A_P_TPC_Vol11_2015_

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

1. ADJUST COLOR DYNAMICS AND TEXTURE
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Texture with brushes: “To get good texture, I recommend

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Blend in text: “I mostly create my text

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Gradients: “Subtle gradients, shadows and highlights add

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Smudge tool:give depth under the eyes, I used the “On the face, in order to

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ILLUSTRATIONS

20

BETTER

TIPS FOR

GRAPHICS &

© Aaron Campbell

3. 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.”

2. 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.”