Best of the Web – July 2009

The month of July had a lot of interesting articles on furthering one’s self as a designer. Whether you are looking to become famous, or more proficient and informed, we got you covered. Also, did you know that marketing tips from a
children’s lemonade stand can help you market yourself as a designer? Well all that is included in this month’s web roundup.

We also have a set of great tutorials including two very different ones on digital painting, and our usual set of amazing freebies that include a set of seasonal RSS icons, as well as a great array of textures. So lets get into this month’s roundup!

Tutorial Wrap

(FREE!) Download Picks

Article Wrap

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July 31, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

100 Artworks from the Top 20 Digital Artists in Latin America

Last time we scoured Europe for the best Photoshop talent going around. This week we’re turning to beautiful South America to uncover 20 of the top digital artists on the continent. Is your country or city represented?

1. Pablo Alfieri

Representing: Buenos Aires, Argentina

“Pablo Alfieri is a graphic designer and illustrator born in 1982 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2002 he started the career of Graphic design at U.B.A. (University of Buenos Aires), where he discovered his passion for design, illustration and typography. Since 2007 he has been working in local design studios like RDYA Design Group and Punga Visual Consorcio, and in January of 2008 he created “Playful”, a showcase of his personal works, a free space where he plays and has fun with colors, typography and geometric shapes, the bases of his creative work.”

2. Ezequiel Matteo

Representing: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ezequiel is an outstanding character designer who also moonlights as a graphic designer. His characters are bizarre and strange, but cute all at the same time. Aside from designing a variety of characters, he has also written a few tutorials for some of the major electronic arts magazines.

3. Adolfo Correa

Representing: Santiago, Chile

Adolfo Correa is a 21 year old student of Graphic Design from Santiago, Chile. Although he may be young, he is quickly picking up on the popular styles and design trends of the modern graphic design world. There is no doubt that upon his graduation he will have a long list of clients ready to work with him.

4. Guillermo Alarcón Rivera

Representing: Santiago, Chile

Guillermo Alarcón Rivera, a designer from Santiago, has a unique style that stretches across a variety of mediums. From illustration to motion design, Guillermo Alarcón Rivera has an arsenal of design skills that seem to work very well for him.

5. Genaro DeSia Coppola

Representing: Barcelona, Venezuela

Genaro DeSia Coppola is an amazing vector and flash artist with a style that is very much his own. If you think that his vector art is cool, than you are sure to love his flash work. His flash work takes his vector art to another level by adding color and movement to it.

6. Diego Diaz

Representing: Guatemala City, Guatemala

Diego Diaz is a graphic design that comes from Guatemala City. Many of his designs seem to feature a reggae roots and natural style to them. I can only wonder if this has something to do with his surroundings and lifestyle.

7. Ricardo Ajcivinac

Representing: Guatemala

It seems that Ricardo’s first love is graffiti art, but his skills aren’t limited to spray paint and concrete walls. He also excels at illustration and even some forms of photo manipulation.

8. David Galdamez

Representing: Guatemala City, Guatemala

David Galdamez comes to us from Guatemala City as well. He is one of those designers who is lucky enough to also have some traditional arty skills such as drawing and sketching. He does a great job at combining his two skills together to create unique pieces.

9. MASA

Representing: Caracas, Venezuela

“MASAs work has a strong emphasis in the research of Latian American pop and worldwide contemporary street culture. The result is a crossover where urban and folklore references get blended together to produce fresh ideas and strong brand identities in every work.”

10. César Evangelista Bautista

Representing: Mexico Distrito Federal, Mexico

If you ask César Evangelista Bautista what it is he loves to do, he will tell you illustration. With such an awesome portfolio, it is easy to see that hes not lying. His character designs are hands down some of the coolest ones I have seen in a while.

11. ROAN

Representing: Mexico City, Mexico

ROAN’s illustration and digital manipulation work – often blended together beautifully – explores many different styles and themes.

12. Juan Molinet

Representing: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Juan’s surreal cartoon-like illustrations are highly sought after – and with good reason!

13. Fabio Sasso

Representing: Porto Alegre, Brazil

“I’m a graphic, web designer and the co-founder of a design studio called 3YZ Digital Performance and I run a blog called Abduzeedo where I share my thoughts, cool sites, and tutorials.”

14. Cristiano Siqueira

Representing: Sao Paulo, Brazil

“I started my career working with graphic design in books, magazines and CD covers. Some years later, I went to packaging design, producing for the food and toy industry.
After 7 years of experience, I finally felt confortable to start as a freelance illustrator. So, since 2005 I am an illustrator full time, working from my own “home” office, doing illustrations for packaging and graphic design, publishing, advertising and everything that needs to be illustrated. “

15. Rodrigo Francisco

Representing: Center East Region, Brazil

“I’m an 19 years old Designer & Illustrator, born and raised at the Center East Region of Brazil. Currently working as a Freelancer. Self-taught until Mid 2008, I have just finished my second semester at UCG Design School, Brazil.”

16. Juan Hodgson

Representing: Panama City, Panama

A bright, glossy style is the hallmark of Juan Hodgson’s digital artwork. He regularly switches between illustration and photo manipulation.

17. Kochi Dowel

Representing: Panama City, Panama

“Hi everyone! I’m Osvaldo Restrepo best known as “Kochi Dowel” I’ve 22 years old and I’m a Graphic Designer from Panama city, Panama (Central America) I’m lead designer at McCann Erickson Panama and I do freelancing too if i got time… well that’s it I think, oh oh yep my favorite band is The Deftones”

18. Jorge Aguilar / REAKTOR

Representing: Guadalajara, Mexico

“Reaktor is the human condition that empowers you to think by yourself and transcend. It’s one that raises his voice and never gives up. It’s not following trends, but having the power to create them and modifying what surrounds you. It’s having a solid argument and an unbreakable will. Reaktor is to live maximizing your own essence.”

19. Alex Rivera

Representing: Mexico

“Graphic Designer trying have fun at the work, I love the Type, Creative Messages, Art Direction, Travel, Rol in projects and illustrate”

20. Benjamin Jimenez

Representing: Santiago, Chile



July 29, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Transform a Human into an Abstract, Painted Werewolf – Psd Plus Tutorial

We have another Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your illustrative skills to the next dimension, then we have an exciting tutorial for you. Discover how to create a human to werewolf transformation with Photoshop.

Combine Photo Manipulation with Painted and Abstract Effects

In this tutorial, you will learn how to bring a simple concept to life and give it a fantastic final result. Beside the main concept of illustrating a human to werewolf transformation, we will fill images with cool painted effects and add some abstraction in the end.

Plus members can Log in and Download! If you’re not a member, you can of course join today! Below is the final image we’ll be finishing up in this tutorial.

Precise and Detailed Instructions Inside

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from the tutorial.

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PSD Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called ‘Plus’ that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Plus and Vector Plus, too. If you’re a Plus member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

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July 29, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Three Short Tutorials for Photographers and Photography Lovers

Since its very beginning, Photoshop is the best tool for photo editing and this time I’ll take you through a few of short tutorials with some very basic yet practical techniques about using Photoshop with your pictures. Won’t take you more than 10 minutes each! Want to try?

Create a quick Panoramic Picture with Photoshop

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Final Click

Step 1 – Before Getting Started

Creating a panoramic picture is about taking several pictures and merging them in Photoshop. You can use the automatic Photoshop merging tool, or do it by hand using the Clone Stamp Tool. As any automate process isn’t 100% accurate, we’ll combine both techniques here.

Obviously, the first step is take the shots, but when you’re taking a panoramic photo, it isn’t as simple as just pressing the shooter. For this picture I’ve got the help of my friend Alvaro Gumucio aka Gumo who took the shots with his Nikon d700 especially for Psdtuts+. He said: “I traveled around 3 hours to find a suitable place, with both tripod and camera in hand. I climbed a small hill and set the tripod in the right place to start shooting.”

For this kind of pictures you need a clean view, without obstacles like trees, wires, or any other natural object.

