Digital Painting with Gradients
Part 2 of 2

19. Let's add a reflection of our rising sun to the water.
    With your sun still selected go Edit/Copy then Edit/Paste as New Layer.
    
    
20. Now go Selections/Select None.
    
    
21. Go Image/Flip it turn your reflection upside down.
    
    
22. Activate the Mover tool. Click and drag your flipped sun down below your first sun. Not bad... But let's deform it a bit so that it looks more natural.
    
    
23. First we'll give ourselves some space to work with. Click on the resize button in the middle of the control buttons on the right upper corner of the image window. (Not the program window) This will enlarge the image window but leave the image the same size it is now.
    
    
24. Activate the Deform tool.
    A bounding box will appear around your flipped sun.
    
    Click on the center bottom handle and drag it down towards the bottom of the image window.
    
    
25. Now press and hold the Ctrl key while you pull the handle on the right corner over to the right.
    
    
    
26. Continue to pull the handles until your reflection looks good to you, then double click on the image (outside of the bounding box) to apply the deformation. If your reflection needs to be moved a bit when you're finished, activate the mover tool again and move it into place.
    Remember you can use the undo feature to try again if your first attempt doesn't look right to you.
    
    
27. Now we'll reduce the opacity of the reflection layer. Open the Layers palette (press the letter L if the palette isn't already on your desktop). Move the opacity slider over the left and your reflection will fade out. I set mine at 53 but you choose what looks good for your image.
    
    
    
    
28. We just need to merge our layers before moving on. With the layer palette open, right click on the layer name and choose Merge/Merge Visible. Now your image is back to one layer again.
    
    
    
29. Now let's add a railing as if we're looking at the sunrise from onboard a cruise ship...
    
    Activate the Selection tool. In the Tool Options palette change Feather to 0 and UNcheck Antialias. Selection type should still be Rectangle.
    
    Double click the Selection tool and use the following settings:
    Left = 0
    Right = 10
    Top = 250
    Bottom = 300
    OK
    
    
30. Activate the Fill tool and use the following settings:
    Blend mode = normal
    Match mode = none
    Opacity = 100
    
    Click on the Foreground Style swatch and use the following settings:
    Gradient = Foreground-Background
    Angle = 90
    Repeats = 1
    Fill style = Linear gradient
    
    
31. Change your foreground color to a dark brown (try #562F02) and background to a light tan or sand color (try #F9DE9D).
    
    
32. Click once inside your selection area. This is the first support for our railing.
    
    
33. Double click the Selection tool and use the following settings:
    Left = 145
    Right = 155
    Top = 250
    Bottom = 300
    OK
    
    
34. Activate the Fill tool and click inside your new selected area. Now you have the second support for the railing.
    
    
35. Double click the Selection tool and use the following settings:
    Left = 290
    Right = 300
    Top = 250
    Bottom = 300
    
    
36. Activate the Fill tool and click inside your new selected area. You now have the three supports for your railing.
    
    
    
37. Double click the Selection tool one last time and use the following settings:
    Left = 0
    Right = 300
    Top = 245
    Bottom = 255
    
    
38. Activate the Fill tool and change the Angle to 0 then click inside your selected area.
    
    
39. Selections/Select none
    
    
40. Select the Retouch tool in Soften mode. With the brush set at about 10 pixels click on the joint of each support/railing to give it a more natural look.
    
    

Voila! You have a railing to hang onto so you don't fall into the water while you sip your coffee and watch the sunrise.

Congratulations! You've just completed a beautiful digital painting. You may wish to fancy it up with some tubes or brushes and a frame. Here is my completed painting.

To see some results sent by one of the groups that used this tutorial please visit this page.

If you enjoyed this tutorial or need clarification please drop me a line.
Vikki