I have been asked that many times since the novellas were put out and our book hit the shelves. Ya wanna know? I'll show you! And better yet YOU'LL do it with me as I show you! This is How Does It Work: Art Edition, where I answer questions and try my best to show you what goes on in the mind of a crazy artist.
STEP 1: Create a new layer. (click on the icon next to the trash can at the bottom of the layers window). STEP 2: Make a circle selection whatever size you like, depending on how you want your eye to look. Think about how the eye works here. If you are in bright light you'll have a smaller pupil than if you were in a dark room. PAY ATTENTION HERE! Remember "Structure and Function" from biology class?... See, you DO use this stuff in real life! STEP 3: OK, now, place the pupil in the center of the iris, and fill with black. (To do this, select Edit->Fill and make sure the pop-up window reads "Black", "Normal", "100%") STEP 4: You can get rid of the circle selection by going to Select-->Deselect. STEP 5: OK, that's a bit crisp around the edges, which is good for bacon, but not pupils. So, go to and applyFilter-->Blur-->Gaussian Blur, 5 pixels or so should do it. STEP 6: Now, set the Layer adjustment to "Multiply".
Make a copy of this layer and go to Edit>Transform>Scale: click on and hold the bottom right corner box and drag it out until the little box touches the edge of the iris. Do the same for the top left corner box, drag out until it reaches the edge of the iris. Hit “Enter” to commit. The Pupil should now be about 2x as large as the original. Go to and apply Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation:
Colorize: Checked Hue:30 Saturation: 30 Lightness: 55
Hit OK and set Layer Adjustment to Color. Go to and apply Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur: 40 pixels should do it. Set layer Opacity to 75%. (just to the right of the Layer adjustment, top right of the Layers window) Cool isn’t it?
Want it to pop off the screen? OK, select the entire canvas (Ctrl-A) and go to Edit>CopyMerged: Paste on top of all the other layers (Ctrl-V) You just combined ALL the layers you were working on in to one layer without losing ALL your layers. May not sound like much now but when you have 264 layers going this is a good way to start combining them without losing the ability to go back and adjust them if needed. Set layer adjustment to Hard Light this time and my favorite part, go to and apply Filter>Other>High Pass: 3 pixels works for me.
Well, It has been fun! I have enjoyed... WHAT?!? An eye BALL! ... Ok, ya talked me into it.
Open a new document 1100 x 1100 pixels.
Create a new layer. Make a circle, with the circular marquee tool start at the top left corner and drag to the bottom right holding shift to keep it in a perfect circle, and fill with warm light grey: R 225
G 223
B 223
Hit Ok and fill (Edit>Fill make sure the pop up window says “Foreground Color”, “Normal”, “100%”) go to and apply Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss: Style: Inner Bevel Technique: Smooth Depth: 100% Direction: Up Size: 250px Soften: 16px Angle: 135° Altitude: 45° Highlight: Screen: #FFFFFF 100% Shadow: Multiply: #000000 35%
Bingo! A Simple eye ball.
If you want to work some more detail into this, simply start out with a larger canvas. This project was done roughly on a 500x500 pixel canvas at 150 dpi. I personally think that 300 dpi is loads of fun! Be sure and take your time and have fun with this. It makes a great screen saver! Amaze you friends freak out your mom. Play with the colors. I chose green. You can try blue, brown, lavender, red, golden. Whatever you want.
As for the pupil...after you get it done and looking good, hold down the shift key and click on all the layers that have the elements of the pupil on them. There should be two, maybe three; once the layers are lit in your Layer window press (Ctrl+T) to free transform. Then, click on the little box on the left middle and hold while dragging it to the left. Do the same for the top but stretch it. Looks like a dragon eye to me! You can also create a new layer and grab the brush tool (looks like a brush in the tool bar) once you have it play a bit at first and get the feel of it if you haven’t already...
Nugget o' info!!! The "curly bracket" keys on your key board (i.e. = { }) are your BEST FRIEND! They will quickly size your brush! Press (Shift+} and the brush edges get “harder”. Press Shift and{ and the brush gets “softer” Adjust your “Opacity” at the top of the main screen to make the “Paint” fade. On a new layer on top of your eye ball try a soft brush with a low about 20-30% opacity. The size depends on the size of your eye ball. Play with it a bit. Make sure your color selection is set to white. Now pick a spot you think would look good with a gleam of light and click once or twice. Play with it until it looks good.
Well that is it for this update. Keep working with this and get familiar with the different things we used here. As we progress I’ll show you how I painted the Novella covers of the 5 heroes from Skein of Shadows. DON”T MISS IT!!! Bring your friends Bring your neighbors. Feel free to contact me with questions if you need, I’ll be happy to answer. Or if you know a better way of doing something let me know.
