BLOG TIPS

How to Make Money Online in 6 Easy Steps

2015-01-26T23:06:00.000+07:00

Learn how affiliate marketing can skyrocket your bottom line.

A staggering $2.1 billion in affiliate marketing fees were paid to blog and website owners in 2008. This finding in a recent study by Jupiter Research confirms what many savvy Internet marketers have known for a while: Affiliate marketing has become one of the top business opportunities online because the startup costs are so low and the income you generate can be mind-blowing.

Affiliate marketing involves having your own site and sending your traffic to someone else's site to buy their products or services. For every sale initiated by a link from your site, you earn a percentage--an affiliate sales commission.

Affiliate marketing can be done on a part-time basis, and many are so successful that they've made it their full-time job. Equally exciting, you can get in the game in just a few hours. But how successful you are is based on the amount of time and effort you devote. Here is how you can make money online with these six tips:

1. Create a website or blog

To start as an affiliate marketer, you must have a site on which to place links to the products or services you recommend. There are many inexpensive website services such as Hostgator and GoDaddy. It's also easy to set up a free blog through services such as Google's Blogger blog network. I also use Namecheap for domains and Hostnine (get a reseller account) for hosting.

2. Decide your product/service niche

Affiliate marketers help companies and entrepreneurs sell everything from jewelry and cell phones to website services and how-to e-books. Choose an area you're familiar with or one you're enthusiastic about learning. You'll be more likely to do the work and less likely to get bored before the money starts rolling in.

3. Find products and services to promote

Many affiliate networks exist to connect merchants with affiliate site publishers who can help sell their goods. Companies such as:

Clickbank, E-junkie and PayDotCom lead the pack in connecting the creators of e-books and software with affiliates to help sell their digital download products.
Commission Junction is popular for those who want to sell more traditional wares ranging from travel services to janitorial franchises.
Google AdSense, which doesn't require your involvement to result in a sale. Your income is realized on a pay-per-click basis, just for leading your traffic to click to a merchant's site. PPC affiliate programs pay a lot less than programs where your referral must result in a sale. Keep in mind that a site peppered with ads and no authority or trust can look and feel like spam, and you won't get good results.

4. Affiliate site content

There are two main approaches or business models to choose from when setting up an affiliate marketing site:

Resource Sites These sites are focused on offering lots of how-to articles and posts, and then provide affiliate links or banner ads to click for more details. Frequently adding fresh related content is vital because it gives people a reason to return to your site--and click some of your money-making links.
Review Sites You've tried the products in your niche, now you write them up and rate them to help your site visitors decide what to buy. For each product you review, you provide a link or banner ad that clicks through for sales on your merchant partner's site. Less frequent content updates are necessary--just tweak your site about once a week to let the search engines know your site's still alive, and always try to build links.

5. Affiliate sites must attract lots of targeted traffic to succeed

Most people visiting your website or blog won't click your affiliate links. That's why it's crucial to employ a mix of marketing tactics to increase traffic--highly targeted traffic--to your site.

There are four main ways to get more site exposure and attract more potential customers:

Paid Advertising This is most effective when your ad copy headline, call-to-action message and graphics come together just right to compel people to click through and buy.
Free Advertising Sites like Craigslist and US Free Ads are but two of many popular places that accept links and banner ads for free. These tend to be affiliate marketing sites themselves, earning the owner money whenever you click their ads.
Article Marketing This popular marketing method offers several benefits. You're building credibility as a reliable source in your niche, gaining a higher search engine ranking by increasing the number of links leading to your site, and pulling traffic to your site. Work in an organic manner and don't spam using software engines.Ezinearticles is a great place to begin.
E-mail Marketing Every visitor to your site is valuable, so capturing their names and e-mail addresses to stay in touch is important. Many people might not buy your affiliate products until the third or fourth time they hear from you. So it's crucial to place an opt-in subscription box on your site for people to start receiving a weekly or monthly newsletter from you. My personal favorite is aweber, but many quality ones exist.

6. Learn the ropes in forums

These are online communities of likeminded people who exchange insights and ideas. Join at least one of these free affiliate marketing forums to benefit from advice shared by other newbies, intermediates and gurus alike:

Digital Point Huge, with about 25,000 active members. An excellent place to learn affiliate marketing tips, plus other techniques that impact your success such as link building and SEO.
aBestWeb One of the largest affiliate marketing forums, with nearly 100 sub-forums. Covers the broadest range of affiliate marketing-specific subjects, with heavy participation by numerous go-getter merchants and serious affiliates.
Warrior Forum A killer networking forum for beginners and advanced alike. Set up a profile, start participating, ask questions and promote as well.

To do well, read all you can about the opinions, tool and strategies of both experts and peers. But before you even start, choose a niche about which you're passionate. The more you truly enjoy what you're immersed in, the more likely you are to transform your affiliate marketing and money-making venture into a huge success.

entrepreneur.com

20 ideas to make money online

2015-01-25T22:36:00.001+07:00

A cash cow for the enterprising, the Internet is littered with opportunities to make a fast buck. While it rarely qualifies as a solitary source of income, the Net can easily help you supplement it. However, the amount you earn depends on the time and effort invested. Go through these 20 options and find out which ones work for you.

Blogging
If you're a passionate closet writer who wants to be published but can't find a way to do so, make each keystroke your way to wealth by penning your own blog. Starting a blog doesn't require extensive technical skills but it's important that you have expertise in the field you are writing on. This will attract visitors to your site. Building a large following will enable you to earn profit by luring advertisers, writing paid reviews or getting commissions for promoting other people's products.

Paid Writing
If maintaining a blog is difficult for you but you still want to indulge your passion for writing, you can jot down articles for other blogs or sites such as Weblogs, Helium or PayPerPost. Writing an e-book can also be a good option. E-books are investment free, with no cost for printing and shipping. If you have a strong command over languages, you can become a copy editor, where Webmasters will pay you to read articles and correct grammatical errors, sentence fragments, etc.

e-tuitions/Webinars
The demand for tutors is high and growing. So, if you like helping others learn, e-teaching could be the earning ticket for you. All you need to become an online tutor is expertise in your subject and a few spare hours per week. TutorVista, e-tutor, SmartThinking and Tutor.com are some of the sites you can enroll with. If you gain a good reputation as a coach, you could even conduct Webinars-lectures or seminars transmitted over the Net. College and university students are willing to pay to gain entry to a well-respected Webinar.

Affilliate/Reseller
For those who have the knack of selling, one of the best ways to make money online is to become an affiliate/reseller. An affiliate is a person who gets a commission for selling every product that he promotes, whether on his Website or through any other avenue such as eBay. You don't have to own the product. You only need to sign up for an affiliate program with a company and start selling its products under your referral link. Firms such as Commission Junction or Click Bank have a large pool of products.

Buying/Selling domains
Buying and selling domain names is another way to make money from home and requires very little investment or time. You can buy domains at their registration prices or even cheaper and trade them at a profit. However, always research on sites such as sedo.co.uk, afternic.com, ebay.com or other domain auction sites to get an estimate of the hottest selling names. The best way to find good ones is to use terminated domain lists, which contain several expired names that are back in the pool.

Freelancing for Professionals
Freelancing is a great option for professionals who are experts in their respective trades and know how to ensure customer satisfaction. Various freelancing and project-oriented sites allow companies that need help to describe their projects. Freelancers and small businesses offer bids, ideas or proposals, from which the buyers can choose what they find most suitable. Websites such as Elance cover everything from programming and writing to data entry and design, while RentACoder focuses on software programming.

Advertising
You can sell space on your Website or blog for advertisements and you earn when these ads are clicked by visitors to your site. The sorting and placing of ads is free. The profitability of pay-per-click advertising depends on the traffic level of the Website and, most importantly, on the clickthrough rate and cost per click. Google AdSense is the most popular option, while others are BidVertiser, Text Link Ads and Blogads. Direct banner and RSS feed are some other forms of online advertising.

GPT Programme
GPT or Get-paid-to sites are becoming increasingly popular among teens. You get paid for signing up for free Websites, newsletters, playing games and filling out online surveys. These are suitable for people who don't have a skill set but want to earn extra money. Taking online surveys is simple- register with a few legitimate, paid survey sites and answer questions. The topics range from shopping to politics. This might not help you make a living, but you can earn good pocket money. Contests2win is one of the trusted GPT Websites.

Online Marketing
Once a Website is created and optimised for search engine (SEO), the SEM or Search Engine Marketing begins. A treasure trove lies hidden here. An SEO/SEM expert, who is responsible for marketing a Website, can promote it in various ways. These include article marketing, writing press releases, forum posting, blog posting, submitting your site to directories and search engines, social bookmarking, etc. Most companies don't do this in-house and pay you to conduct the SEM for them.

Making themes
As more and more people seek an online presence, the demand for Website templates and WordPress (Blog) themes will keep increasing. If you are good at Web designing and coding, you can earn a lot from designing Web themes. In this segment, there are mainstream Websites, such as TemplateMonster and ThemeForest, which act as a marketplace where you can sell your themes. Templates are sold and priced depending on the rights and features that are bundled with them.

Selling photos
If you enjoy photography and are good with a camera, you could be sitting on a huge reserve of revenue. There are people who will be interested in your collection of images. Nowadays, it's easy to take your photos to the public, providing a convenient way to build a secondary income stream. Many stock photo agencies, such as Fotolia, Dreamstime and Shutterstock, offer incentives for people to earn from their photos.

Support & service
Providing coding or fixing other Webmasters' issues is another great way to earn extra bucks. There are simple jobs ranging from adding a script to setting up sites, but knowledge of Web coding is essential. One can offer support for Web CMS (content management systems) like Drupal or Joomla. After you are comfortable with your own installation, you can help other people to set these up and configure them.

Stock/forex trading
Joining the stock/forex market may seem a bit risky. However, you can start small and continue researching till you gain experience in this area. Once you do, it will be easy to earn from exchanging foreign currencies and/or stocks. Their rates fluctuate depending on supply and demand, and economic and political influences in the world. The aim of any trader is to spot which currency/stock is likely to rise or fall in value against another. The more time you put in, the more you will earn.

Selling your own brand
If you have a flair for designing cool images, don't bother about creating your own inventory. As long as your design can be printed on a product, you can pocket some money. You can upload designs on various Websites such as CafePress, and if somebody orders these designs, the company will print them and distribute the products. It could be designs for T-shirts, hats, bags, books, posters, calendars, greeting cards, etc. You will receive a commission for each sale. Other such sites include Lulu and Zazzle.

Virtual Assistant
Small businesses always need help in running their processes, but may not be willing to hire a full-time employee. As a virtual assistant, you are expected to perform practically any administrative task that a traditional secretary or assistant would, such as make travel reservations, handle expense reimbursements or pay bills. You can do it from the comfort of your home, interacting with clients either online or by phone. Your expertise will decide how much moolah you rake in.

