Welcome to psd Magazine,

The Summer issue of .psd is in your hands now! Have you ever wanted to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop in more advanced ways, but had no idea where to start? This set of Photoshop tutorials gives you a jumping-off point of interesting ideas to inspire you. This issues theme is the art of designing computer games. I know there is a lot to say on the subject but we have only 76 pages... Starting with the cover, we have Fern The Farmer, created by Patrick Beaulieu and Chevisodes Crew. Next, there is quite a freaky goat experiencing some wild adventures on page 10. As an example of using art to express your feelings, unleash your creativity, change the world and even create your own world, Morgan Yon describes how he created a striking illustration to depict his personal feelings and emotions about Nazism. See his Making of Uchronia tutorial on page 14. Did you know you can use your completed digital artwork as background art for computer games? On page 30, Eric Wilkerson demonstrates how he prepared a digitally painted scene for a computer game. Most impressively, he worked with only raw Photoshop as opposed to relying on lters and plug-ins to create his effects. On page 38 Steward Bruce offers a 34-step tutorial on merging painting and photography. And the popular Neil Duerden is back with us once again with a fantastic tutorial where he takes you through the process of making a computer-based editorial style piece. On the CD we have included the latest cover tutorials from our magazine I hope you like them! You can also nd stock photos, 16 game textures and 3-5 game models created by Zatun Games. Theres always much more inside the magazines covers as well. Do we really need to convince you to explore it all? It speaks for itself! This is an issue where experience does not matter, since what the authors present is fun to read while you learn. As always I thank the authors for their submissions and hope that you will enjoy reading them. Best Wishes

Ewa Samulska

contents

on the cd
Battle of Klendathu CD 6
Eric Wilkerson

contributing writers
30 38 Contributing writers 60

cover graphic
Wild adventures of Fern the farmer
Patrick Beaulieu/CHEVIsodes Crew

Exhaust burn tutorial

www.the3dstudio.com

self exposure
Steward Michael Bruce
Steward Michael Bruce

photomanipulation
10 Think of the wall
Stewart Michael Bruce

62

42 50

reviewer's choice
Game consoles
Cyril Roger

workshops
Making of Uchronia
Morgan Yon

Game over 14 18
Neil Duerden

68 72 73

review
Books review Software review

Jelous bodyguard
Andrew Berends

start with
Shape in sand
Marious Soare

54

Darkness monster
Steve Jubinville and Yanick Gaudreau

24

Making of the divebombing pterodactyl

Ryan Slayter

56

on the CD

on the CD
Using the .psd Photoshop Magazine CD
The disc contains a valuable collection of valuable textures, trials, full versions of photo software, pdfs of the latest .psd covers' tutorials and source les for this issue materials. This issue we give you the second part of the video-tutorial about Blog Creation from killersites (First part you can get from the 3/2008 issue's CD). The disc interface requires Windows NT/2000/XP or Mac OS 9/X. You will also need an active Internet connection to make full use of the CD. In Windows the CD should autorun when inserted into the drive. OS X Users to launch the interface select the autorun.exe le. If you have trouble launching the interface, you can nd all content relating to the magazine inside the CD.

Tutorials & Source Files

So that you can understand and follow our magazine tutorials, weve included source les. You can nd les to the following tutorials: Think of the Wall by Stewart Michael Bruce, Jealous Bodyguard by Andrew Berends, Game over by Neil Duerden and Making of Uchronia by Morgan Yon. To properly view the movies we've included the codec's, XviD and TSCC, that will install on either your Macintosh or Windows computer.

.psd 04/2008

on the CD

onOne software plug-ins

Photo tune
PhotoTune is a Photoshop plug-in that delivers professional level color correction in a straightforward, simple to use guided process. A quick six-step Color Wizard compares different corrected versions of your photo and you simply choose the one at each step that looks the best to you. Finally, professional color correction made easy. Win and Mac demos. www.ononesoftware.com

E-psd
4 tutorials of .psd covers
We prepared the pdfs of 4 cover tutorials from the previous issues. Enjoy them and learn to do the cover graphics. Create Amazing Images with 3D Renders by Mark Mayers www.markmayers.co.uk Portrait taking a portrait by Emily Snape Mascot & Me by Bracer Jack www.bracercom.com Sanskirt: Light and Airy energy by Neil Duerden www.neilduerden.co.uk

ADVERTISEMENT

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on the CD

Stock photos
30 Free Stock Photos from stockvault.net
Stockvault.net has provided 30 textures and background images which include grungy, dirty and abstract shapes and forms you can use in your designs. Visit stockvault.net for thousands of free stock photos and textures. The provided images are also available online for .psd subscribers and can be downloaded at http://www.stockvault.net/psdmag-downloads/ www.stockvault.net

FREEBIES
Sothink SWF Easy trial + $10 coupon
Sothink SWF Easy (original name: Glanda) Fast and Easy Flash Animation Software. An easy Flash animation software for all Flash fans. Create Flash banners, greeting cards and albums by pre-made templates within clicks! Various of built-in resources can save your time to make excellent Flash animation. A large amount of predened effects and Action Script 2.0 can help you achieve more advanced function. It is the fastest and easiest way to create your own Flash works professionally. Upgrading from Sothink SWF Easy 5.0, SWF Easy 5.1 continues to support all the features of SWF Easy 5.0 and gets some reformation on the interface to be more user-friendly. Besides that, it also has many new features. From version 5.1 onwards, Sothink SWF Easy supports adding more resources to program by installing Resource zip le downloaded from Sothink website. www.sothink.com

CREATE YOUR OWN BLOG PART 2

All capture 60 day trial

ALLCapture screen recording software to capture your desktop in realtime. Record screen activities in real-time to quickly and easily create your own screencasts, demos, tutorials, software simulations and videos for the Internet without any programming language necessary. www.allcapture.com

Blogs are now a fundamental part of the Web ... they're everywhere! As such, Photoshop designers will probably be asked more and more to create layouts for business blogs. So it only makes sense that Photoshopers should learn about how to use and set up Wordpress probably the most popular blog software out there today. At the same, it also makes sense to get your own blog up and running too! Should you have any questions please visit our forums at: www.killersites.com/forum/ Realtime view/edit transparent animations (GIF, SAN, EAN...) and pictures (BMP, JPG, ICO...) with ease and seamless format to format conversion. Many features +portable, clone, realtime scrolling Help, custom user language translation, use as a work hub etc. www.killersites.com

Zatun games
16 Game textures and 3-5 Game models created by Zatun Games. All the textures are base textures(metal, wood, brick, tiles, etc) and can easily be build upon. They can also be used as background while creating art in Photoshop. The models are very low poly and are meant for in-game use. Following are the models: Machine 1 ( An electric meter machine) Gas Cylinder Crate Phantom car

Magix - Full version

Xtreme Photo & Graphic Designer Photo & graphic intuitively combined: professional image editing and intelligent graphic design for photos, bitmaps and vector graphics. Top-quality templates guarantee perfect results! www.magix.com

All models are in .OBJ format and can easily be transferred to Maya, 3d Max, XSI,etc. www.zatun.com

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CD

CD here
If the CD contents cannot be accessed and the disc isnt physically damaged, try to run it in at least two CD-drives. If you have encountered any problems with CD, please write to: cd@psdmag.org

cover artist

Wild adventures
adventures of Fern the farmer
Hi everyone and welcome to the Making Of Fern, a 3D artwork created by the Chevisodes team. CHEVisodes is an episode based on CG animated movie featuring Fern. Fern is the main character of CHEVisodes. Other characters may join Fern in his adventures but this will be yours to discover.
his is a for the love of this type project, we are a bunch of friends that really love Cging. We are currently working on the animation of CHEVisodes, you can still take a look at our website (www.chevisodes.com) to see some Work In Progress. We hope that you will enjoy the CHEVisodes as much as we enjoyed making them. The idea behind the image of Fern was really simple. This character is really appealing, Fern have his own personallity, expression and attitude. Our goal was to show his personality in one image. The pose was really important, create a nice silhouette, give attitude to the character and show character soul (Figure 1). We used complementary colors for the character and background to direct the audience to look at the character. Heres all the members of the CHEVisodes crew ( www.chevisodes.com):
10

Modeling
Before I started modeling anything of Fern head, I had to be comfortable with the concept (Figure 2), so the rst thing I did was looking at it for a good moment and imagining it in 3D. I had to take a moment like that to be sure of all the important shape of the character face, try to see how the muscle will work together. I often paint on the concept just to see where important lines are (Figure 3). It's so important not rushing working on the modeling phase, because at the end 3D software are just a tool, so if you're not familiar with what you are going to model, there is good chance you will loose a lot of time. In this tutorial, you will be able to follow with the progress picture (Figure 4), the modeling of fern head. Initial phase done, I was ready to start modeling. Everytime I start working on a model, I prefer to have a mass that will correspond the proportion. It's really hard to begin with just extruding edge. So basicly, I start with a simple box with a meshsmooth modier (iteration 1) that I convert in editable poly and start adding edge and I follow the model sheet. I don't really care if the model is clean right now, I just want to get the right proportion. It's important to tell that the proportion will surely not be nal, but at least I will have an excellent reference to work on. A good tips when you are modeling a head, is to add ear at the beginning. We don't care if it's the nal ear or ear from an other character, just add a pair of ear as a place holder. It will help you a lot of making him alive in front of you at the beginning and it will be a lot easier to work face proportion.

Patrick Beaulieu Character Animator, modeling Squeezestudio.com Jonathan Simard Character Animator, modeling Pikmin.cgsociety.org ric D. Lgar Animation TD Ericdlegare.com Daniel Huertas Character Animator Danimating.com Daniel Boulanger Concept Artist Simon Dubuc Texture Artist Yves Breton Sound Designer Christian Pacaud Music Composer ChristianPacaud.com Ruben Mueller Cheerleader/Webmaster RubenMueller.de

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wild adventures of fern the farmer

So when it's done and I'm happy with the shape, I can focus on having a clean mesh that fallow muscle. It's time now to delete part and reconstruct it. In this step, I'm not focusing on detail, Im just adding important line, because even if the proportion are correct at rst, It's easy to destroy it. So during the reconstruction, I always take care to adjust the proportion everytime I'm adding edges, so I wont nish this phase with weird proportion. For this character, its was different then other one I did in the past, because a lot of details was concentrated and squeezed near the nose and eye. I had to keep the right proportion and deal with lots a poly in this area. But I knew where the important line were, so I just followed them like you see on the progress picture and it ended up well. Like you see, the nal model of the face in the progess picture it's not like nal fern face (Figure 5). There are lots of difference in the eyebrows and nose section. On the concept, the eyebrow looked pretty good, but not as much on the 3D model. So I pass the model to Patrick Beaulieu. He had a fresh vision of the head, because he hadn't worked on the face yet. He did a great job reshaping problematic section and keep the model as close as the original model. After that we did some minor tweak and the head was done. As a conclusion, you have to make sure that the proportion are correct at the beginning. Cleaning the model is far easier so I keep that for later. Follow important line with polygons will keep your model with better proportion, less poly and will make better deformation for animation. use subtools, a great feature added in the most recent ZBrush release. I then imported the OBJ into ZBrush, and used Tool: Polygroups: Auto Groups to give every element a specic group, and then Tool: SubTool: GrpSplit to split them into different subtools. Subtools allow for a much more precise and manageable high-res modeling job because you can subdivide the part you are working on up to ZBrushs allowed maximum for your machine, and then return to subdivion level 1 to work on another part. With everything ready, I started sculpting the mesh. I suggest starting with the main shapes and using the layer system to add levels of details. For sculpting, I mainly used ZBs default brushes and the stencil tool with photographic alphas. Once I was satised with the sculpt, I rendered the displacement (or height) map, the normal

Texture
In this section, I will explain the process used for mapping, high resolution sculpting and shader creation that I used for Fern. First, I took the model from our modeling team and examined it thoroughly for anything that might hinder the texture job (uneven polygon density, stretched polys, triangles, etc). Next, I unwrapped the model using 3dsMaxs unwrap modier for the greater part (Figure 6), and also the handy relax function of UVLayout. After some tests, I decided to use 3 UV regions, one for the head and arms, one for the eyes and one for the rest of the body. This is because I want to keep apart the parts that will have very different shaders applied to them. With every part properly unwrapped, I exported an OBJ le containing all the body parts as separate elements. I did this to be able to Figure 2. Concept 00

Figure 3. Fig 1

Figure 1. Viewport 01

Figure 4. Fig 2
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11

cover artist

and cavity map with Zmapper (included with ZBrush), and I exported back into 3dsMax for the shader job (Figure 7). For Ferns skin, I used mental rays fast skin shader. It renders fast and gives good results for the sub-surface scattering. I made a diffuse map using photos, and a specular map from that diffuse. The displacement map was used to give detail to the characters silhouette. The eye has a modelised cornea and iris to make it catch light in a realistic way. The iris has a high specular value, and the cornea renders only reexion. A normal map is used on the suface of the eye to make it look wet and imperfect, and to help with the bulge of the cornea. Finally, the rest of the body uses standard maps (diffuse, normal, specular, reexion), with a bit of sub-surface scattering for the thinner cloth parts (Figure 8 and 9).

