Project files, desktop

designs, stock art…

ISSUE 30

GRADUATE
Photoshop CS3 Extended| Graduate showcase 2007 | Freelancer’s guide | Integrate Poser renders

SHOWCASE
Our favourite Photoshop
talent, fresh out of uni

PROFESSIONAL
RETOUCHING
Clone, Warp and Heal
your way to perfection

HOW TO…
Apply Layer Styles
Design for merchandise
Create a photomontage
Integrate Poser renders

N !
Design a lowlight seascape

W I S E
IV
Find the best digital frame

3 EXCLU NTS
E
PLACEM
ITH
W L
MCFAU

PHOTOSHOP CS3 EXTENDED

NE

Thinking of upgrading? Find out if there are any new features beneficial to you
W
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

ISSUE 30
ISSN 1748-7277 £5.99
30

9 771748 727009

THE FREELANCER’S GUIDE pages of professional

Advice from the top to ensure your tips and essential step-
30
UE

first commission isn’t your last by-step tutorials

ISS

001_APM30_Cover.indd 1 2/4/07 15:39:14

 Cover

Cover image
This month’s impressive cover, titled Little Red Riding
Hood, comes from Folashade Olagundoye, an artist
featured in this month’s graduate showcase and one Imageer:
who we predict will be making big waves in the FOLASHADE OLAGUNDOYE
digital industry. Shade currently works as a freelance
illustrator, designer and model maker and is
preparing to study for an MA in Film and Production
design. Remember, you saw her here first!
WE PREDICT SHE WILL
/ http://talentpool.dandad.co.uk BE MAKING BIG WAVES IN
THE INDUSTRY
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 nds
mme
Reco

BEAUTY RETOUCHING 7 32
Adobe expert Gry Garness shows you how to
achieve flawless perfection with portraits

ISSUE #30

inside... INSIGHT 7 10
News and showcases from around the globe
News 10
Photoshop CS3 update 16
The portfolio of Jem Sullivan 22
Showcase from Neil Duerden 24

LETTERS
Our readers’ comments and feedback
7 64
HELPDESK 7 80
Your technical traumas shared with fellow readers
and answered by our expert

7 87
THE COVER
This month’s wonderful cover was created by RESOURCES
Folashade Olagundoye. Find out more about her in
our Graduate Showcase on page 52 46 Vital assets to improve your Photoshop work
Create lowlight Books 92
seascapes
Video tutorials 94

THIS MONTH’S CD 7 96
Superb stock art, project files to go with this
month’s issue and more!

ed
Advanc op at
the sh
Visit op onlineop.co.uk
osh esh ks 52 74
Phot .imagin es, boo
www ack issu andise The 2007 Graduate Our pick of the best

for b d merch
Showcase reader creations

an

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 26
The intricate, magical world
of Kristian Olson

TECHNIQUES
Faster, better, more… How can you work smarter?
RETOUCHING 7 32
FEATURES Professional tips for creating flawless shots

PHOTOSHOP CS3 UPDATE 7 16 SEASCAPES 7 46

We explore the features of Photoshop and Photoshop Extended Create serene low-light seascapes

INTERVIEW: KRISTIAN OLSON 7 26 PHOTOMONTAGE 7

How to create eye-catching collages without filters
58
Catch up with one of the most intricate artists on the planet

FEATURE: DESIGN AGENCIES 7 38 WORK WITH POSER

How to integrate model renders into Photoshop
7 68
How to maintain a successful, creative workflow

INSIDER INFO
ROUND UP: DIGITAL DISPLAYS 7 82 LIGHTING EFFECTS 7 66
Display your Photoshop work on your mantelpiece with pride Give your designs a lighting lift

FEATURE: MERCHANDISE 7 88
Examples of great apparel design

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 Keeping an eye on the latest trends in contemporary photography, art
and design, Insight sets out to snapshot innovation in the making

Highly
collaborated
Jeremyville and IdN have joined forces to create
Jeremyville Sessions. This innovative publication
dissects the process of collaboration by
showcasing over 300 artists and
companies and their collaborations
with Jeremyville. It
demonstrates why
‘collaboration’ is fast
becoming one of the top
buzzwords in today’s design
movement and why the process is
more complex than it first seems.
AVANT-GARDE: This
The title Sessions intends to promote the ideals book reiterates a growing
within its pages, where creative individuals work together opinion that collaboration is
the new art movement of our
to create something hopefully greater than if they were to work
generation. Along with the iPod,
alone. In Sessions, the collaborative process is examined more closely MySpace, designer toys and limited
across new mediums, which each have their own set of characteristics to edition anything, collaboration will
be the buzzword of our time
conquer. Collaboration therefore helps artists meet these varying characteristics by
bringing disparate designers together to take advantage of a variety of skills.
Key issues on self -promotion are addressed, such as how to associate yourself with
respected peers when promoting your profile. Also how partaking in collaborative
projects helps develop your own creativity. Advice is offered on the subject of FIRST STEPS: Sessions looks at new
product-based platforms, such as toys,
corporate collaborations and how to understand when the ‘deal’ becomes more fashion, footwear, etc and even though
important than the collaboration between artists and how and when to say “No”. they’re different, illustrates how the
With the saturation of product design, Sessions reiterates lessons that might have motivation and processes used are
indeed similar
been forgotten or ignored and the book looks at new product-based platforms
to venture into, such as toys, skate decks, album covers, balloons and even
rubber ducks.
At a retail price of $65 (about £33) with free shipping world wide, this book
is an essential resource producing unimaginable opportunities, as well as
your responses and ideas about collaborative design.
For more information, visit the site below.

www.jeremyville.com

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 insight
A creative chance from France
C215 is the brainchild of creative enthusiast Christian The project’s next planned exhibition, Masks Attack, will be
Guémy. This rapidly growing art community is a poetical held this May in Austria, so if you’re interested in supplying

DIARY and participatory project led by a French association, which

publishes illustrated poetry books and organises collective
street-art exhibitions, presented through delightful themes.
designs in return for free media publicity and quality print,
get in touch. If you need any more information, pay a visit to
www.c.215.free.fr.

DATES
C215’s mission is to create artistic excellence together,
that wouldn’t be possible to do alone. It strives to maintain
unity and diversity, yet renewing and preserving the image
http://c.215.free.fr
of concept at the same time. C215 regularly holds
exhibitions in Paris, Strasbourg and Montpellier and will
shortly broaden its horizons further a-field.
ANNUAL ART Its publications include the Blue Book and the trashy,
BIENVENUE: C215 is curr
promoting custom toys,
ently working on the Blue
spray cans, masks and wal
Collection,
COMPETITION underground Red Book, soon to be followed by the Green acknowledging the importa l painting,
nce of involving variant art
forms
FOR YOUNG Book, due to be published by the end of the year. Each

PEOPLE 2007 consists of creator Guémy’s short texts, considered as

written portrait. Artists are invited to narrate these through
Friday 1 June design and the best are included. Each colour serves to
Glasgow Museum, Scotland
inspire themes, so the Green Book will promote sentiments
such as nature, light and freshness.
COMIC EXPO The real beauty of C215 is that all members are welcome
12 – 13 May to participate and all you have to do is present your
British Empire and Commonwealth portfolio to c215@c215.com. There are no fees, so the only
Museum and Ramada Plaza contribution is your skill and there’s also no particular
Hotel, Bristol deadline, as work is considered up until the last minute.

CYBERSONICA ‘07 UP AND COMING: With 12 shows since the beginning of 2006
and with at least 30 individual artists involved in each of these,
EXHIBITION C215 is a fast-growing project with plenty of potential
From 17 May
Kinetica Museum, London

THE AFFORDABLE
ART FAIR
18 – 20 May
The Old Passenger Shed, Bristol

SCHWEPPES
PHOTOGRAPHIC
PORTRAIT PRIZE Watch Nosco Grow
Gallery Nosco is an ambitious online project making a and promote your great design then it’s all too simple.
Until 27 May
name for itself in its corner of the world wide web. Just contact the Gallery Nosco team by phone or email
The Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the
Arts, Dorset Founded in 2007 in West London, it emerged as a result and they’re more than happy to discuss your
of a fascination with limited-edition prints and a small requirements and arrange viewing. Find out all you need
collection of unique pieces. to know at www.gallerynosco.com.
The works of reputable artists
such as Banksy and Tracey Emin
www.gallerynosco.com.
reside on the site, yet equal
opportunity is the name of the
game at Gallery Nosco as it
serves to promote fresh as well
as familiar talents, hailing from
MIRLEEN, KAREEM
the street art to the fine art LOTFY: Complementing
TELL HIM: This scenes. This allows visitors to both the fine art scene as
piece was created well as more subversive
appreciate the work itself and and contemporary trends
by Cyril Moumen as
a rebellion against not be simply mesmerised by such as street art, Gallery
mass media fame and fortune. If you have Nosco isn’t afraid to deal
advertisement and with contemporary styles
the ambition to mix with the as well as poignant issues
the bombardment
of seemingly big boys at Gallery Nosco
useless information

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 Narrative in a new light
05.07
The Descent Begins now
for all your graphic nov
enthusiasts and all you el
have to do is visit www.

DIARY
lightchildren.com. Her
e the first harrowing cha
the Light Children trilogy pter of
will be offered to you free
charge. This is an innova of
tive online method of
introducing an illustrated

DATES
novel to the public before
the first page is even prin
ted.
To be informed when the
first chapter goes live,
simply sign up to the site
. This has its benefits, as
can receive exclusive Lig you
ht Children content, suc
behind-the-scenes new h as
s, concept art and some
story teasers.
Brought to you by creato
rs Horner and Webster,
CARNAVAL
Light Children offers up 26 – 27 May
strong vivid artwork tied
together with theatrical Mission District,
storylines. Its style adhere San Francisco USA
to a classical illustrative s
approach, envisaging ‘rea LABOUR
OF
characters that followers l’ story of the LOVE: It’s over ten ye
can associate with. The Light Child ars since th
storyline allows the rea
der to sink deep into the
de dication it ren e ha
can take to first began, revealing unting
create such th
WONDERFEST
of the children and unc fate visionary w e
over their dark secrets. ork 26 – 27 May
Anticipation and an orig influences and enthusiasm Executive West Hotel, Louisville,
inal narrative with its for the Light Children
message of hope are cra pro ject, perhaps inspiring you Kentucky, USA
mmed into this believabl to create your own
impeccably detailed wo e, pioneering visions.
rld.
After the first online cha
pter has been released So don’t hesitate to che
ck out the Light Children SEEING OURSELVES:
pre-orders will be taken
Additional copies will be
for the next instalment. site and immerse yourself in
of escapism that enchan
the delights of a world MASTERPIECES OF
Convention in Charlotte,
available at the Heroes ts the imagination. AMERICAN
16 June. Here you can con
North Carolina from 14
verse with extroverts
– PHOTOGRAPHY
www.lightchildren.com
Andy Horner and Kyle We
bster, sharing their 26 May – 22 July
MMA La Mirada, Monterey Museum of
Art, California

Free for all SOFA NYC

From 31 May The Old Truman Brewery, London presents the aren’t exhibiting as part of a course/college show. Free 1 – 4 June
seventh annual Free Range Art and Design show. One of Range will continue to take enquiries right up until a week Gallery and Location: Seventh
Europe’s largest, it offers free admission running over an before the event, 25 May. See www.free-range.org.uk for Regiment Armory, New York City
eight-week period. Here, thousands of students from the more details and event timetable.
UK’s top art and design colleges will exhibit their work, BONNAROO MUSIC &
giving prospective buyers, potential employers and general
enthusiasts the perfect opportunity to sample and scout
www.free-range.org.uk ARTS FESTIVAL
14 – 17 June
emerging talents. Manchester,
Its increasing popularity each and every year, makes Free Tennessee, USA
Range an essential destination point for thousands of
Londoners and lovers of the visual arts. With over 100,000
people visiting last year’s free-entry show, you could set it in
the same league as The Royal Academy of Arts.
Set up to showcase the works of budding designers and
artists to both the general public and potential employers
alike, the show gives art students the ideal opportunity to
promote their work. The show is a great platform for artists
to exhibit in a unique environment, providing a great
opportunity to grab the attention of the visiting talent
s set up to
scouts who are there to head-hunt the cream of the UK’s art ART: Free Range wa
CAREER KICK ST dd ing des ign ers and
of bu
and design graduates. showcase the work yers
and potential emplo tion
In addition to the events, the work of thousands of artists to both public po ten tia l for promo
ts
e, endorsing studen
exhibitors is showcased in the official Free Range catalogue alik
and website. You can only participate as part of a college or
SPOILT FOR CHOICE: Each week in
university, which can select a gallery space, as Free Range the eight-week period has its own
don’t accept individual submissions from students who theme, including design, photo and
interiors weeks, so there should be plenty of
methods on show to cater for all artistic tastes

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 Feature

THERE ARE TWO CHOICES FOR THE NEW VERSION –

PHOTOSHOP CS3 AND PHOTOSHOP EXTENDED CS3

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 PHOTOSHOP CS3 BETA

Photoshop
CS3 update
Adobe have announced the
exciting features for the new
CS3 suite including Photoshop
and Photoshop Extended. We
continue our tour of the much
talked about new software

B
ack in Advanced Photoshop 27 we gave you
a quick preview of the features showcased
in the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Beta.
There was already plenty to go on, with additions
such as the Quick Selection Tool, Intelligent Palettes,
Smart Filters and improved Cloning and Healing. On
27 March 2007, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design and
Web launched in New York, with a live webcast to
the world and an exclusive party in SoHo, London. At
this launch event, Adobe revealed new features and
suite configurations that’ll make it the largest
software release in Adobe’s 25-year
history. Over the next few pages we’re going to
explore the features you can expect to see in the
software bundle.

New announcements
There are two choices for the new version of
Photoshop – Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3
Extended. The Extended version builds on the new
features and enhancements incorporated into CS3,
adding specialised professional tools for

CS3 PACKAGES
As well as a standalone package, Photoshop
CS3 will be available in the Adobe Creative
Suite 3 Design Premium bundle, which
includes the following:
Photoshop CS3 Extended
Adobe Bridge CS3
Illustrator CS3
Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional
Dreamweaver CS3
Flash CS3 Professional
Adobe Device Central

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 Feature
industries from film and television, to BRIDGE: The new Stack feature allows
manufacturing, architecture and engineering, you to quickly group similar images
together, saving you from confusing
medicine and science. Let’s take a look at the
clutter and improving organisation
features announced since the public beta version…

Adobe Bridge CS3

Adobe Bridge CS3 now has a three-column layout
with saved workspaces and improved performance.
In the rigorous tests we put it through, it was
extremely impressive in terms of speed and
performance and didn’t crash out on us once! With
that said, it was far easier to browse through large
selections of images in a short amount of time.
Related images can be stacked on top of one
another for quick browsing. To do this, all you have
to do is select two or more different images and
right-click either of the photographs and choose
Stack>Group As Stack. The number at the top of the
stack shows the number of images stacked on top of
one another and the scroll slider can be pressed to
expand or recompress the stack in view.
In Bridge CS3 you can also make use of the handy
Loupe Tool to magnify the displayed image. By
clicking the Filmstrip view, represented by the ‘2’
icon at the bottom, one press of the mouse in the
large preview window will activate the Loupe Tool,
giving you impressive preview close-ups of your Vanishing Point additional features specifically for graphics
work, without having to rely on slow magnify tools. The Vanishing Point (previewed in CS2) is now even professionals. These features allow you to measure
more flexible. Graphics can be pasted on items on in perspective and export created perspective grids
Camera RAW the canvas in perspective, allowing you to create as 3D models.
Photoshop CS3 features the latest version of Camera packaging mock-ups quickly and easily. Vanishing
RAW that processes RAW data non-destructively Point now also adjusts brush strokes, healing and
from your compatible digital camera. It also allows cloning as you paint over the planes and unlike CS2,
you to apply RAW features to JPEG and TIFF formats. you’re no longer restricted to adding planes at 90-
To open an image in Camera RAW all you have to do degree angles. The Extended version includes two
is select File>Open in Camera RAW and click the Full
Screen button at the top right of the image area to CAMERA RAW: Previously you could only use
maximise the size of the RAW window. Camera RAW on RAW files. Now you can go wild
on your TIFFS and JPEGs too

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 PHOTOSHOP CS3 BETA
ALIGNMENT: Create the perfect shot from a
series of related images

ZOOMIFY EXPORT
No longer will you have to put up with
sluggish bandwidth when posting your
images on the web. Zoomify export allows
you to decrease the resolutions of your
images to the Zoomify format to enable
flexible, robust viewing on the web using
Adobe Flash Player.

underneath. This technology is also used in the

Photomerge feature, which can be accessed by
selecting File>Automate>Photomerge.

Adobe Device Central

Automatic Layer Alignment
and Blending
With automatic layer alignment and blending, it’s
now easy to combine the best parts of multiple
images of the same scene, into one perfect image.
Although it’s worth pointing out, that to carry this
out successfully, each image should be captured
with a similar composition – a series of shots
captured with a camera on Continuous Shooting
Mode, for example. To do this, simply place multiple,
related images on separate layers. CS3 will then
analyse the content and move and rotate the layers so
they overlap as close as possible. Automatic layer
blending blends the colour and shading into the final
image so you can then mask out any unwanted
elements, revealing the better alternative
This helps when creating dynamic content for
mobile phones. With Device Central you can preview
your designs on a wide range of mobiles. You can
simulate display conditions that show what your
design looks like when, say, the sunlight hits the
screen, or the backlight times out. It also estimates
how much memory your content will require and its
responsiveness to network conditions.
ON YOUR MOBILE: Worried that your designs
won’t look as smart on a brick of a phone? Test it
out with Adobe Device Central

VANISHING POINT: This improved feature now allows you to quickly

place your flat artwork onto a 3D object. You are no longer restricted to
90-degree angles

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 Feature

Extended
3D MOCK-UPS: The brand new powerful 3D Visualization and Texture editing capabilities in Photoshop CS3
3D Visualization and Extended allow you to open up and play with native 3D formats on your canvas
Texture editing
In Photoshop CS3 Extended new 3D visualization
and texture editing capabilities allow you to apply Premiere Pro or After Effects. In the new Extended
detailed designs to 3D models. You can open native version, new video format and layer support means
3D file formats, manipulate the models in a 3D you can edit a video file on a frame-by-frame basis,
space, open and edit textures applied to the models or add a layer to the video and create edits that’ll
and composite the results with 3D images… the appear on every frame.
outcomes are pretty impressive. Once graphics have
been applied to a can, rather than just wrap the
graphics to the front of the object – as you would
have done with Photoshop CS2’s Warp Transform –
you can use the Rotate Tool to spin your object in
three dimensions. This allows you to see your FRAMING: You no
graphic applied to the entire 3D model. longer have to
export frames as
motionless graphics
Extended as you can now edit
a video file and
Motion graphics and video make your own
layers with Movie Paint custom movies
Previously, in order to make motion graphics, film on a frame-by-
frame basis
and video specialists had to export frames as
motionless Photoshop frames first, or create
graphics in Photoshop and animate them in

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 PHOTOSHOP CS3 BETA
NEW PHOTOSHOP CS3 AND PHOTOSHOP
CS3 EXTENDED FEATURES
Photoshop CS3 Photoshop CS3 Extended
WORKFLOW
Streamlined interface
Zoomify export
Adobe Bridge with Stack
Lightroom integration
Improved printing
Adobe Device Central
Workflow enhancements

EDITING
Nondestructive Smart Filters
Black and White conversion
Improved Curves
Photomerge
Clone and heal
Enhanced 32-bit HDR support
Next-generation Camera RAW

COMPOSITING
Quick Selection Tool
Refine Edge feature
Automatic Layer Alignment
Automatic Layer Blending

