Jenni Lou's tutorials

[Jenni Lou]

FanArt From Start to Finish

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/fanart/albums/heroes/mattaudrey/normal_matt_audrey.jpg (http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/fanart/displayimage.php?pos=-1669)

First I pick my two photos and arrange them on the black canvas. Next I erase away parts of them on a layer mask.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/1.jpg

Next, I want to add some depth and interest to the negative space and I really like the pipes in the right pic and the little red blops in the left pic, so I duplicate those layers and place them in various places, using rotate, to give everyting a new direction. There are five or six layers of this extra stuff, making ten layers for the whole piece so far.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/2.jpg

Next, I am going to add a gradient layer because I find it easier to see where I am going once I have my color scheme more or less set. This one was pretty easy to color. I didn't have to lay around with the settings at all; I just chose the eigth gradient in my Mix N' Match (http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/downloads.php?gradients) set and set it to reverse and really loved the colors. So that's it.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/3.jpg

Now I want to add a stock image of some candles (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/682767). I size it down and apply the median filter at 17, add a layer mask and erase areas of it. Additonally, I also adjust the color using the Hue/Saturation selection; I just tone down the red as well as bring down the Lightness.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/4.jpg

Now I notice that the piping on the right picture looks a little harsh comparitvely to the rest of the piece. SO I am going to slect that portion of the pic and apply some median at 4.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/5.jpg

I also am going to add a little bit of the Tweaker filter by XeroGraphics to the pictures of Matt and Audrey. It doesn't change anything drastically, it just brightens it up slightly. So now I am taking another stock photo--this time of light streaks (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/682189)--and placing it over all the image layer. It's very red so I am going to tone it down like I did with the candle picture. I am also going to use Selective Color, selecting Yellow from the drop down menu, and moving the bottom level (Black) all the way to the left. I will do this three times and it get rid of all of the yellow in the streaks.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/6.jpg


Next, I am going to size down the light streak picture a bit and desaturate it a little bit more and then set the opacity to 44% and also Auto Contrast it. I am also going use the burn tool and run along the edges.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/7.jpg

Now for a little brushwork. I am going to use Brush "132" in my set Randomness 3 (http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/downloads.php?brushes) and then on my brushes palette I select the options: Shape Dynamics and Scattering. Below are the settings I've chosen for Shape Dynamics.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/8.jpg

Then I run the brush along the left side, using white as my color ad the layer opacity set at 22%. And I add text. Now, for the text, I am using two fonts, Corleone Due and Charlesworth. I use the Edit > Transform >> Skew function and slant the text. I want to have large spacing between the letters so I set the spacing at various intervals in the thousands on my text palette. And I use some drop shadow and various gradients on them. It just takes a bit of fiddling around to get the effects I want.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/mattaudrey/9.jpg

And then I am done! I flatten my layer, duplicate it, add some smart sharpen and then go to Edit >> Fade to Soft Light at 34%.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/fanart/albums/heroes/mattaudrey/normal_matt_audrey.jpg (http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/fanart/displayimage.php?pos=-1669)

[Jenni Lou]

This is a tutorial for beginners or people with a basic knowledge of Photoshop. Here I am going to explain how to make images into shapes.

First you are going to want to select what kind of shape you want to create. This includes the many default sutoms hape tools Photoshop has already included in its default settings. For the ourpose of this tutorial, I using a simple "Rounded Rectangle Tool." Here is where you can find the shapes on your tool bar:

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/shapes/1.jpg

Next I am going to want to make another selection. With the "Rounded Rectangle Tool" selected I am going to make sure I have the "Paths" option in use. And here is where you can find that:

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/shapes/2.jpg

What the "Paths" option does is make it so that when you place a shape on your canvas, it will just give us the path and it won't fill it in with color. The first option in that list, "Shape Layers," will fill the area with color while also creating a new path. The third option, "Fill Pixels," will fill in the area with color without creating a path.

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I have this pic of Inara ad I am going to select part of the image with the "Rounded Rectangle Tool" and this is what that shouild look like:

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/shapes/3.jpg

Now I want to turn that path into a selection. There two ways to do this. I can either right-click on the image (while the custom shape tool is still selected on the tool bar) and choose "Make Selection" or I can go to my Paths palette and coose from there:

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/shapes/4.jpg

(If you don't know where your Paths palette is, you can easily retrieve it under Window >> Paths.)

SO now I am going to copy that part of the image I have selected and then paste it and move it. And I repeat these steps a few times and now I have a bunch of rounded-edged boxes.

http://fractured-simplicity.net/daydreaming/media/tutorials/shapes/5.jpg

And remember, you can do this and more with any shape tool!