From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
877 Posterizing colors nondestructively
From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
877 Posterizing colors nondestructively
- Hey gang, this is Deke McClelland. Welcome to Deke's techniques. Last week I showed you how to create a piece of posterized false color artwork using Photoshop's Paint Bucket Tool, which is a very old tool that actually predates Photoshop by six years when Bill Atkinson created it for the very first version of MacPaint. Compare that to using a Gradient Map adjustment layer, which came along much later and, no offense, Bill, the man is a legend people, is a lot more flexible. And even though the feature is called Gradient Map, it's just the thing for creating abrupt color transitions without even trying. Here, let me show Bill exactly how it works. All right, so here's the entirely non-destructive version of the artwork achieved using a Gradient Map adjustment layer. And so what we're going to do is start with the destructive version, the so-called destructive, because we used the Paint Bucket Tool in order to permanently modify pixels. Pixels that we could again modify later any time we wanted to, but still, there's a certain advantage to working non-destructively. So I'm going to take this bucket layer right here and I'm going to press the Backspace key or the Delete key on the Mac in order to get rid of it. And that way we've got just these two adjustment layers right here. The first is posterizing the artwork, so that we have just eight luminance levels per color channel. So eight times eight times eight for a possible total of 512 inside the full color composite. And then I went ahead and reduced the number of luminance levels to just eight using this Channel Mixer adjustment layer, which is set to Monochrome, as you can see, and we're just seeing the contents of the Red channel and nothing more. All right, now I want to add a Gradient Map adjustment layer and I want to name the layer as I create it, and so if I were working on the Mac I would press the Option key and left-click on this little black and white circle icon right here. Because I'm working on the PC I have to press the Alt key and then right-click on that icon in order to bring up this pop-up menu, at which point I will choose Gradient Map. At which point you should see the New Layer dialog box. I'll go ahead and call this layer colors and then press the Enter key or the Return key on the Mac. Now currently I'm replacing the luminance levels from black to white with this gradient right here that goes from black to white. So in other words we're not really making much of a difference. If you want to make a difference then go ahead and click on this gradient ramp in order to bring up the Gradient Editor dialog box. Now I'm going to start things off by replacing the blacks with that bright shade of yellow, so I'll go ahead and double-click on this color stop right here in order to bring up the Color Picker dialog box and I'll change the hue value to 50 degrees and I'll take both the saturation and brightness values up to 100% and then I'll click OK. Now obviously that's not exactly the effect I want, so I'll go ahead and replace the white with a dark shade of violet by double-clicking on this white color stop to bring up the Color Picker dialog box. I'll change the hue value to 270 degrees, and I'll set the saturation, once again, to 100%, and I'll take the brightness value down to 50%, and then I'll click OK. All right, now at this point we have this yellow to violet gradient that is replacing all of the luminance levels inside of the image. We need to add a few more color stops, a total of six incidentally in between. But where should they go? So notice that the first color stop here has a Location value of 0%, which is what we want, and the final one has a Location value of 100%. And since we want six more luminance levels we want to take that Location of 100% and divide it by seven. Let me show you what that looks like. I'll just go ahead and Alt or Option + drag a new color stop out, so because I have the Alt or Option key down I'm creating a copy of that color stop. And then I'll change its Location value to 100% divided by seven. Why seven? Because we've got a luminance level for black right here plus seven others. And so when I enter 100% divided by seven and press the Tab key I end up with this error message in my case. I think Photoshop is concerned that it can't do decimals. So it's coming up with the closest value, which is 14%, which is what I want. All right, so I'll go ahead and double-click on this new color stop here, which is totally the wrong color. And so basically what we're doing is we're