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

[Jumble]

Padme tut is just short for tutorial, so it just means someone writing out step-by-step instructions on how to make a sig or wp or icon or whatever

OK then, I'll start Anyone want me to do a tut on a particular sig?

At which I am sure I would be absolutely useless! I don't even know how I did things half the time

Ok, so how about a tut on how you did the map wp or sig?

[josiane]

OK, I'll write one later tonight

[SeNedra]

New sigs to go with the wps

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...oucomplete.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...rmationsig.jpg

Nice Jumble, I like them

[josiane]

OK, so here's my tut for my map sig/wp (combining the two, as they're done exactly the same way, just a different size and shape )


Link to the wp

This sig is very simple in terms of layers, but uses a lot of brushes.

First, the papery background. I did this as two layers to get the right colour and effect because it uses one of Gimp's standard patterns, but if you had a good papery texture you could use that instead
Fill the whole background with the beige colour (dfcd8f), then make a new layer on top. I filled this second layer with one of Gimp's patterns - the crinkled paper one. Then make it sufficiently transparent so that you get the beige colour but still can see the crinkled texture. The reason for doing it this way is that the crinkled paper pattern is very pink and I wanted it beige instead!

Once you've got your background, it was then just a case of adding the brushes of the trees/mountains etc in the right places and then the text labels.

This is a list of the brush sets I downloaded to use for this:
Map brushes (includes the compass, mountains, volcano, marsh, trees, and towers for the castle)
The castle
Shipper igloo and MOP penguin
Clouds

Set the foreground colour to the brown (4a3a26) so that the brushes will be the right colour when you place them on, and then add a new layer and just go wild sticking them wherever you think they look good! The castle in the
middle is made from a combination of tower brushes from the map set placed close together. Remember to leave room for the text!

The gutter is just two wobbly lines drawn with the ink tool, again in the brown.

Then add the text labels to a new layer, using the same brown colour, and I used the Blackadder font. The 'Kingdom of Eternal Optimism' text is several bits of text of different sizes and fonts - Book Antiqua and Blackadder.

Next I added the S/J picture. I resized it and positioned it at the bottom, then made it brownish using 'Colours > Colour to Alpha'. I softened the edges by using the rectangle select tool just inside the edge with a high feathering (30 or 40 I think), then using 'Select > Invert' and 'Edit > Cut'. Finally I made this layer slightly transparent.

I added the MOP penguin in the corner and finally put on the border ('Filters > Decor > Fuzzy border'), again in the brown.

So there you go! It was quite fiddly but not difficult once you've got all the brushes

And now I tag Oma with her Sound of music sig

[Jumble]

OK, so here's my tut for my map sig/wp (combining the two, as they're done exactly the same way, just a different size and shape )

Spoiler:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm88/timepresent/kingdommapsig2.jpg
Link to the wp

This sig is very simple in terms of layers, but uses a lot of brushes.

First, the papery background. I did this as two layers to get the right colour and effect because it uses one of Gimp's standard patterns, but if you had a good papery texture you could use that instead
Fill the whole background with the beige colour (dfcd8f), then make a new layer on top. I filled this second layer with one of Gimp's patterns - the crinkled paper one. Then make it sufficiently transparent so that you get the beige colour but still can see the crinkled texture. The reason for doing it this way is that the crinkled paper pattern is very pink and I wanted it beige instead!

Once you've got your background, it was then just a case of adding the brushes of the trees/mountains etc in the right places and then the text labels.

This is a list of the brush sets I downloaded to use for this:
Map brushes (includes the compass, mountains, volcano, marsh, trees, and towers for the castle)
The castle
Shipper igloo and MOP penguin
Clouds

Set the foreground colour to the brown (4a3a26) so that the brushes will be the right colour when you place them on, and then add a new layer and just go wild sticking them wherever you think they look good! The castle in the
middle is made from a combination of tower brushes from the map set placed close together. Remember to leave room for the text!

The gutter is just two wobbly lines drawn with the ink tool, again in the brown.

