High resolution racing flags photoshop file that is 200mm by 200mm and 300dpi.

]]> http://psdtuts.com/freebies/psd/race-flags-psd/feed/ http://psdtuts.com/tutorials/drawing/how-to-create-a-classic-guitar-from-scratch-in-photoshop/ http://psdtuts.com/tutorials/drawing/how-to-create-a-classic-guitar-from-scratch-in-photoshop/#comments Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:54:11 +0000 Rama Kathare http://psdtuts.com/?p=524 ]]> In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to design a Classic Guitar. We’ll be creating each shape and effect used to make this in Photoshop. No outside images or textures are used. We will make extensive use of the Shape Tools, the Warp Tools, and various effects to achieve the final design. Let’s rock this digital illustration!

Final Image Preview

Let’s take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join PSDTUTS PLUS for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below. Also, we recently published a guitar illustration tutorial called Design a Shiny Bass Guitar Illustration Using Photoshop, though this one has a different result.

Step 1

Create a new document with a width of 600px and height of 1000px. Set the resolution to 100 and Background contents to White. Fill the "Background" layer with #dbdbdb. Drag one horizontal and one vertical guide to the center of the canvas. Press D to load the default foreground and background colors.

Grab the Ellipse Tool (U), open the Geometry Options window, Select Fixed Size, then set the width and height to 200, and turn on From Center. Alt-click exactly on the Intersection of the guides. A circle shape is formed.

Now drag two horizontal and two vertical guides, and snap them to the circle. These guides will help you to understand the scale that I use while warping our circle into the Guitar’s body shape.

Step 2

Go to Edit > Transform > Warp, and warp the circle as shown below, then apply it. Play around until you are satisfied with the shape you get. Now, rasterize the Shape (Layers > Rasterize > Shape). Change the name of the layer to "Body."

Press Command + T and check the dimensions of our image. Transform your shape to match the dimensions shown below. I recommend you to do so, to maintain the scale and perspective used in this tutorial. Duplicate the "Body" layer to the "Rib" and hide this layer. We will be using this later.

Step 3

Move the "Body" Layer to the top. Change the foreground color to #ac6c2c and background color to #975415. Go to Filters > Render > Fibers and change the Variance to 4 and Strength to 64, then click OK.

Change the foreground color to #683604 and background color to #9f5007. Apply a Gradient Overlay with the gradient set to Foreground to Transparent and use the values shown below. Apply a stroke with a fill type of Gradient and Gradient set to Foreground to Background, with the values shown below.

Step 4

Now unhide the "Rib" layer and move it 35px right. Change the Foreground color to #90381a. Command-click on the layer icon to load the selection. Fill the selection with a Foreground color. Now go to Filters > Noise > Add Noise. Set the amount to 8 and click OK. Apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings shown below.

Step 5

Create a new layer at the top and name it "Rosette." Get the Eliptical Marquee Tool (M), set the style to Fixed Size, and set both Width and Height to 100px. Alt-click on the center, then fill the selection with the foreground color #90381a. Press Command + D to deselect.

Pick the Move Tool (V), and press the Up Arrow Key five times, while holding the Shift key to move the "Rosette" layer 50px up. Swap the foreground and Background colors. Next, render Fibers with a variance of 4 and strength set to 64. Apply an Inner Shadow with the settings shown below.

Step 6

Create a new layer name it "R_Ring." Get the Eliptical Marquee tool. This time fix the height and width to 120px. Alt-click in the center. Change the foreground color to #ffe47c. Fill the selection with the foreground color.

Again, get the ELiptical Marquee Tool, fix the height and width to 105. Alt-click in the center and hit Delete. Move the "R_Ring" layer 50px up. Set the Layer Blending Mode to Soft Light. Go to Layer Styles and Apply Bevel & Emboss with the settings shown below.

Step 7

Let’s create the bridge next. Create a new layer and and name it "Bridge." Pick the Polygon Tool (U), then change the sides to 3 and color to black. Draw a Rectangle as shown below Go to Edit > Transform Path > Warp, and mold the shape into something as shown below, then apply it. You can take any basic shape and transform it into any complex shape you need, just maintain the perspective.

Using the Move Tool, move the "Bridge" to snap it to the guides as shown. Change the Foreground color to #90381a and background to #ac6c2c, Go to Filters > Render > Fibers, and apply fibers with a variance of 8 and strength of 64. Set the Layer Blending Mode to Color Burn. Apply a Bevel & Emboss. Create a new layer and name it "Bridge1."

Set foreground color to #dcad9d. Command-click the "Bridge" layer icon to make a selection. Go to Select > Modify > Contract, and set the value to 3px, then click OK. Fill the selection with the foreground color, set the layer Blending Mode to Soft Light and deselect. Apply a Drop Shadow to the "Bridge" layer with the settings shown below.

Step 8

Now, let’s make the saddle. Make a new layer name it "Saddle." Set the foreground color to white and
background color to #807f7e. Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Open the Geometry options, select Fixed size, then set the width to 63px and height to 487px.