saying I'm going to replace a 14% brightness, so a very dark gray, with what? And that what is going to be a hue value of 150 degrees, a saturation of 100%, and a brightness value of 0%, so very dark. And then I'll click OK. Now from this point on you just want to add 14 more degrees. So I'm going to start by Alt or Option + dragging this guy over just a little bit, so we're creating a new color stop. So any time you Alt or Option + drag you make a copy of the previous color stop. And I'll change this guy to 14 plus 14 and press the Tab key and that gives us 28%. And now I'll double-click on it, so that I can replace a very dark gray with a brightness of 28% with some other color, specifically it's going to have a hue value of 120 degrees, so I'm making the green more yellow, and then I'll Tab down to the brightness value and take it up to 30%, like so, and then I'll click OK. Now I want to remember 28% right there, but I've got to Alt or Option + drag this guy in order to make a copy of him, and then I'll change that Location value to 28 plus 14 and then I'll press the Tab key. That gives me 42. At which point I'll double-click on this guy and I'll take the hue value back up to 150 degrees, actually I need to press the Shift key as I'm pressing the up arrow key in order to get that value. And then I will Tab down to the brightness value and take it up to 60%, like so, and then click OK. We've got one more shade of green, so I'll just go ahead and Alt or Option + drag this guy and change its value to, what was it before? 42%, we need to change the Location value for this guy to 42 plus 14 and that's going to give us 56%. I'll go ahead and double-click on this guy, leave the hue value set to 150 degrees, take the saturation value down to 80%, and take the brightness value up to 80%, then click OK. All right, so that takes care of all the green. So we've got one yellow, we've got four greens, and that's going to leave us with the three violets. We already have one of the violets, so I'll go ahead and Alt or Option + drag this guy down, like so, so we create a copy. And now I'll set its Location value to 100% minus 14 and I'll press the Tab key in order to let Photoshop do the math. So notice we now have a Location of 86% and I'll go ahead and double-click on this guy and I'll leave the hue value set to 270 degrees. I'm going to take the saturation value down to 70 and I'll take the brightness value up to 90% and then I'll click OK. And now, remember that this guy's 86%, I'll Alt or Option + drag him to make a copy, now the Location's 81%, who cares, not what I want. I'll change that value to 86 minus 14 and press the Tab key. I get 72%, at which point I'll double-click on this guy and I will take the saturation value even further down to just 30%, like so, and then I'll take the brightness value up to 100%, and I'll click OK in order to accept that complete gradient. Now if you want to name it you could go ahead and give it a new name, such as Poster colors, if you like, and then you would click on the New button in order to create a new gradient, like so. Now that step is not necessary, by the way, you don't have to do it. I just want you to know that you can go ahead and save the gradient if you like. At which point I'll click OK in order to accept that change. And then I'll hide my Properties panel. And as you can see, if I turn off that colors layer this is before, this is after. I can even turn off the other layers if I want. I don't know what this is going to look like, but I'll go ahead and turn off the channel and poster layers and I end up with this effect here. And then when I turn poster back on I get some posterization. And then when I turn the channel layer back on I get even more posterization, like so. So a Gradient Map adjustment layer gives you a degree of freedom you just can't achieve using the old school Paint Bucket Tool. And that is how you create a false color posterization effect entirely non-destructively using a combination of three adjustment layers, culminating with a Gradient Map layer here inside Photoshop. Now posterized artwork what with its abrupt color transitions is all very well and good, but what if you're looking for false color artwork with smoother transitions? Well, in that case I have a follow-up movie that shows you how to do exactly that. If you're looking forward to next week well, that's when I show you how to hide the Film Strip panel that comes up even when you have just one image open in Camera Raw. Deke's Techniques, each and every week, keep watching.
Practice while you learn with exercise files
Download the files the instructor uses to teach the course. Follow along and learn by watching, listening and practicing.