Step 2 – Set Up and Align the Camera

You’ll need a stand alone tripod to put the camera in. If you don’t have a tripod, use any static object like a box, table, etc. with a horizontal surface to rotate your camera. Try to level your tripod as best as you can, aligning it with the horizon, otherwise the outcome may result with a little angle distortion (as we’ll see shortly). Once you’ve got everything set up, start taking the pictures.

Step 3 – Take the Shots

There’re several things to care about taking panoramic pictures, you can see further information over the web, click here to read a very complete article about the subject.

Anyway you can start taking the shots. Rotate the camera a few degrees between shots. In this tutorial the photographer took 7 pictures rotating the camera around 20 degrees between each shot from right to left; that means a 140 degrees panorama. Trust your photographic instincts to measure the angles or use some math and trigonometry to obtain an accurate final width. You can take as many shots as you want, even rotate 360 degrees. It’s always a good practice to name the pictures with some descriptive name like: “panoramic-1″ or something.

Step 4 – The Files

Now you must have a bunch of pictures, if you scramble the photos you hardly can re-order them again, that’s why you give each picture a sequential name. You can download the pictures here or a larger version in the Plus section. Those pictures are licensed using a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution – No Commercial License (View).

Step 5 – Automate Photomerge

Now the automate part of the process. Open Photoshop, and go to File > Automate > Photomerge. A new window will appear with two columns. The first one about the merging Layout, you can chose several optical modes to adjust the layout of the final result, often the best election is Auto but you can try with the others options as well.

The second column is where you’ll put the files in, you can select a group of files or a folder with your source pictures. Just Click on Browse and add all the pictures you want to merge, in this case, add all the pictures of the previous step, from 1 to 7. Once you’ve added the files ensure the Blend Images Together option is selected and then Click OK.

Step 6 – Check the Merging Result

After clicking OK in the Photomerge window, Photoshop will automatically adjust the pictures to fit a panoramic view. When the process ends you’ll have something like the image below.

Aside from the Layers palette, there will be a folder with the modified pictures inside. You’ll see the resultant panorama isn’t a straight horizontal image, that’s because we’ve failed to perfectly align the camera with the horizon (see Step 2), but it’s not the end of the world, we’ll fix this issue in the next step.

Step 7 – Fix the Angle

There are several ways to fix the angle variation, the easiest is using the Crop Tool, my favorite way is using the Lens Correction filter, but we’ll talk more about it in the next short tutorial. Meanwhile: select the Crop Tool and mark a wider portion of the picture, then Rotate the Crop just a little bit taking care to cover all the image. Finally, hit Return to commit the Crop and save your file anywhere on your computer.

Step 8 – Clone Over the Imperfections

One of the most important steps of this process is about fixing the little areas without any image on it. You can easily find them because Photomerge uses a transparent background by default, so just zoom to the borders and look for those ugly transparent areas.

Create a new layer above all the pictures and name it "Fixes" and select it. Then select the Clone Stamp Tool (S) and ensure the Sample All Layers option is selected. Once you’ve found a transparent area, grab the Clone Tool, Alt-click anywhere near it and start painting over. Remember, paint only on the "Fixes" layer.

Repeat this process as many times as needed. If you’re working with large images, you must be very careful with this step because there are many small transparent areas near the border.

Final Touches

Finally merge the folder into a new layer named "Panorama."

By now you’ve got a nice panoramic picture ready to print. If you ever printed gigantography, a really big print format like Panaflex™ or on high definition Plotter, this picture is really practical for creating huge letters, posters, banners, and more. As a final touch I’ve added some text on the right side of the panorama and set its blending mode to Soft Light.

Conclusion

And that’s it, simple right? try your own!.

Final Click

Part Two – Fix the Perspective with the Lens Correction Filter

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final result below or view a larger version here.

Final Click

Step 1 – Open your picture

For this tutorial you’ll need to download this picture or any other, try to work on a picture with some kind of perspective distortion. Once you’ve opened the file, double-click on the "Background" layer to make it editable and name the layer with a creative name like "Building."