Click somewhere on the Canvas and rasterize the layer. Render fibers with a variance of 14 and strength of 64. Press Command + T, Rotate the image to 90 degrees, and move the image to the center. Change the values for Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale to 20% and 10% respectively, then press Enter two times. Move the shape over the "Bridge" layer. Apply Bevel & Emboss with the settings shown below.

Step 9

Now we will make the nuts. Create a new layer and name it "Nut1" Pick up the Ellipse Tool. Open the Geometry Options window, then change the width and height to 20px. Click anywhere on the canvas. Apply Bevel & Emboss and Contour with the values shown below.

Set the foreground color to black. Pick up the Brush tool and set the diameter to 5px. Click once in the middle of the Circle. Command + T on "Nut1." Enter 50% for both Horizontal and Vertical Scale and apply it. Duplicate the "Nut1" layer five times and name them "Nut2," "Nut3," and so on. Move each "Nut" layer to align them as shown below.

Step 10

Let’s create the neck of the guitar next. First, lets move all the layers down. Hold down the Shift key and select all the layers except the background. Pick up the Move tool. Hold down the Shift key and press the Down Arrow seventeen times to move everything 170px down. I removed all the guides. Press D to load default foreground and background colors. Now make a new layer and name it "Neck."

Pick up the Rectangle Tool. Open the Geometry options and set the width to 75px and height to 425px. Click on the canvas and place the rectangle as shown. Go to Edit > Transform > Perspective and drag the top right corner of the Rectangle approximately 10px to the left. Rasterize the layer, then set the foreground color to #875545 and background color to#48260d. Render fibers with a Variance of 1 and Strength of 64.

Step 11

Now duplicate the "Neck" layer and name it as "Heel." While the "Heel" layer is highlighted Command-click the "Body" layer. Press the Up Arrow button three times to move the selection 3px up. Hit the Delete key.

Now go to Filter > Liquify. Choose the Forward Warp Tool (W), and manipulate the image as shown below. Press OK and return to the main window. Place the "Heel" layer below the "Body" layer. Apply a Gradient Overlay to the "Heel" layer with the settings shown.

Duplicate the "Neck" layer name it "NeckSide." Command-click the "NeckSide" layer icon to load the selection and fill the layer with a Black color. Move the layer 2px right. Place the "NeckSide" layer below the "Body" layer.

Apply Bevel & Emboss to the "Neck" Layer the values shown below. Command-click the "rosette" layer and press Delete key. Now click on the “R_Ring” layer, Command-click the "Neck" layer and hit the Delete key. Click on the "Neck" layer and apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings shown below.

Step 12

Now let’s make some rivets. Create a new Layer, name it "Rivet." Pick the Eliptical Marquee Tool. Set both the height and width to 10 pixels. Click on the canvas and fill the selection with white. Apply an Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay with the values shown below. Duplicate the "Rivet" layer seven times, name them as "Rivet2," "Rivet3"…."Rivet8." Hide all this "Rivet" layers for now.

Step 13

Now we’ll create the guitar’s frets. Create new layer, name it as "Fret." Grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool, set the width to 100 and height to 10px. Click on the canvas and fill the selection with wight. Pick the Gradient Tool, apply the gradient from black to white as below. Press Command + D to deselect.

Go to Edit > Transform > Warp. Drag all the corners and place the fret as shown. Press Command + T and transform the image as shown below. Take the Eraser Tool (E) and erase the edges. Duplicate the "Fret" layer several times and align them as shown. Merge all the Fret layers name it as "Fret" and change the Layer Blending to Hard Light. Pick up the Eraser Tool and erase the extra edges.

Step 14

Now it’s time to unhide our rivets. Unhide the "Rivet" layers and align them as shown. Merge all the rivet layers to name the resulting layer to "Rivet." Apply a Gradient Overlay with a gradient of Transparent to Black using the settings shown below.

Step 15

Now let’s draw the headstock. Make a new layer below the "neck" layer. Name it "HeadStock," and change the foreground color to black. Pick the Pen Tool and draw the shape shown below. Rasterize the layer, then go to Filter > Liquify. Liquify the image as shown below. Click OK and return to main window.

Duplicate the "HeadStock" and name it "Headstockside". Move it below the "Headstock" layer. Click on the "HeadStock" layer. Set the foreground color to #875545 and background color to #48260d. Render Fibers with a Variance of 4 and Strength of 64. Copy and Paste the Layer Style of "Neck" layer onto the "HeadStock" layer.

Modify the Gradient Overlay settings of the "HeadStock" layer as shown below. Now click on the "HeadStockSide" layer, grab the Move Tool, and move the layer 6px to the right.

Step 16

Now we will create a nut below the headstock. First, duplicate the "Saddle" layer and name it "NutTop." Bring it to the front. Place it below the Headstock. Now press Command + T and transform it to fit into the desired place as shown below. Erase the extra edges if any are present.

Step 17

Now it’s time to create pegs. Change the foreground color to #e9e8e8. Make a new layer name it "Peg1." Pick up the Ellipse Tool and set a fixed size of 15px width and 20px height. Click on the canvas to draw an ellipse. Apply a Bevel & Emboss and Gradient Overlay with the settings shown. I selected the gradient type Silver from the Metals preset.

