Sandy Edgar Visual Arts

Tribal Love Photoshoot

2014-10-27T06:06:00.001+10:00

A selection of images from a photoshoot I had last week with my friends, Amber and Lunar up in beautiful Kuranda.

Stop Motion Installation at Cell Art Space

2014-05-08T22:46:00.000+10:00

Installation video created for Jonathan Stigter and Cell Art Space.
Created with Lapse It and youTube.

Read more about this exhibition at www.cellartspace.com
More videos at www.sandyedgar.com

Art of Awareness Exhibition

2014-03-29T08:16:00.001+10:00

Small Planet of The Cairns Institute, 2013

I delivered some of my photography this week for the 'Art of Awareness' exhibition which is part of the annual Sustainability Symposium at James Cook University. The exhibition is being installed in the beautiful new Cairns Institute building which was finished late last year and is a work of art in itself.

More about the exhibition after the break...

Each of the images I had printed with a matte finish on 300gsm paper in A3 size and the first time I had seen any of my images printed at that size. Previously the largest size I had seen them in was when I had many of them printed in 8" x 10" size for an exhibition last year. I've added the descriptions used in the show.

'Growing up in Cairns has given me a deep love of the natural beauty of the rainforest and tropics that I have attempted to capture with this series of images.'

Image #1
Medium: Digital Photography
Date: 2010

Description of work: This image is of a Hibiscus flower (Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis) also known as the ‘China Rose’ which is a tropical plant native to East Asia. It is a common garden plant here in Queensland and a favourite of butterflies, bees and hummingbirds for it’s nectar. This image was captured in Kuranda.

Image #2:
Medium: Digital Photography
Date: 2010

Description of work: An unknown flower captured on a photowalk in the beautiful Cairns Botanical Gardens during springtime. The light in this image feels perfect to help illustrate how delicate and ephemeral the petals were.

Image #3
Medium: Digital Photography
Date: 2010

Description of work: This image is of a Pink Frangipani (Plumeria) a lovely variation to the common white and yellow variety found in abundance around Queensland. It’s deceptive scent attracts moths to pollinate but does not provide any nectar in return. Taken in always beautiful Kuranda.

Image #4:
Medium: Digital Photography
Date: 2010

Description of work: This image is of a Beach Spider Lily flower (Hymenocallis Littoralis) which is a tropical plant native to Southern Mexico and Central America. It is also a common garden plant here in Queensland and also quite a challenge to photograph.

Image #5:
Medium: Digital Photography
Date: 2010

Description of work: This image is of a Beach Spider Lily flower (Hymenocallis Littoralis) which is a tropical plant native to Southern Mexico and Central America. It is a common garden plant here in Queensland and also quite a challenge to photograph.

Image #6
Medium: Digital Photography
Date: 2009

Description of work: This is an example of reflection photography, taken after a sun-shower on the windscreen of the car on the trip that brought me back home to Cairns after a couple of years in Melbourne. Created to invoke the refreshing atmosphere after moonsoonal rain which dissipates the very often muggy build-up.

Image #7
Medium: Digital Photography
Date: 2010

Description of work: This is a sun drenched flower of a new variety of Hibiscus called the ‘El Capitolio Sport’. Taken because it’s strange flower caught my eye on a photowalk in a park in Forest Gardens, Cairns.

I'll add images and press clips as they come so do check back on the Blog tab on my website to read the updates. Below are some links for further reading and a QR code if you want to take load it on your phone/tablet.

#1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis
#2 www.facebook.com/CairnsBotanicGardens
#3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumeria
#4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenocallis_littoralis
#5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenocallis_littoralis
#6 www.blurb.com/b/3810488-vivlio
#7 www.au.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gallery/msg0409332821563.html

this QR Code goes to:

www.sandyedgar.com

B&A with The Gimp

2013-12-27T07:25:00.001+10:00

Another slideshow for you to enjoy, this time featuring some before and after images from my portfolio that I have created using The Gimp. I've never really been a fan of photoshop as I find it counter-intuitive in comparison. The more that I use this software the more I love it and it's being improved all the time.

Silent Conversation

2013-11-23T10:33:00.000+10:00

One of the things I both enjoy about studying art is being pushed in new directions. It’s sometimes been a struggle for this 'grumpy old man' to take on new things but when they click, (and they usually do eventually) I feel that I am a better artist for it. One of the things I have begun to explore this year is the idea of depicting conversations without words. Letting the capture of emotions tell the story instead of words.

"A Conversation in Three Parts" was created earlier this year as a Uni project. The only brief we had was to create a triptych artwork digitally. Using photography taken in early 2012 of fellow artist Juli Auriane, I was happy to find a worthy use of them in this piece. At the time of shooting Juli and I were causally talking while I continued to take images the whole time. After a short time the camera was forgotten and I managed to capture plenty of images with some wonderful animation and expression as well as transitory (aka blurry) images that were quite helpful in the final work. Juli was a wonderful model who has a heart the size of Kansas and you can see this I think in the images.

The intention behind the triptych was to distil the conversation and show three different emotional landscapes as they would appear to the viewer. I also wanted to inspire curiosity from the audience as to what could be said in the conversation to illicit each emotion. I deliberately used in each panel three in-focus images bridged by two transitory images to give a sense of the movement and fluidity that occurs naturally while we speak.

I'd like to try this again with a different model at some stage to see how well it reproduces and perhaps even create a series of these triptychs for an exhibition. What do you think of this artwork? Please do leave any constructive feedback you have in the comments below.

‘Sweet Gazpacho Girl’

2013-11-23T10:01:00.000+10:00

Read about the creation of this artwork after the jump ...

I finished this piece yesterday and delivered to KickArts to go into consideration for this year’s Curator’s Choice Member’s Exhibition. It’s the first time I have entered anything into this yearly exhibition as I have only been a member since the start of the year. I wont find out until next week whether it has been accepted or not. I hope so.

