Butts Happen

30 Image Treatments

2009-06-10T01:27:00.000-07:00

The original image:

All 30 images available on Flikr.

A few personal favorites...

Building Proposal Project

2009-06-10T01:22:00.000-07:00

My first attempt was green camo, before it was pointed out that that might be taken as something related to the military.

So I guess it turned gay instead.

Taking reflective building materials one step further?!

It would be mocking the MAX line, perhaps. Or maybe just trying to confuse and disorient it.

Final products!

did you ever know, you're my tragic hero?

2009-06-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

TV style scanlines! This was just as simple as the halftone tutorial these people did, and the effect is just as amusing. I think I could have used a better photograph for mine, though.
These people know some sinister looking children, seriously.
My version:

This wasn't a very realistic smoke effect, but I've never used Liquefy before so that as an interesting experiment.
Once I'd gotten tired of smearing around smoke, I added some effects of my own and called it good.
My version:

Well this tutorial is basically insane. I tried to do it, then realized it would take way more hours than I was willing to donate, and ended up cutting out a good chunk of the work in the middle. It's a different result, but I'm not displeased, at least.
My version (with a bonus! I altered one of the steps to use what I learned in the smoke tutorial!):

This has some interesting techniques -- again, I didn't learn anything, but I enjoyed watching the artist put all of them together in interesting ways. -- No, hang on, I lied. I realized that I can use the warp/distort options on a single brush stroke. That's brilliant. I've never thought of doing that before.

Pretty simple, pretty straight forward. Applying makeup in Photoshop.

A beautiful tutorial, and some useful information! If you've ever wanted to recreate the Shroud of Turin on, say, your curtains, but don't want to get them stained? Here you go!

How to make a tiny truck! Using the clone tool for more than just hiding things in a picture.

And on the same page, how to straighten the Tower of Piza!

Compositing Images
How to combine two (or more) images, useful and well explained.

Cute and useful! A tutorial about the process of picking the best options for a website's mascot.

50/50

you can't say you've never had a doubt

2009-06-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Learn to Remove Glasses
This one wasn't too impressive, since I already knew how to use to clone/heal brushes. I did learn more details about them though, so that was good.

But above all? I learned that you can make a snapshot in the history window.

Holy crap.

Consider my world rocked.

Shaping text! I liked this one, it's good to know. I don't use Illustrator too often, but if I ever need text in a circle and don't feel like doing it myself, I know where to go now!

I liked this one! Brushes are something I can never get enough of, so it's nice to know how to make my own now. Apparently I can't get more than one to save at a time though, so that's unfortunate.

This was created entirely in brushes I'd made with this tutorial.

Change Brunette to Blonde
This one was just what I'd do anyway, but I liked the part about applying it to a different selection, that was interesting. I hadn't realized that was possible.

Change Eye Color
Didn't learn anything here, but it's a clear and useful tutorial nonetheless.

This is a strange effect to want, but it was interesting. An easy to follow tutorial.
My version:

This was fun! The tutorial was really vague and assumed a lot of previous Photoshop experience, but I was okay with that.
My version:

I really liked this one! Easy to follow, and really creative uses of things I've never really played with before. Plus, I learned that ctrl+backspace fills the layer. :D
My version (it looked Asian to me, so I followed the theme by using a picture I'd taken in Hong Kong):

Making an image halftone! This was surprisingly simple, but I really like the end result. Really pretty. I had to do a little tweaking outside of the tutorial to get that misty white light to it that I had in my mind when I started with this picture, but other than than the tutorial was easy to follow and effective.
My version:

40/50

OK~ you are look soo pretty now

2009-06-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

This was seriously impressive. I hadn't seen the final result by the time I started reading over it, so I just kept getting more and more impressed, any by the time of the end I was so glad that an artist like this would take the time to explain his method. Bookmarking this one for sure.

I'm so glad I found this guy's tutorials! It's a good mix of useful information and impressive skill, so I feel like I'm actually going to improve if I try out his methods. (Granted he does seem to be the kind of artist that just draws a lot of pretty women floating in empty space, but they're well-drawn pretty women, so I'll forgive it.) Bookmarking this one too.

This one was a little hard to follow because the artist doesn't natively speak English. It's very blunt and bland, and while it's good art, the process wasn't particularly revealing.

I thought at first this was going to be another doesn't-teach-me-anything tutorial (although it's very good for beginners at photoshop, since it explains with impressive clarity grouping and multiplying), but it turned out to be useful toward the end. I didn't like some of her methods, but others were pretty impressive.

This seems to be one of the many examples I find of someone making a tutorial that really doesn't have any tips or tricks to share, just common sense.

Same pattern, I thought this would just be a silly useless thing. It looked like she was trying to make a raster image into an imitation vector image -- but it turned out to be interesting and useful.

This wasn't a wealth of information, but I did like the part about coloring the lineart when you're done and the best way to pick a color for it. I always have trouble with that part.

Another case of common sense instead of tricks, and to boot I don't really like the final product. Didn't enjoy this one very much.

I really like this one! Clouds give me some issues, and I really like the different kinds at atmospheres the artist has provided here. Bookmarking this one, too.

This one was seriously fun to do. I have no real use (at the moment) for having a planet picture, but when I saw it it looked so fun that I had to try it. Viola, something Mars-like!
My version:

31/50

ghostintheshell

2009-05-26T17:21:00.001-07:00

Okay I admit I'm using these tutorials for another class, but it's still digital!! Still counts, right? yes indeed, images are links.

I don't think I like this one much. I don't like the end result, and there's too much preceding crap that I already know. I'm sure there's stuff in there I could use, but it's too hard to dig through the baby steps.

This one's a little better. More easily read, more tricky, more overall useful. But I still don't want to use that method, I was looking for which brush setting is good to use. :(

Am I just overly picky? I don't like this one at all -- this is just the basics, and the final result isn't all that nice at all.

Okay, then I sort of gave up on inking at all for a second.

Speed painting! Whenever I try it it comes out looking a bit like crap, but this tutorial wasn't very useful. That's the basic idea, and I didn't learn much.

Alright and then I just got distracted all together.

I REALLY like this tutorial. It's not Photoshop tricks that I'm learning as much as how to apply them -- and I think that's really really useful. I'm definitely going to be keeping that one bookmarked.

And then I realized this guy had more tutorials! And I rejoiced. And I bookmarked a few more things. I like the final picture a little less in this one, but again, it's useful information.

Then suddenly I was more interested in the rain effect than inking.

This one's pretty useful too! Everyone seems to have a slightly different method for making rain.

This one was less helpful in the actual raindrops bit (but I can use the other tutorials for that), but pretty good about rain-on-objects. I can learn from that, too!

Some people have really weird methods.

I think this person was actually using a mouse rather than a tablet. So her pointers are more on how to make it look good-despite-mouseage. Not much use to me, then.

WELL, I guess I'll just go with my usual method then, since I don't really feel like learning the pen tool right now.

that burger looks pretty good

2009-05-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

That tutorial, by Messa, where I was all impressed about the blur effect? I'm definitely trying to imitate her coloring methods, but it's taking some time. In the meanwhile, I imitated just the blur. With interesting results.

Original:

With blur!:

It was fun.

testosterone-infused machismo

2009-05-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

This has always been one of my favorite tutorials. (Sorry for not uploading it directly, but it's a PDF and that's the best solution I could think of.) It's great not just for technique, but for the idea process as well. I think it's incredibly useful, even if the end result of it isn't exactly the end result you're looking to duplicate.

For the rest: click to enlarge.

This one seems pretty useful. It seems pretty simple, and I'm sure there are a thousand other ways I could achieve the same thing, but it was still interesting to read over.

This one is good if you're looking for that effect, but I have to say I would probably prefer to just use watercolor to get a watercolor effect. I like the bit about the layer modes though, that's pretty useful. Playing around with layer modes is what makes Photoshop so amusing for me.

This one is another pretty useful one if that's what you're looking for. I can't think of that many times I need to draw an animal eye, but it will happen one day! And on that day, I'll be glad to have this tutorial.

