aoki's blog

Masterful Color: Vibrant Colored Pencil Paintings Layer by Layer (Hardcover)

2009-08-10T13:22:00.003+07:00

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Colored pencil artists are gaining respect in the art world. This book approaches colored pencil work in the same manner as oil/acrylic painters work; offering instruction on how to plan and work on the entire painting at once. The result is a more cohesive, finished painting.

Rich colors are a desirable result for most artists. The techniques of creating a tonal underpainting and layering colors have been used by master artists for centuries. This book, which uses complementary colors for the underpainting, allows the contemporary colored pencil artist to tap into that tradition used by the Masters.

There is no other book that approaches color in this manner for today's artist.

Opposite or complementary colors create contrast and vibrancy. Masterful Color is loaded with instruction on how to layer colored pencil effectively to create deep, vibrant colors that exude richness. Readers will learn how to layer these complements over one another, creating rich shadows and adding depth and dimension to their paintings. With extensive coverage of basic techniques, detailed information on composition, color theory, textures and more, colored pencil artists will learn everything they need to achieve rich, vibrant colors by layering complementary colors. 17 demonstrations show readers the various techniques needed to use this approach and an extended final demonstration leads them through the entire painting process, step by step.

About the Author
Arlene Steinberg is a Signature Member of the Colored Pencil Society of America and her art was juried into the 2002-2005 International shows. Her paintings have also been selected for prestigious fine art shows and exhibitions in New York City where she has won several awards. She uses the complementary value underpainting method, similar to the traditional grisaille method of painting, for which she is well-known as an instructor.

3D text tutorial!

2009-08-10T12:33:00.002+07:00

Here’s how I made suspended translucent text effect. As for me it looks wonderful.

First create a new document, 1000×500 pixels, black background.

Then select Horizontal Type Tool and write something like ‘SUSPENDED.’

In the above image I’ve used Verdana as my font of choice, which is free and it’s sized at a meager 120 pt. Ok, now create a new layer, after that activate the Gradient Tool and a White to Transparent gradient, fill in the work area as on picture below. The gradient should move from top to bottom - Top being the most opaque.

Then create a selection of the layer contents for out text (you can press Ctrl and click the Layer Thumbnail in the Layers Palette to make this selection). Now, go to gradient layer and press Ctrl+J to create a copy of the gradient in the shape of the text.

After that you can delete the text layer because you don’t need it more for this tutorial. Using Rectangular Marquee Tool select and cut every letter to the separate layer but only type one letter per layer.
Create a new layer above all your letters. Create a selection of your first letter and fill in that selection with your selected color on the new layer. Set this layers Blending Mode to Screen.
Repeat this process for the remaining letters using different colors for each letter.
For letter ‘S’ use color of #ff0000;
‘U’ – #ff7e00;
‘S’ – #fffc00;
‘P’ – #a2ff00;
‘E’ – #06ec00;
‘N’ – #00d8ff;
‘D’ – #004eff;
‘E’ – #7200ff;
‘D’ – #f000ff.
You’d now have this:

Merge all of your white gradient letters and merge all of your colors into one layer. You should now have two layers - one with the plain gradient letters, the other with the colors for the letters. Then set up opacity to 60% and press Ctrl+J to duplicate each of two text layers. After that apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with similar settings as on a picture below for each of two layers.

Now you have something like this:

Merge all of text layers into one layer and using Rectangular Marquee Tool select and cut every letter to the separate layer but only type one letter per layer again. It’s time to make a rope to hang the letters. Select the Pen Tool; you need to make sure that you’re working with Paths instead of Shape Layers. Once you have it mastered make sure the path is joined up with the beginning point, this will be removed when we have stroked the line. Draw out your rope using paths:

You have your path done. Now make a selection from path (Right click on shape form on the Canvas > Make Selection with radius of 0 pixels), create a new layer and go up to the main menu, select Edit > Stroke then select the color of #e5ffff and a stroke width of about 3 pixels.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate layer, then press Ctrl+F to apply Gaussian Blur Filter.

For the effect suspended in the air rotate (you can rotate the letters by using Edit > Free Transform) and move your letters as on picture below. Put all the letters above the layers with rope.