Step 2 – Open the Lens Correction Filter Window

Now, go to Filter > Distort > Lens Correction. In the Lens Correction window you’ll see a grid over the picture and several options at the right side. We’ll work with the right side values to modify the picture perspective and more.

Step 3 – Adjust the Perspective, Without Repeating Edge Pixels

Now, on this filter you can easily adjust the perspective by changing its horizontal or vertical values, the filter will automatically adjust the picture. Probably you’ll need to fill the distortion edge using one of the options shown at the bottom.

This time, we’ll Transform the Vertical Perspective form 0 to -50. This is variable and depends on the picture you’re editing. Set the Edge value to Transparency this time, that means no pixels will be added to the edge of the picture. I’m adjusting the correct distortion by eye, using the columns on the picture as a visual reference.

Step 4 – Crop

Now use the Crop Tool to select only the main picture area. You must use the Clone Stamp Tool to fix the transparent areas.

Step 5 – Adjust the Perspective of Repeating Edge Pixels

A quick way to avoid cloning is setting the Edge value to Edge Extension. Since it’s a little bit linear, the edge extension can often optimize the perspective adjustment process.

Step 6 – Crop

Crop the picture, you’ll notice there are less areas to clone or even none.

Step 7 – Adjusting the Lens Angle

You can draw some guides to see if everything is going well. I’ve made two guides for the columns, and one for the baseline. As you can see, the baseline isn’t straight, there’s a little angle variation that we’ll fix by using the Lens Correction filter once more. Go to Filter > Distort > Lens Correction and modify the Angle Transform on the Perspective area to around 0,4 degrees.

Step 8 – Dark Vignette

As a final visual touch add a dark vignette by setting the Amount to -70 and Midpoint to +60.

Conclusion

Fixing the perspective with the Lens Correction Filter is an easy, accurate and quick process that you can use anytime with any kind of picture, try it!

Final Click

Part three – Use Photoshop’s CS4 Color Range Selection and Adjustments Layers to Create a Gothic Portrait

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Final Click

Step 1 – Open the Picture

We’ll be using for this tutorial this beautiful picture of binababy1 from stock.xchng. Double-click on the background layer to make it editable, name it with some creative name like "Picture" and duplicate it. Put the copy below the original layer.

Step 2 – Select a Color Range

We’ll increase the red intensity of the model’s lips, go to Select > Color Range… Select the option Sampled Colors, and click somewhere over the lips to sample the red Color Range, now slide the Fuzziness where it fits better, for this picture at its original size is 144.

You can change the selection preview to see how the selections looks. Finally when you click OK you’ll obtain a selection around the red lips. Select the "Picture" layer and move forward.

Step 3 – Mask the Selection

Without deselecting anything, select the "Picture" layer and go to Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All, then fill the selection with White (#FFFFFF) to make the lips visible and hide the rest of the face.

Step 4 – Show the Adjustments Panel

Go to Window > Adjustments to show the CS4 Adjustments Panel or select the Essentials Workspace at the top-right of the Photoshop window, this will show the Adjustment panel by default. We’ll use this panel to add some Adjustments Layers to the "Picture copy" layer. Select it in Layers Panel (Notice the Palettes are called Panels now in the CS4 layout) and go to the next step.

Step 5 – Advanced Black and White

Once a Photographer told me: "never adjust only the Saturation to create a grayscale picture," to create a really stunning black and white picture you need to work with alpha channels, before the Adjustment Layers even exists the way to do it was only by hand.

Now we’ve got the Adjustments Layers. Select Black & White from the Adjustments panel, and then you’ll see the Default values. With the Default settings the skin tone is a little bit gray, so we’ll try another Black & White Filter to obtain a whiter skin tone.

I’m choosing the Green Filter, then I increased the Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues and decrease Magentas, to obtain something like the bottom image below. Ensure the Clipping Mask Button on the Adjustments Panel is clicked (that’s because the adjustment only needs to be applied to the "Picture copy" layer) and then move forward.