Inbound call centre
Many companies, who are facing space constraints, especially those in metro cities, prefer to hire workers outside their offices or outsource certain processes. You can set up an inbound call centre at home to handle such jobs. Research different companies that are outsourcing their work as they may have opportunities for inbound call centre agents. You can work for more than one company. This can be either a part-time or fulltime engagement, depending on your need.

You Tube
If there's a dramatic performer hidden inside you who craves applause and adulation, upload yourself on YouTube. You can be a filmmaker, musician or comedian who wants a wider audience. Your earnings will come from ads displayed on your video page. This process is similar to the pay-per-click advertising program common to other Websites and blogs. Sites such as Flixya and Mediaflix can be helpful in this regard.

Researching for others
Don't be morose if you can't write, design or code. Lack of talent cannot stop you from making money online. If you're willing to work hard for a few hours a week, you can take up simple research jobs for other people who don't have the time to do it themselves. You could search for opportunities in organisations that provide funding for research and offer to assist them through online investigation.

Building Applications
With smartphones gaining popularity, the demand for their applications, or apps as they are popularly known, has also shot up. There are over 3 million apps for the iPhone and over a million apps in Google's Android market. Most of these are selling like hot cakes. Developing and selling your own smartphone app is becoming a lucrative way to make money on the Internet. Apps cost virtually nothing to develop and entail no storage or shipping costs. So they enjoy the best profit margins.

Transcription
Medical transcription involves making written copies of oral material dictated by doctors or other medical experts. These may include history and physical reports, clinical notes, consultation notes, reports, letters, psychiatric evaluation and so on. The dictated material needs to be transcribed swiftly and accurately, which is the most challenging aspect of the job. To become a medical transcriptionist, you need to have a good knowledge of medical terminology and a high typing speed along with accuracy.

24 Easy Ways To Make Money On The Internet

2015-01-24T22:31:00.003+07:00

So it turns out that the internet is good for more than just porn and video games – you can make money off it too! Think of the internet as a giant country called Imaginationland. By playing your cards right, you can make some easy money online doing things you’re already doing. Here are some lifehacks to start you off:

1. Website Building

If the internet is a country, then websites are like real estates. I’m hoping by now you have a general understanding that real estates are valuable in the physical world – digital real estates work the same way. By building a website, you’re creating your own plot of online “land.”

You can fill this land with whatever you want, but you have to promote it through social media (and anywhere else you can think of) for this to be successful. When you build traffic to your land, you can sell people whatever you have to offer. In order to build a website, you need a host (i.eGoDaddy), a template (i.e WordPress), and content.

The first two parts are easy to find, and content is only as difficult as you make it. You can post blogs, items for sale, pictures, videos, or whatever you want. Opening up your own website gives you the potential to make money from the avenues I’m going to mention.

2. B2B Marketing

An online business model I love is utilized by GetVoiP, an affiliate marketer based in New York. GetVoiP acts as an agent for business communication providers. They maintain updated listings of VoiP providers, including ratings, comparisons, consumer reviews, in-depth knowledge of market and end-user trends, and expert opinions from business professionals on a variety of topics related to business consumers. By not only keeping abreast of news, but providing detailed analysis of products being offered, GetVoiP is able to generate traffic to their site and increase their clout with businesses.

The more online clout you have as a business, the more money you’ll make. If you’re known for making lasting connections (as is the case with GetVoiP above), then you’ll have no issues building your online brand. You’ll be recognized in your community and begin to build a buzz in your industry. Tracking your numbers (how many people view your site, click each ad, and make a purchase from that click) gives you the leverage to expand this part of your business, enabling you to continue building your online rep.

3. Google Adsense

If that sounds like too much technical information for you, there is an easy button – Google’s advertising platform is as simple as signing up, enabling (on Blogger) or pasting a small code on your website, and allowing the advertisements to automatically roll in. The problem with this program is that you don’t get any commissions – and you don’t get to control the ad content. This is useful for some, but powerful users will want something a little more robust.

4. Amazon Associates

Amazon has an Associates program for site owners and bloggers. They offer a search tool to find the right products and services from their site and a variety of ad styles to display on your site, including text-based and banner images (digital billboards) like this:

Each item purchased through your Amazon links give you a commission. It doesn’t take high volume traffic to achieve results, either. I began making money with the program when I only had 1,000 hits per month on my site. They can apply your earnings to your Amazon account balance, issue you a check, or direct deposit into your bank account. If you love Amazon, you’ll love their associate’s program.

5. Rakuten Linkshare

Amazon and Google are far from your only options for online advertising. Rakuten Linkshare is a great place to search for other affiliates for your ads. Through their program, you can get customized ad links, email links, and banner ads for Starbucks, Walmart, iTunes, and a slew of other popular brands. With this program, you can also find smaller companies, regional or specialized brands, and more. I run a combination of Google, Amazon, and Rakuten’s programs, and my monthly income is approximately $150 from these programs. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s also not a lot of work for residual (it means recurring…since the ads are permanent…) income.

6. Company Referral Programs

Speaking of the benefits of permanent ads, banners and links aren’t the only ways to earn a little bit of dough off your online endeavors. By having a website, you gain the power of emailing companies to ask them for things. I have no shame in letting the yoga company whose mat I’m looking into purchasing know that I have a blog and write for yoga publications – it sometimes gets me discounts.

Other times, I gain a valuable business contact in PR, advertising, or other aspects of corporate sales. Sometimes I just get a free drink. Either way, money in and of itself is worthless. Ditch the middle man and use the internet to barter what you have and can do for what you need.

7. Klout

If you have a social media account, try out Klout. The company tracks your social media usage, determines how big and what type of audience you draw based on the subject matter of your updates and posts. Using this information, you’re qualified to receive free items, tickets, etc. Check their website often to find ways of earning free stuff by doing what you’re already doing online…boring the rest of us…

8. EBay

If you have anything you want to sell, then EBay is the place you need to seriously consider doing it first. Personally I’m not a fan of the site because of the work it takes to build up a reputation. If you’re willing to grind through that process, you’ll be rewarded with many privileges – people have gotten rich selling books about how they got rich selling everything on EBay: Click here for a few tips from the pros.

9. Amazon

If you start getting too big for EBay or decide you want to try a different flavor, Amazon has a marketplace as well. I prefer using Amazon because I can depend on their shipping, have a Prime account, and trust their reviews (overall, not usually singularly, although occasionally that as well). Learn more about Amazon’s marketplace by clicking on this Lifehack, and delve into the marketplace.

The difference between Amazon and EBay is that EBay (though still filled with new items) is seen as a used marketplace between individual parties, whereas Amazon (which is filled with offers for new and used merchandise from the 3rd parties) is viewed as a Wal-Mart-type superstore. As a consumer, this difference leads me to use Amazon, so it only makes sense to target on my own demographic.

10. Etsy

If you’re crafty (and I mean that in more than one way, wink wink), you’ll enjoy Etsy. Handcrafted items are the bread and butter here. Plenty of people make decent side money on the site, which is basically an EBay for crafters and artists. Set up a sellers account with Etsy, and you’ll be asked to set up your virtual storefront and put up at least 5 goods for sale.

Once you have this down, you’ll be a budding Etsy entrepreneur. Provide great quality to your customers, and they’ll often return. Many people are willing to pay a premium for quality handmade designs. Etsy (like EBay and Amazon) takes a cut off the top for selling items through their site. PayPal takes another cut, and you have to be careful with taxes on all income, so be diligent while building your online business.

11. Craigslist

Craigslist is the modern equivalent of the classified ads that dominated the days of newspapers. These quick ads are easy to navigate and use, and they’re geographically linked. Whether you’re selling something or offering a service, this lifehack is a great place to start learning the intricacies of Craigslist.

Posting ads on Craigslist is technically easy, but people often have fears about posting their personal information on the site. I communicate mostly through email when doing business on Craigslist, and I’ve never run into any issues. I’ve never been ripped off, nor have I been murdered or raped for using the site. It takes common sense, so use your best judgment, but don’t assume someone is a thief just because of their preferred communication method. For an extra bonus, google “funny Craigslist ads” to see some delightful examples of guerilla and grassroots marketing.

12. Indeed

Maybe what you need is a job. It doesn’t matter which job search site you prefer using (even Craigslist) – Indeed tracks them all, and then some. You can find jobs posted on company websites, through temp agencies, and more at Indeed. If money is something you really need, Indeed is most definitely the place you want to visit to browse career opportunities.

13. Elance

Where Indeed excels at finding job postings across the web and acting as a search crawler for employment, maybe a full-fledged career is too big of a commitment at this point in your life. Elance is a site to find freelance work of all types. I’ve used it for quick writing, editing, copywriting, resume building, and other odd jobs and temp gigs. The experience has been great.

Elance offers a wide array of technical, data entry, accounting, and other freelance and temp gigs. If you’re just looking for something short and sweet, log in, input and showcase your marketable skills, and begin searching through their job database, using any parameters you desire. Once you submit a bid, you’ll receive an acceptance or denial – you may get a few rejections, but don’t sweat it. Negotiate the terms of your bid, and get to work. You have money to make.

14. Mturk

If you’ve heard of crowdsourcing (and even if you haven’t), Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program is a great place to get involved. Much like at Elance, you input your info and skills. You then are able to search for different menial tasks ranging from identifying inappropriate web content to transcribing audio recordings to basic data entry work.

Just like at any other job, the more work you do, and the better your quality, the more opportunities you’ll have to make money. The payouts are often small, and your payment is received in Amazon credit, but Mturk is a great place to make mindless money while veg’ing on the couch watching TV.

15. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media site for professionals. This isn’t a direct way to make money, but it’s a great way to connect to your current and potential peers, customers, clients, vendors, and more here. You’ll build a reputation and get in the loop on important developments in your chosen career path and/or industry. One day an old college buddy may hit you up for a dream job you never considered at the exact moment you are looking for a new vocation. Whether you like it or not, keeping your LinkedIn profile current is a great way to get surprised with new work opportunities out the blue.

16. Care.com

If you’re an experienced nanny or babysitter, Care.com is the place you want to make money. By listing yourself on the Craigslist of Childcare, you’ll broaden your reach and increase your odds of finding the right gig at the right time. You can be pickier with what kids you watch when you have the reputation and traffic to pull in more customers. Join Care.com and start making money by investing in the future of our youth.

17. ThePirateBay

I support bootlegging – I don’t see it as being immoral or unethical in any way. I used to bootleg quite a bit in my youth, and I still do on occasion today (although not yet today in particular, I more meant “in the present”). If you want to hustle for your money, do what you must, baby. Download some software, music, movies, or other assorted digital goodness here and start slangin. It’s not an easy life, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

18. iTunes

If you’re a musician, writer, artist, tech nerd, pundit, or can produce any type of audio, video, or text worth consuming, you may be able to sell some stuff in Apple’s flagship iTunes store. By selling your work here, you’re able to stand next to the marketing clout of big business. You can make a healthy living off the iTunes store, and there’s no better time than now. Learn more about iTunes with this lifehack.

