SGlider12's Blog

I'm Selling a Wacom Graphire4 4x5 Tablet

2009-07-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

Heads up for all of you graphic designers out there- I'm selling a Wacom Graphire4 4x5 drawing/writing tablet on Ebay. It is refurbished and like new. Here are the specs:

The Graphire4 4x5 is Wacom's smallest and most compact tablet, but don't let its size fool you. The 4x5 still delivers all the control you need to quickly and easily edit your digital photos with 512 levels of pressure sensitivity, a natural feel, and superior performance.

Specifications:
Tablet Dimensions: 8.20" x 8.03" x .70"

Active Area: 3.65" x 5.02"

Pressure Levels: 512

Colors: Silver, White, and Metallic Blue

Each package contains:

Graphire4 4x5 pen tablet (with transparent frame)

Graphire4 mouse

Graphire4 pen

Pen stand

Printed user manual

CD with tablet driver software for installation

CD with valuable software included:

Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 3 for editing family photos

Corel® Painter™ Essentials 2 for creating original artwork

Nik Color Efex Pro™ 2 GE for selectively applying photo enhancements

Drawing tablets make a great addition to any designers' arsenal. They are definitely worth the small investment. You can bid on this tablet or buy it now for $50.00 USD. Shipping is $10.00. I will only ship within the United States. Feel free to take a look. I've used a tablet like this for a long time and I can definitely back up its outstanding performance. Works with Windows, Linux, and Mac. Link.

Splattered Vector and Photography Mash-Up in Gimp

2009-03-16T16:30:00.000-05:00

I've always liked mixing cartoons and vectors with photography. It is a great way to make a fun and colorful style of art. Many projects use this form from gig posters and CD artwork to high-end advertising imagery.

Today, we will create a splattered vector and photography mash up based on a Photoshop tutorial by James Davies at PSDTuts. We will be using mainly the path tool, along with the dodge and burn tools. Let's get started!

This tutorial was written exclusively for the Gimp-Tutorials.net website and can be viewed there.

Link.

How to Design a Dramatic Winged Dragon with Gimp

2009-02-21T12:59:00.002-06:00

Let's create a fantasy image with the Gimp. In this tutorial, we will be taking a picture of a baby iguana and another picture of a bat and we will combine them to be a full-fledged dragon. This tutorial is based off of a Photoshop tutorial from PSDTuts by Alvaro Guzman. I've made another tutorial before like this one, but for some odd reason it disappeared off the face of the earth and I haven't been able to find it. Anyway, let's get started!

Here is what we will be making. You can click it to view it full size.

Download the PDF Version!
Don't have a PDF reader? Get Foxit Reader!

Download the sources!

This tutorial was made exclusively for the Gimp-Tutorials.net website and can be completed there. Enjoy!

http://gimp-tutorials.net/Dramatic-Winged-Dragon-tutorial

Note, I realize that the PDF file is a whopping 93 megs, but don't worry. I will reupload it compressed pretty soon. My other PDFs will be compressed as well.

I Knew This Wouldn't Last Long...

2009-02-17T19:17:00.000-06:00

Alright, I'm bringing it back. I have to. I just love this blog too much to let it go, so here I am. Yay?

Tutorials will definitely be happening. Gimp, Photoshop, Inkscape, Illustrator, the whole nine yards. I can't promise set dates on anything (because we all know how terrible I am at keeping dates...) but I can at least promise tutorials. As far as going back to Gimper goes, I have no idea. I do still have my account there, but I don't know if I will be as involved there as I was before.

I want the blog to have some sort of advertising system as a source of income for myself and hopefully a domain name one day. (How does www.sglider12.com sound? :D) This means that I will have to change the template so that I can support advertisments. The javascript on this blog won't support it. I have to do something more basic.

I've been writing a blog separate from this one. It is a more personal blog that just rants about my daily experiences and what not. You guys should check it out. Click here to visit it. I've also been getting more into get-paid-to (GPT) sites. Very handy for getting free stuff. (I believe I've mentioned a few on here before...). My favorites are GamingLagoon, CashLagoon, and PrizeRebel. I made a post on my personal blog about them and about some of my prizes I've received. I mean, they are real proof that the sites are not scams.

Well anyway, I'm gonna get to work on the template and I guess you guys will know when it is up!

All your base are belong to us.

Please Vote for Me!!!

2009-01-26T21:31:00.008-06:00

Yes the blog is still closed, but I wanted to ask you guys to do a favor for me.

I am currently entered in two contests at Brickfish. Can you guys please vote for me?

State "O" the Union
Brickfish

Planet Beautiful
Brickfish

I'll probably post these little embedded "voting booths" everytime I enter a Brickfish contest. I'm in dire need of scholarship money right now and winning won of these contests will do wonders. Thanks guys! :D

My New Blog

2008-12-24T23:22:00.001-06:00

Hey guys merry Christmas! I just created a new personal blog that basically has no meaning to it, it's just a blog where I rant/rave/ramble about my day and whatever I have done for that day. Check it out!
http://www.sarahdavisonsblog.blogspot.com/

I call it "me- what i did today." Have a go. Enjoy!

How to Make Mini Cars

2008-12-07T15:09:00.035-06:00

I remember a while back I stumbled upon some mini car photoshops that were pretty neat. Basically they were cars such as the Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari, etc, even a Smart Car, that were shrunken.Yeah I know Smart Cars aren't expensive, I just love 'em) Anyway, here's how to do that in Gimp. We are going to try and make something like this:

Step 1
First, we need to think about what car we want to shrink. If you're not sure, just browse the web for something and you will find it. As for me, I'm going to shrink an Audi R8. Create a new canvas in Gimp and open up your car image on a new layer.

Step 2

Duplicate the layer. Rename this layer as "mini car." Now use the scale tool and shrink this layer like I have done:

Step 3
Hide the mini car layer. Now on the original layer, get out the Rectangular Select tool and select the rear wheel, starting from the edge of the tail light, working your way down until the entire rear wheel is selected. Copy/paste the wheel onto a new layer and name it "rear wheel." Hide the original car layer and unhide the mini car layer.

Lower the rear wheel's opacity to about 70%. Position the rear wheel carefully so that wheel fits in the space between the black paint on the door and the rear grill pretty seemlessly. Some parts will overlap, but that's ok, we'll fix it.

Step 4
Bring the opacity back to 100%. Right click on the wheel's layer and select "Add Layer Mask." Choose the first option and click ok. Use black as the foreground color and select a soft paint brush. Start removing the areas that are not required by painting black on the layer mask. We want to keep the wheel's arch panel, so don't remove that. Use a smaller brush for areas that are harder to get to.

Step 5
Now after doing this, I noticed how blurry the car was compared to the rear wheel. I did something about this by selecting the mini car layer, and using the Blur Tool on it, making it a little blurry. I also did the same to the rear wheel layer. We will fix the bluriness later.

Step 6
Now repeate the wheel process for the front wheel. Blur the wheel a little too like we did in step 5.

Step 7
Looks good eh? Ok now we need to fix the air intake on the bottom of the car. Hide all of the layers except the original car. Use the lasso tool and select the air intake. Copy/paste onto a new layer. Hide the original layer and show the mini car and its wheels. Use the same process we did before when we put the wheels on to add the intake. Blur it as we did with the wheels.

Step 8
We're almost done. Now we need to sharpen the image a little. Merge all of the layers except the original car, which can be deleted. Name the merged layers "mini car." Resize the canvas to the size of the layer. Go to Filters > Enhance > Unsharp Mask. You'll have to play around with the settings a bit to get a desired result.

Conclusion
Aww isn't it cute? Well there you have it, an easy method to shrink cars. Have fun with it!

Create a Holiday e-Card in Gimp

2008-12-04T19:55:00.038-06:00

Hey I'm back. I haven't forgotten about the blog, I've just been busy lately. Anyway, today I'm going to teach you how to create a holiday e-card in Gimp that you can email, print off, etc for your friends, family, whoever you want to say "Happy Holidays!" to. We'll be making something like this:

Step 1
Create a new, rather large document. I made mine 800x600 pixels. If you plan on printing your card, make the X and Y resolutions at 300dpi. Give it a white background.