Step 5 – Change Lips Blending Mode

In order to give a more Gothic look to our image, change the masked "Picture" layer Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 6 – Adjust the Curves

Now we’ll adjust the Curves a little bit to make the girl’s nose a little bit more visible. For this, in the Adjustments Panel click on the tiny Arrow on the left to see the adjustment filters again, then select Curves and draw a curve as show below.

Step 7 – Final Touches

As some few final touches we’ll add two more Adjustment layers: Vibrance and a Photo Filter. This time, place them above the “lips” layer, but ensure the Clipping mask button is deselected in the Adjustments Panel in order to apply the filter to all the layers.

For the Vibrance filter, decrease the Vibrance value just a little bit and increase the Saturation. And as an optional final step, you can add a tint to your photo by using a Photo Filter of Color: #C2A200 and Density of 50%.

Conclusion

Of course you can use this very same technique to select different areas on any picture, and create outstanding results.

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July 28, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

How to Create a 3D Leaf from a Texture Photograph – Screencast

“In this beginners level tutorial, you will learn how to create a vibrant 3D leaf compilation from a single 2D photograph. You will be able to manipulate the object however you prefer. Let’s have fun with this display of greenery!” Brent Nelson

Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Create a 3D Leaf from a Texture Photograph and the video version is below.



July 27, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

How to Create a 3D Leaf from a Texture Photograph

In this beginners level tutorial, you will learn how to create a vibrant 3D leaf compilation from a single 2D photograph. You will be able to manipulate the object however you prefer. Let’s have fun with this display of greenery.!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below. You can view the large version here.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Step 1

To begin, you’ll need to find a photograph texture of a leaf. I have chosen this one from lostandtaken.com by a a photographer named Caleb Kimbrough.

Step 2

Load your new found texture into a new project. With the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) selected, Right-click on your layer in the artboard and select Free Transform. Once you have done that right-click on the texture again and select Warp. I have labeled each corner respectively as we will be moving them around quite a bit.

Step 3

Now that you have your layer in Warp mode, click and drag the corner (a) down 1/3 of your grid.

Step 4

Now click and drag the corner (point c) up 1/3 of your grid. Already our leaf is beginning to take on it’s natural form.

Step 5

Each corner has 2 arms that you can move in order to manipulate your layer even further. Pull the corner’s (point a) left arm down as shown below.

Step 6

You should give a sharper edge to your leaf. Something like this. Press Enter to finalize the Warp.

Step 7

You should have a sharp point on your leaf after the last several steps. However, your point may be a bit bent due to the Warp Tool curling. Fix this by using the Polygonal Laso Tool (L), selecting the excess curl and pressing the Delete key.

Step 8

Now lets focus on the other end of the leaf. Use the Warp Tool again (see Step 2) and drag point d as shown in the picture below. You’ll want to get both of the arms of point d to be parallel.

Step 9

Now do the same with the top-right corner (point b). Also, if you want you can tweak the leaf into whatever position you require by holding your mouse down and dragging the inner grid, as well as the other points.

Step 10

To add a bit of additional perspective Right-click on your leaf and select Free Transform. Now hold Alt + Shift and drag the top-right corner, then move it left a bit. This will give the leaf a bit of distance perspective.

Step 11

If you want to make the leaf drop at its point, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and select only the left half of the leaf. Then proceed to Free Transform > Warp. This will allow you to move that half of the leaf without warping the right half. Make sure not to move the points that are in contact with the leaf that is not selected as this will cause a tear between the two pieces.

Step 12

Next, duplicate the layer with your leaf on it, drag that layer below your original leaf layer. Warp it a little to show some discrepancy. Repeat this process as many times as your desire. Play with it and have fun.

Step 13

On each layer you can add a simple drop shadow by double-clicking on the layer and checking the box labelled Drop Shadow. To give leaves even more depth, make sure you adjust the Distance, Size, and Opacity accordingly. The larger leaf has an Opacity of 63%, a Distance of 299px, and a Size of 84px (this is on an artboard sized at 2590px by 1943px at 72px per inch). If you have a leaf that is directly on top of another, you will want to have the distance significantly lower, as well as the size. It should be more sharp and distinct.