The image I used is from a photoshoot that I took part in last year with fellow photographer’s Rob Harris and Anika Betts with the help of Ashley J Makeup. The model in the image is fellow artist Dove Raybould. I had seen other photographers play with colour stripes across the eyes, candy lips and burying heads in amongst things before and wanted to try it and as it turned out I got to try all three at once. It was really fun and this is perhaps the most conceptual I have gone with photography so far. You can see another of the image from the photoshoot below.

This year I wanted to try a fully transparent version of a Storybox artwork using glass on both sides and decided that using one of the images from the photoshoot was the way to go. I make these artworks by digitally adjusting the photograph so that I can print it out onto a transparency, usually to see the under-painting (or other medium as is with some of the Storybox Series artworks) but in this case having a fully transparent image so in this case I chose to use a second transparency which was another copy of the image but blurred so that all that was left was the colour. I put the colour layer in front to soften the dark lines in the layer below.

Overall I’m really happy with how it turned out. I love how it drinks up the light and how the box frames the image. There were a few difficulties in the making, mostly the white of the frame being hard to keep pristine and earning a few extra layers of glazing before it was varnished and there are a few specks of dust inside that can never be removed. With this I learn while I go. As I move forward with the series I’d like to try working with scanned line work from illustrations as well as continuing to work with transparency and depth.

Artwork Showcase: "Ask Yourself"

2013-10-16T10:57:00.000+10:00

"Ask Yourself" 2013. Hand-pressed linoblock print on wood. 30 x 60 cm, Image of print 1 of 3.

Earlier this year I was asked to take part in a pop-up exhibition at The Cupcake Gallery here in Cairns so I re-purposed a linoblock print that I had created at Uni and came up with the above image. This post describes the process behind the artwork.

The project began at Uni when we were asked to create an artwork describing >fear< so I took the opportunity to have a first go at carving a self-portrait in linoblock. I had been reacquainting myself with the medium in the past year and wanted to further improve my skills in the medium. With this particular print I chose to go large and used a whole 30 x 30 cm block. I started with a reference image of myself taken specifically for the project, converted it digitally, and transferred it via carbon transfer.

Can you smell the fear?

Reference image beside linoblock before carving.

The original intent of the artwork as mentioned before was to illustrate >fear< In this version of the print I used the common phrase for a freshman at University "OMG! Is it due today?" to reinforce the expression. As with my previous prints, I went with a pop/stencil art styling of the print to really pare back the lines and to provide easy visual access to the expression for the viewer. I feel that it was a successful result and really enjoyed creating the work as well as working in the larger size for the first time. This print also marked the first time I had printed onto wood. I actually prefer to use wood over paper as there is less of an expectation to get the even print that you would with paper when using a printing press and allows me to hand-press the print and letting the texture of the wood show through the gaps in the solid blocks of colour.

Even the most careful artists sometimes shed blood for their art.

When the call out for a WTF artwork came about, I had not long finished the original artwork so it was fresh in my mind and hanging on the wall in view of my desk. I thought it was a great chance to take it in a new direction as the expression suited the popular acronym well. To change the artwork it was a simple process of cutting out the original text and carving a new one. I chose to use coloured ink for the first time with the new print and used red for the portrait and blue and white for the text of two of them and orange and white for the third. I printed on wood again for the reasons outlined above and I was really happy with the results of this.

Overall it was a great learning experience making both versions of this print and linoblock printing continues to be a new favourite medium of mine that I will certainly explore again in the future, especially using colour and wood. If you would like to purchase a copy of the print or enquire about commissioning a new print, please send an email to info@sandyedgar.com

Slideshow - Works in Progress

2013-10-14T19:00:00.000+10:00

Just for fun, here's a little slideshow of some works in progress. Images taken in the studio during 2012/13.

Blog Re-purposing

2013-10-14T07:36:00.000+10:00

I've had this blog for a while now and originally I had set it up purely to share some existing tutorials and then to write some more. I didn't get around to writing more tutorials (they take a lot of work!) so instead of leaving this blog to disappear into obscurity, I'll be re-purposing it to include other kinds of posts. This is handy as I have it embedded in my website and it will be a good thing for me to learn to write about art by writing about mine first. I'll also work to keep it interesting with WIP posts, artwork flashbacks and even share with you the artists that really inspire me to do better. I hope you enjoy the posts as they arrive. Don't forget to subscribe either directly from the blog below or via my Google Plus page or just come back and visit the website.

Using Filtered B&W in Picasa3

2011-12-23T08:54:00.001+10:00

Have you ever converted a colour image to B&W and found the results unsatisfactory? Chances are, you didn’t use a colour filter to choose the best B&W for your image. This post will show you the quick and easy way to do this with Picasa3.

First of all I need to explain what this Colour Filter tool is, and why it makes a better B&W image. The colour filtering process dates back to film cameras that used B&W film. Photographers would put a colour filter (or coloured transparent cap) over the end of the lens to enhance or subdue certain colours in their image. For example to with a yellow filter they could darken the sky. To darken foliage they would use a blue filter or a green one to lighten it. The list goes on.

The beauty of digital photography is you don’t need to use these colour filters while you take the photograph, you can just convert it in post-production and I know of no software that has made it as easy as Picasa3.

Here’s how to use this filter yourself. First of all you need to load the image into Picasa and choose the Effects Tab.

On this tab you’ll notice two different B&W tools. At the top is the standard B&W which chooses what colour values to use for you and is not the one we want. Look to the bottom for the Filtered B&W, which is the one we’re going to use today.

When you first click on it, you will see the panel as you see in the left of the image below. Click on the rainbow and you will get the panel as you see on the right.

It’s as simple as hovering your mouse over the colour chooser until you find the colour that best enhances your B&W and click on that spot. Click Apply and then you’re done. It’s that easy!

