Media Player skins.” This was a low-profile beginning but a very good start for him, as Wallin admits: “I was stressed out at first and completely devastated when my initial designs got some bad feedback. But, as time passed, I learnt how to turn off my personal attachment to work-related design. That’s an important skill for every artist, because it can be very painful to get negative feedback on something you’ve put your heart and soul into.” Wallin took a lot of confidence from this commission and has gone on to work on many impressive projects, including matte paintings for Sony’s MotorStorm Arctic Edge PSP trailer and Disney’s Split/Second teaser trailer. With every creative venture he has evolved his design capacity, as he reveals: “I often use tons of photos and textures to create concept art, and this is where Photoshop really stands out. The way you are able to cut them up and reshape them by adjusting the colours is so easy and efficient. However, the way I create a painting is chaotic. I switch between different brushes, play around with the Lasso tool, create tons of layers, merge them and adjust the curves. The trick is not to think too much about what you’re doing. Just let your creativity control the workflow.” Soldiers: “A speed painting of tw soldiers inspecti ng an old industria o l warehouse. This took me about thr ee hours to produce”

Jungle outpost: “This is a scene depicting a futuristic military outpost within a jungle setting. It was heavily inspired by the videogame Halo”

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Interview

JAMES WHITE

With a love for retro graphics, James White’s artwork is an explosion of colour and sharp lighting. Here, he talks about his inspirations and how Photoshop brings his designs together

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n any feature on modern retro graphics, James White is one name that crops up time and time again. His clean, crisp style mixes the best of modern Photoshop application with the colour clash and lighting effects of design from the Seventies and Eighties. Describing himself as a visual artist, the 32-yearold has been working as a professional designer for 12 years, based out of Nova Scotia, Canada. He works on a blend of projects for clients, as well as

indulging in personal projects inspired by retro classic films, such as Tron. White has always been artistic, as he explains: “I took a keen interest in art at an early age and never strayed very far from seeking out inspiration in its various forms.” He describes one of his earliest memories of creative thinking: “I flipped over a school assignment at the age of four or five, and drew a picture of Superman carrying a giant pumpkin.” His obsession with popular culture

references continued, with White drawing his favourite comic-book characters throughout his school years until he began a more formal art education through a graphic design course at a local community college in 1995. White used all his various levels of education to his benefit, shaping the way that his art was to develop: “During elementary, junior high and high school, I learnt to control the materials I had to create what I thought was cool. College taught me to use a

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Inter James White view

AWESOME: “Awesome pays homage to Eighties heavy metal, inspired by the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Created with a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator” © James White

computer to push my creations in new and powerful directions, and working in the design field taught me discipline and focus.”

Modern technology It was during his time at college that White was first introduced to FreeHand, Illustrator and Photoshop, before embarking on a more websitebased early career. “I furthered my study of design after I enrolled in Interactive Technology where I learned how to create websites, CD-ROMs, 3D animation and was introduced to Flash. All of this compiled study led to my being swept up in the web boom, where I landed my first professional job designing websites right out of school.” During this time he continued to work on personal projects, be it illustration, animation, writing or digital creation. This is when the idea of Signalnoise (White’s online alter ego) came to be, which he describes as his “own personal corner of

the internet to explore as I see fit.” Signalnoise gives White the chance to experiment and push the boundaries of what he is capable of beyond his education. “I saw a long time ago that art and design education stops at a point and it was up to me to hit the gas when it was over to really make something of myself,” says White. “They gave me the hammer, but it was up to me to swing it. This is why I haven’t stopped for the past 12 years, whether I was working on a comic book, designing my website, creating animation tests, experimenting with sculpting, etc. I wanted to do everything, so I gave it a shot.” White remembers his first creative commission vividly, designing a flyer for a local events

LIQUID GOLD 77: Created with

Illustrator and Photoshop, paying homage to the golden styles of the Seventies © James White

organiser at a time when the rave scene was still prominent. “I had never designed a flyer before, which is why the organiser asked me as he wanted something outside of the styles being done at the time,” he says. “I approached the job from a hand-drawn perspective to go against the big 3D type being done at the time, and illustrated the front cover with a lady spinning a turntable surrounded by moths. Everyone was thrilled with the result, and it was exhilarating to see it in music stores and cafes throughout the city.” This was a turning point for White, realising that he could earn money outside of his day job. White’s style now is obviously influenced by retro design, something that he is very fond

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Interview SIGNALERA: Signalera was created with a combination of Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash, originally serving as a colour study © James White

of, as he says: ”I started looking to my childhood interests for inspiration. With the rise of YouTube I suddenly had access to all of these wonderful commercials, TV shows, cartoons and other things from when I was a kid growing up.” The Eighties was known for its bright colours and heavy use of stylised lighting, which is certainly apparent in the works over these six pages, although it is clear that they have been injected with a modern touch of Photoshop. “The work I am doing now takes cues and styles from that era and appropriates them using modern software to create something new,” agrees White. “What I try to do with my work now is create something seven-year-old James would think is cool enough to hang on his wall.”

Nostalgic influences Growing up in the Seventies and Eighties has left its mark on White, as the era brought with it

LA FEMME: This is a re-creation of the poster ‘La Femme est l’avenir de l’europe’ by Roman Cieslewicz © James White

plenty of change. “The Seventies is when television really started pushing its way into the living room with bright colours and rock ‘n’ roll, when Star Wars and G.I. Joe revolutionised the toy industry and we were introduced to home videogames. In the Eighties we had a plethora of colourful action figures that coincided with cartoons of all kinds. We also had the rise of heavy metal with bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, whose album covers were unlike anything I had seen.” White is a nostalgic person, which is why he is so inspired by turning to the past that he remembers so fondly, and he describes himself as being unable to let go of the things that he loved as a kid. “I remember my mother buying me a Green Lantern action figure for passing grade three and marvelling at the package the toy was in. It was so colourful, with a drawing of Hal Jordan on the front and the giant Super Powers

logo at the top with stars shooting out of it. It was the same feeling I got when the CBS Special Presentation animation would appear on-screen with its bold colours, as I thought it might be Star Wars or something that followed. As a youngster it was a rush and it was pure.” Now in his early thirties, he tries to tap into that excitement through his artwork. “Nothing makes me happier than when someone sees my work and is reminded of something from their childhood and it excites them even today.” White’s influences might be rooted in days gone by, but he stills find inspiration in his day-today life, as he says: ”I’m very open to inspiration, wherever I am. I could be walking down the street and notice the way that the sun is bouncing off the window of a 20-story building and think that effect would be a wonderful addition to my next poster. I never turn that sense off, as inspiration can hit you at any time.”

Bringing it all together All of these elements are then brought together almost exclusively in Illustrator and Photoshop CS4, but White’s ideas always start in the sketchbook. When he has a composition that he is happy with, he will move into Illustrator and do a

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James White

“I took a keen interest in art at a very early age and never strayed very far from being creative or seeking out inspiration in its various forms” few basic vector layouts to see how the elements fall together, what colours might work and what content or logos can be worked into the design. “After I have a few good concepts, I’ll begin creating any vector assets I might need for the construction of the piece,” White continues. “I tend to stay away from ready-made assets found online because, although there are wonderful resources at hand, a personal bank of original elements will always work better in the long run.” From here, all of the elements are taken into Photoshop and brought together, building them into the final piece. “I sometimes bring elements together in greyscale to focus only on composition before adding colour, and other times I create my vectors in full colour to see how the colours may shift when overlaid on one another,” says White. “Even though I have a general idea of the direction I want to move in, I always leave the opportunity open for a happy mistake and what unexpected results it may wield. I might drag a layer by accident and the results are unexpectedly better than previously.” The final touch is to add textures, effects, colour bursts and

Reckless Love (above): Cover created for the Finnish rock band Reckless Love. They wanted something explosive, colourful and ultimately retro © James White

Robot Rock (right): Robot Rock was inspired

by the sounds of Daft Punk and their stage presence. Created with a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator © James White

polish to the piece. “I really study television network promos from the Seventies to help with this phase, as all of their logos and type had extra flair to push colours over the top.”

Professional success White is self-critical, getting excited when a piece is going well but anxious when things take a downward turn, as he says: “When I start to feel agitated, I need to step back from the piece and let my eyes readjust or I won’t be able to correct the problem, whatever it may be. If I get away from the computer for a bit, then I can normally return and see exactly where the problem lies and then work to correct things. I have to keep my personal criticisms in check as I work,

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Interview

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James White SOLID GOLD BOMB: Solid Gold Bomb pays tribute to the sights and sounds of Motown Records in the Seventies. Created with a combination of Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash © James White

TRON LEGACY (LEFT): Unofficial poster created for the 2010 Disney film Tron Legacy. Created with Photoshop and rendered objects in Illustrator © James White

because it is my only way of gauging how the final piece will turn out.” His style has attracted some notable clients, including VH1 Latin America. “I was contacted by VH1 Latin America to create some mood boards for its Lightswitch campaign. I created the general style and design for the screens, and the campaign was launched this past April on South American television.” This took White out of his comfort zone and forced him to push the boundaries of what he could do. “I had very little experience with motion yet had to design concepts to appear on TV. It was a challenge, but I learnt a great deal about what they were looking for and how I had to deliver my work.” White has also been working with the International Year of Astronomy board to create some posters promoting global events aimed at bringing interest to astronomy. Additionally, he

was contacted by Toyota to create some custom designs on its newest Matrix model promoting the launch of the car. As well as these professional clients, White’s personal work has featured heavily on top design sites like PSDTUTS and Abduzeedo, and earlier this year he featured in an article in DT Platinum magazine: “I was included in the article ‘21 People of the Century’ alongside people such as Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Twitter), actress Zooey Deschanel, Jay-Z and Alex Turner (the front man of Arctic Monkeys) to name a few. It was an honour to be included among such a variety of talented personalities, and has certainly motivated me to stay fresh and current with my work.”

“I always leave the opportunity open for a happy mistake and what unexpected results it may wield”

NETWORK:

Network pays tribute to the 1976 film of the same name, expressing the dangers of controlled television broadcasting. Created with a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator © James White

Looking to the future, White has plenty of work to keep him busy. He’s organising a Signalnoise Apparel T-shirt line, which will display retro style designs prevalent in the Seventies and Eighties. “I’m making a big effort to create shirts that look like the ones the older kids wore when I was six. My shirts will eventually be available through Signalnoise.com.” He’s also working with a Finnish band called Reckless Love, for whom he created a logo and CD design. Finally, he’s working on his Art of Signalnoise: Vol 2 book, which will compile all of his latest work from the past two years. “My first book was released through the print-on-demand vendor Blurb, but this time around I would like to work with a publisher to do an official release.” It seems that White’s dominance of the reborn retro art craze is set to continue for a little while longer yet. Find out more at www.signalnoise.com

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© TRAFFIC WITH ALEXANDER BROWN, ANDREW WHITTON AND LA ROUX

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© DENNIS SIBEIJN

© JONATHAN FOERSTER

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Music industry design © BARTON DAMER

© TRAFFIC WITH ALEXANDER BROWN, ANDREW WHITTON AND LA ROUX

© MACIEJ HAJNRICH

MASTER THE ART OF MUSIC DESIGN WITH ADVICE AND TECHNIQUES FROM PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN THE BUSINESS. UNCOVER THE SECRETS OF CREATING DESIGNS FOR CDS, POSTERS AND T-SHIRTS , PLUS INSIDER INFO ON HOW TO GET A FOOT IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY DOOR 29

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Feature

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If this fe ating your o free CD e cre to start , then open th vanced s d n A ig f s o e l d is issue ssentia with th p for some e upplied o s h s s a o h t Pho Media plates for tes. Go m templa lar T-shirt te nd we’ve u a its pop our designs, jewel r y testing d a PSD file fo create CD cases.

1: LIL’ WAYNE STARSHIP BOOMBOX “THE FULL-COLOUR T-SHIRTS I’VE DONE FOR BANDS ARE SEPARATED BY THE PRINTER INTO 12 SPOT COLOURS. THIS GIVES THE ILLUSION OF FULL COLOUR” © BARTON DAMER

2: SHONLOCK PORTRAIT ARTWORK “I WAS ABLE TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE ARTWORK IN AN EFFORT TO REPRESENT THE ARTIST WELL. I TRIED GOLD AND DIAMONDS BUT WE AGREED IT WASN’T THE RIGHT FIT” © BARTON DAMER

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many styles being presented. Photomanipulation, retro graphic design, abstract collage as well as hand-drawn illustration are all prevalent. There does seem to be a hierarchal-style system in this creativerelated industry. In most cases, commerciality is a determining factor. Dutch graphic designer Dennis Sibeijn (www. damnengine.net), who works with popular metal bands such as Chimaira, Aborted and Job for a Cowboy, explains: “It’s pretty hard to see what a popular style is because there are so many bands these days and so many releases throughout the music genre. What you do see is that when a band has a really popular-selling album, a lot of other bands want designs in a similar style.” This archetypal attitude to design can mean that at times approaching bands with your artwork, although never futile, may not have the desired effect, says Sibeijn. “I personally think it’s a waste of time to email

A personal website is always a great tool in getting noticed. Participating in art and music online communities, such as www.konvulse.com and www.behance.net, can also be beneficial

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DISC ONatuTreHhEas inspirwendmyouusic

he music industry is dominated by design, as producers use it as a device to maximise the appeal of their commercial projects. The two art forms share an almost symbiotic relationship, one personifying the other with the intention to advertise product and content. Over the decades, the album cover became the industry’s dominant marketing tool. Many have now become desirable artifacts in their own right, and the transfer from 12-inch records to smaller compact sizes has had a detrimental effect on this art form. The modern digital era is influencing its own new creative reflux, with integrated themed websites, expressive and unique CD packaging and design, as well as external promotional devices like artworked posters and branded apparel. This is a lucrative market, with avenues into this industry varied. Modes of design are becoming extremely diverse. Just how much capability is there for invention and artistic expression 3 within these latest formats? We question some of the foremost designers working in music design, discuss some of their most notable photographic, graphic and multimedia projects, and discover what creative notes are being played out in the present arena. Flick through the shelves in your local music store and you will discover that there are

3: PENDULUM NORTH AMERICAN TOUR “THE MOST FREQUENT TOOLS USED WERE BRUSHES AND LASSOS FOR MASKING. EVERY SMALL DOT OR COMET WAS DRAWN AND THEN COLOURED. SOME OF THE LAYERS HAVE OUTER GLOW EFFECTS FOR A COSMIC FEEL” © MACIEJ HAJNRICH

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Music industry design labels, or bands. They usually pick what they like themselves after looking online.” “I USE LAYER MODES AND SOME AIRBRUSHING TO COME UP WITH INTERESTING Publicising your work in the right places will COLOUR COMBINATIONS. I WILL AIRBRUSH ON A LAYER ABOVE MY OBJECT SO dramatically enhance your opportunities of obtaining THAT I CAN EXPERIMENT” commercial work. A personal website is always a © BARTON DAMER great tool in getting noticed. Participating in art and music online communities, such as www.konvulse. 5: WOLFMOTHER PROMO POSTER com and www.behance.net, can also be beneficial. “I USED PHOTOSHOP FOR PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE 3D These enable you to upload digital and video file WOLFMOTHER TEXT AND THE ARCHED COSMIC EGG TEXT. I USE TONS OF LAYER formats, and can help you make influential friends. MODES TO GET MY COLOURS” Forging relationships is a key factor and word of © BARTON DAMER mouth becomes essential in this creative industry area, as American designer Barton Damer (www. alreadybeenchewed.net) knows all too well. Creating apparel and CD cover artwork for close band friends My Favorite Highway led to further opportunities, as Damer reveals: “My Favorite Highway signed with Virgin Records at the beginning of this year. It pays to have a good relationship with the decision maker in a band, as when lead singer Dave Cook was at dinner with his new manager, he discovered that she also managed Wolfmother.” He immediately endorsed Damer’s work. He went on to produce artwork for full-colour T– Barton Damer shirts, and was asked to generate album cover ideas based on the title Cosmic Egg. “That final artwork is available as a promo poster. They went with a different album cover, but it’s all good.” Damer’s working experience was a liberal one, with him later left to devise designs for the band’s tour posters. “Andrew Stockdale has this rock god stage presence much like the original arena rock bands. I had this pyramid idea in my head, with steps leading up to the Wolfmother logo,“ explains Damer. ”The bright colours are inspired by old Hendrix album covers. I love the old Journey album covers, too. Ideas 5 came relatively easy for this. I’m a huge fan of 4: WOLFMOTHER TOUR POSTER

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If my artwork is centred but not symmetrical, I have to pay attention to the weight of the piece. Three objects allow for a focal point, whereas two objects tend to compete with one another

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Feature CASE STUDY:

OMEGA CODE PROJECT

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These days music is totally attached to visuals, and if we don’t address this carefully we can ruin the whole project – Marcelo Baldin

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Music industry design

The project’s creative liberty attracted an assortment of artists all wanting to test the boundaries of their design. Most of American designer Jamie Kwang Peterson’s (www.melonfresh.tv) work revolves around motion graphics. However, he didn’t want to miss the opportunity of trying something new. Incorporating a stereoscopic 3D style, he explains: “I’m sure most people don’t walk around with a pair of 3D glasses. But I decided that it was a risk worth taking on this project, as something unique would stand out from the other 400 submissions.” Brazilian 3D enthusiast Vini Nascimento (www.vininascimento.com) found the experience both emotively and technically liberating. “I believe that music has the power to subconsciously influence. My goal was to convey an idea that the Omega Code was hidden within the human being, inspired by philosophies that say mysteries are inside of us.” Modelling and rendering his design in ZBrush took place before applying organic textures, as he reveals: “The next step of textures my process was to bring it together inside Photoshop, scaling, moving, duplicating and adding lighting effects and having the maximum amount of fun until I had the desired composition.” Digital designer Jonathan Foerster ((www.atleastwedream.com) certainly (www.atleastwedream.com enforces Nascimento’s previous attitude, as he says: “Their sound drew me in right away. I wouldn’t have even started the piece if it weren’t for their music. I immersed myself in it and through that I developed a vision of something very powerful, very ancient, living, mystic and all-knowing.” The project has certainly seen Foerster receive more attention. In turn, our artists’ efforts benefited Omega Code, as Baldin reveals: “These days music is totally attached to visuals, and if we don’t address this carefully we can ruin the whole project. The material enforced the band’s logo all over the internet, making our already-strong brand extremely recognisable recognisable.” If you’re interested in the material then look out for the feature book that will launch with IdN and include a DVD with some interactive experiences and the music videos prepared by the band.