19. Yelp!

If you have a business, you want to get listed on Yelp! You may not use the software, but some people do, and they use it religiously (and I don’t mean they’ll kill you over it). By listing your business on Yelp!, you’re putting yourself on the map. From here, you also need to start using Yelp! Write reviews of places you go. It’ll be worth it in the long run.

Soon, you’ll have a dozen or so reviews under your belt and can hire yourself out as a Yelp! reviewer. There are ethical and moral questions to doing this, but the title of this piece is “ways to make money,” not “ethical ways to make money,” and I am a former Bank of America/Countrywide employee, so what’d you expect?

20. Wikipedia

Another seemingly free site you can make money from is Wikipedia. People who say it’s easy to edit Wikipedia have clearly never tried editing Wikipedia – it’s a pain. Thankfully it’s a pain for companies as well, so many of them are willing to pay editors to assist them in the editing process. You’ll become a bounty hunter in a way, choosing your own lines to cross and keep. If editing is something you like to do, and you’re willing to put in the work it takes to learn Wikipedia’s dispute process, roll up your sleeves and try this one out.

21. Blogging

I make the bulk of my money from blogging. In addition to the advertising revenue streams mentioned above, I also receive flat rate payments for blogging from various blogs throughout the web. I’m paid to write as a whistleblower, financial analyst, reviewer, commentator, and more. Writing for other sites builds traffic to my personal blog. The traffic for this blog gives me clout to present to advertisers.

To create your own blog, you don’t even need a web domain. You can start a completely free blog on either WordPress or Blogger. Each of these sites has its ups and downs, but you can’t beat the price. You generally want to keep blog posts between 150-500 words until you have a few dozen under your belt. Links between your blog posts encourage people to stay on your blog once they find it, increasing traffic. Once your blog is up, promote it on social media for the greatest effect.

22. Kickstarter

If you have a passion project, Kickstarter may be exactly what you need to get it off the ground. Celebs like Zach Braff and Melissa Joan Hart have used this site in attempts to fund their movie projects. Some crack dealers in Canada inspired a “crackstarter” campaign from Gawker for pictures of the Toronto mayor smoking crack with them. All you need is a dream, a goal, a budget, and a great pitch to convince people to come to the site and donate to your Kickstarter campaign. Panhandling isn’t dead – it’s gone digital…

23. Extreme Couponing

If you’ve never heard of extreme couponing, check out this lifehack on the subject. Once you’re versed on the idea, what you have to do is a bit difficult at first, but it’s a great way to both save and make money: go to hip2save.com and get a feel for the types of deals that are out there (both online and in the physical world). Once you’re comfortable with the process, start searching for the best deals in grocery, retail, and online shopping. After a month or two of extreme couponing, you’ll have enough cleaning, hygiene, and food supplies stocked up to save a noticeable amount of money. Now maybe you don’t need to make as much…?

24. Social Media

No matter what you do to make money online, promote it on your social media accounts. You have a base of people who are already interested in you and have a vested interest in your brand – why would you not want to take advantage of that? By promoting yourself and your projects on your social media accounts, you’re greatly increasing the chances of people actually giving you money in exchange for your goods and services. Stop being shy and get out there.

Interview with Illustrator Kristy Anne Ligones

2015-01-24T22:23:00.000+07:00

Kristy is a Filipino Illustrator who is currently residing in Dubai. She’s been joining art exhibitions in the Philippines, and other parts of the world, and also invited to group art exhibitions by local galleries and events ever since she started working in Dubai. She’s mostly known for her digital artworks but she also does traditional art from time to time. Her artworks are primarily categorize as Pop Surrealism, inspired by Urban, Graffiti and Low-Brow art. Learn more about Kristy as we go along with her in this interview.

How did you get into illustration?

I’ve already started drawing at a very young age, and from that, it eventually become my passion, and have been developing my skills and style ever since. As I grew older and exploring new things in the internet, I’ve became fond of illustration, wasn’t really sure I ended up to be an illustrator, I was exposed to various fields in art, from painting to graphic design, but I guess the interest to draw and interpret things visually got me more hooked up with it, and it’s more interesting rather than just designing or doing layout for a print ad, though I can still use illustration in designing as well, so that’s what made it more interesting than the rest.

Have you met other illustrators in person? If so, who are they?

Yup, I’ve met a lot of illustrators, here in Dubai and back home in the Philippines, where there’s a small community in each city, where we can all gather around during events and talk about our works and other interest. But the most memorable one was Hydro74, I met him when we were both speakers for this event here in Dubai, I’m a fan, and I was also happy to know he also admired my works, he was always joking around, it’s really fun to meet fellow illustrators, because we all have a lot of things in common, specially encounters with clients from hell, and colleagues from work who thinks you’re a freak’n magician, that you can do almost everything, which is pretty common to us artists. It’s really good to talk about this stuff, thinking you’re not alone on this.

Who are some of your favorite illustrators and why?

I like the likes of Tara Mcpherson, Audrey Kawasaki, Lauren YS, Caitlin Hackett, Alex Pardee, James Jean and more, there’s just a lot of amazing illustrators out there, I kept on following them on instagram, but mostly I like the ones with very weird and personal subjects, and I have the hearts for the ones that play around details, and the ones with very unique style that you could just tell immediately that they did that one, like Tara McPherson for example.

Do you think an illustrator needs a style? If so, can you tell us why?

I think so, though if you’re working in a corporate world just like me, it’s important to vary in different style, because you need to somehow follow on what your creative director wants to see visually, but as my own self, as an illustrator outside my day job, I have to come up or maintain a style, to be able to make people tell that it’s mine, without knowing yet that I did that artwork, it’s important to have that sort of branding to yourself, because if you’re just making random style, or copying a trend style, then you’re just like everybody else, though sometimes trend styles can be your own, by innovating them, trying to be more you.

When do images become better than words?

When they’ve become well interpreted visually, that people will get it right away.

How did you get your first illustration job?

I got my first illustration job, while I was doing full time freelance for a while, a friend of mine asked me if I was interested on doing some e-book illustrations for this small company in Hawaii, that makes e-books for Japanese children, to help them learn the English language, it was a small gig, but it was fun.

As an illustrator, what is something new you have noticed or learned recently?

I’ve been trying to learn impromptu drawing, without using pencil, just completing things up through random thoughts, I’ve been developing this doodle illustration recently, and it’s pretty challenging to form something out of nothing, without rough sketch, just pen and ink immediately and complete a whole blank space with it, the only pencil guide are the figure or faces formation that I was aiming for, but the rest are just completely random doodle, just to fill in the blanks.

Who inspires you to become an illustrator?

I should say family, but they don’t only inspire me to be an illustrator alone, they inspire me to work hard, and become somebody that they’ll be proud of, not only professionally, but as a whole person.

More about Kristy Anne Ligones

Kristy is also interested in customizing DIY vinyl toys and other stuff that boosts out her expertise on customization. You can find more of her works on her Behance profile and website.

photoshoptutorials.ws

Quick Seamless Valentine’s Tiles

2015-01-24T22:19:00.001+07:00

Valentine’s day is coming and in this tutorial, I will teach you a trick to create quick seamless heart tiles. With this tip, you will be able to create seamless tiles in a matter of seconds. And the best of all, the effect is adjustable by changing the values in the Appearance Panel. So let’s see how to do it…

In this examples, I want to fill the background with hearts. So I draw my first heart at the top left. Next apply the Transform Effect by selecting Effect>Distort & Transform>Transform Effect and set Copies to 10. Next, move the Horizontal slider for Move until the tiles fill up to right edge and click Ok. Take note of the value which is 53pt.

Next, apply the same Transform Effect over your heart tile. Now enter -53pt for Vertical under Move. Set the copies to 8 in this case. You realise the heart tiles now fit nicely with my background.

The good thing of making tiles using Transform Effect is that you can adjust it at realtime to tweak your tile deign. Go to your Appearance Panel and you will be able to adjust it. Simple as that!

Illustrator Trick #2: Tilde Fun

2015-01-11T13:04:00.000+07:00

Many beginners may not have heard of the “tilde” key trick. It’s the ~ key just beside the number 1 keypad. By holding the tilde key, you can drag to create new shapes following your mouse direction. You can only use it with other shape tools in your tool palette. Combine it with Alt/Option, Shift/Command and spacebar to create new effects. Have fun with the tilde key, below are some experiments I have done with it.

vectordiary.com

Illustrator Tip #1: Dotted Lines in Illustrator

2015-01-11T13:01:00.004+07:00

You can get interesting dotted lines with your Stroke Palette. Open up your Stroke Palette from Window>Stroke. Draw a line and select it. Enter the dash and gap value as shown. Experiment with different dash and gap values for different effects. To create a square dotted line, make sure the dash and weight is the same value.

So how about circle dotted lines? Here’s the trick. Select the Round Cap and make sure dash is set to 0 pt. For gap enter a value twice the stroke weight. This will give you a nice circle dotted lines.

Bonus Tip: To expand the dotted lines, you realise Object>Expand doesn’t work. Choose Object>Flatten Transparency to expand it. You can now fill each dots with different colors.

vectordiary.com

Basic Illustrator Tips for T-Shirt Designers

2015-01-11T01:46:00.000+07:00

As a T-shirt designer working in illustrator, there are some basic tips and tricks to help you get started and possibly simplify otherwise tedious steps in the design process. When spending countless hours on an illustration, the efficiency from shortcuts will be very helpful. Use these basic keyboard shortcuts, and simplified illustrator functions to get those designs out of your minds and onto that T-shirt!

10 Need-To-Know Simple Keyboard Shortcuts

New File: Ctrl/Cmd + N
Open File: Ctrl/Cmd + O
Save File: Ctrl/Cmd + S
Print File: Ctrl/Cmd + P
Select All: Ctrl/Cmd + A
Copy: Ctrl/Cmd + C
Cut: Ctrl/Cmd + Z
Paste: Ctrl/Cmd + V
Undo: Ctrl/Cmd + Z
Redo: Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + Z

Create an Opacity Mask in 8 Simple Steps

Open layers panel [F7]
Create a new layer [Ctrl/Cmd + L]
Place artwork onto the layer [File>Place]
Select all of the content within the layer [Alt/Option + Click layer in layers panel]
Open transparency palette [Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + F10]
From the palette drop down menu, select ‘make opacity mask’
Your artwork will ‘disappear’. Click the black square in the transparency palette.
Return to your artboard and use white (paintbrush, shapes, gradients) selectively on your artwork will reveal it.

Use Opacity Masks to create T-shirt designs like these!

