Section 14:  Photoshop

You use a lot of Photoshop in your work.  Do you feel that computer graphics are taking over your traditional technique? (xii)

It’s actually really push and pull.  I learned Photoshop out of necessity.  I didn’t learn it at school, I was a very traditional painter, an oil paint fanatic.  I was also a print maker, so I brought those printmaking sensibilities to Photoshop and combined those techniques.  Today people say that they still have difficulty telling the difference between Photoshop and traditional art and I sort of like that ambiguity in my work.  Right now I’m pushing more towards a traditional approach.  I think it’s really interesting how illustrators are replicating traditional effects on the computer and I’m wondering if these people see these in print or on the computer screen…but that’s a conversation for another time.  You know, Photoshop is great.  It’s limitless in what you can do so you’re really forced to be thoughtful and tasteful in the effects/filters that you can play with.

How long did it (Entertainment Weekly Holiday Movie Preview illustration) take to create and how was Photoshop involved?  (x)

This piece was a double page spread done for the Entertainment Weekly's 2006 Holiday Movie Preview. Actual execution of the illustration was around 4 days, from drawing to digital color to final approval. Photoshop was used for color, compositing of the background, and glow effects.

How much work like this do you produce in a typical month? (x)

I do about 8 - 12 illustrations a month -- some are more ambitious than others.

Have you ever thought of writing a book of tips and tutorials? (x)

I have, though I'm not sure if I'm ready yet to reveal my secrets...

What are your favorite tools in Photoshop? (x)

Lately, I've been finding color dodge a useful tool, but I mostly rely on a mixture of layer effects and layer properties to achieve some interesting and weird combinations of color and texture.

What is your all-time favorite Photoshop tip or trick? (x)

Filter> Pixelate> Color Halftone!

[the following is a tutorial utilizing Batgirl 45 and Amazing Fantasy 8 as examples]

California-based illustrator James Jean captured the essence of classic comic book style illustration using Photoshop’s Color Halftone filter.

Jean began each illustration by opening a scanned sketch in Photoshop and using it at as the basis to draw and fill blocked selections with color on a new layer. He then duplicated the layer and worked into it with the Brush tool, sampling already existing colors with the Eyedropper tool to set the Foreground Color. Varying the brush’s Opacity and Hardness, he added highlights and shadows to the outer edges of elements such as the reddish gleam coming off of Batgirl’s rubber suit.

For the halftone pattern in the background, Jean drew a circle with the elliptical marquee tool on its own layer, selected the Gradient tool, and chose a red to transparent gradient from the Gradient Editor. Choosing Radial Gradient from the Options Bar, he filled the circle, then chose Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone. In the Color Halftone dialog box, he entered 127 pixels Max. Radius to get “supersized” dots, then set the Channel Angles to small, equal values. Once the halftone pattern was in place, he used the Eraser and Clone tools to eliminate pixel residue from the outside edges of the circular gradient and to get rid of any half-circles produced by the filter.

Jean also utilized the Color Halftone filter for shading areas such as the bat emblem and other yellow areas of Batgirl’s suit. Using a scan of watercolor brush strokes placed on a new layer, he applied the filter at a much smaller pixel radius for greater dot density. To contour shadows from the pattern, he then went in with the Eraser tool set to various opacities and sizes to define the edges of the yellow areas.

To create halftone patterns without the benefit of pixel information from scanned source material, Jean used the Color Halftone filter to create halftone patterns in areas such as the burst on top of the orange background. Using a soft, black, medium-sized brush he painted around the edges of the burst and applied the filter at a medium pixel radius.

To add color to the black dots, he double-clicked on the layer’s thumbnail to access the Layer Styles dialog box, chose Color Overlay from the Styles pane, and set the color to yellow by clicking the swatch and selecting from the Color Picker.

Jean duplicated several copies of the background sketch layer, set the layers’ blending mode to Multiply, and layered over the painted elements to retain the outlined look characteristic of comic book illustration. He added color to portions of the sketch detail, like the tattoos, by using Color Overlay. By leaving some of the lines black and using Color Overlay to add red to others, the tattoos looked like real ink work.

“After I’ve finished coloring the image, I love to experiment with Curves and Color Balance to radically change the color scheme. The challenge is to maintain the integrity of the image since these techniques are ‘destructive’ and truncate the Histogram. After I’ve tweaked the image to achieve something interesting, I keep working on top of it, painting and scanning in textures to refine the image,” Jean adds.

The final image is shown at left.

[end tutorial]