http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration Updates from the Illustration and Blog sections of Fictionalhead.com en dan@fictionalhead.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-26T00:30:20+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/illustrator-tutorial-fixing-inverted-colors-on-strokes-that-overlap-each-ot http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/illustrator-tutorial-fixing-inverted-colors-on-strokes-that-overlap-each-ot In this week's tutorial I cover a quick (under 2 minutes, look at that speed), simple fix to the all-too-common problem of having a stroke or brush in Illustrator go inverted when it overlaps itself. This tends to happen a lot when making custom fonts or illustrations. 2012-05-26T00:30:20+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/photoshop-indesign-tutorial-the-benefits-and-uses-of-clipping-paths-flowing http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/photoshop-indesign-tutorial-the-benefits-and-uses-of-clipping-paths-flowing In this week's tutorial, I cover how to set up a clipping path in Photoshop to import into InDesign as a means for flowing type around an object. I also go over some key concepts of clipping paths, how to make them, save them, and load them while flipping between programs. Plus you get to see my near-mythic physique in the sample picture. 2012-05-18T22:46:08+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/3dsmax-9-tutorial-a-basic-ambient-lighting-setup-and-key-terms http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/3dsmax-9-tutorial-a-basic-ambient-lighting-setup-and-key-terms In this tutorial, I cover how to use 3d Studio Max's built in "Light Tracer" lighting plugin to set up nice, smooth, ambient light. This tutorial also covers what all the key terms on the lighting tab mean, and how they affect your renders. This simple setup can be completed in about a minute, and will give your renders a clear, crisp look, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the final output a big boost. 2012-05-11T23:16:07+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-gaussian-blur-on-your-layer-masks-for-smoother-editing http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-gaussian-blur-on-your-layer-masks-for-smoother-editing In this tutorial, I cover how to make use of the guassian blur filter when doing photo editing with layer masks in Photoshop. This technique really simplifies a lot of the process of making sure elements you're adding to a photo blend in properly. This can be used for many different things, but in this example, I show how to clone one spot of an image over another, and blend it in seamlessly. 2012-05-04T22:36:20+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/doing-a-spot-to-spot-gradient-pantones-with-overprint http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/doing-a-spot-to-spot-gradient-pantones-with-overprint In this tutorial, I cover how to use opacity masks to successfully make a spot color to spot color blend without that nasty looking grey problem in the center. This tutorial also covers a little bit of printing process terms, and helpful hints. 2012-03-16T22:04:21+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-the-offset-filter-to-make-looping-textures-correcting-uneven-lighting http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-the-offset-filter-to-make-looping-textures-correcting-uneven-lighting In this tutorial I cover briefly how to use the offset filter to make looping textures in Photoshop, and how to address a common problem with uneven lighting that occurs when doing so. 2012-03-02T05:00:21+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/making-custom-brushes-in-illustrator-for-fonts-and-illustration http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/making-custom-brushes-in-illustrator-for-fonts-and-illustration In this tutorial, I cover how to create your own custom brushes in Illustrator that have better features than the custom brush settings allow in the brushes palette. I also cover how to create a looping brush for paths that are continuous, like a circle. 2012-02-24T05:15:50+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-bounding-boxes-as-guices-to-help-align-perspective-in-photoshop http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-bounding-boxes-as-guices-to-help-align-perspective-in-photoshop In this tutorial, I cover how to use boxes as alignment guides when placing objects in perspective in your designs and illustrations. 2012-02-10T19:49:52+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/making-distressing-or-grunge-brushes-quickly-in-photoshop http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/making-distressing-or-grunge-brushes-quickly-in-photoshop In this super-quick tutorial I show you how to quickly take any dirty texture and turn it into a distressing brush in Photoshop for quick grunge effects. 2012-02-03T19:38:11+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/lets-make-art-lord-of-the-shrooms-part-3 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/lets-make-art-lord-of-the-shrooms-part-3 This is the third part of three in a new series called "Let's Make Art". 2012-01-27T23:23:27+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/blog/full/10-of-the-most-impressive-and-inspiring-libraries-around-the-world http://www.fictionalhead.com/blog/full/10-of-the-most-impressive-and-inspiring-libraries-around-the-world Not a lot of people go to the library these days, especially since the internet takes care of all our problems. But with libraries like these around the world, it would be a pleasure to spend time inside one of them. This article presents some of the most beautiful and amazing libraries around the world. As you can imagine, they are all impressive, some by their size and others by the unconventional architecture and imposing interior design. 2012-01-25T21:21:46+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/lets-make-art-lord-of-the-shrooms-part-2 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/lets-make-art-lord-of-the-shrooms-part-2 This is the second part of three in a new series called "Let's Make Art". 2012-01-20T22:16:20+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/lets-make-art-lord-of-the-shrooms-part-1 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/lets-make-art-lord-of-the-shrooms-part-1 This is the first in a new series called "Let's Make Art". I'm a little torn on how to go about uploading these, since it's going to be hours of footage, so for this first project, I went with just the raw footage, sped up to 8x. 2012-01-14T00:35:57+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/portfolio/lord-of-the-shrooms http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/portfolio/lord-of-the-shrooms I'm going to start a new series on YouTube called "Let's Make Art" where I record myself making something from start to finish. I figured for the first series, I'd go with something I'm familiar with, and love so much. 2012-01-03T02:08:57+00:00 http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-reactor-in-3ds-max-9-to-drop-objects-using-gravity http://www.fictionalhead.com/illustration/tutorials/using-reactor-in-3ds-max-9-to-drop-objects-using-gravity In this tutorial, I show you how to take some objects in 3ds max, and utilize reactor to 'drop' them from the sky and have them interact with each other as they crumble to the ground. This is the very basic setup for how to use rigid body collections in 3ds max. 2011-12-18T16:57:24+00:00