About Fern's Rig

The main idea behind the rig was to make it very intuitive for the animators, that's why the visual interface was created (Figure 10 and 11). Basicly it controls evrything on the rig, instead of using slidders, that some animators just can't stand, buttons in the interface handle the IK/FK switching as well as the dynamic linking and even the selection and the trajectories. Also whats intersting is that it's quite accessible, making such a visual interface does not requires an high level of scripting skills, for exemple, when I was at school I made my very rst visual interface in 3dsMax using only the macro recorder and visual MaxScript. Making those interfaces is fun so just try it yourself !

Actually, the less complicated by longer step was the skinning, beucause of the Deformation Layer (Figure 12) on top of the Control Rig (Figure 13), there is a lot of bones in the skin (Figure 14). On this image I'm showing the enveloppes to show you how much bones there is in Fern (yet I don't use enveloppes to skin characters). For the skin I used a thechnique that I would call substrative skinning, for exemple, I would skin evry point of the leg to the thigh bone, and then I would go on the calf bone to steal some weights to the thigh in the knee area, then all the foot area would be weigthed to the calf and then the same thing goes, the foot would be stealing some weights to the calf, I nd this technique to be very good to create a rough skinning (before the painting) or to skin low resolution characters. This kind of project is a good opportunity to learn that some techniques work well and other should be avoided. This will be shown in DPuppet, a new rig in progress that will be available for free so animators can enjoy some Fern-Like animation (the visual interface will be included too) stay tuned on www.DPuppet.com for updates !

Figure 7. Zbrush

Figure 5. Fig 3

Figure 8. Head

Figure 6. Viewport 02

Figure 9. Body
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wild adventures of fern the farmer

Figure 14. Enveloppes

Figure 10. Interface

Figure 15. Compositing

Figure 11. Facial ui real

Figure 16. Webpage to adjust lighting. It give a good job to boost colours, intensity and mixte background with the character (Figure 15).

Conclusion
Figure 12. Deformation Layer Figure 13. Control Rig

Compositing
The compositing was the easiest part in the creation of this picture. We created this character for a webisodes. Fern was build to give us the ability to render animation sequence really fast, without render passes, without complicated process, one click, one render. For the picture, we added some tweaks on the nal images, add background, try to remove the 3D effects, adjust brightness contrast and add some details like that. We used the lighting effect tool in Photoshop on the nal images

Finally, I hope you have appreciated this article. Like you can see, there a lot of work behind this character, our team worked really hard to create this character. It was great for us to make Fern and see how we can work together. We are happy with the nal result, hope you enjoy this character too. Dont hesitate to contact us on Chevisodes.com for questions. It will be a pleasure for us to answer your questions. Im entirely at your disposal if I have the time... (Figure 16). www.CHEVisodes.com by CHEVisodes crew
13

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medium | 15 h | tutorial on CD Adobe Photoshop CS3 | Autodesk Maya 8.5

Making
of Uchronia
I have always been interested in history, particularly the period from 1939 to1945, and I decided to make a couple of illustrations to depict my personal feelings and emotions about this subject. Thus this picture, Uchronia is one of these in which I tried to suggest to the viewer a scene of uchronie: what would have become of the world, in particular in the city of Paris, if Nazism had triumphed.
14 .psd 04/2008

making of uchronia

hrough books, lms and war documentaries, one of the things which certainly most shocked me was the concentration camps and their particular atmosphere which only some pictures and the memories of deported people enable us to still feel today. I thus imagined what the Nazis madness would have kept on doing to proceed with its Final Solution, for example the construction of colder and more impressive buildings similar to the monumental architecture we found at the time. So, I imagined those huge crematoriums in form of skyscrapers overwhelming the city, as if there was not enough place on the ground to park the prisoners and so beginning this vertical ascent in these towers of death. These towers which arise from the depths of the city are used as a promontory to constantly indoctrinate the population about the impurity of the imprisoned populations... Put aside the prisoners while showing them to everyone. I did not want to insist heavily on these deaths factories and thats why we understand their purpose only while viewing a second time the image. My intention was not to shock but rather to try to give the viewer a small shudder of illness at the vision of this environment.

Playing with these taboo subjects is even today a bit delicate and quickly leads to confusion, which is why there is no distinguishing feature which could make the reader think that this image depicts a fascination for Nazism. The red banners however give us an indication about the origin. So, in this illustration, the rst wish was to make the reader feel above all a heavy and disturbing atmosphere. The sky thus needed to be impressive and I strengthened this feeling of coolness by adding the snow in the last steps. I also tried to work on the reading of the image. The path our eye follows in the rst reading is extremely important. Indeed this natural path, if it is made without any problem, is going to allow us to better dread the image and to understand it, or at least try to understand what the author wanted to convey. So I tried to envisage the eye path regarding to the main light of the scene. One begins by taking charge of the brilliant zone, then discovering these huge buildings and in the last reading, the city and the soldier in foreground. We understand afterward the scale between the various plans. This is all naturally brought by the shape of clouds and the perspective that creates buildings. In this image, I chose to avoid the constraints of perspective by using 3D tools with Autodesk Maya software. 3D has
15

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workshops

Figure 1. Mental Ray rendering

Figure 2. Background rst draft

Figure 3. Specify levels the very positive side to offer innite freedom in the choice of the centring and the light. This is something which becomes more and more recurring in my work, a huge saving of time which allows me to concentrate much more on what I have to tell rather than sinking into technical problems. Now let us see how I proceeded, following six main steps, to go over Uchronia. Throughout the process, I keep my image in grey levels and I put the colours only once the balance of grey suits me. The sky comes from a personal photo over which I painted in order to restore its density and balance of grey. I also tried to connect this layer of sky with mountains in the background by a sequence of multiple layers of fog created with the basic brushes which photoshop offered. In this rst step of conception, I let myself go through many ideas, I thus painted an area of water and I began to work on the city to quickly put together a general view of my image and see if the circulation of the forms and spaces worked together. Using level and curve tools, I more accurately dened the balance of grey.

Steps description:
Step 1
As I have said, I began this image by creating a 3D base to erase the constraints of perspectives. This 3D base was quickly taken up under Autodesk Maya 8.5, by using very simple forms and a pass of basic lighting with a main light source. Once my framing was found, I made a rendering under mental ray creating this dear .tif le with its alpha channel allowing me to start my illustration under photoshop. I spent about 1 hour under Maya and all the rest of the process continues under photoshop. That is why I do not consider it as a 3D illustration because almost 95 % of the job was a work of texturing/painting in 2D.

Step 3
In this stage, I nally decided to replace the area of water for several reasons: in the end it cut the image and aerated it too much, it damaged the sensation of a huge hostile place which I wanted to create. So I kept on working on the city by using this time squared custom brushes allowing me to create a rough and sharpened aspect in the forms and their rhythms. The background is henceforth in the fog intensifying the atmosphere and I added far off another tower far off which increases the global depth of the image. So, I began to dene more exactly my idea of a crematorium by painting smoke which escapes from those tours/ovens, using custom brushes in colour dodge mode. These smokes joined in the sky which becomes there only darker. Last addition in this step, the work on the foreground by clarifying the forms of the building and imagining

Step 2
After switching softwares, lets go for painting! My image is ready for texturing but before all, let's start the process with the backgrounds.
16

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making of uchronia

Figure 4. Color intention

Figure 5. Pick texturing

Figure 6. Lively details what could take place there. I tried to paint those buildings as bunkers to really plunge the viewer into an uchronie of the WW subject.

Step 6
As it often happens in my process of creation, I changed radically and it is what happened for the city. Indeed, these ruins did not satisfy me on the idea of uchronie and one would have been able to imagine any place. I thus had to go through my stock of photos and I decided to replace the city by a sight of Paris. Thus by using a picture reference, I repainted above by adding layers of snow on each building and I tried to give a little of life by adding for instance smoke which escapes from replaces. I also decide to add a overhang in foreground to be afterward able to stage a character there whom one would perhaps have noticed if he had been posted farther. I also bring my last retouch for the atmosphere; snowakes are for many, painted thanks to a lot of white point motion blurred. I worked nally the very last details, the electric cords, the ravens and the soldier with his disturbing look. In fact, a lot of small graphic details strengthen once again the cold and hostile aspect of this place. Finally, and I believe that it is the most exciting step of the process of creation, I made the last retouch of colour by using all possibilities that photoshop offered. Color correction, selective colour, photo lter and many others helped me to nish this picture which in the end took me about 15 hours of work. Its done! After writing this I think my own technique is a little bit messy, in my mind, but I hope you will nd it interesting. by Morgan Yon
17

Step 4
Here I began to put my rst indications of colours. This colour was created thanks to a brown / sepia layer in overlay mode. It gave me a quick primary idea of the general colour scheme which I would change afterwards but it allowed me to better link my elements. My work on bunkers has still evolved and I also began the process of texturing. I also decided to plunge the height of the sky in an even more important twilight as if this last one came to press on the city. The feeling of claustrophobia was interesting in this image that is why it remained until the nal version. Another pass of levels and selective colours bring us to the following step.

Step 5
In this stage, I continued the process of texturing the buildings facades. All these textures are applied with appropriate blending mode and worked again in their colour scheme using the selective colour tool. All the pierces in the walls were hand-made by using the lasso tool and the textures of wire nettings were put afterward. Then I dened slightly better the ames and I linked plans together again with a couple of fog layers painted with huge round basic brushes. Finally, I worked colour by colour the entire image by using the channel to mixer tool and I tried to nd a harmony between them.

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medium | 10 h | tutorial on CD
Adobe Photoshop CS2

jealous bodyguard

Jealous
bodyguard
Jealous Bodyguard was made for a personal project called Companions. A childrens book, of sorts, each image focused on the relationships between the human inhabitants and the local wildlife of a ctional island. Jealous bodyguard was created with the idea of a trained guard for a young, regal, women. The thought pattern centred on a creature that was graceful yet erce which led to the idea of a large domesticated cat not unlike a Bengal tiger. Fierce but capable of affection. Setup
For this image I only used the one type of brush, the hard edge (Figure 1) not for any particular reason nor do I not use other brushes, I just felt that this gave me the most control. The only adjustments I make to these settings were to the opacity and ow and in my own case I change the, ow, opacity and size jitters respectively to pen pressure (Figure 1) only because Im using a Wacom tablet. For this image I made th e canvas an A4 size and shape at.

Sketchy behaviour
I usually sketch out the image I intend, scanning it in as a guide and adjusting the levels to make the lines stand out a bit more. In this case however I used both my original sketch and added to it in Photoshop with a same hard edge brush. I also employed the talents of my associate Samantha to act as model for the young women and base the facial expression and skin tones on hers (Figure 2 and 3). Before I blocked in any colour I made four separate layers, the bottom being skin, the next being the garments beneath her long dress and nally one for the dress itself.

Blocking in
With Sams face sketched into the image, and enough separate layers to easily be able to adjust things down the track, I began the blocking in phase. I settled on an orange and blue/violet colour scheme (Figure 4). I also established that her cat companion would be a white creature not unlike a white tiger or lion so I based its skin as a beige tone that I could build up on over time.

Figure 2. Initial sketch

Figure 1. Brush settings

Figure 3. Reference sketch

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workshops

Figure 4. Blocking in Concerning her skin tone, the original photo shoot with Sam was in a poorly lit room so some adjustment was necessary to accommodate the fact that the image is light with sunlight in mind not florescent lighting. For now though I simply select the darkest tone of her skin in the photo, which was in this case the point of deepest shadow beneath her chin. This allowed me to more easily build on her skin tone with white and pink highlights.

