Creating Digital Art

Happy Thursday and Happy October!

Have you seen this month’s kit, Lock and Key? Wowza, it’s spectacular! I was reading throughout this month’s Scrap Rap on Tuesday and literally gasped when I saw the book on page four. My first thought was “Wouldn’t that cover make a great piece of framed art?”

But what if we did this digitally? (C’mon, you knew that was coming, right?) Then we could make it any size we wanted!

So, this is how you can do what I did . . .

1. Create a 6”x6” document in Photoshop.

2. Open the following backgrounds from the Lock and Key Digital Kit and drag them onto your new document. Resize as indicated.

Background.....................Size
Turquoise plain.................6x6
Brown patterned...............5.75x5.75
Dark Brown patterned......5x5
Cream plain......................4.5x4.5

Tip: if you hold the Shift key when you drag the background, it will stay centered in the new document. Also, hold the Shift key when resizing to maintain the proportion of the background.

3. Add a bevel to all layers except the turquoise. Use the settings I outlined in step 8 last week (click HERE to see last week’s blog). You can also add a drop shadow each of the layers, if desired.

4. Open the stamp graphic and drag it onto the left side of the cream layer; resize as needed.

5. Open one of the keys and drag it only the right side of the cream layer; resize as needed.

6. Recolor the key - from the Image menu, choose Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation (or Ctrl+U on Windows, Command+U on Mac). This will give it a warm brass color. Add a drop shadow.

Click 'Colorize' before adjusting the Hue, Saturation, & Lightness

7. Add the twine that ties down the key. I used Xtra08 from the Welcome kit (April, 2011).

8. Select the cream layer and then click the new layer button, This will create a new layer UNDER the stamp image.

9. Use the eyedropper tool to select a turquoise color from the turquoise background.

10. Select a fuzzy round brush and make is small (~25 pixels). Also lower the opacity (~45%) and begin to ‘color’ the image. Increase the size of the brush once you’ve colored in all of the small areas.

Tip: Don’t worry about being perfect or too precise - a few blank areas give it a more natural look.

11. Repeat steps 7-9, choose a burnt orange color and color the area outside the emblem area.

12. Print it out - photo paper would probably be best for something like this - and frame it.

Quick, easy, and beautiful art.

Now go make one of your own and hang it on a wall or give it as a gift.

See you next week!

-Ron