Author Archives: Sam

 
This tutorial I wrote a while back and posted in my own graphics journal. Some of you might have seen it already.
 

Under the cut it’s a little wee bit of tutorial of one way I go about preparing a base for the icons I make. After I go through these few steps i add textures, text, brushes and what-not’s. This is one the quickest ways I think, and works very well for the more semi-dark qaf caps.
 

Hopefully someone might find it somewhat useful. I made it in PS CS2.
 

We’re going to go from:
 

this:

(click for original size)
 
to this:

 
 

Welcome. School is in session…
 
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Photoshop – Basics: Blending and layer masks.
 
 

To blend an image by blurring it’s edges to create a seamless transition is sometimes very useful when making any sort of graphic. Usually I use it for larger stuff like headers, wallpapers and banners or any sort of collage. Layer masks are also very useful when you want to erase areas without using the eraser.
 
 

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Photoshop – Basics: Layers and cropping.
 

I’m gonna start this by posting a couple of basic Photoshop tutorials.
 

This is child’s play for most of you, but it’s actually something that I have myself explained a couple of times before so I think it might be good to put it into a post here.
 

The software I’m using is Photoshop CS2, but the basics applies to Paintshop Pro as well. That is to say – it’s translatable with a little imagination.
 

Take your seats. School is in session!
 

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Glossary
In this post I will add words that are normally used when working with graphics that can be a bit confusing to understand at first. I’ll do my best to keep it alphabetical.
 

This is a Work In Progress…
 

Blend/s/ing
To blend two or more images together. For example to make a collage.
 
 

Crop
To “cut down” an image to the size you want.
 
 

Layer blends
Not to be confused with blending. This is an effect you can apply on a layer. Examples of layer blend modes are: Screen, Soft Light, Multiply, Exclusion etc.
 
 

Manip/s – Manipulations
To manipulate an image. In same cases it referres to for example when the graphics artist put one person’s head on somebody else’s body.
 
 

Textures
An image that can be pasted into a layer and by changing the layer blend mode will bring different feels and looks to the finished image.
 

If you know of any word that should be here but isn’t, don’t hesitate to comment about it here and I’ll add it to the list. Same with if you have stumbled upon a word that you don’t understand. I’ll do my best to answer you and then add it to the list.