Chapter 14
Real World Collage
Flexibility and functionality make Photoshop the ultimate digital collage tool. If you’re holding this book in your hands, it’s likely that you’re more than familiar with this concept. The downside to all of these is that we, digital artists, are only human and unfortunately, more often that not, we’ll tend to follow the path of least resistance. We get locked in front of our computers and through convenience, whether conscious of it or not, we tend to get into the habit of creating only on the screen. The unfortunate byproduct of this is a vast array of uninspired digital collages everywhere you look. You’ll notice a lot of softly blended imagery, sleek stock photos and royalty-free textures, and in the case of something really innovative, you might just see a desktop scan used.
My goal in this chapter is to offer you an alternative to uninspired collage conformity. Hopefully, getting a bit of paint on your hands will help you snap out of the convenient and predictable. Let’s make a bit of a mess and combine some real-world materials to give your collage a distinctly non-digital look. I want to encourage you to bridge the gap between the tactile and the digital, allowing you to create strange hybrid works of art that look like something new altogether.
Although you’ll be expected to have a basic understanding of selection tools, layers, paths, and fi le creation, the actual Photoshop methods for compositing this piece are rather rudimentary. Anyone who has a basic understanding of Photoshop should be able to pull this off.
What you’ll learn in this chapter
Creative Techniques and Working Methods
Prior planning and observation
Planning and forethought is an integral part of the creative process. Unfortunately, the habits of digital artists tend to gravitate away from this preliminary and crucial phase. It seems to be common practice to open a new file and jump right to the stage of creating finished art digitally. The early portions of this chapter discuss the planning stage, and that is what I want to draw your attention to. Take a look at what is around you. Find interesting items that lend themselves to a composition and will work together. Devise a plan and work to that plan. The results of your efforts will certainly benefit from this.
Imperfection
Looking at the opening image of this chapter, it is hard to ignore the fact that a large part of the appeal is the imperfect, distressed, and choppy execution. In this chapter, quick and dirty compositing methods will prevail. You won’t be asked to produce precise selections or masks. You’ll focus more on what goes where and intentionally leave things a little rough. Roughness is a key component in this image’s unique quality.
Photoshop Tools, Features, and Functions
Inverted Wand selections
The Magic Wand isolates solid areas of color easily. But you can use it to quickly select complicated surrounding areas just as easily. Simply generate a selection of the solid areas, in this case black, and then invert the selection to capture the multicolored area that surrounds them.
Layer blending modes
Planning your project with blending modes in mind will save you time in the long run. By photographing certain elements against black, they can be easily placed over the top of dark regions, and the lighten blending mode will make them appear to be close-cut, saving you the trouble.
Color range to isolate texture
A lot of people think of this tool as a photography retouching device, allowing you to generate complex selections like the perimeter of a person’s hair. However, a simple approach proves that this is part of an efficient method for capturing ranges of color and using them to create surface textures.
PART ONE: Planning and gathering
1 When creating a collage like this, the first step is to get your idea down on paper. It doesn’t have to be exact in terms of proportion, just something to use as reference. Adding brief notes will assist you in planning as well as aid you in gathering up the different props and materials that you’ll need. You don’t have to be an accomplished illustrator by any means. The goal of sketching is to get you to devise a plan that consists of a basic image composition while considering the resources at your disposal. If you are going to follow this chapter exactly, using the supplied images, there is no need for a sketch as the concept is already provided for you.
2 The next step is to source props and gather up all of the items you’ll need. The finished image in this chapter contains a mixture of real-world paintings as well as photographed items. To create the painted components, I needed to set up a paint station. I also needed to set up a camera, lights, and backgrounds to capture elements photographically. Again, if you’re following along using the supplied files then you needn’t worry about this part. This is only a consideration if you’re creating and using your own resources.
Project files
All of the files needed to follow along with this chapter and create the featured image are available for download on the accompanying Web site in the project files section. Visit www.creativephotoshopthebook.com.
Skipping ahead
The first two parts of this chapter describe the process of preparing and creating art before entering Photoshop. If you aren’t interested in this aspect and just want to get busy creating the featured image, go ahead and skip forward to Part Three of this chapter. However, those of you interested in using these methods to generate original works of your own will likely find the entire chapter of interest.
