Jan 14

Tagged in: design, Photoshop tutorials Comments:Add

Photo Strip (Photoshop Tutorial)

This is a Photoshop tutorial on how to create a beautiful photo film strip, as seen in Apple’s iLife package design (’06 version) and DigitalMash website. The warp tool will be used to create the twisting effect (so, you need Photoshop CS2 or above to complete this tutorial). With the completion of this tutorial, you will be able build a photo strip with your own photos or artwork. Don’t miss out this fantastic feature!

View Final Image

Download Photoshop File

1. Create a Strip (Vector Shapes)

First, create a strip with the Pen tool (either in Photoshop or Illustrator). We will use these shapes as a guideline and for masking purposes.

2. Photo Stack

Choose 3 photos of your choice and stack them together.

3. Warping (Photoshop Warp Tool)

Adjust the layer opacity to 40 or 50% so you can see the guideline underneath. Go to Edit > Transform > Warp. Now you should see a grid and 4 anchor points in the corner. To bending the image, simply drag the anchor points, direction points, or grid lines.

Repeat this step for the rest of the strip. Since this step is relatively simple and repeatitive, I’m not going to get into the details. Here are the screenshots of the steps:

4. Masking

Organize the layers into groups (ie. strip 1, 2, 3, 4).

Load selection from the shapes you created in step 1 and add a layer mask for each group (so you get a perfect smooth curve).

5. Shadows

In masked group 1, create a new layer above the strip. Use the Gradient tool and drag from the top to bottom to create a black gradient.

Repeat this step for the other strips.

6. Highlights

To make highlighted and glossy areas: create a round glowing circle, compress it, and rotate it in the angle according to your strip’s direction.

7. Line Strokes

To make line strokes: load a selection of the mask, create a new layer, fill it with black, shift the selection to the left by 1 or 2 pixels, delete the selected area by pressing the Delete key.

8. Final Touches

To make the image look more interesting, desaturated the two strips in the back.

Bonus Tips

The Photoshop warp tool is very useful when creating any sort of twisting and bending graphic effects. The following examples illustrate some of the things that you can do with the warp tool. Have fun!

Design Process of the Phoenix

This post will show you the design process of the Abstract Chinese Phoenix, one of my latest illustrations which was presented at the FOWD 2008 conference. I will briefly guide you through the process — from sketching to polishing. Hints and tips will be provided throughout the article. Most importantly, I’ll explain what inspired me for this piece of artwork. If you like this illustration, you may download a high resolution JPG for your desktop wallpaper.

1. Sketching

The images below show how I sketched out the phoenix in abstract form. I started off by drawing the phoenix’s body, flowing towards the wings, feathers, and then filling in the details.

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Inspired by Nature

A lot of my design patterns are inspired by natural elements such as:

• DNA Helix


• blowing dandelions


• and the patch patterns on the butterfly wings and tree leaves.

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2. Adobe Illustrator - Vectorization

After the sketch was done, I imported it into Illustrator for vector tracing. Here is a tip for tracing artwork in Illustrator:

i) Import the sketch in the first layer, adjust the layer opacity to 20 to 30%, and lock the layer.

ii) Create a new layer on top, hold down the Cmd key and click on the visibility icon to view the layer in outline mode (in this way you can see the sketch underneath).

Final Vector Outlines

3. Coloring

For color theme palettes, I go to Adobe’s kuler site and ColourLovers.com. Personally, I like ColourLovers because it allows me to copy and paste the color images directly to Illustrator. I just randomly pick the color palettes from the site and paste them in the artboard. To quickly fill in the color, use the Eyedropper tool to sample the colors and gradients.

Final Vector Artwork

As I was vectorizng the artwork, I added more elements such as the sky background and the phoenix’s tail.

4. Photoshop Polishing

Then, I imported the vector art in Photoshop and used my Vector Polishing Techniques to spice up the illustration.

Pastel-like Background

To make the background look pastel-like, I used the Pencil tool and lightly brushed up the sky background.

Particle Effects

The particle effects are done by using the layer Dissolve mode (see tutorial: Vector Polishing Techniques).

Depth

I blurred some elements to add more depth to the illustration.

Final Design