Now that you know how to do it, I think that like me, you’ll only use this tool for B&W conversions. As you see above the differences can be dramatic or subtle but having the choice can make a huge difference to the end result of your photo editing. I also use this tool before using the Sepia conversion tool as it gives me more control over the tones and richness of the sepia colours. Give it a try yourself.

Applying Textures For Beginners using The Gimp

2011-09-03T19:05:00.001+10:00

Sometimes you’ll find your image lacks that je ne sais quoi, that certain something to take it to a new level. One of the most popular ways to add a photographic or hand-made texture to your image. Textures can also be handy when you want to change the colour or even to bring together different layers in a photo manipulation.

This tutorial has been written for beginners who have never used a Texture before and would like to learn what they are and how to use them.

Before we begin I should let you know that if you are using somebody else’s texture you should make yourself familiar with Creative Commons licenses and make sure that you use an image that has an appropriate one to fit your intended use of the final image. You can find more information about them here.

Now that we have touched on licenses lets talk about the different kinds of textures that you can use. I tend to think of them in 4 different categories:
Photographic Textures:

These textures are literally photographs or scans of textures that you find in real life. The could be almost anything but some of the most popular types are sand, stone, paper, rust and paint. If you have a camera and wanted a texture that you own outright and didn’t want to go to the trouble of creating your own or searching for a texture then this is the best option for you. You may already have some images in your collection that have the kind of textures you need so it’s worth having a look.

Hand Made:

There are some very clever people out there who make textures for people to use such as the excellent people in this Flickr Group and if there is a link >here<, then I have written a tutorial on how to create your own. Hand Made textures usually (but don’t always) consist of one or more photographic texture manipulated together. They are popular as they can often be far more subtle than a plain photographic texture and can also be created in a large variety of colours.

Vignette:

These textures are usually hand made but I put them into a separate category as I don’t always want a vignette effect with a texture. Your traditional vignette texture is darker around the edges and lighter in a circular fashion in the middle. The term is borrowed from photography and is still very popular as it is an easy way to draw focus to the centre of your image.

Colour:

Lastly we have colour textures. These can be Photographic or Hand Made and can also be a vignette. I put them into a separate category because I will usually use a Colour Texture for a specific reason. They are best used to create a mood in your image or if you are creating digital art they can help bring your layers together if they have different tones. There are also multi-coloured textures that can be used to great effect in a image.

Ok, now that we know what types there are to use we’ll have a look at how these different types of textures can change an image. First you’ll need to download our base image (of the lovely Nakita Hollingsworth) and all the textures from here.

Open up The Gimp and load all the images with the base image as the lowest layer. Turn off the visibility of all the textures except the Photographic Texture layer (by clicking on the ‘Eye Icon’ on the left in the Layers Tab).

Also in your Layers Tab you will see a drop-down arrow to the right of the words Mode: Normal. This is the menu where you set the Layer Mode of the particular layer that you have selected. Click on your Photographic Texture layer and then choose Multiply. This will make the texture transparent and will show you right away how a texture can change an image. Go through and try all the modes just to see how they look. You’ll see a variety of different effects as you go through them. Did you see one you like? I will often try most of these modes when using a texture. With some of the darker modes I will also try lowering the opacity of the layer if I need a lighter effect.

Now not every texture is going to work with a particular image and you may find that you'll try a few before you find the one that gives you the effect you are looking for. Below I’ve listed the Layer Modes and Opacities of the textures that we have used today in the settings that I think works best so that you can try the same settings and see if you agree.
Photographic:

Hue Mode at 100% Opacity

Hand Made:

Multiply Mode at 25% Opacity
Soft Light Mode at 100% Opacity

Vignette:

Overlay Mode at 100% Opacity

Colour:

Colour Mode at 100%

Now it’s unlikely that you’d find many uses for the Colour Texture that we’ve used today but I chose this one deliberately so that you can see the different colours at work at the same time.

Sometimes it helps to use more than one texture to get the effect you want. To give you an example of how this works, above you will see two “Vintage” looks that I have created with the textures we are using today. To get the same effect I have put the settings below.
Left Vintage Look:

Photographic Texture on Hue Mode at 100% Opacity with
Hand Made Texture on Lighten Only Mode at 100% Opacity

Right Vintage Look:

Vignette Texture on Grain Merge Mode at 60% Opacity with
Hand Made Texture on Colour Mode at 70% Opacity

So there you have a basic introduction to using Textures to create interest in your images. It may take you a while to get the hang of which textures do what so make sure you keep playing with the Layer Modes with different Textures on different images and before long you’ll get the hang of it. If you liked this tutorial please rate it below and share it with your friends.

Out of Bounds Tutorial (Round) using The Gimp

2011-08-27T19:17:00.001+10:00

We’ve all seen those images that look like something is coming out of the side/top/bottom of a shape giving it a 3D effect. This is called “Out Of Bounds” and is a neat trick to know. Today I’ll be showing you the quick and easy way to do one of these in the round format using The Gimp.

First of all you’ll need to download the duck image from here and fire up The Gimp. Open a new document with the size of 2000 x 2000 pixels. You can certainly use a smaller size if your computer can’t handle working with a large file, I just prefer to go larger for better control and having more pixels to push around.

Next we’ll need to use the Elliptical Tool and put a circle that fits within the whole square. Click and drag across your square. Hover your mouse just inside the edges of the square to see bars that you can click on to adjust the size of your circle. We’ll enlarge the square later so we have room to move but right now this is the easiest way to make sure it’s fully centred.

Now that we have a nice big circle to work with we’ll need to save it as a path in case we need to turn off the selection and bring it back later. To do this click on the Paths Tab (top arrow below) and then the Selection to Path icon which is the little red circle icon on the right at the bottom of the tab.

Now that we have the circle saved we need to make some space for the rest of the image. Click on your Layers Tab again and right click on the layer called Background. Choose Scale Layer and with the box that turns up change the Width & Height to 2500 pixels and then click on the Scale button. Once that is done go to Image > Fit Canvas to Layers.

