I will try to put together a tutorial for beginner photoshop user and I hope I will know how to explain stuff easy way. It is
Robbyrockett2 fault for this thread
Here is a little photoshop tutorial, which will give you possibility to combine multiple pictures, so you can make your own reference piece for your airbrushing art. This will be basic tutorial, but we will learn something which is called mask or masking. Usually they don't teach beginners how to mask, but it is very similar to airbrushing and it will give you the most control in your future. I use wacom tablet, but you can get the same results with mouse, you just need to work for it.
Why I picked masks instead eraser tool, selection tool and similar tools which are recommended for begginers? Because if you learn how to use masking, you don't destroy any art, and you can always reuse it or modified down the road later. It also gives you more control and if you learn how to mask, you will be able to make your own reference photos in the future no matter what.
Off course there are art pieces which are more complex and you need more than just masking like for example fur on animal or hair, but this would need a whole new tutorial and it also depends what are your goals. If your goal is to make great picture(photoshop manipulation) in photoshop, then masking will not be enough. But, if you need it for reference purpose, masking is more then you need.
What is masking?
Masking is a way how you show or hide parts of pictures, just like when you do airbrushing, but with a little twist. When you guys are using masking in airbrushing, you have 2 options. First one is to hide what you need, the second is to show what you need. In photoshop when you apply mask you hide art on layer where you apply your mask so layer which is under is visible. In photoshop you have much more control then with airbrush masking. Almost the same principle but with much more control. I can mask in transparency values. For example: I can mask an eye with 10% transparency, nose with 20% transparency, ears with 30%t transparency. You can also make hard or soft edges when masking, not like when you do your airbrushing, when your option is only clean lines with scalpel or cutter.
But why would you need that you may ask? You get the ability to recreate realistic effects just like when you spray your airbrush art.With masking? Yes, photoshop masking is very special little beast.
Here is a simple black background where I will show you what masking is. We will use 2 layers. One is the default one, which you get from photoshop and it is white color, the second one is new one, which I created and I colored the layer in black color.
Imagine layers like stacks of paper. So bottom layer is default one. Like you would have a piece of a4 white paper on your desk. The second layer(black one) is the same, like you would put black paper on top of your a4 white paper on your desk.
You can see what I am talking about on those pictures:
Masking black layer
And the same example, we just used black layer on the bottom and white colored layer on top.
This would translate to real world like this: first example white paper on bottom on your desk and we put black paper on top of it. In the second example we have black paper on your desk and we put white paper on top.
You can mask on top of the masking which you already created. Here is an example. I will use only black color, but It is the same no matter what color of layer you are using.
Example:
Robbyrockett2 fault for this thread
Here is a little photoshop tutorial, which will give you possibility to combine multiple pictures, so you can make your own reference piece for your airbrushing art. This will be basic tutorial, but we will learn something which is called mask or masking. Usually they don't teach beginners how to mask, but it is very similar to airbrushing and it will give you the most control in your future. I use wacom tablet, but you can get the same results with mouse, you just need to work for it.
Why I picked masks instead eraser tool, selection tool and similar tools which are recommended for begginers? Because if you learn how to use masking, you don't destroy any art, and you can always reuse it or modified down the road later. It also gives you more control and if you learn how to mask, you will be able to make your own reference photos in the future no matter what.
Off course there are art pieces which are more complex and you need more than just masking like for example fur on animal or hair, but this would need a whole new tutorial and it also depends what are your goals. If your goal is to make great picture(photoshop manipulation) in photoshop, then masking will not be enough. But, if you need it for reference purpose, masking is more then you need.
What is masking?
Masking is a way how you show or hide parts of pictures, just like when you do airbrushing, but with a little twist. When you guys are using masking in airbrushing, you have 2 options. First one is to hide what you need, the second is to show what you need. In photoshop when you apply mask you hide art on layer where you apply your mask so layer which is under is visible. In photoshop you have much more control then with airbrush masking. Almost the same principle but with much more control. I can mask in transparency values. For example: I can mask an eye with 10% transparency, nose with 20% transparency, ears with 30%t transparency. You can also make hard or soft edges when masking, not like when you do your airbrushing, when your option is only clean lines with scalpel or cutter.
But why would you need that you may ask? You get the ability to recreate realistic effects just like when you spray your airbrush art.With masking? Yes, photoshop masking is very special little beast.
Here is a simple black background where I will show you what masking is. We will use 2 layers. One is the default one, which you get from photoshop and it is white color, the second one is new one, which I created and I colored the layer in black color.
Imagine layers like stacks of paper. So bottom layer is default one. Like you would have a piece of a4 white paper on your desk. The second layer(black one) is the same, like you would put black paper on top of your a4 white paper on your desk.
You can see what I am talking about on those pictures:
Masking black layer
And the same example, we just used black layer on the bottom and white colored layer on top.
This would translate to real world like this: first example white paper on bottom on your desk and we put black paper on top of it. In the second example we have black paper on your desk and we put white paper on top.
You can mask on top of the masking which you already created. Here is an example. I will use only black color, but It is the same no matter what color of layer you are using.
Example: