Tutorial Details
- Program: Photoshop
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Completion Time: 1-2 hours
Download Source Files
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
I’m a huge fan of James White’s work. I love the way he plays with geometric elements and colors. It gives a retro feeling to the design, but at the same time he uses a modern approach. In an interview, he mentioned that he uses a Flash script to generate the vector shapes. Then he does the rest of the job in Illustrator and Photoshop.
Well, inspired by James’s designs, I decided to figure out my own way of creating that type of effect in Photoshop. In this tutorial, I show you how to mix cool retro geometric shapes into your photos.
Step 1
Download the image at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/876777. Then place it in a new document in Photoshop. I used 1440px by 900px document size.
Step 2
Go to Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay. Use Soft Light for the Blend Mode. Apply a Brown color (#8b5c01).
Step 3
Next, we’ll create a brush that will be used to make the shapes. Select the Rectangle Tool(U) and create a black rectangle. Then go to Edit>Transform Path>Skew. After that, go to Layer>Rasterize. Use the image below for reference.
Step 4
Right-click on the thumbnail of the layer and choose Select Pixels. Then go to Edit>Define Brush Preset, and create a brush. Rename it to Psdtuts+. After that go to the Brushes Engine (Window>Brushes) and edit the Psdtuts+ brush we’ve just created. Use the settings below.
Step 5
Create a new layer and go to Layer>Layer Style. Let’s apply some styles to the layer. We will use Gradient Overlay, Drop Shadow, and Inner Shadow. After that, with the Brush Tool(B), click a couple of times to create some shapes.
Step 6
Right-click the layer on the Layers Palette. Choose Copy Layer Style. Then create a new layer. Right-click the new layer again. Now select Paste Layer Style. After that, with the Brush Tool, click a couple more times to create additional shapes.
Step 7
Repeat Step 6 again two more times.
Step 8
Select all layers we used to create the geometric shapes and go to Layer>Merge Layers. Then go to Edit>Transform>Rotate. After that resize the layer as shown below.
Step 9
Now go to Edit>Transform>Warp. Start moving the mesh in order to create a wave form. The idea is to make the lines pass in front and behind the legs. This adds to the dimensionality of the effect.
Step 10
With the Polygonal Lasso Tool(L), create a marquee selection of the leg you want to stay in front of the shapes. Then select the shapes layer, and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection.
Step 11
Create a new layer above the shapes layer and right-click on it. Then select Create a Clipping Mask. After that, select the Brush Tool (B) and a basic brush with 0% hardness. We will create a highlight on the shapes layer. Click once where you want to start the line. Then while holding Shift, click where you want to finish the line. This will create a straight line with the Brush Tool. The Blend mode will be Normal with 60% Opacity.
Step 12
Repeat Step 11, but this time use black, and from another position. Change the Opacity to 40%.
Step 13
Create a new layer in front of all layers. Fill it with white. Then go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Use 4% for the amount. After that, change the Blend Mode of the layer to Multiply.
Step 14
Place another image in front of the other layers but behind the Noise layer. You can find the image I used at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/982364. Then resize the image and change the Blend Mode to Multiply.
Conclusion
One of the best features in Photoshop is the Brush Engine. We can create lots of effects using it. In this tutorial we used it to create rectangular shapes similar to those seen in James White’s work. You can even use rounded corners or different shapes. Play with the effect and have fun.
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I can’t seem to edit the brush. All the options are blanked out and I have followed every step in the documentation/
at the beginning it didn’t work with my cs3 as well. but after playing around with loading brushes, saving the created brush as set, loading it in again – finally it worked.
I couldn’t edit the brush until I actually had the brush tool selected – not sure if this helps you or not :-)
Nice little effect – maybe I use it someday for a poster design or sth.
greetings from cologne
im stuck i cant redefine the brushes i already rasterized it but nothing help me!
re do the brush!!
it only takes a second lol
Easy, beautiful and useful, thanks
Great work thanks
cool :B
my try using my pic in Humberstone Chile
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiascoisagoodword/3756252765/
Great tutorial.
