Post your Tutorials for the Tutorial Section!

[Nikki]

If you have some good tutorials you would like to share with everyone please post them here and if they are clear I will move them into the fanart tutorials section

For those who had threads already on BuffyWorld then please feel free to just start them directly in the tutorial section here

[Justin]

Justin's Tutorials

Full icon Tutorial #1

Go from

to

First I duplicate the layer and set it to screen. This lightens up the icon alot

Then I add color balance with these settings

Shadows
-30, 0, +23
Midtones
-28, 0, +58
Highlights
-42, 0, +42


And I now have this



Now for a gradient map

I add this () gradient from Misplaced. I set that layer to screen with an oppacity of 54% and this is my final result

[Justin]

Full wallpaper tutorial

Im going to show you how too make this wall


Full sized

First I choose a picture from Glamorous SMG. I chose a BTVS season one promo picture of Buffy and Giles, placed it on my canvas and useing a soft round brush I erased the egde


Full Sized

Im now going to add textures all from Black Lagoon

I used these three textures

Texture One || Texture Two || Texture Three

all on normal and erased using a soft round brush, I now have this


Full Sized

Im now going to add gradients to my piece, all of these were from Black Lagoon, I don't remember exactually which ones but they were both on Soft Light @ 100.


Full Sized

Im now going to add filters to my piece, I used both smart blur (Radius 3, Threshold 5) and Paint Daubs (Brush Size 2, Shaprness 3) and this is now what I got


Full Sized

Time for text. I used simple Georgia text saying 'Buffy And Giles'<BR>
and arial saying 'I'd be no where without you'

and my final piece


Final Wallpaper

[Nikki]

Justin your tutorials have to be posted here to be decided if they are right for the tutorials section

[Linda]

We'll be making this wallpaper: Alyson Hannigan

1: Create your base and fill it with black #000000
2: Choose your image, i chose this one of Alyson Hannigan
3: Drag the picture onto the base and put it where you think looks best
4: Go to basic brushes (They come with pS) and choose a brush with smooth edges. I used a brush with smooth edges and at 200 px.
5: Gently delete the edges of your picture. here's what i got so far: Preview 1
6: Go to filter->Blur->Smart blur and use these settings: Radius: 3,0 - Treshold: 15,0
7: Now take the blur tool at strength 40% and blur all the rough edges. This is what we got so far: Preview 2
8: Take this TEXTURE (Made by Sayjay @ Radiance) and place it above your images and delete the parts that's covering her face. Preview 3.
9: Take this TEXTURE (made by me) place it above the other texture and set it to linear burn and delete the parts over her face: Preview 4
10: Take this TEXTURE (Made by me) place it at the top and put it to soft light 50%. Preview 5
11: Take this TEXTURE (made by webmistress @ Black Lagoon) and put it to overlay and delete the edges. Preview 6
12: Take this TEXTURE (Made by Nikki @ Misplaced moments) and put it to screen 50% and delete the parts you don't want Preview 7
13: Create a new layer on top of the others and press ctrl+shift+alt+e and put that layer to soft light 60%
14: Add some text and you're done. Final
________
Dodge Razor history

[Kiera]

Tutorial has been deleted by me as it no longer exists.

[vanessax17]

so i guess this goes here? o_o is the image too long? rules say keep width under 500 .. so i hope its ok, if not i can resize
photo retouching tutorial
description/steps written on the image. click thumb for full view

[ciderdrinker]

Beginner tutorial

Following discussion that we needed some new tutorials to help beginners I have come up with the following tutorial based on a piece I did ages ago. It's a fairly simple piece with a few images and a few uncomplicated techniques that are often used in fanart. Hope you find it easy to follow:-

This tutorial will show you how to resize and move images around the canvas, flip them, use layer masks, layer blend modes and gradient maps. Finally you will see how to add text.

