GRAPHICS AND TYPE
PRO DIGITAL ARTISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS SHARE ESSENTIAL ADVICE FOR IMPROVING
ILLUSTRATION TECHNIQUES AND GETTING THE MOST OUT OF KEY PHOTOSHOP TOOLS
© Shaivalini Kumar
- ADJUST COLOR DYNAMICS AND TEXTURE
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Texture with brushes: “To get good texture, I recommend
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TEXTUREDďBRUSHESďASďITďMAKESďPARTSďOFď
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Blend in text: “I mostly create my text
INď!DOBEď)LLUSTRATORď(OWEVERďTOďBLENDďthe text into the image, which is quite
rendered and textured, I go over the text once with Airbrush (Soft High
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Gradients: “Subtle gradients, shadows and highlights add
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object and, after adding the gradient at 20% Opacity, I go OVERďTHEďAREASďTHATďREQUIREďSHADOWSďWITHďAď$RYďBRUSH
Smudge tool:give depth under the eyes, I used the “On the face, in order to
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COLOURďINTOďTHEďBACKGROUNDďCOLOUR
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ILLUSTRATIONS
20
BETTER
TIPS FOR
GRAPHICS &
© Aaron Campbell
- TAKE CONTROL OF PATHS WITH THE PEN TOOL
Aaron Campbell (www.aaroncampbell.ca) explains
how to get the most out of this essential Photoshop
tool: “I use the Pen tool in Path mode instead of Shape
mode, therefore for my shapes and lines I use Fill
Path or Stroke Path instead of having separate shape
layers. This makes it easier to edit the shape in
© Aaron Campbellalmost any way and paint over the top of them or use
the Pen tool’s Make Selection function to minus off
any part of the shape. I often do my illustrations as
paintings and having rasterised blocks of colour
makes it easy to paint other colours into the shape,
erase parts and merge other shapes together. I could
create a full piece with just the Pen tool since it offers
so much variety in just one tool.”
- USE GRADIENT MAPS
A designer and illustrator based in Vancouver, DC,
Aaron Campbell (www.aaroncampbell.ca) says: “I
like leaving my sketches a bit on the vague side so
that there’s lots of room for experimenting in
Photoshop. Quickly brushing in some black and
white for values will establish your lighting early on
in the piece, so there’s no confusion when you’re
painting the final. I draw out a perspective grid and
start Pen-tooling in the largest blocks of colour, then
begin adding in the lighting, starting with the largest
areas and the main focal point. I also add some
Gradient Maps over the top to add harmony to the
colour palette. I like mixing it up between multiple
Gradient Maps on different blending modes and
opacities to give some very unexpected results.”