Archive for June, 2007

my paradise

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June 1st, 2007 Posted 8:30 am

My paradise is filled with magic and cute creatures.

Filed under: tina illustrates

brushed metal effect

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June 3rd, 2007 Posted 10:46 pm

This brushed metal tutorial is one everyone wants to know how to do well, but most people stop short before a realistic effect is achieved. We are going to use a variety of methods, such as: Gradients, Noise, Blurs, Brushes, and Clouds.


I made a bee button using the same engraving techniques I covered in my wood engraving how-to article, but you can find many other uses for creating a brushed metal effect. I am also offering up a created image of the brushed metal texture I made for you to download.

    Tools:
  • Photoshop CS or higher
  • Some expertise in Photoshop
  • Download this brush that I created for you, and place the file into your Adobe Photoshop > Presets > Brushes > Adobe Photoshop Only folder.

Open Photoshop and create a new document to a larger size, dpi, color mode, etc. that you require (larger because we will have to crop off some excess in the process). Have your layers pallet and your tools pallet visible. Set your foreground color White and your background color Black.

  • Select your Gradient Tool from your tool bar, at the top I selected the Linear Gradient, normal, at 50%. Create a diagonal gradient on your document by dragging your mouse from one top corner to the opposite bottom corner and release.
  • Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and select 40%, Gaussian, and check Monochromatic, hit OK.
  • Now, Filter > Blur > Motion Blur, and set it at Angle: 0 and Distance: 85, hit OK. You are going to have some ugly ends on the right and left side that you’ll need to crop off.


  • More textures are needed, so go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and select 4%, Uniform, and check Monochromatic, hit OK.
  • Next, Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes and select length: 20, radius: 0, stroke direction: horizontal, hit OK.
  • Create a new layer on top of your metal layer. Flip your colors so that White is your foreground color, and Black is your background color. Select the brush tool and go to your Brush Preset Picker at the top of your screen.


  • Click the triangle pointing to the right which will open your Brushes pallet, select Calligraphic Brushes, hit OK to replace current brushes. Now, select the Flat 45px brush.
  • Click on the Brushes tab at the top right corner of your Photoshop screen. Click on and check Scattering. Let’s put the settings at Scatter 1000%, check Both Axes, Control: off, Count: 1, Count Jitter: 85%, Control: off.



    Paint a few strokes on your new layer.



    While still on the second layer, apply a Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with a radius of 2. Set the opacity of this layer to 10%.


  • Create a new layer. Select the Brush tool and go to your Brush Preset Picker at the top of your screen, and Select the brush you downloaded, from me, called curved_buff.



    Open the Brushes tab at the top right of your screen. Set the Brush Tip Shape options to Diameter: 212px, Angle: 31, Roundness: 61%, Check spacing at 100%.



    Check and select Shape Dynamics, with settings at Size jitter: 0%, Angle jitter: 68%, Control off, Roundness Jitter: 0%, Control off.



    Check and select Scattering. Check Both Axes at 299%, Control off, Count 7, Count Jitter 59%, Control off.



    Paint on your second newly created layer with this brush for a few strokes.


  • Click Filter > Blur > Motion Blur at an Angle of 0 and a Distance of 30. Set this layer at an opacity of 15%.


  • Create a new layer. Filter > Render > Clouds
  • Filter > Render > Difference Clouds
  • Image > Adjustments > Invert


  • Image > Adjustments > Levels and set the Input Levels at 150, .10, 255.



    Set the mode of this layer to Lighten and the Opacity to 10%.
  • Right click this third layer, and click Duplicate Layer, Click OK.
  • Go to Edit > Transform > Flip vertical
  • Click to select the bottom most layer. Click the half black half white circle at the bottom of your layers pallet to bring up the menu. Click Hue/Saturation. Set the Hue to 216. The Saturation to 9. And check Colorize.



    Click OK and you are done.

    Filed under: art & design tutorials

    future of network management

    13 Comments »

    June 4th, 2007 Posted 9:19 pm

    I finished a new illustration for the Performance Edge Journal issue 2. The article is about the future of network management and the difficulties ahead if proactive approaches are not taken.

    Filed under: tina illustrates

    the stroke face

    4 Comments »

    June 5th, 2007 Posted 2:04 pm

    Maybe I am not at that MTV age anymore, not hip, nor in the know about all things cool and awesome, but what the hell is going on with the stroke face expression? I see it in everyone’s (girl’s) photos, mostly on myspace (my only passage to the hip world). Now I don’t want to make fun of specific people, or post their photos here without their permission, but I was lucky enough, a few months ago, to have Rosie Sullivan depict this phenomenon on a painting of me.

    I had started noticing this last winter and freaked out about it then, but after a while I wrote it off as a passing fad. Then, today, browsing through a friend of a friend’s myspace photos I came upon it again! Why?! Why do they take pictures of themselves making pouty faces and pursing their lips to the side as if one side of their face has gone limp from a stoke? Oh, poor stroke faced girls. It’s an epidemic.

    Has anyone else seen this ridiculousness?

    Filed under: art influences

    image displacement mask

    10 Comments »

    June 6th, 2007 Posted 9:19 pm

    Place images or text on clothing or skin without the mess of screen printing or the pain of permanent tattoos. I gave this girl’s pretty dress extra awesomeness by placing one of my illustrations on it by using a displacement mask in Photoshop. This process contours one image to the surface of another, making the depth (lights and darks) of the background image control the distortion of the placed image.