Rasterize the layer, then create a new layer and merge the "Peg1" layer with it. Name the
new layer "Peg1." Now duplicate "Peg1" two times and name the new layers "Peg2" and "Peg3."

Now click on the "Peg2" layer. Press Command + T and transform the image with a Horizontal scale of 90%. Apply the same to the "Peg3" layer with a Horizontal Scale of 70%. Create a new layer below the peg layers, name it "Peg_A." Pick up the Rectangle Shape Tool with a fixed width of 5px and Height 10px. Click on the canvas to draw a rectangle. Apply a Gradient Overlay and Rasterize the layer. Duplicate the "Peg_A" layer to "Peg_B" and "Peg_C." Align "Peg1" and "peg_A" as shown below. Similarly align "Peg_B" and "Peg2" as well as "Peg_C" and "Peg3."

Now merge "Peg_A" and "Peg1" layers. Similarly "Peg_B" and "Peg2." Also, "Peg_C" and "Peg3." Move the pegs to align them to the headstock as shown. Now Shift-click on each peg layer to select all the three peg layers. Press Command + T. Apply a transformation as shown below, and be sure to match the perspective of the "Headstock" layer. Now align them with the headstock as shown below.

Merge the three Peg layers and name the resulting layer "Pegs_right." Duplicate the "Pegs_right" layer and name it "Pegs_left." Move the "Pegs_left" to the other side of the headstock. Press Command + T and apply a Horizontal transformation. Move it near the headstock. Perform a manual rotation until it matches the perspective of the headstock. Now place the "pegs_left" layer below the "headstock" layer.

Step 18

Now create a new layer and name it "small_peg." Pick up the Ellipse Tool and make a small circle with a fixed width and height of 15px. Apply a Bevel & Emboss and a Gradient Overlay with settings shown below.

Make a new layer and draw a circle just above the "Small_Peg" with a fixed height and width of 8px. Apply a Gradient Overlay to the new layer as shown below. Merge this layer with the "Small_peg" layer and name it "Small_Peg1." Duplicate the "Small_Peg1" layer multiple times: "Small_peg2," "Small_peg3" …"Small_peg6," then arrange them as shown below. Merge them into a new layer named "Small_Peg." Change the Layer Blending Mode of the "Small_Peg" layer to Hardlight.

Step 19

Now we’ll create the last part of our guitar, which is the strings. Make a new layer name it "string." Take the Brush Tool with a diameter of 1px, and click just above the black part of the "Nut1" layer. Next Shift-click on the "NutTop" to form a line as shown below. Make five more lines similarly on the same layer. Apply a Gradient Overlay and a Drop Shadow with the settings shown below.

Step 20

Now we have to connect these strings to the pegs. Make a new layer and name it "strings1." Take the Brush Tool and draw six lines as shown below. Change the Layer Blending Mode of the "strings1" layer to Hardlight.

Step 21

Merge all the layers except the "background" layer. Name it "Guitar." Duplicate the "Guitar" layer to "Guitar1." Command-click the "Guitar1" layer icon and fill the selection with Black. Hide this layer for now.

Click on the "Guitar" layer. Press Command + T and rotate the image 10 degrees. Unhide the "Guitar1" layer and move it below the "Guitar" layer. Go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Apply it with a radius of 6px. With the Move Tool position it to the right side of the Guitar and lower the Opacity to 15%.

Step 22

Now we’ll work on creating a new layer between the "Guitar1" and "Guitar" layers. Pick up the Elliptical Marquee Tool, change fixed size to normal, then draw a selection and fill it with black as shown. Deselect the selection, then apply a Gaussian Blur with a Radius of 50px.

Step 23

Now click on the the "Background" layer. Change the foreground color to black and background color to #f18162. Pick up the Gradient Tool(G) and set the gradient to Foreground to Background, apply the gradient from the right bottom corner to the center of the canvas. The resulting background is shown below.

Conclusion

Hope you learned something new and had fun in this tutorial, and you rocked this guitar.

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Please note: this article contains some mild artistic nudity.

1. Marta Dahlig

Marta is a long-standing Deviant Artist. She is 22 and from Poland, and she has been with DeviantArt since early 2003. During that time her amazing artwork and community involvement has made her work easily recognizable on the Deviant Art site. Her series of the seven deadly sins are pure perfection and a must see for any aspiring digital painter.

• Website

2. Daniel Conway

Daniel is a 23 year old lad who is currently living in the UK. He has spent 3 years studying both traditional art and digital animation. Currently however, he has been teaching himself the art of digital painting. His self teaching has certainly paid off, because his portfolio is truly amazing.

• Website

3. Marek Okon

Marek is also another digital painter from Poland. He is 27 and has some incredible talent. While he has been painting and doing web design for a while, it was only recently that he started he digital painting career. As you can see by looking at some his work, Mark is very into the sci-fi world. As a result, his work creates scenes that are truly creative and futuristic.

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4. Cris de Lara

Who says all digital painting has to be complex sci-fi art? Cris has an awesome digital painting portfolio filled with a wider variety of subjects. Cris is currently living in Canada and started her jump into the digital painting world by learning traditional painting first. She first started with oil painting, but has now grown into doing work with comic books, illustrations, and TV.