This is what we'll be making:-


The images I used were from Free Images but I can't find them now as I've had them for a really long time but you can find them here (click for larger image):-
Cloud, Steeple and Wing image



The other two images were from Jenni Lou's wonderful Daydreaming site:-

Anna image

http://black-celebration.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=32389&fullsize=1

Dean images

http://black-celebration.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=30479&fullsize=1

Tutorial for "Forgive"
Open a new PS canvas (CTRL + N) in the size you want it. I used width 1600 pixels, height 900 pixels as that's the size of my laptop screen, but you can make it any size you want. For the tutorial I would suggest doing the same size if you want to replicate it exactly though. I had my background colour set to black and so in "Background contents" I chose Background colour from the drop down menu. I then had my new canvas open with a full black background.

I open the cloud image and pressed CTRL + A to select the whole image then Ctrl + C to copy it. I then went back to my "Untitled document" and ensuring the background layer was selected I pressed Ctrl + V to paste the image into my working doc. The cloud image is much larger than my working document and so I needed to resize it to a workable size.

If you are comfortable with how to re-size an image you can ignore the steps under the spoiler tags

Spoiler:

In order to resize I ensured the layer was selected by clicking on Layer 2 in the layers palette, then clicked the Move tool:-



A dotted line appears around the cloud image with little square "handles" at each corner and in the centre of the edges. In order to re-size you drag these corner handles toward the centre of the image. Beware though it is easy to pull the image out of shape by doing this. If you drag it downwards instead of diagonally you will make the image smaller in height but keep the width the same ? change the aspect ratio of the cloud image. We don't want to change the aspect ratio, we just want to make it smaller so thankfully PS has a handy tool that keeps it for us when we drag.

Once you have your dotted line, click on any of the handles and you will see that the dotted line becomes a solid line and the options bar along the top changes. In the options bar there is a chain link symbol between the width and height % boxes. If you click that you will maintain the aspect ratio whilst dragging.

You can also re-size by changing the % in these boxes, useful if you're taking a large image like this down to much smaller.

I resized my image to about 50% and it now looks like this:-



I wanted the light to come from the opposite direction and so I flipped the image by using Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal, ensuring the cloud layer was selected.

Ok now I want to soften the edges. I never have hard edges in my work, although that can be an artistic element, I find it difficult to pull off so always soften away the edges. There are many ways to do this, but the way I favour is to use a layer mask.

If you are familiar with layer masks and how they work you can skip the part under the spoiler tag

Spoiler:

Layer masks are a way of erasing parts of an image, but not permanently. If you make a mistake with a layer mask you can put it back the way it was easily. I like them because I create my art in an organic unplanned way and that leaves me room to change my mind as the piece progresses. I also change my mind a lot and make lots of mistakes so I couldn't work without them!

The way they work is, you paint black over the area you want to hide, but and here is the wonderful thing, if you want the image shown again you just need to paint over the black areas with white to bring it back to how it was.

In order to use a layer mask you have to add the mask to the image layer by clicking the icon at the bottom of the layers palette. It's the third one in and looks like a square with a circle in the middle:-



Once it's clicked a white rectangle will appear in the layer:-



This white rectangle needs to be selected when you paint the black on or you are just painting onto the image. In the screenshot above you can see a border around the white triangle and that indicates that the mask is selected. Once that's selected you simply select a brush, make sure the colour is black and paint away onto the image. If you want the effect to be paler (i.e. not as much erased) you can paint it with a lower opacity brush.

The best way to learn with masks is to use them, because you can always return to the original image. I suggest that once you've added the layer mask then paint black somewhere on the image that you want to keep, like the blue areas of the sky and you'll see it all disappear and the black of the background come through. If you then change your colour to white and paint over the same section in white it will restore the image as good as new. Then change the opacity of the brush to 50% and with black colour selected again do the same to see the different effect

I masked away all the hard edges so that you can't see where the cloud image ends and the background begins.

Now take the steeple image and paste it into the document. Resize it to roughly 70% and set the layer blend mode to "Soft Light". Move the image so that it looks like this:-



You may need to mask away the edges a little if you can see hard edges around the steeple image.

