Project files, desktop

designs, stock art…

ISSUE 22

HOW TO…
Manga art masterclass | Create the Day After Tomorrow effect | Pre-press & Photoshop | Tim Marrs interview

Produce pre-press Photoshop art

Find the best hard drive for you
Perfect recycled image collages
Master Data-Driven Graphics

25
OP

P
HOTS
ET

OS
TH

HOTRTCU
P O
SH

CREATE YOUR OWN MANGA ART

Adopt the style of the Orient with this step-by-step guide
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

DAY AFTER TOMORROW pages of professional

Create apocalyptic images with tips & essential step-
22
UE

the help of Photoshop brushes by-step tutorials

ISS

001_APM22_cover.indd 1 22/8/06 15:24:24

 Cover

Cover image Imageer:

Providing our amazing cover image this issue is IMAGE COURTESY OF SHUTTERSTOCK
Shutterstock. The largest subscription-based / WWW.SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
stock photo agency in the world, Shutterstock
was founded in 2003 and is now one of the
fastest growing suppliers of royalty-free stock
photography in the industry. Its outstanding

SHUTTERSTOCK
collection of premium images combined with a
user-friendly interface has made Shutterstock a

CURRENTLY HAS
trusted resource for an expanding global
customer base. Shutterstock currently has nearly
1,000,000 images available to its subscribers,
and that number increases every day. NEARLY 1,000,000
IMAGES
4
Advanced Photoshop

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 nds
mme
Reco

GIVE IT A GO 7 36
If you want to be inspired to create your own
Japanese-esque imagery, make sure you read the
history behind the art first

ISSUE #22

inside... LETTERS
Our readers’ comments and feedback
7 10
INSIGHT 7 12
News and showcases from around the globe
All the latest events, exhibitions and awards 12
Peter Joison presents his portfolio 18
Mario Belém shows us what he can do 20
Digital wonder Vincent Wakerley’s work 22

HELPDESK 7 78
Your technical traumas shared with fellow readers
and answered by our expert

7 85
THE COVER
If Manga is your thing then be sure
to check out our awe inspiring
24 RESOURCES
tutorial on page 64 Tim Marrs reveals the secrets Vital assets to improve your Photoshop work
behind his Nike artwork
The top 25 Photoshop shortcuts 86
Printing services 90
Books 92
Plug-ins 94

...
THIS MONTH’S CD 7 96
BE 6 Superb stock art, project files to go with this

C RI ge 7 f month’s issue and more!

UBSto pa £s ofce
S rn ave pri
Tu d s ver 42 64
an e co Create The Day
After Tomorrow
From initial sketch to critical
shading, we’re Manga mad!
th

6
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 20
Discover new artists from all
over the world this issue

TECHNIQUES
Faster, better, more… How can you work smarter?
PRE-PRESS & PHOTOSHOP
Discover the techniques behind print perfection
7 30
FEATURES
INTERVIEW: TIM MARRS 7 24 DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Create apocalyptic images with Tim Shelbourne
7 42
The Photoshop guru shares his secrets

TURNING JAPANESE 7 36 RECYCLED COLLAGES

Make use of your old images and stationary
7 56
From Hello Kitty to Manga, we investigate Oriental art

READER VS PRO 7 48 INSIDER INFO

PDF PRESENTATIONS 7 62
This month’s head-to-head has a disco twist Wow potential clients with this CS2 feature

PEER PRESSURE 7 72 MASTER MANGA ART 7 64

Inspiring and challenging images from your fellow readers Everything you need to know to create Manga

PORTABLE HARD DRIVES 7 80 INSIDER INFO

We take a tour of the best storage devices around DATA DRIVEN GRAPHICS
Make the most of Photoshop using this feature
7 70
25 TOP PHOTOSHOP TIPS 7 86
The industry’s best share their knowledge with you

7
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 Letters

Mailbox
Got something to say about the magazine or
Photoshop in general – write in and tell us!
Email us at advancedpshop@imagine-
publishing.co.uk or visit the forum at
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk
SUBJECT: Demo disc and check out the terms and conditions listed there.
FROM: Luke Davis Best of luck with your course and your future in the
I’m 16 and have been interested in graphic design for digital arts.
a while, and I am currently studying it at college.
However, one thing has eluded me: Photoshop CS2. SUBJECT: Career conundrum
Because of the huge price I am unable to buy it and FROM: Via forum

“IS THERE NO SUCH

because of the huge file size of the demo I am unable Hello, I am currently at college doing a Media course,
to download it, so is there any chance of it being put but recently I have done some graphic design work

THING AS REALITY
on CD? If you have put it on a cover disc – which issue for a friend’s band, and found it quite fun.
was it on? And if you haven’t, do you know where I Having done TV mocks as well, I’ve sort of trained

can find one?
Editor replies:
Hi Luke, thanks for getting in touch. This can be a
problem for creatives who don’t have the spare cash
to afford the Adobe app, although you’re in a great
position. As a student you can buy an educational
Photoshop package that gives you a massive
discount off the normal price and means you can get
the full version and not just a demo.
In order to find out if you do qualify, head over
to www.adobe.com/uk/education/purchasing/
ANY MORE?”
myself in Photoshop to a good standard, and would
possibly like to take this on as a career. However, most
degrees and college courses demand at least a decent
skill in drawing. Sadly, my drawing skills are a bit rusty,
so I’m not quite sure what to do. Any advice?
Editor replies:
My advice, and I’m sure your peers will agree, is that
there is no replacing hands-on experience. While a
good degree in a relevant course will make it easier
for you to get a job as a magazine designer or as
in-house staff for something like an ad agency,
freelance careers require cracking portfolios.
Try and do as many commissions as you can, post
some of your work in our online Peer Pressure forum
thread for exposure in the magazine, and most of all,
keep at it. Most people in this career have been
working towards getting their name known for many
years and are only just reaping the benefits – take
Robin Preston, for example.
Get your name and your work known (for the right
reasons) and you can’t go far wrong.
Editor replies:
As the first person to spot this design tweak, we’re
sending a big AP pat on the back to you! Yes, these
pages have indeed been given a revamp in the hope
they’ll be easier to read as well as considerably easier
on the eye. Do you like the new look? Tell us via our
new forum.
SUBJECT: An angel
FROM: Helena Eagelston
Having admired Angel D’Amico’s front cover image
on issue 21, I decided to look up the photographer
who took the source image and felt I must
recommend his website for other readers to view. One
of the most talented photographers I’ve seen recently
– his images are truly inspirational.

SUBJECT: Crazy for you

FAN CLUB: We’ve had loads of emails from readers
telling us what they thought of our metallic cover
FROM: Dean Umbridge
First, let me say what an amazing issue number 21
was. Not only did the cover leap up and beg me to
buy it, the content was top-notch too. Best issue yet!
I do have one quick question though. Is it just my
dizzied state of awe or have your Workshops
changed? I don’t collect back issues but I do
remember the Workshop pages being somewhat
SNAP FANTASTIC: Inspiration can come from
confusing, reading up and down, and in issue 21 they anywhere, just check out www.lioneldeluy.com
read left to right. Am I mistaken? for proof

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 NOW YOU SEE IT:
Tutorials like Simon’s
are an invaluable
tool towards a career
in the digital arts
Editor replies:
For those of you who haven’t taken a look at Lionel
Deluy’s amazing website yet, check it out at
www.lioneldeluy.com.
SUBJECT: Rendered reality
FROM: George Nunn
After reading Simon Danaher’s (fantastic) tutorial in
issue 21, I was left feeling a little disheartened. Is there
no such thing as reality any more? Although the
butterfly wings were an obvious add-on, the leg
lengthening, head replacement, bra removal (need I
go on) were all a surprise. Are no photographic
images done purely in-camera now?
Editor replies:
The sign of truly great Photoshop work is when you
don’t know it’s there. Although many photographers
can capture images like this in-camera, we think
you’ll benefit from knowing how to fake it – just
think of the practice you’ll get from tweaking this
year’s holiday snaps!
SUBJECT: Issue 20
FROM: Via forum
I may be mistaken – it happens often enough! – but
I’m pretty sure that the space art tutorial with the
nebula (issue 20) was in your sister magazine
Photoshop Creative a few issues back. Now, it’s not
the tutorial I have a problem with, it’s a cracking one.
As a regular reader of both these magazines I do
find it slightly less value for money, when paying
£12 a month for them both, to find the same content
in them.
Aside from that – the pixel art tutorial was superb,
and I enjoyed the write-up on the tablets. Now just
have to save up for a Cintiq 21UX…
“NOT ONLY DID THE COVER LEAP UP
AND BEG ME TO BUY IT, THE
CONTENT WAS TOP-NOTCH TOO”
010-011_APM22.indd 11
XXXLDS APART:
From opposite sides of
the earth Hi-Liter and
Revjessecuster, two
forum users, took up
the Goddess challenge
Editor replies:
Well, I’ll start with an apology. The Create Space
tutorial was indeed lifted from our sister magazine,
Photoshop Creative, so for those of you reading both
magazines – you might recognise this content and
we are very sorry about this.
This was done for two reasons. Another tutorial
scheduled for that issue had to be replaced quickly
and we decided to use this tutorial as it showcases
many advanced techniques, which many people at a
fledgling stage in their Photoshop careers will simply
not be able to master.
So our second reason for using this tutorial was
that, while some PC readers found it too complex, AP
readers should be able to master the techniques
involved with ease.
We are sorry for those of you reading both mags,
but we will try to ensure you won’t see any more
content being crossed over from now on. Why not
have your say on what goes in the magazine, by
logging onto our forum and posting your suggestions
– we’d love to hear them!
PIXEL PAINTER: Unleash the artist in you
with a helping hand from Photoshop’s extensive
Brush palette
Straight to
the point
Get dynamic!
Subject: He’s our man!
From: Brian Ferro
After reading Tim Shelbourne’s tutorial in issue
17, I took up my stylus and attempted to
emulate his work, to little avail. However, with
your latest issue (21) and his latest tutorial I’ve
tried once again and have had more success.
Basing my paintings on a photo gives the image
more structure and makes me feel more
accomplished. Let’s see some more work from
this Photoshop wonder in the future.
Subject: Hair raising
From: Stacy Herst
I’ve always had trouble Photoshopping realistic
hair and hair textures, so I was delighted to find
a tutorial that covered this subject in my first
ever AP, issue 21. Combined with my new ‘reality
retouching’ skills, my family photos have never
looked so good!
Subject: Behind the scenes
From: Jeremy Casell
As someone who’s always wanted a career in
magazine design, I have a question. How do you
decide upon a cover image? To my mind the
Dynamic Brushes tutorial in issue 21 would have
been a fabulous cover, as would the feature
illustration on page 36. Why did you opt for
something that only got two pages of coverage
inside the magazine? Still a great cover, just
wondering about the thinking behind it.
Editor replies:
Wow, glad you’re all enjoying both the content
and the metallic cover issue 21 offered. We’re
always striving to introduce you to new
techniques, tips and imageers, but if you have
any suggestions we’d love to hear them too.
Check out page 30 this issue, which addresses
some of the tricks behind making a good
Photoshop image into a great one in print.
11
Advanced Photoshop
23/8/06 16:55:26
 Keeping an eye on the latest trends in contemporary photography, art
and design, Insight sets out to snapshot innovation in the making

SHOW OFF: Ja
ckie King’s work
Dublin, Maine has been exhib
and ited
as a freelance ph New York and just one year aft in London,
otographer her er
when her vibra talent was offici setting up
ntly coloured Cr ally recognised
places in the Br azy Lady series
itish Professiona won two first
l Photography
Awards

QEST for perfection

Elizabeth Scholarship
A ROYAL QEST: The Queen
t (QES T) aims to adva nce education in modern and
Trus
ition al craft s in the UK. Scho larships, open to men
trad
en of all ages , are awa rded twice a year
and wom
GOING SOLO: Jackie’s solo show, opening
at the Allen Gallery in Alton, Hampshire in
October, celebrates work from the
photographer who has gained international
recognition with her unique style within the
fine art photography field
Proving once again the all-conquering power of Photoshop, the
winners of the QEST awards have been announced, and one comes
with a twist. Jackie King, who has just won an £8000 Queen
Elizabeth Scholarship, was voted British Professional Photographer
of the Year 2005 and UK Portrait Photographer of the Year 2005.
Unlike most of her peers however, Jackie’s images are
photographed on film, then scanned onto a computer and
enhanced using the Adobe app.
Winning a QEST scholarship means Jackie can study for the
London College of Fashion’s 30-month part-time MA in Fashion
Photography. She says: “This degree is the only one of its kind in
the world. Students look at social, cultural and critical issues
involved in fashion photography and the impact and construction
of fashion images as a spectacle. I plan to use this opportunity to
develop my understanding and creativity. It will help me develop
my approach further, pushing my own boundaries and realising
aspirations and objectives within my work.”
QEST was set up in 1990 to mark the 90th birthday of
The Queen Mother and, since then, has given out cash awards
worth over £1,000,000 to more than 150 craftsmen and women to
develop their skills.
QEST scholarships worth up to £15,000 are awarded twice a year
for training and work experience, and are open to people of ages.
The closing date for spring 2007 scholarships is 19 January, but for
more details or information on how to apply, visit www.qest.org.uk
or www.royalwarrant.org.
http://jackieking.net

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 Cut the cord
If you still use a mouse but hate the restrictions the cord causes,
10.06
then look no further than Apple’s Mighty Mouse – now wire-free!
The latest version of Apple’s already-popular multi-button

DIARY
mouse gives users greater freedom to be creative with their Mac
computers. While you can’t use it with a PC, the wireless Mighty
Mouse offers a new laser-tracking engine. Twenty times more

DATES
sensitive than standard optical mice for better tracking on even
more surfaces, the new product costs just £49/$93.
HARDCORE
HARDWARE: The wireless “We cut the cord on our popular Mighty Mouse to give
Mighty Mouse features an consumers even more flexibility when using a Mac,” says David
easy-to-use design that
comfortably fits the left or right Moody, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Mac Product
hand. It also includes an advanced power- Marketing. “A Bluetooth-enabled Mac desktop with an Apple
management system that automatically
switches to low power modes during inactivity
Wireless Keyboard and Mighty Mouse is the ideal cable-free setup PHOTOSHOP FOR
at home or in the office, and the wireless Mighty Mouse is the
perfect travel companion for the MacBook user on the go.”
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Apple’s wireless Mighty Mouse includes up to four TPOTY COURSE
www.apple.com/ukstore
independently programmable buttons and an ingenious Scroll 4 October
Ball that lets users scroll in any direction. London

FRIEZE ART FAIR

effectively even on 12-15 October
D: Fluid Mask works our
KEEPING IT FLUI edg es to sep arate are close in col Regents Park
ere the ted,
difficult images wh le, no t on ly is the image separa
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and density. In this n kept
soft edges have bee
but the sharp and
SCOPE LONDON
13-16 October
Old Truman Brewery

WILDLIFE
PHOTOGRAPHER OF
THE YEAR
From 21 October
Natural History Museum

DIGITAL
DEMYSTIFIED
TPOTY COURSE

e t h in k in g : F lu id M a s k 24-25 October
The Lake District

Creativ
EBOY: To see more of the work of contributor
eBoy check out its pixel-art based website
realised we were hello.eboy.com/eboy
Within a short spac
e of time we both
ge the fac e of sim ple CREATIVE
Welcome to Robi
n Preston’s new m
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perks now and the

13
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 insight TWO FACED: Through the use of many

Making the grade layer masks, Nils Orth composited

several features from various individuals
to create a singular face. Although many
Adobe has announced the winners of the sixth annual Adobe Design layers and masks are used to get to the
Achievement Awards. The competition is widely regarded as the top student final image, the result is a seamless
portrait of an individual
design event that honours the world’s most talented student graphic designers,
photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers and computer
artists from the top design, film and broadcast institutions. Using the latest
Adobe products, more than 1,800 students from 24 countries competed in this
year’s competition.
“Honouring the top students in the creative arts is part of Adobe’s on-going
commitment to design and film education, and to the creative professional
market,” says Melissa Dyrdahl, senior vice president of corporate marketing
and communications at Adobe. “Winning an Adobe Design Achievement
Award is just the beginning for these students; winners have the opportunity
to gain exposure to the creative community, jump-start their careers in the
creative arts, and showcase their talents at industry events such as Sundance,
Cannes and the ZeroOne Festival.”
Winners included Keng-Ming Liu in the Animation category, Amy Wang
in the Environmental Graphics and Packaging category, Janina Boesch for
Interactive Design, and in the Digital Photography category, the winner
was Nils Orth. “Winning an Adobe Design Achievement Award was an
exceptional experience. I got the opportunity to display my work at the
Guggenheim in New York, as well as at Sundance and Cannes and have it
seen by so many industry professionals,” says Yibi Hu from Kingston
University in London and 2005 winner in the Animation category.
The winning entries can be viewed now by going to www.adobe.com/
education/winners.
education/winners

ANIMAL MAGIC: Kyley Hellhake used Photoshop to cut

the animals out of their backgrounds before enhancing the
photos with lighting effects: “I then created my own photo
booth strip by splicing together my animal portraits with SNAP HAPPY: Katie Sheridan
photo booth backgrounds. The entire process could not shot these photographs with a
have been completed without the use of Photoshop” 35mm. Photoshop was used to
convert the images to 3D

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 10.06
DIARY
DATES
MASTERING THE
POWER OF SMART
OBJECTS
30 September – 1 October
Berkeley, California
THE LINE UP: Monday Haitink’s
Beethoven can be heard; Tuesday is
Choral Blockbusters; Wednesday is the
LSO and Gergiev; Thursday features music
PHOTO IMAGING IN
from the series Daniel Harding: A Portrait,
in partnership with UBS; and Friday
THE DIGITAL AGE
finishes off with music from movies. 17-21 October
Image of Matthew Gibson, member of the Touring

The sound of artwork LSO; photo by Alberto Venzago

MAX 2006
If you’re going to see images of one of the world’s most Venzago. Taken behind the scenes and while out on
23-26 October
famous orchestras, there really is only one way to view tour, the photos – accompanied by LSO recordings of
Las Vegas
them: with a musical accompaniment. everything from Beethoven to music from Star Wars –
UBS Soundscapes – The LSO in the City, starts on are sure to be a big hit.
18 September 2006 and goes on for five days near To check out UBS Soundscapes for yourself, just pop EPSON PRINT
London’s Liverpool Street Station, offering commuters along to the Broadgate Arena, Liverpool Street. A free ACADEMY
and tourists the opportunity to view this unique event, the installation aims to introduce commuters 28 October – January 2007
exhibition. Combining sound with large-scale and city workers to the magnificence and breadth of Touring
photography, the exhibition marks the opening of the the LSO’s orchestral world.
London Symphony Orchestra’s 2006/7 concert season
with this extraordinary sensory experience.
SECRETS OF
The images on display feature the orchestra, as
www.ubs.com THE MASK
captured by award-winning Swiss photographer Alberto 2-3 December
Mill valley, California

Wacom & Adobe join forces

As well as announcing the release of upda
ted versions of the Graphire4 Studio
and Studio XL tablets, Wacom has also
revealed that from now
on, all Graphire4 packages will come bund
led with Adobe Photoshop
Elements 4.0.
Ideal for those starting out in the illustrativ
e business, this new bundle will
be the perfect building block for a succ
essful imaging career.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 provides
new tools for creative image
editing and helps the user to organise pictu
res more effectively. Pen tablet
users profit from two new tools: the mag
ic selection brush and the magic
DIGITAL DUO: Studio and Studio extraction brush. Both brushes allow selec
ting and editing parts of a picture
XL tablets are aimed at amateur more easily and with the tablet pen, thes
photographers who want to get e selections can be done very easily
the best out of their photos
and precisely.
For more information on the complete
range of Graphire4 tablets check out
www.my-graphire.com.

