Advanced_Photoshop_Issue_136_-_2015_UK_.

(sharon) #1

CREATE A DISPLACEMENT EFFECT TECHNIQUES


BREAKDOWNANDRECONFIGUREAPORTRAITUSING
SHAPE LAYERS, MASKS, AND LAYER STYLES

CREATE A


DISPLACEMENT


EFFECT


T


he artwork for Adobe Creative Suite 6
features stunning portraits flavoured with
the technology and culture behind the
associated program. Illustrator shows a
woman festooned with beautiful vector doodles. The
artwork for Photoshop, by Alberto Seveso, portrays a
face broken down and re-imagined using organic
shapes, elements, and texture. It’s a prime example
of how Photoshop can help you produce complex
visuals with a layered approach.
Let’s try creating something in the vein of this
image. We’ll start by using the Pen tool to layout
shape layers and adorn them with layer styles. This
tutorial assumes you have Pen tool basics down.

READY THE BUILDING BLOCKS
CREATE SHAPE LAYERS AND PREPARE THE MODEL

After compiling a decent array of shapes, we’ll
extract our model and begin piecing together the
base forms using clipping masks. We’ll continue to
add the shapes we made (and create more) to
build up the detail.
Shape layers are extremely flexible and can be
reshaped with the Direct Selection tool. Shape
layers incur no degradation or blurriness when they
are transformed, making them the perfect building
blocks for this tutorial.
For textural interest, we’ll mask and blend in
some shots of foamy water and broccoli. To
finalise, we’ll use a series of adjustment layers and
blend modes to get the perfect look.

01


CREATE SHAPES
Open Shapes.psd from FileSilo. There are a
few example shapes. We’ll make some more. Create
a new layer. Select the Pen tool. In the options bar,
set to Shape and choose a Fill colour. Click and drag
on-canvas to create your shape. Create more
shapes. Don’t spend too much time refining the
shapes though, as we can do that later.

02


USE GRADIENT OVERLAY
Layer styles, accessible from the Layers
palette’s fx button, can add some quick dimension and
interest to our flat shapes. Apply a Gradient Overlay with
the Black and White preset for versatile dimension. You
can use a darken blend mode like Multiply, a lighten
mode like Screen, or a contrast mode like Soft Light.
Adjust opacity and angle as needed.

03


ADD MORE STYLES
Inner Shadow can help bestow a bit more
heft. Use sparingly with low opacity, choke, and size.
Drop Shadow is key to building up the depth in the
piece. Be moderate with opacity and size, and
increase when needed. As you stack and overlap
shapes, the shadowy interplay will create some nice
complexity throughout.

BUILDITUPANDREFINE

WORK IN
PROGRESS

Progress 1: Layer the
model forms

Progress 2: Add shapes and
more elements

Progress 3: Apply adjustments

ANDRE VILLANUEVA
000-000-0000.com

OUR EXPERT


Andre fell in love with Photoshop
while studying web design in college.
He taught for several years in the
media arts department. He’s now an
art director in Birmingham, USA.

SOURCE FILES
FileSilo contains the source files
needed to complete the tutorial:
blurs, shapes, foamy water shots,
and broccoli! Feel free to supplement
with your own textures and/or swap
out the model shot, which can be
downloaded from http://www.dreamstime.
com (image number 51969906).
Free download pdf