Please help me...

June 11, 2008, 4:14 AM

Ugh, I've come to the conclusion that simply fooling around with the PS CS2 program will only get me so far >__<

There are various things I'm having trouble with, but my the main ones would be the following:

Creating renders

Using lighting effects

Using Textures

Using Patterns

Truth be told, I doubt I'm even using the proper terms

Anyways, I was playing around with a rendered image of Haseo in his Xth form from the video game series .hack//G.U.

You need to register on to the site to see the render, but here's the original image:

And here's what I managed to create:

Now this is the best thing I've managed to create in PS CS2, but I know I have a LONG way to go.

I'm sure more can be done to it to make it better, but that's all I know, so if you have suggestions of any sort, please share them!

June 11, 2008, 8:04 AM

Well from what I see I think there's no layers in front of Haseo it's like he's standing alone and nothing going on around him, why don't you try adding more things to the picture (C4Ds, try creating new layers and use Brushes) Add Depth (Blur tool) but lower the strength of it.

And if you want to use patterns create a new layer and add one (Paint Bucket tool, select Pattern instead of foreground) try moving it behind the render, or in front of him, mess around with the blending options, that's what I do until I find something I like

.

June 12, 2008, 1:02 AM

With textures and patterns, I usually just create a random effect on a new layer (few brushes here and there, or messing with C4Ds), then double-click that and either mess with the texture or pattern overlay. I make sure that when I do use textures though, I would decrease the opacity and make it subtle-looking. You can really create neat background effects with these.

As for lighting effects, there's different ways really. When I first started, I used brushes (white color) to add my own lighting effects, but after reading tutorials, I found that you can use many different ways to do this. If you go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects or Lens Flare...you can create cool-looking effects. Just mess with it and you'll get the hang of it.

Really, when it comes down to it, (at least to me anyway), it's just a bunch of exploring these different type of features and see the unique outcomes that you can come up with. Some may come out not-so-good looking, but don't give up. I promise that you'll get better and better as you practice. =]

June 12, 2008, 1:38 AM

It's not too bad for a first try. I like how the lighting makes sense and matches the shadowing and lighting of the stock itself.

One thing you should definitely use are gradients. To make a gradient, eye-drop both a light color from the stock, and a dark color from the stock. You have the option of making either a radial, diamond, or a linear gradient. Make sure that the colors you use match, and if you use a radial gradient, the light color should be in the middle. Be sure to do this on a brand new raster layer (to do that, click "layer," on the top bar, then "new," and then "layer"). You can set layers on various blending modes (by clicking the drop-down menu occupying "normal"), such as "soft light," and "overlay." Most of my base backgrounds are gradients.

When I use filters from the filter gallery, it's often on a duplicate layer of my stock, and I often use the "dark strokes" filter with a lot of white intensity. I often throw that filtered layer into in the background on a certain blending mode and on a low opacity. It's a pretty good method to create depth, and not to mention, keep the colors matching. Liquifying can also be pretty effective, but it can also ruin a tag. If you choose to liquify a C4D or a duplicate layer of the stock, don't try to turn it into a background that covers the entire canvas, and make sure it follows the "flow" of the tag. "Flow" is just what the word implies.

Also, try giving your canvases smaller dimensions... Like, 350x110, or so. It's always good to start off using smaller canvases, as larger canvases are almost always harder to work with. And one thing to be wary of is making sure you include at least the shoulders and not just the head of the person/character in the stock.

I wanted to find a few tutorials for you, but I can't find anything good atm.

June 12, 2008, 4:34 AM

Thanks for the replies!

Ummm...What are C4Ds O_o

And gradients

I played around with the white colour and I noticed that it does have a nice effect. It gives a nice "glow" sort of effect ^^

I tried liquify only a few times, but I didn't really like it, to be honest >__<

I fooled around with the different brushes I downloaded and was able to make some varying "texture" looking stuff.

Anyways, here's the second attempt; I started over again, but it doesn't look that different from the first attempt >__<

Um, yeah, tried to be more liberal with layers, but I don't know *sighs*

June 12, 2008, 9:10 AM

C4D are things created in Cinema 4D: Example
and for your second attempt well I dunno O_O it seems you over done it with brushes, try adding more effects in front of Haseo like duplicating Haseo's layer and try using filters.
Here's what I got even so I dislike this size:

June 12, 2008, 9:31 AM

It turns out I can't sleep so I decided to keep working on this >__<

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

C4D are things created in Cinema 4D: Example
and for your second attempt well I dunno O_O it seems you over done it with brushes, try adding more effects in front of Haseo like duplicating Haseo's layer and try using filters.

Thanks again for replying ^^

Oh, okay; do you need to download these C4Ds into the program or could I just find images like this and incorporate into the sig I wanna make?

Yeah, I was just so awed with the white paint effect >__<

Why do I need to duplicate Haseo's image? I did that and tinkered with the duplicate with Filters but it doesn't look any different if I had just messed around with the original Haseo image

And what do you mean more effects "in front" of Haseo; like, have a paint stroke across Haseo or something?

EDIT: Ah, okay, I think I know what you meant by effects in front of Haseo

June 12, 2008, 9:35 AM

Quote:

do you need to download these C4Ds into the program or could I just find images like this and incorporate into the sig I wanna make?

You can find them by searching, try Deviantart and google

Quote:

Why do I need to duplicate Haseo's image? I did that and tinkered with the duplicate with Filters but it doesn't look any different if I had just messed around with the original Haseo image

Forget this I don't think you'll be able to do anything with him now

Quote:

And what do you mean more effects "in front" of Haseo; like, have a paint stroke across Haseo or something?

Duplicating the background, Filter > wave > choose square or anything like that using filters, and place it in front of Haseo then you choose a blending option (normal, Dissolve, Color burn ... etc)

June 12, 2008, 9:40 AM

Ah, thanks for the reply Dark Cloud.

Umm...I don't have a "wave" function after accessing filters (using PS CS2)

I'll keep trying for now, and thanks for the example pic!