This chapter, which builds on techniques learned in previous chapters, covers two major themes: painting a rather strange blue creature, and painting a candle as a light source. You will create custom brushes for both subjects and explore their usage. All of the patterns and brushes are included on the CD-ROM for your convenience. It is hoped, however, that you will learn how to create these types of patterns and brushes on your own to expand your range of creative possibilities.
As usual, the tutorial is done in Photoshop CS. While many of the Photoshop techniques might work with other applications, their implementation may or may not be far more difficult, and some of the techniques described in this chapter, such as layer styles, really have no counterpart in other applications.
This tutorial assumes that you know some fundamentals of working in Photoshop, such as:
Where individual palettes are located
How to adjust a brush's opacity
How to create and save a pattern
How to create layers and change their blend mode
How to resize your brush and sample color from within the image (preferably using the hot keys)
How to create a layer style
How to create brushes
You can arrange the Photoshop workspace to suit your own liking, so this chapter does not discuss where to locate specific items.