Then add the text labels to a new layer, using the same brown colour, and I used the Blackadder font. The 'Kingdom of Eternal Optimism' text is several bits of text of different sizes and fonts - Book Antiqua and Blackadder.

Next I added the S/J picture. I resized it and positioned it at the bottom, then made it brownish using 'Colours > Colour to Alpha'. I softened the edges by using the rectangle select tool just inside the edge with a high feathering (30 or 40 I think), then using 'Select > Invert' and 'Edit > Cut'. Finally I made this layer slightly transparent.

I added the MOP penguin in the corner and finally put on the border ('Filters > Decor > Fuzzy border'), again in the brown.

So there you go! It was quite fiddly but not difficult once you've got all the brushes

And now I tag Oma with her Sound of music sig

That's so clearly explained Josiane, thanks!

How do you make a layer transparent?

[josiane]

[/SPOILERS]
That's so clearly explained Josiane, thanks!

How do you make a layer transparent?

Make sure you've got your layers box open ('File > Dialogues > Layers' or ctrl+L) and the layer you want to make transparent highlighted in the list. Then if you see at the top there's a little slider for opacity, which by default will be at the right-hand side for 100%. Drag the slider towards the left and you'll see the layer get progressively more transparent, so it's just a case of adjusting this until it looks like you want.

[Jumble]

Make sure you've got your layers box open ('File > Dialogues > Layers' or ctrl+L) and the layer you want to make transparent highlighted in the list. Then if you see at the top there's a little slider for opacity, which by default will be at the right-hand side for 100%. Drag the slider towards the left and you'll see the layer get progressively more transparent, so it's just a case of adjusting this until it looks like you want.

Aha! I've just been using the colour>brightness and contrast to adjust the look. Now I know how to do it properly *happy dance*

[josiane]

Lol Yeah, I was really happy when I figured that out and now I adjust the transparency loads! It's really good to soften text layers for example - just make them slightly transparent and they stand out less.

[Oma-1]

Huh, I didn't know you could do the transparency like that I do lots of stuff the hard way I use the curves, change it to alpha, use the graph slidy thing....your way is so much simpler

See these tuts are great

OKay, the sound of music sig......um....thinking.....this could take me a while cos I'm gonna have to find my brushes again cos the computer crashed at the start of the week and I lost a lot of stuff....although I may have put a link in the thread for the brushes....hmmm....okay, I'll work on it tomorrow after church - I have a wedding today so I'll not be around this afternoon or evening....now I just have to remember what i did

[josiane]

Lol, yay for tuts I thought that because each of us seems to have figured out different things, so it's a good way to share knowledge

With the transparency, you still have to do the colour to alpha thing if you want it to blend in in terms of shades (like I did in the map sig/wp), but yep, the opacity slider is simple. Normally actually that's all I do, and don't worry about the colour to alpha at all

And no rush with the tut, Oma - this tagging and tuts idea isn't supposed to necessarily be quick, just a way to prod us to share or find out how other people do stuff. Enjoy the wedding!

[starlover]

Loved your tut Jos Awesome! I think I will be using it partly(sometime soon) When I have time again to Photoshop

And I can't wait on your tut Oma But take your time(that's controversial... )

[Blacky Kitten]

Can someone help me? How i can do brushes in Gimp more little???

[Jumble]

Open dialogues>brushes and select your brush. Then open dialogues>tool options. In the box you just opened there is a slider with a number at the end of it. Move the slider to the left to reduce the size of the brush until you get the size you want. Or you can select and delete the number and put a new one in. Hope that helps

Edit: And you would not believe how long it took me to work that out when I first started

[Blacky Kitten]

Thanks, Jumble. I really understand you. Yesdarday i downloaded it and There are a lot of different things in Gimp which is no in Photoshop (ignore my English) and it will take me months to explore it

[Jumble]

Thanks, Jumble. I really understand you. Yesdarday i downloaded it and There are a lot of different things in Gimp which is no in Photoshop (ignore my English) and it will take me months to explore it

LOL! Oma said it took her about two years (I think) to figure it all out by herself but she got me doing things with it in a matter of days! Never be afraid to ask on here, there's always someone that will have the answer for you