© JAMIE KWANG PETERSON

© VINI NASCIMENTO

Wolfmother, so it was very natural while small, so personally I try not to make the image look listening to their music.” too cluttered otherwise it won’t communicate or There are compositional rules to adhere to when stand out. If the design is for a jewel case and not producing promotional posters so they don’t get Digipak packaging, don’t forget that there will be a sloppy, as Damer reveals: “I use depth to move the eye layer of plastic between the artwork and the viewer. along to some of the more important visual areas, Sometimes that can tone an image down.” including the title and logo. Alignment is also an Stuart Hardie, graphic designer at multidisciplinary important factor. If my artwork is centred but not design studio Traffic www.traffic-design.com, has a symmetrical, I have to pay different opinion, as he attention to the weight of elaborates: “Sleeve the piece. Three objects allow design along with for a focal point, whereas two editorial design is objects tend to compete with probably responsible for one another.” breaking most rules Maciej Hajnrich (www. outlined in graphic valpnow.com), graphic design. There are certain designer for the Pendulum ones that come with the North American Tour 2009 genre of the artist, poster, explains the though, outlined by the necessities: “300dpi and a label. For example, a CMYK profile are mainstream commercial fundamental rules. I worked artist would need the on the Pendulum project in name and title to be – Dennis Sibeijn RGB for better effect, while legible and their image previewing in CMYK Proof to be recognisable.” Setup. It is all about Another issue knowing the difference. occurring is the need to When producing album produce artwork covers, it’s good to know the functioning across meaning of bleed, slug and trim to avoid any several formats. “Most campaigns will run across print, problems with printing.” web and television,” explains Hardie. “With the Dennis Sibeijn also works directly with his clients, invention of iTunes, the size of the canvas for the starting out similar to Damer. After producing a CD designer is reduced from the golden age of the 12design for his friend’s band KillTraitors, French metal inch record to a 150 x 150px square. These are band Scarve saw a short 3D animation on his website. elements that you have to consider.” They insisted he create a CD design based on this. He This also means that at times artists will have to has since immersed himself in this format, creating accept working in a more dynamic team environment. many stunning album covers and sleeve artworks. Traffic experienced this on the recent Polydor pitch Delivering aesthetic impact with this format can be for electropop duo La Roux (www.laroux.co.uk), as precarious, as he explains: “Working areas are pretty Hardie reveals: “We were told that the artist

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When a band has a really popular-selling album, a lot of other bands want designs in a similar style

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The Omega Code Project is one of the most adventurous band brandings in recent times. Becoming a worldwide phenomenon, Marcelo Baldin – founder, composer, art director and guitarist for the Omega Code band – explains: “The idea grew fast and suddenly designers from across the globe started to send their own art with the band logo. After this, we created the competition so people could feel connected.” Artists were supplied with a template, given tag words such as ‘spirituality’, ‘mystics’, ‘religion’ and ‘space’, and were free to interpret.

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The La Roux logo was placed across the width of the cover for maximum impact and references iconic sleeve designs from the Seventies and Eighties

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For the main cover image, the artist was photographed in a studio with the car. A combination of lights and gels were used to achieve a futuristic night-time, streetlight mood

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CD DESIGN 34

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The photographs were retouched and the illustrated skyline was added in the background. Rising steam was added to the foreground, further enhancing the night-time feel

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Music industry design 6-8: LA ROUX , BULLETPROOF

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“ALL ARTWORK WAS PRODUCED USING A COMBINATION OF LAYERS, MASKS, LAYER TRANSPARENCIES, LEVELS, CURVES AND BRUSH TOOLS” © TRAFFIC WITH ALEXANDER BROWN, ANDREW WHITTON AND LA ROUX

9: RETURN OF REASON, TIMES ARE CHANGING “THESE GUYS ARE ACTUALLY FRIENDS OF MINE AND THEY WANTED ME TO VISUALISE THE PROGRESS OF THE BAND WITH THIS RELEASE. I TRIED TO DO THAT BY SHOWING AN EMPTY CHAIR AND AN UPWARDS LADDER” © DENNIS SIBEIJN

10: NEURAXIS, THE THIN LINE BETWEEN “THE IDEA WAS TO SHOW AN ANCIENT CULTURE THAT WAS TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED. I VISITED AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL MUSEUM AND WAS INSPIRED BY ALL THE MASKS THEY SHOWED THERE” © DENNIS SIBEIJN

10 To add narrative to the design, secondary photographs were taken of the artist in the car to support the main cover image. These were to be used across the back cover and inner spread of the CD packaging

‘‘ The typeface Serif Gothic was chosen for all accompanying text and track titles. It has a retro-futuristic feel that sits well with the logo and other custom typefaces developed throughout the project

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I gave new layers Outer Glow effects, and then drew thin white lines with the stylus to instantly create cool fluorescent light effects

– Alexander Brown

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The typography for the single’s title was custom designed to complement the futuristic atmosphere of the cover image. The overall design and composition of the cover also references classic film posters

wanted to work with a personal friend on the project, Alexander Brown. It’s not uncommon to work with illustrators and photographers specified by the music artists.” There was a clear idea to produce a futuristic Brixton that stylistically took reference from Blade Runner, Akira and other tech noir references. The label wanted the artist to feature on the front cover so international photographer for NME Andrew Whitton (www.whitton.tv) was called in. Traffic was left to supervise the print quality and produce important logo branding. The studio, having worked for Universal and Vertigo, realises the importance of these production areas: “The logo is quite an important piece of branding for every artist. If you isolate the logo without any other elements, it should still be reflective of the artist and their music. The La Roux letterforms were developed from classic Art Deco designs but modified to have a contemporary feel. It needed to be feminine but strong, reference the past but be relevant in a futuristic landscape.” Generating the future environments was completed with a combination of photographic and illustrative techniques. This is where Alexander Brown stepped in. Photoshop was integral when providing scenario effects, as he admits: “I think gradients and adjustment layers were the big guns I used, and I really enjoyed using layer styles. I gave new layers Outer Glow effects, and then drew thin white lines with the stylus to instantly create cool fluorescent light effects.” He was also responsible for the La Roux website, which presents a real-time interactive experience, with the site graphics evolving with the hours of a day. Brown explains the important function of the website in the present music industry, as he says: “It’s a focal point where you go to get a flavour of the campaign. It makes the music theatrical and cinematic more than musical. You begin to imagine the singer as a character in a movie rather than a singer in a studio.”

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MASTERCLASS

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Cutting-edge lighting Master clean light effects and pseudo-3D abstraction to create a vibrant piece of art

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n this tutorial we will try to show you how to create striking yet smooth lighting effects. You will also find a new use for the Liquify tool, learn to create pseudo-abstract 3D effects and experiment with blending modes. You will not need a graphic tablet for this tutorial, which is good news for those who still haven’t bought one! We will also use just one stock image – again, great for those on a budget. We will not use any plug-ins, but instead we will stick to Photoshop’s standard filters, tools, brushes, layer styles and blending modes. This is a great

way to learn how to use all those tools even if you’re not at a professional level yet. We will also explain why the Pen tool is the best tool to use when cutting out objects. This will also give you some ideas on how to create abstract 3D effects in your projects without using any actual 3D programs. The inspiration for this lighting tutorial came from the theory that all people have a colourful aura that is invisible to the human eye. So let’s get started on creating your own aura artwork with a pinch of magic and 3D.

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Cut out the model To start the tutorial, open up your chosen model image. Now pick the Pen tool and make sure it is set to Paths in the top Options bar. Next, click once in order to create a starting point, then click and drag, following the body lines as accurately as possible. Once you have closed the path, Cmd/Ctrl-click on it and then choose the Make Selection option, ensuring that the Feather value is set to 0.

Fine-tune your selection Make sure that your selection is accurate and that you’re not leaving any white bits of the background unnoticed. Duplicate the model layer (click on the layer, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+J), then create a new layer underneath the model layer and fill it with black. Now you will be able to see if there are any background leftovers. Just as you can see in the screenshot, there is a small white line on the model’s hair.

ON THE DISC Surprisingly enough, there’s not many things needed to complete this tutorial. On the CD you will find links to the original model image and one free stock image that was used, but you can complete this tutorial with any model image. There’s a layered version of the final artwork on the CD so you can see how it was built up.

OUR EXPERT

Elena Savitskaya

Coming from a marketing management background, Elena Savitskaya is a graphic designer from London who has been in the field for five years. To see more works, visit her portfolio at www. elenasavitskaya.com.

“The inspiration for this lighting tutorial came from the theory that all people have a colourful aura that is invisible to the human eye”

Selection techniques

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Prepare the final cutout Next up, blur out the edges of the model and make her blend with the background slightly more. Now go to Layer>Matting>Defringe, setting it to about three pixels, and then click OK. You will need to make the model blend with the dark background a bit better, so to do this, first pick the Burn tool and then set the Exposure value in the top Options bar to around 40% as well as setting Range to Midtones. At this point, you have almost prepared the model cutout.

Everyone who works with Photoshop will have their own favourite selection technique. Some use the Lasso tool, some people even use the Magic Wand. But nothing can beat the precision you get with when using the Pen tool. When working with the Lasso tool you can get jagged edges, while the Pen tool lets you almost literally cut pixels in half and it puts transparency on the bit of the pixel that exists outside the selection. Once you understand how to use it and get used to it, you will never want to come back to other ways of selecting objects. The secret of the Pen tool is predicting where it’s going to go next. Click once to create a starting point, then click again somewhere else and drag your mouse about. The additional curve that you see will show you where your third curve will be heading. Unfortunately, a lot of people neglect to use the Pen tool, considering it too complicated, but it only takes a little practice to master it. And once you do, you will be asking yourself why you’ve never used it before.

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MASTERCLASS 4

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“If you want to darken the highlights on the model, set Range to Highlights. Set Range to what you want to appear darker: Shadows, Midtones or Highlights”

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Final preparations Pick a big soft-edged brush and start painting along the edges of the model where her body parts need to be a bit darker in order to look real on a dark background. If you want to darken the highlights on the model, set Range to Highlights. Basically, just set Range accordingly to what you want to appear darker: Shadows, Midtones or Highlights.

Create a warm background Create a new layer behind the model, fill it with a soft brown colour (‘#3b2a27’) and set the blending mode to Color. Create another new layer underneath the brown one. Pick the Gradient tool, set it to Radial, pick the default black-and-white colour for it and create a gradient similar to the one in the screenshot to imitate studio lighting.

Give the light more definition Create a new layer on top of your blob layer. Set the blending mode to Pin Light. Hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click on the blob layer’s thumbnail. This will select everything on that layer. Make sure you still have your new layer active, then go to Select>Modify>Contract. Set it to 40-50px and hit OK. Using the same soft brush, paint all of the selection area with the same colour.

Create soft light Create a new layer behind your model. Pick a big, soft-edged round brush and a bright orange colour, then paint a big colour blob, setting the blending mode to Overlay. Go to Filter>Liquify. This is where you will shape your light. Pick the Twirl Clockwise tool in the left-hand menu, and start clicking and dragging your mouse in and out of the blob. Create an abstract shape similar to the one on the screenshot, then click OK.

Purple two-colour light You are going to use the same technique for this one. Create a new layer underneath your model and then set the blending mode to Overlay. Next, pick a big soft round brush, find a dark purple colour and then paint a medium-sized blob behind the model. Now pick a much brighter purple colour and paint a little inside the main blob.

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Shape the purple light Now go to Filter>Liquify. Play around with the shape of this light, too. You can also try to use the Forward Wrap tool instead of Twirl Clockwise tool, as on the screenshot. Try setting different brush sizes while using Liquify (using [ and ] shortcuts to increase or decrease the size of the brush).

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Create sub-light Take a step back from your composition and return to it after five or ten minutes with fresh eyes. This is important in keeping track of how the effects you apply are working overall. Next, in order to add a bit more depth to the light, we’re going to use a little Photoshop trick. On top of your purple light, first create a new layer and then set it to Screen. Select a fairly bright purple colour and a soft-edged round brush, then just click once to create a shiny blob close to the model’s elbow.

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Give highlights to the purple light Duplicate your big purple blob layer and drag it on top of your model in the Layers panel. Pick the Eraser tool and a big soft round brush, then erase the edges of it a little. Drag it on top of the model so that the part behind the model will now create a highlight on her arm. Link it with your two purple layers so you can easily move them about together later. Refer to the Quick tip boxout on linking techniques for more.

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Purple light on the shoulder Create a new layer on top of the model, and paint a big purple blob. Now select a slightly brighter colour and paint a smaller blob inside it. Select an even brighter colour and paint an even smaller blob inside. Erase the edges to create some peculiar abstract shape as shown in the screenshot. Once done, set the layer’s blending mode to Overlay.

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Give highlights to the shoulder light Create a new layer on top of the first purple shoulder light. Pick a bright pink colour and paint a big round blob with one click over her shoulder. The best way to imitate the coloured highlight on her shoulder is to position your brush directly over natural photo highlights on her shoulder. That way it will look more natural and blend in better. Next, set the blending mode to Overlay.

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Create a deep red light Next up, create a new layer behind your model, setting the blending mode to Saturation. Now pick a bright red colour with a soft-edged round brush and then paint a big blob behind her naked shoulder, making sure that you overlap it with the purple blob a little to create a nice mixed-light effect. Once this is done, shape it up with the Eraser tool and a large soft brush.

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Create highlights for the red light Create a new layer on top of the red light layer. Link them together. Using a small round soft-edged brush and the same colour, paint a smaller blob or a few of them. Then go to Filter>Liquify, pick the Twirl tool and try creating something similar to the screenshot. If you are not happy with the result once you hit OK, you can always hit Cmd/Ctrl+Z to go back a step and try again.

Quick tip

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Make adjustments to the red light highlights layer Drag the red highlights layer on top of the model. Now you can play around with your highlights a little and you can fine-tune them using the Smudge tool. Set it to about 50%, pick a small brush and drag some colours onto your model’s shoulder so that the light blends in with the model. Use the screenshot as a reference.

To link a few layers together, hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click on your layers one after another. Once you have selected all the layers you want to lock together, click on the Link layers icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the Layers palette. This helps a lot when creating layers that work together, but are spread apart in your artwork’s Layers palette to achieve a particular effect.

“The best way to imitate the coloured highlight on her shoulder is to position your brush directly over natural photo highlights on her shoulder. That way it will look more natural and blend in better” 39

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“Don’t be afraid to experiment with different colours, shapes and different Liquify brushes. Also, remember that you can always tweak the effects you applied with the Eraser tool and the Transform tool”

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Create the green light Create a new layer behind your model, just on top of the orange light’s layers. Pick a big soft-edged round brush and paint another blob of colour behind the model’s arm. Next, go to Filter>Liquify. Using the same techniques that you used before, create an abstract shape similar to the one on the screenshot and then hit OK.

Smudge the highlight in Now pick the Smudge tool set to a medium size and smudge the yellow highlight on the model’s elbow in. Refer to the screenshot to get the shape right. Once this is done, create a new layer underneath it, pick a bright green colour and set the blending mode to Color Dodge. Paint a big round blob to give the light more definition and brightness.

More work on green light Here’s a different trick. Create a new layer on top of the green one and set the blending mode to Color Dodge. Using the same colour, paint along the model’s arm using a big soft-edged round brush. This will bring up the colours in the light and create a nice gradual light effect.

Lights behind the model’s head Create a new group underneath all the layers and call it ‘Head Colours’. Create a new layer inside it, painting one big orange blob behind the model’s head and one purple one on the side overlapping the red area. Set the blending mode to Pin Light. Create another layer on top, set it to Color and paint a big red blob on top of the red area. Experiment a little with colours or the Eraser tool.

Create green highlights Now create a new layer on top of your model. Link it with the two other green layers. Pick a bright yellow but slightly green colour, and draw a shape similar to in the screenshot. The screenshot has other green layers switched off to give you an idea of what sort of shape you’ll need to paint, but you don’t need to switch them off, you can just paint over. Set the blending mode to Screen.

Create fire Create a new layer on top of all other layers in the Head Colours group. Pick a bright orange colour and paint a big colour blob. Now go to Filter>Liquify and create a shape similar to the one in the screenshot. Make sure you have pointy edges in your abstract light, as that’s what gives it this fire-like look. Hit OK and set the layer’s blending mode to Linear Dodge.

Repeat the effect When you have completed the fiery lighting effect, all that you then need to do is just repeat the previous two steps for other parts of the model. Additionally, you can also use techniques from other steps. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different colours, shapes and different Liquify brushes, and take a look at what you can come up with. Also, remember that you can always tweak the effects you applied with the Eraser tool and the Transform tool (Cmd/Ctrl+T) if you want to add to the composition by turning them around, flipping them horizontally or vertically, etc.

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Add abstractions to the image Next, you will want to create a random selection on the dress overlapping the light areas with the Lasso tool. Hit Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+C (Copy All Layers) and Cmd/Ctrl+V (Paste) and then erase the edges of the shape. Now apply the Liquify tool and create an abstract swirl out of your shape. Once you are completely happy with the shape, click OK and then set the blending mode to Lighten.

