Deke’s Techniques

Your weekly quick-fix of Deke, with ideas you may inspire or inform your own projects.

Drawing a Cubical Gobstopper in Illustrator

Deke uses Adobe Illustrator as his candy factory and creates a sweet, precise gobstopper shape.

Welcome to My Seamlessly Repeating Summer

Deke introduces his summer of seamlessly repeating patterns drawn in Adobe Illustrator.

Creating a Gradient Pattern in Adobe Illustrator

Deke takes his repeating pattern from previous week's and adds a color gradient.

Making Your Star a Repeating Pattern in Adobe Illustrator

Deke takes last week's shape and turns it into a repeating star pattern in Adobe Illustrator.

Drawing a 24-Sided Star in Negative Space (in Adobe Illustrator)

Deke sees something of questionable beauty in a hotel room and turns it into a stellar shape in Adobe Illustrator.

Applying Old-School Distortions as Smart Filters in Photoshop

Deke develops his dream design from last week by applying old school Photoshop distortions as editable smart filters.

An Actual Dream Effect, Captured in Photoshop

Deke wakes up from a design dream and captures it in Photoshop.

Combining a Radial Filter with a Range Mask

Deke uses the latest features of Camera Raw to shine a spotlight on an underwater creature.

Using the Transparency Shapes Layer Option in Photoshop

Deke wraps up the White Walker project by turning his hoodie more ice-zombie-cloak-like with a carefully applied layer effect in Photoshop.

Adding a Cold and Gloomy Background in Photoshop

Deke sets his white walker project down north of the wall by adding a gloomy background and some artificial snow in Photoshop.

Giving Your White Walker Glowing Blue Eyes

Deke finally adds the eerie blue, yet lifeless, eyes to his White Walker portrait (just in time).

Carving Deep Wrinkles or Scars into Skin

Deke takes a partial blue zombie and gets him closer to white walker status in Photoshop