3D AND MOTION
Vanishing Point
Extended 3D Visualization and Texture editing
Motion graphics and video layers
Measurement and data
With new features specifically designed for Movie Paint
architectural or scientific means you can now obtain Animation
quantitative data to measure the area, density or
perimeter of objects on screen. The Ruler Tool can
IMAGINE ANALYSIS
be used to take precise distance measurements and Measurement and data
the Count Tool will tally up features simply by Ruler and Count tools
clicking them.
DICOM support
MATLAB support
Image Stack processing

GO SCIENTIFIC: New
Extended features NEW VIDEO FORMAT
allow you to measure
out architectural AND LAYER SUPPORT
designs, tally up data
and much much more MEANS YOU CAN EDIT
A VIDEO ON A FRAME-
BY-FRAME BASIS

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 insight eon. I have in my textures
about caviar. So the fish is a sturg
REGAL ROE: “The article was ting. I laye red that over the entire image
on of an oil pain
file a scan of an undefined secti shad ow usin g the Hue and Saturation
of colour and
and then adjusted each section my flat colo ur laye r”
to isolate on
controls. The sections were easy

KICK IT: “This was for a boxed set of

Christmas cards. The Shoebox folks taugh
‘banding’ when using the Gradient Fill t me a trick for avoiding
Tool, as I did for the sky in this piece. You
area, open the channels window and select the gradient colour
apply the Noise filter to each of the colou
giving each of the three a different value r channels (R, G, and B),
. For instance, R would be 4, G would
be 5 and B would be 6”

OKRA: “Okra is a souther TRUE GRITS: “I know they don’t

n (US) staple.
The article was about the have grits in the UK, but this is
different ways
it’s cooked. The title was another southern food staple in
Slime Time
because okra often gets America. The image is a reference
slimy when
cooked. For this illustration, to the movie True Grit starring
that was all
I needed to know. For the John Wayne. The sky was one that
ground, I used
a pattern I had on file and I had used in a previous illustration
applied the
Spherize Distortion filter. that I changed a bit and applied
I reduced the
banding in the sky colours here. I love Photoshop!”
by using the
Noise filter on the channe
ls, like I did for
Kick it”
it

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 05.07
GORILLA: “I did

backlighting on
thi
Photoshop allow s for an article about corporation
s me to apply int
ere
s’ growing influe
nc
the gorilla’s shad sting patterns, like the one in the e in the classroom.
owed side adds
definition and de gorilla’s tie. The blue
pth to his form”

ng
ur
B),
6” ED SCULPT: “This was a cover
illustration for an article about
‘subtractive education’, the notion that
students have become developmentally bound by a
cumbersome, outdated educational system and need to
be freed as a sculptor would free a form from a slab of
marble. I scanned a brick for the rock texture that you see”

Jem Sullivan
“When I was young and out playing with friends, my mum would yell
across the neighbourhood for me to come home for Drawing with John
Nagy – a late-Fifties TV show,” reminisces Jem Sullivan, an artist based in
Pensacola, USA. “I’d always rush home and plant my butt in front of the TV
with a pad and paper.” Jem still has some of the pictures that she drew
with John Nagy thanks to very supportive parents who framed and
displayed just about everything she ever drew. “In high school they even
required that I spend a certain number of hours per week painting in
exchange for my allowance. For me, it was either get a real job or paint.
So I painted… and I still don’t have a real job!”
Jem’s parental push led her down the path of success with her
artwork and while her style was rooted in traditional mediums, she first
made the jump to Photoshop in 1995. “I bought about $8,000 worth of
computer equipment, including Photoshop 4.0 and a big honkin’ two
gigabyte CPU! Back then I had the biggest computer on the block.”
Jem’s basic overall technique to create her images is to scan a pencil
drawing into Photoshop. “I always start by creating a layer over the
line art layer using only flat colours. That gives me easily selectable
segments upon which I apply shadows, highlights, patterns and
textures,” she explains. “I’ll usually have ten layers before I’m done.”
Shadow and light are two major concerns for Jem: “I use two
shadow layers, both in the Multiply Blending Mode. On the first
shadow layer I use the Pencil Tool with the Other Dynamics box
checked for tonal gradations,” she explains further. “On the second
shadow layer I use the Brush Tool, also with Other Dynamics
checked. I think the combined effect gives a more painterly look.
Also, I can easily select segments from the flat colour layer and use
them like airbrush templates as I apply the shadows.”
Jem has just finished a series of cards for Shoebox Greetings.
“Each card superimposes a rendered cartoon dog and cat over a
Sixties-era photo of living rooms and back yards. Photoshop takes
BILL AND GARRISON: The writer was pondering the prospect
all the hassle out of those kind of jobs.” of liberals and conservatives ‘just getting along’
/ www.jemsullivan.com

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 insight WHITE: This design was inspired by the detail
within the photography of James Lightbown.
With the dress transparent against the white
backdrop, Neil used subtle illustrations
so as not to overpower the
delicate exposure of the piece

Neil Duerden
With over ten years’ of experience, Neil Duerden’s progression into
illustration was as necessary as it was natural. Having had enough of a CONTRAST: This luscious composition
creates an atmosphere of serene
design scene cluttered with constrictive clients – both in terms of sensuality, through its conscious contrast Vauxhall, this
graphic style and brand flexibility – Neil set out for pastures new as a of both innocent and amorous CORSA: Created for
tion is des ign ed to reflect the
iconography, coupled with its suggestive illustra
freelance illustrator. ent ial for a wid e range of
contrasting colour use and exposure van’s pot
“I wanted more creative freedom,” he explains, “the ability to produce bus ine sse s, cou ple d with
urban
great per son alit y
end results that exceed the brief.” This creative freedom probably
spawned from the fact that Neil is 100 per cent self-taught, having years
of experience before most competitors had even left university. This led
to Neil acquiring quick application skills and original concepts that are
invaluable when pitching creative concepts to clientele.
Neil’s designs start with a rough sketch, constructing the
composition. He combines Photoshop and Illustrator with professional
photography to produce a quality rough design. He then simply walks
away (usually for a brew) and when he returns he claims: “You’ll either
be happier with the work or know what you need to do to get it right.”
Taking work back into Photoshop, he then mashes it up to
perfection. Working on a canvas size twice that of the printed output,
he believes that this is essential when applying huge amounts of
detail creating comprehensive compositions. He advises, “never be
afraid of trying new things, the end results can be stunning! Enjoy
yourself too, this is what it’s all about.”
Describing his own design as “analogue mashed up digital
organic growth,” Neil strives for originality beyond the digital world.
Inspired by creatives such as Banksy, Neil loves to inspire a renegade
feeling through a digital urban style and to create a fresh approach.
With editorial and advertising commissions under his belt, Neil
has a few motion picture pieces in the pipeline, including a project
hitting the small-screen soon. That’s all he’s saying on the matter,
so keep an eager eye out for that one.
/ www.neilduerden.co.uk

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 THE CAMERA IS MIGHTIER: Another beautiful collaboration with
Rinze, whose photography once again inspired a composition of
sensation and equilibrium created through the extensive treatment of
textured and coloured layers. This shot inspired a six-piece set
05.07 LITTLE RED IN DA HO
This piece was a pure labo
OD:
ur
of love, as Neil and Matt
Thomas (aka Couscous Kid)
produced it just for fun. Mat
t
started with the doodlin
g,
then handed it to Neil for
some serious Photoshop
treatment. It’s all in the sma
ll
detail where characters
interact together

WILDSTYLE: This
collaborative piece was
produced for exhibition in the
Brick Lane Gallery in London
this March. High profile
fashion photography Rinze
contacted Neil, with a ten-
piece production in mind…
and this was the result

THE RUSSIAN: This editorial piece for the Keystone Design Union’s Royal magazine, focuses
on balance within its composition through the disciplines of tone and shape. More from this
set are soon to be released

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024-025_AVP30_Insight.indd 23 4/4/07 09:03:01

 Inter
view
FROM DOODLES
WITH LOVE
Growing up in the famously
picturesque OC, Kristian Olson
started his artistic life surrounded
by sea, surf and sand, but it was
in the digital world where he
found his inspiration…

A
young man with a “love of illegal
fireworks” sits doodling in class. Like
many others, he dreams of turning
his passions into his career. Thankfully he
chooses his painterly, rather than pyrotechnic,
ambitions to follow!
“I’ve always been an artist. When I was
growing up I was constantly drawing and
doodling. In high school I decided I would
pursue it as a career. After college and several
years as a graphic designer, I decided to jump
into the world of professional illustration. That is
when I started coming up with my current
digital techniques.”
Born in 1971 in Huntington Beach, California,
Kristian’s intricate and unique style of illustration
has marked him out as a man to watch.
Combining elaborate digital artwork, giclée
printing and acrylic paint, his creations make
heads turn, so much so that he was even chosen
as cover artist for The Graphic Artists Guild’s
Directory of Illustration issue 23.
For those who have seen his work, it may
come as a surprise to learn, these ‘other-worldly
creations’ are all fashioned using the same basic
parts. “All of my work is generated via Photoshop
and Illustrator,” explains Kristian. “Just about all of
my work is built up from the same basic shapes
and parts. I have a file titled ‘parts.psd’ that I use
for everything. There are about ten to twenty
pieces in this file. Each one of those can be used
to build new shapes, which then become the
pieces that make up my finished illustrations.”
With this limited source material, you’d be
forgiven for thinking Kristian could soon turn into
a one trick pony. But with one look at his work
you’ll soon realise this couldn’t be further from
the truth. Although all imbued with his unique
style, each creation has its own persona.
Devised through a combination of word
associations and sketches, Kristian’s approach to
his work is pretty unique. “Usually I will try to get
out of my studio so I’m free from distractions,” he
starts. “I’ll write down as many words as I can
think of that relate to the subject matter of any
assignment. Then I will write down synonyms
and related words and subjects. After that I start
thinking and drawing. Sketches are actually a big
time commitment for me. I need at least half a
day to come up with them, which means about
three to five sketches. I pick the best two or three
to send to clients.”
PROMOTING TALENT: “Publicis West hired me
to create this poster to promote KEXP, an independent
radio station in Seattle. KEXP focuses on promoting
new and undiscovered musical talent. Their posters
usually show an image that represents one of the
bands they are promoting, alongside another, less
obvious image that represents another band. This
poster was for Black Angels and Bright Eyes”
Although his creative process stays the same on
most of his projects the artist isn’t afraid to
experiment: “I don’t use photography in my work.
I’ve considered it though and will probably try
using photos in the future.”
But where the artist knows he’ll stay true, is to
the digital side of art: “Working digitally is all
about freedom and spontaneity for me. You have
so much room to experiment without
consequence. You can really do whatever you
want. If you make a mistake, you can almost
always get back to where you started.”
Lately however, Kristian has been doing things
that take away that freedom, bringing back some
of the excitement of traditional media: “I will

WORKING DIGITALLY IS ALL ABOUT FREEDOM AND

SPONTANEITY FOR ME
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 Kristian Olson

Selling buildings:
“Plan Sponsor hired me to do
this half-pager for an article
they were publishing on real
estate investment”

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 Inter
TOP HONOUR: Kristian impressed the Graphic Artists
Guild so much he was rewarded with producing the cover

view

COVER ART: “I feel very lucky to have been able to create the cover for the Graphic Artists
Guild’s Directory of Illustration issue 23. I think it’s my best piece from 2006. The theme for
the book was ‘Solutions’. My idea was that a village somewhere had to deal with a
threatening volcano (personified as a monster). They put their minds together and
constructed a giant frost warrior/god to fight for them and save their city. The image is not
only of the impending fight, but also how the town came together to construct their hero”

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create a shape that I’m happy with and merge all
of its layers and move on to the next thing. This
way I’m stuck with what I’ve done. But I’m
confident enough now with my techniques to
the point where I’m not worried about having the
constant safety of the Undo function. I’ve been
using Photoshop for about ten years I think, since
version 2 or 3.”
Spreading his wings
His confidence in his own abilities has grown so
much that this Photoshop star is currently
showcasing his work in galleries, as well as online
(www.kristianolson.com). Check out the box out
on page 30 for full details of his exhibitions.
Alongside showing off his skills to a wider
audience, Kristian uses these gallery times to fulfil
another of his great loves – making new friends
who share his passion for art. “I love meeting
other artists that I’ve met from other shows or
online. It’s always fun. As far as clients go, I’ve met
some great people from both small shops and
huge companies. So the size of the client’s
company doesn’t matter that much to me. The
only thing that I care about is that they are
professional and easy to work with”
After finding clients, such as Entertainment
Weekly, Billboard, GQ, Fortune and Official
Playstation Magazine, Kristian’s next job is to jump
on his G5, Wacom tablet and favourite app and
get to work. “There is a part of me that is still a kid
deep down and Photoshop is a great place to
play,” he enthuses. “My favourite Photoshop
026-031_AVP30_Interview.indd 29
feature is the ability to pinpoint a layer by clicking
on it with the pointer tool. I hate labelling my
layers. I like just being able to click on whatever I
need to alter in order to get to it.”
As for downsides, Kristian doesn’t think
Adobe’s image-editing program has too many:
“Things I don’t like: The good thing is that this is a
tough question. My main problems with
Photoshop have more to do with my own
hardware limitations than with the program.”
Influences and inspirations
After discovering the techniques and tricks
behind Kristian’s creations, inquisitive minds need
to know where the creative gets his inspirations
from. “When I was a kid I loved Norman Rockwell
and comic books, which were my earliest
introduction to anatomy. In college I got into
Mucha, N.C. Wyeth, Gustav Climt and Maxfield
Parish but currently my influences would be Lari
Pitman, Chris Ware, Christian Northeast and Jeff
Soto, among others.”
In terms of non-creatives, Kristian’s influences
are even more far-reaching, including things like
old-fashioned hard candy (things with stripes),
aboriginal art, old paper currency, stamps, old
IN TERMS OF NON-CREATIVES,
KRISTIAN’S INFLUENCES ARE EVEN
MORE FAR-REACHING
Kristian Olson
RUNNER’S ephemera with etchings, antique Chinese
WORLD (ABOVE furniture, old maps, Chinese/Russian/American
LEFT): “Runner’s
World used this pre WWII propaganda posters and “anything that
illustration as the is beautiful for no reason.”
opener for its annual, However, although his list of inspirational items
fall shoe guide”
is as long as his arm, he’s keen to keep them at a
GETTING STICKY distance too. “If, at any point, I think I’m being too
(ABOVE RIGHT): influenced by something or someone else, I make
“These two pieces were
made for Sticky sure to stop looking at that art for a while. I also
Worldwide as part of let my own style build upon itself. That’s one of
their own promotional the benefits of continually experimenting.
campaign. Each image
is meant to convey the Photoshop itself has been a huge influence on
notion of stickiness” my style.”
Living by these rules, Kristian has developed a
style uniquely his own and easily identifiable, but
one which many following in his footsteps will no
doubt try to emulate. However, the creative is
keen to stress how important building an
individual and original look is: “Use your head.
You need a technique that is both commercially
viable, yet also unique. So experiment like crazy,
but make sure you bring your imagination back
down to earth so the rest of the world can
appreciate what you’re doing! Make sure you
keep your outlandish, insane work for the
gallery scene.”
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Advanced Photoshop
4/4/07 09:07:33
 Inter
view

To the future working is the process of creating each image

The King of Having found his style and his creative outlet so
Hearts: “This is early on in life, some might assume Kristian would
one of my first
attempts to get really be ready for a change of pace and some fresh
detailed, so it’s an scenery. He’s quite happy where he is though: “I
older piece, but I still would love to do everything. I would especially
love it. I think this one
took two or three love to get into music. But I made a decision
weeks of solid work. several years ago to stick with one thing. This has
My original plan
kept me pretty focused, so I don’t regret it. I often
was to do a whole
card deck” envy other people who are being creative in
other fields, but I always stop myself before I
spend too much time on anything outside of my
main interest. I just don’t want to water down my
creative output.”
And watered down his artwork is not. With a
passion for his art and career, practically
unrivalled, Kristian’s infatuation will carry him for
many decades to come. “I really love the medium.
There is still so much room for experimentation. I
feel like I’m at a great point with my style, but I still
love to try new things. My favourite part of
and then seeing the finished piece. There is
something very satisfying about completing a
piece that I really like.”
Finishing a commission isn’t the end of the line
however, “I’m doing a lot of gallery work these
days. I have eight group shows lined up for this
year. Two of those are three-person shows. So
that’s what’s taking up most of my time at the
moment.” So there you have it, it’s obvious that
this is one creative to watch!
Where to see Kristian’s work
The Hive
The Birds and the Bees, Los Angeles , 4 April
Compound Gallery
Three Course Meal, Portland OR, 3 May
Gallery Nucleus
Power in Numbers, Los Angeles, 14 May
Thinkspace Gallery
Artdorks Collective, Los Angeles, 8 June
The Hive
Small Feature Wall, Los Angeles, 5 July
Gallery Nucleus

There is still so much room

Ephemera, Los Angeles, September
Phoenix Gallery
Spitfire, Denver, September

for experimentation The Hive

Large Feature Wall, Los Angeles, 6 December

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 Kristian Olson

THE BEGINNING (ABOVE): “This was a self-promo piece

I placed in the Directory of Illustration 23. I have also made
it into a limited edition print. It’s called The Beginning. I
think of the characters to the right of the giant dog’s mouth
as soldiers or travellers who are about to enter some dark
episode of life by climbing down into the beast”

MONSTER (BELOW AND RIGHT): “These two are

limited edition prints and were created for a gallery show
entitled Monster. Each piece is inspired by real printed
currency. I see these as bills that secret monster societies
might use to pay for whatever creepy things they need for
their daily lives”

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 32
Advanced Photoshop

032-037_AVP30_Beauty.indd 32 4/4/07 09:12:14

 Beauty retouching
Take some of the new CS3 features for a spin in order to enhance colour, skin, body
shape and background for a dynamic but natural result
B
eauty retouching encompasses a great range
of techniques and it’s possible to take many
different approaches.
This condensed tutorial comprises of one or two
hours of medium-complexity retouching. We’ve
incorporated some of the new features in Photoshop
CS3 and some that emerged in CS2, which may not
have yet been fully appreciated by many of you. There
aren’t any earth-shattering new tools in CS3, but the
Refine Edge command is a very welcome addition as it
1 Global color
By correcting the global color cast, you’ll often
find that the image becomes sharper and all the
colours become more vibrant. The Curves dialog now
has an added Levels function, so we can now check the
highlight and shadow end-points, as well as correcting
a Yellow cast in highlights and Cyan cast in the
shadows, leaving the composite channel untouched.
4 Mask with a gradient
The Gradient Tool hasn’t
changed in CS3. It’s great for masking
smoothly. Use the Foreground to
Transparency Gradient and make sure
the Foreground colour is black. Set the
Opacity of the gradient to 70% in the
Options bar and drag a gradient from
the left side of the image to the arm.
Repeat on the right side.
032-037_AVP30_Beauty.indd 33
gives you all the mask views you could wish for, plus ON THE DISC
lots of fine control for modifying selections. There’s a You can follow the the tutorial through from
new and simple Quick Selection Tool, which sits start to finish as Gry has kindly donated the
imagery for this retouching Masterclass. Load up
alongside the Magic Wand. Smart Objects and Smart the CD and located the files ‘sky comp.tif’ and
Filters help you retain quality even when you don’t get ‘wind_sea before.tif’. The main image is
watermarked and is not to be distributed..
it right the first time around. You’ll either love or hate
the Clone Source palette’s Show Overlay, but do try it OUR EXPERT Gry Garness
out on this image. Meanwhile Curves – our fave colour Gry Garness worked for over ten years as a fashion and advertising
photographer, after a 14-year career in hair and beauty. She is
command, has been upgraded and given a built-in
currently a retoucher and Photoshop trainer. Check out www.
Levels control and a few extra bells and whistles. grygarness.com/tutorials for tutorials on using the Pen Tool,
Masking and tips on retouching, colour, sharpening and more.
3 Soft light layer
Instead of using an S-curve for contrast, make a
Curve Adjustment Layer and press OK without
changing anything. Blend it to Soft Light in the Layers
palette. Judge the contrast. It’s often a bit too much. In
this case we reduce it to 80% Opacity and mask the
sides off slightly with a gradient.
2 Make the eyes sparkle
Drag a test patch with the Marquee Tool and
make a Curves Adjustment Layer. The test patch reveals
the effect on the eye and surrounding skin. To make
brighter 1/4 tones, subtly lower the red and green
channels, and lift the blue. Fill the mask with black and
use a soft white brush to reveal it.
5
Convert to 8-bit
Review the colour adjustments.
If they’re all good, go to
Image>Duplicate and tick Duplicate
Merged Layers Only. This gives a
flattened duplicate file to continue
working on. Then go to
Image>Mode>8-bits/Channel. Now
that the image is in 8-bit mode it will
be much easier to work with. Save the
layered version as a backup.
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Advanced Photoshop
4/4/07 09:12:27
 MASTERCLASS
6 Protect moles
Hit Ctrl+J to duplicate the Background and name
it ‘Retouch’. Before retouching, put the moles on a
separate layer. Select all, Ctrl+A and press Q to enter
Quick Mask. Use a black soft brush to mark the
moles. When finished, press Ctrl+I and then Q again
followed by Ctrl+J. Turn off this layer and return to
the Retouch layer.
7 Start retouching
Start skin cleaning with the Healing
Brush at 100% view. Be aware of texture
and always try to match it. Although it
naturally blends, it helps to set the
hardness to 70%. Brush size can be
changed by using the square brackets
(next to P on the keyboard.) Think natural
but smooth skin. Don’t forget the arms.