Live Trace an Image in 9 Simple Steps

Open layers panel [F7]
Create a new layer [Ctrl/Cmd + L]
Place artwork onto the layer [File>Place]
Select all of the content within the layer [Alt/Option + Click layer in layers panel]
Live Trace and Expand the artwork [Alt/Option + Live Trace]
Ungroup your Vector image [Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + G]
Open the Selection Tool [v]
Select all unwanted areas and negative space [Shift + Click]
Delete selected areas [Delete or Ctrl/Cmd + X]

Use the Live Trace tool to create T-shirt designs like these!

Create a Clipping Mask in 6 Simple Steps

Open layers panel [F7]
Create two new layers [Ctrl/Cmd + L] x2
In the first layer, create a vector that your artwork will take the shape of. Ex: Circle shape [L]
In the second layer, Place your artwork [File>Place]
Using the selection tool [V], select both layers [Shift + Click]
Create a clipping mask [ctrl/cmd + 8]

Use Clipping Masks to create T-shirt designs like these!

designbyhumans.com

5 Photoshop Tips For Better Portraits

2015-01-06T14:37:00.003+07:00

You don’t have to master Photoshop in order to be able to edit your own portrait photos and make them look better. Today, I decided to share with you my top 5 Photoshop tips for better portraits. All of these Photoshop tips are very easy to apply and they will surely help you turn any boring portrait photo into a professional-looking image! Plus, you’ll get two extra-tips for further improving your portrait photos!

For this quick tutorial I will edit a free image I found on freeimages.com.

Extra-tip: Before starting editing the photo, you should make sure the colors, brightness and contrast are perfect. Edit these before going on to the next steps. Also, you can use the Dodge/Burn tools to lighten or darken specific areas.

1. Edit the Eyes

The look of the model in a portrait photo is essential! Eyes are a very important element of a portrait and you should always begin with them when you are editing a photo. I usually whiten them, remove any red-eye effects and if it is the case, I remove some of the wrinkles or other imperfections. Keep in mind though that not all wrinkles or imperfections are bad, so don’t overdo it!

In this case I made her eyes whiter so they will pop out and make the overall portrait photo look better. I used the Dodge tool.

2. Spot Healing Brush Tool

The spot healing brush tool helps you remove any distracting blemishes, bruises or other skin imperfections. You can also use the spot healing brush tool for removing any shadow spots or stains on the lenses. Don’t overuse this tool! It’s OK to remove acne marks, blemishes or some wrinkles, but keep the freckles and expression lines.

3. Whitening the Teeth

For this photo this step wasn’t necessary. You whiten the teeth using the Dodge tool. I find this to be the easiest method. Proceed just like you did for editing the eyes. The Dodge tool works just like a normal Brush tool and whitens the areas it’s applied to.

4. Using the Patch Tool

The patch tool is a fantastic way to blend in areas or even to remove unwanted shadows or imperfections in a portrait. Simply select the area around the element you want to be blended in and drag it to the area closest to it. In this case I used the patch tool to remove some unwanted strands of hair on her face. I could have used the spot healing brush tool also, but this is an easier method.

5. Skin Softening

It is very important to naturally soften the skin without going to extremes. Here’s how you can do this:

Duplicate the current layer by clicking Layer > Duplicate. Click Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur the duplicate layer as much as possible while still retaining the features such as mouth, eyes etc. Click OK.

Apply a layer mask to hide the blurred layer. This will help you mask out the parts of the face you want to airbrush. Hold down the ALT key and click on the Add Layer Mask icon in the layers palette toolbar.

Now it’s up to you. Don’t airbrush too much. Click on your brush tool and then click on the foreground/background color reversal arrow to make your foreground color white. Use a very soft brush (hardness of 0%, opacity 10%). Brush around the face, but do not brush over the eyes, mouth and face edges.

You can lower the opacity of the airbrushed layer if you think it is too much.

Extra-tip – Liquify Tool:

This is the tool which makes models look skinny, have fuller lips and perfect body shapes. This is another Photoshop tool you don’t want to use too much. Keep it natural and beautiful. In this case I will use it to correct a slight imperfection of the model’s lips.

Select Filter > Liquify. I’ll use the Forward Warp Tool (W) to correct the lips shape and then I’ll use the Bloat Tool (B) to make them look fuller. Adjust the Brush Size from the right panel.

Here’s the final result, the before and after photos.

~ Ruxandra Micu

How to Turn Your Photos into Lego with Photoshop

2015-01-04T16:32:00.002+07:00

Turn any of your photos into a brick mosaic inspired by the official Lego photo app! This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create the effect from any photo and it’s really easy to do. You’ll learn how to pixelate your photo, create a brick pattern and overlay it on top of your photo, and compress the bricks into a limited color palette to make it look more realistic. Follow this tutorial and create your own cool brick mosaic photo!

Video Tutorial

Preview of Final Results

Step 1

Open any image you like into Photoshop. We recommend using an image that’s at least 2000×2000 pixels. If your image isn’t large enough, you can use the Image Size tool (Image > Image Size) to resize it up – don’t worry about getting a blurry image from upscaling because we’ll be pixelating it anyways!

I’ll be using this image from ShutterStock. Simple photos like the one below will have better results than a busy photo (ex. cityscape photo).

Step 2

Duplicate the layer so that you have a backup copy. You can duplicate your layer by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+J. Rename this layer to “Bricks”. Right-click on the new layer then select “Convert to Smart Object”. By converting the layer into a Smart Object, we can apply Smart Filters which give you the option of changing your settings at a later time.

Step 3

Next, go to Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic. Adjust the Cell Size setting until you can barely make out the image. This setting will determine the size of your bricks. Remember the cell size setting because we’ll need it for the next step.

Step 4

Create a new document (Ctrl/Cmd+N or File > New) with the same width and height as the cell size setting you used earlier. For example, if you used the Mosaic Filter with a cell size of 64 square, then you would create a new 64×64 pixels document.

Step 5

Press Shift+Backspace or go to Edit > Fill to open the Fill tool. In the drop down menu, select “50% Gray” then click OK.

Your document will be filled with 50% gray.

Step 6

Select the Ellipse tool (U) then create a circle in the center (the color of the circle doesn’t matter). You can create a perfect circle by holding the shift key. Switch to the Move tool (V) to position it in the center of your document.

Step 7

Now we’re going to turn create a bevel from the circle using layer styles. Go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options. Set the fill opacity to 0 – this will make everything but your layer styles invisible.

Select and checkmark the Bevel & Emboss layer style. Set the technique to “Chisel Hard” then adjust the size so that you get a bevel thickness like shown in the image below. You can also adjust the shading angle which is 120° by default – I changed mine to 90°.

Next, enable the Drop Shadow layer style. Set the Distance to 0px then adjust the size so that it looks like the image below. Click OK to apply the layer styles when you’re done.

Step 8

We’re done creating the button in the center of the brick. Next, we’ll add a subtle bevel to the outer edge of the brick. To do this, we’re going to apply a layer style to the background layer, but before we can do that, we need to convert the Background layer into a regular layer. You can do this by double-clicking the background layer or right-clicking and choosing “Layer from Background”.

Right-click on the Background layer then choose Blending Options. Enable the Bevel & Emboss option then set the Technique to Chisel Hard and Size to 1-2px (so that it looks similar to the image below). If the bevel looks too strong, you can lower the Highlight/Shadow Opacity setting on the bottom. Click OK to apply the layer styles.

Step 9

Now we need to turn this image into a pattern. Go to Edit > Define Pattern. Name it anything then click OK.

Step 10

Close the current document without saving and switch back to your main Photoshop document. Create a new Pattern adjustment layer by clicking on the New Adjustment Layer button in your Layers panel then selecting Pattern.

Select the brick pattern then click OK.

Step 11

Change the blending mode of your layer to Linear Light. You’ll now have a brick image and this is what your photo will look like if bricks came in every color and shade.

Step 12

Because bricks don’t come in every color and shade, we need to compress it to a more limited color palette. We’ll do this with two layers; one to affect the tone and the other for the color. In your Layers panel, click on the New Adjustment Layer button then select Posterize. Move this layer below your Pattern Fill layer then change the blending mode to Luminosity. The Luminosity blend mode prevents your layer from affecting the colors in your image.

Adjust the Levels setting to anywhere from 4-8.

Step 13

Now we need to compress the saturation of the colors to a more limited range. To do this, create a new red Solid Color fill layer by clicking on the New Adjustment Layer button in your Layers panel and selecting Solid Color.

Pick any color then set the S (Saturation) to 75% and B (Brightness) to 100%. The H (Hue) can be any color. Click OK.

Move this layer below your Pattern fill layer then set the layer blending mode to Saturation.

Final Results

Here’s the final results! You can adjust the opacity of your Posterize layer if you need to bring back more tone into the image.

If you want your brick photo to look more like the official Lego Photo app, simply change the blending mode of your Posterize layer to Normal.

Download the PSD 65MB

photoshoptutorials.ws

9 Easy Steps to Creating a Powerful and Emotional Effect in Photoshop

2015-01-04T16:05:00.000+07:00

In this quick tip tutorial you will learn how to create a powerful emotional effect for your photos. By reading this tutorial you will be able to convert an ordinary looking photo into a beautifully striking one in 10 minutes or less.

What you’ll be creating

Quick-tip tutorial in 9 easy steps. Time to complete: 10 minutes. You will need Photoshop CS5 or newer to follow this tutorial.

Step 1

Create a Curves Adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves) then set the blending mode to Screen. Press D to set the colors to default. Click on the layer mask of the curves layer and press Ctrl + Backspace to fill the mask with black. With a round soft white brush paint over the eyes (make sure you have clicked the layer mask before painting). If the eyes are too bright lower the opacity (in this specific case I lowered the Opacity to 55%).

Step 2

Create a Black & White Adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White) and set the blending mode to Multiply.

Step 3

Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to create a new layer from all the visible layers. Go to Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights and play with the sliders in order to lighten the image a little bit. Drag the Highlights slider all the way to the left and drag the Shadows slider to the right until the image is a little bit lighter than before.

Step 4

Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to create a new layer from all the visible layers. Select the Dodge Tool (leave the default settings – Range: Midtones, Exposure: 50%) and paint over the following parts: eyes and especially the irises, tip of the nose, cheekbones, forehead, lips, tip of the chin, neck.

Step 5

Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to create a new layer from all the visible layers. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Use a 1-2px radius and 50-100% Amount to sharpen the image. Try to achieve a fairly mild sharpen effect – too much will make it look bad. You can also lower the Opacity to lower the effect.

Step 6

Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation). Drag the slider to the left until the image is fairly desaturated.

Step 7

Create a Gradient Map Adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map) with the default settings (black and white). Set the blending mode to Soft light. This will increase the contrast.

Step 8

Create a Curves Adjustment Layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves). Drag the right slider to the left in order to boost the highlights.

