54 replies to this topic

[athdenald]

I've noticed over a period of time that so many of the older artists have left the game and as a result the Graphics forum has taken a bit of a hit. I'm still here making things but I'd like this forum to flourish and grow again and in order to do that it needs new people involved in graphics. 

 

I would like to help everyone get involved with graphics and as such I'm offering my time to anyone that wants it. 

 

Some things you might want to use me for:

 

Q. "Hey, I've got this render but I'm not sure what to do with it, could you show me what you would do with an explanation of what you did so I can see?

 

A. Of course I will, nothing would make me happier (with the exception of doing jiggy jiggy with the Swedish netball team in a bath full of swarfegga.)

 

 

Q. "Could you help me find a png file of a flower, car, specific person, horse etc...

 

A. Yes, I won't render anything for you, rendering is something you should learn yourself and you can look up tut's all over the internet but I will happily help you find the stuff you are looking for. Think of me as a useful sprite jumping all over the internet to help you find the stuff you want and need. 

 

Q. Could you provide CnC on this please?

 

A. No................ Just kidding, post away and CnC I shall give. Be warned, I'm honest to a fault. 

 

 

 

There is no reason not to have the best software, 

 

 

Adobe Photoshop CS2 is available to be downloaded for free here: http://www.adobe.com.../cs2_downloads/

 

It includes serial numbers and is completely legal having been released by Adobe themselves. 

 

You can see some of the work I have produced here:

 

http://forums.hunted...showtopic=51990

 

I know people post individual threads but they get lost and people can't see the advice that was offered, on top of that there is some bad advice that gets offered and some advice that is just plain wrong. I want to simplify all of it.

 

I've been doing this for a long time, before I joined FS and pretty much since I have been here. I want to be able to help so please use and abuse me as you see fit. 

[GFXGUYHALO]

Is the adode photoshop cs2 download safe?

[athdenald]

Is the adode photoshop cs2 download safe?

Yes, It has been released from Adobe themselves. 

 

All Operating systems have the option to change certain parts of software to make sure they are compatible. I was running CS2 on windows 7 without any problems. 

[GFXGUYHALO]

Yes, It has been released from Adobe themselves. 

 

All Operating systems have the option to change certain parts of software to make sure they are compatible. I was running CS2 on windows 7 without any problems. 

Nice ill download it then ohh I need some cnc on this:

 

 

I was thinking to lower the opacity a bit on the render

[athdenald]

Nice ill download it then ohh I need some cnc on this:

 

 

I was thinking to lower the opacity a bit on the render

 

Lowering the opacity on the render would just make it look washed out, work with the colours you have been given and make the background more vibrant instead. You're going to be doing the best you can with a rubbish render though, there is no flow to it and she looks like she is sitting on an invisible chair. 

 

To blend the render I find one of the easiest and most basic ways is to make your background, duplicate it and put it above the render layer and set it to soft light or overlay then erase the bits you don't want. 

[Librian]

Nice Finally somone who is ready to help  

 

Oh and could u just visit the tread i made on " My first c4d" ? 

 

Thank u! 

[athdenald]

Nice Finally somone who is ready to help

 

Oh and could u just visit the tread i made on " My first c4d" ? 

 

Thank u! 

 

Do you have a link to it? 

[Librian]

Do you have a link to it? 

 

There you go:

http://forums.hunted...showtopic=57364

 

And oh i just looked at your work and all what i can say is.... You are mad!  

[GFXGUYHALO]

Lowering the opacity on the render would just make it look washed out, work with the colours you have been given and make the background more vibrant instead. You're going to be doing the best you can with a rubbish render though, there is no flow to it and she looks like she is sitting on an invisible chair. 

 

To blend the render I find one of the easiest and most basic ways is to make your background, duplicate it and put it above the render layer and set it to soft light or overlay then erase the bits you don't want. 

Thanks

[athdenald]

There you go:

http://forums.hunted...showtopic=57364

 

And oh i just looked at your work and all what i can say is.... You are mad!

  I've bought the image here to make it easier to comment:

 

 

C4d's are always tricky to use properly Some people like Grimmhawk use them but you can never tell and others like Treefrog use them more prominently. I do use them on occasion as well but a lot of the time I think they are used inappropriately.

 

The C4d in your image on this occasion is not used well. It sits behind the render making it look messy. I can see there is some blur added to it but while it adds depth it's kind of pointless because it shouldn't be there in the first place. When your making a signature like your trying to make part of a whole picture you have to think about what actually goes together. On this occasion the render doesn't look like it belongs in the tag.

[Librian]

  I've bought the image here to make it easier to comment:

 

 

C4d's are always tricky to use properly Some people like Grimmhawk use them but you can never tell and others like Treefrog use them more prominently. I do use them on occasion as well but a lot of the time I think they are used inappropriately.

 

The C4d in your image on this occasion is not used well. It sits behind the render making it look messy. I can see there is some blur added to it but while it adds depth it's kind of pointless because it shouldn't be there in the first place. When your making a signature like your trying to make part of a whole picture you have to think about what actually goes together. On this occasion the render doesn't look like it belongs in the tag.

 

o_0 

 

... Okay

 

Thank u!  

[PeterOwnz]

You've already helped me grow ALOT as a signature and avatar maker.

However in some things i am still self-taught like my noob smudge signatures xP

Anyhow some CnC on these would be great.

Thanks ahead of time Ath

[GFXGUYHALO]

My work on PS CS2

 

[athdenald]

Your work has come on loads peter since you started, it's nice to see

 

This one:

 

The soft yellow and orange lights are really nice, I think it would benefit from using some bokeh lighting but it works well anyway. The yellow solid lines are too much and distracting imo. The soft squiggles are cool though. 