Step 14

Next I added a quick and easy Bevel and Emboss. It is often frowned upon to use this but it gets the job done quick. You can paint the sunlight hitting the leaf if you desire, but this is only an intermediate tutorial.

Double-click on the desired layer and check the box Bevel and Emboss. Change your Depth to 100%, Size to 65px, and Soften to 0px. Also you may want to lower the Opacity of the Highlight Mode as well as the Shadow Mode.

Step 15

You may want to add some depth of field. To do this I recommend you use a simple Gaussian Blur. Select the leaf that is below the rest of them. Right-click on the layer in the Layer Window and select Convert to Smart Object. Now select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set it to 2.6 pixels.

A Smart Object will allow you to change the settings of your applied filters non-destructively. If you are really thoughtful, you could do this with the Drop Shadow and the Bevel and Emboss on the leaves…repeat this process with the other leaves, but lower the blur as the leaves get closer to the largest leaf. We want that to be the focus.

You can also use the paint brush to mask the Smart Filter on the Smart Object. If you select the Smart Filter on your Smart Object layer, select the color black and paint on the artboard with the Paintbrush Tool. You will find that it removes the Gaussian Blur (or any other filter you applied to your Smart Object) in the area that you paint black. I did this with the largest leaf and left only the edges slightly blurred.

Final Image

There you have it. A quick and easy display of greenery. You can really play around with this and do a lot of different types of leaves and positioning. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. Half the fun is just messing around with the Warp tool. The final image is below. You can view it larger here.

Other Uses

This technique can be used in so many different projects. I have used it specifically in the Audio Jungle wallpaper contest several times and it increased the traffic to my Flickr site significantly.

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July 27, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Interview with Fabian Warnke, AKA Inphi

Fabian Warnke (AKA Inphi) is a successful graphic designer who with the help of some friends has set up a very popular digital art community called DigitalFlow. Not only that but Fabian is a very talented designer who draws inspiration for his art through various channels that he will tell us about in this interview. We also focus on one of his best illustrations and discuss where the idea came about, there is a lot more interesting information in this interview with Fabian so lets get to it.

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

Hello, my name is Fabian Warnke. I am a 20 year old Graphic Designer from Düsseldorf, Germany. Currently I am doing an apprenticeship (internship) at an internet agency here in Düsseldorf. I have been designing for about two and a half years now and it is an inherent part of my life. Last year two friends of mine and I founded the art group DigitalFlow. We are still rising but any visit is welcome of course.

I started by designing tags and rather simple web-templates but got more and more into digital art when I found the community deviantART. I was pretty amazed by what people were able to create, so I started myself making larger pieces. Those pieces were rather abstract-3D in the beginning, so quite different to my current works. I think it is obvious that I love to experiment though. Sticking with one style is a good thing, but I try to diversify a lot.

Agony

2. Have you always been an artistic person? Or did you develop this love for art later in life? If so then when?

I have to admit that my love for art was not as strong in the beginning as it is now. I loved to draw and paint in my childhood, but it actually wasn’t my first class passion. As I pointed out before, my love for art rather started when I got in touch with deviantART and its members. More and more I got into it, learned to appreciate it, learned new techniques. It’s now one of my biggest passions and I hope it will still be that way in the future.

Abstract

3. Who, and or what made you want to become a graphic designer?

Well yeah, it is one my biggest passions and something I could imagine to pursue as my profession. I already had a few freelance jobs before and I simply loved to work with clients. I could not have thought of anything else I would love to do apart from graphic design. I guess it is almost everyone’s dream to turn a hobby into a profession, and so was mine.

Nebula

4. Your latest illustrations have been very dark and grim, what caused you to go in this direction with your art?

I really love this style to be honest. The concepts behind my pieces are quite often pretty dark, and so are my works then because I think it reflects what I want to point out better than having a bright atmosphere.

It is mainly about our society. People are taking drugs or killing each other without regretting it or even thinking about consequences nowadays. It is quite sad to see how the society partly evolved because people and especially politicians don’t care about it much. Unfortunately it is not always that happy and reckless life and that is what I try to illustrate sometimes in my works. I cannot really say if I succeed in transmitting it but I hope I do somehow.

