creating an urban-style piece of artwork

8/7/2019 Creating An Urban-Style Piece Of Artwork

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CREATING AN URBAN-STYLE PIECE OFARTWORK

Tutorial from

http://psd.tutsplus.com/

Compiled by
http://psd.tutsplus.com/http://psd.tutsplus.com/http://www.mininova.org/user/coldbinghttp://www.mininova.org/user/coldbinghttp://psd.tutsplus.com/http://www.mininova.org/user/coldbinghttp://psd.tutsplus.com/


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INTRODUCTION

While grunge has its origins in the 90s, recently thestyle has been gaining in popularityonce more. Inthis tutorial, I will show you how to create a dirty, urban-style image using both well-known techniquesas well as a few new ones. You will learn to easily extract complex shapes and we will also create ourown grunge texture.Preparation:

This tutorial is very stock-heavy. Since the basic theme of the image will be "music," I gathereda few stock images fromiStockPhoto. I suggest that you also choose a theme and gather a bunchof stock images you think will be useful before you start creating the image. Here are links tothe ones I used:Girl,Speakers,Boombox.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/11/the-secrets-of-grunge-design/http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/11/the-secrets-of-grunge-design/http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/11/the-secrets-of-grunge-design/http://www.istockphoto.com/http://www.istockphoto.com/http://www.istockphoto.com/http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/gender/female/women/2758240_asia_rocks.php?id=2758240http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/gender/female/women/2758240_asia_rocks.php?id=2758240http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/gender/female/women/2758240_asia_rocks.php?id=2758240http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/what/specific_objects/loudspeakers/2071964_stereo_loudspeakers_clipping_path_included.php?id=2071964http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/what/specific_objects/loudspeakers/2071964_stereo_loudspeakers_clipping_path_included.php?id=2071964http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/what/specific_objects/loudspeakers/2071964_stereo_loudspeakers_clipping_path_included.php?id=2071964http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/3636798_80_s_vintage_radio_3_4_view.php?id=3636798http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/3636798_80_s_vintage_radio_3_4_view.php?id=3636798http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/3636798_80_s_vintage_radio_3_4_view.php?id=3636798http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/3636798_80_s_vintage_radio_3_4_view.php?id=3636798http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/what/specific_objects/loudspeakers/2071964_stereo_loudspeakers_clipping_path_included.php?id=2071964http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/gender/female/women/2758240_asia_rocks.php?id=2758240http://www.istockphoto.com/http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/11/the-secrets-of-grunge-design/


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Step 1:

Before we start with the stock, we will quickly create a texture for later use.

So create a new document. I used 800 x 600px for my canvas size. Make sure your foregroundcolor is black and your background color is white. You can simply press D on your keyboard to

do that.

Add a new layer and go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise.Choose the following settings: Amount 50%; Distribution = Uniform; Monochromatic = On. Afterthat, use Filter > Artistic > Dry Brush with settings: Brush Size = 2; Brush Detail = 8; Texture =1.

Now again, add some noise by going to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and use the previoussettings. Then use Filter > Artistic > Paint Daubs with the settings shown in the screenshot:


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Step 2:

Now use Filter > Brush Strokes > Splatter with Spray Radius = 20 and Smoothness = 5. Yourimage should look like this:

Step 3:

Go to Select > Color Range, choose Highlights, hit OK, and you will see that random areas inyour texture are now selected. We will delete them by pressing Delete. Also, delete thebackground layer and you're done with your texture! Save it, we'll use it later.


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Step 4:

Now we will just cut out all the images that we will use for our further work and save them.

You can do that by using the Pen Tool (P). If you have a complex shape that you want to selectaccurately (i.e. hairstrands), then fear not because I will show you a very useful technique in

the following steps.

The model in the stock photo I'm using has very fine hair strands. We want to select her bodyshape while also accurately selecting the fine hair strands. In order to do this, go to theChannels palette and identify the channel with the highest contrast between the model andbackground. In this case, I chose the green channel and duplicated it. Make sure the channel isselected and not hidden.

Step 5:

Our goal is to make a selection of the model. The model should be solid black and thebackground as white as possible. With that in mind, we need to paint the headphones and themodel's top solid black, as they are too bright. So trace around those parts and fill the selectionwith solid black.


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Step 6:

Press Ctrl+M to open up the curves window and drag the two controllers further together toraise the contrast between model and background. You might need to repeat this a few times.In the end there may still be some bright parts. Quickly trace around them and fill them withblack.


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Step 7:

If you're satisfied with the result, Ctrl-click the channel to make a selection. Press Shift+Ctrl+Ito invert the selection or go to Select > Invert. Now click on the RGB channel and copy+pastethe selection into a new 800x600px file. Voila! You have selected the model with all the finehairstrands.

Step 8:

We want to give the model a distressed look. Desaturate the model (Shift+Ctrl+U) and duplicatethe layer. Set the duplicated layer to Multiply and make sure it's on top. Select this layer, openup the curves window again (Ctrl+M), and raise the contrast until you like the result.


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Step 9:

Desaturate the other images, add them to the model, and make a nice composition.


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Step 10:

For the next step, we will use some damaged paper as a texture. Just scan some crinkled paperor try to make a picture with your camera. You can download my paper texturehere.
http://www.eon9.net/paper_texture.jpghttp://www.eon9.net/paper_texture.jpghttp://www.eon9.net/paper_texture.jpghttp://www.eon9.net/paper_texture.jpg


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Step 11:

Paste the texture above our image and set the layer style to Multiply. If necessary you shouldalso desaturate it and raise the contrast a bit. Flatten the image and make a rough selection ofthe objects, like below:

Step 12:

Paste the selection into a new file and add the texture we made in the beginning. Set the

Opacity of the texture to 15% so it's more of a background effect.

Fill the background layer of the new file with a color of your choice to give the image more lifeby making the paper cutouts really contrast out from the background. I also added some notesthat I quickly scribbled by using a small, round brush and then followed the same paper texturetechnique.

Don't forget to add drop shadows to your objects. This way they will look like they were cut outof paper and pasted on top.


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Step 13:

Next I've added some halftone effects and swirl brushes as well as some splatter brushes. If youdon't know how to make halftone effects, check outSean's Halftone Tutorial. For swirl/splatterbrushes go toDeviantARTorBrusheezy.com. Besides that, I added an image of a cityscape. Youcan find some great scapes for free atSxc.hu. When you find an appropriate image, desaturatethe cityscape, boost up the contrast and set it to multiply to get the effect in the final imagebelow.
http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/create-a-cool-halftone-effect/http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/create-a-cool-halftone-effect/http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/create-a-cool-halftone-effect/http://www.deviantart.com/http://www.deviantart.com/http://www.deviantart.com/http://www.brusheezy.com/http://www.brusheezy.com/http://www.brusheezy.com/http://www.sxc.hu/http://www.sxc.hu/http://www.sxc.hu/http://www.sxc.hu/http://www.brusheezy.com/http://www.deviantart.com/http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/create-a-cool-halftone-effect/


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CONCLUSION

I am sure that the textures you created and used during this tutorial will be very useful forsome of your following projects. I also believe that the new technique I showed you to extractcomplex shapes will also help you in your further work. You might have realized that we didn'tnecessarily need to cut out the hair so exactly, since we pasted the model to a plain whitecanvas. However, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to show you this technique:-)

Compiled by
http://www.mininova.org/user/coldbinghttp://www.mininova.org/user/coldbinghttp://www.mininova.org/user/coldbinghttp://www.mininova.org/user/coldbing

creating an urban-style piece of artwork

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