Nikki's Tutorials [Archive]

Nikki

22-06-07, 11:13 AM

This is a tutorial for how I made the piece you see below. It includes not only technically what I did but how I decided to use everything to get the result I did.

You can see this on misplaced too with thumbnails here (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/walltut.php).

No Hope
http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/nohopethumb.jpg
800 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/nohope800.jpg) | 1024 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/nohope.jpg)

I picked this wall to do a tutorial on as it really shows my style for scene art. I love working with emotion and showing it right from the first step as you'll see!

Picking images
There are many little things to consider when picking images. It's always best to pick the best quality images you can. There are a lot of great screencap/images sites out there now and it is worth hunting around a bit for the better quality ones. If you can get images large and shrink them down it's better than getting them small and enlarging them as quality will be lost. But it's also important to look at the difference in light and colour between the images you want to use as you want the end result to have the images uniformed in the colour of your choice!
I started with the following 3 images. For a piece like this 4 is the maximum number of images I would use, anymore and the piece will feel crowded, but I like to have more than the main two images to fill a scene. So I have 3. I've picked them based on what they feel to me. I wanted high emotion and in the two main images you can see that in their eyes. And the more distant image is showing how they aren't good at communicating; turning their backs is the theme.

Also credit where credit is due is very important.

These images are from Stripped Wall Screencaps (http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/index.php?cat=9) who are a new find but an excellent screencap site for Supernatural caps!
Image 1 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/image1.jpg) | Image 2 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/image2.jpg) | Image 3 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/image3.jpg)

Composition
Ok so I've got my three images, it's time to open a canvas to work on, I always start with a black background, especially if the caps you are using are dark, it makes blending easier. I like to work with 1024x768 pixels as I have a bigger screen and it's always better to work in a bigger canvas and reduce the size to save it than to work in 800x600 and then make it bigger as you will lose quality.

So I want the close up images to be the focal point of the piece, I want the first thing people see when they open this piece is the emotion from Sam and Dean's faces. So I take Sam first as I want him in the background for this, I resize the image to 500 pixels height. While I like big images, I think you can go too big with a face and anything over 600pixels high if it's a close up shot makes it too much on the canvas.

Now Sam is a good size and I place him just off centre at the top. I don't like pieces that feel symmetrical in anyway so I will look for image placement that's centre or cornered. It's important it feels natural on the canvas not placed by rulers! And the reason he's at the top was actually dictated by the cap cutting the top of his head, it's not impossible to work around that but for my purposes here it worked well to have him at the top.

I'm going to do the same with Dean now. As he's going to be in the front of this piece I wanted him a bit bigger, so I make him 550 pixels in height. Now as I've got Sam on the piece already placement for Dean is important. You can see from his eyes that while his head is turned to the side his eyes are still looking centre as are Sam's. And as I'm trying to show that they aren't good at communication I don't want their eye contact to be directed at each other. It also works better that Dean is facing one side, that's the side I want away from Sam. It's also important that he's lower than Sam to bring the piece down from just the top of the canvas. But if he's too far down it'll give a stretched feeling. So I've placed it naturally where the bottom of this cap dictates. Because the image is bigger than Dean it works nicely where his face is.

On to the last cap. As this for me is a filler I want it smaller just to show again how they aren't able to face each other and be completely open. So I've sized this at 350 pixels height. Now there isn't much choice in where this image goes as Dean and Sam take up a lot of space and I want to use the space around them for texture.

So into the bottom right it goes.

Composition (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/composition.jpg)

Blending
I'm such a huge blending fan, while I appreciate the boxy style many can create I've felt that a good blend brings the scene and all its emotions together best for me. While I love that a boxy style can allow you to put so many more images on to a canvas in order to do that you need to make them smaller and for me when you can't see their faces clearly you lose the power that comes from their expressions. Nothing tells a scene better than faces and body language in art.