PART TWO: Prepare and create the traditional components
3 On an illustration board, I carefully drew the image border in pencil so that the painting would be proportionately accurate later, when it comes back into Photoshop. Flat black paint was used to paint the dark areas indicated by the original sketch. The paint was then allowed to dry thoroughly. Flat black was used because solid black is easy to work with. If a gloss or semigloss paint was used, the lights could cause irritating specular highlights on raised areas of the paint, regardless of the angle of the lights, when photographing the result.
Photographing paintings
When you’re ready to shoot a finished painting, proper lighting is something you need to bear in mind. Position two identical light sources in front of the painting on either side of the camera. Position the light sources apart evenly and try to aim them so that the light hits the painting at a 45° angle. Move the light sources back far enough so that there are no sharp specular highlights appearing on the paint.
4 After creating the black areas I mixed up a variety of colors. Then a second illustration board was used to paint bold, paint laden brush strokes upon. The paint was kept thick, so there would be noticeable raised and recessed areas within each stroke. I am yet to see a digital tool that replicates this raised paint effect randomly and convincingly enough for it to look as realistic as possible.
5 After the finished painting was photographed, I peeled the top layer of the illustration board off the backing. This effectively removes the painting from the board as a thin layer. The next step is to tear up and cut the painting into smaller pieces. Then the little pieces are glued onto the unpainted areas of the first painting.
6 After gluing down enough pieces to cover the white areas and create an overlap effect, I went back to my paint station and mixed up some more colors. Using colors that were similar to those used in the existing pieces, I painted over the glued on pieces in certain areas. This is a good way to sort of tie things together. Think of it as a blending technique, much like you would blend layers together in Photoshop with masking techniques. When the paint dried, I photographed the results.
Board versus canvas
You’ll notice that the actual paintings created for this tutorial were done on illustration board instead of canvas. This is because one of the paintings needed to be torn and cut apart. Illustration board allows you to peel off the surface as a thin layer, whereas canvas does not. However, canvas is a fine material for surfaces that are destined to remain intact.
7 Bear in mind that painting doesn’t have to be restricted to flat surfaces. As you can see here, the masks were painted so that they’ll blend into the composition better. Once the paint dried, the lower mask was photographed on a white background and the other mask was photographed on a black background.
Photography preparation
Combining things in the tactile realm can add a unique look as well as improve efficiency.
1 Here, a face photo was printed out twice, the first printout had holes poked in the eyes and was torn, revealing another printout below. Both the printouts were slightly crumpled to emphasize the tactile feel.
2 Here, an empty frame was placed on a printout, then a torn printout was added on top of the frame, and finally the composition was photographed as is, shadows and all. Combining items before you enter Photoshop provides a natural feel.
3 Combining items can also save you time. Since both of these elements were to be photographed against black, there was no reason why they couldn’t be ganged up in the same shot, then quickly isolated later.
PART THREE: Building the background
8 start by opening up the background.jpg file. In the adjustments panel, click on the Hue/Saturation button to create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer. Adjust the hue to 130 and then increase the saturation by 16. When you’re finished, click on the Return to Adjustment List arrow in the bottom left corner of the adjustments panel. When the adjustment list reappears, create a new levels adjustment layer by clicking on the Levels button in the adjustments panel. Drag the left and right input levels sliders toward the center of the histogram to increase the contrast.
9 Select the Magic Wand tool. Ensure that the Contiguous option is disabled and that the Select All Layers option is enabled in the Tool Options bar. You can leave the tolerance set at the default value of 32. Click within the black area to select all of the black areas. Then type Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-Shift-I to invert the selection. The selection doesn’t have to be precise or anywhere near perfect; we want this image to have a rough and rugged feel. Open up the sky.jpg file.
Adjustment layers in CS3
The adjustments panel is new to CS4. Those of you who are still using CS3 will notice its absence very quickly when you begin to work through the steps on this page. So, if you are still using CS3, you’ll need to create your adjustments layers via the Layer menu or the pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. You’ll need to edit your adjustments in the pop-up dialog boxes that appear, and you’ll need to press OK to apply your edits. To perform further edits to your adjustment layers after the fact, you’ll need to double-click their thumbnails in the Layers palette.
10 Select the contents of the sky file by typing Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-A and copy by typing Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-C. Return to your working file and, with the selection still active, paste into the active selection by typing Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-Shift-V. This pastes your copied art into the working file as a masked layer. Use the Move tool to move the layer contents to the upper right within the mask. Ensure that the layer is targeted in the Layers palette and not the mask or you will accidentally move the mask instead.