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5. Artgerm

Artgerm is the studio head and creative director of the talented digital painting studio Imaginary Friends. He is obsessed with Manga comics and this shows in some of his work. When not painting, he studies various other medias and styles as well as designs t-shirts.

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6. Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe

Lorenz is a freelance digital artist born in Germany. After finishing his studies, he decided to freelance full time and has been doing quite well at it. He mostly works with clients in the entertainment industry such as movies, video games, and books. The majority of his digital painting skills are self taught.

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7. Alon Chou

Alon started working at a gaming studio doing 3D modeling work, but was more interested in his 2D work so he decided to leave his job. Today he works as a freelancer doing digital painting and other 2D jobs. Mostly he does character and scene designs for games and movies.

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8. Linda Bergvist

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If you are into CG and digital painting, you have probably seen the EXPOSÉ and EXOTIQUE books. If so, you have also seen some of Linda’s work. Here digital paintings are no stranger to collections of great digital artwork. She likes to use a combination of Corel Painter and Photoshop to create her digital painting masterpieces.

9. Aleksi Briclot

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Aleksi mostly works in the video game industry using his talents as a digital painter for creating concept imagery for game designs. Aleksi’s work isn’t limited to sci-fi digital paintings, but can also be found in books, comics, and a variety of magazines.

10. Goro Fujita

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Goro was born in Japan, but moved to Germany where he currently lives today. Shortly after high school, Goro began freelancing with graphic design and programming. This led to his interest in animation and digital painting. Today he focuses mostly of digital painting and 3D animation. He currently works as a visual development director for feature films.

11. Jason Chan

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Jason is from San Francisco and has been pretty successful in the digital painting community. His unique, child like sci-fi style has allowed him to create his own little niche in the community. You may have seen some of his work on the popular card game, Magic the Gathering.

12. Bobby Chui

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Bobby started learning about digital painting by being an extremely active member on the CG Society website. Today he is not only an amazing digital painter, but also the owner of Imaginism Studios in Toronto. It is here where he teaches other about digital painting techniques. His art has won a number of awards and is very different from many of the other artists featured here today.

13. Robert Kim

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Here we have another amazing young deviant artist who is filled with talent. Robert is 22 and from Calgary, Canada. He draws much of his inspiration from games, anime, and art. His digital painting offers a nice change from the complexly detailed images of many other digital painters. His style crafts together a mix of creative imagery and traditional painting to formulate an outstanding finished product.

14. Craig Sellars

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Currently, Craig works as a freelance visual development artist. Mostly this means he works in the video game industry as a concept designer. In the years past he has worked with Walt Disney Features and the behemoth video game company Electronic Arts.

15. Vitaly Samarin Alexius

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Vitaly was born in 1984 in south central Siberian Russia. In 1998 Vitaly moved half way across the world to Toronto. It is here that he began his journey into learning the world of art, Photoshop, and digital painting. He has a created a style unique to his name which he likes to call “dreamisim.” He currently works as a photographer and illustrator.

16. Frederic St-Arnaud

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You have probably seen a ton of Frederic’s work without even knowing it. He has been in the business for over 11 years and has worked some really big names. He has learned everything from basic drawing to 3D animation. Some of his most popular projects include major motion picture posters such as Sin City, Indiana Jones, and Death Race.

17. Raphael Lacoste

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Raphael grew up in France, but currently lives in Canada with his wife and son. Originally Raphael studied the fine arts, but later on in his life he began studying 3D animation. Currently Raphael is working as an art director for video games and other CG related work.

18. Taeyoung Choi

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Taeyoung started out as a drawing instructor, but slowly worked his way into the world of digital painting and 3D animation. He mostly focuses his skills on the gaming industry to create character and background concepts. He has won several awards and features in an older edition of the EXPOSE book.

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New Exclusive PLUS Tutorial on High Resolution Photo Compositing

First, introductions. My name is Greg Martin. I’m an interaction designer at Ziba Design as well as a freelance illustrator/photographer. In this tutorial, “How to Create a Black and White Composite Panoramic,” I’ll be demonstrating two things. First, I’m going to detail my approach to stitching black and white photo sequences into a single seamless photo. Second, I’ll be showing you the methods I use to tweak photos to their full dynamic range.

Members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! The preview of the final image is below. Click the image to see the larger version.

A Detailed Tutorial Filled with Artistic Advice

Learn how to stitch together multi-shot composites in Photoshop. Also, learn to add a final layer of polish to tease out the full potential of the shot. The first image below shows the photos used to put together the composite and the second image shows part of the finishing touches - in this case expert control of lighting. This tutorial explains not only how to create each step in this process, but also why each step is taken.

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PSDTUTS Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called PSDTUTS Plus that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the PSD files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! If you’re a member you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

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1. Welcome to PSDTUTS! Please introduce yourself, give us a brief bio, tell us where you’re from, and how you got started in the field.

Hi there guys, thanks a lot for inviting me for such a nice opportunity! I am Rik Oostenbroek, 19 year old graphic designer from the Netherlands. People might know me as Nkeo or SecretShowcase as well.

I grew up in the Media City of the Netherlands and came in touch with design when I was 15 years old. That was the day I met someone, who would be a friend of mine later and he was doing some weird things with this Program called Photoshop. At that time I never heard of it actually and he showed me some stuff people did with that program.

