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In this DVD, industry professional Aaron Sims shows you the techniques and skills he uses to create creature designs using Adobe Photoshop. The session starts off with a quick and effective introduction on how to create custom brushes and how to control brush behavior, then Aaron quickly invites you into deep water, establishing the fundamentals of the first creature design he presents in this training module.




The importance of working on separate layers is emphasized and demonstrated as Aaron builds the line art on top of a separate texture layer, which is included on the DVD, along with all the other project files. Once the line art is suitable to reflect volume, Aaron creates additional layers to contain the essential shading information and secondary features. High frequency details, like wrinkles, folds of the skin and other elements with intricate forms is achieved and demonstrated using multiple methods. Aaron develops some of these forms from scratch, yet importing- and incorporating elements of separate images into the design becomes a focal technique. The instructor demonstrates numerous key methods of image manipulation in order to be able to keep- and/or affect the portion of the image he wants to incorporate into the design. Aaron uses the Liquefy-, the Warp- and the Free Transform tools to adjust these images until they become seamless building blocks of the creature design. Various Layer Blending modes and their dramatically different effects also are demonstrated along the way.

This DVD approaches the unified goal of creating successful creature designs using the same focal techniques and skills demonstrated during the creations process of the first project. In the consecutive portions of this training module, Aaron places emphasis on an effective balance between speed and intact result, pushing the creative possibilities of revealing something new from multiple images to the limit- and beyond. First the instructor renders a cloud creature using portions- and alterations of a single photo of a cloud formation, then, he demonstrates the method of painting over a photograph of a person. In this lecture, Aaron combines the photograph of the actor with the photograph of a cat, wrapping up the almost completed design via the demonstration of elegant finishing touches like the utilization of simulated fog, dramatic lighting and an altered background to summon a depth of field.

During the DVD, Aaron offers insightful commentary on his practical actions and design decisions as he progresses along, even giving you additional aspects to consider as he shares some of the professional experiences he had in the industry when working with directors and other artists. All in all, this training module offers a very effective insight into the practical techniques and skills used in the field of creature design. The rating of this DVD is 5 out of 5.

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