• name: "guitar.psd" -- 5x7" 144dpi
• Set preferences to show rulers and in inches.
• Drag a guide from the side ruler and set it at vertical center, at 2.5 in.--this will be important

2. Trace the image using the pen tool from the tool bar.

• You'll trace only half the guitar, the half without the cut-away
• Select the Pen Tool
• With the pen tool, click on the top of the trace image on the center guide, move up the guide and set another point at the bottom. Now following the contours place these bezier points at the large hump of the guitar, two in the waist, and another at the top of the small hump. Finish by connecting to your first bezier point at the top to complete a shape. Set the shape's transparency to 50% so you can see the trace layer (fig.3).
• Select the Convert Point Tool from the tool bar.
• click on the bottom bezier point to convert to select the point.
• Now click and hold; the point's bezier handles will appear; align them along center guide.
• Click once more to separate the handles; grab the bottom handle and swing towards the next point up the body. Use the handle to manipulate the curve to fit (fig.4).
• Repeat with the top bezier point, then work around to the other points till the half-guitar is shaped. It's tricky at first. If you need to move a point, use the Direct Selection Tool above the Pen Tool: click and use arrow keys to nudge. • Set the Shape's transparency to 100% (fig.5).
• At this point, you may choose to improvise your own half-shape using the Bezier handles.

3. Create body shape
• With the Shape layer selected, go to the navigation bar, Click on "Layer" go Layer-->Rasterize-->Shape; this makes the shape into a normal PS raster layer.
• To avoid confusion, rename layer "Body"
• Make a copy of the Body layer.
• Choose from top nav Edit-->Tranform-->Flip Horizontal (I've noticed a bug that doesn't allow me access to the tranform function immediately; workaround by selecting area with magic wand, then removing selection). You now have two halves of the guitar (fig.6).
• Align the halves till they match to form a whole -- this matching guarantees the finished body shape is symmetrical. (hint: blow the image up till you can see pixel movement; make the guide go away while you match the sides)
• Link the two layers, and select "Merge Linked" from the Layers palette scroll-down. You now have a single body shape.
• Set the Body layer's transparency to 50% or till you can clearly see the trace image below-- we'll do the cutaway.
• Imagine the cutaway is a circle: drag new horizontal and vertical guides from the ruler and set them at the bottom and side of the "circle" -- this will allow you to drag a circle accurately (fig.7).
• Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool from the Tool Bar.
• Set the crosshairs of the cursor at the intersection of your two new guides and click-and-hold; depress "Shift" key and drag till you have a round selection that matches the cutaway. On my example, this would leave a small vertical section of the cutaway uncovered, so...
• With circular selection still made, change the marquee tool setting to Rectangular Marquee Tool. On the properties bar at the top of the screen, choose the second selection pattern: "Add to Selection."
• place the cross hairs on the vertical guide and drag till the outer side of the rectangle matches the width of the circle. Release. You should now have a combined selection that covers the sound hole.
• With the selection still there and on the "Body" layer. Select Edit-->Cut. You should now have the finished guitar body shape (fig.8).
• Important: save the shape: select Magic Wand Tool and click on body shape; go to top bar, choose Select-->Save Selection; name the saved selection "Body Shape" You can now recall the shape as needed.
• Make the trace layer invisible and store for later reference (I create a "Work" layer group for this purpose).

Create Wood Grain Effect on body shape.
• With the "Body" layer selected, load the "Body Shape" selection: Select-->Load Selection-->pull down to "Body Shape".
• Choose your basic wood color; I chose a gold tone, RGB 244/188/78, the color of maple wood.
• Select Paint Bucket Tool and fill "Body Shape" with color (fig.9)
• Choose from top: Filter-->Noise-->Add Noise. In dialogue box, choose Gaussian distribution in color at 14.2% or so (fig.10).
• Choose from top: Filter-->Blur-->Motion Blur. In dialogue box, choose 90 degrees (should be vertical) with a distance of 44 pixels. Don't worry about irregularities at edges, the sunburst will cover them (or with Body Shape selection active, you can use Clone Tool to fill to edges).
Note: Now the "art part" of wood. Although a guitar normally uses fine, straight grains on the top, and what we have now is pretty close. But even straight grain lumber is nevertheless slightly irregular; the grain can wander and there are darker grains and grains that reflect light. These next steps fake this. While I'm working, I'll just leave the "Body Shape" selection up so I don't paint outside the lines.
• Choose the Smudge Tool at about a brush size 27 with blurred edges.
• Draw the Smudge Tool in long vertical strokes, squiggling slightly as you go. Do it till it has a a pleasing inconsistency (fig.11).
• Choose the Burn Tool from the Tool Bar. It should be set about brush size 45 at 24% exposure.
• With the Burn Tool, make similar strokes as you made with the Smudge Tool till it looks right (fig.12).

