Thanks go out to Neil Duerden for this tutorial. See part 1 here.
Start to build more elements up behind the fabric. Draw them in Illustrator and import them by cutting from Illustrator and pasting directly into Photoshop, then position in the general composition where they fit best.
Now colour up the greyscale fabric using the Hue command. Simply make it look natural against your overall piece and this will help bond the whole
artwork together. You want it ideally to be a little lighter
than the detailing.
Now go back to your hairline and, using the Brush tool, blend it into the background more. The aim is to get a cool natural transition between your hair and the background. Spend a little time on this as it’s important to get a good effect – people’s eyes are always drawn to the head of a model.
Open the ‘Paper.jpg’ file from the CD and paste it at the base of the image stack, just above the background. Using the Hue and Saturation command, adjust this to fit in with your colour scheme and solidify the whole piece.
Jump into Illustrator and draw some cute characters; go to town here and give them loads of personality, but not too much detail as they are going to be used very small and as an intricate detail within the final piece. See ‘Illustrator.jpg’ on the disc for one example
of this.
Now paste your character into your main piece and first adjust the colour values so that it fits. Scale it down and position it
where you feel it fits best. These should be added visual interest, so make then small and make then interesting in both
placement and actions.
Remember how we have two layers of the girl and another full version hidden? Well, go to the top layer and add a layer mask to Reveal All. Then, start to hide sections of the girl to allow the base of the image to show through.
Add a new layer in behind the base girl and fill it completely with a colour that will match the overall feel, then apply this layer down using the Color command in the layer options. This will give you a great control over the overall colour below.
Go back into your detail and make sure there is a continual flow leading away from the woman’s body. This should be subtle and yet complex in the build so to slowly draw the eye away from the model shot but not strong enough to over power it.
Finally, either paint some detail in by hand and scan or use various brushes to paint a matching base coat just above the paper layer then multiply this down. Flatten it to finish.