Photoshop Car Tutorial o1

This tutorial describes how to render this car. I use paths a lot. In this tutorial I also use layer masks and layer filter. The whole thing took about 45 minutes to complete. Drawing out the paths is the most tedious part but once they're layed out it all comes alive.

1. Starting off

I do most of my renderings at A4 size at 300DPI. If youre working with anything considerably larger then your results will differ e.g brushes will appear different.

Scan your drawing of the car. Dont worry if the lines are a bit rough they can be improved in photoshop.

2. Levels

The scan has come in a bit faded so I use the levels Image>Adjustment>Level to sharpen it up.

Slide the Input Level parameters. The setting used here are as follows. 113 0.70 243

3. Perspective

The front wheel looks a bit too big so Im going to adjust the perspective to make it smaller. I copy and paste the wheel and position it how I want it then I mask out any fouling parts.

Ive also adjusted the levels slightly because I was still seeing the paper grain.

4. Pen tool

Use the Pen Tool , (P), to draw over the original lines, and the Direct Selection Tool , (S), to refine the paths. (Notice the pen tool has a small black triangle/arrow in the bottom right hand corner, this means that there are additional tools hidden in that tool. To access these tools click and hold the left mouse button. The Pen Tool has the following additional tools.

Use the bottom three to refine your paths. Add Anchor Point Tool and Delete Anchor Point Tool are fairly obvious and the Convert Point Tool lets you to redefine the anchor points and give a smooth corner.)

Select the Brush Tool ,(B), right click over the image and select brush of thickness 1.

Make sure your Layers palette is visible (F7, or Windows>Layers), make a new layer and call it Outline.

Select the Pen Tool , (P), again, right click and select stroke path and select brush from the dialog box.

Now strike the esc key twice to hide the paths.

Make a new layer and call it glass.

Using the Wand Tool , (W), select the glass areas of the car and fill it with a nice blue colour.

5. Colour Change

Even though I used a cool grey marker the colour looked very warm so I adjusted it by going to Image>Adjustment>Hue/Saturation. (Make sure colorize is checked)

6. Sketch Alterations

I noticed that the glass section didnt continue behind the wheel so I copied some lines from other parts of the sketch and pasted it in to allow continuity.

7. Light Gradient

Use the Wand Tool , (W), to select the glass block. Next use the gradient tool , (G), and add a white gradient to give the impression that there is light emitted from above.

8. Dark Gradient

As above but this time from below.

9. Shadow

Add a dark area to the roof area to give a greater feeling of depth.

10. Shadow and highlights

Stroke one of the paths in a red colour and erase the ends to give it a swoothy effect for the back lights.

Stroke the paths used to create the glass block and offset it to create some highlights for the glass edges.

11. Gradient

Select the main area of the car and add a dark tint.

12. Window Blackouts

Download esigner Mart Photoshop Brushes 02 and add a blackout to the boundaries to the of the glass areas.

13. Finishing touches

Add a highlight to the top of the tyres.

14. Conclusion

Continue to use the described tools above to refine your car adding highlights and shadows.

Ive also added a dark background colour so the image isnt so bright.