Tutorial MAKE A POLITICAL STATEMENT

Transcription

1 CAP99.tut_political 44 4/6/07 09:16:32

2 Tutorial MAKE A POLITICAL STATEMENT [illustra tion and e xper tise ] De rek Le a, w ww.de rek lea.co m Create striking imagery in the spirit of past and present propaganda art. Command attention with sharp edges, minimal detail, bold colours, and the misappropriation of familiar iconic details istorically, political art has always been simple in terms of design. Whether you cite wartime propaganda posters as examples, or something as ingrained in pop culture as the iconic portrait of Che Guevara, visual similarities become apparent. There is a simplicity inherent within the overall design. Your attention is commanded by stark contrast and minimal detail within present visual icons. Generally, only a few colours are used in the overall design. Whether this was necessitated by budget or intended to create a signature appearance is not that important. What is important, however, is the lasting impressing that this sort of design leaves behind. Political art twists familiar visual icons and uses effective design to draw attention to a cause, ultimately leaving a thoughtprovoking impression that lingers on. In addition to familiar and historical political art, it s worth noting that this important tradition continues to this day. Contemporary artists like Shepard Fairey, H with his infamous Obey movement is probably the most successful at reinventing political art and giving it a contemporary look and massive popularity. It is with this ideal in mind that we bring you the following tutorial. With one foot rooted in historic authenticity, and the other rooted in modern digital techniques, we ll use Illustrator and Photoshop together to create a political art masterpiece. Rather than draw attention to a niche cause, we re thinking big, and we want the reader to ponder the imminent demise of the earth itself as a result of global commerce. Taking the familiar design of a monetary note and replacing the usual historical figure with the grim reaper, we ll hopefully turn a few heads and draw attention to something that we should all recognise and act upon. The files you need to work along with this tutorial can be downloaded from: computerarts/cap99politicalart.zip CAP99.tut_political /6/07 09:16:36

3 Part 1: Create a character Begin with a supplied sketch to create the primary visual element Select the Pen tool. In the tool options bar, ensure it s set to create paths and enable the Add to path area option. Use the Pen tool to carefully create a path component that surrounds the figure. Use the sketch as your guide and close the path when you re finished. 2 After you close your path component it will cease to be selected. When this happens, enable the Subtract from path area function in the tool options bar. Now take a good look at the sketch and examine what areas you d want to subtract or knock out from your outer shape. 3 Open the layers.psd file supplied (downloadable from zip). This file contains the background of the illustration as well as a sketch on a layer named Drawings. We re going to use the Drawings layer as a template to trace from. Reduce the Opacity of the layer so it s less prominent but still visible. 1 Start with highlight areas of the robe. Carefully trace the white regions of the sketch that reside within 4 the black, closing each path component as you go. This will result in a number of different path components, with the subtract function applied to them, that reside within the confines of the outer path. 46 CAP99.tut_political 46 Applying the same principle, trace the remaining white areas within the black shape of the sketch. Take your time and outline lighter regions within the hands, skull, globe and scythe. Make sure the Subtract from path area option is enabled because you want to ensure that these areas will knock out of the main shape. 5 4/6/07 09:16:52

4 When you ve closed your final path component and it s no longer selected, enable the Add to path area option once again. Trace the outer edges of any details that lie within the subtraction path components you just created: areas like the inland lakes on the globe or the remaining eye socket. 6 When you re finished, enable the Subtract from path area function and create any components that are necessary to outline light areas that reside within the dark areas you just traced in the last step. When you re satisfied, ensure that no single component is selected within your path and press the d key on the keyboard. 7 Pressing the d key sets the foreground colour to black. Ensure that your new path is targeted in the Paths palette and then return to the Layers palette. Choose solid colour from the menu at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new, solid black layer that uses your current path to create a vector mask. 8 You can now disable the visibility of your Drawings layer. Duplicate your new solid colour layer by dragging it onto the Create a new layer option at the bottom of the Layers palette. Disable the visibility of the original and target the duplicate layer. Double-click the layer thumbnail to access the picker and change the colour to green. 9 Duplication methods There are other ways to duplicate layers, smart objects, and groups within the Layers palette besides dragging them onto the Create a new layer button. You can target one or more items and choose the Duplicate option from the Layers palette menu or you can drag an item within the palette while holding down the Alt (PC) or Opt (Mac) key on the keyboard. Another method is to Right-click (PC) or Ctrl-click (Mac) on an item and choose the Duplicate option from the pop-up menu. CAP99.tut_political /6/07 09:16:58

