An Envato product by BlackNull

Thank you for downloading the Concept Sketch - Photoshop Action from Envato.
This guide will cover the installation and usage of the package. Check out also the video tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HuT_gARfyg

This Action set was tested on Photoshop CS3, CS4, CS5, CS6, all CC versions and It works with any language.

For any support request, feel free to send an e-mail through the contact form on my profile page:
http://graphicriver.net/user/BlackNull

Check out also my other Envato products at this link:

http://graphicriver.net/user/BlackNull/portfolio

-BlackNull-

Please don’t forget to rate this, the image below links to your download section!
INDEX | Each title is linked to the relative section, click them for a fast navigation.
- Installation

- Before Playing the action

- How to use the action

- Layer’s Structure

- Basic editing methods

- Details about the sub-groups

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INSTALLATION
1. Open Photoshop and the Actions panel (Window>Actions). On the Actions panel, click the menu icon at the
top-right corner, then select Load Action and select the file Concept Sketch - Action from your hard drive.

2. To install the brushes and patterns, go to menu Edit>Presets>Presets Manager.

In the Presets Manager, select Brushes as Preset Type, click Load, and select the file Concept Sketch - Brushes.

3. Still in the Presets Manager, change the Preset Type to Patterns and load the file Concept Sketch - Patterns.

BEFORE PLAYING THE ACTION

1. Open an image to work with and make sure that it has a good resolution from Image>Image Size, the action was
tested on images between 2000 and 5000 pixels. The largest one of the two parameters between width and height
should be inside this range, if not, change them in the Image Size panel and click OK.

2. Press B on your keyboard to select the Brush Tool and make sure in the top options bar that the parameters Opac-
ity and Flow are both 100%.

3. Make sure that the option Add copy to copied layers and groups is active. To do it click on the menu icon on the
top-right corner of the Layers Panel, then select Panel Options, select the option and click OK.

HOW TO USE THE ACTION

1. Make sure that the image’s layer is locked and is set as Background. To set a layer as Background go to menu
Layers>New> Background from Layer.

2. Create a new layer above it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+N on your keyboard (or CMD+Shift+N on Mac).
You can name it as you prefer, the action will rename this layer as focus area during the playback.

3. Open the Brushes panel (F5 on the keyboard) and select a brush with any color, you can use the first brush of the
set Concept Sketch - Basic Brush for this phase. Then with the new layer selected paint a focus area over the image,
the action will turn this area into the primary part of the sketch.
If you prefer, you can draw the area with a tool other than a brush for example, the Wand, Lasso, or Pen.

4. Before playing the action make sure to have only 2 layers in your file, the image and above it the highlighted area.
This is very important, if there are more than two layers the action won’t work properly.

5. Open the Actions panel, select the Concept Sketch action and click play!
The playback will take a couple of minutes and it can vary depending on the resolution of the image.

6. When the playback finishes the message Render Completed will appear, click Continue.

Right after the playback the layers panel will look messy, to quickly re-organize it hold ALT (or OPTION on Mac) and
click the arrow of the main group Concept Sketch - OUTPUT to close the group, then release ALT.
If you open again the group normally all the layers and groups will be re-organized.

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LAYERS STRUCTURE
Let’s take a quick look at the layers panel. Inside the Concept Sketch - OUTPUT group, there are several sub-groups:

- Color Corrections
- Post FX
- Paper Textures
- Data
- Construction Lines
- Details & Customization
- Hatching
- Outlines
- Coloring
- Paper

Hide each sub-group starting from the top to see what each one does.

In the next section we’ll see some operations that can be done to all Layers and Groups generated by the action,
this way the rest of the guide will be quicker. Just by using these simple methods you won’t be restricted to the re-
sult given after the playback and will be able to manipulate the image to fit your needs.

BASIC EDITING METHODS

EDIT LAYER BY LAYER: The action generates many layers that are packed in sub-groups, sometimes you don’t need
all of them for a great result. Take a quick look to each layers in the sub-groups one by one. When you see how each
layer is contributing to the final image, you will better understand which layer to adjust, enhance, or hide.

MASKS CHANNELS: All the layers and groups have a mask channel, some of them are just blank while others are
greatly affecting the final effect. You can use these masks to hide or reveal parts of a layer.
Click on the mask channel of a layer, select the Brush tool and either a white or black color, and paint over the im-
age. A black brush hides the painted parts of a layer, while a white brush reveals parts of it.
You can view the mask channel by ALT+clicking it on the layers panel (or Options+click on Mac), mute/unmute it by
Shift+clicking it and also invert it by selecting it and pressing CTRL+i (CMD+i on Mac).