Step 2
On the background layer, we'll apply a gradient. Make your foreground color either a dark red or a dark green and make your background color black. Apply a radial gradient to the background.

Step 3
Create a new layer and name it "tree reference." Get out the pencil tool. Choose the Circle (01) brush and make the color white. Drag a ruler to the center of the image. With the pencil tool, click once where you want the top of the tree to be, using the ruler as a reference. Now, hold Shift and you should see a line follow the mouse pointer from the point at the top of the tree. Click where you want the base of one side of the tree to be. Do the same for the other side. This will be our reference for our Christmas tree.

Step 4
Now we need an image of our Santa Claus. Go find one somewhere on the net, or you can use this one. Place him in the center of the tree. You can use the ruler to be sure he is center. Create a new layer and name it "tree." Get out the Paths Tool. Starting at the top of the tree, create a diagonal path down towards Santa's star.

Step 5
Still using the paths tool, go to the paths dialog and switch from design to edit. Click a path and manuever the little squares to curve the lines, like I have below.

Step 6
Download these brushes. Because they are a .tar.gz file, you will need a program such as 7zip to extract them unless you are running a Linux platform. Copy them into your Gimp brushes folder.Click the brush tool (don't worry if your path disappeared, we'll make it come back up later) and in the brush dialog, click the little refresh button. Your brushes should appear.

Select the star brush I have selected above. In the other brush dialog, apply these settings:

Go ahead and change the brush's size to 0.10 pixels instead of what it is now. Click the Paths tab next to the Layers tab. Double click on the white space on the only path listed. Our path should show up on the document. Click the "Stoke Path" button. Select the "Stroke With a Paint Tool" option and select the paint brush. Enable brush dynamics and click ok. You should have something like this:

Step 7
Before we go any further, we need to install a couple of filters. Download these filters from the Gimp plugin registry and install them. To do that, simply save the SCM file avaliable for download and paste it into the Scripts folder, in the same archive as the Brush folder. To activate the script, go up to Filters >Script-Fu > Refresh Scripts. A menu should pop up next to the Filters Menu named "Script-Fu.
"
Open your ecard back up. Select your tree layer. Go to Script-Fu > Layer Effects > Color Overlay. Select a hue similar to either the dark green or dark red you chose at the beginning of the tutorial. Choose the setting Overlay and keep the opacity at 100%. Click ok.

Now go to Script-Fu > Layer Effects > Outer Glow. Keep the default settings, except lower the opacity to 14% and change the blending mode to Screen. Click ok. (Note I have hidden the tree reference layer below.)

Step 8
Now let's add a star at the top of the tree. Create a new layer and name it "star." Paint a white star at the top of the tree. Also paint a smaller star at the top of the star above Santa's head. Apply outer glows and color overlays like we did in the last step.

Step 9
Now we'll add in some text. Type in "Christmas," or whatever word you would like. Place it behind the Santa layer. I used size 80 font Arial Bold. The color is the opposite color of my background. (IE red if your background is green, and vice versa). I made the star above Santa's head in the center of the text. Let's give the text some style.

Go to Script-Fu > Layer Effects > Inner Shadow. Keep everything default and make the size 4. Click ok. Go to Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow. Make the offsets 0, the blur radius 8, and don't allow resizing. Click ok.

Now go to Script-Fu > Layer Effects > Bevel and Emboss. Change the type to Inner Bevel and raise soften to 4. Click ok.

Step 10
We aren't done with the text yet. Select the text layer again, and go to Script-Fu > Layer Effects> Color Overlay. If your text is red, use #ff0000. If your text is green, use #1fae1c. Set the blending mode to Overlay, and click ok. In the layers dialog, drag the color overlay layer that was just created to above the rest of the layers that make up the text. Lower the opacity to about 63%.

Step 11
Let's add a reflection to the text. Hide all of the layers that do not make up the text. Edit > Copy Visible. Edit > Paste As > New Layer. You should now have the text all on one layer without any distortion. Go through and delete all of the separate pieces that made up the text to begin with, except for the one we just made. Your picture won't look any different- we just put all of the pieces that make up the text on one layer.

Now duplicated the text layer. Go to Layer > Transform > Flip Vertically. Place it underneath the original text, as if it were a reflection.Right click the reflected layer, and select Add Layer Mask.... Select the first option (full opacity) and click ok. Reset your colors to black and white. Apply the gradient from bottom to top, making a reflection.

Step 12
Now add some "Merry" text and some more icons like in previous steps. For the "Merry" font, I downloaded this font. All I did with the text was give it a drop shadow like before and stroked the edges with light green. As far as the icons go, just search for Christmas or holiday icons on Google and you are bound to find some.

Step 13
Now we'll add some snow. Create a new layer and go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Raise the X and Y size to 5 and raise the detail to 5. Click ok. Go to Colors > Hue/Saturation. Take the Lightness all the way down and click ok. We still need some more dark spots, so get out the burn tool and burn it in a couple places.

Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur by 30. Now go to Filters > Noise > Hurl. Use 10, 41, and 1. Click ok. Go to Colors > Threshold. Drag the arrow to about the third line. Click ok. Go to Filters > Blur > Motion Blur. Use linear type, length 3, and angle 212. Click ok. Set the layer mode to Overlay and lower the opacity to about 42%.

I forgot to add the reflections for the Santa, tree, ornament, and gift, so I went ahead and did that as well, the same way the text was done.

Conclusion
Wasn't that easy? Now you can use it as a wallpaper, or email it to your friends and family, even your co-workers, or boss. It's a nice and easy way to get every one into the holiday spirit! Merry Christmas everyone!

Artist's Choice Fine and Digital Art Competition

2008-11-01T20:41:00.000-05:00

If you've been to the Brickfish website lately, you'll probably notice the Artist's Choice Fine and Digital Art Competition is up and running. Well, yours truly has entered it, and I'm asking that you please support me within this competition and vote for my entry. This is my entry:

Artist's Choice - Round 1
Brickfish

Light Dancer is a piece that I actually worked quite a bit of time on a while back and I feel it's worthy of a contest such as this. All I'm asking is that you please support me and vote. The prize for this contest is a scholarship, which is something I would love to win, considering it would really help me out to pay for college. So please, take your time to view it and consider voting for me. Thanks!

News & Upates

2008-10-31T23:48:00.002-05:00

Well, I usually don't do news posts that often. If anything other than tutorials, it's a post about site maintenance. Anway, just wanted to let you guys know that I just recently claimed SGlider12's Blog on Technorati, so if you guys want, click the Technorati button at the top of the blog or at the bottom of the posts you like to add it to your list. The more the better!

Another thing I would like to mention is don't forget to Stumble! You see someting you like, hit the StumbleUpon button on the Bookmark tool at the bottom of the post. (It's under the "more" option.) Any other social networking sites you like? Add there, too! There's also the RSS feed, so don't forget about that ;).

Something else I'd like to start doing is adding a web round-up of some of the finest Gimp tutorials I can find. I'll probably feature about 5-10 of them. If you see any that you think are really good, you can contact me linking to it and I'll check it out. Make sure that in the subject line you put "Web Round-Up Suggestion" or something to that effect. I'm even thinking about doing inspirational posts, but not set on that idea yet.

Anyway, help spread the word about SGlider12's Blog and what it offers. It would be greatly appreciated and it'll help to keep the blog running. Reader support is an amazing thing and it keeps the blog going. If you already read the blog on a regular basis, then keep at it. Your support is greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

EDIT: I'd also like to mention that this blog has been Dugg! It would be greatly appreciated if you hit the Digg button at the top of the blog to keep the number of Diggs going higher and higher! Thanks!

Design a Halloween Pumpkin Wallpaper in Gimp

2008-10-24T14:58:00.025-05:00

Alright I know I promised you guys a 3d abstract wallpaper tutorial, but I decided I liked the pumpkin idea better (Halloween is in a week...so why not?). Anway, today I'm going to teach you guys how to create a Halloween pumpkin wallper in Gimp based on a Photoshop tutorial by Alvaro Guzman at PSDTuts. Here's what we are going to make:

Want to download the XCF for this tutorial? Get it here!

