AgroKrag Graphic Design/Illustration, Web Design, Web Marketing

As most of the civilized world learned last weekend Alaskan Governer Sarah Palin was named Republican GOP candidate John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate.  It was something of a shock a number of us since we had no clue who she was.  Then she got up on that podium and our collective eyes lit up… Now I am a Democrat (though sometimes I wonder why) but I’m not above offering a job well done round of applause to our geriatric friend McCain.  Before I found out that she stands against most everything I believe in I was captivated.  Instantly I had a crush on a 44 year old house wife running for VP.

So how will her looks effect the votes of the commonwealth?  Who knows, but if American’s have a single shred of diginity they wont base the future of the country on how hot the VP will be.  All I know is that its nice to see someone on TV 24/7 who is easy on the eyes.

Now you are wondering what the hell this article is doing on AgroKrag, rightfully so.  I had some spare time this past weekend and had the urge to write my first tutorial on a Photoshop technique so here goes.

She loves guns, babies, and America.  The illustration is scanned into the computer and modified in Photoshop.  If you have a scanner like mine you will need to hit ctr+L to bring up the levels menu, now build enough contrast so that the outlines are defined.

Nice little sketch of Mrs. Palin eh?

The process of creating a full color illustration in Photoshop can be either super complicated or very simple.  Depending on the application of the graphic you may need tidy lines and perfect colors.  Here the goal is to take a sketch and color it in while still looking like a sketch.

Once the contrast is set create a new layer and place is below the sketch layer.  Now go to the sketch layer and turn the layer option to Multiply.

Go to the newly created layer and begin coloring the sketch as though it were a coloring book.  The color show appear underneath the dark sketch lines. When you are done it should look dishearteningly ugly.

Note that I have gone through the original sketch layer and used the Smooth tool to get rid of the unsightly grain from the graphite in some places.

Now comes the part that everyone hates. Detailing.  Well I hate it anyways.

There are two approaches to this. One, hand paint the new lines with a paintbrush. Two, use the pen tool to carefully created shaded regions.  In this instance I chose freehand.

Now all that remains is the final highlights and we are done…seems simple enough right?  For the highlighted areas simply take the Brush tool and choose 0% hardness and a pure white, then hit all the spots you want to see light up.  From here you can do anything you want to the rest of the image, sepia tone her who cares, it’s all gravy from this point.

The word tutorial may be a bit condescending here, since most any artist in the field knows these basics.  This is more like showing your work on an equation.

Mmmm finished product.  Feel free to share this image with the world, hopefully everyone will enjoy it, even the lovely Mrs. Sarah Palin.

-Jesse