Photoshop tutorial: Digital collage techniques - Digital Arts online

Step 1

This tutorial from one among our time-honored collage illustrators Ciara Phelan is all about mixing analogue manner and digital photography to create a bright and playful photomontage.

The theme right here is this summer's fashion: gentle clear textures with clear traces to which we'll distinction brighter vintage floral points, pastel paints and vector shapes.

You'll find out how to make use of a whole lot of equipment in Illustrator and Photoshop to layer scanned elements with pictures and hand-made textures, and the way to use adjustment layers and masks to unite the colour palette and composition of an illustration.

I've used a model shot from iStock, nevertheless it would be easy to change considered one of your own with a similar suppose. The same is correct for the vintage plant life I used from my very own assortment. you can down load the watercolour and Indian ink textures I created under though.

Time to finished

three - 4 hours

utility needed

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Downloads

download the model shot

The watercolour and Indian ink textures can also be downloaded here.

Step 2

the first element we should do is separate out the mannequin from the background to make it handy to add collage features in entrance and behind.

Open the your mannequin shot in Photoshop and, the use of the Pen device (P), draw a direction across the outline of the mannequin.

Step 3

as soon as complete, save the direction by means of going to the path panel, clicking on the flyout menu and picking out retailer route.

it is good to get in the dependancy of doing this because it may additionally come in useful for enhancing in later degrees. 

Step 4

within the Layers panel, opt for the mannequin layer and duplicate it (Cmd/Ctrl + J). link both layers collectively by means of deciding on them both and clicking on the link icon at the backside of the panel.

choose the top layer, then opt for the saved path in the route panel. click on on the flyout menu, then opt for Make selection.

Set the Feather Radius to 0.three and press good enough. in the layer window opt for the mask button.

Step 5

remember to now have two layers: the first is the model with a mask, and the 2d is the mannequin and the historical past.

Now that you may birth including collage points in entrance and at the back of the mannequin. As this piece is very summery I even have chosen to add flowers as an embellishment but definitely which you could choose whatever thing you adore provided that your library photos are a single element on a single-coloured background (otherwise the beneath approach won't work).

Step 6

Open the picture you need to add and choose the Magic Wand tool (W). within the precise bar, set the Tolerance to twenty so it picks up many of the stray pixels. Untick the Contiguous container so the wand selects all the single-coloration historical past.

Now click anyplace on the background to choose it (white during this instance), leaving your aspect unselected. Invert your preference so you've acquired the facets by using urgent Cmd/Ctrl+I. copy the preference and paste it into your leading illustration.

Repeat this for the rest of your collage elements.

Step 7

Now's the time to have little fun and start dropping in diverse points and arranging them as you need.

I even have concentrated the flower collage across the model to make it suppose like she is standing in a blossoming patch of foliage.

Step eight

As collages are continually made from aspects from diverse sources, it's crucial to play around with every point's degrees to be certain all features have an identical contrast and saturation.

that you may do that by making a choice on the layer you need to exchange and picking out tiers within the changes panel. that you may then tweak the darks and lights as critical.

Step 9

i admire so as to add bursts of color to tug a composition collectively.

To do that, open Illustrator and draw fluid shapes using the Pen device (N).

Step 10

copy these shapes and paste them into the main file in Photoshop. within the alterations panel select Hue/Saturation and change the shade to suit the composition.

Step 11

It's all the time first rate to add somewhat of texture to a picture, primarily if you are mixing collage and vectors as i'm right here.

using watercolour paint and Indian ink, I created random marks that I scanned into Photoshop so I might add depth to the fluid blob shapes I created in Illustrator. that you would be able to discover these in this tutorial's task information.

Step 12

the usage of the Marquee tool (M), choose a local of texture that you simply want to use and paste it onto a layer above a vector shape.

Step 13

whereas maintaining Alt on the keyboard, hover and select between the two layers. this will create a layer mask that applies the texture simply to form of the vec-tor layer beneath.

Step 14

I also delivered paint marks within the heritage to roughen issues up just a little.

To do that, repeat step 10 however as a substitute of making use of the texture to a layer, offer you layer a Multiply mixing mode. that you may change the colour of the paint by means of repeating Step eight and adding a Hue and Saturation Adjustment layer.

Step 15

From here on it's all about element. To break up the composition I brought small vines that are growing to be out from the leading foliage.

To create these this I used the Pen tool (N) in Illustrator to attract curly vines and that i then replica-&-pasted them into Photoshop.

It's worth noting right here that I used a graphics pill and pen to create these, which is less complicated than a mouse.

Step sixteen

it is abnormal to discover flora and fauna with out wildlife so using the equal formulation as Step 5, I used the Magic Wand tool to choose an image of a fowl and a few bees to add a little existence to the illustration.

Step 17

Now for the finishing touches. The history during this graphic is never incredible so I determined to retouch one of the crucial scuff marks out. Photoshop's Clone device may not create a really smooth conclude, as the entire background is simply too tough – so I used the comb device to color over huge areas.

Step 18

To do this, create a new layer above the heritage. select the brush device (B) and set the opacity to forty%. the usage of the eyedropper, opt for near the place you want to retouch and gradually paint over it.

This may additionally take a long time as you're going to deserve to take samples with the eyedropper a couple of instances (reckoning on the enviornment you are painting).

Step 19

finally I brought an even bigger topknot to the model's hair. This became a basically very own alternative as I felt her bun wasn't massive enough!

Step 20

Use Adjustment layers the place viable. This offers you the opportunity to re-tune and change shade, contrast and saturation.

Step 21

retain a watch out for entertaining imagery and ancient photos in charity shops and motor vehicle boot sales.