Madame Malkin's Artist Spotlight
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September 2013: iBeJenn Our first spotlight is on iBeJenn, better known to some of you as Jenn (never would have guessed that her name is Jenn, wouldja? hehe). She was kind enough to sit down with me for a quick interview, as well as provide us with a quick coloring tutorial and a look into her portfolio. Look under the spoilers to read all about Jenn! Text Cut: Part 1: The Interview Interviewer - cake.ninjak (Kelvin) Text Cut: Part 2: The Tutorial Hey hi hello~ Okay. So here's a really simple, easy breezy coloring tutorial that I personally find very effective in graphics. It works best on light graphics and makes colors really pop out. I used this coloring loads and you can see it being used in an old grab bag of mine for phones (here). This tutorial was created with Photoshop CS6 and since it contains Selective Coloring, it is sadly incompatible with other programs.A Tutorial by iBeJenn Photos!: Part 3: The Examples http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps935da1cf.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psaa8dfb85.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps295e1936.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6e121e2b.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9ce7c510.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0ab35e1f.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8fe67c59.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps171fe315.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psd1d56218.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6e6789cc.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psb2769c97.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psfb83643f.jpg http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps38192902.jpg |
October's Graphic Maker Spotlight is momentai, although some of you older members might remember her as the awesome Tailzinator! Tailz has recently come back into the graphics biz, and due to her awesome style we've chosen to showcase her for the month of October. Congrats Tailz! SPOILER!!: Part 1: The Interview Interviewer: Lissy Longbottom SPOILER!!: Part 2: The Tutorial Summary: Tutorial: Animations Difficulty: Easy to Medium, depends on your knowledge of Photoshop Software: Photoshop CS6 (some earlier versions may work as well. CS5, for sure.) Hey, everybody! How are you all doing today? I hope it’s good! I'm going to be showing you how to make this today: KMPlayer Tutorial: 1. I highly recommend that you download a program called The KMPlayer. Go ahead and install that. Go on. I can wait.Animated Icon Tutorial: Given the restrictions on the file size of avatars on SnitchSeeker, your animated icon needs to fall under 20 KB and that can be quite the task. If you create an animated icon that is 100x100 pixels and the animation takes up the entire canvas, you can maybe have two frames. This tutorial will allow you use more than two, but there is still a max number of frames you can have. It depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice on quality. 1. So, pick your caps and drop them into photoshop. I like to load them all into one document, so open up the first cap that you want (using file > open, or drag and drop into photoshop) and then you can simply add the rest by selecting them in windows explorer (use ctrl/shift/whatever the equivalent is on a Mac) and drag and drop them on top of the first cap. This should happen. Just keep hitting enter until all your layers are placed.Congratulations! You’ve made an animated icon with MULTIPLE frames! You did awesome and I welcome you to share your results with me. I’d love to see what you’ve done. A small disclaimer: I am not saying that my ways are absolute. I’m just sharing with you the way that I make animated icons. I HIGHLY encourage you going out and research and fine tune this process. Perhaps, one day, y’all will be teaching me the art of making an animated icon. ;) Other animated icons: FREEBIE FOR YOU. Enjoy this texture. I use it a lot when I make animated icons. SPOILER!!: Part 3: The Examples Lots of examples of momentai's very long SS graphic career! http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t%20II/019.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...t%20II/020.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...gandet/003.png http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...cMahon/010.png http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...enders/009.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...enders/011.jpg http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...psb7b263c2.png http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...psad929e29.png http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...findor/001.png http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...epuff/s002.png http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...enclaw/001.png http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...therin/001.png http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...individual.jpg http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...psc137b2cf.png http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...yker/026-1.png http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...ts/159anna.png http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...ests/001-1.png Photos!: Large Graphic: Manipulation Photos!: Large Graphic: SS RPG Movie Poster |