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 insight

JOURNEY OF THE STUG:

Pete perfects the textures in his
images by using adjustment
layers to carefully tweak the
highlights, gradients and
blending modes

Pete Joison – Blurburger

Pete tells us his penchant for design started at a very early age: “At
primary school I used to design personalised logos for the kids and
charge them 20 cents.”
However, his entrepreneurial skills didn’t initially launch him into
his art career immediately after leaving school. Instead he spent
time travelling from job to job working as a barman, timber worker
and salesman amongst other things. The decision to make a
full-time career out of his artwork emerged after studying a
two-year Associate Degree in Melbourne, Australia in 1989-1990. His
ATOLL: Pete is influenced
by almost anything when first break came after being commissioned to complete a range of
it comes to thinking up cartoon greeting cards. “Showing samples of my work by ‘cold
new concepts for designs. calling’ helped. These days I just let my website do the showing for
“Landscapes, animals,
peeling paint – everything me,” he says.
really. Whatever you see Describing his style as ‘cartoony’, ‘bright’ and ‘slightly off-centre’,
can inspire you in some
way,” he says
Pete uses similar techniques for each of his creations: “I have a
sketchbook where I’m constantly doodling new ideas. From the
sketchbook doodle I either redraw it in Illustrator, or scan it into
Photoshop.” When an image is imported into Photoshop Pete
duplicates the outline layer and selects each area, copying to new
layers as he goes. He then fills, paints and airbrushes each area and
uses an adjustment layer to play around with the highlights,
gradients and blending modes. “After I’ve finished with the colour
layers I ‘re-see’ the outline layer with Multiply on. On another layer, I
finish off with the details, highlights and shadows,” he explains.
So what other artists inspire Pete? Well… none. “I don’t have a
favourite artist,” he tells us. “I see the world a bit like a restaurant. I
want to taste everything. Every time I come in I’ll order something
new. It might not always be to my taste, so I move onto the next
thing. And I never need to know the name of the chef – the tastes,
colours and presentation of the dishes are enough for me.” How’s
that for an analogy?
/ www.blurburger.com

him the
style of Pete’s work gives
BERTH: The bright cartoon exci ting colour palette
use a broa d and
opportunity to

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 WANDERS
REMEMBERING: This
image was scanned from a
drawing straight into
10.06
LOOKOUT: “Sometimes you may have to turn an idea upside
down or inside out in your mind, or combine two or more ideas
together to create something new. Sometimes a fully fledged idea
will pop into your mind at three in the morning. Inspiration can
come from anywhere,” Pete tells us
Photoshop. Pete used an
airbrushing technique to
achieve the gradient effect

STAIRWELL SECRET: “Usually my work comes

from my head or doodles ,” says Pete. Here an
old
project has been incorporated into his design

HEAD: “It’s the end of a long day at

the local lawn bowls club. Everything
stops as a giant monster saunters
past the back fence. With this picture
and the chosen colours I tried to get a
feeling of timelessness, silence and
disbelief”

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 insight
Mário Belém
Photoshop is such an important part of Mário’s life that it’s not uncommon
for it to be incorporated into his dreams. The passion started around 12 years
ago after he got his first PC and shortly after this, his first Wacom tablet.
“Since then I’ve gone through at least six tablets. I make a lot of pressure
when I draw on the pads and eventually destroy them.” Mário started out by
copying artistic styles by Mucha, Escher and Manara. “The illustrations that I
made were really bad, but I learned a lot about drawing by trying to replicate
the styles of great masters”
Rather than concentrating on large-scale projects he prefers to create flyer
art. “Flyers have always fascinated me; they’re great showcases of your work
and usually don’t consume a lot of time. You’re completely free to create
whatever you like.” His work process normally starts from some very rough
sketches on paper to plan out the composition. Google Images also comes in
use as a source of reference. “Here in Portugal, the going rate for illustration
isn’t very good, so if you want to make a profit out of a project you have to be
fast. I try to keep my projects under eight to 12 hours so that they make the
money worthwhile”. To achieve his first commission, Mário created six mock
flyers and showed them to some friends. Eventually, word got around and
several months layer he was contacted by an event producer.
“When you really want something you have to be persistant – eventually it
will come around”, says Mário.
/ www.mariobelem.com
OLA: Mário always
works at double
the size. This gives him
mu
moving space, especia ch more
lly to create
little details. “I can the
n make sure the
lines will turn out nic
e and clean”

GOA GIL: “If there is a human figure in one

of my images I either photograph it or grab
something off of Google and draw on top of
it in Photoshop. This saves me plenty of time.
In Portugal the going rate for illustration
isn’t good so if you want to make a profit
you need to work fast”

TAMARIZ PANORAMIC: “The only

problem I have working with images
that are double the standard size is that
you easily end up with files of one or two
gigabytes. You really have to invest in
RAM memory. Right now I’m working on
a Dual G5 with 3.5 Gig RAM”

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 10.06
TAMARIZ 2006: Photoshop is an integral part of
Mário’s life, not just a tool to create his final pieces.
“Photoshop is everything. Once you get through the
first shock and start trying out all of the functions,
making a lot of mistakes in the process of course,
pretty soon you get addicted. I dream about
Photoshop loads of times, no kidding!”

CIRCUIT TASTE: Flyers have

always fascinated Mário, not
only as a piece of ‘mass
graphics’ but because he feels
that they’re great for
showcasing his work.
“Whenever one of my friends
goes abroad I always ask them
to pick me up some flyers”

STROLLING: “One of the

things that I’ve been trying to
eliminate as much as possible is
that clean, superficial look that
all computer illustrations tend
to have. There are several ways
to go around this – one of the
easiest is, after you’ve finished
your illustration, to place a
photo of a texture (usually
cracked up walls and tree barks
will do it just fine – check out
www.mayang.com/textures if
you want some top quality stuff
for free) on top of your image
with 20% Opacity and then
apply a layer mode like Screen
or Overlay”

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 insight
Vincent Wakerley
Vincent has been working as a freelance airbrush illustrator for more years than
he cares to remember. He started off editing slick photographic images for
magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Harpers & Queen, but by the end
of the Nineties he needed a change in direction.
“I bought a second-hand Mac which was very slow, plus a copy of Adobe
Photoshop 3, and practised each night after work until two in the morning,
teaching myself the basics of how to create an image as well as retouching.”
Vincent established himself at a very early age after Francis Kyle visited his
college to talk to the students. “I knew this would be my chance to impress, so I
deliberately made a critical comment about some of the work he was showing
us, which prompted the exact response I was hoping for. He asked to see
my work as I’d been so outspoken. He was impressed enough to invite me to
exhibit my work in his gallery, from where he sold many of my drawings,
prints and paintings. He also got me several commissions – the first of which
was for Cinzano.”
Describing his style as “slick, clean and hyper realistic”, Vincent’s images are
created to look better than the real thing. “Often new clients assume they’re
created using a 3D program.” This isn’t the case. Vincent takes his own photos in
his studio using a Nikon D2X and then uses Photoshop to cut and paste parts of
each picture together, with a little help from his trusty Wacom tablet to build the
perfect product shot.
Keep an eye open for a new Cadbury’s chocolate piece created by Vincent, out
later this year: “It’s one of the best digital pieces I’ve done.”
/ www.id2-studio.com

NESCAFE BEAN: “A real coffee bean LEMON FIZZ: This image

was used for
was shot with a macro lens, then using the a Sainsbury’s fruit drink pac
kaging. “The
Photoshop channels and selective bubbles were shot from an
Alka Seltzer in a
colouring I changed the image to appear water tank, while the fruit
was shot
gold while still retaining the texture of the separately. Extra bubbles
were sampled,
bean. Logos were drawn and effects drawn and all retouched
together on top
added. These were all then retouched of the lemon”
together and flattened”

BRAND FLAG: “Using a Wacom

tablet gives me the control and feel of a
real airbrush or pencil so I can paint
over the cracks and add or move
highlights to make the bar look like the
client imagines it or wishes it to be”

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 CYBER FRUBE: “A rough sketch
was drawn in Photoshop on a
‘Multiply’ layer, then using Bezier
Curves I masked out coloured areas
where the body was painted. Frubes
brand type was again Bezier curved,
airbrushed, then a chrome effect was
added using filters”
10.06
CELEBRATIONS: For this image the sweets were shot
with Vincent’s Nikon D2X and then tweaked in Photoshop.
Additional elements were added using Adobe Illustrator

PIM’S: A whole Pim’s biscuit was shot and then several

broken open. The best images were grafted to the whole
biscuit and retouched

KENCO COFFEE: “This was originally an airbrush illustration for

an A0 size advert printed on supermarket floor tiles. The type was
cleaned up using Paths, Bezier Curves and the Airbrush tool”

WALL’S CORNISH: The sections

of the brolly were duplicated
onto individual layers using
Paths and the colours were
altered using the Channel Mixer

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 Inter
view
ROUGH & READY
Riding high on the success of
designing Nike’s mighty Brand
Jordan campaign, Tim Marrs
takes time out of his schedule to
talk about Photoshop, design
and why he still sees himself as a
one-trick pony
24
Advanced Photoshop
024-029_APM22.indd 24
BRAND IT: Tim describes
his style as “handmade-
textured-screen-print-looking- GOT MOJO: A piece created for
computerised stuff.” This MOJO magazine, this is one of Tim’s
particular vision was created most recognisable and high-profile
as a double spread in Brand works. So much so, in fact, that it
Jordan magazine brought him to the attention of
other commissioning US-based hip
hop magazines
I
n an increasingly digitalised age, there can be little doubt that
the boundaries between traditionally compartmentalised
genres of the arts are being broken down.
In a world where photography is regularly mixed with vector art,
new media mixed with natural, pinning an imageer to a particular
genre is a tricky task, and one that makes digital artist Tim Marrs
utter the intriguing response: “handmade-textured-screen-print-
looking-computerised stuff” when pressed on his exact method of
artistic impression.
Indeed, Tim is resolutely part of the new wave of digital artists who
work from photos, but whose creations show an eclectic mix of diverse
media influences.
Working exclusively in Photoshop, Marrs has built up a mighty back
catalogue of household name commissions and illustration credits in
literary, drink, music and sporting fields to name but a few. Today he
whiles away the hours fulfilling briefs for the likes of Nike, Lucozade
24/8/06 10:46:05
 Tim Marrs

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 Inter
view
and MOJO magazine, continually pushing his
abilities and multimedia potential to the next
level. “I’ve been inspired by a lot of pop art,” he
explains. “My girlfriend used to work in a vintage
film poster store so I’d get inspired by the colours
and the composition – so it’s possible my work
has a retro feel too.” But while his work is digital
through and through, there can be little doubt
that such retro influences are truly where Tim’s
heart lies: “I don’t want my work to look as though
it’s computer-made, so it’s important that I throw
some drawing in there, because not everyone
can draw.”
Splitting his allegiance between old and new
influences in this way is no easy task, but gives
the artist’s work a distinct and unique appeal that
is lacking in an industry packed to the hilt with
identikit illustrators all following the same design
trends. Using Adobe’s app, Tim is careful to pull
his work out of the very same norms that so often
entrench his rivals. “Compositionally, we all fall
into the trap of using colours in a similar way, or
putting things together in a similar style,” he
remarks. “You have to always keep a lookout for
different ways of working.”
Building of a brand
It was this attitude that won him one of his most
high-profile commissions to date, working on
Nike’s Brand Jordan campaign. “I first got
26
Advanced Photoshop
024-029_APM22.indd 26
approached to do three double-page spreads for
the Jordan magazine Brand Jordan through my
agent in America, which led on to the event for
the 20th basketball boot. My designs were blown
up and backlit on 20-foot walls, which was very
exciting to see. It was very brave of them to use
me, as my style is very rough and ready, and their
style is very slick.”
Tim’s approach to this promotional project
exemplifies his wider method of working, which
tends to start with raw photographic materials
provided by his clients. In the case of Nike,
though, the abundance of promotional images at
his disposal nearly toppled the project before it
had begun. “They had sent so much, I was aware
that if I wasn’t careful this stuff would drown out
my own creativity,” Tim remembers. “I wanted to
make everything look quite rough and ready and
hand-made looking. I used Photoshop to
complete my hand-drawn work, which broke up
parts that had too much photographic reference.”
Beginning with an old-fashioned sketchbook,
Tim created his designs by working out the
positioning of the various photographic
elements, trying to imagine them as ten-foot
prints. “I tried to exploit that by writing little
things that people might stumble across,” he
explains. “If I did it again I might push that further.
Much of it is very basic sketches, but I do a lot of it
in my head, which comes with experience. You
have an idea and you see it in your head and you
almost skip the sketchbook stage, which isn’t
always a good idea – it’s something you certainly
don’t tell the students. You have a vision and you
build on it. Quite often the theme is set and you
go with it in a very organic way.”
Aside from Tim’s preliminary worries about the
abundance of photographic imagery, Nike turned
out to be a very compliant client, allowing the
artist pretty much a free rein over the projects
Tim completed for the company. “There were
never many changes, which was something I was
quite blessed with. I would send a high-resolution
rough and they tended to want something
moving or something written, but that was
usually it. It all went pretty well.”
Climbing the ladder
Despite such high-profile experiences, Tim still
describes his profile as “kicking under, as opposed
to being totally known.” His career is continually
blossoming though, thanks in part to a firm
grounding and educational background. After
completing an art foundation course, he was
faced with the choice of opting for an Illustration
or Graphic Design degree. Plumping for
Illustration, he found himself at Hull University,
which prepared him for the trials of working as a
jobbing creative in a somewhat unusual way. “The
course was a bit dire,” he remembers. “We were
24/8/06 10:46:09
 Tim Marrs
METHOD MAN: Tim creates his
works exclusively in Photoshop. He
has a fine-honed technique that
involves building hundreds of layers
in Photoshop, and then altering the
Opacity before bringing in scanned
textured elements to the composition

SPOT THE LITTLE DETAILS: This is one of

Tim’s favourite magazine illustrations, and features
the image of Bruce Springsteen walking along a
sidewalk in Reno, America

kind of left to our own devices and then spat out

into the big wide world feeling a little bit numb. I
had two years out working for local companies up
in Nottingham, and then eventually moved down
to London where I did a Masters at St Martin’s.” This
final course saved the artist from oblivion, gave
him confidence and introduced him to exciting
new ways of working.
Like many artists, Tim found that the best way
to launch himself into the design world was to
become his own most vocal PR. “I started by
sending out personalised samples of my work,
and got various music mags interested, giving me
jobs that were either unpaid or not paid very well.
From that you have a couple of images people
know you for, and you start getting commissions.”
Interest in Tim’s work soon whipped up into a
frenzy, and he was commissioned to work on a
Lucozade ad campaign just from what the
company had seen in Tim’s sketchbooks. “In the THE COURSE WAS DIRE
end, they only used my hand-rendered type,
which was absolutely fine as they were paying me – WE WERE LEFT TO OUR OWN
lots of money, and I didn’t have the experience to
be able to respond to their bastardised DEVICES AND SPAT OUT
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 Inter
view

versions of my work,” he says. “Some time after
that, I got onto the Central Illustration Agency’s
books, and they certainly helped me get work.
The American agency helped me get some
exciting jobs that side of the pond.”
Despite his successes and creative prowess, Tim
is surprisingly blasé about his work being in the
public eye, admitting that he hardly notices the
fruits of his own handiwork. Thinking hard, he
does manage to point to a couple of further
clients who he feels have spurred him to create his
most memorable works. “I did the hand-rendered
type for the book cover of The Curious Incident of
the Dog in the Night-Time,” he remembers. “It was
quite nice to be commissioned to just do the type,
because it’s another string to your bow.”
This, and a cover for MOJO magazine featuring
Missy Elliott, have brought his work to the fore and
led to new-found avenues of working, as well as
opening up his creative potential to all-new
clients. “My Missy Elliott work seems to crop up a
lot. I did that for MOJO magazine, which got me a
lot of jobs on other American hip hop magazines,
but I can’t stand that music. Sometimes I think it’s
good to work on something that you’re not
necessarily passionate about, because you can
respond to it in a more honest way.”
ABOVE: The with after effects – a music video would be pretty
unconventional style cool. It would be in the style of the iPod adverts.
of Tim’s work has
ensured he has been Just the idea of mixing live footage with my stuff
able to work on a would be pretty exciting.”
diverse range of In this respect, Tim has remained intensely loyal
projects both in the UK
and in the United to Photoshop, never straying into video editing or
States. His renowned even vector art software packages. This latter
agency, the Central
Illustration Agency
point is quite often a surprise to viewers of his
ensures he benefits work, not least because of the heavily graphic
from exposure both impression it portrays. This appeal is generated by
sides of the pond
creative use of layers within Tim’s chosen software.
As the artist explains: “It’s quite literally a process of
building hundreds of layers in Photoshop, no
filters, no dodgy-ness. I just play with the Opacity
and bring in textured elements, pretty much like
you would in a screen print. I don’t get involved
with funny vectors. I’ve never really had time to
extend my knowledge.” Throw in a digital camera,
a scanner, a sketchbook and the odd bit of screen
printing, and Tim’s succinct but highly effective
hard and software setup is complete.
Tim’s future aspirations by and large concern
artistic creativity. Far from extending his digital
prowess, he looks forward to trying more
traditional methods of creation. “I’d love to get
back into screen printing. I’ve only ever done basic
screen prints, but I think it would be really lovely
to make proper physical artwork.”
His rough-and-ready digital style seems set to
remain his trademark for much longer, not least
because he’s currently getting to grips with a new
commission designing a series of book covers for
Elmore Leonard. This he describes as a “dream”
commission. Having the opportunity to create a
whole series has made this success story all the
sweeter. Far from looking forward to projects in
the pipeline, his final thoughts are of the past, and
what lessons his own history can teach to
up-and-coming creatives.
“When I finished my MA, my work was so
rough, but that didn’t deter me from going out
and speaking to potential clients,” he reflects. The
response was good, and they offered Tim advice
about keeping his integrity and being flexible with
clients’ ideas – whose money it is. “It’s a question of
keeping the faith. You have to be realistic; you’re
not going to make money straight away,” he says.
“Sharing a studio helps the whole work ethic, as
you have like-minded people motivating you. You
have the option then of working as a collective
and promoting yourself as a group. Just keep
believing – keep the faith!” 5

Moving into the future

There can be little doubt that Tim’s latest and
greatest triumphs mean the artist is currently
riding high in the design world, frequently having
the pick of multiple commissions at any one time.
It’s not all plain sailing however, as the artist
admits that he is yet to stumble across his dream
commission, an opportunity that would mark a
clear departure from his traditional method of
working. “I would love to get my art moving,” he
muses. “The way it’s made shouts to be moved,
because of the layers and the different sort of
compositions with line-drawn stuff and textures.”
Despite his multimedia ambitions, the self-
confessed ‘one-trick pony’ is quick to acknowledge
that his dream job would require collaboration. “I’d
have to work alongside someone who was good

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 Tim Marrs
HOT WHEELS: “I consider
myself a hyper-realist artist. I
love to paint. I use the word
paint for lack of a better word.
My medium is actually light. I
have a passion for making
things happen on the screen.
Finding a new way of doing
something and finding a new
room in my imagination is
what I love about the work.”
From his website www.
bertmonroy.com

JUST THE IDEA OF MIXING LIVE LARGER THAN LIFE: Tim’s work was

FOOTAGE WITH MY STUFF WOULD

blown up and hung as ten-foot-wide wall
hangings at the launch of Brand Jordan’s ‘Air
XX’ high performance balling show in

BE PRETTY EXCITING Colorado and California. When the company

finished with the prints, it allowed Tim to
keep them as a larger-than-life record of
his achievements

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 MASTERCLASS

Pre-press
Photoshop
Stop the press. Discover
the techniques you need
to achieve print perfection
BY ROSS ANDREWS

D
These ink splats esign for the screen and you’ll probably
look great in CMYK. think in terms of RGB, index and Hex colour.
They looked even Design for print however, and you’ll never
better on the cover really feel comfortable stepping outside the bounds
of last issue printed of CMY and K.
over a metallic spot
Unless that is, your project demands a little bit more
colour base
than cyan, magenta, yellow and black can deliver, in
which case it’s time to check out your spot colour
options. Either way you’ll need to learn how to get the
most out of your four, five or even six colours, and that’s
where our simple pre-press techniques come into play.
First up is working with the right colour settings.
Preferencing Photoshop up to play nicely with your
printer ensures you get consistent results you can rely
on. With the settings in place, and an understanding of
the relationship between Photoshop’s colour channels
and the ink on the press, you can make sure you colour
correct your images to get the maximum punch.
In this tutorial you’ll also find out how to work with
Spot channels in Photoshop to print colours and create
effects that would be impossible any other way; you’ll
even learn the techniques we used to create last issue’s
stunning and shiny metallic cover…
OUR EXPERT Ross Andrews
With over eleven years of industry experience, Ross
remembers a Photoshop before layers, reminisces
about Chops and still holds a reverence for
Kai Krauss. Mmm... Fractals.

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 Prepare a four+ colour image for print
1 Check your colour settings
Before doing anything to your image it’s worth
checking out your colour settings, so open them up
from the Edit menu. If you work a great deal with a
particular printer they may recommend (or insist on) a
specific or bespoke setting – otherwise pick Europe
Prepress 2 for most printing within the UK. If you’re an
international reader of the mag, choose the setting that
best suits your situation.
3 What’s the K for?
Four and four+ colour printing
relies on mixing the colours cyan,
magenta, yellow and black to create
any colour in its gamut, so if your
image is RGB you’ll want to convert it
to CMYK (from the Image>Mode
menu) straight away rather than rely
on on-the-fly conversion when
printing. Oh, and for the record, K
stands for Key, as the other colour
plates used to be keyed up to it.
4
All about colour channels
Open up the Channels palette and click on each
channel. You’ll notice that, when viewed individually,
each one is grey. Colour channels represent ink strength
in the same way that Alpha channels do transparency;
so a black area in the Cyan channel represents 100%
cyan, while a white area lets the paper show through.
030-035AP22_Photoshop&PrintRA.in31 31
“WHEN INK HITS
2 Join the dots
PAPER, IT
SPREADS...THIS
When ink hits paper, it spreads. In printing this
means that colours can appear darker than intended,
MEANS THAT
because the dots the image is composed of bled. This is
known as Dot Gain, and Photoshop will do what it can
COLOURS CAN
to compensate for it. For most papers and presses the
default setting of 15% is fine, but if you know you’re
going to be printing on especially absorbent paper, it
may be worth selecting a higher figure. APPEAR DARKER
THAN INTENDED”
Issue 21
A MetalFX
finish
The decision to try
a radical new,
metallic finish on
last issue’s cover
was inspired by
the fantastic skin
tones of the
image, combined
with the great
green and blue
tones of the ink
splats. The
printing itself is
made possible by MetalFX technology
(www.metalFX.com), which allows you to make
any CMYK tone metallic by combining the inks
with a metallic base colour. This mean just one
spot colour, making the process cheaper, and
easier than attempting to print multiple
metallic spot colours.
MetalFX Technical Director, Richard Ainge,
comments on the success of the piece: “The
Advanced Photoshop cover is a visually striking
example of MetalFX. The designer has fully
understood the best ways to integrate MetalFX
into artwork, using it sparingly and against a
5 Brighten things up a little
If you’re not happy seeing things in black and
white, open up Photoshop’s preferences, select Display
white background to create ultimate impact.
The metallic colours are bright and lustrous,
giving the magazine an inherent feel of
quality and value. Utilising MetalFX has
and Cursors, and click the first check box next to Color created a stunningly unusual front cover,
Channels in Color. It does what it says on the tin and can making the magazine stand out on the shelf
be a vital aid in working for print – especially when above the competition.”
adding spot colours, as we’ll do in a minute.
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24/8/06 10:11:35
 MASTERCLASS
6 Seek correction
Unless you received your
source images from a bureau or
7 Adding spot colour elements
Here’s our top tip for this tutorial. When adding
spot colour elements, don’t worry about creating a Spot
a well trained photographer, channel until much later. Designing in a black-and-white
the chances are they’ll need channel isn’t much fun or very creative, and you’ll
colour correction. It’s far too probably find it extremely frustrating (no layers!). Instead,
vast a skill to go into in this work on new layers on the CMYK image to add and
tutorial, and tool preference will create your spot colour elements. When you’re done,
always be divided between merge them together and lock the layer’s transparency.
Levels and Curves, but whatever
your weapon of choice, adjust
the colours to give your image
some punch.