Step 1
Create a new document that is the size of your desktop screen. Mine is 1280x800. Select the blend tool and give the background a brown (#d7aa82) to black radial gradient. Use these settings:

Apply the gradient from the center of your document to close to the outside, holding down CTRL/CMD as you do so.

Step 2
Now we need an image of a pumpkin. I am going to use this one, but you can use whatever you like. File > Open as Layers. Select your pumpkin. It will open on a new layer in your document.

Render your pumpkin. You can do this using a variety of methods, so do it however you like. I am going to render mine using the path tool. In my image, the pumpkin is a bit flat. I am going to use the scale tool to make it a bit taller.

Step 3

Now we will recolor our pumpkin so it's the color of traditional carved pumpkins. Select the entire pumpkin except for the stem. The easiest way to do this is to use either the lasso tool or the paths tool and select the stem, then invert the selection. Go to Select > Feather. Feather it by one. After you have done that, go to Colors > Colorize. Apply these settings to get an orange hue, or you can play around with the sliders until you get something you like.

With your selection still active, invert it by going to Select >Invert, or CTRL/CMD-I. Now you should have only the stem selected. Go to Colors > Colorize.

Step 4
Let's increase the darkness in the pumpkin by going to Colors > Levels. Adjust mainly the middle and right sliders to darken the pumpkin, but don't darken it too much.

Step 5
Create a new layer above the pumpkin and name it "sketch." Using the brush tool, draw a quick, rough sketch of your jack-o-lantern's face. You can even use the pen tool and then stroke the path you created.

Step 6
Create a new layer above the sketch layer and name it "fill." Now using the Magic Wand Tool, select inside the sketch. Hold down the shift key as you select so you can select more than one area at a time, eg. the eyes, nose, and mouth. Now grab the Bucket Fill Tool and and fill the selection with black on the "Fill" layer we created earlier. Deselect and hide the "sketch" layer.

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Step 7
Now we'll create an inner lighting effect. Create a new layer and name it "radial gradient overlay." Apply a radial gradient to it that goes from an orange (#ff5a00) to a dark brown (#572b04) with the selection of your fill. (If your fill isn't selected, right click it's layer, and click Alpha to Selection.) Set the layer mode to Multiply. Create another new layer and name it "pattern overlay." Download this pattern and place it inside your fill's selection. Set the layer mode to Multiply.

Bring the pumpkin layer above all of the layers. Alpha to Selection on the Gradient Overlay layer. Go back to the pumpkin layer and press delete. Everything should be deleted where the eyes, mouth, and nose are, letting the textures show through.

Step 8
Now we'll add in some light sources. Download this photo of a candle and open it as a new layer named "candle." Make a quick selection around it with the Lasso Tool and go to Select > Feather. Feather it by about 30 pixels. Copy/paste onto a new layer. Delete the previous candle layer.

Now we will add the candle by changing the layer mode to Screen. Put the candle layer below the pumpkin layer, but above everything else. Your candle should be inside the pumpkin. Duplicate the candle a few times if you want to.

Step 9
Bring back the "sketch" layer and drag it above the rest of the layers. Unhide it. Draw some more lines on it to give it depth.

Select the new areas with the Magic Wand Tool and create a new layer below the pumpkin layer called "depth." Fill the selection with black. Hide the sketch again. I actually had to do some fixing with the eraser and brush tools to get it to come out exactly like it did, and you may need to do the same as well.

Step 10
Now we will add a pattern and gradient overlay like before. This will give it more depth and texture. Again, right click, alpha to selection on the depth layer. Create a new layer named "gradient overlay depth." Click the gradient tool and apply a gradient like before. Lower the opacity just a bit.

Create another new layer named pattern overlay depth. Open up that texture we downloaded earlier and place it in the selection. Set the layer mode to Multiply.

Step 11
Now we'll add some light details around our pumpkin. Create a new layer and name it "light details." Get a small, soft brush and paint a few lines close to the carving borders and then use the smudge tool to make the lines softer.

Step 12
Create another new layer and name it "depth adjust." Using a soft, dark brush, paint over some of the depth areas in the carvings so you have inner shadows for each hole. I also went in and added another candle inside the pumpkin.

Step 13
Now we'll add a nice background. Create a new layer and place it underneath all of the other layers except the background layer. Name it "clouds." Go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Raise the detail to about 10 and click ok. Set the blending mode to Dodge. Create a new layer above it and name it "fractal." Go to Filters > Render > Nature > Flame. Get something about like I have below. Duplicate it, rotate it, and place it in a few different spots on the canvas. Merge all of the fractal layers down to one layer, and be sure the layer mode is set to Dodge.

Afterward, select your pumpkin layer and go to Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow. Set both offsets to zero, the blur radius to 8, and don't allow resizing.

Step 14
Select the fractal layer and go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Leave the values at 5 and press ok. Merge the fractals with the cloud layer and set the layer mode to Dodge. Rename the layer as "Bg1."

Get out the Lasso Tool and and select a good size area in the Bg1 layer. Go to Select > Feather. Feather by 20. Copy and paste it just above the first background layer. Name this new layer "Bg2." Go to Colors > Colorize and give it a red hue. Change Bg2's blending mode to Overlay. Place it like mine below.

Do this again, but instead using a green hue.

Step 15
Notice that our pumpkin has a dark shadow on the left side. We are gonna try and keep that same lighting effect in our final outcome. Create a new layer above all of our background layers. Make an elliptical selection like mine below:

Go to Select > Feather. Feather by about 150. Fill the selection with black. Get out the scale tool and flatten the black area a bit. Lower the opacity to about 70%. Place the black area under the pumpkin, but to the left a bit.

Step 16

Now we will add a surface for the pumpkin to sit on. Create a new layer named "floor" just above the background layers. Fill it with black. Right click the layer and select "Add Layer Mask." Select the first option and click ok. Get out the rectangular selection tool and select an area on the bottom that will serve as the floor. CTRL-I to invert it. Fill it with black. Your pumpkin should now be on a black floor.

Step 17
Create a new layer called "ground shadow" and place it above all of the other layers. Get out the elliptical selection tool and make a selection underneath the pumpkin. Feather it by 100 pixels and fill it with black.

Step 18
Now on the same layer, get out the Lasso Tool and draw an irregular shape following the pumpkin's shape. Feather it by 20 pixels, then press delete.

Step 19

We're almost done. Let's add some more details, shall we? Duplicate one of the candles and name it "front candle." Bring it to the top of all the layers in the layers palette. Place it like I have in front of the pumpkin. Go ahead and duplicate it, while making it smaller to add another candle.

Get out the Burn Tool and the Blur Tool. Use them on the candles to improve them.

Step 20

I also decided to add another candle on the other side of the pumpkin.

Now we'll add a reflection to the entire thing. First, select the three candles in the front. Duplicate all three layers and merge the duplicates together. Set the layer mode to Screen. Go to Layer > Transform > Flip vertical. Move the layer underneath the original three candles as if it is a reflection. Right click the layer and select "Add Layer Mask." Use a white and black gradient to make it fade out.

Do the same reflection technique for the pumpkin and the other candles.

Save it and you're done!

Happy Halloween!

Site Maintenance

2008-10-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

The blog will be under some maintenance as I set up the new template. Sorry if you experience any difficulty while browsing though.

On a side note, you WILL expect a new tutorial within the next week or so that has to do with creating an awesome abstract 3D wallpaper, so get ready for that along with some new perks (if you can call them that...) this template will bring. :D

Create a SciFi Work of Art in Gimp

2008-09-29T21:01:00.021-05:00

Alright today I'm going to teach you all how to create a sci-fi movie poster in the Gimp. Here is what we will be making:

Tip: Don't forget to save often, Gimp does have a tendency to crash! xD

Step 1
Let's create a new document in Gimp. I will make mine rather small, about 800x1280 pixels at 300dpi. I recommend you make yours a lot bigger if you want it to be an actual movie poster size, though. I'm not printing mine, so this size will do. Create a new layer named "Gradient BG Overlay 1." Get out the blend tool. Make your foreground color #070805 and your background color #030d19. Apply the gradient from top to bottom while holding down the CTRL/CMD tool to keep the line straight.