If you know all about layer blend modes you can ignore the next bit under spoiler tags

Spoiler:

So let's talk a moment about layer blend modes. The different blend modes will cause the interaction between the top layer (steeple) and the one below it (cloud) to change. This blend mode "Soft light" is kind of see-through ? you can see both images quite clearly but without affecting the brightness of the 2 images. Other layer blends affect the brightness, deepen the colours have stronger effects etc. The effects will also differ depending on the light and shadows, colours and composition of the images concerned. I'm sure there are better technical explanations for the way these work but I don't know them.

Take a moment to change the layer blend modes to all the ones available in the drop down box so that you can see the different effects. Now because I create organically, I tend to try lots of different blend modes before I settle on the one I like best and sometimes it changes as I go through. For this image I liked both Overlay and Soft light, but thought that Overlay was too strong. As you do your art you may find certain blend modes work better for you. I tend to use Soft Light, Multiply and Lighten a lot and others very rarely but it is a personal thing.

OK so next I pasted in the image of Anna above the Steeple image. I resized it down to about 90% and moved her to just to the left of the steeple at the top of the piece. I masked away the background leaving just Anna behind. I wasn't very accurate in removing the background so there are parts of Anna that you can't see very well, like the edge of her hair and jacket but for this piece it doesn't need to be precise. I also masked away the bottom half of her body so just chest up was showing.

I set Anna's layer to Screen. This is how it looks now:-



OK now I want Anna to have wings, because she's an angel.

I pasted the wings image under Anna's layer, resized it to about 50% and tilted the wing tips upwards so they looked more natural and moved it into place to the left of her shoulder. I then masked away most of the pale area around the wings and set it to soft light. To make the other wing I duplicated the wing layer by pressing Ctrl + J - that copies everything that I did to that layer as well. Once duplicated, I flipped the new wing layer horizontally and moved it into place by Anna's right shoulder. Now we have this:-



Now the problem I have is that Anna isn't standing out as much as I'd like. I don't want to lose the translucency of the clouds popping through, but I want to see her clearly. I duplicated the Anna layer (CTRL + J) and set this to Soft Light, which deepens the colour and brings some more detail into her jacket. She's more obvious now.

So I now add the final image of Dean looking up. I pasted him over all the layers, resized to about 70% and positioned him below and slightly to the right of Anna, basically so he's looking at her. I masked away the edges and set the blend mode to Screen.

I wasn't very happy with the positioning of the steeple now, Dean basically covered most of it and so it was unclear what it was. I moved the steeple layer around a bit until I found a better composition. It ended up only slightly further right than where it was to the right of Dean's head, but I changed the layer mode to Overlay to bring the silhouette effect out a bit more. This is what I end up with now that all the images are in place and I'm happy with the composition:-



So now I'm going to look at the colouring. For me colouring is always a matter of trial and error. I rarely have a colour scheme in mind when I start, although I might know whether I want warm or cold colours.

I use colours to highlight areas, to improve the balance of colours between the images, accentuate emotions and to create a more attractive image. The images in this piece are pretty balanced already. The background stock images are very saturated and the two main person images and fairly similar in brightness and contrast, however Dean's face is a little more red than Anna's So colour correction is not much of an issue, but by using a gradient map I can make this piece look more cohesive.

Explanation on how to use Gradient Maps in the spoiler tags

Spoiler:

To add a gradient map to the image click the icon at the bottom of the layers palette that is a circle divided with one half white and one half black. This will give you a pop-up menu:-



Choose Gradient Map and a new layer will appear which has the divided circle and a layer mask. You will immediately notice a change to your piece. If you colour selector is still black and white from using the masks earlier your piece will probably now be in black and white.

Double click on the divided circle on the gradient layer and a new tool box will appear:-



(How it actually looks will depend on the version of Photoshop you have but it will be something like this)

Click on the drop down arrow to show the different gradients available. I can't remember how many gradients come pre-installed with Photoshop but it's not many. You can create your own gradients, but I would suggest downloading some more. I have lots, some from Daydreaming and Salt n Burn, but I've had them for years so I don't know if they're still available.

