Ajit's Blog

What I've Been Up To

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Hey guys sorry I haven't been posting recently, school has really kept me busy. I hope I can start pumping out more tutorials for both Photoshop and Gimp, but for now I will just show you some of the things I've been doing.

Ok this one was a guitar (obviously) done from scratch in a vector style. Done in Photoshop, about one and a half hours to complete. I used mainly the pen tool. I suggest for projects like these to have a model definitely.

This one is my latest photo-manipulation. Made in Photoshop in about 45 minutes. Besides removing the head and replacing what was missing of the shirt, I also messed with colors and lighting.

Not the most original idea, I've seen similar pieces to this done around before, just thought I'd have my own try at it.

Did this a while ago, the texture on the skin is... Could you guess? It was the stump of a tree.

A style obviously inspired by the one and only Abduzeedo:

Aside from these, I've made more Youtube videos for Gimp users, and also a little demo on the capabilities of the Clone tool in either program.

[high quality]

Check out the rest of my Gimp vids on YouTube here

Money Flower PS Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:59:00 +0000

Today I am going to show you how to create this image:

1. Open up the flower image provided here. Duplicate the image and go to Hue/Saturation and change the hue to +10. Change this layer's mode to "Color". Lower the opacity to 50%.

2. Paste in your dollar bill image. Rotate it to be going vertical if needed. Don't bother resizing the original dollar layer, instead just duplicate the layer and scale the duplicate layer to a realistic size. Place it under one of the arms of the flower.

3. Open up an image of an apple's stem. Render out just the stem and place it right above the dollar. Merge the stem layer onto the dollar layer. Duplicate this layer and hide one of them. Go to Edit>Transform>Warp and manipulate the dollar to make it look unique and natural.

4. Reveal the duplicated stem-dollar layer and duplicate it several more times and move those duplicates to other locations on the flower. Go to Edit>Transform>Warp for each bill to give them a unique look. Scale them to realistic sizes. Blur the dollar bills that are further away. Use the Dodge/Burn Tool to add some dynamic lighting and shading onto the dollar bills.

5. Select each of the dollar bills by either going to Select>Load Selection>Add to Selection on each layer or holding Ctrl and Shift while clicking on each layer's icon on the layer's dialog. Create a new layer and fill the selection with color #a28a00. Change the layer mode to "Soft Light" and lower the opacity to 60%.

6. Create a new layer and go to Image>Apply Image. Using the Burn Tool, darken the center area of the flower with a very large soft brush. You may need to select everything but the part of the flower that is on the left that should stay light

7. Now for some gradient maps. Create a new layer and go to Image>Apply Image. Now go to Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map and change the map to the already made Purple-Orange gradient. Change the layer mode to "Soft Light" at 25%. Repeat this process except this time use a light blue as the foreground of the gradient and a dark blue for the background. Change the layer mode to "Saturation" at 35%.

You're now finished, congratulations :)

Getting Some Attention

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:47:00 +0000

So recently activity here has picked up considerably. I'm glad that nothing's died down and that I've still been keeping active myself.

Here are some stats from the past month the site has been running:

Thanks Statcounter.com :)

Several things have helped the site along the way including having three of my tutorials being featured at Noupe.com. Check it out here

As well as having my Sin City tutorial being featured on Gimp-tutorials.net

____________

So basically I just wanted to say thanks for coming to the site, it really encourages me to do more :)

Gimp Video Tutorials (four)

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:42:00 +0000

From Monday to Thursday this week, I have made a video a day on simple Gimp techniques to do. I talk in all of them and in my opinion explain the techniques clearly. I hope you enjoy them :)

By the way, I really suggest going to Youtube to watch the high quality versions (the text on the screen will be clear).

Simple Space Background
[high quality]

Basic Text Effects
[high quality]

Pixel Decompose Effect
[high quality]

Picture in Text
[high quality]

Photoshop Tutorials

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:20:00 +0000

Making A Musical Elephant Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:40:00 +0000

This tutorial is for both Photoshop and Gimp

In this tutorial you will learn how to create this image created by me. The tools and instructions can be interpretated to both Photoshop and Gimp. This tutorial is not recommended for beginners because the tutorial is more to the point and does not discuss how to use tools.