Now we’re going to create a “frame” layer so we can make sure our duck is properly framed. Click on Select > Invert. This changes the selection from the circle itself to everything outside the circle. Now click on the New Layer icon in your Layers Tab (arrow above) then click on Edit > Fill with FG Colour. This will give you a layer with a black border and transparent circle inside so you can frame your picture. You could skip this step but I have found it very useful in the past.

To frame your duck you will first need to choose Select > None so that you can move the whole layer and not just what is selected. Next lower the transparency of your black frame layer so that you can see all of your duck and using the Move Tool, click inside the circle to move your duck around until you are happy the results. You could also do the opposite by moving your duck layer above your black frame layer, lower it’s transparency to see the layer below and then move it to where you are happy.

Once you have your duck where you want it, click on the little eye next to the black frame layer to turn it’s visibility off. Before we start the next step we need to duplicate the duck layer for later by right clicking it and choosing Duplicate Layer. Click on the eye beside the lower duck layer and hide it for now. Now to remove the excess part of the duck image on top. Click on the Paths Dialogue tab where we saved our circle. Click on the red square icon on the bottom called ‘Paths to Dialogue’ (hover your mouse over if you’re not sure and a name tag will pop up). This should bring our circle selection back up. Click on Select > Invert. Now right-click on your top duck layer and select Add Layer Mask. Choose Edit > Fill With FG Colour. This will crop your circle including the part that will stick outside the circle but don’t worry as we’ll bring it back in the next step.

Now it’s time to bring back the beak. First of all we’ll need to unhide the duplicate layer we made before by clicking on the eye. Lower the opacity to around 50%. This will allow you to see where the beak is situated. Go back to your top duck layer and choose the Eraser tool from your Toolbox.

Choose a soft round brush and make sure you have black set as your foreground colour. I used a simple saying to remind myself which one to use in a layer mask; ‘White to Erase, Black to Bring Back’ and as we’re going to bring back the beak we’ll keep it black. With your brush scale (size) set to a small size (4 or below) start clicking around the edge of the beak that you can see with the transparent layer. Once you have the edge back you can use a larger brush to fill in the inside. Eventually your beak should look like the image below.

Ok, now we only have two more things to take care of. The border and the shadows. To start with we’ll need to create three layers.

On your Layers Tab, click on the New Layer button (above left) which will bring up the dialogue box. Make one transparent and two white new layers. We’ll work with one white layer first. Go back to your Paths Tab and bring back the circle and invert it as we did for earlier layers. This time instead of adding a layer mask go Edit > Cut. This should leave you with a white circle. Now go Select > None. Right click on your white circle layer and select Scale Layer. Change the width and height to 2600 pixels and click on Scale. Move this layer to below your duck layer and you’ll notice that you have a nice white border to your image. You can of course set the width to anything you like by experimenting with your resizing.

Now for the last step of putting a shadow underneath the beak. Move your transparent layer to between your white circle layer and duck layer and the second white layer underneath all of these. It’s only there so you can see your shadow emerging. This is where your shadow will live. Select your paintbrush and set it to the same settings and brush that you see above. To make your shadows look a little more realistic you could change the colour to a dark brown. You can do that by clicking on the colours box.

Before you start putting in your shadow, make sure that you have selected your transparent layer. You can click directly onto the beak and as the transparent layer is underneath you wont see it. I always start gingerly until I can see how well the shadow is coming. Don’t fret if you make a mistake as you can always delete that transparent layer and put a new one in and start again. When your shadow is done you can put in a textured layer such as a brick wall to make your duck image look cooler or you could even lose the background, save your file as a PNG file and have it printed on a coffee cup or Tshirt for your Dad.

And that should be you finished with your Out-Of-Bounds Duck. I hope you feel you have learnt something from this tutorial. Feel free to leave a rating or comment below and don’t forget to share it with your friends.

Just for fun: Endless Tunnel using Picasa3

2011-07-09T21:37:00.001+10:00

Here’s a fun thing to do when you’re bored, turn a screenshot into an endless tunnel using Picasa3.

First of all, start up Picasa3 & minimise the window.
Click ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Prt Sc’ and wait for the little Picasa3 bar to pop up on your screen.
When it does, click on it and Picasa3 should maximise again. Leave it up.
Click ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Prt Sc’ again and click on the Picasa3 bar when it turns up again.
Repeat this until your tunnel goes back to an infinite point, just like you see above.

There you have it. Easy, fun and a great trick to show your friends.

Dragon Tutorial Part 2

2011-06-20T18:11:00.000+10:00

This tutorial is the second half of two. If you are a brand new beginner to using the Gimp and haven’t yet learned to use a Layer Mask, you can find the first half of the tutorial here where you learn how.

At the end of the tutorial we ended up with a dragon in a .XCF file with the background removed. We will be using techniques described in the last tutorial so if you need, keep it open in another tab for reference. In this tutorial we will be using Layers. Each image you import as you progress is called a layer and eventually all those layers work together to become the final image. Start by opening your Dragon .XCF file from Part 1. It should look like the image below.

First thing we need to do is add a background for the dragon to sit above. I have used this rocky outcrop from here as it gives some great boulders for the dragon to perch on. Once you have downloaded the image to your desktop go to the top menu bar and click File > Open As Layers and chose the rocky outcrop image. If it appears above the dragon you can use the down arrow in your Layers Box to move it underneath. Now we need to resize the dragon. In the Layers Box right-click the dragon image and choose Scale Layer. It will bring up a window like the one you see in the image below. Put the number 850 in Width. Click in the Height box and it should automatically change to 638. Click Scale. The image will now be much smaller.