8 It’s a knockout
Unless you’re going for a specific effect you want
to knock a hole through the CMYK channels so the spot
colour ink can print directly on the paper. With the
layer’s transparency locked, fill the layer with white. This
will create your hole (the drop shadow is a Layer effect,
which is fine because we want it to be CMYK). Ctrl/Cmd-
click the layer thumbnail to select your elements.
9 New Spot Channel
Now that the elements you want to print in a fifth
colour are in place, you can create your Spot channel.
Do this by choosing New Spot Channel from the fly-out
menu on the Channels palette.
10 Spot the difference
As you’d expect, the New Spot Channel
dialog will pop up, with a default spot colour applied. As
your elements were selected when you created the
channel, they’ll be automatically filled with the default
colour. To change the ink, click the Color square.

11 Pick a colour
The Spot Color
Picker window will open up;
choose your ink set from the
top menu. In most cases this
will be one of the Pantone

“DESIGNING IN A libraries – which one depends

on your ink, paper and finish.

BLACK-AND-WHITE Once you’ve selected your

library it’s time to select a

CHANNEL ISN’T colour. You can do it by sight,

but the best way is still to

MUCH FUN OR look at an old-fashioned

printed swatch book,

VERY CREATIVE” although they can be

expensive to get hold of.

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 12 It’s all in the name
Click OK to go back to the New Spot Channel 13 Finishing spot
If all you’re looking to do is create a flat, “HERE’S THE
dialog. The name should be automatically set (but check
it – that’s very important!) and your elements will
spot-coloured element, then you’re pretty much done.
You should have a channel containing the spot PROCESS WE
change colour to reflect your choice. You can disregard
the Solidity setting unless you’re working on a varnish or
elements, and a hole through your CMYK image to the
paper below. You can check the registration (lining-up) WENT THROUGH
semi-opaque finish. by toggling the visibility of the Spot Color channel.
TO CREATE
ISSUE 21’S
WONDERFULLY
SHINY METALLIC
COVER”

14 Create the cover

Working with spot colours doesn’t always
have to be that straightforward. Here’s the process we
went through to create issue 21’s wonderfully shiny
metallic cover. As the metallic ink is mixed with the
CMYK inks across the whole area, it requires a pretty
complicated and bespoke Spot Color channel. Luckily,
the company (MetalFX, www.metal-fx.com) provides a
Photoshop action to take a lot of the hard work out of
the process for you. We’ve turned off the Channels in
Color option so we can work more accurately with the
ink (it’s a little pale to see clearly otherwise).

15 Don’t be negative
Here’s the result of the action. Rather than being a simple negative version of the image, the action applies
the ink differently depending on the tones – notice how the whites remain white, otherwise the grey colour of the
metallic base ink would show through.

16 Spot the channels

Turn on the visibility
of both the Spot Color channels
and you get a colour preview of
the ink coverage. This gives a
pretty good idea how the
metallic basecoat will be applied. Options for
It’s good for the most part, but
we only want specific areas to be
reflective, removing the metallic
outputting
effect from the background and Most printers will ask for a composite PDF that
reducing the amount in the skin contains both the CMYK and Spot Color
channels. These are easy to produce from either
tones to give more contrast with
Photoshop or, more frequently, InDesign. For
a subtler effect over the face.
special finishes though, such as the spot
varnish stripes on many Advanced Photoshop
covers, you’ll have to produce a separate PDF.

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 MASTERCLASS
18 Back to CMYK
To remove the ink from the background use
a similar technique to step seven, because working on a
layer over the CMYK image gives much greater control
and puts more tools at your disposal. First use the Pen
tool to cut around the face.

17 On the level
Work on the CMYK
image and you’ll only be able to
colour correct the CMYK channels,
but switch to the Spot channel and
you’ll be able to use either Levels or
Curves to adjust the metallic ink’s
coverage and density. We’ve
lightened the mid tones a little.

“YOUR GOAL IS 19 It’s all white

Turn your path into a selection (inverse it if 20 The right tool for the job
The joy of this technique is that you can use

ONLY TO DELETE you need to), and on a new layer fill that selection with
white to temporarily erase the background.
any tool to work on the selection. The path gives a very
harsh edge, so deselect the white area and use the Blur

THE SPOT INK, tool to soften the transition, especially where depth of
field has dropped certain areas out of focus, against

NOT THE CMYK which the hard edge looks unnatural.

IMAGE ITSELF”

Spot
finishes
Spot channels can mean more than just colour.
Laminations, embossing and varnish effects
can also be defined in a Spot channel. In case of
the stripes that adorn most Advanced
Photoshop covers, a PDF of the Spot channel is
created where black depicts where the varnish
is to be applied, creating the ridged effect.
21 Filter fun
You can also use
filters to help you out – in this
case the Gaussian Blur makes
short work of softening the
edge. At the end of the day,
you can use any tool you’d
normally use, such as the
Smudge tool to tease out
strands of hair to make the
deleted selection look right.
Remember not to flatten the
image, though. Your goal is
only to delete the spot ink,
not the CMYK image itself.

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 22 Copy and paste
When you’re finished, copy the layer that
you’ve been working on and paste it into the Spot Color
channel to knock out the ink. It’s work done – you can
now delete the white layer to bring back the complete
CMYK image.
23 Finishing touches
That’s the background sorted out, but there’s
still too much metallic ink in the skin tones and not
enough in some of the more sparkly areas. Luckily, the
Dodge and Burn tools are perfect for working on the
channel itself to finish things off.
Why a
spot colour?
There are three main reasons to use a spot
colour in a design for print. The first is simply
because you need certain elements, such as a
logo, to be printed in exactly the right colour. No
matter how good your printer, colours
consisting of combinations of cyan, magenta,
yellow and black can be unpredictable, while
Pantone colours can always be matched. The
second reason is that you may want to use a
colour outside the CMYK range, such as a
fluorescent or metallic ink. The final reason is
that it may be a two or three-colour job, and it’s

24
cheaper to use a Pantone red, for example, than
Print and to mix a red out of yellow and magenta.
check
Choose Print With
Preview and choose

“THE DODGE
Separations from the
Color Handling menu to
print each individual
channel on a separate
AND BURN
sheet of paper – perfect
for making sure that TOOLS ARE
everything lines up and
looks right. PERFECT FOR
WORKING ON
THE CHANNEL”
25 Saving graces
To preserve the Spot channel (and all your hard work) it’s vital that
you save your file as a Photoshop file (PSD), Photoshop PDF, TIFF or Photoshop
DCS 2.0 (EPS). If you’re heading into InDesign, you might as well stick with a
PSD – you’ll get far better previews than with a DCS.

26 Into InDesign
Import the image into InDesign and the spot colour (or colours) will
automatically appear in the Swatches palette for you to use elsewhere. Do it the
other way around, and you’ll need to make sure the name given to the Spot channel
in Photoshop exactly matches the name in InDesign. You can check consistency and
usage using InDesign’s Separations Preview palette. 5

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 Feature
Illustration by Jenny Lloyd

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 TURNING JAPANESE

Turning
Japanese
In every far-flung corner of the earth the Japanese design
industry has a predominant influence. We track the history,
trends and effects of this artistic empire

T
he economic success of a country is
predominantly dependent on its exports.
Associations may not be statistically correct,
but being a generation that likes to pigeonhole
facts for simplicity, we tend to make produce and
nations stereotypically synonymous: Brazil has its
coffee, France its wine and Sweden has… well,
Abba and football managers. Japan is traditionally
known as an exporter of machinery and transport
equipment and a country at the forefront of
technological design.
However, as Photoshop enthusiasts there’s a far
more important industry that we should be keeping
our eye on. It’s not one that can be neatly recorded
with histograms and pie charts, but Japanese digital
art has taken the world by storm. Take the time to
browse the Internet or wander down the high street
and pop into your nearest games store, and you’ll see
that it’s everywhere.
Of course, it would be flippant to label every Manga,
Anime or character-based image as Japanese in origin.
The digital art that has sprung from this area has a
distinctive style that can be traced back to Japan, but
this almost certainly would never have arisen without
the influence of the West and more specifically
American culture. Digital Japan has many branches and
vast historical chasms to its history, like a complex
family tree. For its influence on the art around us, the
doors it opens for new and exciting digital creations
and the sheer fact that it’s such a colourful, glorious
tale, this design culture is worth exploring more deeply.

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 Feature

OTAKU
Adobe is now rightly famed for its certification
system, which enables keen Photoshop users to
If you’re selling merchandise to consumers it
will be of little value, but if you’re planning on
Ingain additional
Japanese training
the term and refers
‘Otaku’ professional
to a variety of offering logo or template design services to
credentials. While just about any Photoshop user businesses then being able to flash the Adobe
geek who has only recently become obsessed
is likely to benefit from the additional experience Certified Expert qualification will help you get
with Anime and Manga. In Japan, to be an Otaku
and training it offers, whether it makes financial noticed, instantly gain the confidence of potential
isn’t
sensereally a good
to take thisthing
extra and
stepit’s generally
depends usedon
not only to clients and stand out from the crowd.
ridicule those who have only recently started
how serious you are about making money from an Needless to say, it really comes into its own if
interest
Photoshopin Anime
work,or Manga.
but It’snature
also the regularly used
of that on
work. you’re hoping to teach others your skills. Some
Internet Forums. The word ‘Otaku’ is derived
from an honorific Japanese term for another’s
house or family.

The Japanese style that and bulky sumo wrestlers. Expressions were often

BACKTRACKING we’re now familiar with has

a colourful background and
it’s hard to pinpoint its exact origins. Even the most
Westernised of Japanese-influenced art has strong
traditional roots, although it might not be obvious at
first glance. Traditional Manga art has existed for
around 50 years and the origins of this artform can be
traced back to the Nineteenth century.
Ukiyo-e (translated as ‘pictures of the
floating world’) was a genre of Japanese woodblock
prints and paintings often featuring motifs of
landscapes and daily life scenes involving men,
women and animals. It was really the first form of
commercial art in Japan, as the wood etchings were
affordable to produce and could be mass-marketed.
Many of the Japanese townsfolk weren’t wealthy
enough to afford elaborate paintings, but Ukiyo-e was
accessible to all. The etchings often featured
recognisable characters such as beautiful courtesans
exaggerated to communicate an emotion, and in a
similar way to Manga art, the drawings told a story.
Shortly after World War II America started trading
with Japan, and the States’ popular culture and its
established comic book industry began to heavily
influence a new style of art. Although Ukiyo-e artists
had mastered the skill of story-telling, restrictions on
the medium of their work meant they weren’t
proficient in line, form and colour, and foreign artists
were shipped over to teach them these techniques.
Tezuka Osamu was a big influence on the style of
Manga as we know it today. After seeing a children’s
war propaganda animation called Momotarou and
being entranced by the ‘Fantasia’-esque way in
which the film tackled adult concepts, Tezuka
introduced a film-like story-telling technique to his
comic art. In a similar way to Ukiyo-e, Tezuka’s Manga
art was like snippets of film cels rather than perfect,
realistic tableaux. In fact, the term ‘Manga’ has been
translated to mean ‘whimsical pictures’ and
‘involuntary sketches’.

Manga art and

KUNISADA: An example of Ukiyo-e – Kunisada’s
‘Fifty-three post stations of Tokaido’
character design
In contrast to Ukiyo-e, Manga art introduced the use of
strong bold lines and heavily applied block colour
(although the majority of Manga is still only printed in
monochrome to save on mass reproduction costs,
front covers and advertising are in full colour).
During its lifetime, Manga has developed a number
of symbolic conventions to suggest a scenario or
emotion quickly without having to resort to heavily
realistic imagery. For example, sweat drops on the
forehead indicate bewilderment or nervousness, while
a large sweat drop on the side of the face implies
embarrassment or exasperation. Eye shapes and sizes
are particularly important in Manga design, with large
eyes symbolising beauty and purity, while narrow eyes
represent coldness or evil. Some of these symbols have
been adopted in other branches of comic illustration
and are also the standard for Anime film.
The Western world has embraced the style of
Manga, but it’s by no means a way of life as it is in
Japan. Take a visit to this country and you’ll see it
everywhere. Designated Manga cafes or ‘Manga

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HELLO KITTY: Sanrio’s ambassador character is traditionally
aimed at young girls. However, the appeal of ‘Kawaii’ to a broader
market has brought about the creation of some unsavoury gadgets
Kissaten’ are set up to allow people to drink coffee and
read Manga at the same time. The style has been
adopted for even the most unusual of circumstances
such as ‘wanted’ posters for criminals. Manga is used to
illustrate a huge variety of subjects and themes, from
science fiction, action and fantasy to comedy and
even politics. Although there’s a stereotype bound to
Manga that depicts excessive sex and violence, this
covers only a small portion of the Manga industry.
The design concepts of Manga have had a big
influence on Western art. Illustrators have gone crazy
about accentuated facial expressions, bold and brash
colours and strong lines. But it’s not so much the
simplicity of its aesthetics that makes it popular with
the masses – the concept of character-based art is the
real big winner here. Big business merchandise
products like ‘Hello Kitty’ started off the trend for using
caricature animals as the basis for the design. The
THE CONCEPT
OF CHARACTER-
BASED ART IS
THE REAL BIG
WINNER HERE
036-041_APM22_japan.indd 39
TURNING JAPANESE
NINJA CUPIDO:
“Tokidoki means
‘sometimes’ in Japan. I
chose I a Japanese word
because I love Japan.”
development of this brand, copyrighted in 1976 by
Sanrio designer Ikuko Shimizu, wasn’t strictly a
groundbreaker in terms of its looks. Many have
commented on the similarity in approach to the
character designs of Netherlands-based author and
illustrator Dick Bruna, famed for characters Miffy and
Snuffy created back in the Fifties.
The style of simplistic line drawing may not have
been totally original but the marketing approach
certainly was. Although originally created for young
Japanese girls, the commercial prospects of Hello
Kitty grew from strength to strength and have since
been embraced by an abundance of nationalities as TOKIDOKI: Carmen Electra and Fergie are just two of
well as ages. It’s a perfect example of how illustrative the big fashion names who have fallen for Tokidoki’s
art can be made into a thriving merchandise industry Japanese style of illustration
if the right tactic is adopted. Thirty years on, the
Sanrio creation is still a winner worldwide. Not only
can you adorn your wall with a Hello Kitty calendar,
you can check the time with your Hello Kitty watch,
give your toasted bread a Hello Kitty burn mark with
a novelty toaster, or even travel on a Hello Kitty
decorated jumbo jet. This is all very innocent and
sweet, but the lines for the brand’s target audience
were drastically broadened when novelty adult items
such as the Hello Kitty vibrator came on the market.
It’s astonishing to see how such a simple design
concept hit off to such a scale, yet some artists have
acknowledged the trend of ‘copycat’ illustrators. “My
only rule is not to purposely set out to create
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Advanced Photoshop
23/8/06 18:01:05
 Feature

WHEN CARMEN ELECTRA AND

FERGIE ARE SPORTING YOUR DESIGNS,
YOU KNOW THIS ISN’T A FAD
Japanese-style art,” says David Horvath, co-creator glamorous types such as Carmen Electra and the
of Uglydolls. “We make what comes out naturally. To Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie are sporting your design, you
bust out Adobe Illustrator, throw some rainbows, know this isn’t a fickle fad.
drips and Hello Kitty-proportioned characters brings
about a certain doom deep in your soul.” Why Japan?
We’ve taken a look at how Japan has pioneered
Influenced art contemporary design trends and explored the
If you can divert your mind from the unoriginal vibrant, complex path of its history, but we haven’t
creations that disturb David Horvath so, there are a yet tackled the question ‘why is Japan the initiator of
few unique artists who have been heavily influenced such a successful style?’ Popular culture is a big part
by the Japanese digital style but have put their own of day-to-day life in Japan, with magazines,
distinctive mark on their work. ‘Tokidoki’, fronted by television and film having a huge impact on
Italian artist Simone Legno, is a big name in individual lives. Take a walk through Tokyo and your
illustration. An Italian wouldn’t be the obvious senses are completely obliterated with soundbites
choice for someone who leads the way in and images fighting for your attention.
contemporary Japanese-influenced design, but An image that would be seen as cute or childish in
Simone is proud to acknowledge his influences. Europe or America doesn’t have the same stigma
“Tokidoki means ‘sometimes’ in Japanese. I chose a attached to it in Japan. A cute style has been proven
Japanese word because I love Japan.” to sell products and appeal to the right audience,
Simone started out by building an online personal and even the most straightlaced of companies such
website in order to showcase his work. In early 2003 as major national banks have adopted characters like
he received an email from the co-founder of Hard ‘Snoopy’ for their promotions.
Candy Cosmetics who had seen his website. “They
wanted to meet with me in Los Angeles immediately
and sent me a plane ticket. Hours after I landed in
LA, they made me an amazing offer – move from
Rome to Los Angeles and build Tokidoki into a
MEGA MAN:
Capcom’s Mega brand to share with the world.”
Man series is a Tokidoki’s success isn’t exclusively down to
perfect example of its appealing colourful images and carefully
how the Manga crafted characters. Just as Sanrio became
style transfers well
successful with its Hello Kitty merchandise
into game art
empire, Tokidoki has targeted its designs
towards the fashion market. New projects
such as LeSportsac were launched this year,
and the range was embraced by the crème
de la crème of the US fashion industry. When

MEGA MERCHANDISE: Capcom has jumped on the

bandwagon when it comes to marketing. To tie up
with the game, you can kit yourself out with a Mega
Man watch, T-shirt or action figure

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 TURNING JAPANESE
‘Kawaii’, the Japanese term for ‘cute’, is bandied
around to describe many things including animals or
people. Kawaii imagery sells itself perfectly to many
forms of entertainment from animation to game art.
Because of the clean-cut style of the character-based
imagery which utilises bold lines, strong colours and
very basic styles, patterns and shadings, it lends itself
well to all forms of digital art. The ease with which
you can communicate a personality with a simple
raised eyebrow or wide-eyed glazed look means that
character-based art adapts just as well to the small
screen as it does to large-scale banner art and
mass-produced merchandising.
The console industry is getting bigger and more
powerful, and software manufacturers are battling it
out to see who can draw the crowds with games that
have the most impressive-looking graphics. Utilising
a Manga/Anime style, artists can go to town with
bright palettes and patterns. The simplicity of design
also means it’s perfect for Flash-based animation,
because expressions and actions can be easily
communicated with basic actions.
Generally, Japanese designers are more willing to
try out fresh, radical ideas. In comparison to the
United States, Japan is a small, concentrated country.
For a large multicultural nation like the States,
graphic design and advertising have to be carefully
pieced together to appeal to all cultures and ethnic Character style: Uglydolls
groups. Because of the lack of immigration in Japan,
Sun-Min Kim and David Horvath were always creating new characters and working on toy ideas, but
these rules don’t have to be followed. The huge gap
their most famous creation, ‘Uglydolls’, came about by accident. “Sun-Min had to move back to Korea
in communication between Japan and the Western
in 2001 so I sent her many letters with my little WAGE character at the bottom. For Christmas she
world also means that graphics-led designs work just
sewed a handmade plush version of him for me. I showed this to my pal Eric Nakamura, who owns the
as well across both cultures. Who cares if some of the
Giant Robot store and magazine, and he wanted to sell them in his shop. We made a few more and
script is unreadable? If the designs are so successful
every time I would drop them off at his shop they would sell out within a few hours. This grew and
in communicating an emotion or a situation then
grew until we were in several shops, so we set up a toy company of our own to handle slightly larger
that’s a job done. On the topic of why Hello Kitty
production. We’re still trying to keep up.”
doesn’t have a mouth, Sanrio claims: “Hello Kitty
David grew up on toys his father brought back for him from Japan, mostly metal robots and strange
speaks from the heart. She is Sanrio’s ambassador to
figures. On the subject of why he thinks Japanese character design is so popular, he has a lot to say:
the world who isn’t bound to one language.” 5
“They are popular because they’re honest. Crazy toys and animations exist for passion as much as
they do for profit. In the USA all mainstream projects exist to make money, and toy companies won’t
make something unless they think it’s going to become a mega-million dollar seller. In Japan you find

Competition!
Kaiju monsters that exist simply because their creators have had some insane creative spark and they
need to make it. They end up selling those like crazy.”
Sun-Min and David work with several clients in Japan, but the Uglydolls are still quite hidden over
there – and they plan to keep it that way for a bit. “You can find Uglydolls at the incredible shop ‘Few
We have three copies of the stunning book
Many’ in Tokyo. Last year, there were little plastic Uglydolls
Graphic Japan: from woodblock and zen to
on bottles of Coca Cola at every Sankus convenience
manga and kawaii to give away courtesy of 6 store in Japan. They made two million of these bottle
Rotovision (www.rotovision.com). For a chance
cap toys, and the three-week programme had sold out
to get your hands on a copy, send in your
in four days.”
Japanese-influenced Photoshop creations to
emma.cake@imagine-publishing.co.uk.
Anything goes, but you must ensure
that your images are set to a resolution UGLYDOLLS: “At first you may want to
decorate your flat Uglydolls. But soon after
of 300dpi. Our three favourite artists
that they become your pal. Next thing you
will be showcased in next issue’s Peer know you’re sharing your life with them.
Pressure gallery. Don’t forget to It’s less of a style and more of a pal”
include a description of how you
created your design.

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 MASTERCLASS

Create an
apocalypse
Braving sub-zero temperatures,
Tim Shelbourne dons his
thermals and enters the second
ice-age, thanks to the wonders
of Photoshop CS2. BY TIM SHELBOURNE

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 T
he Day After Tomorrow. Ecologically, it’s the
planet’s worst nightmare. Global warming
accelerating to the extent that the Earth
enters a new ice age.
It’s an almost unimaginable scenario, but, as the
Hollywood film showed us, the results are well within
the grasps of the digital imageer. So here, we’ll visualise
this frozen world in Photoshop, where we’ll transform a
singularly ordinary digital photograph into a vision of
the world in the grip of another ice age.
First, we’ll need to replace the featureless sky in the
original start image. This means manipulating the levels
on one of the individual colour channels to create a
purely black and white image that can be used as an
effective layer mask. After replacing the sky, we can use
simple copies of the original Background Layer, in
conjunction with layer Blending Modes to give the
entire image an arctic-like frozen feel.
For adding more realistic fallen snow, we’ll use one of
Photoshop’s textured brushes. Ideally you’ll want to use
a pressure sensitive graphics tablet for this, as you’ll have
far more control over the opacity of the brush by using a
stylus rather than a clumsy mouse. Where you place the
fallen snow, and how much you add is really up to you,
Although we’ve included a “snow map” on the cover
disc to help you.
ON THE DISC
If you fancy having a go at this tutorial boot up the CD and load up
the starting image and snow map. Alternatively, why not turn one
of your holiday snaps into a snowy scene?
OUR EXPERT Tim Shelbourne
With 20 years experience as an artist and illustrator,
Tim is one of Photoshop’s leading lights. As well as
writing tutorials, Tim’s book Photoshop Photo Effects
Cookbook is a must-read.