Figure 6. Color and buildup Next I added her eyes, darkened the edge of the lids, put a slight highlight to her hair and gave the hanging strands some direction with the smudge tool at 20% (Figure 5).

Dressing up
This trend continued with the blocking of the tones in her dress (Figure 6) using the burnt orange to increase the highlights and darken the shadows in the folds of the fabric. I modied the wing, for lack of a better word, on the front of her dress to look more like a shield and follow the form of her body more closely. I wanted to make her dress look less plain and more ornate so I decided to include a pattern (Figure 7) to the blue of her upper dress and to the draping fabric down her legs rstly making another layer so I didnt do anything I couldnt take back. I settled on the design and attened the blue dress layer and the pattern layer together, adjusting it to t the folds of the fabric across her chest, around her shoulders and down her front (Figure 8).

Highlights
Using the hard edge at about 50% opacity I laid down some highlights as well as darkened the shadowed areas of her face and made her lips redder to suggest cosmetics of some sort. As I continued this process I sampled some shades that appear inbetween the darker and lighter tones and used these shades to soften things up around her face and neck. I also blocked in hair and eyebrows to better adjust the shadows around her eyes, then gave the whole thing a once over with the smooth tool at 15% opacity to soften her features even more.

Figure 5. Facial tones and highlists

20

Figure 7. Dress detail

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jealous bodyguard
Head Gear
The next step I took was to assess here head dress design which I mad into an engraved hemispherical piece of jewellery and tried inlaying a bit of detail. After this I found that it still looked to boring and plain so I added the ring hanging in the centre of the crescent which I had considered leaving out from some of my initial sketches. The only other real decision was whether to make it gold or silver (Figure 9). In the end I felt that the gold was too bright and too ceremonial I wanted it to look like she was out for a stroll in the court not at a royal precession.

The cat
The cats fur followed a similar pattern to how I layered up the tone in the womans skin. The main difference was that because this was fur it meant I had to make all the edges hard with minimal blending of the colours. This helped the fur to look matted and rough. This was still all done using the same hard edge brush which in retrospect was a bad decision considering how much fur I had to paint (Figure 10). Once I had everything laid down I used the smudge tool at half strength to move the fur around a bit and nally I gave the area some shape denition, as it seemed to at, by adding in some darker stripes to emphasize some bulk.

Figure 8. Further dress detail

Figure 9. Headdress colors

Figure 10. Cat fur buildup

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workshops

Figure 11. Cat builduo

Figure 12. Composition

Cats head
Meanwhile the cat s head followed a similar process (Figure 11) of laying down tone then slowly building up the detail. This was still obviously quite time consuming considering I was only using the hard edge brush. After this I began working in the eyes and tongue, like most large cats I gave the exposed skin around the lips and eyes a dark brown colour and the inner mouth a lighter reddish brown. I also made the nose a dark brown rather then the characteristic pink of a tigers nose and pointed the ears a bit more. I added some deep blue eyes and yellow tinted teeth as well as a lightly striped pattern to its fur both on its face, neck and legs.

about it until now. I wanted to try out some stuff but I wanted to try and get the shadows as accurate as possible so I used some 3d modelling to establish a basis for shadow and perspective. Once I got what I wanted out of my 3d study I painted in a bit of brickwork and the shadows cast along the stone oor. I added some draped ags to ll in the extremely boring walls and blank space and as a nishing touch added in the pink cherry blossom petals to a layer above the rest.

Finished
Well the nished product is something I enjoyed and hopefully youve enjoyed this little explanation of how it came to be. I wish you all good luck in your own work and thanks for your time. Please if you have any questions dont hesitate to contact me. by Andrew Berends

Background
Once I had the two of them completed for the moment I got to the background (Figure 12) not honestly having had much thought
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medium | 100 h Adobe Photoshop | Softimage XSI | ZBrush

Darkness
monster
In creating this character, our main goal was to test ours skills by creating a realistic, but fantastic creature. In order to do so, we drew some inspiration for certain aspects from movies such as The Lord of the Rings (inspired the characters height and the all-over fantasy look & feel of the movie), King Kong inspired us for the creature battle scenes and War Harmer and the War Craft inspired us when designing accessories and armors used for the lm. Our concept is mostly based on the use of lighting: we wanted to create a bright and well-lit atmosphere, which is contrary to more popular dark and evil creatures we usually see in these types of animations. We also wanted to focus on the characters traits and expressions.
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darkness monster

2007Hybride, Steve Jubinville & Yanick Gaudreau

n this frame, the character stands out because there is a ray of light streaming from left to right through the clouds of a stormy sky, which helps accentuate the focus on the character and makes it seem come to life. Also in this setting, weve focused on the characters height and proximity so it dominates its environment and seems like its about to jump of-screen. Weve taken care to not show too much of its body, putting the focus on the creatures face and its cold and cruel stare.

Research and Concept Drawings:

The rst step before drawing a character is to nd a subject. The look is very important, but it is also essential to consider other aspects, such as: what kind of character do we create?, should it be big or small?, what kind of environment does it live in?, etc. These aspects directly inuence skin texture and color. For this particular character, we wanted to create something fantastic and so we mostly oriented our research towards Tyrex dinosaurs, albino crocodiles, (big) birds feet and bulls. Since we wanted to create a strong character with a mean and crazy look the albino crocodiles was the obvious choice as our main guideline. It was, however, a very big challenge to achieve this particular type of skin using Sub Surface Scattering. See the Figure 1 & 2.

I personally don't like to start my models with a box: I prefer starting with a simple quad, duplicate the edge, and then I look for the main line. This technique is quite effective in order to create the characters muscle contours. The advantage of making a low rez version rst, is that it is possible to send it to the rigging department early on to test the modeling deformations. See the Figure 3. Once my model is done, I like to unwrap each part of my model before starting with Zbrush, then I unwrap the pieces with UvLayout, and Unfold 3d. The important thing to remember about the Uv's, is that you need to make sure every square on the character is equal, which makes the texturing part easier plus, no texture scaling will be necessary after this step. See the Figure 4. When my UvLayout is nished, I like to use Zbrush, which helps to make a better shape using polygons and helps add very specic details. Details are also made using different kinds of alpha, and brush techniques. It is also possible to extract Displacement Maps, Normal Maps and Cavity Maps. See the Figure 5.

Texturing & Shading

To create custom textures, I like to start with basic surface textures in Photoshop then correct them using the paint, color and mixing tools. The monsters morphology is highlighted by making the skin very pale and by giving him very dark eyes. Moreover, the paleness of the skin helps bring out the different tones of color in the armor and in the accessories. As for the Render Tree, it is really simple: I use a phong for the shader and some maps for the texture. See the Figure 6.
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Modeling, UV Mapping & Zbrush

Once the concept is ready, I like to start my model with a low rez mesh, which makes it easier to picture the characters main features.

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workshops

Figure 5. Zbrush details

Figure 1. The research

Figure 6. Photoshop texture Figure 2. The concept

Figure 3. XSI basic shape

Figure 4. UVs layout

Figure 7. Texture & lighting test

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darkness monster

ARTIST PROFILE
Steve Jubinville: stevejubz1@hotmail.com Yanick Gaudreau: yanickg@hybride.com

Now because the modeling is very high in detail, we use a simple Diffuse Map alongside a Displacement Map and at this point, the sub-surface scattering (SSS) shader is not connected because I add the (SSS) in a separate pass. Figure 7. For this specic image, we used a very High-resolution mesh, which is faster for rendering. For the nal animation shot, we put a lower mesh in the scene and I applied displacement using the Render Tree. Figure 8.

and add sun to recreate a nice rim of light on the back border of the head, or object. In reality, a reection is created when light hits an object and for this reason, we needed to add an environment map in order to simulate reality, complete with natural outdoor details and cool variations. With a bit of imagination, this creature really could come to life. See the Figure 9. Final gathering and caustics can help

Lighting and rendering

For the lighting, it is not necessary to create a complex rig: you simply need to insert some light to recreate an outdoor atmosphere,

Figure 8. Shader tree example

Figure 9. Light setup

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Figure 10. Occlusion render test

Figure 11. Final render before compositing achieve look, but it is very long for the render so weve recreated the look by diffusing light all around the character varying its intensity depending on the lighted areas. We tried to imagine rays of light falling on one object and then bouncing off a second and this is the phenomenon we tried to apply to the character. See the Figure 10 & 11. Rendering is done using Mental ray in Softimage Xsi.

Post-production
Post-production for this image was done using Photoshop, which is great for composting if youre working on a still frame, and Shake or Fusion are used for the nal animated shot. Using a motion blur, which was inspired by an action shot picture of a repeated movement, breaks the images static feel. We then added a Hair pass to make the transition with the background more natural.

Conclusion
Yanick Gaudreau Steve Jubinville In short, all of the enumerated aspects are what make the essence of the image: weve carefully proportioned lighting, textures and paid special attention to modeling details to ensure a extremely realistic feel to the character and its surroundings. by Steve Jubinville & Yanick Gaudreau www.steavejubinville.com www.yanickgaudreau.com
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medium | 10 days
Adobe Photoshop CS2

Battle
of Klendathu
Welcome to my digital illustration demonstration. There are many ways of creating a digital painting. This is just my way. Ive been trying my best to mimic my traditional oil painting with digital media and have found Photoshop CS2 ideal for this purpose. I tend to stay away from various lters and plug-ins while I work. I have a big library of custom brushes that I hardly ever use. Most of this painting is done with the same 4 brushes used at varying sizes and texture levels. These 4 brushes mimic the ats and lbert brushes I normally use in oils. Throughout this illustration I used very few layers. One for the background, foreground and separate layers for the gure and foreground aliens. A few adjustment layers and thats about it. I dont have a super fast computer so having few layers keeps my le size down and allows me to slush pixels around without any slow downs.

battle of klendathu

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workshops

his Illustration is a remake of the cover to Robert Heinleins Starship Troopers. Before I had ever heard of Robert Heinlein, I saw the lm based on the classic Hugo award winning novel and thought it was just a terrible big budget rip off of a cancelled TV show called Space above and Beyond. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that the movie was based on Heinlein's book and that the book inspired a whole sub genre in science ction. GIANT MECHA!!!! I was never fond of any of the covers done for this novel so thought I'd take a shot.

Concept Sketches
Each Illustration starts from creating thumbnail sketches. For this painting I wanted to stay away from a static pose of troopers standing around with a star eld or training camp in the background. I thought it would be interesting to depict a scene from an event that was lightly touched on in the book, the battle of Klendathu. I worked up sketches to convey the idea that the viewer is looking up at the cap trooper from the bugs point of view. In each sketch I wanted the gures body to be exposed in some way to show that even though he is incased within this heavy machine, he is still in imminent danger. Background troopers were added, but since the focus of the illustration was the interaction between the exposed cap trooper and the bugs, I decided to remove the background cavalry. While creating rough drawings I am thinking about mood, lighting, atmosphere, size relationships, composition and overall concept. After producing some loose thumbnail sketches I create

Figure 1. Sketch it up

Figure 4. Klendathu at dusk

Figure 2. Reference

Figure 3. Bug war nal line art

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Figure 5. My digital controlled palette

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Figure 6. First wash of color

Figure 7. Finishing the background

Figure 10. Smoothing it out

Figure 8. Painting the claw

Figure 9. Working on the cockpit

Figure 11. Adding surface details

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a rough nal drawing as a guide for my next few steps. For me this stage is the most fun. Here I begin focusing on character and costume designs, architectural detail and other background elements. Depending on the illustration, machinery and other conceptual designs are all worked on as well (Figure 1).

Gathering Reference
Now that I have a fairly good idea what the composition and overall concept will be, I set out to nd reference materials for the gure, mecha and environment. I spent time looking at desert landscapes

Figure 12. Cockpit nearly completed

Figure 14. Introducing the Honda RX 308

Figure 13. Exposed cockpit complete

Figure 15. More dents, scratches and dirt

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battle of klendathu
and sunsets. Photos of cars, reective metals and rusted, scratched painted metal were collected. A photo shoot of a professional model was done for the gure reference. I also looked up photos of spiders and screenshots of the bugs from the movie. I then spent some time in 3DS Max to build quick reference of a robot arm and some other details I didnt want to make up (Figure 2).

