Candace Duffy Jones Designs » Tutorials

Photo – B&W Background

Candace Duffy Jones — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:03:03 +0000

1. Let's start by opening a color photo in Photoshop. I will be using this photo: 2. If your image layer is a locked background, right-click on layer and select "Layer from Background". A "New Layer" dialogue box will open. Click "OK". 3. Now drag Layer 0 to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette. This will create a duplicate layer named "Layer 0 copy". Click on the Layer Visibility icon to hide the duplicate layer. Select Layer 0. Go to Images -> Adjustments -> Desaturated or use Shift+Ctrl+U. This will make the bottom layer b&w. You may want to adjust the contrast levels to get a better result. 4. Click on the Layer Visibility icon to view the duplicate layer. Select the Magnetic Lasso Tool and trace an outline of the area you want in color. Don't worry about being perfect, you will fix that later. 5. Now you need to turn your selection into a mask. Click the Add Vector Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette. This will make the select as the only part of the photo visible on the duplicate layer, and everything else should be b&w because you are viewing the bottom layer. 6. Go to Select -> Deselect or press Ctrl+D to deselect selection. Select the Brush Tool and use a small brush around 19px, or whatever works best for you. Make sure that the layer mask is selected and that white is your foreground color. Use the paint brush to paint the areas you want colored that were not in the selection. 7. To make areas b&w make black the foreground color (press x) and paint where you want it b&w. Keep going between add and removing areas of the mask until you have the look you want. Remember, white adds to the color layer and black subtracts from the color layer (making it b&w since you have the bottom layer visible). If you need to, hide the bottom layer to see more clearly the edge of a subject in darker areas. 8. Now that your image is complete you can merge the two layers. Go to Layer -> Merge Visible to make the image one layer. Now you can add it to a layout. You can also try some other looks: [caption id="attachment_887" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Duplicate Layer at 50% Opacity"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_905" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Duplicate Layer Mode as Overlay"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_889" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Duplicate layer mode as Overlay and used filter Gaussian Blur."][/caption]

Grosgrain Ribbon

Candace Duffy Jones — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:29:45 +0000

1. Open a new document. Make it 300 DPI, 0.125" wide and 3" tall. We make it 3" so that we can make ribbon of any width up to 3" with this pattern. 2. Fill your document with 50% gray. Then go to Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise. Set it to 14%, Uniform, and Monochromatic. Click OK. 3. Then go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur. Set the angle to 0 and distance to 15. Click OK. 4. Now double click next to your layer name to open the Layer Style dialog. Click on the Gradient Overlay. Set the following: Blend Mode = Multiply, Opacity = 50, Gradient = Black and White (one of the default gradients), Reverse = checked, Style = reflected, Align with Layer = checked, Angle = 0, Scale = 150. Click OK. 5. Now we have completed our basic pattern. Go to Edit -> Define Pattern. You can name it whatever you want. I named my Grosgrain. 6. Open a new document. Make it 300 DPI, 17" wide and 0.5" tall or however wide you want your ribbon. 7. Go to Edit -> Fill. Select your new pattern from the menu and click OK. 8. Make a new layer and fill it with a color of your choice. You can also use a pattern paper instead of filling it with a solid color. 9. Change the blend mode of the new layer until you find one that works for you. I usually use Color or Overlay. 10. Make a new layer. Select the Line Tool. Set the weight to 9px, mode normal and opacity 100%. Draw a line at the top and bottom of your ribbon. 11. Change the fill of the line layer to 0%. Then double click next to the layer name to open the Layer Style dialog. Select Patter Overlay. Set the following: Blend Mode = Soft Light, Opacity = 100%, Pattern = Woven Wide (Load the Patterns pattern which comes with Photoshop), Scale = 1%, Link with Layer = Checked. Click OK. 12. Now you can save this as a template for future ribbons. Just change the color and/or blend modes for different looks. For light colored ribbons you may need to use a lighter gray in step 2.

Comic Book Photos and Layouts

Candace Duffy Jones — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:02:29 +0000

