Abstract Type

When asked to produce a tutorial based on the techniques I have developed while working at Substance, my immediate response was to develop a tutorial that had a strong bias towards “organic design”. After all, too many illustrators these days produce glossy fashion-orientated images.

At Substance, we believe that the computer is slave to its master and therefore produce our images by hand – often incorporating analogue photography. Throughout this tutorial, we want you to consider firstly how you produce Photoshop images, and secondly how you interact with your computer. Hopefully, as a result, you’ll find ways to challenge the orthodox and fuse human spirit with the computer to produce something entirely unique.

All of our images start with traditional computer set typography. These simple black and white prints are then processed by hand and augmented by the machine. This distinctive fusion of analogue 35mm photography and distressed texts works well once in Photoshop.

The layering of images is critical to the construction of our illustrations. Photoshop features a bevy of image adjustments to distort, warp or refine your graphics. It is a satisfying way to distort and distress what were very simple textual elements. So try to think outside of your 17-inch TFT screen and you’ll produce independent, handcrafted organic design. Set aside your preconceptions and you’ll soon be creating your own images of substance.