12
CHANGE COLOURS
As you continue to build up the pieces, you
may find that you need to change some of the colour.
With shape layers, it’s a breeze to play with colour
possibilities. Simply double-click on the Color Fill
layer thumbnail and the Color Picker pops up.
Choose a new colour and click OK. In CS6+, you can
make sweeping colour changes. Cmd/Ctrl+click
each shape you want to change, select a Shape tool,
then use Fill in the options bar to change the colour.11
ADJUST THE STYLES
You may also need to adjust layer styles as
you go along. By continuing to cluster shape layers
with shadowy layer styles, you may start to get areas
that are a bit too murky. You may also have areas
where a bit more shading would be nice. To edit a
layer’s style, double-click on the adjustment. For
Drop Shadow and Inner Shadow, adjust the opacity
and size up or down. For Gradient Overlay, you can
adjust opacity or even edit the gradient itself.13
CREATE SHARDS
Let’s create some shards. Go to File>Place
(Place Embedded in CC) and grab Mat.jpg then click
OK to confirm. Apply a layer mask by pressing the
Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers
palette. Click the mask then press Cmd/Ctrl+I to
invert it. With the Polygonal Lasso tool, plot out the
corners of the shard until you reach the origin. Fill
the selection with white then deselect (Cmd/Ctrl+D).
Unlinking the mask allows you to move and
transform the image or mask independently. Repeat
the process to add a few more shards.10
REFINE THE SHAPES
Continue to move and adjust the pieces
with the Move tool. To assist you in finding
particular layers, you can tick Auto-Select in the
options bar and set to Layer. You will probably need
to manage the configuration of pieces throughout
the majority of the tutorial, since adding new
elements may necessitate you move, adjust, or
remove existing elements. Free Transform as
needed to Scale up or down, Rotate, or Distort. To
transform multiple shapes at once, Cmd/Ctrl+click
each layer, then transform.09
BUILD UP THE PIECES
After completing the base model forms, which serve as the foundation for the piece, we’ll
supplement them with a multitude of coloured shapes adorned with gradient overlays, inner shadows, and
drop shadows. Building these up provides depth and detail.BUILD IT UP
ADD AND ARRANGE SHAPES AND ELEMENTS(^001) The base model pieces are built up MODEL SHAPES
by using different shape layers to contain the model photo via
clipping masks
002 COLOUR The many coloured shape layers, SHAPES
dressed with layer styles like Drop Shadow, are overlapped to provide
complexity to the piece
003 STAY When working with many layers, useORGANISED
groups to corral similar layers. Furtherorganise by nesting groups within a
parent group
001
003
002
Shape layers incur no
degradation or blurriness
when transformed, making them
the perfect building blocks