Channeling forward
1 Duplicate a channel
Open the start image and then click the tab for
the Channels palette. Here we’re going to make a super
accurate mask for the bridge and landscape. Start by
right-clicking the blue channel and choosing Duplicate
Channel. On the duplicated channel, go to Image>
Adjustments>Levels. Drag the Black slider to the right,
achieving an Input Value of 132. Set the White Point
slider to 208, and the mid point slider to 0.64. Then click
OK to apply.
2 Paint with black
Ensure that your Foreground colour is Black and
choose the Brush Tool. Select a hard round brush from
the Brush Picker. Now paint over any parts of the
landscape which are not black to create a solid silhouette
of the bridge and the land. When you’ve painted out all
of the grey areas, go to Select>All, followed by
Edit>Copy. Now click on the RGB channel at the top of
the channels stack and return to the Layers palette.

3 Add a layer mask

Add a layer mask to this layer via
Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Return to
the Channels palette and click the
visibility eye next to the Background
Copy Mask channel. Go to Edit>Paste.
Now invert this mask via Image>
Adjustments>Invert. Click again on the
visibility eye for this channel to hide it.
Now click the RGB channel again and
return to the Layers palette.

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 MASTERCLASS
6 Colourise
Click on the lower duplicate layer and go to
Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. Check the
Colourise box. Drag the Hue slider to the right to a
value of 223 to create a blue/cyan tint. Use a
Saturation value of 32. Click OK to apply. Leave the
Blending Mode for this layer set to Normal.
Get
Editing!
In this exercise, we use the
Edit>Transform>Distort command to create the
shadows being cast from the two figure we’re
adding to the image. After you’ve chosen this
command, you’ll see that the elements on the
target layer are enclosed by a transformation
Bounding Box. There are “Handles” placed
around this box, and it’s by dragging on these
handles that we can distort the elements on the
layer. You can drag each of these handles
individually to stretch or skew the image
elements within the Bounding Box. You can
move the image elements by simply clicking
and dragging within the Bounding Box. Hit
Return to apply the transformation.
44
Advanced Photoshop
042-047_APM22.indd 44
4 Paste the sky
Now click on the original
Background Layer. Find and
open a suitable sky image and
go to Select>All, Edit>Copy.
Now close this image, returning
to the main composition. Go to
Edit>Paste to paste the sky.
Now go to Edit>Transform>
Scale. Drag on the handles
around the transform Bounding
Box to increase the size of the
sky to fill the existing sky area.
Click the tick in the Options Bar
to commit the transformation.
8 Move and size
Choose the Move Tool and drag the ship
over to the right of the image. Now go to
Edit>Transform>Scale. Hold down the Shift key on
the keyboard, then grab the top left corner handle
and drag it out and up to increase the size of the
ship just a little. Release the Shift key and hit Return
to commit.
5 Duplicate and desaturate
Click on the Background Copy layer and duplicate
it via Layer>Duplicate Layer. Now click the upper
duplicate layer and Desaturate it via Image>
Adjustments>Desaturate. Set the Blending Mode for this
layer to Linear Dodge in the Layers palette.
7 Paste and distort
To exactly replicate this
image you’ll also need and
image of a ship. Open this
image and make a selection
around the front half of the ship
with the Rectangular Marquee
Tool. Return to the main image,
click on the top layer and go to
Edit>Paste. Go to Edit>
Transform>Perspective. Drag
the top left hand corner handle
up a little to increase the
perspective. Then hit the Enter
key to commit.
9 Mask around the ship
Add a layer mask to this layer via Layer>Layer
Mask>Reveal All. Click on the layer mask, choose the
Brush Tool and paint around the ship with black to
hide the surroundings. Take your time, using a small
hard brush to isolate the ship, then right click the
layer mask thumbnail and choose Apply Layer Mask.
24/8/06 09:35:20
 10 Colourise again
To colour the ship, go to Layer>New Adjustment
Layer>Hue/Saturation. Drag the Hue slider to 214 and set
Saturation to 37. Click OK to apply the Adjustment Layer.
Position your pointer on the dividing line between the ship
layer and the adjustment layer in the Layers palette and
hold down the Alt key. You pointer will change into two
overlapping circles, click to group these two layers.
11 Add a photo filter
Add a Photo Filter to unify the colours in the
image. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter.
From the list of filters choose Violet, and reduce the filter
Density to 7%. Click OK to apply the adjustment layer.
12 Chalk brush settings
For the fallen snow we’ll modify a Photoshop
brush. Choose the Brush Tool and click in the Brush Picker.
Hit the small right pointing arrow in the Brush Picker and
choose Reset Brushes. Scroll down the list of brush
thumbnails, locate the Chalk brush and double-click on it.
If you’re using a graphics tablet, click on Other Dynamics
and set the Control for Opacity Jitter to Pen Pressure. In
Shape Dynamics set Minimum Diameter to 50%.

13 Start painting snow

Hold down the Alt key and sample one of the
lightest blues from the image with the Eyedropper. Click on
14 Snow build-up
As you paint, vary the tone of the colour slightly by clicking the foreground swatch and choosing a slightly lighter
tone. We’re going to paint some highlights over this tone, so don’t worry if your snow cover still looks a bit flat. Continue to
the upper Background Copy layer and add a new layer paint over areas of the ground, building up snowfall on the horizontal planes in the image and over the distant hills.
(Ctrl-Shift-N). You’ll need to refer to the snow map on the
cover disk to see where to paint the snow. The important
point is that this brush will give nice, broken edges to your
snow. Begin to paint with the brush at a fairly large size in
front of the ship to make a snow bank.

15 Snow shadows
Remember that here
we’re actually painting the areas
of the snow which are in shadow,
so you need to bear in mind the

“THE CHALK
light direction as you paint. You
can see from the bridge itself
that the light is actually coming
from the top right of the image,
BRUSH DOES A
just outside of the image frame.
As you paint over the rocks in the GREAT JOB OF
bottom left of the image, ensure
that you leave a few dark areas of RECREATING THE
rock showing through the snow.
EFFECT OF
FALLEN SNOW”
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 MASTERCLASS
16 Breaking up
Paint some snow
along the tops of the buildings,
17 Adjust the highlights
Still using the Brush Tool, hold down the Alt
key to activate the Eyedropper Tool and click to sample
covering up the hard, straight White from the image. Hit F5 to call up the Brush
lines. Also, with a smaller brush, Dynamics palette, and in Other Dynamics set the
you need to paint over the sides Opacity Jitter control to Pen Pressure. Now we need to
of the parked vehicles, making brush some highlights into the areas you’ve just painted.
sure that you leave some of their
upper outlines showing, as we’ll
be adding some highlights here
at a later point.

18 Feel the pressure

It’s vital here that you blend the highlights in
with the snow you’ve just painted. You can easily do this
by using the pressure sensitivity of your graphics tablet,
using the white at lower and lower opacity to achieve
the blend. Again, bear in mind the light direction when
adding the highlights.
19 Snow detail
This part of the process can be very time-
consuming, as you go around the image adding areas of
fallen snow. The more subtle areas of snow build-up you
add, the more effective the finished piece will be. If you
feel that some areas of tonal changes in the snow are a
little to harsh, soften them with the Blur Tool.
20 Get effective
You need to make sure that you add plenty
of small areas of snow to the bridge itself, sampling
various tones of blue/white from areas of the image by
holding down the Alt key and then clicking on them.
Also you should add snow to the ship, with some
especially bright highlights where the sun is hitting
most strongly.

Painting
Icicles 21 Adding
the figures
Choose some wintry people
images from your own photo
Of course, no ice age is complete without the odd stock or use an image library
icicle or two! Fortunately, these icicles are very and choose the Lasso Tool to
simple to paint using a pressure sensitive graphics make a rough selection
tablet. In the Brush Dynamics palette, displayed by around them. Paste into the
hitting F5, you can set the Size Jitter control in the
main image. Go to
Shape Dynamics category to Pen Pressure. Now to
Edit>Transform>Scale and
paint the icicle, start at the top with heavy
pressure, using less and less pressure as you move size the figures by dragging
towards the icicle tip. As you reduce your stylus on one of the corner handles,
pressure the size of the brush will become smaller holding down the Shift key to
and smaller, resulting in a really effective pointed constrain the proportions.
end. Remember to add some white highlights! Hit Return to commit
the transformation.

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 22 Create a shadow
Zoom into the figures and use the Eraser Tool to erase any unwanted areas around them. Duplicate this layer “THE MORE
(Ctrl-J) and go to Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical. Use the move tool to drag the copied figures down to create the shadow. Go
to Edit>Transform>Distort. Use the handles to distort the shadow figures to the correct shape and orientation on the ground. SUBTLE AREAS
OF SNOW BUILD-
UP YOU ADD, THE
MORE EFFECTIVE
THE FINISHED
PIECE WILL BE”

23 Blur the shadows

Hold down the Ctrl key and click the
thumbnail for this layer to generate a selection. Choose
a deep blue/black for the Foreground swatch and go to
Edit>Fill choosing Foreground Colour for Contents. Set
the Blending Mode for this layer to Hard Light. Now
choose the Blur Tool and blur the shadow a little as it
trails away from the figures.

24 Softly does it
Choose the Eraser Tool with a soft round
brush. Set the Opacity to 10% in the Options Bar. Now
25 Icicles
Return to the painted snow layer and choose
the Brush Tool. Refer to the Icicles boxout and paint
click with the eraser over the top parts of the shadows some icicles hanging off the bridge. Continue to add
to fade them a little. lots of small areas of snow to the bridge. When you’re Blurring
Edges
happy with the amount of snow, flatten the image via
Layer>Flatten image. 5

Although the Chalk brush does a great job of

recreating the effect of fallen snow, you may
find that the grain applied by the brush needs
softening here and there to make the shadows
in the snow more convincing. The Blur Tool is
the ideal candidate for this. The tool itself is
nested with the Smudge and Sharpen Tool in
the Toolbar. You control the degree of blurring
via the Strength slider in the Options Bar. It’s
best to set the strength at a fairly low level
(20%-30%) and use the tool repeatedly over
your chosen area until it is blurred sufficiently.

47
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 Feature

Goingohead
headt v s. ro)
eam (P
D r ew B (R eader)
im on Rudd
S

Night
club
Two artists from either side of the pond at
different stages of their careers. How would
they fair in a Photoshop dual?
Every artist will tackle a brief in a
different way and so many factors
determine what the outcome will be.
If you can draw, your creations might be
predominantly illustrative; if you have a
penchant for image manipulation, you
pool together a number of different
resources, mix them in the Photoshop
melting pot and come up with something
completely unique. To be a successful
Photoshop artist you need to be able to
head style, in an attempt to outdo one
another with their Photoshop prowess.
We thought it was time to try this
experiment again, but raise the stakes a
little. We plucked talented forum regular
Simon Rudd, aka Rev Jesse Custer, from the
comforts of his Internet alias and set him
the challenge of creating a nightclub
poster that would bring in the crowds. To
spice things up a wee bit, we secretly set
the same challenge to one of the most

pluck creative spirits from your head at an
astonishing speed. You won’t make any
waves if you churn out copycat designs
and, similarly, you haven’t got much
chance to gain another commission if you
present a final design at snail’s pace.
Here at Advanced Photoshop we’re
always fascinated at how our readers
tackle the same brief. Issue 18 saw design
masters Jeremy Prasatik and Teis Albers
strive to create the best image with only a
one-word brief of ‘goddess’ as a guide.
Since then, forum readers have been
battling it out against each other, head-to-
“TO BE A SUCCESSFUL
talented artists the other side of the pond,
Drew Beam. We knew that each would
tackle the brief with their very different
styles with Simon being the master of PHOTOSHOP ARTIST YOU
manipulation (not in the Machiavellian
sense of course) and Drew having the NEED TO BE ABLE TO
ability to doodle out a wonder that would
make Michelangelo break down and weep. PLUCK CREATIVE SPIRITS
The brief was fairly simple, although a
few elements were asked to be included
on the poster such as the time, place and
FROM YOUR HEAD”
price. With inspiration from the given
theme night name of ‘disco pop’, here’s
what they came up with…

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 Going head to head: Night club

49
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 Feature
Drew Beam
Drew was declared the longest baby to have ever
been born in the state of Minnesota, USA. He
began pitching his design ideas at an early age: “I
OUR EXPERT Drew Beam
Age: 29
Place of birth: Minnesota
Now lives: Brooklyn
Works for: Levis US and Europe, Apple, Time
Warner, Geico
Studied: Classical Baroque Painting in Rome,
Illustration, Glass Casting, Algebra
First commission: Airbrushing onto jeans
Heroes: Belgium, nectarines, the band Foghat
Last commission: A comedy book published by Time Warner
called Jewtopia
Future projects: “I want to create humorous animated shows
for kids and adults. I will also have a travelling theatre show
comprised of chinchillas dressed in Viking regalia re-enacting
battles and they will perform for the poor… I care about
1
Sketch it out
I started out by hand drawing my text. I prefer to
do this wherever possible as I hate searching for the
right fonts and, most importantly, I dig presenting
hand-drawn stuff, as it displays a human element behind
was known as that ‘weird kid in the corner’, but I the work. Once the text was scanned in I adjusted the
was also known as ‘that kid who can draw’. My levels in Photoshop to make it a clean black and white
first commission was to airbrush quazi-graffiti for use in the rest of the design.
slogans like ‘Frresssh’ and ‘Bitchin!’ onto a pair of
jeans. This quickly led to grander and far more
magnificent projects like airbrushing onto jean
jackets. I was 11, it was 1989.“
On this challenge he says: “When thinking
about the idea of ‘disco pop’ and what it meant to
me, I immediately thought of a dear friend of
mine’s song called Everybody Dance. My friend,
Andy Samburg, is a comedian and cast member
for Saturday Night Live and wrote this song two
years ago. It’s so damn funny and embodies all
that is disco and pop to me.”

4
His inspiration from the visual look of the final
people like that!”
His message to Simon: “I’ve got the touch, I’ve got the power. design came from Trapper Keeper folders, Central point
YEAH! I’m the winner popular in the Eighties, Nintendo game covers A new layer was added and, using the Paintbrush, I
It’s in the blood, it’s in the will, it’s in the mighty
Hands of steel.
from the same era and The Beatles’ album cover made connecting lines from all of the outside points of
I’ve got the touch, I’ve got the power, for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. You can the text joining them to a single point on the horizon.
When all Hell’s breaking loose, I’ll be right in see more of Drew’s work by taking a visit to his Rulers were helpful to make sure that the points were
The eye of the storm.”
website at www.drewbeam.com. accurate and consistent.

8 Electric blue
The same steps were applied to the ‘Liquify’ text. I
wanted to experiment with the colour as I didn’t want all
of the text to appear in the same shade of pink. Hue/
Saturation was used to alter these words to blue.
9 Laser lines
Next a green grid was drawn originating from
the same horizon point as the text lines (positioned
below the text that was added in the last step). To
start with this was more of a guide so I knew where to
place my drawn elements and how much to shrink
them into the distance of the horizon. However, I
decided to keep it aesthetically pleasing as I knew it
might ultimately be kept in the final design.

Try it out
“I always sketch out my designs in pencil first.
It’s faster and more comfortable for me. I find it
allows me to be loose, which inevitably leads to
new ideas. Originally I thought the theme would
lend itself well to liquid and I started writing out
all my text in honey and photographed it. I
didn’t end up using this is the end, but maybe
that weird idea will be fitting for a new project.
My advice is to get all your ideas down on paper.
Nothing is too unrelated to explore.”

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 Going head to head: Night club
3 Text layers
I made a copy of my text
layer, as I tend to mess with my art
so much that it can be hard to get
back to the original beauty. I find it
easier to make a copy and turn its
visibility off just in case it needs to
come back into play. Nothing sucks
more than when you get so far
ahead and something becomes
merged, blurred or filtered and the
History command won’t let you go

2
back far enough to fix the problem.
Invert it
I had already decided that I wanted the poster
to have a dark background and the white background
of the text didn’t really fit into this. I fixed this by
inverting the image using the menu command
Image>Adjustments>Invert (Apple/Ctrl+I).

5 Colour shift
I wanted to change the colour of the text and lines
using the Hue/Saturation command. Be sure to write
down all of the specs when doing something like this to
a layer as you never know when you need to add the
same settings to an element somewhere else.
6 A bit of blending
Using the Blending Options on the text layer I
gave the words a neon feel with the Outer Glow filter.
The Blend Mode was adjusted to Screen and the Opacity
was knocked down to 45% to keep the effect subtle.
7 Filling in
I selected all of the open spaces between the lines
and filled them with a gradient using the Gradient tool,
found underneath the Paint Bucket tool. Each fill was
carried out one at a time, adjusting the properties of the
gradient gradually to give it a 3D appearance.

10 Hand-drawn hairpieces
On the left are my hand-drawn heads. I
brought each of them onto the poster pages and
selected the white areas with the Magic Wand and
deleted them. I coloured them directly onto the poster
page. I prefer to colour whilst placing them because I like
to see how things relate to one another.
11 Making stars
Lines in various weights were added, again
connecting to the same horizon point. Some parts of the
line were removed with the eraser to tone down the
opacity. I always keep my Wand, Burn tool, Dodge tool and
Eraser at a low tolerance. With a high opacity soft brush I
added my stars to the ends of the point of each line. This
gives the effect that they’re moving with everything else.

12 Sense of perspective
I drew tiny heads in the back simply with my
Paint Brush and added a stroke using blending options.
Finally, I created a new ‘clean up’ layer. Rather than trace
the layer to which they belong it’s easier to conceal them
with a new layer.

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 Feature
1
Simon
Setting up
I started off by creating an
A4 canvas at 300dpi, setting the

Rudd
background colour to black. Then I
plunged right into the project by
creating a column of smoke. This
was made by drawing a random
shape and Smudging, Dodging
Simon is a regular contributor to the Advanced and Burning it until I was happy
Photoshop forum Peer Pressure section. He first with the outcome. A Wave filter
became interested in image manipulation after was applied by selecting the menu
visiting websites such as www.b3ta.com and command Filter>Distort>Wave.
www.tattyworld.org. At the moment he’s a
self-employed photographic artist and
image-manipulator and is willing to work for
“anyone who will give him money”.
Simon normally likes to work on macabre
images due to his interest with horror and
fantasy. However, we’re testing his Photoshop
skills to the max with this head-to-head

5 6
challenge, as he’s required to produce something
colourful and clean-cut. See more of his work at Cutting out Stroking
www.pompeysworst.co.uk. I used a picture from www.istockphoto.com to The ‘abstract’ layer was copied again and renamed
Simon Rudd give a human element. I cut out the model and placed ‘abstract cutout’. I hid the ‘abstract’ layer and made a new
OUR EXPERT aka Rev Jesse Custer her above the ‘abstract’ layer. Ctrl-click the model layer to layer called ‘stroke’. With the selection from the model
Age: 29 get a selection, then hide by unselecting the visibility. layer in place, I chose Edit>Stroke, set a width of 10 pixels,
Place of birth: Peterborough
chose a white palette and picked the Outside option.
Now lives: Portsmouth
Works for: “Anyone who will give me money”
Studied: Computer studies and software
engineering at the University of Portsmouth
First commission: To manipulate a photo to
give a zombie effect
Heroes: Maggie Taylor – “I think her style is amazing”
Last commission: “I’ve been in talks with a publishing house
who are interested in me writing tutorials for them”
Future projects: “I’d like to get commissions making books,
magazine and CD covers. I would also like to continue writing
Photoshop tutorials”
His message to Drew: “I just want to wish him the best of luck
– he’ll be needing it!”

9 Dance floor
The dance floor and the lights came next. I
altered the perspective of the dance floor so the front
tiles looked bigger and a Gaussian Blur of 25 pixels was
applied. This element was then dragged to the bottom
of the canvas and a layer mask was applied.

“WE KNEW THAT

EACH WOULD
TACKLE THE BRIEF
WITH THEIR VERY
DIFFERENT STYLES”
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 Going head to head: Night club
2 Abstracts
A new group folder was created (Layer>Group)
and labelled ‘abstract’. The smoke was moved into this
group, then it was copied by selecting Layer>New>Layer
Via Copy. The Free Transform command was used to alter
the dimensions. The width and height were set to 95%
and rotated 170 degrees. This was repeated nine times.
3 Chrome
The layers in the group were merged. The ‘abstract’
layer was copied and a Chrome filter was applied. The
blending mode of the new chrome layer was altered to
Overlay and merged with the two ‘abstract’ layers. The
new ‘abstract’ layer was then tweaked with Hue/Saturation.
4 Masking
I masked out the centre of the red ‘abstract’ layer
leaving the ends. A new layer was created and filled with
a foreground to background Linear Gradient (blue
#93aad4 to black #000000). The Opacity of this gradient
layer was reduced to 75%.

7 Clothing the model

Using the Pen tool I drew on a bikini and coloured
it bright pink. I also drew the hands and stroked them to
8 Disco
I added some
elements for the disco scene
give them an outline. Finally, I drew long white strokes including a disco ball and a
with a brush to give the model some hair. chequered floor. I placed the
disco ball near the top of the
picture and positioned it over
the model. The ball then
needed to be masked out to
appear as if it were behind
the model.

10 Lighten up
Some disco lights were added – this is
very easy. First, I created a new layer called ‘lights’ on the
top of the Layers palette. The Polygonal Lasso can be
used to draw three triangles, one either side of the
model and one between her legs. Fill them with white
and deselect them. Now blur them by going to Filter>
Blur>Gaussian Blur, set at 250 pixels.
11 Finishing touches
Next I un-hid the model layer so that I could
see what I was doing and placed a selection around her.
I then applied a 50-pixel Gaussian Blur and changed the
blending mode to Soft Light in the Layers palette.
Highlights were then added to the left-hand outline
and Shadows to the right hand, as shown in the
screenshot below. Finally the saturation of the picture
was raised using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to
finish off the effect.

