Adobe Photoshop Tutorial Creating Digital Artwork By Yvonne

Adobe Photoshop Tutorial (Creating Digital Artwork) By: Yvonne Lanning July 2013

All you will need to create your personalized masterpiece is… any ordinary photograph, a few simple tools (found in Photoshop), and some time to practice. (Oh yeah, and a computer!) Before After

Step 1 - Uploading your image First, you will have to upload your image into the Photoshop program. Click on the file tab located in the upper left of your screen (red circle).

Step 1 - Continued In the drop down menu, select New. You will then see a screen like this pop up. Go ahead and change the name to “Digital Artwork Tutorial”

Step 1 Continued Then, change the width to 4500 pixels and the height to 3000 pixels. Finally, make sure the color mode selected is RGB and the background is white. When you are finished click OK.

Step 1 - Continued Now you need to import your image from wherever you have it saved. I like to drag and drop mine into the top tab (circled in red)

Step 1 - Continued Once your photo has been placed into Photoshop it will appear on your screen and you will see it written in the tab at the top (red oval)

Step 1 - Continued Now we are ready to begin working on the photo. This would be a good time to stop and save your work. Go back to the drop down menu located under the file tab. Select save as, Photoshop PSD, PDD. When your photo is saved like this, you can continue working on it at a later time. Later, when you finish you can save as a JPEG.

Step 2 – Working on the Truck layer Before we move on, notice the layers located in the lower right hand side of the screen. For this piece of work we will only have two layers, the photo (background) and the text. First, we will work on the photo. At this time click on the background layer and rename it to “Truck”

Step 2 – Working on the Truck layer To begin the artwork on the truck I like to use the cropping tool first. This tool is located on the left hand side of your screen with other various tool selections. Click on the crop tool and this side menu will appear. Select the crop tool. Click on your photo and the tool and grid lines will appear.

Step 2 – Working on the Truck layer When I cropped the photo, I tried to get rid of the car (while keeping the sign in the background, and center the truck. In addition, I personally like more sky so I lowered the truck to get rid of some of the foreground. In order to apply the crop, I click back on the crop tool and a window will appear asking me if I want to crop. Click crop. Your photo will now be ready to retouch.

Step 2 – Working on the Truck layer Now you will begin retouching out parts of the photo you want to change or get rid of. I do not like the power lines so I got rid of them in my photo. To do this, I used the cloning tool. And I also, clicked on the view tab and enlarged the screen view to 200%

Step 2 – Working on the Truck layer To use the cloning tool takes a little practice. When you click on your photo you will get this circle. Place it on a spot that will match the color (in this case where the power lines are. Press alt until you see a target looking shape appear. Now you have you color or clone stamp ready.

Step 2 – Working on the Truck You can check if you have the layer stamp ready by moving it over a power line. The line will disappear and the color will show. If you like this look, then as you move your cursor around over the line, at the same time left click on your mouse. Kind of “swish it” around to “color” over the power lines. It takes practice. Notice the little cross. This indicates the area from where your clone is coming from. If the color starts to change look at where the cross is (probably hovering over a tree). Just put your circle on a sky section and press “alt” until you see the target sign again.

Step 2 – Working on the Truck layer It is up to you (the artist) to retouch whatever you would like to change in your work. In my final photo, you will see that I retouched all of the power lines as well as the dead trees, car bumper, and some misc. electrical wires. In addition, I filled in the trees so they would look fuller.

Step 2 – Working on the Truck layer Keep in mind that it takes time to learn how to use the tool. When you are finished retouching, save you work (PSD still) and we will complete the final steps – using the curve effect and adding the text.

Step 3 – Applying an Effect Now it is time to apply an effect. Click on the image tab and scroll down to Adjustments. Another menu will appear on the side. Select “curves” from this menu.

Step 3 – Applying an Effect Once you have selected “curves” this box will appear. First, click on the tool that looks like a zigzag line (in red circle). Next, place your cursor over the diagonal line and start having fun! Pull the line this way and that (I hold down my left click to do this) to create some really cool effects. When you have the effect you like, click OK. I like to have my view set on “fit to screen” so that I can see the whole picture as I do this. (Don’t forget to save)

Step 4 – Adding the text Whenever I add text I like to create a new layer so that I can move the text around and position it wherever I want in my work. To create another layer simply go to the bottom of your Photoshop screen and click on the icon that looks like a paper with the corner bent (in circle). Name this layer “Text” (arrow)

Step 4 – Adding the text Click on the T (indicating text tool) on the left side of your screen where the tools are located. In the side menu you can select options for the text. Also, at the top of your screen you can change the font, size, color, etc. Be sure that you have the “text” layer highlighted or you will not be working in the correct place. Use the move tool (located at the top of the tool bar) to position your text.

Step 5 – Saving your work Once you have decided that your work is complete, resave it as a JPEG file. Once it has been saved in this manner you will no longer be able to make changes in Photoshop.

The End!