As I mentioned, I finished taking a 4 day beginner and intermediate Photoshop class American Graphics Institute(AGI) in December . If I learned nothing else, I learned certainly how to work in a “Non-Destructive” manner.  Most of my previous attempts in Photoshop were very destructive to the original picture, which left me with very little options to “UN-do” my changes or make alterations without having to start over. I certainly learned many other other aspects to the program, but this was a fundamental aspect that will guide me in future projects.  I truly recommend taking classes through AGI if you want get a grasp on a particular program. They offer many different classes with a variety of software, too many to list here. https://www.agitraining.com

As a Scenic Designer, I work to design environments that encompass or enhance actions of a performer. So for fun, I started on a simple project based on the idea of creating a performance space out of a generic picture.

To begin with, I found a “Pixar” style lamp https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/theforestandco/product/copper-angled-table-lamp 

Added a beam of light

I found some great photos of dancers online, but this one of Edward Watson, the Principal Dancer from the Royal Ballet caught my eye. It is from a photoshoot that photographer Rick Guest did with Watson. Here is link with a article about the photoshoot between Guest and Watson: https://www.gramilano.com/2019/01/rick-guest-on-his-extraordinary-photos-of-the-royal-ballets-edward-watson/

Buy the book here…

https://www.rickguest.gallery/product/edward-watson-portrait-of-a-dancer

The final look here.

Next up will be a project I did in Adobe Illustrator for my son. I did a two class in Illustrator through AGI last week and spent some time exploring that program. 

As I continue to explore creating paint elevations using Photoshop, I thought I would show one elevation with two different “Artistic Filters”. You have a myriad of choices within choices within choices which can be daunting to say the least. I will use one texture resource and work through a sample of the cornice moulding from the plate below. 

Once I set up layers with the textures and shadows for the Cornice, I can begin to alter the look using filters.

As you can see in these screen shots for “Glass” and “Craquelure”, each filter will have many choices. Using the sliders on the right, you can alter them and see the changes take place. 

I found the “Glass” to work great for a painterly feel/look. 

Finish it up with the Water Color Paper from the last blog…

As I continue to rework or create new work in Photoshop, I thought I would share some of the process more in-depth. 

I initially found this video from Scenic Designer Shawn Irish, that helped give me an approach to a PDF or Jpeg of a drafted scenic element. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz3icwhk6IE

There are lots of videos that are from interior designers that can also help such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_VKajXE6DY&feature=emb_title 

Starting with this drafting plate….

And this “metal” texture from textures.com. I started looking at the concrete textures, but actually found a better resource image in the metal category. https://www.textures.com/browse/bare/582

After creating different layers and groups for the Balustrade, I added the texture in to each layer and the manipulated the metal texture using an artistic filter “Sprayed Strokes. Layer order or Hierarchy is always important to remember!

I added Inner or Drop shadows in “Layer Style” to give the elevation some depth.

As I worked through the file with many Layers, it can be useful to create “Groups” to organize the file and not get lost in the Layers”

Moving on to the Vase and another texture from Textures.com. This time I used a Bronze Copper for the based and again used an  “Artistic Filter” to manipulate the resource.

Lastly, I needed some Edelweiss to finish it off. I found this resource and adjusted it using another “Artistic Filter”: https://www.springhillnursery.com/product/blossom-of-the-snow-edelweiss?p=0439751&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvbiBBhD-ARIsAGM48bzWglAlQktKxi39GFelwjZ4Q3ABCvUn_oHJrgj9ufJHVTPkldJnTgoaAstkEALw_wcB

To finish off the elevation, I found a great watercolor paper image and used it as my background to give is finished look. https://jooinn.com/img/get I have this background layer set at 22% opacity, so that the image does not over power the final elevation.  

Finished