Art never interested me actually, but I always had it in me for some reason. Whenever I got out of school, I always ran to the computer to play games.

Whenever I got bored of a game, I launched Microsoft Paint, and made my own CD covers with cheap 2d characters which were inspired by South Park. From the time I saw these amazing abstract designs people did, I fell in love. I wondered if I’d ever get into this field without the help of my friend. From that point on I started doing abstract shapes, without knowing about layers or the rules of designing.

The design became a bit serious for me at the start of 2006. More people liked my work and I tried to experiment a bit, to become a little more diverse. A lot of things have happened since I was accepted as a DepthCore artist. Now I’m sitting here as freelance designer, trying to build up a career, thinking more seriously about concepts and trying to build up a unique style and trying to cross my boundaries.

2008

2. The majority of your work seems to be Abstract Art, what exactly draws you to that field, as opposed to other genres?

Actually I’ve been working on other fields lately, but good abstract always caught my eye. I guess I started that style because I never knew there were other styles back then. Every abstract piece has a story for me, I guess that’s what is so attractive about that style. Whenever you ask a good abstract artist to do a piece built on a theme of your choice; you’ll see a huge difference in the approach every artist has to that theme.

Of course, whenever you ask a designer about a photo manipulation theme, there would be a difference as well, but I guess it would be way closer to each other. Abstract art could be used for eternity and there are so many different ways of abstract art, it’s not just a trendy style people do for a few years and forget about later.

It’s just a style without boundaries in my opinion.

Abode

3. Most of your designs are not only abstract but also collages with things like text, shapes, stocks, and other resources clumped together. Since the possibilities are endless with this type of design how do you know exactly when you are done?

Ah yes that’s my recent style. I do actually never know for sure when they done. One thing I always check is the balance. I flatten an image and flip it horizontal to see if the sides have the same amount of things in it as the other. I’ve been having a problem lately with seeing when a piece is finished or not, I have so many 90% finished pieces lying around here.

Aria Epica

4. When looking at your work I notice that the majority of it is full of bright color and life. So what exactly inspires you to create such vivid designs?

It might sound quite a bit Emo, but most of the time I do that to remind me of the joy life has, since I don’t see that everyday.

Just to keep myself in a positive mindset. I just want to keep life joys all day long and I see my own work as a reminder whenever I look to one of my prints in my room.

I Had a Weird Dream Last Night

5. When looking at a design like “Visual Playground” I cant help but wonder what the process was in the development of this design. So please give us some insight on your journey in making this incredibly vivid illustration.

Ha-ha this one is quite hard to tell, since it was just a bunch of different inspirations that helped me create this piece. I spent less then three hours on it. This is one of those pieces with a positive thought behind it again by the way. Joakim Olaussen gave me a render to work with, which was quite hard for me since I never really worked with renders, but I made some black shapes over it and it looked like a landscape in my eyes.

From that point on I just went crazy, that’s the reason why it’s called “Visual Playground”. Since I felt that this piece was just some old school freestyle thing for me, I just did what popped up in my mind.

Doing circles, lines, a few stocks, textures. Nothing special happened in the progress, no layer masks, no adjustments, everything is just done easily the way you see it.

The fun thing is, I always listen to the same track while doing one design whenever I’m in the zone. My mind set on zero, no thought, totally into your design, thinking you’re the best in the world (at that moment), doing everything you want to, no fear, no boundaries, good music, drink, food and with this one song going boom boom! That’s the way I did this piece.

I call this one of my pieces that takes me back to the old days, when my designs weren’t popular and serious at all.

A concept less journey it was, but a fun journey that I wont forget.

Visual Playground

6. Your style is unique and one of a kind. What advice would you give an artist who is trying to find his own unique approach to designing?

Ha-ha it’s quite strange for me to hear my style is unique, but thanks a lot man! I’m still looking for a unique approach as well and I guess everyone does. It’s not fun to stick with one style for too long in my opinion, you have to learn and move on. That’s what I’m doing recently, trying to come up with a new style and try not to repeat everything I did piece by piece, since my old pieces felt a bit to childish to me.

Discovering and owning a style is hard, I never did that as well as I wanted to.

I guess it’s just about caring about your own design and not comparing yourself to other artists.

There will be always better designers around who are better than you in many ways with their designs.

Whenever I talk with my heroes in design, they show me illustrations by their hero’s and I guess those hero’s have heroes as well and so on.

Just do whatever you like, do what you like most, do what others do as well but in a different or special way!

Don’t destroy yourself by comparing yourself with others, set your mind on zero and do what your heart tells you to do.

Lektro Lektro

7. Thanks again for providing PSDTUTS with this opportunity to interview you, any final thoughts? What would you tell other designers that hope to be as good as you one day?

Thank you as well Emil! Don’t think to much about what you do, just do whatever you feel like. You shouldn’t care that much about the opinions other people have about your work, there will always be people around you who are going to dislike your work. It’s not fun to say but there are always people that are going to be “better” in a way, but you shouldn’t make that your concern. Thanks and I hope this interview isn’t that boring Ha-ha! Feel free to contact me at rik@secretshowcase.com! Rik Oostenbroek.

