Lesson #10. How to draw a Metal Tubes And Wires

Create a new image, 250x250 pixels. As the main background color choose a dark gray. Now create a new layer and with the Pen tool or Paintbrush draw a line form the desired width 15 pixels.
Such a curve, I think, not difficult to draw. Should look as shown.
Call the layer "Wire"

Make a copy layer Wire by dragging its icon on the New Layer button (New Layer). Rename the new layer in the "Cut Wire".

Now hide the layer Wire, clicking on the icon in the Layers panel on the eyes (Layers). This layer is useful to us later.

Now select the Eraser tool (Eraser), define the size of the brush within 5 pixels, and with it will give the type of curve shown in the figure.

Hold Ctrl, click on the invisible layer of Wire in the Layers panel.

Thus to create a selection, not taking into account the transparency of the layer "Wire".

We move then to the panel channels and a Save selection as channel - button.

Our next step is to rename the new Channel in the "Wire Bevel". Done!

Apply to the Channel "Wire Bevel" filter Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) with the option Radius first 9 pixels, and then 6, then 3 pixels, and finally 1 pixel.

Apply now to release AutoLevels, Ctrl + Shift + L, and look what happened. ... We are almost done.

Let's get back to the panel layers, and while holding Ctrl click on the layer "Cut Wire", to select its transparency. Then again, turn to the panel Channels, click on the channel "Wire Bevel", press D, to reset the color, inverse the selection using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + I, and in the end, Clear selection, press Del.

Remove the selection - Ctrl + D.


Let's go back to the panel "layers" and will make the active layer "Cut Wire".

Then open the dialog box Lightning Effects (Filter > Render > Lighting Effects).

Now - the main thing. Create a white Directional light from top to bottom - from the upper right corner - as shown in the picture. Then, create a blue light directed towards the bottom up - from the bottom left.

Define the following parameters:
Gloss: 100 Shiny
Material: -100 Plastic
Exposure: 39
Ambience: -21

Setup Texture Channel to the position of "Wire Bevel" and determine its height of 15.

Now set the direction of illumination in such a way as to achieve the most desired effect.
Finally, make visible the layer "Wire". Once again, click on it, hold Ctrl, to make the selection.

To make a line of 1 pixel is thinner, inverse the selection - Ctrl + Shift + I, then go to Select> Modify> Expand, enter a value of 1 pixel, Clear Selection - Del and remove it using Ctrl + D.
And the last step: Filter> Render> Lighting Effects.

Setup Texture Channel on the Wire Transparency.

Click OK, added at the discretion of Shadow (Drop Shadow), and all - ready!

Lesson 9. How to draw a Metal Surface

Here we explain the method of creating textures is very suitable for creating all kinds of interfaces. The effect looks good in the use of metallic colors and, most importantly, easy to use.



Highlight the desired contour, fill the blue color (Shift + F5). Increase the radius of the allocation of [Select> Modify> Expand] to six pixels.



Create a new layer and fill the existing allocation of its white color (Shift + F5). Add noise [Filter> Noise> Add Noise] with values:
Amount: 280
Distribution: uniform
Monochromatic: checked



Not removing the provision blur that layer [Filter> Blur> Motion Blur] with values:
Angle: 0
Distance: 60



Apply the following filter [Filter> Stylize> Emboss] with the following values:
Angle: -120
Height: 2
Amount: 60



Change the layer mode from normal to softlight in the layers palette.

Photoshop Lesson #7: How to draw a silver ring

Create a new image (width and height must be multiples of two in fact you'll see why. Also you should change the image mode to RGB). Fill the background in black. Now take the ruler markers at the top and left and place them in the center of the image. You should get a cross in the picture. Create a new layer.


Select "Elliptical Marquee tool", and then move your mouse above the place where the lines cross. Press and hold ALT + SHIFT keys, and then create a circle. Fill it with gray color. Repeat this, but make a second circle a slightly smaller diameter. Now, press DEL to cut the smaller diameter. Cancel the selection by pressing CTRL-D. You result should be a gray ring.


Press CTRL key and click on the layer where the ring is located. This step will mark up filled region of the ring. Go to [Select> Save selection]. Leave it settings default and click "ok". With the selected ring, go to the "Channels" and create a new channel. Leave the channel name default too. Fill the selected area in white, and deselect the choice(CTRL-D). Now you'll need to apply a blur filter [Filter> Blur> Guassian blur]. At the first pass use the filter 4, then 3 and then then 2.

Now go back to layer with a ring. Go to [Select> Load selection] to load the previously selected area. Go to [Filter> Render> Lighting effects]. In the "Texture channel", select your blur channel (it usually has a name "Alfa 2"). Other settigs are:
Intensity: 35
Focus: 69
Gloss: 69
Material: 69
Exposure: 0
Ambience: 8
Height: 80


In order to smooth the edges of your ring, press the CTRL-key and click on this layer in Layers list. Go to [Select> modify> Contract]. Select 1, and then click OK. Now invert the selection and press the DEL-key. You can also remove the "cross" because you don't need it anymore. Go to [Image> Adjust> Curves]. In order to get a realistic "silver effect" set the curves as shown on the picture below:


Now we need to add some color to our ring. Go to [Image> Adjust> Hue / Saturation]. For example a light yellow tint will create the effect of golden ring. This how-to can be used to create not only rings.

Photoshop Lesson #6: How to draw a realistic hair

Step 1. Start from choosing the hair color. I take a slightly cold color. Then I start adding warm colors as lights and shadows and mix them to get natural-looking curl. In this tutorial I show you only the basics so I will draw only a few curls.