Step 9

This step is optional, follow it only if you want to add a little artistic effect.

Create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer and choose one of the colored presets. Set the blending mode to Soft Light and lower the Opacity if the effect is too strong.

Below you can see some before and after comparison photos.

Final Results

Download the PSD

10 Awesome Photoshop Tips and Tricks You Should Know

2015-01-04T15:46:00.000+07:00

Photoshop is the Lamborghini of photo editing software. It’s an amazing tool that can help you do magical things to images using a variety of tools. It’s great for creative expression and also for touch ups and edits. It is a complex piece of software, however, and many users run into difficulty finding their way around the many different tools and functions. Here are ten quick tips and tricks that can help.

Install Free Instagram Filters

Ever want to make your photos look retro without using a mobile app? Click here to install a set of Photoshop actions that give you cool, Instagram-like filters for your photos!

Brighten Photos

If you have a photo that is a bit dark, open it up and press Shift+Control+N to make a new layer. Title it Light or whatever you wish, change the Mode to Overlay and check the box for “Fill with Overlay-neutral color 50% gray.” Then turn on the Dodge Tool and set the exposure to around 25% and then select highlights, midtones or shadows in order to influence the range of light on your picture. You can also use the Burn Tool to intensify shadows.

Batch Editing

If you have a bunch of photos to edit at once, make sure they are all in the same folder on your computer then open an image and record an action (Window > Actions). After creating an action, go to File > Automate > Batch then select the action that you just recorded. Click OK and Photoshop will open and play your action on all the images.

Get Rid of Shiny Skin

If you’re editing portraits, use the eyedropper to select a non-shiny area of the skin and then paint over the shiny areas with a normal brush set on 15% opacity. It will turn the shiny parts to matte.

Enhance the Color Palette

If you have a photo that’s a little dull in color, you can cross it with a masterpiece, like the Mona Lisa or a Hopper painting, in order to get a cool result! Just select Image>Adjustments>Match Color and then select the famous painting or photo you’ve chosen. Hit OK and see how it turns out!

Draw Straight Lines with the Paintbrush

Unless you have the steady stroke of a surgeon, it can be hard to draw straight lines across a photo. To do so, just hold down shift while using the brush and it will automatically straighten your line for you.

Easy Watermarks

If you watermark your photos with the same logo often, you can save time by turning it into a brush preset. Go to Edit>Define Brush Preset and upload your logo.

Improve Vibrancy

If you have a photo that’s a little dull, duplicate the layer by pressing Command + J and set the new layer’s blending mode to Hard Light. You’ll see an automatic difference in color and vibrancy!

Get Rid of Circle Trail Effect in Paintbrush

If you make long stroke with the paintbrush, you’ll notice that it creates a circle trail of pixelated color. In order to create a smooth stroke, select a brush and click F5 to open it. Select Brush Tip Shape and change the spacing from 25% to less than 7%. You can save the brush and select it from now on!

Bird’s Eye View

If you’re zoomed in close on one area, you can hold down H and drag in the image to make your view instantly jump out to full screen and then jump to another area. You’ll need an OpenCL video card to use Bird’s Eye View.

Make an Apple Coldplay Style Ad in Photoshop

2012-11-29T11:56:00.001+07:00

Recently, Apple released a new iTunes video advertisement featuring the band Coldplay and the song, "Viva la Vida." As is usual with Apple ads, this commercial is very beautiful. The coolest thing is that this time they chose to use light effects with glows and sparks. As I’m a really big fan of this style, I thought it would be nice to have a tutorial showing how to create that effect.

Final Image Preview

Before we get started, let’s take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Click the screenshot below to view the full-size image. As always, the layered Photoshop file is available via our Psdtuts+ Plus membership.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a very similar effect to that used in the Apple Coldplay Video Ad. If you have done the Sparkling Hot Girl tutorial in Photoshop, you will find it similar in some steps of this tutorial. You can download the image needed for this tutorial here.

Step 1

Create a new document and fill it with a Radial Gradient. Use a dark gray(#161616) and White. The white will be the main light.

Step 2

With the Rectangle Tool (U), create a rectangle with half of the height of the screen. It will serve as the floor. Use a very dark red (#180a06).

Step 3

Add a new layer and create a marquee selection from the floor layer. You can do that by right-clicking over the layer’s thumbnail. Then choose Select Pixels. After that, select a blue (#113e4b) for the foreground color and black for the background. Then go to Filter>Render>Clouds.

Step 4

Go to Edit>Transform>Distort. Use this command to apply perspective to the clouds. Just move the vertices, as in the image below.

Step 5

Next add a bit of blur by going to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 8 pixels for the Radius. You can even change the Opacity to 70%. If you want to make it darker, use the Eraser Tool (E) and set the tools brush size to a 0 Hardness. Then erase some parts of the layer.

Step 6

Now it’s necessary to repeat the steps we used to create the floor with the Render Clouds. However, instead of using blue for the color, use a dark pink (#552a58). Tip: If you duplicate the blue layer, it won’t work because we need to use different clouds.

Step 7

Create a new layer exactly like the previous one, and make it the same height. Then select black and white for the colors. With the Gradient Tool (G), fill the layer with a Radial Gradient. The white has to be in the center. Then change the blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 8

Now we create a new layer. Then select the Lasso Tool (L). Next let’s change the Feather to 20px. Then create a selection, as shown below. Keep in mind that this element will be the light as well. After that, select black and white for the background and foreground colors. Then go to Filter>Render>Clouds.

Step 9

Now let’s add more blur. To do that, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, and use 35 pixels for the Radius. After that, the most important thing, change the blend mode to Color Dodge. Then delete the part of the cloud that is not exactly on the floor, as I marked in the image below.

Step 10

Next we will create the background’s light. First create a new layer. Then use black and a 50% gray for the colors. Then go to Filter>Render>Clouds.

Let’s add a Layer Style next by going to Layer>Layer Style. First add a Color Overlay with (#84a7b8) for the color. Then change the blend mode to Overlay. After that, select the Gradient Overlay. Change the blend mode again to Overlay and use a gradient with these colors: orange (#fba46f), pink (#cb8cd4), green (#346777). Use Linear for the Style and 180º for the Angle.

Step 11

Create a new layer on top of the others. Then with the Lasso Tool (L) and a 20px Feather, create a selection, as shown below. Then using the same black and a 50% gray for the colors, go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Then using the Blur Tool, add a blur to some areas. After that, change the blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 12

Place a photo on the document. Then cut out the background and leave just the person. Use the tools you feel comfortable with to accomplish this. I used the Pen Tool (P).

Step 13

Create a new layer on top of the layer named "dude." Fill it with black. Then go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. Next select the Eraser Tool (E), and pick a 100px Master Diameter Brush with 0% Hardness. Then erase some parts of the layer, to add some highlights to the guy.

Step 14

Now let’s add some lights in front of the guy. To do that create a new layer. Then choose a regular brush (the circle one), use a big size like 200px, and use a 50% Opacity. Then choose first Orange and Brush where I marked (1) in the image.

After that, choose a pink color. Then paint where the number (2) is marked. Then change the blend mode of this layer to Overlay. You can even add another layer with Clouds. Then with the Erase Tool delete almost everything. Be sure to leave some smoke details in front of him ( 3, 4, and 5).

Step 15

Create a new Folder and rename it to "sparks and rays." Then change its blend mode to Color Dodge. Now the layers we create will be placed inside this folder.

Next we create a new layer and choose the Brush Tool (B). For the color use white and select a regular brush with a Master Diameter of 13px and a Hardness of 0%. Then create three lines, as shown in the image below. Tip: Press once, then hold the Shift key and press where you want the end-point of the line. That will create a straight line.

Step 16

You can create another layer or use the same layer, but I recommend you create a layer for each group of effects based on brush diameters sizes. So now use a smaller diameter, like 4px. Then create a few more rays of light, as in the image below.

Step 17

Create more rays of light using different brush diameters and opacities. Again, I recommend you create a new layer based on each new brush size used. This will keep the file organized.

Step 18

It’s fairly simple to create some curved rays. First, add a new layer. Then create some lines. Be sure to use different Brush Sizes, as I did. Then go to Filter>Distort>Wave. Use 1 for the Number of Generators. Then set the Wavelength to Min 1 and Max 500. Then set the Amplitude to Min 5 and Max 200. Lastly, change the layer’s Opacity to 50%.

Step 19

Next let’s make the Sparks in the image. First, create a new layer. Then select the Brush Tool (B). Then go to Window>Brushes to open the Brush Engine. For the Brush Tip Shape use 100% for the Spacing. For the diameter, start with 9px, though note that you can change that to create bigger sparks. Over the Shape Dynamics use a Size Jitter of 100%, Min Diameter of 5%, and Minimum Roundness of 25%. Over the Scattering, use 1000% for the Scatter and mark Both Axes. Then select Other Dynamics and change the Opacity Jitter to 50%.

Now select white for the color and paint some sparks in the image, as shown below. Tip: Use the left and right brackets on your keyboard ([ ])to decrease and increase the Brush Diameter quickly.

Conclusion

Add more sparks to the image. You can place some really big sparks and some smaller sparks in front of the main figure. Many sparks are placed across the figure’s chest in the final image below. Although it might look like a complicated effect to create, it’s actually quite simple. We use the same technique with the Clouds almost every time. Actually, that’s the technique to create all sort of lighting effects.

tutsplus.com

How to Create A Glowing Neon Girl in Photoshop

2012-11-29T11:52:00.000+07:00

How to Create A Glowing Neon Girl in Photoshop

In our Photoshop Tutorial, we will create a Glowing Neon Girl from scratch. Throughout this tutorial, you will simply learn how to make some cool Glowing Effects in Photoshop. This is quite a little long so patience is a virtue.Take a look at the Preview of our Final Image.

Final Image Preview

Step 1

So to start, Open an new document in Photoshop.(800×1200). Working on our background,use #0e5358 and #020d11 color. Select Gradient Tool (G) and apply.

Step 2

Add New Layer. Select Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and create a selection below the image. Use color #086f78. Then, Select Paint Bucket Tool (G) and apply a color.name the layer to BG1.

Step 3

Add another Layer. Name the layer to BG2 Shift+Click on BG1 layer so that selection will appear. Use color #000000 then select Gradient. Adjust the Gradient to foreground to Transparent. now apply the gradient on the upper part of the selection.

Step 4

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. From there,Set the Radius to 2 pixels. Do the same thing on BG1 layer. Now it will look something like this

Step 5

Now that we’re done on our background, lets add the model. You can download to Model Stock Photo in HERE Now Start Removing the back using Pen Tool (P) or Polygonal Lasso Tool (L). After removing the background of the Model Stock Photo, transfer it to our working document using Move Tool (V) by dragging. Name the layer to Model Stock Photo.