1) Find a picture of an elephant. I used this one: http://www.digitaldesktopwallpaper.com/wallpapers/elephant_1.jpg

2) Open up the picture of the piano

3) Render out the Elephant's ears and head. I used the same ear for both sides so that I didn't have to render out both. Here's both pieces already rendered for you!

4) Copy and paste the head onto the from of the piano key. Use the dodge and burn tools to lighten and darken the areas that match the piano.

5) Copy and paste the ear on one side of the piano. Use the Perspective and Distort transform tools to adjust the ear. Again, use the burn and dodge tools to add lighting.

6) Add the other ear, changing it with the Perspective and Distort transform tools. Once again, use the dogde and burn tools to add the correct lighting.

7) Use either the burn tool or a soft low-opacity brush to add some shadows below the elephant onto the keys.

8) Adjust each of the ears and the head on with the Curves to try and match it better with the piano image.

9) Using the clone tool, make some low-opacity brushes of the elephants head onto the front of the piano key to help it blend in.

10) Make a new layer and fill it with a light brown. Change the layer mode to Soft Light at around 30% opacity.

The 393 And 671 Collections

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Ok, so I've finally compiled a new batch of stock photos. There are 393 total, including different subjects as people, backgrounds, animals, architecture, etc. All of the images are high quality and large pictures.

They are on 10 different downloads.

Animals
Architecture
Backgrounds
Cars
Effects
Miscellaneous
Music
People
Plants
Textures

Enjoy! :)

_________

BTW if you haven't seen my 671 collection of 671 stocks, here are the downloads to those:

Landscapes and Locations
Effects and Patterns
People and Game Characters
Space
Miscellaneous

_________

**Please note I do not take credit for any of the photographs or pictures**

The Graphics Dictionary

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:56:00 +0000

The following is a list compiled to help beginners with Graphics. This is essentially a dictionary of Graphics. Please post a response or email me if you cannot find a word you were looking for and I will add it to the dictionary.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abstract : art that is either impossible in reality or has no identifiable objects
Example

Addition (layer mode) : layer mode which makes the image much brighter

Airbrush (tool) : used to paint with a brush with different settings in rate and pressure

Aliasing : when an object's edges are not blended at all, and is visibly pixelated, it is known as aliasing
Example

Alignment (tool) : used to move around layers and objects

Anchor Layer : merges a floated layer

Anti-Aliasing : smoothing out pixelated borders of an object
Example

Autocrop Image : remove empty borders from the image

Background : Objects in an image that are in the back, usually not the focal point, often is found to be a repetitive pattern that won't detract from the focal point

Batch : large group of images, usually referred to when editing a large group of images

Bevel : effect of raising an image to appear 3-D by lighting specific areas and shading others
Example

Blend (tool) : used to create a gradient

Blur : blends the difference between a pixel and it's surrounding pixels together, creating a blurry effect

Blur/Sharpen (tool) : used to blur or sharpen parts of an image

Border : the area that surrounds the outside of an image or object

Brush : usually refers to a custom brush that is downloaded from a site

Bucket Fill (tool) : used to fill a selected area with the foreground color or pattern

Bump Map : uses another layer to create an emboss effect

Burn (layer mode) : a layer mode where the layer is much darker

Busy : a word often used to critique some one's work that has distracting elements, often causes of a busy piece of art is: Multiple focal points, too much text, and too many effects
Example

C4D : short for Cinema4D, a program used to render 3d abstract objects. A C4D (referring to the actual art and not the program) is a 3d abstract object. Other programs like Blender can create these images
Example

Canvas: the visible workspace that you have your image on, the canvas is not actually part of the image size

Clone (tool) : used to copy one area of an image and paint it onto another area of the image

Color (layer mode) : a layer mode where the hue and saturation of the upper layer and the value of the lower layer are used to result in the final image

Color Picker (tool) : change your current foreground color in the pallet to the color of the pixel clicked on