Final Drawing
When Ive nished gathering my reference, all that is left is to complete a detailed nal drawing from which to paint. My line drawing is done completely in Photoshop. Some illustrators prefer to draw on paper and scan in their nal drawing. I'm most comfortable working every stage digitally. I take my rough sketch and scale it up to 14x24" at 300 dpi, the size I want to paint the nal illustration. A second layer is created

Figure 17. Rasczaks Roughneck

Figure 18. Working on the shirt

Figure 16. Forearm gun turrets and bug lights

Figure 19. On to the arms

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Final Painting
Now for the main event. When working in oils I follow the Frank Reilly system of painting. This method taught me to paint with a controlled palette. Almost all my essential colors are pre mixed into value strings from light to dark. When I decided to work digitally I saw no reason to change that approach. I have a PSD le that has a value bar for the entire color wheel and a grayscale bar next to it. Im able to adjust the chroma of a hue simply by picking the foreground color and its gray equivalent. With Photoshops color dynamics turned on and switched to pen pressure I can control the intensity of color by how hard or soft I press down on the tablet (Figure 5). Once Ive settled on a color scheme I create a new le with my attened line drawing as the base layer. I take my color study layer and scale it up to my nal working dimensions, then lay it over the base layer. This eliminates the white canvas and serves as my rst wash of color. A step I would traditionally do in acrylics (Figure 6). I create a new layer above the color wash and begin working in the background. I always work from background to foreground while constantly checking my values and light/dark contrast (Figure 7). Once I have established color and my values for the painting and have a general idea where the piece is going I tend to just move across, up or down through a painting until complete. As I work from background to foreground, I start to see the painting in quarter sections that need to be completed as I go. I like to see my under drawing road map as I paint. As you can see from (Figure 8) Im just about nished with the background and have moved on to the middle ground robot. When creating this illustration I knew I wanted it to be another exercise in rim lighting. Continuing my study of Orientalist painters. I didnt want the gure details to get lost in silhouette. I establish that there is a diffuse main light coming in that helps to softly illuminate the gure and robot in a cool purplish hue.

Figure 20. Remembering Buenos Aires

Textural Details
Now that Ive nished painting the background and ships I continue on working the robot. I spend time adding chipped paint marks and textural details to the metal as I move across the mecha. I work out the inner cockpit and surrounding details (Figure 9-15). With a majority of the mecha complete, I wasnt satised with the drama in the scene. I decided to add machine gun turrets to the robots forearm. Doing this gave me the idea to have the bugs in the extreme foreground rim lit by the machine gun re. I always enjoy painting in glowing light sources so painting in all the reected lights to help dene form was the most fun part of the illustration for me (Figure 16).

Juan Rico- Cap Trooper

With everything else complete, I move on to the mans body. When I rst started painting digitally I got caught up in that paint every skin pore treatment. I dont have the patience for that anymore. I prefer to keep everything pretty loose and painterly when seen at 100% image size. When it comes time to paint the gure I usually have the works of my mentor Garin Baker and contemporary artist Scott Burdick on the screen for inspiration. I always paint the gure last. Working and adjusting the gures skin tone to t the environment, never the other way around. I paint thinly both in oils and digitally. Ill often times leave some of the original drawing to show through. Not as a design choice but simply to save time. It isn't necessary for me to render out every little detail. Working with my paintbrush set with color dynamics checked and at between 50-70% opacity I begin building up the mans shirt and face. Painting with a low opacity gives the impression of working from thin to thick. Each brushstroke builds up the color and helps me to shape and mold the form while still allowing me to see my underdrawing (Figure 17-21).

Figure 21. Working the face and lled with white, and then the opacity is dropped to around 75%. This acts as a translucent veil that allows me to still make out the rough sketch and use it as a guide for the gure placement and background details. I add a third layer and begin my drawing (Figure 3).

Color Studies
Before starting the nal painting it is necessary for me to settle on a color scheme for the illustration. My color studies are done at a much reduced scale from the nal painting size. Though I sometimes set out to create an analogous color scheme, I ultimately stayed in my comfort zone and stuck with complementary tones. Since a complementary scheme has the most color contrast I thought it might work best, especially around the mans body. The sunset sky is that one dominant color that affects everything else in the painting. Complementary tones are then used for color accents and to highlight important elements (Figure 4). While working out color, I create an adjustment layer and drop the saturation to 0%. This allows me to see my study in grayscale so I can check my values. I need to be sure there is enough light/dark contrast in the painting. I keep in mind that in an exterior lighting scenario, as objects go back in space they lose contrast, chroma and become lighter than foreground values.
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Finishing Touches
Scratch marks, rips in the shirt, ear rings and other little details are added to the face and body. This illustration took about a total of 10 days to complete from start to nish. This is my normal workow. My stages of development (concept sketch, color sketch, reference gathering, nal drawing and painting) are unchanged from my traditional approach. I hope it gives you an idea of how to approach a painting. by Eric Wilkerson

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Exhaust
burn tutorial
Exhaust burns are the effect of hot gases and particles of carbon, oil and other substances that discolor the sheet metal around exhaust pipes. These discolorations increase with age and use of the vehicle and can be found on cars, aircraft and other vehicles with sheet metal in the proximity of the exhaust outlets.

he larger the exhaust outlet the larger the area effected by the exhaust burn. The smaller the outlet the inverse is true. Jet exhaust will burn the sheet metal more but put fewer particles on the metal than a reciprocating engine so the result is less dark particles and more blue gray metal from heating. These burns also follow the prevailing air currents and gradually lesson over distance. Jet engine exhaust will lesson faster because the speed they travel through the air cools the metal faster than the reciprocating powered aircraft. You will also notice that these burns will curve and ow along the surface with the airow. P-51s are a great example. The P-51 has 6 exhaust pipes on either side of the nose and they spew out exhaust just below the shoulder of the nose just ahead of the cockpit. The airow along the fuselage there is gradually pulled upward only slightly until it reaches a point even with the canopy. It then is pulled downward with the airow as the cockpit and wing aerodynamics take effect on the airow along the fuselage. This exhaust burn then gradually nears the back of the wing and disappears as the exhaust is mixed with surrounding air. Image showing exhaust discoloration of the fuselage sheet metal aft of the exhaust stacks. Note that the exhaust discoloration follows the natural airow of the aircraft. The purpose of this short tutorial is to give you some idea of how to make exhaust burns on your sheet metal project and with practice and experience, make it appear realistically. We are providing a model and sheet metal textures to practice this tutorial with. The remaining processes will be included in this tutorial. Applying a heat discoloration to the sheet metal diffuse material Applying a particle discoloration to the sheet metal diffuse material Applying oil streaks on the sheet metal diffuse material Applying Heat Discoloration to the sheet metal diffuse material

Dry Brush Master Diameter 59 px Mode Normal Opacity 19% Flow 29%

Image showing the brush conguration and selection Create a New Layer. In the area of the exhaust stacks, you will need to discolor the metal a little to the dark gray blue. This is from the heat of the exhaust and does not go very far from the rear of the stack. Use the Brush Tool and make the patch of heating discoloration as shown in (Figure 5). Image showing the discoloration patch that has been Brushed on. Using the Smudge Tool with 30% strength and the Blur Tool with 100 % strength, edit this patch and blend it to be smoother and more consistent. It should not however be completely consistent (Figure 6). Image showing the blended heated discoloration patch after the blur and smudge tool have been used.

Applying a particle discoloration to the sheet metal diffuse material

Create a New Layer and select a new color. The new layer will be for the exhaust particle trail discoloration. The color will be a medium to dark gray. This patch of discoloration will have more effect on the color of the sheet metal because it is substances that adhere to the metal. They will also be apparent longer although gradually fading away to nothing (Figure 7). Color Selection is open and the darker gray is selected as the new color. On the right you can also see the new layer in the layer manager window. Now Brush in trails of smoke discoloration from the left side of the gray blue patch to the right side of the material. Using the same Brush will allow the streaking that naturally occurs from the forward velocity of ight (Figure 8). Image showing the exhaust streaking discoloration brushed on. Using the Blur Tool and the Smudge Tool, blend the streaks to be less apparent and less diverse (Figure 9). Smudge Tool and Blur Tool have blurred the tracks and edges of darker areas somewhat. Now change the opacity to this layer to about

Open the material called MtlDif.jpg in Photoshop (Figure 2). Image of material you will edit. Select the Brush Tool and change the settings as shown in (Figure 3). Image showing brush manage selection is made with the Activate brush manager and modify the brush settings as follows (Figure 4):

The3dStudio.com

The3dStudio.com

THE 3D RESOURCE SITE

The 3d Studio

Figure 1.

Figure 2.
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exhaust burn tutorial

The3dStudio.com

The3dStudio.com

Figure 3.

Figure 6.

The3dStudio.com

The3dStudio.com

Figure 7. Figure 4.

The3dStudio.com

The3dStudio.com

Figure 5. 37% and change the opacity to the layer with the heat discoloration to 24%. This really diminishes the effect and you can increase or decrease these settings to achieve the results you want (Figure 10). Image showing the nal adjustments to the opacity to the two layers with the discoloration. Applying oil streaks on the sheet metal

Figure 8. diffuse material Add a third layer. Open the Brush Manager again and select a Small Brush about 6 px of the same type. Leave the other current setting alone (Figure 11). Image showing new Brush Settings in the brush manager. Note the brush setting close up provided above in Figure 12. Brush is a 5 px dry brush, mode is normal, opacity is 19% and ow is
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THE 3D RESOURCE SITE

The 3d Studio

workshops

The3dStudio.com

The3dStudio.com

Figure 12. Figure 9.

The3dStudio.com

The3dStudio.com

Figure 10.

Figure 13.

The3dStudio.com

The3dStudio.com

THE 3D RESOURCE SITE

The 3d Studio

Figure 11. 29%. Carefully brush on tracks of oil from various locations on the material to the right some distance. These tracks should begin at the locations of a few rivets, or cracks between sheet metal. These oil tracks are not usually large and are not generally visible from any distance more than about 30 feet (Figure 13). Image showing oil tracks streaked across material from front to back (left to right) starting at rivets screws or breaks between pieces of sheet metal. Now save your work as a jpg overwriting the MTLDif.jpg. Do not close the PSD le without saving it as a PSD so
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Figure 14. that if need be you can edit it later. Close Photoshop. Open 3D Studio Max. Open the le called Exhaust Burn Model.max. When you open the le your work (if saved properly) should already have been updated on the material le and will appear on the model initially (Figure 14). Render it and determine if you need to make adjustments to the material le in Photoshop. If so make them in Photoshop and reopen the tutorial model. Note the burn discoloration under the exhaust stack. Now practice with the provided materials and then try it on your own projects. by 3dStudio.com www.The3dStudio.com

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medium | 120 min. | tutorial on CD

Adobe Photoshop CS3

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think of the wall

Think
of the Wall
Stewart Michael Bruce merges painting and photography to create phantasmagoric images that capture the imagination. In this tutorial we will work extensively with the layer palette to create our image. Dont be intimidated by the layer palette basically, just drag-and-drop your photographs onto your canvas. Well also work extensively with the lasso and mask tools.

01 Creating a new canvas

To begin with, open up Adobe Photoshop, go to File and select New Document. Set the image size of new document to Width 7.47 x Height 11.023 inches, the Resolution to 300 dpi, the color mode to RGB and 16 bits. Name the canvas Think off the wall and click OK.

03 Creating backgrounds

I like to create all my own backgrounds for these types of projects by painting or drawing the feel that I am looking for on watercolor paper. From there, I scan the washes that I have made and le it under a separate folder. I feel that by using these watercolor washes, I add something special to my images and give them an overall ne art look.

02 Blank slate

You should have a transparent canvas on which you can now start working. Name this rst layer Think off the Wall.

04 Transform your background

Open up the folder Think off the Wall from your CD and drag the folder onto your hard drive or on to your desk top. Next, go to File>Open>Images and double click on Background 1. Drag-and-drop this image onto your new canvas then go to Edit>Transform>Scale and scale the image to t the canvas.

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05 Name the layer

After you have resized the image to t the canvas, set the layer to Normal and the Opacity to 100%. Save this layer as Background 1.

08 Chance meeting of photographer and art

This photograph was taken one day when I was on one of my walks. I came a cross this old car that had been crushed, burned, and left in a eld with the word THINK ! written across it by the police. It certainly did make me think thus, this tutorial. If you can, take your camera out with you whenever possible: you never know what you will come across or how it might inspire you!

0 6 Abstract backgrounds

Next open up the folder Think off the Wall and open the image Background 2. As you can see, I have created a very abstract collage using paint, paper, and wax crayon. Have fun playing around and creating your own background. While the lters in Photoshop are good, its also nice to get paint on your hands and the satisfaction that you have created something without going to the programs lters.

