ImagineFX_Issue_150_August_2017

Photobashing

an illustration

Dave seeley takes you through his creative process, using Photoshop

to craft a digital illustration from disparate photographic sources

In this workshop, I’ll

take you from the

beginning of my

process to the finished

digital image. I’ll

explain how I approach the work,

absorb the parameters and interface

with my client to define my task.

Then I’ll take you through the search

and selection of the photographs I’ll

use to construct my illustration.

I’ll demonstrate how Photoshop is

the critical tool in knocking out

(masking for isolation) and editing

the individual parts in order to make

them live harmoniously in the

finished work, and also how

Photoshop is critical in overall edits

in refining the finished illustration.

For this project you’ll need to

have a basic understanding of

working with photographs in

Photoshop, including image

resolution, colour palettes, value

range from black to white, and

working on layers. I’ll be working

with complex selections and

masking, transforming/scaling, layer

blending modes, and adjustment

layers. I’ll also be painting with

brushes, and using filters to distort,

sharpen and abstract.

While many artists’ processes use

photographic reference, I’ll show you

how I use photos directly in creating

my images. That’s a “backwards” way

to go about image-making in contrast

to most traditional – and many

digital – workf lows, but because

most detail is introduced in the

initial stages, crafting the picture

often involves the destruction of

detail back towards a level of

abstraction that’s associated with

artwork rather than photography.

Photoshop

get your

resources

See page 6 now!

Dave seeley

location: US

Dave’s a full-time digital,

traditional and hybrid

illustrator in the sci-fi

and fantasy genres

http://www.daveseeley.com

Artist

ProFilE

78 August 2017

Workshops