Revolution Of the Sun

Where to find Rik on the Web

• Portfolio
• Behance Network
• Deviant Art

]]> http://psdtuts.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-abstract-artist-rik-oostenbroek/feed/ http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/create-a-sleek-illustration-that-fades-from-line-art-to-color-video/ http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/create-a-sleek-illustration-that-fades-from-line-art-to-color-video/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:43:22 +0000 Gavin Steele http://psdtuts.com/?p=808 ]]> In this tutorial, you will work with a few images you chose and you will create a nice looking illustration. The idea behind this illustration was to create a war between reality and line art. I tried to make this one simple, but at the same time to make it look good. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and try it with your own tools and stock - Constantin

Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial Create a Sleek Illustration that Fades from Line Art to Color and the video version is below.

Create a Sleek Illustration that Fades from Line Art to Color from godonholiday on Vimeo.

]]> http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/create-a-sleek-illustration-that-fades-from-line-art-to-color-video/feed/ http://psdtuts.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/create-a-sleek-illustration-that-fades-from-line-art-to-color/ http://psdtuts.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/create-a-sleek-illustration-that-fades-from-line-art-to-color/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:39:18 +0000 Constantin Potorac http://psdtuts.com/?p=618 ]]> In this tutorial, you will work with a few images you chose and you will create a nice looking illustration. The idea behind this illustration was to create a war between reality and line art. I tried to make this one simple, but at the same time to make it look good. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and try it with your own tools and stock.

Final Image Preview

This style is reminiscent of the art of Jurryt Visser. It blends line art and photography into a seamless whole.

Below is the image you will create in this tutorial. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join PSDTUTS PLUS for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this series of video tutorials to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Create a Sleek Illustration that Fades from Line Art to Color from godonholiday on Vimeo.

Step 1

First create a new document that is 1100 pixels wide by 1500 pixels high at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch. For this project I will use a texture that I like very much. I would like to thank the author of this texture Princess-of-Shadows for putting this together. Now, move the texture into your document.

Step 2

Next you need to select the images you will use for this design. I bought three nice images that you might be familiar with 1, 2, 3.

Let’s start with image 1, and using the Pen Tool (P) you need to create a path around the dancer.

Step 3

Now that you finished creating the path you need to set your brush size to 1px and Hardness at 100%. Next create a new layer and name it "contour1." Next, using the Pen Tool (P) right-click then select Stroke Path, select the brush and make sure the Simulate Pressure is not selected. Also, you need to make the stroke black.

Step 4

Now that you have created the stroke do not delete the path. Next you need to press Command + Enter to transform the path into a selection and then you need to press the Add Layer Mask button. This will hide the background around the dancer. In the end move the dancer and stroke layers into your document.

Step 5

Select the "countour1" layer and using the Pen tool (P) you will need to draw paths all over the dancer. You will need to draw these paths along the shadows or follow the lines of the cloths and then stroke the paths with a 1px black brush. The result is called line art.

Step 6

Create a new layer below the "countour1" layer and name it "color1." Command-click on the "Dancer1" layer to make a selection, then you need to fill the "color1" layer with this the color #f7eedd. Also, you need to link these to layers so if you move one the other one will follow.

Step 7

You need to repeat the line art for each image and place them onto the document. Don’t just throw them in there, you need to maybe do a sketch first and position each image right.

Step 8

If you followed the instructions so far you should have the layers in this order.

Step 9

Now that you have the line art behind the dancers you will need to mask some parts to make some kind of transformation. Select the Layer Mask of a dancer and simply use the Brush Tool (B) set to black, and draw over the part you want to hide.

Step 10

Next, duplicate the dancers, scale them and move them as you wish, but keep in mind that you need to arrange them in a nice composition. In my case, you can see that I have placed six more dancers. Also, I have masked the original dancer images and left only the line art visible. I did this because in the next step we will bring some parts of the dancers back over the line art.

Step 11

First thing to do before you start to give the line art some life is to make a selection over the part you want to mask.

Step 12

Next, use a splatter brush. You can find some very useful brushes here: DeviantArt or PSDTUTS User Feed Link. Use a black color for the brush and start drawing over the mask and reveal some parts of the dancer. Also, to achieve a really nice effect, decrease the Opacity of the brush to 20%. This way you will build the effect gradually and it will look more interesting.

Step 13

Repeat Step 11 and 12 for each dancer you created. Also, control your composition and if you do something that does not look right, don’t be scared to erase and do the effect again and again until you’re satisfied with the final result.

Step 14

So far you should have something close to what I have done, which has some movement and a balanced composition.

Step 15

Next we’ll add just a few crows to the image to fill it a bit more. I used these two images: 1 and 2.

Now that you have the two images, apply the same steps as you did with the other images. This means you will need to cut them, create the line art for both images, duplicate them as many times you think it is necessary, and make the faded effect using the splash brush.

Step 16

Now that you are finished with the birds and dancers you can put them in separate folders just to keep everything clean.

Next use another stock image sxc. Cut and duplicate this feather as many times as you think it is necessary because you will use this to add some more graphic elements. As you can see, I did not put too many, just a few are enough to give the illustration an extra feeling of movement.