8 Cloning aligned
Make a Snapshot and mark the History Brush source box. Grab the Clone Tool and open the Clone Source
palette, tick Show Overlay. Zoom in to 200% on the welt above the lips and work vertically, taking samples above.
The overlay can help you keep alignment. Pressing the Alt key lets you see the image without overlay.

Perfect
alignment
Cloning in alignment is always a challenge. If
you can handle the shadow of the Overlay view,
the Clone Source palette’s controls can help you
find the alignment – although it doesn’t
actually give you a steady hand. It can however
let you rotate and rescale the source and choose
up to four sources.

9 Cloning the details

The Show Overlay function isn’t always
beneficial, so feel free to turn it off when you don’t
need precise alignment. Continue with the Clone
Tool and work very precisely with the eyes and
eyebrows, making sure you don’t overdo it. The
History Brush can be used to partially bring it back
(borrowing from the Snapshot) if necessary.

“YOU’LL EITHER LOVE OR HATE THE CLONE SOURCE

PALETTE’S ‘SHOW OVERLAY’, BUT DO TRY IT OUT!”
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 10 Red nose
Grab the Brush Tool and change its mode to
Hue. This will drive it towards the sampled colour
12 Enlarge pupils
The flash has caused the pupils to catch the
light and become very small so they appear very cold.
without altering the brightness or contrast. Sample the Highlight an Eye layer and use the same technique as in
colour in the cheek and test-stroke it to see if it’s the previous step, but with Elliptical Marquee Tool and
suitable. You may end up trying things and hitting 2px Feathering. Transform up to 125%. Use the
Undo a couple of times before you hit the right hue. Brightness/Contrast command to tweak up the contrast..
Reduce the brush opacity if necessary.

11 Open eyes
Make a constrained Rectangular Marquee
selection, by holding down Shift and dragging. Press
Ctrl+J to make a Layer via Copy. Hit Ctrl+T to Free
Transform. In Options, set the width to 101% and the
height to 102%. Click Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All and
then reveal the subtly enlarged eye with a white brush.
Repeat for the other eye.

13 Select top of hair

Highlight the Retouch layer
and draw a selection with the

14
Freehand Lasso of the unwanted hair.
Even better – use the Pen Tool, which Clone top of hair
has a slightly more bold appearance Press Ctrl+J to make a Layer
in CS3. When the selection is live, go via Copy. Ctrl-click on the layer
to the new Select>Refine Edge thumbnail in the Layers palette to re-
command. Start with Default and set select it. Then press Ctrl+H to hide the
Feather to 3, using the different mask marching ants. Use the Clone Tool
views to help you preview. without the Show Overlay function to
clone the sky over the unwanted hair.
Ctrl+D to deselect when you’re done.

15 Creases
Highlight the Retouch layer to tidy up the
model’s top, removing creases with the Patch Tool. With
17 Transform the chiffon
Start with Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal.
Then Ctrl+T to Free Transform and rotate it until it sits
this tool you drag a selection around the crease and nicely on the shoulder, scaling it up slightly too. Go to
put the cursor inside the selection to drag it to a crease- Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All and then reveal the fabric.
free area nearby. Easier said than done perhaps, but you Hit Ctrl+E to merge it down to the Retouch layer and
don’t have to remove them all – only the most rasterize in one single operation. Then clone the join on
distracting creases. the shoulder and the sea behind.

16 Shoulder top
The wind has caused the chiffon top to point
upwards and we need to take it down. Start with
making a generous selection of the fly-away chiffon.
CS3 lets you make a Smart Object from Layer>Smart
Objects>Convert to Smart Object (equivalent to Group
into Smart Object in CS2.) Smart Objects can be
transformed less destructively than normal layers.

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 MASTERCLASS
18 Narrow the arms
The arms look fuller than they really are.
Ctrl+J from a Rectangular Marquee selection of the left
19 Mask
and rasterize
Take the layer Opacity back
arm. Go to Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart to 100% and go to
Object. Reduce the layer Opacity to 70%. Ctrl+T to Free Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All.
Transform. Press the Warp button and pull the grid Then paint with a soft white
slightly to the right from the top-third grid intersection. brush at 100% along the
arm’s edge to reveal the
slimmed down silhouette.
Make sure it also joins with
the background and hair.
Layer>Smart Objects>
Rasterize will make it a
normal editable layer again.
Repeat for the other arm.

21 Clone the gaps

The Smart Object torso must be rasterized
and the mask dragged to the wastebasket (press
Apply). Make a Snapshot and mark the History Brush
source box before you start. For the Clone Tool choose
Current and Below from Options and use Show Overlay
from the Clone Source palette. Use the History Brush to
selectively reverse where the cloning is unwanted.

20 Transform the torso

To create a more hourglass shape, make a
Pen Tool-based selection, or use Freehand Lasso. Follow 22 Bring in the sky
The sky was shot from the same angle a few
the same procedure for warping as in step 18, but try to minutes earlier. Copy and paste it in and position
drag a moderate hourglass shape. This time use a blank accurately in the top third. Once it’s in the perfect
white Layer Mask with a black brush, mending only the position, turn off the visibility of the sky, because we’re
most obvious joins. The rest will have to be cloned. now going to mask it.

23 Mask for the sky

The Blue channel provides a good basis for
separating the hair from the sky, so duplicate this in the
Channels palette. Again, put the improved Brightness/
Contrast command to the test. This command was
always okay for masks, but it’s still not a command
It’s sophisticated enough for tonal correction of images.

history
Aim to get the hair black and the sky white.

24
Many people give up on the
History Brush as they progress Load the mask
and get more layer-savvy. To Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the
me, it has never become Blue copy. Then return to RGB. Turn on the visibility eye
redundant, because it serves as of the Sky layer and click the Layer Mask button in the
an extra safety net when embarking on some
Layers palette. The sky should be nicely dropped in,
difficult cloning. It’s a rescue tool that lets you
with no halos around the hair or the tree. The Layer
paint back the bits you wish you hadn’t done
and lets you keep all the good bits. Mask can still be refined further by going to
Select>Refine Edge.

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 26 Stamp visible
Take a look at the layer stack. There should
be a hidden Moles layer at the top. There are four eye-
related layers that can be grouped by Shift-selecting
them and hitting Ctrl+G. The same applies to the arms
and torso. Join all the visible layers together by
highlighting the Sky layer, press the New Layer button CS3
and then press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E.
gets smart
Transforms and filters can sometimes be hard
to get right the first time around and often
need a bit of finessing. The trouble is that these

25
are pretty destructive operations. This is where
Clean background Smart Objects come in. They are layers that
Before the finishing touches we must clean remember their original state and will not be
up the background. It’s best to remove things that don’t deteriorated by several successive edits.
make sense but still compete for the attention. Often
these are bright blobby objects without any merit.
Leave anything that adds to the image and feel free to
use the Healing Brush or the Clone Tool with or without
Show Overlay.

27 Arm hairs
Select the arms by dragging along the
inside with the Quick Selection Tool. Use Select>Refine
Selection to match the edge. Select>Inverse to clone
the outside of the arms. The background is busy and
cloning is the best way to cover the hairs. Hide the
selection, Ctrl+H, but remember to deselect afterwards!

28 Shading
Go to Layer>New>Layer. Set the Blending
Mode to Soft Light and tick ‘Fill with soft-light-neutral grey
50%’. Use the Brush Tool and set the swatches to default by
pressing D. You can switch the foreground swatch by
pressing X. Use a low opacity for the tool. Black darkens
the image (burning) and white lightens (dodging).

29 Sharpening
Go to Image>Duplicate without flattening.
30 Reveal moles
The layer stack
should still contain the Moles
Then Layer>Merge Visible. Load the red channel’s layer, as well as the image as
highlights as a selection, Ctrl-click on it in Channels. a Smart Object and a
Click on RGB then Select>Inverse. This protects the skin negatively masked Smart
from the sharpening. Go to Filter>Convert for Smart Filters tile, with the specific
Filters. Zoom to 100% and use Unsharp Mask or Smart Sharpening filter listed. Turn
Sharpen with a low Radius, between 0.7 and 0.9. on the Moles layer, with the
option of turning the opacity
down a fraction. Mask out
any moles you don’t like…
and you’re there!

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 Feature

BEING COMMISSIONED FOR THE

VERY FIRST TIME CAN BE A EUPHORIC,
IF ANXIOUS, FEELING

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 CREATIVE BRIEFS – A JOB WELL DONE
Creative briefs –
a job well done
magazine tutorials are a great way to prepare for a creative
career, but once commissioned what does it take to ensure
your first brief won’t be your last? Nick Spence investigates
038-044_AVP30_Agencies.indd 35
Self-initiated projects, entering competitions and tackling
B
eing commissioned for the very first time
can be a euphoric, if anxious, feeling. Many
dream of being paid for something they
love doing and feel passionate about and so a
creative career is much sought after.
Fulfilling the brief and ensuring work is done on
time, on budget and to the satisfaction of the client
is vital if you want to succeed in a competitive
industry. Lack of experience shouldn’t matter if you
start on a professional footing. First and foremost it’s
important that you understand the brief and clarify
early on any grey areas, so the client doesn’t get a
shock come deadline day. If it’s sent by email, print it
off and re-read it until it all starts to make sense. A
client may know what they want, but have they
explained it clearly? Determine details like how the
client wants the work delivered – no good sending
layered PSD files if a customer only needs a TIFF or
JPEG. Good communication between you and the
client is fundamental, it also shows you’re keen,
passionate and care about what you’re doing.
Know your worth
It’s important you agree a budget and fee early on.
You might be keen to see your first job in print, but
don’t undersell yourself. Many starting off will be
tempted to over-work briefs, long hours lost in the
small details won’t help when work picks up, so keep
track of time. Keep a diary or notebook, budget for
your time, otherwise your hourly rate could actually
be lower than the national minimum wage.
Prioritise, rank things according to importance,
tackle the problematic areas first and never leave
things to the last moment. While tight deadlines can
produce innovative, spontaneous results, more
often that not you’ll just end up with something
shoddy, unworthy of your portfolio and unlikely to
attract new commissions. If you’ve got a week to
work on a brief don’t leave it to the day before
deadline to start. If unforeseen circumstances
complicate things, be sure to let the client know as
early as possible, deadlines may be negotiable if, for
example, you’re struck down with flu.
A brief can be anything from a half-page email, to
a detailed PowerPoint display full of facts, figures
and market research. Ensure you produce something
that reflects what has been asked of you and not a
flight of creative fancy. Always remember this is a
job, not a piece of self-initiated personal work,
therefore save the experimenting for your own time.
Often you’ll be asked to compromise, change and
dilute your vision, perhaps to appease a
conservative client, don’t take it personally. Play to
your strengths, you’ve obviously been
commissioned for your style and skills so exploit
them. Time restraints and creative compromises will
inevitably mean sometimes you’ll be left thinking “if
only”. Once you get over the frustration and
disappointment, move on, your next job could be
the best one yet. Over the following pages we
39
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4/4/07 15:32:56
 Feature
A-SIDE STUDIO: Dynamic duo Ross
l Cornwall attic space as A-Side Studio (Photo credit:
base from a smal
meet some respected creative studios large and
small and look at the way they tackle briefs, budgets,
deadlines and client demands.
A-Side Studio (www.a-sidestudio.co.uk)
Launched in 2002, A-Side Studio (www.a-
sidestudio.co.uk) was originally set up as an outlet
for the creative talents of Ross Imms, frustrated by a
‘stuffy’ day-job in design. Early commissions were
modest – t-shirts, record sleeves and skateboard
graphics, normally done in return for product rather
than cash. As momentum began to build and
buoyed by the arrival of broadband, college-friend
Alex joined Ross in 2005. The pair now share an attic
GOOD READ: A-Side Studio provides Stranger
magazine with some excellent art direction,
including stylish commissioned cover design
40
Advanced Photoshop
038-044_AVP30_Agencies.indd 36
CORNISH OASIS: A-Side has
produced a new product
catalogue for Cornish Oasis, a
plant mail-order company. “We
looked beyond the brief to
incorporate a bright A2 poster
into the catalogue to encourage
action and give the print a longer
shelf life. We carefully
commissioned an illustrator to
create the main image and hired
a photographer to shoot the
plants and pieced the elements
together to produce a product
that the client was thrilled with”
and Alex have built up a big client
)
www.andylewisphotography.co.uK
space in Cornwall, far from the hustle and bustle of
your typical big city studio. Working with a talented
network of freelancers, A-Side now enjoys an
international client-base including MTV Networks,
ESPN, Discovery Channel, 5Boro and Uniqlo.
For A-Side, client briefs can be as varied as the
services it offers. “Briefs come in all forms,” says
Ross. “Sometimes a project is initiated through a
casual conversation or crude email, on the other end project will throw up issues as it unfurls, make sure
of the scale we might receive a detailed 20-page you resolve them immediately and involve your
tender document. As a relationship with a client client in the design and production process as
evolves, they become comfortable with your much as necessary.”
approach and trust develops, this causes the
briefing process to relax.” If a client wants to be ATTIK (www.attik.com)
creatively involved, A-Side works closely with them, Over 20 years ATTIK (www.attik.com) has grown
taking on their ideas and steering the concept and from its early, humble beginnings. ATTIK began life
visual direction. with Simon Needham and James Sommerville
Setting a budget can be a tricky business, setting up shop in an attic bedroom helped by a
especially when starting out, knowing your worth grant from The Prince’s Trust. From Huddersfield to
can be difficult when you’re keen to establish a client London, from London to New York, San Francisco
base. A-Side always establishes a budget and and Los Angeles, ATTIK today is an award-winning
payment terms before undertaking design work, design studio with an exciting blue chip client list.
explaining to the client what work will be involved.
“If the budget is determined by the client, then
we establish how many hours or days we can
afford to spend on the job. If we’re asked to pitch
a price, we break it down so that the client can see
exactly where their money is going. If we aim to
employ the help of illustrators, photographers or
copywriters we manage the finances and pass this
cost onto the client,” adds Ross.
From branding to motion design, illustration
and editorial design, a brief can take anything from
half an hour to over a year, so A-Side mixes ongoing
projects and quick-turn-around jobs to help spark
creativity. “We’re a small studio so we have to
manage our time carefully, we employ a studio
manager to help us prioritise our time effectively.
Communication and organisation are the keys to
nurturing lasting relationships with clients. Each
4/4/07 15:33:40
 CREATIVE BRIEFS – A JOB WELL DONE
Keeping household names happy while creating NIKEWOMEN: ATTIK in the UK
produced a distinctive refreshed
dynamic campaigns can be difficult when so many NikeWomen brand combining good
big names come with corporate baggage. “Many communication with creativity.
high-profile brands have brand guidelines that have ATTIK produced a three-minute
to be followed. On one hand, these can be helpful, retail film shown in NikeTown
but on the other they can be quite restrictive,
especially if the guidelines don’t allow any creative
freedom,” says Emma Barker, director of client
services at ATTIK. “On occasion you’ll find that
clients have already visualised what they want in
their mind but find it difficult to articulate it.
Unfortunately this doesn’t always become clear at advise your client of this at the earliest opportunity,”
the beginning, which is why it’s really important that adds Emma. “If any aspect of the brief is unclear, ask
you feel comfortable with the brief before you start and get clarification. If you don’t know what the
a project.” objectives are in the beginning you could find
Planning ahead is crucial for any client brief, large yourself doing loads of creative at your expense. Be
or small and good time management will ensure all professional, listen, keep clients informed, put
commissioned work is delivered within the deadline things in writing, be organised, don’t be afraid to
as well as within budget. “Plan each week or even say no and pay attention to how you present your
two weeks at a time depending on the size of work, it’s really the small details that can make
projects you’re working on,” suggests Emma. “If the the difference.”
client doesn’t provide a written brief, you write one
and submit it for approval, with this you’ll be able to
measure more effectively if the brief has been met or
not. Produce a project timeline working backwards
from the deadline, detailing the different stages of
the project and the estimated timing for them. This
should include the time you’re allowing for the client
to approve concepts and feed back to you. Make it
clear that any changes could impact on the final
delivery date. Manage expectations and don’t give
your clients any unexpected shocks on any front. If
something happens at any point during the project
that might affect the time or budget, make sure you

client-base, ATTIK still finds

NOISELAB: Despite an international
r its Nois eLab moniker, offering it the
time for experimentation unde
re new modes, sensibilities
opportunity to develop, test and explo onment
es outside the comm ercia l envir
and experienc

ADIDAS: This Adidas Retail Environm

ent campaign was produced by the
Francisco studio of ATTIK and incor San
porates some big-name sporting stars
images were printed on mesh and the . The
text was printed on Duraclear. Both
suspended from the ceiling, creating were
a dynamic, layered visual effect

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 Feature
ents will make
NOT THE AVERAGE 9-5: Many elem
ursor including hand-
up a typical job for Prec
y paint, 3D
crafted sections, model making, spra
. The striking
elements, animation and much more
were produced with in a week
results for MTV

Case study
Q&A, PERFECT TIMING – JOHN MCFAUL (WWW.MCFAUL.NET)
For John McFaul juggling a client list that includes client and generally be a joy to work with.
Virgin Atlantic, IBM, Vodafone, Orange and Nike NS: Any advice on managing your time better?
requires the ability to multi-task, while making JM: Get up earlier, have a diary and streamline
the most of your time. Taking a tea break from his your workflow. Make sure you liaise with the
busy schedule, John sat down for a quick chat. client on a regular basis, what exactly do they
want? Weigh up whether this project is financially
Nick Spence: As someone who is incredibly busy, viable with your current workload and get on
how do you ensure work is delivered on time and with it.
to the satisfaction of the client?
John McFaul: A year or so ago this was
becoming something of a problem. As more
and more projects were coming my way I was
beginning to spread myself increasingly thinly
over these projects, forcing me to make a Precursor (www.precursorstudio.
decision. I took one person on full-time and we
have others in as and when we need more Precursor (www.precursorstudio.com)
hands on deck. By having the help I can Precursor (www.precursorstudio.com) is a multi-
concentrate on what needs to be done and discipline design company, covering a wide range
when. We try to work on several projects at of skillsets including on and off-screen branding,
once so we can switch between them when we design for print, moving image design and art
feel like a change. direction. With big-name clients such as the BBC,
NS: And with several jobs in the same time Five Life, Five US, MTV and Nike, briefs can stretch
frame, is there a good way to keep track to huge wads of paper and resemble something
of everything? written by a committee. “If we receive a brief for a
JM: I make notes like you wouldn’t believe. TV channel re-brand, it’s likely to be an in-depth
Every day has a To-do list as long as my arm. brief where the client or committee has spent a
Our heads are so crammed with ideas for all large amount of time thinking about the project
the projects we’ve got on, we have to write and formulating the brief,” says Precursor’s Noah
things down before we forget them. Harris. “A brief for a programme package or
NS: Is there ever a time when you should turn promo for a channel such as MTV will generally be
work down? shorter and less specific. A brief for a record
JM: We try to facilitate everyone within sleeve may well be phoned in and an informal
reason. Obviously the bigger jobs might push chat kick starts the process.”
the smaller editorial projects out of the
equation somewhat, but we will do most
things time-permitting. Also, I’m 34 now so
there is an issue of ‘family’ and ‘home’, which
is beginning to be a big thing for me,
something that means McFaul as a business is
once more at a crossroads. The thing is, in this
industry, you’re only as good as your last
project, so in order to stay ahead of the game
you must pull out all the stops, work those
longer hours, go that little further for the