Step 2. Black lines are used to create a sense of streaming curl. The lines should be soft to look natural.

Step 3. From now I start adding more colors. With the help of warm hues I lighten up the curl. Then I start adding basic shadows.


Step 4. I continue to work with the colors of the hair. There are a lot of different reflections, a myriad of different hues of the same color.

Step 5. To that moment I used only an airbrush tool and a hard brush. Now it is time to use tools with soft edges. So I choose the smudge tool and the soft brush of large size and start to blur the lines. As you can see on the picture, sometimes I mix up the hair in one heavy curl. Finally I remove the layer with the sketch that was made in the step #2.
Step 6. I blur the edges slowly making them soft. Then I begin to create "streaming flow" of hair with the help of transition colors.


Step 7. I am working with the structure of hair. To get rid of feeling of heavy and unnatural hair, I take a soft brush and airbrush tool and start drawing soft, but quite large lines passing through the curls. Before drawing the line I take an eyedropper tool and take the color from the curl.

Step 8. Using the smudge tool I stretch the lines that were drawn in the step #7. Then I use the airbrush tool to make more accurate change in colors.


Step 9. Finally, I check whether separate curls are visible. Using smudge brush with the small size, I work with the almost every separate hair to create a feeling of realistic hair.

Photoshop Lesson #5: How To Remove Red Eye Effect

Introduction. Sometimes you take the photo and there are a lot of people on it that have a red eyes . Disgusting! And it is necessary to do something, because you don't want (or even cannot) take the photo second time. Generally speaking, this effect can vary. It can be a small red point in the pupil, but it can also cover the entire iris. In any case, information about the original photo is lost and we need to recover it ourselves.

Let's Start! In this case we have just a red pupil. Therefore, take the Sponge Tool and choose Desaturate Mode. Choose a small brush (size of the brush should be equal to the size of the pupil) and slightly blurred. If we slightly decrease the saturation at the pupil edges it will not be a great misfortune. In opposite - it will be better if there is no sharp boundaries between the pupil and the iris. After this step it shouldn't be any red color on the eye. This is very important.

After that we should shadow discolored pupil. Pupils are always black. So take the Burn Tool, brush that a little smaller than pupil and start obscuring. In the options of this tool we should select what we want to obscure: midtones or shadows. If the pupil is light (as in this case) you should choose a midtones. If it is dark enough, then choose shadows. And one more important thing: if even a small amount of red color remains after the previous step, Sponge Tool will left disgusting dark brown broad pattern.

It is possible not to do those operations and just take a round black brush and apply it on the pupil. It is much faster but it is never gives a perfect results. You can use that method only if you want to increase the size of the pupil.

Black pupil looks not realistic. Let's try to revive it. On the light pupil gives a glare. Let's try to paint it. To do this, take a small brush (3-4 times smaller than pupil) and just put a white point on the pupil. Perhaps, in order to achieve maximum effect, you should put some points in several places (for example, if you want to show the glare from two light sources). The most important thing is that the glare should be the same in both eyes and equally located. If glares look too dark, you can use the Dodge Tool. In the options you should select Highlights . A couple of clicks on the glare will make it shine.And here we go! :)


Note: if you have a Photoshop version CS2 or above, you can simply select a Red Eye Tool on the toolbar and click on the red eye. It will remove that effect, but sometimes I don't like the results, so the method that described above is more universal. Good luck and have fun! ;)

P.S. Why red-eye effect appears on the photos?
The problem of the red-eye effect appeared relatively recently with the discovery of color photography. When it have been black-and-white photos any red eye could not be seen because of they was gray on the paper.

Why red eye effect appears? It's all easy. If it is not enough light, the pupil extends to pass through the maximum amount of light. But suddenly appears a bright light from the camera flash. The light passes through the pupil, then reflects from the back of the eye and returns to the camera. The eye are full of blood vessels, so the light that was returned has a red color. So the red-eye effect appears on the photos.

How to avoid red-eye effect?
You can use the special flash for your camera, which is designed specifically to solve that problem. It is flashing for a couple of seconds, so the pupil decreases in size. And the smaller the pupil - the smaller red dot on the photo will appear.

Another way to avoid red eye effect is to avoid front light. Red eyes appear only when the flash is located near the camera lens. A side light source will be the great solution.

Please feel free to comment and ask questions.

Photoshop Lesson #4: How to draw a nose

Step 1. Preparation. At first we should sketch the contours of the nose wings and nostrils. Use a clear line - we will smooth them later.
Do not place these elements on different layers, because it will be difficult to connect them to the rest of the skin on the face.

Step 2. Let's start. Illuminate mid-nose from the top to the place where it will be the nose tip. Shade the skin around the wings and under them as well as on the sides of the nose. Depending on the direction of the light obscure one side of the nose more than the other. Area under the nose tip (between the nostrils, but above them) must blur also. Illuminate the edges of the nostrils (this is not logical, but gives a more accurate form of nose). Also you can start to obscure the skin under the nose. All the operations above should be performed by using burn and dodge tools.

Step 3. Final. Increase the shadows level over processed areas, especially around the nose wings. Illuminate the tip of the nose. According to its type you can make even a bright reflection. If there is a flat nose, then you should not illuminate a lot. If it is large nose then you should do a flare bigger. Make a shadows on the rest of the skin around the nose. Imagine the approximate location of the eyes and mouth.

Note: It is not a complete tutorial with the tools list and step-by-step instructions. But I can say that you can get such a results using just burn tool and dodge tool. And remember: practice makes perfect :) Fell free to ask questions and leave comments.