A_P_TPC_Vol11_2015_

USE CLIPPING MASKS CREATIVELY

UTILISE CLIPPING MASKS AND BLENDING MODES

TO COMPLETE A PAINTERLY ILLUSTRATION

USE CLIPPING

MASKS CREATIVELY

I

nspired by current trends in design and apparel

featuring galaxy and nebula imagery, this tutorial

will show you how to incorporate Photoshop’s

fantastic tools and effects in digital painting to

create an otherworldy piece of artwork.

Using clipping or layer masks, various effects,

vector tools, and blending modes within Photoshop

can not only speed up the creation of a fantastic

digital painting, but also brings something new to the

design that may have been avoided due to tedium, or

not have been executed as well if done manually.

Photoshop is a powerful tool, and using it to its

PREPARING THE BASE

CREATE SKETCHES AND LINE ART AND PREPARE YOUR STOCK

fullest is a great way to expand your skillset and get

your artwork to a higher level.

In this tutorial, we’ll use clipping masks to

complement a painterly design. We’ll start off

drawing a sketch of the portrait and establish our

composition. Then, we’ll refine our line artwork, paint

and render our subject’s face and body using default

and edited brushes. Last of all, we’ll use stock

images to create a nebulous hair design. Using

clipping masks and blending modes within our

layers allows our elements to remain editable as we

apply non-destructive changes.

01

PREPARE THE SKETCH

Open a new document in Adobe

Photoshop and create a new layer in the Layers

panel. We’re going to start with a simple, rough

compositional sketch. Use the Brush tool (B) and

a Default brush of your choice to sketch out a

portrait similar to the one pictured. Use reference

if it helps with your design.

02

REFINE THE LINE ART

Create a new layer in the Layers panel and

use the Pen tool and Ellipse tool in order to better

define the shape of the head and jaw. On another

new layer refine your original sketch. This may take

a few layers of progressively cleaner line art. Once

satisfied with your work, merge (Cmd/Ctrl+E) your

final line art layers together.

03

PLACE THE BIRDS

Use the bird silhouette stock photo to

copy and paste birds onto new layers over others.

Use the Lasso tool to select the area around each

bird when copying them into your working

document. Use the Magic Wand tool to delete the

background of the birds. Collect layers into folders

in the Layers panel to keep yourself organised.

FROM CONCEPTION

TO COMPLETION

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Prepare the sketch

Progress 2: Render the face

Progress 3: Drawing and

rendering the portrait with

the Brush tool

MARY WINKLER

http://www.behance.net/acrylicana

@marywinklerart

OUR EXPERT

Mary works as an illustrator and

graphic designer under the brand

Acrylicana® designing apparel,

jewellery, and illustrating for

companies like Disney Consumer

Products, Jakks Pacific, Jada Toys,

Tuts+ and more.

SOURCE FILES

Included are two line art sketches. You

can download the stock images used

from http://www.dreamstime.com, image

numbers 11693269, 25682422

and 31634656.