Ok onto the actual blending!...
So these caps are fairly dark and they are on a black background so while there are spots I need to erase the edges of images it's not as bad as if it was all light, and I know that my textures are going to be quite strong in covering the none imaged areas so blending isn't a big job here. Starting with Sam again as I always like to start with the bottom cap and work up to the top (in terms of layers).

All I need to do with Sam is just the bottom of him. I take the lasso tool at feather 30 then make my sweeping oval just below the cap (as 30 is high and I don't want to lose any of the actual cap, just the edge).

Then on to Dean, again the only bit of him I need to do is above his head, so again I circle the area above the cap and hit delete a few times until the edge fades away but making sure I don't take any of the image.

Blending View 1 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/blending1.jpg)
Blending View 2 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/blending2.jpg)

Lastly the scene cap at the bottom, this needs a bit more work as I want to clear above their heads and a bit of the background to the left but keep it so it is a scene happening under Sam and not something that he is a part of. Again with the lasso apart from the caps I start clearing a bit at a time until I'm left with what I like. A useful part of the lasso tool is once you've defined the shape you want to use to delete from your image you can pick it up and move it closer or further from the image.

Blending View 3 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/blending3.jpg)
Blending View 4 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/blending4.jpg)

So I'm happy with how it's blended now and am ready to go further.
Note, while after this point I can change the composition I don't like to go past here with doubts about it.

Image quality
While I'm lucky in this scene to be working with excellent quality caps but I still like to play a little. I like my faces to be clear, sharp but soft at the same time. So I have a very simple trick that works for me. I firstly make a new layer then merge all the existing layers into it. In Photoshop the shortcut is shift > control > n for a new layer then shift > control > alt > e . The reason for doing this is that if you merge the layers down you lose the ability to change the images/composition, but the new layer with everything flattened into it gives the same effect.

Ok I then duplicate that merged layer. Select the top layer now and go to Filter > Blur > Smart Blur the change the threshold only from 25.0 to 10.0 and apply.

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/blur.jpg

If the faces were darker I could have duplicated the sharpened bottom layer and set that also to screen but it wasn't needed in this case, it's like the lighting was perfect for art!

I then set that layer to screen. Ok now select the layer beneath it (the first of the merged layers) and go Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen. This will then give the images the sharpness I want but with the softness over it. It doesn't take away from the naturalness of the images. I feel it's important not to over filter images, especially faces, if you want the caps to speak for themselves don't block them!

Image Quality (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/blursharpenlayer.jpg)

Textures
Like many people I do believe that textures are an important part of the piece. Whether you use your own textures, others or even stock images it's good to add more to the canvas that will focus the images and give mood and background to what's going on in the piece. Textures should never be the main focus though and care should be given to making sure they don't cover the images from view. For me I love many types of textures, often I will use at least 2 different ones in a piece. I used the two following textures;

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/textures/thumbs/misplaced4.jpg (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/misplaceda.jpg)| http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/textures/thumbs/misplaced13.jpg (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/misplacedd.jpg)[/URL]

But I took the second texture, rotated it and changed the colour so it now looks like this
[URL="http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/texturecoloured.jpg"]Texture (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/misplacedd.jpg)

So the first texture I used was the one above, because it had a nice random rough feel to it and I wanted to fill the left of the canvas a bit. I kept it on normal and full opacity but using just one of my cloud brushes (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/brushes.php) I brushed away the texture from over the images so it acted almost as a border to them. As I want to keep the focus on the images it's important that I keep the texture off them. So while the brush is set at 85% Opacity I use it over a few times to be sure that their faces are clean.

Texture Step 1 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/brushingtexture.jpg)

Then I used the second texture which has a lovely soft swirl feel to it and actually originated from a nice stock image I found a while back! I set this one to screen to bring out the texture underneath it but again brushed away the images to keep them sharp and clear again.

Texture Step 2 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/texture2.jpg)

Next I took that same texture from above but rotated horizontal and placed it over the others again, this was to increase that effect of something flowing round the edge almost trying to draw you into the centre where the action is.