09 Think before you work

Go to the sub-folder Image and open up the document called Think. Add this photograph to the canvas. Set the Layer to Lighten and the Opacity to 100%. Use the Photoshop Transform feature to adjust the layer to t the main subject. Name this layer Think. Make sure that you adjust the layer to t, as in the picture below.

07 Looking at bit muddy

As in Step 5, drag-and-drop this background on to your canvas and resize it. In the Layer palette, set the Layer to Overlay and the Opacity to 100%. (This will momentarily render the image very muddy, but just stick with me and it will soon all become clear).

10 Pulling into the station

This photograph was taken at the Bank Street Underground Station in London, England. Go to your Images folder and open up the le named London Underground.

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11 Going Underground

As in Steps 5, 7, and 9, drag-and-drop London Underground onto the canvas and resize it to t. Naming the new layer Underground Station.

14 Switching on the layers

Set the layer palette to Hard Light and the Opacity to 100%. With all the layers switched on, you can see the nal image slowly start to emerge. It still looks a bit of a mess, but all will come clear in the next couple of steps.

12 Add a mask

To isolate just the piece of the image that we want to feature, erase the extra information using the Mask tool. Next, go to the Mask tool and add a new mask to this layer. With the Brush tool remove all of the sky from the original image. You should be left with just the building.

15 Stopping trafc

Next go to the le Police Bike from our folder Think Off The Wall. Open the photograph in Photoshop.

13 Brushing away the sky

Now that you have taken out all of the sky, you should end up with the Layer looking like this (below). I like using the mask and the Brush tools. I get more exibility in using this method: if, at a later stage in my creation, I feel that I need to put back or take out any part of the images I am using, I easily can with this method. Of course, if you feel more comfortable using the Lasso tool, please feel free to do so.

16 Overlay

Add the image Police Bike to the photomontage. The idea is to make the police motorcycle appear as if it is driving across the word THINK. Youll have to play a little with the size of the image to get it to t just right. Set the Layer to Overlay and the opacity at 100%. As you can see the photomontage is slowly starting to evolve.

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17 Masking out

To build the images depth, continually add layers. Highlight layer Background 2, select File>Layer>Duplicate Layer. Add this duplicated layer on top of the layer Police Bike, set the layer to Lighten, and add a Mask. With the brush tool, take out most of the information from the left-hand side. Keep switching the layer off and on to judge how much you have to take away from the background in order to reveal the building underneath.

20 Think is the word

As a sculpture chisels at a block of marble to reveal the gure hidden within, so are you doing to the different layers that will ultimately come together to create the piece you envision. Duplicate the layer Think and drop it on top of the layer Police Bike Overlay. Add a layer mask.

18 Upping the depth and the color

As you can see, removing some of the background from Background copy 2 brings back some of the information that was lost from the rest of the image. Play around with the image as much as you like to get the quality that you are looking for.

21 Cutting back the word

Slowly take out all of the background until you are left only with the word THINK! Cut in as close to the word as you can (as in the example below) and set the layer to Overlay and opacity at 100%. You can use the Brush tool or if you prefer, the lasso tool works as well.

19 Losing the mud

To further enhance the images depth and color, duplicate the layer Police Bike and set it on top of the layer Background copy 2 with mask. Set the layers Overlay at 100% opacity. This step visually strengthens the details in the image that before were muddied and lost.

22 Saturate the image with more color

Switch on all of the layers to see the effectiveness of adding the layer Think. As you can see, the word Think now shows thought a lot clearer, thus adding more depth to the photomontage.

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23 Masking out the background

Go to the layer Background 1, duplicate this layer, and rename this copied layer Background 1 with mask. Add a Layer mask to this new layer and take out the background around the gures in the top left-hand corner. Change the layer to Soft Light at 100% opacity.

26 Blue Sky

Back to our image. Next, add Blue Sky background from the folder to the working canvas. Add this layer on top of the layer Background 1 with mask. Go to File>Transform>Scale, and ll the canvas with the blue sky that you have just opened up. Name this layer Blue Sky and set the layer to Soft Light at 100% opacity.

24 Refocusing on the image

These next steps change the color settings and refocus the overall image organically and without having to articially generate this effect with lters. (Personally, I think that its more challenging working this way, being more creative in my creativity.)

27 Bringing the Underground aboveground

To neutralize and soften the distracting colors from the top of the image, you need to bring forward some of the colors from the under layers. Click on the layer London Underground. Duplicate this layer and move the duplicated layer on top of the Blue Sky layer. Name the new layer Underground Station Copy 2. Remember to delete the mask layer from this section before continuing to work on this layer. Set the layer to Color and the opacity to 100%.

25 Photographs over paints every time!

Whenever possible, I use my own photographs as background color instead of going to the paint bucket in Photoshop. Just taking samples from different areas within a photograph would work for just about any given image. Rather than manufacturing the sky by using the ll-in tool, I prefer to use photographs as my palette. I feel that doing so helps maintain a realistic, organic image.

28 The perfect body

The next step is to add the photograph Body Basics to our photomontage. (Fun fact: this photo was taken just across the road from Liverpool Street Station London England.)

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29 The Perfect Body

In order to work on only the Body Basics image, click on all of the layers in the palette and set them to off. Place the image at the bottom of the layer and resize it to t the canvas. Set your layer to Overlay and Opacity at 100%. Name this layer Body Basics.

32 Looking for the Body

Switch back on all of the layers. As you can see, your image now looks very close to the nished image. Just one nal step left, were almost home!

30 Looking good now

We have now placed the Body Basics photograph at the bottom of the canvas. At the moment, its looking rather muddy you can hardly distinguish the Body Basics image that was just placed into your photomontage. Somehow, you have to get around this problem and bring Body Basics back, so

33 Blue Sky All The Way

Adding a very light wash in a single, complimentary color will help pull the image together. To do this, duplicate the layer Blue Sky. Name this new layer Blue Sky copy 2. Set this new layer to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Adding the layer Blue Sky copy 2 (the duplicate of the layer Blue Sky) lightens and refocuses the entire image, clearing away all the muddiness.

31 Welcome back Body Basics

Duplicate Body Basics this layer will now be named Body Basics with mask. Add the mask and with your Paintbrush tool, slowly remove the elements above the ledge of the Body Basics and The Arcade storefronts, as shown in the image below. Set the Layer to Hard Light at 100% opacity.

34 Finish

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did designing it. To nd out more about my Photomontages, check out: www.stewartbruce.clara.net

by Stewart Michael Bruce

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photomanipulation

medium | 3h | tutorial on CD Adobe Photoshop | Adobe Illustrator

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Game Over
Game over! Computer graphics are everywhere, from the games themselves, the internet and lately a whole host of computer generated ad campaigns. They have become common place and we are so used to seeing them that they are a part of our everyday lives, and in some cases all people think about (you know who you are out there sat infront of your PS3 all day). In this simple tutorial we will step you through making a computer based editorial style piece. This style is very adaptive and can be used for almost any subject matter with simple changes to the content so lets begin.

photomanipulation

01 Type

Firstly create the text game over in Illustrator and choose the typeface you wish to use. Id keep this quite simple a if the font is too fussy it wont work.

04 3D time

The two letters on the right most side are going to be blown away so apply a 3d effect as in the screen grab. Now, rotate your letters to give them the effect they have been blown away.

02 Perspective

Create a no ll in the text and give your font a keyline. Next use the free distort function under Filter>Distort>Free distort to give it a little perspective.

05 PSD time

Now, copy and paste the whole graphic into Photoshop and position in the bottom left corner. Duplicate this layer and add through the layer effects an outer glow through the layer effects. Make the colour match your designated colour scheme.

03 Great corner!

Now, place your text into a corner and draw in perspective lines to give it more ow. This can go totally off the page if you like or be a curve, the choice is yours.

0 6 Fill it up

Now, ll the background image completely black. This will make your glow effect stand out more and give the nished piece a lot more depth. You may needed to duplicate this layer to get the desired effect.

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game over

07 Resource

Now, get the ball graphic from http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml? f=download&id=955614 and cut and paste it into your piece. Then mask out the black to create the ball hitting the text. You may need to extend the balls re trail to get the desired result.

10 Back detail

Now, paste in a background that will complement your piece, this can be anything that ts from vectors through to photography or in this case a mix of both .

08 Blurrrr

Now, create a motion blurr on the two 3d letters by duplicating the layer and blurring it. Use your own personal judgement to get this right and also make sure you place the blurred layer behind the original.

11 Fill those holes!

Now, nish the piece off by looking foe holes within the composition and lling them in. You again can use all sorts of elements that you think work.

09 Step and repeat

Create numerous more vector graphics that t within this theme and them paste them into your document and apply the same effects. You need to consider the composition at this point and also a making a sketch may help.

12 Be proud!

Now, atten the image down and your nished. You should have a great piece so be proud of yourself. You can use these techniques for numerous industries and will always get a rst class result. by Neil Duerden

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workshops

medium | 15 min. | tutorial on CD

Adobe Photoshop CS3

Shape
in sand
In this tutorial I will show you how to draw a shape in sand, rock, snow or whatever you want to.
54 .psd 04/2008

shape in sand

01 Drowing in sand

Lets start. First of all you must to open your source. For this tutorial I choose to draw something in sand but you are open to do it in everything you want.

04 Blending

Now its time for Blending mode. With shape layer selected go to Layer>Layer style>Blending option and set it like in the pictures.

02 New layer

After you do that, next step is to create a new layer and put your shape in it and set blend mode to Overlay. For best result use black shape.

05 Lightness

One last step and you are done. I want you to go at Image> Adjustments>Hue Saturation or click [Cltr]+[U] from your keyboard. Now play with lightness sidebar until you get a perfect match of source color like in picture below. For my picture I must set lightness to +21 but thats depend from picture to picture. Press Ok and you are done. Hope this was helpful for you see you next time.

03 Contrast

With layer still selected go to Adjustment>Brightness Contrast mark use legacy button and set Brightness to +100 Contrast+20 (in earlier version of the program set Brightness +100 Contrast -100). In that moment you will not be able to see the shape.

0 6 Final touch

This is the nal image. I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. by Marius Soare

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medium | 10-15h
Adobe Photoshop CS2

making of the divebombing pterodactyl

Making of
of the divebombing pterodactyl
Swooping down from the clouds, a manic pterodactyl hones in on his next meal. This demonstration will show you the steps I used in creating this silly guy with only a very basic knowledge of Photoshop, proving that given enough time (not to mention trial and error), something interesting can result from it.
fter deciding on the type of pose to use for this months theme, I scanned it into photoshop and quickly dropped some colours into it (Figure 1). My initial sketch had the fellow with a big white scarf and aviator goggles because I really wanted to play up the goofy side of him, but the goggles obscured his eyes too much and in the end I decided to leave him stark naked. My next step was to gure out a lightsource direction, and with the outstretched wings, it seemed like a fun idea to have the light off to the side and a little behind to play around with the idea of slightly opaque skin (Figure 2). With his bulging eyes, I wanted an old-fashioned animation look to them and am kind of thinking about him being like the old WB cartoon characters in personality and style. Now Im starting to rene the image a little bit (Figure 3 and 4), I esh him out with some highlights along the wing, and try pumping up the veins in the wingaps. Ive also changed his pupils because they were too stylized and at for what I am hoping to do with the body. I should explain that for the large highlights on the wing, I tend to use a very large round brush with 0% hardness, and also set the airbrush setting on with a fairly low percentage to build up the intensity slowly. With the backlighting part, I simply chose a highly saturated and more reddish colour than the rest of the body to make it feel like youre seeing the light through the skin.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 5.
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Figure 6.
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workshops

The dino is starting to get there, and now the background is bothering me. Its too plain! I was still thinking about the old cartoons that I love so much, and went with some really stylized and cartoony cloud shapes (Figure 5). The cloud angle is set to make it look like the pterodactyl is screaming down towards earth and Ive tried placing them so that they help frame everything nicely (wingtips and beak in front of the clouds to make them stand out). Still more highlights are added, as well as the reflection from the sky is made more apparent. Things are coming together, so I decide to try my hand at adding some textures with a brush other than the standard round one! I use a brush with a scattering pattern and quickly run up and down the body with two colours, one for light, and one for sky. I also work on bringing out the eyes, since I want them to be a real standout feature to him (Figure 6). In the next image(Figure 7), I added some little rubbery/leathery stress points along the skin of his wings to make them feel a little more like all that skin was actually attached to the bones somehow. I also applied a motion blur filter to the clouds running in the direction that the bird is flying to give it a sense of motion and to put more focus on the shapes in the foreground. Right now Im thinking that its pretty much done, but something seems to be missing. After a little thought, I realize that I had forgotten all about the nostrils! I drop them in and consider it done. There you have it, my thought process behind this carnivorous dinosaur! Figure 7. by Ryan Slayter

ADVERTISEMENT

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contributing writers

.psd contributors
cover artist Patrick Beaulieu / CHEVisodes crew
He was born in Quebec (Canada) in 1981. Since he can remember he has been interested in graphics and animation, therefore, in 1999 he has decided to get a 3D formation in Quebec city at The Athena Institut. He has discovered animation and character creation so he decided to invest his time in animation and cartoon design. He is a fan of cartoon, it is the style he prefers to work on. www.chevisodes.com

Eric Wilkerson
Eric Wilkerson is an award winning painter & illustrator living in the New York Hudson Valley. He has worked in publishing, logo/ concept design for feature lms and various television commercial projects. His work has been included in Spectrum: the best in contemporary fantastic art Vol 9, 12. Expose1,and most recently Digital Art Masters Vol 1 from 3D total. He also has an unhealthy addiction to StarTrek. captainofds9@yahoo.com

Andrew Berends
He is a multimedia designer working out of Melbourne, Victoria. As a multimedia designer he has worked on everything from Corporate design and Web to Matte painting and Concept design. www.hawkshmedia.com.au, aberends@hawkshmedia.com.au

Steward Bruce
Stewart Michael Bruce merges painting and photography to create phantasmagoric images that capture the imagination. With the help of masterfully employed technological tools these digital photomontages take on a quality of serving as illustrations for real life. His work has been shown across Europe, Asia and the US, and has been published in national and international digital art magazines.

