Sugarpoultry's Homeroom /[Graphics School]\

[Ice_Dragon]

Guess who's here, Chugar.

1. Pasted a stock and smudged it a bit.
2. Paster the render
3. Duplicated the render and did some smudging.
4. Placed the untouched Render on top.
5. Created a new layer, Applied the Image, then used the Liquefy tool to create flow. Layer on lighten.
6. Pasted a c4d, set the layer to Linear Dodge, and erased parts I didn't like.
7. Another C4D. This time on Screen.
8. Duplicated Samus, and placed her on top.
9. Lighting.
10. Applied the image. Did some smudging.
11. More C4D. Screen again.
12. More smudging. Some scatter brushing at add to flow.
13. More Smudging. Layer set to lighten.
14. Two Splatter Clipping Masks.
15. Black -> White Gradient map. Soft Light, 40% opacity.
16. Applied the Image. Used the Angled Brush Strokes filter to make even more flow.
17. Orange -> White Gradient Map. Overlay, 15% Opacity, 57% Fill.
18. Orange -> Yellow Gradient Map. Soft Light, 70% Opacity, 23 % Fill.
19. Black and White Gradient. Set the layer to soft light, 50%, 36%.
20. Blue -> White Grading Map. Soft Light 64%, 73%.
21. Curves layer.
22. Cooling Filter. Colour, 75% Opacity.

And here is a result:

 

[sugarpoultry]

lukintosh: Hmmmm... I actually wouldn't mind some help on critiquing! That would be nice to have 2 artists opinions. Thank you!!! :D :D

I got the go-ahead via PM to start on assignment one, so here it is!

Here's what I did, I missed some things though, I got too into it and realized I'd forgotten to log what I was doing a few times.

Is... there a reason she's upside down? O_o I would flip that up. But from what I can see its not too bad. Lighting angle is great, the rays are nice, the left side of the sig is a bit bare. To fix that might I recommend making Samus bigger. ^_^ Try that.

Guess who's here, Chugar.

1. Pasted a stock and smudged it a bit.
2. Paster the render
3. Duplicated the render and did some smudging.
4. Placed the untouched Render on top.
5. Created a new layer, Applied the Image, then used the Liquefy tool to create flow. Layer on lighten.
6. Pasted a c4d, set the layer to Linear Dodge, and erased parts I didn't like.
7. Another C4D. This time on Screen.
8. Duplicated Samus, and placed her on top.
9. Lighting.
10. Applied the image. Did some smudging.
11. More C4D. Screen again.
12. More smudging. Some scatter brushing at add to flow.
13. More Smudging. Layer set to lighten.
14. Two Splatter Clipping Masks.
15. Black -> White Gradient map. Soft Light, 40% opacity.
16. Applied the Image. Used the Angled Brush Strokes filter to make even more flow.
17. Orange -> White Gradient Map. Overlay, 15% Opacity, 57% Fill.
18. Orange -> Yellow Gradient Map. Soft Light, 70% Opacity, 23 % Fill.
19. Black and White Gradient. Set the layer to soft light, 50%, 36%.
20. Blue -> White Grading Map. Soft Light 64%, 73%.
21. Curves layer.
22. Cooling Filter. Colour, 75% Opacity.

And here is a result:

FROZEN! ICE! What are you doing here? You need to be my student on ZU. I'm a graphics teacher over there too. :D Well anyways, that sig is HAWT!

I see a lot of smudging in the background (which is very nice), but I do see a lot of choppy edges on the render (mostly my fault, but that was the most high quality render I could find).

This goes for everyone, but when you have a render thats choppy like that, either blend it or erase it.

Icy, since your background is smudged as well, I suggest trying to smudge the edges of Samus a bit. :D :D

Luk, any suggestions, do so. ^_^




ATTENTION STUDENTS!!!!

The point of listing out everyones steps is for people to learn from them. Take notes, when you redu your sig, try copying what they did. Everyones steps are important, so learn from each other. :D​

 

[Mechageo]

Before, the image made me think that samus could be laying on her shoulders, so I tried to make it look like that.

Didn't turn out the way I had planned, though, so here's the fixed version.

I resized Samus, adjusted the angle of the light beams with free transform on that layer, then I flattened all of the layers of Samus together and duplicated it, reducing the opacity of each one by 15 until I was at 0.

Then, I adjusted the color and hue on the duplications after I flattened all of them into a single layer.

Rotated Samus and the shadows, and smudged the light source to fix the line where the image had originally ended.