Ok, looking nice. Now you need to make aperture into the letters to make real effect suspended in the air. Go to lower layer with rope and use Select > Load Selection. After that go to each of layers with letters and cut away parts of letters by using Eraser Tool to receive image as below:

Press Ctrl+D to deselect chosen area and apply Eraser Tool again with similar setting to these:

Ok you are done! And the last one you can play with the background to make it funnier. Go to the layer with background and create a new layer above. Then select a soft paint brush from the tools menu and scatter some different sized spots of your canvas using different bright colors, for example #fe5a00, #ffe100, #7cff00 and #00fff5.

Now select the Eraser Tool and a soft round brush and erase some smaller different sized spots to get a picture as below:

Set the opacity to 27% up.

that is it.great job!

source:http://www.photoshopstar.com/text/suspended-text-effect/

vector video tutorial

2008-11-15T23:23:00.001+07:00

a helpfully video tutorials..i like it!!

source :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTvJ-MAwSrk

let's darwing Kirby!! :)

2008-11-08T22:33:00.004+07:00

The Body
Kirby doesn't really have a body. It's more of a head with hands and feet. But since it's such an easy to do shape, all you need is the Circular Marquee-Tool and while holding SHIFT, drag a perfect circle on your canvas. Grab your Gradient-Tool and set the foreground-color to #FEBECF and the background-color to #B37D8D. Then, create a new layer and click and drag the Gradient-Tool from the bottom of the selection, to the top.

Create a new layer, and again with the Circular Marquee-Tool, draw a circle, but this time make it a little bit more oval. Fill this selection with white. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set it to 10-20 and make sure it's nice and blurry. Then press CTRL+T and rotate it a little to the right (Clockwise) and place it a little to the top-left. Finally, lower the opacity to 50%

The Feet
On a new layer, use the Circular Marquee-Tool to draw an even more oval shape than the last one. Make sure it looks like a long egg. Fill this selection with #E45032.
Press CTRL+J to duplicate the layer and place both shapes underneath the body. Then, using CTRL+T, place his left foot a little to the left and rotate it a little. Place his other feet a little more to his side then his bottom.

Create a new layer above the first foot and use the Pen-Tool to draw a shadow-shape and fill this with black. To mask this with the foot-layer, press CTRL+SHIFT+G.
Then add a very soft Blur using Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set it to 3-8. Then lower the opacity to 10-20.

Now do the same as last step, but this time, draw the shadow on the side of the foot near the floor.
Also continue doing this for the other foot, but remember that the first shadow is the shadow of the body and the second is the shadow of the feet. Also remember to be consistent in your shading. If the light comes from a certain direction, it's impossible to have shadow on places where light hits the area.
As you can see below, the shadow on both feet is directed to the middle and bottom.

The Hands and Shadow
On a new layer, using the Circular Marquee-Tool, create an egg-like shape for the hands. Before we continue on the hands, we will first add the drop-shadow, because that annoys me! You gotta have good shadow in order to make it realistic.
Using the same tool we've used all this tutorial now, create a VERY thing and long shape and fill this with Black on a new layer. Then place this layer at the bottom of the layer-stack above the background.

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and add a soft 3-6 blur. Then press CTRL+J to duplicate the layer and use CTRL+T to make the duplicate a little smaller and place it in the middle.
Then duplicate that layer again using CTRL+J and place this underneath the foot that's closests to the floor.

Select the hand-layer and press CTRL+J and position them next to the head in the opposite direction of the feet, both like Kirby's cheering.

Using the same shading-technique as we used for the feet, draw black shapes on the bottom of the hands and mask them with the hands using CTRL+SHIFT+G.
But instead of creating another shadow-layer, we are gonna add some highlights. Using long oval shapes place over the hands filled with white, perform the same blurring-actions on these layers as you did with the black shadow.

The Face
On a new layer, use the Circular Marquee-Tool again to draw a flat oval shape on it's side. Fill this layer with pink. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and add a soft blur of 2-5 pixels and stretch it a little using CTRL+T.
Then, press CTRL+J to duplicate the layer and place both gloss' on either side of the face.