My try:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oizno/3757693280/
great tutorial….but
I get stuck in step 4,
squares remained in the brush instead of Lines
Well, Tom, make a rectangle in the form of a fat line! ;)
I simply love retro curves. I especially like the way it includes the geometric elements and colors. The tutorial is really very helpful. Thanks for sharing it.
Great job! Love this simple but beautiful look.
great tut !
love them. my own version doesn’t look such great as yours,
but i’m happy to learn new ways to create a wow-effect picture.
My Result. :)
http://i30.tinypic.com/15n17b7.jpg
just wonderful, really great tutorial
very practical tut, it is very usefull. thanks
that tutorial is just wonderful <3
thank you
Really excellent!
Could you possibly re-upload the texture you used for step 14? Thank you!!!
What to say…thank you.
the results are very cool, but the tutorial have issues. Step 4 for an example.
Great tutorial. I’m VERY new to Photoshop and was completely blown away at how easy you made this!
Here’s my result…
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2720/4278976935_bb105e5670_b.jpg
Great work
Sick ones! I never would have thought of doing that you smart bum! :p
<3
Troubles with step 11. photoshop Cs2. i did everything like there, but highlight didn’t appear.
lovely looked great im gonna apply this to pieces for sure
thxx babs
my define brush set is option is blanked out :(
This was a fun tutorial :-) Thanks!
really good
Whoua, awesome render !! Great tutorial, I like this.
Here is mine : http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31584190&l=380d6907ca&id=1306562660
i got stuck on step 4 i can’t customize the brush i’m using CS4 plz help
Great work dude it helped me lot …..
My outcome @ http://ivosantos.deviantart.com/#/d2zlv8q
I Can’t do the brush!!!!
its very different to the yours
can you make a video of how you do it please!!!?
This tutorial is great! Thanks
I’m using CS4 and I noticed for step 4, the way your brush shape looks in the brush options looked different than mine, but you still get the same results.
Holy Nice awesome tutorial! but im stuck at 11. :( I did what you tell but Its not working. nothing intresting happen.
nice tutorial! but what about the step 11? nothing happen or apper like highlight,,,,,,,,,can please upload the texture again on step 14,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
good job .
:)
This was a fun tutorial Thanks!
amazing tutorial.Thank u
what is the basic brush he mentioned at step 11?
Great poster, but I am having trouble with step 3. When I click on layer>rasterize, there are multiple options that are highlighted, but the tutorial doesn’t really specify which option we need to choose. Any suggestions??
This is fantastic! great tips….
great thanks! little bad direction and confusion, it should say to click on brush tool first, but other than that great!
Thank you so much! It works very good for me, thanks again :)
Thats a great work that you did. I really like it and its really help me. Thanks!
Hello :) great tutorial. But it IS a bit confusing and not described well enough… for me anyways :P
im having troubles making my brush look like yours though, and thats what i’m stuck on. althogh i did everything as you did, mine stays straight and doesn’t have the kind of “look” your brush preset has. And i’m not sure if it’s supposed to, but every single time i click on something else, my brush presets return to normal and lose the effect i had put on. i must re-apply all the settings.
I am having the exact same problem as Jessica. I am using CS5 which is a newer then the version used here. Could that possibly be the issue?
I cant get the Gradient Overlay right. I am using CS5. I dont have the gradient presented in the tutorial. Can I download it somewhere?
Hi,
the “speckled” image you used in step 14 is not at the link you wrote! I like it; so where i can find this exact image?
Many thanks,
Riccardo
i am stuck in number 3, it says : ” Then go to Edit>Transform Path>Skew. After that, go to Layer>Rasterize. Use the image below for reference.”, so i just click skew and then i don’t do nothing?, or should i skew the image so it looks like the image under the description, but the image under the description doesn’t look like one rectangle it looks like 2 skinny black rectangles…
thanks!
i love this tutorial, but the only problem i have is that no matter how i re do my brush and try to fix it, it never looks like yours… your seems to curve and bend inwards naturally to look like a wave and the brushes sorta do this: ///////||||\\\\\\\ (yenno?) Mine stays straight and it doesnt end up looking as nice