Step 2
Let's create a new layer and name it "Aurora." Go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Use these settings:
Detail: 5
Y-Size: 6.0
X-Size: 6.0
Be sure Randomized is checked and click ok. You should now have some clouds on this layer. Get out the Perspective tool and distort the clouds so that the top half is larger than the bottom half, like in mine below.

Click ok when done. Change the layer mode to Dodge and lower the opacity to 50%.

Step 3
Now we are going to create a custom gradient for this. Unfortunately, I don't feel like explaining the gradient making process, so I have created it for you. Download it from here and put it in Gimp's gradients folder. Hit the little refresh button in the gradients dialog and it'll show up.

Create a new layer above your clouds layer named "cloud gradient overlay 1." Apply your gradient on this layer from top to bottom holding down CTRL/CMD. Set the layer mode to Multiply.

Step 4
Now we will add the hero into the poster. I used this photo courtesty stock.xchng. Cut the man out of the background and place him into your document on a new layer named "hero." Let's make him silouhetted by going to Colors > Brightness/Contrast. Lower the brightness all the way. You may have to do this a couple of times to get him to near complete dark. Scale the man down a little bit to make him stand in the bottom left corner. (Please note the image below has been brightened so the hero is viewable.)

Step 5
Now we will create terrain for our hero to stand on. Create a new layer underneath the hero layer and name it "terrain." Get out the pen tool and draw some real simple & quick terrain. Convert it to a selection and fill it with black, like in mine. Group the hero and terrain layers by clicking the little chain lock icon next to the layer.

Create another new layer underneath both of those layers and name it "Linear Gradient 1." Apply a black and white linear gradient from top to bottom. Make sure black is the foreground color. Set the layer mode to dodge and lower the opacity to 80%

Step 6

Now we'll add in our planet. I am going to use this planet. Add it as a new layer, named "planet," into your document. place it in front of everything except for the hero and the terrain. Change the layer mode to Screen and keep the opacity at 100%. I also went through and softly erased the majority of the stars in the background of the image.

Step 7
Add a new layer above the planet layer. Go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Use these settings:
Detail: 5
X-Size: 6
Y-Size: 6
Click ok.

Change the layer mode to Dodge. Get out the Eraser tool and, using a large, soft brush, brush over the parts that you don't want to appear on the final image. Duplicate this layer twice. In the 3rd copy, invert it by going to Colors > Invert and then change the layer mode to Soft Light and lower the opacity to about 50%. Use the eraser tool again to adjust some areas.

Step 8

Create a new layer underneath the hero and terrain layers named "swirl." Render some clouds like before. Go to Colors > Curves. Adjust it so that you have a nice variety of grays, like below:

Click ok. Get out the Elliptical Selection tool and make a nice circular selection around the swirl. Go to Select > Feather and feather it by 50 pixels. Get out the perspective tool and distort the swirl so that it faces the planet, like below. Click ok when done.

Step 9
Set the swirl layer to Dodge and duplicate it. Create a new layer above the swirls and name it "Lens Flare." Fill the layer with black. Go to Filters > Light and Shadow > Lens Flare. Render a lens flare over the area where your swirl is. Set the layer mode to Dodge. Resize the layer if needed to cover your swirl.

Step 10
Let's create another new layer under the hero and terrain layers and fill it with black. Get out a large, soft brush and give it this color #5a708e. Paint some areas mainly in the center and close to the light sources. Change the layer mode to Soft Light. The clouds will become a bit darker and bluer.

Step 11
Create a new transparent layer under the hero and terrain layers and name it "beam." Get out a large, soft brush tool that's white in color. Make the brush 50% opaque. Draw a straight line that starts in the center of the swirl and ends touching the little planet protruding from the bigger planet. You'll need to play around with brush sizes and opacities to achieve a look like I have below.

Step 12

Now we'll add our stars. We'll create big stars and small stars. Create a new layer under the planet layer and name it "small stars." Fill it with black. Go to Filters > Noise > RGB Noise. Keep Independent RGB checked and set all 3 values to 1.00. Click ok. Set the layer mode to Screen.

Go to Colors > Levels. In the top bar, set the values to 125, 1, and 211. Click ok. Go ahead and use the eraser tool to erase parts of the starfield that are too strong.

Step 13
Now for our large stars. Create a new layer and name it "big stars." Set the layer mode to Dodge, and get out the brush tool. Using a soft and white brush, randomly scatter some stars. Make the opacities and sizes vary, but don't go too crazy with this part. Lower the opacity of the layer when done.

Step 14
Now we is addin' the moon. I'm going to use this stock photo. Place it in your document on a new layer and name it "moon." Rotate the moon so the lighter side faces your planet. Go to Colors > Hue/Saturation. Give the moon a blue hue. Set the layer mode to Dodge. Duplicate the layer, and go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur by 10 pixels. Change the layer mode to Screen and lower the opacity to about 8%.

Step 15
In the end, I decided I didn't want the hero or terrain, so I got rid of them. Well, enjoy!

Fiery Space Explosion in Gimp

2008-08-31T15:02:00.004-05:00

Here's a new tutorial in Gimp for ya guys. Today I'm going to teach you how to create a fiery space explosion in Gimp based on a tutorial by Collis at PSDTuts. Here is what we are going to create:

Step 1
In the original tutorial, Collis focuses on the Rule of Thirds, a method that simply states that if you divide your canvas in three lengthwise and vertically,

your main focal points should be at the intersections, or along the lines themselves. The reason being for having your main focal point off center is that it creates a more visual interest. Take a look at this image from Collis:

Keeping that in mind, I'm going to keep my focal point in the bottom right corner.

Step 2
Alright, let's start our composition. Create a new canvas. Mine will be rather large, at 1280x800. Use a radial gradient, with a rather subtle light color where the explosion will be. Make it somewhat like mine:

Now let's give it some texture. Create a new transparent layer. Go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Use these settings:

Click ok. Set the cloudy layer's blending mode to Screen and lower the opacity to about 12%.

Step 3

I chose to next use this stock due to it's texture (Right Click>Save As):

In your canvas window, go to File > Open As Layers. Open your aurora image. Rotate the image so the aurora runs lengthwise. You can also use the scale tool and adjust the aurora to better fit your image. Go to Colors > Desaturate and click Desaturate. Now get out a large, soft eraser and erase pretty much anything that isn't part of the aurora. You can leave the sky in it, though. Set the layer to Dodge and lower the opacity to 50%.

Step 4
Now we are going to add the stars. Download this image of stars below:

Go to File > Open as Layers and select the star image. Lower the opacity to about 19-20%.

Step 5
Now we'll add our planet. I am going to be using this planet found via Google:

http://dragonsoulgallery.com/miscpics/Planet_by_Randell.png

Open up the planet as a new layer in our piece. Resize, rotate, and place it in the desired spot abiding by the Rule of Thirds I mentioned earlier.

Step 6
Now let's give our planet a little more depth. Duplicate the planet layer. Run the dodge/burn tools over it. Make the top of the planet lighter, and the bottom of it darker. Set the layer mode to Screen.

Step 7
Now let's add our planet into the image again. Do this by going to File > Open as Layers, and select your planet. Shrink the planet so it is even smaller, like in mine below. Desaturate it so it looks, well, different from our larger planet. Rotate it a bit, and use the dodge tool on the part where it will collide with the larger planet.

Step 8

Get out the gradient tool, and select FG to Transparent. Make white your foreground color. Right click > Alpha to Selection on the planet layer. Create a new layer and apply the gradient to the selection, going from where the comet is, to the bottom of the planet. Select > Deselect. Set the layer mode to Overlay and lower the opacity a bit.