I wasn't too impressed with this tutorial at first, because it wasn't really anything I didn't know. But then the artist got to the bit about creating a duplicate and blurring it, and I was suddenly amazed. I'd always wondered how people did that...

This tutorial is creepy. I'm not sure I really want to paint like that.

Logo Process

2009-05-19T10:39:00.001-07:00

First I started out with the basic colors and shapes. Blue rectangle on a white rectangle on a black background. A good start!

Next I matched the font as best I could -- it's not exact, but it's close, and added the yellow rectangle as an underline.

Then came the fun part. I had to start tracing the Michelin Man, because there was definitely no other way I could think of to reproduce an image like that.

When I was done tracing I had to select the shape under the image I'd just created to fill it with white. I moved it to a different color of a background to make it easier to see if I'd gone over the line.
Additionally I selected the outermost object, the outline, and thickened it to 2 px to make it more bold.

Lined him up to make sure the proportions were right...

Then put it all together!

you have just got to be ultra-paranoid

2009-04-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

Attempt two! It turned out to be too frustrating to trace the leaves, so I went with something all new. I didn't see much Saggyman art that invoved vectorized nature anyway. I like this more than the first.

Abstract Background Tutorial.
I like this one. It's all pretty self-explanatory, but it's really nice to have it confirmed for me that that IS, in fact, how Illustrator works, I'm not just guessing and fumbling through the dark.
I don't really like the final design, though.

Tracing Photos Tutorials.
This is really really one to keep an eye on, and I wish I'd found it sooner! This is exactly what I was trying and failing to do just last night. I have to try this one when I get home, seriously.

Comic Style Strokes Tutorial.
This one seems a little too washed-down and simple. It works, but it doesn't look very good. It seems to me that the same effect would happen in Photoshop, only it would look better.

Creating a Logo.
I think this one's going to come in really useful for the next project! I have to keep track of this tutorial as well. (I actually like the end result as well, so that's a plus.)

This... is so cool. I'm going to watch it every night before I go to bed until I figure out exactly how to do it.

give judy my notice

2009-04-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

Most of this project seemed to involve sitting around and thinking. I saw that Stefan Sagmeister's art seemed to involve a lot of written messages, and the ones that interested me the most were those that used nature as a canvas. So I took note of potential messages as well as general elements of his art. All of his messages seemed to be positive ones, which gave me the idea of using a hand in the 'thumbs up' position and writing on it. This was my main idea for a while.

This was the picture I wanted to use:
I'd had it worked out in my notes, "everybody" would go on the thumb, "who is" on the first finger, then "honest", "is", "interesting", and probably "Stefan Sagmeister" on the wrist.

Then, though, I stumbled on this picture...

And remembered having seen it earlier. It had stuck with me. The act of vandalizing nature to get across a positive message captured my attention very successfully. I wanted to try something similar.

After a quick survey of my house, I found an old brown leaf I'd been hoarding since fall, a thick marker, and some dried roses my mom gathers from the garden. I had all the supplies I needed, and I knew which message would be short enough not to be difficult to read.

I wrote it on one side of the leaf at first, but it looked lumpy and gross. The composition seemed a little stupid too. But it was just the first try.

I figured out the lighting I wanted to use next. (Done by just removing the flash and turning on the track lighting overhead.) Still didn't like the arrangement, though.

Flipped the leaf over and tried again, and this time was happier with the layout of the writing. The composition is a little better, too.

Added some more stuff, alright! But the angle was a little too straight foward.

And then I was done!

Attempt two in Illustrator coming soon.

who the heck are these jerks

2009-04-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Stefan Sagmeister

I really admire his use of text, and I'm staring to see a theme in my appreciates of that. Text over images, text supplementing images but not explaining them, unusual and not typically straightforward choice of words (high-contrast photographs or illustrations).

I don't have any ideas for my imitation of his art yet, but I can't wait to start working on it.