- 669_custom_QR.zip
- 670_more_QR.zip
- 671_hidden_circles.zip
- 673_shade_panels.zip
- 672_more_rectangles.zip
- 674_cafe_wall.zip
- 675_skewed_walls.zip
- 676_magic_checkers.zip
- 677_magic_dots.zip
- 678_reverse_illusion.zip
- 679_illusion_decor.zip
- 680_more_gizmos.zip
- 681_connect_gizmos.zip
- 682_wifi_symbol.zip
- 683_bluetooth_logo.zip
- 684_trajan_color.zip
- 685_trajan_AIcc.zip
- 686_stylistic_PsCC.zip
- 687_stylistic_AIcc.zip
- 688_grad_molecules.zip
- 689_sharper_moles.zip
- 690_smart_cules.zip
- 691_explore_cules.zip
- 692_blend_cules.zip
- 693_high_pass_cules.zip
- 694_cell_pattern.zip
- 695_hemoglobin.zip
- 696_edgy_cells.zip
- 697_springy_cells.zip
- 698_accordian_letters.zip
- 699_skew_blends.zip
- 700_cross_blends.zip
- 701_slice_blend.zip
- 702_blend_distort.zip
- 703_dynamic_roughen.zip
- 704_fish_twist.zip
- 705_dynam_bgnd_1.zip
- 706_dynam_bgnd_2.zip
- 707_quieter_art.zip
- 708_disintegration.zip
- 709_more_flakes.zip
- 710_mask_ashes.zip
- 711_flakes_to_ash.zip
- 712_note_tool.zip
- 713_contour_map.zip
- 714_contour_grad.zip
- 715_contour_arb.zip
- 716_contour_riff.zip
- 717_smooth_contour.zip
- 718_contour_cash.zip
- 719_color_of_money.zip
- 720_AI_adjust.zip
- 721_computer_key.zip
- 722_key_type.zip
- 723_faux_hedcut.zip
- 724_hedcut_lines.zip
- 725_color_hedcut.zip
- 726_ET_moon.zip
- 727_ET_trees.zip
- 728_ET_TRex.zip
- 729_global_glow.zip
- 730_content_aware.zip
- 731_space_portal.zip
- 732_enhance_portal.zip
- 733_rushing_stars.zip
- 734_AIcc_puppet.zip
- 735_puppet_tricks.zip
- 736_complex_puppet.zip
- 737_puppet_shortcut.zip
- 738_pentagons.zip
- 739_reinhardt.zip
- 740_kershner.zip
- 741_james_pentagon.zip
- 742_rice_pentagons.zip
- 743_stein_pentagon.zip
- 744_15th_pentagon.zip
- 745_tessellate_15.zip
- 746_pentatiles.zip
- 747_mod_pattern.zip
- 748_complement_tiles.zip
- 749_image_pattern.zip
- 750_pattern_fit.zip
- 751_candy_keeper.zip
- 752_keeper_text.zip
- 753_monster_movie.zip
- 754_mono_halftone.zip
- 755_word_haunted.zip
- 756_cheat_letters.zip
- 757_alt_adjust.zip
- 758_scuba_mono.zip
- 759_backscatter.zip
- 760_sample_outside.zip
- 761_Ps_vector_logo.zip
- 762_trans_shapes.zip
- 763_photo_logo.zip
- 764_high_res_snow.zip
- 765_enhance_snow.zip
- 766_snowflake_bokeh.zip
- 767_mandala_ps.zip
- 768_mandala_pattern.zip
- 769_mandala_dots.zip
- 770_mandala_color.zip
- 771_mandala_final.zip
- 772_AI_trim_view.zip
- 773_AI_presentation.zip
- 774_global_edits.zip
- 775_global_control.zip
- 776_freeform_grads.zip
- 777_freeform_lines.zip
- 778_freeform_gotcha.zip
- 779_great_white.zip
- 780_sharper_shark.zip
- 781_vibrance_sat.zip
- 782_vib_sat_sharp.zip
- 783_hedcut_action.zip
- 784_action_actions.zip
- 785_color_lines.zip
- 786_combine_lines.zip
- 787_clip_to_group.zip
- 788_color_outside.zip
- 789_flip_horizontal.zip
- 790_white_walker.zip
- 791_walker_begins.zip
- 792_digital_shave.zip
- 793_deep_wrinkles.zip
- 794_deep_brows.zip
- 795_pale_lips.zip
- 796_glowing_blue.zip
- 797_lifeless_pupils.zip
- 798_cold_gloomy.zip
- 799_brittle_flakes.zip
- 800_trans_shapes.zip
- 801_range_mask.zip
- 802_flip_photo.zip
- 803_actual_dream.zip
- 804_augment_dream.zip
- 805_smart_distortions.zip
- 806_blend_distortions.zip
- 807_star_negative.zip
- 808_star_pattern.zip
- 809_shaded_stars.zip
- 810_grad_pattern.zip
- 811_pattern_fade.zip
- 813_gobstopper.zip
- 814_gobpattern.zip
- 815_galignment.zip
- 816_etched_lines.zip
- 817_blend_pattern.zip
- 818_cubical_holes.zip
- 819_grad_pattern.zip
- 820_iso_arrows.zip
- 821_position_tips.zip
- 822_fill_gaps.zip
- 823_cartoon_teeth.zip
- 824_triangle_eye.zip
- 825_add_windows.zip
- 826_perfect_tessellate.zip
- 827_triangle_tunnels.zip
- 828_triangles_pattern.zip
- 829_colorful_triangles.zip
- 830_recolor_triangles.zip
- 831_rainbow_blends.zip
- 832_pattern_blends.zip
- 833_imposs_trident.zip
- 834_shade_trident.zip
- 835_opposing_grads.zip
- 836_trident_shadows.zip
- 837_impossible_hex.zip
- 838_impossible_lattice.zip
- 839_Joan_Miro.zip
- 840_watercolor_wash.zip
- 841_Miro_signature.zip
- 842_Photoshop_Miro.zip
- 843_enlarge_Miro.zip
- 844_Miro_Peele.zip
- 845_color_Us.zip
- 846_red_rorschach.zip
- 847_finish_Us.zip
- 848_CAF_fails.zip
- 849_turkey_2019.zip
- 850_trace_hand.zip
- 851_articulated_hand.zip
- 852_colorful_hand.zip
- 853_paint_fingernails.zip
- 854_paint_turkey.zip
- 855_turkey_feathers.zip
- 856_drop_shadow.zip
- 857_Ps_iPad_1.zip
- 858_Ps_iPad_2.zip
- 859_Ps_iPad_3.zip
- 860_iPad_Sidecar.zip
- 861_Adobe_Fresco.zip
- 862_Fresco_halftones.zip
- 863_live_brushes.zip
- 864_oil_paint.zip
- 865_Fresco_masks.zip
- 866_repurpose_mask.zip
- 867_vector_brush.zip
- 868_fresco_ps.zip
- 869_auto_color.zip
- 870_ACR_pano.zip
- 871_correct_pano.zip
- 872_diffusion.zip
- 873_simplify_2020.zip
- 874_fill_gaps.zip
- 875_posterize.zip
- 876_paint_bucket.zip
- 877_nonD_poster.zip
- 878_dynamic_poster.zip
- 879_filmstrip.zip
- 880_awful_awesome.zip
- 881_rembrandt.zip
- 882_recolor_freeform.zip
- 883_recolor_group.zip
- 884_over_under.zip
- 885_dev_over_under.zip
- 886_3D_metal_star.zip
- 887_heavy_metal.zip
- 888_wonder_poster.zip
- 889_wonder_displace.zip
- 890_wonder_woman.zip
- 891_metadata_template.zip
- 892_edit_metadata.zip
- 893_quilt_warp.zip
- 894_warp_object.zip
- 895_gopro_images.zip
- 896_content_aware.zip
- 897_gopro_combo.zip
- 898_blend_vignette.zip
- 899_photo_painting.zip
- 900_cue_ball.zip
- 901_pool_ball.zip
- 902_stripe_ball.zip
- 903_transform_each.zip
- 904_recolor_pool.zip
- 905_pool_cues.zip
- 906_rotate_cues.zip
- 907_repeat_face.zip
- 908_rainbow_faces.zip
- 909_mask_lips.zip
- 910_single_many.zip
- 911_symmetrical_mask.zip
- 912_colorize_grads.zip
- 913_mask_grads.zip
- 914_lantern_type1.zip
- 915_lantern_type2.zip
- 916_lantern_type3.zip
- 917_blend_steps.zip
- 918_blended_blends.zip
- 919_reverse_order.zip
- 920_pattern_colors.zip
- 921_blend_pattern.zip
- 922_polygons.zip
- 923_equil_triangle.zip
- 924_mercedes.zip
- 925_star_ring.zip
- 926_perfect_star.zip
- 927_lets_review.zip
- 928_basic_shapes.zip
- 929_triangle_man.zip
- 930_paint_grads.zip
- 931_adv_grads.zip
- 932_trans_vectors.zip
- 933_free_distort.zip
- 934_dynamic_fx.zip
- 935_cats_eye.zip
- 936_cat_iris.zip
- 937_primitives.zip
- 938_zig_zag.zip
- 939_dynamic_hilight.zip
- 940_reptile_scales.zip
- 941_shade_eye.zip
- 942_variable_shade.zip
- 943_dragon_eye.zip
- 945_single_thumbnail.zip
- 946_ai_home.zip
- 947_unlock_object.zip
- 948_unlock_icon.zip
- 949_line_tool.zip
- 950_broken_candy.zip
- 951_candy_rhino.zip
- 952_wrap_pattern.zip
- 953_ice_shadows.zip
- 954_illustrator_ipad.zip
- 955_pencil_points.zip
- 956_ipad_blob.zip
- 957_ipad_pen.zip
- 958_grads_repeats.zip
- 959_color_grading.zip
- 960_grading_tricks.zip
- 961_blend_balance.zip
- 962_font_height.zip
- 963_camera_profile.zip
- 964_JPEG_raw.zip
- 965_match_detail.zip
- 966_Ps_line_tool.zip
- 967_troubleshoot_line.zip
- 968_blend_vectors.zip
- 969_curve_line.zip
- 970_point_glyphs.zip
- 971_area_glyphs.zip
- 972_snap_glyphs.zip
- 973_snap_letterform.zip
- 974_glyph_shape.zip
- 975_glyph_pen.zip
- 976_playing_cards.zip
- 977_scale_shape.zip
- 978_card_suits.zip
- 979_enhance_path.zip
- 980_power_symbol.zip
- 981_huge_artboard.zip
- 982_new_artboard.zip
- 983_triceratops.zip
- 984_pen_tricks.zip
- 985_round_corner.zip
- 986_draw_round.zip
- 987_reshape_round.zip
- 988_AI_brushed.zip
- 989_AI_rivets.zip
- 990_blend_grad.zip
- 991_binoculars.zip
- 992_blue_halo.zip
- 993_bi_aberrations.zip
- 994_hide_shapes.zip
- 995_subwoofer.zip
- 996_deep_cone.zip
- 997_gradient_frame.zip
- 998_hex_screws.zip
- 999_thats_all.zip
Contents
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860 Using an iPad as a Sidecar drawing tablet11m 37s
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861 Introducing Adobe Fresco for the iPad15m 27s
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862 Adobe Fresco paints halftone patterns9m 37s
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863 Live brushes in Adobe Fresco9m 36s
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864 Using oil brushes in Adobe Fresco5m 54s
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865 Masking layers in Adobe Fresco9m 47s
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866 Repurposing and inverting masks5m 25s
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867 Vector brushes in Adobe Fresco9m 7s
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868 Opening Fresco art in Photoshop8m 32s
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869 Customizing the Auto Color command6m 51s
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870 Camera Raw 12: Panoramas with fill edges9m 38s
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871 Developing your panorama in Camera Raw5m 53s
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872 Healing with Clone Source plus Diffusion8m 8s
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873 The improved Simplify command in Illustrator 20207m 25s
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874 Filling in any post-Simplify gaps4m 27s
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875 Posterizing colors, in the style of "Hair"11m 54s
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876 Recoloring art with the Paint Bucket tool5m 34s
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878 Adjusting your poster art dynamically6m 15s
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877 Posterizing colors nondestructively9m 8s
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879 Hiding the Filmstrip in Camera Raw4m 35s
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880 Making an awful photograph awesome10m 14s
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881 What if Rembrandt had painted sea lions?4m 43s
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882 Recolor a freeform gradient in Illustrator4m 58s
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883 Recoloring a gradient using a color group3m 24s
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884 Faking a GoPro over-under shot10m 20s
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885 Developing your over-under in Camera Raw4m 41s
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886 Drawing a 3D metal star in Illustrator14m 25s
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887 Rendering the 3D star in heavy metal5m 51s
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888 Creating a Wonder Woman 1984 poster effect9m 5s
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889 Creating the Wonder Woman displacement map15m 5s
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890 Masking your Wonder Woman11m 39s
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891 Creating a metadata template in Bridge9m 24s
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892 Streamlining a multi-use metadata template9m 29s
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893 The Photoshop 2020 freeform Warp enhancements12m 32s
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894 Applying a freeform Warp to a Smart Object7m 54s
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895 Rescuing a frame from a GoPro movie7m 49s
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896 Filling gaps with Content-Aware Fill7m 5s
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897 Two images are better than one13m 8s
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898 Blending images with a hand-drawn vignette4m 44s
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899 Creating a photographic painting12m 37s
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900 Drawing a gradient sphere as a 2D shape9m 49s
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901 Turning a sphere into a colorful pool ball7m 51s
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902 Changing a pool ball from solid to stripes8m 22s
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903 Rotate versus Transform Each in Illustrator9m 36s
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904 Recoloring your pool balls8m 20s
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905 Drawing a pool cue in Illustrator15m 43s
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906 Rotating with precision accuracy7m 28s
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907 Repeating a face so it shares a common eye11m 20s
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908 Continuous rainbow faces in Photoshop5m 42s
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909 Masking in the natural colors of the lips6m 8s
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910 Flipping a face to create new identities9m 8s
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911 Hand painting a symmetrical layer mask4m 18s
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912 Two ways to colorize with gradients6m 9s