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More abstract shapes Create a new random selection over the dress of the model, copy and paste it the same way and set the layer’s blending mode to Luminosity. Select everything on the layer (Cmd/Ctrl+C on the layer thumbnail) and hit Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+C again. Delete the selection layer and then hit Cmd/Ctrl+V for a new layer to play with. Use the Liquify tool to create another abstract swirl, then set the blending mode to Vivid Light.

More secrets

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Play around with abstract swirls Using the same techniques, you can create numerous abstract swirls and place them one on top of another. Try setting the final blending mode to Hard Light, or use the Polygonal Selection tool to create a completely random edgy selection over it and erasing the selection. To give it more of a 3D effect, give some of the layers Drop Shadow styles to add depth. Use the screenshot as your reference.

If you really want to master blending modes, concentrate on steps 24, 25 and 29. Experiment as much as you can. The idea is that by naming the layers according to the blending mode, you will see how it affects the colours and the way they work together. Move them about, duplicate Overlay layers on top of one another and see what happens. This can lead to inventing new techniques for yourself to use in the future projects, as well as a deeper understanding of how blending modes work. When it comes to image manipulations, blending modes are the most powerful yet easiest tools to use. It is also a good idea to keep your layers organised while working with light effects; at some point, you will have so many layers that it will be too hard to manage if you don’t use groups, relevant names and linking. To make it easier for yourself, associate groups with body parts. For example, name a group ‘Left Hand Lights’, ‘Right Shoulder Lights’, etc. This will make your workflow much more optimised and you won’t spend ages looking for that little purple blob among 300 unsorted layers.

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Magic dust Open the desert image from the CD and duplicate the main layer (Cmd/Ctrl+J). Delete the locked layer underneath. Pick the Magic Wand tool, setting Tolerance to 20. Start selecting and deleting parts of the sand as shown. Once done, pick the Lasso tool and create a random selection similar to the screenshot, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy.

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Adjust dust and add glow Paste the layer on top of your abstract swirls. Open Brightness/Contrast and bring the Brightness value to the maximum. Repeat the step until the dust turns white/bright yellow. Bring up the Layer Style box, tick Outer Glow, set the blending mode to Color Dodge, Opacity to 100%, Spread to 0 and Size to 24px.

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Finishing touch It’s time to experiment with blending modes. Using all the colours that you used in previous steps, paint some colour on the model according to the lights behind her. Create a few layers, give them the following blending modes and name them accordingly: ‘Color’, ‘Color Dodge’, ‘Screen’, ‘Overlay’ and ‘Hard Light’. Hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click on the model layer thumbnail. Paint different colours within the selection on different layers according to the background colours. The more you experiment, the better the outcome will be.

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insight Go: “Speed and a futuristic design was the objective for this piece. Creating the mechanical muscles for the figure was the most rewarding part”

CORE, s created for depth Casino: “This wa the cards, vectors and for 3D g tin heistincorpora n to create a stylish photomanipulatio e” ag themed im

Christopher Haines Website: www.neondreams.com.au Clients: METAphrenie Studios, CG World – China, Dreambox Design Studio, Funkrush Christopher Haines is a 20-year-old designer/graphic artist from Perth, Western Australia. Multi-talented, Haines indulges in creating music and art, freelancing and also working at a local design studio. He started young, knowing early on exactly what he wanted to do in life, and after discovering Photoshop 5.0 in a photography class there was no looking back. “The first time I received money for design was just a CD design for a friend, which included the big payday of $50 and some studio time to record music,” says Haines. Now he is working on a new blog and a few things for depthCORE and Abduzeedo, and has picked up some notable commissions since that CD design. When asked to describe his style, Haines says: “My style is surreal but involving at the same time. I often try to convey an epic and iconic atmosphere, and draw the viewer’s eye in with the composition. While not intentional at first, I think I have developed a fairly spiritual theme to some of my works, too.” He uses 3D renders, photos and extensive hand painting and colour matching to achieve the unique look, as he says: “The best way to describe my technique is matte painting meets photomanipulation meets 3D art. Photoshop brings everything together; I spend most of my time using it and could not live without it.”

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Atargatis: “Atargatis depicts an angry sea goddess terrorising fishing boats. It was create d using Poser, CINEM A 4D and Photoshop. For this image, I wanted a dynamic perspective and a sense of realism”

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Step-by-step

Workshop

BUILD FANTASY LANDSCAPES Take your own photography and create the seemingly impossible

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hotography rocks. It’s not only in the name of our favourite application, but it is soon becoming internationally ubiquitous to boot. It’s been in long development for many years and is now saturating our everyday lives. Whether you own a digital camera or have one built into your phone, most people can capture their experiences in a photographic sense. If you take this phenomena and combine it with some wicked travelling plans, an ounce of creativity and the dynamic power of Photoshop, the wildest and most fantastical of scenes can easily emerge, a new photograph of what is on your brain. While this mode of brain photography sounds disturbing and perhaps overly complicated and dramatic, it most closely resembles a simple and custom-built jigsaw puzzle. In this tutorial you will be able to take your own photography, whether from your Canon 5D Mark II or simply from your 1.3-megapixel mobile phone, and create an impossibly awesome and original scene that is all your own and not simply a replica of this one!

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ON THE DISC

Start images

This tutorial relies on your own photography and inspiration, however, there are a few images included on the CD to help get you started and to help add some finishing touches.

OUR EXPERT

Bret Malley

Bret Malley is finishing up his MFA in Computer Art at Syracuse University and gets his thrills from travelling and teaching advanced digital audio and Photoshop… and newlywed life as well. You can see more of his work on his website at www.externalmind.com.

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Do some photography! It all begins with your own imagery, so go somewhere, even if it’s just a trip to your local park. Start thinking about point of view, lighting, details, textures, sense of scale and diversity when shooting. Overall, this will drastically raise the potential for each image. Pictures are not just memories but fantastic resources, too.

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Browse and pick You want to be looking through your images and finding ones that are rich and particularly striking to you. After shooting some photographs of the Swiss Alps and the Louvre’s Winged Victory, the next step is all about honing the image’s inspiration into a dramatic narrative.

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Step-by-step

Workshop Take a break! Staring at your screen for too long can sometimes cause things to appear better than they really are. In the audio world we call this ‘ear fatigue,’ where we cannot sense things as well or as critically as when we first sat down for editing. Give your eyes a break so once you come back to your work you will be able to find things that don’t fit nearly as well as you first thought. If you are feeling rather brave, try taking a quick screen capture and flipping it horizontally before you go for a break. The next time you’re ready to go for another staring match with your computer, everything will immediately jump out at you.

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The sketch Begin by imagining a narrative, mood and a sense of overall depth and scale that you would like to convey from at least one of your images. Once you have some ideas floating somewhere in your head, open a new layer and name it something exceedingly original such as ‘Sketch.’ It will help if your image starts with a minimum of three test layouts and compositions.

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Get it (mostly) right As you start drawing different scenes, be mindful of perspective and scale. It helps to open another layer and create some basic compositional guidelines first. Always test new changes to your sketch by flipping the image horizontally to refresh your eye and to spot possible problems. The statue is still too large so you’d have to shrink it down a bit.

“Always test new changes to your sketch by flipping the image horizontally to spot possible problems”

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Where to put the puzzle pieces Open up a new document and save it as ‘palette.psd.’ This is where you will keep your images without bogging down your main image file. Having a separate ‘palette.psd’ allows for a less cumbersome editing file and also allows you to take small sections of an image rather than the entire photograph. Once you have your images together, save your palette!

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Organise from the start This is done with several initial group folders that separate the various parts of your image. Go to your bottom layer and press Cmd/ Ctrl+G, then name the group ‘Background.’ Create more groups for the middle ground, foreground and lighting on top. This can be tedious, but you will be thankful once you are juggling over a hundred layers!

Search and select Select your palette file and start scoping images one at a time for parts that match the perspective and overall shape you’ve sketched. As if it were an actual jigsaw puzzle, this is where you match the general pieces to the puzzle’s box cover (represented by the sketch). View the palette layers one at a time by hitting the eye symbol to the left of each layer thumbnail. Keep in mind that one image may contain several great pieces that fit.

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Spot a working image Bring the two PSD files side by side in Photoshop. Select the layer of interest within the palette file and then press M to get the Rectangular Marquee tool. Select the desired area you want moved. Press V and then drag the selection from your palette to your main image file and the appropriate group folder. Rotate and resize as necessary while it’s in Transform mode.

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Time for the mask! Add a mask to the image and hide all of the unwanted portions with a soft round brush at 100% Opacity. This is where you can begin creating specific shapes out of the photographs. Don’t worry about getting too sharp with mask details yet, as things are still moving around.

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Does this match? With each new layer, you want to start creating continuity for curves and colour. For now you just need to get everything to match in how it looks relative to the whole. Start with individual curve adjustments by selecting the layer’s image thumbnail. Press Cmd/Ctrl+M to match the dynamics of another image that you find more balanced.

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Colouring time Once you have the levels looking better, you need to do the same for the colours so things don’t get too wild by the end. This time press Cmd/Ctrl+B to bring up the Color Balance window. Subtly play around with the sliders until you match a nice colour palette that you’re willing to at least be temporarily stuck with. Match all adjacent images to these hues as well.

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Sharp and noisy Depending on the image and how severe your sharpening tendencies are, there may be some graininess and pixel noise left over, so you need to go over it with another filter aptly called Reduce Noise. Set this Strength to 10, Preserve Details to 100% and set Reduce Color Noise to 80%, and you should be able to see the difference in colour noise.

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Renaissance it It is important at this stage to make continual adjustments to perspective and scaling in order to give it a full range of depth. Press V to adjust the sizing and positioning of both individual layers and entire groups. In addition, it is a critical step to take pieces of photographs and place them as close as possible to their original perspective position. Our brains and eyes are clever, in that they tend to know when things are not where they should be.

One more continuity trick It’s enjoyable at times when things can instantly match across all group folders. This cheat step will be a part of your initial lighting group, so create a new layer in that folder and call it ‘Glow Filter.’ Press G to get your Bucket tool, then spill a rich orange. Change the layer’s Opacity to 20% and change the blending mode to Overlay. This is similar to a photo filter but without muddying up highlights.

Stay smart and sharp Unfortunately, not every picture comes out as sharp as you may like, and if you have also scaled your images up to work in higher detail it’s time to use the Smart Sharpen filter. Work in small increments in order for things not to be too obvious, just a little clearer. Start with a 1.5 Radius at an Amount of 60-80%. Adjust as you see fit, but less is usually more.

Fill in the pieces From your Palette file, keep adding new layers to the image and place them into their respective groups of Background, Middle and Foreground until you are near a fairly close representation to your sketch. Again, make sure you flip the image horizontally to get a fresh perspective.

“Take pieces of photos and place them as close as possible to their original position. Our brains and eyes are clever, in that they tend to know when things are not where they should be” 47

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Step-by-step

Workshop 17

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The head If your statue’s head is also missing, it’s time to make your own. Take some pictures of a statuesque friend, matching perspective as best you can. White out the eyes in Photoshop and alter features as you like; think like a statue and don’t worry if it comes out creepy, as this will be a small detail in the end. Add a picture of a marble tile with a Multiply blending mode and finish with a desaturating adjustment layer.

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Lights and darks Color Dodge and Burn have their uses, but they are not exceedingly forgiving. For the flexibility of creating your own fantasy lighting, you may need to use a different method for lighting corrections. Create a new layer in your Lighting group and change it again to an Overlay blending mode. Paint with black and white and notice the power you now have!

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End adjustments Bring in a few mask-controlled layers that tone down and heighten saturation in certain parts. Add your Hue/Saturation adjustment layers above the previous Vivid Light additions. Press G and spill a solid black over the adjustment layers. Select the standard soft circle brush and paint white over spots that need a little saturation adjustment.

Flatten your face Select the head’s layers and press Cmd/Ctrl+E, merging them as one layer to easily mask out the background and resize/ rotate the image where you want it to be buried. Add a new layer above it in the Head group for additional shadows and highlights to better blend everything into the scene.

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Secret ingredient to vivid lighting Take pictures of sunsets whenever you can. When Overlay is the blending mode of choice on top of a finished composition, it can create an amazing palette and richness of colours, and can even bring out highlights that really make the image pop. Bring these images over and resize and mask them like everything else. Duplicate and shift them until you get the vividness you’re looking for.

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Mist and clouds Clouds can be a bit overwhelming with their limitless possibilities. When taking pictures of them, be aware of lighting and not just their beautiful shapes, as both are critical for editing. Piece them together roughly by sunlight and composition. If it helps, make a few sketches of possible compositions. As with the other layers, get the levels and colours to match.

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Fun with lava Make a new group and blank layer called ‘Lava.’ Choose a brush that has a little texture to it and select a pale yellow for the colour. Add a layer style by pressing the FX button at the bottom of the Layers palette window and add an Outer Glow effect. Set Opacity to 100% and Size as 2px, and change the colour scheme to fade from a deep gold to a deep red to a bright red. Then start painting.

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Atmosphere Finally, this is what gives you your depth just as much as your initial perspective. Using the standard soft brush and very low opacity or a soft tablet touch, paint on a separate layer called ‘atmosphere’ placed below the Lighting group folder. Using white, start subtly with a large diameter and layer it on thicker the further the distance is suppose to be. Then blend the horizon in with the clouds.

Quick tip While it can severely eat up refresh rates and saving time when you start piling up the images, it is still critical to keep the file dynamic so you can use images multiple times and continually make changes, adjustments and improvements throughout the process.

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Step-by-step

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ON THE DISC This tutorial was produced using high-quality stock from www. istockphoto.com and www.sxc. hu. On the disc you will find some alternative models and backgrounds .

OUR EXPERT

Adam Smith

Advanced Photoshop’s senior staff writer Adam Smith regularly immerses himself in industry-standard styles and design, mostly for the benefit of the magazine. This month he provides dynamic types for you to digest and experiment with.

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hoto retouching and dynamic lighting are some of the most recognisable effects in the commercial graphic design industry. These really excel at creating hyperrealities and entertaining photorealism. They are often displayed in advertising projects, both in print and digital formats. Look to examples such as the Ford Endeavour print advertising campaign and you’ll see just how effective results can be. Undoubtedly, these are industry-led styles. This means it’s essential that Advanced Photoshop reveals ways in which to achieve such advanced effects. Not only is this an entertaining tutorial, but it will also provide methods that will serve you well when deployed and presented to clients in your own photographic portfolios. You’ll discover enhanced sharpening techniques, which will add more to the visual delineation of your stock photos and image as a whole. We’ll show how to prep your images, ways to easily composite photographic layouts, which advanced layering processes to apply when heightening lighting effects, and a whole lot more! Once done, you’ll be able to replicate these commercial styles time and time again.

High-resolution stock

CINEMATIC LIGHTING

We deliver first-class industry techniques, which shed light on creating commercial photo effects

It’s essential to get the best standard of photo stock available. Obtaining crisp, clean imagery with high resolutions and print sizes is essential. This means that the sharpening techniques and effects you apply will likewise look crisp and to a professional standard. We recommend purchasing stock from sites such as www. istockphoto.com, www.corbis.com, www.shutterstock.com and www. gettyimages.com. However, there are some model options on the disc that you can use for practising the tutorial, or you could even try taking your own shots to get exactly the pose that you are after for a personal finish.

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Step-by-step

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Isolate selections Open your model image (ours is from iStockphoto.com, image number: ‘9814192’) and select the Marquee tool from the toolbar. Ctrl/ right-click your image, select Color Range from the pop-up options and choose Highlights from the dialog box’s Select options. Activate the Channels palette and click the ‘Save selection as channel’ icon. This creates a new Alpha channel. Press Cmd/Ctrl+D to deselect your selection.

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Tonal adjustments Open your background image (ours is from iStockphoto.com, image: ‘4461088’) and add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Set Hue at 180 and Saturation at -80. Select a soft-edged black brush at 10% Opacity, applying this to the streetlights and reflective surfaces where light would fall so that it bleeds through the image colour. Drop the Saturation of your original background to -50 via Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation.

“Obtaining crisp, clean imagery with high resolutions and print sizes is essential. This means that the sharpening techniques you apply will look likewise crisp”

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Paint out With only the Blue and Alpha 1 channels visible, and the Alpha 1 channel selected, pick a hard-edged white brush. Zoom in and paint out all the detail you wish to keep, and vice versa with a black brush. You can alternate brush sizes when applying by using the bracket keys. When you apply to the hair, use a soft-edged brush.

Orientation and scale Add a Levels adjustment layer and set the values to 15, 1.00 and 235, sitting it at the top of the layer stack. Now copy and paste your model above all other layers, flipping her horizontally and rescaling as shown in the example given. Create a new blank layer named ‘Retouch’. Choose a soft-edged brush at 30% Opacity, 10% Flow and enable the Airbrush icon.

Hair strokes Cmd/Ctrl-click your Alpha 1 channel thumbnail to create a selection. Make the RGB channel visible and hide the Alpha 1 channel. Activate your Layers palette and press Cmd/Ctrl+J to create a duplicate model. Using a hard-edged Smudge tool set to 95-98% Strength, stroke the model’s hair strands. Invert and then trace from the original model layer when you’re zoomed in.

Brushed skin retouch With this brush activate, hold Opt/Alt and click. This activates the Color Picker to select a skin tone color. Use the brush with this colour to smooth over blemishes in that colour range, then repeat to smooth the whole of the skin. Take your time and once you’re satisfied, select Filter> Noise>Add Noise. Set Amount at 1%, Distribution to Gaussian and activate the Monochromatic option. This will add some organic texture.

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Sharpening filters Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E to merge all of the layers into a new whole layer named ‘Sharpen’. Next, select Filter>Sharpen> Smart Sharpen, setting Amount at 300%, Radius at 1.0 pixel, Remove to Lens Blur and then activate the More Accurate option. Click OK then select Unsharp Mask from the same option set. Apply an Amount of 300%, a Radius of two pixels and a Threshold of two levels.

