A New Method for Blending the Edge Where Your Colors and Shapes Meet


This method of blending color and edges together is so simple that it really does not merit a chapter to itself, yet the technique you are going to learn is new to most digital artists . It is the method that I use for almost all blending tasks when painting in Photoshop.

The success of this method is achieved not by using any of the default Photoshop brushes or even via a combination of any of the regular tools that are used to blend. This method is based on using Photoshop's tools in new and innovative ways. It is hoped that by seeing how some common tools are used in new ways, your imagination and desire to experiment will be sparked.

Now on to blending color in Photoshop in a new and unique way. Figure 11.1 shows the image we will use as the basis for the exercise. We intentionally chose colors from all over the color wheel because such complementary colors are inherently more difficult to blend well. As you try this technique, create an image similar to this one or use the image provided on the CD-ROM.


Figure 11.1: The image that will be used to blend color.

To use this method to blend colors in Photoshop, you need to do some preliminary work. The nice thing is that after you have done these few steps the first time, you will not have to repeat them the next time you use this technique.

First, create a new image of any small size . Typically, anything from 32 x 32 pixels square to 128 x 128 pixels is fine. There is no reason for it to be larger. Fill the image with any color you want, or just leave the default background color (white).

In the Edit menu, scroll down and click the Define Pattern menu item, as shown in Figure 11.2. This brings up a dialog box asking you to name your new pattern, along with a preview image of your pattern. Your preview image should look either completely white or consist of the solid color you used to fill your original image.


Figure 11.2: The Define Pattern menu item.

Go ahead and close the image you used to create your pattern. There is no need to save that image.

Now the magic begins. Pick the Healing Brush tool from the toolbar. It is the one that looks like a small adhesive bandage. Figure 11.3 shows the Healing Brush.


Figure 11.3: The Healing Brush tool.

When the Healing Brush is selected, the options for the tool appear in the Tool Options bar at the top of the page. The size of the Healing Brush should be adjusted to suit the size of the area that you are going to blend. The larger the area, the larger the tool setting. If the brush size is particularly small, say smaller than 10, you may want to increase the size no matter how small the area you will blend. Leave the Mode setting at its default. The Source setting will default to Sampled; change this to Pattern by clicking in the small circle to the right of the word Pattern. You will now see a thumbnail appear of the currently active pattern. Click on the small down arrow next to the thumbnail and select the blank or colored pattern you created. The Healing Brush is now set to be a blending tool.

In the open image, zigzag a stroke across the borders of the colors. Do not pay any attention to the color of the stroke. In Figure 11.4 you will notice that the stroke appears white. This is because the pattern that is being used is white. If the pattern were black or some other color, the stroke would appear either as black or as a color.


Figure 11.4: The Healing Brush stroke appears to be white.

As soon as you lift the brush, the color will disappear and you will see a nicely blended stroke, as shown in Figure 11.5.


Figure 11.5: A nicely blended stroke.

Quite obviously, one stroke is not going to be enough to get a good blend, so go over the area again until you get just the amount of blending that you want. Notice how much softer and controlled the blend is when multiple strokes have been used, as shown in Figure 11.6.


Figure 11.6: Softer strokes result when you use multiple blends.

Experiment with different widths of strokes and brush sizes. The narrower you stroke, the smaller the blend and conversely, the larger you stroke, the larger and smoother the blend between the two colors will be. You can see the results of both small blending strokes in Figure 11.7.


Figure 11.7: Large and small blending strokes.

There you have it: the best blending tool in Photoshop made from a tool that was not meant to be a blender .

Let's play with the shape of the brush a bit and see what happens to the blend. Figure 11.8 shows the options for the Healing Brush at the default settings. One of the first things you can change is the Hardness setting. A lower setting will give your stroke a more feathered edge. The other settings will have a more distinctive effect on the way the brush behaves. Let's change the settings to look like Figure 11.9.


Figure 11.8: The default Healing Brush.

Figure 11.9: The modified Healing Brush.

Zigzag on the border between the two colors. Your stroke will look something like the one shown in Figure 11.10. The brush will be painting in a much more random manner.


Figure 11.10: The stroke using the adjusted brush.

When you lift your stroke, you will notice that the color is still blending but not quite as smoothly. The amount of blend will once again depend on how many strokes you overlap on each other. Figure 11.11 shows the result of the stroke using the new brush settings for the Healing Tool brush.


Figure 11.11: Result of the stroke using the new brush.

There is another way to vary the way the colors are blended using the Healing Brush other than changing the brush settings, and that is to change and adjust the pattern you are using. Here, subtlety is a blessing. If you have a pattern that is too distinctive, you will get something that looks like Figure 11.12. The colors are not blending and the pattern takes over the stroke.


Figure 11.12: The pattern is taking over the blending of the colors.

Let's create a pattern that will help enhance the blending of colors but not become overpowering.