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913 Two ways to mask gradient effects6m 40s
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914 Lantern tile: Type 1, onion7m 53s
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915 Lantern tile: Type 2, traditional6m 33s
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916 Lantern tile: Type 3, scallop4m 30s
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917 Quickly change the number of steps in Illustrator8m 22s
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918 Creating a blend inside a blend7m 44s
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919 Reversing the stacking order in Illustrator4m 32s
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920 Turning a blend into a repeating pattern12m 16s
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921 Recoloring a blended pattern5m 8s
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922 Precisely sizing any polygon in Illustrator9m 19s
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923 Creating a beveled, equilateral triangle11m 46s
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924 Turning a triangle into a Mercedes star9m 7s
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925 Adding a ring around the Mercedes star7m 57s
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926 Precisely sizing stars in Illustrator10m 20s
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927 Let's review that star technique5m 25s
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928 Creating real artwork with basic shapes9m 55s
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929 Making a face of triangles in Illustrator10m 18s
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930 Painting with gradients and translucency10m 34s
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931 More advanced gradients in Illustrator6m 52s
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932 Combining translucent vectors with a photo5m 30s
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933 Using the dynamic Free Distort filter9m 3s
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934 Combining dynamic effects in Illustrator6m 4s
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935 Creating a Halloween cat’s eye in Illustrator14m 35s
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936 Combining multiple gradient fills and effects8m 28s
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937 Tracing a photo with primitives in Illustrator11m 31s
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938 Halftone pattern and Zig Zag in Illustrator13m 5s
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939 Adding dynamic highlights to your cat’s eye10m 29s
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940 Blending reptile-like scales in Illustrator13m 42s
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941 Shading to your cat’s eye in Illustrator10m 53s
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942 Shading with variable-width strokes9m 10s
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943 Turning your cat’s eye into a dragon’s eye10m 40s
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944 Clearing the Photoshop Home screen5m 5s
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945 Hiding a single Home screen thumbnail3m 29s
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946 Clearing the Illustrator Home screen4m 4s
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947 A new way to unlock stuff in Illustrator5m
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948 Another way to unlock stuff in Illustrator2m 47s
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949 The new Line tool in Photoshop 202110m 43s
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950 Fixing a broken candy cane pattern4m 58s
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951 Creating a candy cane rhinoceros in Photoshop10m 4s
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952 Warping a pattern around an object4m 2s
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953 Adding some rippling, reflective ice shadows8m 35s
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