- Reflections and Shadows
- Reflections
- Aged Neon
- Rust
- Fading Reflections
- Shadows
- Creating a Canvas Texture
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Creating a Canvas Texture
Another technique used in this painting is the creation of the canvas awnings that appear above the entrance to the shop (Figure 4.29) and the stitching that holds them together.
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Figure 4.29 The awning over the door is made of canvas.
The canvas texture is a pattern that I created to simulate the look of canvas. Again, I studied a piece of canvas to get it right.
I started by creating a series of vertical lines of varying thickness (Figure 4.30). These lines were given a layer style of Inner Glow to give them an edge.
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Figure 4.30 The pattern started with a series of vertical lines of varying thickness.
Inner Glow adds a color evenly to the edges of the contents of a layer. Because it is a glow, the default blend mode is Screen, which makes a color lighter than the current color of the layer visible, thus simulating a glow. The color I needed to use had to be darker to make the edges look like they were curled inward. To make Inner Glow work the way I wanted it to, I simply changed the mode to Multiply, so when I chose a color that was darker than the color of the layer, it would be visible (Figure 4.31).
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Figure 4.31 The lines were given a layer style to give them dimension.
Then in another layer I created a series of horizontal lines that also contained a modified Inner Glow layer style (Figure 4.32).
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Figure 4.32 In a separate layer horizontal lines were generated and given a layer style.
I created a new blank layer below each of the layers with the lines (Figure 4.33).
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Figure 4.33 A blank layer was generated beneath each of the layers containing the lines.
I targeted the layer with the lines and chose Merge Down from the Layers panel drop-down menu (Figure 4.34). This merged the layer into the blank layer, forcing the layer style to be flattened into the layer. I did this to each layer, the one with the vertical lines and the one with the horizontal lines. This was necessary because next I wanted to create the effect that the two sets of lines were interwoven. Masking or erasing the area where they intersect would have forced the layer style to reset itself to the new visible area and that would have destroyed the shape of the threads.
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Figure 4.34 Each layer with the lines was merged with a blank layer to flatten its layer style.
I made the layer with the vertical lines a selection by Command-clicking (Ctrl-clicking) the preview icon for the layer in the Layers panel (Figure 4.35).
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Figure 4.35 The layer with the vertical lines was made into a selection.
Using the Eraser Tool, I then eliminated the portions of the horizontal lines to simulate the interwoven quality of the cloth (Figure 4.36).
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Figure 4.36 Portions of the horizontal lines were erased through the selection to create the look of interwoven fabric.
The entire image was then selected and Define Pattern was chosen from the Edit menu to make the fabric texture into a pattern.
The shapes of the awnings were filled with a solid color (Figure 4.37). In a separate layer, a large rectangular shape was filled with the canvas pattern (Figure 4.38). The pattern was then distorted to match the angle of the awnings (Figure 4.39) and then clipped with the layer of the awning shape (Figure 4.40).
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Figure 4.37 The shape of the awning was filled with a solid color.
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Figure 4.38 A layer was filled with the fabric pattern.
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Figure 4.39 The pattern-filled shape was distorted to match the awning angle.
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Figure 4.40 The layer with the fabric texture was clipped with the layer containing the awning shape.
The Stitching
The canvas over the awning was stitched, as shown in Figure 4.41. Creating the stitch was a snap thanks to the Brushes panel.
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Figure 4.41 The Canvas was held together with thick stitching.
First, I created a single stitch by starting with a round brush tip (Figure 4.42). I clicked once with the brush. Then while pressing the Shift key to connect the clicks, I clicked a second time directly across from the first click (Figure 4.43). I turned the stitch into a brush (Edit > Define Brush Preset) and named it Stitch, as you can see in Figure 4.44.
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Figure 4.42 A single, round brush tip was applied.
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Figure 4.43 With the Shift key pressed a second tip connects to the first.
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Figure 4.44 The shape is selected and turned into a brush.
In the Brushes panel I gave the brush tip enough spacing to simulate a stitch pattern (Figure 4.45). I set the Angle to Direction so the stitching would follow the angles of the canvas (Figure 4.46).
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Figure 4.45 The Spacing amount is raised to give adequate separation to the tips to make it appear as stitching.
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Figure 4.46 The Angle is set to Direction to make the brush tips follow the angle of the paths.
Paths were generated to represent the sew lines. The paths were then stroked with a Paintbrush using the Stitch tip (Figure 4.47).
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Figure 4.47 The path is stroked with the Paintbrush Tool to create the final stitching.
For the final touch, a layer style of Drop Shadow was applied to give the stitching some dimension.
Years have gone by since I created this piece, but Paul's Shoe Repair still looks exactly the same as it did the day I decided to paint it. There is one tiny addition to the interior though—a print of "Shoe Repair" hangs proudly on the wall behind the register. Well, "hangs" might be the wrong word. Paul used tape to put it up and dust has settled on it to match the rest of the place.