Gas Mask

5. What was you’re first Photoshop experience like, and how do you think you have evolved as a designer since then?

Ha-ha. I think my first Photoshop experience was pretty much a disaster. I did not have a clue of what I was doing at all but I played around and it was fun to me. Even though the results looked quite weird and rather bad, I was kind of proud of what I did.

At the same time I did not feel like showing the results to anyone yet since I knew they were not really good. Anyway, as time went by I improved and started to work with 3D renders I made in Cinema 4D. Ever since then I can’t live without it anymore .

Abandon

6. What is the most important lesson you have learned pertaining to designing? And how do you apply it to your art?

I guess the most important lesson I learned is that you have to do whatever you want to do. I can only speak for myself but I do art because it is my passion and it is fun to me. I am not doing it for other people. Though you can really improve by getting constructive critique on your pieces. But even then you should only change and rework what you think is necessary, because it is still your work.

Another thing is that you should take your time while working on a piece. Don’t rush it. Taking a break every few hours or a few days definitely helped me sometimes. You might get some fresh ideas and new inspiration that you want to try out.

Disturbed

7. “Finding Freedom” is a breathtaking illustration that really gives off some strong emotions, walk us through this collaboration, and the back-story to this design if there is one.

First, I want to thank Brett Whatmough for this great collaboration. I really enjoyed working with him.

We wanted to illustrate Freedom, as the title already tells. We started searching for a suitable stock photo which we found after a few minutes. I started off with the basics, cutting the guy out, creating a decent background and working on the lighting. Then it was Brett’s turn. He did an amazing job improving the background and adding details. He had some great ideas for the execution as well.

Anyway, it was my turn again. I added the rain by simply using a 1px brush and a few standard filters. After that I searched for some stock photos of smoke and started to place them around the guy. Some details, like the raindrops but also some parts of the smoke and background were painted with my tablet. To bring out those colors a bit more I added a lot of contrast and lightened the whole scene a bit up.We are very happy with the result and I have to say that it is one of my personal favorites.

Finding Forever

8. Thanks again for providing Psdtuts+ with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

Thank you Emil for the Interview! I just want to say that you should not give up if things don’t work out the way you want them to. When you are out of inspiration, listen to some music, watch some movies, check out other artists’ work or ask someone to help you, giving you some advice. You will certainly get new ideas.

Lost Spirit

Where to find Fabian on the Web

Splash

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July 25, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Quick Tip: Preparing Line Drawings for Coloring in Photoshop

In this tutorial, we’ll be learning how to take a paper line drawing and preparing it for coloring in Photoshop. Learn to take your line drawing and clean it up in Photoshop. The image we’ll be using is an original hand drawing provided by myself. The end result is left open for experimentation. Let’s jump into it!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the line work we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month.

Step 8

Step 1

We’ll start by desaturating the rough drawing. Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. The reason to desaturate the image, is so that no colors interfere with the following steps.

Step 1

Step 2

Play around with the levels until the image has little to no midtones. Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Leave the outline fully intact.

Step 2

Step 3

Next we’ll be selecting the outline. Make sure that the foreground color is the darkest color in the outline. Go to Select > Color Range to select the outline. Adjust the settings to match the image below. This will affect everything that is the foreground color. Make sure to hide all the layers except the layer the outline is on.

Step 3

Step 4

We will now take the selection and make it it’s own layer, press (Command + J.) At this point, it’s good to delete the layer that has the original line drawing on it, and replace it with a white background.

Step 4

Step 5

Now double-click the “Outline” Layer and go to Color Overlay. Adjust the settings to match the image below, you may choose whichever color you like though.

Step 5

At this point, you’re ready to color in your outline in whichever way you prefer to. However, if you choose to read on I will show you
how to do an effect that makes your outline look like a vector outline.

Step 6

The first step in making the outline look more smooth and vector like, is to select the outline layer. To do this Command-click on the layer thumbnail beside the layer’s name. The hand curser will have a dotted box on top of it.