Step 6

Lets try edit our Model Stock Photo first. Choose Lasso Tool (L) and select an area in the pants, Duplicate the selected are by Pressing CRTL+J then move it on the hand. The reason is we need to hide the hand using it. Once its on the right position you can use Clone Tool Tool (S) to clone the edges.

Step 7

Choose Lasso Tool (L) and select the area shown on the image below. After selecting, Press DELETE on your Keyboard.

Step 8

After all the editing and cutting our Image should now look something like this.

Step 9

Choose Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and select an area on the Model Stock Photo jacket same as the image below. The reason of doing this has something to do with our next 2 Steps. Name this duplicate layer to Model Stock Photo 2

Step 10

Select Model Stock Photo layer then Click Add New Layer, This new layer is now between Model Stock Photo and Model Stock Photo 2 layer. Choose Pen Tool (P). adjust the Pen Tool to Pathcreate something like on the image.

Step 11

Set color to #b0fcff. Right click to the path and choose Stroke Path>Brush. Make sure you check on Simulate Pressure.Name the layer to Glow. Now Right Click on the Glow layer and select Blending Mode then choose Outer Glow. from there, add color #2cecf1 ,Opacity to 100% and Size to 3 pixels.the effect will be like this.

Step 12

Continue adding more Glowing Effects and doing the same process until you made something like this one. Doing this 1 layer each in every path that you made is better so you have option to move and adjust.

Step 13

Add new Group and Put all the Glowing layer to the Group. Duplicate the Glow Group by Right click on the Group and choosing Duplicate Group.then move it to the other hand. Rotate the Group and Move it to the right position. CTRL+T then drag your mouse from the outside to Rotate the Group. Now you should have like this

Step 14

Now lets make the skin on the Model Stock Photo Glowing as well. Lets have a selection on the skin first. Select Magnetic Lasso Tool (L). Now start selecting the face. Then After the first selection Hold Shift then use the Magnetic Lasso Tool again so you can select another area while the first selection that you made is still selected. Do the same process until you finished selecting all the skin parts.

Step 15

Duplicate the Selected skin area and name it to Dup1. On the Duplicate layer, Adjust the hue/saturation. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and set the Saturation to -100. Right Click the Dup1 layer and choose Blending mode. On the Blending Mode, Select Inner Shadow. Adjust the color to #94f3f6 and set Blend Mode to Color. The image will now look like this

Step 16

Duplicate the Dup1 and name it to Dup2. Right click the Dup2 and go to Blend Mode. This time add and additional adjustment in Inner Glow. Use color #0af2ea and Opacity to 100%. Now CTRL+I to invert the color.

Step 17

For the hair, Add New Layer and lets do the same process like what we did on the glow effect on the Model Stock Photo hands. Check out the image below.

Step 18

Use color #b0fcff. Right Click the path again and choose Stroke Path>Brush. make sure Simulate Pressure is Checked. Delete the path by pressing DELETE on your keyboard after the color is added. Right click the layer and choose Blending Mode. From there select Outer Glow and apply the color #2cecf1. and Opacity to 100%

Step 19

Continue doing the same process on the hair.You can use 1,2 or 3 pixels thick on the brushes to have different sizes.

Step 20

Go back to the Model Stock Photo layer and erase the head part of the image. after erasing it will now look like this.

Step 21

This time we will make the glowing shadow thing. Use color foreground to #23d5d9. Add new layer below the Model Stock Photo layer. Choose Brush Tool (B) Use a blurry brush with a Master Diameter of 40 pixels and apply the brush.check the image below. Name the layer to Light Shadow 1.

Step 22

Now Duplicate the Light Shadow 1 layer. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 10 pixels.

Step 23

Now lets make the image a little dark so the glowing effect will be more emphasize. Add New Layer above glowing hair layers. Use color foreground to #31c1c7. Choose the brush and apply the brush on the whole body.

Step 24

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 60 pixels.Name this layer to Add Glow.

Step 25

Now Our image is now something like this.

Step 26

On the layers palette change,set it to linear Burn and Opacity to 50%. Now our image will look like this.

Step 27

Time to add highlights on the jacket,short and the shoes. Add New layer above the Add Glow layer. Name it to Highlight. Choose Brush with a blurry brush and having a Master Diameter to 15 pixels. Apply the brush on the area which near to the skin Check the image below on where to add the highlights.

Step 28

On the layers palette, choose Color Dodge and Opacity to 60%. Now we have a little highlights.

Step 29

Now lets create a little Sparkling Effect on the hands Add new layer, and choose Brush Tool (B). Apply the brush on the Glowing Effect area. See the image below.

Step 30

On the Layer Palette, Set the layer to Dissolve and Opacity to 3%

Step 31

Let do another one. Add new Layer, use Brush Tool. Use Master Diameter of 5 pixels on the brush. Apply something similar on the image below.

Step 32

Add new layer. Now lets create a vertical line. Choose Brush Tool with a Master Diameter of 2 pixels and start making lines.

Step 33

On the Layer Palette, Set the layer to Dissolve and Opacity to 20%

Step 34

We’re almost done in here. for the last part, Add new layer and go to blending mode by right click on the layer and select Outer Glow. From there, Set the color to #2cecf1, Opacity to 100%, Noise to 38% and Size to 0%. Now choose Brush Tool with a Master diameter of 2 pixels and create a dot on the lower part on each and every vertical dissolving lines.

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Healing Brush Tool

2012-06-19T22:00:00.002+07:00

This is one tool that everyone wishes they had in their make up kit. Acne, Scars, Bruises, Torture marks, Burn marks, stab wounds, etc can all be easily fixed using this tool.

The way this works is that you choose an area where everything is the way you want it to be. Photoshop notes down the textures, colors and lighting of the source area. Next you click on the area that needs to be repaired. Photoshop carefully adjusts all the pixels so that the textures and lighting still match and all the surrounding pixels look normal as well.

The best way to learn about this is by getting some examples.

Here is Scarface. We’ll try and remove his scar.

First choose the Healing Brush Tool. It tools like a bandaid. Make sure that in the healing brush option bar you have selected Blending Mode: Normal and Source: Sample. Then hold down the ALT key(or Option key if you are on a Mac) (your mouse pointer will look like a little target “((+))” ) and click on a place where there is no scar. This just got a sample of what his good skin looks like. Photoshop noted down the texture, color and brightness of the good area.

Next let go of the alt key and then click and drag on the scar. From the top and to the bottom of a medium sized section. See.. things are already a lot better.

Now press ALT again and click on areas close to where the scar was but not right on it. We’re just getting more texture to put on the healed part to make it look real. Press ALT click. Let go of Alt and then apply it in short controlled strokes. Here you will have to practice and try a couple of times to see what makes it look the best. Do this till it looks good. If it messes up then go back and try again. Be sure to work on a copy of your image incase you accidently save over the original.

Here is what I ended up with.

Ofcourse a much better job could have been done by carefully zooming in and healing each section of his scar seperately. I kind of accidently made him look like he has swelling on his left cheek. Trust me.. you can get much better results if you take your time and do it carefully. You all should try it out your selves. Only with practice will you master this tool!

In the healing brush tool option bar you will see Sample option and the Texture option. We used the Sample option in the above mini-tutorial. That got the texture sample from where you ALT-Clicked.

If you choose the Texture option you can pre-select which texture to apply. You can create your own textures or use some of photoshops predefined textures. It will still get the color and brightness levels from your image but it will apply the texture you choose here. Since its getting a preselected texture you won’t have to Alt-Click.

Thats it for now. Please post any questions or comments. If you spot a mistake please let me know .

http://photoshoptips.net

Magic Wand Tool

2012-06-19T21:59:00.003+07:00

The Magic wand tool is fairly simple to understand. You just point it at an area and click and it will select all the areas with continuous similar color values around where you clicked.

It is fairly simple to use but I seem to be having problems explaining what exactly it does so I’m going to demonstrate it using screen shots.

Here is a picture of the front bumper of the car. I can see that it has a continuous area of white. I want to select it quickly and I don’t want to mess around with Lasso tools. A situation like this is perfect for the magic wand tool. In this screen shot I have selected the Magic Wand Tool and I am about to click on the front bumper of the car.

Now I have clicked on the white area and photoshop has automatically selected the entire white area. However, you can notice that a small sliver of the bumper has not been selected because of a slight color difference. We should be able to select that using the Tolerance value in the Magic wand Option Toolbar

Here is the effect of increasing the Tolerance to 50. What is the tolerance? This is basically the range of colors or shades of the color that the magic wand tolerated. If Tolerance is set to 0 then the tool will ONLY select the EXACT colors that match the pixel that you clicked on. We set the tolerance to 50 so that meant that it selected 25 shades above and 25 shades below the color that we clicked on.

Anti-Aliased means that you will get a smoother curved edge. Continguos means that it will select only areas that are connected to the color that you clicked on. Uncheck that and it will select the color that you clicked on on the whole Layer.
If you want it to select colors on the whole image then check the option that says “Use All Layers”

The other 4 options are the same as other selection tools

The right most button is the “New Selection” button. When this is pressed then our tool will select what ever you click.

The second button is the “Add to Selection” tool. This does what the name suggests. If you have selected an area of your picture and you want to extend that selection or select another part of the picture while keeping the first selection still active then you choose this button before making another selection. Instead of creating a new selection it will ADD to what ever is already selected.

The third one is just as useful and important as the second button. This is the “Subtract from Selection” tool. You guessed it, if you want to REMOVE a part of the selection then choose this button and then click. What ever your selection now touches will be removed from what was initially selected.

The fourth button is “Intersect from Selection”. If you have a new selection and you chose the Intersect from selection tool then make a selection that over laps your first selection then only the areas that are overlapping will remain selected.

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The Move Tool

2012-06-19T21:57:00.003+07:00

To put it as simply as possible all the move tooldoes is move stuff. There is ofcourse a lot more to it than that. Just like all the other tools the move tool is very powerful when you know about everything that it can do. By the end of this post I’ll have covered almost everything there is to know about this Tool.

If you are using any tool (with the exception of hand tool, magnifying tool. It works differently with the pen tools) and you hold down the CTRL key the tool will automatically change into the Move tool. This should give you an idea of how important and often used this tool is intended to be.

By default if you choose the Move tool and just drag on an unlocked Layer you will be able to move it. Click and drag to the right and the whole layer will drag to the right and so on. If you chose the move tool and then use the arrow keys and press left, right, up or down your layer will move pixel by pixel in the direction of your choice.

If you make a selection using the Selection Tools (Lasso, Marquee) and then use the Move tool in side the selection you will see that it turns into an arrow with a scissors. That shows that it will cut the selection out from your layer and move it where ever you want it to move.

If you hold down the ALT/OPTION key and then click and drag your selection it will COPY and paste your selection meaning that it will let the original remain untouched. It will only copy it and then paste it where ever you release your mouse button.