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Directional lighting Lower this Sharpen layer’s Opacity to 50% and select the soft-edged Blur tool set at 20%. Apply sparingly to facial T-zone areas such as the cheeks, forehead and nose. Apply to other noticeable noisy areas. Next, select Filter>Render> Lighting Effects. Choose a Spotlight, casting across the model from the streetlight. Set Intensity at 30, Focus at 70, Material at 30, Exposure at 5 and Ambience at 8.

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Bleeding focal light Create a new black-filled layer named ‘Light rays’. Set the layer’s Opacity to 50%. Apply a 50% Opacity, 100% Fill soft-edged white brush from the streetlamp to your model (holding Shift to create straight lines), creating light rays. Drop the layer’s Fill to 50% and set a Soft Light blending mode. Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E to merge all layers into a new whole ‘Merged 2’ layer.

Applied lighting Apply a layer mask to your Sharpen layer and apply a 20% Opacity brush to the windows in your background, bleeding light. Press Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to merge all layers into a new whole layer, named ‘Merged’. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to instantly duplicate this merged layer and apply an Overlay blending mode. Next, set the Opacity to 30% and Fill to 50%.

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Dynamic light layers Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate this new merge layer and rename it ‘Highlights’, applying a Screen blending mode. Set this layer’s Opacity at 90%. Duplicate your Highlight layer in the same fashion, renaming it ‘Shadow’, applying a Multiply blending mode. Reset Opacity to 70%, Fill at 80%.

“Photo retouching and dynamic lighting… really excel at creating hyperrealities and entertaining photorealism” Minor adjustments

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Hued light effects Apply a layer mask to your Shadow layer. Apply light rays in the same position as before, with a soft-edged 10% Opacity black brush. Create a new layer, set to a Color Dodge blending mode. Activate your swatch palette, selecting and applying blue, pink and purple tones to hands, arms and facial reflection, using a 20% Opacity brush. Make sure Pen Pressure is set in your Brush Settings when applying to hair.

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Apply special effects We got a lighting image from www. sxc.hu (image number: ‘1089931’). Select Image> Adjustment>Desaturate. Select Image> Adjustments>Levels, with settings 70, 1.00 and 255. Select Blending Options from the Layer palette’s FX options. Holding Opt/Alt, drag and split the Blend If This Layer shadow cursor to 0/255. Create a new layer and select Layer> Merge Visible, then copy and paste into your image. Apply a pink-to-blue Overlay Gradient from the FX options set to Screen, then change the layer’s blending mode to Hard Light, rescale and position over the model’s hands.

The general effects applied in this tutorial are good, but there are a few added extras that you can apply in order to make your image more composed. First of all, apply layer masks and tidy the visual edge value of your hand-lighting effect layers before merging all into a new whole image layer. Make detailed lighting amendments to this by applying an 80% Dodge tool set to Highlights to the edges of model where the light is more concentrated. For example, the hair, iris and facial contours. Heighten shadows using a 70% Burn brush set to Midtones. You can also apply any extra lighting effects you see fit before applying an Unsharp Mask to everything, with Amount set to 15%, Radius at 10.0 pixels and Threshold at two levels.

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Step-by-step

Workshop

CREATIVE BOOK COVER ART Learn how to combine photos to create a fantasy scene

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n this tutorial, you will learn how to take a series of photos and combine them into a fantasy scene. This kind of art is commonly used in book cover design for the fantasy genre, so here we will look at creating a scene that has both narrative and enough room for the title and author details to sit at the top of the page. We’re not going to finish the artwork off with these details, though, as it’s a great piece of art in its own right. However, we want to show you how this particular style can be used for commercial purposes as well as for practising your photomanipulation skills and blending techniques. Prior to creating the image, it is best to visualise what you plan to execute by creating

a rough sketch of the initial idea. If you are creating for a book cover, then it is handy to make a few notes of the plot and use these to build your initial sketch. Acquiring the actual photos simply requires browsing through multiple stock sites (like deviantART) or even going out with a camera to shoot your own and collecting them all in one place! deviantART also has a plentiful supply of great three-dimensional stock that covers the spectrum from dragons to fairies. Most of the stock is free to use, but there are also exclusive packs available from stockers and all they require is a small donation. This particular image was inspired by a fascination for magic, wizards and dragons, but you can create anything you like.

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Prepare your canvas Open up Photoshop and create a new document using a photo portrait that’s preset at 8 x 10” and 300dpi. Next, open up the photos you want to use as your background and foreground. Our images are from www.sxc.hu (image no: ‘76377’), http://gilraen-stock.deviantart.com (Apocalypse) and http://sun-stock.deviantart. com (Ruins II).

ON THE DISC There are no files on the CD. However, throughout the tutorial we will point you towards the stocks that we used, or you can source your own before getting started.

OUR EXPERT

Derek Emmons

Derek has been creating digital artwork for around five years now and has many different techniques and styles in his arsenal. Aside from the work he has done for Advanced Photoshop, he has a freelance photography business where he lives in Hamilton, Ontario, and a gallery showcasing his many artworks. Online he is known as Shadowelement, and his galleries can be found at http://shadowelement.deviantart.com/ and on the AP website at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/ shadowelement.

Masking or Eraser

Placement of images Dragging the three stock images (or as many as your composition requires) onto the canvas and placing them in a rough proximity of how the final image will look is a great starting point. This way, if something doesn’t fit, other stock images can be found.

For many artists it is far more beneficial to use layer masks on images, especially when removing sections of a layer. The best way to describe this is as follows: when you use the Eraser tool you are removing parts of the actual photo, but when using a layer mask your actual photo remains intact and you still achieve the effect of erasing parts of an image. If you decide later that there was an error, you can brush the section back into your photo by brushing with the opposite colour that you removed the section with, ie if you used black to remove it, then white will bring it back.

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Masking In order to prepare the individual images for blending, you must apply a layer mask to all of your images, so click Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Once this is done, removing all of the clutter around the objects will be a lot easier.

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Mask brushing Take a hard round brush (start big at around 100px), choose black as your Foreground Colour then begin to brush out the sky around your mountains. Repeat this on the castle or foreground element. When you get close to edges and tricky corners, just use the left bracket key to shrink your brush size on the fly.

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Color Balance You can either apply the masks, which was done here, or leave them intact. Now you have to balance out the images, as the mountain is far too blue to match the castle. Select the mountain layer and choose Image>Adjustments>Color Balance (Cmd/Ctrl+B). For this particular image, Shadows is checked and the Color Levels are +35, 0, -50. The same is applied to the clouds.

Characters The dragons and demons that were provided by JLStock from deviantART save a lot of time in extraction due to the fact that they are PNG files and have a transparent background. The main character/wizard was provided by Cobweb-stock and the door for the castle is from Lugubrum-stock, both from deviantART as well.

Castle doorway The next step was finding a doorway for the wizard to exit the castle. Adjust the doorway to scale by using the Edit>Free Transform option, and to make it fit the wall just switch to the Distort feature in the Free Transform command and play around with the points until you are satisfied. Open Image>Adjustments> Brightness/Contrast and drop the brightness until it looks right.

Perspective clouds The clouds seemed a bit flat so they are stretched out via Edit>Transform>Perspective. By dragging the top points outwards, they begin to have a much more appealing look in the scene. You can also duplicate the clouds a couple of times and play with sizes to create a more intense look. Naming the layers can be done now due to the fact that other elements are going to be added to the scene.

“When using a layer mask, your photo remains intact and you achieve the effect of erasing parts of an image. You can brush the section back by brushing with the opposite colour that you removed the section with”

Drag and drop Start with the easiest images first (the dragon and demons), and begin dragging them into your canvas and placing them where you plan on having them for the final image. Flipping and scaling can either be done now or when you find it appropriate to do so. Once you have them placed, simply name them and you can move on to the next step.

Wizard extraction Now that all the easier stuff is out of the way, we can get to work on the good guy! In order to extract the wizard, it is best to work on the original photo itself and use whichever tool you are most comfortable with, whether it is the Pen tool, Magic Wand or in this case the Quick Selection tool will do just fine since our character is going to be shrunken down enough in order to fit the scale of the image.

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Battle ready Once the wizard’s selected, just drag him onto your canvas and apply Free Transform again until he fits correctly. Go to Image> Adjustments>Color Balance and blend him into the scene. Midtones and settings of +10, 0, -25 are used for that. Also, go to Highlights and bring the yellow to -25. Now your wizard is ready for battle.

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Playing with fire Stocks for fire can be found all over, so choose one or ten – the more the merrier! Change the blending mode to Screen or Linear Dodge and resize it small (keep an unaltered layer of fire for later and duplicate one so that you can smudge it). Take your Smudge tool and, with the #63 default brush, smudge the fire and create some burning clouds. Duplicate and smudge some more, placing them strategically.

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Cloud work Duplicate your cloud layer and shrink it down until it fits proportionately above the mountain tops, then use the Free Transform command to readjust the perspective by dragging out the upper points until you have a looming darkness above the mountain tops. Duplicate and resize a few times or just experiment until you are happy. If you find it is too light, just use the Brightness/Contrast adjustment to make it darker.

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Burning down the house Once again, you have to start manipulating the fire. Take bits and pieces, erasing sections, resizing sections and putting them all around the castle until you have created the illusion of an epic battle scene. Also, don’t be afraid to smudge bits of it to give it a more painted effect. The choice is yours; just have fun with creating the image and don’t be afraid to experiment!

“Don’t be afraid to smudge bits of it to give it a more painted effect. The choice is yours; just have fun with creating the image and don’t be afraid to experiment!”

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Bits and pieces Now we must clean up some of the edges of the castle and smash them into little bits! Patience is always rewarded when it comes to parts like this. Take your Quick Selection tool and begin grabbing sections of stone around the wizard’s feet. Take big sections, and even go as far as taking single bricks from around the castle and moving them to give the illusion that the ground is coming out from under him. The more you keep doing this, the better the outcome. Also, take sections and place them around the demon to make it look as though the wizard is hurling bits of stone at him.

Castle shadow Duplicate your castle layer and then go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and bring the slider right down to -150. Then begin to erase everything except for the left section where there should be a strong dark shadow. The Opacity value of this layer can be changed to fit the scene further down the road if necessary. This is done to create some depth that will be needed for later on when additional lighting is added.

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Step-by-step

Workshop 17

Demon Activate the layer of your red demon and Cmd/Ctrl-click to select the area of where your demon is, then switch to your cloud layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use a Radius of 250 pixels to add atmosphere. Drop the Opacity of the demon layer to around 6070%, then duplicate the demon, bring the Opacity back to 100% and erase everything except his chest and face area.

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Light effects Choose a soft round brush and switch the brush blending mode to Linear Dodge. Create a new layer and switch the layer blending mode to Hard Light. Brush with the colour at ‘e27b00’ once, and brush again to create an ambient light for the top of the staff. Take the same brush and just draw a circle freehand and go over it once again in Linear Dodge to create an inner highlight. Take the Smudge tool and begin smudging your ring. Try different brushes and different strengths to see how various brushes can create various effects. Resize the ring and put it on the demon’s chest. Using the Free Transform tool’s Distort option, manipulate the points until it looks right.

Added extras Using the same colour as earlier (‘e27b00’) for your Foreground Colour, switch the blending mode to Dissolve. Brush in a dab of colour and, using the Free Transform command, stretch it out so that it’s long enough to go from the staff to the demon. Switch to a Screen blending mode and erase any overhang that may be behind the staff. Implement things like fire in the dragon’s mouth, flames along the demon’s wings, torches along the walls – the choices are endless!

“Implement fire in the dragon’s mouth, flames along the demon’s wings, torches along the walls – the choices are endless!”

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Dodge and Burn Start with the Burn tool with the Range set to Midtones and Exposure between 35-50, then zoom into your image. Burning will help create any shadows, so take your time with this. Next, switch to the Dodge tool with the Range set to Highlights and the Exposure at 35-50, then brush over the right side of your wizard where the light from the wand is hitting him. Zoom right in for this. Also, apply Dodge where the fire hits the demon and the bricks.

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Dynamic lighting Creating some dynamic lighting will definitely bring out the elements a bit more in any image. For this one, we want the impression that the wizard is calling multiple elements to his arsenal. The blinding light cascading from the back of the castle is done by taking the Lasso tool and creating a series of lines, and then filling this with a foreground to transparent gradient of a very light almost white colour (just a slight hue, as white can be rather too dynamic). Switch the blending mode of the layer to Lighten for this.

Adjustment layers Aside from layer masks, another of the powerful features in Photoshop just as important is adjustment layers. Not only can you be presented with problems and want to go back and change a colour or hue, but if you affect the image directly the choice of going back is no longer available. With adjustment layers, you can change anything from the colour to desaturation of an image without actually affecting the image itself. Also, once you have a Color Balance adjustment layer or black-andwhite adjustment layer, you even have the ability to change the blending modes of that layer and can present yourself with a great selection of colouring techniques!

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Final atmosphere and colouring Open up Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves and go to the Blue channel, then take the sliders on the left and right and adjust to give the image a bluer tone. Leave the blending mode as Normal and drop the Opacity to 37% to create a nice murky atmosphere. Options from here are plentiful. Duplicate that curve layer and set the blending mode to Multiply to darken the image. Using Color Balance, you can create an overall mood change by simply playing with the sliders. Gradient maps can be added to colourise areas like the sky.

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insight Michal Sycz Website: www.noeeko.com Clients: Factory 311

Michal Sycz, aka Noeeko, is a freelance digital artist based in Cracow, Poland, specialising in illustration, web design, branding and interactive media. From humble roots designing a poster for a local punk band five years ago, Sycz has just completed a high-profile project with Factory 311, working on a photo by Lionel Deluy (find out more at http://dsevo.com/). Sycz is self-taught, but he has always had artistic passions, as he explains: “I have always loved drawing and sketching objects around me, but one day someone gave me a copy of Adobe Photoshop and I realised this was what I really wanted to do. I started creating digital images just for fun, but it became a big fascination and finally a profession.” Looking to the future, Sycz hopes to one day open a studio, but for now he is concentrating on improving his techniques and focusing more on interactive media and experimentation. His personal technique involves use a mix of 3D shapes, photomanipulation and 2D Illustrator shapes. “I usually start by doing a quick lowresolution sketch,” he says. “When an idea comes into my mind, the first step is to search for photos, the next is to make some 3D renders and the last is to apply some Photoshop tricks.” This results in his personal style, which Sycz describes as varied: “I try out different styles instead of mastering a specific one. There are a lot of reasons why I’m trying to use different styles and applications. It’s quite important when you work for clients or agencies to show that you’re flexible and could solve a graphical problem in more than one way and use a lot of different tricks.”

Heart Beats: “An illustration made for k X. To slashTHREE Art Pac n, I used create this illustratio ct 3D shapes (the abstra ated re cre liquid speakers we re) mixed by using 3D softwa tion. I with photomanipula time have spent a long and I’m making this image results” quite happy with the

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Nuclear War: “Another work created for slashTHREE. The theme was ‘Order vs Chaos’. We were allowed to focus on one of the two, so I chose chaos. This illustration is one of my experimental/freestyle works”

War Br in brings ch gs Chaos: “The ao m the war. Th s. This illustration ain idea is simple wa –w e the grena hand is a symbol s my manifestatio ar of de n experimen is a symbol of wa oil and human gre against r. It ed, while ta illustratio l typography work was supposed to only n with ma , but it turn ny layers ed into an be and deta ils”

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Q&A

Helpdesk

HY P A R G TYPO

L A I C SPE

This month, Kirk cleans out the Helpdesk inbox by answering all the text-based questions that have been piling up! HORSING AROUND: Text

doesn’t always have to be in squares, you know!

Paragraph Text? Point Text?

Q

Hey there Helpdesk guru. If anybody can shed some light on this, I know you can. When I’m working with text in Photoshop, I’ve always entered line breaks manually by hitting Cmd/Ctrl+Return at the end of a line. This clearly isn’t the best way to manage long paragraphs because it’s a real pain to try to edit and shift words from one line to the next. Tell me there’s a better way! I know that Photoshop isn’t really designed to be a super text editor, but this would really help me out with my project. Matt Rorbark

A

OUR EXPERT Kirk Nelson Kirk has been a graphic artist for over 11 years in the Washington DC Metro area. He writes tutorials for our sister publication Photoshop Creative, and opens letters, checks emails and hangs around the AP forum online, all for the good of our Helpdesk. If you’re having quibbles with Photoshop, Kirk’s your man with the plan!

icon change to have a pair of rounded dotted lines on either side. Click once and lay in your text. It will conform to the shape. The path can even be edited for further control. You can pretty much come up with any shape depending on your Pen tool skills – see our example on the left to see it in action

Lorem Ipsum

Q

Hey Advanced Photoshop Helpdesk guy, great job on the magazine! I never miss an issue and I’m constantly blown away by the depth of tutorials and techniques being presented. Even your Helpdesk seems to tap into a vast bank of Photoshop-related knowledge. So I figured you would

Tool tip

Matt, there’s a better way! That’s what you wanted me to say right? Oh! You wanted to know what that is as well? Okay, here’s the deal. Dear Advanced Photoshop Helpdesk. Photoshop can treat blocks of text in two different ways: as Point Text and as Paragraph Text. I have a confession to make. I’m doing desktop Point Text is essentially a single running line of text publishing layouts in Photoshop. I know, I unless a hard Return is entered. This is done by the normal know, that’s not what it’s for, but right now it’s all I can get method of grabbing the Text tool, clicking on the canvas without investing in yet another piece of software, much and typing away. as I would love to get my hands on InDesign as well. Paragraph Text is where Photoshop fills the So lecture me if you must, but please tell me how to get Photoshop to get text to wrap text field with text that automatically wraps each line as needed. To get this you use the Type tool, but around other layers, as doing that by hand is simply torture! drag out a rectangular text box instead of Simon York clicking a single insertion point. This box can ow n k u Did yo p has a then be adjusted as needed by dragging the sho er Photo r? It’s und Desktop publishing in corner handles. You can also convert Point Text e k c g e h in spellc heck Spell to Paragraph Text by going to Layer>Type> Photoshop!? Simon says C Edit> he knows better but Convert to Paragraph Text. I hope that helps you with your problem! doesn’t have a choice in the matter. So let’s have a heart and help him out, shall we? While Photoshop doesn’t have the robust Text Wrap controls that a program like InDesign does, the rudimentary capability is there. While it’s not the most elegant of solutions, it will keep you from laying out every line of text manually to get it to flow as you want it. The key is to draw out a shape to contain the text first. This can be done with either the Pen tool or a Shape tool. Then TAKE TYPE DOWN A NOTCH: Use Paragraph Text instead of insanely hitting Return at the end of each line grab the Type tool and hover over the shape. You’ll see the

Controlling Text Wrap

Q

tip Quick

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It’s helpful to address some shortcuts for working with text that can save you frustrating moments and gain you a higher degree of efficiency. While typing out a line of text, hitting Return will start a new line but hitting Cmd/Ctrl+Return will commit the text edit. While editing text, you can move or rotate the entire line of text by holding down the Cmd/Ctrl key and adjusting the transformation handles. An easy way to cycle through fonts on text that’s already set is to click in the Font drop-down box found in the Options bar and then use the arrow keys to navigate down the list. The currently selected text layer will update on the screen. If you use the Type tool to select text, hold down Opt/Alt and the up and down arrows will adjust the text leading (or line spacing), while the left and right arrows will adjust the tracking (or character spacing).

