Create a Robotic Angel using Lineart and Textures
If you’re anything like me, some of the fondest memories you may have as a child are the times spent with building blocks. Those tiny locks of plastic or wood could be a fuselage on a jet airplane one day and a castle’s gateway the next – they were limitless. They allowed you to start from the ground up in creating anything your imagination allowed.
The process explained in this tutorial follows in the footsteps of the mighty building block, as it demonstrates how Photoshop lets you build complex images one piece at a time. While photo-montage techniques are common these days, the montage process we’ll outline takes a different course. Instead of blending images to form a more abstract piece, we’ll start out with a tight idea first and then loosen things up as we go.
To achieve the look of our robotic angel, it will be necessary to handle and organize a large volume of layers, which may turn some people away. If you’re looking for a more time-sensitive demonstration, we encourage you to simplify the line drawing or skip the rendering of some of her bodily segments. Make no mistake, this tutorial will take quite awhile to do. But the end results and skill learned are worth it.
Step 1
Begin with an A4-sized document with the resolution set to 300. Fill the background with a nice solid black. Layers can and do pile up fast, so this size is large enough to retain detail, but small enough to keep file size and CPU slowdown to a minimum. Also, set the Colour Mode to RGB for more flexibility when designing. Save this file as ‘Robo_Angel.psd.
Step 2
Open ‘orig_mech.tif’ from the source files you downloaded. Go to Edit>Select All, then copy and paste this image into your ‘robo_angel.psd’ document on its own layer. Name this layer ‘Line Work’ and place it above your Background layer. Set this layer’s Opacity to about 50% using the slider in the layers palette.
Step 3
Now we need to import a metal texture names creatively “texture.jpeg” that is included in the source file.
( You did download them didn’t you ?! )
Select and copy all, and paste it into the main document. Name the layer ‘Texture’ and place it directly underneath the ‘Line Work’ layer.
Step 4
Select the ‘Texture’ layer and move it over her left leg. Next, select the Pen tool, make sure your Paths palette is open and zoom in close enough to trace over the shape of her leg’s mid-section. Smooth, clean lines are key. If your Pen work looks jagged around the corners, don’t hesitate to Cmd/Ctrl+Z to backtrack.
Step 5
With your Paths palette open, Cmd/right click the path you just created. From the menu, choose ‘Make Selection’. In the dialog box, give the selection a Feather Radius of 1or 2 pixels. Go to your Layers palette and select the ‘Texture’ layer. Copy and paste from your selection. Photoshop will paste it into place over the line work. Name this new layer Upper Leg.
Step 6
Turn ‘Texture’ and the ‘Line Work’ layers off by clicking the eye icon in the Layers palette next to these two layers. With the ‘Upper Leg’ the only visible layer above the background, select this layer. Select the Brush tool and set its Style to Multiply, Opacity to 30%, Size to about 50px and color to black. Use the Brush tool to slowly render its form.
Step 7
This step will give the piece a rusty, grungier feel. Double-click the ‘Upper Leg’ layer to bring up Layer Style options. Check the Gradient Overlay box and set the first colour to #d7b95f and the second colour to #4b3728. Setting Style to Multiply and Opacity to 50%. Apply this layer style to each layer as you go.
Step 8
Repeat steps 4-7 for each segment of her curve, but persistence pays off. Feel free to simplify this process by making fewer segments. Remember to name each layer accordingly and pattern believable. After her body, create her wings using the same method. See the next step on how to keep things organised.
Step 9
By now you’ve realized that the layer intensive work can get out of control. To better organize your document, click on the folder Icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new group folder. You can drag your layers into this folder and name the group as you would any layer. Remember to also pay attention as to how you’ve stacked your layers, and adjust when necessary.
Step 10
If you notice, we have given our angel a hairstyle reminiscent of a Fifties pinup girl. This takes the somewhat dark nature of the image and gives it some much-needed character. It’s important to continue developing the concept as you go, without feeling too constrained by the original sketch. Simply use the Pen tool to freehand any new shape you need (see step 4), or print the piece and work freehand.
Step 11
Once you’ve cropped and shaded each portion of her body, it’s time to start placing some mechanical elements. Open ‘elements.psd’ from the source files and select the ‘Bearing’ layer. Copy this layer, switch to your main document and paste it. Position the new ‘Bearing’ layer behind her left shoulder, adjust the size with the Transform tool and add shading as in step 6.This is precise work that could take a little while to get right, but it’s worth it in the end!
Step 12
Use your Pen tool to create a path that follows the contours of her left side torso. Make a new layer in the layer group containing her mid-section at the top of the layer stack, name it ‘Vent’ and make a selection from this path with a 1or 2px Feather, the same as you did in step 5.Turn this path into a selection.
Step 13
Use your Brush tool and set its Mode to Multiply, Opacity to 30%, Size to 30px and set your Foreground Colour to black. Begin shading from the top of your selection, one pass of the brush at a time, and work your way down, leaving the black to taper off near the bottom. This gives the illusion that the metal flairs out at_ the top and tapers towards the bottom
Step 14
Open ‘elements.psd’ from the source files. Highlight the ‘Vent’ layer, select and copy the vent texture. Switch to your main document and paste this texture above the Vent layer you just created. Use your Eraser with a 30% Opacity to slowly brush back the texture to conform to the interior of the vent. When satisfied, right-click the ‘Texture’ layer and merge it down to your ‘Vent’ layer.
Step 15
With ‘elements.psd’ open, highlight the ‘Gear’ layer, copy and paste it into the main document. Place this gear behind her body and above her wing, and name it ‘Large Gear: Do the same for the exhaust pipe and bearings. Note that we’ve placed the gasoline cap on her left thigh. Use the Transform tool when needed to achieve proper size and perspective.
Step 16
With ‘elements.psd’ open, copy the ‘Chain Loop’layer and paste it above the ‘Large Gear’ on her wing. Use the Transform tool to manipulate the chain’s size and angle to fit to the chain as if it were a bicycle gear. Duplicate this layer, and again use the Transform tool to get it to conform to the smaller gear. Keep these layers separate (unmerged) for now so we can continue to work on them.
Step 17
Now that both chain loops look fitted, go back to your ‘elements.psd; copy and paste the ‘Straight Chain’ layer. This part is a bit tricky, so keep the Transform function in mind when doing this. Place the straight chain segment between the two loops and adjust the size and angle accordingly. If needed, re-adjust the chain’s loops to get everything aligned. Once aligned merge all the chain layers and name the single layer ‘Chain1’.
Step 18
Instead of using the Pen tool to draw new shapes, an interesting technique is to take advantage of typographic elements. We used a graffiti font (Raseone, from High ground Industries which we have not been able to supply to you) and its glyph character set to achieve some of the shapes. Type the character to get the shape you want, make a selection of the layer, and with the layer selection active, copy and paste from your ‘ texture’ layer. Place the new shape and adjust.
Step 19
Open ‘Decals.psd: Feel free to use these or create your own. Highlight the ‘Arm Band’ layer, copy and paste it into your main document. Create a new layer group called ‘Decals’ and paste the arm band into this group. For the arm band, we gave it a blending mode of Multiply, Opacity of 80% and we used the Eraser to brush it back to conform to her arm and blend it in.
We will leave the background up to you! See what you can come up with and we would love to see your end results!
The Final Image