Color to Alpha : covert a specified color to transparency

Contrast : colors that are far apart on the color scale such as red and green; areas of an image are very dark compared to other areas that are very dark
Example

Crop : to change the size of an image by removing selected pixels

Crop (tool) : used to remove edges from an image

Curves : orientation and saturation of colors

Darken (layer mode) : layer mode where only pixels of the top layer that are darker than the ones below it are visible

Deinterlace : restore an image that has had every other row of pixels deleted

Desaturate : act of converting an image to grayscale

Difference (layer mode) : a layer mode where the color is completely inverted

Displace : causes pixels to be moved according to a selected layer

Divide (layer mode) : a layer mode that usually makes the image brighter

Dodge (layer mode) : a layer mode where the image is usually much brighter

Dodge/Burn (tool) : lighten or darken certain areas of an image

DPI : stands for dots per inch, the difference on a computer is nonexistent, but when printing images, 300 DPI is a good number, same as PPI, or pixels per inch

Drop Shadow : a shadow effect that is "dropped" or moved behind and down from the original image, used to give the illusion of a 3D image
Example

Dual Tone (Duo Tone) - an image that is shades of two colors
Example

Duplicate : copy the current selection, layer, or image

Ellipse Select (tool) : used for selecting circular areas

Eraser (tool) : used to erase areas of an image

Equalize : act of correcting contrast

Feather : to blur the selection border so that it fades out smoothly

Filter : an automatic plug-in that performs a specified operation, such as blurring or sharpening

Flatten Image : combines all layers into one layer and removes transparency

Float : create a floating selection

Focal Point : the target of the picture, what is supposed to be the highlight of the image, sometimes brought out by blurring the background
Example

Foreground : objects in an image that are in the front, usually the focal point

Foreground Select (tool) : used to select areas within the foreground

Free Select (tool) : used to select areas free hand, or by the mouse

Fuzzy Select (tool) : used to select an area based on color

GIF : file type that stands for Graphic Interchange Format, displays only 256 colors but has a small file size, also used for picture animations

Gimp : stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, a graphics program that is very similar to Photoshop, but is free

Gradient : a blend of two or more colors

Gradient Map : colors an image using two colors

Grain Extract (layer mode) : layer mode where the the top layer's color is altered depending on the bottom layer

Grain Merge (layer mode) : layer mode opposite of grain extract, also provides some similar color to the bottom layer

Grayscale : have no color other than different shades of black and white

Grow (selection) : to make the selection larger by X amount of pixels

Grunge : an art style that uses "dirty" looking brushes and patterns, some examples being dirt, cracks, and smoke

Hard Light (layer mode) : layer mode which brings out the brightest parts of the layer

Healing (tool) : used to fix irregularities in an image

Hue : aspect of a color like red or blue along with saturation and lightness

Hue (layer mode) : a layer mode where the hue of the upper layer and the saturation/value of the lower layer are used to result in the final image

Ink (tool) : used to paint in a calligraphy style

Invert : the opposite of, used as in inverting color or inverting selections

Jitter : an effect that can be added to tools using brushes, randomly applies the brush to areas near where the mouse is clicked

JPEG (JPG) : stands for Joint Photographic Electronic Group, one of the most common file types for images that is usually understood to be the standard

Landscape : an image that is wider than tall

Layer : one slice of an image, used in advanced image editing programs, a basic item when creating advanced images

Layer Mask : an addition to a normal layer that allows non-destructive editing of transparency

Lens : an extension to a camera that magnifies how far one can see, all cameras require at least a basic lens

Lens Distortion : a common occurrence when using a camera, causes the picture to look deformed

Lens Flare : a common occurrence when taking a picture with a camera when the sun is in the camera's view, causes a light distortion across the picture

Levels : orientation and saturation of colors

Lighten Only (layer mode) : layer mode where only pixels of the top layer that are lighter than the ones below it are visible

Line Art : an image, usually not a finished product, that is black and white with no shading

Low Resolution : an image that is not of the highest quality, especially when referring to prints

