Illustrator and art director Thomas Burden
prefers to keep things simple when cutting out,
refraining from getting overly technical with his
selections. “95 per cent of my work is created in
CINEMA 4D and rendered as TIFFs that I then
edit in Photoshop,” he tells us of his work. “To
save time cutting out, I always use alpha
channels/object buffers when rendering out of
C4D, so I can click on a specific element in the
Photoshop Channels menu to select it.
“One trick I always use when editing my work
in Photoshop is holding the Cmd/Ctrl key and
clicking on an element’s image in the Layers
panel to select it,” explains Burden. “I’ll then use
that as a layer mask and apply any cutaways orTHOMAS BURDEN
REVEALS HOW
02%˶-!$%ď#(!..%,3ď
#!.ď-!+%ď3/-%ď3%,%#4)/.3ď!ď"2%%:%#!2ď$%3)'.%2ď$!.)%,ď(!(.ď2%6%!,3ď(/7ď9/5ď#!.ď#2%!4%ď
3%,%#4)/.3ď53).'ď3(!0%3ď!.$ď,!9%MASTER
CHANNELSUSE THE PEN TOOL TO
SELECT SHAPES03
USE FEATHER
With the Marquee (M) or Lasso (L) tool
selected, Cmd/Ctrl-click anywhere on the art board
and select Feather. Set this to 4 pixels and hit Return.
Now copy and paste the selection on top and set the
layer blending mode to Screen. Repeat as necessary,
using blurs to create a suitable highlight.01
US).'Ĉ02%Ɏ-!$%Ĉ#(!..%,
Download this feature’s file at http://bit.
ly/1wXDuVl. Open ‘neon.psd’ in Photoshop. In the
Channels menu, Cmd/Ctrl-click on the ‘neon’
channel thumbnail to select just the neon elements.01
53%Ĉ4(%Ĉ0%.Ĉ4//,Ĉ
I usually start with a quick sketch and
outline the painted cover-pieces of the robot with
the Pen tool. I set the layer Opacity to 50% to help
me see what I am selecting. In this example I have
seven separate, simple shapes on different layers.02
3%,%#4Ĉ4(%Ĉ3(!0%Ĉ,!9%23Ĉ
Cmd/Ctrl-click on the layer thumbnail of
the first shape to get a selection from it. Next, hold
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift and start clicking on all the other
shape layer thumbnails. You will have a combined
selection of all the shapes drawn earlier.03
-!+%Ĉ!Ĉ,!9%2Ĉ-!3+
Create a new layer and press the Make
Layer Mask button on the bottom of the layer
window. You will end up with a mask where you
can draw in an exact boundary. You can now also
Cmd/Ctrl-click on the black and white mask
thumbnail to get that selection back. I usually do
that later on in the process to put textures like
scratches or dirt on the robot parts.02
#/.42!#4Ĉ4(%Ĉ3%,%#4)/.
Go to Select>Modify>Contract and enter
6 pixels in the ‘Contract By’ box.erasing to the mask rather than the layer itself
to preserve editability.”
As with most Photoshop users, when it
comes to creating selections with pixel-perfect
precision, Burden believes that the Pen tool is
the best way to go. “When cutting out anything
remotely detailed in Photoshop, I’ll always use
the Pen tool and then use Cmd/Ctrl-click>Make
Selection. I prefer this to using the Lasso tools. I
also use the options found under Select>Modify
quite a lot. I’m forever Cmd/Ctrl-clicking when
using the Lasso or Marquee tools to bring up the
Feather or Refine Edge functions. These can
really help to get the perfect selection that you’re
looking for.”02/ď'5)$%ď4/ď3%,%#4)/.