5 Part 2: Choose colours Use existing paths to create a series of coloured fills within the outline Now you need to begin adding colour to your image. Use the Path Selection tool to select all of the path components in the vector mask that subtract regions within the robe. Then click on the Add to path area button in the tool options bar so that they re filled with colour. Duplicate this layer and change the colour to yellow. 1 Drag the new layer beneath the original and use the Path Selection tool to select the components that subtract areas from his face and hands. Once the regions are selected, click on the Add to path area button again. Next, duplicate the current layer and reduce the Opacity of the duplicate to 50 per cent. 2 Within your new duplicate layer, click on the subtracted regions of the globe (the land masses), as well as the subtracted regions within the scythe. With the components selected, click on the Add to path area button on the tool options bar to fill the regions. Enable the visibility of your black outline layer once again. 3 Part 3: Add Illustrator artwork Incorporate works of vector art to the design as smart objects Smart objects Illustrator art can be added to a Photoshop file as paths, shape layers, or actual pixels, but it is the Smart Object option that provides the most flexibility. If you double-click an Illustrator smart object in the Photoshop layers palette, a version of your artwork will open in Illustrator. Any editing you perform in Illustrator will be applied to any instances of that object in Photoshop. Choose File>Place from the menu and navigate to the ornament2.ai file supplied. When the place pdf box appears, click OK to place the Illustrator file into your layered file as a smart object. Hold down the Shift key and drag a corner point inward to reduce the size proportionately CAP99.tut_political 48 Drag the bounding box contents onto the reaper s head and press the Return key to apply the transformation. Drag the smart object below all of the solid colour layers in the Layers palette. Duplicate the smart object as you would a normal layer and choose Edit>Free Transform from the menu. 2 4/6/07 09:17:02

6 Drag the duplicate object to the left, rotate and resize it. Press the Return key to apply the transformation. Drag this object beneath the original smart object in the Layers palette. Repeat this process of duplicating and editing until you ve created numerous instances of the object to the left of the reaper. 3 Target all of the duplicate smart objects in the Layers palette and type Ctrl+G (PC) or Cmnd+G (Mac) to group them. Duplicate the group as you would a normal layer. Target the duplicate group and choose Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal from the menu. Use the Move tool to drag the group to the right while holding down the Shift key. 4 Paste objects As well as placing your Illustrator files as smart objects, you can simply paste your art into Photoshop. With both applications open, copy your Illustrator art. Then, in Photoshop, paste the copied art. You will be given a list of ways to paste your copied Illustrator art. Simply choose smart object from the list and your artwork will appear on the canvas, in the same way as if you were using the Place PDF method. Target both groups as well as the original smart object in the Layers palette and group them. Ensure that the new group is targeted and select the Elliptical Marquee tool. Draw a round selection that overlaps the globe area only. Choose Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection to hide the objects visible beneath the globe. In the Political art folder supplied you ll find four more Illustrator files. These contain artwork that can be placed around the edges of the canvas, giving it the appearance of currency. Choose File>Place from the menu and navigate to the pound.ai file. Click OK when the Place PDF box appears to place it as a smart object. Drag it to the upper-left corner and increase both the Height and Width amounts to 120 per cent in the tool options bar and press Return. Repeat this process to add the three remaining Illustrator files to the other three corners of the canvas. Drag objects upwards in the Layers palette as necessary to ensure visibility. Further inspection of the illustration reveals too much detail in the face of the reaper. This can be remedied by selecting the Brush tool and creating a new layer at the top of the stack in the Layers palette. Choose a hard, round brush preset and paint over areas of detail on the new layer at 100 per cent. Use colours sampled from the layers below. ca p CAP99.tut_political /6/07 09:17:06