Mask to Selection : replace the selection with the layer mask

Measure (tool) : used to measure angles and distances in an image

Merge Layer : merges a layer to the layer below it

Merge Visible Layers : combines all visible layers into one layer

Multiply (layer mode) : layer mode that makes a layer darker, if the layer below it is black, the top layer will be black, if the layer below it is white, nothing will change

Negative : an image that has inverted colors; what is actually produced when developing film

Noise : loss of quality in an image through random pixels that were not part of the picture
Example

Normalize : act of stretching brightness values to cover the full range of an image

Offset : shift the pixels, optionally wrapping around

Opacity : the adjustment of how well an image can be seen through, an image with a large number, or a high opacity, isn't as easy to see through as an image with a low opacity

Outline : a rough sketch or planning of an image that is not the final result

Overlay (layer mode) : a layer mode where the layer is usually darkened, and leaves behind some of the color of the top layer

Paintbrush (tool) : used to create a softer mark using a brush

Paths (tool) : used to create and edit paths, which is an advanced way of select regions

Pencil (tool) : used to create a hard edge mark using a brush

Pixel : picture element, the most basic object in a picture, each pixel is one color

Pixelize : simplify the image into larger pixels

PNG : stands for Portable Network Graphics, an image file that is compatible with transparency

Posterize : act of reducing an image two a limited range of colors

PPI : stands for pixels per inch, the difference on a computer is nonexistent, but when printing images, 300 PPI is a good number, same as DPI, or dots per inch

Profile : image that is taller than wide; also used when referring to a person's face from the side

PSD : file extension name for Photoshop

Quick Mask : a method of selecting certain parts of a picture by turning the picture temporarily to red, then you erase what you don't want to be part of the selection

Raster : images based on a scale of pixels, loses considerable quality when scaled, unlike a vector image

Rectangle Select (tool) : used to select a rectangle or square area

Red Eye : a common side effect of taking pictures of people with a flash. Causes the person's eyes to appear red

Render : to generate something, usually using preset parameters; an object that was cut out from it's background, generally put onto other backgrounds

Retouching : to make small edits to an image to improve the quality

RGB : color model using the base colors red, green, and blue. Used for monitors, but not for prints

Rip : to steal someone else's work and claim it as your own

Rotate : to move an image around to the left or right

Saturation : how colorful an image is, an image with little saturation has a lot of gray in it

Saturation (layer mode) : a layer mode where the saturation of the upper layer and the hue/value of the lower layer are used to result in the final image

Scale : to change the size of a layer, selection, image, or brush

Scan Lines : thin lines close together that go in a diagonal direction

Scissors Select (tool) : select a region with intelligent selections that detect edges

Screen (layer mode) : a layer mode which usually results in the image being brighter, and a sort of washed out look, if the layer below it is black, nothing changes, if the layer below it is white, the top layer is white, dark colors are more transparent

Select By Color (tool) : used to select a region with similar color

Selection : your current workspace, usually signified by moving dashes (walking ants)

Sepia Tone : image that has a brown tint to it

Sharpen : makes the contrast between a pixel and it's surrounding pixels further apart

Sharpen (selection) : to remove fuzziness from the selection

Shrink (selection) : to make the selection smaller by X amount of pixels

Sig (abbreviation) : short for signature, a small piece of art usually around 350X100 to 400X200 in size, often using an outside source such as a render

Smudge (tool) : used to smudge one area of an image onto another area

Soft Light (layer mode) : a layer mode similar to overlay, makes edges softer and colors not as bright

Subtract (layer mode) : a layer mode that makes the image much darker, often resulting in black areas

Threshold : image with only two colors

Thumbnail : an icon of an image that has been downsized for quick and convenient viewing

TIFF : image file type name that stands for Tagged Image File Format, high quality and uncompressed, has a large file size

Tileable : when an image can be stacked next to itself on all sides, creating a pattern with no noticeable edges

Transform : common term generally used for changing an image's size, rotation, or position

Tut (abbreviation) : short for tutorial

Value (layer mode) : a layer mode where the value of the upper layer and the saturation/hue of the lower layer are used to result in the final image

