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DYNAMICLIGHTINGGiving your photo-montage an effective sense of depthand atmosphere is easy with Photoshop. Self-confessedPhotoshop fanatic Derek Bacon lets us in on a few secrets...

COVER FEATURE

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TIME LENGTH

3 hours

INFO

Derek

Bacon is aUK-based

illustrator

whose work

has been commissioned

by newspapers and

magazines, including

The New York Times,

The Independent, The

Observerand, of course,

Computer Arts. Visit

www.derekbacon.com to

see more of his work.

One of the best things about

Photoshop(and there really are

quite a few) is the way it sits just as

comfortably in the hands of the digital

artist as it does in those of the

photographer or graphic designer.

What you have is total versatility

from one extreme to the other:

from complete handling of pure

photography to more painterlyillustration and graphic possibilities.

But its the creative free-for-all that

exists between these two extremes that

is most exciting for any digital artist.

The digital illustration process is

almost always made up of three

stages. Following the first stage the

initial brain-to-paper stage the next

thing to do is to create a version in

Photoshop. This stage is concerned

only with putting all the necessaryelements in place and getting the

composition just right. The odd rough

edge at this point isnt critical, and

neither are the colours just yet.

The third and final stage is the

colouring-in stage the bit where

you draw and paint over the

composition youve laid out. And its

here that you can start getting stylised,

to work on bringing out the best

aspects of your illustration. After all, a

good idea is one thing, but how well

you carry that idea off through your

work is quite another.In this tutorial, youll be taking over

an illustration at this third and final

stage. With all the elements in place,

youll be looking solely at adding

depth and atmosphere to the scene

with some dynamic lighting effects.

First, youll focus on enhancing the

light and tone in one specific area of

the picture, a technique youll then be

able to apply to the rest of the scene,

before casting a few shadows to createthat extra sense of atmosphere.

Illustration and tutorial by Derek Bacon

www.derekbacon.com

ftp://ftp.futurenet.co.uk/pub/arts/zinio/ca108_cover.zip

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PHOTOSHOP

6Call up the Colour Balance box by choosing Image>Adjustments>ColourBalance and

push the Colour Levels sliders until they read R:+34, G:+11 and B:-42. Alternatively, playaround until you reach a skin tone you like. You can also subtly use Dodge and Burn (see steps 2and 3) at this stage to add more form to the face.

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Working in full CMYKmode, youll find thatmany filters no longerfunction, and also thatall your delicate blues,greens and pinks havedisappeared. You canretain full use of all thefilters, and keep a checkon how your colours willrepro in the four-colourprocess, simply by turning

the CMYK preview on(View>ProofColours).You can then saveconverting to full CMYKuntil the very end.

RGB OR CMYK?

5Now select the Posterize function by going to Image>Adjustments>Posterize andselecting six levels. Stripping out some of the grey tones in this way will generatemore contrast, but because of the Noise you deliberately added in step 4, the graduationsfrom dark to light should be relatively smooth.

4To create a much punchier contrast, play around with the Brightness/Contrast controls bychoosing Image>Adjustments>Brightness>Contrast. Find a setting that best suits,then add a little Noise by selecting Filter>Noise>AddNoise, choosing Gaussian, tickingMonochromatic and setting the Amount to six per cent.

3Now switch to the Burn tool and reverse

the technique used in step 2 to subtlydarken various areas, as shown. Now repeatsteps 2 and 3 using different brush sizes andeven softer pressures. This should give theface some extra form by further enhancingthe light and dark areas.

2To make the subjects skin tones appearas if they are being well lit from the topright of the image, zoom in on the face and,with the Dodge tool set to a big soft brush ofabout 150 pixels and 25 per cent pressure,start to manually lighten the areas whereyou would like the light to fall.

1First open the file Biker_Joe.psdprovided on the cover CD. Path carefullyaround the boys head with the Pen tool andmake a selection by clicking on the dottedcircle at the bottom of the Paths palette.Copy and Paste the head onto a new layerand Desaturate it by choosing Image>Adjustments>Desaturate.

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10Now to add more obvious shading. Using the Pen tool, path a neat area on hisshoulder. Make a selection from this and, on a new layer, fill the selection with black.With the Eraser tool (a big soft brush at 30 per cent opacity), start to rub away at the black.