11 Change the blending mode of the layer to luminosity and reduce the opacity to 71% in the Layers palette. Duplicate the layer by dragging it onto the Create a New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette. Return the opacity of the duplicate layer to 100% and then change its blending mode to hard light. Now hold down the Shift key and click on the original layer in the Layers palette. This will select both layers. Add both of these layers to a group by typing Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-G. Click the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a mask to the group. Select the Gradient tool.
12 In the Tool Options bar, select the radial gradient method and the Foreground to Transparent preset. Set the foreground color to black. A quick way to do this when a mask is targeted is to first hit the “ d ” key to set the foreground and background colors to white and black, respectively. Then, press the “ x ” key to invert them, setting the foreground color to black. Now, with the group’s mask targeted, create a series of small, black to transparent gradients with the mask to reveal subtle blends of imagery on the underlying layers.
13 Open up the tree.jpg file. Select the entire image and copy it. Then return to your working file. As you’ve done previously, use the Magic Wand to select the black areas of the image and then invert the selection. Paste the copied tree image into the selection as a new layer and move it to the left within the mask. This is exactly the same procedure, using the same keyboard shortcuts, that you used to paste the sky into a masked layer moments ago. Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode to overlay.
Foreground to transparent
You’ll notice throughout this tutorial that in every instance where a gradient is used to edit a layer mask, the same Gradient preset is used. Foreground to transparent is the Gradient preset of choice because it doesn’t fill the entire area surrounding your gradient with color, allowing you to create multiple gradients within your mask. Be very careful to ensure that you are not using the Foreground to Background preset. Many people make this mistake because it is the default preset. Using Foreground to Background will always fill the entire area; so if there is an existing gradient within a mask, it will be replaced each time you create a new gradient.
14 Shift-click on the original tree layer, below the currently targeted duplicate layer in the Layers palette, so that both the tree layers are selected and then group them. Add a mask to the new group. Target the mask and again use the same radial gradient methods that you used previously with the sky group to mask areas of the tree group, blending it into the background. Ensure that you are using the Foreground to Transparent preset and a black foreground color as you create gradients within the mask.
PART FOUR: Create the body of the figure
15 Open up the suit.psd file. Select the contents of the image layer in that file by typing Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-A. Then paste it into your working file as a new layer by typing Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-V. Use the Move tool to position it over the black area that defines the figure’s body at the left. Reduce the opacity of the layer to 33%. Duplicate the layer and change the layer blending of the new duplicate layer mode to overlay.
16 Open up the arm1.jpg file. Use the Polygonal Lasso tool to draw a rough selection border that contains the arm and a bit of the shoulder of the wooden figure; it is fine to have some black within the rough selection. Copy the selected contents. Paste the copied arm into the working file as a new layer. Use Edit>Free-Transform to resize it. Simply drag a corner handle of the bounding box while holding down the Shift key to scale it proportionately. Then press Enter to apply the transformation. Change the blending mode to lighten, then place it over the black area where it belongs. Add a mask to the layer and create black to transparent, radial gradients within the mask to blend it into the background.
17 Duplicate the arm layer and change the blending mode to overlay. Then duplicate the newly duplicated layer as well. The result of building up layers like this is a colorful and intense image component. Now open up the arm2.jpg file. Again, use the Polygonal Lasso tool to draw a very rough, polygonal selection around the arm and copy it. Again, black within the selection area is fine.
18 Paste the copied arm into your working file as a new layer. Resize with Free-Transform and reposition the arm to the other side of the suit. Add a mask to the layer and then, while the layer mask is targeted, draw a rough polygonal selection around the forearm and hand. Fill the current selection within the layer mask with black to hide it. Deactivate the selection by typing Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-D. Create radial, black to transparent gradients within the mask to gently mask the shoulder. Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode to overlay.
Adding hands
Use what are now becoming familiar methods to add some disproportionate hands to the ends of your mannequin arms.
1 Open up the hand1.jpg file. Select all and copy. Then paste the copied image into your working file as a new layer. Use Free-Transform to rotate, size, and position it. Change the layer blending mode to lighten and add a layer mask.
2 Create gradients within the mask to hide the visible sharp edges that remain. Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode of the duplicate layer to soft light. Now open up the hand2.jpg file. Again, copy the image and paste it into the working file as a new layer.
3 use the Move tool to position it at the end of his other arm. Change the blending mode to lighten. Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode to overlay. There is no need to mask these layers, the subtle hard edges add to the choppy feel of the composition.
