In this video-tutorial we're going to show you how to create a cartoon-style illustration of an ax in Photoshop. We will be spending time with layer masks, the pen tool, and Photoshop brushes. We will finally import and apply a vector pattern from Illustrator to Photoshop. At the end of this tutorial you should be able to easily create your own cartoon-style illustrations of just about any object.
Video transcription, images, and included resources are available after the jump:Most beginners don't like it. Well, if there was a way to be good at Photoshop without using at all the pen tool, the World would be a better place! But the truth is: the sooner you learn how to handle this tool, the sooner you realize how indispensable it is. Anytime you need to start your illustration, you do it by creating shapes. The best way to create these shapes is by using the pen tool.
Tip: if you don't like what you came up with using the pen tool, remember that you can always modify your shapes with the direct selection tool (A). Just click on the outline of your shape to show up the anchor points, then click and drag to move them.
Layer Masks come in handy when you want to confine a specific element. Lets say that you want to apply a texture/pattern to a shape A. The space occupied by that shape represents your "limit". You can select the pixels occupied by an element by holding down cmd (ctrl on Windows) and clicking on the layer - inside the layer windows. In a simpler way: in the layer windows, cmd + click on the layer whose pixel you want to select. Then you select the texture to be confined and press the "add layer mask" button to remove the unwanted pixels. Piece of cake, isn't it? ;)
If the result is too clean, add some dirty effects with brushes and textures. In this tutorial I used a great set of 50 grunge Photoshop brushes created by Tony. Just create a new layer, pick up one of the brushes and click. If the result is too strong, reduce a bit the layer opacity.
That's all for today! I hope you enjoyed the video and see you soon for a new tutorial!
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