Value Invert : act of inverting the brightness of each pixel of an image

Vector : an art style that uses some abstract objects and other images that are one color, some examples being arrows, circles and semi-circles, and urban items such as lamp posts; an image that can be scaled indefinitely and not begin to pixelize
Example

Vexel : art that is similar to the style of vector, but will lose quality when scaled up, often used for smaller images to show a sharpened image

Washed Out : an image that seems almost colorless
Example

XCF : file extension name for GIMP

Zealous Crop : autocrop unused space from edges and middle

Zoom : to increase the size of the pixels on-screen in order to make finer edits

Zoom (tool) : used to adjust the zoom of an image

Signatures: Pros And Cons

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Recently while browsing forums, I came across a person who had created a fairly unique signature. The creator is a good artist and can make very good signatures, but this didn't fall into the normal code of signatures. Another member of that forum commented on the fact that it didn't have "flow" or "depth". While his statements weren't far off, he made it sound like these things made it a bad signature.

I've come to the realization that people have narrowed down what a signature should look like to something too specific to be considered art. All of them begin to look the same. You add a c4d here, a little smudging here, insert the render there, and then add some gradient maps and some nice lighting. A simple word for that kind of art is simply called, cookie-cutter. There is no originality in this.

If your signature looks unorthodox, it is immediately rejected. This is simply contradicting the concept of art. Art is your own personal interpretation of a person, concept, place, idea, object, etc. The art and creativity has fallen away from signatures. Now it is more a hobby of imitation. Limited imitation. Why are people so interested in limiting their own imagination, creativity, and abilities to a small 350x150 image. Why do signature tutorials get five times as many views and comments compared to a photo manipulation tutorial? Well I will tell you, it is because signatures are simple. Don't misunderstand me, I enjoy making signatures, but I try to expand off of that. And think about it, are there any professional "sig makers"? Does anyone make a living off of creating signatures? No one makes a living off of making signatures.

On a positive note however, signatures can be a fun hobby for a casual graphic artist. People who already have a job or don't have the time to create a large piece artwork can really take advantage of the common occurring Signature Of The Week competitions and the like. Signatures also provide great practicing for getting familiar with your program, whether it be Photoshop, Gimp, or any other program. I am thankful for all of the signature tutorials I personally have followed because they taught be a whole lot. But my point behind learning Photoshop and Gimp through signature tutorials was to gain a better understanding of the programs so that I could use the new techiniques I learned to make my own unique large pieces. I think that is the ultimate use for signatures, to practice.

Gimp User Interface Basics 1.0

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:35:00 +0000

A video tutorial on the basics of the Gimp Interface. This one covers how to use the layers dialog mostly. It also covers undoing your mistakes and basic color use. I will make more versions covering other things in the future. Visit Youtube to watch the high quality version (you have to click on "watch in high quality").

Watch it high quality!

If you have an account on Youtube, please rate the video :)

Focal Points

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:03:00 +0000

Focusing In

A focal point is the object or person that is the subject of a piece of art. This term is used for both photography and digital art. A focal point should be clear and catch the viewer's eye. It should also determine the mood for the rest of the picture. There are four different types of focals; positve, negative, neutral, and composite or "mixed". If the focal point is a smiling child, a positive focal, you might see a sunny or warm background that is bright and correlates with a smiling child. Just try typing in "smiling child" into Google Images. I'm sure you will see plenty of children in sunny backgrounds. Well, if you don't want to try, here just some i saw on the first page of results.

On the other hand, if the focal is something like a skull, it is a negative focal, and will in most occasions have a dark background and dull colors. Examples of neutral focal points are things such as cell phones, a pencil, etc. Composite focal points can have a different meaning depending on A) What direction the photographer or artist puts it in, or B) Personal experiences of the viewer. Here are some examples of how the same subject, in this case war, can give different feelings:

As you can see, war can show either the feelings that come with death and sadness or liberty and new life. As an artist, you must learn how to portray those feelings to others though your work.
There are several ways you can get your focal to stand out. Most often, especially in digital art, color is what draws your eyes to a focal point. Sometimes it is subtle, such as a slightly brighter color compared to the surrounding areas or it can be more direct. Contrast is a word commonly used here, where if a picture has a high contrast, colors stand out more. Here is an example using color:

Another common way to make a focal stand out is through texture. If everything in the background and foreground is smooth, then a person will really stand out.

The final way to create a focal point is by having a blurred background. This automatically focuses the eyes onto the focal. When blurring the background yourself, do NOT accidently blur part of the focal point as the whole effect gets thrown off by this. Also, do not blur too much of the image. If your focal point is small compared to the rest of the picture, consider cutting off some of the extra space on the outside to make less blur. Also do not blur the background too much to where there is no detail, for the image will get boring. See how you can still see some detail in the image below?

When coming up with an idea for an image, don't involve too many focal points. One is definitely preferred, but two could work if you do it properly. Don't bother with anymore than that. The viewer should know what to look at as soon as they see the picture. Their eyes should be drawn to it.

Gimp Sin City Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:21:00 +0000

Prologue:

This tutorial has been converted from the original Photoshop tutorial into Gimp. The original Photoshop tutorial can be found here: http://psdtuts.com/designing-tutorials/ ... le-poster/ . This tutorial is not recommended for beginners. I also recommend that you save often.

Resources:

Apartment Building: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/976442
Brick Wall: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/802046
Background Buildings: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/981381
Clouds: http://www.flickr.com/photos/azeected/2631417767/
Lamp Post: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/898294

Tutorial

1. Press Ctrl-O and open up the Apartment buildin stock. Let's make it easy to work with by reducing the size by %50. Make a new layer and name it "Guidelines". Use the path tool to make guidelines along the building's edges.

2. Get the text tool out and spell Gimp in all caps with a huge font (I used 700). Make the color a dark gray. Now make sure the yellow dashed lines are surrounding where the guidelines intersect. Select the perspective tool and make the preview in the settings "grid" with 15 lines. Click and drag the text layer to match the grid with the guidelines.

3. Go to layer>transparency>alpha to selection. This should have selected the text. Open a new image copy and paste the text into this image. Delete the background layer and go to Image>Fit canvas to Layers. Make the text black and save it as a .gbr (gimp brush) where the rest of your brushes are stored. Make a new layer named "First3d" and move it below the text layer. Go to the Brush tool and select the brush that you just made. Change the spacing to 1. Anywhere on the canvas, make a straight line using the path tool. Make the angle of the line follow the top right edge of the apartment. Stroke the path using the brush tool.

This is you layer dialog so far:

4. Now type the word "TUTS" in all caps with a little bit smaller font (I used 500). Use the perspective tool as before and move it towards the opposite direction of the first text. Then repeat the process of creating a brush and making the 3d effect as before.

This is your layers dialog:

5. Open up the original apartment on a new canvas. Scale it down to 1955x1300. Next use the Rectangle Select Tool, with the size set to 1000x1300, and crop out the outside pieces. Now go to Image>Fit Canvas To Layers. Use the Paths tool and cut out the blue sky. Also cut out the left edge of the building to make it look like it ends there.

6. Go back to the first image and copy and paste both of the text layers and the black 3d areas onto the new image. Hide the "TUTS" text and the corresponding black 3d area for now. Put the "GIMP" text layer and corresponding black 3d area below the Apartment layer. Position them right above the apartment. Get the Clone tool out and begin to clone the bricks from the apartment onto the a new layer called "brickclone". Cover up the text.

7. Make the "GIMP" text layer active and go to Layer>Transparency>Alpha to Selection. Then go back to the the "brickclone" layer and press Ctrl-I to invert the selection and then Ctrl-X to delete the selection. Now create a new layer called "firstcolorbrick" and fill it with the color #715b1f. Next, go to the "brickclone" layer and go to Layer>Transparency>Alpha to Selection. Now go back to the "firstcolorbrick" layer and press Ctrl-I and then Ctrl-X. Finally, change the "firstcolorbrick" layer to overlay and desaturate the "brickclone" layer. Back on the "firstcolorbrick" layer go to Colors>Hue-Saturation and make the settings Hue: 0 Lightness: -1 Saturation: -85

8. Repeat the same coloring process for the apartment building but don't use the same Hue-Saturation settings. For the color layer on the apartments, use these settings: Hue: 0 Lightness: -43 Saturation: -65. On the apartment layer, on the right side, darken that area with the burn tool.

This is your layers dialog:

9. Make the "TUTS" text and the black 3d area visible and move them to the bottom left. Go to Image>Canvas Size and make the canvas a little wider to fit in the "TUTS" text. Press Ctrl-Alt-O and open the brick the brick wall stock image. Scale it down to a realistic size and clone the scaled down bricks to cover up the text. Now change the perspective to match the "TUTS" text. Repeat the Alpha to Selection process to get the bricks to just cover the text.

10. Repeat the process of coloring the text, using these settings on the Hue-Saturation: Hue: 0 Lightness: -65 Saturation: -50. Create a new layer and name it "Sshadow" and move it below the "TUTS" text layer. Using a very soft black brush, make a shadow to the right of the "S" on the wall.

This is your layer dialog:

11. Press Ctrl-Alt-O and open the background building stock. Put this layer at the very bottom and cut out the top part with the Paths tool. Desaturate the layer and go to Colors>Brightness/Contrast and make the settings: Brightness: -127 Contrast: 28. Scale the whole image to %50. (Unless you just want it extra big)

12. Press Ctrl-Alt-O and open the clouds image. Put the clouds layer at the very bottom. Desaturate the layer. Make a new layer named "cloudcolor" on top of the cloud image and fill it with the color #0f0d08. Change the layer mode to Color. Change the opacity of the "cloudcolor" layer to %50. On the clouds layer go to Colors>Brightness/Contrast with these settings: Brightness: -127 Contrast: 40

13. Press Ctrl-Alt-O and open the Lamp image. Render out just the lamp post. Now desaturate the lamp. Add a simple vertical shadow to the lamp by using a soft black brush. Scale it down a lot and place it on the "P" of "GIMP".

14. Create a new layer and name it "light1". Make a triangle using the paths tool and fill it with white. Move it right below the lamp. Duplicate the layer and rotate it slightly to the left. Lower the opacity of both light layers to %30. Use a large and very soft brush and erase the bottoms of each triangle. Finally, gaussian blur the triangles by 7.0. Merge the two triangles and the lamp all together. Duplicate the new layer twice and move the duplicates on different letters of "GIMP" and scale them to the appropriate sizes.

This is your layers dialog:

15. Make a new layer and fill it with the color #292615. Change the layer mode to Color and the opacity to %70. Move that layer to the very top. Next, make a new layer and move it to the very top. Go to Filters>Clouds>Solid Noise with these settings: Randomize Checked, Detail: 15, and X and Y size: 6.0. Then change the layer mode to Overlay. Now, make a new layer and fill it with black. Change the mode to Soft Light and adjust the opacity to your preference.

16. Finally, add any additional things to your liking and you are through.

Neon Lights Tutorial [gimp]

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:11:00 +0000

Prologue:

This tutorials is for intermediate users at Gimp. I recommend that you save often. This tutorials also involves the use of a lot of layers (mine had 69) so if your computer doesn't handle that well, then make sure you save often, and make the image smaller.

Resources:

Stock of girl: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/918065

Tutorial:

1. First, render out the girl in the stock image. It doesn't have to be the best render you have ever done, considering the end result. Include the rock on the girl's right foot to shape the foot.

2. Now copy and paste the girl onto a new canvas. The canvas size I used was 476x884. Make the canvas color black. Place her somewhere in the middle. While the girl is active, go to Layer>Transparency>Alpha to Selection. This should have selected the girl. Now create a new transparent layer (while the girl is still selected) and fill the selection with white. Now go to Select>Shrink and shrink the selection by 1 pixel. Now press Ctrl-X to delete the selection. Also, hide the original girl layer (you will need her for later). This should leave just the white outline.