Then, using the same tool, draw a long oval shape and fill this with black on a new layer. Press CTRL+J to duplicate the layer and press CTRL+U. Check the box COLORISE and lower the darkness and play around with the top slider to achieve a nice marine-blue.
Then press CTRL+T and while holding SHIFT+ALT, draw one of the cornerpoints a little to the center. This will make the blue oval smaller than the black one.

Grab your 300px soft brush Eraser and erase the top part of the blue away. Then add a nice small oval shape filled with White on a new layer and place it in the top of the black oval.
Add a very small inner stroke in lightblue by going to Layer>Layer Style>Stroke and setting the stroke to INNER and 2px and choose a nice light blue as color.

Select all the eye-layers and merge them together using CTRL+E. Then press CTRL+J to duplicate the eye and place another one right beside it. Now select both eyes and the gloss' and merge them as well. Press CTRL+T and rotate the eyes a little Counterclockwise to the left. Also make them a bit smaller.

Using a deep, almost maron-like, red, draw a nice mouth that actually looks like a small wok or a mountain upside down.
Grab a pink color and use the Circular Marquee-Tool to draw a nice round shape and fill it with this pink. Press CTRL+SHIFT+G to mask it with the mouth and give the pink orb a black OVERLAY inner glow by going to Layer>Layer Style>Inner Glow.

Conclusion
And there you have it! Kirby. He's completely yours. Obviously in a figure of speech, because Kirby still is a copyrighted trademark of Nintendo. But now that you're learned how to draw Kirby, you can place him in all kinds of different poses. Also note that the Circular Marquee-Tool was today's most-used-tool. It's amazing what you can do with it and since Kirby is the perfect example of an organic being, the Circular Marquee-Tool is one tool you cannot miss when making Kirby.

thanks to :http://www.tutorialkit.com/tutorials/Drawing-Kirby-69590.html

Istockphoto

2008-10-29T17:28:00.005+07:00

please visit!
it's very helpfully for design reference!
click here!

IHEA Vector Curves Brushes for Photoshop

2008-10-29T16:29:00.004+07:00

Brush Details

click here to download
it's a nice photoshop brush and i used it for my works.

Photoshop Tutorial : Glossy Buttons

2008-10-19T10:05:00.001+07:00

Create some shiny glossy buttons for your website's menu system. This tutorial illustrates how to add a glossy finish to your buttons or other nifty shapes.

Start with a new image about 400x400 pixels with a background color of your choice, (the example uses white). Make any kind of wacky shape you'd like for your button (for this tutorial I will show you one particular shape, though you can use any shape you can imagine). Start by creating a new layer and using the ','black')" onmouseout="hidetooltip()">Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a rectangle roughly the size you want your button to be.

Open the Channels palette and create a new channel. Fill the selection in with white, and deselect (CTRL+D). Now go to Filter » Blur » Gaussian Blur and use a setting of about 3.5. Click OK. Next go to Image » Adjust » Levels and drag the two bottom triangles towards the center until the button looks nice and smooth (see the example below). Click OK when done. Hold CTRL and click on the "Alpha 1" channel to select it. Click the Layers tab to return to the Layers Palette.

Create a new layer, make that layer current, and then fill your selection with your chosen color (the example uses R:255 G:126 B:0), and deselect (CTRL+D). Now to make the button more interesting go to Edit » Transform » Perspective. Drag the bottom right point inwards so that your button is shaped similar to the example (or of course feel free to experiment with other shapes).

Now, to make the highlight, create a new layer. Using the ','black')" onmouseout="hidetooltip()">Freeform Pen. Ensure that the "Paths" options is selected in the Options bar, and not "Shape Layers". Draw a rough wiggle circle around the top of the shape as seen in the example. Once you have your path, right click and choose "Make Selection" - use the default settings. If the path is still visible under the selection, right click again and choose "Delete Path". Now create a new layer and fill the selection in with white.

Next hold CTRL and click on "Layer 1" to select it. Go to Select » Modify » Contract and enter 1. Now go to Select » Inverse. Make sure you have "Layer 2" active and hit delete. Now hold CTRL and click on "Layer 2" to select it then hit DELETE about 4 times to completely get rid of the white. Do not lose the selection.

