GFX Collab

[Mitsuki]

The thread to discuss about collaborating with someone and the experience behind it all.

How many times have you done collaboration work with someone? Do you find it extremely hard or easier to share the work with your fellow GFX artist? And most importantly, share with us what you've learned about your partner's style of work while looking at the .psd. Or just anything you can contribute here.

I've only done collabs three times, so the thought of sharing the workload with someone really intrigues me, and at the same, makes me nervous because I'm very picky and critical of my work. My most recent collab was with Lewis, and I have to admit that when he asked me, in my mind I went, "Oh shit, you're kidding me." Yeah no need to explain further. xD

So we began our little project. We both agreed we'd rather work with a female model versus a male model, since there is a lot more 'mood' and 'personality' we can contribute to the signature. Before we began, we made a few things clear. Basically, if one of us really think we should make changes to the other's work (layer), then we will do so. Yes we respect each other's work, but that doesn't mean we should be timid and quit being critical and leave things be. We both wanted something good out of it, one that will really reflect both our style into the piece.

He started the work, then 10 minutes later sent me the .psd. I made some adjustments, added a few layers, though I noticed that we were sorta afraid to touch the image at first. xD We concentrated on lighting more than anything. It took a few going-back-and-forth deal, one that lasted almost the whole day. Needless to say, it was a little nerve-wracking and I found it extremely difficult because knowing Lewis, he's one that is very picky as well, so I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing at first. But before long, we both got a feel of how we want the piece to look like and just went along with it, changing each other's layers here and there, though nothing too drastic.

I noticed that Lew is pretty much the same as me. We like to work with many many many layers, and most of it are very subtle effects - just how we both like it, I guess. Subtle effects A + subtle effects B + subtle effects C (etc) = the final effect. Just to give you guys an idea. We're not ones to actually put a very solid effect or background and call it a done deal. There's a lot of tweaking, adjustments, and moving/turning layers around to make something unnoticeable...noticeable. =] It was a great experience, one that I enjoyed thoroughly. Definitely something that we'd call 'teamwork'!

And for our collab work:

More of a simplistic approach here, but this particular image didn't require too many in-your-face effects. It just wouldn't work.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

I don't know where I'm going to start with this but Kira said she'll beat me with a rolling pin if I don't so...

This was the first time I've collaborated with anyone and I was curious what it was like so the idea of a collaboration was a bit spontaneous, and Kira was bored so we decided to go for it. We had no idea how it was going to work out, or what direction we were going to take since we both have fairly contrasting styles effects so we had to bend for one another to make sure there wasn't a massive and obvious clash of styles.

I let Kira pick the stock and render since I really didn't have a clue what to choose or use, so we were set for our enormous adventure. We did agree that should anything need to be changed then just do it, although in the end very little needed to be changed since we just played off what the other did last.

So, the stock and render were picked. We started off with smaller effects, I added some clipping masks here and there whilst Kira focused more on the lighting to give the signature more depth. After that, I too started focusing on more of the lighting and colour just to give it that little more depth, colour wise. All in all, just sending it back and forth twice ended up taking about 2 hours since we got stuck in the SB talking about random crap.

We were now drawing near to the conclusion of our journey, to finish it off we started swinging towards the styles we're most comfortable with. Kira started focusing on bigger aspects now such as the font and text [because she's far better than me at it] as well as some additional lighting and the gradients etc, I started focusing more towards little niggly subtle effects trying my hardest not to just slap some massive effect on that would look out of place. We had now finished.

There were times it looked like it wasn't really going anywhere but we climbed the mountain eventually.

Finished Piece:

 

[Warbsywoo]

Oh great, I'm not that great at telling stories...especially long ones.

But anyways...like Ryan this was my first collaborating with anyone on a GFX piece. Needless to say, this was with Mitsuki so I was kinda iffy on whether I had the GFX skills to complement her style (it's been a while since I've done anything so I currently consider myself rusty at GFX ).

We both were leaning towards doing a Halloween themed signature but we encountered a ton of roadblocks in regards to stock selection along the way. Eventually we reached the conclusion of going for a music theme, and it was Mitsuki who ultimately proposed the Beatles sig as the focus of our collaboration.

Our original concept was for something that said something about how Paul, John, George, and Ringo changed the landscape of music together; which was to be achieved with a half black/white, half colored composition. Eventually we came to realize that this was impossible so the colored part was left to almost a bare minimum. hmph

Working with someone else is kind of interesting...mostly because I never really know how others like to work on their GFX. I was kind of surprised that Mitsuki and I were kind of on the same page with layers and the subtle effects and whatnot. I learned a couple of things about different layer styles since things like 'vivid light' and 'color balance' were definitely things that I had never played around with before nor have even thought about using. Needless to say, I think the juxtaposition of both the subtlety and the more glaring features of the sig were a pleasant surprise since that's not something you would think would go harmoniously together with that contrast.

We applied different styles and concepts, with me working on the more glaring effects of the sig like the colored bar in the background while Mitsuki worked more on the more subtle elements.

Lots of roadblocks...the stock was tricky to work with. We finished strong at the end though and personally, I really like how it came out.

 

[Six]

*Ahem* ... So here were Mits and I, starting our first collaboration together. I was nervous. I love working with other graphic artists I look up to, and this was another great experience.

So we started by asking if we had a certain theme in mind, neither of us really did. We agreed to looking up some stocks, and pick whichever we liked best. It was funny to know that Mits is just like me. I'll spend forever on looking for a stock, be alright with it, show the person I'm working with, and then tell them I don't like it. I told Mits to show me something she liked, she did, and then said that she thought it was too boring. Yeah, great start, two fussy girls.

So we finally found a stock I had worked with before. We decided on a light instead of dark, and fairy theme. Mits started and made a few layers, and I adjusted some lightning, added some topaz, sharpening, and subtle effects. We both seemed to like those. By this point, we had already agreed to delete what we didn't like from the other, or change it.

Mits added little pieces of subtleness to the signature, as I added some of the glitter to it, which she did too, duplicated and changed the layer style some.

We ended up not deleting anything, which surprised me. We worked with every little detail we gave each other. Mits had me do the text, why is beyond me. I think her class text style would've been great on this piece as well. I decided to go with something subtle, as we were focusing on the little details to make the signature interesting, and I didn't want the text to stand out.

We agreed the MC looked good. Mitsuki and Colours is what it stands for, obviously. I noticed that Mits is kinda the same with her colour filters and gradient maps, as me. I really recognized my own way of making a signature in her layers, which... calmed my nerves quite a bit.

I slapped on the border, Mits adjusted it. I will not brag about our awesome team work. (we're awesome. I'm kidding. ...butseriously.)

In the end we had some giggles over certain points on the signature, which are creators only knows-its. We are both really satisfied with the outcome, and it was an absolute blast working together with Mitsuki. It made it so much more fun that we were able to work with what we gave each other. Really hope to collaborate with her again in the future.

Here is our finished piece:

 

[moogling]

I've done a few collabs, though if I'm honest I don't remember the entire process by now. When they go well the result is usually a lot more satisfying than making something yourself. Props to Lewis for doing so many with me, I get so frustrated so easily and yet he put up with it.

I think it's easy to do collaborations if you're willing to let people delete your mistakes and learn from them. It's an awesome way to improve, too. If you're going to get annoyed that someone's editing your work then it's not for you.

This one was made as a SOTW entry, with Lewis. This was back when I didn't even have photoshop. The most I remember about this is that I only started the basic canvas by cropping and positioning, doing a little coloring and adjustment for him, then he added most of the effects and pink in there. Sent it back, I adjusted a little more and added border and a text. I think it could have been so much better, if I was better at the time.

So basically what happened here is I fucked up Lewis' work. I think it still turned out pretty nice, but again, if I was more experienced at the time it would have gone more smoothly. I remember being so frustrated with the C4D effects too, but he made them look good in the end.

I did fuck all in this one honestly... All of the effects were Lewis, all I remember doing was the crop and lighting.

This one is the most recent of our collabs, and my favorite obviously. The work was actually somewhat evenly distributed in this one. I did the background, render placement and some gradient maps I believe, as well as topaz and text at the end. I always leave the effects to him.

This one was with Kira, clearly. This one went so smoothly, I don't think we really edited each others work at all. We have a somewhat similar style so I think that's why it worked out so well. We both worked out the background, and adjustment layers. She did some effects here and there, and when I started finishing it off with topaz, she completed it with text. One of my favorites as well.

 

[Big Casino]

I do not remember this....AT ALL

This one was great tho hoho. I like it alot.

 

[Six]

A Collaboration by; Sakura, Calipso & Six.

Ahhh, these girls. Cali makes amazing pieces with her eye for colour and placement, Ariana tops it off with depth and lighting. I loved doing this collab even though by the time I got the piece, it was nearly finished, I added some small touches here and there, and slapped a border on. It's nice to work with people who have the same eye for certain things, Ariana with her rebellious text, that I personally love too, and Cali with the extra touches for making the colours stand out that much more.

It was great working on this piece with them, and I'd love to Collab with these girls again. ♥

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