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 CREATIVE BRIEFS - A JOB WELL DONE
Despite a busy schedule, Precursor still finds time
for personal experimental projects, where it can
develop new techniques and try out new ideas,
which can later benefit commercial work. “We tend
to go for the briefs that give us a lot of creative
leeway. The most exciting briefs to us are the ones
which are ambiguous. What does the client want?
How can we work out what they need? Much more
fun than just following a formula.”
However, creative leeway doesn’t mean freedom
to stretch the budget or deadline and working
against the clock often produces novel results.
“Sometimes we’ll have a week to turn around a
programme package, from concept to delivery,” says
Noah. “This can be an exciting process as you need
to come up with something very quickly and then
produce it in a matter of days, it can deliver very
fresh results. Our MTV Essentials package was one
such project. At other times you’ll be working on a
project for several months.”
It’s important to remember that running a
successful studio isn’t about taking every job that
comes your way, it also requires you to know when
to say no. Spreading yourself too thinly will result in
poor work and taking on briefs that don’t suit your
studio may stifle creativity and confuse potential
clients if you have a house style. “We turn down
briefs if we don’t feel like the project is right for the
studio, or if we don’t think there will be any
enjoyment to be had from working on it. Getting on
well with the client is another consideration – we all
want a happy working process,” adds Noah. “Saying
yes to everything would mean expansion above and
beyond where we want to go. It would also mean
working on some projects with which you don’t
really feel any connection.”
Ralph (www.ralphandco.com)
Ralph (www.ralphandco.com) is an independent,
full-service digital advertising agency that delivers a
wide range of services across all digital platforms.
Prestigious clients include McDonald’s, Nickelodeon,
Franz Ferdinand, Sony, Universal Music and Channel
4. As business has grown, the company has had to
accommodate a number of ongoing projects, which
NICKELODEON: Ralph enjoys a long relationship
with Nickelodeon, producing fun interactive websites
for a number of favourite children’s shows
038-044_AVP30_Agencies.indd 39
means someone has to keep an eye on the bigger
picture. “Due to expansion, we’ve recently brought a
studio manager onto the team,” explains Chris
Hassell, director of Ralph. “She is responsible for
what people are working on, and when it needs to
be done by.”
With deadlines continually looming, priorities can
change from day to day, so good organisation is
vital. “We usually don’t have a lot of time to get
things done, which can make scheduling difficult as
priorities can vary every day. For an online
advertising campaign, we’re usually looking at
about four weeks to deliver something. But if we’re
doing a game for someone such as Nickelodeon,
then it could be no more than two weeks from start build,” says Chris. “However if it’s an advertising job
to finish,” explains Chris. Most of the projects Ralph the creative fee, i.e, the thinking and planning, is
works on have defined deadlines already, as it could often fixed, but the different advertising formats
be a new book being published, a show on TV or a that are to be used depend on where they’re to be
promotion that involves many different placed and what the ideas coming from the creative
departments within the client. Sticking to agreed are, so this can be quite fluid. With most clients we
deadlines shows a level of commitment and have a set price for the production of ad materials.”
reliability that should mean repeat business Repeat business can also be achieved by sticking
down the line. to what you know best with clients and briefs that
Budgets are also nearly always fixed, although best showcase your skills. “We have started turning
there’s scope for some leeway with some advertising down a bit of work recently if it’s not entirely on
jobs. “A budget is often fixed at the beginning of the brand with what we do,” says Chris. “Not that we
project if it’s more focussed on web design and want to become arrogant gits, but we’ve found
Case study
INSIDE A BRIEF – BLADE: THE SERIES FOR BRAVO TV
Ralph’s digital advertising campaign for the Bravo TV show Blade: The Series, helped win the channel
record viewing figures, when the continuing adventures of Marvel Comics’ cult legendary vampire
hunter was premiered recently. Based around the core Blade fan-base of 18-35-year-old males, female
gamers and comic book readers, Ralph used a number of tactics including a microsite which included
streaming video trailers, a video gallery with a behind the scenes look at the show, in-banner promos,
character profiles, an episode gallery and a competition where fans could win Blade’s sword.
“With Blade we had worked with Flextech (now Virgin Media TV) on a few campaigns across Living
and Bravo,” explains Ralph’s Chris Hassell. “So they called us and the media planner in to give us the
background of the show and how much they had to spend on media. We also got a DVD with the first
couple of episodes on to sit and watch to get a taste of what happens and the general style of the show.
In this case the client had also worked-up a treatment for an on-air promo trailer.”
Although Ralph sometimes works within creative concepts that another ad agency have come up
with for Bravo, it enjoyed a greater level of freedom on this project. “With Blade we had free rein over
the creative and the copy within the ad formats. This is a great brief to get, it means that 75 per cent of
the project is thinking of and sketching out the ideas. This is usually done in pencil, but for Blade we
went straight to the Mac as the creative process relied so much on the photography,” explains Chris.
43
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4/4/07 15:39:42
 Feature
ALWAYS BE HONEST WITH YOUR
TIMELINES AND MAKE SURE YOU
DELIVER WHAT YOU PROMISE
BARBICAN: Zip Design was
approached by the Barbican to produce
logos and artwork for a series of BBC-
backed events and concerts
it works a lot better if you focus on what you
want to be and do, rather than grabbing all and
everything you come across.”
Zip Design (www.zipdesign.co.uk)
Zip Design (www.zipdesign.co.uk) is a London-
based graphic design consultancy, established in
1996, which now combines the skills of a seven-
strong team for the likes of EMI, Ministry Of Sound,
Paul Smith, Sony BMG and Virgin Records. For
anyone who has ever wanted to design record
sleeves, Zip Design covers everything from CD
packaging to band and label identity, branding,
websites, e-flyers, motion graphics, books,
brochures, typefaces and TV titles. “Some jobs come
in on a Monday and leave on the Friday, and that can
be singles or albums,” explains David Bowden,
creative director, Zip Design. “Some compilations,
for example, have a very quick turnaround, three
CDs, lots of label copy, a small booklet to fit it in and
five days start to finish. Others we could have two
months on.”
Although many commissions start with an email,
Zip Design feels face to face contact with a client still
has its benefits. “The average brief comes along in
CICADA: Zip Design provided artwork for hotly
tipped electronic band Cicada, that reflected a
sexy Eighties Athena poster-look combined with
Fifties Parisian-cool
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038-044_AVP30_Agencies.indd 40
BETH ORTON: Zip Design produced this seductive CD
sleeve for singer Beth Orton, inspired by a painting she
had seen and incorporating hand writing and doodles
the form of an email. With some, the job is simply
outlined with a few accompanying key creative
words, some are more specific and some are very
loose and open,” says David. “We prefer a meeting.
Always. It’s much better to discuss the needs of the
client thoroughly face to face before we start on a
creative solution. We then keep in touch with emails
and telephone conversations until the next meeting
where we would present our solutions.”
David prefers to ask the client for a deadline and if
he thinks it’s not possible will suggest a more
realistic one, better to deliver right than deliver late.
“We work on time sheets. We allocate time to jobs
depending on budgets and deadline,” explains
David. “The closer the deadline, the higher the
priority. This, of course, is if both jobs are of a similar
size. If we have a poster to go to print the same day
as album artwork, the album artwork will of
course be worked on first. Posters take less time. If
an unplanned job comes in we fit it in between
us. We have five designers here so work is
distributed evenly.”
Sometimes dealing with clients can be a
frustrating business, but patience is a virtue for a
good designer. “Be polite when expressing your
opinions and try to see both sides, don’t let your
design ego run away with you. Humility is a nice
trait. The client isn’t always wrong. Hear them out
before you throw their suggestions away. Most
importantly just do the best job you can.” 5
MIAMI 2007: Zip Design regularly works with dance label
Defected Records producing stylish, fashionable covers
for the latest compilations
4/4/07 15:40:56
 Create a low-light seascape
If you’re disappointed with your seascape shots, why not transform them into a
beautiful, decorative and atmospheric Photoshop masterpiece? Tim Shelbourne looks
seaward and demonstrates
I
f you’ve ever been on holiday and taken a shot of
the sea and been severely disappointed when
you’ve looked at the images back home, then
this tutorial could be just what you’re looking for.
We’re going to take a pretty unimpressive seascape
snapshot and turn it into something really quite special,
all thanks to the power of Photoshop of course!
One of the characteristics of using a slow shutter
speed for shooting seascapes is the effect of the
motion of waves and water appearing blurred and
almost smoke-like in the finished photograph and we’ll
46
Advanced Photoshop
046-051_AVP30_Seascape.indd 46
replicate that effect here. But we’re not going to stop
there. We’re also going to radically change the whole
look of the start image by manipulating its tone and
colour, giving it a look of heightened reality and a
unique decorative quality.
There are lots of really useful techniques here, which
even include how to make your own moon and a
plethora of other effects you’ll be able to use again and
again in your landscape and seascape photography. So,
fire up Photoshop and dive into the walkthrough, after
all, time and tide wait for no man!
ON THE DISC
You can recreate this image by using the source
photograph ‘sea spray’ on this month’s cover
disc. As always though, we encourage you to use
your own source imagery , so dig out those old
holiday snaps and get perfecting!
OUR EXPERT Tim Shelbourne
With 20 years’ experience as an artist and illustrator, Tim has a
barrage of literature under his belt, including his book Photoshop
Photo Effects Cookbook. He works as a senior designer for a web
design company and maintains http://user.fundy.net/morris
4/4/07 09:15:27
 1 Starting off
Open the start image and go to Image>Canvas
Size. In the Anchor box, choose the bottom middle
2 Colour the background
Now click the Background colour swatch. While still in the Color Picker, click the Foreground colour swatch to
sample it and then choose a slightly darker shade from the Picker. Click OK. Choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool
square. Check Relative and choose ‘inches’. Enter 2 in and drag a rectangular selection across the sky and empty white area.
the Height box and choose White for extension color.
Hit OK. Now add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N). Choose the
Eyedropper and click in the lower part of the sky.

3 Add a gradient
Choose the Gradient Tool and click in the
Gradient Picker. Choose the Foreground to Background
gradient swatch. Now click and drag the gradient from
close to the bottom of the selection up to the top of it.
Hit Ctrl+D to deselect. Choose the Eraser Tool with a
soft brush. Now use this at 25% Opacity to erase any
hard line at the base of the Gradient fill.

4 Manipulate curves
Go to Layer>New
Adjustment Layer>Curves. In the
Curves dialog, click a point towards
the top right of the curve and drag
it down into the curve shape
shown in the screenshot. Now
choose the Blue Channel and drag

5
the curve downwards to introduce
Brush the rocks a little more yellow.
Click the original Background layer and choose
the Burn Tool from the Toolbox. In the Options bar,
choose Midtones for Range and set Exposure to 6%.
Choose a large soft brush from the Brush Picker. Now
use this tool carefully over the darker areas of the rocks.

“NOW CHOOSE THE BLUE CHANNEL

AND DRAG THE CURVE DOWNWARDS
TO INTRODUCE MORE YELLOW”
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 MASTERCLASS
6 Shadowy behaviour
Now change the Range option to Shadows. Use the tool over the darker areas of the rocks again to darken the
shadows. Now change to the Dodge Tool. Set the Range to Highlights and Exposure to 6%.
7 Lighten the shadows
The next step is to use this tool over the lightest
parts of the rocks to give the impression of filter light
falling on them. Use the tool gradually, repeatedly using
it over particular areas to lighten them gradually.

8 Dark clouds
Add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and set its
Blending Mode to Soft Light. Choose a very dark blue
for the Foreground swatch and choose the Brush Tool
with a large, soft brush. Reduce the brush Opacity to
15%. Now paint over the top half of the sky, painting
over some areas more than others to create the
impression of distant, dark clouds.

9 Draw the moon

Add another new layer. Now choose the Elliptical Marquee. Choose Fixed Aspect Ratio for Style in the Options
bar, or hold down the Shift button whilst dragging. Drag a round selection at a suitable size for the moon in the top
left. Position this selection high up in the image by dragging inside the selection. Choose a light cream colour for the
Foreground swatch and a slightly darker shade for the Background.

The
Eyedropper
When you’re using the Select>Select Color
Range command, you’ll often find that just
adjusting the Fuzziness slider, after sampling
your target colour, you’ll get a perfect selection
in the preview, with all the selected colour
shown in white and the rest of your image
shown in black. However, sometimes certain

“PAINT OVER SOME AREAS MORE areas of the colour will not be fully shown in
white at first. If this is the case, simply choose

THAN OTHERS TO CREATE AN the Eyedropper within the Color Range

dialog and click on your image in any areas

IMPRESSION OF DARK CLOUDS” shown as grey in the preview to add these

areas to the selection.

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 10 Make it glow
Go to Filter>
Render>Clouds to fill the
selection. Then go to
Layer>Layer Style>Outer
Glow. Choose a very pale
yellow for the glow colour. Set
the Spread to 9 and Size to Edit>
204. Click the Inner Glow
category. Choose a similar Transform
colour for the glow and set
Choke to 0, Size to 125. Via the Edit>Transform command, you can
manipulate the geometry of layers in many
ways. This is useful when pasting objects such
as the palm leaves in this image. Via the
Edit>Transform command you have a number of

11
options including Scale, Distort, Rotate and
Blacken the leaves Free Transform. All of these transform
Source an image of palm leaves and open it commands work by adjusting the handles
in Photoshop. Here we’ve used one with a blue around a Bounding Box. To Rotate a layer,
background, which makes selection of the leaves easier. simply place your cursor against one of the
Click with the Eyedropper in the blue of the sky and go corner handles and drag. You can move a layer
to Select>Color Range. Adjust the Fuzziness slider until while in Transform by dragging within the
Bounding Box. Hit Enter when you’re done to
the leaves are black and the unwanted background
commit the transformation.
areas are white. Click OK.

12 Position the leaves

Double-click the Background layer and click
OK. Now hit Delete to delete the background areas. Go
to Select>All, followed by Edit>Copy. Now close this
image, abandoning the changes. Back in the main
composition, click on the top layer in the stack
and go to Edit>Paste. Position the leaves with the
Move Tool (V).
13 Blur the leaves
Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves. Grab the
White Point handle at the top right of the curve grid
and drag it two thirds of the way down the grid. Plot a
point in the centre of the curve and drag it downwards
a little. Click OK. If the leaves look a little too sharp, blur
them by around one pixel via Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur.

14 Manipulating waves
Click on the Background layer and duplicate it (Ctrl+J). Choose the Eyedropper Tool and click in the lighter
part of the waves. Now go to Select>Color Range. Set the Fuzziness slider to 139 and click OK. Blur this part of the
layer via Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use a Blur Radius of 15 pixels. Now, with the selection still active, go to Edit>Copy.

15 Blur the waves

Go to Edit>Paste. Set this pasted layer to
Screen. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use an Angle of
69 and a Distance of 145. In the Filter menu choose
Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use a Blur Radius of 40 pixels. Now
add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and choose the Brush
Tool. Ensure that your Foreground colour is White.

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 MASTERCLASS
“NOW BEGIN TO ADD SOME LONG 18 Add some strokes
Add another new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and

WATER SPLASHES TO THE WAVES” set its Blending Mode to Screen. Now add some more
of these long strokes over the rocks and in the nearest
area of water. Use the brush at low opacity, building up

16
the opacity of the strokes gradually. When you’re happy
Making a splash with these strokes, blur them via Filter>Blur>Gaussian
Choose a small soft brush from the Brush Blur, using a small blur Radius of 5 pixels.
Picker. Now, using the brush at a small size, begin to
add some long water splashes to the waves, especially
around the rocks and in the foreground. Use the
screenshot for a guide for the placement of these
long marks.

17 Add some motion

When you’ve finished adding these strokes,
go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use an Angle of 69
degrees and a Distance of 40. Hit OK.

19 Patience is key
Choose the Blur Tool and
set the Strength to 100% in the
Options bar. Click on the Background
Copy layer and use the tool to blur
any sharp areas of the distant water.
You need to be patient when using

20
this tool, working on small areas until
they’re blurred enough. Lighten the water
Add a new layer and again, set the Blending
Mode to Screen. Choose the Brush Tool with a medium
size soft brush. Choose a medium blue/green for the
Foreground swatch. Now, using horizontal strokes,
carefully lighten the distant water with this brush. Make
sure to use the brush at a very low Opacity.

21 Colour the sky

In the Layers
palette, grab the Sky gradient
layer you created earlier and
drag the layer down so that it
sits directly above the
Background Copy layer. Now go
Feel the to Layer>Merge Down. Add a

pressure new layer. Still using the Brush

Tool, click the Foreground
swatch and choose a deep
Although a mouse works perfectly well for this orange/red colour.
project, a pressure sensitive graphics tablet
makes life much easier. You can set the Brush,
Dodge or Burn Tools to respond to the pressure
applied to the stylus, to control size and opacity
when using the Brush Tool and Exposure when
using the Dodge and Burn Tools. Set these
options in the Brushes palette.

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 22 The horizon
Use the soft brush at a large size and low opacity to add some colour to the horizon. Don’t worry too “IF THE STARS
much about painting over the distant sea, as this will serve as some effective reflected colour. After you’ve brushed in
the colour lightly all along the horizon, work over the central area a little more to make the colour more intense. ARE A LITTLE
TOO SHARP, BLUR
THEM WITH THE
GAUSSIAN BLUR”

Exclusive
Preview!
23 Foreground colour
Now choose a fairly dark purple/crimson colour for the Foreground swatch. At a low opacity and using
the brush at a large size, brush in some of this colour above the orange. If you happen to brush colour over the Most Photoshop filters and image adjustment
waves, simply erase it using the Eraser at very low opacity and with a soft brush. dialogs feature a Preview check box. When
you’re making adjustments, or applying a filter,
it’s important to make sure this option is
checked. This gives you the chance to check the
effect on your actual image within the
Photoshop workspace. As you make
adjustments you’ll be able to see just how the
image changes in real time, before hitting OK to
apply the filter or adjustment.

24 Load some brushes

Add a new layer at the top of the layer stack.
Using the Brush Tool, click in the Brush Picker and hit

26
the small right-pointing arrow. Choose the Assorted
Brushes brush set. Click OK to load the brushes. Scroll Blurry stars
down the brush thumbnails and choose the Starburst If you feel that the stars are a little too sharp,
small brush. Choose a very light blue colour for the you can always blur them a little via
Foreground swatch. Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use a very small Blur Radius,
making sure that the Preview box is checked. When
you’re happy with the finished image, flatten it via
Layers>Flatten Image.

25 Star struck
Use this brush at a very small size to add a
few stars. Change your foreground colour to very light
shades of yellow and blue as you go to vary the colour
of the stars. You can adjust the intensity of the stars
simply by adjusting the opacity of this layer in the
Layers palette.