For now though just click on the pre-installed red and green gradient. The piece will change colours too. This solid colouring is rarely suitable for what I do, so I change the blend mode to Soft Light. Now it will look like this:-



You can see what a difference that makes. Each gradient will make the colouring look different so spend some time playing about with the different gradients and how they look with different blend modes. In addition to the different gradients and layer blend mode combinations, you can also reverse the gradient for different effects. There are many options even with a limited amount of gradients.

In the end with this piece I used two different gradient map layers because I wanted a depth of colour that I couldn't get with just one. I like the way the lighter region made Anna look a little ethereal and how that light reflected down on Dean's face. With the other combinations, that contrast was not so evident but really here it's a personal thing:-



Now for text. I will happily admit I'm not good at it. I'm rubbish at font choice and its placement. Where you put your text should probably be incorporated into your thought process whilst you're placing your images, and I rarely do that so nearly always my text placed where there's room. Don't do that, it will make your life easier if you think about text earlier than I do.

I generally do the colouring before I add text so that I can blend the text in with the image and not have it stand out like a sore thumb. To add your text click on the text icon in the tool bar (the icon is a large T)

How to add text under spoiler tags

Spoiler:

Once you click on the Text icon click somewhere on the piece and a flashing cursor will show where to type. Once you've type your text, click the tick in the options bar at the top to commit the text.

From here you can change the font, size, the character spaces, add bold or italics, colours etc from the text palette. Font choice, size and colours are a personal thing so play around until you find something you like.

I chose two simple fonts, picked colours from the main body of the piece, one light one dark and put one line in capitals. This is all to break the text up a bit, make it more interesting and stop it being to blocky. I also changed the blend modes. The top line of text was set to "Difference" and the bottom line of text was set to "Colour Burn". I placed both text layers below the gradient layers.

Before I finish, I look over the piece in closer detail to see if there are any edges I've missed, any places on the piece that look weird or dodgy. For this piece I notice that you could see a bit of tree from the steeple image around Dean's nose which looked odd so I masked it away. That made Dean's face lighter but I was ok with that. I also masked away some edges around the wings that were still knocking around. This step is optional, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist so by all means ignore it if you're not as up tight as me!

Here is the final piece:-


Here is a link to the full size piece and to a copy of my PSD file if you want to see how I created it compared to your own version:-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2VDbf1z1HyVejFlX0NKUHJoUHM/edit?usp=sharing

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and it was all clear. If you have any questions, PM me and I'll be happy to answer.

[Nina]

In another thread Sky asked for a manip tutorial so here it is. Little warning: it's my first tutorial and not my best manip. But I hope it's clear what I do when I swap heads.

When you want to manip by far the hardest part is the beginning. Because you’ve to pick the right base for the right face. Some tips:

• Don’t make it too hard for yourself when you don’t have to and also when you just started making manips. Try to manip a character who looks straight in the camera and try to find a base which needs only a little bit of altering.
• Check if the body fits the character you want to ‘create’. By example SMG is a short and thin woman which means that you can’t paste her head on a tall woman with a lot of curves and make it look like Buffy.
• Always use HQ pictures because you need to do a lot of altering and low quality pictures won’t look good after you changed the colors and contrast. Also it’s easier when you can zoom in a lot.
• Don’t think too lightly about changing hair colors. It’s possible but in most cases it looks off.

The character I want to manip is early!Ats Cordelia. So I’m looking for a slender female with long brown hair, in her late-twenties/early-thirties and not flat-chested. Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance in Arrow) comes to mind and thankfully there is a picture I can use in Daydreaming’s fabulous gallery. So I go with:

and (for some reason the Laurel picture doesn’t fully load; but it doesn’t really matter for this tutorial.)

I copy-paste both pictures in photoshop.

























And this is where I ended up with:




edit:
I'm so sorry for the many type and grammar mistakes.

[Nina]

Not a real tutorial but a few techniques I use quite often.

The caps I used were by Kiss Them Goodbye and the texture was by Sweet Taste of Bitter

Some Text techniques/tips:







How do you place a picture in the centre of your wallpaper/graphic:




Use the Defringe option:



Improving the look of your screencaps:








Cutting your picture into a circle:




Add focus:





How to deal with a bad quality cap: (better is not to deal with those at all but if you really have to...)