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

[Blacky Kitten]

Originally Posted by Jumble
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

Two years??? Huh... And thanks...

[josiane]

Just seconding what Jumble said, for Blacky Kitten - if you can't figure out how to do something in Gimp, just post in here and someone will have the answer!

And glad you liked the tut Jann! Hopefully there's some of it that will work in PS too

[LiliJ]

Just realised the only reason I come on this thread is to admire everyone else's artwork... As the only kind of art I can do is with words

Is that allowed? Or is that a kind of lurking?

[josiane]

Lurking is allowed, of course! And if you ever feel like giving the picture kind of art a go, you know where to come for tips

[Jumble]

Just realised the only reason I come on this thread is to admire everyone else's artwork... As the only kind of art I can do is with words

Is that allowed? Or is that a kind of lurking?

Are you kidding? I've just spent I don't know how many hours on a MOP wp, very frustrating because it would not look how I wanted it so what would be the point if nobody looked at it? And I saw your poem on the S/J thread, and believe me, that is art

[LiliJ]

Aw I'm sure it looked lovely - you can just never see it in your own work. I always love your artwork jumble! Manages to be fluffy, guttery and tinged with angst - absolutely perfect!

*blushes about poem remark* I'm not that good! But thanks sooo much ((((((Jumble))))))) Bekki on the other hand...

[Jumble]

Aw I'm sure it looked lovely - you can just never see it in your own work. I always love your artwork jumble! Manages to be fluffy, guttery and tinged with angst - absolutely perfect!

I'm still fiddling with it, it will be awesome, I insist it will, when I eventually beat it into submission

*blushes about poem remark* I'm not that good! But thanks sooo much ((((((Jumble))))))) Bekki on the other hand...

Ah, Bekki. Well, I guess we all need someone to aspire to But you're well on your way to poetic equality!

[Jumble]

And I just realised I forgot to put the MOP logo on it Hasta Manyana (or however you spell it)

Edit: Actually, its already tomorrow, so


Now I can go to bed, Nighty nite (((((((Family)))))))

[LiliJ]

Ah, Bekki. Well, I guess we all need someone to aspire to But you're well on your way to poetic equality!

Yes, in fact some great Rennaissance philosopher (I forget the name and I can't be bothered to look it up!) said that it is important to have a hero (or heroine in this case) as it provokes us to do our best. He said we should live every moment as though they are watching.

And thanks! *hugs* Luckily I have many years ahead of me (touch wood) to reach Bekki's level of awesomeness - I don't think anyone expects me to be that great at 17...

[Jumble]

Yes, in fact some great Rennaissance philosopher (I forget the name and I can't be bothered to look it up!) said that it is important to have a hero (or heroine in this case) as it provokes us to do our best. He said we should live every moment as though they are watching.

And thanks! *hugs* Luckily I have many years ahead of me (touch wood) to reach Bekki's level of awesomeness - I don't think anyone expects me to be that great at 17...

So true
Um, not sure how old Bekki is, but I'm pretty sure not much older than you

[LiliJ]

I'm sure at one point she said she was a teacher... Yeah cos she wrote a poem when a student didn't show up.

[Blacky Kitten]

Originally Posted by LiliJ
Just realised the only reason I come on this thread is to admire everyone else's artwork... As the only kind of art I can do is with words

Is that allowed? Or is that a kind of lurking?

I visit this thread for the same reason untill i can do somethink in Gimp

[LiliJ]

Ok, I have been collecting Elizabeth pics all day and am now ready to start a sig. Any help MUCH appreciated - the tutorial someone posted to help me turned out not to fit my version of PaintShop...

Drat - that's not J/S shipping - does it matter?

[Oma-1]

Tutorial for SOM Sig



Background Layer: Colour Gradient, foreground colour d4b4b3, background colour f5f3f5. Apply the colour from bottom left, diagonally up to around the 60px mark at the top.

Next add the SOM layer. You need to resize it to around 385 x 495 px, then centre it move it so their heads are at the top. Then add a gaussain blur (Filters>Blur>Gaussain Blur). You need to set it at 5px on both horizontal and vertical. Then set the opacity to about 25% (using that really handly little slider thingy in the layer box that Josiane showed us )

Next layer is the SJ pic. So for this one, there are lots of steps. First of all, open the SOM pic again in a separate window, then open S/J pic in another window. We’re gonna cut them out using the Path Selection Tool. (Apparently, the technical term for this - according to the tutorial I watched, is Rendering).

So, first of all, increase your view to 400% (or even 800%). You need it big so you can be accurate with your cutout. Click the Path Selection Tool (the Pen with the line to the left). Then carefully go around the outline of Sam & Jack, clicking to put anchor points in where Gimp is gonna cut it out. So you can click loads of times, as close together as you want, to get an accurate cutout. You can use Ctrl-Z to undo if you make a mistake and want to backtrack.

Once you’re happy with the positioning of your anchor points, go to the Tool Options dialogue, and click Selection From Path. This puts the marching ants around so you’re ready to cut. Cut it out, and paste it into the SOM pic as a new layer. (I actually saved the cutout first so I can re-use it).

Resize the S/J pic so that the top of Jack’s shoulder one side and his elbow the other are about the width of the door frame, and then move it so that it covers Maria and Colonel Von Trapp.

Next reduce the saturation level to -30 (Colours>Hue Saturation>Move the saturation slider to -30)so the colours blend better with the background, then add a softglow (Filters>Artistic>Softglow), setting the sliders to Glow Radius 10, Brightness 0.65, Sharpness 1.00.

Next using the Crop Tool, select the part of the pic that’s going in the sig. Copy it into the main sig window and adjust the size until you’re happy. Then I added the border. I took the pic back out of the main window, into a separate one (Cut>Paste As>New) so I could use the Border function and get the colour I wanted. (Using the Selection Editor feature that Jann & Josiane figured out to put a border on I can only get black – I don’t know if anyone else can get coloured borders with it…)

Next, I added the text to the bottom right corner, I think the typeface was Pavane (I haven’t reloaded all my fonts yet so I can’t check it).

Then I added a new transparent layer for the brush in the top left. I used one from the Seishido Faithless set. Colour was one I picked from the SOM window, I think it was c9b8be, opacity 50%.

Then finally I added the MOP logo.

I think that’s more or less it!

Oh, no it’s not I added a 2 px border around the sig when I’d finished



I still think the sig looks a bit lop sided....maybe I should have feathered the edges of the SOM layer pic into the background, and it probably doesn't need the brush. I put that in because the original pale coloured one needed the accent at the top colour, but once I darkened the colour, I don't think it needs it anymore. Also when I first made it, it didn't have the MOP logo (I forgot it ), so it would be better balanced now without the brush...but it was one of the files I lost last week, so I can't change it now without making it all over again.



I'm tagging Jumble for her yellow SJ sig with all the sunbursts on it (At least, I think it's yellow, but it has lots of little sun thingys on it - like the big one in the rises with the sun sets with his smile sigs.) You know the one!

[josiane]

Awesome tut Oma! Thanks!

I tagged you because I wanted to know how to do inner borders (other than the way Jann showed us!) and also gradiated backgrounds, neither of which I've figured out, so yay, now I know And I'm going to have to try out the paths selection tool for cutouts - I've been using intelligent cutout for that kind of thing, but unless you feather it it always looks jerky. So thanks! Will now have to try applying this all to a new sig

And yay for tagging Jumble too, I want to know how she does all her cool lighting effects