Step 17

Next, create a new folder on top of all the layers and name it "circles." Also, create a new layer into this folder and use my settings for the Brush Tool (B) and the same color you used for the line art #f8efde.

Now that you have set your brush, start drawing a few circles around the working space. Be careful not to overdue them.

Step 18

Create a new layer over the circles you just created, then Command-click on the circles layer to make a selection. Next, you need to be over the new layer you created, use the Lasso Tool (L) and Right-click, then select Stroke. Set the Radius to 1px and color to black, also make sure you set it to Center.

You can repeat this step and make more transparent circles. It is up to you.

Step 19

Next, we’ll create a new layer and again draw some circles, but this time use different settings and a different color #8bb687.

Step 20

Repeat Step 19, but this time use a different color and make the circles in the opposite direction #99a3b4.

Step 21

Finally, set both layers from Step 18 and Step 19 to Color Burn.

Conclusion

In the end you can add some more spots if you want to, also add your logo and you are done. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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]]> http://psdtuts.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/create-a-sleek-illustration-that-fades-from-line-art-to-color/feed/ http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/how-i-photoshop/ http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/how-i-photoshop/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:14:11 +0000 Benny Wong http://psdtuts.com/?p=798 ]]> “A little demonstration on how I post process my photos, from beginning to end.” - Benny Wong.

How I Photoshop from Benny on Vimeo.

]]> http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/how-i-photoshop/feed/ http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/fairy-dust-tutorial/ http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/fairy-dust-tutorial/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:08:16 +0000 Aaron Nace http://psdtuts.com/?p=793 ]]> Aaron Nace gives a quick example on how to create fairy dust in photoshop. If you are interested in other ways to enhance your photos and better your images go to Nacedesign Blog

Fairy dust tutorial from Aaron Nace on Vimeo.

]]> http://psdtuts.com/videos/screencasts/fairy-dust-tutorial/feed/ http://psdtuts.com/tutorials/tools-tips/30-useful-resources-for-improving-your-photoshop-efficiency/ http://psdtuts.com/tutorials/tools-tips/30-useful-resources-for-improving-your-photoshop-efficiency/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:22:19 +0000 Steven Snell http://psdtuts.com/?p=520 ]]> Photoshop users have the opportunity to drastically improve productivity and efficiency by gaining a solid understanding of the Photoshop tools, the capabilities of the program, and by learning some handy shortcuts.

This article looks at more than thirty useful resources for getting more out of less time when working with Photoshop. There are a few different collections of keyboard shortcuts, guides to getting more familiar with some of the tools, and resources to help you with automating repetitive tasks.

Working with Photoshop’s Tools

• 

  Photoshop’s Toolbox

  Tutorial9 has a nice article that takes a look at the various tools provided by Photoshop, what they can do, and how to use them effectively. Being familiar with the tools that you have at your disposal is a necessary step to improving productivity. This post doesn’t go in-depth in any of the specific tools, but it’s a helpful overview, especially if you’re not yet familiar with all of the tools.

  Read the Article

• 

  Photoshop Toolbox Reference

  The Toolbox Reference is a really helpful guide to have bookmarked. It lists all of the available tools, the key for a shortcut, and the general use or purpose of the tool. Each tool then has a specific page that you can visit by clicking on the tool name. These pages have more detailed information about the tool and a video to help you learn more about the tool.

  Visit the Toolbox Reference

• 

  Photoshop Brush Tool Cheatsheet

  The brush tool is obviously one of the most used tools in Photoshop. Brushes can be a big time-saver when used effectively, and shortcuts can make the tool that much more efficient. This is a condensed cheat sheet that will give you the keyboard shortcuts you need to maximize your productivity when working with brushes.

  Get the Cheatsheet

• 

  Photoshop Lasso Tool Cheatsheet

  The various lasso tools can be a bit confusing at times if you don’t use them a lot. Even if you are familiar with them, chances are they have more potential than you’re using. To speed up your work with lasso’s and to take advantage of the tool, check out this cheatsheet. Just looking at it quickly you’ll probably be able to pick up something you didn’t know before.

  Get the Cheatsheet

• 

  Pen Tool Cheatsheet

  Another useful cheatsheet from CreativeTechs, this one will show you how to get the pen tool to do what you want using the keyboard and the mouse. If you’re not familiar with how the pen tool works it can get pretty frustrating to get the right results. This cheat sheet will give you a go-to resource when you need it.

  Get the Cheatsheet

Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

  Probably the best individual resource for Photoshop Keyboard shortcuts, this was put together by Morris Photographics. There are versions for Photoshop 5, 6, 7, CS, CS2, and CS3. The CS3 version, for example, is a four-page PDF with shortcuts nicely categorized for easy use. This is a great resource to print out and keep somewhere within reach from your desk.

  Visit Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Photoshop Secret Shortcuts

  Nick La of Web Designer Wall put together a nice post of 30 secret shortcuts. These are shortcuts that aren’t documented in the Photoshop menus. If you’re already pretty familiar with the standard keyboard shortcuts, you’ll probably learn a few new tricks from Nick’s collection.

