This tutorial is for learning purposes only
PART I:
Ok the following tut discusses techniques on how to achieve this type of composition. The original (I believe is a AI vector) will be reconstructed in PS. I just want to make it clear that this is not my image. I am merely clarifying technique for the sake of learning!
Finished product:
Original can be found here
Go ahead and open up a letter sized blank document with a transparent background. I also went ahead and placed the original next to it for the sake of using the eyedropper tool for easy color replication.
Fill the BG with white then double click on the layer itself to open the layer styles window and apply a gradient. Use the eye dropper to sample the areas in the green circles of the red and peachy colors. Be sure to move the tabs to match so that the gradient ends up in the upper area of the document.
The first shape we are going to do is the large bright red gradient shape on the right hand side of the BG by using the pen tool. Here is where you can find the options.
Select the pen tool and place four points around the edges of your BG. When you place the point hold down as you drag so you can see the "handle bars" of the points. Once you place the third point return to the last point and click on it to close the shape. Make sure to line up the points of the left side to match with the shape ends on the original.
Now you need to adjust the square to match the original. Select the convert tool and hold it over the ball on one of the handles. This will SNAP it in half. Line up the shapes similar to what I did. Both points on the Right should be perfect 90 degree right angles. The left side point handles should be stretched out to create the wave shape.
((((Side-Note: If you ever need to redo the seesaw-ness of the handle. Place the convert tool on the point and hold down and drag out. This will return the handle to its original form which will smooth out the edges once again))))
OK! Now there are many ways to do the following step but we are going to do it by using transparency maps! First drag your shape layer to the duplicate button at the bottom of the layers window. I circled it for you in the screen shot. Now you have two layers of the same shape but in the same color. First double click on the block of color. This will open the color window, if you scroll off the window that will make the eyedropper icon appear on your cursor. Go ahead and sample the darkest red area of the original shape. Now double click on the copy and sample the lightest peach color from off of the original in the exact way you did before with the red.
Now you should have two exact shapes in two different colors. Make sure to place the peach colored shape below the red.
Now time for maps! We are going to apply a transparency map to the red shape. Select the red shape layer and click the mask icon at the bottom of the layers window. This will pop up a third window on your red shape layer. This is your mask! At the moments it is pure white because we haven't added any color/gradient to the mask. Now if you take a look at the original you will notice the gradient on the shape isn't exactly linear. This tells you that the original artists probably used a radial gradient. So with the layer still selected click on the gradient tool. At the top of the screen make sure to have the radial icon is selected as well as the opacity Black to Clear gradient is selected.
This part comes with practice. What you want to do is Press and drag the gradient tool from the top left down to the middle center of the shape and let go. You should now see the peach color poking out from behind the red. Continue to play around with this until the proportions are similar to the original.
You have now successfully used a mask!
(((((Now to further explain what you actually did. One way to see masks is that everything that is black on your mask layer can be seen as 100% clear. Because you applied this to the red shape, anything in the black area of the mask will appear with a 100% opacity there fore allowing the peach color to appear from behind. So if Black is clear then white must be 100% Opaque right? Yup! So anything located in the white will continue to appear Red. P.S. I hope this didn't blow your mind LOL!)))))
Your Document should now look similar to this!
That concludes part one! I need a break! Stay tuned for part 2 later today!
Part II:
OK minimize or close your big red window for now. Were off to do something else. As you can see the original makes use of repetitive shapes and spirals. We are going to create custom brushes to use in the same way. There are many ways to do this. I'm going to show you how I do it by hand.
First start a new 1.5 x 1.5 inch document with a transparent background.
If you don't have your ruler up, go to View>Show Ruler. Now place your cursor on the ruler at the top and begin to drag out guide lines. Place them at every 1/8 inch mark on your ruler. Do the same thing to the left hand ruler to make cross sections at every 1/8 inch mark as shown in the second picture.
Be sure to set the following to On: View>Snap to>Guides
Once the grid is done make fill the layer with black or any dark color so we can see things a little clearer. You wont keep this layer in the end so keep it seperate from the other shapes we add.
Make a new layer. Select a solid round blush. I chose size 16 and painted a dot in the center. Because we have Snap to Guide turned on you wont have to worry about getting it exactly on the line. The program will do it for you. I continued to draw the same sized dots on the farthest lines in the top, bottom, left in right sides. Then I reduced the size two pixels at a time until I reached the center again.