SPEEDING UP WORKFLOW: Text hot keys can make

your texting a breeze

Send your emails to us at [email protected] or post a message on our forum board at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum.

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Rorschach inkblots

Q to remove the hyphenation without adding the carriage returns? Cyndy Bythe

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THE MADNESS OF LOREM IPSUM: Lipsum.com has a

free Lorem Ipsum generator

be the one guy who might give a good answer to a question I’m rather embarrassed to ask. It’s not technically a Photoshop question, but I figured I would give it a shot! What’s a ‘Lorem Ipsum’? And why would I need one? Thanks in advance for helping me out. Hank Matherson

A

Hi Hank, thanks for your question. It takes a brave man to ask one of those questions that you know everybody is wondering but nobody asks. Like how do they get those little Ms on the chocolates? Typewriter? Elves? Why doesn’t anybody ask these things out loud? Or maybe they do and they’re swiftly taken away by men in white coats…? Anyway, Lorem Ipsum is simply placeholder text that’s used by designers when working on a layout before the final copy is ready. Many people think it’s Latin, but that’s not entirely true. There’s some resemblance to Latin as it was developed from a Latin work, but attempting to translate it leads to massive headaches and a bunch of scrambled nonsense! The point of it is to have a block of realistic text to work with when working on a layout. Traditionally, the first two words are always Lorem Ipsum for no other reason than because we graphics geeks are a strange collective and tend to enjoy inside jokes, no matter how trivial. So where can you get some? There’s a number of Lorem Ipsum generators online. I tend to use www. lipsum.com because it allows you to specify a number of words or paragraphs. Then you can easily copy from the site and paste directly into your layout, helping you to create perfect designs while waiting for the right text to come in.

Cyndy, I have to level with you here. I hate hyphenation, too. Ridiculous little lines busting up words where they have no right to do so, leaving partial words dangling on the next line like a bunch of orphaned letters that have lost their family. It’s so sad! Anyway, you might be surprised to know that Photoshop not only offers the ability to toggle hyphenation on and off, but also offers a ridiculous level of control of its use. Open up the Paragraph panel (Window>Paragraph) and see that little checkbox at the bottom? That’s right, the one labelled Hyphenate. That’s what you’re looking for. Now, just for kicks, go to the fly-out menu in the top right of the panel, select Hyphenation and you will get a dialog box that lets you set all sorts of rules to control your hyphens and the way that they act. These are things like hyphen limits, how many characters to put before or after the hyphens, even defining a hyphenation zone. This is the type of thing that lovers of hyphens just go crazy for, the mad bunch…

“Lorem Ipsum is placeholder text that’s used by designers when working on a layout before the final copy is ready… attempting to translate it leads to headaches!”

Dear Helpdesk guy. Congratulations on the continued success of the Helpdesk. Every month I make sure I read it because I pick up something new every time. So this month, I figured I’d send in a question of my own. Do you know of a good way to generate those Rorschach inkblots in Photoshop? Nala Ronshesh

A

Thanks for the encouraging words, Nala! I’m really happy my silly little Q&A every month is helpful to somebody. The real Rorschach tests are done by splashing ink on thick paper, then folding the paper in half to create a symmetrical design. That’s not too hard to simulate in Photoshop.

1

Splatter brushes To really generate a believable inkblot, you will need some good inkblot brushes. Our site www. photoshopdaily.co.uk has a good set freely available for download. Look for the post labelled Ink Splat Brushes.

2

Splat away Create a new document and add a grid line in the centre. On a new layer, create several inkblots off to one side of the centre line. There can be some overlap, as that will create a more realistic design.

3

How can you not see the butterfly? Duplicate the layer and hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to bring up the Transformation controls. Move the pivot point to the centre line and scale the layer to -100 along the horizontal. Commit the transformation and tell the good doctor what you see.

Hyphenation

Q

Dear AP Helpdesk, thanks in advance for helping me. You guys always seem to have a way of explaining obscure answers that make sense even to me! I have a text-specific Photoshop question I’d like your help with. If I have a block of text in Photoshop, it automatically hyphenates the words. Is there a way

HY PHIVE: More hyphen controls than you’ll know what to

do with

Remember to specify whether you’re using a PC or Mac and the version of Photoshop you have.

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Q&A Technique tip Have you ever tried to use the Eyedropper tool to sample a colour and have it pick a hue that doesn’t even appear to be in the image? Wonder what’s going on with that? That’s because usually the coloured areas of images are not made of a solid field of colour. They are comprised of many different colours at individual pixel levels. If you were to zoom the image to 800%, you would see the assortment of hues that make up what seems to be a single continuous colour. By default, the Eyedropper tool selects the colour from a single pixel. So what’s happening is that you are getting the colour from that one point, not the area. To counter this, check the Options bar along the top of the screen when the Eyedropper is active. Change the Point Sample setting to one of the other options, like 5 by 5 Average. This will yield a colour sample much closer to the apparent colour of an area.

IMPROVE YOUR HUE: Get a more effective

Eyedropper setting

Stamping your authority

Q

Okay, Helpdesk expert. I’m working on a design that includes a stamp collection, but all the stamps are custom snapshots from my vacations. I’m struggling with an easy method of creating the scalloped edges without having to make tons of small circular selections. Ideally, it might even be handy to have a separate stamp border where I can swap out the image easily. Any ideas? Paul Zschock

More history

Q

To Helpdesk, I’ve recently started doing more digital painting in Photoshop and I am really enjoying it! My one big complaint is that the Undo function is nearly useless when painting. Even the History panel only goes back about two dozen brushstrokes. That’s not nearly enough! I find myself having to save every few minutes or so. Do you ever do any digital painting in Photoshop? And if so, how do you deal with this problem? Edgar McCormick

A

Edgar, I know what you mean. When painting, those default 20 Undo steps get eaten up fast! If you go to Preferences>Performance, you’ll see an area towards the right that contains a setting for History States. This slider can go all the way up to 1,000. Be warned, though, the higher the setting, the more of a performance hit your system will take as a result. You’ll need to find an even balance between a number that’s useful and a number that’s not going to bring your machine to a crawl. It is also worth considering using the Snapshot feature in the History panel. This will save the current state of your painting and you can always get back to it with a single click. You can even save multiple snapshots to

CONSIGN IT TO HISTORY: Adjust your History States as needed, but watch out for the performance hit! create an archive of your work in different development states, which might be more handy than having hundreds of Undos.

CD shading

Q

Dear Helpdesk, I’m working on an illustration of a CD and I’m having some trouble getting the gradient colours to wrap around the disc. I’ve tried using a Linear Gradient then warping that layer, but just ended up with a mess! If you have any advice, I’d be eternally grateful. Ashley Friarson

A

“If it’s CD design that you’re interested in, then it might also be worth checking out our special music feature on page 28 this issue”

Ashley, CDs do have a unique sort of colouring about them, don’t they? The bright colours gradually change as they go around the disc, and attempting to illustrate that can cause fits if you don’t know the trick to it. There’s a rarely used gradient function that seems to have been custom-made for this very task. It’s the Angle Gradient. That’s found in the Options bar when the Gradient tool is selected. It’s the one right next to the Radial Gradient. Now open up the Gradient Editor and create a multicoloured gradient as you see fit. The trick is to be sure that the colour stops on both ends are matching in colour. That way, when the entire

1

2

Border setup First up, start with your image on one layer, and beneath it put another layer that’s slightly larger and filled with white. This will be the border that will have the scalloped edges. Next, add a layer mask to the border layer.

Custom brush Open up the Brushes panel and select a round hard-edged brush. The Diameter will be dependent on the size of your artwork. In the Brush Tip Shape area, adjust the Spacing to around 120%. You can also adjust the Roundness to vary the depth of the scalloped edge.

A

Paul, what a cool and creative idea. That’s a very clever way to repackage those old holiday snapshots. I’ve got a technique for you here that I think you’re going to like. When you’re done with the design, we’d love to see it! Feel free to post it on our forum at www.advancedphotoshop. co.uk/forum.

Send your emails to us at [email protected] or post a message on our forum board at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum.

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CS4 spotlight Smooth zoom

uhanigcekyoutr birupshe Q tlin To c

AN ELUSIVE GRADIENT: Mix it up and use the rare

Angle Gradient

gradient wraps around, their ends will match and won’t leave a hard line. If it’s CD design that you’re interested in, then it might also be worth checking out our special music feature on page 28 this issue, which is great for finding fresh inspiration when working on music-inspired artworks

Spirographs, Photoshop style!

Q

Hi Helpdesk, I hope you can help me out with something. I know you must remember the old spirograph toys we had as a kid. You know, the ones that would create all those cool, swirly, geometric designs. I challenge you to try that in

3

Photoshop! It’s a technique that I have been dying to use in one of my designs. Seymour Franklin

ou from an gage cursor , en s ir a h s ey to cros s Lock k the Cap

A

Okay Seymour, challenge accepted! Start with a single looping path drawn by the Pen tool. On a new layer, stroke this path with a smalltipped paintbrush. Then deselect the path and make sure the layer is active. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+T to apply Transformation on a duplicate of the original layer. Rotate the duplicate slightly until the ends line up, then press Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+T repeatedly to create multiple copies until the shape is copied all the way around. Merge the layers together and you’ve got your spirograph!

Edge treatment Make sure the border layer’s mask is the active element and run the brush along each edge of the border. Holding down the Shift key will keep your brushstrokes in line. Now you have an easy scalloped edge border that’s independent of your image!

As you’ll have heard, much has been mentioned about the new GPU-enabled abilities present in Photoshop CS4. But few have mentioned the amazing new animated zoom feature. And believe us, it’s worth mentioning! For years, adept Photoshop users have almost reflexively banged away at Cmd/Ctrl+plus or Cmd/Ctrl+minus to quickly zoom in and out of an image. For a long time, they also lived with the fact that only at certain percentages would the image appear properly. The dreaded 33% and 66% views were blurry and smudged. But now, CS4 not only renders the previews sharp and clear at any percentage view, but there’s a much better method for zooming than the clunky hot key steps. With the Zoom tool active, simply hold down on the mouse button without moving. After a moment the image will start to smoothly zoom in until you release the mouse button. Add the Opt/Alt key and the image will smoothly zoom out. Add this functionality to the new sticky key feature and you don’t even have to change tools. Simply hold down the Z key (or Opt/Alt+Z) and the mouse button to zoom in or out. It might take a bit to break the practice of whacking at those plus and minus keys, but try it for a day. We think you’re going to fall in love with the new smooth, animated zoom!

IRREGULAR ZOOM: Clear and sharp images even at odd percentages like 223% FLY-OUT: Hold

down Opt/Alt+Z and the mouse button to watch the image smoothly fly away from you

SMOOTH ZOOM: CS4’s

OLD-SCHOOL TECHNIQUES: That’s right, you can do

spirographs in Photoshop!

OpenGL Drawing must be enabled in Preferences for the smooth zoom to work

Remember to specify whether you’re using a PC or Mac and the version of Photoshop you have.

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insight

My previous homepage: “This is my previous homepage for my own designs and it’s still a firm favourite of min e”

Homepage image: “The second of two promotional images also used on the homepage of my personal website”

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Thomas Burden Website: www.therewillbeunicorns.com Clients: Disney, Superdrug, Faber & Faber, Nokia Interactive Thomas Burden’s digital experience was a baptism of fire. Throughout college his software knowledge was minimal, concentrating more on squeezing out original ideas, as he recalls: “Luckily, some of these were noticed by John McFaul (www. mcfaulstudio.com), who gave me that illusive big break that all graduates would firebomb an Apple store for.” Burden was thrown in at the deep end at the studio, learning Illustrator and Photoshop comprehensively, while working on a complete graphical overhaul of Liverpool Airport among other projects. However, having gained experience in pretty much every possible application of design and illustration, and although grateful for this wonderful opportunity, Burden was no longer feeling as challenged and excited as in his early design days. He has recently set up his own new design studio called ‘And there will be unicorns’ (www. therewillbeunicorns.com). Working across a multitude of professional briefs for a range of industry clients, Burden denies a distinct style but admits to an apparent accent in his work. “I would like to think there is a certain tonality to everything I do, but I’m not someone who can stick to one vein of reference for long,” he admits. “I think there’s a definite erring towards the retro, but I never set out to create pastiches. However, I was always encouraged to draw and paint from an early age, while being denied every toy going in the Eighties. This helped me develop an understanding of colour and composition, while also making me concentrate even harder on all that great colourful packaging and advertising.” He admits to two distinct sides to his portfolio: “The vector stuff and the less vectorbased stuff. Each side has slightly different influences and styles. The vector design by its very nature is more bold and simple, whereas the non-vector design is more hazy and dreamlike. But this often changes, as I’m not one for doing the same thing twice.”

illustration for Liner: “This is an er crazy Disney Cruise rk included anoth wo e Th ch. pit cy an ad agen ” ng asi results were ple deadline, but the

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INDUSTRY

I N D U S T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Inside guide to everything that you need to know to make it as a professional digital artist, including university and college courses, industry advice and interviews with pros » Pg 72 ...................................Self-publishing » Pg 78 .......................................................Uni focus » Pg 82...........................................Career focus

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS OFFICIAL WORLDWIDE MOVIE WEBSITE: Working on this particular project

was a personal favourite for Jensen Design and concepts proposal agency: DSIRE

An interview with…

ROLF A JENSEN

The designer of some innovative interactive online projects, Rolf A Jensen shares his passions with Advanced Photoshop

R

About the studio

Current job role Creative director/art director Clients DSIRE, Haven Interactive, The Weinstein Company, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Citroën, Visit Sweden, Warner Bros, Ford Mustang, Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures, Samsung, Jägermeister, CE Studios Awards Featured in Web Design Index, awarded Site Of The Day at FWA Website www. sunnyumbrella.org Biography Jensen is about to enter a new age of his career, having recently moved to LA after working full time in New York for a while doing a lot of corporate online campaigns. He now does more entertainmentbased campaigns

olf A Jensen started out earning pocket money creating low-end website for friends and smaller business corporations in his native Norway at the age of 14. After leaving school at 16, he started freelancing and quickly picked up his first serious contract before moving to New York to further his career. He speaks to Advanced Photoshop about what the future holds. Advanced Photoshop: Hello Rolf! We hear on the grapevine that you have just moved to Los Angeles from New York. What was the reason behind the change? Rolf Jensen: I found out that it was within entertainment campaigns where I was really able to express myself, so I packed my things and moved to Los Angeles with nothing but 50 bucks in my hand and my fingers crossed. Working in Flash for bigger movie campaigns might be one of the coolest things you will be allowed to do as a creative person. Beautiful imagery, large-scale animations, amazing video and audio footage are just some of the many things that attracted me to this specific corner of the industry. Advanced Photoshop: What has been your favourite commission to date? Rolf Jensen: Inglourious Basterds, no question. Being able to work with such great imagery and content is a dream, and should be for most

designers who have a passion for interactive campaigns. Also, being able to work with other talented people to make a great experience of a great movie online is fantastic. In general I enjoy doing theatrical sites a lot, as the time frame never kills you in terms of the length of the project itself. Inglourious Basterds was one of the few projects I actually wished would keep on going, as I never got fed up with it. Advanced Photoshop: What would be your dream job? Rolf Jensen: I’m still hoping to do more Flash sites for videogames. This has become even more interesting after I got my first smaller commission on this subject a few months back. Coming from

CABELA’S OFFICIAL SITE: A website for games based on the hunting industry, produced for Activision Design comps agency: Haven Studios

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INTERVIEW SAMPLE OF JENSEN’S WORK (RIGHT): All of the interactive projects that Jensen has worked on utilise different skill sets and techniques UFC 92 DESIGN PITCH (MIDDLE): Website pitch

created by Jensen

Design and concepts proposal agency: Red Interactive Agency

TOUCH BY INGI (BOTTOM): Jensen’s first and only

fashion designs

Design and Flash development agency: Soulpolice

an artistic point of view, these types of projects give you the deepest and most open-minded workflow you could ask for. Everything from creating an interactive user experience for a battlefield with stunning sound effects and 3D to creating a charming and touching fantasy world complete with matte painting and mellow ambient video renders. Advanced Photoshop: Do you have any current projects you’re working on/projects lined up for the future? Rolf Jensen: So much! The problem for me is to be able to prioritise them. As for major larger projects lately, I got to work with the team at Neoganda and Matt Cooper doing a lot of stuff to promote Lionsgate’s latest Saw film. Another major project would be helping out my good friend Dickon on behalf of Peter Jackson’s latest title – you’ll have to wait and see for that one, though! Advanced Photoshop: What’s your usual workflow process on a project? Rolf Jensen: My process would normally start with reviewing a brief and reading a script. From there, I normally talk a lot with the team to share ideas around

“Being able to work with such great imagery and content is a dream” the technical execution and what type of treatments would be needed. I would sketch out the grid and how things should work from an interactive perceptive and show it to the client before starting up Photoshop. These sketches are mostly done by hand, but sometimes I also use a program called ConceptShare, which allows you to share handmade concepts with your client in real-time by painting in a workspace using a tablet. The client can also comment on everything. When the client signs off on a concept or a composition, I normally go straight into Photoshop and start working for real. Advanced Photoshop: What would be your advice for those hoping to follow in your footsteps? Rolf Jensen: Work hard, be passionate and wear a smile. Reach out to people. Show the industry your work instead of it sitting and collecting dust on your hard drive. Don’t be afraid to seek out a job or a project because you think your work isn’t good enough. Have a lot of faith and believe in yourself, but never cross the line to become stuck up with an ego! I’ve always been very open towards new styles and people trying new things, even if it’s very edgy and nuts. I still respect artists and designers that break the rules to get from one place to another.