Now we are going to place the dragon on his new perch. (Important note: If you followed the first tutorial you will have to switch off the layer mask first by clicking on the thumbnail of the dragon in the Layers Box. This will put a white box around it and turn off the layer mask. You can turn it back on by clicking the black & white box beside it. You will see the white box move over to there. The white box is a visual indicator to whether the Layer Mask is on or off.) We need to have the dragon face the other way. You can do that going to the menu in the image window and choose: Layer > Transform > Flip Horizontally. He will now face the other way. Click on the Move Tool as indicated by the arrow in the image below and move him to his new position on the rocks which you will see in the second image below.

Now we need a new dramatic sky and to put it in place. I used this image here. Load it the same way you did the rocky outcrop image and move it so it is above it. You’ll notice that it is wider than the rocky outcrop image, don’t worry we will be cropping the whole image later so they don’t have to match exactly. Use the move tool again and move the clouds up a bit but make sure that it covers all of the original sky in the rocky outcrop image. When you have done that go to the menu in the main image window and choose: Image > Fit Canvas to Layers. This will show all of your new sky and you should have something like the image below.

Before we do that the next step is easier if we hide the dragon for a while by clicking on the Eye Icon beside it’s thumbnail in the Layers Box. To make it easier you can lower the opacity of the layer down to 80%. Now we have to use a Layer Mask on the clouds so that we can see all the rocks. You can find the slider for that in the Layers Box. Make sure that you have the clouds layer selected. With a larger soft brush set to 100% opacity, cut in as close to the edge of the rocks as you can, like you see in the image below. Erase all of the sky that falls below the rocks.

Now bring the opacity of the clouds image back up to 100% and put the opacity of the brush down to 15%. Zoom into the image and gently work your way to the edge of the rocks without showing any of the blue of the original sky (remember you can hit Ctrl + Z to undo your last actions). When you are done it should look like the image below.

Ok, now to make the dragon look like he really is sitting on the boulders. If you followed the first tutorial you will still have the original layer mask. Turn it back on as described above. We will need to cut into the dragon image a bit to get rid of the straight line between his front and back legs. Using a small soft brush set to 100% opacity cut in a rocky shape like you see in the image below. Your dragon should look like he is perched on a rock now.

The next step is to give him some shadow below his feet and body to give that extra bit of realism. To do that we need to make a transparent layer between the dragon and the rocky outcrop. We’ll need to use the Paintbrush Tool in your Toolbox using a Large Soft Brush set to about 5.00 size & 5% opacity as you see below. Start by clicking under his claws (don’t worry it won’t show on his claws but on the transparent layer underneath). The general rule of thumb is that shadows are darker directly underneath things touching the ground (or in our case the rocks) and quickly lighten as you go further out. Remember if you aren’t happy, you can delete the transparent layer and try again. When finished it should look somewhat like the second image underneath.

What’s a dragon without the fire breathing? Next we’re going to give him some fearsome fire. This we will do using a trick with Layer Modes. First of all you’ll need to download some fire. I used this one here because it had a dark background. That’s important as you shall see shortly. Once you have opened your fire as a new layer above the dragon you’ll need to rotate it. You’ll see an arrow pointing at it on the right of the image below. Click on that and then your fire image. A window will pop up but you don’t have to adjust any of the values on that. Click on the top right corner of the image and drag it around until you are happy with the orientation.

Now we’re going to use Layer Modes to make the fire look like it’s really there. Make sure you have the fire layer still selected. Above the layers in the Layers Box you will see the Layer Mode drop down menu (see image below). Click on that and choose Lighten Only. This will make all the black around the fire transparent and leave only the flames. There is also some of the fire reflection below that which you can erase by putting a Layer Mask on the fire layer and gently brushing them away. You should have only the fire left as you see in the bottom half of the second image below.

Ok now lets give the dragon some fearsome eyes. The eyes I used are here, but there is no reason why you can’t use something different. A quick Google search of either cat’s eyes or reptile eyes will give you a great choice. Remember to do an advanced search for CC images. If you are using the same image as me load it above the dragon, choose your colour and crop it by using the Rectangle Select (indicated by the red arrow in the image below) to draw a square around the eye. Then go to the menu above the image window and select: Layer > Crop To Selection. Resize the image so that the eye is the same size as the dragon’s (roughly 30 – 35 pixels square). Add a Layer Mask and gently brush away the edges of the square with a small soft brush. It is easier to lower the brush’s opacity to around 15%. You should now have an eye similar to the bottom of the second image below. (Note: Now that you know how to use the crop function you can crop your image to your liking at any time by using: Image > Crop to Selection instead.)

Now for an optional step. If you are happy with the colour of the dragon, skip to the next step. If you would like to change his colour, read on. Click on the dragon layer and then on the image box menu choose: Colour > Colourize. That will bring up the window that you see in the image below. You can use the sliders to adjust the colour of your dragon to one you like. Once you are happy with the colour click on OK. You can hit Reset to go back or Cancel if you change your mind. Remember you can always hit Ctrl + Z to undo the colour change if you change your mind.

Now we’re going to give the dragon’s skin some texture. I tried to find some reptilian skin to use to no avail so I settled on a sand texture which you can find here. Now you could use a Layer Mask to cut in on the sand texture for this step but seeing as we have already done all the hard work we’ll use a Mask to Selection instead.   First we need to load the sand texture and resize it so that it just covers the dragon (1000 x 662 pixels should do). Right click on the dragon layer and select Mask to Selection. You should see a dotted line in the shape of the dragon now. Drag your sand texture so that it covers all of the outline and add a Layer Mask on it.   Go to your image window menu and choose: Select > Invert. Then choose: Edit > Fill with FG Colour as you see in the image below. That should leave you with dragon shaped sand. Lastly go to Select > None which should remove the outline. Now we need to use a Layer Mask to blend the sand into the skin. In this image I used Soft Light at 65% Opacity. Have a play around with the different Layer Modes and find one you like. You can lower the Opacity as I have done to tone down an effect.

The rocky outcrop layer is looking a little bright for the overall image so to tone it down a little go to: Colour > Brightness-Contrast. Lower the brightness and raise the contrast to similar values in the image below. This should now make it look more like night time which suits the image better.

