Since many are looking forward to my tutorials, I thought I'd start with something advanced. Unfortunately, it takes hours to complete, and even longer to set up. So it will have to be split into two parts over two weeks. This week we will be covering most of the basics including shape design, shadows and lights, and a little bit about texturing. I've tried to explain in depth, but there are parts in which I can't explain without being physically there to help you out. So you will need to try things out on your own till you get the best result. Next week we will get into more detail about making the final touches to a picture, giving it more depth. We will also be covering orbs. Here is this week's final result:
First, start a new page ( I usually use 1000x1000 so that I can have free space to do things on the side), set the BL background colour ( #4a4a4a).
We are going to start off with some shape designs, it takes experience and creativity to be able to make some of your own and put them into good use, but you need to develop that through practice.
Make a new layer, and on that layer, make a black rectangle like this one:
Now using the pen tool, start making a path for where the borders of the your shape will be, make a selection and cut the excess part leaving the parts of the shape you want. Something like this:
This is the final version of the shape we're looking for, unfortunately, I can't actually explain every step of the way on how I got to that shape, so you will have do it yourselves. Make sure you merge whatever extra layers you have into one.
Now that we have our initial shape, we will need to work on the shading and lightning to give the shape it's 3D feel. Since PS is not fully integrated into 3D work, we will have to add some effects manually to get the result we're looking for.
Duplicate the shape, flip it horizontally and set it next to the first shape. Merge both and then set the follow blending options:
Drop shadow > Angle 90 > distance 4 > size 4
Inner shadow > Distance 0 > size 144
Color Overlay > #352c23
Now make a new layer, make a selection over the shape and fill it with any colour, reduce the fill ( under opacity ) to 0, and again go to blending options:
Inner shadow > Size 46
Now repeat the same step but use different blending options on the new layer:
Bevel and Emboss > Size 180 > Soften > 16 > Highlight mode vivid light > Shadow mode opacity 13%
Tick the Contour box.
Duplicate that layer.
Notice how we gave the shape more of a 3D feel? These options don't work for all shapes, but the idea of using lights and shades are the effects that give shapes depth. It's pretty much the same as in reality, take a look at something 3D from one angle and see why it feels 3D, it'll help widen your creativity and understanding to 3D shapes. Don't be limited by photoshop's ready made features, you can manually get the effect you're looking for manually with brushes and other ways. Whenever you want to make a 3D shape, make sure you imagine it in your head, set an angle of view and another for light. Mixing 3D shapes together can get really complicated and confusing, so start slow and always have a point of reference set in your imagination.
Now for the texture:
This step actually requires some brushes that you will need to download. I personally forgot where and how I got mine, so you'll have to find your own. If you can't find a set that works, you can contact me and we can find a way to pass it to you. It's nothing too complicated, just one brush that has a little grunge feel to it brushes and erased in the way I want it, the layer's color is #e0c7a0 and it's mode is set to overlay positioned right under the top 2 layers (under shadow and light), I use the sharpen tool to give it more of a metal look, and then duplicate and edit the way I see fit.
Group the first shape's layers and put them aside ( name them Shape 1 ).
Here's the final outcome:
Now it's time to move on to another shape. We will start by making a circular shape that empty on the inside, like this:
Go to blending options:
Drop shadow > distance 8 > size 18
Inner shadow > distance 0 > spread 39 > size 32
Outer glow > blend mode normal > color black > opacity 100 > size 16
Inner Glow > blend mode normal > color black > size 18 > range 100
Bevel and emboss > depth 860 > size 133 > soften 13 > highlight mode vivid light 100 > shadow mode 80
Contour > pick the last box ( the one that has 2 triangles ) and keep range at 50
Color overlay > color # 362e23
Now make a new circle inside the other one without having both overlap each other, and set it's blending options to:
Outer glow > size 18
Bevel and emboss > size 13 > soften 16 > highlight mode opacity 100
contour > tick anti aliased > pick the last box ( two triangles )
Color overlay > color #141414
This is the final outcome of shape 2:
Now we want to put shape 1 and 2 together, but first we want to rotate shape 1, notice that if you select all layers of shape 1 and rotate 90 degrees, the shading and lights would change according to the angle set in the blending options. There are different ways around to solve that problem, I usually prefer using this simple trick: merge all the layers of the shape into one shape. You'll lose control of the layers so I advise that you always leave a separate file for the layers in case you want to change anything. You will also see changes on the borders due to the blending mode changing back to normal. You will need to cut off the edges and move on. Duplicate that layer, flip it horizontally and position it on the other side. Do so with both shape 1 and 2 so that it looks like this:
Finally, I added one last shape to cover up the middle part so that it looks symmetrical.
This would be the end of this week's tutorial. This is my very first tutorial, so I hope it comes out clear. For those who find any difficulty in any of the steps, feel free to contact me by bootmail or post below for everyone to benefit from your questions.