So begin with brush size 16 and end with size 8.
You should have the following
Now drag the layer to the duplicate icon at the bottom of the layer window. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and select the entire shape. Right click with in the selection and click free transform.
Once you hit Free transform the window will close. Go ahead and right click to open it again. You'll notice the menu has now changed. Select rotate. The marching ants have now been replaced by edit cubes. Hover your cursor just
off of the corner block and it will turn into a bent double arrow. This is your rotate icon. HOLD SHIFT and begin to turn the duplicate shape. Holding shift will control the turn. Snapping twice in any direction will be enough.
Right click> Deselect.
Make another copy and do it again.
Go to View>Show>Guides and uncheck it, so they are now hidden. After that you should have something that looks like this! Go ahead and delete the black BG by dragging it to the trash. Afterward right click the top layer and select Merge All Visible. This will combine the three dotted layers into one. Your shape is complete!
Ok We are now going to make this shape into a brush. But first lets make it black. Go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. A new window will open. In the box that looks like a gradient just drag the black arrow to the white side and the white arrow to the black side. Then go to Edit>Define Brush Preset. Name your brush and Save! You are done! Program will automatically put it in your brushes.
Part 3 incoming!
Part III
Ok! Now that you have your snow flake brush ready, open up you red shape file again. CTRL click the shape box window thing to select the wave shape. Now make a new layer and label it Snowflakes. Now click on you brush tool and your custom brush should be at the very bottom...I hope....
Once you find it choose an off white color begin to paint dab our custom shape to match that of the size and placement of the original. The reason we select the shape first is to control exactly when the brush applies the shape. As you can see some flakes have been cut off. We didnt want then to wander over to the BG area so this saves us the time it would have taken to go back and erase the extra.
Set the gradient settings to match the following:
Set the entire layer to 70%
Ok snow flakes are finished! Part IV will be posted tomorrow.
My host is down maintenance so I cant post any more tonight
((((Bah why does it always turn my first img to a link!!!!????))))
Part IV
OK your image should looks similar to this.
We are now going to use the pen tool to create some of the curvy swirls that run up the left side. We could make the shape into one solid piece but we are going to create separate ones on separate layers so that we can control the gradients better. Lets begin with the swirls with the base. That will be be our stem for the rest of the swirls.
Create a new layer and using the pen tool roughly draw in the first swirl. Be sure to close the shape.
Now use the Convert and Edit Point tool to refine the shape. Once you are happy with the shape. Switch to the Path Window.
((((If the Path window isn't currently on your UI you can find it under Window>Paths))))
At the bottom of the Paths Window click the Fill Path with Foreground Color Icon. I filled mine with white but it doesn't matter since we are going to use a gradient overlay to fix the color once we have set up the first set of swirls .
Once you fill the path with a color you can now edit the path and the color will not be effected. Make a new layer and label it swirl2. Reselect the same path and use the Edit Point tool Move the path to the left of the Color Filled Shape.
Make a new layer and Rinse and Repeat! Keep in mind that the third swirl of more like a tapered line so you don't need as many points. Use the Delete Anchor Point tool to remove any unneeded points.
Now time to fix the gradients. Select Swirl1 and open up the layer effects window. Add a gradient overlay and use the eye dropper tool to sample the colors off of the original to get it just right.
Part IV finished. Stay Tooned
Okay! Part V
At the moment we are going to concentrate on creating these plant-like swirls winding its way into the cent of the composition.
Now instead of torturing ourselves by freehanding the entire shape all we are going to so is create a custom shape of a single swirl that we can replicate to make the ajoining swirls in different sizes.
First begin with a new file. Go ahead and create a 2 in x 2 in image with a transparent background.
Go ahead and use your pen tool to create a rough swirl.
Refine the shape into something of similar proportion to the original. Once you are satisfied with the path go to Edit>Define Custom Shape. This will automatically turn your path into a vector image. Name it and save. It will be automatically placed in your shapes folder.
Now go back to your red composition and make a new layer. Name the layer something like swirlset1 so you know which on you are working on. Now since there are two separate sets of these twirls they will need to be on different layers. However all the separate pieces associated with a single set may be on the same layer for the sake of the layer effects we are going to add afterward. To find your custom shape you need to select the Custom Shape Tool.