That's it.

 

[sugarpoultry]

Before, the image made me think that samus could be laying on her shoulders, so I tried to make it look like that.

Didn't turn out the way I had planned, though, so here's the fixed version.

I resized Samus, adjusted the angle of the light beams with free transform on that layer, then I flattened all of the layers of Samus together and duplicated it, reducing the opacity of each one by 15 until I was at 0.

Then, I adjusted the color and hue on the duplications after I flattened all of them into a single layer.

Rotated Samus and the shadows, and smudged the light source to fix the line where the image had originally ended.

That's it.

I'm not a big fan of the duplications, but if you want them in, I'd make them softer or barely noticeable.

 

[Mechageo]

What do you think about this?

 

[sugarpoultry]

Ooooh that is much better. Great improvement!

The next assignment will be posted up tonight or tomorrow. ^_^

 

[lukintosh]

Here's a suggestion: Have a "Best Assignment" Award for each assignment? Then the students can gauge" their standards.

 

[Crescendolls]

Here is my assignment:

1) Opened render in a new document, created new document for assignment
2) Cut out logo on render
3) Pasted render on assignment document
4) Found this picture on google and layered it in the background
5) Used the Blend Tool and Blur Tool to mold background (I sort of went for a soft Jupiterish look)
6) Blurred out Samus's edges so they weren't so sharp on the background
7) Put up black boder
8) Duplicated Samus's visor, arm cannon, green lights on legs, and blue lights on shoulders and added an Outer Glow to them all
9) Cut and Copied Samus's left arm from original render and added it to the assignment (her left arm was originally visible with the placement, and it looked amputated)
10) Blurred new left arm a little and re touched it so it blended well with the rest of the render
11) Used brushes to add smoky effect around Samus, her arm cannon, and the left side of the document.
12) Used a dotted brush around her cannon, blurred them and lessened the opacity as well as cut a few out
13) Added a subtle dark blue Outer Glow to Samus so she popped out a little better
14) Used the Smudge Tool to reshape the energy in the arm cannon, added Outer Glow and did small retouches

there you have it

 

[lukintosh]

Wow Cresendolls very "soft" feeling. Good job. Depth is evident, decent smudging. Keep up the good work.

Just a general piece of advice to all students: There are MANY MANY resources on the net for you to use, such as C4Ds and Background stocks and Brush Presets. I'm sure sugar has already told you about it.

 

[Ice_Dragon]

Eep! Sorry for the double post, I got hit with some major lag and forgot to refresh the page. I can't delete my own posts here either. Shame... I'll go ahead and report this and hope it gets deleted before anyone sees. >.<

 

[Ice_Dragon]

I feel special, my name is a different colour on the list.

Anyway, I don't think i will smudge the edges of the render, because that I reckon Samus would become part of the effects, rather than the main focus of the sig... Just my opinion though.

 

[Duker]

You could add the resources at DeviantArt in the first post too sugar-sensei.

C4Ds
Brushes (Photoshop)

 

[sugarpoultry]

Ah yes thank you! *added*

Ice_Dragon: LOL. You already know how to do this stuff, you really don't need to be my student.

 

[Ice_Dragon]

^ That's true, but its nice to be able to learn new things from other people. I'll just help you like / you don't want me over shadowing you with my superior skillz. <3

 

[sugarpoultry]

Here is my assignment:

I agree, the depth is very nice. I don't think the background color matches very well, try to get it to match the render more, so yellows and oranges and such. You can keep some of the original color in of course.

Kudos.

Ok, who else haven't I critiqued, because be prepared..... your next assignment is coming up! :D

Next assignment is up, and here is what I did.

Basically, you'll be working with tutorials. So go to the first post, choose wisely and have fun! :D

 

[Crescendolls]

I'm actually pretty excited about the new assignment. It's a hard choice between the awesomeness of Assassin's Creed or the color possibilities of the girl. Plus I've never used c4ds before, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[sugarpoultry]

I don't know if any of the tuts I used has C4D's, I was trying not to, because eventually I am going to have a C4D assignment. Oh well if there are some.

 

[Duker]

(There's a C4D in the 1st Gimp tut)

The fourth PS tut is impossible to read...

I assume we don't have to follow the tutorials religiously... I generally don't like tutorials like these since they usually are extremely strict on what to do.

Ahh, I can't decide which to do, the 1st tut and AC render or 3rd tut and the girl render!

 

[sugarpoultry]

Nah, you don't have to follow them exactly. I usually stop when I think it looks good. I learned something new in these tutorials, they are good.

