Deke’s Techniques

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

Deke’s Techniques 241: Drawing an Orthogonal Cube with the Line Tool in Illustrator

Deke teaches the classical skill of drawing an orthogonal 3d cube in Adobe Illustrator, using nothing but the line tool.

Deke’s Techniques 239: Turn a Portrait into a Dot Drawing

With the aid of some Photoshop smart filters, Deke quickly turns a portrait into a pointillized dot drawing.

Deke’s Techniques 238: Colorizing with a Photoshop Layer Effect

Deke uses a Color Overlay effect (as opposed to an adjustment layer) to colorize a dramatic landscape in Photoshop.

Deke’s Techniques 236: Shading an Image with Shapes and Layer Masks in Photoshop

Deke continues work on his alien creature, using shapes and layer masks to craft his extraterrestrial creature's mouth

Deke’s Techniques 234: Creating Volumetric Monster Parts with Photoshop Shape Layers

Deke takes a pencil-and-paper monster drawing and brings it to volumetric life with shape layers and layer effects.

Deke’s Techniques 232: Creating Highly Reflective Sunglasses in Photoshop

Deke turns a regular pair of dark sunglasses and turns them into mirrored reflections of their surrounding scene.

Deke’s Techniques 231: Fixing a Noisy High-ISO Photo with Adobe Camera Raw

Deke takes a noisy, high-ISO photograph and repairs it to a usable state with Adobe Camera Raw.

Deke’s Techniques 229: Color Correcting an Underwater Photograph in Photoshop

Deke demonstrates a quick and painless way to correct the color of your underwater snapshots.

Deke’s Techniques 227: Creating an Animated Movie in Photoshop

Deke puts last week's Photoshop variations together to create animated text and flapping falcon wings.

Deke’s Techniques 225: Animating Bird Wings with Puppet Warp in Photoshop

Deke uses the Puppet Warp feature in Photoshop to duplicate and animate the wings of a bird of prey.

Deke’s Techniques 222: Creating a Protective Aura around Your 2D Character

Deke creates a glowing aura around his 2D game character to protect it from wizards, drones, and other annoying people

Deke’s Technique 220: Creating a Distinctive 2D Video Game Character in Illustrator

Deke shows how he drew his mesmerizing 2D game character, the Necrowalrus, in Adobe Illustrator. Walrus lovers and fans of Dan Paladin unite.