Begin to lay your first set. Start with the biggest shape. Once you place it right click its layer and Rasterize it. Then use the Select Marquee Tool and right click the image and choose Free Transform. Right click again and choose Flip Horizontal and then Rotate.
Place another swirl, Rasterize and rotate to match the top swirl.
Place a smaller third shape, flip it and rotate it to match.
Try to match the original in size and placement as much as possible. As you probably noticed Each time you created a new shape the program made a new layer for it. Right click the layer and choose Merge Down. Do this twice until all three shapes are on the Swirlset1 layer.
Drag the layer and place it above Wave shape layer and below the snowflakes layer. CTRL Select the wave shape to show the marching ants. Select the swirl layer. Go to Select>Inverse and hit Delete. You will now see the stem that had been hanging over onto the BG has now been trimmed. Go back to Select>Deselect.
Now double click the swirlset1 layer to open the Layer Effects window. Apply a color overlay to the shape. Sample the original with the eye dropper to get the color.
Part V Finished! Your Image should look like this!
Part VI
Now lets do the second swirl set. Name it swirlset2. Repeat all the steps again but this time instead of a color overlay we will do a gradient overlay.
We are now going to begin to do paths and apply a strokes to them in order to recreate the fine swirls. Don't worry too much about layer order atm just make sure each stroke goes on its own layer.
Instead of putting a plain stroke on the path we are going to add a custom stroke by editing the brush in the Brush Palette Window. I used a 25 pixel tapered round brush and squashed it down to 32% roundness, and 59 degree angle. The severity of the angle will help taper the stroke as it swirls around.
BE SURE TO SELECT THE BRUSH TOOL BEFORE APPLYING THE STROKE TO THE PATH! Else it wont work...
Make a new layer and adjust the path and apply another stroke. Continue to repeat this step until all strokes have been applied to their own layers. I went ahead and gave each stroke its own color so you know which one I'm referring to when it comes time to arrange them.
Part VI Done!
Hey Mac make sure your handles are equal on both sides of the shape. If one handle is larger then its counter part itll bow out in places and make it uneven.
Part VII
Okay almost done guys!
Ok we will start with stroke1-white. Add a gradient overlay in the layer effects menu and sample the colors used in the stroke.
Stroke2-black!
Stroke3-Green!
Stroke4-Blue
Part VII done!
ONE MORE PART TO GO!
Ok last shape we need to so is that of that weird flower looking thing. Because of the low res sample of the original I cant really tell wth it is but we can guess 8)
We are going to approach this the same way we did the snowflake. Make a 2x2 inch document on a transparent background. Go ahead and drag out the guides again and split it every 1/8 inch.
On a separate layer make a black background so you can see it better. Use you pen tool to create just one of the petal shapes. Use the following screen shot as a guide on where to drag your handles. Be sure to use SNAP TO GUIDES option to lessen the headache.
Go ahead use the Fill Path with Foreground Color. I chose a plain white. Now I can see that the shape is a little too white. Use the free transform tool to make it a little more narrow. The begin to drag the layer to the duplicate icon at the bottom of the layers window. You'll need four. Go ahead and begin to use the free transform tool to arrange the shapes. Use the Rotate 90 degree and Flip options so you don't have to fuss with the manual rotate tool. Once you have all four go ahead and merge them into one layer.
Now I went ahead and added the center ring just by using one of Photoshop default shapes. I also added the dots with a solid round brush.
Now as you did the the snowflake, you are going to need to a duplicate layer of the four petals and SHIFT Rotate the shape so it snaps twice in either direction. Do this twice!
Now Rasterize the center loop. and Merge the pedals, the dots, and the center ring. Trash the black background and Swap the levels to make the finished shape black instead of white.
Save it as a brush preset. Name it and Save it!
Now back to your Red composition. Add you new flower thingys to the its own layer. Now I thought it looked too shape so I added a layer mask and faintly soften the outer edge of both shapes.
I made a new layer and free handed some white sparkly dots in. The softed them with the blur tool.
NOW Just rearrange the layers to match that of the original. Because you used overlays for all the color adjustments you can go back and tweek anything you like.
AND YOU ARE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Linear Mode
