Computerized Technical Drawing (Week 4)

Hi guys, today I am going to write about what I did in class this week. Well, like what I mentioned in the previous entry, last week I started to learn how to make a moodboard by using "Gothic" as the theme. Therefore, this week we continued moodboard according to our lecturer's instruction and this is how it looks after we finished.

Well, while I was doing this moodboard I had some problems with my brush tool when I tried to erased or add some part of the girl with the black dress cause I accidentally unselected some part of her body. Last week, I tried to use the brush tool in my spare time, but it also happened and I didn't know why was it happened.

And here is our second try of the moodboard by utilizing the brush tool and selection tool.

However, we used two different ways on how to select and remove the background. First, we used the Quick Selection Tool - which I think is quite useful and easier for me to select - to select and then from Layer option we chose "Reveal Selection". In this case, I selected the girl with pink dress and reveal selection to show the girl and hide the background.

Well, as you can see in this picture, the selected area is the girl then when you click the reveal selection, it will hide the background.

Compared to this method, in this picture the selected area is the background and when we click the reveal selection, it will hide the girl, therefore, in this case, we need to choose hide selection instead of reveal selection in order to hide the background.

This is what will happen if you select reveal selection instead of hide selection. At first, when I didn't know all this, every time I select an area I always choose reveal selection, so that day I selected the background and this was what happen when I choose the wrong option. So, for those who is new to photoshop don't shock when you get this result.

Besides this, we also learned how to adjust the image colour which is through Image then adjustments and then levels, curves, and hue/saturation. Well, both levels and curves are almost the same, the different is only the display.

This is how the levels' display looks like. The more you move the input levels to the left, then the more bright it is, and the more you move the input levels to the right, the more dark it is.

And this is how the curves look like. The more you move the curve up, the more bright it is and the more you move the curve down, then the more dark it is.

In this week exercise, we also learnt how to insert a text into our canvas which was by using the Type Tool. Well, there are 4 types of type tools which are Horizontal Type Tool, Vertical Type Tool, Horizontal Type Mask Tool, and lastly Vertical Type Mask Tool. In the case of Horizontal Type Tool, if you want to change it into vertical , then you can choose the Toggle Text Orientation option which allow us to change it from horizontal to vertical and the opposite. On the other hand, the Type Mask Tools allow us to cut the letters from the background, which means after we type in, then if we turn off the indicate layer invisibility, then the background will fill inside the letters.

First thing first, you need to prepare 2 pictures which in here I used 2 background pictures.

Then, I copied the first background into the other background so that the other background have 2 layers on it.

In this step, I choose the Horizontal Type Mask Tool. I clicked , hold, and dragged it so that it created a square shape. Then, after you type inside the box, you can enlarge the text by click the double T icon which is used to enlarge text. Besides clicking and choosing the font size, there is another way which is much easier which is just bring your cursor to the enlargement icon, wait until there is two arrows appear at the both side of the cursor, then click and drag to the right side to enlarge and to the left side to smaller your text.

Then, after you manage all your text size and font, the next step you need to do is to click "Add Vector Mask" which is at the bottom of the layer column with the camera-like icon (well, I don't know what is it called, so I just describe it with my own word). After you click on it, then the layer mask thumbnail will automatically appear just beside your layer thumbnail.

If you look at this picture, you will see there is a red shadow under the text which what I gonna teach you in here. Well, after you click the add vector mask, the next step that you need to do is to double click on the layer which you apply the vector mask -click on the layer thumbnail not the layer mask thumbnail-. Well, as you can see in this picture, I choose the Drop Shadow option. Then, the red box beside the blend mode is the color of your shadow, opacity is how fade or clear you want your text and shadow. In this case, the more you move to the left side, then the more it will fade and disappeared, and the more you move to the right side, then the more it will clear. Distance is how far do you want your shadow to be apart from your text. In this case, the more you move to the right side, then the more far you shadow is, and the more you move to the left side, then the nearer it will be then it will overlap. Spread is how much do you want your shadow to spread. In this case, the more you move to the right side, then the more it will spread, and the more you move to the left side, then the less it will spread. Size is how big do you want your shadow to be. In this case, the more you move to the right side, then the bigger your shadow is, and the more you move to the left side, then the smaller your shadow is. After you finish manage your shadow, then just click Ok.

In a nutshell, there are lots of ways to manipulate or to create a good moodboard. You can use the Type Mask Tool to make your design looks more interesting.

Thank you for reading!