“Astonishing Adventures in Crystal Cavern” Tutorial

Bree Lundberg – “Astonishing Adventures in Crystal Cavern” – October 2011 – Photoshop Tutorial

Bree Lundberg is an artist, illustrator, and designer currently living and working in her home state of Florida. Using both digital and traditional media, Bree enjoys bringing a piece of her own personality and interests into every project. Visit www.breelundberg.com for more.

Concept Sketch for Pulp Cover

1) Develop Concept and Sketch

I always start off working out my ideas with thumbnail sketches on tracing paper. For this piece, a parody on a pulp fiction cover, I kept the vertical format in mind and worked on developing original characters.

Blocking in Shapes

2) Refine Drawing and Block in Shapes

Sometimes I stick closely to my original sketch, however, for this image I decide to refine my drawing in Photoshop adding details to the crystal elements and tweaking the pose for the figure of the miner. At this stage I also block in base colors, sketch in an idea for the background, and consider possible fonts.

Establishing Values and Text

3) Establish Shapes, Values, and Text

I block in light and dark shapes with a hard brush using the revised line-work as a guide (leaving it visible for now on a separate layer above). After I’m satisfied with the general shapes for the crystals, I sharpen their edges by using the Polygonal Lasso Tool and Fill command. I play around with overall colors and values. To change the color of individual shapes on the same layer, I select them with the Magic Wand Tool. Unchecking the “Contiguous” option selects multiple shapes of the same color at once. I start to warp the text with a Horizontal Arc and adjust kerning between the letters.

Finished Illustration

4) Add Detail and Final Adjustments

On separate layers I add shine, reflections, and surface details to the crystals while also polishing up the background finishing the figure of the miner. Adjusting the opacity on the monster’s layer gives a transparent look to the crystal. Using large soft brushes and again playing with opacity, I add a soft glow from the miner’s hat as well as a very feint glow to the left edge of the monster. I further adjust the text and add a drop shadow by duplicating the layer and changing its color. Finally, I add a few fun details with special brushes for the glare from the miner’s hat and twinkle in the monster’s eyes.