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March 2014: Gryffindoll Hello fellow graphic makers! This month, I have the privilege to announce that Dee, also known to many as Gryffindoll, is our March Artist Spotlight winner! Check out her awesome interview and tutorial below. Congrats Dee! |
April 2014: Grrr..Meow This is my first Artist Spotlight to do, and I'm so proud and honored to have completed it with Grrr..Meow--our chosen spotlight for the month of April! I'd do a big introduction with lots of balloons and confetti, but we get pretty excited about things in the interview below. ;) After you read it, check out Robyn's awesome tutorial on what she calls "Cute Avvies!" Text Cut: Part 1 :: The Interview Anna Banana Grrr..Meow May is just around the corner, and with a new month comes a brand new "Artist Spotlight" for the Madame Malkin's forum! The Madame Malkin's mods have been searching high and low, and we've come up with somebody who's been pretty active in the graphics world! You've seen her all over--in her graphics shop, in the SS community shop, and in competitions. Give it up for Grrr..Meow, aka ROBYN! *bows* Thank you so much. I'm pretty excited for this, because I'm a complete graphics addict. Well, that's why we're here today--to talk about graphics! And because you're an all around awesome person. *grins* So, when did you get started in making graphics and how did you get started? Oh wow, it's been a long time since I've been making graphics, and its all because of SnitchSeeker. *beams* I started, because once I joined SS, I saw loads of pretty things, and I wanted to learn. So thank you, SS! A lot of you awesome members still here today have helped me a lot and given me tips, which has gotten me where I am today. That's exactly where I got my start--right here on SnitchSeeker! *loves you all* Well, you learn well, because we do love your graphics! When choosing the new "Artist Spotlight", I remember thinking of your "cute avvies" you started a little while back. What exactly inspired those? Also, how do you find such cute images? Awww, thank you so much. My cute avvies, I want to pet them all. The first one was actually for an SS member, and after I made her one, I made a few for me (naturally, lol). Then they just spread like wildfire. Everyone wanted them, which made me really happy. Anna! You want me to give away my secret? I guess for you I'll tell you how I find the cutest pictures. All I have to do is use the good old google search "Cute Cartoon Cat" or "Cute Cartoon Anything", and it usually brings me to all the cuteness. So the secret is revealed! I kept wondering how you came up with the most adorable little images I've ever seen! Thank you for sharing that tip with us! We loved (and still love) your cute avvies so much! What program or programs do you like to use to make graphics? I use Photoshop, but I honestly can not remember what kind it is (I've had this forever). I have others, but I just love PS so much. It works for so many things. Ha! Now everyone will be searching google for cute pictures! Is there any way for us to shut it down for so many searches? *thinks* :xd: Photoshop is amazing! There's so many parts of it I still have no idea how to use, but hopefully I'll figure them out some day! lol Yeah, I think Google images might be pretty busy after this interview is posted! What's your favorite type of graphic to make? I personally love signatures, because I get to see them every time somebody posts. It makes me happy to see my work being enjoyed! I know, right? There's so many parts on PS that just boggles my mind. Poor Google. I kind of feel bad for it right now, lol. I am so totally in the same boat with you. I love signatures, but sometimes I totally don't like them. I always take forever to create a signature. I always create that first then create the profile picture and avatar, so all the hard work is the signature. *insert a looooong pause in the conversation right here* I'm sorry! I left to go get ice cream. I have cookies and cream ice cream now. :P Haha! I just finished a sundae. Ahh, ice cream is so made of win! *is such a happy person right now* Anyway, you do graphics the same way I do--signature first then everything else! A set comes together so much easier that way! We've talked about the things you enjoying doing with graphics, but we haven't talked about challenges yet. What are you currently stumped on and working hard to figure out? Anything? I know I'm working on Gryffindoll's flare from the last spotlight. I still can't get it right. I agree with that--yay, ice cream! We are both in the same boat. I am currently trying Gryffindoll's light tutorial. I've made a few graphics with it since it was posted, and they've turned out great. As for the challenges, I always have a hard time with placement--like what should go here or what should go there, ugh. Once I think things are in the right spots, I save it, and its out of my mind. Sometimes after graphics are made for competitions, I'm like ughh, why did I do it like that? I'm my own worst critic. I think we're all our worst critics, unfortunately! But just know that we love your work enough to spotlight you! So we've come to the end of our interview, but before we go, would you like to take a moment to tell the world of SS a little about yourself outside of graphics? Oh wow, you guys know how to make a girl blush. Hmmmm, lets see, right now I am a stay at home wife. This includes lots of cleaning and taking care of our two dogs, Chewy and Luna (I got to name one Luna which makes me really happy). I am a TV and movie nut! My husband and I love watching our certain shows, and we love going to the movies. It's really bad that I can