How to Make Blue Silk in Photoshop

Mimic silk folds in Photoshop with the gradient tool.

Silk fabrics have their own sheen and luster. In traditional media, artists would paint folds with peaks of light color and valleys of dark colors to mimic that sheen. Photoshop's gradient tool gives the digital artist a quick method to accomplish the same effect.

Instructions

Gradient Tool

1. Create a new document.

2. Select the gradient tool. Make sure it's set to black and white. Photoshop defaults to black and white, but it could be set to something else if you've used the gradient tool recently.

3. Set the gradient tool mode to "Difference."

4. Click and drag diagonally across the document to create the first gradient.

5. Click and drag in the same direction but across smaller areas to create smaller gradients. After five or six passes, the area starts to look like gray silk.

Color Balance

1. Click on "Image," "Adjustments" then "Color Balance" to open the color balance tool.

2. Click on the "Shadows" button.

3. Drag the cyan/red slider toward the cyan end, and the yellow/blue slider toward the blue end, to create richly blue shadows.

4. Click on the "Highlights" button.

5. Drag the cyan/red slider slightly towards the ted end, and the yellow/blue slider toward the yellow end. This gives a warm glow to the bright areas of the folds.

References

• Fabrics.Net: Silk
• Tutorials-Photoshop: Fabric Folds