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 Feature
Fresh talent
STUDENT
SHOW
There are some new kids on the creative block
and we at Advanced Photoshop are
presenting five of our favourites
W
ell it’s that time of year once again
where Advanced Photoshop offers
up a mouth-watering chance for
some of the hottest, fresh creative talent to
promote their skills.
You guessed it, it’s the second annual
Graduate Showcase and this year follows on
from where last year’s left off, introducing some
very exciting, inventive individuals
demonstrating their own styles and variant
approaches to application. Through our annual
Graduate Showcase we aim to promote new
talent and get their names out into the big wide
world. Their work will hopefully inspire others of
you out there. You could be the next big thing
with a little dedication and flare.
We never fail to reiterate how priceless
promotion of your artwork can be within this
highly competitive creative arena. Constructing
websites, web pages or digital portfolios that
are search-engine friendly in order to allow
others instant access to your designs, can be a
huge asset in today’s digital age. You can also
MAKE THOSE DREAMS A
REALITY AS YOU REALISE THAT
ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE
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052-057_AVP30_Graduate.indd 52
participate in online art communities such as
ArtWanted.com and deviantART.com, where
creatives can subject their art to a number of
forums, chat rooms and competitions. These MARCH CASTLE, METROPOLIS: “This
composition communicates the feeling of
sites are great for self-promotion and plenty
tension and enclosure experienced when living
have extra resources to help develop your skills. in a large city and the manner in which we
There’s always extra techniques you can learn. have separated ourselves from beauty”
Having knowledge of your competitors as
well as taking inspiration from them is a great
source of motivation. So with that said, read on
and enjoy the work of this year’s promising
young designers and visualise the direction you
want your life and your career to take. It’s time
to make those dreams a reality as you realise
that anything’s possible, as these guys prove.
MARCH CASTLE, RELATIONSHIPS: “This is
GET YOUR WORK SEEN a visual representation of my family and
Don’t underestimate the power of the web. friends, with each element showing how one
Showcase your work on these portfolio sites: interacts with the other and the consequences
The Association of Illustrators www.theaoi.com that emerge”
Portfolios.com www.portfolios.com
D&AD Talentpool http://talentpool.dandad.co.uk
Artshole.co.uk www.artshole.co.uk
Artwanted.com www.artwanted.com
4/4/07 09:26:56
 (RIGHT) Illustration by Chris Grace

Graduate showcase
ANDERS ANDERSSON (TOP): “The idea behind
the cosmetic campaign posters was based upon
legendary heroes such as St George and David and
Goliath, all placed in an urban setting, stimulating
the theme of provocation”

CHRIS GRACE (BOTTOM): “A title board used for a

number of design shows. Personal branding was
carried across onto business cards and letterheads”

FOLASHADE OLAGUNDOYE,
RAPUNZEL: “As she waits to be
freed from the confinements of
her tower Rapunzel’s fingers trail
lovingly through her hair. The
elongated torso, hands and neck
are used to reinforce her fragility”

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 Feature
THE FOOL: “The fool in the
tarot symbolises change
and the need to abandon
the old in search of
something new. However,
the path in which the fool
embarks is stained in
blood suggesting difficult
times ahead”
Folashade
Olagundoye
STUDIED: Manchester Metropolitan University
COURSE STUDIED: Illustration and Animation
ABOUT FOLASHADE: Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad
and Tobago, Folashade grew up in Walsall, England.
Even before she went to university, her favourite school
past times were always creative, which usually meant
she spent her days day-dreaming. When not drawing,
she spends most of her time sculpting little words and
characters in a variety of mediums and materials.
Currently she works as a freelance illustrator, designer
and model maker.
WHO INSPIRES YOU: “I’m very much inspired by
anything and everything from music and films to both
contemporary and traditional artists.” Her insomnia is
presently spurred by her fascination with the macabre
and her healthy obsession with the works of Tim
Burton, Neil Gaiman and Edgar Alan-Poe.
FAVOURITES IN PHOTOSHOP: “I’m pretty fond of
Photoshop’s Layer Set as it allows me to organise and
manage layers a lot better as well as view alternative
versions of my work without having to toggle between
hundreds of layers.”
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052-057_AVP30_Graduate.indd 54
DUCK: Also part of bizarre delusions. The
sky was computerised. David took the
photo in a bath with turf over him. They’re
his feet
e
series called bizarr
CLOWN: ”Part of a the point of view of a
s, me an t to be
delusion
s were real”
child. The pig head
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD: “Like martyr
saints, many depicted holding religious icons,
Little Red Riding Hood holds a rose
suggesting the plucking or rearing of
innocence, while the butterflies that dances
around the image reinforce her vulnerability”
HOW SHE APPROACHES HER DESIGN: “I usually
sketch out a thumbnail or two, which I scan into
Photoshop. From there I would paint, crop and piece it
together like a collage.”
WHAT’S IN HER CRYSTAL BALL: Folashade sees
herself moving into the world of conceptual art:“ Right
now I am preparing to study a MA in Film and
Production Design so in five years I’m hoping to have
SKULLS: This fresh
worked on my first feature film.”
contemporary design was a
HER DREAM JOB: “The top two on my wish list would personal project of Chris’s,
be working as a conceptual designer for Tim Burton or based around an idea for a
Rick Heinrich. Either would be great!” snowboard design
ADVICE FOR ENTHUSIASTS: “Have patience,
especially when starting a new piece, usually it looks
daunting and rubbish but stick with it and don’t give
up, it will pay off in the end.”
/ email: f_olagundoye@yahoo.co.uk
/ website: http://talentpool.dandad.co.uk
/ contact: 07745821471
4/4/07 09:28:25

Paul Mansley & David Horwich
STUDIED: Leeds College
COURSE STUDIED: Art and Design
ABOUT PAUL & DAVID: After studying at Leeds Art
and Design college for two years before meeting, Paul
and David finally teamed up to work on a film project.
The pair revealed, after nine months later of eating,
living and generally driving each other mad they were
left with an acclaimed body of work, a dynamic
creative partnership and a great friendship. Paul is the
art director, advertising wiz and general idea machine,
David takes on the role of the sculptor, filmmaker
and photographer.
WHO INSPIRES YOU: “We kind of see ourselves as part
of the staged photographer’s movement that includes
the likes of Jeff Wall and Gregory Crewsdon.”
FAVOURITES IN PHOTOSHOP: “The Path Tool is
remarkably precise and allows us to cut out in a way
that masks won’t allow. Together with varying uses of
the Feather Tool, objects can be seamlessly inserted,
spliced and generally messed around with.”
HOW THEY APPROACH THEIR DESIGN: “We approach
our design by sitting down with our client usually in an
informal setting and ask them a whole host of
questions, to figure out who they are what they like
and what kind of imagery they may want to represent
them. Post-production is always in mind and is used to
create effects that we can’t in reality.”
Chris Grace
STUDIED: Sheffield Hallam University
COURSE STUDIED: Graphic Design
ABOUT CHRIS: Chris Grace has been interested in design
for as long as he can remember. However it wasn’t until
his later years of education that he thought of design as a
credible career. “Involvement in sports such as
snowboarding made me realise the importance of
branding and visual language,” says Chris. As time passed
at university Chris was drawn to print-based design,
basing most projects around that. This approach to his
work obviously worked for him, as he ended up with a
First Class Honours degree.
WHO INSPIRES YOU: “The obvious guy to note as an
influence is Banksy. I find the Los Logos trilogy of books a
great source of inspiration.”
FAVOURITES IN PHOTOSHOP: “I like the way that the
Gradient Tool can quickly change the look of a whole
design piece and the way that hand-drawn images can
be manipulated in Photoshop and then moved onto
another program such as Illustrator to finish the
design process.”
HOW HE APPROACHES HIS DESIGN: “With an open
mind. At this stage in my career I feel it’s all about
experience, so I try to keep as busy as possible. If I ever
find myself stuck at any creative stage I try to take a break,
come back in an hour or two and it’s often the case that
the work looks completely different.”
052-057_AVP30_Graduate.indd 55
(RIGHT) Illustration by Paul Mansley & David Horwich
Graduate showcase
WHAT THEY’RE DOING NOW: Paul works for a sister
company called Jack and Union, producing design
image solutions. David is working as a freelance
photographer’s assistant, to learn the skills to produce
better images. They still produce images under the
company NotPhotography.
THEIR DREAM JOB: “Not to sound cheesy, but we both
reckon that we have our dream job! We believe in the
work we’re doing so much that we both turned down a
WRFL: ”This promotional material for a band was shot
job at a top London ad agency to pursue a more in a warehouse, with every box in the shot digitally
independent type of visual creativeness. Something, added. The composition is made from a collection of 24
neither of us have ever regretted.” individual photographs with each band member added
ADVICE FOR ENTHUSIASTS: “Once you’ve found what from their own shot”
you want to say and how you want to say it stick to it
and be persistent. Be original and confident. If the
work is there, then someone will recognise it.”
/ email: info@notphotography.co.uk
/ web: www.notphotography.co.uk
/ contact: 07957 210310
GEMMA (RIGHT): “A necrophiliac’s
delusion. The dead body is much older
than the image dictates, with the tag on
the toe indicating some visual paradoxes”
WHAT’S HE DOING NOW: “I’m currently combining an
internship at Vault49, a graphic design company over in
New York, with any freelance I can get my hands on!”
WHAT’S IN HIS CRYSTAL BALL: “I would like to think that
I would have sufficient design experience and knowledge
of the industry to be able to go solo. I like the idea of
setting up a smaller design ‘community’, where creative
ideas bounce around like-minded people.”
ADVICE FOR ENTHUSIASTS: “Try to work as part of a
team. I have come to realise that the ability to work as an CITY: “Part one
of a two-part
individual as part of a creative group is so rewarding. You series. Aimed to
can draw upon other people’s skills in an instant and a generate interest
simple observation can help to transform your design.” among the public, in
order for them to get
more involved in the
/ email: c_grace@hotmail.co.uk local community”
/ web: http://talentpool.dandad.co.uk
/ contact: 07921000939 / 01778421969
ABANDONHOPE: This piece was a personal project of
Chris’s as he explains, “I wanted a thought-provoking
graphical representation of the state of modern warfare“
LUCOZADE (LEFT): “Aiming to re-enforce the brand’s
position as a market leader at the launch of a
technologically advanced product range”
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Advanced Photoshop
4/4/07 09:33:27
 Feature
March Castle
STUDIED: University of Hertfordshire
COURSE STUDIED: Graphic Design and Illustration
ABOUT MARCH: As far back as March can remember, he
has always preferred drawing to any other activity. After
experimenting widely with different media, he always
found the most direct process the drawn image. “During
university education I became serious about making a
living through illustration. I had to adjust to the more
unfamiliar world of illustration as a business and began to
examine the way I approached everything, from how I
presented myself to my working practices.”
WHO INSPIRES YOU: “I get inspired by looking at the
illustrators of the Victorian period rather than my
contemporaries, chiefly because they embodied qualities
that I strive to emulate, such as strength of line and a
strong sense of atmosphere.”
FAVOURITES IN PHOTOSHOP: “Layers without a doubt
because they allow me to recompose, isolate and edit my
illustrations cleanly and efficiently.”
HOW HE APPROACHES HIS DESIGN: “I start with a
simple pencil drawing, laying out basic shapes and ideas
before I go near a computer. I continue to build up the
level of detail in Photoshop using tools to add textures,
patterns and symmetrical objects, which would be
impractical to attempt outside of the programme.”
CLIFF: “This image is part of a series
depicting a fictional society,
which worships Mammon as the embo
diment of materialistic greed”
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052-057_AVP30_Graduate.indd 56
ELVES (RIGHT): “This is the front
cover to a version of The Brothers
Grimm fairy tale The elves and the
shoemaker I’m currently producing
as a self-promotional piece”
I scan in pieces of roughly inked paper and insert this
underneath the line layer, which maintains the clean lines,
while also adding a touch of humanity and warmth
to the image.”
WHAT’S HE DOING NOW: “Starting out as a freelancer.
I’ve learnt you have to be patient, but ambitious and
confident while retaining your humility. Making this
choice has strengthened my desire to be successful and
refocused my efforts to learn and improve.”
HIS DREAM JOB: “My dream job would simply allow me
to create work that fires peoples interest in illustration. I
want to get away from any idea that illustration can be a
peripheral part of design. My wish is that my work will
stand the test of time and avoids becoming ephemeral or
falling victim to a passing fashion.”
ADVICE FOR ENTHUSIASTS: “Be aware that every piece
of work that you create should reflect the best of your
ability, no matter how big or small the job may seem at
the time. You should always be looking to impress.”
/ email: march.castle@yahoo.co.uk
/ web: www.needleandlead.co.uk
/ contact: 07941 013308
DOMINATION (ABOVE): “This was
inspired by the effect the largest and most
powerful companies have upon the
smaller, less powerful ones and the
emotion this process creates”
BLACKSMITH (RIGHT): “I created this
one-off image after being inspired by the
unique atmosphere and strange objects
found in a blacksmiths forge, which is part
real and part imagined”
4/4/07 09:30:25
 (RIGHT) Illustration by Anders Andersson

Graduate showcase
WINDOW DISPLAY (BELOW): “This
a another piece I did for the adults
playing with dolls concept. It’s a window
ad I did for a Diesel store in the end of
my second year at Cumbria”

DIESEL CAMPAIGN: “The idea was adults

playing with dolls that were real people
living as dolls. Sufficient to the odd worlds
Diesel clothing often like to represent”

Anders Andersson
STUDIED: Cumbria Institute of Art
COURSE STUDIED: Graphic Design

ABOUT ANDERS: When he was very young, Anders had

a big problem with his speech, so as he was lacking in / email: contact@brok3n-creativity.com
language he instead communicated through pictures. / web: www.brok3n-creativity.com
“Because of my natural relation to visual communication I / contact: +46 705 711 334
never thought of my talent as a possible profession. I
accidentally slipped into design in high school when I
picked up a programme. I immediately understood that
design was and is, the most natural thing for me to work
in and everything so far has proven to me that I made the
right choice.”
WHO INSPIRES YOU: “Things change, so do inspirations.
I must say that I feel inspired by everything. Even when I
see something that’s extremely bad I get inspired not to
do that!”
FAVOURITES IN PHOTOSHOP: “I think everything in
Photoshop is good if you use it the right way, so my
answer must be… pixels. Pixels are good, everyone
should worship the pixel!”
HOW HE APPROACHES HIS DESIGN: “At first I always
approach my design as a problem that needs to be
solved. I think of all elements and analyse what is
needed to be done. After this I leave all my conclusions
behind me and approach the problem artistically
and spontaneously.”
WHAT’S HE DOING NOW: “Right now I’m working as a LEGENDARY HEROES: “The idea behind the cosmetic
designer at the Stockholm-based design agency Amore campaign posters was based upon legendary heroes such as St
and everything is just fantastic.” George and David and Goliath, all placed in an urban setting,
stimulating the theme of provocation”
WHAT’S IN HIS CRYSTAL BALL: “In the future when I’m
old and my hobby is to complain about younger
designers because I can’t understand them, I would like DON’T BE A FANATIC, DESIGN,
to go back to university as a teacher.”
ADVICE FOR ENTHUSIASTS: “If you feel that design is AS ANY ART, IS A REFLECTION OF
what you want to do don’t be a fanatic. Remember that
design, as is any art, is a reflection of what is around you.” WHAT IS AROUND YOU
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 Step-by-step
Workshop

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058-063_AVP30_Photomontage.indd 58 4/4/07 09:37:12

 es
n iqu
ch
Te
CREATING PHOTOMONTAGES
Layer up a colourful collage of images to create an eye-catching photomontage
design without the use of Photoshop’s filters
E
ven seasoned professionals want help expanding their Photoshop horizons and need a ON THE DISC
little inspiration every now and then. In this tutorial, we’ll discover how to create a You’ll find all the source imagery
needed to complete this tutorial
stunning photomontage of photographs, textures and text by utilising only layers and on this month’s CD. Alternatively,
without using any filters. why not use your own
More often than not, the crispness and sharp lines of digital art can leave it looking flat and photographs and create your own
texture scans?
mechanical. To overcome this, we’re going to add a ‘fine art’ layer to your creation, with a little help
OUR EXPERT Stewart Michael Bruce
from Photoshop. To help create the look, we’ll be going back to basics, so dust off your paint brushes
Stewart feels that combining traditional art with his own
and paints! We’re going to be using the Adobe Photoshop CS3 beta, just so you can start to get ready
images and photographs has set him free from the
for the official launch, but you can just as easily use CS2. restrictions of old techniques. Stewart’s art will be featured
In this tutorial we’ll work extensively with the Layers palette. Don’t be intimidated by this palette – in June 2007 at the Tracy Park Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.

just drag and drop your photographs onto your canvas. One of the most important things you’ll learn

3
in this tutorial is how to carefully consider the light, colour, mood and composition of your image and
how to use them to create a detailed photomontage. Shades of grey
Now in the Black and White box, adjust

1 2
the colour to your tastes. We’ve gone for Reds =
Start with the end in mind Downtown LA 40%, Yellows = 60%, Greens = 155%, Cyans =
Open a new window, 230mm wide x Open up the file ‘Downtown LA Color.tiff’. 127%, Blues = 21% and Magentas = 99%. Once
2397mm high at 300dpi. set Color Mode to Go to the Image drop-down menu and select you’re happy with your choices, click OK. Name
RGB, 16-bit and Background Contents to Adjustments>Black and White. We’re changing this layer ‘Downtown LA’.
Transparent. Name it ‘Welcome to Hollywood’. the colour of the image to black and white, as
Now open up a new group layer in the Layers the colours of the overall photomontage will be
palette. This’ll help keep your layers in order. added with the other layers.

4 Adding your photos

You have two options to fit the photo to the canvas. The first is to go to Edit>Transform>Scale
and drag to resize the photo, adjusting the layer to fit the main canvas’ width and height. Or you can
take advantage of the handy numerical controls found in the toolbar that comes up.
The key to perfect masking
One of the benefits of using the Mask Tool over the Lasso Tool
is that you can add or remove tiny elements from your images
to fit your needs. The Mask Tool will let you cut into your image
without leaving that sharp cut line that you often see in other
images. Having a more natural edge to your element allows
you to have a more natural feel throughout your entire
photomontage. However, when you’re working with the Mask
Tool, it’s sometimes difficult to eliminate all of the background
elements from the area you’re working on. The best way
around this problem is to add a new layer to the Layers palette,
go to the Paintbucket Tool and add white to this layer. When
working on the mask area of your element, switch on the white
background layer. This’ll show you where there are still little
pockets of areas that need to be dealt with, so you can then go
back into the mask layer and remove all traces of the unwanted
elements. This is just good housekeeping.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop
“IT’S BEST TO USE HIGH-QUALITY PAPER, AS THE
TEXTURES ADD INTEREST TO THE LOOK AND FEEL
OF YOUR FINISHED PHOTOMONTAGE”
5 6
A touch of colour
Import the file ‘yellowbackground.tif’
onto your main canvas and scale to fit. Creating
Blending the layers
The next step is to go into the Layers palette’s Blending Mode options and set to Darken 100%.
Duplicate this layer, name it ‘Yellow Background 2’ and set the Blending Mode to Hard Light at 100%.
an original, hand-drawn or painted You’ve just added two copies of the same layer set at different levels of saturation, building up the
background adds an organic edge to your depth of colour in your background.
digital image. It’s best to use high-quality
paper, as the textures add interest to the look
and feel of your finished photomontage.

7 Add a mask
Now we’re going to add a mask to the
background to reveal the photo behind. With
the Mask Tool start to erase only the part of the
photographic image that you want to become
lighter in the end piece. We’ve erased the far
building on the left and kept the road sign.

8 Masking tips
When working with the Mask Tool, you
must click on the Mask layer to start erasing.
Set the foreground to black before you erase.
The opacity is up to you, but the lower it is, the
less you’ll erase. If you erase too much, set the
foreground to white and use the Brush Tool to
bring it back. Set the Blending Mode to
Hardlight at 100%.