12 The text
The final step was to add the text. I used
the fonts ‘I want my TTR!’ for the top, setting the colour
to black. For ‘Disco Pop’ I used ‘Disco Inferno’. The graphic
of the DJ came from the font Deejay Supreme and the
rest was completed in Arial Black. Fonts from taken from
www.dafont.com. 5

53
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 Step-by-step Workshops

RECYCLED COLLAGES 7 56
Never chuck anything away, you never know when the odd envelope or
newspaper cutting can come in handy. Paul Bateman shows you how to
recycle your images in order to create a brand new collage masterpiece

PEER PRESSURE 7 72 MANGA ART

Once again Advanced Photoshop readers have come up trumps in this
month’s readers’ gallery. Here’s your chance to browse through our pick of 7 64
Hayden Scott-Baron,
the best. Seek inspiration for new design concepts, swot up on new
professional artist and author
techniques and check out the competition. If you think you’re up to the
of published books Digital
challenge then get your designs to us by e-mailing advancedpshop@
Manga Techniques and
imagine-publishing.co.uk. You never know who’ll be flicking through next
Manga Clip Art takes you
issue and some fantastic prizes could be up for grabs
through the process of
designing your own
Manga-style artwork. From
Insider initial sketch to the fine art
es
iqu

Info
n

of subtle colouring and

ch
Te

shading all the main topics

are covered. Find out how to
give your character a Manga
look by drawing perfect eyes
and neat noses. Using the
sketch on the CD you can
recreate this design or if
you’d rather, draw your own

INSIDER INFO 1
PDF PRESENTATIONS 62 DATA-DRIVEN
INSIDER INFO 2
70
HELPDESK 7 78
Wow prospective clients with a Generate multiple graphics from Sometimes even the pros need some
snazzy but easy to set up Adobe a single template and cut down sound advice. We have the answers
Acrobat document you workload to all your technical angst in this
month’s helpdesk

55
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 Step-by-step
Workshop

COLLAGE COMPOSITION

56
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We take so many digital photos it can be hard to know what to
do with them – so why not recycle? BY PAUL BATEMAN
T
here are many people out there who
never throw anything away because it
may just come in useful one day. This
could apply to images that grab your eye,
whether it’s a picture in a magazine or
something that you’ve photographed.
In this tutorial we’ll be seeing how you can
create new artwork by combining found graphics
and self-made images using your scanner, digital
camera and the power of Photoshop.
You can follow the steps using the source
images provided on the disc, but hopefully you’ll
seize the opportunity to try and incorporate
1 Faces in a crowd
The face is crucial to this image and
so it’s the ideal starting point. We need to
source pictures of a 3/4 view of faces; these can
be from magazines, stock libraries or your own
photographs. We are looking to create a new
fragmented, almost cubist face from several
other images.
4 A little head rotation
Now we copy and paste the image onto
the face we’re creating. Select Scale and hold
down the Shift key to maintain its proportions;
reduce it until it looks roughly okay. Don’t worry
about an exact alignment, but if you can get
the nose to line up with the face beneath it’ll
look better.
056-061_APM22.indd 57
some imagery of your own from your digital
collections. Why not create the face from friends
and family photographs for that personal touch?
In many ways the approach to this illustration
is traditional; collages with found materials have
always been created by cutting and pasting,
but with Photoshop a whole new world opens
up that allows much more control, flexibility
and experimentation – with the option of going
back and starting again if it doesn’t work out.
For this project you are only limited by your
own imagination, so free your mind and, most
importantly, have fun.
2 The art of creation
Once the images are imported into
Photoshop you can start to have fun selecting
areas of the different faces, and cutting and
pasting them together. We want to create angular
shapes, which will reflect the triangular shapes
that make up the structure of the envelopes, so
cut with straight edges not curved.
5 The eyes have it
Now we really need a strong focal point
and this will be a visually strong eye that is shot
from a straight-on face view, looking directly at
the viewer. Cut out the eye in a rectangle, but
place it at an angle. To ensure that it is dominant
make it larger than it would actually be on a
normal face.
es
n iqu
ch
Te
ON THE DISC
You’ll find all the elements you
need to recreate Paul’s fantastic
collage on the CD. Alternatively
why not get all your old images
together and make something
from them – a unique piece of art.
OUR EXPERT Paul Bateman
Paul Bateman has been manipulating and recycling
found images in a career spanning nearly 20 years. His
work has been seen on everything from magazines to
billboards worldwide, so he’s got plenty of experience in
this area. This makes him the best person for this tutorial.
See more of his work at www.paulbateman.co.uk for
inspiration and aspiration.
3 Cut it out
Selections from each of the images are
made with the freeform Lasso tool and using
straight lines, as in this instance. It’s not necessary
to get in close and carefully cut the face out as
creating a blocky look will be much more in
keeping with the rest of the overall image, so
don’t worry about taking your time.
Set yourself a challenge
A good exercise to try is to set
yourself a challenge of sourcing
and creating a collage using a
single word. As an example,
this image was created from the
word ‘fly’. It developed over
many months, adding images as
they were found. Keeping an
image symmetrical can be quite
striking and is always pleasing to
the eye.
57
Advanced Photoshop
24/8/06 10:38:56
 Step-by-step
Workshop
“PHOTOSHOP 6 A little less blusher
The bottom part of the face is looking a 7 From many, the one!
The face is looking good and we

IS A little too dark compared to the rest and, even can now add the ear and the neck using the

WONDERFUL
though we don’t want the skin tone to be same principles as before. Be prepared to alter
totally consistent, it would be better toned the position, angle, colour, etc, later on when you

TOOL FOR
down. Using the colour balance controls we can look at the picture as a whole so don’t flatten the
reduce the tone down using the sliders until it image yet. Finally, lock all the layers together.

CREATING
looks better within the montage.

THE BIZARRE.
THE ONLY
LIMIT IS
YOUR OWN
IMAGINATION”

8 Getting in a flap
Next we shall scan in an envelope as a torso for the head at
300dpi. The opening of the envelope will become the neck of a
garment and this ties in nicely with the writing paraphernalia we will be
placing on the head. If you don’t have a coloured envelope you can use
the Hue/Saturation sliders to add colour.
9 Burning up
At first the envelope might appear a little
flat and lacking the definition we want, so make
a selection along the internal edges. Using the
Burn tool set at about 20 per cent, run it along
the edges to darken and create slight shadows,
which will give it a more 3D feel.
10 Hitting the canvas
Now it is time to create your actual
document canvas, the size being 112mm wide x
128mm deep, CMYK at a resolution of 300dpi.
Using the Fill tool, colour the background a sky
blue. We will add detail and texture to this
surface later, but for now just get the colour
right to work on.

Let your mind take flight 11 Life can be a drag

Make a selection of the
entire envelope by zooming in and
carefully selecting the outline using
Photoshop is a wonderful the Lasso tool and then cut and paste
tool for creating the bizarre into your document. Now drag your
and the surreal. The only locked layered face into the same
limit is your own document. Scale each down to size so
imagination. Try and that the neck of the face fits into the
combine the unusual and neck of the envelope.
you will inject a great deal of
humour into your artwork,
plus you’ll have fun too!

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12 Headstart
We are now ready to start building the
structure on top of the head itself. Whilst
planning this design I had envisaged the top of
the head as a harlequin hat because of the
pointed design of an open envelope. This would
represent a busy and confused mind.
es
n iqu
ch
Te
13 Joy in repetition
Duplicate the blue envelope twice so
we can arrange these on the head. You should
Start collecting
change the orientation and size to fit the curve
It is well worth building up
of the hairline. You can scan in other coloured
a collection of assorted
envelopes as before and add those too. ephemera and printed matter
that catches your eye – the
more unusual the better. This
can include tickets, stamps,
labels, etc, all of which can add
extra interest to your work.
Keep all of these clippings in a
box by your scanner so they’re
always to hand. If you have a
plain background these can be
used to add subtle texture to
your creations.

14 Get wise and Colorize

We can alter the colour of elements
in the document, so one of the blue envelopes
can become a red one. To do this, select the
layer and Choose Hue/Saturation from the
Edit>Adjustments menu. Tick the Colorize box
and, using the sliders, you will find you can turn
the envelope into any colour.
15 Roll with it
The envelopes are looking a little flat
16 Time for bed
We are now going to scan it at 300dpi so we need to
protect the paper from being squashed by the scanner lid and losing
so it’s a good idea to introduce some more 3D the curled and folded effect. A couple of marker pens placed at either
elements. Take a sheet of coloured paper and end of the scanner will do the trick and keep the lid and paper apart.
fold it as if it had come out of an envelope;
bend the left-hand corner around a marker pen
to create a curl.

17 Curly hair
Cut and paste
the paper sheet into your
18 Size matters
Creating an image using found
objects and imagery allows you to combine
document and scale and elements in unusual ways. Try and think with
align it so it looks like it’s slightly surreal tendencies; don’t feel confined
poking out of the top of the by convention. There are no rules… anything is
envelope. Reducing the possible in a Photoshop world. So feel free to
Opacity of the layer have fun and add images you have found
by 50% will allow you to see yourself, the crazier the better.
the neck of the envelope so
you can cut away the area
of the sheet that would
usually lie inside the
envelope. If you need to
make some additional trims
once you’ve positioned
your paper image, then you
can apply a Layer Mask to
ensure the final effect is
neat and tidy.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop
Just cut that out 19 Letterhead
We want to build
up the material on the top of
the head into a mass of
There’s only one way to cut images out which is really
effective and allows you complete control, and that is to communication imagery, like note
zoom into the image to a range in excess of 300%. This way pads, paper, envelopes, stamps,
you should be able to isolate the image from any of the pens, post boxes and telephones.
surplus background. It may be time consuming, but the end These can be images you’ve
results are worth it. If you don’t zoom in you will find that scanned or pictures you’ve found.
your edits are imprecise. If you’re lacking in source
photography then have a scout on
royalty-free websites, such as

20
www.sxc.hu to find what you
These will come in handy need. Vary the image size; for
Now we need to add some hands to the body of the figure. that element of surprise and why
These are from a royalty-free collection, but once again you should feel not make objects which might
free to add your own selection, arranged to your own choice of scale be small in reality, loom large in
and positioning. your artwork?

21 Transformers
We can begin to start work on the
building and the hand holding the flower.
If we open the image of the office block we
can see it is okay, but lacks the power and stature
of the major corporation that we are trying
to represent so we need to transform it so that
it does.
22 Things are looking up
This is when simple things that
are so easily achieved in Photoshop can prove
the most effective. Select the layer with the
building on it and then go to Edit>Transform>
Perspective. We can increase the base size and
reduce the top so it looks like it is more of an
imposing tower.

“THERE’S ONLY ONE 23

WAY TO CUT
Hold it right there
We now need to have a hand

IMAGES OUT WHICH

emerging from the top of the skyscraper as if the
building itself is a sleeve for an arm. You could

IS REALLY
find this hand in a magazine, rip it out and take a
scan to use in your creation or alternatively you

EFFECTIVE... AND
can scout through an online stock library such as
www.istockphoto.com. You could also

THAT IS TO ZOOM photograph your own hand holding a marker

pen. This you can later replace with the stem of

INTO THE IMAGE TO the flower as the fingers will be well positioned.
If you’re taking your own photograph then try

A RANGE IN EXCESS and illuminate the image with natural light.

Forcing a flash in a poorly illuminated room will

OF 300%” mean that your shot may be bleached out and

will need some hefty colour correction.

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24 Zoom
We need to cut the hand out from
the background and the method used here to
get accurate results is to zoom in close and use
the Polygonal Lasso tool to trace around the
outline of the hand. You can then copy and
paste the image as a new layer behind the
skyscraper and scale to the right size.
27 Coming up roses
Now we need to add a flower head to
the top of the stem; perhaps you have one you
have taken in your own garden that might be
suitable. Once that is done we will need to look at
the background, as it would be good to add
some interest to what is, at present, a flat area.
29 Spilt splat splot
To create some inksplats get a
sheet of paper and some ink. Drop small
amounts of the ink from about 12 inches onto
the paper. Once dry you can scan these in,
select them using the Magic Wand tool set at a
tolerance of about 50. Copy and position them
on the background.
056-061_APM22.indd 61
25 Get things in perspective
Repeat the same process, as with the
skyscraper, with the hand to create the
impression it is emerging from the top using the
Perspective Transform feature. We are then
ready to import the stem image; scale and angle
it so it looks like it is being held in the hand and
obscures the marker pen from view.
30 In the blender
Experiment with blending modes
and see what fascinating effects can be
achieved, transforming the mundane into
something visually exciting. Overlay was used
here for the ink blots, and Screen on the
postmarks because we wanted a subtle effect.
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26 Getting to grips
Reduce the Opacity to 50% and
zoom in. Using the hand visible beneath as a
guide remove the sections of stem that would
lie below the fingers. Finally return to 100%
Opacity and use the Burn tool to create slight
shadows so that it looks like the hand is actually
holding the stem.
28 Effective ephemera
For the background we are going to
use some found ephemera of postmarks, and
create some ink blots and a signature to scan. It
is well worth building up a collection of
assorted bits of printed matter, that catch your
eye. You can then use to add extra interest to
your work.
31 Finishing touches
We can also add some postmark
circles using the blending modes to make them
more subtle so you won’t distract from the main
image. While we have the image still in layers it’s
also a good idea to see if anything needs
tweaking, possibly adding a shadow here or
moving things slightly. 5
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 Insider INSIDER
Info INFO
Portable PDF presentations
If you’re looking for a fast, simple and attractive way to distribute your images
to clients, friends or family, then PDF Presentation may be the perfect solution

P
DF Presentation is basically a multi-page Acrobat document that opens in
full-screen mode and optionally transitions from one page to another at
specified intervals. PDF Presentation is convenient for quickly creating
portfolios or slideshows, and because the PDF format is ubiquitous, you can send
your presentation to just about anyone, regardless of whether they’re using a Mac
or a PC. Also, since PDF embeds all images, fonts, etc, you can be sure that your
target audience is seeing the presentation exactly as you intended.
Creating a PDF Presentation is simplicity itself. Before you get started, copy the
images you’d like in your presentation into a single folder (or create a collection in
Bridge). Although it’s not necessary to have all files in one place, it does make it
much easier to assemble the presentation.

Bridge the gap

SAVE PDF OPTIONS: The number of
controls in the Save PDF Options dialog
can be daunting, but the available
presets make it quick and easy to
complete. You can also choose the
desired compression levels, output
options and security settings
PDFs in Photoshop
● The PDF engine in each of the
Adobe Creative Suite 2 applications,
including Photoshop, has been
significantly updated to make them
compatible with Adobe Acrobat 7. In
addition, the Save Adobe PDF dialog
used throughout the suite provides a
consistent approach to creating PDF
documents. A welcome addition is
the Preserve Photoshop Editing
Capabilities option, which allows you
to preserve all image components,
such as layers, paths, styles, etc.
If you’re using Bridge, select the files
to include in the presentation. Press Cmd/
Ctrl+A (or Edit>Select All) to select
all files in the current folder/collection.
Use the Shift key to range select files
(or drag-select with the marquee), and the
Cmd/Ctrl key to select/deselect individual
files. Then choose Tools>Photoshop>PDF
Presentation.
Alternatively, you can create the
presentation from within Photoshop,
either by opening the files to be included,
or by selecting them from the PDF
Presentation dialog. Choose File>
Automate>PDF Presentation. When the
PDF Presentation dialog appears, enable
the Add Open Files checkbox to include
all open files, and/or use the Browse
button to add files to the presentation.
All selected files appear in the Source
Files list. Drag the files up and down to
change their order in the presentation.
You can also duplicate or remove files
using the corresponding buttons (located
under the Browse button).
The Output Options dialog allows you
to save either a simple multi-page
document, or a presentation-style
PDF PRESENTATION DIALOG: The PDF Presentation dialog allows you to reorder
your slides by simply dragging them up and down in the Source Files list. Use the
Browse, Duplicate and Delete buttons to add, copy and delete slides, respectively
multi-page document. Selecting
Presentation enables the Presentation
Options panel, which allows you to
Adobe Reader
designate the delay between slides, the
The latest version of Adobe
transition between slides, and whether or Reader (7.0.8 at the time of writing)
not the presentation will loop upon launches up to 50 per cent faster
completion. Select Random Transition to than version 6.0, provides improved
randomise the transitions. security, and has a whole host of
Press the Save button and choose a new features and improvements.
location in which to save your PDF Download it for free from the
Adobe website:
presentation. The Save Adobe PDF dialog
box now appears. While there are a lot of ● www.adobe.com/products/
acrobat/readstep2.html
options in this dialog box, don’t be
The download size for this is
intimidated; there are presets available
approximately 28MB with the
and the majority of the options are self-
explanatory. optional Adobe Yahoo! Toolbar and
Adobe Photoshop Album Starter
The save options you choose will
Edition. (Download is around 20MB
depend on your intended use, method of
without all the extras.)
distribution and target audience;
however, for the sake of example, choose
Smallest File Size from the The Summary page provides a detailed
drop-down. If your viewers have the breakdown of the selected options, as

Presentation features in Acrobat latest version of Acrobat Reader, you may

also take advantage of its superior
In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite podcast, host Terry White shows you compression by choosing Acrobat 7 (PDF
how to add some polish to those presentations, as well as take advantage of 1.6) from the Compatibility drop-down.
Acrobat-specific transitions and settings. He also demonstrates how to tweak Turn on View PDF After Saving to see the
the settings to do automatic or manual slideshows. Available online at: presentation upon completion.
● http://creativesuitepodcast.com/index.php?post_id=114895 You can also establish compression
Direct download (requires QuickTime) – 15.7MB levels, output options and security
● http://media.libsyn.com/media/cspodcast/Acrobat-PDFPresentations.m4v settings via the corresponding pages
along the left-hand side of the dialog box.
well as any potential warnings. You may
even save your preferred settings as a
custom preset via the Save Preset button.
Finally, press Save PDF and kick back
while Photoshop does all the hard work.
When it’s finished, you can email your
presentation, or distribute it via the web,
and anyone with the free Adobe Reader
will be able to view your images as a
full-screen slideshow, transitions and all.

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 Step-by-step
Workshop

DRAWING MANGA
Learn the ins and outs of creating Manga art with impact from a professional
videogame artist well versed in character design BY HAYDEN SCOTT-BARON

ON THE DISC
If you’re confident enough to draft
up your own sketch you can make
your own original Manga art from
scratch. Alternatively, use the ‘aps_
manga_sketch’ file on this month’s
CD as a guide.
OUR EXPERT Hayden Scott-Baron
Hayden Scott-Baron is a professional videogames artist,
specialising in character design. He is the author of Digital
Manga Techniques and Manga Clip Art. Hayden is a founding
member of Manga group Sweatdrop Studios and has
produced a number of Manga-style comics.
www.deadpanda.com
I
n this tutorial, we will be creating an
illustration of a Japanese girl in traditional
kimono dress.
The cherry-blossom trees seen in the
background are known as ‘sakura’, and represent
the coming of spring in Japan. I was keen to use
soft colours throughout the image to maintain a
romantic and sentimental feel of a softly lit
afternoon in Japan.
Drawing in a Manga style is generally a very
personal and subjective thing. There are so many
different styles encompassed within the look of
Manga, with a few commonalities throughout. If
you’re new to drawing Manga it will help you to
find example images and refer to these as style
guides. The style I’m using here uses relatively
realistic proportions but still captures the look of
Manga thanks to the simplification of facial
details, line work, and colouring methods.
Using Photoshop for this illustration makes it
possible to break the image into different
elements such as line art, base colours, shading
and patterns. The distinctive flat colours of a
Manga-style image such as this benefit greatly
from this level of control. It is also important to be
able to easily colour the line art.

1 Sketch it out
This image is being sketched directly into Photoshop, but you can
of course draft the character on paper first and then scan in the image.
Using a coloured line such as blue helps the sketch lines stand out more
from the black when coming to ink the finished picture.
2 Check for errors
Almost all errors with an image become
painfully obvious to the artist when the image is
flipped, and if you can fix the image so that it
looks correct facing both directions then you
have probably got a high quality illustration.
Most artists are too afraid to see their image
flipped, but it is worth doing to spot the flaws
early on.
3 Add definition
It can sometimes be useful to add more
to the sketch, but without the effect of making
the sketch more complicated to make out,
leaving the air of simplicity. Here the kimono
area is being redrawn with a contrasting colour.
This will help to effectively define certain areas
of the image and correct the drawing. It will
also act as a stopgap between the sketch and
the inking.

4 Start inking
Fade the Opacity of the sketch
layer and then begin to produce line
art on a different layer. You may wish

“THE ERRORS to apply the layer lock to your sketch

by clicking the padlock icon to

BECOME ensure you don’t accidently do any

inking on this layer during this stage.