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INDUSTRY Self-publishing I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

F A NY GET £5 OF BLURB ORDER ATE CODE ENTER TH PS2009’ D ‘ADVANCE0/09 TO TAKE 1 / 1 BEFORE 3 TAGE OF THIS ADVAN TORY OFFER C INTRODU LURB.COM .B W WW

SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY

Why not send a copy to potential clients? It sends a message of who you are and what your work is about. People are more likely to keep hold of a book than a CD of images

tip

tip

BEST OF THE BEST

It goes without saying, but if you don’t think an image is up to par then don’t drag down the overall quality with its inclusion. The book is an extension of you, so don’t pad it with pap

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Your in-depth guide to…

F E AT U R E

SELF PUBLISHING Got an urge to get your work in print? Natalie Johnson explains how it can be achieved

MARKET YOURSELF

Self-publishing sites offer promotional resources for creatives to market their products, including lessons on how to write press releases and web buttons. Head to the marketing or self-promotion areas of the site to find out more

tip

V

iewing your freshly completed digital designs on a monitor is undoubtedly an experience that will induce goose bumps, but the sensation is ultimately stunted by the lack of tangibility. Whatever your motivation, whether it’s to produce a keepsake, portfolio, promotional material or simply to sell, self-publishing has become a reality for thousands of creatives. People still adore the printed form, and having your art pressed and printed is a thing of beauty and something more digital creatives are exploring. Thankfully, the days of yore are behind us and no longer do penniless artists need to struggle to secure a publisher or starve themselves to afford the titanic costs involved with self-publishing. Instead, the open market has forced manufacturers to reduce costs and, with the explosion of online book-publishing facilities, the process and the price tag are very attractive options.

Get your hands on your own work

‘Is self-publishing for me?’ Perhaps it is a question you are pondering as you glance over this feature, and the truth is that it’s not for everyone, but should you crave a tangible product of your best work – whether as a simple keepsake to someday show unborn grandchildren or as a portfolio to dazzle prospective employers or clients with – then the answer is almost definitively yes. What is more, the possibilities don’t stop with simply owning a handful of copies. There is the potential to create a tome and sell the result to anyone and everyone, from art lovers to design students, recouping costs and getting your name out there. Nowadays, everyone has a website, and producing a physical example of your talent goes one step further than most are prepared to do, as entrepreneurial digital artist Chuck

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INDUSTRY Self-publishing I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Book-making services

JEWELLERY: This is an example of the kind of book produced by Blurb, properly bound with high-resolution and quality imagery

– Eileen Gittins, Blurb

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“Our platform provides total control for the creator, right down to the pixel. Designers use our book-creating app Blurb BookSmart, and within this program you can create your own page layouts, book templates, etc. We’ve also just launched PDF to Book, which means customers can now design the book in Adobe InDesign, iPhoto or a design tool of their choice and then simply upload the PDF to Blurb.” Producing such books in as low a quantity as one is an enticing draw for artists on a shoestring budget, and a service that would not have been available a decade ago. Gittins maintains that is not the only winning factor of the relatively new concept. “The quality of the product itself is a main selling point. Our books really are bookstore-quality, and that separates us from the photo album-type companies out there. Deeper than that, there’s a fundamental human need for self-expression and we believe everyone wants to be creative. We help unlock that creativity, allow people to express themselves and share that accomplishment with others in their communities and around the world.”

BLURB

www.blurb.com Blurb is one of the most popular services that’s available for creative folk to exploit. Users can opt from a variety of designs and sizes, including square, black-andwhite text, standard portrait, standard landscape, large landscape or landscape square.

Interested in producing a book of your very own? Here are a trio of top services

“Our platform provides total control for the creator, right down to the pixel”

INVISIBLE LIVES COVER: With services like Blurb you can set a price above the base price to make a profit on sales

Two of the most heavily subscribed self-publishing on-demand services that are currently operating at high levels are Blurb and Lulu. But how do they work? “Web 2.0 and participation-enabling technology has created a user-generated content movement that has reshaped many traditional industries, including journalism, film, video and music,” CEO and founder of Blurb, Eileen Gittins, reveals.

TOP PRINT-ON-DEMAND SITES

Although Blurb and Lulu are two of the most high-profile selfpublishing sites, there are hundreds of competitors out there. If you want something different from the rest, do some research and find the right publisher for you

RESEARCH

tip

Anderson (www.nopattern.com) confirms: “Anybody can be a designer and get a site set up. That’s a good thing to have and very important, sure, but designers can make so much more of it in print. I couldn’t stand the thought of falling into that trap, so I’ve invested in printing books over the years. Not only is it a great feeling to get them back from the printer and hold them in your hands, but the best reward is in giving copies to your friends, family and clients, as well as selling them to people who appreciate your work and want to invest in it.” There are two main methods creatives can exploit to realise their paper dreams: use a specific online resource or go it alone. The first of these options takes advantage of the growing number of allencompassing websites that allow customers to build, order and sell their product – a one-stop shop.

LULU

www.lulu.com A feature-clad fun-filled self-publishing website. One of our favourite areas of the stacked website are the author success stories. There is also a section on the site to help authors market their wares.

BOOKMARK SELF PUBLISHING

www. bookmarkselfpublishing.com One of the lesser known self-publishing websites, BookMark attempts to be good value for money, with printing options starting as low as $5. The range of binding options available is another bonus, including spiral, saddleback, hardcover or softcover perfect binding.

16/9/09 17:56:51

With three successful self-published books in the can, Marc Scheff (www. dangermarc.com) is one happy customer of online production sites

CASE STUDY: SELF-PUBLISHING SITE

F E AT U R E

WHY DO YOU USE SELF-PUBLISHING WEBSITES? Put simply, it was fun to make and people liked it. I’ve also seen a lot of people using this format for many different reasons, both personal and professional. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING – WHAT PROCESS DO YOU FOLLOW? Because there are great places that provide free software for bookmaking, my process is just about the ideas involved. I have an idea for a topic, usually imagebased, I gather the images, organise them using a site like Blurb, Lulu or even Apple’s iPhoto software, and that’s it. I usually order one to make sure it looks good before putting it up in a store. WHO WOULD YOU LOOK TO RECOMMEND THE SERVICE TO? Anyone wanting to see their work in print! Additionally, a lot of people use the self-publishing route to break into a publishing house. Make a book, shop it around,

WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN TO YOUR WORK IN THIS MEDIUM? People really like it. Most people see my work on the internet, and it’s novel to see it in print on a page. I think you can get a little closer to the work than you can on a screen. Plus, not everyone buys prints or originals, and a book is a nice way to have access to the art without shelling out a lot of money. HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO RECOUP YOUR COSTS? It costs nothing to put a book out there. Zero. You do pay money if you order one to proof. Lulu, Blurb and Apple all have competitive prices there. You actually set the price of the book, and I don’t add much on top of the base price because I’m more interested in people having the work.

Going it alone

On-demand self-publishing sites will also stock various promotional aids to help you market the book to others in the hope that they’ll stump up some cash and order a copy. Blurb and Lulu both offer web tools, such as badges that link back to your book in the bookstore, book previews so people can take a look inside your book, announce tools to get the word out and social media tools to share on Twitter and Facebook, among others. The second and perhaps less common route for production is the DIY approach. The idea here is that you, the artist, design the book yourself from scratch using a dedicated software package, secure a relationship with a printer, buy the copies and sell the books

FAMILIAR JOURNEYS TITLE PAGE (ABOVE TOP): There are no restrictions with what you can put in a self-published book

hand page vs left-hand page, etc. With BookSmart as your guide, your book should look pretty good.”

FAMILIAR JOURNEYS SPICES PAGE (ABOVE, BOTTOM): Dedicated software can help you lay out images and text exactly as you want

The process is a simple and all-encompassing one. Visit a website such as www.blurb.com or www.lulu.com, choose a specific book design and size with the style of cover you desire, then begin importing or dragging your JPEG files onto the awaiting frames. Some templates allow users to add text, but it’s advised to employ the services of several well-educated friends to proofread your copy. Once completed, customers simply need to hit Done, select a quantity to order and opt to use the site to sell the tomes to Joe Public. “Any mark-up between the cost of the book and the price you set is yours. We take nothing and we’ll send you a cheque each month,” says Gittins. “If you want a bound-and-printed copy for yourself, you can order one or one thousand books, depending on your budget.” To maximise your chances for success, invest some time learning about the art of book design. “Being a good artist doesn’t necessarily always translate to being an artful book designer,” the Blurb founder offers. For starters, Blurb stocks oodles of tutorials on its website, and has a directory of independent book designers called BlurbNation that you can tap into if you decide you’d rather let a professional help you design your book. “Bookmaking should be fun, not intimidating, and our BookSmart software makes it easy for your best work to shine. We brought in professional book designers to help us build the software, and they thought of all the things you wouldn’t want to know about – gutters, bleeds, right-

and if someone picks it up you can take down the online store. Small local stores may also take a stack on consignment and pay you when they’re sold.

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INDUSTRY Self-publishing I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Chuck Anderson (www.nopattern.com) has self-produced two retrospectives of his work via conventional means: NoPattern: The Work of Chuck Anderson and Wandering Off Into Space

CASE STUDY: SELF-INITIATED PROJECT

on yourself. A much more complex approach, but one that allows for greater control over the layout, a chance to be unique and you can sell it directly from your website. The main motive why someone would choose this method over the ‘clone copy’ avenue of an on-demand site is to generate a completely customised result – whether that’s fancy binding, page cuts or an extrovert design, there will be a shop that can make it – but be prepared to pay a lot more for the pleasure. Although illustrator Marc Scheff uses and endorses on-demand publishing methods, he appreciates the pros of this option, as he reveals: “Someone once told me a story about Kevin Llewellyn, a great painter in LA who made a leather-bound custom book of his drawings. He’d take it out to bars in LA, and when he’d get up to get a drink he’d leave it on the table. People would pick up the fancy-looking book and ask who did the drawings. Now he does work for everyone down there, from Madonna to Metallica.” WHAT METHOD DO YOU USE TO GET YOUR WORK IN PRINT? I design the pages, let a few friends look it over for second opinions, then send it off the printers and wait. It’s pretty much as simple as that. WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN OF PUBLISHING BOOKS INDEPENDENTLY AS OPPOSED TO THROUGH A SPECIFIC WEBSITE? I’d say either route is great, but serve two very different purposes. Lulu and Blurb, for example, are really awesome services and great if you’re on a budget. I’m excited they’re available for anybody to use. However, you just don’t have the same total control as you would going straight to a printer who performs custom jobs. WHAT RECEPTION HAVE YOU HAD FOR YOUR BOOKS? The response from people has been tremendous. I’ve sold a lot of them. People love books and always will. No technology will ever take that way. Amazon’s Kindle is great for books you read, but art books will always be in printed form. WHERE CAN PEOPLE BUY YOUR BOOKS? www.npandco.com – I could get them into stores, and I have in a few instances, but I really like having this as my one DIY operation and doing it all on my own for now. Eventually, I’d love to do a big book with a publisher that’s hardcover and has more bells and whistles, but I can use these examples to get a foot in the door. HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO RECOUP YOUR COSTS? In short, yes. The first book I did cost about $2.50 a book and I sold them for $10. I had 2,000 printed up and it didn’t take that long to make my money back. The second book cost more per book, closer to $6 or $7 or so I sold them for $25.

WANDERING OFF INTO SPACE: This is an example of Chuck Anderson’s self-initiated printing project

Don’t be afraid to charge what you think your product is worth. People are prepared to pay more for quality. If your price is set too low, it could translate as bargain basement fodder

SET YOUR PRICE RIGHT

tip

The first factor to consider is realistically what your talent and your budget allows you to do, ie can you justify using this method? “Come up with a few ideas for page counts, paper type and size, then get some estimates from different printers,” advises going-italone expert Chuck Anderson. “From there, you’ll have an idea of what’s actually possible versus what might be a little far-fetched for your time and budget. Do your research – look at other artists’ books. Do you want to do something that will be more of a

“The response from people has been tremendous. People love books and always will. No technology will ever take that way” – Chuck Anderson

giveaway, something like 15 pages that are more for promotion and have your best work in it? Or do you want something that’s thicker and will have more value? Once you’ve got those things nailed down, just start experimenting and working.” The next step is to send your work off to the printer, then agree a fee and delivery time. Once the stock is received, the next step is to get them online, in book shops, book review websites or digital art magazines, in libraries, in the mail to prospective clients and anywhere you will get noticed. “Give them away,” laughs Anderson. “Send them to every client you’ve ever worked with.”

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INDUSTRY Uni focus I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

The best digital art courses and student artwork from around the world

The Arts University College of Bournemouth

BA (Hons) Animation Production B

Course details

The Arts University College of Bournemouth Tel: 01202 363228/363225 Web: www.aucb.ac.uk Course BA (Hons) Animation Production

Artist info

Duration Three years Entry requirements Minimum of five GCSE passes (including English and Maths) plus Foundation Diploma in Art and Design

Rogie Custodio Personal portfolio site: www.pokefreak.deviantart. com Year on course: Second year

A (Hons) Animation Production is a course offering an all-embracing syllabus, looking to simulate a professional industry environment. This course explores and delivers this subject in a broad and holistic way. Students are encouraged to work in intense team-based situations, which will offer experience in comprehensive professional production processes. This course will interest artists looking to thoroughly immerse themselves in digital design methods. All campus projects are explored in the University College’s newly refurbished animation studio, adding to the professional aura of this degree course. Learning begins with the basics, and although a core interest in digital media is valuable, students will initially explore fundamental practices, such as animation through drawing skills. Projects later evolve into computer-based or stop-motion practices. Year one of this degree delivers fundamental skills, parallel to students developing those of an academic sort. Both are achieved via a series of workshops, seminars and lectures. Year two prompts students to evolve visual styles, formulating design ideas and visual narratives. Second-year students are also encouraged to consider exchange programmes that provide opportunities for study in professional European and overseas studios. Year three immerses students in team ethics, with them being asked to direct an animation film or take on another key production role. This encourages commitment and collective responsibility, as well as a high level of practical skill in the final major project. This collaborative nature and logical progression of skills certainly encouraged second-year student Rogie Custodio, who reveals: “I strongly recommend the course. You need the strong will and dedication in your working teams because it’s an intense course. Animating is very time-consuming, but it’s always fun seeing the final outcome. I could honestly say that I have noticed a huge difference in my initial work after joining this course. The first year of foundation drawing really evolves your observational drawing skills.”

I was olour when r, ght of multic der the sketch laye ou th ly al ts un “I initi SYRICEL: I started adding the fla another layer above” on is. drawing th orked on the painting w then slowly stodio © Rogie Cu

Rogie Custodio chose to study animation because the more cartoons he saw, the more inspired he became. He has since learnt key motivational skills to draw every day, as he explains: “I take a sketchbook wherever I go, sketching memorable things or locations. Not only do you get to learn about form in general, but you can also interpret characters through movement.”

