Today’s tutorial focuses on stamping / brushing / writing across multiple layers. This is one of those techniques I use A LOT, and while it may not stand out and be the first thing you notice on a layout, it IS one of those little touches that can bring a greater element of realism to your digital pages. Let’s get started!!
When I do layouts, I tend to get all the stuff in place where I want it, then I’ll go back through and do the finishing touches – add shadows, tweak elements here & there, and fix my paint that crosses multiple layers. So for this example, let’s pretend my ‘layout’ is this photo with some brush work over it… like so…
So now I have 3 layers – my background, my photo, and my brushed ‘11’ for my title.
STEP 1: Duplicate your brush layer.
Right click on your brush layer in the layer pallet, and select Duplicate Layer
STEP 2: Cut the brushwork into 2 separate pieces.
When you paint in real life on 2 layers of paper, there is always a break in the paint – the paint that hits the top layer of paper would not be a continuous stroke with the paint that hits the bottom layer. We want to create the same look with our digi technique. Here’s how.
1. Working with the 2 layers of brush work, click on the lower layer in your layer pallet so that the layer is highlighted.
2. With the lower layer selected, hold CTRL and click on the photo layer in the layer pallet. This will bring up marching ants around your photo layer.
3. Next, press SHIFT+CTRL+i to invert your selection. (You may also do this thru the menus by going to Select > Inverse). This will invert your selection. Now instead of having your photo selected with marching ants, everything around your photo will be selected with marching ants.
For those having trouble – if you are working on mac with PSE11, use command key instead of control button following original directions. You may also need to simplify each layer first.
4. Now, while the ants are marching around everything outside of the photo, and while you have your lower layer of brush selected, simply hit the DELETE button on your keyboard. This will delete anything on that layer that falls within the selected area. Hit ESC to clear your selection
5. Now select your top brush layer in the layer pallet, hold CTRL and click on the photo layer in the layer pallet. This will bring up marching ants around your photo layer.
6. This time, you do NOT want to invert your selection. With ants around your photo layer only, and your upper layer of brush work selected, hit DELETE. This will delete everything on your brush layer that falls within the selected area.
7. Press ESC to clear your selection.
Now, your brush work has been split into 2 parts – the part that touches the photo, and the part that touches the background layer, just as it would be if this were real paint and real paper. The next step is the easy part!
STEP 3: Nudge your brush layers to create an offset.
In real life, the 2 layers of paint, even if they were pretty well lined up, would probably not be perfectly aligned with no gaps. This is the look we want to create. Simply select your upper paint layer (the one that falls outside the photo) and nudge it up or down, right or left, to create a bit of separation. In my example, I nudged mine up 1 and left 2.
STEP 4: Move your outer brush work (upper layer) down to the layer directly below your photo.
We want to do this so that when you do your shadow work on your photo, the photo’s shadow will fall across the paint on the background layer if it should. Here’s my final result with the drop shadow on the photo.
One last tip, once you have your brush work & photo lined up the way you like it, link the photo layer & the 2 brush layers. That way if you end up moving your photo around, your brush work will stay lined up.
So there you have it!! This technique has so many possibilities once you get the hang of it!! If you have troubles or have any questions, please feel free to ask!! Have fun!!
**FOR THOSE STRUGGLING WITH THIS METHOD, THERE ARE MULTIPLE WAYS YOU CAN DO THIS TECHNIQUE… OUR LOVELY DALIS HAS SHARED ANOTHER METHOD & POSTED IT ON YOUTUBE TO HELP YOU OUT… HERE’S THE LINK***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg2_PlydyCo
This tutorial was originally written by Rebecca (RebeccaH) for our 2014 Month Of Challenges here at the Lilypad.
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