I’ve been touching up photos for years using the rubber-stamp tool and healing brush. Last year I got a job working for modeling agency where I needed to touch up a grip of photos in a short amount of time. I found a quick and easy way to get that traditional airbrushed look while keeping the costs down for the company.

First off I just want to say, the use of traditional photography for models is sooooo much more attractive. Companies like Urban Outfitters use freckles and blemishes to show natural beauty on their models, and it’s so much more attractive than the plastic skin look. But, not all companies feel that way, so if you’ve got to clean up some skin, here’s the easiest way to do it.

Examples:

Here’s a couple examples of before and after photos using the process:

How To:

After you open up your photo in Photoshop, duplicate the layer.

After it’s duplicated, go to your filter menu and open up Gaussian Blur.

Adjust the blur depending on the photo. You want it to discard all detail in the photo but don’t blur it enough to kill the shadows and color values in the face.

Once you’ve blurred the image add a layer mask to the layer.

Once you’ve created the layer mask fill it with black.

Next, choose a feathered brush at 30% opacity and choose white as the color fill. The size of the brush varies on the space you’re filling, I adjusted the brush size throughout the entire image. Just color in the layer mask using white and let a little more and more of the top layer show through. When doing this there is a key thing to keeping this realistic. Do not color over the lips or the eyes or the hair (unless necessary). The detail in the eyes and lips create a realistic contrast between the skin and the lips making it seem like the whole image is in focus and crisp, but the skin is so soft and clean that it doesn’t show any detail.

If the model has a bunch of stray hairs stringing off her head you can brush over those to make the hair look thicker and fuller, but I think seeing the detail in the hair helps with the realism and makes it seem natural.

After a good amount of playing around with your brushes, your final image should look like this:

Another helpful tip on enhancing the model is to bring out the color in his/her eyes. This model has beautiful eyes, but you can use the same process as above (minus the blurring) to color select the eyes. One you have them selected you can use hue/saturation to bring out the color and make them pop.

Summer’s here, and if you haven’t already planned and branded your summer events, it’s not too late. If you’re on a tight deadline or on a budget, it’s still not too late to start promoting! I’ve been able to drop prices on many of my most popular products and I have a slew of extremely high quality and highly affordable products that I’ll be offering in the early fall. If your summer is already planned out, be sure to get started early on Fall promotion.

Price Drops and Product Updates

I’ve been able to decrease the price on business cards, letterheads, brochures, envelopes and postcards. I’m also able to do short runs on almost any and all products (excluding custom silver or spot glossing). I’m also able to offer a faster turnaround, even same day on some products. For those of you that don’t know, not only do I offer 16pt cardstock, but I can also offer extremely rare and impressive printing techniques. If you’re interested in pricing on any of these products, e-mail (hello (at) dunlapstudios dot com) me your preferred quantity and turnaround and I’ll get you a quote right away.

New Products and Products On the Horizon

I’m now able to offer car magnets, coroplast yard signs, indoor and outdoor vinyl banners and movie theater style gloss posters in all shapes and sizes at extremely affordable pricing. No minimum quantity, and turnaround is just as fast as my small format products.

In the next few weeks I’ll be offering plastic business cards, silk heavy laminated 16pt cardstock (spot uv capable), new presentation folders, new stickers and new magnets. And… you’ve got to try my new EndurACE 10pt paper, and extremely resilient material that is waterproof, fade resistant and extremely hard to tear (I know from experience), perfect for menus, business cards and door hangers.

Dunlap Studios Summer Promotion

On top of dropping my prices, I’m also offering 15% off of any order placed between now and September. I will also be including a free order of 500 16pt full color/full gloss business cards with every order over $500 between now and September. Just mention this posting when contacting me for an order. What are you waiting for? hello (at) dunlapstudios dot com

I think I’ve started each post from the past 6 months with an apology for not posting and promise to post more. I’d really love to post more and I thank all of my readers and subscribers for checking my site from time to time. However, if I’m not posting then I’m busy and it’s good to be busy.

Here’s an update with Dunlap Studios, I’ve currently knee deep in work right now… and loving it. I’m at the point now where I’m scheduling days ahead and picking and choosing the projects I want to take, which is a blessing because for awhile there I was doing EVERYTHING…. and you can’t be good at anything if you’re trying to take on everything. I’ve also made a point to give myself more free time, allowing more times with friends and keeping my daughter my top priority. It’s not easy trying to bring in business and keep customers happy while they’re always at second place, but I think I’m doing very well juggling them around.