Texture Step 3 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/texture3.jpg)

So I'm stopping here with textures. It's easy to get really carried away but for me I love to keep some of the background of the cap in so you can see the whole scene as opposed to just images coming out of texture. Like to the right behind Sam, I kept that window in behind him as not only did it work well to light that scene but it was natural that it was there, removing it would have looked like images circled in texture. You can see even with the left of the piece where I've used the textures most strongly you can still see the dark under them and they aren't right into the side of Dean's face.

Gradients
I love to use gradients, in fact I loved them so much that it's my favourite part of art making at the moment! I've just made my first set and have had some great feedback on it and I'm using 3 of them for this piece. I think each piece should have a colour theme, but that one colour should never be really strong, they are supposed to be subtle in most cases anyway. It's also important that faces are kept as natural as possible otherwise they do look out of place. The best art for me is a scene that fits together so naturally as if you are watching that scene on TV. The images are real and convey what was going on, the texture sets the mood and the text either lyrics or quotes just wrap up the piece as a whole.

There are certain colours associated with certain scenes, for example blue is a cold scene, and red is passionate. Again this isn't always the case; red can symbol blood and pain. But colours do symbolise a lot. Now colours are vital to getting the mood set, they need to work with the images and the textures you've used so far. Luckily the images were dark and had no strong colour, my textures I made green. For me Supernatural screams green. It's intense, high on emotion close to be red of blood and pain, but close to being blue and feeling raw. But I don't want the piece to be bright green I like it subtle so that's where gradients come in for me.

These are the gradients I used from my own set

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/gradients.jpg

You can download these here (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/gradients/misplacedgradients1.grd)

So gradient 1 I used first to give a little bit of green to the piece, but I also like to use my first gradient to lighten the piece up as most of my other gradients I set to 'soft light' it constantly darkens a bit, so by using the first to get the piece lighter you never end up with a much darker piece from using gradients. So I set it to 'screen'. Because it intensifies the colours I lower the opacity and the fill down to 45% (for both).

Gradient Step 1 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/gradient1.jpg)

Gradient 2 is simple I love green but something can be too green, it's always nice to balance it out with a bit of blue, also this will darken the piece again and give the textures a nice feel. This time I set the gradient layer to 'soft light'.

Gradient Step 2 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/gradient2.jpg)

Last gradient for this piece again only makes a tiny difference when set to soft light, but I still felt the green was just a bit too strong. So I went with an almost plain one as I like the colouring so far I just want something to darken the piece a tiny little bit more.

Gradient Step 3 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/gradient3.jpg)

So I'm now happy with my colouring! I love that the texture has the feel of both blue and green through it and lighter and darker parts, it's no working perfectly together but also the images are clean, not too coloured that they don't look natural.

Text
What a lot of people forget is that text is a finishing touch. A piece looks weird without it but text shouldn't be the first thing your eyes are drawn to when opening a piece of art. My number 1 rule is never use white text. Unless you are working with a black and white piece and it's appropriate! But for a wallpaper like I have done white is so wrong. There is no white anywhere in my piece so far why put it in now? It's always best to pick a colour that's already there. Either by the colour picker or just guessing, like for me light/dark green wouldn't be going wrong!! But I also love that I can use my gradient layers to help colour the text. Often I will put my text layer under textures as well as gradient layers to try and make it feel like it belongs there as opposed to an after thought.

I generally try to find lyrics for a piece as opposed to a quote from the scene, unless I feel the piece calls for that as an explanation for something. Often what has inspired me to make the piece is the first place is a song I've heard and then already I will have my lyrics. But it's always worth reading the transcript of the scene you are making to see if a line is said that will work beautifully in the piece instead of lyrics.

For this piece I chose to go with lyrics, but I also felt that as the images were very powerful I wanted to be harsh with the lyrics. So I picked 'Carry On Dancing' by Savage Garden.