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UNI FOCUS

“The major skill I would say I have learnt is that I now have more of an understanding in anatomical forms. I can now create character designs easily” Rogie Custodio ELIKA: “This im ag some custom br e was a speed painting creat ed with ushes I made, giving it that ch effect. I limited alky my colours to monotones bu added hints of t then blue to set the mood” © Rogie Custodio

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INDUSTRY Uni focus I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

The best digital art courses and student artwork from around the world

Course guide

© Rogie Custodio

Animation-based courses More of the best illustration animation courses from a variety of educational levels

BSc Animation Bachelor of Games and Applied Arts in WESTWOOD COLLEGE Animation 800 2812978 Animation Foundation Year Tel Web www.westwood.edu/programs/ UNIVERSITY OF TEESIDE Tel 01642 342639 Web www.tees.ac.uk

About the course The University of Teeside provides a Foundation Year Games and Animation course. This is intended to prepare animation enthusiasts for an advanced degree programme. The course is split across five modules in total, including a main foundation project. This enables students to work to an agreed design brief. All issues that arise are explored in the drawing studio, through related tasks and problem-based workshops. Students are introduced to drawing as well as digital skills, and taught to understand the basic tools and techniques of digital art using a range of graphics software, letting students express ideas and describe objects. This course may be taken as a preliminary year, leading into several specific further education programmes. These include BA (Hons) Computer Character Animation, Computer Games Animation and Computer Games Art. Duration One year Entry requirements 60-100 tariff points

school-of-design/animation

About the course This recommendable animation course – endorsed by numerous design portals, including leading resource www.animationarena.com – looks to open a world of possibilities in the commercial arena through its versatile syllabus. The course allows students to focus on disciplines including digital illustration, 3D modelling, 2D animation, advanced digital effects and image editing. The course looks to get students’ working practice up to an impressive industry standard from the start, encouraging students to manage an animation project from conceptual stage to the final product presentation. It also promotes projects that will allow students to evolve their life-drawing skills and related rendering techniques. Project management skills are also promoted by making students determine client objectives, working both within a deadline and within a team environment. Duration Three years Entry requirements Entry requirements: High-school diploma or GED

THE SHERIDAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCED LEARNING Tel 519-763-4725 Web www1.sheridaninstitute.ca About the course The Sheridan Institute is one of the most revered animation schools in the world. Its BAAA degree has transformed previous courses, now including elements of the computer animation graduate certificate. The syllabus includes the opportunity to explore traditional and contemporary animation approaches. Students will work in production teams as well as personally animate a oneminute animation film as part of the senior project. A 14-week work term sets this degree programme apart from others, giving students hands-on experience in an environment related to their field of study. This is a blessing for opportunists, considering recent graduates have progressed onto industry projects such as Terminator 3 and Jurassic Park. Duration Four years plus one seniorlevel Visual Arts credit at the M or Open Level Entry requirements English, Grade 12 (ENG4U)

Fda Animation LONDON COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION Tel 0207 514 656 Web www.lcc.arts.ac.uk About the course If you are looking for a course that covers a broad base of basics, then this is it. Students are introduced to an intensive two years of projects that go from fundamental drawing techniques to advanced digital-based solutions. This foundation course holds some benefits associated with highereducation courses, enabling students to indulge in exciting and important work-based learning centered on outside work attachments. The College was also designated a Screen Academy in 2006 by the UK Film Council and Skill set. This means that students can highly benefit from the schools networking system with practising directors, producers and technical experts. However, the standards set on the course are high and the opportunity for progression to BA Honours Animation is dependent on you achieving a Merit classification and completing a short bridging unit. Duration Two years Entry requirements 1 A-level plus 5 GCSEs (A-C), or equivalent

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INDUSTRY Career focus I N D US T RY ● E D U C AT I O N ● R E C R U I T M E N T ● C A R E E R S

Get the job you want with tailored advice from industry insiders

So you want to be a…

Videogame designer If you love videogames and like the idea of making your own for a living, then read on Introducing the experts

Shay Casey Shay is a creative director and games designer for H.grenade. He has worked in videogame design for five years on titles including Silent Hill and for companies like 2K Games. www.hgrenade.com Tom Sloper Tom boasts over 25 years in the design and production of what he calls ‘electronic entertainment’. He now works freelance as a consultant videogame designer/ producer and as an instructor in videogame subjects at the University of Southern California. www.sloperama.com Brenda Brathwaite Brenda is a game designer and tutor. She’s worked with games for 27 years on titles such as Wizardry and Jagged Alliance. www.brendabrathwaite.com

What else could I learn to boost my chances of getting a job?

V

ideogames are a serious business. Aside from being a billion-pound industry, their quest for realism means that they are becoming more and more respected as a channel to communicate important messages to the audience. There’s no doubt that being a videogame designer would be a dream job to many. Seeing your ideas come alive on the screen is definitely rewarding. However, in order to be truly successful at this profession, you’ll need to have more skills than just being able to play videogames – although that’s definitely a good start! We chatted with three people who each possess very varied backgrounds in videogame. Read on to find out their top tips for a job in videogame design.

Have I got the skills? I love playing videogames, but what other qualities should I possess? Shay Casey: Communication and vision are the real keys. You have to be able to not only show and describe what it is that you want to achieve, but you have to be able to sell it. You have to be able to get people excited about your ideas regardless of who they are – team members, investors or publishers. In any scenario, your ideas on paper will only end up as great software if other people really believe in them. Strong writing skills are essential, but being able to illustrate your concepts is even better. In my opinion, the real ninja master skill is being able to create prototypes of your concepts. A game demo is way more effective than a Word document with some pretty pictures. Unity or Flash are both great tools to nail down the details as you are writing the documentation.

“I strongly recommend learning to program. Nowadays, knowing Flash or some code is nearly required for designers hoping to get their foot in the door”

Brenda Brathwaite Game designer Freelance/Savannah College of Art and Design

What about a portfolio? How easy is it to put together a portfolio? Any tips? Shay Casey: It’s really easy – just design games! All good videogame designs are based on the same principles that make any game fun: balance, risk vs reward, a steady learning curve, exciting dynamic events, etc. You don’t need anything special to start. You can create a game with blank 3 x 5 cards, or a broken pencil, a coin and Sellotape. There are no limits. A portfolio for a game designer is really just a collection of the best games that you have made; games that are fun to play.

What’s the best way to get work experience? I’d like to gain some knowledge in the field. How should I go about that? Shay Casey: Mod teams are one of the best places to get started, assuming that you pick the right project. My first real game project was with an amazing team of guys working on a full conversion Half-Life 2 mod called Nuclear Dawn. We were just doing it for free because we believed in the project. That and the concept art was really amazing. Everyone on Nuclear Dawn ended up working somewhere in the industry within a year. It was an amazing learning experience, since the team structure was a lot like a typical development studio. I had the opportunity to become familiar with a lot of industryspecific terminology and learn how the artwork pipeline, documentation, engine programming, character modelling and rigging, level design, etc, were all handled and see at first hand the problems as they came up and what the team did to solve them. Getting paid would just have been an added bonus! Tom Sloper: It’s tricky because the game industry has very few entry-level positions for junior game designers. Level design and quality assurance (QA) are probably the two best entry pathways for aspiring game designers.

What’s the pay like? WIZARDRY 8: Brenda Brathwaite worked on the Wizardry series since the age of 16. She was involved with the world, level, narrative and system design for Wizardry 8 © 2001 Sirtech Software, Inc

Any idea of the sort of salary I can expect? Tom Sloper: According to the latest 2008 figures from Game Developer magazine’s annual Salary Survey, a game designer with under three years’ experience in the industry earns an average of $44,000. Since that’s an

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CA R EER FOCUS

Industry insight Brenda Brathwaite Game designer, game consultant and college tutor Freelance and Savannah College of Art and Design

SAVIOR OF THE BROKEN: Casey’s skills in illustration are transferable to game design, giving his interactive projects added style as a result © Shay Casey

NUCLEAR DAWN: This first-person shooter is based on the Half-Life 2 engine from Valve. Casey worked on the user interface and produced concept art for the weapons and environments © Shay Casey

“I have been making games for as long as I can remember. My first game was a level made out of Lego when I was about six years old. I started working for SirTech Software when I was 15 on the Wizardry series, and made the decision to stay with Sir-Tech against joining IBM in 1989 when I finished college. So, I basically got started playing videogames. It’s my job to memorise them and then when people call wondering how to kill the wizard on the tenth level, I tell them how. Gradually, I took on bigger and bigger jobs. I worked with the designers on little tasks, finding items, tweaking missions, doing some writing, editing systems, figuring out maths stuff, until I got in a design role, too. Ultimately, when I left Sir-Tech in 2001 I was working on the world, level, narrative and system design of Wizardry and, to a lesser extent, writing in the Jagged Alliance series. The key here is to look up, get the trust of your team-mates and powers that be, and grow. Games are dynamic, and if you want to be something in this medium then you need to be dynamic, too. From Sir-Tech, I went to Atari for a few years, then to Cyberlore and finally to freelance and a gig teaching game design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I am presently working on a series of nondigital art games that explore difficult topics.”

How can I enhance my work or ensure a project of mine progresses? average, your mileage could vary – especially if your experience is far below three years.

Any other advice? Do you have any other useful tips? Shay Casey: Start small and do everything yourself – art, UI, programming, marketing, branding and so on, then find a big team to work with. Or vice versa, the order doesn’t matter. Identify the parts of the process that are the same and the parts that are different. Figure out how each process could really help inform the other and make them more efficient. Also, play a lot of games and make as many as you can. Tom Sloper: Major in whatever interests you. Take courses in all kinds of subjects, because a videogame essentially creates worlds. You need to know everything about how worlds work. Also, work in a collaboration on indie games and take whatever game job you can get. Brenda Brathwaite: Play games every single day and collect game mechanics. Grok the games that must be grokked to understand why players got as deep into them as they did (Civilization, World of Warcraft, Doom and so on). You simply must have a head full of game information to draw upon, the same way that artists in other mediums do.

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Shay Casey Creative director and game designer H.grenade

“Talk to everyone that you can in the game development industry because a game designer needs to understand the artwork, the technology, the story and characters as well as basic game mechanics. Every project has its own trials and successes”

{

Want to know more? Here are some additional resources that may prove useful to you

Inspirational websites www.skillset.org/games; www.gamesrecruit.co.uk

Essential training

TIGA Diploma in Game Design

WHAT OTHER SOFTWARE PACKAGES WILL I BE USING?

As Brathwaite recommends, learning how to program would definitely be beneficial to any wannabe game designers out there. So if you know how to use Flash or the programming language C++, you’ll definitely be off to a good start. A popular multiplatform gamedevelopment tool is Unity, which Casey tells us he uses. You’ll also be using MS Office tools, such as Excel and Word.

Cost: TBC Location: Home (distance learning) Website: www.train2game.com

BA (Hons) Game Design and Production Management Cost: £1,820 Location: Abertay University Website: www.abertay.ac.uk

Must-have resources Inside Game Design

Author: Iain Simons Publisher: Laurence King Price: £12.97 Website: www.amazon.co.uk

The Art Of Game Design

Author: Jesse Schell Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Price: £33.24 Website: www.amazon.co.uk

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resources

Anime Studio Debut 6 Take the plunge into animation with the latest offering from Smith Micro Manufacturer: Smith Micro Web: www.smithmicro.com Price: $49.99/£29.99 Req: Windows XP, Vista; 500MHz Intel Pentium or equivalent Mac OS X 10.4 or higher (Universal Binary), PowerPC G4/ G5 processor 500MHz or above 250MB free hard drive space 256MB RAM 1,024 x 768 resolution 16-bit colour display CD-ROM drive (for physical version of application)

C

omputer animation can be a bit of a daunting area to get started in. Not only has there been a remarkably high standard out there ever since Woody and Buzz first hit the cinema back in 1995 with Toy Story (was it really that long ago?), but anyone who has ever opened Adobe Flash can tell you it’s not the most intuitive program to cut your animating teeth on. Fortunately, Smith Micro has an option for all of you would-be animators. Anime Studio Debut 6 is an affordable entrylevel animation program for beginners. Upon opening the software, you’re offered a useful tutorial that gently guides you into the general options Anime Studio can offer you. The tutorial is short, efficient and wastes no time introducing you to the basics, getting you to the point where you’ll feel comfortable to start experimenting on your own.

THE BOX: An easy introduction to the world of animation

INTERFACE: Anime Studio Debut 6's interface is easy to pick up and avoids the trap of being too technical. Ultimately, this program is ideal for beginners

The layout is clean and will be comfortingly familiar to Photoshop users; almost everything is in the same place, with the toolbox on the left and layers on the right. The only real difference is the animation timeline, which is nestled out of the way on the bottom of the screen. Even the icons themselves echo our favourite pixelpushing app; things like the Paintbucket, Text tool and Shape tools are all there, making it easier to learn the new symbols quickly. Animating is surprisingly intuitive, especially with a graphics tablet. Drawing shapes is a painless task, with the option of adding additional editing points at any stage of your drawing. Of course, you also have the option of scanning in your artwork, but it really is easiest to work directly into the program. Everything is vector based so you won’t have to worry about artwork scaling causing a drop-off in quality. Drawing on multiple layers allows you to approach the elements of your animation one at a time, so everything is easy to manage and you won’t end up accidentally ruining the previous elements you’ve drawn. Anime Studio has an easy-to-use bonerigging system that lets you define the areas of your image that you’d like to move. Giving characters their skeleton is surprisingly

“Anime Studio has an easy-touse bone-rigging system that lets you define the areas of your image that you’d like to move” straightforward; a little bit of pointing and clicking gives you a fully working skeleton that can be easily manipulated with a single tool. You can also control how much influence each bone has on the next one; for example, you can edit the area of influence so that when you move a character’s foot it will drag the entire leg with it, but the head can move independently of the rest of the body. Things like this take a lot of pain out of animating. You won’t have to laboriously render any additional elements for your characters, as Anime Studio will generate all of the in-between art for you from your existing picture; you just need to select the relevant point

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Animation showcase

See what other professionals have made with Anime Studio

GOOD BONE STRUCTURE: Just a few clicks and drags of the mouse and we added a working skeleton structure to this little fella

DOES WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN: Push and pull his limbs on a later frame, and Anime Studio automatically fills in the transition stages for you

Curious to see what sort of animation you could achieve if you mastered the Debut version and worked up to Anime Studio Pro 6? If you check the Gallery link from the Smith Micro website (http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/anime), you will see not only some video tutorials but a whole set of examples where people have used Anime Studio for professional projects. We recommend checking out the link for the very funky music video Soundtracks and Comebacks featuring a fish-turned-DJ for the music group Goldfish, whose video was animated by South African artist Mike Scott (www.bruandboegie.co.za) – but be warned, it’s a severely catchy song that will probably be stuck in your head for the best part of a week! The animations from Anime Studio Pro 6 are of a slightly higher quality than can be achieved by the Debut version of Anime Studio because the Pro version gives you a few more versatile options, while it can also handle more complex tasks and lengthier animations, but they will give you a good idea of the style of animation that you can make with both versions if you practise with them and help you to see if this software is what you’re looking for.

in the timeline and move your character’s body parts into place. If you’re not interested in the art side of things but still want to make animations, then you’re in luck. There’s an extensive library of ready-to-use content, including fully rigged anime-style characters and sound effects so you can jump straight to the action. As soon as you are done, you can upload your animations directly to YouTube from within Anime Studio so you can share your work in minutes. Anime Studio Debut 6 also supports SWF Flash files, AVI and MOV movie files. So, any downsides? Although this is a very good place to start learning, the level of animation you’ll be producing won’t exactly be giving the guys at Pixar a run for their money; the appearance of the bone-rigging animation does give away that you haven’t done all of the hard work for yourself. The way some of the animation is stretched or squashed to match the bones doesn’t always appear natural and you’re limited to a flat-perspective fixed view, but you could definitely contend with the guys at South Park. The animations will only run up to two minutes, but you’re probably not setting out to

remake the Lord of the Rings trilogy if you’re just starting out, so that’s not a major factor. The cost is a good few hundred pounds cheaper than Adobe Flash CS4 (and dare we say it, Anime Studio 6 is a lot more stable than CS4, which still feels like it was rushed to be included with the CS4 suite) and the learning curve is nice and gentle thanks to the start-up guide’s tutorial. The interface and functions of Anime Studio 6 are very intuitive and you will be using it confidently in no time. People with animation experience who are after a more finished quality that they can show off will most likely get a bit frustrated by the limited options Anime Studio Debut 6 has to offer and would be advised to look towards Anime Studio Pro 6. 5

JUST MAKE SURE THE BOSS DOESN’T CATCH YOU: Smith Micro host links to numerous examples of Anime Studio animations, but don’t blame us if you’re still humming to Soundtracks and Comebacks next month!

“As soon as you are done, you can upload your animations directly to YouTube from Anime Studio”

resources

MEET FRANK: During the course of the introductory tutorial, you’ll learn to animate Frank. No, we have no idea what he is either…

SUMMARY: Great for newcomers to animation because of an easy learning curve, controls designed to feel familiar and a very reasonable price. It’s closer to South Park than Pixar, so experienced animators may want to look elsewhere.

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resources

Poser 8

The latest version of this 3D character modelling software is a great resource for Photoshop portraitists Manufacturer: Smith Micro Web: www.smithmicro.com Price: £189.99/$249.99 Req: Windows XP/Vista Mac OS X DVD-ROM drive 512MB RAM OpenGL-enabled graphics card or chipset 2GB free disk space 1,024 x 768 screen resolution 24-bit colour display Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox equivalent for content add-ons

P

oser is traditionally thought of as 3D animation and rendering software, but for advanced Photoshop users it packs much more of a punch. The trend for rendered portraits as opposed to digitally painted ones has made it a part of the workflow of many digital portraitists, particularly those whose requirements can’t be filled by either stock photos or shooting their own references. Whether you’re creating concept art for a 3D film or game or whether you want to create a figure that’s more otherworldly than a standard human model, then Poser is an excellent resource. The latest iteration of the software is Poser 8 and this sports quite a few advantages over its predecessors. Eight new figures are featured, including males and females that tick all the basic boxes for natural skin colour and physical build. Asian models have suitably lidded eyes while Hispanic ones have a subtle skin tone to set them apart from darker and lighter shades. The way these figures are represented in the interface has changed as well – they’re tighter, smoother and we found them easier to manoeuvre. The improved user interface means that we can grab an arm or leg and manipulate it more accurately, thanks to clear highlighting that shows exactly

EASIER FACIAL MANIPULATION: Morph points are now more intuitive to use in the new release

MORE CONTROL OVER POSING: Accurately manipulate a range of models, including eight completely new figures

SLEEK NEW INTERFACE: Finding your way around the software is simple

which body part is under your control. Of course, it is still possible to bend these mannequins, as they’re now called, into unrealistic contortions, but you run less risk of doing it accidentally. Bodily creases and joints such as knees, elbows and so on have been smoothed for ease of use, which also makes manipulation easier. Facial morph points are also more intuitive and easier to use. Despite the program’s size, we found that it didn’t suffer from the same memory overload and lag problems as previous iterations, allowing us to make minute changes to facial models in realtime, such as tweaking the size of noses, altering the expression around eyes and narrowing or widening chins and cheeks. To use Poser 8 to its full potential, you’ll need all of its default content installed, and this

process unfortunately hasn’t changed from the last version. In digital downloads, they’re still separated into several files: the install client, weighing in at nearly 700MB, over a gigabyte of separate content specifically for Poser 8, and that amount again in legacy models from older versions of the software. There are also plenty of excellent Poser resources on www. contentparadise.com for you to fritter away your download limit on, and we found a great range of models and scripts that allow users to create realistic or cartoonish creatures and figures. Smith Micro, the company behind Poser, is well aware of its utility to digital artists. For Photoshop users the primary focus is on lighting and texture, and these have been improved a great deal in Poser 8. Up to eight configurable light sources can be utilised in order to illuminate your model, while a wide range of textures can be applied to a figure’s skin or the material it’s wearing. 5 SUMMARY: An excellent upgrade for previous Poser users and an ideal entry point for Photoshoppers who want to experiment with 3D manipulation and portraits or experiment with 3D animation.