Get the most out of layers

Photoshop is the best program for this job, even more so now

9
with its new interface previewed in the Beta version. Its easy
management keeps all elements well organised within your An old American car
working space. There’s the welcome magic of the Group set Open up the file ‘old car.tif’. Crop your
palette, to help you to arrange your images within the Layers image before adding it to the canvas.
palette. Warning though, it’s very important not to merge your This way, you only have to work with as much
images when working on your project. Once your layers are
of the image as you’ll need. Drag and drop
flattened, they can’t be undone, which is rather inconvenient if
the cropped image onto the canvas and scale
you want to tweak and polish them up at a later date.
it to fit.

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 es
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10 Work
that brush
The Mask Tool is the
11 Back to LA
For this step, we’re going to duplicate
the layer Downtown LA and set it over the Old
perfect example of why a Car layer. Once this is done, set the Layers
Wacom graphic tablet palette Blending Mode to Softlight at 100%.
and pen come in very
handy. You’ll find the task
of erasing the small
unnecessary elements
around the car much
easier with a pen. Once
you’ve done that, set the
Layers palette Blending
Mode to Hardlight at
100%. Name this layer
‘Old Car’.

12 Red card

13
Import ‘red background.tif’ and drop onto your canvas. Select Transform and resize the
image. Once you add this layer, there’ll be too much red around the car, so we need to add a mask to On the fence
remove some of it. With your Brush Tool, erase the lower half of the red background, cutting out the Open the file ‘permits.tif’. Once open,
car and some of the buildings on the street level. use the Lasso Tool to select just the sign. Now
copy and paste the sign onto your main canvas.
The next step is to go to File>Transform>Scale
and place the permits sign onto your canvas.
Name this layer ‘Permit’.

14 Get your permits

Now you’ve resized the sign, use the
Mask Tool to erase the wood outline of the sign.
Take as much or as little away as you feel fit,
keeping in mind that with the Mask Tool, you
can always put back any of the information that
you’ve erased. Set the Blending Mode to
Hardlight set to 100%.

“USING THE MASK TOOL, YOU

MUST CLICK ON THE MASK
LAYER TO START ERASING”
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 Step-by-step
Workshop
15 Uptown, downtown
We’re now trying to lighten the
background, but we’ll do this by adding
17 Adding more colour to LA
Next, duplicate Red Background and
add a Layer Mask. Set the Layers palette
another layer, as we want to create this Blending Mode to Overlay at 100%. Click on the
photomontage without using filters. First Mask layer and carefully erase the background
duplicate Downtown LA, drag on top of the at the car and street level. Each time we add a
Permit layer, name this new copy ‘Los Angeles different coloured background, we also add
3’. Set the Blending Mode to Overlay at 100%. depth and subtle changes to the image.

16 Yellow
Duplicate the layer Yellow
Background 1 and place it on top of Los Angeles
3. Set the Blending Mode to Darken at 100%.
This step adds more texture to the image. Keep
on playing with the blending modes of your
background. You’ll experience a myriad of
effects when adding and taking away like this.

18 Seeing red
Now that you’ve completed masking
out the red background, the next step is to
20 All the signs lead to LA
For the next step, we need to open
up ‘signpost man.tif’. Now drag and drop it onto
duplicate this background without the Mask your canvas. Next go to Edit>Transform>Scale.
layer. Set the Layers palette Blending Mode to Play around with the positioning of the image,
Saturation at 100%. This subtle change will when you’re happy, set the Layers palette
hopefully bring forward the brilliancy and Blending Mode to Hard Light at 100%.
saturation of the background.

19 Take that old car

To keep the car from getting lost, we’ll
bring it forward in the montage. Duplicate the
Old Car layer twice with the Mask layer attached.
Set the Blending Mode for the first copy to
Darken at 100%. Set the second copy to Color at
100%. Notice that this technique brings the car
to life without making it look misplaced.

21 Crossing that road

Once you’ve successfully
scaled the image, the next step is to
add a mask and erase the blue sky
around the sign. Don’t be afraid to
cut into the sign, but make sure
that you use the right brush for the
job. Set the Layers palette Blending
Mode to Color Burn at 100%.

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22 Text it up
Adding text is a great way to add texture and interest. So type out some words that you
want to add and scan them into Photoshop. Then go to the Lasso Tool and draw around the text
23 New group of signs
Create a new group and call it ‘Signs’.
Import the files Beverly Hills and Hollywood into
and paste it onto the main canvas. For this tutorial, you’ll find the appropriate text on the CD Photoshop and repeat step 13 with the Lasso
under ‘City of Angels.tif’. Tool. Set all three layers’ Blending Mode to
Normal at 100%.

24 Adding a white background

At this point, our text stands out and
doesn’t look naturally integrated with the rest of
the image, so to correct this, add a new layer to

26
the Group sign layer. Go to the Paintbucket and
in the Color Picker, select white as the Just a wooden car
background colour. Set the Blending Mode to Import ‘wood background.tif’. Scale it
Exclusion at 100%. to fit. Add a Mask, with the Brush Tool erase the
wood background until you’re just left with the
wood over the car. Set the Blend to Color at
100%. Repeat this for the signpost. (Duplicate
wood background and erase the wood from
around the signpost and set to Color at 100%.)

25 That’s so Hollywood
To perfect it, we’re going to give it a
monochromatic finish. Go back to the layers
where the cars are and add a layer on top of Car
layer 3. Name the new layer ‘Layer background
white’. Set the Blending Mode to Overlay at 69%.
Next, add a mask layer and erase most of the
background, leaving the car, the signpost and
the right-hand side of the building intact.

27 The
green man
To counterbalance all the
red in the image, we’re
going to add a bit of green.
Duplicate Signpost and
place it on top of the
Using other applications?
Beverly Hills text, alongside
Adobe Photoshop CS3 is without a doubt the best program for
the Mask layer. Set the the graphic designer, illustrator or digital artist. Our expert,
Blending Mode to Color at Stewart, first fell in love with Photoshop way back at version 3
100%. This also gives and has been hooked ever since. Don’t forget however that
this element a boost there are other great applications out there that complement
of visibility. Photoshop. For example, Adobe has just launched Lightroom,
a photographic ‘darkroom’ for computer use. Also, just out, is
the new Corel Painter X. With Painter, you have all the tools
you would find in your art box, including oils, watercolor, pens
and inks, pencils and many more materials and with much less
mess. Spend some time creating unique backgrounds in
Painter and then you can export them into Photoshop to
incorporate into your photomontage!

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 Letters
Mailbox
Do you have a question or opinion about the
magazine? Email your thoughts to
advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk
or visit www.advancedphotoshop/forum
SUBJECT: Bookazine
FROM: John Bath
I was in WH Smith today and saw a magazine
called Advanced Photoshop: The Premium
Collection Vol 1. Before making a purchase, I
would like to know a few more details. Is this
product a one-off with Volume 2 to follow at a
later date – if so, when? Or is it a monthly
product to which I can subscribe?
Editor replies:
Advanced Photoshop: The Premium Collection isn’t a
monthly product, but rather a collection of the
best bits of Advanced Photoshop magazine in
2006. Although there are currently no dates set for
Volume 2 this year, this should be produced and
available around the start of 2008.
SUBJECT: Comix Action
FROM: Alex Recalde
I’ve just spent $30 on your Advanced Photoshop
The Premium Collection: Vol 1 and the very first
step doesn’t make any sense! On page 187 the
writer claims a certain action entitled ‘comix
action.atn’ can be downloaded from http://
share.studio.adobe.com. I searched the entire
site four times. It does not exist! If the very first
64
Advanced Photoshop
064_AVP_30.indd 64
step is stupid, how can I trust that the rest of the
magazine will work at all? Should I just take this
back to the store, get my money back and tell
my other friends in photography that Advanced
Photoshop magazine is a waste of time? If this
file does in fact exist, can you tell me where I
can, along with everyone else who is asking the
same thing, find it?
Editor replies:
Unfortunately as the web moves faster than print
it’s very difficult to foresee link changes. The web
refreshes daily and sometimes links are altered
after the magazine goes to press. After looking at
the Studio Exchange and scrolling down a little
we’ve found that a very similar action is still
available, although it has been posted by a new
user. At the time of going to press the action could
be downloaded for free here:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/
index.cfm?view=sn710#view=sn711&viewName
=%20&loc=en_us&authorid=75226689&page=0
&scrollPos=0&subcatid=0&snid=sn711&itemnu
mber=12&extid=1046866&catid=0
Simply log on and press the download button.
CAN’T KEEP UP: Unfortunately the web moves
faster than print so sometimes printed links do go
out of date
SUBJECT: Caricatures
FROM: Halvarado via forum
Hurray! We got our copy of Advanced Photoshop
28 in our imaging department and we were so
inspired by both the matte painting and the
caricature masterclasses that we’re having a
small challenge among ourselves. We each drew
names from a hat, went outside to take photos
and we have until the 6th of April to caricaturise
the person whose name we drew. This is an out-
of-hours project to help us loosen up and play
with Photoshop more. Thanks for the great
magazine and inspiration.
Editor replies:
That’s great news! We’d love to see any creations
our readers come up with after being inspired by
our tutorials. Feel free to send them into
advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk.
RIGHT CHUFFED: To inspire is one of our main
reasons for producing this mag, so we’re always
pleased to hear when we get it right
4/4/07 15:12:52
 Insider
Info
INSIDER
INFO
Lighting Effects
If there’s one filter in Photoshop’s arsenal that can turn heads, it’s the Lighting Effects filter. With
one simple click of the mouse you can add depth to any of your compositions

T
he Lighting Effects filter lets you add an immense number of lighting
effects on any of your images, but a note of warning, as with most
filters, it can only be applied in an RGB environment. This can be
problematic then if you wish to apply the filter to a specific channel and as the
end result can be very colourful and vibrant before converting to CMYK, some
colour information is lost and there’s a tendency for the colour to look flat.
Unfortunately there’s no way around this and the only real solution is to work
with proof colours ensuring there are no nasty surprises. This only applies in print
media mind, so any web designers out there can breath a sigh of relief! You can
use textures from any image file (called bump maps) to produce 3D-like effects
and save your own styles for use in other images.
As we at Advanced Photoshop like to
OUR EXPERT Rodger Page treat our readers, each month we
Multimedia editor, Rodger, always has to tweak provide you with resources on the
our images to fit on the CD interface. He’s still a bit cover-mounted CD to boost the power
irate with Advanced Photoshop following the
of Photoshop (don’t thank us, we’re
results of the tutorial in issue 28.
just doing our job). On the disc you’ll
find many texture-image files to use
in your filters, or just as part of your information. It’s this combination with There are a total of 17 different preset
artwork! To import these textures the texture filter that gives this unique lighting effects to choose from that can
they must be a PSD and although the filter an added edge. The Texture all be accessed from the Style menu in
way in which they’re applied is Channel in the Lighting Effects filter the Lighting Effects dialog. You can
greyscale, they can be imported in enables you to use a texture image and also create your own lighting style by
RGB or CMYK. This is worth bearing in control how light reflects off it. You can adding lights to the Default setting
mind – otherwise you may loose use any channel in your image and, of course, each one of these
valuable data, as the filter tends to (including a channel copied from a presets can be edited and tweaked to
BLUE OMNI: This preset applies a blue work on a threshold basis. This means different image) as a texture, or you fit your artwork perfectly, with the
light cast over the entire image. To that the bump map will become can create your own texture. option to save your newly created
change the cast colour, simply click the automatically contrasted, so doing An embossed effect can be applied effect. The Lighting Effects filter
thumbnail and choose your own shade. this yourself gives you greater control by selecting one of the colour channels requires at least one light source and
This is a great way of colourising an
image as you can define a source point and you can maintain more of the and produces a far more realistic look only one light can be edited at a time,
than the actual Bevel and Emboss layer but all added lights will be used to
effect. As the filter works on the create the effect.
information within the image you You can choose from three different
don’t have to cut out and isolate any light types, first there’s Omni – which
graphics, which is what you would shines light in all directions from
have to do when using a layer effect. directly above the image, much like a
With the added bonus of Smart Filters light bulb over a piece of paper. Then
in CS3 this also gives the opportunity Directional that shines light from far
to reedit the filter as required and away so that the light angle doesn’t
never actually alter the image – this is change, much like the sun. Spotlight –
the joy of the layer effect utility. which casts an elliptical beam of light

“LIGHTING EFFECTS IS
ONE OF THE APP’S MORE
INTRICATE FILTERS”
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and is very similar to Omni. The line in
the preview window defines the light
direction and angle and the handles
define the edges of the ellipse. The
Omni and Directional light are very
similar as the only option to change is
the removal of the focus slider in the
Omni option. Editing these lights could
not be simpler, as it’s basically a circle
with four nodes and a centre point in a
preview window displaying your
image, giving you an indication of the
end result. The size of the light can be
CIRCLE OF LIGHT: Four spotlights are used in combination with four different
colours – Red, Blue, Yellow and White, to make up this preset. This filter can be used
as another great way to add more depth into your artwork
066-067_AVP30_Insider.indd 67
adjusted as well as the shape and it’s
this ability to alter the perspective that
gives this effect its depth. There are
many lighting effects presets, namely:
2 o’clock Spotlight, Blue Omni, Circle of
Light, Crossing, Crossing Down,
Default, Five Lights Down/Five Lights
Up, Flashlight, Flood Light, Parallel
Directional, RGB Lights, Soft Direct
Lights, Soft Omni, Soft Spotlight, Three
Down and Triple Spotlight. These
presets are fantastic as you can
instantly see if the effect is going to
work and with the ability to go and edit
them further to fit in with your work,
most of the hard work is done and
instant rewards are a simple click away.
Lighting Effects is one of the app’s
more intricate filters and the only way
to understand how it works is to get in
there and have a play around. A good
understanding of colour theory will
help you achieve better results and
those of you out there who work with
3D software will instantly recognise
some of the sliders. Fantastic special
effects can be produced with this filter
and we reckon it’s a must for any
Photoshop artist to get to grips with it.
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FIVE LIGHTS DOWN: Many of the
lighting effects have a theatrical feel to
them and the Five Lights Down is one of
them. Apply this filter to any stage
image to complete the effect. This filter
is made up with five white spotlights,
which shine in a downward direction
RGB LIGHTS: Three primary coloured
spotlights are used to create this unique
filter. To edit each light, select them
individually from the preview window
and adjust the sliders and colour as
necessary. Use this filter to create
unique special effects
67
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4/4/07 09:42:32
 Step-by-step
Workshop
‘‘
WORKING
WITH POSER
Find out how you can incorporate Poser figures
into your Photoshop work and give your
designs a human interest

B
ack in Advanced Photoshop 28 we took
a look at how well Photoshop works
with compatible products such as
Poser. Well, we thought rather than shout
about how easy and creative it is, we’d
showcase a tutorial from professional artist
Brian Haberlin instead!
Over the next couple of pages you’ll find out
how to apply basic editing techniques to a Poser
render. Using simple blur tweaks and layer copies
you’ll find out how Photoshop can be used to
polish a Poser figure render.
Before jumping on the computer, you must
have a road map. Brian starts with good old
pencil and paper and highly recommends
keeping a sketchbook. “I know. I know. You’ve
heard it a million times before, but a sketchbook
helps keep your ideas from floating away and
provides a good library as to your personal
artistic journey. I do a lot of sketching and then
IMAGERY
The Poser render Brian used for
this tutorial is included on the CD,
however why not download the
Poser trial and have a go at
producing your own?
OUR EXPERT Brian Haberlin
Brian Haberlin is the award-winning founder of Haberlin
Studios, whose innovative computer techniques have been
highlighted in magazines around the world, as well as on a
segment of the How’d They Do That? television show.
jump on and off the computer for most of my
pieces, sometimes working over printouts with
gouache or oils and the scanning back in.”
We’ve included Brian’s Poser render on the CD,
however, if you’d like to create your own original
Poser model then you can download a free trial
version of the wonderful software by logging onto
the e-frontier website at www.e-frontier.com.
Right, without further ado, it’s over to Brian!

1 The creative process

I kind of know what I want before I start sketching/doodling but a sketch helps me nail down
the design. I only did a couple of sketches for this design and decided that I wanted the hair to be the
main focus in the design.

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‘‘
2 Refining sketches
After I decided on the basic design I refined the sketch. You’ll notice details here that didn’t make
it into the final piece. For example, the subject has less clothing here. The sketches serve as a road map
3 Creating in Poser
Another reason for the road map is that it’s
easy to burn hours just playing with a pose or
only, therefore they shouldn’t be so tight and detailed that they bind the creativity. lighting or texturing. There are so many choices
to be made with 3D. Poser is like having your
own modelling agency, costume shop, special
effects studio and prop shop in your own home
studio. Here I’ve created an Elvira-style model,
which I render ready for export into Photoshop.
You can find this render included on the cover
that accompanies this issue.

4 Moving the render

Move the render into Photoshop. The first
thing you’ll need to do is pump up the volume
on the figure’s hair. She needs more – much
more! Select her hair and go to the Liquify filter.
Use a big brush and just start pushing and
pulling the hair closer to the design in the
original sketch.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop
“I WANT TO ADD A DESIGN ELEMENT. MUCHA USES
ALL KIND OF STAR IMAGERY AND IF IT’S GOOD
ENOUGH FOR HIM, IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR US”
5 More hair
5a
Okay, the hair has got wider, but I still need
more. The easiest solution is to copy and paste
Influences
This is my thing, probably from my love of comic book art or even old Poser art like
Alphonse Mucha. I want to start creating a holding line around my figure. If you want to do this
what you already have into another layer. Copy automatically, you can simply load the Alpha channel that Poser creates and stroke it in Photoshop.
the head and hair twice onto two different Sometimes that gets you where you want to go.
layers. Use the Free Transform Tool to resize and
rotate, so that on one layer will be the right side
extra hair and the other the left. Place them
behind the layer and simply erase anything
that’s showing through that you don’t want to
from those underlying layers.

6 Hair problems
Here I have lots of hair that doesn’t stroke
too well. The hair uses a lot of transparency to

create a sense of softness at the edges, making a
hard-edged line around the hair might ruin the
effect. So, use the stroke in some places and
hand-draw in the others using the Brush Tool
with a hard-edged brush.
7
Glamour style
I use a glamour photography trick to soften the model without losing too much detail. This
involves copying the layer with the image on it and then pasting to another layer. Use the Gaussian
Blur filter at about 10px and layer Opacity at about 30%. The result of the render is an old movie star
gloss and odd pixels that are smoothed out. Copy that blurred layer again, placing it at the top in the
order of layers. Set to Overlay at about 50%. Now add a black background.

Liquify
If you’re not familiar with the Liquify Tool, it basically turns
your images into a live putty-like surface that you can move
around and distort without smearing. Liquify is one of my
favourite tools for fixing eye placement or reshaping a figure.

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8 Adding elements
I want to add a design element. Mucha uses all kind of star imagery and if it’s good enough for
him, it’s good enough for us! Add a star shape using the star from the Custom Shapes under the Pen
9 The face
Now it’s time to add some details, starting
with her face. The model looks a little stern, so
Tool. Make one and then copy, paste and rotate each into position in a circle. If you want to grunge up use the Liquify filter to make her expression a
the star a bit apply a scanned texture. You can use anything you like. little more playful. You can use the Forward
Warp Tool and Pucker and Bloat Tools to play
around the lip formation.

10 Final details
The last bit to do is
to add interesting fingernails. If
you’ve downloaded a Poser trial
you can go back into Poser and
place this render to give the
model some new nails with a
morph. Alternatively, you can
draw your own nails on a
separate layer using the Pen
Tool. Make sure that you zoom
in close to your image and
adjust the Levels as needed
to match the colour of
your designs.