Alignment Options

Another strength of the Move tool is alignment of layers. These options are accessible through the Move Tool Option Bar that shows up on the top of the screen when you select the Move Tool.

Align Top Edges button will make the top pixels of your layers align evenly. If you make a selection box then your layers top will be at the same coordinate as the top of your selection. If you link 2 layers then choose the Align top edges option then both your layers will have their top edges at the same height.
Align Vertical Edges button will align the middle pixel of your layer with the vertical center of your selection or linked layer. This means that your layers center will be at the center of your selection or linked layer.
Align Bottom Edges button will make the bottom pixels of your layers align evenly. If you make a selection box then your layers bottom edge will be at the same coordinate as the bottom of your selection. If you link 2 layers then choose the Align Bottom Edges option then both your layers will have their bottom edges at the same height.
Align Left Edges button aligns the left pixels with the left most edge of your selection or linked layers. Your Left edges will be at the same X-coordinate
Align Horizontal Edges button aligns the horizontal center pixel of your layer with the selection box or linked layers. The horizontal middle of your layer will be at the horizontal middle of your selection or linked layers.
Align Right Edges button aligns the right edge of your layer with the right edge of your selection or linked layer. Basically your layer will be positioned so it meets with the right edge of your selection or linked layer

Before you start aligning determine what you want to do. The options we have are:

Align to the content of a layer to a selection border

Make a selection box with a marquee tool and then choose the Move tool and then press the appropriate button.

Align the contents of multiple layers to a selection border

Make a selection box. Then select multiple layers in the Layers palette (Window>Layers) by clicking on the empty squares to the left of the layer that you want. You will see a little chain icon in the square if you click on it. Next choose the Move tool and then press the appropriate button.

Align the contents of layers to the content of the active layer

Select multiple layers in the Layers palette by clicking on the empty squares to the left of the layer that you want. You will see a little chain icon in the square if you click on it. Next choose the Move tool and then press the appropriate button. They will align according to which layer is highlighted.

Distribution Options

The Distribute Tools basically evenly distributes your layers. If you want equal spaces between 3 or more layers then you will use these Move Options.

Distribute Top Edges button will create a space between the layers using the top of the layers as a reference
Distribute Vertical Centersbutton will create a space between the layers using the center pixel of all the layers as a reference.
Distribute Bottom Edges button will create a space between the layers using the bottom pixel of each layer as a reference.
Distribute Left Edges button will create a space between the layers using the left pixel of each layer as a reference.
Distribute Horizontal Centers button will create a space between the layers using the horizontal center of all the layers as a reference.
Distribute Right Edges button will create a space between the layers using the right edges of all the layers as a reference

This can only work if you have 3 or more linked layers.

Select multiple layers in the Layers palette by clicking on the empty squares to the left of the layer that you want. You will see a little chain icon in the square if you click on it. Next choose the Move tool and then press the appropriate Distribute button. They will Distribute accordingly.

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Photoshop Marquee tools

2012-06-19T21:55:00.006+07:00

In this post I am going to write a basic overview of the Marquee Tools. After reading this article the readers will be familiar with theRectangular Marquee Tool, the Elliptical Marquee Tool, Single Row Marquee Tool and the Single Column Marquee tool.

If you have just launched Photoshop for the first time your tool box will show you the Rectangular Marquee Tool. To access the other Marquee Tools just click and hold down the Marquee Tool button and you will get a popup window giving you the option of choosing any one of the 4 Marquee Tools. This holds true for any tools on the photoshop toolbox that have a small black arrow on the bottom right corner of the button. The little arrow indicates that there are more tools available hidden underneath the tool that is currently shown for selection.

Introduction
All marquee tools have a few general rules. They are used to make geometric selections of portions of pictures. Everything that is inside the selection will be affected by all other photoshop tools. For example if you select something using the marquee tools then it gets surrounded by little dashes (also known as marching ants). Now everything that is surrounded by the marching ants will be effected by any other photoshop tools.

In this image I selected a rectangle in side the image using the rectangular marquee tool and then I went to Image > Adjustments > Invert. Notice that only the area inside the selection was affected. That demonstrates what the marquee tools are used for. It’s a very valuable tool that is used a lot by people who use Photoshop.

General Rules

The marquee tools can be made more precise if you hold down the ALT key or the SHIFT key when making selections.

If you hold down the SHIFT key and then click and drag using the marquee tools (rectangular or elliptical) then they will form perfect squares and perfect circles no matter how you drag the mouse.
If you click with the mouse and then hold down the ALT key before dragging then the rectangle or ellipse will have their center where you first clicked.
If you click and then hold down both SHIFT and ALT keys then it will create a perfect circle or square with the center where you clicked.
If you press SHIFT + M then you can quickly shift from rectangular marquee tool to elliptical marquee tool quickly.

Marquee Tool Option bar.

Photoshop version 7 and beyond have a Tool Option Bar on top of the screen.

The most useful options are probably the selection options. The right most button is the “New Selection” button. When this is pressed then our marquee tools will select what ever you click and drag around.

The second button is the “Add to Selection” tool. This does what the name suggests. If you have selected an area of your picture and you want to extend that selection or select another part of the picture while keeping the first selection still active then you choose this button before making another selection. Instead of creating a new selection it will ADD to what ever is already selected.

The third one is just as useful and important as the second button. This is the “Subtract from Selection” tool. You guessed it, if you want to REMOVE a part of the selection then choose this button and then click and drag. What ever your selection now touches will be removed from what was initially selected. If you want to select a doughnut then you can choose the New Selection button and make a circle (using elliptical marquee tool) and click and drag. Now you will have the outside selected but how will you remove the center? You probably guessed it. You will click on the “Subtract from Selection” tool and make another circle in side the doughnut and photoshop will remove it from your selection leaving only the doughnut selected.

The fourth button is “Intersect from Selection”. If you have a new selection and you chose the Intersect from selection tool then make a selection that over laps your first selection then only the areas that are overlapping will remain selected.

The next option is the “Feather” option. The description of feathering from the Adobe manual is, “Blurs edges by building a transition boundary between the selection and its surrounding pixels. This blurring can cause some loss of detail at the edge of the selection.” Basically when you set a feather value in the selection options then you will not get an exact selection. All the previous examples would yield and exact outline of a circle or rectangle of straight line. When you set a feather value you will get a blurry edge. Here is a picture of the elephant selection with a feather value of 15. As you can see it inverted the colors out side the selection as well. The blurriness only happened over 15 pixels.

The last thing here is the Style Option. If you choose normal then everything will act just like described above. If you choose fixed aspect ratio then you can define the ratio between the width and height. 1 and 1 would mean it would make perfect squares and perfect circles. 1 and 2 would mean that your height will be twice as high and your width.

With fixed size you can say exactly what size your shape will be. Just enter the height and width in pixels and your selection tool will make it so!

If there are any comments or questions just post them here I hope this helped!

photoshoptips.neT

Lasso Tools

2012-06-19T21:54:00.003+07:00

In this post I am going to write a basic overview of the Lasso Tools. After reading this article the readers will be familiar with the Lasso Tool, the Polygonal Lasso Tool, and the Magnetic Lasso Tool.

If you have just launched Photoshop for the first time your tool box will show you the Lasso Tool. To access the other Lasso Tools just click and hold down the Lasso Tool button and you will get a popup window giving you the option of choosing any one of the 3 Lasso Tools. This holds true for any tool on the photoshop toolbox that has a small black arrow on the bottom right corner of the button. The little arrow indicates that there are more tools available that are hidden underneath the tool that is currently shown.

Introduction

Just like the marquee tools the lasso tools are used to make selections. Selections are useful because they allow you to choose a portion of the image that you are working on. Once a portion is selected you will only be able to make changes to it and the rest of the image will remain unaffected.

The lasso tools give you much more control of what you are able to select than the marquee tools. However, both marquee tools and Lasso tools are equally as useful for different things. These are only tools and it is up to the user to determine which one will be more useful at any given situation.

General Rules

These general rules apply after you already have made a selection:

1. If you hold down the SHIFT key your Lasso tool will turn on the “Add to Selection” Option. Basically it does what the name says. If you have a previous selection then it will add what ever else you select to it.

2. If you press down the ALT key then your Lasso tool will turn o nthe “Subtract from Selection” option. Now what ever you select by clicking and dragging gets removed from your current selection.

3. If you press ALT+SHIFT at the same time and then click and drag over a selection then it will turn on the “Intersect Selection” Option. This means that it will keep only the areas that overlapped with your original selection.

4. If you press the CTRL key and then click and drag it will cut and move what ever you had already selected.

5. If you press CTRL+ALT and then click and drag it will Copy and Paste what ever you had already selected.

The Lasso tool will all0w you to click and drag around an irregular shaped area. Everything that you click and drag around will get selected. To create a straight line with this tool just hold down the ALT key (mac users: option key) and then click and drag and now you will be restricted to only drawing straight lines. When you let go of the ALT/Option key you will resume drawing a free form selection.

The Polygonal Lasso Tool allows you to create straight line edges. Choose this tool and then click at an edge of what ever you want to select. Next, let go of your mouse button and move the mouse to another corner of where ever you want to select. You’ll notice a line joining the point where you first clicked and your mouse pointer. Click where ever you want and it will create another corner. Finally click again on the starting point (a small circle will appear over your mouse pointer). This will close your selection. If you do not want to hunt for the starting point just double click anywhere on the image and your selection will automatically close.

This tool can create freehand edges as well. Hold down the Alt/Option keys and then click and drag and your edge will curve like the regular Lasso tool. Release ALT/Option key and you will resume drawing straight lines again.

The Magnetic Lasso Tool is a handy tool for quickly selecting edges in an image. It detects the differences in colors and then guesses what you are trying to select. If you click once and then carefully move your mouse pointer over an area with contrasting colors then it will make a selection along the line where the colors differ the most. You can click the mouse button where ever you think is necessary to guide it along the way. If the colors are very different then it does a good job on its own.

You can use the Magnetic Lasso Option bar to set the Feather, Width, Edge Contrast, and Frequency.

The feather option definds how sharp your edges will be. If you enter a feather value it will blue around the edges.

The width is the distance from the edge that the Magnetic tool considers when it places a selection line. If you have a very high contrast image then user a large number here. If you have a low contrast image then use a narrow width. The smaller the width the more exact your selection.

If you have a high contrast image set the Edge contrast number high. If you have a low contrast image then set this number low.

This is the number of times the tool will create a fastening point on the edges. If you have irregular edges that you want to select then set this number high.

Lasso Tool Option Bar

The right most button is the “New Selection” button. When this is pressed then our Lasso tools will select what ever you click and drag around.

The third one is just as useful and important as the second button. This is the “Subtract from Selection” tool. You guessed it, if you want to REMOVE a part of the selection then choose this button and then click and drag. What ever your selection now touches will be removed from what was initially selected.

The Anti-Aliased check box should be selected if you want the edges of the selections to be smooth.