quote a lot of movies or shows I've seen. Right now, thats about it. I have a boring life *sad face*, but SnitchSeeker makes me happy, and I love talking to all my friends daily. Quick list of your top two movies and top two TV shows of all time! TV shows are - 1. Game of Thrones, and 2. Trueblood (yay HBO!). Movies are - 1. Hocus Pocus, and 2. ALL HARRY POTTER FILMS :shifty: All very awesome and popular shows, and I'd go into a deeper discussion of all of them, but we ARE interviewing for the graphics portion of the site. I should exercise some self-control, so I don't launch into a conversation on why "Lost" is the greatest show ever. Everrr. Anyway, that's all, everyone! Thank you again, Robyn, and congratulations on being chosen for our "Artist Spotlight"! No, thank you, Anna and everyone. *waves goodbye to everyone* Text Cut: Part 2 :: Tutorial and Examples
How to Make Cute Avvies I use Photoshop (not sure what kind it is :xd:). I start off creating a new blank canvas. Steps: File>New Once this is done, you choose the size. SS rules state that an avvie can not be bigger than 100x100, therefore choose your width and height to be 100 each. Make sure the resolution is in pixels. Steps: File>New>Width=100, Height=100>Resolution=Pixels>hit okay :D Now that you have your blank canvas, you will need to color the background the same color as the background of your SS Profile to make sure it blends and that it looks like it's meant to be there. The color code is below. Color Code = #F0E7CF I use this a lot so I have a screenshot saved on my desktop so I can always pull the color from the screenshot. This is what it should look like at this point: http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...pse3746f8b.jpg Okay, that was the easy part. Now we have to find a cute animal you'd like to use. This is where my tip will come in handy, as I usually tend to find all the cute animals people ask for. Go to Google Images and search for "Cute Kitty Cartoon" or change the animal you’d like to use to maybe "Cute Zebra Cartoon." This is how I find all my awesome pictures to use :D For now, I'll be using the "Cute Kitty Cartoon”" as an example, because I just love cats. :loved: For this tutorial, I've chosen to use the picture below: Text Cut: Unaltered kitty Now, here comes the tricky part. Open this picture in Photoshop and use the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) to trace around your cute animal until the loop has come back to the beginning. The picture will look like this: Text Cut: Lasso Now click on your Move Tool (V) and drag the image to your blank canvas. Once you move it to your blank canvas you will see this: Text Cut: Big Kitty To make the kitty smaller and to fit with in the width and height go to. Steps: Edit>Transform>Scale You are going to be using the scale tool instead of resizing the image, because you'll need to fit some writing underneath (unless you choose not to have any writing). Scale your cartoon until its how you'd like it to be. Below is the scale and the beginning of the final look. 1. http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps2af6b53d.png 2. http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps7685245f.jpg Now I like to have a stroke around the cartoon image, because it makes it stand out a bit more. To do the stroke, follow these steps. Steps: Layer>Layer Style>Stroke Now that we are here, you'll need to the select the size. I normally go with size 2 and choose the color white. This is what it should look like now: Text Cut: Stroke now follow the same steps, but instead of going to stroke, select Drop Shadow. We will be making it pop from the background. To make it nice and easy, I leave everything where it is but the Distance and Size. Distance = 3 Size = 5 Once you’ve selected that, hit okay, and it should look like this now. :D Hope everyone is sticking with me, and I'm not just rambling on. :x3: hahahaha Text Cut: Drop Shadow Okay, back to business. So our cute animal is complete. Now all you have to do to add your name is to use the writing tool. You can choose whichever font you'd like to and just follow the same steps with the Stroke and Drop Shadow (the exact same size, as well) and save it. This is what the final cute avvie should look like. :woot: Final Look http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...psc9bc8282.jpg eeeeppppp I hope you all enjoy making your own cute avvies. :glomp:'s |
May 2014: DinosaursOnASpaceship Hello everyone! It's that time again - time to introduce all of you to another one of our fantastic graphic makers! This month I'm honored to present the interview with one of our long time shop owners, Bre AKA DinosuarsOnASpaceship! Congrats Bre, and I hope you all enjoy the fantastic tutorial she provided for us and the great interview I had with her! |