9/10

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resources

EIZO ColorEdge CG243W LCD monitor We uncover what EIZO’s latest ColorEdge LCD has to offer the creative Manufacturer: EIZO Web: www.eizo.co.uk Price: £1,399/$2,798 excluding VAT and local taxes Specs: 1,920 x 1,200 native resolution 850:1 contrast ratio DUE (Digital Uniformity Equalizer) functionality Supplied monitor hood and cleaning equipment Five-year warranty

SMOOTH PLAYBACK: The CG243W has a 6ms midtone response time especially for video editing and playback of moving images, making it a great option for multimedia designers

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t’s not so much an issue of size, but more about technology. EIZO has added to its ColorEdge 24-inch series with the CG243W LCD monitor, and this new model aims to cater for a wider creative audience. The company has improved the stabilisation technology for brightness and colour quality in its latest model, and also includes specific presets for the optimum setup for moving images. EIZO has given a lot of focus to make this monitor ideal for multimedia designers. Its 24.1-inch screen gleams off its plastic stand, and the widescreen frame can be spun left and right, slide up and down, and even pivot 90 degrees to edit in portrait mode. All of the monitor’s function buttons are aligned along the bottom of the screen, and never seen before on EIZO monitors is a user interface that’s been designed to show the command of each physical button on screen, which is ideal if you’re working in low light. The monitor comes with ColorNavigator, its own calibration software. This allows you to set brightness, white point and gamma values, although a separate measurement device is needed. Compatible brands of measurement devices include ColorMunki, Eye-One and DataColor. The ColorNavigator software synchronises with the monitor’s 12-bit look-up table for a fast calibration to achieve best results. EIZO’s newest addition uses a 3D look-up table, making adjustments on a mixed-colour cubic table rather than assessing RGB values on separate tables. This may sound complicated but means neutral greys are rendered to a high

standard, with a hand from the monitor’s 16-bit internal processor for this exact purpose. The monitor has impressive colour and tonal depth, which is down to its native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200. Couple this with its 850:1 contrast ratio and colours truly bounce off the screen. Let’s not get carried away, however, as its price tag isn’t easily swallowed. At £1,399/$2,798 this would be a serious first-time buy, and only then for designers with deep pockets. The CG243W reproduces 98 per cent of the Adobe colour space. That’s up from 96 per cent on the previous model, the CG241W. The subtle increase gives an advantage to photographers shooting in Adobe RGB mode to reproduce more of the colour spectrum on-screen.

A common problem found with LCD monitors is an inconsistency with brightness and colour intensity from corner to corner. Fortunately, the monitor comes with a DUE (Dual Uniformity Equalizer) function to improve performance across the entire surface of the screen. For digital artists using every last inch of their monitor, this feature makes a noticeable difference. The CG243W hits the middle ground on size and does it with superb results. We were impressed with the monitor’s depth and contrast, making it the ideal multimedia choice. If you’re not dismayed by its price, we recommend this ColorEdge screen for digital artists dealing with video streams to photo retouching. 5 SUMMARY: Not only is the CG243W aimed at multimedia users with improved stabilisation technology, but it’s ideal for image editing with its resolution of 1,920 x 1,200. At 24.1 inches, the monitor dominates desk space.

ALL-ROUND ACCESSIBILITY: EIZO points its new model at not only graphic designers and photographers but for artists using video-editing applications, too

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resources

Art of Making Marks

Wacom celebrates 25 years of excellence with this inspiring limited-edition resource Author/Publisher: Ric Holland/IdN Web: www.idnworld.com Price: $40 (approximately £25) About: Discover those who have significantly contributed to Wacom development Interviews with top industry techheads and designers Eclectic mix of inspiring commercial styles Advice and history from worldwide key creatives, including John Derry and Russell Brown

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acom has been at the forefront of digital drawing equipment for many years – 25 in total. In this time the creative industry has eagerly adopted its technology, and Art of Making Marks is a limited edition title that catalogues its progress. Essentially, this editorial resource celebrates the adaptive and creative nature of the Wacom input device and its wider range of application uses. Digital painters, photo retouchers, graphic designers, illustrators and 3D artists will all find this book at least fascinating, if not encouraging. Art of Making Marks serves up an impressive mix of styles from top commercial artists, all producing their design with a little help from drawing tablet technology. The works presented are a real tour de force of commercial design, which not only inspire but also make

apparent the potential for your own artwork when using Wacom devices. The hardback book is littered with industry interviews, timelines and case studies from big hitters, such as VFX technical director Julian Tylney Taylor and Ken Lambert, creative director at Ink Project. Each of these are presented in a question-andanswer format, which offers an insight into the evolution of the artist or studio, and reveals how drawing tablet technology has contributed to their creative progress. There are also more nostalgic case studies from industry techheads, such as Adobe Systems worldwide creative director Russell Brown, who endorse or explain exactly how they have contributed to the Wacom revolution. Artists can take much from these resources, as they not only share interesting secrets but also educate you in what to expect in the commercial arena. This makes Art of Making Marks a highly enlightening read as well as an aesthetic feast. Each case study comes equipped with detailed, coloured thumbnails of project workflows and individual art pieces. This title also presents a Wacom Showcase section. In here, the latest generation of graphics tablet users present their influential design. We found that Jeff Wong (www.jeffwong.com) and Hui Tian (www. huitianart.com) were particularly impressive. Get your copy with free shipping discount for a limited time from http://idnworld.com/discounts/wacom/. 5

Hear from the best: This title presents some of the world’s foremost design pioneers and innovators who use Wacom’s digital drawing devices

Summary: A mixed bag of commercial creative culture and aesthetic delights. Wacom has come a very long way and this limited-edition title reveals how it has carried artists along with it. Interesting and truly inspiring.

8/10

Big Book of Contemporary Illustration Indulge in artistic impression hand over fist with this rewarding creative title Authors/Publisher: Martin Dawber/Anova Books Web: www.anovabooks.com Price: £20/$29.95 About: Authored by Martin Dawber, principle lecturer in fashion at Liverpool John Moores University Over 1,000 illustration examples from 400 commercial artists Covers a range of core traditional and digital media Eight jam-packed themed creative chapters

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hen you hear the title of this book, your mind runs wild with possibilities. The promise of over 1,000 pieces of art from 400 global artists started us salivating at the potential creativity at hand. However, once you lay eyes on the book’s cover you’d be forgiven in thinking that promises are about to be sorely broken. This title doesn’t make the best first impression, but then again looks can be deceiving. Yes, the cover is bland; yes, the graphical layout of the contents and chapter intro pages are elementary at best; and yes, this can make you slightly apprehensive. But when this title gets rolling with the presented imagery, it’s absolutely stunning.

Both traditional and digital styles cohabit the book’s pages. Textiles, pencil, pen and ink, vector and pixel, mixed media and digital paint are some of the mediums applied and represented. Every working example is as unique as the next, which gives the title a rich aesthetic approach and creates visual interest on each page without creative bias. Although the Big Book of Contemporary Illustration offers up a veritable mountain of artwork, it’s all easily digestible for any level of reader. This title spreads its illustration across themed chapters. These include Built Environment, Natural World, Comic, Graphic, Technical and Documentary, Lifestyle, Travel and Imaginary. We were particularly fond in the Advanced Photoshop office of the Technical and Documentary section, especially the designs of Niklas Lundberg (www.diftype.com), Chris Padilla (www.coroflot.com) and Marina Durante (www. duranteillustrations.it). All of the styles on display inspire across a range of projects, including web, editorial, comic, architectural, apparel and advertising design. This is certainly a great resource for those creatives in higher education, and will also accommodate freelancers and design studios looking for inspiration for that big project or personal work. The sheer breadth of design also reinforces that illustration is still an extremely commercially viable styles. 5

Explore artists: If you are particularly fond of an artist’s imagery, why not divulge in more of their design? The Big Book of Contemporary Illustration presents an artist index, including email and web addresses

Summary: A wholly inspirational resource that’s extremely impressive through its diverse styles and mediums. This title demonstrates the possibilities you may never have imagined with an illustrative approach.

8/10

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N! ’s I W ar ion e

We showcase the very best of your artwork

Readers’

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IDEAS PULL THE TRIGGER: “I found this image on iStock. Originally, the woman was holding a camera but this was removed and replaced with an AK-47. I really enjoyed working on the composition of this image, the way it flows. I had a browse on Google and found some interesting gun-related quotes; I then added these as a final touch”

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T d a n ncedpsho s a nd ca . We le e s en plea s es to adv a clud i ng t it 0 -word bio ages i mag .co.u k , i n el l a s a 15 solut ion i m es as w i m ag er-re s h i ng pu bl i e i mages , u for h igh r. En su re d T I F Fs a o e h y e t s for ck to en to app compres a n a l so et b a n s c w i l l g u a re cho s 300dpi u u m . You for mat ion m i n i i f yo i la ble a he i n ag i ne m t h m it a c v a re a Ds , 15 x 15 on a CD w toshop, I m o r P S r i m a g e s n c e d P ho d H o u s e , on y ou th, dv a send i red to A ng, R ich m u r nemou r e q u P u bl i s h i d H i l l , B o Z , E h mo n BH2 6 33 R ic Dor set , i ngdom dK Un ite

The Best in Show winner each month gets a fantastic prize. This month’s winner receives a year’s subscription to Advanced Photoshop

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be great fun and just knew it would l. I find placing lly adds to hop. Most ic; when it works, it rea to work with in Photos toshop CD!” page very therapeut Pho the on ced pes van Ad sha ent ting a rec interes is a stock image from use tho ligh The e. tur the pic azing image on iStock

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ins E sta pire RT I’ve rche d sur MA sen als d an real SK: de se o o add d ho com “ Wit sig f d ed t b po h t s n t ep h o a th. som y kee ition is de dd I th e b pin . I’v sig u g e to en n the ad tterf the tried , I w dre ded ly w colo to ant am sh ire ur ma ed t like ape in t and ke t o cr atm s cu he fo exp he i eat osp t ou reg osu mag e a F he t fro rou re q e fe orti re” m nd ui ese the to te h l sur crea igh . rou te a nd ing

Tom Starley WEB: www.tkstarley.co.uk; www. advancedphotoshop.co.uk/user/tomstarley “I’m 24 and from Stratford in Warwickshire. I’m self-employed and have been for the last four years. I started off designing websites for local businesses and have since started the transition from website to graphic design. Art has always been my thing; I’ve always loved mixing creative thinking with modern technology. I’m relatively new to Photoshop (as previously I used Fireworks), but since I began working with it eight months ago I haven’t looked back! I find this magazine a great source of inspiration and it’s where a lot of my ideas spring from. As soon as I get an idea, I write it down on my Mac or iPhone and sync everything. That way, I’ve always got something up my sleeve for a rainy day. I love mixing other people’s styles and amalgamating them together. Sometimes this doesn’t work, but it’s fun to push the boundaries with shapes and composition.”

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Readers’ gallery

Momentum: “This is a piece that was inspired by some funky and futuristic artwork showing a woman who appears to be disintegrating while flying through a combination of clouds and geometric shapes. I wanted to convey motion, velocity and speed in a way that is unique and aesthetically pleasing at the same time”

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“My mantra? Always push the envelope. My work? An intriguing mixture of old-school graphic design mixed with new-era digital media” Eric Vasquez

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“M vas wo y p o qu r ez. d e r k . I ’ t fo l i o ne m s t; w c o ig n a s ha s s nn ww t e u a pu de v ol ec re .be ha g r s h t h t s t h a l r e nt of v e d nce ap e t ad o e a v .ne b e h ic e n r ad y w r t , a e r v t/e t a r he el el it i c ag d d vas e o e s i g e s i g o p e o n a l l k no h i t e c y e a qu co . n ez8 mp f f ive ner, m i x My w w it h w n t u re r s i n 4 fo r of t a a e o o , t o h n I d w rk my s i n p a t e w d h h em r ? n a e o g d e f i s o A i t t a i s r o m de e r g i m i l y u s i a l r e g r a h ne n i n nt r ad u n i g i t a l p e c q t w p t a t he s i g n ng y , I pu c on d y d he r - e r a r i g u it ion ue s me d e d s o , e i c o U S , r w i u ng r s ue m y h r a w a n i d i g ng m a l . M t y le , i a , a e t of n l i l t e n l a b o I l o v h o n de s d m y o me ng a lu s t r i t a l m i x t u y m a o ne d m em e ig n d a t r n r n c e h c e a t e d o t o a a y d cu o t r re avou ive i y da f t he er s i l l i ng mpu pa i n r a n ia . I of ol r a? A t d d n a nt l r s . n i t i y j l t t w e a f in m a a sc th r n o a yl iv i My p at ive b bu stest e Un d to . Wit g. By mus pro hoo y s da h t ic i u d ng s w t a -gr l as i a t e g h a y s o t l in d e Mi ion f it h o so p w i n Sta sta n e lov 15, n . By o g a t t d l fo o r ea Iw t he mu h e r a r t i c i p u b e s . C a s rd ,C o nd a s p T.” sic i r t ists ate l ish i u r re ne o sup sa ng nt l in p f a s s nd fr c o y a t he or t t ro t a ee m n g v a r l a n c p a g r ap o p a s ie t y e p n ie h ic s ev r e r. o f c o j e c i n ts, I a re a m t iv e

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pro re: “ j hav ect th This w a a onl ing vie t I fel s ano the ine. I wed t insp ther ele wan som ired self me te e g to -in ble nde for va nt of f d to d reat creat itiated e d o i r r d i e o this and us s and some igital after is t ma tock , aft thin wor he nip e g p r w k h res ult ulated otos search ith tha tha i i n t I c Ph t w ng am oto ere e u sho p w p, ith! ”

Amylea Zulhilmi Web: www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/ user/amylea “I’m 14 years old. I was born in Brunei but am currently studying in the UK. I discovered Photoshop in May 2009 and it has captured my interest ever since. During my free time, I search for inspiration on the internet and then I’ll let my imagination spark in Photoshop. I’m hoping to study Graphic Design at university when I’m old enough. It’s also my goal to work as a graphic designer but, for now, I still need to improve my skills.”

to keep

ided ink boy: “I dec Pret ty ce simple. There are er.

p this pie on the pa nd writing into blotches a k. He is dissolving m is in n fro a m e th The man t irls. I go RT” ink and sw Stock on deviantA Katanaz-

Colourful Soul: “This is an experimental, self-initiated piece that I created using a variety of lighting effects, blending modes and custom brushes. I wanted to do something fun, expressive and colourful, while still being able to venture into a new style”

Gartland Inspired: “This is one of my very first pieces! I wanted it to look vibrant and happy so I chose bright purple for the main colour so that the girl stood out. I got the girl from ModelARIA--STOCK from deviantART”

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GOOD VS EVIL: “Good vs Evil was produced for the

ultivate UR THIRST: “Cthe Cocato CULTIVATE YO ed at dic piece de

llYour Thirst is a of the most we ca-Cola is one I simply . rld Cola bottle. Co wo e th in s known soft drink an art piece with the y to make up with” decided one da ’s what I came bottle, and that

fourth exhibition of DigitalFlow.org. Normally, good would be represented with white and bad would be black, but as an artist who loves working with colours, I had to make my work and concept stand out and be different”

What you can win…

Readers’ gallery

Kofi Ansah WEB: http://degodson.com “I am a 20-year-old self-taught digital artist, originally born in Ghana but brought up in Milan, Italy. I always had an interest in art from the age of 12 and started designing using Photoshop at the age of 18 during a gap year from university. Two years on, I’ve developed myself and adapted a personal style that makes me stand out from the crowd. I started off doing large image manipulation pieces, then my work has recently developed into being mainly abstract or conceptual digital/vector works, created fully in Photoshop. Most of the time my work is recognised, appreciated for the colours I use and the concept behind them.“I I’ve THE MOVEMENT: am been living in the UK for the past six or seven years. I exploring the American hippy era as the subject for a and finished my two-year Digital Media course in 2007 series of3D pieces that displayat I am currently at university studying Animation my understanding of that Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, particular movement” based in Chiselhurst, Kent. I’m also the founder of international art group DigitalFlow.org (http://digitalflow. org/), which was established a year ago with two other friends. Our aim mainly exists to produce astonishing artwork with the artists we have on our team.” LOVE AR T: “I love ar by t

and was in the ‘I Love sp N time are pr Y’ logo, which most ired of the in te d on white was a desi T-shirts. Th gn piece to is prove my lo enthusiasm ve and for art”

Each month, one of the featured artists is selected as Best in Show. This artist will win a fantastic prize**. This month, the lucky winner will receive a year’s subscription to Advanced Photoshop magazine. That’s 13 issues of this title delivered to your door each month.

H RT * O W

8 7 £

• One year’s worth - 13 issues - of Advanced Photoshop • Delivered directly to your door • Get it before it hits the shops • Worth £78* Terms and conditions

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By submitting images to Advanced Photoshop’s Readers’ Gallery, you hereby grant Imagine Publishing and, if relevant, clients to whom the relevant work has been provided, an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free licence to use such intellectual property in relation to work similar or equivalent to the work. This includes the right to showcase work on multimedia formats. By submitting work, you also confirm that your images do not infringe any copyright regulations should they be published. * Based on UK cover price of £5.99 an issue **Prizes change frequently

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