Photoshop and illustrator tutorials.

Desciption:
Easy way to make a semi-realistic cateye using Adobe Photoshop CS. Good way to learn about pentools, transperancies etc.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: Make a new document, size: 500 x 500 px.

2: Fill the current layer with black.

3: Make a new layer (control + shift + N). Double click on it and call it: “eye_base”.

4: Take the oval selection tool (right click on the rectangle selection tool), and draw a good
    sized circle that fills the center of your document. (You can of course, also choose your
    own size, but a big circle works better than a small one, since you can take notice of small
    details.)

    Do NOT deselect the circle.

5: Now while still selecting the circle, go to: Filters > Render  > Clouds. Keep repeating this

   (control + F) until you got something that looks like a good eye structure like this:

 6: Make a new layer, and while still having the circle selected, move it a bit to the left.

    Fill this second circle with this color: # F1EDED. You should come up with a light, neutral grey color.
    In your layer overview, move this new layer, between the bottom black and “eye_base” layer.

 Your document should look like this:

7: Go back to the “eye_base” layer and press: control + U. The hue and saturation box should
    pop up. Check the colorize box and use these settings:

Hue: 86

Saturation: 41

Brightness*: -5

 

*: I used the Dutch version of Photoshop. So brightness might be called differently in the version you use.

 8: Copy “eye_base” layer and flip it horizontally. Now change it opacity to: Hue
    Merge the both layers by pressing control + E.

 9: Now comes a part which might be tricky for people that haven’t used the pentool in
   Photoshop yet. Even if you have experience with it from Adobe Illustrator, it works quite
   differently.

 Here is what you should do:

Select the pentool (by pressing P). Go to the center of your “eye_base” layer. Now make a shape that looks like the pupil of the cats eye.
Click once to set the first dot. Now while keeping the shift button down (to align the second dot with the first) click a good way above the first dot. Don’t release the mousebutton, but do release shift. Now, drag the mouse to the upper right corner of the screen, until you have half a pupil.

Deselect the first half, and copy its layer. Now, flip this copy horizontally, and place it right next to the first half.

You should come up with this:

10: Hide all layers, but keep the pieces of the eye visible. Now press control+shift+E, to
 merge the parts of the eye. Name this layer: “pupil”. Copy this layer, and place it under
      “pupil”. Make it a bit bigger that the original one, and give it this color: # 4E3B16.
      Place it so, that you can see it like an edge around the “pupil” layer. Name this layer:
      “pupil_base”.

 11:  Now, open up a new image in a new document. DO NOT CLOSE THE EYE DOCUMENT! BUT MINIMALIZE IT. Now, this new image can be anything. I use this one:

We use this new image, to make a nice realistic reflection in the cats eye.
Take the rectangle lasso tool, and make a moonshaped selection on the new image. You can place it on any part of it you want. Now, press control+C to copy this selection.

Go to your cateye document and paste the selection in it.

Name this new layer: “reflection”, and set its transparency to: 47%. Place it on the left side of the eye.

It should look like this:

12: Make a new layer. Go to the upper right corner of the pupil. Now use the rectangle lasso tool again. And make a triangular shaped selection. Fill this selection with pure white, and set its transparency to: 41%.

 NOTE: You can be creative with the shape, it doesn’t need to be a perfect triangle.

 13: Now, go to Image > Imagesize and set the size to about 100-120 pixels. You should now come up with an document of about the size of an real cateye. If also makes it seem more realistic. It will not become a fully realistic eye, merely a semi-realistic one, but it is good enough for most projects.

 Now you can do cool things with it. How about implanting them in a human face?