Create a new image as you did earlier in the chapter. In this case, a little larger image is easier to work with than a smaller one, so make your image somewhere between 128 x 128 pixels and 256 x 256 pixels.

In the Filter menu, apply the filter Render Clouds. Figure 11.13 shows the result.


Figure 11.13: The Render Clouds filter applied to the image.

In the Image menu, select Adjustments > Brightness and Contrast, as shown in Figure 11.14.


Figure 11.14: Choosing Brightness and Contrast from the menu.

You want to end up with an image that is so subtle in its contrast range that it is a little hard to see the differences. Save the pattern as you did earlier in the chapter. Using the Healing Brush and your new pattern, blend the colors in your image. If you have created a pattern that is subtle enough, you will have a very nice blend with a slight unevenness. Figure 11.15 shows the blended image with some unevenness in the result.


Figure 11.15: The blended image created using a pattern with some noise in it.

Often this type of unevenness is preferable to a smoother blend in art. Areas that are too smooth appear boring to the eye, whereas areas with some texture will hold visual interest longer. After all, isn't holding the viewers ' attention what all artists want?

You should also notice that the Healing Brush is in a menu that has more than one tool associated with the icon. Click the bandage icon and hold down your mouse button. You will notice that two other tools are available. One of them, the Color Replacement tool, is really of no use when blending with this technique, but the other one has some magic in it. The Patch tool can also be used to blend color, though in a less ' painterly ' way than with the Healing Brush. Choose the Patch tool and notice that Photoshop updates the toolbar with a new icon that loosely resembles a patch, as shown in Figure 11.16.


Figure 11.16: The Patch tool icon.

Make sure that the pattern you created is again the active pattern. Draw with the Patch tool and notice that it acts like the Lasso tool in that it creates a selection. In fact, you can hold down the Shift key to add more to the selection and the Alt key to take away from the selection. Figure 11.17 shows a selection made using the Patch tool.


Figure 11.17: A selection made using the Patch tool.

When you have finished making your selection, click the Use Pattern button and see what happens. As you can see, your colors are evenly blended. In fact, they are much more evenly blended than can be done by hand. The larger the selection, the larger the blend will be. Figure 11.18 shows colors blended using the Patch tool.


Figure 11.18: Colors blended using the Patch tool.

Another way to enhance interest when blending colors is to add a small band of color between adjacent colors. Figure 11.19 shows what I mean by this.


Figure 11.19: Adding a small band of color in between the two main colors.

When you blend these colors, you will get an interesting and sometimes unpredictable result. There are two reasons for adding the band of color. One is to simply add some visual excitement to the image. The second is that sometimes when blending very complementary colors, this small band of color will make the transitions between the major colors visually smoother. Figure 11.20 shows the result of blending using a small middle band of color. Notice how the subtle greens add a visual excitement to the image.


Figure 11.20: Blending after adding a small band of color in between the two major colors.

Optional Blending Method

Many artists use another technique to give the impression of blending colors when painting in Photoshop. This method is fundamentally different than the previous method because instead of blending the color after you have painted , you paint to give the impression that you are blending the colors.

Much of the success of this technique depends on the brush that you pick to paint with. Though most brushes work, those with anti-aliased edges will work the best. Also, brushes with the Other Dynamics box checked and an opacity jitter set to low will work very well. Figure 11.21 shows the Other Dynamics box checked and the opacity jitter set very low.


Figure 11.21: The Other Dynamics palette.

The next series of figures demonstrate how this works and just how easy the technique is to use. Follow along to better understand.

Begin by creating a new image or use the original image from this chapter provided on the CD-ROM. Sample color from one side and paint into the other. Reselect color from the other side and paint back into the original side. Figure 11.22 shows colors from each side painted into the other color.


Figure 11.22: Colors sampled from each side of the image painted into the opposite side.

The important thing to notice is where the colors have painted over each other at less than 100% opacity. These areas are highlighted by the red arrows in the zoomed-in areas of Figure 11.22. These colors are important ones and the ones you will sample with the eyedropper to continue painting. Figure 11.23 shows an extremely zoomed-in version of the previous painting showing the intermediate colors that you will now use to paint with.


Figure 11.23

Sample some of the intermediate color and continue to paint on the edge. Notice that as the strokes are built up they become softer and softer. Continue to sample intermediate color and paint until you have nice smooth transitions between colors. Figure 11.24 shows the earlier image after additional painting on the edges using sampled intermediate colors.


Figure 11.24: Blending can be achieved using overlapping brush strokes.

This technique of painting using the intermediate colors created by individual brush strokes is the most widely used method of working in Photoshop. While this technique involves finding colors within the individual strokes and not blending existing pixels, it is an important method of painting within Photoshop. We included it in this chapter because the results are similar and meant to emulate the blending of colors.




Digital Character Design and Painting
Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics)
ISBN: 1584503408
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 112

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