Step 9
Go ahead and move the comet layer behind the planet layer. Create a new layer. Grab a large, soft brush and click only once or twice to get a nice, white, soft glow as shown.

Step 10

Now use the scale tool and the rotate tool to elongate the light like I have done. Also be sure it is tangential to the main planet.

Step 11

Now we'll add a blue glow to the outside of the light. Go to Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow. Make the X & Y Offsets 0, the radius 15, and do not allow resizing. Change the color to a darkish blue, or whatever matches your planet. Click ok.

Step 12
Duplicate the glow layer and rotate it so it's opposite the last glow layer. Go to Filter > Repeat Drop Shadow. Your second glow should have the same glow as the first. Let's add some color to it now. Get out another large, soft brush. Now I want to stick with a sort of blue explosion. I'll make my brush blue. Paint the explosion a bit and set the layer mode to Overlay. Duplicate the layer. Set the new layer to Screen.

Step 13
Duplicate one of the light layers. Go to Filters > Blur > Motion Blur. Use these settings:

Set the layer mode to Screen, and lower the opacity.

Step 14
Now we want to create a tail behind our comet. Duplicate your layer we just made. Lower the opacity. Smush it a little and blur it a bit. Place it behind our comet. Give it some color if ya want. Remember to change opacities and such and to also play around a bit with what you're making. Makes it more, creative, I guess you could say.

Step 15
Now we are going to grab this image found via Google:

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~korista/stargal-images/pleiades_gendler_big.jpg

We will use this image to form some of the tail lights on the comet. Open this image as a layer and place it behind our two planets. Use a soft eraser and erase everything except for what you see in the image below. It makes it look somewhat like particles are being thrown out by the collision. You can even duplicate the layers a couple times and make it different.

Step 16
Right click on the planet layer and select Alpha to Selection. Create a new layer behind the planet layer named "backglow." Fill the selection with white. Select > Deselect. Press the Up & Left arrow keys a few times to move the white ellipse in the direction shown. Afterward, go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur by 40. Click ok. Set the backglow layer to Overlay and duplicate it. Blur it again, and move it up and to the left even more.

Step 17
Now we need the all-important lens flare. Create a new layer above all the others and fill it with black. Go to Filters > Light and Shadow > Lense Flare. Render your lense flare. Set the layer mode to Screen.

Step 18
Now we'll apply a subtle blur to soften the whole image. Go to Edit > Copy Visible and Paste as Layer. You should now have a new layer with our WIP on it. Duplicate it. Hide one of them. Desaturate the visible one. Go to Filters > Blur > Motion Blur. Select Zoom as the type of blur. Play around with it until you get something like this:

Step 19
Now set the blurred layer to Overlay at 20% opacity. Alright now grab the other layer we hid earlier. Repeat the blurring process to it (but don't desaturate it!). Set it to 10% opacity.

Step 20
Let's add some texture to it, shall we? Alright, so grab one of these paper textures from BittBox. Open the texture as a layer like we have done previously. Move the layer to in between the light layers. Erase all but the parts where I haven't.

Set the layer to Overlay. Lower the opacity if needed.

Step 21
Alright we are almost there! Yay! Now let's add in this image of the moon via Google:

http://www.tutorialquest.com/templates/tutorials/moon/moon.png

Open it as a layer in our composition. Shrink the size of it down to about the size of our comet. Get out the burn tool and burn the side of the moon facing away from the explosion.

Step 22
Now let's make our moon interact with the explosion a bit more. Use the eyedropper tool and select one of the main colors from the explosion. That turns out to be a blue for me. Right click on the moon layer, and select Alpha to Selection. Create a new layer. Use a soft brush to paint a cresent shape with our selected color. Be sure it is facing the explosion. Duplicate the cresent layer. Blur it with Gaussian Blur by 8 or so.

Now you are done! Enjoy.

Design an Apple iPhone Advertisement in Gimp

2008-08-20T13:42:00.003-05:00

Let's be honest. I like Apple, I really do, but what keeps me from buying Apple products is the fact that it's just too expensive, and nothing is upgradeable. I do like the looks of Apple products, though, except the iPod. I prefer my Zune. But doesn't that iPhone look slick? (It's expensive, too.) But anyway, let's design us one of those fancy iPhones in Gimp. Remember, you can click the images to make them bigger. Also remember to save often, since Gimp has a tendency to crash.

Step 1

Let's create a new document in Gimp, preferably no less than 1024x768 big. Make the background black. Create a new layer and name it "inner black." Get out the Rectangle Select Tool, and make a selection about like mine. Afterward, go to Select > Rounded Rectangle, and enter about 30 for the radius. Click ok. Change the foreground color to black, and the background color to #323333. Apply the gradient from bottom to top.

Step 2
Now we want to create the outer silver part that outlines the iPhone. Create a new layer and name it "outer lining." With your previous selection still active, go to Select > Grow. Grow by 15. Click ok. Select the gradient tool. Make the foreground color a light gray and the background color white. Apply the gradient tool from bottom to top. Create a new layer and name it "outer-inner lining." Select > Shrink. Shrink by 7. Apply the gradient tool from top to bottom.

Select the paintbrush tool. Select the Circle (01) brush. Make white the foreground color. Go to Edit > Stoke Selection. Select the paintbrush radio button. Click ok. Select > Deselect. I also took the blur tool around the white stroke a bit to smooth out the line. Merge the two outline layers.

Step 3
Get out the rectangle select tool to make the screen. Create a new layer and name it "screen." Fill the selection with #447AB0.

Now personally, I don't feel like making the screen completely from scratch. I guess I'm just too lazy to do it. I'm going to use this picture of an iPhone and steal it's screen. You can copy if you wish, or make your own.

Step 4
Now for the speaker. Create a new layer and name it "speaker." get out the Rectangle Select Tool and select an area about what I have selected. Select > Rounded Rectangle. Use 80 as the radius. Use black as the foreground color and white as the background color. Fill it from top to bottom like I have. Select > Shrink. Shrink by 3 pixels. Fill the selection with black.

Step 5

Now for the camera. Create a new layer and name it "camera." Get out the Ellipse Select Tool and select an area about what I have. Fill it with white. Select > Shrink. Shrink by 1 pixel. Fill the selection with a black and white gradient from top to bottom.

With your selection still active, click the paths tab above the layers dialog. Click on the Selection to Path button. You should have a new path pop up in the paths dialog. Select > Deselect. Grab the paths tool. Click and drag the new path into the work area. You should now have a path where your selection was. Use the path tool to adjust the path to about what I have done:

After you have your path ready, click the Selection from Path button in the toolbox. Fill the new selection with black. Select > Deselect. Get out the Rectangle Select Tool and make a selection like I have. Select > Rounded Rectangle. Use 30 for the radius. Fill the selection with a very light gray. Select > Shrink. Shrink by 1 pixel. Fill with black. Select > Deselect. Now we're done with the iPhone part of the tutorial. Happy? Good. :D

Step 6

Now let's create the rest of the advertisement. (This half of the tutorial is based on a tutorial by Fabio at PSDTuts.) Create a new layer above the background layer. Fill it with a radial, white to black gradient. Get out the Rectangle Selection Tool and select a rectangle that covers about the bottom half of the screen. Fill it with a very dark red on a new layer.

Step 7

Create a new layer. Select a blue color (#113e4b) for the foreground color and black for the background color. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. You should now have clouds in your previous selection. Go to Colors > Colorize. Slide the Hue bar until you get a dark blue like I have. Lower the Lightness a little bit.

Step 8
Select the Perspective tool and distort the floor as I have below. Click Transform when done.

Add some blur to it by going to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blue. Put 8 in box boxes and click ok. Lower the opacity to make it a bit darker.

Step 9
Repeat the steps 7-8 to create another set of clouds, but this time, use a dark pink hue instead of blue. Note: If you duplicate the blue layer, it won't work because we need to use different clouds.

Step 10

Create a new layer just like you did in step 6. Select black and white for your foreground and background colors. Get out the radial gradient tool and apply it, with white in the center. Change the blend mode to Dodge. Note: I've hidden my iPhone layer so you can see what mine looks like.