3. Pick a dark green and purple for your fg and bg colors in the pallete. Now, using the Blend tool, make a simple vertical gradient (in order to make a perfectly vertical gradient, hold Ctrl). Now duplicate the girl outline layer twice, leaving you with 3 layers of the outline of the girl. Hide the bottom one. Change the layer mode of the middle one to Value. On the top layer, go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and blur it anywhere from 15 to 20.

4. Duplicate the hidden outline layer. Move the duplicate to the top of the stack. Make it visible and go to Filters>Distorts>iWarp. While in iWarp, use a Deform radius of around 50 and a Deform amount of around 0.05. Now just move around the line some here and there and click OK. Now duplicate this layer and make the bottom one's mode Value and the top one gaussian blur by 20.

5. Repeat step 4 as many times as you would like to get more lines.

6. Using the Rectangle Select Tool, create several squares in the bottom right on a new layer at the very top. Now go to Layer>TransparencyShrink and shrink by one pixel.

7. Repeat the process of making glowing lines as used with the girl.

8. Make a new layer of different squares and repeat the process.

9. Repeat the process in top left except use the Ellipse Select Tool.

10. Get out the Paths tool. Make a new layer and go to Layer>Layer Boundary Size and increase the size by about 150% and position the layer in the middle. Now make a curved line and stroke it with a thick green line. Now go to Filters>Distorts>iWarp and shrink the top part to give it some depth.

11. Go to Filters>Light and Shadow>Drop Shadow and create a drop shadow. Now duplicate the green line and move it below the drop shadow layer. Now move it even further towards the bottom left corner. Now add a drop shadow to that green line.

12. Create a new layer at the top and create a radial gradient in the bottom left with the settings like this:

13. Make the first green line layer active. Now go to Layer>Transparency>Alpha to Selection. Now go to the other green line layer and go to Layer>Transparency>Add to Selection. Finally, go back to the gradient layer and press Ctrl-I to invert the selection and then Ctrl-X to delete the selection. Change the layer mode to Overlay and duplicate the layer.

14. Repeat the process on the opposite side but use purple.

Conclusion

So you have completed the tutorial! Yes some parts were admittedly repeptitive, but they came out with some neat results. On a side note, to get more of a glow, you can duplicate some of the blurred line layers.

Flame Abstract Tutorial [gimp]

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:02:00 +0000

Video Tutorial:

To watch the video tutorial in high quality, click here. (you have to click "watch in high quality")

In this tutorial we will learn how to use the flame filter to make a simple abstract background. Here are some examples:

1. Create a new canvas. Make the background black by making sure your foreground color on the pallete is black and then go to Edit>Fill With FG Color.

2. Go to Filters>Render>Nature>Flame. Click on the Edit button and select a flame that you like. click on the tab that says 'camera' and position the flame near the center of the picture. go back to the 'rendering' tab and make brightness about 1.30 contrast about 1.00 gamma about 2.00. These settings can vary quite a bit just try to limit the amount of friz or extra dots out of your flame. Try to make it somewhat just a clean stroke without any extra stuff going on. Leave the other settings alone. Click ok.

3. Duplicate the layer and, with the top layer selected, go to Filters>Edge-Detect>Neon. Here you can make your settings whatever you want, just not too bright.

4. Make that layer mode set to 'screen' and merge the layer down. Sometimes, depending on the flame, it looks better without setting the layer mode to screen. its up to you.
*optional* you can choose to skip the part where you merge down and might get a different cool effect.

5. Go to Colors>Color Balance and make it whatever color you want. You could also try making some color with gradients if you know how.

6. *optional* If your abstract doesn't look complete then you can add a small amount of motion blur.

Gimp Tutorials

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 05:39:00 +0000

Video Tut: Basic User Interface 1.0

Four Basic Gimp Video Tutorials

Contact Me

noreply@blogger.com (Jacob Philpott) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:29:00 +0000

Email: ajitgraphics@gmail.com

Contact me if you have any questions about my site, me, or anything else alike. Please do not spam email or email me questions about a specific post. Instead, please simply comment on the post that you are asking about.