Jonathan Tatum Photoshop rendering

JONATHAN TATUM
PHOTOSHOP RENDERING

Jonathan continues his tutorial here, showing how very quickly a render can come together in the final stages. Simple, yet effective, application of light and shade, with a good understanding of your light source, really makes the drawing pop out of the page. It is also worth noting how Jonathan has avoided the temptation to over render the image with many reflections and highlights. A simple case of less is more.

At this point you might feel the difference between the darker lower area of the body and the upper surface that is reflecting most of the light is not severe enough. To correct this I picked the orange I had used on the body and selected a colour several shades higher and on a new layer brushed the new orange, I then deleted that colour from the lower area with a new path. This path can also be used later on when applying the split line through the whole car. For the wheels I imported existing rims, created a path around them and then motion blurred to disguise the rim design.

Using the ‘burn’ tool on the colour layer you can burn more contrast into areas that will be in shadow. Separate paths can be created to give the area you are burning a crisp line for parts such as the rear arch bulge. On a new layer create a path for the wheel arch highlight, select a brush with 100% opacity and the required diameter and ‘stroke’ these path lines. Then by using the ‘Gaussian blur’ filter spread the white lines to give the impression of curvature of the surface, this is a good technique to use on belt lines and wheel arches as it can help control exactly how much roll on the body you desire. By using the existing layers created when burning the surface you can invert the selection and delete to give a crisp line.
For the rear light cluster insets create a series of white ellipses on new layers, ‘merge link’ these ellipses and switch this layer to multiply. In ‘blending options’ select the ‘bevel and emboss’ function and play with the angle / depth and type of emboss needed. This embossed layer will give a clear and consistent effect to all the recessed areas. You can also use this feature for the central split and door split lines by stroking a path with a think white line, multiply then bevel and emboss.

Using the ‘body’ path, create a new layer and ‘stroke’ with a thick black line. For the lights create 2 dark red ellipses to sit in the recessed pockets. Then ‘dodge and burn’ them and ‘bevel and emboss’. The same applies for the yellow indicator lights. Create the exhaust pipes by ‘dodge and burning’ a light grey path.
For the window colour use the path created in step 2, then in the ‘gradient’ function select two colours for the window and drag a gradient over the window selection on a new layer. Transform this selection slightly smaller than the window area, this should reveal part of the dark grey shadow behind [created in step 1] giving the window some depth