OBVIOUS
WHEN IT’S
FLIPPED”
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 Step-by-step
Workshop
Coloured lines
Introducing some colour to your line art
can really help the overall look of an
image. It can even make the line art
appear thinner and more
complementary to your overall image.
If you have your lines cleanly defined on
their own layer you can simply lock the
Opacity, set the layer style to ‘normal’
and paint whatever colour you desire
on the line art layer without fear of
disturbing the rest of the image.
7 Working on the eyes
One of the most common aspects about
drawing eyes in Manga style is that the sides of
the eye are not actually defined with the pen,
but rather they are left open. At first this may
seem somewhat odd and, certainly, unrealistic
but you should see that it will help to make the
eyes seem more vibrant and blend neatly with
the face.
10 Mouth and lips
This image has a little more lip
definition than most Manga-style artwork, but
even still it is helpful to avoid joining up the
lines completely. The small gap on the bottom
lip shows where the teeth start to touch the lip,
and it softens the definition of the mouth.
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5 Pen and eraser
This may seem as though it produces blocky, pixilated lines but
it actually creates fantastically smooth lines as long as the DPI of the
6 Pencil sizes
Adjust the pencil size with the ‘[‘ and ‘]’ keys
to maintain a clean and crisp illustration style.
image is high enough. Working with aliased artwork such as this also Generally a thicker line will be used for the outlines
makes it much easier for colouring and selection of areas. Tapping the of a character and then a thinner line is used to
B and E key to swap between pencil and eraser can speed up this show details, folds and overlaps on the surface. For
process too. example you may use an 8 pixel wide brush for
the outline of a garment and then a 4 pixel wide
brush for details and seams on the fabric.
8 9
Checking for differences Avoid too much definition
It can sometimes be helpful to use the The nose on a Manga character can quite
square area Marquee Tool at this stage in the often be defined extremely simply, with some
process to check that the eyeballs and general artists opting for incredibly small mouths and
eye areas are the same size. If one eye is larger dot-like noses, and some others avoiding
than the other it is worth adjusting now before drawing the nose at all from certain angles.
it is too late. With this picture the nose will be defined more
with shading, so just drawing nostrils will be
sufficient in this case.
11
Draw the hair
Firstly, lots of
individual strands are drawn
falling down from the hairline,
and then add lines to
represent hair pulled
backwards across the scalp.
Select the area of the head
you wish to add hair detail to,
as this will help your lines stay
within this area. For the hair on
the top of the head thin lines
are drawn outwards in an arc
from a central point.
24/8/06 10:59:19

12 Selecting the image area
Now the line art is ready, it’s time to
block out the colours, but first it is helpful to
create a layer mask to keep colours within the
outline of the image. Use the Magic Wand tool
with your anti-alias set to ‘off’, all layers ‘on’ and
contiguous set to ‘on’. Select the areas of the
image ‘outside’ of the main line art, and then
invert the selection.
15 Applying base
colours
Block out the basic colours for
the image using the Paint
Bucket tool. You may need to
switch to the Pencil Tool in
order to manually fill in areas
where the line art doesn’t join
up completely, or simply to
block gaps in the line art.
16 Filling in colours
For areas of detail it’s useful to select
the entire area with the Marquee Tool and then
start deselecting unwanted areas. This is much
faster than filling in each area individually and
ensures that no small areas are left uncoloured.
064-069_APM22.indd 67
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14 Clipping Masks
Create another new layer with layer style set to ‘Multiply’
and link the layer to the template layer with a clipping mask. Hold ‘Alt’
and click the line between the two layers to create a mask. For this
layer, and all others above it if you apply a clipping mask, you don’t
need to worry about colours bleeding beyond the line art area.
13 Creating a silhouette
Create a new layer and fill it with any
colour (press Cmd/Ctrl + Del to block this out with
background colour), then lock the Opacity of the
layer. Or, define the area as a mask and place your
base colours on this layer. This is to set the area for
colours to be applied without area selection.
“THE NOSE
ON A MANGA
CHARACTER
CAN QUITE
OFTEN BE
DEFINED
EXTREMELY
SIMPLY”
17 Creating a layer for lighting
In Photoshop you can work shading
independently of colouring. This makes it possible
to ensure that the image has realistic lighting and
all areas receive apt shading and shadows. Create
Clipping masks
a new layer for shading with the layer style set to
‘Multiply’ and hide the base colour layer. You will find that an excellent way to
speed up production of a character
image is to use a clipping mask. Once
the opaque area is defined for the
outline of the character you don’t
need to worry about colours, shading
or details leaving this boundary. It also
has the effect of leaving you free to do
things like additional masks or
selections, and will dramatically
reduce the sheer amount of work that
is necessary when adding more layers.
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 Step-by-step
Workshop
18 Drawing in the shadows
Using a deep pink tone and the Pencil Tool shading is added
to the character assuming a light source from the top-right of the image.
Shadows are cast from the overlapping parts of the body, and the face
receives more definition from the areas around the nose, lips and eyes.
19 Define the fabric
Particular attention is paid to the
folds in the fabric, introducing lines and detail
that are not present in the line art itself. A
kimono is made of relatively heavy and layered
material, so folds will be large, chunky and
boldly defined.
20 Soften the shading
An Airbrush is now used on some
small areas of the image to soften the lighting
slightly, such as around the nose, cheek and chin
of the face, as well as around the base of the
neck. This will help to define these areas as being
especially soft compared to the fabric and to the
hair of the character.

21 Checking your progress

Once you have finished with the
lighting you can turn the colour layer back on
and see the results of the image with the
lighting applied. If you feel the shading doesn’t
look correct on certain areas of the picture,
highlight the area (such as the blue kimono
area) and adjust with the Hue/Saturation tool
until it looks correct.

22 More detail for the kimono

Now we are happy with the shading
we can turn off the shading layer and introduce
24 Capturing a pattern for the illustration
The main pattern for the kimono is actually taken from some
origami paper bought from a Japanese shop. The origami paper is
more detail to the kimono design. Here some of scanned in and the fill tool is used to remove texture from the white
the kimono is being coloured grey and then areas of the image. The paper is then placed on a layer set to ‘Multiply’.
pale yellow vines are being drawn over it. These
details are all painted directly on to the base
colour layer.

23 Using flowers for decoration

Creating a new document
temporarily, a simple flower is drawn on its own.
By pasting this along the irregular border
between the grey and the blue we have an
attractive design. Using Shift + Alt when dragging
the cursor makes it possible to duplicate objects
on the image quickly, which can be collapsed
down to the base colour layer once finished.

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25 Reapplying
the pattern
Now cut different sections of
the origami paper and then
use the ‘Transform’ tool to flip
and rotate the pattern into
position so that it falls in line
with the kimono. Some areas
of the pattern are erased using
the eraser tool in order to
avoid the pattern ending in an
abrupt manner.
26 Adding detail to the Obi
Using the Magic Wand tool to select
the area of the Obi (the belt of a kimono) – vertical
stripes of colours with low transparency are drawn
all over. This gives the impression of a pattern and
variety of colours. Another origami paper design is
scanned in, desaturated (to remove colours) and
placed over the Obi with a layer set to ‘Overlay’.
This allows the pale dots to show over the Obi.
28 Colouring the line art
To complement the hues, colour the
line art so that it isn’t completely black. The line art is
on a transparent layer so it’s possible to colour the
line art individually by using the ‘lock opacity’
option and then fill in the black with whatever
colour you feel most appropriate. A rich burgundy
tone (47100B) is applied to the lines for this image.
064-069_APM22.indd 69
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Aliased graphics
It may seem undesirable to use aliased or ‘jaggy’ lines in
artwork such as this, but you should find that it actually
makes it considerably easier to work with and that it will
generally improve the crispness of the overall result. It is,
however, very important that you remember that you must
work at a fairly high resolution such as 600dpi when using
aliased graphics. If you fail to do this you will find that the
pixels will become visible when printed and, it’s hardly
necessary to say, this is not a desirable effect.
27 Facial detail
Details are added to the face using the
Brush Tool and soft brush settings. Details such as
lipstick and makeup are added. Some highlights are
added to the cheek, nose, lips, eyes and hair to
imitate reflective light. In this image highlights are
sparse to maintain the softness of the atmosphere.
“AN AIRBRUSH IS
USED ON SMALL
AREAS OF THE
IMAGE TO SOFTEN
THE LIGHTING”
29 Subtle sunlit glow
Now add a soft glow to the image.
Select all the areas from the shading layer (by
30 Bringing it together
The character is finished – a few simple
details are added to the background to complete
holding ‘ctrl’ and clicking on the layer thumbnail), the picture. The background was achieved using the
and then invert the selection. Create a new layer Gradient Tool multiple times with pink and white.
and fill in the layer with a warm colour such as The cherry blossom trees are drawn out with shades
FFC479. Set the layer to ‘Vivid Light’ and apply the of white and pink, and some dull brown branches
Gaussian Blur filter from the Filter>Blur menu. This are added to give the impression of trees. 5
will give the image a warm glow and complement
the colours.
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 Insider
Info
INSIDER
INFO
Data-Driven Graphics
Data-Driven Graphics aren’t widely used, but they’re incredibly useful for generating
multiple graphics from a single template – once you understand how to use them

Trevor Morris
OUR EXPERT
Trevor Morris is an official Photoshop beta tester
and amateur digital photographer with more than a
dozen years’ design experience. He works as a senior
graphic designer for a Canadian web design
company and also maintains the Photoshop-centric
website GFX™ (http://user.fundy.net/morris).
DEFINING A TEMPLATE: This mock
banner template was created with a few
shape layers, some type layers and a
photo from www.iStockphoto.com.
We’ll use Photoshop’s new Data-Driven
Graphic capabilities to create a variety
of banners from this single template
W
hile Data-Driven Graphics,
or variables, are new to
Photoshop, they’re not an
entirely new concept. Variables were
actually introduced in ImageReady 7
and then ported to Photoshop in CS2.
In a nutshell, Variables allow you to
generate a series of graphics from a
single template by changing the
content and/or properties of specific
layers. This can be done via the new
Variables dialog, or by importing an
external data set, such as a text file or
spreadsheet. Variables are ideal for
creating web banners, digital displays,
charts and diagrams, icons and so on.
To demonstrate how Variables work,
we’ve created a mock banner,
promoting Photoshop’s Data-Driven
VARIABLES DIALOG – DEFINE: The Define page of the Variables dialog
Graphics. The banner is made up of
enables you to define which layers (variables) within the document can change and
nothing more than a few shape layers, how they can be changed. Variables types include: Visibility, Text Replacement and
some type layers and a photo from Pixel Replacement
iStock. We’ll use Variables to create a
variety of banners from this template. layers in a template change and how variable from the Name drop-down to
Before defining Variables, it’s a good they change. Currently, there are only link variables together. Linked Variables
idea to give each of your layers a three Variable types: Visibility simply are displayed to the right of the Name
meaningful name. The Variables dialog turns a layer on or off; Text Replacement drop-down, along with a link icon.
references image content by layer allows you to change the text within a While the Visibility and Text
name, so if you have a lot of layers, it’s type layer; and Pixel Replacement lets Replacement variable types are simple
easy to get them confused. you substitute the pixels in an art layer toggles, there are several options
with an external image file. available for Pixel Replacement. The
Defining variables Select a layer from the Layer drop- Method drop-down allows you to
Choose Image>Variables>Define. The down menu and then enable the desired choose one of the following scaling
Variables dialog is comprised of two variable type(s). Note that an asterisk methods for the replacement image: Fit
pages: Define and Data Sets. However, appears next to the layer name, Uniformly scales the image to fit within a
you can’t access Data Sets until you indicating that it’s a variable. Enter a bounding box defined by the original
define at least one variable. name for the variable (or accept the image (which may leave parts of the
Variables are used to define which default name), or select an existing bounding box empty in one dimension);

Importing data sets Sample files

The real power of Data-Driven Graphics isn’t the ability to manually create a
few controlled graphics, but in being able to automatically generate dozens,
hundreds, or even thousands of graphics based on imported data. To learn
more about creating and importing external data sources, such as text files
and spreadsheet (CSV) files, refer to the ‘Creating data sets in external files’
and ‘Import a data set’ help topics in the Adobe Help Center (accessed by
pressing the Help/F1 key, or choosing Help>About Photoshop).
Data-Driven Graphics are particularly well suited for weather icons – you
know, the kind that is a picture of a sun or clouds, along with the temperature
and weather conditions. Well it just so happens that Adobe has included
exactly such a template in your Samples folder:
● Mac: <hard drive>/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS2/Samples
ImageReady Files/Weather.psd
● PC: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Samples\ImageReady
Files\Weather.psd

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Fill Uniformly scales the image to fill the
bounding box (which may cause the
image to extend outside the bounding
box in one dimension); As Is applies no
scaling to the image; and Conform scales
the image non-uniformly to fit the
bounding box. When you hover over the
Method drop-down, context help and a
sample image are displayed in the
Description area for each scaling method.
Click on an Alignment node to
determine the relative placement of the
new image inside the original image’s
bounding box. (This option is not
available when the Conform method is
selected, since it’s not applicable.)
Finally, the Clip To Bounding Box
option clips any portions of the image
that fall outside the bounding box. (This
option is only available for the Fill and As
Is scaling methods.)
For the banner template we wanted to
change the caption text (using the Text
Replacement variable), hide the
download text and graphics (with the
Visibility variable), and change the image
(with the Pixel Replacement variable) to
create a variety of banners. Table 2
(below) details which layers are assigned
to variables, as well as their variable
types and properties. Once you’re
finished defining variables, press the OK
button and save your work.
Creating data sets
Now that we’ve defined our Variables,
we’ll use the Data Sets page of the
Variables dialog to assign new values to
them. A data set is a collection of
Variables and associated data, used to
define each version of the graphic that
TABLE 1
Variables Data Sets
Name Value
(Banner 1)
Text_Caption Now with Data-
Driven Graphics!
PixelReplace_Image Photo of woman/eyes
Visibility_Download Visible
TABLE 2
Layers
Name Type
Caption Type layer
Image Raster layer
Download Type layer
Arrow Shape/vector layer
Disc Shape/vector layer
070-071_APM22.indd 71
you want to generate.
If the Variables dialog is already open,
you can access Data Sets via the drop-
down at the top of the dialog (Cmd/
Ctrl+2), or by pressing the Next button;
otherwise, choose Image>Variables >
Data Sets from the menus.
First create a data set for the default
state (first graphic) by clicking the New
Data Set button – the one that looks
suspiciously like a save icon – then give
it a name (or accept the default). Click
the New Data Set button again to
begin defining the second graphic.
Select a variable from the Name
drop-down (or use the Next/Previous
Variable buttons) and change its value.
You can also select variables from the
list at the bottom of the dialog box.
The list area shows the values and
layers associated with each variable,
and allows you to sort them by clicking
on the column headers.
Define additional data sets for each
version of the graphic you want to
generate. For this particular example
see Table 1 for the data sets defined.
Click OK and save your work. You
can return to the Data Sets dialog at
any time to create additional data sets,
or to edit, rename, or delete existing
data sets.
Previewing data sets
You can preview and apply data sets,
using the Image>Apply Data Set
command, or the Data Sets page of the
Variables dialog. To preview a data set,
enable the Preview checkbox and select
a data set from the list; click the Cancel
button to exit the dialog without
Value Value
(Banner 2) (Banner 3)
Dynamic Graphic More Value
Capabilities! with Variables!
Photo of flowers Photo of jets
Visible Invisible
Variables
Type Name
Text Replacement Text_Caption
Pixel Replacement PixelReplace_Image
Method: As Is
Alignment: Centered
Clipping: Off
Visibility Visibility_Download
es
n iqu
ch
Te
VARIABLES DIALOG – DATA SETS: The Data Sets page of the Variables dialog is
where you assign new values to collections of layer variables, called data sets. Each
data set defines an alternative version of the graphic to be generated
applying the data set. To apply a data
set, simply click the Apply button.
Generating final results
Once you’ve defined your Variables and
data sets, you can batch export the final
images using the File>Export>Data Sets
As Files command. Choose a destination
using the Select Folder button, and
select the data set(s) to apply from the
Data Set drop-down. Use File Naming
drop-downs to define the naming
scheme you wish to use for the output
THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE: Three
files and select any applicable
versions of this mock banner
Compatibility options. Press OK. ad were generated from a single
Unfortunately, you’re currently limited template using the following variables:
to saving images in PSD format, but you A – Visibility variable (comprised of
can use the standard File>Automate> three linked variables); B – Text
Replacement variable; C – Pixel
Batch command to convert them to Replacement variable
another format if you wish.
“VARIABLES GENERATE
A SERIES OF GRAPHICS
FROM ONE TEMPLATE”
Linked?
Things to watch out for
No You cannot define variables for the Background layer. You must first change
No the Background into a regular layer by simply Opt/Alt-double-clicking on its
thumbnail in the Layers palette.
Variable names must begin with a letter, underscore, or colon, and they
cannot contain spaces or special characters (except for periods, hyphens,
underscores and colons).
Adobe GoLive recognises all Text Replacement and Visibility variables, but
Yes
not Pixel Replacement variables.
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 Eye-catching imagery that
inspires and challenges

T
emperatures have been soaring, barbecues
sizzling and designers a-frazzling, but that
hasn’t stopped you from entering your
wondrous creations to us here at Advanced Photoshop.
This month we’ve been more impressed than ever
before at the quality and diversity of your images. It’s
also great to see our forum at www.
advancedphotoshop.co.uk/forum kicking off. Even if
you’re not lucky enough to see your images in print it’s
a fantastic place to post your designs and gain some
valuable feedback from your fellow readers.
If you would like to submit your images for these pages
as well as posting links on the forum you can email us
low-res versions to advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.
co.uk and we’ll get back to you for more information and
higher resolution copies if we want to print them.

You’ll stand a better chance of seeing your work in print if

you adhere to the following criteria: make sure that your
images are high-quality TIFFs or JPEGs (RGB or CMYK), Almost Famous
300dpi minimum, and can be printed at 15cm x 15cm NAME: James Chinemana
minimum. Don’t forget to include a short text file detailing
how you created your work, too.
EMAIL: Jameschiny@hotmail.com

James Chinemana is a self-taught enthusiast of

Photoshop and Illustrator but will soon be going
on to study for a degree in Illustration at The Arts
Institute at Bournemouth.
For his first piece, ‘In Women We Trust’ James
wanted to create a piece that “illustrated the
beauty, strength and courage of women”. He
started by designing the text using various layer
styles. Vector images were then added from
Illustrator and flowers and gradients placed on

“I’M CURRENTLY A top. The second illustration, entitled ‘Almost

Famous’ was created using similar techniques.

FREELANCER BUT James brought a vector image into Photoshop and

went about adding Seventies-inspired colour

AIM TO SET UP A tones, microphones and circles. “I find inspiration

for my work from a wide range of sources but

DESIGN STUDIO particularly fashion, extreme sports, music and

photography. I currently do freelance work but aim

ONE DAY” to set up a design studio one day,” James tells us.

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Digital Distillations
NAME: Alastair Tattersall
EMAIL: alastair@abat.co.nz
WEB: www.abat.co.nz

Alastair has been working in the graphic design and publishing industry for
over 20 years and first dabbled with the layer-less Photoshop Version 2 but only
over the past five years has begun to create his own art digitally. For the red
image ‘Lava Tunnels’ Alastair created the image by rendering black and red
clouds, airbrushing the ridges and valleys with black and red tones for depth.
“I use the Twirl Filter a lot in my work as it gives it a real organic feel. A quick
Plastic Wrap to highlight the ridges, a touch of lighting for effect and hey presto
– lava!” Rather than just keep his images on file on his computer, when he’s
happy with the final outcome Alastair likes to print his images up to a metre
high onto canvas or framed paper.

Zip It Up
NAME: Nick Truch
EMAIL: nick.truch@knowledge-partners.com
WEB: www.knowledge-partners.com

Nick created this image after being inspired

by the ‘Zip It Up’ tutorial in Issue 16. “I wanted
to go a step further than the original orange
tutorial and see what was inside.”
This image was created from three
photographs. “I started with a photo of a whole
apple. To get my second photo with the zip I
stuck it on the apple with sticky tape. I then
took a photo of an apple sitting on the grass to
make it easier to bring out the blades of grass
in front of the apple.”
Using a mask on the whole apple layer, Nick
carefully brought the bottom layers to the
foreground, including the zip and the blades
of grass. Finally, he applied various layer style
effects to the apple in order to add a
convincing shadow.

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 Discover the thinking behind the art

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Nevermore
NAME: Randy ‘Snowdog’ Monteith
EMAIL: snowdogz1@shaw.ca
SOURCE: www.sxu.hu

“When I saw this image of the Toucan, for some reason it

reminded me of the poem ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan
Poe. Of course, I do realise that I used a toucan and that
Poe’s poem was about a raven, not a toucan but I wanted
to do my own surrealist version”.
Snowdog started off by creating the background wall
using brushes of various opacities to start to build up the
texture starting with darker colours and then adding
layers with the lighter colours. “I used an adjustment
layer to achieve the final blue colour. The bird was
added and a mask applied to make it look as if his body
was tinier than it should be. The text was added with a
3-pixel brush and the Opacity changed. Then, a layer
mask was applied with varying levels of grey until a
chalky look was achieved”.

Morning Star
NAME: Daulton Waren
EMAIL: ov3rdo5er@gmail.com
WEB: www.myspace.com/ov3rdo5er

Daulton, from Phoenix Arizona, started off this image by taking a

photograph of himself standing and another of himself sitting with his
feet hanging. “I knew I was going to need to edit them on layer for the
effect of being in the air.” Stock photographs were used for the
background and then manipulated using blending modes. “I copied the
right side of the LA buildings and pasted them onto a new layer, flipping
them horizontally and messing them around with the Saturation and
Contrast. Then I added some stars and an orange circle with some outer
and inner glow to give it a sun/halo look. The background was given its
final touch by adding some smoke and fire to the buildings using a black
brush, blur and Opacity”. For the angel, Daulton duplicated his image,
desaturated this and then altered the blending mode to Overlay and
altered the saturation, brightness and contrast. The wings were taken
from an image of a vulture which he flipped to make a pair. “I rendered
some lighting effects on the wings to give them a red tint and raised the
saturation and contrast”.

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 es
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Fine Art
NAME: Jason Prescott
EMAIL: jason@zudesign.co.uk

Jason became a dab hand at Photoshop ten years ago.

The series of images here were created for entry into a
Fine Art exhibition back in 1996 and was his first
introduction to layer masks and blending modes “but
they were rejected!”
The dog image is a more recent venture and was
based on a photograph taken a few weeks back. “I
masked out the background and played with Shadows,
Highlights, Curves and the Unsharp Mask to get the best
possible starting picture. I added a blurred background
layer and used the Dodge and Burn tools on that too.” A
sepia toned image of an old wall was brought in to
provide the texture and background. A hard light mode
was applied to the dogs so that the texture showed
through. Finally, rough edges were created using about
eight different organic photo frames.
Despite the amount of time he has been
experimenting with Photoshop there’s no wish for Jason
to sit back and put his feet up. “Even after ten years I still
regularly buy Photoshop books and am constantly
amazed at the possibilities of this wonderful app.”

By submitting images to Advanced Photoshop’s Peer Pressure, you hereby grant Imagine
and, if relevant, clients to whom the relevant work has been provided, an irrevocable,
perpetual, royalty-free licence to use intellectual property in relation to work similar or
equivalent to the work. This includes the right to showcase work on multimedia formats.