  Get the Secret Shortcuts

• 

  18 Exceptionally Useful Photoshop Shortcuts

  This collection from Digital Photography School isn’t as exhaustive as some other resources, but that’s not always a bad thing. The post is broken down into simple, intermediate and advanced sections. The smaller number of shortcuts may make it easier for you to process the information that’s provided and put it into practice.

  View the Shortcuts

• 

  28 More Exceptionally Useful Photoshop Shortcuts

  As a follow up to the previous post, Digital Photography School this time provides 28 more shortcuts, again using categorization for ease of use by readers. This time the shortcuts are broken down into essential, useful and handy shortcut commands. Again, this is another resource that’s nice to have within reach while working in Photoshop.

  View the Shortcuts

• 

  101 Hidden Tips and Secrets for Photoshop

  11amDesign has provided a long list of 101 keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop users. The list could be organized or formatted more effectively, but nonetheless a huge collection of useful shortcuts that is worth checking out.

  Read the Tips

• 

  Photoshop CS2 Shortcuts (for Windows)

  CreativeTechs provides an excellent and printable PDF guide (4 pages) of keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop CS2. The document is categorized and the pages are packed full of shortcuts to help you improve your productivity if you are using Photoshop CS2 for Windows.

  Get the Shortcuts

• 

  Photoshop CS3 Shortcuts (for Mac)

  Users of Photoshop CS3 for Mac can get this categorized four-page PDF, also provided by CreativeTechs. Just like the version for CS2, this one is prefect for printing and having on hand while you’re working with Photoshop.

  Get the Shortcuts

• 

  Photoshop Layers Essential Power Shortcuts

  Photoshop Essentials has an excellent post that focuses on shortcuts for working with layers and the layers palette. Being able to work quicker and more effectively with layers will have a huge impact on your overall productivity in Photoshop. If you’re looking to improve your effectiveness with layers, this is a must-read resource.

  Get the Shortcuts

• 

  86 Essential Photoshop Shortcuts

  Tipz N Trikz provides a quick rundown of 86 keyboard shortcuts. Many of these are commonly used by Photoshop users, but some of them will probably be new to you.

  Get the Shortcuts

Working with Actions

• 

  Adobe Photoshop Actions and Scripts to Download

  About.com has a collection of useful and time saving Photoshop actions and scripts. Many of them are provided on their site, and some are links to resources on other sites. If you check through the actions that are available here, you may find a few that you can take advantage of in order to improve your productivity.

  View the Scripts

• 

  400+ Time Saving Photoshop Actions

  In August, Design Reviver put together a collection of over 400 Photoshop actions that can be downloaded for free. The list includes photography actions, polaroid actions, as well as many other mixed actions. Design Reviver frequently puts together posts that provide tons of useful resources for Photoshop users, and this one is no exception.

  View the Actions

• 

  Photoshop Automator Actions

  Automator is a powerful workflow automation tool; however, it lacks the ability out of the box to automate Photoshop. Fortunately, Complete Digital Photography provides a download for Photoshop CS, CS2, and CS3. With Automator you will string together actions that are used in your workflow. It comes with 90 options for the CS3 version.

  View Automator Actions

• 

  Creating a Photoshop Action

  Free Photoshop actions can be great time-saving tools, but sometimes you’ll want or need to create your own. Veerle has a tutorial for leading you through the process of creating your own actions. If there are processes that you routinely use in your work, this is a great article for cutting down the amount of time that you spend on these things.

  Read the Article

Working with Brushes

• 

  Managing Your Brush Libraries in Photoshop

  If you’re like most Photoshop users you’ve probably downloaded plenty of brushes for use on specific projects or maybe just for experimentation. After a while it’s easy to get more brushes than you can handle, and keeping them organized is key to achieving optimal productivity. This article will go through some basics that can help to to manage and organize your brushes so you can quickly find what you want.

  Read the Article

• 

  Advanced Brush Techniques in Photoshop Tutorial

  Mastering the brush tool is key to maximum productivity in Photoshop. With advanced brush skills you’ll be able to quickly create designs that look like they required much more time. Obsidian Dawn provides an article/tutorial with some advanced brush techniques that will have you working more productively in no time.

  Read the Article

Working with Smart Objects

• 

  Photoshop Smart Objects, Smart but not Always that Smart

  Veerle has another article that can help with your productivity in Photoshop, this one on the use of smart objects. Using smart objects is another way to save time with repetitive tasks. Veerle explains the process of using smart objects and how they work, so you’ll be able to implement them into your own work.

  Read the Article

Additional Resources for Added Productivity

• 5 Photoshop Shortcuts/Tricks to Boost Productivity
• Top 7 Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts for Productivity
• 8 Quick Photoshop Tips to Improve Productivity
• Automating Photoshop: Actions and Batching Explained
• Automate Your Favorite Photoshop Routines
• 65 Photoshop Shortcuts I Cannot Live Without
• Speed Up Your Designing with These 50 Awesome Photoshop Shortcuts
• Pro Sharpening in Photoshop CS3 Using Smart Filters
• Tools & Tips: Smart Objects and Filters
• Tools & Tips: Photoshop Brushes
• Tools & Tips: Photoshop Actions
• Use the Grid in Photoshop

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