The Professional Photoshop Book - Volume 7 2015

modes on a regular basis; the Color, Overlay and

Multiply modes are essential when adding colour to

the linework. Recently I’ve discovered the Mixer Brush

tool, which has allowed me to be more experimental

when adding textures and mimicking traditional

colouring methods. I love all these tools for making my

work process a lot faster and letting me create unique

mixed media illustrations as well as giving the final

piece a more clean and polished look.”

Hunter says: “I know many hand-lettering artists

start with grid paper and do their sketches in pencil

first, but I tend to do all my sketches digitally these

days. I use a bog standard Wacom pen and tablet to

sketch my lettering out in Photoshop. This is a

much more efficient way for me to work and I find it

just as easy, if not easier to draw on the computer

than on paper. I like the flexibility it allows me to

play about with layout and make changes quickly.

This is especially useful when trying to visualise a

book or magazine cover. I think colour plays a large

part in my lettering style, so I like to be able to work

in colour from the start and working in Photoshop

means than I play with a lot of different colourways

at the same time or with a few clicks. When

MARTIN SCHMETZER EXPLAINS HIS PROCESS WHEN USING

THE PEN TOOL TO MODIFY LETTERFORMS

EDIT LETTERFORMS WITH THE PEN TOOL

01

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

“I use the scanned sketch as base to

redraw my letters using the Pen tool and

geometric shapes. The vertical strokes of each

letter I often build up with a rectangle that I

copy/paste to each position to get the same

width on each line. Actually the whole letters

are often made up by several separate blocks

and islands before I merge the shapes together

to create one single path.”

02

OUTER LIMITS

“When you are working with the Pen

tool,” adds Schmetzer, “a good tip is to place your

anchor points on the extremities of each

letterform. Don’t try to force it but it usually helps

to use as few anchor points as possible to keep

the rounded shapes smooth and seamless.”

03

IN COLOUR

Schmetzer tries to stick to one

colour during this process, both because he

believes “a well executed design should

look good as a one-color artwork, so it’s a

kind of a quality assurance for me to have this

process. Another tip to check the quality of a

design is to flip the design horizontal and see if it

still feels balanced when mirrored.”

creating my sketches I use a variety of dry and wet

Photoshop brushes. Some I have created myself,

but not all. I also also draw a fair bit freehand with

the Lasso tool, especially when blocking in lettering

during the early stages of a commission. Once the

rough version of the lettering is approved by a client,

I’ll use that as the base layer and then move onto

the final high-res art. At this stage I pay a lot more

attention to spacing and flow. I will make sure all my

lines are clean as required, and will add any

decorative details or textures using brushes or

scanned textures.”

Summer: “My illustration style is all about combining traditional

drawing techniques with digital enhancement,” says Anatasia Stankevich, “using Photoshop to improve composition and add

colour and richness to my line drawing”

A For Average:says Linzie Hunter, who has created a series of uninspiring quote “My style is playful, sometimes considered ‘naive,’”

posters. She likes to mix “contrasting styles and often intersperses upper and lowercase characters”

© Linzie Hunter

© Anastasia Stankevich

Pro type techniques

The Professional Photoshop Book 153

144-155 New Type Rules Feature.indd 153 06/10/2015 15:29