1. Open the photo you wish to alter in Photoshop. I am going to use one of the photos from my layout. 2. Make a duplicate layer of the photo. You can do this by going to the menu Layer -> Duplicate Layer or by dragging the layer to the Create a New Layer button. 3. Next desaturate the duplicate layer by going to the menu Image -> Adjustments -> Desaturate or Shift+Ctrl+U (MAC Cmd+Shift+U). 4. Now we have to change the brightness and contrast on the photo for a better result later. Go to menu Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast. Change your contrast and the brightness so you have good blackish outlines like in my image below: 5. Now we will being using one of the Photoshop Filters. Before we do this we will need to set our foreground and background colors to black and white, respectively. Press D to set the colors so that the foreground is black and the background white, or you can do it manually. Go to menu Filter -> Sketch -> Stamp. When the stamp window has opened, zoom out on your image using the - button in the bottom left hand corner, so that you can see all of your image. Change the Light/Dark Balance and the Smoothness until you get what looks like a B&W print of your image. Each image will use different quantities of Light/Dark and Smoothness. I used Light/Darkness Balance of 26 and Smoothness of 8. When you are happy with your image click OK. 6. Now we will need to remove the white areas so you can see the colors. Go to menu Select -> Color Range. You image should look something like mine: You will also get a window that looks like this: Set your settings to Select: Sampled Colors, Fuzziness: 200, Selection marked, Selection Preview: Quick Mask, the Dropper with no + or - selected and Invert unchecked. Use the dropper to select a white area of your photo (it may be red right now, but select where you know the white areas are). Your image should change so all the black areas are red and the white areas are white, like this: Click on OK. A selection will be around the white area. Press the Delete key on your keyboard to remove the white areas. Then press Ctrl+D to deselect (MAC Cmd+D). 7. Now you can leave your image the way it is, if you want. I don't think that looks to much like a comic but different photos may work better. What I did is add a layer below my outline so that I could paint in some color. Select the bottom layer in your layers palette. Click on the Create a New Layer button at the bottom. This will create a new layer between the original photo and the outline layer. Next select the Brush tool from the Tool Palette, you can also press B on your keyboard to get the brush tool. Now using your Brush Palette (Window -> Brushes or F5) select the Hard Round 19 brush. You may wish to make this brush larger by changing the Diameter size. I changed my to 46px to start and then went back to 19px for filling in small places. Select the color you wish to use and then paint within the outline, like I did below: Next you can add another layer for another color or use the same layer to paint another color. Which ever way you prefer to do it. I used the same layer to paint my next color: I then painted a background. I only used four colors but you may need more. Just remember the more colors you use the less like a comic it may look. Printing presses used for comics usually only have a few colors, although now a days that is changing. So it's really up to you how you want it to look. 8. Now I have some extras lines and dots I don't want so I used the Eraser Tool (E) to erase them. 9. I then cropped my image to the size I wanted and merged all the layer. To crop select the Crop Tool (C). Move your mouse to the top left area you want to crop from. Hold down your mouse button and drag the crop tool to the bottom right of the area you wish to crop. You can move the sides afterwards if you need to. Let go of the mouse button and make any adjustments you need to make to the sides by moving your mouse over the selected side and hold your mouse button as you drag it to it's new location. When you are happy with your crop selection press the Enter button on your keyboard or click on the Check Mark in the options bar. Merge all the layers by going to the menu Layer -> Merge Layers or using the keys Ctrl+E (MAC Cmd+E). 10. You can now add it to your layout. Here is how I did it. I used Jan Crowley's Comic Junkie Pt 1 and Comic Junkie Pt 2 (which are no longer available). I opened up the Template in Photoshop. And added my photo to the template. To do that you select your photo and drag it onto the template window. The photo will be added above the template, so I went to the Layers Palette and dragged my photo layer below the template layer. I then moved my photo into place. I added the rest of my altered photos to the template the same way. Then using the fonts I got from Blambot Fonts I added a title. I used the bubbles included in the Comic Junkie kit to add some thought bubbles to my layout. I did some resizing and flipping to get variations on the bubbles. I then added text over the bubbles. 11. This looks great but I wanted to add some texture to my layout so I used an overlay from the Comic Junkie kit and placed it above all the other layers in my layout. I then changed the overlay layer's Blend Mode to Soft Light. I then saved my layout. That's it!

Sequins

Candace Duffy Jones — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:09:29 +0000

1. Open a half inch by half inch 300DPI document in Photoshop. Our sequin will be smaller than that, about .4 inches, but this will give use some space to work in. 2. Fill the background, using the paint bucket tool, with a color that is different from your sequin color so that you can see it more clearly as you work. Since I am making a purple sequin I chose a pink background (R232, G161, B185). 3. Create a new layer in your layer palette by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon. Next we will draw a circle for the basic shape of the sequin. Chose your sequin color and make that you foreground color. I am using a purple (R171, G114, B171). Select the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle slightly smaller than the document (hold down the shift key to make a perfect circle). Make sure in your options bar that you have Fill Pixels selected. 4. Create a new layer in your layer palette by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon. In this layer we will be drawing a small hexagon to make the inside of the sequin. Select a darker color of your base sequin color. I am using R148, G91, B148. Select the Polygon tool. In the Tool Option bar change Sides: 6. From the center of the circle draw a small hexagon the size you would like the middle section to be. You may want to use guides to find the center. 5. Now we will add the angled facets of the sequin. Double click beside the layer name. The Layer Style dialog will open. select Bevel and Emboss. Change the settings to Style: Outer Bevel, Technique: Chisel Hard, Depth: 100, Direction: Down, Size: 43 (this will actually vary depending on your sequin size, adjust it so that the bevel reaches just outside the sequin circle), Angel: 120, Global Light: checked, Altitude: 30, Gloss Contour: Rounded Steps, Anti-aliased: checked, Highlight Mode: Screen, Color: white, Opacity: 60, Shadow Mode: Multiply, Color: black, Opacity: 40. 6. Select Pattern Overlay. Change the settings to Blend Mode: Soft Light, Opacity: 25, Pattern: Satin, Scale: 145, Link with Layer: checked. Click OK. 7. Double-click next the circle layer name. The Layer Style dialog select Pattern Overlay. Change the settings to Blend Mode: Linear Burn, Opacity: 5, Pattern: Satin, Scale: 80. Link with Layer: checked. Click OK. 8. Create a new layer about the Hexagon layer. Merge the new layer and the Hexagon layer together. This will flatten the layer style into the layer. 9. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the circle layer. Hit Shift+Ctrl+I to invert the selection. Select the Hexagon layer and hit the delete key. Click Ctrl+D to deselect. 10. Now your sequin is complete, well almost. Most sequins have a tiny hole. I just used the easer tool with a size nine brush to make the hole on both layers (or you can merge the layers then only make one hole). Before you save it as a png make sure you hide the background layer so that the background is transparent. Well that is all for this tutorial. I hope it was clear and helpful. Please leave some feedback, I would like to know what you thought of the tutorial. Is there anything I should change in how I present it, etc. I plan on adding more tutorials in the future and any feedback will help me improve how I post them.