Now press D then X to reset the colors. Select the ','black')" onmouseout="hidetooltip()">Gradient Tool and ensure that it is set to Linear mode. In the options tab change the gradient type to "Foreground to Transparent" and drag the gradient from the top of the selection to the bottom. You should now get a highlight effect. If you'd like you can save the selection for later use by choosing Select » Save Selection » OK. Then press CTRL+D to deselect. If the bottom of the highlight isn't as well-blended into the rest of the button as you'd like, choose Filter » Blur » Gaussian Blur and add as much blur as needed to soften the edge of the highlight.

You have the highlight, now you need the dark shadow. Do the same as before, using the ','black')" onmouseout="hidetooltip()">Freeform Pen draw a wiggly line across the bottom of your button (see the example). Again, right click and choose "Make selection", use default settings, and if applicable, right click and choose "Delete Path". Now create a new layer - don't lose the selection.

Create a new layer, select the layer and fill the selection with black. Hold CTRL and click on "Layer 1" to select it. Go to Select » Modify » Contract and enter 1. Then, go to Select » Inverse and with "Layer 3" active in the layers palette, hit delete. Now hold CTRL and click on "Layer 3" to select it, hit DELETE about 4 times to remove all the black - do not lose the selection.

Now set black as your foreground color, and using a the ','black')" onmouseout="hidetooltip()">Linear Gradient at foreground to transparent still, drag from the bottom of the selection to the top (you may want to drag from a spot a bit below the selection and stop right at the top, so that the gradient won't appear too dark). Then Deselect (CTRL+D). Now you may want to blur the black shadow a little using Filter » Blur » Gaussian Blur (the example uses a setting of 3.0, with the layer's opacity lowered down to between 40-60). The button is now complete, so if you'd like to add a drop shadow at this point, select "Layer 1" and choose Layer » Effects » Drop Shadow, and adjust the settings to your preference.

10.

When you add text make it the same color as the button but a lot darker. To make it look like it's inset into the button's surface, make a copy of the text layer by dragging it to the ','black')" onmouseout="hidetooltip()">New Layer icon in the Layers Palette. Drag the new copy layer below the first text layer and change the color of the duplicate text to white. Hold down CTRL to temporarily enable the Move Tool, and using the arrow keys on your keyboard, move it up a pixel and left a pixel. Set the layer blend mode to "Color Dodge". Go to Layer » Type » Render Layer (or depending on your version, right click on the text and choose Rasterize Type), and then Filter » Blur » Gaussian Blur, choose a setting of about 1.0. Finally, turn the bottom text layer's opacity down to about 50% and you're done.

11.

Don't stop there though. Make some whacky shapes and see the cool effects you get. Just experiment and see what you can come up with.

thanks to: http://www.absolutecross.com/tutorials/photoshop/interfaces/glossy-buttons/

Sun Day Design - part 2

2008-10-19T00:22:00.002+07:00

You must get the next result on this stage:

Using the brush of yellow color, try to add on the picture more mist between the layer with the grass and the one with the rainbow:

Applying the Rectangle Tool (U), make a new rectangle, applying the next Blending Options:

It’s the result we must get, but the color of the lines is not so important:

Provide the same rasterizing operation that we did with the rainbow’s layer. Press Ctrl+Shift+U, making it this way a monochromatic one.

Set the same Blending Mode shown below:

Applying the Eraser Tool (E)

Eraser Tool (E). The Eraser tool changes pixels in the image as you drag through them. If you\'re working in the background or in a layer with transparency locked, the pixels change to the background color; otherwise, the pixels are erased to transparency. You can also use the eraser to return the affected area to a state selected in the History palette.'); return false">Eraser Tool (E), try to move off those parts of the layer demonstrated next picture:

Make a spot of white color, choosing the brush for this operation:

Select the Paint Bucket Tool (G)

Paint Bucket Tool (G). The Paint Bucket tool fills adjacent pixels that are similar in color value to the pixels you click.'); return false">Paint Bucket Tool (G) to fill the new layer with white color and then insert on the layers’ panel the mask containing the cloud effect (Filter>Render>Clouds)

You must get the same result from below:

Using the Eraser Tool (E), try to move off the unnecessary parts to give the clouds a corresponding shape.

Next insert a vector character out of the own library.

