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| 1. Pick the middle colour and draw the shape of the feathers on a new layer. |
2. Select the area you've just drawn and create a new layer. |
3. Pick the darkest of the three colours, and go to Edit > Stroke to make the outline. The settings should be Width: 1 pixel - Location: Center - Opacity: 100% - Mode: Normal. |
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| 4 . Create another layer, place it under the outline. Choose the middle colour again and make a big field that cover the whole feather-area. This is because if you smudge outside a colourfilled area the edges and colours get messed up. |
5. Take the darkest colour and draw strands using the Paintbrush tool. |
6. Pick the lightest of the colours and draw the light strands also by using the Paintbrush tool. If you want you can smudge to soften it up a bit, but isn't always necessary. |
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| 7. Select the first feather layer (step 1). |
8. Delete the areas outside the feather. |
9. Change the outline layer to Opacity: 70%. Merge the outline layer with the layer you've drawn the dark and light strands on. (It's a good idea to keep a copy of the two layers in case you'd wanna go back and change something.) |
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| 10. Use the Dodge tool to dodge on the feather where you'd like it to be highlighted. Don't over do it. Highlights on 20% is a good Exposure option. |
11. Use the burn tool to make the feather darker. This isn't always necessary though. |
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