Steve Jubinville
Graduated from the NAD Centre, Steve Jubinville is passionate about character modeling and digital sculpture. His talent and sense of great detail has brought him to model the main characters of the companys licenses such as Prince of Persia, Tom Clancys Rainbow Six, Far Cry and Assassins. Actually working at Hybride Technologie, he has also worked on some contracts for Meteor Studios and Ubisoft. He teaches at the NAD Centre. www.stevejubinville.com, stevejubz1@hotmail.com

Neil Duerden
Neil Duerden is a self-confessed Mac monkey based in a rural miners cottage 20 miles north of Manchester in the UK. He creates pieces that combine elements from mixed media and photography that are interlaced with complex vectors for clients all around the world. These clients include Saatchi and Saatchi, The Sunday Times, Virgin, Fairy, Stella Artois, and Nike. www.neilduerden.co.uk

Yanick Gaudreau
Graduated from the NAD Centre in 1999, Yanick as the chance to start he career at Buzz image on some commercials. Actually working at Hybride Technologie since 2001, Yanick Gaudreau is a Senior Textures and Lighting artist. He as the chance to work on some nice feature movie like Spy Kids, Sin City, Snakes on a plane and 300. www.yanickgaudreau.com, yanickg@hybride.com

Morgan Yon
He is 25 and after graduating from art school in 2005 he joined Quantic Dream Studio in Paris working as a concept artist for characters and sets. He started being interested in concept art only 2 years ago and he hopes to remain as long as possible in the video game industry. morgan.yon@gmail.com, www.morgan-yon.com

Other contributors:
Marious Soare, the3dstudio.com, Adrian Mccanna, Cyril Roger

Editor in Chief: Ewa Samulska ewa.samulska@psdmag.org Executive Editor: Ewa Dudzic ewa.dudzic@psdmag.org Junior Editor: Marta Kobus marta.kobus@psdmag.org Art Director: Agnieszka Marchocka DTP Director: Sawomir Zadrozny slawomir.zadrozny@psdmag.org Art Executive Manager: Sawomir Zadrozny slawomir.zadrozny@psdmag.org Circulation and Distribution Executive: Wojciech Kowalik wojciech.kowalik@psdmag.org Senior Consultant/Publisher: Pawe Marciniak Marketing Director: Ewa Dudzic ewa.dudzic@psdmag.org Executive Ad Consultant: Ewa Samulska ewa.samulska@psdmag.org

Production Director: Marta Kurpiewska marta.kurpiewska@psdmag.org Prepress technician: Robert Zadrozny robert.zadrozny@psdmag.org Postal addres: Publisher: Software Wydawnictwo Sp.z.o.o 02-682 Warszawa, ul. Bokserska 1 worldwide publishing Business addres: Software Media LLC 1521 Concord Pike, Suite 301 Brandywine Executive Center Wilmington, DE 19803 USA Phone: 1 917 338 3631 Phone: 1 866 225 5956 www.psdmag.org/en Print: ArtDruk, Printed in Poland Distributed in the USA by: Source Interlink Fulllment Division, 27500 Riverview Centre Boulevard, Suite 400, Bonita Springs, FL 34134 Phone: 239-949-4450 Distributed in Australia by: Gordon and Gotch, Australia Pty Ltd., Level 2, 9 Roadborough Road Locked Bag 527 NSW 2086 Sydney, Australia Phone: + 61 2 9972 8800
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All trade marks presented in the magazine were used only for informative purposes. All rights to trade marks presented in the magazine are reserved by the companies which own them. Mathematical formulas created by Design Science MathType. The editors use automatic DTP system CDs tested by AntiVirenKit GDATA Software Sp. z o.o. Editorial contributions should be sent to: editors@psdmag.org Subscriber changes sent to subscription@software.com.pl Customer Service 1-917-338-3631 The Software Media LCC works individually from Adobe. The .psd team reserves the right not to be responsible for the topicality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information provided by contributors.

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stewart michael bruce

Stewart Michael Bruce:

Illustrator, Photomontage
rst started off in the traditional art mediums drawing and painting. I wanted to incorporate this history into my current artwork. I want my work have a ne art feel and not just straight digital look. As I came from a traditional background, I wanted to bring that element into my photomontage. I used to do oil paintings and printmaking, some batik. I wanted to bring all those elements into my art. I attended Great Yarmouth College on an Art and Design course, passing my BTEC Diploma in Art and Design and Graphic Design. From there, I studied at Norwich School of Art and Design where I graduated with a BA (Hons) in Illustration and Graphic Design. While at university, I was honored to receive the Noel Spencer Award for Illustration. Then, in the mid-nineties, I came across a magazine called Computer Arts. This particular issue featured an artist named Hannah Gal. She had several of her art pieces in there. I had seen photomontage before but this was the first time I had seen digital photomontage and it inspired me to find out how she created the images. I went on a quest to find out as much information as I could on the software that she used to create her images, something called Adobe Photoshop. Back then it was version 3.1 (now its in version CS3). That was the first step of my thousandstep journey. Now, I try for a different look than whats out there. Most of the digital artwork you see in magazines is very mechanical looking, sharp-edged and crisp. Like all artists, I want to create something that looks different, something that people would see and hopefully remember. I try to maintain an organic look by using drawings, painted backgrounds, handmade text, and any other object that I can find to put into my work. I also really enjoy photography and incorporate my photography into my art whenever possible. When I got a hold of Photoshop, I found that its versatility allowed me to experiment with my photos to create completely new images. This was so

exciting! Also, it made my job a lot less time consuming because the process of using traditional photography (film) takes so much more time from taking the picture to development to scanning to starting work on my image. Now all I have to do is take the photograph and the images are as good or better than the standard film process. I come home, plug in my lead into my computer, and download my pictures into Adobe Lightroom, which is a digital darkroom that offers more control over my images and allows me to start the creative process almost immediately. Once I get an idea, I can go out and take the images I need, come home, plug in the connection into my computer and Im there. I can start working on the piece that day instead of a couple days later. I find that my emotions and passions, things that I care about and want to share, find life in my art. For example, Life in Full Colour my response to the demonstrations in London about the Iraq war. Life Is Sweet is about how sweets take you back to your childhood going to the shops with your mum, looking through the glass, choosing the best way to spend your ten-pence worth of pocket money. Going down your childhood memory lane and how happy you were having your penny-chews those kinds of happy memories that sweets invoke, thats what I wanted to express. Another one of my pieces, Im Still Waiting, is about my nephew, Wesley. His dad died when he was only nine months old. Hes always asking his mum where his dad was and why other children have daddies and he didnt. For a long time he couldnt work that out. One day we went to the beach and I was taking photographs of him. When I developed the film, this one image stood out. He had his arms outstretched and there was this shadowy figure in the background. It reminded me of him asking for his dad, as if he was reaching out for a father who wasnt who couldnt be there. He just wanted to be hugged, to be loved just like all the

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self exposure

Exhibition and Magazine Articles for 2007 and previous

2007: Advanced Photoshop The Premium Collection, Published in Volume 2 of Advanced Photoshop The Premium Collection. A Photomontage Tutorials Workshop, (Welcome to Hollywood) showing the reader how to create stunning photomontage with out using lter in the new Photoshop CS3. Page 84 89. 2007: Digital Arts, Published in December Issue of Digital Arts Magazine UK. (The Game) was Showcase on page 16 with other arts. 2007: Hangar 1018 Gallery, Down town Los Angles, A Group Exhibition, Fastforward and Rewind Taking a fresh look at how the electronic age has shifted our mentality. Exhibition at Hangar 1018 Los Angeles From October end November. 2007: Tracy Park Gallery, in Santa Monica, Solo Show, Storybooks and Visionscapes: Exhibition at the Tracy Park Gallery in Santa Monica on Ocean Avenue from May 1st 30th 2007. Tracy Park Gallery, in Santa Monica to Host City Hearts Fundraiser With Where Peace Lives Author, Debbie Robins on May 24.

Stewart Bruce's work will be for sale during the City Hearts fundraiser on May 24, with a portion of proceeds from the sale of his art benetting City Hearts. For more information, visit www.cityhearts.org 2007: A short documentary about the artist Stewart Michael Bruce produced by David Clark, to see the documentary goto the Current TV Website @ http://www.current.tv/ watch/33069289?list=newVidsByProducer&lterone=16377149&ltertwo=-1&sid=33069289&fr=0 2007: Advanced Photoshop, Published in April Issue 30. A Photomontage Tutorials Workshop, (Welcome to Hollywood) showing the reader how to create stunning photomontage with out using lter in the new Photoshop CS3. Page 58 63: 2007: Photoshop Creative, Published in April Issue 20 of Photoshop Creative. A photomontage tutorial workshop, (Metropolis Eye of the City) showing the readers how to create stunning ne art photomontage in Adobe Photoshop CS2. Page 64 71 2007: Computer Arts Magazine, Published in March Issue 133. Page 114: Showcasing, (LA Angel, Heroes, Gasoline and Life in Full colour) 2007: Infusion Gallery, Downtown Los Angles, A Group Exhibition at the Infusion Gallery Downtown LA March 8th 27th 2007. 2007: Tracy Park Gallery, in Santa Monica, Exhibition is at the Tracy Park Gallery in Santa Monica Live Nude Girl February 17th March 10th 2007, 2006: NAPP Website, A Photomontage Tutorials Workshop on the NAPP website, showing the reader how to create (Think off the wall) a stunning photomontage with out using lter in Photoshop CS2. 2006: Digit Magazine, In May Issue 2006 Illustration in Digit Showcase (Stress City, London Tube, Im Still Waiting) Pages 76 77: 2006: Illustration/Publishing Design Client: Community Connections: College in the Community Learning Prospectus. 2005: Illustration/Graphic Design and Publishing: Client: The Priory Center for there Advertising Brochure. 2005: Graphic Design and Publishing: Client: The Priory Center for there Bridge to Music Report on be haft for the NHS Trust. 2005: Illustration/Publishing Design Client: Community Connections for WW Net, an English and Europe partnership as a non-prot organization. Looking at Woman and the Labour Market. 2005: SBS Digital Design, April Issue, (Stress City) was on the Front cover on SBS Digital Design. Merging Lanes: Stewart Michael Bruce switches up the Photoshop color Mode for a gritty take on city life. A two-page tutorial on his work. www.sbsdigitaldesign.com 2005: Digital Creative Arts, February Issue Seventeen, Photomontage Tutorials of (Metropolis Eye of the City) Workshop Create a stunning watercolor photomontage in Adobe Photoshop CS. Give your digital illustration an outstanding edge by creating it with a natural feel, such as an eye-catching watercolor look... and Adobe Photoshop CS is just the tool for the job. 2005: Design Graphics, (Havana, Stress City & Im Still Waiting) Illustration featured in Design Graphics: Portfolio Issue # 112, page 32 33 (USA & Australia). 2004: Digital Creative Arts, (Life is Sweet, Think off the Wall, Life in Full Colour, If you nd it, Memory) Featuring in Digital Creative Arts Issue Fifteen Portfolio Page 64 65 2004: Refocus Now 2005 Calendar Competition, August (I'm Still Waiting), 2005 Calendar 2004: Olympia, Illustration exhibited at On The Wall Olympia 29th Sept 3rd October London England 2004: Business Design Centre, Artist and Illustrators Exhibition 22nd 25th July 2004, at the Business Design Centre in Islington London England 2004: Waterloo Gallery London England, Exhibition I LIKE LOOKING AT PICTURES An exhibition featuring the work of photographers, illustrators & artists. WATERLOO GALLERY 14 Baylis Road, London England 5th 16th July 2004 http://www.refocus-now.com/Pages/ILLAP .htm 2004: Deluxe Gallery Hoxton Square, Cocktail III Exhibition at Deluxe Gallery Hoxton Square, London England, A group exhibition from 2nd 10th February 2004. 2004: Computer Arts Project, Featuring (The Cry, Financial Time, Metropolis), Illustration published in Computer Arts Project (Issue 55), How to get into Galleries. 2001 2004: Facing Faces project, a worldwide, Internet- and gallery-based, anti-violence campaign (http://www.prophitart.com/ffgallery/stewart_bruce.htm) (www.thecause.org) through the Coalition of Artists United for Social Engagement (CAUSE). The mission of CAUSE (www.the-cause.org) is to raise awareness of and ght violence against women and children. The nal goal of Facing Faces is to present in real time and space the human condition, about being able to feel the pain and suffering of a ve year old girl living in Mxico, but also about human fears and dreams. Over the last few years, Stewart has worked on a series of images for Facing Faces and CAUSE (http://www.the-cause.org/facingfaces03/tour-selection.htm) 2003 04 Facing Faces exhibit traveled throughout America and Canada, (Los Angeles and Hollywood, California; Toluca, Ohio; Richmond, Virginia; Fredericton, New Brunswick); Belgium (Antwerp and Leuven); The Netherlands (Utrecht and Amsterdam); and the Philippines (scheduled November 2004, Sto. Thomas, Mindanao). Artwork from the rst Facing Faces Exhibition shown at the Museum of Art and History in Juarez City, Mexico. 2003: Deluxe Gallery, London with Refocus-Now, Showcase at the International Open Image exhibition at the Deluxe Gallery, London England. 2003: Period Gallery Lincoln, Nebraska, Exhibition at the Period Gallery (Lincoln, Nebraska, USA), in the Digital Experimental III Exhibition; Award of Excellence. 2003: Digital Photographer, (Breast Cancer, Code, Financial Time. Flamingo Park, London Girl, Poppys, Barbara & Dancing) Featuring in Digital Photographer Issue Eight Imageer Prole: meet a man who's a dab hand with an image editor as he explains the ups and downs of working with digital pictures in Adobe Photoshop. 2003: Gallery 47, Bloomsbury, London England, FUSION Group Exhibition at the Gallery 47, Bloomsbury, London (December), with Refocus Now London (www.refocus-now.co.uk). 2001: EFX Art and Design, (XXY) Feature in EFX Art and Design: Photographic Special (Sweden). 2000: SeaChange Gallery, Great Yarmouth, England, A solo exhibition 2000: Design Graphics, (Poppys) Featured in Design Graphics: Portfolio Issue (Australia). 1999: State College, Pennsylvania, Exhibition in the Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts (State College, Pennsylvania, USA). 1999: White Crow Gallery, State College Pennsylvania, Exhibition at the White Crow Gallery (USA). 1999: September Song Soho London England, Exhibition in the September Song Soho Multimedia Festival (London). 1999: Colville Place Gallery London England, A Group Exhibition Showcasing Stewart work at Colville Place Gallery (London). 1999: Metro Imaging Gallery London England, Group Exhibition Showcasing Stewart Photomontage

To nd out more about Stewarts art, visit his website at: www.stewartbruce.clara.net. His work can also be viewed at the American Artist Rep website: www.amerartists.com/index.

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stewart michael bruce

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CAREER NOTES Exhibition and Magazine Articles for 2008 Agora Gallery, New York Pixel Perfect The Digital Fine Art Exhibition Apr 18 - May 8

Asia and the US, and has been published in national and international digital art magazines. Icosahedron Gallery, New York April 1th 19th The show will run from April 1-19th, The reception will be on April 10th from 8-10pm. Tracy Park Gallery, March 8, 2008 Take a Look Group Exhibition featuring works by Stewart Michael Bruce, Mark Indig, Eric Waterman, Alan Roderick-Jones and Victor Spinelli Tracy Park Gallery, February 9th 30th Live*Nude*Girls Group Exhibition celebrating the female form. Icosahedron Gallery, New York February 5th 29th The Exhibition runs from February 5th-29th with the opening reception on February 7th with live music from 7-8pm and a cocktail reception from 8-10pm. 2008: Digital Arts, Published in February Issue of Digital Arts Magazine UK. A Photomontage Tutorials Workshop, (Stress City) showing the reader how to create stunning photomontage with out using lter in the new Photoshop CS3.

Press Release Stewart Michael Bruce merges painting and photography to create phantasmagoric images that capture the imagination. With the help of masterfully employed technological tools these digital photomontages take on a quality of serving as illustrations for real life. At the same time, with the integration of drawing, watercolors, charcoal, and handmade texts, the works retain more of a fine art patina than a highly-digitized, glossy sheen. He avoids the use of filters, which make the work look more mechaniclike graphics rather than art. His subjects range from the political (the protest against the Iraq war) to the sentimental (childhood recollections), from cityscapes to deeply personal nostalgia. Bruces works are consistently organic, seamlessly integrating his training in oil paintings, (digital) print media and batik, always with an eye for the ephemeral. Stewart Michael Bruce studied Art and Design at Great Yarmouth College and Norwich School of Art and Design. His work has been shown across Europe,

other children. That heart-wrenching moment somehow found its way into my work. At the moment I work from home. This works quite well for me at this time, I feel comfortable in the knowledge that all I have to do in the morning to go straight to work is get out of bed. When the ideas are not owing, I have my books and the TV at hand, to nd inspiration or just to relax. I am always working on new projects and techniques. As an artist, I constantly have to challenge myself and my art form. The next level that I would like to explore is video installation art which I feel would push my current technique into something even more creative and challenging. After that, who knows? To find out more about Stewart Michael Bruce, please go to www.stewartbruce.clara.net. To view a short film about Stewart and his art by filmmaker David Clark, check out: http://www.current.tv/watch/3306928 9?list=newVidsByProducer&filterone=16377149&filtertwo=1&sid=33069289&fr=0 Stewart Michael Bruce prints exclusively with Nash Editions in Manhattan Beach, CA. Recognized as the world's rst digital printmaking studio, Nash Editions has established an international reputation for high-quality ne art photographic digital output.
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Adobe Photoshop CS 3 Is A Powerhouse Tool For Artistic Freedom

Whether you are just beginning or are a seasoned professional, it is my goal to help you expand your Photoshop horizons and provide you with new creative avenues by showing you fresh applications of basic Photoshop tools. In this tutorial, we will discover how to create a stunning montage of photographs, textures and text by utilizing only layers and without using any lters. More often than not, the crispness and sharp lines of digital art can leave it looking at and mechanized. To overcome this, we are going to add a ne-art feel to our photomontage creation. To help create that ne-art look, we will be going back to basics, so dust-off your paint brushes and get out your paints! A Pre-project Tip: Always keep your ideas in a sketchbook and have a good stock photo library. I nd that looking through the images I have in my photo library sometimes kicks-off a good idea or two. Its also helpful to sketch-out your ideas rst and then go out to shoot the photos that you will need for your project. by Stewart Michael Bruce www.stewartbruce.clara.net blog:web.mag.com/photomontage1

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reviewers choice

Games
consoles reviewers choice
Gaming has never been as exciting as it is now. Not only do consoles offer top notch graphics and sounds, closer than ever to reality, but controls have also been greatly improved to bring us closer to life game play and impressions. The three games consoles that currently dominate the market, Microsofts Xbox 360, Nintendos Wii and Sonys Playstation 3, all offer very different gaming experiences. Depending on the sort of gamer you are, youll be more attracted to one of the three. Here we take a look at each of the dominating consoles and help you pick out which one suits your gaming experience most.
Microsofts second video game console, was released in November 2005 in the U.S. It offers a large library of video games and comes in three different models: Arcade, Pro and Elite, offering from 20 to 120 Gb of hard drive and varying from prices of $240 to$400. The Xbox has a sleek matte design and is fairly slim, weighing only 8.8-pound and with measurements of 12.15 inches wide, 3.27 inches high, and 10.15 inches deep. It can be set both horizontally or vertically, depending on which arrangement you prefer. The console comes with one controller and includes two USB ports to connect external devices such as MP3 players, cameras or external drives.The Xbox offers a pleasant gaming experience with, as said before many titles to choose from, with some of them, such as Halo 3, exclusive to the Xbox 360. The Dashboard interface is easy to navigate through and can be customized with all sorts of themes. You can also create your own Game Card avatar however youll only be able to choose from a Microsoft selection. If you dont have the Xbox Live Vision Camera you wont be able to use your own snapshot. Thanks to plug and play, you connect your PC to the Xbox and make use of all your software such as Windows Media Player. The Xbox 360 does come with a DVD player, but it offers sub standard performances and doesnt offer playback capabilities for the next generation Blu Ray DVDs. Newer models also come with an HDMI output and 1080p support. All console manufacturers understand the importance of online gaming. With Xbox Live you can connect and play against anybody online, however using the service will cost you $50 a year. You can also connect to the Xbox Marketplace to buy games, TV shows and movies. If you own an old Xbox youll be glad to know that the Xbox 360 has backwards compatibility with the whole Xbox games library. The controller is tted with two analog sticks, a traditional cross control and four buttons, yet it is a little bulky and a bit unnatural to handle. If youre ready to spend a little more you can still choose from one of the dozen accessories available such as a Messenger kit, the Xbox Live Visiotns Camera or a wireless headset to improve your Xbox 360 experience. The real major down point of the Xbox 360 is its reliability. The most famous issue it has had is the so called red ring of death which renders the console inoperable. The Xbox 360 is also known to have a fairly noisy fan and DVD drive and an oversized power supply, quite annoying if you dont have much space. Similarly we were disappointed to note that it offers no WiFi support or ash media reader, although it does have wireless capabilities for the controllers. In terms of storage we really believe that the 256 Mb of the Arcade model or even the 20 Gb of the Pro model are insufcient, which means only the Elite model is really worth it. The Xbox 360 offers a large library of video games, an easy to use interface and many add on accessories. It also offers good online services, such as Xbox Live for pitting yourself against other users or the Marketplace to buy games or movies. However the Xbox 360 suffers from reliability issues, a weak DVD player and a slightly uncomfortable controller. A good choice if youre into more traditional consoles and like the choice of games. More daring gamers will probably turn to other consoles though.
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Microsoft Xbox 360

games consoles

Playstation 3

Sonys Playstation 3 (PS3) is the swanky high end game console everyone has been waiting for. Although its release was continuously delayed and that it still fails to offer platform exclusive titles, the PS3 remains the real deal in terms of graphics and performances. Whats more, sold at a price of $400, it is more affordable than ever.The sleek dark design of the console is a little bit bulkier than the other consoles and weighs 11 pounds for measurements of 12.8 inches wide by 3.8 inches high by 10.8 inches long. Just like the other consoles, you can orient it both vertically and horizontally, depending on what space you have. The PS3 is easy to set up and, one great plus, has no external power supply, which denitely leaves room for other devices. To start with it includes two USB ports to which you can connect external devices, although higher end models offer up to four USB ports and a Flash card reader. Other ports youll nd on the PS3 are a Gigabit Ethernet socket and Playstation AV output for audio and video. The PS3 is a really quiet console, quite surprising considering the power under the hood, including a 3.2 MHz Cell Broadband Engine.The base PS3 model has a hard drive of 20 Gb, which may not be enough if youre considering storing lots of games and movies. You can however go up to 80 Gb. The PS3 is declined in ve different models in all.The PS3 offers high end graphics from the start with HDMI output and 1080p support. You can play both CDs and DVDs and any Blu-ray disk, which as of yet, the Xbox 360 does not offer. The PS3 is truly a complete media center, and this is exemplied via its XrossMediaBar graphical user interface. This gives you access to your prole, settings, photos, videos, music, games and both the Network and Friends. The Playstation Network offers free online play from the start and will take you to Playstation Home, a virtual world where you can meet up with other online PS3 users and challenge them to a game. The option to view your photos on the PS3 is really easy to use, store your pictures and offers a number of different slide show styles to view them by.One big drawback of the PS3 is that it offers no backwards compatibility with your old PS2 games. However, it has kept the excellent Sixaxis controller and even improved its design, by increasing the size of the L2 and R2 buttons and adding a Home button in the middle of the controller. The Sixaxis controller also now features motion sensitivity, which has been introduced in a number of new PS3 titles and are reminiscent of the movement and feel of the Wiis Remote, although probably not as natural. Playing with motion sensitivity can be a little difcult to get used to but does offer more realistic impressions. That said, the PS3 is great played with many friends, thats why the PS3 allows you to connect up to seven controllers via Bluetooth.Boasting high end graphics and surround sound, a CD/DVD player which handles Blu-ray disks, and a solid online service via the Playstation Network, the Playstation 3 is truly a high end games console, almost even more of a media center, where you can enjoy all your videos, music, photos and even browse the web straight from your TV. It may not have as many exclusive titles as the Xbox 360, or the game play of the Wii, but the PS3 remains the console to beat and the one to offer the most exciting performances.