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 Helpdesk
Our Photoshop pro tackles your editing woes and sets
you on the path to image enlightenment BY JULIE EASTON

LENTICULAR PRINTING
I run my own clothing company and I am
looking to design some promotional material
with a twist. One thing I’m keen to try is to use
lenticular printing on some of my graphics
for use as postcards. I love the effect, but
have no idea where to start finding out more
about the process and where I can get it
done. Any ideas?
Antony Baker, Southampton

Lenticular printing is a great technology that can work

exceptionally well for promotional material. It uses a number
of lenses over a two-dimensional image to create depth and
motion. The technology is often confused with holograms,
but these are achieved using lasers rather than lenses.
A great place to start finding out more is at
www.edmonds.co.uk/lenticular-faq.html#1, which
answers most frequently asked questions in an easy-to-
understand manner. Another good site to take a look at
is www.big3d.com, which has some great examples of
how lenticular printing can be used. It also has estimates of
prices, although these are in US dollars. The price is usually
determined by size, quantity and lens material and thickness,
so you’ll need to obtain a quote once you have the specifics
worked out. For a UK service and further examples, check
out www.riotofcolour.co.uk. SELF-PROMOTION: Portfolios.com is a great place to start putting your work online

FOR LENT: Lenticular printing has some well-known uses
PORTFOLIO NEEDED
I have only been a digital artist for a year, and
I’m keen to explore methods of getting my
work noticed so that I may one day begin
selling my art.
I’ve done some research and feel that my
best option is to use an online portfolio, but
I’m not sure which one to go for. There seem
to be so many options – some that charge
and some that don‘t. Any advice you could
offer would be much appreciated.
Simon Banks, Richmond
One of the best sites that you can use to showcase your work
is www.portfolios.com, which has been online for ten years
now. There are four packages available, covering all price
ranges. If you’re starting out with an online presence for the
first time, the basic package is free and enables you to show
off five images. You can then upgrade as you need more
space and are willing to put money into the site.
Other sites worth checking out are www.photoportfolios.
net, www.pbase.com and www.foliolink.com, all of which
offer various price levels. It’s a very personal decision, so take
a look around these sites to get a feel for them. Always start
with the free versions to find out if a site is right for you.

“MANY DIGITAL ARTISTS ARE SELF-TAUGHT, AND

PRACTISING IS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO LEARN”
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DIFFERENCE DILEMMA
I’m a fan of Pentax products and have been using an Optio compact, along with my film
SLR. I want to upgrade to a DSLR, but am wondering what the difference is between the
*ist DL and the *ist DS. I’ve also seen an *ist DS2, which confuses me even more.
Sarah Broomfield, via email

You’ve got to love camera manufacturers and their insistence on naming products in a confusing way, where it’s not clear
which came first. The *ist DS was Pentax‘s first DSLR and offers 6.1 megapixels, compatibility with Pentax lenses, a full
range of manual exposure and scene modes, as well as a two-inch LCD screen. This has been upgraded in the *ist DS2,
which makes minor improvements. The *ist DL came out later but was aimed at the mass market, with a lighter body, a
2.5-inch LCD and lower price tag. The *ist DS2 offers better image quality overall and there are more options, but the *ist
DL offers better value. It comes down to what you need, but you won‘t be disappointed with either of these models.
CAMERA PUNCH: The Pentax *ist DL is a smaller, lighter
version of the *ist DS aimed at the mass market

TABLET ISSUES they are. If they‘ve had thousands of sales and their user managing layers. Until you’ve mastered these you will find
rating is over 95 per cent, you might be on to a good thing. Photoshop more difficult. Many digital artists and imagers
I’m looking at getting a graphics tablet, but
Another possibility is they’re selling OEM software which are self-taught, and practising on your own is one of the
all I ever hear about is Wacom. Is that
came bundled with a high-end computer or scanner. In this best ways to learn. Arm yourself with step-by-step guides
because they are the best out there, or are
case you‘re unlikely to get a box or manual, but the price will and online tutorials, and devote a couple of hours a week to
some hidden gems being overlooked?
be low. This is a grey area – while the software is genuine, the getting to grips with the software.
Chris Smith, Truro
legality of selling it on separately is hazy. Finally, it could be As well as reading through our magazine, check out the
illegal pirated software, especially at that price. This will come Adobe website which offers some great tutorials and tips,
Wacom tablets are considered by Photoshop users to be the
with a random generation key to activate the product, and it and there are a number of options available from the start
best around, thanks to the wide range offered, innovative
will probably work. However, you’ll be unable to get support screen when you load up Photoshop.
technologies such as Bluetooth built into newer models, and
and there are cases where products have stopped working. At If you learn better in a classroom environment, there are
practical benefits like exceptional sensitivity and stylish design.
worst, the products might contain bugs and viruses that can courses that will help you get to grips with the program.
There are prices and designs to suit every level of user and
damage a computer. We advise you to proceed with caution, Pop along to www.systematix.co.uk/photoshop-training-
every pocket; see the range at www.wacom-europe.com.
and would always recommend the official Adobe version. courses.htm for a list of courses (and prices) held at the
However, there are other manufacturers out there making
company‘s training centre in Reading. Check out local
good graphics tablets who’ve been overshadowed by
colleges for options nearer home.
Wacom. Check out models by Trust (www.trust.com), Genius
There is no right or wrong way to learn Photoshop – just
(www.geniusnet.co.uk) and Aiptek (www.aiptek.com). You
pick the method that suits the way you like to learn and
will get better prices from these ranges, but some would argue
hopefully you‘ll be mastering our tutorials in no time.
that you get what you pay for with Wacom.

BARGAIN HUNT: Be wary of ‘bargain’ CS2 prices on eBay

and students on a shoestring can check out Adobe’s
Educational prices via their website

TRUST ME: Trust – another manufacturer of graphics
tablets, though not an option for Mac users
PHOTOSHOP ON THE CHEAP
I use Photoshop CS and want to upgrade to
CS2., but being a penniless student, money is
tight. There are listings on eBay offering a full
CS2 package for under £20. What‘s the catch?
Darren Stamp, Bournemouth
Software on eBay is a tempting option, but it can lead to
trouble. Sometimes eBay does stock the real deal at incredibly
low prices – usually when a seller’s acquired a large quantity of
software and is able to pass it on cheaply. Check out a seller‘s
ratings and number of sales to get an idea of how trustworthy
LEARNING PHOTOSHOP
I’m new to Photoshop, but I am really
enjoying learning all the tools. I picked up
HERE’S A TIP: Use the tutorials and tips built into
your magazine hoping that it would help me Photoshop to get to grips with
to get on with more complex projects, but I the main tools
am finding it a little too advanced for my
level of experience. Is it worth getting a HELPDESK
course in Photoshop to teach me all the
basic skills, or should I rather just carry on CALL FOR QUESTIONS
teaching myself? Want help with your Photoshop problems?
I will continue to buy your great magazine Then let our team of experts sort you out.
for inspiration, and hopefully at some point
in the future I will be able to complete all Send your emails to us at:
the tutorials! advancedpshop@imagine-publishing.co.uk
Helen Thomas, via email
Remember to specify whether you are
Most of our tutorials rely on a degree of knowledge about using a PC or Mac and the version number
basic skills such as cutting out with the Pen tool and of your edition of Photoshop.

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 hard
drives

HARD DRIVE
ROUND UP For those who have too many files and too
little memory, an extra hard drive is the ideal
solution. We round up the best of the bunch

A
n excessive number of files eating
up computer memory seems to be
a common problem for most
creatives. Whether it’s the
multiple layering in Photoshop or umpteen
variants of your latest project, hard drive space
gets gobbled up quicker than turkeys at
Christmas. That’s why more and more pro
creatives are opting for an additional hard drive
to back up files and store countless bytes of
information. Furthermore, small, portable hard
drives are being snapped up in their dozens,
perfect for presenting potential clients with
your portfolio.
The key elements to look for when deciding
which hard drive to buy depends upon the use you
have for it. The two most important factors are drive
capacity (how many bytes it holds), and speed
(how fast it transfers data). A ‘fast’ hard drive is one
that has a rotational speed of around 7,200
revolutions per minute or higher, but the majority
of hard drives will offer 5,400 rpm, which is
adequate. As for data transfer rate, anything slower
than 15 megabytes per second will become
annoying. Experts recommend that you buy a hard
drive that gives you more storage than you actually
need, as you cannot accurately account for all
future requirements. It’s always best to go for a
well-known brand (like the five we’ve rounded up
on these pages) but compare prices across the
board to get the best deal.
LACIE
LaCie is an American corporation, which began manufacturing in 1992. Today it produces and
sells hard drives, DVD recorders and players, displays, computer accessories and computer
software. Unlike many companies, LaCie does not outsource its tech support or repair centre.
About half of LaCie’s workforce (approximately 400 employees) are part of the technical teams,
to ensure consumers get top-notch merchandise.
Web: www.lacie.com
Brick Desktop
Hard Drive
500GB
The Brick is fun as well as functional
as it is possible to stack these brightly
coloured Lego-style blocks together
expressing playfulness in a user-friendly
high-performance hard drive. The Brick is a
perfect storage system for users seeking to store
digital photos, save MP3s or transfer home videos
from a camcorder. The hard drive is available in
white, red and blue.
Price : £142.70 / $269.99
Capacity: 500GB
Transfer Rate: 34 MB/s
Size (LxHxD): 112 x 188 x 44mm
Weight: 990 g

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 Hard Drive
ROUND UP
WESTERN DIGITAL Passport
Western Digital produces many varieties of hard drives, from the ones in your personal Portable Drives
computer, to those being carried around in people’s bags. The company designs and
The Passport Portable Drive is an asset for
engineers hard drives that employ Serial ATA technology, to equal or exceed the creatives seeking portable storage for
performance and reliability of the SCSI hard drives that are common in high-demand business files, music, video, and games. It
computing environments. boasts capacities from 40 to 120 GB and is
Web: www.westerndigital.com simple, light and easy to carry.
Price : £105.70 / $199.99
Capacity: 120GB
Transfer Rate: 480 Mbits/s
Media Center Size (LxHxD): 89.1 x 21.1 x 144.3 mm
Weight: 0.2778 kg
The attractive Media Center is the
only storage peripheral to
My Book Premium Edition
incorporate an external hard drive, This easy to use external hard drive

FOR CREATIVES
built-in 8-in-1-memory card reader features a dual interface for all-out
(compatible with eight major media high-speed performance. The drive

ON THE ROAD
card formats) USB 2.0 hub and comes complete with backup
versatile backup system. software that ensures data is stored
Furthermore a button glows blue to as easy and safely as possible. The
confirm that files will be backed up unit also features a neat capacity
automatically. gauge to show users at a glance
Price : £132 / $249.99 how much space is available.
Capacity: 320GB Price : £174.40 / $329.99
Transfer Rate: 400 - 480 Mbits/s Capacity: 500GB
Size (LxHxD): 154.43 x 44.2 x Transfer Rate: 400 Mbits/s
218.75mm Size (LxHxD): 56.7 x 172.2 x 143 mm
Weight: Not Listed Weight: 1.32 kg

Rugged All-Terrain Hard Drive

This is the storage system for creatives on the road. Delivering up to 120GB in
a small portable unit with an orange rubber bumper and scratch-protected
aluminium shell for shock-resistant protection. The drive inside can sense
motion, so if your drive takes a fall the drive head will stop moving to further
protect your data.
Price : £148 / $279.99
Capacity: 120GB
Transfer Rate: Between 30 - 50 MB/s
Size (LxHxD): 90 x 25 x 145 mm
Weight: 250 g

Biggest F800
This is the ideal storage centre for audio and visual
professionals who require high-end performance at an
affordable price. Offering a titanic 2TB of space, with a rapid
transfer rate of up to 55MB/s and secure RAID technology, it’s
great for protecting your data too.
Price : £1,003 / $1,899
Capacity: 2 TB
Transfer Rate: 55MB/s
Size (LxHxD): 298 x 153 x 176mm
Weight: 6.65 Kg

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 hard
drives
FREECOM ping mobile
THE HARD
Freecom has been in busines
external storage products
s for over 15 years, develo
that are reliable and conven
ient, and
DRIVE FOR MEDIA
MAKERS AND
. The company
at the touch of a button
allow data to be backed up lines so cus tomers
ty and support hot
offers a full two-year warran
get the full package of afte
Web: www.freecom.com
r-sales care .
CREATIVE PROS
FSG-3 Storage Gateway
A perfect all in one network
storage solution for professio
e space to stor e high reso lutio n
nals or
files on
MAXTOR
small companies who crav Server with 1001 Seagate was founded in 1979 and was the first
claim s to act as a “Sto rage
a server. The product server, FTP company to build 5.25-inch hard disc drives for
server, Backup server, Web
possibilities” including: File and AV server.
server, USB prin t server the PC. Since then Seagate has been
server, Network router, USB
developing the technology and manufacturing
Price : £426 / $805.87 / €629
Capacity: 500GB products to help Creatives store data. Maxtor is
Transfer Rate: 480Mb/s part of the company build up and specialises in
m
Size (LxHxD): 17.5 x 14 x 4.4c hard drives.
Weight: 950 g Web: www.maxtor.com

Hard Drive 3.5”

h doesn’t absorb desk
This is a nippy little unit, whic
emi ts nex t to no noise, thanks to the
retail space and
the device simply uses a
fact there is no fan; instead
indi cato r to com mun icate with its user.
small LED
Price : £121.20 / $229.30 / €179
Capacity: 80 to 400 GB
Transfer Rate: 480Mbit/s
cm
Size (LxHxD): 20 x 11.5 x 4
Weight: 750 g

SMARTDISK FireLite USB 2.5”

SmartDisk manufactures portable, network and multimedia storage This lightweight silver compact hard disk allows
Photoshop artists to store information on the
products and technologies that enable users to share and preserve
move as it is extremely portable, and ready to work
digital content and information.
after the cable is connected. Additionally it can be
The company’s top products include: FlashTrax XT, (palm-sized daisy-chained to meet the most demanding
multimedia storage/player), PhotoBank (portable disk drive), FireFly storage requirements.
(an ultra-portable hard drive) and the two models featured below. Price : £130.42 / $246.70
Web: www.smartdisk.com Capacity: 100 GB
Transfer Rate: 400 Mb/s
Size (LxHxD): 84mm x 129mm x 18mm
CrossFire Weight: Not Listed

BLAZES The CrossFire external hard drive is a high-performance storage

THROUGH
device and is presented in an attractive design. The product is
powered by a 7200 RPM hard drive, and blazes through
demanding applications allowing you to work more and wait less.

APPLICATIONS Price : £99.99 to £154.99 / $189 to $293.21

Capacity: 250GB

ALLOWING YOU TO Transfer Rate: 400 Mb/s

Size (LxHxD): 221 X 127 X 39 mm

WORK MORE Weight: Not Listed

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 Hard Drive
ROUND UP
OneTouch III
FireWire 800
This is the hard drive for media
QUIRKY USBS
makers and creative pros as it easily If you’re after something a little smaller, then a run of the mill USB
allows users to tap into the speed of pen can do the job just fine. However, where there’s a market there’s
FireWire 800 for lightning fast access a gimmick.
to files. Preformatted for the Mac,
with enough capacity to back up
and store files for the entire studio,
you will find that it easily formats for
Windows too.
Price : £132.12 / $249.95
Capacity: 300GB
Transfer Rate: 33- 73 MB/s
Size (LxHxD): 136 x 65 x 217 mm
Weight: 1.45 Kg

The crazy inventors of the SushiDisk www.sushidisk.co.uk, are

manufacturing and peddling these sushi styled plastic USB pens
including restaurant faves: kappa-maki (cucumber roll), ikura (salmon
OneTouch III Mini Edition roe), tekka-maki (tuna roll), uni (sea urchin), and maguro (tuna). The
prices range from £29.99 to £99.99 ($56.70 to $189) depending on
The Mini Edition encourages its creative owners to hit the
how much memory you require.
road and bring their portfolio in its small, lightweight, and
highly portable hard drive. It is automatic-syncing so users
can always work with current files, and the USB connection
If you’re more of an eco-friendly fan, then
makes life even simpler.
Price : £79.20 / $149.95 maybe these ‘Sticks’ will be more up your
Capacity: 60GB street (or tree). The Netherlanders www.
Transfer Rate: 480Mb/s oooms.nl have taken the ‘memory stick’ one
Size (LxHxD): 5.24 x 3.54 x 0.79cm step further and quite literally fashioned an
Weight: 205 g usb from an actual ‘stick’. The 2.0 devices
have been inserted into a real branch with
dimensions of approximately 2 x 10 x 2cm,
and are on sale from €39 (£26/$59) for 128mb,
Access Time
Glossary of terms

and stagger up to €90 (£70/$115) for 1G.

The amount of time it takes for the device to seek and connect to the storage
device to retrieve information.

Buffer
A storage area to temporarily allow for different rates of data transfer.

Byte
A sequence of eight binary digits, which acts as the unit of measurement for how
much storage a hard drive can hold.

Capacity
The amount of information, measured in bytes that can be stored on a hard drive. A
megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes and a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes.

Data transfer rate

The rate that digital data transfers from one point to another, expressed in bits per There are many USB pens on the market now, but what about the
second or bytes per second.
future of Hard Drive space? Dima Komissarov has created an original
Hub style of USB pen, currently a design concept, the Russian has invented
A device joining communication lines at a central location, providing a central the ‘Flashbag with Micro Pump’. The USB inflates as the device’s
connection to all devices on the network. memory is used acting as a visual reminder of how much space is left.
For more information visit www.plusminus.ru.
USB
Universal serial bus connects external drives, printers, modems, mice, keyboards,
etc, through a single, general-purpose port.

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 Expanding your possibilities
Want to do more with your favourite app?
Check out these essential resources

GET FLASHY: The latest,

greatest gadgets on page 90

shortcuts 86
Get nifty with your Photoshop work
and memorise these shortcuts

printing 90
Adorn your walls with your own art
using these online print services

books 92
From basic illustration to image
manipulation, there’s a book for all

mends
Recom
plug-ins 94
Expand Photoshop’s potential with
Sarah Howell

these top additions

T here’s more to Photoshop work than simply toiling with troublesome layers and worrying about
colour casts. To really enjoy the whole process it’s worth venturing out and investigating some
of the more exciting possibilities for your images.
If you’re looking to expand your knowledge of Photoshop or want to browse through a selection of
inspirational images then check out our round-up of some new publications hitting the shelves. We
always give our honest opinion and hope to help you pick only the best for your personal collection.
It’s always a shame to think that after hours creating your masterpieces they’re left to gather dust on
your hard-drive and never see the light of day. If you turn to page 90 you can take a look at some of the
best online printing services around at the moment. We think you’ll be astounded at what you can do
with your designs, you can turn them into simple prints or make a fashion statement with a unique bag
or lamp for your home. Finally, we’ve included a directory of some useful plug-ins you can download to
boost the potential of your favourite app.

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 Feature

25
The Top

Photoshop
Shortcuts
Speed up your creativity by learning the top shortcuts
used by the industry’s most admired imageers…
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 In association with Editors Keys.com. Editors Keys is the World’s number one website
for shortcut Editing Keyboards. Their handy editing keyboards are world-renowned
for speeding up workflow within Photoshop. They also turn your PC into a more
attractive and professional workstation. For more info: www.editorskeys.com

01
“I think the transform (Apple+T) shortcut is

06
great, especially now it incorporates warp “My artwork can be very complex
with CS2. A lot of my images are multi- with a great multitude of layers. A
layered and multi-imaged and I’m always playing with quick method to locate the layer
perspective and sizing images up or down.” without using the layer palette is to hold the
Robin Preston (www.nw-5.com) mouse button down over the layer while
pressing the Control key. A drop down menu

02
“I like the group layer shortcut
(Command+G) or to ungroup
(Command+Shift+G) in Photoshop
because it allows you to link multiple layers together
of layers will then be displayed under the
cursor, ready for me to select the layer I want.”
Paul Bateman (www.paulbateman.co.uk)

07
and move them all at the same time, which is very “I’m always working with complex
useful when an element needs to be aligned, for selections so the various selection
example, in an illustration.” shortcuts are in use frequently.
Vincent Fraser (www.lemonadeillustration.com) These include shift to add to a selection, Alt

03
(option) to subtract, and Shift+Alt (Option) to
intersect. Likewise loading selections from a
“I’d have to say the shortcut I use channel, layer or mask often results in a
the most is holding the space bar selection that’s the opposite way round to
to temporarily activate the hand what you want so Cmd+Shift+I to invert a
tool. It allows you to move swiftly round an image selection comes in handy.”
without having to toggle between tools making for Paul Bateman (www.paulbateman.co.uk)
faster editing.”

08
Sam Williams, Magictorch (www.magictorch.com)

“My favourite Photoshop keyboard

FOR ME TO shortcut, and the one I use most

often, has to be Apple+0 (fit image
LIKE A GLOVE: Fit your work to your screen like
Si Scott with the Apple+0 command

ACHIEVE MY
09
to screen). As everything is hand drawn I’m constantly “For me to achieve my Tony Hart gallery

TONY HART
working close to the drawing, cleaning it up and then dream, the palette shortcuts are
continually hitting Apple+0 to view the whole piece essential. The actions palette (F9),

GALLERY DREAM,
on screen.” brushes (F5), colour swatches (F6) and layers (F7) are
Si Scott (www.siscottdesign.com) just a few of my definite must-knows.”

