THE MAGIC OF LINE

Creating an Optical Illusion

Step 1: Create a new Photoshop document with the following specifications: 1. Name: LINE-Optical Illusion 2. Size: 8.5 x 8.5 inches 3. Resolution: 150 4. Background Color: White 5. Leave all other defaults as listed. Step 2: Select the gradient tool, and create a vertical Linear Gradient in Black/White. Apply the Gradient to your canvas.

Step 3: Next lets apply a Filter to create our Sunburst effect. 1. Go to Filter > Distort > Wave 2. In the dialogue box, choose Square as Wave Type 3. Move the Wavelength slider UP to increase the number of stripes and the size of the stripe. (I used 186/187) 4. Move the Amplitude slider UP to remove the gradient between the stripes. The MIN needs to be at least 100 below the MAX to remove all of the gradient effect. (I used 836/941) Step 4: Now we can create the Sunburst effect! Go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates. Set it to Rectangular to Polar. VERY Cool! Step 5: 1. Use the Magic Wand tool to select EACH white section. HINT: Hold SHIFT to select more than one item at a time. 2. Create a NEW BLANK LAYER. 3. To create our outlines we will use Edit > Stroke with the following settings: a. Size: 5 px b. Color: Black c. Position: Outside 4. Hide the Background Layer (HINT: Eyeball!) to view your new outlines. This will become our new working canvas! Step 6. Now were going to practice the PEN TOOL to create all of the arcs for our illusion. 1. Select the Pen Tool. In the Options bar, make sure Paths and Pen Tool are both selected. 2. Click to drop your first anchor point on one of your lines, where youd like to start your first arc. 3. Click on the line directly opposite the first anchor point and without releasing the mouse , DRAG down and to the right to create an arc shape. **Note that you have only drawn a Path, not an actual line.**

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Go to the Paths tab of the Layer Palette. You should see an icon with your path. Choose the Brush Tool and use the following Settings: a. Size 5 px b. Hardness 100% In the Paths tab, choose the solid circle at the bottom left (HINT: Stroke Path with Brush **You MUST do your brush settings first!) Now click the Trash Can to Delete Path (click YES or just hit enter). Continue creating arcs around your sunburst lines. They should be in the OPPOSITE direction for each triangular shape as shown in the example below:

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(HINT: Rotate your canvas as you work if youre getting frustrated with dragging the pen tool for the horizontal sections! Image > Image Rotation > 90 CW) Heres the finished line drawing, ready for color:

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Choose two nicely contrasting colors for your design. Use the Paint Bucket to fill each segment. Alternate color segments with white segments. Continue around the entire design.

Step 8: For a finishing touch, were going to add some shading to our design. 1. Click the Brush tool and choose the following settings: a. Brush: Air Brush 75 Tilt Size & Angle b. Size: You choose! Mine was about 30-35 c. Blend Mode: Multiply d. Opacity: 40 e. Flow: 100 2. 3. 4. Use the Magic Wand to Select a white section to pain with shading. (HINT: Selecting the white eliminates the problem of painting out of the lines.) Create a New Blank Layer. Begin brusing on shading VERY lightly. Each stroke of the brush darkens the shading. nd I did two passes with my brush tool; the 2 pass was a little bit farther away from the first to darken the shading nearest the black line. Continue around your white sections, matching the shade color to the color section.

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Change the Opacity of this layer as needed for the most pleasing effect. I like the shading in the 30-50 percent range. This may be different for you depending on how much you added/the color/etc. Finishing Up Continue shading each color section until all white areas have a shadow effect. Adjust opacity to taste. AndVoila! Very cool optical illusion! Print one copy Full Page for grading & presentation!

This project adapted for Photoshop from an art project by Jen Runde at http://rundesroom.blogspot.com All Photoshop Tutorial text and artwork Angie Amos