Step 6

Step 7

Choose the Paths tab located beside the Layers tab. Click on the icon to the left of the New Layer icon. If you hold your curser over the icon, it should read Make work path from selection. After creating a path go back to the layers tab and make a new layer.

Step 7
Step 70

Final Line work

Click on the Pen Tool, then Right-click anywhere on the canvas. Choose Fill Path. Adjust the Settings to match the image below. Click OK, then Right-click anywhere on the canvas and choose Delete Path.

Step 8

Things To Know

We’ll delete the previous outline layer to show the end result. You can see we cleaned up the drawing, and are left with black line work on a white background to color in, we’ve also preserved the sketchy feel of the line quality.

The image you are using to do this effect with should be drawn, painted, inked, etc… on a contrasted background to what you are using to draw with.

Clean lines equals a more clean, smooth end result. If the image is too small the vector effect will simplify lines to the point where you will lose detail. If the image is too large the vector effect will not smooth out imperfections.

Step 8

Now Color Away!

You are free to color the outline as you please A tablet was used to create the color image below. You could also consider taking the results of this line work into Illustrator and Live Tracing. The techniques shown here are a great way to add some varied line to your vector work as well. These quick tips are open for experimentation. So, have fun with it!

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July 24, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

50+ Kick-butt Book Cover Designs

Have you ever been seduced to buy or borrow a book, simply because the cover was so well designed? That’s why it’s worth getting cover design right. In this post, we’ve collected 53 excellent book covers in many different styles. These covers will inspire not only any book cover design you do, but your designs in other areas as well.

1. The Mad Ones

2. Bases Loaded

3. Love as Always, Kurt: Vonnegut as I Knew Him

4. Busted

5. Bow’s Boy

6. Wonderful World: A Novel

7. A Slow Death

8. We Must Love One Another Or Die

9. Red Harvest

10. The Vintage Book Of Contemporary Scottish Fiction

11. Censoring an Iranian Love Story

12. The Sheriff of Yrnameer

13. Disguise

14. Scenes of Academic Life

15. Something for the Weekend

16. Under the Clock

17. The Economics of Innocent Fraud

18. The Unabridged Pocketbook of Lightning

19. Otherwise Pandemonium

20. Judging Obscenity

21. Kid Rex

22. World as Laboratory

23. Treason by the Book

24. The Craftsman

25. The Manly Modern

26. Say You’re One of Them

27. The Memory of Running

28. The Girls Who Went Away

29. The Brief History of the Dead

30. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

31. The Good Rat

32. Backstory

33. I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson

34. The Bill from My Father

35. City of Tiny Lights

36. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno

37. The Mayor’s Tongue

38. Leather Maiden

39. The Dog of Marriage

40. The Tattoo Artist

41. Sun in a Bottle

42. Chances Are

43. Chicago

44. Final Exits

45. The Edifice Complex

46. The Female Thing

47. The Best American Crime Writing 2005

48. Then We Came to the End

49. Kockroach

50. Stiff

51. Animal Farm

<52. The Devil and Sonny Liston

<53. Devil in the Details



July 22, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

Create a Gritty, Action-packed Movie Poster - Psd Plus Tutorial

We have another Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your photo manipulation and digital illustrative skills to the next level, then we have an exciting tutorial for you. Learn how to create a gritty, action poster from grunge elements, various images, and using multiple Photoshop techniques. Learn more at the jump!

Combine Grunge Elements and Gangster Images into an Exciting Action Poster

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through the process of creating a visually striking design using a limited color palette. First, you’ll assemble a collage from various source files, then use some grungy, real-world ink stains and brushes for added grit. Next, you’ll work in tandem with Illustrator – using a combination of Live Trace and Pathfinder commands to create the distressed movie title.

Plus members can Log in and Download! If you’re not a member, you can of course join today! Below is the final image we’ll be finishing up in this tutorial.

Precise and Detailed Instructions Inside

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from the tutorial.

PSD Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called ‘Plus’ that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Plus and Vector Plus, too. If you’re a Plus member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

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July 22, 2009 | Filed Under Html, Photoshop, Print Design, Web Design, Web Trends | Comments Off 

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