4. Create the Suburst with Two Additional Layers
• With the "Body Shape" selection still active, create a new layer, name it "Body Red"
• Select a deep, red-brown shade, I used RGB 196/58/21 and fill the shape with the color using the Paint Bucket Tool (fig.13).
• With the "Body Shape" selection still active, choose Select-->Modify-->Contract and enter 50 pixels in the dialogue box. Press "OK".
• Choose Edit-->Delete. You now have a broad band of color (fig.14.)
• Choose Filters-->Blur-->Gaussian Blur. Set Radius to 9.0 pixels. press OK.
• The blur has created what amounts to "over-spray." Get rid of it by loading "Body Shape" selection, choosing Select-->Inverse, then deleting over-spray (fig.15).
•Create a new layer and name it "Body Black". Fill the whole layer with brown so dark it's just about black.
• Load "Body Shape" selection; choose Select-->Modify-->Contract and enter 20 pixels. Delete selection.
• Choose Filters-->Blur-->Gaussian Blur. Set Radius to 12.4 pixels. press OK.
• Get rid of excess Black; loading "Body Shape" selection, choosing Select-->Inverse, then delete excess. That's the finished Sunburst (fig.16).

5. Create F-Holes on the Guitar.
We're going to trace the f-holes of the arch-top guitar following much the same procedure we used for the tracing the body shape.
• Find an f-hole image to trace such as the one at right.
• Drag the image into a layer of your guitar.psd file and position and resize it roughly. Name it "f-hole trace" (fig.17).
• Turn off the guitar body layers.
• Zoom WAY in on the layer. You'll need it big to trace. If the edges are dicey, try choosing Image-->Adjustments-->Brightness/Contrast and bumping the contrast up on the layer.
• Reduce the transparency to 25%.
• As you begin setting Bezier points, a new layer is created. Make sure its transparency is about 40%.
• Set Bezier points as you did when you drew the guitar body half till you've completed the shape. (fig.18).
Note: An f-hole is a complex shape, so the the fill that is created as you set the points can be confusing. Ignore the changing shape and continue on till the shape is closed. Concentrate on placing points where there are pinch points and changes in contours.
• Use the ConvertPoint Tool to find the Bezier handles; use them to trace the f-hole shape. Remember you can use Direct Selection Tool to nudge points (fig.19).
• Set the shape's transparency to 100%. And turn guitar layers back on.
• Rasterize the shape (Layer-->Rasterize-->Shape) and rename the layer "f-hole".
• Size the f-hole to where it looks good and rotate it into position. Set guides top and side of the image. Make guides with reflecting settings on the other side of the vertical center line (i.e., right f-hole vertical at 7/16 from center, left at -7/16 from center (fig.20).
• Duplicate the layer, and flip the new layer horizontally, and drag it into the reflected settings. Link the two f-hole layers and merge (fig.21).
• Use Magic Wand Tool to select the two f-hole shapes, and again choose Select-->Save Selection and name new selection "F-Hole Shapes."
• You don't need the f-hole layer anymore, so store it out of sight.
Note: You'll now punch out the shapes from the body layers.
• One at a time, open the body layers, load the "F-Hole Shapes" selection and delete from layer (fig.22).

II. "Lighting" the Object.

So far so good, but the guitar is an arch-top, not a flat top, so we need to show this. Plus we need to indicate shininess.

1. Direction of light, Creating a neutral Background.
• Decide on a direction for a main light. I'm going to illuminate my guitar from the left and slightly in front. This choice will dictate where the highlights and shadows will be.
• The white background is now a distraction as you begin to consider lighting. Also, clear the guides. Choose a medium dark color like RGB 83/74/63 and fill the background with it (fig.23).

