This month we’re thrilled to welcome back photorealistic painter Bert Monroy in a three-part series featuring the work he did in his latest impressive (not to mention massive) artwork, Times Square. In this new addition to our Online Training Library®, the Bert Monroy: The Making of Times Square series generously shares the Photoshop tools and techniques he developed during this project, so that you can understand how he creates such realistic scenes from nothing but pixels and imagination. Here’s a quick glimpse at what Bert created and what he has in store for you:

A year ago, we featured Bert in an installment of our Creative Inspirations series, during which he showed how this enormous undertaking—featuring over 100 of his friends and industry colleagues walking in one of the world’s iconic intersections—came together over the course of four years.

In the first installment of the new series (released earlier this month), Bert Monroy: The Making of Times Square, The Tools, Bert explains how he used the tools inside Photoshop—from brushes, to textures, to layer styles, and more—to recreate his meticulous version of reality. This week, we released part two, Bert Monroy: The Making of Times Square, The Techniques, in which he shows you how he uses those tools in combination to create the hundreds of little projects that become parts of his larger work. Finally, at the end of the month, we’ll release The Making of Times Square, the People, in which Bert shares the special approach he needs for creating details—from hair to eyes to clothing—of the over 100 people who are milling about the New York landmark in his painting. Frankly, I think Bert’s inclusion of real friends and family in his work that shows he’s not just talented and generous, but fearless to boot. (And that’s coming from a friend who is honored to appear in the painting; you’ll find some other, more notable lynda.com folk included as well.)

This is a great opportunity to see how the creative impulse turns into a practical workflow from a master of his medium. And it just so happens that Bert is one of those generous spirits who not only enjoys watching his own ideas take shape, but is in his element when sharing what’s he’s done with others. Now you can take the tools, techniques, and fearless rendering of friends and family in Photoshop and see what they can inspire and create in your own work.