PART FIVE: Create the main facial components
19 Open up the mask1.jpg file. Select all and then copy. Return to your working file and paste the copied mask into it as a new layer. Use the Move tool to position it over the black area that defines the region for the figure’s head. Change the layer blending mode to lighten so that any dark areas that overlap the painted sky will disappear. Use the Pen tool to carefully draw a closed path around the mask.
20 When you have finished drawing the path, load the path as a selection by Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-clicking on the path thumbnail in the Paths palette. With the new selection active, choose Layer>New>Layer Via Copy from the menu to create a new layer containing only the selection contents. Add a mask to the layer and create gradients within the mask to softly mask areas, like the bridge of the nose. While editing the mask, remember to use the radial gradient method, a black foreground color, and the Foreground to Transparent Gradient preset. Basically, you’re just repeating the methods you used previously to edit other masks. Reduce the layer opacity to 41% and then duplicate it. Change the blending mode of the duplicate layer to soft light and increase this layer’s opacity to 100%.
21 Open up the face.psd file. Select the contents of the file and copy. Return to your working file and paste the copied contents into your file as a new layer. Use the Move tool to position it in the face area on the canvas and then drag it beneath all of the mask layers in the Layers palette. Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode to hard light. Now duplicate the newly duplicate layer and change the blending mode to soft light. Add a mask to each layer, one at a time, and edit each mask independently. Use the Gradient tool with the same method, foreground color, and preset to replicate the same soft layer blending effect you’ve achieved previously with other components.
PART SIX: Place strange items in the figure’s hands
Floating windows
In Photoshop CS4, by default, new files are opened as tabbed image files within your currently active window. This makes for a well-organized workspace, but it makes dragging and dropping between files difficult. If you want to have two files open in separate image windows at the same time, you’ll need to direct your attention to the Application bar or the Window menu. In the Application bar, there is an Arrange Documents pulldown menu. Simply choose the Float All in Windows option from this menu to give each open file a window of its own. In the Window menu, navigate to the Arrange submenu and then choose the Float All in Windows option.
22 Open up the mask2.psd file. Arrange your open files in your workspace so that you can clearly see both of the open image windows. In the mask2.psd file, click on the group in the Layers palette and then drag it into the working file’s image window. This drag-and-drop approach allows you to quickly move a group from one file to another and you can also use this method to expedite the process of cutting and pasting. Use the Move tool to position the masks group at the end of the outstretched arm on the working file’s canvas. This group contains a shadow layer, a mask layer, and a layer to enhance the mask’s colors. The group, when you drag it into the file, will be placed directly above the currently targeted layer in the Layers palette. This will vary depending upon which layer mask you edit before you drag, but the exact positioning of the group within the stack is not crucial.
23 Open up the framed.psd file. You can either copy the contents of the image and paste them into the working file as a new layer or drag and drop from file to file via the Move tool as described on the previous page. Once the new layer is in the working file, use the Move tool to position the layer content so that it overlaps the stomach area of the figure at the left. When you are satisfied with the position, change the blending mode of the layer to screen.
24 Add a layer mask to the layer and select the Gradient tool. Create a series of radial, black to transparent gradients within the layer mask to gently blend the layer contents into the background and reveal parts of the image on the underlying layers. By now, you’re certainly getting the hang of editing masks using this method. Also, note that if you accidentally mask something that you want to reveal, you can gently reintroduce it by using the same method. Simply change the foreground color to white and then create white to transparent gradients within the mask over areas that you wish to softly reveal again. When editing the mask, bear in mind that we want to reveal the fingers on the wooden hand. Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode to hard light.
25 Open up the eye.psd file. Drag it into the working file as a new layer or copy and paste it into the working file as a new layer. Use the Move tool to position it over the eye-shaped hole at the right of the mask in the figure’s hand. Choose Edit>Free-Transform from the menu. When the bounding box appears, Shift-click on a corner point of the bounding box to proportionately resize the contents. Click and drag just outside of the bounding box to rotate the contents. When you are happy with the size and rotation of the eye, press the Return or Enter key to apply the transformation. For the sake of establishing a hint of order in the Layers palette, let’s place this layer into the mask group. Expand the group so that you can see the layers within and drag the current eye layer into the group, above the other layers within.