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 Our pick of the best reader submissions
sent to us this month

W
e showcase the best examples of Photoshop work we’ve been sent this
month. The next few pages show off a fantastic mixture of individual
styles and techniques.
Do you think you could impress us enough to get your images showcased within this
section next month? We always ensure we print your contact details and web address
so anyone who’s interested in your work can quickly get in touch with you. Just make
sure that your images are high-quality TIFFs or JPEGs (RGB or CMYK), 300dpi minimum
and can be printed at a minimum size of 15cm x 15cm.
If you’d like to see your own work on these pages, please send low-res versions to
advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk – we’ll get back to you for more
information and higher resolution copies if we need to. Alternatively, log on to our
forum at www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk. Unfortunately, we cannot give individual
image criticism.

Simphatic
NAME: Steven Dietrich
EMAIL: steven@yowstudios.com
WEB: www.yowstudios.com

Jerome Dietrich otherwise known by his friends as

Steven, migrated to the United States from Jamaica at
the age of ten.
He was introduced to the computer by his dad, who
bought the family’s first computer. “My brothers and
sister all took turn practicing.” At an early age Jerome
developed a love for Art. “While surfing the web I would
get excited on seeing the works displayed by other
graphic art designers. This inspired me and I knew that
this was what I wanted to do.” Steven believes that doing
something he really loves is a privilege.

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Mediagrafiek
NAME: Kyle DeTella
EMAIL: kyle@mediagrafiek.net
WEB: www.mediagrafiek.net

Kyle DeTella is a 22-year-old designer based out

of the Chicago area who is operating under the
name Mediagrafiek. With a re-launch of his
website planned for mid-April, Kyle is ready to
expose his digital artistry to the world.
He is constantly developing new passions
and interests.
This piece involved a mixture of hand-drawn
elements, scans and meticulous shading.
“Recently, I have been interested in adding 3D
elements to my work and creating intriguing
environments from simple 2D components. I
created the orbs by combining textures from
various scans such as paper towels, gold paint
and inked lines. I wanted to give the impression
of a gift being taken from its box – something
precious and delicate. I also wanted to create a
mystical organic effect as though the model
were blossoming from a flower. However, I
didn’t want to literally utilise a flower or leaves
in the piece.
As for the depth of the objects, I used lots of
desaturation and Gaussian Blur and placed the
shadows myself. I wanted to give the shadows
an accurate feel, but nothing too precise. The
box itself was just drawn from rectangles in
Photoshop, onto which I blended a scanned ink
drawing and again, by hand, shaded the insides
of the box to give the illusion of 3D.”

Dying Sun
NAME: Chris Staring
EMAIL: hoax464@hotmail.com
WEB: http://hoax464.deviantart.com

Chris Staring has been working with

Photoshop since the start of 2005. This
piece was from a final year project at
high school. “After deciding on the topic
of pollution and overpopulation, I
wanted to make four large, detailed
pieces that showed the destruction of a
planet over time. To show this I would
rotate the planet around a giant dying
sun.” Chris created the sun very large
because he wanted to include a lot of
detail to give the viewer a lot to look at.
“The major difference between
making this sun and a planet, is that
with a planet you have to have a light
source on one side and a shadow on the
opposite side of the planet, just like any
sphere. But with the sun it’s its own light
source, so I had to think of a way of
making it look like a 3D sphere without
using too much shading and lighting.”
Under this dying sun is a traditional
brown textured planet, on top of which
Chris created lava rivers and sunspots
through a mixture of trial and error.

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 The thinking behind the art

TOTEM VALLEY: ”In this one I was experimenting with the brush option,
foreground/background jitter set to pen pressure. So depending on how hard or how
soft I pressed I could get a blend of two colours. I’ve found this is a nice attempt to
simulate mixing paints, however it’s a bit tedious as you’re doing twice the work by
selecting two colours”

APOSTLE: ”This one is a fairly quick

OVERGROWN: ”This started as a simple black
and white only sketch that I decided to take
further. Again, colour was added with various
layer modes akin to glazing. I was also testing a
few new brushes, the trees are actually taken
from a photograph of blood veins. I’m often
playing with paths in my paintings, I find it
extremely natural for the eye to follow along
and as such it can make for a great
compositional tool”
sketch that started in greyscale.
Colour was applied with a
combination of layer modes, a base
coat with multiply and several coats
with soft light and overlay. Many
textures were used, in fact I used this
painting to test out a number of
brushes. The chains you can see are
actually from a set of brushes that
BaRONTiERi, a concept artist for
Ubisoft, has made available on his
website www.barontieri.com”

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Getting dirty LAST MAN STANDING: “Usually I have some sort of goal or idea I want to play with each
painting, here I was just playing with composition at first and didn’t really think it would turn
NAME: Thomas Scholes into anything. Several chalk brushes and variants were used throughout to create the textures.
EMAIL: thomasscholes@gmail.com I’ve found it’s easier to imply things like vegetation rather than record or invent every little
WEB: http://crayonboxofdoom.blogspot.com detail”
FORUM THREAD: http://advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum/
viewtopic.php?p=2694#2694

Thomas Scholes is a young pup of 22, who became

interested in digital art just three years ago. He currently
works as a freelance illustrator, primarily as a colourist,
but is looking to branch out. He attends classes at a local
community college in Utah, USA: “More to be surrounded
by artists than for a degree. I drew as a kid, but nothing
more than scribbles – I sort of lost that in my teenage
years and have really been hitting the books in these last
three years. I’m still trying to really figure out what it is I
want to commit myself and my art to – however I’m
having fun creating things that make people feel good
and happy, and that sounds like a pretty good objective
to me,” says Thomas. Thomas tends to use a fair amount
of multiply and overlay layers – “to get things nice and
dirty at the start, building over that with more detailed
layers set to Normal.”

BE
IN ST
SH
OW

Notice from Advanced Photoshop 28

Back in Advanced Photoshop 28 we printed a couple of images from Aimee Stewart. It has
since come to our attention that the original source images were not credited as requested
by the source image supplier. We would like to make it known that credit for the stock
imagery goes to Leslie Gregory.

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 Helpdesk
Never fear Helpdesk is here, ever-willing to help solve those problems and Photoshop
phobias. This month it’s calibration headaches and zooming issues BY ADAM SMITH
UNLOCK A LAYER: Shift-click the Link icon to temporarily disable the linked layer and a red X appears. Shift-click the link
icon to enable the link again. To unlock completely, simply select your layer and click the Link icon
NEW ROUTINES
I’ve just upgraded from Photoshop 7 to
Photoshop CS2 and I must say, it’s like a new
lease of life. However I’m slightly set in my ways
unfortunately and as I’m familiar with the app’s
older version, I’m still getting used to the new
functions. The thing I’m struggling with is how to
link layers when the layer linking column is
missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated,
thanks very much.
Anne Teak
First off, well done for making the upgrade, I’m sure you’ll
agree it’s worth it. There are plenty more delights to come
in CS3! As with most things, it can be trying getting used
to additional aspects in new software, yet our favourite
app always finds a way to make the transition as easy
as possible. Linking layers is different in CS2 but just
as simple as any link column. Just Shift-click to select
adjoining layers or Ctrl-click for alternating layers. Then
select the Link icon that can be found at the foot of the
Layers palette. If this is executed correctly a Link icon will
appear to the right of the layer to confirm your selection.
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080-081_AVP30_Helpdesk.indd 80
in on the image in question. This is effortless and more
time-effective than having to constantly access the Zoom
Tool each and every time.
COLOUR CALIBRATION
I’m an amateur photographer and have been
using digital for a while. I’m using CS2 to
manipulate my photos on my Sony Vaio laptop,
but I’m having problems with my colour
management. What I see on screen is nothing like
what I get when it’s printed at the labs. Is there a
certain colour space I should be using? If so, how
would I do this? Thanks.
Tim Jones
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Hi Advanced Photoshop, this is hopefully a quick
question and one that, perhaps, will show I
simply need a greater knowledge of the Adobe
Photoshop default options. Getting to the
point, my question is this, is it possible to set a
default magnification in Photoshop when
opening a new file instead of constantly having
to keep accessing and clicking the cumbersome
Zoom Tool?
Paul Mathers
Hmm, despite your belief that this was a quick question,
it kept us searching though the old grey matter, trying
to come up with a solution to this app conundrum.
Unfortunately however, the simple fact is that, surprisingly,
upon opening a new file there is no method of changing
or setting a default magnification.
But don’t worry, as there are time-saving options
available to you when you have opened a new file. When
you have accessed your file you can short key the zoom
controls buy pressing Ctrl and the minus key to zoom out POST PREFERENCE: Mac users can access a Preferences
panel after installation that allows users to alter settings
of an image, or alternatively Ctrl and the plus key to zoom after calibration has been carried out
4/4/07 09:53:45

“CALIBRATION CAN BE ACHIEVED
EFFORTLESSLY WITH MONITOR
COLOUR-CORRECTION TOOLS”
Conflict between what we see on screen and how it varies
when printed is an annoyance that can be resolved by a
standard calibration. This is a process whereby a device
is brought to a standard state, in this case describing the
monitor’s ability to handle colour characteristics.
Calibration can be achieved effortlessly by investing in
monitor colour-correction tools such as Pantone Huey.
This will automatically adjust the colour of your monitor
and all you have to do is follow a step-by-step installation,
working similarly for both Mac and PC platforms. This
accommodates both LCD and CRT screens.
On initiating the Room Light Monitoring feature, the
software measures the ambient light in the room and
if this has changed then Huey will automatically adjust
the monitor accordingly. You are supplied with a choice
of colour presets and you can instantly switch between
them, as after installation a Huey Preferences dialog
icon will appear on your toolbar. Step-by-step guides
on internal management of calibration can be found at
www.computer-darkroom.com.
PANORAMA DRAMA
I’m a keen photographer in my spare time and
recently I have started to mess around with my
digital photography in Photoshop, creating
photomontage and panoramas from my
collections. However I have found this very
FUNDAMENTAL FACTORS: When taking photos to be used with Photomerge make sure your photography overlaps by
25 – 40%. Also use a consistent focal length and keep the camera level, maintaining exposure at all times
080-081_AVP30_Helpdesk.indd 81
challenging and exhausting at times as it can be
a lengthy process cutting, pasting, blurring and
rubbing away to obtain that perfect panorama.
Any tips on handy tools to help with the process?
Gemma Fleming
Indeed there is within CS2. By selecting File>Automate>
Photomerge you can access the very handy Photomerge
command that allows you to combine several or
more photographs into one continuous image, tiled
horizontally and vertically. This handy tool allows you
to stitch together your photographs automatically and
create quick, fun photomontage.
On selecting this command you’ll be provided with
a browser that allows you to pick the imagery you
want. After these have been chosen and confirmed the
Photomerge dialog box is at your disposal. This contains
tools for manipulating composition and a lightbox
for storing source imagery. To start creating your montage
simply drag and drop your stock imagery into the
work area. Also Zoom options are available to scrutinise
your alignment.
When you’ve completed your composition simply
click the Save Composition As button to preserve your
Photomerge file for a later date or click the OK button,
which will generate a Photoshop file, layers included,
where further meticulous treatment can be applied to
your photography layers.
es
n iqu
ch
Te
NICE CURVES
Hi Advanced Photoshop. Being commendably
one of the top Adobe magazines on the
market (and my personal favourite) I feel you
are the right people to solve my Photoshop
query. I would like to know of a way to apply
colour and tone quickly rather than having to
constantly adjust the Variation and Levels
Tools? Surely there must be a quicker, less
painful way?
Rick Hart
Paying attention to your colour treatment can be
laborious but allows for maximum effect. However we
understand that application need not be so pain-
staking and Photoshop offers up complementary
efficient approaches such as the Curves Tool.
Unlike Levels, with only three adjustments, Curves
allows 14 different adjustment points throughout an
images tonal range. Also it allows precise adjustments
to individual colour channels.
Changing the shape of the curve serves to alter
the tonality or colour of an image. Within the Curves
dialogue box, when set to display levels, highlights are
represented in the top right corner. Moving a point in
this vicinity will alter highlight, centre of the curve alters
midtones and bottom left of the curve alters shadows.
Moving a point either down or to the right maps
the input value to a lower output value, darkening
highlights. Conversely, moving the point up and to the
left serves to lighten shadows.
You can apply Curves by selecting either Image>
Adjustments>Curves or New Adjustment Layer>Curves
at the foot of the Layers palette.
TOTAL CONTROL: Selecting New Adjustment Layer>
Curves is preferable, as the curve layer remains editable
at all times throughout the creative process
HELPDESK
CALL FOR QUESTIONS
Want help with Photoshop?
Send your emails to us at:
advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk
or post a message on our forum board at
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum.
Remember to specify whether you’re using
a PC or Mac and the version number of
your edition of Photoshop.
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 Digital
photo
frames
DIGITAL PHOTO FRAMES
Fed up with the same tired old photos in your frames? Then invest in a digital frame
to show off a continuously changing display of your favourite pics
W
ith the majority of our photos
digital, it makes perfect sense that
photo frames should be capable
of displaying snaps in this format.
By using a digital picture frame you can show
off hundreds of pictures in a slideshow. Not only
does it save you from printing out every individual
photo and buying a gallery-worth of frames, but
you’ll get to see pictures that may have otherwise
been stored on your hard drive and forgotten
about, only ever given an occasional glance.
They’re also perfect for sharing photos with
technophobe friends and relatives – there’s no
need for a computer as you can send pictures on
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memory cards that plug straight into the frame.
At their most basic, a digital photo frame is a small
flat-panel Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) in a plastic
frame, with a power input and a card reader.
Place some images on a supported memory
card and plug it in the reader and the frame will
put them up on screen, either as a static image or
a slideshow.
A simple digital frame like this will only set you
back around £40, so even if you’re on a limited
budget they shouldn’t break the bank. There are
more expensive models of course, if you look
higher up the scale the minimum you can expect
is a larger display and some additional options.
The pricier models sometimes include their own
memory so you can store your favourite images
without using a memory card and many now
include multimedia functions. MP3 audio
playback is common, while some can even play
video files. They’re never going to replace a
television of course, but it does mean you can
show home video clips and provide a backing
track for your slideshows. There are even frames
that include wireless networking so you don’t
even need to use memory cards or internal
storage, instead they can pull images from the
hard drives of computers on your network or
from photo sharing sites like Flickr and Picasa.
4/4/07 12:33:10
 Digital Photo Frames
ROUND UP

Ebuyer
Ebuyer.com is one of the countries largest online retailers
of computer equipment and stock a great range of
own-brand ‘value’ kit, like this very cheap digital photo
frame with a 7-inch display. At this price you don’t expect
anything outstanding, but the display is surprisingly good
Name: Ebuyer
quality, putting some pricier models to shame. Web: www.ebuyer.com
The screen has a resolution of 480 x 234 pixels and an Resolution: 480x234
SD/MMC card slot is used to read images. Obviously it’s Input: SD/MMC
not packed with extra features, but you can adjust the Contact: www.ebuyer.com
display interval for slideshows along with some other Name of product: Ebuyer 7” Frame
Price £34.98
options via the buttons on top of the unit. Be aware
however, it’s limited to a maximum 4MB per image.

CiBox
CiBox is a French company that
manufacture a wide variety of devices,
including LCD monitors, DVD burners
and external hard disks. It makes two
digital photo frames, the C107 and C109,
sporting 7-inch and 9-inch displays
respectively. Aside from the screen size,
the two frames include the same features.
The 7-inch model is interesting because
it’s not a great deal more expensive than
the Ebuyer frame, but features video and
music playback. The small speaker isn’t
going to produce ear-shattering sound
quality, but the 16:9 aspect ratio of the
display is suited to movies.

Name: CiBox
Web: www.ciboxcorp.com
Resolution: 480x234
Input: SD/MMC/XD/MS, USB2
Contact: www.ebuyer.com
Name of product: CiBox C107
Price: £52.87
Resolution
The resolution of a screen tells you how many
pixels can be displayed and indicates how detailed
the picture will be, with a higher number of pixels
meaning better quality. For example, 800 x 600
resolution equals 480,000 pixels. For low-end
digital photo frames a resolution of around 480
x 320 is typical and more expensive models are
often 800 x 600. It’s worth noting that the displays
on many digital frames do not match the exact
dimensions of a digital photo, so they may appear
cropped or stretched to fit the screen. It’s worth
testing a frame before purchasing to check that the
image is acceptable.

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 Digital
photo
frames
Philips
Philips should be a very familiar name.
Aside from the fact that it’s a UK
company, it’s also one of the biggest
electronics outfits in the world (number
one in Europe.) It produces a huge
range of products, including items for
medical and industrial use, but more
importantly for our purposes, some
great consumer goods. Philips currently
has four digital photo frames in its line-
up, two 7-inch and two 9-inch frames.
The 7-inch 7FF1CWO has a wood-effect Name: Philips
Web: www.philips.co.uk
frame, which is visually more appealing
Resolution: 800x480
than the typical white or transparent
Input: SD/MMC/MS/CF, USB2
plastic. The 9FF2M4 doesn’t have the
Contact: www.dabs.com
nice frame but makes up for it with a Name of product: 7FF1CWO
wide range of features. Price: £129.99

Resolution: 640x480
Resolution: 800x600 Input: SD/MMC/XD/MS/CF
Input: SD/MMC/CF, 802.11b/g wireless, USB2 Contact: www.comet.co.uk
Contact: www.dsicentral.com Name of product: MV800
Name of product: MF8104 Premium Price: £179.99
Price: TBA

Name: Digital Spectrum

Web: www.dsicentral.com
Resolution: 640x480
Input: SD/MMC/XD/MS/CF
Contact: www.crazyaboutgadgets.com
Name of product: NuVue 800
Price: £189.95

Digital Spectrum
US-based Digital Spectrum is a five-year-old company that specialises in digital imaging products and produces a
wide range of photo frames. Its frames are definitely at the higher end of the market, with many of them supporting
wireless networking for sharing files over local networks and the internet, video playback and other advanced
functions. The NV800 is on the cheaper end of its scale, but packed with extras like a 5-in-1 card reader, MP4 video and
MP3 audio player and remote control. The MV800 has the same specifications in a smarter frame, while the brand new
MF8104 Premium includes internal memory, wireless networking and Windows Vista compatibility.

IT’S DEFINITELY WORTH DOING SOME

RESEARCH INTO THE MANY MAKES AND
MODELS ON THE MARKET
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 ROUND UP

Digital Photo Frames

ROUND UP
Name: AG Neovo
Web: www.ag-neovo.co.uk
Resolution: 800x600
Input: SD/MMC/MS/CF, USB2
Contact: www.widget.co.uk
Name of product: FotoVivo
Price: £169.99

Name: Philips
Web: www.philips.co.uk
Resolution: 800x480
Input: SD/MMC/MS/CF, USB2
Contact: www.lambda-tek.com
Name of product: 9FF2M4
Price: £145

AG Neovo
AG Neovo is a Taiwanese manufacturer that
has, up until now, dealt almost exclusively
panel monitors. It has always had a reput in flat-
ation for producing some unique and eye-c
designs and the 7-inch FotoVivo is no differ atching
ent – the stylish picture frame recently won
iF Product Design award. While it may seem an
expensive for a 7-inch model, it does have
impressive feature set. The FotoVivo can an
pull images from PCs, cameras and mem
well as storing photos on 128MB of intern ory cards as
al memory. The frame has no buttons and
uses touch-sensitivity and has an impressive instead
800x600 resolution.

Where to look for

cheap deals
It’s definitely worth doing some research
into the many makes and models
available rather than just buying the
first frame you see. Image quality varies
wildly and the more expensive models
don’t necessarily offer the best image,
but include more features. Don’t be
tempted by extras like video playback
and wireless networking unless you’re
sure it’s going to be used and whenever
possible you should ask to try a frame
before buying, keep a memory card and
some photos handy so you can check that
your pictures look right. As ever, price
comparison sites like Froogle (http://
froogle.google.co.uk) are your friend and
should always be consulted to ensure
you’re getting the best price.

