PS tut 2-Lemur

So you want to know how in the world I manage to make my art? Small steps at a time, that's how honestly. No one can instantly become an artist just as no skiddies can instantly become hackers so to speak. If you wish to truly learn Photoshop, then read on, but if you cringe at the thought of work then this isn't the place.

To the point then, shall we? This tutorial will cover resources that you need in order to have a worthy arsenal. I'm not saying that you can't make things with the default tools pre-installed, more that there are limitless resources to use in order to further yourself.

I'd recommend at least photoshop cs2 for compatibility, but 7 or above should work.

BRUSHES

Ah yes, brushes. Extremely useful and come in a variety of genres. The most popular are Grunge, Abstract, Fractal, Vector, and Tech. Many brushes can be found on a site such as http://www.deviantart.com through the browse function, just look in resources>application resources>photoshop brushes.

So you have yourself some fancy brushes right? Now how to use them… In photoshop go to edit>preset manager, the rest should be obvious from there. Now the brushes are ready to use! Try them out, don't hesitate to try anything and everything! Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is an artist. Practice with these brushes is crucial.

LAYERS

Are your best friend. Period. Attempting to work without layers is like in effect attempting to hack a site with a brute-forcer, it works but way too many headaches and a simple mistake could screw you. There is NO LIMIT to how many layers you can have (well… maybe[RAM]). If you have too many layers, no problem either, you can just group them in a folder!

In the layers section there is a folder Icon, click it and name it. Drag and Drop layers into it that you want to be grouped. Simple enough and saves loads of headaches on hunting through hundreds of layers(Daunting perhaps but my space art takes at least 180 layers each).

The best advice for layers is not to hesitate, play with the blending modes (a drop down box with normal displayed) until you get something that works, I do it all the time.

COLORS

So the image is nice and all, but you want it a different color? Easy enough to do honestly. Go to Images>adjustments>Hue/saturation. Start playing with the hue bar. Notice anything? The entire image is either on crack or the color balance is changing, personally I can never tell which it is on larger images…

Say also that you feel like the image just needs to be one color instead of some fruity rainbow. In the hue/saturation window there is a box labeled colorize. Click it and drag the hue slider, again easy enough.

Say the image is red and you want a little more FIRE to it, or its blue and you want the thing to FREEZE. In Cs2 or above (dont worry 7 users, theres another way) there is something called the photo filter, cooling, warming, and various others, play with it, get a nice feel for it. It's located in the same area as hue saturation.

Ok ok, so I said I'd help 7 users, go to the curves option in the same area as hue/sat. For a warm glow go to the red tab and drag the curve to an arc ( except diagonally and do the opposite to the blue. Want Ice? Do the opposite, red down blue up. Adjust the yellow/green SLIGHTLY to get the right look to it.

But hey, wait just a second, that only changes the layer your currently on! That might be a problem, eh? Not really, no. In the layers box there is a half white half black circle, click on it. Those options look familiar! Use one, see what happens. A new layer is made with the effect! By the way, try experimenting with the layer styles on this too, its quite enjoyable.

CONCLUSIONS

So you learned a few basic tricks, makes you a pro right? I'm all for optimism but this is only the first step in a long line to becoming an artist. Just as in hacking you need to read everywhere, but I wont leave you out in the dark, that'd be cold, so here are a few links to help you out.

http://www.pixel2life.com http://www.good-tutorials.com

EDIT- Crap, I forgot to give you renders! http://planetrenders.net/renders/

Read up, learn some cool effects, play around, dont be afraid to experiment with one or more at the same time, who cares if it blew up in your face, you still had kicks doing it.

NEXT TIME

I'll be teaching you some basic effects and brushing methods to make your art catch some eyes. See you then!

-Lemur

write an article; there arent very many in the graphics section.

I'll submit them there then, thanks

To each his own

everyone has their own preferences, personally i like gimp. but for the most part they've all got the same basic features. the difference is mostly in the layout.