 

[skyler123456789]

are you still looking for 2 more students? id love to sign up!

 

[Evelgest]

Ok, who else haven't I critiqued, because be prepared..... your next assignment is coming up! :D

Next assignment is up, and here is what I did.

Basically, you'll be working with tutorials. So go to the first post, choose wisely and have fun! :D

Interesting, I was about to choose the same tutorial and render..

Is there another link to the last tut? It's impossible to read. Thanks.

 

[OnyxVulpine]

Haha great idea SP. I hope this isn't spamming, I just find it a pretty good idea that you would go to help people like this. I would become I student but I have a lot of other things going on, so good luck to you students :3

-Onyx

 

[sugarpoultry]

skyler123456789: I wouldn't mind if you joined. PM me the questions. :D

Onyx: Thankies! XD

 

[sugarpoultry]

I had to change the last PS tutorial, because the other one apparently didn't work.

 

[Duker]

I followed the 3rd photoshop tutorial with the 3rd render.

Didn't bother to write everything I did in the tutorial, so I only listed if I changed something in the tut.

Umm... don't mind the text << .

1. Did a Smart Blur on the render to remove the grains.
2. Follows the tutorial <.<
3. Made one major thing at step 6 different: Set the smoothing to 5-7-ish instead.
4. Duplicated render and set to overlay 50-ish %.
5. Did the optional thing in step 12, but lowered the opacity a tad.
6. Photofilter doesn't seem to exist in PS7, so I added a Color Balance layer instead.
7. Skipped step 17, it didn't look good.
8. Did the frame by filling a new layer with black, added Bevel and Emboss. Duplicated, flipped up-side-down and changed direction to Down. Both set to Lighten.
9. It felt a bit empty, so I croped it.

 

[sugarpoultry]

I really like it, everything about it, but the size is a bit weird. It would fit in a sig, but usually they are wider. The border is a bit hard to see, I'd make it black or at least a bit darker.
As long as you are happy with it. Very well done.

 

[SFAT]

>_<

I just installed Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended onto my computer today. I've been trying to teach myself how to use it, but I'm failing horribly. There are just so many things, and I have no idea where to begin. Can somebody guide me through the basics?

Everybody's artworks on this thread are amazing, I hope I am able to produce works like these. ;P

 

[sugarpoultry]

>_<

I just installed Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended onto my computer today. I've been trying to teach myself how to use it, but I'm failing horribly. There are just so many things, and I have no idea where to begin. Can somebody guide me through the basics?

Everybody's artworks on this thread are amazing, I hope I am able to produce works like these. ;P

I sure wouldn't mind helping. For someone who has never done anything with PS, I would look on YouTube for video tutorials to watch first, and then start with some really easy beginner tutorials. (Check the first post for some). The other best way, experiment experiment experiment. Play around, don't be afraid to click everything to see what it does. Just open a sig size canvas, add a render/character, and play around, see what you can do. That is how I started out. ^_^

Once you get comfortable, yes, try the tutorials and everything in the resources I provided. Good luck!

 

[Duker]

Use it, it doesn't matter what you do really, just use it. Learn the shortcuts, learn what everything do. Tutorials and teachers can help, but most important is that you turn the program into an extension of yourself.

This is the one truth about learning.


(The frame didn't turn out they way I wanted, and I originally had it wider, but most of it was dead space.)

 

[SFAT]

Thanks to both of you for the advice. I'll be right on it and it won't be long hopefully until you see me on this thread again. Thanks again.

 

[In the Fray]

Hey, I have photoshop 7.0 and image ready. To be honest im not even sure if its possible to make gfx with those programs but ill be willing to learn.

 

[sugarpoultry]

Hey, I have photoshop 7.0 and image ready. To be honest im not even sure if its possible to make gfx with those programs but ill be willing to learn.

No its very possible. I started learning with photoshop 7.0. Its a fine program. ^_^

And if you guys want to be my students, read the first post and send me a PM.

 

[IceEmblem]

Ooo, Ooo, Mrs. Poultry im ready to hand in my assignment.

Steps:
Now the steps were simple, i got a Background and added some brushes.
then i duplicated the render, did some erodes and changed the hue and saturation so it was purple.

and i also did some extra credit work. (Gasp, Teachers pet)

Steps:
for this i just added render and background and did basically the same thing, then i added in dark blue sparks to make it look like ink.

