GrungePhotoshop.com

I love the work of Joey L., and I can’t help but admire what appears to be his universal (if extremely straightforward and rather simple) approach:

• Pick one thing, knock it out, flatten.
• Pick the next thing, knock it out, flatten.

Which is precisely why his work flow is what it is:

1. Duplicate the layer, do something to it, erase away what you don’t want, flatten.
2. Move on to the next thing and do it again.
3. And then the next thing and do it again.

There is an obvious simplicity to the entire conceptualization process. You don’t have to be mentally thinking about multiple layers, with various blending modes and masks, and how they are all interacting with one another. And because it is easier to keep straight in your head, it’s just flat out quicker. And what makes him especially quick is how fast he has become with his Brush/Eraser/Dodge/Burn tools, jumping back continually to the brush palette and up to the tool bar to change opacity on the fly as he works.

This is his process at each stage:

1. Duplicate the layer.
2. Do something to it (I talk about this below).
3. Erase what you don’t want.
4. Flatten.

His “do something to it” phase generally boils down to one or (often) a combination of things he does to the duplicate layer he just created. His main arsenal seems to involve the following:

• Change the blend mode (Multiply, Soft Light, etc.) or layer opacity.
• Run a layer adjustment (Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Shadows/Highlights, etc.).
• Make a selection (possibly with Quick Mask, possibly inverting it) and run an adjustment on the selection.
• Run a filter (one of the Blurs, Emboss, Lens Flare, etc.).
• Dodge and burn (with the Dodge & Burn tools).
• Slap a grunge layer on top, change its blending mode, etc.

Where his truest artistry comes from — apart from the photography itself and his insane quickness with that brush palette — is in his magnificent, painterly eye at making the changes he does make, which almost always involves what amounts to painting with light and shadow: Making something darker and then using the Brush/Eraser/Dodge/Burn tool to paint back the light where he wants it … Or making something brighter and painting back the dark where he wants that … And usually a combination of both.

There is much to be said for the simplicity of his work flow, especially when contrasted with the mind-blowing care and complexity of someone like Vincent Versace, who keeps massive, elaborately stacked layers, and even creates a “guide layer” to sketch out every set of changes he is going to make before actually applying a brush stroke.

I suppose there are advantages to both.

But Joey’s approach sure can be a hell of a lot of fun.

One element of his work flow I can’t help but change, though. (And I think he has changed his stance on this as well.) While I can see how there might be situations where duplicating a layer and using the Eraser Tool might be the fastest and easiest solution, I think that overall the advantage rests with adjustment layers and masks. For a few reasons:

• Masks are less pixel-destructive (which might impact print quality).
• Masks give you greater versatility (sometimes surprising things turn up by dragging layers into a different order, and until you flatten for real, you can always go back).
• Again on the versatility: With a mask, you can very easily jump in either direction: mask it all out and paint it back, or leave it all on and paint out what you don’t want (my left hand automatically goes to that X key to toggle between black and white).
• Working with masks is just GOOD for you — it is a skill that translates directly over into compositing.

So while I’m all for emulating his painterly approach and aspiring to his magnificent facility with the brush palette, I’m going to stick with layer masks and continue to leave my eraser tool in its box.