We’re nearly there. We’re going to add some orange glow to the dragon and rocks now to add a touch more realism. Add a transparent layer above the dragon and set to a Colour Layer Mode. Choose the Paintbrush tool with a large soft brush set to 5%. Then click on the top square below that which should bring up the Colour Choice window. Choose a dark orange colour and start gently adding some of the orange to the dragon and rocks like you see in the second image below.

Another optional step for you is to add a fake Depth of Field on the foreground of the rocky outcrop layer. It’s deceptively simple and adds some interest to your image. First you need to duplicate the rocky outcrop layer. Click on the top copy and put a Gaussian Blur of 10 pixel on it. You can find it under: Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur which will bring up the below image. Once you have done that put a Layer Mask on it and erase all but the rocks in the foreground like you see in the second image below.

Last step is to add a texture to the image. I’ve used a texture that has a vignette built in but you could use any of a hundred different kinds. The texture I used is here. (Note: if you haven’t cropped your image to the final size yet, it’s best to do it before you load your texture) Load your texture and scale it so that it covers your image. I set the Layer Mode to Grain Merge and I took the extra step of putting a Gaussian Blur of 10% pixels. And there you have it folks, your final image. Of course there are many variables that can change an image a lot. I would suggest that you play around with any image as you work on it because it can sometimes make the difference between a good image and a great one. Layer Modes and the textures you use can often bring the biggest and best changes and they are what I fiddle with the most. I hope that you were able to follow this tutorial easily and happy with your results. I’d love to see them in the comment section below (small or medium size).    As always feel free to add your questions or own tips below. If you do post your image anywhere online please remember to thank all the people whose images and textures you used (and to link back to them of course).

Dragon Tutorial Part 1 (Layer Mask using The Gimp)

2011-06-17T06:47:00.001+10:00

Today we’re going to learn how to cut out an image using the Layer Mask took in the Gimp.
The Layer Mask tool is used to make parts of your image (or more precisely the layer that you are working on) transparent so that you can make composite images. It is one of the most common tools you will end up using in the Gimp, especially if you end up making digital art as much as I do.
When I first starting using the Gimp I had no idea where to start and it was hard to find any good basic tutorials. I have written this tutorial for absolute beginners in mind. I hope that I have made it easy enough for you to follow. There is also a companion tutorial to this one. The second tutorial will show you how to make the dragon look like he is sitting on a hilltop blowing fire. If you are already comfortable using a layer mask you can find the second tutorial here.

First of all you need to download the dragon image I have used in the tutorial. You can use any image you like but it is easier to use the same image so that you can use side by side comparisons as we progress. You can download the dragon from here. Once you have opened the dragon image in the Gimp make a copy of the dragon by clicking on the Duplicate Layer Icon in your Layers Box as indicated by the red arrow in the image below.

Duplicating the layer is not totally necessary but a good habit to be in to save time in case of mistakes while working on an image. You’ll notice an Eye Icon next to both copies of the dragon in your Layers Box. Click on the bottom one to make that copy invisible. We will only be working on the top dragon for now.
Now we need to add a Layer Mask to the top dragon. Right click on the dragon thumbnail image to bring up a menu. Choose the Add Layer Mask option. This will bring up the Add Layer Mask window. It should look like the image on the right below. Click Add. You will now see a white box beside the dragon thumbnail in the Layers Box. As you start erasing around the dragon you will notice some of that white turning black. That is to indicate what has been erased.

Now we need to start erasing. To do that you need to click on the eraser icon in your Toolbox as indicated by the red arrow in the image below. At the bottom of that section of the toolbox you will see a black square above a white one with two joined white arrows. Click on the arrows to swap the position of the black and white. When using the eraser tool with a layer mask, having the white on top will erase the image and having the black on top will un-erase it. You could just use the eraser tool without a layer mask but the Gimp but once it is gone you can’t bring it back. With a layer mask the Gimp will remember the whole image and you can adjust it as you need.

Next we need to choose a brush to use while we are erasing the background of the dragon. Below is an image to indicate where you will find your brushes and the eraser tool. On the right side you will see two slide options for Opacity and Scale. Opacity is used for the lightness of the brush and Scale is for the size. Feel free to try them out on your image in a section of the sky as it will all be erased by the end.

We will be using two brushes today. We will start with the large sharp brush on left side to erase the majority of the background and use the smaller softer brush on the right to get in close to the dragon.

Ok now we are ready to begin. Set your brush to the same levels as shown on the left above and starting from the outside in start clicking on the sky. You should see grey checkered pattern where you click. You can hold down your left mouse button to do a lot at once. If you accidentally erase some of the dragon you can hit ‘Ctrl +Z’ to reverse your last action. Get in as close to the dragon as you can as this will save you time later. By the end you should have something that looks like the image below.

Now that you have finished removing the majority of the background, we need to start erasing close into the dragon. Set your brush as shown in the right side of Image 6. To zoom in on the image hold down the ‘Ctrl’ key and roll your mouse wheel up (or roll it down to zoom out). On the bottom left of your image window you will see a number that gets larger as you zoom in. I recommend that you zoom into 800%. The image will be quite pixelated but you need to be that close to differentiate between the blue of the sky and the green of the dragon. You will see the zoom indicator in the image below.

Before we start erasing the rest of the background we need to put in a black background so that we can see all the bits we missed. Using a soft brush is needed for this part of the process but it can leave smudges of background that are hard to see with the chequered background. Click on the bottom dragon image. We do that because the new layer will be put in above it but below the image we are working on. At the bottom of the layers box you will see a row of icons. To the left of the up and down arrow you will see a rectangular icon. That is the New Layer icon. Click on it and it will bring up the window in the image below. You wont have to change the Width or Height as that is set to the size of the image. The Layer Fill Type will be set to Transparency. Click on the white instead and then click OK. (Note: you can move the selected layer up or down by clicking on the arrows beside the New Layer icon you just used – if your )Next in the menu above the image click on Colours > Invert. That should turn your white layer into a black one. If you like, you can leave the black layer visible while you do the fine erasing but I tend to use it only to check that I have cut in close enough. You can click on the Eye Icon to hide or show it as you need.

