Apr 27 2009
Adobe Photoshop Tip– The Lord of the Rings Tutorial
In the land of MacMerc, in the fires of Mount Dude, the Dark Lord RickMacMerc forged in secret a master Ring tutorial, to control all others. And into this Ring tutorial he poured his custom shape, his layer effects and his methods to bring the Ring to life. “One Ring Tutorial to rule them all.” The Tutorial stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and you will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the user is true.
The Lord of the Rings Tutorial: The Photoshop of the Ring
Start by downloading the three layer styles we will be using:
The Inner Ring, The Outer Ring and the Elvish Writing.
Also download the custom Ring Shape that I drew up for you in Illustrator.
All of these will come into play very soon but we might as well get them ready now. In Photoshop, create a new document that is 7 x 5″ and 300ppi in RGB Color Mode. The background contents don’t really matter this time …White …Transparent …I’ll leave it up to you.
Grab the Custom Shape tool but before you draw anything, specify that you would like your shape to be a Shape Layer and load the Ring Shape you downloaded into the Custom Shape Picker via its flyout menu. Also open the Style Picker in the Options bar and load and select the Outer Ring layer style you downloaded. Also make sure to set the color to Black in the window just to the right of the Style Picker
Now we’re ready to draw. Click and hold your cursor in the upper left area of the canvas, hold down the Shift key as you drag to the lower right, creating a shape about 6″ wide and almost 4″ high. Release your mouse button and then the Shift key.
The Lord of the Rings Tutorial: The Two Layers
So bright, so beautiful, our precious.
In the Layers Palette, you’ll see the shape you created as a layer with attached style items. Rename this layer “Outer Ring”. Duplicate this layer, name it “Inner Ring” and drag it below the Outer Ring layer in the Layers Palette.
With the Inner Ring layer selected in the Layers Palette, open the Styles Palette and load the Inner Ring style you downloaded earlier. Apply this style to the Inner Ring layer. Not impressed? Click the Move Tool and then go Edit>Transform>Rotate 180°. Happy now?
The Lord of the Rings Tutorial: The Return of the Bling
The Ring is mine.
Now it’s time to add the Elvish writing to the ring and here a lot depends on you and what you decide to engrave upon the ring. You should also consider what kind of type you would like to use. Thomas W. Otto, the fontsmith that made the Matrix Code font used in the Matrix Code Retooled Photoshop tutorial, also has a nice Elvish Ring font available. You might also consider using Zapfino which comes with Mac OS X or better yet, if you have it in your font library, Sloop.
Select the Outer Ring layer in the Layers Palette. Then choose the Horizontal
Type tool and, in the Options bar, set the font you have chosen, start with a type size of 18pt, a Smooth anti-alias method and a Center alignment. Again, the color won’t really matter—just make sure you’ll be able to read it on the Ring. Click the cursor in the center of the Ring’s band and type the inscription you will be using. Try to type enough to cover just a bit less than the width of the ring…no more, no less. If you can’t fill the width, you have my permission to scale a bit.
With the Text tool still active, click the Warped Text button to call up the Warp
Text menu. Set the warp style to “Arc” and adjust the bend of the warp into the negative percentages until it follows the curve of the outer ring.
Don’t worry if the text is in the wrong place, just make sure that it has the same curve. Also adjust the Vertical Distortion by a few negative degrees to overcome the circular tilting effect that the arc puts on the type—we want the text to stand tall on a curved line. Once it looks nice, click OK.
Select the Move tool once more and drag the text into position so that it runs around the outer ring midway between the top and bottom edges of the band. Now load and apply the Elvish Writing style to this text layer from the Styles palette.
Once you group your text layer to the Outer Ring layer by hitting Command-G while the text layer is selected, you quest will be at an end. Well done, hobbit.
