Digital Collage in Photoshop Composition and Visual Effects By Nick Pedersen

Create fantastic worlds with a meaningful message through montage and retouching

“My artwork is primarily inspired by my experience with nature and environmentalism, motivated by my concern for the future due to the effects of climate change, pollution, deforestation and other environmental impacts humans have had on the planet.”

Nick Pedersen is a digital artist and illustrator who uses collage to depict the modern conflicts of man and nature. In this course, he teaches how to create elaborate, realistic digital compositions with a strong and meaningful message. Using Photoshop, learn Nick’s professional techniques for creating award-winning digital collages for brands like Adobe, Vogue, and Patagonia.

About this course Start your course by meeting Nick and learning about his experience as an artist. He takes you through some of his most interesting projects and presents you to a few of his favorite artists in the fields of photography, digital imaging, and contemporary art. Then, learn about the general structure of this course and get prepped for your digital collage.

Discover how to add messages and meaning to your images and learn how to start building a concept by making sketches and a moodboard. Explore some essential concepts for photography and collage like the rule of thirds and the golden ratio. Nick shows you where to gather high-quality source material and how to organize and edit your visual resources.

Take a look at the Photoshop workspace, see how to set up a background template, and learn how to import images with Camera Raw. Practice some different techniques for making selections and separating an image from its background using layer masks. Then, see how to build and compose your layers to create a complete layout for your collage.

In the final unit, focus on using retouching techniques to add depth, dimension, and unique finishing touches to your image. Take a look at some useful repair tools and filters before seeing how to use adjustment layers for color, contrast, and lighting. Discover how to apply special effects using blending modes for shadows, highlights, and other techniques for enhancing your project. Close the course by learning how Nick finishes his images and prepares them for different mediums, from social media to large-scale prints.

What is this course’s project? Create a unique, eye-catching digital collage using your own photographs or images from online resources.

Who is it for? This course is for photographers, designers, illustrators, and aspiring digital artists who are interested in learning the basics of high-end compositing and retouching.

What you need To take this course, you will need some basic knowledge of digital photography and image handling (importing, organizing, etc.). Notions of Adobe Photoshop are also nice to have.

You will need a computer with Photoshop installed. Adobe Bridge, Lightroom, and a graphics tablet are also recommended, but not essential.