1. Turning a Person into a Silhouette
                                    
                                        Masking a person from a white background
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Smoothing out the edges of a jagged mask
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                2. Making the Silhouette Fly
                                    
                                        Adding power and motion with Liquify
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Puppet warping the legs closer together
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Applying a perspective-style transformation
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Smoothing and removing details with Liquify
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                3. Painting the Body and the Face
                                    
                                        Filling and stroking the silhouette
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Drawing with the Pen and Brush tools
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Hand-painting the face
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Refining brushstrokes with Median and Minimum
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                4. Creating a Dramatic Background
                                    
                                        Adding complementary colored clouds
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Drawing a handful of spikes in Illustrator
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Creating a burst pattern with Transform
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Adjusting the spikes for a better effect
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Bringing the burst pattern into Photoshop
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                5. Adding the Grill Lines
                                    
                                        Creating the extreme paths for the grill lines
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Blending the grill lines in Illustrator
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Correcting potential blending problems
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Bringing the blended paths into Photoshop
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Simulating pressure when stroking paths
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Contouring the grill lines onto the face
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                6. Drawing Hands
                                    
                                        Drawing a hand with the Pen tool
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Converting the hand path to a shape layer
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Finishing off the hands and gloves
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                7. Adding the Flames
                                    
                                        Blend, scale, and rotate photographic flames
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Filling in gaps with symmetrical flames
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Shooting flames out of the hero's hands
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Stroking the composite flames
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                8. Every Composition Needs Refinement
                                    
                                        Drawing cartoon flames as a shape layer
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Enhancing the flames with layer effects
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Adjusting Puppet Warp and Expansion
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                9. The Monologue and Talk Balloons
                                    
                                        Installing a free comic-lettering font
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Formatting the monologue text
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Drawing the talk balloons (a.k.a. speech bubbles)
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                10. Creating a Custom Font
                                    
                                        Selecting a font-creation software
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Drawing consistently rendered letterforms
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Pasting the letters into Glyphs Mini (Mac only)
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Copying capitals into lowercase positions (Mac only)
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Generating an OpenType font (Mac only)
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Stylizing the custom font in Photoshop
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                            
                                Conclusion
                                    
                                        Time lapse of the retro superhero
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                                    
                                        Until next time
                                            
                                                ()
                                            
                                            
                                    
                             
                     
                        
                                
                                    Ex_Files_Retro_Superhero.zip
                                    
                                        (1.6 GB)