2009-04-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

The first thing I've finished in a week or two, I like how this came out. I'm always attracted to drawing this particular character's sly eyes/knowing smile, now I've gotten it out of my system for a while.

This was my favorite of the font patterns we did; cursive Ls bring me pleasure in general, but apparently they're pretty awesome when you shove them all really close together. I think I would actually use this pattern in another piece of work.
I liked working with Illustrator, too. More than I thought I would. I liked most that each type didn't become a new layer, that drives me crazy in Photoshop. The vectors were great, moving and resizing was convenient. It's convinced me that it'd be worth it to learn more about it!

Second favorite! Uppercase J in Stencil.

Why, yes, I do pretty much stalk Sophia. (This one's a cover page for an installment of her webcomic.) I love the grunge of this one -- that's a theme in her work, but this one carries it particularly well. And the cropping is just eerie.

Strange Dream, by Seto.

we can all wear sars masks and justin will cry blood

2009-04-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

(all images: click to enlarge)
This is my friend Sophia's art, and I just have to say, I'm going to kill her one day. She's not even out of high school, nor does she want to pursue art as a career. I just. What.

She does a lot with text in her art, I think it's really impressive. I met her about two years ago and she was moderately good, and since then she's developed this amazing style and her techniques have just shot up and basically I'm pretty sure she sold her soul.

This one is by fresh4u, another impressive piece. I really admire people that can create an atmosphere like that. The lines are simple, they're even messy, but the effect they create all together brings me glee.

(click to enlarge)
A tutorial by scruffyronin.
I like the organization of this tutorial, it allows itself to be understood without actually reading anything. Not that you shouldn't read it, but you know. It's a good trait. My favorite tutorials are the sort that point out something you could have figured out if you'd stared hard enough, but that you don't necessarily think about. These are the kind you can just quietly keep in the back of your mind and incorporate when you next draw.
In short, I liked this one. Not the most insightful thing, but simple and useful.

(click to enlarge) (the picture in question)
Another one by Sophia. I really really liked this tutorial. Some of her techniques I ended up not liking very much, but some of them I found just about invaluable. She always seems like a Photoshop wizard to me, uncovering amazing new features and figuring out how to best implement them. I've been inspired by her discoveries a few times to make some of my own, but like the leech I am, most things I know I learned from Sophia.

(click to enlarge)
This one's by yajido. I admit I haven't had much of a chance to put this one to use, but I really want to. I haven't had much experience with vectors and this looks perfect for teaching that!

Hand tutorial by zue.
This one seemed less useful. I didn't learn anything new, although the bit about circles and joints could be put to use. I think the artist could have explained a little more and given a few more tips, possibly about musculature structure and the way the skin folds.

Animal tutorial by Cedarseed.
This seems almost not at all like a tutorial. Each animal should probably have its own guide, otherwise I'm better off just looking up photographs of these animals myself.

Definitely wanna go back and check out the vector tutorial.

notorious for mondays and tuesdays

2009-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

computer experience:

I first crawled onto the computer at the tender age of 12 or so, and worried my dad that I'd never find my way around it or understand it to be the valuable resource that it was. Three years later he had to limit me to an hour usage a day.
That is to say, I'm pretty comfortable in the medium.

what are you excited about?

Life, the universe, and everything! I'm excited about digital art because it's my preferred method (and so much cheaper than art supplies, oh man), and I'm excited about this class in particular because that was an interesting introduction, and because I really haven't had that much exposure to to real world of graphic design. I've so far been secluded to my neat and tidy little groups of online artists, which is all well and good, but I'd like to see what it's like from the opinions of people that actually make money from it.
Also? Comics and graphic novels. I'm pretty excited about those in general.

favorite books & magazines:

I can't immediately think of any magazines I follow, but I've got too many favorite books to count. Catch-22 and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are probably at the top of the list, which get steadily less classic and more nerdy as it descends.

favorite websites:

DeviantART makes for an excellent place to put my artwork, although I'm usually too lazy to put it there and instead prefer to up in my blog on LiveJournal. I've also got a pretty regularly updated webcomic on SmackJeeves. These are my most-visited sites, I'd say.