The month of June brings us an exciting interview and tutorial from one our amazing site admins. She's the talented BanaBatGirl--our chosen Artist Spotlight for the month of June. You've may have seen her work in The Badger Den and The Batcave, viewed or entered her competitions in 1w1p, and seen her lovely challenges in her Bag o' BatGrabs. Read all this and more (including why we all owe Kelvin a round of applause), in her interview posted below. When you're done, be sure to check out her tutorial on blending images. Text Cut: Part 1 :: The Interview Anna Banana BanaBatGirl It's now the end of June, and you know what that means--a brand new "Author Spotlight" brought to you by the Madame Malkin's mods! I'm so excited to be able to interview this month's spotlight! I really look up to her in the world of graphic making and wish my work was even half as great as hers! Please welcome the amazingly talented... *pauses while Batman theme begins playing* ... BANABATGIRL! Hahahaha I got the Batman theme! All riiiiiiiiiight.... thanks for that kind introduction, Bonana. *taps foot patiently as Batman theme fades out and stops playing* Ahem. Now then. Hiii, Roro! So seeing as this is an interview for the graphics portion of our lovely site, let's jump right in to talking about...GRAPHICS! What else? lol Did you get your start here on SnitchSeeker? If so, do you remember how that came about? I sure did! I guess that came about in part to complaining to my SS BFF (Kelvin) about not having Photoshop. Once I was able to get Photoshop, I took cues from the awesome graphic geniuses of SS, and I haven't stopped learning new tricks yet! I used to be so bad at Photoshop though. You guys should look at my Badger Den stuff... and stuff buried at the bottom of my Photobucket.... lol That's funny--Kelvin played a part in me getting started with graphics, as well! He probably doesn't remember this, but I IMed him with a TON of questions that he so graciously answered. Does this mean SS owes Kelvin for helping all of us get started in making such pretty graphics? Haha. Anyway, I know you told me before that you stopped cutting out pictures and started blending them instead. What caused you to change to that method? I think we DO all owe Kelvin. ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR CAKE.NINJAK, everybody! lol I was never really a COB (cut-out background) kind of graphicer anyway... I just didn't think that style worked for me, besides the little transparent background avvies I made of peoples' characters. It's just a lot easier to blend with the background/match up backgrounds. I think it gives the graphics a more realistic or natural look? Just my personal preference. *pauses interview to give Kelvin a random round of applause* Oh my goodness, I remember those avvies! They were so cute and so popular! I still have mine of Anna Greingoth (now Newell). I love the blending look, too, but I'm just not very good at it. It's super easy when the background is a solid color, but when you have those busy backgrounds, it just falls apart for me. Is there an easy way to do those at all? Hmm it depends on what you mean by busy background. There's really only two ways, I've found, to blend a background. It either has to be a lighter colored background so you can set it to darken, or it has to be a very very dark background, which you can set to 'lighten.' If the background is like... a house with windows, you can sometimes copy and flip sections of the background, then set it to darken to make it merge. Hopefully that makes sense. I think I'm going to try to explain this blending thing better in my tutorial, lol. Adding textures, lens/light flares, text, and gradients can all hide merge-y photoshoppy effects. *and I want to add that I am in no way a trained graphic artist, so I probably do things very inefficiently and with the wrong terminology. LOL Ohh, I've never tried the whole 'darken or lighten' effect to help blend! I'll have to try that! Thanks for that tip! And I would love for you to explain how to do that in your tutorial! I've never been very good at that, and I'm sure our other graphics makers would love to try that, as well! With terminology, I think we SSers have developed vocabulary all of our own. Don't worry--we can talk your talk and have the same vocabulary, as well, I'll bet! You were talking about textures, flares, etc. up there which brings me to the next question I wanted to ask. Besides a good blending, what's your favorite Photoshop features to work with? I'm assuming you still have Photoshop? Yessssss lol I still have Photoshop. Oh what a question lol. I LOVE selective coloring. I think that's pretty obvious to anyone who looks at my graphics. xD That's true! You also have a School RPG charrie with gorgeous red hair, so I bet selective coloring is a lot of fun when making stuff for her! What's your favorite type of graphic to make and why? I personally like signatures, because I have way more luck with them than any other type. I'm not good at getting a good angle on avvies. Haha yeah, Amy Adams is just a pretty person. All my RPG characters are pretty. Too pretty. I like making signatures as well. I just think that ratio of horizontal to vertical is easiest to manipulate. Avvies are my second favorite, because I think they don't take themselves too seriously. Profile pictures are the hardest. I've never really been good at those. So let's talk about your graphics competition, 1w1p, for a moment. What brings you the most joy out of hosting a competition like this? Also, what advice do you have for people that want to enter your competition or really any competition here on SS? Hmm... I like seeing the pro tips everybody sends in. They're always so different and yet so useful! It just goes to show that we really can learn something new every day. The advice I have is to think outside the avvy box. Brainstorm a little before you select an image to use in an icon. I always like seeing the people who are the most creative, and yet still on topic, win, because I think that's the point of these competitions? Not so much to win, but to stretch yourself creatively in the process of entering. Andddd that was my one deep thought for the day. :lol: LOL! Well, it's really good advice and something I have the most trouble on. I'll work really hard and THINK I'm outside the box, and then when all the other avvies are posted, I'm just like, "Ohhh..." I still love to try, though, because I won't get better and improve if I don't try, ya know? Also, I think somewhere in this interview this needs to be said, and I think I'll squeeze it in now since you're giving advice. When I was choosing the Artist Spotlight this month, more than just your graphics skills came to mind. The other thing that came to mind was how encouraging you are to other graphics makers. I'm always seeing you in various threads telling others how much you enjoy their work and just being so encouraging overall. I was so happy and excited that day you poked in my request thread and complimented a set I'd made! :D Awww! That's like, a compliment on a compliment! *blushes* Thanks, Anna, I try. It's either the Hufflepuff or the teacher in me or both. I mean, I sure wouldn't be making graphics still if people hadn't taken a chance on me and been encouraging and patient with me! ^_^ <33 Well, I just thought you might want to know that your compliments and encouraging words are noticed and appreciated! You're right in that we all start off with work that we might cringe about years down the road, but if it weren't for people encouraging us along the way, we might not continue to try and therefore get better and better! Do you have a favorite resource site, such as one to get new textures or brushes? N'aww well thanks again! It is nice to be noticed... for being nice. Hahahaa. Oh tough questions here though. I used to go to Deviantart for textures quite a bit... now I just use Google if there's a specific kind/type of texture I'm looking for. I don't use them as much anymore. Thanks for sharing a bit of your expertise, Roro! I know I can speak on behalf of all of SS when I say your graphics and competition are thoroughly enjoyed! Of course, I focus on that part, because this is a graphics interview, lol. We love having you with us on ALL parts of the site! So that sadly brings our interview to an end. Anything else you'd like to shout out before we close? If not, you can stroll out, cartwheel out, fly out...however you chose! It's YOUR interview! :D Thanks again for interviewing me, Anna! I was so honored and excited to hear from you. A shout out to ALL of SS' current, former, and aspiring graphics makers! We're all in this together! And now, iBatgirl. *grapple hooks onto a nearby building, swoooooooooooooshing out the window* :banabat: Text Cut: Part 2 :: Tutorial and Examples
Hi! So I don't know how everybody else does backgrounds and blending images, but here are at least two ways to try merging images together. Most of what I'm going to show you is done by adjusting the mode of your layer (normal, darken, soft light, lighten, screen, etc.). And I also use the eraser tool. Like, a lot. For a blending example, I'm starting with this beautiful image of Amy Adams. In Photoshop (I have CS3), I pasted it into a blank 450 x 150 canvas. Then I shrank it down; I usually do this the lazy/easy way, which means I hold down shift to keep the picture in proportion and I drag from the corners until the portion on the canvas is what I want to see! SPOILER!!: So now it should look like… Now, to blend, I paste another copy of the same image on the canvas and shrink it down too. I shrank it A LOT and set the layer mode to lighten. I set this small Amy Adams in the corner just because that layout seemed to work with the original image. ALSO, this is important: Setting your mode to lighten will only work if the background is dark black or gray. So you can see that in the original image (look under the first spoiler tag), there's a lot of photographers on the right side with dark clothing and dark cameras. The image I pasted into that corner then shows up with the lighten mode because of the darkness of the photogs behind it. Make sense? The next thing I did was erase the left side of this mini-Amy because a key to blending is making the puzzle pieces all look like they fit. ;) SPOILER!!: Now we are here... You can erase by adjusting the opacity and fill of the two layers on top of/below each other. Also, click the eye on or off to view or not view the images as you erase. This takes time to learn but just play with your layers and you'll get the hang of it! So that's really all there is to blending two images together. Now, I also added textures to this image and a pinkish gradient, with selective erasing on those layers as well. Here's what my final layers looked like. SPOILER!!: Final I think I put a copy of layer one on top and set the mode to soft light to really make that layer more in focus/closer than the second layer. I think. I also did a little selective blurring and sharpening on the photographers' faces and cameras. SPOILER!!: Similar example with same techniques
The layers are set to lighten and I used the eraser tool to eliminate the background of each from overlapping the other layer's face lol. http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...6.png~original This shows the erasing from each side. http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...7.png~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...8.png~original And here's the final signature, after text and selective color, etc. http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...t.jpg~original That's my tutorial on blending using the lighten mode. Here a few examples of setting the layers to darken. I typically use lighten mode for black/white photos, or images with a lot of VERY dark background. Darken works best with images that have the same color background or a lighter background in general. SPOILER!!: Example of images blended...
Here's a signature I made for Kaos.Doodles with two different images. Each had a dark gray or white/gray background, so they fit together nicely when set to darken. You can see my layers to the right. http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2.png~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...0.png~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...1.png~original Again, I shrank these images down until the faces were roughly the same size and the people looked like they were posing next to each other. I do all my blending/sizing before I add in textures or text. Few more examples using the mode darken to blend: SPOILER!!: Bunz
One layer actually has a lower opacity than the other, did you know? http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...7.png~original + with a pink gradient (this is how I wore this siggy) http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...9.png~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...t.jpg~original Okay, one more example of two different models, similarly colored backgrounds. I try to be as picky as possible when blending images. I look for images where the models have a similar background, where the light is coming in from the same angle/side, where the models are looking in the same direction, etc. Things like that. SPOILER!!: These two are both looking down lol I also do tricks like adjusting the color balance on each layer to make sure skin tones look similar before I selective color both layers merged together. If you're not confident in your blending, easy ways to start include using a dark background and textures to hide your little mistakes, or to use the same image only reflected or in two different sizes or blended via the model's pretty hair. Here are some things I've made more recently that I think are particularly good examples of blending without losing too much of the image's real background. SPOILER!!: Examples http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...o.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...r.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...l.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...w.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...4.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...e.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...o.png~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...a.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...d.jpg~original http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...1.jpg~original So that's it for me! I hope all this makes sense and helps you out. If you need clarification on anything, please IM or PM me! |
October 2014: Becky
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May 2015: hermionesclone Heeeey SSers, happy May! It's been a while, but we're back with our Madame Malkin's Graphic Maker Spotlight - this month, the honor goes to none other than hermionesclone, also known as Kita! Kita sat down with Anna Banana to chat about graphics and presented an AWESOME tutorial (starring an Avenger, so you KNOW I loved it ;) ) for all you aspiring graphic makers out there to see how she does it! Enjoy, and don't forget to head to Colin's Corner to discuss how amazing Kita's interview wa! Text Cut: Part 1 - Interview Interviewer - Anna Banana Interviewee - hermionesclone Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Good people of SS! I bring to you yet another exciting interview with an extremely awesome SSer! We've known her as Alec and Grayson's RPer, and she likes to hang out in a little place called The Secret Garden. She's the ONE, the ONLY...KITA!! aka hermionesclone! Kita dear? You may come out now! Say hello to our lovely SSers! ----- *ENTHUSIASTIC RUNNING OUT FROM THE SHADOWS* DID SOMEBODY SAY KI-- *trips* *straightens self up again ahem* Kita's me, I am Kita! HAI Anna and HAI lovely SSers! Thanks for the lovely introduction, by the way. ----- *tries to act composed but rushes to Kita's side anyway* We can't have our Kita getting hurt! *clears throat and continues interview* So...we have Kita here today, because she's been awarded the honor of being the Madame Malkin's Artist Spotlight for the month of April! YAY, KITA!!! Kita is one of the co-owners of the shop The Secret Garden, where very awesome graphics are made! Kita, how and when did you get started making graphics? ----- MY HERO! I'm so excited for this, can you tell? *bounces and blushes* You're sweet, Anna-face! And you're asking me that as if I actually remember the origins of my graphics making. UM, I know that it started from SS (where else?) and it was waaaaaaaay back in the 2010/2011 region when I was an itty bitty 16/17 year old who wanted to try ALL the things on SS. I remember seeing other people's gorgeous pieces of work and wondering if I could do something like that and so, I thought I'd give it a go. I wasn't very good, though, so looking through my old graphics was......... interesting, to say the least. ----- I'm SO EXCITED for this, too! WHAT WHAT? You don't remember exactly how you got started with graphics? *gasp* Just kidding! ;) I remember my early days, when I wanted to do EVERYTHING on SS, too. *is still that way* Well, I'm really glad you decided to try graphic-making, because you have amazing skills! AMAZING. I remember being completely in awe of those house table graphics you made for the banner competition we once had. Congratulations (again) on that, by the way! You co-own a shop on SS, which was mentioned before. What's the most rewarding part about having a graphics shop? ----- XD It sounds bad, I know. SS is just SO exciting, that's what it is. *convinced* Aw, Anna! Thank you, lovely! That means a LOT to me. *loved* Is it bad that seeing those table banners in the threads still makes me fangirl and beam in pride? *still does* *is cool yo* Thank you! I'm glad you like them! <3 Most rewarding part has to be the comments. Nothing can beat reading comments from people you've made the graphics for (or from anyone, really) saying that they like what you've made for them. Even if it's a simple thanks, it still makes my heart swell. It's definitely my favourite part! And I LOVE co-owning a shop with the amazing Talikins and we're very good friends so having that friendship through all of this makes it rewarding as well. ----- No, no! It's not a bad thing at all! I would be so proud, too, if those were my banners! You want to know a secret? When those banners... were first shown in the competition, I IMed Roro on Skype and went on and on about how awesome your banners were, only I didn't know they were yours at the time! ^_^ And YES, reading comments from people AND seeing them wear graphics you made is very rewarding! *agrees with you there* Do you have any tips for people who want to start making graphics or who already do? *is SO wanting to learn from you* ----- *FANGIRLS* Anna, you're SO ADORABLE! Gosh, that made my heart melt and I'm going to end up crying happy tears <33 Tips? Gosh, that's a hard *FANGIRLS* Anna, you're SO ADORABLE! Gosh, that made my heart melt and I'm going to end up crying happy tears <33 Tips? That's a hard one! I think my tip would be to not be afraid to try something new, whether you're a beginner or a super duper whizz at graphics making. You never know: this new thing could just end up working out well for you. I always try and think about image placement/what images will work well together (if I want to select more than one) before I start the actual process of making the graphic. And believe that you CAN do it and keep at it until you get it. You'll get there, I believe in you <3 ----- I'm the adorable one?! No, YOU are! You are our SPOTLIGHT, after all! :D It's true, though. I was so amazed at your banners. I remember thinking that I wished I could design graphics like that. I can do graphics, but I'm rubbish at designs, I think. So, TIPS! I'm so excited to learn something from you! It's such good advice, too, and you are such a sweetheart for giving us such motivation! *throws confetti all over you* You're right, because I just had to practice and practice to get graphics I was somewhat happy with, and I do believe I got better over time! That's good inspiration for anyone wanting to try their hand at graphic-making! Thank you, Kitakins! What's a graphics-making feature that's hard for you? I know blending is really tough for me. >_< ----- You're going to make me blush! I think, what happened with those banners was just experimentation? It was just a bunch of textures and shapes, each with their own modes applied to them. Aww! Thank you, lovely! *!!!!!!!* *twirls around in the confetti* Yes exactly! You get better over time 'cause you're always learning something new? So yeah, don't give up. No problemo! :3 A graphics making feature that's hard? Gosh, am I allowed to say everything? *joking, maybe* I'd say working with pictures that aren't of good quality? Or, I usually use a certain number of adjustments in a certain order and if the picture doesn't come out looking good, I'm usually at a loss for what to do. And yeah, blending is REALLY hard! I don't know how Roro does it. Trying to crop out pictures of models who have their hair flying out behind them is something I struggle with as well. I try to avoid it as much as possible. ----- Ahh, I love when graphics brilliance just happens by accident! That doesn't happen to me often, but when it does, I just love it! *reads the part about what's difficult for you when it comes to graphics* I agree about high quality pictures, and it's something you really don't understand unless you're a graphics maker yourself! Also, YES! Models with curly and wavy hair are very difficult to work with. At least for me! So, Kita, as you know, with each Artist Spotlight, we ask the artist to give us a tutorial. Tell us a little about the tutorial you have for us! *is so excited to learn from you* ----- Same! It makes me feel so smart, for some reason XD Exactly! They're impossible to work with. OH OH! The tutorial, yes! Funnily enough, the tutorial is linked with what we were just talking about in regards to the quality of pictures. It's a little tip my graphics design teacher told me about and, after doing a bit of research and tweaking, I came up with my own tutorial for making the quality of pictures look just that little bit better. I've tried to use it for some of my recent graphics as well, especially in the case of banners where I've REALLY wanted to use a picture in particular but, after adding in the adjustments, nothing looked right. So, hopefully this tutorial should help with that. ^_^ ----- Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen--the amazingly talented and sweet KITA! Okay, Kita--any parting words? If so, here's your chance to tell us and then to make your GRAND EXIT! Thank you so much for this interview and tutorial and congratulations again on being the Artist Spotlight for May! ----- Anna, you're so sweet! *all beamy and emotional and trying and failing to act cool* Parting words? Is this the part where I try and fail to sound wise? *thinks that's likely to happen* Just thank you to everyone who's given me a chance or given me warm complimentary words or words of encouragement and to those who've helped me along the way. I really appreciate it. And good luck to anyone trying their hand at graphics making. And with that, I go! Thank you for interviewing me, Anna! This was fun. *squishes before poofing in a puff of glitter and smoke* Text Cut: Part 2 - Tutorial
HAI! I'm going to be showing you a tutorial on how to make screenshots look better and make it look like it's a bit better in quality. It won't make it a completely high quality image but it should tweak the image in a way to make it look good. I started off with this screenshot of Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 and ended up with this at the end. I created this using Photoshop CC and because of the use of Selective Colouring, it can't work on other programs. Sorry! 1) First thing’s first: open the picture up on Photoshop and duplicate the base layer. Easy peasy! 2) Next, go to Filter > Blur > Surface Blur. This should hopefully make the picture smoother and get rid of any weird pixelated parts. The Radius and Threshold varies from image to image so have a fiddle around with it until you reach a point where you’re happy with the overall result. Honestly, I tend to fiddle around with my graphics a LOT and it takes a bit of time and patience but you’ll get there! For this particular image, I changed the Radius to 5 pixels and the Threshold to 6 levels. I then changed the Opacity of the layer to 50%. http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...pszmfknvz3.png 3) Once that’s gone, duplicate that layer (the one you just added the Surface Blur to). Go to Filter > Other > High Pass. On the window that pops up, adjust the Radius to one where you’re happy with the outcome. Mine was: 31.9 pixels. Then, lower the opacity to something around the 50-60% mark and change the Mode to Soft Light. This is what my image looked like after that step. http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psj561hv6m.png The quality looks quite a bit better there but we still need to add in some adjustments to it because we like adjustments, yes? These set of colourings are particularly good for dark screencaps but if you have any other adjustments you like to use, feel free to go with that. ^_^ 4) Firstly, select the first three layers (original layer, surface blur layer and high pass layer) and duplicate them and THEN merge those three duplicated layers. 5) Duplicate that base layer and set the Mode to Screen. 6) Insert a Levels layer! The settings I used were: 0, 1.00, 209. http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7hvquksw.png http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psve0z9lkx.png 7) The image was starting to look a little TOO bright but no worries! I went ahead to insert a Colour Balance layer. You can use whatever settings work for your image, since different images will need different adjustments, but the ones I used are in the screenshots below. http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psgodfqsb9.png http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...pszdjl5jks.png http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psnla3hfdk.png 8) The image is starting to look VERY bright and yellow but that'll be good for the next couple of steps. ^_^ Duplicate and merge the following layers: base layer (this is the NEW base layer, the one made in step 4), Screen layer, Levels layer and Colour Balance layer. 9) Go to Image > Adjustment > Desaturate. This will make your image black and white. To make it look better and to make it blend into the layers beneath it, change the mode to Soft Light. The image should look something like this: http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8j0qzy4d.png And the layers menu should look something like this: http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...pscukogwo1.png 10) Add a vibrancy layer. This is exactly as the name suggests: it’ll make the picture look more vibrant and is very similar to adding in a curves and levels layer but the effect comes out quite a bit different. I added a Vibrancy of +100 which should work for most images but it’s totally down to personal preference :3 This step works especially well for the darker images. http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...pscdq4uinv.png http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...pstung77rd.png 11) Next, Selective Colour! This adjustment can either be your best friend or your worst enemy but if you get it right, the image will look stunning! This is the one that adds a major contrast to the image as a whole, in my personal opinion. Different images will require a different setting but this one is based on my love for making colours pop in my graphics. Have a fiddle around and see which values work for you? The settings I applied to this image are shown in the screenshots! http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psvn1po2v1.png http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psltnj6mpu.png http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...pslez3if3d.png http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2hp6xjjj.png 12) After all of that, my image ended up looking something like this, which is MUCH better than what it looked like before. http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...pseyihbpen.png 13) Then I simply added in a gradient layer of black to white and set the setting to Soft Light, which is a trick I picked up from Dee’s (Gryffindoll) tutorial up there. It just makes it look better in my opinion so thank you for this tip, Dee! <3 The screenshot below shows the list of layers I had after applying the Gradient Fill layer. http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psl66oef8e.png 14) Here’s the final result! It’s probably not as great as some of the more high quality pictures that I like to use but it looks much better than it did before. :3 http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/...psawdiw2me.png Hope this tutorial helped and isn't too complicated! If you have any questions, don't hesitate in contacting me about them <3 |
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