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We asked Neil Duerden to do a tutorial for us and he said “Hey I’d love too”. In case you’re not familiar with his work, Neil 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 photography that are interlaced with complex vectors to create pieces that always hit the brief for clients all around the world. He is always hungry for the latest commissions and trends. Here are some of his workologies…
Hey Guys. Today we are going to explore a fine blend of Illustrator and Photoshop in equal measures. This technique is relatively simple and leaves a good amount of room for experiment and personalization, with a great end result that is both flexible and positive. You do however, need a good computer – this is both heavy on your processor and ram, so I recommend a good Mac setup. Otherwise you’ll be sitting for hours watching a slow moving blue bar! Before you start, decide on a subject or theme as this is key to this style. Gather a good shot of your subject, and also a fitting full background, then make some coffee and we’ll begin.
1-Firstly, start by constructing a Bubble in Illustrator. Simply draw a circle with a gradient and then create the highlight by applying two circles over the top of each other, and use the subtract path finder tool. Then place your highlight on top of your base circle, select all, and turn the opacity down to 70%. Hey presto you have a bubble. Then place a snow flake design over the top and reduce the opacity of this to get you own desired effect.
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2 – Next create a set of around 10 random bubble patterns by overlaying your bubble. These need to be nice and random, and don’t be tempted to create a symbol of the bubble as it won’t give you the same amount of control over your composition. You may save a few minutes by using the symbol functionality, but leave this for the dtp guys out there.
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3 – Next pick out a piece of photography and create a psd document with no Background. To do this, either clip out your image, select the Path or use a Mask, inverse your selection and then delete, then save it as a .psd. A tip for this section of the tutorial is, if you are using the mask method, try to utilize different colour channels and boost them to select different parts of the image, it makes the whole process a lot easier. Just make sure you create a new channel so the base image isn’t effected.
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4 – Jump back into Illustrator and create a new document. Then simply use the place command under the file menu to get you image into your piece. Choose the flatten button when prompted, and then open the link menu and check that it is embedded. If there isn’t a square and triangle symbol next to the file name go to the circular options button, which is on the top right of this pallet, and choose embed image.
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5 – Lock the layer with the image on it and create a new layer. Then, behind this layer create a new one and cut and paste the bubbles onto it and position where you feel it looks best. Then duplicate this layer and change the layer order in the layer palette to position it in front of the image. Then simply reduce the opacity, to show more of the image.
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6 – Continue to repeat step 5 until you have created an interesting background, as this will be the base for your image. Make it as complex or as simple as you like. Try to change the opacity of different layers to get an interesting, yet balanced effect.
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7 – Next draw a few elements within Illustrator – these can be anything. I have chosen a few trees and leaves. Copy and paste these onto different random layers within your main piece and experiment with the order to let different opacities show through. This may take a little time to both draw the elements, and get the ordering correct to get a subtle yet defined effect.
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8 – Now go to the file menu and export the whole file as a psd file, making sure you have max editability clicked. This may take a little time if your Mac is not fully loaded with RAM. Then open it up into Photoshop and let the fun and games begin. Firstly, choose a background image that fits within the general feel of your piece, and place it at the very bottom of the layer stack.
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9 – Build up more layers by building new swooshing elements in Illustrator, and then cut and paste them from Photoshop straight into Illustrator. Then arrange these to fit in with your composition perfectly. This will add a new dimension to your piece and give it added depth.
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10 – Next time, to clean the skin areas if applicable, duplicate the layer with the character on it and go to Filter>Blurr>Surface Blurr and apply 25:25 and click ok, then delete the areas of the image that contain detail like the eyes and lips. This will create a clean skin texture. You may apply a little noise to give a grainy fashion shoot effect, if suited to your piece. Then reduce the opacity of this layer to get your desired effect.
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11 – Your composition may now have changed in both shape and direction depending on how you applied different layers, so simply change to base image to fit. Again, this is a very loose procedure and you can use whatever resource you have at hand.
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12 – This should now be complete so simply flatten your image and boost the contrast up slightly. That’s Image>Adjustment>Brightness/Contrast. Just make it look right for you! Now use it for what you will, and be proud of what you have created.
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by Neil Duerden
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This tutorial comes from the magazine .PSD Photoshop.
You will find more of them, as well as free downloads of the complete issues of the magazine on http://psdmag.org.
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Warming up cold Photoshop
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