 

Overall it's a nice concept, the lighting would benefit from being softer, and perhaps something to compliment the natural flow of her hair. 

 

This one:

 

The C4d's don't work with the background or the render, they are unnecessary imo and I think the tag would be better without them. In saying that the background, while blurred nicely, doesn't fit with the render either because of the mismatch in colours. I can see you've used a soft brush to add lighting?  But you either need to increase the brightness of the BG or decrease the brightness of the render. I find a good way to increase the contrast when needed is to apply the render again and set it to overlay. Either that or just use the in built filters.

 

It would be easier on this one just to throw it away and start again, sorry.

 

This one:

 

This is the best of the three, it's a good use of C4d's to add a chaotic feel to the tag and the colours work well.  The head would benefit from some of the effects you have applied around the body but it's a minor complaint.  It's not the kind of thing I would wear or buy but working with a real person like this one is never easy and you've done a good job here. 

[athdenald]

My work on PS CS2

 

 

You need to work on making sure the colours compliment each other. Spiderman does have blue in his suit usually but on this occasion it is much much darker almost black. The light blue in the BG doesn't go with that at all because there is so much of it. Also i think the BG is just a single stock image? The swirly lines look siily, they could be good if made to work with the natural motion of him swinging and his web but as it is the sheer "blueness" of it all is overpowering. 

 

Try using a city background and add some mist, make it a bit darker and mysterious. 

[GFXGUYHALO]

You need to work on making sure the colours compliment each other. Spiderman does have blue in his suit usually but on this occasion it is much much darker almost black. The light blue in the BG doesn't go with that at all because there is so much of it. Also i think the BG is just a single stock image? The swirly lines look siily, they could be good if made to work with the natural motion of him swinging and his web but as it is the sheer "blueness" of it all is overpowering. 

 

Try using a city background and add some mist, make it a bit darker and mysterious. 

ok ill find a city stock and you are really helpful

[PeterOwnz]

Your work has come on loads peter since you started, it's nice to see

 

This one:

 

The soft yellow and orange lights are really nice, I think it would benefit from using some bokeh lighting but it works well anyway. The yellow solid lines are too much and distracting imo. The soft squiggles are cool though. 

 

Overall it's a nice concept, the lighting would benefit from being softer, and perhaps something to compliment the natural flow of her hair. 

 

This one:

 

The C4d's don't work with the background or the render, they are unnecessary imo and I think the tag would be better without them. In saying that the background, while blurred nicely, doesn't fit with the render either because of the mismatch in colours. I can see you've used a soft brush to add lighting?  But you either need to increase the brightness of the BG or decrease the brightness of the render. I find a good way to increase the contrast when needed is to apply the render again and set it to overlay. Either that or just use the in built filters.

 

It would be easier on this one just to throw it away and start again, sorry.

 

This one:

 

This is the best of the three, it's a good use of C4d's to add a chaotic feel to the tag and the colours work well.  The head would benefit from some of the effects you have applied around the body but it's a minor complaint.  It's not the kind of thing I would wear or buy but working with a real person like this one is never easy and you've done a good job here. 

Thanks for all the CnC!

The first and third were for 1v1 battles and i won with both ^^

For the middle I get everything you said, I chose the stock at random often with these types of pieces you don't see much of them in the end and it doesnt fit at all, and the c4d dont fit or even go with the flow of the render, which has a weird flow with the swords going in opposite directions. I quit early on it >_<

But it has nice depth imo lol

I could have darkened the render and bg a bit and wouldve had a good atmosphere, but no c4d fit with it so yeah i just quit lol.

[PeterOwnz]

Now for you newer people i have a few tips and things to keep in mind when doing your work.

 

There are a lot of things thaat will make your graphics look good. Lighting, blending, depth, atmosphere, rule of thirds and colors.

 

Lighting is very easy to achieve all you need to use is a large softbbrush at a low opacity. I tend to use 350 px for sigs and 150 px for avis, always at 18% opacity. Then i do a single brush on the focal where the highlights are, and then two in the area near, and  a heavy concentration on the edge of the canvas.

Giving it this effect;

 

Blending is another very important part of making good graphics, without it you won't have a good piece, and its not always easy to do. Above Ath stated that in the piece below that the c4d and background didnt fit the render, thus the render didnt blend

Choose your resoueces carefully to avoid such problems although you will undoubtedly encounter them.

 

Depth is something that you can add to graphics so that they dont look flat blurring and sharpening creates this illusion. This is one of the things that i love to do in my graphics. Depth often has multiple levels, a blurred background at one level and a sharpened focal creates depth but only on two levels. Add a c4d behind the render and infront that is less blurred than the background gives your graphic 4 levels of depth, add sharp effects and thats 5!

 

Atmosphere or mood is another very coolthing that i lve to see in peoples graphics. I have found that th more dark tones and softer lighting create a nice mood 

this piece has a nice mood to it: http://fc06.devianta...408-d6b57eb.png

 

rule of thirds is a term referring to splitting any piece into three equal pieces and placing your focal point on one of the outside two lines, and not directly in the center

Example: 

 

Colors are another important part of GFX. OFten times when you are trying to add effects the colors wont fit your piece perfectly, and it is very easy to open a hue/saturation adjustment layer click the colorize box and choose a fitting color before you place it on your piece. Also utilize gradient maps and selective color adjustments to force the colors to all fit together a bit better. A light purple to a light orange on screen fill at 25% and a blue yellow red set on soft light 20% fill looks good on almost any piece. 

 

Just remember to implement these in your works and soon you will be great!

[Librian]

CnC on this one please  

Tried to make some " Flow " and also wanted to make something different than as usual doo.

 

 

Any suggestions how to upgrade?  

[athdenald]

Thanks for posting up the newbie tips Peter