chriscaldwell

I just wanted to thank you all for commenting and especially to firstdefence for explaining how to remove the background. I always learn so much from you all.

I just wanted to thank you all for commenting and especially to firstdefence for explaining how to remove the background. I always learn so much from you all.

Glad to help Chris.
I would also suggest you remove the dreamstime files from your initial post as well

Alternative method...
Create an ellipse sized 442px x 442px and align it with the magnifying lens Position the ellipse layer so it sits below the magnifying glass  Drag the Hops graphic into the magnifying glass graphic and duplicate it Nest the duplicate of the Hops graphic in the ellipse created in step 1. Scale the nested hops so it looks magnified, don't forget to position the original hops graphic layer below the duplicate hops graphic layer. See image below.

A few tweaks.
Find the white highlights and reduce the opacity to about 65%  There is also an alignment issue with some of the lens layers where it shows through clear

a) Place the hop beneath the magnifier and put a copy of the hop into an ellipse and distort it with the Liquify Tool (when you have AP installed). Unfornately the magnification is rasterised.
b) Place the hop beneath the magnifier and put a copy of the hop into an ellipse and simply scale it inside the ellipse. Still vector.
I guess there are lot more clever solutions out there.

In the New document window choose the Pages tab and select Vertically from the Arrange item. Note that I have not changed the size of the page in the screenshot.

There is an alternative way to colour the badge...
Use the Colour Panel and the colour picker tool to select a colour from the original cap (I used the right side of the cap) Drop into Pixel Persona and Cmd Click on the Badge layer to make a selection Add a pixel layer and use the fill tool to fill the selection onto the pixel layer Change the pixel layers blend mode to colour.

A simple recolour filter will get the badge colour to match the cap...

 
Hope you don't mind but a note re inserted graphics on posts, you can double click on them during post creation and or amendment and scale them to make the post more legible, I generally scale to 500px, when people click on them they will be able to view them at the correct size.

Here’s my take on it for what it’s worth…
ProCoatings_logo-Alt.afdesign

Drawing the paint brush should be easy enough with some basic shapes and lines but we probably need more information about what you mean by “hand drawn” as that can be interpreted as different things by different people.
A good visual example of something that looks like what you want would be useful.
Also, do you need the result to be vector – for easy scaling – or raster?

Unless you are going to print AND bind this yourself, you do not need to worry about signatures. Any print service that either has an in-house bindery operation or works with a bindery will also want to do the imposition themselves.
You need to only find any print service that does these smaller-sized print jobs. Do note that in general, small-run jobs are, can be, costly. Once you find such a service, they will provide you with specifications as to the single page (non-spread) pdf they require.

The shadows for the two objects are not consistent; they show different locations for the light source. For the round object, the light source is centered left-to-right in the image, but below center in the top-to-bottom direction.
However, the light source for the floating rectangular object is far to the left, and further down than for the other object. Also, the rectangular shadow tapers unrealistically, I think.

The head/left edge/corners of the airbed is probably more above the water level than the round objects edge. Means, the different object heights may get considered too (and e.g. move the shadow of the round object a bit closer to it.) (... compare the shadow of the hat)

But if the depth of the pool is not the same below both items I think the shadow offsets would not be either....

Yes, umbra, penumbra and twaddle, twaddle being my second choice

Thank you very much, Carl. I see there are a lot of little things you did in the file, and I hope to be able to learn from it how to approach this in the future.

File is attached
I don't know if there is any formula for placing the shadow, I just go with what I like the look of. Sometimes taking into account the other shadows in the image (if any) or the light direction
 
pool2.afphoto

@chriscaldwell Shadows are the glue that hold the world together. To my eye, the shadow of the floating device is gray and should be similar in color and should be affected by the ripples and refractions as the water. Google "floating in a pool" and you will see what I mean. Same goes for the part of the device below the black ring. I think they look good but, why are there patches of blue on the pool deck? Overall a very cool, surreal looking image. I like the sparkles too. They add a sense of fun and fantasy.

That water is very hard to work with
 

You're very welcome.

This is great! I look forward to trying these techniques out.  And again, always grateful to learn new things you can do from people who are masters with this software.
Much respect to you both, GarryP and Thomaso. Thank you for taking the time to show me how to do this.

In addition to thomaso’s suggestion, in Designer only there’s also the Shape Builder Tool – see attached video for a ‘serving suggestion’.
Make sure that the offset of the first duplicated Donut is the right amount (I used the field expressions to help me); Use Power Duplicate to create the other duplicates; Trim the end Donuts with the Node Tool; With Shape Builder Tool, drag a path through the bits of the shape you want to keep; Press Enter to make the new shape; Delete the shapes you no longer want. 2023-08-16 14-16-39.mp4

A different approach: Pen Tool -–> Node Tool: Align Space Horizontally –> Node Tool: Move –> …
Since this way a stroke curve gets created you can adjust the stroke width after creation (different to the Donut version above which creates a filled shape). For the additional border colour you need AD: Appearance Panel or AD: Contour Tool.

Do you need the result to be vector, or can it be raster?
Do you need it to look exactly like your example or, if not, what can be different?

For instance: Donut Tool –> Power Duplicate -> Geometry: Divide –> Geometry: Add