Behind The Brush:
New Tips, Techniques & Tutorials Every Week
Today is the start of our 2021 Sculpting Magic Workshop. Over the past 16 years we have held something like 30 sculpting and sign making workshops.
And, from experience, we know the next three days will be intense — early mornings and late nights spent sculpting, painting, learning and (of course) having fun!
When Mark attended our workshop, he was in the process of moving to Hawaii. We figured we would celebrate his move with a tropical theme. After a little head scratching, we settled on a palm leaf for his name plate. The lettering style is very casual and the leaf was quickly drawn directly in EnRoute.
We took a screen capture of the result and then used a big fat, soft brush to draw the leaf’s outline on a new layer in Adobe Photoshop.
When creating bitmap textures, it is important to keep in mind that black does nothing, white will raise up (or lower down) the most and various greys will sit somewhere between those extremes.
After deleted the screen capture layer, we saved the bitmap so that it would be ready to be imported it into EnRoute.
Next, we selected the vector and created a flat relief.
After this, we used the oval vector to modify the leaf relief with the dome tool.
Next we imported bitmap we had created earlier and positioned over the leaf shape. We used a .75" value in the parameters which meant it raised up the white .75"
Combined with the previous dome shape, it was looking pretty fine!
The separate stem relief was created next using the dome tool. The resulting relief was modified with the oval vector and then nudged to the right height.
The lettering outline was next, first as a flat relief and then modified with the oval.
Then he oval vector was used to create a plaque for the background. We used the bevel tool but limited the height to give the plaque a bevelled edge.
Lastly, everything was “merged highest” before we added the slightly domed lettering.
Kara’s workshop panel features a flowing script over a pattern of fall leaves.
The bottom border was created as a flat relief and a slight dome was added to the centre.
The text’s outline of the lettering was also created as a flat relief and then modified using a similar sized oval.
The lettering border and the plaque were created separately so they could be floated intoto final position after the leaf texture was applied.
The maple leaf bitmap texture is another from our Texture Magic: Classic Collection. When applying the texture in EnRoute, it’s important to remember that the whites raise the highest, then the greys and the black does nothing.
After applying the texture, the lettering’s border was nudged into position vertically and then merged with the background.
Finally the bevelled script lettering was added finishing the file.
The panel was routed from 1.5" 30 lb. Precision Board HDU in about 30 minutes. This heavy board leaved superb detail and requires little finishing.
Custom Design & Construction