2. An Inside for the Guitar
OK, this is extra credit. You can create a black background for the f-holes and skip this part if you want.
• The "inside" of the guitar will consist of two layers beneath the body layers, and will exist only to be seen through the f-holes.
• turn off the Body and Body Red layers so you can just see the Body Black layer for reference.
• Create a layer under the Body layer and name it "Inside Base"
• Load Body Shape selection and fill with a red-brown color like RGB 144/84/13 (fig.24).
• Choose from top Filter-->Render-->Lighting effects; I made a little pool of light under where the f-holes will be (fig.25).
Note: we will darken this later, it's just to begin to give the impression of depth.
• Create a layer on top of this one called "Inside Light."
Note: we're going to make it seem as though light is coming through the f-holes and iluminating the pattern inside the guitar.
• Load F-Hole Shapes selection, and fill with the same color; now create a lighter hue of the color by choosing Image-->Adustments-->Hue/Saturation and slide the "lighten" bar up.
• Increase the size of the f-hole shapes by half and move to the right -- opposite of where the light is coming from. It doesn't matter if it's over the edge of the body. • Choose Filter-->Blur-->Gaussian Blur and set it about 8.3 pixels and press OK (fig.26).
• Here's more "art part," as you fiddle with position and transparency of the f-hole light shapes and the brightness (Image-->Adjustments-->Brightness/Contrast) of the two layers till it looks right. The result should just be the subtlest indication of depth; nothing extreme.
• Now trim the excess from the "Inside light" layer: load guitar shape, inverse and delete (fig.27).

3. Starting to Make the top "arch

We're going to model some reflected light, working from a model (right). The reflection will create the illusion of the top's arch, and more, for an arch top arches in the center of the body, but is flat around the eges.
• Create a new layer at the top of the stack and call it "Side Reflection."
•Using the Polygonal Lasso tool freehand, click to create a selection approximately the same shape as the area reflected light on the model image. Fill the selection with white (fig.28).
• Reduce the transparency to 40% and use the now familiar Guassian Blur filter at 2.5 pixels (fig.29).
• Load F-Hole Shapes selection, and delete from layer.

• Create a new layer and name it "f-hole highlight"
• f-hole highlights: load "F-Hole Shapes" selection. Fill with white (fig.30).
• Now go Select --> Modify --> Contract, choose 2 pixels and press OK. Delete contracted selection (fig.31).
Note: if you wanted to have white banding around your f-holes, you'd skip this next step.
• More Art: You'll erase the "light" lines where there would be shadow, that is, on the side of the f-hole that's nearer the source in this case. Use the Eraser Tool (fig.32).
• On the right f-hole, repeat the procedure (fig.33).

• Make body highlights. Create a new layer and name it "body highlights".
• Load "Body Shape" selection and fill with white.
• Select > Modify > Contract, choose 1 pixel and press OK. Delete new selection.
Note: If you want white banding around the guitar body, you can skip to the end.
• Use Gaussian Blur on layer at .07 pixels to soften (fig.34).
• Use eraser to remove any "light" lines that wouldn't be "seen" by the light source. What should remain is the left edge of the body and a little section on the left side of the cut-away "horn". Use the Eraser Tool with a soft-edge brush at 100px; when you erase, it will create a fade-away for the highlights (fig.35).

Now we need to further define the arch of the guitar by shading the right side, the side away from the light source. It's tricky, because in shadow, the colors should have their own quality; it's more than just adding a black overlay.
• First, merge the layers that make up the top of the guitar, the body, body red and body black layers.
• Now that they are one layer, copy the layer and label the new layer "body shadow."
• With the body shadow layer selected, choose Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation; move the "Saturation" slider up to +100, and drop the "Lightness" slider to -70. You have approximated the guitar body in low light (fig.36).
• Now we'll fade out the dark copy where the light is hitting the guitar top. Create a layer mask for the body shadow layer; either use the button on the bottom of the layer palette, or choose Layer>Add Layer Mask>Reveal All. This will create a second window on the layer palette. • With the layer mask window selected in the layer, choose Gradient Tool from the Tool Bar; set it to "Foreground to Transparent "Radial Gradient"; Normal; and opacity 100%. Choose pure Black (RGB 0/0/0) for the foreground color. Using the Gradient Tool, click, hold and sweep from the light source down and to the right, up and down the body of the guitar. The mask will allow the body layer below to show through. Since we used more intense and darker hues of the body in the "shadow," color areas maintain their integrity (fig.37).
Note: Work the radius of the radial gradient into the two "bulges" of the guitar body.

• You're now done with the body of the guitar.

To show off the smokey good looks of a classic sunburst finish, select the background layer and go Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and play with a spot-lit background (obviously, the pool of light should splash from left to right!). Here's my finished archtop guitar body (fig.38).

Maybe sometime we can do the neck, fretboard, and hardware.