Step 11

Create a new layer. Get out the Lasso Tool. Create a selection like I have below. Then go to Select > Feather. Feather by 100px.

Go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Let's add more blur to the clouds. Filter > Blue > Gaussian Blur. Put 35 in both boxes and click ok. Set the blend mode to Dodge. Delete the part of the cloud that is not on the floor.

Step 12

Now we'll create the background's light. Create a new layer. Use the Rectangle Select Tool and select the top part of the background (from the top of the floor, up). Go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Click ok. Go to Colors > Brightness/Contrast. Lower the brightness and raise the contrast some.

Create a new layer and fill the existing selection with #84a7b8. Set the blending mode to Overlay.

Create another layer and get out the gradient tool. Create a new gradient with the colors #fba46f, #cb8cd4, and #346777. Fill the existing selection with that gradient. Set the blending mode to Overlay. I also took the eraser tool to the cloud layer we just made and erased some of the parts.

Step 13

Create a new layer. Get out the lasso tool. Make a selection like I have. Feather by 100 like before.

Filter > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Select > Deselect. Get out the blur tool and blur parts of the image. Set the blending mode to Dodge.

Step 14

Reveal your iPhone that we hid earlier. Let's add some lights in front of our iPhone. To do that, create a new layer.Choose a soft brush and and use about a 50% opacity. First choose an orange color, and brush a little bit up in the top left corner. Then, choose a pink color and paint around the left side of the phone. Change the blend mode of the layer to Overlay. You can also add another layer of clouds, but erase most of them, leaving behind a few gray parts.

Step 15
For the most part, we are completely done with it. Yeah, it does look a bit plain, with just the iPhone on top. I decided to use the Outer Glow filter from FX-Foundry Scripts (which you can download here) and added a few other glows.

My New Wacom Graphire4 Tablet

2008-08-20T12:52:00.001-05:00

Today I recieved my new Wacom Graphire4 Tablet. Not only is it a great tool for all of my digital drawing, but the price was great, too. Why? Because it was free. I got it free thanks to GamingLagoon. All I had to do was complete a few surveys, wait for them to be approved, and then that was it! It's really easy and takes almost no effort at all. Here are some pictures of my tablet and the packaging:

The package!

GamingLagoon's billing address.

My shipping address.

The Wacom Graphire4 Tablet.

And that's it! Go ahead, sign up, and start completing those surveys. I promise it's worth it. Link.

Site Maintenance

2008-08-18T22:52:00.000-05:00

Alright, the blog is undergoing a little maintenance what with a few new features and a new template and everything. (You probably already noticed the side widgets are missing.) Sorry for the inconvenience!

Create a Worn Vintage Pop Art Design

2008-08-12T11:18:00.025-05:00

Pop art, vintage, and grunge are some of my favorite types of styles. They're back and you see them everywhere. Well, today I'm going to teach you how to create a worn vintage pop art design in Gimp based on a tutorial by Alvaro Guzman at PSDTuts. BTW, this is also my 100th post! Yay!

Remember you can click the images to view them full size. Oh, and here's a tip, be sure to save every so often, preferably after every step. Gimp has a tendency to crash a lot...

1) Alright, first we are going to start with the background. Create a new document that is 960x1280 in size. Why so big? Well, it's good to be able to work with a lot of space. If you need to later on, you can scale it down a bit, but keep it in proportion.

We need to use this image for the background. Open the image in Gimp and copy/paste into your document. Rotate, resize, and adjust it like I have done.

2) Now we are going to add a dirty style to the paper. Create a layer named "clouds" above the "paper" layer. Reset the foreground and background colors by pressing (D) and go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Use these settings:
Random Seed: 0
Detail: 6
X Size: 3
Y Size: 4
Leave everything unchecked an click ok.

Now get out a huge, soft, eraser tool and erase big parts of the clouds. When done, set the layer mode to Burn and the opacity to 75%.

3) Now we are going to add different design elements to our design. We need in image of a person. I am going to use this image of a businessman here. Render him and copy/paste him onto a new layer named "man." For a guide on rendering in Gimp, you can visit this site.

4) Pop art can be bizarre sometimes. Don't know what I'm talking about? You can check out some bizarre pop art here. Because I like originality and, well, bizarre things, we are going to use a dog's head. Yeah, I know the original tutorial used a dog head, but, oh well. Dogs are man's best friend, right? You can go ahead and use something else if ya like. Same goes for the rest of the tutorial, as in, if you want to use something else, go ahead. It only shows how creative you can be.

Open up the image of the dog's head in Gimp and render it. Copy/paste onto a new layer in Gimp named "dog." Use a soft eraser tool and erase the man's head, leaving a nice, soft, rounded area around the neck, like in my example below. Place your dog head over it. Do your best with the eraser tool, paths tool, etc. to make the head blend in.

5) Merge your "man" layer with your "dog" layer. Name the layer "dog man" or something like that. Duplicate the "dog man" layer. On the "dog man layer copy" layer, set the mode to Burn. Lower the opacity to about 25%. Set the "dog man" layer mode to Hard Light.

Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Keep the same settings and click ok. Erase parts of the cloud like we did before. Move the new clouds layer to the top of the layers palette. Set the mode to Burn and lower the opacity to about 45%.

6) For this next part, I would normally use custom shapes, but because we are in Gimp and not Photoshop, and because I'm to lazy to teach you how to make a sunburst in Gimp, we will download this sunburst shape I made in Photoshop. After you have downloaded it, in Gimp, click File > Open as Layers. Select the sunburst shape. Get out the magic wand tool and select the light blue area. Select > Grow. Grow by 1px and click ok. Delete. Select > Deselect. Colors > Hue/Saturation. Slide all 3 bars to the left and click ok.

Rotate the layer and scale to where the center of the sunburst is focused around the dogman's head, somewhat like mine. Change the layer mode to Overlay. Raise the sunburst layer to the top of the layers palette.

7) Now, we want the sunburst to be under the dogman layer, but we can't simply move the layer order because the dogman is set to a certain blending mode affected by the paper. To solve this issue, right click the dogman layer, and click Alpha to Selection. Select the sunburst layer and press delete. The sunburst over the dog should be deleted.

Now we want to add a little bit of grungyness to the sunburst. Right click on the sunburst layer and select Add Layer Mask. In the dialog that pops up, select "White (Full Opacity)." Get out some splatter brushes, and select black as the color. Lower the opacity of the brushes to about 80%. Now add a few splatters to the layer mask.

8) Alright let's add the drop shadow. Select the "dogman" layer. Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow. Use these settings:
Offset X: -8
Offset Y: -10
Color: #444444
Opacity: 80%
Do not allow resizing. Click ok.

Now right click on your "dogman" layer and select alpha to selection. Click on the drop shadow layer and press delete. This should get rid of the shadow not visible under the dogman. Lower the drop shadow layer to about 30%.

9) Now we'll add some patterns to the design. Download the pattern of your choice from here. Open up the image in Gimp. File > Save As. Save it in your Gimp patterns folder. Restart the Gimp to load the pattern. Be sure to save your work.

Open up your piece we have been working on. Create a new layer above the rest and name it "Texture 1." Get out the rectangular select tool and select an area that covers about 1/3 of the image from the bottom. Select the Bucket Fill tool. Select pattern as the fill type. Select your pattern shape in the patterns dialog that we saved earlier. Fill the selection.

Add a layer mask to the "texture 1" layer. Select the "White (Full Opacity)" option in the dialog that pops up. Use a black, hard round brush and erase parts of the mask where you don't want it to show. It's ok if some of it covers the dogman, because we'll fix that next.

Right click on the Dogman layer and select the Alpha to Selection option. Click the "texture 1" layer and press delete. Do the same with the drop shadow layer. Set the texture 1's layer mode to Multiply. Lower the opacity to what suits you.

