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Chrishankhah — How to Create Iridescence...
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Published: 2011-08-26 09:04:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 51985; Favourites: 705; Downloads: 378
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Description
I was attempting to explain to =Artha-Amberose how she might achieve an iridescent look to the wings of her characters using Photoshop, but being long-winded as I usually am, this didn't work out so well. She asked me if I could create a tutorial so that she could have a more visual understanding of my explanation.... So as with everything, I got carried away.
In retrospect, I just wish I had read a tutorial on creating tutorials, first.
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Here is an example of what this tutorial can achieve!
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Comments: 71
Tried it. [link] (for the magical fairy wings) 
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Oh, I can't wait to try this out. 8D I especially like that you don't just say "I do this, but do what's best for you!" You actually give us other options to try out. 8)
Thank you so much for sharing this, I know it'll come in handy!
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Thank you for noticing!
I do love artistic freedom: But I also know that too much off the bat will keep people from actually learning and grasping a concept. People at least need to see how something is done, and how it is done another way, and another way.
This is because years ago, before I graduated High School (and art,) I had a very difficult teacher who gave what seemed like boring and meticulous assignments, and another teacher who let everyone do what they wanted, bar none. Believe it or not, my art thrived under the hard teacher. The other guy just didn't give any sort of challenge and so I had no kind of guidance. It turns out that all of those meticulous and formatted things was just what we needed to get our minds started out in the right direction.
Art is art -- it always ends in creativity and artistic license, I don't know anyone who doesn't eventually set an artist free. But I think actually understanding how different techniques are used and different looks achieved can make the end result really shine.
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The tutorial is pretty good, and it does explain things quite well. The user would probably have to be familiar with Photoshop tools in order to understand the terms like "linear burn" and the various layer filters, but it's good for anyone who's got at least some experience. My favourite part about this is how you show the reader different looks that you can give the feathers, and how to do them. Good job!
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Thank you so much!
I know exactly what you mean; I actually thought about those things after I posted this and wondered when someone would point that out. It's like when I start talking about theology and spew out all kinds of terms that people have never heard before, because of my own crazy level of familiarity.
I wish I could have gone into those kinds of details. Normally I can be absurdly detailed. (I have an old pet peeve about how people always tell me to be more concise, then the second I am more concise, they yell at me for leaving something out. XD) So for this, I just tried to keep it simple.
(Well... That, and I initially made the tutorial for just one friend, who understands these things already! lol. That's mostly why, really.)
I put it up though because, (apart from not wanting the work to go to waste,) I figured that anyone attempting these kinds of complicated effects would need to have some knowledge of the basics, anyway. That's because this tutorial itself is more like a guideline -- there are so many different looks and effects that can come about, and everything will need to be perfected and tweaked according to a person's style. Even I don't follow the same method every time I do it. (That may be that's just me, and my chaotic, unstructured way of thinking. XD)
Anyway... 
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I'm going to try to use it eventually myself, but not yet, because I don't have a decent 'bonhomme with the feathery wings' pic yet, so it'll be a while. Oh well. Guidelines are always good. Practically every tutorial in art is actually a guideline since there's never an actual specific way to do things.
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I have trouble with it too. (In my opinion, the person I made the tutorial for has a much better grasp on it than I do, even.) However, this tutorial should theoretically work with more than feathery wings, though I think it goes best with anything that's at least textured. For instance, I think it should work very well with hair.
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Cool! I'll have to try out some of these techniques sometime!!
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Your artwork is very impressive, so let me know if you do! I'd love to see how it turns out!
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aw thanks! 
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I'd really like to try this sometime
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Thanks! It was a lot of fun to create. Let me know if you try it, I'd love to see what comes out
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^-^ I'll be sure to! I don't have Photoshop, but I do have Photoshop Elements, could I do this tutorial using that? I don't really know how to use it either, I've tried playing around with it once or twice but I got confused after 20 minutes XD
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You could certainly try! I don't know if elements has all of the same options, though
It's the filters that are key to this working.
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Let me know how it works out for you! I was hoping Artha would be on to tell me, but she went to bed 45 minutes before I completed it, haha.
I need to make sure I didn't somehow imagine the whole darn tutorial up. XD
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Of course I'll let you know. After a gruelling session at the gym, I think I'd be more than happy to paint rainbows ;D
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I wanted to find an icon under the "emoticons" list that would aptly fit the glee I felt at the term "Paint rainbows ..."
But somehow, I found this weirdly more applicable icon instead:
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...Yes I think that works quite well to be honest xD
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