I WILL be posting some more recent work very soon. I am finishing up another illustration for Orgivation Magazine, which I’ve done two pieces for before. You can view my Buckcherry piece HERE and my Breathe Carolina piece HERE. I’ve also did a massive rebranding for a East Bartlesville Christian Church which has required a lot of design and printing. Each time I want to post up my work for them I add more to the portfolio. You can view EBCC’S website by clicking HERE, it as well as all of the other projects were designed by my partnership with MyNameIsVince, IndieWebStudio. Yet another project still not off the ground, but it’s coming! I also have a personal portfolio site and some other personal projects I’d like to finish up before the end of this month. Keep a look out… stay classy San Diego.

View recent branding projects after the jump:

Eika is an extremely talented artist, both traditional and digital. I found her work refreshing, but I think her environmental installations are the most inspiring features. They’re compilation projects with an artist referred to as Elay.

Eika’s work can be viewed Here. Her poster compilations can be viewed Here.

Here’s my 7th installment for Make Something Cool Every Day… I already did one for today, but this one is for tommorrow. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, so I figured I should get it out of the way today. I’m extremely happy with this piece, I think it’s the best I’ve done for the series. I created it off a quote from the book “The Little Prince”, my friends Nathaniel and Justine’s favorite book. So this one’s for you guys!

Check out the images after the break.

Also, prints are available on any of the MSCED pieces, just contact me. And, this took a lot of experimenting so if anyone wants a tutorial let me know.

So, I’d like to explain the video, but it pretty much says it all. I wish my mic was better on my webcam so you could hear the voices better. It was really creepy, you can tell I was scared because my eyes look like they’re trying to escape my head.

The voices stopped all at once like 10 minutes later, but the storm is still raging on. If you’re in Arizona I’m hoping you’re enjoying the wind as much as I am.

I found out this week that Warner Bros. is releasing a film adaptation this year of one of my favorite childrens books, Where The Wild Things Are. After searching around I found the first movie poster, along with several shots from the movie. It seems like it’s going to be incredible, it kind of has a Tim Burton feel to it.

Check out the poster and shots after the jump….

I’ve also been hearing some rumors that they’ll be showing the first teaser trailer this weekend… not sure if it’s true, but check out the Where The Wild Things Are site for updates.

]]> http://dunlapstudios.com/2009/03/23/wild/feed/ 0 http://dunlapstudios.com/2009/03/09/as-tall-as-cliffs/ http://dunlapstudios.com/2009/03/09/as-tall-as-cliffs/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:20:04 +0000 Drew Dunlap http://dunlapstudios.com/?p=429 So, I’ve been way hard at work lately, both with my design, but I’ve also started a new music project that has been taking up a huge amount of my time. So, sorry for the lack of posts lately, but it’ll be worth it in a couple weeks. Once I have my new project(s) off the ground, I’ll have a lot to talk about, and A LOT to show you. Until then, I’ve got something better.

This is another one of my favorite bands, Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s. Searching around through some videos tonight I found an incredible one they did for take-away shows. This is a fantastic live set, played outside and it seems like they got the whole town to grab an instrument and get involved. Hope you guys enjoy it, and if so, definitely grab their albums, you won’t be disappointed.

Until then check out this video from Manchester Orchestra. I’m not big about music videos or trying to keep up to date on videos, but I stumbled across this the other day and the way they did it is fantastic. Manchester Orchestra is one of my favorite bands, and this video really does the song justice. If you don’t listen to them definitely give this video a chance to see what you’re missing out on. I couldn’t find who the artist or production company is that’s behind this, so if you know please comment so I can give credit where it’s due.

Long time, no post! I’ve been crazy busy these past couple weeks and I haven’t had time for the blog. Right now I’m posting at 3AM while I’m printing 1000 booklets at my full-time, and this is my second late night printing in a week.

I’ve decided to start a new segment in which I post a recent piece that I’ve completed. I’m planning on doing it pretty often, but we’ll see… Check out this poster for Iron and Wine after the jump.

To be honest, this wasn’t a comissioned piece. I was practicing a new illustration style, so I decided to try it on one of my favorite artists, Sam Beam, the man behind Iron and Wine.

The drawing process spanned out over the course of three days. When I started the sketch on the first day, I sent a proof to Sam’s manager. He said to go with it and he’ll put it in the tour archives. The current dates are just placeholders, that show has actually came and went.