Post: GFX Basic's | Tainted Arts
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06-19-2010, 02:15 PM
#1
+tA.Daisho
Crumpets and tea?
Okay so I'm gonna use this thread to post basic tips on how beginners can improve their tags/signatures using basic techniques that although maybe obvious and easy to do for most people who are just starting out may struggle with.
Beginning GFX
Well first of all you'll need a program, there are 2 good programs that are good for this and dozens that are not, you have Photoshop and you have Gimp (Gnu Image Manipulation Program). I'm using photoshop and that's what I'll help you guys to work with. If you use gimp don't go away however because I think that the programs are similar.
So the main difference between these 2 programs is the price Photoshop is owned by Adobe who expect you to pay over $500 for While Gimp is well free. Don't be put off by this however because if you want Photoshop but do not want to pay I would of thought you could find it free with a little help from a certain search Engine. An even easier way to get it is by donating at $10 to NGU by doing this you will benefit from gaining access to some pretty cool stuff.
If you want Gimp just type in Gimp Download on Google and go from there its that easy.
Okay once you've got your program up and running your gonna need a canvas to start your tag off. Now I know what your thinking your thinking "i'ma just going make a huge signature thats gonna be kick ass" well no your not. The biggest mistake everybody does when starting out is using a huge canvas size. Before you do this think "am I going to beable to fill this canvas up or is this really necassary?" I'll guarentee you'll come to the answer No. A good size to start of with for a signature is 380x150 or similar to that. This will vary for different things however like vertical sigs but we will come back to that later.
Okay so you've got your canvas ready now your gonna either need a Stock or a Render.
A stock can be any image of anything. Most usually use an image of a person with somekind of background behind them.
Stock-
https://i45.tinypic.com/4rahw4.jpg
A render is a single image either presented on a transparent background or white background for easy editing.
Render-
https://i46.tinypic.com/4j8go7.png
You want to drag the stock or render on the canvas. If your using a render you can trying making the background a light color from your render. this in some cases can help give you a good start on your signature.
Example
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Also don't centre your render (if your using one) try to keep it off to one side.
Here are some examples:
Bad
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Good
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*note this will be continued once I have some more power in this laptop
Alright then first up:
Blur
Now there are literally tons of ways you can use blur for your advantage however the most common use when making a tag it to add at least a sense of depth to your tag.
Now do most common type of blur used is Guassian Blur.
Gaussian blur can be accessed via Filter-Blur-Gaussian Blur.
When this is clicked on you will have a slider which effects how much blur you want done. For adding depth to a tag keep the blur in between 0.2-0.9
Anything higher than this can turn out bad if you do not know what your doing.
lets go to an example to better explain this:
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This first tag shows what it looks like without blur as you can see although the effects are there everthing sharp and there no real sense of depth to it.
Okay so to do with we need to:
Create a new layer then go to Image-Apply image.
This will compile all your layers into one image without merging the rest of your layers. Now we can add the blur
Filters-Blur-Gaussian Blur.
*remember to keep the slider under 1.0.
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This is the result after adding 0.7 of Gaussian blur to the tag.
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The final product as you can see after adding the blur I used a soft brush eraser to erase the blur on the parts of the tag that appear closer to me. In this case the renders helmet, Shoulder guard and the effects up front.
I hope this helps anybody who's looking to improve and more will be up soon.
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