10) Now let's make another pattern. Go to this website and pick a pattern of your choice. Open the pattern in Gimp and save it as a pattern like we did before. Go to the patterns dialog and click the refresh button at the bottom to refresh your patterns. Create a new layer above the rest and name it "texture 2." Fill it with your pattern. Right click, add layer mask. Select "Black (Full Transparency)." Get out the eraser tool and start erasing parts of the mask to what suits you.

Right click your dogman and click Alpha to Selection. Select the texture 2 layer and press delete. Do the same with the drop shadow layer. Set the texture 2 blending mode to Multiply and lower the opacity a bit.

11) Now if you notice, there is an awful effect where our two patterns overlay. To fix it, Right click on texture 2, and select Mask to Selection. Click the texture 1 layer and press delete.

12) The hard work is almost done! Now we are going to add some magazing clippings. Download this image and open it in Gimp. Cut out whichever words you like and paste them onto their own layers in our piece. Use different tools on them (ie. perspective, distort, scale, rotate, etc) to arrange them however you like. Give them drop shadows.

13) We'll be adding text shortly. For now, download these three sheets of paper: Paper 1, Paper 2, and Paper 3.

Open up Paper 2 in Gimp. Delete the white part around the paper and add the paper onto a new layer named "Paper 1" in our piece. You can use the burn tool to make the paper look a little more stressed. Go ahead and put the other 2 sheets in as well. Add drop shadows to them, too.

14) Now we'll add some text to on the pieces of paper. Get out the text tool and add a letter or whatever you like to each piece. Be sure to set the layer mode of each letter to Multiply and lower the opacity. Use different fonts for each.

15) Now we'll add some text over the background. Use any text you like. Set the layer mode to Overlay, and you're done!

Click to view full size!

Future Tutorials & So Much More

2008-08-11T20:50:00.002-05:00

Ya know what I realized? This post is my 99th post, making the next one my 100th post. What could be better for a 100th post than, well, I don't know, a whole lotta Gimp tutorials? Yep, that's right. Well, yeah they'll all be in separate posts just to keep organization, but hey, it's good news isn't it? Here are what the *planned* tutorials will be:

1) Creating a Citrus Fruit Design from Scratch
by Michelle Regan at PSDTuts

2) Rendering a Striking Matchbox in Photoshop
by Eren Göksel at PSDTuts

3) and, well, more! (If I can think of any to convert, that is...)

No, none of them have been written yet. Considering the amount of marching band practice I have everyday, and other school activities I have to attend to, I may have them both up by maybe next week. You can expect one of them maybe even a little sooner. Remember to join my blog's RSS feed to keep up with what's in store!

Site Changes & the Future

2008-08-10T21:22:00.002-05:00

Alright as you guys may have already noticed, there have been advertisement changes throughout the blog. All of the affiliates are great, trustworthy companies that I strongly recommend you take a look at. They all offer wonderful services and I have, and still, enjoy working with.

As for other changes, I am thinking about adding a more accessible search bar, since I have removed the tag cloud. It will offer an additional way of browsing tutorials or resources, alongside the links at the top.

As far as tutorials go, I am thinking about converting another PSDTuts tutorial for yall. Just keep a look out for it!

Make a Vector Poster Like My Rubber Ducky

2008-07-15T23:17:00.024-05:00

Alright, so today I'm going to teach you all how to make a vector poster like my rubber ducky poster, titled "Kicking Ass and Taking Names," which can be found here (click it to view it full size, as with all of the images in the tutorial):

The rubber duck image that the vector itself is based off of was actually an image that I had taken of a little rubber ducky of mine. You can download it full size by clicking the preview below. It should be the only image we need for the entire tutorial. Yes I know the picture is blurry, but please bear with me. My camera isn't the best...

You will also need a couple of brushes. This collection of 387 Abstract Brushes by PAULW on DeviantART and these Foliage Swirls brushes by Obsidian Dawn will suffice.

We will also use the font called Fluoxetine from DaFont.com. Download it and install it.

1) Create a new 700x900 image on a white background. We need to keep a simple color theme going on through out the entire image. Get a small theme set up that you can work with. Here are some sample themes below.

I am going to use set #1. Remember what set you will use later.

2) Open up the picture of the rubber ducky and render it. While you render it, decide whether or not you want the duck's bib and hat. If you don't leave them out in the rendering. I've decided I don't want them, so it should look like this if you decide the same:

Yeah I know it looks funny, but we'll fix it. I promise. Paste the duck onto a new layer named "ducky."

3) Create a new layer and name it "body." This layer will contain, respectfully, the body of the duck. Now, to actually make the duck, we are going to do it a bit differently than how I originally made it in Photoshop. We don't have a custom shapes tool, so we will have to do without it. Right click on the duck and click alpha to selection. Fill it in like I have with the brush tool, using the color next to black in the sample themes.

4) Create another new layer and name it "head." This will be for the duck's head. Again, with the selection still active, paint over the head on the new layer. You should now have a completely filled in duck body. Deactivate the selection.

5) Create a new layer and name it "beak." Hide the head and the body layers. Get out the path tool and trace around the beak. Fill it with orange #ff9100. Deactivate the selection. Unhide the body and head layers to see what your ducky looks like so far.

6) Let's add a shadow to define where the head is in comparison to the body. Create a new layer named "shadow." Hide the head and body layers. Use the path tool like I have below and then turn it into a selection. Fill with a darker color based off of what the main color of your ducky is. For me, it's #b7a404

7) Now for the eyes. Create a new layer and name it "eyes." Hide the head layer, and use the ellipse tool and trace around the area of the eyes. Fill with black. Then, create a smaller circle within the black circle and fill it with white, to serve as a reflection.

I realize it's a tad bit too sharp, but we'll fix that later.

8) Now for the eyebrows. Create a new layer named "eyebrows." With the path tool, draw eyebrows onto the duck. Fill with black.

9) Now you can merge all parts of the duck together. Your duck should now be on one layer. We are now going to add the background designs. I've also decided to enlarge the canvas a bit, so we have room for the text which will be placed at the top later on.

10) Create a new layer between the duck and the background named "vector stuff." Use the color that is second to the left in the samples above. For me, it's #ecd48c. Use the vector brushes in the vector brush pack you downloaded and try to recreate something like mine. Be sure to use the arrows and make them face downward like in my image. Remember to use the SPARINGLY. Lower the opacity as needed.

11) Now we will add the foliage. Create a new transparent layer between the "vector stuff" layer and the "ducky" layer named "foliage." Using white as your color, apply the foliage brushes like in my image below. Remember to use them SPARINGLY. Lower the opacity as needed.

12) Now for the yellow bars that are placed across the image. These bars are manually created. Create a new layer between the "ducky" layer and the "foliage" layer. Get out the rectangular select tool. Create a selection and fill it with whatever color your ducky is. For me, it's #ffff01. After you've filled it with your color, deactivate the selection.

13) Get out the shear tool and do like I have done in the picture below.

14) Now duplicate the layer your rectangle is on. Place your new rectangle next to it. Keep doing this until you get a nice sized bar.

15) Rotate and resize the bar as needed. You can duplicate this bar to place it in more than one spot.

16) Ok we should have done this earlier, so let's go ahead and do it. Now we'll give the duck a shadow. Select the ducky layer and go to Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow.
X Offset: -2
Y Offset: 0
Blur Radius: 5
Color: Black
Opacity: 70
Click ok.

I had to select the drop shadow layer and move it with the move tool to position it just right.

17) Now for the final touch, we will add the "Kicking Ass and Taking Names" phrase. Get out the text tool and add it using the font we downloaded. Play around with how you add the text.

18) Save it and you're done! Click it to view it full size!!

The NEW Gimp Google

2008-07-07T18:56:00.002-05:00

Alright, Gimp Google is back and better than ever! The NEW Gimp Google features some new, well, features! Check it out!

http://www.gimp-google.co.nr/

Enjoy!

New Website

2008-07-07T07:32:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone. I'd just like to let you guys know that my new website is up. No, it isn't a replacement for this one, it's just a showcase for all my work. Please keep in mind that it is still under construction for the most part, but you can still visit and see my work. Here is the link:

http://www.sarahdavison.co.nr/

Enjoy.

