I first created these two billiard balls during my senior year of high school. I was taking a class called "ABOS" which stands for "Administrative Business Operating Systems." The class was basically about creating a yearbook for KRHS and about group process and webdesign.
I made this imaged based on the directions provided by my instructor (I didn't follow them completely though, naughty me). While I no longer have the directions the teacher provided, I can give a few basic steps from memory if you want to give it a try.
This tutorial is for Photoshop 7 (I think...)
Step 1: The background. While a background isn't mandatory, I wanted to make one based of the felt material on billiard tables. Typical colors include red, blue, and green. I am most familiar with green boards, so I chose green. Simply fill your canvas with the color of your choice. Go to effects in layers. FX->PATTERN OVERLY. Choose a felt like pattern and reduce the opacity.
Step 2: The basic shape. The 8 ball is fairly simple. Start by making a dark grey circle, then on a new layer make a light grey circle. Position the light circle where you would like the "8" to be. Using the text tool, add an 8. Merge the 8 text layer and the light grey circle. If it is near the edge, use TOOLS->SKEW, PERSPECTIVE, or DISTORT to make it look natural. When you are satisfied, merge the two circles together.
Step 3: Shading. Make a new layer and fill it with black, then add a mask and fill the mask with black. Lower the opacity of the mask down to around 50%. Go back to the ball and select outside of it, then go to SELECT->INVERSE. This will select the ball shape. Go back to the black mask. Select white for color, then using a fuzzy brush paint where you want the shadows to be. Shadows curve around the ball, sometimes living a little light on the bottom (from reflected light.) For the highlights, instead start with a white layer. Repeat steps for the mask.
If you would like to read other tutorials for making billiard balls, try here: Shiny 3D Snooker Ball and Creating a Billiard Ball in Photoshop.
Nathan DiYorio 12:42 pm
ReplyDeleteThe balls and their finely kept lawn are the only bits of cleanliness against the stained and dingy woodwork of the bar...
The officer, white and without a face, scrambles to alert the other fifteen that the monsters are coming. The giants.
Nathan DiYorio 12:46 pm
Terrible grunting beasts with coarse beards whose bodies smell of rot and liquor. Smoke billows from their mouths like from an oil factory. They squint and grin, dripping yellow juice from their mouths. Sometimes the rowdier ones toss their fellows away from the valley.
They poke at the helpless balls. Clanging and clacking them around the valley, bouncing them off ridges, sometimes even chucking them into the other poor valley across the Expanse.
The Officer hurries, hoping to get those under his protection into their homes before the Giants can drop them over the ridge, and they are lost forever...