22
NEED FOR SPEED
To emphasise the sense of speed, add
some line work. To create simple colour lines that
follow the curve of the road, select the road path
already created. Fill with a bright colour then
move the selection to the right by holding Shift
and clicking the right arrow twice. Now delete,
leaving behind a thin, curved line that tails off.
Repeat this with other colours and use the
Gradient tool with layer masks to fade the ends of
the lines off smoothly. Open ‘speed_line1.psd’ and
‘speed_line2.psd’ and place them in the
composition as shown. Fill the speed_line1 with
yellow to blend with the edge of the car.20
ROADWORKS
You’re going to continue the road from the
background to the foreground to place behind the
car. To do this, create a path to achieve the smooth
curve of the road. Take the anchor points to the
background road to create a believable continuation.
Select the newly created path shape and fill with the
warm grey colour before opening up ‘tarmac.psd’ to
Paste Into the road shape for texture. Switch the
layer blend mode to Overlay at 90%.23
TWEAK THE EDGES
Now the illustration is almost complete, it’s
time for tweaking. The solid edge of Dean’s head
could do with being a little more organic, so to make
it easier to edit, collect all the Dean paint and colour
layers into a group separate from the original photo
definition layers. Duplicate the group and merge it to
create one easily editable layer, then turn off the
original group layer. Create a layer mask for it and
use the selection of ‘splat_1.psd’ to delete areas
around the top edges of Dean’s head in the mask
until satisfied. Fill a couple of layers with blue and
yellow splats to place under these edited areas to
create a painterly interaction with the background.21
ADD PAINTERLY TOUCHES
You’re going to integrate the car into the
scene a little more by adding a few painterly textures.
Open ‘paint_texture.psd’ and paste into the
composition. Fill it with yellow and place near the
rear of the car, switching to a Color Dodge layer
blend mode to give a painterly highlight. Open up
‘brush.psd’ and fill with blue to place at the front of
the car, creating forward movement. Experiment by
pasting some blue splats into the bottom area of
Dean’s shirt near the car to visually connect to it and
add to the rushing effect around the car.24
,!34Ɏ-).54%Ĉ$%#)3)/.3
An illustration is never really finished and
there’s always more to be added. Let’s add an extra
something by the diner and road where it feels a little
sparse. Open ‘41_sign.psd’ and place as shown.
Paste ‘red_blue_colour_wash’ to bring it into the
scene and distress it by using a splat selection shape
to delete areas in a layer mask as before. Place a
yellow fill under the numbers to bring them out. Add
a final palm tree (tree 3 from ‘palm_tree.psd’) to the
right of Dean under the chequer pattern to balance
out the comp. That should just about do it.19
GE4Ĉ3/-%Ĉ7(%%,3
You’re now going to add the vehicle that
Dean famously took his last drive in, the Porsche 550
Spyder. Open ‘porsche.psd’ and place into the
composition. Use the Color Range technique to
separate the dark tones of the vehicle and use ‘red_
blue_colour_wash.jpg’ to Paste Into it to add vibrant
colour. Place the dark tone layer above and switch to
an Overlay blend mode to add definition. Open
‘shape.psd’ and fill with a pale blue before pasting
into the full shape of the cover to give a base colour.
Use Magic Wand to select the numbers and pick
them out with a red colour. To fill the interior with a
red hue, create a path around the seat and window
frame to select. The same can be done for the
headlights to fill with white.QUICK TIP
Using actual scanned-in paint textures in your work can lend the image an authentic painterly look that
can be more effective than digital painting, which can sometimes have a synthetic look.COMBINE PHOTOS AND GRAPHICS