The secrets on how to make artwork of the Sam/Jack ship family thread

[RepliCartertje]

Awesome thread, but I feel in the minority here. Does anyone use Photoshop? I recently got Elements 6 and have it pretty much figured out but I still can't get my things as nice as everyone elses.

I use photoshop too I used to start with photoshop elements 4.0, then got photoshop 7.0 and CS2 and now I use CS3 on a mac though but it is an amazing program, so if you have any questions or great idea's, be sure to tell post them

[starlover]

These sites are fantastic! I've been making all mine myself and sometimes it takes hours

Yeah I collected them over the time I love them!

[starlover]

I use photoshop too I used to start with photoshop elements 4.0, then got photoshop 7.0 and CS2 and now I use CS3 on a mac though but it is an amazing program, so if you have any questions or great idea's, be sure to tell post them

I use PS too...PS CS2 to be exact...and I love it*huggles it* Wouldnt trade it for the world

[Luvnjoe]

I predict we're all going to be sporting pretty new sigs in a very short while! Thanks for the links for textures! I knew I'd never have time to actually create one (or more) from scratch.

EDIT: I'm thinking of buying Hubby a new Mac for his b-day, so I might be using PS soon, too (if he lets me play on his computer, which I have pre-named Walter).

[Sa'Hut_IH']

Mama and all of Mamas children (with the exception of the techno-DIS-oriented Amber) use Photoshop

From PS7 to PS CS3
so yeah I can lend some assistance

[Oma-1]

I just found a gimp tutorials site if anyone is looking. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm definitely gonna check them out.

[Krissie678]

I feel really stupid, but now there is somewhere I can actually ask this... How exactly do you use the brushes and textures shown on the thread? I've seen people talk about them before but never really knew what they were.

[RepliCartertje]

I feel really stupid, but now there is somewhere I can actually ask this... How exactly do you use the brushes and textures shown on the thread? I've seen people talk about them before but never really knew what they were.

texture isn't hard at all, you just put it on top of all your layers and change the opacity or the blending mode.
Or you put it on the bottom of all your layers and then go change the blending mode of the pictures or opacity.


Also for brushes, you load them into your PS. Go to your brushes, then click load and then upload the brush file you saved from the site.

ETA: If I am done with the icons i made I'll make screencaps for it but I am making icons for a challenge so

[Krissie678]

texture isn't hard at all, you just put it on top of all your layers and change the opacity or the blending mode.
Or you put it on the bottom of all your layers and then go change the blending mode of the pictures or opacity.


Also for brushes, you load them into your PS. Go to your brushes, then click load and then upload the brush file you saved from the site.

ETA: If I am done with the icons i made I'll make screencaps for it but I am making icons for a challenge so

That makes sense! Thanks for the help.

[Luvnjoe]

Made this sig today! Happy dance.

[starlover]

I like the sig Mary!

okay and since Eve requested this...

how to blend with photoshop(CS2)

I use my lasso tool for it...its in your tool box on the left side...for me its the second one from the top...on the left side...
Then you have in your window above it a line(balk) with also the word "feather" in it and a number behind it...you change that number to 5/10/15 depents on how much you want to blend...how higher the number how more it will blend but how more you loose of the picture...

Then you select with the tool the picture you want to save(then you click reverse selection) and hit the delete button and it will deletes the area that you dont want anymore. or you just select the area that you want to delete and press the delete button...then after deleting the part of the picture you dont want you click once...shortly on the picture and tada you are done...I hope! and you can blend...
oh it does requires some practise in the beginning...atleast it did for me

[Melora]

I'm trying to learn how to use GIMP, so I'm glad some of you have experience with it. I've found it hard to find good tutorials for newbies, as well as resources. I just figured out how to use the different types of layers, so I am really a beginner at this.

Anyway, I did attempt a few icons and a sig. I don't know if they are any good or not, but I did have fun experimenting and hopefully I will get better at it. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, I would appreciate it.

Icons (sorry, I haven't gotten around to Jack yet):




My first GIMP-made sig:





I also have some good sites to recommend.