The Feather option blurs the edges of the selections making a soft edge as opposed to a sharp one.
That should be everything for Lasso tools. Comments and Questions are welcome

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Crop Tool

2012-06-19T21:53:00.003+07:00

If you want to crop an image then you use the Crop Tool. Just click on it and then click and drag and it will make a selection. This is what will remain. You are selecting what ever you want to keep. The rest of the image darkens indicating that it will be removed. Then press the Enter/Return key and it will crop your image.

You can Resize your selection by placing your mouse pointer on an edge of the selection made by the crop tool. You will see a double arrow pointer. Click and drag and it will resize your selection. ALT/OPTION drag it and it will constrain the proportions of your selection.

You can change the position of your selection by placing your mouse pointer in the middle of the selection and dragging.

You can rotate the selection my putting your mouse on the corners of your selection till you see a curved arrow. Then click and move your mouse in a circular direction and it will rotate your selection. Press Enter and it will crop

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Create Pixel and Handwriting Fonts Online

2012-06-19T21:33:00.003+07:00

There are a wide variety of different font styles, but two of the more popular choices are pixel based fonts and handwriting fonts. Handwriting fonts are simply just custom font packs that are created from your own handwriting, where pixel based fonts are more block looking. In today’s post, we will review how you can create your own handwriting or pixel style font quickly and easily.

Handwriting Fonts

There are a few font conversion services on the web that will convert your handwritten alphabet and other characters to a standard font pack. However, many of these services cost money. One free font creator service that works fairly nice is MyScriptFont.

To get started, navigate to the MyScriptFont homepage. From there, click the Download the templatelink.

From here, the website will launch a new PDF based webpage containing the font template. Using the recommended directions from the website, print the template, fill in the letters and characters with your own handwriting and scan the finished template back to your computer as grayscale 300dpi, JPG or PNG format.

Once the file is scanned to your computer and ready for conversion, jump to the MyScriptFont homepage, but this time select the second step Upload the scanned template.

Click the Browse… button and navigate to your scanned font template. Also, choose a name for your fontand select a font output. In most cases, you will want to use the TTF format, as that offers compatibility with many popular programs. Click the Send file button to submit the font for conversion.

From here, the font conversion will be instant. The website will provide you with a download link for your font. Simply download the font and install it to your Mac or PC, and you now have your own custom handwritten font.

Pixel Fonts

To create your own Pixel based block fonts, start by navigating to the BitfontMaker homepage. From there, click the New! BitfontMaker2 button.

This will bring you to the actual font creator, where you can begin creating your own block/pixel based font.

The grid, overlays and guides for each letter or character assist you in creating a professional looking pixelfont. Simply click a block in the grid to create a letter.

Also notice, that although this website recommends and features a unique grid for each alphabetic letter, you can use the entire grid to draw whatever you’d like. Maybe special characters or webdings, etc… For example, the above screenshot, we’ve used the template to output OTT whenever the letter o is typed.

Once you have finished creating the letters and other characters for your particular font pack, click theBuild button.

From here, you can enter a font name, font author and select letter spacing options.

Click the Build button to begin compiling the font. The conversion process is actually quite fast, and the font service will present you with the TTF font download.

That’s basically all there is to it. Thank you for stopping by the site for today’s post, which features simple ways to create both handwritten and professional block/pixel fonts for free, the easy way. Enjoy!

Use Windows Defender Offline Tool to Fix an Infected PC

2012-06-19T21:28:00.003+07:00

I had a client the other day whose PC was practically dead because they clicked on one of those pop up ads while on some sketchy website. Something got downloaded and their computer was infected with malware and wouldn’t load properly. When trying to log into Windows, they kept getting some error like

Interactive logon process initialization has failed

Who knows what that means. Anyway, they could no longer get into their Windows 7 machine and because of that there was no way to remove the spyware from the computer. They could not even log into Safe Mode to run an anti-spyware program. So the only options were to delete everything, reinstall and start fresh or try to use some offline spyware scanning tool to remove the malware before Windows even loads up.

Luckily, Microsoft released a cool offline version of Windows Defender that scans your system outside of Windows and removes any infections. Then you can start up your computer and the malware will be gone and hopefully your system will start up normally! That’s pretty cool and definitely better than having to reinstall everything.

To get started, go ahead and download the Windows Defender Offline tool here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline

The way it works is that you download a program that will help you create a CD/DVD or USB bootable media that runs Windows Defender. You’ll create the media and then boot your computer from the CD or USB drive, which will then scan your system and fix any problems.

Once you download the 32 or 64-bit version, run the program and you’ll see the welcome screen:

Go ahead and click Next to get started creating the offline media. Once you accept the license agreement, you’ll be given the option to install Windows Defender Offline on a CD/DVD, USB flash drive, or to download an ISO file.

I installed it on a flash drive, which will have to be reformatted in order to install Windows Defender Offline. You only need about 250 MB of free space on the flash drive, but it will still format the entire thing.

Click Next and the process will start. It will download, then process the files, then format the USB drive and then install the files.

Once it’s complete, you will see the instructions for how to use the new media:

Now you can boot up using the media and you’ll get the familiar Windows Defender screen. Note that all the definition files are downloaded when you use the install tool. You don’t need an Internet connection or anything in order to update the definition files. If you need to run the tool again at a later time, you need to create the media again because it will download the latest files and then create the bootable media.

Hopefully, the next time you have a problem with your computer and you know it’s spyware or malware, you can use the offline tool to disinfect your system. If you have any questions or problems using the tool, feel free to post a comment! Enjoy!

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Identify Your Intel Processor (CPU) in Windows

2012-06-19T21:23:00.001+07:00

So you’re running Windows on some machine you got 3 years ago and you want to know a little bit about the processor installed, right? Well, you can always go to the system information screen in Windows by clicking on Start and typing in msinfo32. This is what you will get:

It gives you some very basic info about your CPU, but nothing very special or detailed. If you want to get extensive information about your CPU, which can come in handy in making sure your PC doesn’t get an incompatible CPU error when you install Windows 8 on it in the future! So instead, you can download theIntel Processor Identification Utility.

The utility supports everything from Windows 2000 onward. Once you install it, go ahead and run it and you’ll get a window with three dialogs. The first one is the Frequency Test. It tells you the expected and reported speed, system bus speed, and the L2 Cache Memory.

If you are over clocking your PC, then you might be different values for expected and reported speeds. The system bus is the same as the front side bus. Next, if you click on CPU Technologies, you’ll get detailed information about what your CPU supports.

Here you can see if your processor supports Intel Virtualization Technology, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology and the Intel 64-Architecture. Also, worth nothing is whether your Intel processor supports SpeedStep and SSE2. SSE2 is important because this has to be supported by the processor in order to run Windows 8. The last tab is the CPUID Data tab, which has more details about your CPU.

Here you can see the CPU Type, CPU Family, CPU Model, CPU Stepping, CPU Revision, the Level 1 and 2 caches and whether your processor supports Execute Disable Bit and Enhanced Halt State. Again, the CPU needs to support Execute Disable Bit in order to run Windows 8.

Overall, the tool is very accurate and does a very good job of identifying your processor and giving you a lot of useful information. Note that trying to run this utility in a virtual machine does not seem to work so well. I tried it in a Windows 7 VM in VMWare Fusion and it returned some sort of error. If you have any questions about your processor, post a comment here and I’ll try to help. Enjoy!

online-tech-tips.com

Copying Online Messages

2012-06-19T21:11:00.001+07:00

When posting messages online, it’s a good idea to copy the message to your clipboard before pressing the Send button. Ctrl+A, then Ctrl+C.

If the Send doesn’t take, you can just paste your clipboard contents back again in a new post window.

If it appears to have been sent, but it’s important, you can paste it into a Notepad .txt file (Ctrl+V) .

If the message disappears into digital limbo or if the recipient at the tax department denies receiving it, you at least have a copy of the original to resend.

If it’s a long tome, copy it at several intervals.

computertips.com

Recovering from Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses

2012-04-10T23:56:00.002+07:00

How do you know your computer is infected?

Unfortunately, there is no particular way to identify that your computer has been infected with malicious code. Some infections may completely destroy files and shut down your computer, while others may only subtly affect your computer's normal operations. Be aware of any unusual or unexpected behaviors. If you are running anti-virus software, it may alert you that it has found malicious code on your computer. The anti-virus software may be able to clean the malicious code automatically, but if it can't, you will need to take additional steps.

What can you do if you are infected?

Minimize the damage - If you are at work and have access to an IT department, contact them immediately. The sooner they can investigate and clean your computer, the less damage to your computer and other computers on the network. If you are on your home computer or a laptop, disconnect your computer from the internet. By removing the internet connection, you prevent an attacker or virus from being able to access your computer and perform tasks such as locating personal data, manipulating or deleting files, or using your computer to attack other computers.
Remove the malicious code - If you have anti-virus software installed on your computer, update the virus definitions (if possible), and perform a manual scan of your entire system. If you do not have anti-virus software, you can purchase it at a local computer store (see Understanding Anti-Virus Software for more information). If the software can't locate and remove the infection, you may need to reinstall your operating system, usually with a system restore disk that is often supplied with a new computer. Note that reinstalling or restoring the operating system typically erases all of your files and any additional software that you have installed on your computer. After reinstalling the operating system and any other software, install all of the appropriate patches to fix known vulnerabilities (see Understanding Patches for more information).

How can you reduce the risk of another infection?

Dealing with the presence of malicious code on your computer can be a frustrating experience that can cost you time, money, and data. The following recommendations will build your defense against future infections:

use and maintain anti-virus software - Anti-virus software recognizes and protects your computer against most known viruses. However, attackers are continually writing new viruses, so it is important to keep your anti-virus software current (see Understanding Anti-Virus Software for more information).
change your passwords - Your original passwords may have been compromised during the infection, so you should change them. This includes passwords for web sites that may have been cached in your browser. Make the passwords difficult for attackers to guess (see Choosing and Protecting Passwords for more information).
keep software up to date - Install software patches so that attackers can't take advantage of known problems or vulnerabilities (see Understanding Patchesfor more information). Many operating systems offer automatic updates. If this option is available, you should enable it.
install or enable a firewall - Firewalls may be able to prevent some types of infection by blocking malicious traffic before it can enter your computer (seeUnderstanding Firewalls for more information). Some operating systems actually include a firewall, but you need to make sure it is enabled.
use anti-spyware tools - Spyware is a common source of viruses, but you can minimize the number of infections by using a legitimate program that identifies and removes spyware (see Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware for more information).
follow good security practices - Take appropriate precautions when using email and web browsers so that you reduce the risk that your actions will trigger an infection (see other US-CERT security tips for more information).

As a precaution, maintain backups of your files on CDs or DVDs so that you have saved copies if you do get infected again.

Author: Mindi McDowell