Now you are ready to start the erasing the rest of the background of your dragon. I would suggest that if this is your first time start further out and work your way in. Because you are using a soft brush the circle will go inside the line a little. With practice you will learn to instinctively know where to place your brush as you click along the edge. The idea is to remove all traces of the original background which would look like a white outline when placing the dragon above a new background. Aim for closeness as indicated in the image below. In some corners you will need to make your brush smaller to get in. Don’t be afraid to change your brush size as you need. Feel free to zoom in and out to check on your progress as you work. (Note: Save often as you work. The Gimp is known to crash occasionally and it is very frustrating to have to redo things because of this. Remember to save it with a .XCF file ending which will remember all your layers. Saving as a .JPG file will not.)

This is a time consuming process, especially as the image is a large one. You could resize the image to save time but you will have less fine control with a smaller image. I always try to use the largest images as possible so that any little mistakes will be virtually invisible in the final image. Once you have erased all the background it is good practice to go around the image to do a final check to make sure you have removed all the smudges. As you will see in the image below my edge is not exactly straight on the wing. This can usually be fixed easily to give a straighter edge. Zoom out to make sure you have it right. Also be aware of the intended bumps of the image. As you can see the neck has ridges that are supposed to be there.

In the image below you will see a dark blue edge of the tongue. That isn’t part of the background but colour blur which is a side effect of bright conditions with digital photography. You could do two things to fix this. You can erase it now but that can make your image look not-quite-right, especially if it is quite pronounced. I tend to leave the colour bleed and use the paintbrush to change the colour only if it is noticeable with the new background.

Now that you are finished you should have a dragon that looks just like the first image above. If you are going to follow the second half of this tutorial, save as an .XCF file. If you would like to use this dragon in several different images it is handy to save it as a .PNG file. This will preserve your transparency that you have put in a lot of work creating. Saving as a .PNG will bring up the below 3 windows. You can use the default settings in each of them and click Save/Export.

This is the end of Part 1 of my dragon tutorials. Part 2 will show you some tips in backgrounds, layer modes, texturing, colouring and fake depth-of-field. At the end he will look something like the image below.

Doll Face (or Manga) Technique using The Gimp

2011-06-16T21:35:00.000+10:00

One of the cutest photo manipulation techniques around is the Doll Face or Manga. Those big eyes, button nose and pouty mouth can be adorable and it gives a great effect to a range of manipulations and digital art.. Today I’m going to show you how to achieve this effect using The Gimp.

I first came across this technique via a blog post and a tutorial for photoshop. I really enjoyed using it and I thought I would put together a tutorial for those of us who prefer to use The Gimp. Before we begin I would suggest you try going through the tutorial using the same image as I have so that you can use the screen shots as a reference. If you need a larger view of any of the screenshot images, just click on it and it will open in a new window for you to zoom into.
You can find the model image here, generously made available by Nixstock on Deviant Art. You will also need this texture from Skeletalmess on Flickr. Download these files and open your model file in The Gimp.

Step 1.

The original image is a little skewed so you'll need to rotate it so that the eyes are level by using the rotate tool (you'll find this in the toolbox - you can hover the mouse over each one to find out which one it is).
Duplicate the image and right-click the top one and click on Scale Layer. This is the resize tool and you'll need to make the face in this layer about 30% larger than the original image below (you can try 1800 wide X 2400 high today). Next, go to Image>Fit Canvas To Layers. It's not entirely necessary but it'll give you plenty of space to work with later.

Step 2.

Now duplicate both layers and arrange them by moving up and down so that you have Large/Small/Large/Small. Click on the little eye on the bottom Large/Small pairing to hide them - they will be your back up copies in case you make a mistake and need them later.
On the top visible layer using the Rectangle Select tool draw a box around the top half of her head making sure you have all her hair on the top and sides as well as most of her nose in the selection. Click on Layer>Crop to Selection. You should see just what you selected inside the box and the layer below outside the box. Click once in the checkered area to deselect the box (you will know it is deselected when the little squares in the corner disappear).
Now click on the eye beside that layer to hide it while you crop the lower half of her face on the smaller layer. This time cover most of the nose again because we will need overlap later when we blend the two halves together. You should be left with just the two halves on your screen like the right hand side of the image above.

Step 3.

OK, now we're at the first tricky part. Using the Perspective Tool, transform the top and then the bottom half like I have in the image above. You transform the image by clicking and dragging one of the corners of the image on that layer.
1. Is the original view.
2. Select the top layer and bring the bottom corners in so they line up with the bottom layer. Drag each of the top corners down so you squash the top of the head a bit. Don't worry too much about getting it right straightaway as you can come back and adjust later.
3. Select the bottom layer and bring the bottom corners in AND up. I don't usually push the chin up too much here using the Perspective Tool as after I have transformed the bottom half of the face I usually use the Scale Tool to push it up some more by clicking on the bottom line and pushing up. It seems to look better that way. You can also use the Scale Tool later to shrink or grow the forehead when you are working with the features.
4. Is what you should roughly have on your screen when you are finished.

Step 4.

Now we're going to raise the bottom half of the face to the top. This is because it is usually easier to blend the bottom half to the top than it is to blend the top half to the bottom.
Right click on the bottom half layer and select Add Layer Mask. Select a large soft brush (one with blurry edges) and Lower the opacity to around 15%. Select the Eraser tool in your toolbox. Click on the arrows on the Foreground/Background colours so that the white is on top. (When the white is on top, you will erase, when the black is on top you will bring it back.) Using this, click along the line so that you lose the line defining the two layers. The main areas to focus on is the bridge of the nose, the hair and making the edges of the face blend in naturally. Don't worry about the eyes as they will be covered by another layer later.