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reviewers choice

Nintendo Wii

With the Wii, Nintendo aimed to revolutionize the gaming market, and with over 20 million consoles sold, seems to have made a point. Iconic of the Wii is its revolutionary controller, the Wii Remote, which works thanks to motion sensors which indicate the orientation of the controller to the console. The Wii Remote adapts to the game played and the movements required, which means it can be used as a golf club, sword , shing rod or even adapt to your arms movements. The console itself is the smallest one built by Nintendo and stands at 1.75 inches high by 6.25 inches wide by 8.5 inches deep. It can be oriented both horizontally and vertically. The console is easy to connect to your TV and power supply and includes two USB ports to connect external devices.The interface itself is divided by channels, with the Wii originally including a weather forecast, news, message and photos channel. This last one will let you store and view thousands of photos, either by quickly browsing them or creating a slideshow. The Mii channel also allows you to create your own avatar for online gaming. Having the process itself feels a little counterintuitive, as you need to send and receive a friend code for every online gamer and game you wish to play. Undoubtedly one of the biggest achievements of Nintendo is to have struck a deal with Opera to use its excellent open source browser for its Internet Channel. Browsing the web with the Wii Remote is very intuitive, and the channel loads sites quickly, although the wireless settings will obviously limit performances for Flash heavy sites or playing back online video. Still its a major plus being able to effortlessly browse the web from your console.This brings us to another excellent feature of the console, WiiConnect24. This service handles all the wireless capabilities of the console and automatically receives and sends messages, even when the Wii is in standby. For extra security the Wii has both built in WEP and WPA encryption, although these might be a little technical to set up for some users.The Wii is compatible with all the old GameCube games and even controllers but even better, offers thousands of classic titles via its online Virtual Console service. Youll be able to play games from the NES, SNES, N64, Neo Geo, Sega Genesis or TurboGraphix 16, with prices ranging from $5 for older titles to $12 for newer ones. Games are purchased via Wii points, which you collect and store in the 512 MB of memory of the Wii. The console also includes an SD slot for extra storage. The Wii comes with the Wii Sports collection of ve mini games including baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, and boxing, perfect to get to grips with the new console.The Wii is easily the less expensive of the three consoles, with a current price of $329, but thats at the expense of a CD or DVD player and the lack of HD graphics or surround sound. The Wii Remote is truly revolutionary, yet youll have to be aware that it does take some getting used to and uses up quite a lot of batteries.Despite the lack of high end graphics and no DVD/CD playback capabilities, the Wii is a truly original gaming experience. Youll be able to forgive the limited graphical performances simply to enjoy the intuitive game play and great WiFi capabilities of the console. by Cyril Roger
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review

SPACE TIME PLAY

Edited by Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Bttger Computer and video games are leaving the PC and conquering the arena of everyday life in the form of mobile applications (such as GPS cell phones, etc.) the result is new types of cities and architecture. How do these games alter our perception of real and virtual space? What can the designers of physical and digital worlds learn from one another? Space Time Play presents the following themes: the superimposition of computer games on real spaces and convergences of real and imaginary playspaces; computer and video games as practical planning instruments. With articles by Espen Aarseth, Ernest Adams, Richard A. Bartle, Ian Bogost, Gerhard M. Buurman, Edward Castranova, Kees Christiaanse, Drew Davidson, James Der Derian, Noah Falstein, Stephen Graham, Ludger Hovestadt, Henry Jenkins, Heather Kelley, James Korris, Julian Kcklich, Frank Lantz, Lev Manovich, Jane McGonigal, William J. Mitchell, Kas Oosterhuis, Katie Salen, Mark Wigley, and others. "SPACE TIME PLAY" IS A JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAST, PRESENT AND POTENTIAL SPACES OF COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES.

Author: Friedrich von Borries Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Bt Publisher: Birkhuser Basel 1 edition (October 23, 2007) Paperback: 495 pages Price: $29.16

Machinima
The book is a suitable first book on Machinima for those who've never dealt with the subject. It gives a good overview of the main topics in the field. And it shows the overlap with traditional film making in several ways. Most clearly in the necessity for good storyboarding. But of course, the book also blends in the computer animation aspects. Where now these differ from traditional film animation by having the characters exist in a full three dimensional world. It might be said that this is also true of mainstream digital animations like those from Pixar or SKG Dreamworks (eg. Shrek). But the book shows that the distinguishing aspect of machinima is its low budget. You and a few capable friends can easily ramp up the computing resources and software for a modest project.

Author: Dave Morris, Matt Kelland, Dave Lloyd Publisher: ILEX PRESS Paperback: 160 pages Price: 17.95
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review

Drawing
and tracing the way you would do it
he idea for Ananya Curves was born when I worked in the prepress department of a printing company here in California. It was my way of dealing with the frustration of tracing machine parts with the Pen Tool. If you ever tried to use the Pen Tool in Photoshop, Illustrator, or any of the myriad programs that draw Bezier curves, you know that they can be quite difcult to control and use. Its like trying to make a curve out of a stiff wire. Thats because in order to adjust the curve you pull on lines outside the curve called tangents. Its really hard to predict how pulling the tangent lines will affect the shape of the curve.

Peak Point End Point

My secret weapon
But there is another part to this story. I have a wife, Brigit Ananya, who has a PhD in mathematics. So I asked her if she could develop a curve drawing tool with all the control points right on the curve. Well, ve years and two patents later she gave me Ananya Curves.
Start Point You can change the directions of the curve

How does Ananya Curves Work?

The secret is the Peak Point. This is the point on the curve that offers maximum control. So, on your rst segment you click for the Start Point and drag for the Start Direction. Then you click for the End Point and drag for the End Direction, and the curve is drawn. You then see the Peak Point, which you can adjust if you wish. For all additional curve segments you can just click for the End Point, drag for the End Direction, and if necessary, adjust the Peak Point. The Peak Point is the point at the furthest distance from the start and end point. It is much easier to adjust the Peak Point than it is to pull on tangent lines. It is like making a curve out of a string. After drawing any curve segment, you can adjust it further by changing any of the control points or by adjusting the directions. You dont even have change tools to do this.

Figure 2. With Ananya Curves all the control points are right on the curve
Straight Line Circular Arc Circular Arc

Ananya Curve

Figure 3. You can use a different curve type for each segment of your curve At the end, when your drawing is done, you can close Ananya Curves and your drawing is automatically converted into the Bezier curves used in Photoshop. This allows you to do the many things that you can do with curves in Photoshop including stroking them, lling them, morphing them, making selections with them etc.

Saving and returning to Photoshop

You can save your drawings as an Ananya Curve (.ac) le to bring them back to Ananya Curves later. You can also save them as a Postscript (.ps) le, which you can open in Adobe Illustrator, Paint Shop Pro or Corel Draw, etc.

The advantages of using Ananya Curves

Ananya Curves are easier to learn, because all control points are directly on the curve. You shape the curve by touching the curve, not by dragging lines that are outside the curve. Ananya Curves are faster to use. We found that they allow experts to make drawings and tracings two to three times faster. For beginners the advantage is even greater. Ananya Curves virtually eliminate rework, because of the control that they provide. When necessary, even rework is faster.

Tangent Line

Tangent Line

For these reasons we feel that, Ananya Curves will become the standard for the industry.

Try Ananya Curves

If all of this whets your curiosity, and you want to learn more, go to www.ananya.com. There you can see movies with the inventor showing you how to use Ananya Curves. You can also download a thirty day full featured trial and you can even buy Ananya curves. Also, if you have comments or questions feel free to ask me at michael@ananya.com. Figure 1. With Bezier Curves you pull the Tangent Lines to adjust the shape of the curve. Here a Tangent is running off the page
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by Michael Gluckman
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review

Sothink
SWF Easy 5.1
othink's SWF Easy 5.1 (which used to be known as Sothink Glanda) is a quick Flash authoring tool designed for people who want to create simple Flash multimedia without delving into the entirety of Flash. It's good if you want to do something simple, quickly, but for something really interactive, such as a game, or doing more complex designs, you'll want to buckle down and learn Flash. Which isn't to say that it's not a useful tool, just one for novice users. Traditionally, Flash has been used to make interactive elements for the web that could otherwise not be achieved with CSS and HTML. SWF Easy offers simplistic Flash authoring without having to actually learn Flash. This is great for basic stuff, but you couldn't make something heavily interactive, such as games with SWF Easy, even a simple tower defense or escape-the-room game. You can, however, drop buttons with mouseover animations and sounds, a slideshow of family portraits, and looping music into your website easily with the program. There's a limited number of things you can do, and you can do them easily, but after a certain point you'll be better off using full Flash authoring software. The interface is relatively simple, as is typical of Sothink programs. It's more akin to a wizard than an indepth program, without many options, but that fits the target audience. You can drag and drop files directly into the program, import them manually, or hyperlink elements from the web. The Quick Start tool lets you rapidly create banners, navigation buttons, and albums without much tweaking or confusion. There's a tutorial included in the help menu, and while you can complete it easily, it doesn't do a good job of explaining exactly what it is you're doing. In the first step of the tutorial, it tells you to set the properties of the file you'll be working on to background color #5AAFF4, frame rate 24, width 480, and height 218. If you know graphics, you can interpret that easily. The program, however, is designed for people who don't know graphics, and, as such, should explain in the tutorial what it is you're affecting with those settings. As it is, there's simply no point in doing it; you would learn more from trial and error on your own. SWF Easy comes with a variety of built-in effect, graphical, and sound assets, though there are very few sounds built in, and unfortunately they're fairly poor quality. It is, however, easy to import sounds (.mp3 and .wav) and other assets from your own library of multimedia, or pull them from existing Flash files, which SWF Easy will decomplie and place into folders automatically. It should be noted at this point that almost all Flash files are encrypted to prevent copyright infringement, so you should find freeware unencrypted Flash files to draw resources from if you can't make your own. There is a free download on Sothink's site to add more resources, but it's mostly basic clipart. Overall, SWF Easy is best used sparingly; the ease in which you can add transitions to images (ripple, bounce, skew) or attach sounds provides a strong temptation to overuse them. But a little goes a long way, as some of the sample files and websites on Sothink's website show. If you're aiming to make an E-Card,
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spice up a Powerpoint Presentation with an animation, or make a quick interactivity mockup for a website, this would be a great tool. It's a viable alternative for adding simple effects to websites, though most of the same effects could also be achieved by learning and applying HTML and CSS. Essentially, SWF Easy 5.1 is meant to be used by people who want a little bit of Flash sparkle for their websites, portfolios, or presentations, but not much more than that. For anything truly in-depth or interactive, you should look elsewhere. Novice users will be at ease and enjoy it, however. Sothink SWF Easy 5.1 is available for Windows 89/Me/NT4.0/ 2000/Xp/2003/Vista for MSRP $49.95. by Adrian McCanna

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