26 Change the blending mode of the layer to luminosity. Add a mask to the layer and add a series of black to transparent radial gradients into the mask, blending the hard edges into the imagery on the layers below. Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode of the duplicate layer back to normal. Target the mask of the duplicate layer and add more black to transparent radial gradients around the perimeter, masking almost all of the skin on this layer.
PART SEVEN: Take a moment to organize your layers
27 You’ll notice that the Layers palette is quickly filling up with layers and duplicates and because you’re working at different places within the hierarchy when adding layers, new layers aren’t always added at the top either. Obviously, this can cause confusion. Things can get a little chaotic; so let’s take a moment to establish some order here. Select layers that go together logically and add them to groups. For instance, click on one of the torn face layers, and then Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-click on the others so that all three are selected. Then, with all of the layers selected, type Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-g to group them. To name the group, double-click on the name to highlight the text. When the text is highlighted, enter a new and relevant name for the group.
28 Repeat this process to group all clusters of layers that belong together, and name the groups appropriately. Immediately after you do this, the Layers palette will make more sense at a glance. However, you will notice that you cannot add an actual background layer to a group. To remedy this, you can quickly convert the background layer to a normal layer by double-clicking it in the Layers palette. When the New Layer options appear, all that you need to do is click OK to complete the conversion. Once the layer is converted, it can then be grouped in the same manner as the rest. Also, you will have some unnamed groups that were created previously; go ahead and name them now. Taking a few moments to do this will make it much easier for you to make sense of your file if you decide to perform alterations at a later date.
PART EIGHT: Add some painted surface texture
29 Open up the painting.psd file. This is a photograph of the original color painting before it was torn and cut up. A hue adjustment was applied to the original image, altering the overall color. Choose Select>Color Range from the menu. Color Range allows you to target a range of color from within the painting. When the Color Range dialog box opens, simply click on a color in the image window that you wish to isolate. The black-and-white preview will show you, in white, how the selected areas will be generated. You can add other ranges of color to your selected regions by Shift-clicking on them. Alternatively, you can remove ranges of color from the selected area by Alt(PC)/Option(Mac)-clicking on them. The fuzziness slider allows you to quickly control how particular the Color Range function is when selecting regions of color. When you’re satisfied with the preview of the selected regions, click OK to generate a selection.
30 With the new selection active, choose Edit>Copy from the menu. Return to your working file and paste the copied selection into it as a new layer. Drag the layer to the top of the stack in the Layers palette if necessary. Position the layer so that it overlaps the image in a pleasing manner. Now, just because we copied a specific range of color, it doesn’t mean we can’t alter the color now in our working file. In the Layers palette, enable the transparency lock for this new layer. Choose Edit>Fill from the menu. In the Fill dialog box, select the Color option from the Contents menu to open the picker. Select a new color from the picker and click OK. In the Blending options, leave the blending mode set to normal and the opacity set to 100%. Click OK to fill the layer with your new color. Use Free-Transform to resize and position the layer further if you like.
31 Return to the painting.psd file and select another range of color with the Color Range command. Again, copy the selected region and paste it into the working file as a new layer. Feel free to enable the transparency lock of this layer and fill it with a different color. Use Free-Transform to alter the size and positioning as required. Repeat this process over and over again to build up a number of different layers that add painted and tactile feeling to the surface of your image. Feel free to duplicate the layers and resize or reposition them as well, varying layer opacity and blending modes along the way. When you’re satisfied with the results, add these new textural layers to a named group.
32 The results of this textured stage of the project will vary greatly from individual to individual. However, if you feel that the surface texture is too strong in any specific area, you can remedy this by adding a mask to the group. Simply target your new group in the Layers palette and click on the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the palette. Target the mask and select the Gradient tool. Specify a black foreground color and set up the Gradient tool like you’ve been doing all along. Introduce some radial gradients into the mask in areas that you wish to fade. This is the same process that you’ve been using all along and even at this final stage, it proves quite useful.
Practical applications of this technique
This compositing style can be used in moderation as well. It doesn’t always need to dominate the composition. In this instance, it was used to create just the background of the illustration. Something as subtle as a tactile background can alter the feeling of the illustration, making it a little more human feeling when the majority of the composition is so obviously digital.
Matching subject matter with style
This method of working really lends itself to expressing something ominous. The torn painting can contribute to an unsettled feeling, which is only helped by a large, black, primary image component like the ravens shown here. These illustrations, which accompanied an article about Internet-pedophiles stalking children, were an ideal subject for this very expressive style.