THE PALETTE Emma Cake (www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk)

SHORTCUTS ARE
ESSENTIAL

04
“I use the power of layer masks a lot.
Sooner than filling a mask with black to
conceal the associated image layer, try
holding down the Alt key as you click the New layer
mask icon in the palette… an instant Hide All mask!”
Tim Shelbourne (www.timshelbourne.com)

05
“I can’t do an illustration without using
the magnify shortcuts zoom in (Apple+
‘+’) and zoom out (Apple + ‘-’). Detail to
me is everything, and when you pride your work on
lines and detail that resembles perfection, you simply
can’t achieve that at a view of 12.5% or the screen
with is sort ‘fit to screen’. Getting in close to 200%,
maybe sometimes 300% allows you to trace out your
areas as closely as you desire for a professional finish.”
Kev Speck (www.kevspeck.com)

TRANSFORMERS: Press ‘Apple/Cmd+T’ for Robin’s

quick access to all Photoshop’s transform tools

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 Feature

SIZING UP: Like Jerry Lofaro, Chintu’s favourite

shortcut is the bracket keys

SELECT TO IMPRESS: Jason Cook’s shortcut

could help transform the way you work

10
“My favourite shortcut is the space bar. It
allows me to navigate around my work to
check the finer details whilst I’m zoomed in.
This is especially helpful as a lot of my work is layered
and very textured and the finer details can only be
checked whilst zoomed in at a high level.”
Kerry Roper (www.youarebeautiful.co.uk)

11
“I love the Image Adjustment, ‘Match Color’. All
of my images and paintings begin with a photo
collage with sometimes very disparate source

13
material and Match Color makes it so much easier to “One I use a lot is the CMYK preview
fit the different photos into the same colour space.”
Micah Ganske (www.micahganske.com)
(Apple+Y) – this lets you see how the image
will reproduce in four colour litho. Colours 15 “I’m a complete layer junkie – I can
never have enough of them. Maybe I

12
“The shortcut I use quite a lot is,
having created a clipping path, say
around an apple, to turn it in to a
selection so I can edit it I click the
can often shift when you convert from RGB to CMYK,
so toggling between these preview modes gives you
the chance to compensate for any changes.”
Derek Bacon (www.derekbacon.com)
should be more economical, but
Apple+Shift+ N (New Layer) has probably
saved me hours over the course of a year! Also
it saves the heartache of realising too late that
you’ve painted something onto an existing

14
image/document image with the “My favourite shortcut is ‘V’ for the move layer, and not a new one.”
appropriate layer selected and hold down the Control tool (with the auto layer select ticked at the Derek Bacon (www.derekbacon.com)
key (Mac). This brings up a window which lets you top tool bar) because I do so much collage
select ‘make a selection’ and saves pressing the make
selection button on the paths palette.”
Jason Cook (www.jasoncook.co.uk)
and there are so many layers that I need to push
around quickly to get the composition right.”
Sarah Howell (www.debutart.com)
16 “Using shortcuts in Photoshop makes
things so much faster. My two favourite
shortcuts in Photoshop are the ‘H’ and ‘F7’
Keys. When holding down the ‘H’ key you can

CUSTOMISE YOUR track around a zoomed image using your

mouse, to save you loads of time using those
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS pesky scroll bars. Another simple shortcut to
quickly get the Layers box up again is to just
“I use Photoshop nearly every single day – both at work and home – to process tens, if not hundreds of press the ‘F7’ key. It’s so frustrating when the
files. So, to streamline my work, reduce monotony and minimise error, I use such things as Actions, layers palette just disappears out of sight!”
Scripts and Batch processing. But, the one feature that probably makes the biggest difference in terms Mark Brown The Jeremy Kyle Show,
of expediting my workflow is keyboard shortcuts – and lots of ‘em. ITV Granada
As of Photoshop CS2, you now have the ability to configure your own keyboard shortcuts via the
Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts menu command. I’ve literally bound almost every available key to the
commands, tools and features that I use most frequently, which allows me to work up to ten times
faster in some situations.
17 “Seeing as I’m often painting with my
Wacom in Photoshop my favourite
shortcut has to be the letter ‘B’ for me.
For more a complete listing of Photoshop’s keyboard shortcuts (for both Mac and Windows), as well as Unsurprisingly, that brings the Brush tool into
my extended keyset, visit: http://user.fundy.net/morris/photoshop01.shtml” focus, and it’s straight to the digital canvas!”
Trevor Morris Sam Gilbey (www.sam-gilbey.com)

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 In association with Editors Keys.com. Editors Keys is the World’s number one website
for shortcut Editing Keyboards. Their handy editing keyboards are world-renowned
for speeding up workflow within Photoshop. They also turn your PC into a more
attractive and professional workstation. For more info: www.editorskeys.com
18 “Hitting the tab key is a great one for
quickly hiding your working palettes –
especially if you’re working in Screen Mode or
Full Screen Mode. I don’t have the luxury of
running two monitors side by side so I use this
one all the time.”
Derek Bacon (www.derekbacon.com)
19 “I use the keyboard shortcuts to access
all my main tools, but the ones I tend to
use the most are the ‘brackets’. Being able to
constantly change the brush sizes as I work
(left bracket to reduce brush size, right to
enlarge) is invaluable!”
Jerry Lofaro (http://jerrylofaro.com)
20 “I use many of the most simple ones
every day, such as Apple+A (select all).
For a full screen view I press F twice then Tab to
get rid of tools, Apple+R to remove the rulers,
and Apple+; to get rid of guides. Then I can see
my image without any distractions.”
Angel D’Amico (www.angeldamico.com)
I LIKE TO MOVE IT: Master movement with the
‘V’ Photoshop shortcut
086-089_APM22_Resources.indd 89
21
“Ctrl+J is amazing, Ctrl+F for repeating the
last filter is great for difference clouds and
when I use the tablet, I use the shortcut for
the Eraser Tool (E) quite a lot.”
Simon Rudd (www.pompeysworst.co.uk)
22
“With the introduction of CS2
came two new fantastic
shortcuts – the Image Size
shortcut Alt+Apple+I and one
for Canvas Size, Alt+Apple+C.”
Debbi Allen (www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk)
23
“My favourite shortcut is using the Shift
+ or Shift - keys to change the blend
modes in Photoshop. I make sure I am
using the Marquee Tool, or another non-painting tool,
and then use those keys to cycle through all the blend
modes and see how they change the image.”
Maggie Taylor (www.maggietaylor.com)
24
“When changing the colour on the BRUSH UP: Quickly change the size of your brushes
Foreground swatch quite a lot, although by means of the bracket keys like Jerry Lofaro
you can choose colours by simply
double-clicking the swatch itself or choosing your Alt key to temporarily access the Eyedropper Tool.
colour from the Color palette, it’s much easier here to Click in the image to choose your new colour and
sample existing colours from the image itself. release the Alt key to return to the Brush Tool.”
Although the Eyedropper Tool exists in the Tool bar in Tim Shelbourne (www.timshelbourne.com)
25
its own right, sooner than changing tools while you’re
using the Brush Tool, you can simply hold down the “For a full list of Photoshop
shortcuts, see the website
www.adobeevangelists.com/
pdfs/pscs2/power_shortcuts.
pdf and get creative!”
Adobe Evangelists (www.adobeevangelists.com)
ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM:
Kev’s favourite shortcut
gets him up close to his
intricate work
89
Advanced Photoshop
24/8/06 12:27:29
resources
printing services If you’re proud of your images then why not show them
off? Mugs, chairs, wallpaper, the list is endless

PhotoBox Print it
Web: www.photobox.co.uk
Digitally Yours
S ometimes showcasing your work on an online portfolio
site, forum or in a photo frame isn’t enough. If you’ve
spent hours producing an image you’re proud of, then
Web: www.digitally-
yoursonline.com
Digitally Yours can transform all Recom
mends
displaying your talents should be top of your ‘To do’ list. your digital images, photos,
PhotoBox is here to help. From simple services like printing films, memory cards, memory
sticks etc onto canvas. Whether it’s
your photos or enlarging them, to showcasing your artwork on
your wedding photos, family portraits,
canvas or in photobooks, the site is a must visit when you’re holiday snaps or abstract art you want to
after printing services. print – it’s prepared.
Adorn your office or home walls with artwork created by you Offering print canvasses up to 44” wide and
as long as you like (they’ve printed 8ft long
and professionally presented by Photobox. If you want
images before!) Digitally Yours is the perfect
something less run-of-the-mill then PhotoBox isn’t for you, but resource for office walls and large lounges.
for economic printing, this should be your first stop. The Also offering picture framing services it can
deliveries are fast and reliable too. 5 offer customers the choice of mounting their
work, framing their work in the traditional way
Rating: 4/5 and also the more popular canvas printing
and stretching service. 5
Rating: 5/5

Shutterfly Print2Wallpaper
Web: www.print2wallpaper.com
Web: www.shutterfly.com Now you can really show off your art – by

I
f you’re like us and can never think of the gift to buy a
loved one, then why not make something for them?
As well as providing photo printing services to your door,
Shutterfly produces a wealth of gifts; from a calendar, mug or
photobook, to something more extravagant like personalised
playing cards, puzzles or even a child’s reading book with your
child’s image in, there are plenty of options. Here at Advanced
Photoshop we’re loving the mouse mats – great for displaying
that latest masterpiece, as well as the keepsake box – the
perfect gift to store those scraps of paper with handy hints in.
Straight photo printing starts at just $0.19/10p, although for
those not based in the US you might be looking at a shipping
charge for larger items. 5
Rating: 4/5
making it cover your whole wall! Not
content with a canvas or poster print,
Print2Wallpaper can produce wall coverings
for your home – however big your wall
happens to be.
Although it’s quite pricey – £70 ($120) per
square foot, you can ‘try before you buy’.
Simply send a photograph of the area you
would like to cover, along with the images you
have in mind, and you’ll be sent a digitally
produced example of what your feature wall
could look like. The Try Before You Buy service
is available for wallpapers, blinds and canvases
and costs £39.00 for up to three different
images, and is fully refundable against your
first order. 5
Rating: 4/5
Buyking
Web: www.promo-mugs.net

Fluid Images
We say it time and time again but to get
people’s attention in this industry, you have
to stand out from the crowd. By producing
Web: www.fluid-images.co.uk memorable posters, flyers and the like
you’ll stay in people’s minds until they have

A lthough displaying images on mugs, in calendars and

on T-shirts is fun, nothing beats seeing something you
created on a huge canvas. And if this is the route you’re
a desk tidy. Send them a mug and they’ll
think of you every time they have a cuppa!
Buyking offers an extensive range of mugs
– ceramic, plastic, glass, travel and even
taking with your images, then make sure it is done right.
recycled – suiting all requirements and
When getting a picture printed on canvas remember sunlight budgets and all delivered in under a month.
causes fading. Just like your paintwork, curtains or sofa, your As a promotional gift it might be a little
canvas print will fade quickly under the sun’s stare unless it is tacky but for producing personalised family
treated properly. At Fluid Images, all canvasses are treated with a tankards – it might just be perfect. 5
fade-resistant varnish then stretched around a 12mm board to Rating: 3/5
ensure presentation and longevity are preserved.
Run by Tim Scott, Fluid Images also allows you to
choose images from its own gallery to print, or you can
commission Tim to create something for you. 5
mends
Recom
Rating: 5/5

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Print it
Designer Print
Web: www.designerprint.co.uk
In this digital age we accumulate hundreds
of digital images on our computers and yet
often never see them in print. So if you
really want to show off your favourite
images, and keep up with the latest interior
lifestyle trends, having them reproduced
onto stretched canvas will turn them into
amazing works of art that will last a lifetime.
Designer Print offers canvas prints, block
mounts, poster prints and designer prints –
allowing you to turn your favourite images
into artwork.
Although its range of services is somewhat
limited when compared to those offered by
some other sites and the website is rather
basic, its prices are perhaps a little more
realistic than some of its counterparts. 5
Rating: 3/5
Transform Your Images
Web: www.transformyourimages.co.uk
This is one for those who are less confident
about their imaging skills, but are a keen
photographer – Transform Your Images
offers a service where you provide the
image and they enhance it to produce some
bespoke artwork.
Giving you the opportunity to use their
team of designers to vamp up your photo,
there’s nothing here that you couldn’t achieve
at home with a little help from Photoshop.
The Iconic Images are worth a look if you
want a Dirty Harry, Breakfast At Tiffany’s or
Beatles image, as they start from just £35 and
look pretty cool. 5
Rating: 2/5
Spreadshirt
Web: www.spreadshirt.net
Founded in 2002, the Leipzig-based
Spreadshirt offers online merchandising at
no cost. The online shop system lets every
website owner create a branded shop of
customised textiles without set-up costs or
minimum sales.
Nearly 120,000 shop partners take
advantage of this with users ranging from
large companies and organisations to private
artists and individuals. Whilst the large
companies make use of the extensive,
customised merchandise services those
with a more unique need can design and
order individualised textiles “on demand”
online via the site.
For lesser-known digital artists, choose
between ordering a one-off design for
yourselves or investing some more of your
money and allowing the world to start
wearing your designs. 5
Rating: 3/5
090-094_APM_22_resources.indd 91
resources
Polystudios
Web: www.polystudios.com
C anvas art is great, although if you produce something
a little different – abstract, industrial – then a different
medium might work better.
Polystudios provides printing services for canvas art – both
wrapped and with white edges – as well as for printing on
perspex. Delivering a modern feel to your images, there’s also the
option of splitting or tiling your image. Dividing the image into
two, three or even four parts, this technique will get you noticed.
You can get an instant quote online for your image – just type
in the dimensions and select the medium you’d like your image
displayed in. Delivery charges may apply but all wrapping and
lamination are included. It’s easy to use, though examples are
slightly lacking on the site. 5
Rating: 4/5
Bags Of Love
Web: www.bagsoflove.co.uk
W
ant choice? Then look no further than Bags Of Love.
Offering perhaps the most comprehensive selection
of products to print your images on, Bags Of Love is a
one-stop printing shop.
Show off your imaging talents by creating your own book.
Alternatively why not have your images printed on folding
screens, roller blinds or on wallpaper? Want something more
subtle? Then go for their mugs, cushions or calendar. Then
there’s the perfect gift for any girl – a personalised handbag or
make-up pouch – complete with your image on the front.
Also on the menu are traditional canvasses, lamps and
diaries. The choice is endless. If you’re looking just to print your
images on 4x6 however, you will be disappointed. 5
Rating: 4/5
My Bigger Picture
Web: www.mybiggerpicture.com
F
rom a personalised DAB radio to a director’s chair, My
Bigger Picture has you covered.
My Bigger Picture uses digital printing equipment to reproduce
photographic images onto textiles and wallpaper. Textiles for
bags, cushions, canvases and deckchairs are printed using dye
sublimation printing meaning your image is embedded into the
fabric (not just printed onto the surface) and is extremely durable,
so it can be washed without fear of dyes or inks running.
Prior to printing, the photographs are scanned and artworked
by a team of designers to get the maximum from your image.
Your product is then individually made by craftsman in the UK.
If you can’t find what you’re after on the site, contact them as
they produce a number of bespoke items to order! 5 mends
Recom
Rating: 5/5
91
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24/8/06 12:29:25
 books
resources
Not all books are made equal, so we sort the wheat from
the chaff in the digitally obsessed literary world
Further reading
Designing Pornotopia Reinventing Music Video
Author: Matt Hanson
Publisher: Rotovision
Author: Rick Poyner Price: £25 / $46
Publisher: Laurence King ISBN: 2940361258
Web: www.rotovision.com
Price: £17.95 / $33.50
It is a common mistake to make: assuming
ISBN: 1856694895
that Photoshop is out of its depths in
Web: www.laurenceking.co.uk mediums other than photo manipulation is
a sin many of us are guilty of. Not many

D esigning Pornotopia is not a book specifically focused

on Photoshop, but it is an essential read if you’re
interested in art, the media and the role of sexuality in
these areas. Written by Rick Poyner (author of Design
Without Boundaries and No More Rules, among others)
Designing Pornotopia examines visual culture, looking at
brands, billboards, magazines, architecture, tattoos and
trends in cosmetic surgery.
This is really a collection of essays and, unfortunately, we
found that it lacked the visuals to make it great. If you can get
over this omission, the content is first class. Looking at the
persuasiveness of sexual imagery and the media’s symbiotic
relationship with porn, the book raises some key questions,
showing how sexual imagery is invading everyday life.
Poyner shows how commerce can exploit the blurring of art
and advertising and argues that the personal makeover in the
form of cosmetic surgery has become our most fundamental
design task.
As well as essays and the occasional image, the book is also
scattered with interviews with the likes of architect Rem
Koolhaas, satirical illustrator Paul Davis and performance artist
Elliott Earls.
Looking at the design world from a standpoint based on the
consumers growing desire to design themselves, this is “a vivid,
not always comfortable picture of where 21st Century design
culture is heading.” 5
Rating: 4/5
people truly experiment with the app’s
wide variety of uses, especially not in the
medium of music video.
Showing how versatile Adobe’s image
editing suite really is, we have Reinventing Music
Video – a great read if you’re into knowing the
behind-the-scenes details of some of the video
greats, as well as highlighting the use of
Photoshop where you might not notice.
Emphasising the use of Photoshop to
colour-enhance some music videos, for people
who might like to go in this direction with their
career, it’s a useful read. 5
Rating: 4/5
Adobe Photoshop For
Underwater Photographers
Author: Sue and Jack Drafahl
Publisher: Amherst Media
Price: £21 / $39.95
ISBN: 1584281898
Web: www.amherstmedia.com
Although this book is aimed more at the
photographer, than the digital artist, it’s still
a great read.
In just a few years the underwater digital
camera has gone from novelty item to the
predominant method of capturing first class

Digital Collage And Painting underwater images. Adobe Photoshop For

Underwater Photographers shows imageers how
to use the app alongside several plug-ins to
solve a range of problems that the underwater
Author: Susan Ruddick Bloom photographer often has to face.
Publisher: Focal Press An interesting read although if you don’t
Price: £26.99 / $39.95 often take your own underwater images, a
ISBN: 9780240807058 possible waste of money. 5
Web: www.focalpress.com Rating: 3/5

D igital Collage And Painting Using Photoshop And

Painter To Create Fine Art is a meaty read with a
website to complement it.
Basics Illustration: Thinking
Visually
Author: Mark Williams
Describing how the computer can be used to paint on Publisher: Ava Publishing
photographs and incorporate other visual material into images, Price: £16.95 / $30
ISBN: 2940373159
this is one for the beginner to intermediate Photoshop user. Web: www.avabooks.ch
With plenty of step-by-steps to help you create collages (like The first book in the Basics Recom
mends
our tutorial on page 56), paintings and panoramics, the book Illustration series, Thinking
and the associated website give you the techniques and the Visually features the work of
more than 100 illustrators,
resources to practice.
educators and students demonstrating
Although readers will be able to do most of the techniques diverse ideas, techniques and skills.
here easily, the Painter aspects might give you a different view The handbook’s aim is to introduce
to your work. Using the two programs you will be able to create fundamental techniques to new designers, and
fine artworks, with a photograph as the foundation. elements might seem too simple for the more advanced users. to inspire, inform and act as a useful resource to
them. Looking at how illustrators develop their
Ideal for both Mac and Windows users you’ll find some useful On the whole, unless you’re contemplating the switch to Painter,
own personal visual language by learning the
resources on the website and the book provides a great or thinking about incorporating more Painter elements into basics, being open-minded, imaginative and
reference section for essential Painter and Photoshop your art, then there are better books out there for you. 5 hardworking Thinking Visually is a great read for
techniques. However, a basic working knowledge of Painter will any aspiring imageer. 5
stand you in good shape for this book and the Photoshop Rating: 3/5 Rating: 5/5

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 plug-ins
resources
Find the plug-ins, both free and for a fee, that can
enhance your Photoshop package
Icon Plugin
Developer: SibCode
Price: £21 / $39.95
Web: http://sibcode.com
C
reate icons directly in Adobe Photoshop with the new
plug-in from SibCode. Enhancing Photoshop with an
ability to export and import Windows icons (.ico) users can
use the creative tools and design environment of Photoshop
and make icons for use on web pages or software.
Icon Plugin for Photoshop supports multi-format icons,
transparency and semi-transparency and creates icons compatible
with Microsoft Windows XP and Vista.
Icon Plugin for Photoshop is compatible with all versions of
Microsoft Windows and all versions of Adobe Photoshop and is
popular with independent software designers. 5
Rating: 4/5
Photoshop FITS
Liberator
Developer: ESA/ESO/NASA
Price: Free
Web: www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/
F
or years astronomical images were reserved for elite
groups of astronomers. But with the latest version of FITS
Liberator, anyone with a computer running Photoshop can craft
astronomical images as beautiful as those from the Hubble Space
Telescope. This plug-in is a cache of archival astronomical and
spectra from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the
European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, the
European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-Ray observatory and
other telescopes accessible to home astronomy. 5
5/5
Rating:
SiteGrinder 1.0
Developer: MediaLab
Price: £70 / $130
Web: www.adobe.com/products/plugins/photoshop/
I
f you’re looking to expand your portfolio into web
design but don’t have any experience in that area then
this plug-in could be the perfect partner for you.
SiteGringer converts Photoshop documents into interactive
web pages and it does so in a way that is both more intuitive
and more powerful than other web tools or plug-ins.
The intuitive plug-in generates the sliced and compressed
graphic files and HTML files necessary to create everything
from a basic text menu to an entire multi-page web site with
navigation links, pop-up menus, and graphical buttons all
programmed for you – leaving you more time to be creative. 5
Rating: 5/5
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090-094_APM_22_resources.indd 94
What’s on the web
Panopticum Alpha Srip 1.1
Developer: Panopticum
Price: £21 / $40
Web: www.panopticum.com/ps/alphastrip/
alphastrip.shtml
Panopticum Alpha Strip is a unique set of
procedures for making alpha-channel
image cuttings. The new filters of this
upgraded set will help you process your
images using different geometrical effects
(thin lines, circles, rectangles, etc) with
little effort.
Use the images created with these filters as
backgrounds for your Internet pages, or for
creation of emblems or logotypes. Although
you can probably create images just as
inspiring yourself, there are some handy
actions to save you time and effort. 5
Rating: 3/5
ShadowFixer
Developer: Fixer Labs
Price: £33 / $61
Web: www.fixerlabs.com
Available as a single ‘fixer’ plug-in, or as part
of a bundle with NoiseFixer and FocusFixer,
ShadowFixer is a lifeline for when you need
to save shadowy photos.
ShadowFixer has been developed to
correct the problem of different exposure
requirements within one photograph. A
dark corridor in the foreground leading to a
light garden in the background or shadows
across a face, are just two of the problems
photographers face daily.
Corrects under exposure in images easily
with this plug-in and never again will you have
to worry unduly about the quality of your
source imagery.
PC and Mac OS X compatible. 5
mends
Recom Rating: 4/5
Puzzle Pro 2.0
Developer: AV Bros
Price: £26 / $49.95
Web: www.avbros.com/
For a bit of fun we have also taken a look at
AV Bros Puzzle Pro, a plug-in which will
allow you to create a jig-saw puzzle effect,
as well as a plethora of other looks to treat
your images with.
Puzzle Pro provides you with plenty of
freedom in the creation of a puzzle’s shapes, a
large number of built-in effects for modifying
the content of a puzzle’s pieces, the possibility
of not only being able to split an image into
pieces but being able to draw the splitter’s
shape too.
Puzzle Pro 2.0 is a fun tool but it may well
be one that you’d not get much use out of.
We did enjoy having a play around with the
jig-saw effect though. 5
Rating: 2/5
mends
Recom
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