Strange Cargo

handle with care crate containing giant cat's eye

This assignment was my first two where we had to work with Photoshop’s native 3D tools. We were given three plain crates that we were required to texture in Photoshop. To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. But on the whole, I think they came out pretty well.

All textures and images used are public domain images.

Crate 1:

The wood textures here were taken from two different wooden wall images. The eye is from a cat picture. I did a fair amount of dodging and burning to give the illusion of depth on the wood, as well as a very small amount of bevel and emboss to roughen up the wood slats. I hand-distressed the “Handle with care” sticker with a layer mask and some judicious painting. I love the juxtaposition of the giant eye in the little box.

Crate 2:

The boards that form the slats of this crate were taken from a picture of a wall of wood boards. The particle board sides were a single sheet of particle board I wrapped around the box, so each of the sides are a different from the other. The letters and shapes were created with displacement maps to give them a a more worn appearance.

Crate 3

I tried to do a displacement map on this one, so that the sticker really looked like it was laying on top of textured glass, but it became so distorted, it was unrecognizable as a sticker.  If I feel the urge, I may give it a go again and see if I can do a better job.