… and several butterflies with the Custom Shape Tool (U)

Custom Shape Tool (U). You use the shape tools to draw lines, rectangles, rounded rectangles, and ellipses in an image. In Photoshop, you can also draw polygons and create custom shape libraries to reuse and share custom shapes.
'); return false">Custom Shape Tool (U)

The picture is finished!

thanks to: http://www.tutorialkit.com/tutorials/Sun-Day-Design-91679.html

Sun Day Design

2008-10-19T00:06:00.002+07:00

This tutorial will show you how to create sun day themed wallpaper.

For the beginning create a new file (File>New) of 1280x1024 px and 72 dpi. Select the Rectangle Tool (U) to stretch the element on the whole layer to represent the backside background. Select then the Blending Options>Gradient Overlay to set the next parameters, demonstrated below:

This is the way the new background should look like:

On a new layer we’ll represent the grass. In this case we’ll select the Brush Tool (B)

Brush Tool (B). The brush tool is used for making good backgrounds and also on new layers they have different types so that you get a different effect with every brush you use.'); return false">Brush Tool (B) and two standard brushes of two types, as it is indicated below:

Set both black colors on the tools’ panel:

… and represent the grass the next picture indicates it:

Continue by representing the rainbow, drawing firstly a line by applying the same method we did with the background:

Set the next indicated parameters:

We’ve got a rainbow line:

Create a new layer, marking it on the layers’ palette both with the line’s layer. Press Ctrl+E for the layers to be put together:

Select after that Filter>Distort>Shear to modify the line as it is shown below:

You must get the same thing:

Turn it over with Free Transform option (Ctrl+T)

Increase the lightness (Ctrl+U):

thanks to: http://www.tutorialkit.com/tutorials/Sun-Day-Design-91679.html

how to make a Improve photo quality true-colors in photoshop

2008-10-18T23:07:00.002+07:00

how to make a Improve-photo-quality-true-colors in photoshop.

Here we will tell you how to make a Improve-photo-quality-true-colors in photoshop.

[1] Open your image.

[2] Go to Image>Mode>Lab color and select it.

[3] Now select the channel Pallate.

[4] Select only a channel. It should look like this.

[5] You should look like this.

[6] Now press CTRL+L and set these values for the levels.

[7] Do the same thing for the “b” channel and set these values.

[8] Now select the lab channel like in the picture.

[9] Your image something look like this.

[10] Now make the copy of Background Layer.

[11] Now press CTRL+L and set these values for the levels.

[12] See below for final photoshop output image. I hope this is a good tutorial and you can use these photoshop tips in your graphics design project.

thanks to: http://www.tutorialkit.com/tutorials/Learn-to-Improve-photo-quality-true-colors-10089.html

How to make a simple design for your website!

2008-10-17T19:23:00.007+07:00

Simple and fresh website!

This tutorial will teach you to make a simple, colorful design. The multiple boxes will divide the information very well. You can use the colors for importance.

Step 1

Open a new document in Adobe Photoshop of about 650x500 pixel. Fill it up with white. With your Rounded Rectangular Tool draw a rectangular. Go to Layer > Layer Style > Gradient Overlay. Here set it just like below and make sure you check the “reverse” box.

Now to make those little flowers and grass. You take your Lasso Tool and start drawing flowers and leaves shapes. This is with what I came up with. They don`t have to be perfect and just need
to look like some.

This is the picture I choose for the header, you can use anything you like.

For the menu, make a new document, draw in it a small rounded rectangular and fill it with the same green you ended the header of. Now cut it in two and drag and drop the parts on the website. I only have 3 buttons, but you can have as many as you like.

The header is done. So Ctrl+Right click on every layer, without the first layer and Merge Layers.

Step 2

For the text above use the following color (#708348). The title should be bigger and with “bold” or “strong” and the subtitle should be smaller and not ”strong”.

Step 3
Now the structure is ready. Depends on what theme will you pick for the website. Mine is a non-profit organization that is helping children. In the Box below you should add info and because of the colors you can divide it in sections.

Step 4

Now add the text and anything else you like and the layout is ready. Mine looks like this.

thanks to : http://www.designtutorials.info/simple-and-fresh-website/

blog!

2008-10-17T18:41:00.000+07:00

Welcome to my blog!
hope you enjoy this blog