BLENDING MODES & TRANSPARENCY: You can modify the blending mode and opacity/fill of all layers and groups by
using the controls in the top of the Layers panel or by double-clicking the layer and using the Layer Style dialog box.

DUPLICATION & TRANSFORM: Duplicate layers by pressing Ctrl+J (Cmd+J on Mac), then you can modify the dupli-
cate layer and mix it with the original one to make variations. You can also move, scale, and rotate layers with the
Transform tool. Select a layer and press Ctrl+T (Cmd+T on Mac) to use it.

Next, a quick description of each sub-group and how it can be modified. It starts from the bottom but there isn’t a
predefined sequence to do the editing.

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DETAILS ABOUT THE SUB-GROUPS
PAPER
This is just a simple solid color layer, you can change the default white color by double clicking the thumbnail.

COLORING
Inside this group there are some coloring layers, the main three are Color, Greyscale 1 and Greyscale 2.
By default they are all three visible, try different combinations of visibility and blending modes of these layers to
achieve different effects. For example keeping only Greyscale 2 visible will give a sort of flat black and white style.
The other three coloring layers Marker Strokes 1-2 and Add Shadows are very easy to understand, also with these
try different combinations of opacity and blending modes.
The group Coloring uses a mask to make the painted effect that can be personalized using the brushes of the set.
If you modify this mask and want to restore the original one there’s a copy of it in the layer Color Mask Backup.
There are several ways to copy it, a quick method is to select the mask channel of the backup, hold ALT on the key-
board and then drag the backup mask on the main mask to replace it.

OUTLINES
These layers can be edited using the basic methods. To make them visible also outside of the focus area double click
their mask channels and modify the Density parameter in the properties panel.

HATCHING
These five layers are made using five different patterns. You can edit the patterns by double clicking the layer or
directly the Pattern Overlay. In the layers panel you can modify the type of pattern, it’s blending mode, opacity and
scale. Also, while the Pattern Overlay panel is opened you can move the pattern by dragging it in the canvas.

DETAILS & CUSTOMIZATION

The first four layers will add some details to the sketch, modify them using the basic methods.
Custom Marker instead can be used to make your own coloring and add it to the original one, to do it select the
mask channel of the layer then the brush Concept Sketch - Custom Marker and paint on the image.
The layer above, Desaturate, can be un-hided to make the custom coloring black and white. Notice from the little
arrow icon that is has a clipping mask, if for error the clipping mask gets de-activated, you can restore it by right
clicking the layer and selecting Create Clipping Mask.
Custom Pen is a simple layer that can be used to draw your own strokes using the brush Concept Sketch - Custom
Pen. Both the custom brushes are responsive to graphical tablets.

CONSTRUCTION LINES
Edit these layers using the basic methods, not all of them are necessary for a nice result.
Each layer is provided of a Color Overlay layers style, use it to change their color.

DATA
These layers are all smart objects and can be edited using the basic methods. They are arranged in different posi-
tions around the canvas, select one and press Ctrl+T (or CMD+T on Mac) to move scale and rotate it in a position
that works nicely with your image.
Also here there’s a Color Overlay layers style for each layer to change the color very quickly.
For the layers both in Data and Construction Lines by using the basic editing methods of duplication, mask channels
and transformation it’s possible to create clones of them and make the final effect look more complex.

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PAPER TEXTURES
The usage of Paper Texture is very straightforward.
Paper Grid has three layers styles, use Pattern Overlay to change the parameters of the grid pattern, Color Overlay
to change the color of the grid and Stroke to modify the white border of the page.
Use the Pattern Overlay of the Crumpled Effect layer to change the parameters of it’s pattern.

POST FX
Use these layers to fine tune and balance the image, they are all adjustment layers that are very easy to use.

COLOR CORRECTIONS
These layers will give a final color grading and further control over the final look. A color correction is not always
necessary, but it can blend all the elements together and give a different tone to the image.

There’s a total of 14 color options. Un-hide one by one and choose your favourite, use the opacity parameter to tone
it down if it’s too strong.
The last two options Negative and Blueprint are each one made of 4 adjustment layers that can be modified to
achieve different effects, these two color options work better with the Coloring sub-group hidden.

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THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!