Digital Toolbox Special: Photoshop at the Pro Level

2. MAKING THE FACES

Because comedy and tragedy masks are so iconic and recognizable, I did some research to come up with a reference. Before I could start, I had to answer the question: What would the comedy and tragedy masks look like if they were made out of bubbles and foam? Once I had a sense of what I wanted, I drew a very basic mask-shaped template that I could use for position. With that on its own layer, I could turn it on and off as I added bubbles on top of it. Because I had lots of photographs of glasses with different amounts and types of bubbles in them, I had a lot to work with. I would grab a section of a glass, drop it into place, and mask it off completely. Then I would use the brush tool to bring back the bubbles where I needed them. To make them blend, I set the Blend mode to Screen, which retains the highlight information of the bubbles without obscuring the subtleties of the beer’s midtones.