9The techniques outlined so far in this

tutorial are essentially the techniquesthat have been applied to every other part ofthe picture. You can use the same techniquesover and over, isolating one area and treatingit individually for form, contrast and colour,before adding any stylistic touches.

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11Repeat the shading process again across the boys hands, concentrating on the areawhere the hands emerge from between the bikes handlebars and brake levers.

8Now repeat this process, but this timevary the shapes you draw and try filling

the space with different colours, as shown.You could also try rubbing out the shapeswith a big soft brush, instead of reducing thelayer opacity as before.

7To create the effects you see on the hair,first repeat the techniques used in steps1 through to 6. Then, using the Pen tool,draw out a number of shapes across the hair.Convert the path to a Selection, and, on anew layer, fill with white. Reduce the Opacityof this layer to about 20 per cent.

12Now switch your focus to the boys face. Using the same techniques as already used insteps 10 and 11, create an area of shadow under his chin. Think carefully about themain light source and the direction in which the shadows will fall.

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If the photo-montageprocess interests you,youll need a collectionof surfaces that you canuse to build environmentsand other scenes. Thebackground wall in thisillustration, for example,

is based on a couple ofphotos taken of a wallon Bournemouth Pier.Youll find that patternedsurfaces of this naturewill tile quite easily intomuch larger surfaces.

SURFACE TO SURFACE

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TUTORIAL

PHOTOSHOP

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16Call up the Curves box by selecting Image>Adjust>Curves and raise the line up alittle. Press OK and then Invert the selection by going to Select>Inverse. Call up theCurves box again and pull the line back down just a little. Check the results.

17To cast the large shadow across the wall behind the boy, duplicate the Foreground layer,call up the Curves by selecting Image>Adjust>Curves and drag the top handle rightthe way down to the bottom of the grid. This will make the layer turn black.

13Continue to pace areas of shadow onany part of the image youd expect tosee a shadow cast by a light source comingfrom the top-right. One tricky area, thetrousers, requires a more complicated set ofshapes and shadows if the natural creasesand movement are to look convincing.

14Once youre happy with the shadowscast across the image, turn yourattention to the back wall. Go to thebackground layer and, from the top-left, usethe Elliptical Marquee tool to drag a largeelliptical selection across the wall.

15Now go to Select>Feather and giveyour selection a Feather Radius of250 pixels. Hit OK and then repeat theprocess three or four times.

Photo-montage, as thename suggests, requiresthe use of basic materials

such as photos to be cutup, rearranged, and re-coloured into somethingnew. Once you becomeproficient at thistechnique, youll developcomplete command overthese photo pieces andget them doing exactlywhat you want. Forexample, the photo ofJoe used throughout this

tutorial is made up ofseven different bits which,when pieced together,combine to create justthe right stance.

SLAP HAPPY

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19Next, position this shadow layerbehind the Foreground layer and,

using the Eraser Tool a big soft brush setat about 30 per cent rub away at the blackuntil a more subtle shadow is achieved. Forthe best effect, rub away more of the colourfrom the left-hand side of the shadow.

20A second, more dramatic shadowcan be created in a similar way. Butthis time, give the shadow a much moredramatic stretch across the wall usingthe Edit>Transform>Distort facility.

21As in steps 18 and 19, position the second shadow behind the Foreground layer, add aGaussian Blur and start to rub away a little more at the shadow with the Eraser tool.

22Once youre happy with the shadow effects youve created across the image, save yourlayered file somewhere safe and then save another, flattened copy. This flattened copycan then be converted to CMYK, ready for printing.

18Select Edit>Transform>Distortand, by pulling at the handles, youcan distort the layer so that it starts to lookmore like a convincing shadow cast by theboy. Now add some Gaussian Blur bychoosing Filter>Blur>GaussianBlurand set it at about five pixels.

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The drop shadowsproduced byPhotoshopsLayer Effects are greatfor most things, but ifyoure after a little extraflexibility you might preferto create drop shadowsthe old-fashioned way by duplicating a layer,turning it black andmanipulating it from

there. The benefit?Because this manualshadow is a layer in itself,you can transform it asyou would any other layer.

DROP SHADOW