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 Further Photoshop research
Widen your artistic circles with the help
of these essential resources

merchandise 88
From the wild to the wacky. Unique
designs for merchandise

books 92
Broaden your Photoshop horizons
with these great reads

video tutorials 94
Sit back and learn the easy way with
these on-screen classes

mends
Recom

W hen most of us think about design, particularly in Photoshop, we think of a piece of art
created for either screen or print. However, there are so many opportunities for designing for
more exciting and original ends. From iPod skins to skateboard decks and even casual apparel for
your unsuspecting pooch, Photoshop can give you ultimate control over all elements of your
design, from the initial concept sketches to the final file for your manufacturer.
Over the page we’ve tracked down some of the most inspirational companies and artists to give you
ideas for your own design ventures. From the cult Kidrobot to the more customer specific Pucci, there’s
a whole selection of gorgeous trinkets for you.
As always we take a look at some resources that will help you in your quest to become the ultimate
Photoshop artist. This month we take a look at a few helpful video tutorials on page 94 and also present
some useful books that you can use to polish up your techniques once you’ve finished off your monthly
treat of Advanced Photoshop magazine.

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 Feature

Creative
collectables
Check out exclusive, inspirational must-have merchandise brought to you by
leading apparel retailers By Adam Smith

I
n 1997 a new art movement burst onto the
creative scene that was set to change the face of
retail forever. When designer Michael Lau
revealed his handful of customised GI Joe figurines
suited in Hip-Hop street fashion at the Hong Kong
Toy Show, this inspired Hong Kong-based artists to
begin their own limited edition toys. From here the
commercial appeal of their design and treat the
consumer masses to a host of retail stores.
Here you’ll find no short supply of collectible,
precious and rare products, featuring design
collaborations with famous toy and street designers,
which serve to liberate mass-produced products
from the regular confines of the retail industry.

THE APPEAL
evolution was inevitable and years later the appeal These products live to amalgamate our love for art
of custom apparel has spread across the globe and the passion for the product in question into one

OF CUSTOM
and inspired artists from the US and Europe must-own novelty item.
to do likewise. Now we know what you’re thinking: “But where

APPAREL HAS Consisting of a merger between urban and pop

art, new trends have emerged across a range of
can I lay my hands on one of these limited run toys?
How can I buy a T-shirts that, once mine, is mine and

SPREAD ACROSS mediums, from toys to T-shirts, fashion accessories

to skate boards and much more, each having its own
only mine?” Or maybe, “where can I just buy a frickin’
funky pair of pumps?” Well never fear, as over the

THE GLOBE set of parameters. Naturally this has led to those

involved in this creative arena to prompt the
next few pages we offer up the low-down on the
leading retailers and their product medleys.

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 Creative collectables

Yukka
Web: www.yukka.co.uk
Contact: www.yukka.co.uk/sup
port
Price Range: £4.50 – £149.95
Our Favourite Product: Convers
e Snoop Dogg Airbrush Chuck
Designers: Akademiks, G-Unit, Naylors Trainers
RocaWear, Phat Farm
Offering over one thousand trendy
urban hip-hop products, Yukka, estab
rapidly expanded into one of the UK’s lished in 2003, has
favourite designer clothing retailers
of hip-hop clothing driven by the grow on-line. With sales
ing commercialism of the music indu
into this multi-faceted industry by stock stry, Yukka taps
ing diverse and official brands prod
designers and music artists such as uced by top
Akademiks, Phat Farm, G-Unit (50 Cent
Z). In addition, these officially sourced ) and RocaWear (Jay
products are updated throughout the
Yukka has radicalised the urban cloth year.
ing style in the UK by introducing the
trends fashioned by American man new slim-line
ufacturers and European distributo
wide and interesting range of cons rs. It’s a retailer for a
umers, from ten-year-olds to adults
provides a level of individuality for in their thirties, which
youths and opens the trend to the
in the hip-hop niche. gene ration that grew up
By consistently updating its product
line, (the latest includes new clothing
label Ed Hardy, new gear from Baby from designer
Phat and the exclusive RocaWear custo
strives to bring consumers the hotte m fit range) Yukka
st products on the urban market. It
entertain pioneering urban/street label goes so far as to
s, so if you’re a serious young label
exposure, then contact Yukka with looking for
details of your fashion label and rang
es.

YUKKA HAS RADICALISED

THE URBAN CLOTHING STYLE IN
THE UK BY INTRODUCING THE
NEW SLIM-LINE TRENDS
FASHIONED IN AMERICA

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 Feature
A Priceless Way
Web: www.apricelessway.com
Contact: contact@apricelessway.com
Price Range: $35
Our Favourite Product: Use My Talent To Makes You Rich T-shirt
Designers: Tai Yu Chen, Sylvia Chen, Nicholas Kamuda

Innovative apparel design company A Priceless Way, based in Seattle, has stepped forward this
year to play its hand in this competitive market. A Priceless Way’s unique, thoughtful product
line seeks to present T-shirts that inspire viewers to think about the way they communicate.
Creator siblings Tai Yu and Sylvia Chen like to make business personal and do so by printing
each shirt by hand. Rather than just demanding attention from others, each product provokes
comment and inspires conversation. Series 1 celebrates the triumphs and miscues of
connection, cross-culturalism, desire and understanding, the result of which is a considerate
collection of unique, informed pieces that you’ll want to flaunt to your friends.
Series 2 named Monsters utilises the creators own inimitable way of applying silkscreen,
creating colours instinctively mingled and transferred across electrically charged designs. Each
shirt within the series is specifically and individually exclusive to the consumer. So the growing
desire for distinctive and personal apparel is adhered to in this particular approach to both
product and design.
Inspired by art, music, culture and the outrageous, A Priceless Way, takes a keen interest in
what the sibling partnership calls ‘the world-in-between’. They take inspiration from what
connects the space between individuals and show this through the designs. For them, design
acts as a perfect bridge between mere comfort and luxury, with a pinch of consequence.

CREATOR SIBLINGS TAI YU

AND SYLVIA CHEN LIKE TO
MAKE BUSINESS PERSONAL

Kidrobot
Web: www.kidrobot.com
Contact: sales@kidrobot.com
Price Range: $4 – $400
Our Favourite Product: Graphics Alive Book
Designers: Paul Budnitz, Dalek, David Flores, TILT

Founded in 2002 by designer Paul Budnitz, Kidrobot quickly established itself as one of the
premier creators and retailers of limited-edition art toys and apparel. In 2006 Kidrobot
introduced its line of apparel based on unique aesthetics. Products merge urban street trends
and pop art to produce a line of limited edition collectables, with many products featured
created through a process of collaboration with famous artists from many different
backgrounds such as Frank Kozik, Dalek and David Flores.
Urban toy artists may choose only to create a series of a few hundred pieces, meaning that
you’re purchasing a truly exceptional, precious product and once a toy is sold it’s gone forever.
Kidrobot retails from $4 to $400, with toys appreciating in value over time. An entertaining
feature of Kidrobot is its Blind Assortment range. Packaged in identical boxes, on the side is a
list of possible different figures you may obtain. One awaits you within the sealed wrapping
and you even stand a chance to find a rare ‘chase’ figure. So rare that people will pay big
bucks for them.
Currently Kidrobot apparel is only available at Kidrobot stores, Barneys New York and online,
but other products can be found in boutique retailers around the globe. Kidrobot operates
three store galleries in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. For further details on pricing
and products visit www.kidrobot.com.

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 Creative collectables
UNKL All fur coat?
Web: www.unklbrand.com. Within celebrity circles pet apparel has reached
Contact: (Sales) ryan@unklbrand.com new heights, with no small thanks to the likes of
Price Range: $4.99 - $99.99 Paris Hilton. So it was only a matter of time until
Our Favourite Product: HazMaPo B1.2 #4 the masses were demanding doggy designer
Designers: Derek Welch, Jason Bacon gear for their faithful friends.
So Pucci Petwear has been only too happy to
Since the year 2000, UNKL has been approaching its product from a oblige. Already supplying designer apparel and
standpoint of high-quality graphic design and storytelling. After two accessories to the stars and their pets, now you
years of creating everything from skate decks to furniture, inventors too can get your favourite canine pal the latest
Derek Welch and Jason Bacon realised that the stories and characters animal accessories, ranging from pink Nosy
they were creating were best executed as toys. Parkers to Urban Camouflaged Collars.
As fans of the ever-increasing designer-toys movement, the two Fervently bringing its product line into the
started to translate ideas in to the vinyl toy mode. Over the 21st century, Pucci operates as a busy online
productive years these designs have produced a family of characters store www.puccipetwear.com. With over
including the eco-evangelist SUG, the mysterious JunPo organisation ten thousands customers world wide, Pucci
and over 40 HazMaPos and hundreds of TinPos versions. So far understands how every fashion conscious
they’ve created four series’ of UniPo, each including four figures and pet owner surely loves to treat his or her dogs
there’s no sign of letting up, with another new design on its way. to the very best. Incorporating design and
Unlike most toy companies, each of UNKL’s characters actually tells quality materials that are up to date, unique
a story and has its own design scheme. Everything from the smallest and fun, Pucci Petwear stands above the rest
detail of the UniPo to the eye-catching packaging of each of their as the leading online store for unique designer
toys is scrutinised with the closest attention to detail and quality. It’s products in a fast-growing market.
part of what makes UNKL a living, breathing, attentive brand.
Also producing a range of apparel and accessories, such as T-shirts,
hats and hoodys, UNKL advertises its popularity by vending in a
range of retail stores across the globe, from the UK to Singapore, at
very competitive market prices.

Urban Retro
Web: www.urbanretro.co.uk
Contact: info@urbanretro.co.uk
Price Range: £3.95 – £65.95
Our Favourite Product: Poketo Artist Wallet, Rama Hughes
Designers: Aya Kato, Dekore, Keri Smith
UrbanRetro is definitely one for the boys. An online store that holds a vast range of apparel
including the latest men’s clothing, art prints and vinyl toys. It stocks all that is trendy and
up and coming within the world of product-branding and offers exclusive art prints that
are produced by established and pioneering artists. Keeping in step with the Vinyl art toy
scene, so as not to be out done, UrbanRetro offers up a line of the latest and exciting toys
on the market. Retailing a designer range from market leading-lights such as Tokidoki Toys
and Toy2R, this limited edition line offers many a compulsory buy.
It is its strong relationship and understanding of its creative partners however, that
allows UrbanRetro to consistently deliver cool, strong designs and, in turn, an innovative
product. Allying itself with creative brands such as 28 Black and Joystick Junkies, it
produces a top-quality range of T-shirts, as well as offering a fresh approach to the retail
market with a line of stylish accessories.
The most innovative of these accessories are the graphically designed Poketo wallets
and iPod Gelaskins pampered by the breath-taking designs of Aya Kato, among others. The
range offers great value for money, so we highly recommend you visit UrbanRetro at www.
urbanretro.co.uk for quality, competitive apparel.

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 Books
resources
Whether you want some technical tips or some
imaging inspiration, there’s a book to suit
Digital Illustration
Author: Lawrence Zeegan
Publisher: RotoVision
Price: £19.99
ISBN: 2-88046-797-7
Web: www.rotovision.com
T his book not only looks and reads great, but it’s packed
full of enough ideas to keep your finger clicking away
for weeks to come.
Digital Illustration is filled with lots of superb examples of
digital art with details of how they were created. The author
covers all sorts of illustration methods, including mixed media,
sketched effects and photo manipulation and then goes on to
profile artists working within each of these disciplines. Each
artist was then asked to produce a tutorial for the book. The
second half of the book looks at how to get yourself out there,
working to commissions and organising your portfolio.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 one-on-one
Author: Deke McClelland
Publisher: O’Reilly
Price: £28.50
ISBN: 0-586-100069-5
Web: www.oreilly.com
T he author Deke McClelland really knows his stuff,
having an impressive amount of Photoshop
publications under his belt.
The style of writing is very informal but does get the
information across, making this book extremely easy to follow.
A very nice feature is a knowledge test set at the conclusion of
each chapter to ensure that you’ve understood. This is
invaluable in getting the necessary information across and will
ensure that you have mastered each step. Due to the informal
style, it feels more like a personal tutor than a structured lesson.
There are plenty of tips, tricks and techniques unveiled here
Photoshop Restoration & Retouching 3
Author: Katrin Eismann
Publisher: New Riders
Price: £35.99
ISBN: 0-321-31627-4
Web: www.peachpit.com
I
n this third edition of Photoshop Restoration & Retouching
you’re taken through the finer examples of restoring your
old photos.
The processes used are truly amazing as most of the
photographs in the tutorials appear beyond repair and we
couldn’t help wondering if they had reverse-engineered some
of them – meaning they destroyed the photograph after they
had retouched it – the results were that good. Other
techniques are also covered, such as how to retouch a portrait
to fashion-industry standard and it’s these tutorials that really
open your eyes as to how ‘fake’ most model shots are.
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Digital Illustration avoids being empty eye-candy, as it’s packed
with loads of practical advice. Whether this comes from the
professionals talking about their chosen fields or the step-by-
step tutorials, there’s plenty for you to get excited about. 5
Rating: 5/5
and no matter how advanced you are, we’re positive there will
be something in these pages that you didn’t know before. 5
Rating: 3/5
Retouching is an art and to do it right means that your images
don’t end up looking like they’ve been retouched at all. 5
Rating: 4/5
Further reading
Photoshop
Workflow Setups
Author: Eddie Tapp
Publisher: O’Reily
Price: £20.99
ISBN: 0-596-10168-6
Web: www.oreilly.com
We’d all like to work faster in Photoshop and
increase our productivity, so this book will show
you better ways of working. Even if you feel you
know a lot about Photoshop to begin with,
Photoshop Workflow Setups will definitely shed
some light on new processes and techniques.
Topics include customising the workspace,
keyboard shortcuts, using Adobe Bridge and
organising palettes and windows for a more
enhanced way of working. The page design is
well laid out, with large diagrams and attractive
images. All the info is very clearly presented and
well thought out, making this a powerful
learning tool for users of all abilities. 5
Rating: 3/5
Photoshop CS2
Speed Clinic
Author: Matt Kloskowski
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Price: £24.99
ISBN: 0-321-44165-6
Web: www.peachpit.com
As the title suggests, this book is all about time-
saving functions of Photoshop and is written
with the intention of demonstrating how fast
and easy it is to do certain tasks. The book is
packed with tips to make searching and
organising quick and painless and to this end
has an extensive chapter on Bridge.
If you’re unfamiliar with Actions, then your life
is about to get a whole lot easier, as it goes on to
provide all the info you need to know including
batch processing and applying actions to
multiple images. As Smart Objects are a
powerful new addition to CS2, an entire chapter
is devoted to them, using these alone will save
you hours over a week. 5
Rating: 2/5
Photoshop Artistry
Author: Barry Haynes
Wendy Crumpler
Seán Duggan
Publisher: New Riders
Price: £39.99
ISBN: 0-321-34699-8
Web: www.peachpit.com
Photoshop Artistry is packed full of ideas,
inspiration and information. The entire book is so
well designed and has beautiful page-layout
and typography with lots of beautiful examples
of photographs that have been transformed
using Photoshop jiggery-pokery. You’ll find
contained within these pages portfolio
examples featuring stunning photography and
digital manipulation from some truly talented
digital artists. The book is divided neatly, with the
first two sections covering an overview of
Photoshop and its capabilities, whereas the
latter focuses on the more practical side of
things, combining tutorials with larger project
ideas. This book also focuses on other important
areas such as scanning, web photo galleries,
slideshows and much more. 5
Rating: 4/5
4/4/07 09:58:32
 Video tutorials
resources
Admit it… sometimes even the pros could do with
some tips, check out our pick of the tutorial sites
Domen Lombergar
Developer: Domen Lombergar
Price: Free
Web: www.lombergar.com
D omen Lombergar is a young Slovenian digital
artist who has produced some great work that
has appeared on some of the finest web galleries.
Not satisfied with simply producing digital masterpieces, he
also produces free video tutorials. There are 15 tutorials in total
covering areas such as faking long exposure, batch processing,
non-destructive sepia toning and much more. The tutorials are
of good quality and are quite long (some up to 15 minutes)
which really makes you feel as if you’re getting your money’s
worth – because they’re free! There is also a link located below
the tutorials that takes you to an archive of all of his work.
We have in the past included some of these tutorials on our
very own resource CD and as we always ensure only high
Planet Photoshop
Developer: KW Media Group
Price: Free
Web: www.planetphotoshop.com
P
lanet Photoshop is a resource website that has
everything you could possibly need to enhance
the power of Photoshop.
It also has a good pedigree thanks to the contributors and
has close ties with the podcast Photoshop TV (www.
photoshoptv.com) which many of you should be aware of.
There are over 50 varied video tutorials available here, covering
everything from making a graphic appear as though it has the
unique texture of a brick wall, creating cool abstract shapes
using the Warp Tool, lighting techniques using the new
Vanishing Point in Photoshop CS3, creating a distorted 3D grid
that can be used as a background design element and plenty
more to boot.
Video Tutes
Developer: Video Tutes
Price: Free
Web: www.video-tutes.com
I
f you’re after one site that has plenty of content to
keep you entertained, then look no further than
Video Tutes.
There are literally hundreds of tutorials available here,
covering all major digital creativity packages such as Illustrator,
Flash, 3D Studio Max, After effects and Poser. Focusing on the
Photoshop side of things, the tutorials available here are all top-
quality, with areas such as creating special effects, retouching
old photos, slicing for web, exporting images and much more
all sewn up and all totally free of charge. This site has some
impressive design elements and some funky graphics, but it’s
designed with no structure, much like a blog page and, as a
consequence, is as long as your arm. But this aside, Video Tutes
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Video Tutorials
V tutorial
Developer: V tutorial
Price: Free
Web: www.vtutorial.com
There are around 250 tutorials available for
download and that’s just for Photoshop!
Alongside these, there are plenty of other
leading applications here, even the Freeware
3D application Blender (a superb app that is as
powerful as 3S Studio Max and about £1000
cheaper as it’s totally free!) As you would
expect the tutorials cover all the bases from
beginner to advanced and have some very
interesting topics such as Photoshop
animation, moving SWFs into ImageReady and
quality material gets on there, it goes without saying that Mr some of the new features in CS3. This site
Lombergar has our seal of approval. 5 suffers a little from a poor navigation system
but the extensive content more than makes up
Rating: 4/5 for that.
Rating: 3/5
Photoshop TV
Developer: NAPP
Price: Free
Web: www.photoshoptv.com
Podcasting is still relatively new and has just
found its feet in the past year or so. Photoshop
TV was the first to offer free tutorials every
week delivered straight to your iTunes library.
However if you have ever watched an episode,
then you’ll know there’s lots of inane chatter,
one or two not so great tutorials, lots of adverts
and much plugging of its mag. Credit where
credit’s due, this was a great idea but just
because it was first doesn’t mean it’s the best.
It’s great receiving episodes for free, but you’re
better off spending your time searching for
tutorials you want to do other than listen
to this twaddle.
No matter what your degree of skill is, you’re sure to pick up Rating: 2/5
some tips you didn’t know before. 5
Davro Digital
Rating: 3/5 Developer: David Rowley
Price: Free and commercial
Web: www.davrodigital.co.uk
There’s nothing worse than a poorly designed
site that offers tutorials for download and to
purchase on a CD. For starters, why should you
trust someone who is demonstrating how to
create web graphics when they can’t get them
right for their own site, which is so poorly laid
out? However there are around 15 free tutorials
covering a few different areas, but are more for
the beginner to intermediate and some of
which can be achieved by simply clicking a
button in the actions palette. You can only hope
that they have saved the good stuff for the CDs,
but are you willing to take that chance? We’re
certainly not.
Rating: 1/5
is a great site packed with content, just go and make a cup of
tea while it’s loading. 5
Rating: 4/5
4/4/07 09:58:15