In terms of text placement it's again as hard as the original composition. It's important that text doesn't go over a face or even any part of the images. It's also good to try at this point and balance out the canvas if you feel one part is used more heavily. You have to be careful not to just dump text in an open space though! So many things to consider! So I have put my text next to Dean's head just above his eye level. It's there sitting nicely in some texture so it's not jumping out at anyone too much!

Text (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/text.jpg)

In terms of fonts it's always important that whatever you use is readable! Otherwise it defeats the purpose! It's also good not to have really fancy fonts or again it does take away from the images and the message they are getting across. I always go for two fonts, one very plain one like Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana etc and then slight different one like Dali, Still Time, Hanshand to use on the line I think needs emphasising from the rest.

Amount of text is also important to consider. I don't like more than lines in general, I don't tend to like to read much when looking at art, but one line is ok if you think it says enough. Also a big thing is layers. If you are using more than one line of text make sure you put it in different layers and you then have the flexibility to move it more other than the standard options of left right or centre and there is nothing original about them!!

And finally how it looks again now we are done

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/nohopethumb.jpg
800 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/nohope800.jpg) | 1024 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/epwallnew/nohope.jpg)

I do at this point flatten the layers but I always keep a .psd unflattened version for a few days incase I spot any mistakes afterwards!
So that covers everything that went into this piece. I hope it helps to give you an insight into how I work and if you picked up any tips then I'm very happy!

Nikki

22-06-07, 11:15 AM

This is a very simple tutorial on how to improve the quality of screencaps for art.

With new shows airing and being used in art before the DVDs are out for capping more and more people are struggling to get the TV caps as good as possible. Now mine aren't the best but it's a pretty good guide to some extra things you can do to keep them sharp but soft at the same time for the perfect art.

This image (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/start.jpg) is the starting image with the areas that are really bad circled and this image (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/finish.jpg) is the end result.

So the first step is to duplicate the image. I do this because if you apply too many effects/filters to the same layer you end up losing any of the original quality.

To duplicate the layer you need to right click on the base/background (layer with the image) and select 'duplicate layer'
Step 1 - duplicate layer and screen (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/step1.jpg)

So now we have two copies of the same layer. I am going to set the top layer to screen. This is because TV caps are always a bit darker so it's a good idea to brighten them up to improve them, its always easier to darken images later on than lighten them.

The next step is to select the top of your two layers and smart blur it. This is done by going to 'Filter > Blur > Smart Blur' and choosing the options below.

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/step2.jpg

Now because the cap I've chosen is originally a very light cap and the blur is making it a bit too blurry I'm going to reduce the opacity of that top smart blurred layer.

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/step3.jpg

Now we move on to the bottom/base layer, so select that in your layer platelet and for this we are going to sharpen it, this is a simple effect. 'Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen' and that's that one.

Next it's still a bit pixelated so I'm going to use the smudge too It might not be showing on your tools menu, but it will either show a finger or an odd flame shape.. well if it's the finger that's already set to smudge, if it's the flame, the just right click on it and you'll see the finger (smudge tool) option to select.

Now because we have our two layers with different effects already I'm going to merge them into one for the smudge tool, which is the final step. So now I have just one layer and I'm going to make it perfect and ready to move into my wallpaper

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/step4.jpg http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/step5.jpg

Now the smudge tool has to be used on very low settings or it will distort your piece.

http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/step6.jpg

Often I will zoom into the piece at 200% just to see clearly the pixels I'm going to smudge out.

Step 7 (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/step7.jpg)

The important part to think about with the smudge tool is what way to use it. My favourite is to start with the hair but following the way the hair goes. I only do short motions and many of them, just to clean out those little pixelated bits. And around the month, around the eyes, and down with the line of the shadow.

It's also good to do the edges just imaging you are re-drawing them, your tool at this low strength won't drastically change anything, just soften it. And you can never go overboard! It is just a matter of practice and seeing what it looks like after you've played a bit, but I promise it's a great trick and you'll love the effects on poor caps.

Anyway here is my finished result

Final (http://moments.misplaced.co.uk/tutorial/improving/finish.jpg)