Step 5.

Now we're going to rebuild her facial features. Duplicate the original larger layer that we saved before and raise it to the top. Duplicate it 3 times so that you have four copies all up. Click on the eye on these new layers to make them visible. It may help you to name each layer. You can do that by right clicking the layer and choosing Edit Layer Attributes and renaming them in the window that appears. They should go in this order from the top down: Eye on Left, Eye on Right, Nose & Mouth.
Using the Rectangle Select tool again make a selection around the eye on the left leaving plenty of space around and including the eyebrow. Leaving the space makes it easier to blend each of the four pieces in later. Now go to Layer>Crop to Selection. Click on a checkered area of the screen to deselect the box. Next do the other eye, nose and mouth in the same way on the other 3 layers. When you do the last you should have a composite like the left side of the image above.
Now it's time to get her features ready to go back on the face. Click on the Move Tool click on each part of the face you just cropped and drag them to below the bottom of the face. Right click on each layer and select Add Layer Mask. Click on the Eraser Tool and choose a soft brush at 100% and cut in around the edges of each feature like I have done in the image above. With some faces you may need to take off the brow bit above the nose, each face is different and with practice you will get the hang of which one needs it and which one doesn't.

Step 6.

OK, now we're at the second tricky part fitting her face back together. We're aiming for large open eyes, button nose and pouty mouth. There are two tools to use for this, the Scale Tool and Scale Layer (Scale tool is in the toolbox and to use Scale Layer right click on the layer you want to resize). Right click on each of the top four layers and select the Edit Layer Mask with the tick beside it. This will turn off the Layer Mask and allow you to move the layers around.
1. Move the pieces back over the face to roughly where they'll go.
2. With the resizing, I usually start by working from the bottom up as the eyes are the trickiest part to fit in. Make your mouth more pouty using the Scale Tool. I usually click on the bottom left corner and move it in to the right and down a bit. Don't go too far though, realism is the key. The nose I use the Scale Layer and usually I shrink it by about 30%. You'll see with practice what is too big and what is too small. Lastly is the eyes. Using the Scale Tool again you're aiming for open and large. Keep an eye on the pupils and make sure they stay round. If you don't get it quite right the first time you can hold down the Ctrl key and hit the Z key to undo the last step or use the Scale Tool again until you are happy with the size.
3. You'll find you'll have to move the features around quite a bit until you are happy with them.
4. Now it's a case of blending it all in. This is the trickiest part of the whole process. Right click on the layers and select the Edit Layer Mask again and put the opacity back down to 15%. Using the Eraser tool blend in your parts so it's each part looks realistic. You'll have to erase part of the eyebrow of the eye on the left to bring the hair through. Switching between erase and add to blend in the features. Sometimes parts of the face will poke through underneath, this is why leaving a large area around the features before helps as you have skin around to use in the blending in process. It's important to zoom in to make sure everything is OK (you can hold down the Ctrl Key and roll your mouse wheel up to zoom in and down to zoom out).

Step 7.

Now we're on the home stretch. Once you're happy with your face it's time to stick it back on the body. Click on the eye on your smaller original layer. It will come up like the image on the left above. Right click on that layer and using Scale Layer shrink it down until the neck is as close as the same size as you can get it. It's usually 30-50% smaller than it was originally. You'll have to move the layer around a bit and it won't fit perfectly because we warped the face. You can blend them in by using the Layer Mask on the bottom half of the face and blending it in. With some images you may find another body to use instead of the original and that can give you a lot more scope with your final image. With this image it shouldn't be too hard to blend the head to the body.

Step 8.

Sometimes your face can be a little diamond shaped, you can use the iWarp Tool to make minor adjustments to the shape of the face. Before we do this we need to put merge our image into one layer. There are scripts for the Gimp to copy the visible layers and past it on a new layer. I couldn't find it in time to give you a link for this tutorial so I will show you what I used to do before I had that handy tool. Go to File>Save As and save your file with a Part 2 in the name.Once you have done this go to the top layer,right click and chose Merge Down. Do this for each of the layers that make up your finished model. Once you have done that create a transparent layer below your model layer and merge that down onto the transparent layer.
Once you have your face on a single layer go Filter>Distort>iWarp. This will bring up the window same as the bottom half of the above image. Using your mouse carefully click on the part of the face that is wrong and drag it over. There is no need to adjust any of the settings on the right hand side. I usually make small adjustments,click OK and go back and make more if needed. Be careful with this tool as it can sometimes do weird things to the pixels if you do too much. It's a very handy tool to use though as it can make a huge difference to the overall look of your image.

Step 9.

Now that we're finished the face it's time to think about what we're going to do with our creation. In a lot of cases you can put in a background but for this tutorial we're just going to put a texture over it to feature the model.
1. Using the Clone Tool set to 100% opacity and using a soft brush, select a part of the background (I used the top left corner) and start cloning the background around the model. You will notice that the background is not uniform everywhere in colour around the model. You can blend it in by lowering the opacity of your brush and gently bring the new uniform colour in close to the model.
2. Once you are happy with the new background use the Select Tool to crop your image (Image>Crop To Selection - this will crop all layers).
3. Now it's time to bring in the texture you downloaded before. (File>Open As Layer-bring it to the top). Set the Mode to Divide and bring the opacity down to about 35%.
4. Go to Colour>Colourize. You can slide the Hue/Saturation/Lightness sliders around until you get colours that suit you. Then click OK.
That's it, we're done. Hopefully you were able to follow the tutorial to the end easily and you have something similar to the above image. If you have any trouble along the way feel free to ask and I'll try to help you get through. Good luck and have fun.

Please note: If you would like to feature this tutorial on your blog or website, please only use the first image and then link back to this page. I put a lot of time and effort into putting it together and I’d prefer it that people come to my blog to read this tutorial and the others that I have on offer. Thanks.

Some Before & After examples of this technique: