Bert Monroy is one of the Masters when it comes to Photoshop (and one of my personal heroes). The things that this man can do with Illustrator and Photoshop defy explanation- and he is a man that is known for tackling big projects. His newest project is just amazing and I for one CANT WAIT. Bert is drawing on the computer TIMES SQUARE! Like, all of it! Like ‘look into the window and you can see a cup of coffee that has a fingerprint on it that was designed in Photoshop” level of detail – which makes the task stunning.

(note: check out a lot more of what Bert does by following his Podcast- Pixel Perfect)

In this column, Bert takes a moment to talk about how he’s using 3D transform to work on the letters of the iconic Toys R Us sign:

Though the concept of 3D tends to scare many people, it’s there to make things easier.
The painting I’m currently working on is a night scene of New York City’s Times Square. One of the structures visible in the image is the enormous Toys“R”Us store that has become a landmark of the area. It sports a huge Ferris wheel inside the store; it’s a must see if you’re ever there. In this column, we’ll look at a tiny fraction of the overall building—the sign on the farthest edge.

Begin in Illustrator
As you can see, the sign is made up of colorful letters that are embedded in metal shapes that extrude from the edge of the building. Begin by drawing the paths that make up the basic letterforms of the store logo in Adobe Illustrator, and then export the basic shapes to Photoshop via Edit>Copy in Illustrator and Edit>Paste in Photoshop. Select Path in the Paste dialog. These paths will be used later as selections for the basic metal shapes and colored parts of the letters.

Click here to read the rest of his article