Scribd
Upload
133 views

Tutorial PHOPTOSHOP

This document provides instructions and tips for using custom brushes to create realistic effects for elements like fire, water, ice, smoke, snow, and rain. It includes screenshots and settings for 10 photo-extracted brushes. The brushes are designed to easily render textures for flames, smoke, snowflakes, snowfall, icicles, pancake ice, spume, raindrops, snow, and water. Tips are provided for using each brush at different opacities and with techniques like motion blur to achieve realistic effects. All brushes are included on the DVD for users to experiment with.

Uploaded by

kerem11
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
133 views

Tutorial PHOPTOSHOP

This document provides instructions and tips for using custom brushes to create realistic effects for elements like fire, water, ice, smoke, snow, and rain. It includes screenshots and settings for 10 photo-extracted brushes. The brushes are designed to easily render textures for flames, smoke, snowflakes, snowfall, icicles, pancake ice, spume, raindrops, snow, and water. Tips are provided for using each brush at different opacities and with techniques like motion blur to achieve realistic effects. All brushes are included on the DVD for users to experiment with.

Uploaded by

kerem11
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Workshops

BONUS BRUSH GUIDE


Marta Dahlig
COUNTRY: Poland Born in 1985, Marta Dahlig is a young and talented artist who is an expert in custom brushes. www.marta-dahlig.com

CUSTOM BRUSHES 4 ELEMENTS


Brush expert Marta Dahlig explores the best brushes for painting the elements of fire, water and ice
ll modern digital painters know how precious custom brushes can be. They can create realistic textures like no other available tool and can generally greatly speed up the painting process, which is an extreme advantage for all of us who struggle meeting deadlines.

DVD Files
All brushes can be found on the DVD in the Marta Dahlig folder in the Workshops section. Download a demo of Photoshop CS3 from www. adobe.com/ downloads

As a supplement to the three-part custom brush guide from issues 19-21, this guide is devoted to looking at elemental special effects, mostly ice and water. For brushes connected with earth, see issue 21. This time, I was aiming for the highest degree of realism, so the vast majority of

the brushes originated from photographs, and are available for Photoshop users only. All of the described brushes are on this issues DVD for you to check out and play with. If you dont own a copy of Photoshop, remember that you can always download the trial version from www.adobe.com/dowloads.

94

October 2007

UNI22.brush 94

9/8/07 16:18:11

Artist insight Custom brush guide


Flames
Its a really simple brush to use, but requires some practice to master to use it to its full potential. To render a realistic looking fire, start off by using the brush with the darkest red or orange, gradually moving on to lighter colours. Remember to add some light accents (near white) in the heart of a flame. For extra realism, you can try to use Motion Blur on the fires edges.

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 30-70% Flow: 100%

All brush es are supp lied free o your DVn D!

Smoke

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 40-80% Flow: 100%

This photo brush extracted from a stock photo is extremely useful for painting any kind of smoke. All you should do is use it as a stamp over the desired area. Its mostly effective as cigarette smoke, but when blurred, it also works great at creating the exhaled air effect. Moreover, with a very high Gaussian Blur, it can be very helpful when rendering fog.

Snowflakes

These three little brushes are very versatile and can be used for a variety of things. They proved to be very helpful in poster and postcard designs, but are also a nice enrichment to your paintings in the form of jewellery (see example) or patterns. With the scattering option switched on they can also be effectively used as texturing tools.

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 20-70% Flow: 100%

Snowfall

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 20-40% Flow: 100%

This stamp brush is extremely easy to use, but combined with the right Photoshop options gives wonderful results. To render a dynamic snowfall effect, simply run with the brush over an area, adjusting the size and spaces between the dots to achieve the desired snowing intensity. After you are done, use the Motion Blur filter on the layer. You can also use different Motion Blur strength for different parts of the snow to achieve a more dynamic effect, as well as a feeling of extra depth.

Icicles

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 80-100% Flow: 100%

This photo brush is extremely effective and easy to use. It doesnt require any skill or practice to create wonderful effects. It doesnt even need any extra shading to seem realistic! All you have to do is be creative it can help you render icicles, but also, with the right amount of rotating and flipping, any ice-covered object.

October 2007

95

UNI22.brush 95

9/8/07 16:18:19

Workshops
Pancake Ice
This photo extracted brush has a great variety of uses. I originally created it to render the pancake ice texture, but it can also be used as a skin texturing tool (see main image example), creating a nice frosted skin effect, when used on a Vivid Light layer mode. Moreover, if you turn scattering, shape and other dynamic on, it becomes a wonderful general texturing tool.

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 20-70% Flow: 100% *Optional: Other dynamics, Shape dynamic and Scattering turned on.

Spume

Raindrops

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 10-70% Flow: 100% Shape dynamics: Size Jitter: 0% Scattering: Both Axes, 85% Other dynamics: Opacity Jitter: 40%

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 30-60% Flow: 100%

I truly love this one. For realistic effects, start off by placing darkest colour blobs, gradually moving on to lighter. Remember to switch the hues slightly throughout the process and also avoid shading the spume early on with pure white. White can then later be used to enrich the final shading and underline the light source of the image.

This brush is simple and its uses are limited, but it can help you save a great amount of time, as raindrops can be extremely time consuming to render properly one by one. This brush will instantly create a wet surface look for you, including the wet skin look (with a bit of editing). Single droplets can also be used for rendering tears. Use this brush on a low opacity to easily create a nice, soft snow texture. Start off with the darkest colours, gradually moving on to lighter (again, avoid using white). From time to time however, break this order, adding some darker shading on to the snows surface to underline its thickness. If you turn the Scattering option on, the brush will turn into a useful cloud rendering tool.

Snow

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 20-50% Flow: 100% Shape dynamics: Size Jitter: 0% Other dynamics: Opacity Jitter: 40% *Optional: Scattering

Water

PHOTOSHOP
Opacity: 20-80% Flow: 100%

This photo brush is one of the most realistic Ive made to date. Whats most important its very easy to use! First, paint the shape of a wave, varying the midtones slightly throughout the whole area. Then, use the Eyedropper to pick some colours, eventually making them a bit lighter, and use the brush over the shape on a separate layer. When youre done, blur the texture slightly for better blending and greater realism.

Missed one of our brush guides? See right!


ISSUE 19 Skin & hair ISSUE 20 Fabric & costume ISSUE 21 Nature & environment

96

October 2007

UNI22.brush 96

9/8/07 16:18:24

You might also like