(Gasp, there's more)

Steps:
Secret

Steps:
Secret

 

[skyler123456789]

ok idk if youve accepted me as a student, but i went and did the first assingment

1.black background
2.copied render 8 times
3. smudged with 60 chalk brush across canvas with 3 copies
4. placed render
5. smudged with same chalk brush, set to soft light
6. X brush, linear light
7. X brush, soft light
8. X brush, overlay
9. Left on normal, unaltered
10.applied image, ocean ripple, erased focal point, lighten
11. applied image, splatter, erased focal point, lighten
12. applied image, ripple, erased focal point, lighten
13. 200 px soft brush, white, made light source at top of sig
14. applied image, ocean ripple, lighten
15. applied image, ocean ripple, lighten
16. added c4d, 18% on screen
17. added c4d, 81%, on screen
18. applied image, ocean ripple, erased focal point, lighten
19. orange purple gradient, 57%, soft light
20. blue orange yellow gradient, 23%, soft light
21. purple green gradient, 40%, soft light
22. warming orange photo filter, 100% normal
23. applied image, gaussian blue 1.5, normal, erased focal point
24. added c4d, 74%, screen
25. made clipping mask of rectangles on left, 60%
26. made clipping mask of splatter brush with scattering, texture, dual brush, copied background multiple times for the clipping mask
27. brushed orange with 200px brush in dark spots, lighten
28. added 1px black background

Edit: i forgot, i sharpened somewhere in there too



Edit 2

here is assingment 2

i used this tut
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1410/voodoo2ndtutrt0hu9.jpg

 

[IceEmblem]

Mrs. Poultry i need help finding GIMP Brushes.
Also how do you add downloaded brushes to the brush library.

 

[sugarpoultry]

Alrighty, well, its very blurry, not sure why, but thats one thing that could be fixed. I think Samus could be bigger, she doesn't have to fit into the entire sig. The effects around her don't really fit in, I would take those out completely. The purple strokes look good, but it would be nicer if they were colors that matched Samus better.

Try a little more lighting and more stroke brushes around her. See how that works.

I like these other ones, but I really don't have time to critique them.

Try my suggestions and repost it, but you can also work on the next assignment. I think you'll learn a lot from the tutorials. :D

Also kiddies, I have made my own tutorials you should check out!
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=153380
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=153344
Feel free to use these on your assignments. ^_^

ok idk if youve accepted me as a student, but i went and did the first assingment

That is very good. My suggestion, put the clipping mask closer to Samus, if you put it too far away, it sort of makes 2 focal points, unless you blur it or something. Sometimes putting them on the far edge looks alright, but in this sig, it distracts from Samus herself.

The effects over all are very impressive. Nice job!

here is assingment 2

i used this tut
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1410/voodoo2ndtutrt0hu9.jpg

No! No discouragement in my class! The text anyways doesn't look good. Overall, its not bad at all though. The right side is a little bare, but its fine. The little yellow on the right side of Spiderman looks a bit weird, discolored perhaps. Maybe try making it blend more, more red ish and stuff.

Very nice. ^_^

Ok, so how many people haven't done their 2nd assignment?

Mrs. Poultry i need help finding GIMP Brushes.
Also how do you add downloaded brushes to the brush library.

PM Marthmaster92, he knows GIMP better than anyone else on the forums.

 

[IceEmblem]

Im going to do a total remake of my Sig, now that i am better at it.

 

[IceEmblem]

Ok, Heres what i did, tell me if there is anything else i need to do.

Hope you like it.

 

[In the Fray]

Mines

Step 0: New document ( Width 400, Height 120 )
Step 1: I used a transparent background document.
Step 2: Brushed it the way i liked it with one brush the selected colors ( used 3 different brushes, each brush used a different color )
Step 3: Then i went to Layer: new adjustments: color balance
Step 4: Then i chose the color i thought would match my siggy best.
Step 5: Then i made a new layer ( control+shift+n )
Step 6: then i drug it down so that it woud be underneath all layers.
Step 7: Then i opened my photoshop colored render.
Step 8: Then i went to image adjustments: heuateration
Step 9 Then i draged the render layer into the brushed document, placed it in the place i wanted.
step 10: Then i placed my name into it.
Step 11: Its the signature im useing now.

 

[Evelgest]

I'm just gonna be forward and say that I'm sorry that I haven't been able to get the second assignment done. Busy meeting friends and brawling during Spring Break, and now that I'm back at my university, I have a lab to write as well as an exam. Hopefully, I can get something done by Thursday.