| For designers, the exciting thing about using computers | | | | lines into yellow, reddish ochre or brown. In sepia, the |
| is that they can now fuse technology with traditional | | | | sketch lines yield halftones that are more subtle, |
| art without compromising one or the other. | | | | making it easier to view the image but retain its |
| Using a design program like Adobe Photoshop 4 | | | | structure while coloring. |
| allows designers to do the same things they would | | | | After turning your sketch into sepia tones, create two |
| have done traditionally with a pencil and paper, but | | | | layers. In the Layers palette, you should set the |
| much faster and with less waste. esigners can redraw | | | | background layer to Multiply mode and insert it |
| and erase illustrations and images in Photoshop, even | | | | between two virgin layers. Then, put colors on the |
| in the last stages of design, without having to get out | | | | "lower layer" beneath the sepia layer and add detail |
| more paper or pencil. | | | | and finish to the "top layer" above the sepia layer. |
| This goes for all designers, from traditional artists to | | | | 3. Working with the lower layer |
| commercial graphic designers. Designers that are | | | | Choose a dominant dark color that the secondary |
| creating marketing materials ranging from brochures to | | | | effects can relate to without losing contrast. You do |
| posters can use the steps outlined here to cut down | | | | this so that you do not get lost in the details of all the |
| on waste. This not only cuts down on paper waste, | | | | colors and graphics floating around. |
| but can cut down on a company'sposter printing | | | | Then you can add a grain to the lower layer by using |
| budget because they would not accidentally print | | | | Filter - Noise - Add Noise. This tool gives your image |
| something that is not up to par. They have plenty of | | | | more surface texture. |
| time to fix errors in Photoshop and then only print the | | | | If the texture makes it harder to see the image, you |
| posters once. | | | | can add a Gaussian Blur to soften the noise to 1.0 |
| Here are the basic steps to take when designing a | | | | pixels. Go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur to soften the |
| poster in Photoshop 4. | | | | image. Playing with the blur and the grain allows you to |
| 1. Sketching in Photoshop | | | | add dimension and different effects to your design. |
| Many designers say that the sketching process is | | | | 4. Working with the top layer |
| nearly the same in traditional and digital art. Photoshop's | | | | The top layer is where you can work with the lines of |
| graphic palette almost replicates the feeling of drawing | | | | the drawing by adjusting, refining or correcting them. |
| on paper. But, drawing in Photoshop is not nearly as | | | | This is where you can work with the lighter colors to |
| fast as drawing on paper. On the flip side though, in | | | | help out smooth out shapes. |
| Photoshop you can create effects such as halftones | | | | Once you are done coloring your design, the top layer |
| that you cannot draw with pencils. | | | | is where you can soften or get rid of lines that are too |
| 2. Preparing layers | | | | heavy. |
| After you are done with your sketch in Photoshop, | | | | By sketching and using layers in Photoshop, you can |
| you should convert the image to sepia tones before | | | | create a poster that has just as much, if not more, |
| working on the colors. Converting to sepia is easy: go | | | | depth and interest than a hand-drawn sketch. |
| to Image - Adjustments - Hue/Saturation and check | | | | Awesome artwork can be created by melding the |
| the Colorize box. Then use the sliders to colorize the | | | | technological and traditional art worlds. |