Nature Vector Tutorial for Photoshop

2008-06-10T21:20:00.071-05:00

Alright today I am going to teach you how to make a nature vector similar to my nature vector piece:

Nature Vector by ~sglider12 on deviant ART

You can download the PSD of this tutorial here. (3.45mb)
You can download a PDF version of this tutorial here. (2.92mb)
You can download the source files for this tutorial here. (45.67mb)

First, we are going to need a few things. Be sure to click the images to see them full size. Alternately, you can download the source files, a collection of all of the files used in this tutorial, above.

Stocks:

Oak Tree Stock (Courtesy sundstrom/Stock.xchng)

Mountain Stock (Courtesy gundolf/Stock.xchng)

Cliffside Stock (Courtesy grantr/Stock.xchng)

Grass Stock (Courtesy malkiev/Stock.xchng)

Freedom Stock (Courtesy Rissmu/Stock.xchng)

Family Stock (Courtesy simmbarb/Stock.xchng)

Brushes:

Urban Designs Vector Brushes (Courtesy Obsidian Dawn)

Splatter Brushes (Courtesy =ka05/DeviantART)

Branches & Foliage Brushes (Courtesy ladyvictoire/Brusheezy)

Vector Brushes (Courtesy solenero73/DeviantART)

Foliage Swirls Brushes (Courtesy Obsidian Dawn)

Galaxies Brushes (Courtesy Sunira/DeviantART)

Grunge Brushes (r3iz0/DeviantART)

A lot of downloading isn't it? Oh well. Get used to it.

1) Create a new 800x600 image on a white background in Photoshop.

2) Now we need to create the radial shape in the background. Click the custom shape tool with paths selected instead of shape layers. In the shape drop down menu, pick the registration target shape 2.

Click and drag the shape like so. You may need to zoom out.

Click the paths tab next to the layers dialog. Select the "work path." Click the path to selection button near the bottom. You should now have a selection.

Press CTRL-Shift-I, or go to Select > Inverse. Your selection should now inverse.

3) Click the gradient tool.

Use #FFFFFF for your foreground color, and #009CFF for your background color. Use these gradient settings:

Apply the gradient to the selection by clicking in the center and dragging to the top edge.

4) Inverse your selection and click the paintbucket tool.

Use #0085D9 as your foreground color. Fill the selection. CTRL-D to deselect, or Select > Deselect.

5) Now we need to make the island. Get out your grass image and render it. Normally we would do this with the pen tool, but in this case, since we are going to apply a complete threshold anyway, we'll just use the magic wand tool. The pen tool is useful for getting really detailed renders, but our images will be blacked out, so there's really no need. You can also use the lasso tool to get rid of the rocks at the bottom.

6) Copy/paste the grass onto a new layer called "grass" into your image. Resize and place somewhat like mine. Go to Image > Adjustments > Threshold. Apply a threshold of 225. Click
ok.

7) Get out the mountains and render them too. Copy/paste into image into a new layer named "mountains." Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Apply a threshold of 255 and place underneath the grass. You can fill in spaces between the grass and the mountains with the black brush tool.

8) Now we'll add our cliffs. Open up your cliff stock and render it.

Copy/Paste into your piece. Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Image > Adjustments > Threshold. Apply a threshold of 255.

9) Open up your oak tree and render it. Copy/Paste into your vector. Place it somewhat like mine and apply a threshold of 255. I noticed the trunk of the tree was a bit too short, so I used another image of a tree trunk to lengthen the trunk. It can be found here.

10) Let's add our people. Open up your freedom image. Render it.

The reason I left out part of her hair is because, when the threshold is applied, it will appear that she will have an overly large head. Copy/Paste this image into your vector. Apply a threshold of 255 and place somewhat like mine. You may notice a couple of white spots left over on the girl after you have applied the threshold. Just use the brush tool to black them out.

11) Now we'll add the family. Open that image and render them.

Copy/Paste into your vector. Apply a threshold of 255. Place somewhat like mine.

12) Let's add the tree roots that go underneath the island. Create a new layer named "roots." Get out your tree root brushes and add the roots under the tree. I used the 1498 sized root brush. Once applied, I rotated the roots and placed them under the tree.

13) Now it's time for the rainbow. Create a new layer named "red" underneath everything except the background. Get out the pen tool with these settings:

Begin to draw the shape I have below. The points are outlined in red.

When you've done that, click on the paths tab in the layer dialog and click the path to selection button near the bottom. Your path should turn into a selection.

Select the gradient tool. Use #ff6262 for your foreground color, and #ff0000 for your background color. Use these settings and apply from the center to the edge of the selection. Select > Deselect.

Create another layer and name it "orange." Place it underneath the red layer. Use the pen tool and draw another shape like mine. The blue dots outline where the points should go.

Again, make the path a selection. Pick the gradient tool and use #ff9c00 for your foreground color and #ff6c00 for your background color. Apply the gradient. Select > Deselect.

Create a new layer named "yellow" and place it underneath the orange layer. Use the path tool again and convert it to a selection. Use #fff582 as your foreground color and #ffe400 as your background color.

Create a new layer named "green" and place it underneath the yellow layer. Use the path tool again and convert it to a selection. Use #65ff65 as your foreground color and #06ff00 as your background color.

Create a new layer named "light blue" and place it underneath the green layer. Use the path tool again and convert it to a selection. Use #59bfff as your foreground color and #0078ff as your background color.

Create a new layer named "dark blue" and place it underneath the green layer. Use the path tool again and convert it to a selection. Use #007fd0 as your foreground color and #004796 as your background color.

Now you can merge your rainbow pieces into one, or just group them. We're done with it for now.

14) Now we'll make the red swirly thing in the background. Create a new layer named "red swirly thing" (creative isn't it?) and place it under all the layers except the background. Get out your Vector Pack Volume 2 Brushes. Select one of the round brushes that looks like this:

Use #ff0000 as your foreground color. Apply the brush in the center like mine, with the family in the middle of it.

Now go to Filter > Liquify. Take the brush size down to about 55. Every thing else you can leave the same. Try and manipulate like so:

When done, click ok and give it a minute to return the result. Filter > Distort > Ripple. Use these settings:

Click ok. CTRL-F to apply the filter again. Lower the opacity of the layer to about 53%.

15) Now let's add the splatter that goes underneath the island. Create a new layer named "splatter" and place it between the "mountains" layer and the "red" layer. Get out your splatter brushes and go to town. Just don't get too crazy.

16) Now we'll add the urban designs under the island. Create a new layer between the "red swirly thing" layer and the "background" layer and name it "urban." Get out the SS Designs Urban Vectors brushes and, using bright colors, such as lime green and bright yellow, apply them. You can also apply a few brushes above the island as well, but don't use too many.

17) Ok now we'll add the floral effects on the rainbow. Create a new layer above the rainbow pieces named "foliage swirls." Get out your foliage swirls brushes and apply using black. You can also apply some grunge brushes to it as well, but make sure that they aren't as opaque. Lower the opacity of the layer when done.

18) Now it's time for some grunge awesomeness in the background. Create a new layer above the background named "grunge." Get out your grunge brushes and apply them mainly to the left edge. If you need to, you can download other grunge brushes off the net and use them as well. DeviantART is a good place to go for those. Set the layer mode to Overlay when done.

19) We should have done this next step already, but oh well. Create a new layer named "urban 2" between the red swirly thing and the urban layer. Use some black round brushes from the vector brush packs and try to recreate what I have done.

20) Last but not least, we will now add the galaxies. Create a new layer between the grunge layer and the red swirly thing layer. Get out your galaxies brushes and, using a white color, add them to the layer. Set the layer mode to overlay. Duplicate the layer. Place the new layer on top and set it's mode to normal, lowering it's opacity to about 76%.

And you're done!! Go eat a muffin.

You can download the PSD of this tutorial here. (3.45mb)
You can download a PDF version of this tutorial here. (2.92mb)
You can download the source files for this tutorial here. (45.67mb)

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