Photoshop Tutorial, Part Three

[Harry P.]

Now that I've created my door line, I want to create the highlight that runs along the edge of the door. To do that, I'll take my door line layer that I just created and duplicate that layer... giving me an exact copy. Now with my duplicated door seam layer being the active layer, I'll go to the dropdown menu and select Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay:

Now that I have selected the color overlay option, I can "overlay" any new color onto my dark green door line copy. I'll change the color to light green, then move my light green door line (on its own layer) slightly to the left of my original dark green door line (also on its own separate layer) to get my door edge highlight. I used the eraser to slightly fade the highlight towards the bottom:

Now I want to add a white highlight at the point where the door curves. I'll draw an ellipse (again, on a new, separate layer) to define the shape I want, and hit it with the brush, using white:

Then, just like for the door seam, I'll move the selected elliptical area slightly to the right, leaving my white shape in place:

and hit "Delete" to remove the unwanted white:

Again, like the white fender highlight created earlier, this highlight isn't exactly the right shape, so once again I'll use the "distort" function to reshape the highlight until it matches the shape of the door seam:

More to come...

[Harry P.]

The trunk seam was created exactly the same way as the door seam line. I added small white spectral highlights with the brush tool to both the door and trunk seams. In this shot only the layers I've created are "on"... the photo reference layer is "off" and isn't visible, but you can see the separate white backround layer, also "on," under my illustration layers (see the layers palette on the right):

[Harry P.]

Now let's do the rear window. This is a little tricky, so follow along closely.

First I created the basic shape using the techniques already described, and dumped black into the shape (remember, each new shape I create is always on a separate layer):

Now I duplicated my window layer, to give me an exact copy on a new layer, and use the color overlay function to change the color from black to green. The new green window shape is on a new, separate layer above the original black window shape, which is also on its own separate layer:

Now I selected the green window shape with the "Magic Wand" tool (circled in red). This tool selects an area of solid color, in this case the green window shape:

Then, as you've seen in previous steps, I move the "active" selected area slightly to the right, while leaving the green shape in place:

And hit "Delete" to remove the unwanted color area, leaving me with this "window surround" detail:

Which I then scaled down slightly to fit within the black window area:

More to come...

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Yeah, you still have my attention Harry....good stuff!!!!

So, now I have a question......'spose I wanted to do a background (mood setting, say to speak) and wanted to pick up some object reflections of the background (distorted to conform to the the curves of the body) in the paint........more layers with knock outs?

[Harry P.]

Yeah, you still have my attention Harry....good stuff!!!!

So, now I have a question......'spose I wanted to do a background (mood setting, say to speak) and wanted to pick up some object reflections of the background (distorted to conform to the the curves of the body) in the paint........more layers with knock outs?

It's always more layers!

Depending on what you want to do, there are several ways to go about it. You can draw the "reflections" by hand (on a new layer, of course!)... or you can take a part of the background, outline the part you want with the Lasso tool, and then hit "Copy" and "Paste" (Apple C, Apple V on a Mac keyboard), which will give a new layer containing that part of the background that you selected. Now you can take that new background piece that you copied and pasted out of your original background layer, and distort it to conform to the shape of the reflecting surface (the fender, hood, roof or wherever you want the "reflection" to go. You can soften edges, lighten or darken the "reflection," adjust the transparency, etc. Once you're happy with how the "reflection" looks, you can merge that layer down into your illustration.

[Brett Barrow]

How are you selecting what colors to use? Do you use the eyedropper set to a wide sample area to get a sort of "average" for the same area in the reference? Or do you just go to the palette and find a color you like?

Edited September 18, 2010 by Brett Barrow

[Harry P.]

How are you selecting what colors to use? Do you use the eyedropper set to a wide sample area to get a sort of "average" for the same area in the reference? Or do you just go to the palette and find a color you like?

To match colors from the photo I use the eyedropper to sample the color right off the photo. Quick, simple, foolproof.

For colors that aren't in the photo, like the blue of the windows, I pick a color off the color palette.