Here is a site that has some nice textures and brushes for Photoshop: http://colorfilter.net/

And I think I remember someone wanting a tutorial on using the paths tool to make renders in GIMP. Here is one of the best ones I have found so far: Renders Using Paths Tool

This whole site is pretty good for anyone wanting to learn more about how to use GIMP.

[JackandSamAddict]

Hey guys! I really have no special gift...here is what I do...see pretty quote or some pretty lyrics..."That is so them!" I say to myself...and then I take a picture that goes along with it...upload it to photobucket...and away we go...

That's right...I use photobucket!...nothing amazing in what I do...I like them...but it takes no real talent, anyone can do it!

[Neesie]

As far as videos go, anyone know how to make a quicktime vid work in WMM? Is there somewhere I can download the codec? Thanks

[Luvnjoe]

Playing with textures and transparency. This one might have too much going on...and it may be too dark, too...Ah well

[Melora]

As far as videos go, anyone know how to make a quicktime vid work in WMM? Is there somewhere I can download the codec? Thanks

mov (Quicktime) files cannot be imported into WMM. I believe you have to convert them first into a WMM capable format (like wmv). You can use Quicktime Pro to do this if you have it.

Another option is to download a free converter that does this. Bink Smack is one that is recommended, but I found that a lot of quality is lost in the conversion process. You might want to give it a try though.

http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm

I have also used Xilidoft mov converter and I liked it a lot. The only problem is that the free trial only converts short clips (3 minutes max).

http://www.xilisoft.com/mov-converter.html


Someone else might know of another converter program that works better than these.

[Chocolatequeen]

I have used Elements in the past. It's a great program, and as soon as I get some cash together, I'll probably buy it just because I'm more familiar with where everything is. I know Jann uses PS, and a few others as well. Today just seems to be a Gimp day.

Speaking of... I shared both of these in the thread, but I suppose they're really more appropriate here.



Spoiled for size:

Spoiler:

I'm particularly pleased with the wallpaper. I've done others in the past, but this one looks more... finished.

I'm starting to realize though that I just don't have an artist's eye. I don't get ideas for things usually. My romance collection was a one-off, I'm afraid.

[Oma-1]

I'm trying to learn how to use GIMP, so I'm glad some of you have experience with it. I've found it hard to find good tutorials for newbies, as well as resources. I just figured out how to use the different types of layers, so I am really a beginner at this.

Anyway, I did attempt a few icons and a sig. I don't know if they are any good or not, but I did have fun experimenting and hopefully I will get better at it. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, I would appreciate it.

Icons (sorry, I haven't gotten around to Jack yet):

<snip>

My first GIMP-made sig:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1680/sjsig2wf5.jpg



I also have some good sites to recommend.

Here is a site that has some nice textures and brushes for Photoshop: http://colorfilter.net/

And I think I remember someone wanting a tutorial on using the paths tool to make renders in GIMP. Here is one of the best ones I have found so far: Renders Using Paths Tool

This whole site is pretty good for anyone wanting to learn more about how to use GIMP.

These icons and sig are great! Especially the 1st and 3rd icons, those are fantastic. Excellent stuff for a gimp newbie - although I'm guessing you're not new to the making icons and sigs world


When you're cutting around stuff and want to get a good clear finish but without the hard line like on the last icon or around Sam's cheek on the 2nd on, you can feather the selection tool a little bit. Just double click on the icon and it'll pull up the tool options box. Check the tickbox for feathering, and set a low radius, between 5 or 10 should do the trick. To get a more blended / faded edge look just increase the radius.

If you've got any specific questions, I'm sure someone around here can help!

Thanks for the site recs, I'm gonna check them out later.

[Chocolatequeen]

Oma!! (Or another Gimp guru...) Help me! I accidentally closed the extended layers tab, not realizing... well, not realizing. I was closing the program too, and just went through closing all the Gimp windows. Well, the next time I opened the program (like, 10 minutes later) it didn't open! I neeeeeed that tab!! How can I get it back? It's not just the layers dialogue; I opened that up easily, but it doesn't have all the helpful stuff about the colors and other stuff that the original one did. What did I do? And why didn't closing the program fix it?

[Jumble]

Snurchables (credit if you use!!!):

* signature by Jumble65

Thought I would just mention, this takes us to a sig by Luvnjack