      Tools:
    • Photoshop CS or higher
    • A high resolution photo with some skin or clothing
    • An image or text to place

    Open your high res. photo in Photoshop. Select All and Copy, then create a new document and Paste.

  • Go to Image > Mode > Grayscale.
  • Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 2.5 pixels. This will create a softer more natural look for our displacement mask.


  • Save this file as Displacement.psd and close it.
  • Back to our original high resolution image. Place the text or image you want onto the skin or clothing, resize and rotate for a proper fit.


  • Optional: For my image I needed to mask off a small part of my placed image because the girl’s hand was in the way. Make sure you are on your text or image layer that you placed onto your photo. Click the Add layer mask button at the bottom of your layers pallet, this button looks like a rectangle with a circle inside of it.


  • With your Brush tool set to Black, and at a Hardness of 13% and an Opacity of 42%, brush away at the area that you need to mask off (make sure you are on your Mask layer, and not brushing on your actual image). Hit X on your keyboard to switch your color to White. Brush away around the area until you have it perfect. Don’t be afraid to go back and forth till you have it.
  • Right click on the Mask layer and click Apply Layer Mask.


  • Go to Filter > Distort > Displace and place the settings at Horizontal Scale: 6, Vertical Scale: 6, Stretch To Fit, and Repeat Edge Pixels. You may have to experiment with these numbers to get yours to work for your image.


  • Select your saved Displacement.psd file and hit OK.
  • In your layers pallet, set the Layer Mode of this displaced image to Multiply and the Opacity at around 85% (or experiment).
  • Optional: Duplicate this layer by dragging it onto the Create a new layer button on your layers pallet. Set the Layer Mode of this to Overlay at about 90%. I also created a Layer Mask for this Overlay layer and brushed on some of the deep wrinkles to create more shadows and depth. You’re done!

    Filed under: art & design tutorials

    photo editing in photoshop

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    June 7th, 2007 Posted 12:01 pm

    Editing photos is one of my favorite things to do. Photo manipulation can, if done well, correct a myriad of sins that you could not control during the photo shoot. My tool of choice is Photoshop, upgraded to the latest release, but previous versions (too be safe, I’ll say 7.0 and up) will work as well.

    As an example I will use an unedited photograph of myself.

    Photo editing in Photoshop

    Adobe Photoshop toolsNot a horrendous photo, but my face has very unflattering shadows in this light among other things. Our main to do list: remove all blemishes and unsightly lines, lighten the under eye shadows, enlarge the eyes a little because mine were a bit squinty, brighten teeth, add rosy skin tones, and nudge the nose to have more symmetry. All this can be done fairly easily, using only a few layers, and only a handful of tools.

    I have labeled them in order of most often used, and simplest to hardest.

    The healing brush (number 1) is the most amazing (and easiest) tool for cleaning up skin, minor blemishes, and slight lines. Select this tool, in the brush properties I suggest going with 50% hardness or experimenting. Setting the hardness too low will create an unnaturally smooth look if overused.

    On that note, do not go overboard with any of these tools and methods. Keep it natural, do not lose the original texture of the skin, and remember that less is more.

    Okay, back to the healing brush. ALT+Click on a clear area of skin that is a similar color and tone to the area you want to clean up. Patiently brush away one blemish at a time, don’t be afraid to undo and redo until you have it perfect.

    The healing brush has some limitations, it does not work well when you are trying to clear up an area that is butted up right next to a very dark or very light area. For this kind of problem you will use the clone stamp (number 2) in conjunction with the healing brush. Select the clone stamp, set the hardness to about 50% and set the opacity to around 50% as well. Feel free to zoom in if you need to. ALT+Click on a clean area very close to the problem area and gently brush over the problem area. Go back to the healing brush and blend in what the clone stamp left behind.

    The smudge tool (number 3) is a very powerful tool that can be very hard to control. I suggest you practice with this tool often before getting too frustrated and expecting it to work for you right away. I use the smudge tool to move muscles and to reshape whole areas. Use this sparingly because it will destroy all natural underlying textures. Use it for small areas only. Select the tool, with 30% hardness, and 75% strength. Resize the brush to fit over the area you need to move or reshape, softly nudge the area to the shape you desire. Usually many CTRL+Zs are necessary.

    Number 4 on our tool bar is the Burn tool which can also be switched over to the Dodge tool. Another very strong tool that you must use very lightly. The burn tool darkens and the dodge tool lightens. To use either of them, set the hardness to 50% and the exposure to 5%. Brush in areas you need to darken or lighten but do not linger too long as it gets darker or lighter the longer you hold the brush down. This tool also messes with the underlying colors in your shadows or highlights. So you usually have to go back and add adjustment layers with masks to correct them. If you are only going to use two adjustment layers I suggest you use Levels and Hue/Saturation. Adjustment layers are very easy to use, and so useful and necessary.

    Removing blemishes in Photoshop
    Removing blemishes in Photoshop

    And the final transformation:

    Photo editing using Adobe Photoshop

    cat suit

    23 Comments »

    June 8th, 2007 Posted 8:59 am

    Filed under: tina illustrates

    kitty crazy brain activity

    11 Comments »

    June 9th, 2007 Posted 10:21 pm

    Filed under: the adventures

    rejection

    32 Comments »

    June 15th, 2007 Posted 7:47 am

    The fourth and last book of the series The Immortals by Tamora Pierce is called Emperor Mage. This is an unpublished cover for this book. I created covers for this entire series, and the cover of the first book, Wild Magic, can be seen here.

    Filed under: tina illustrates

    recently, i feel more adult

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    June 16th, 2007 Posted 6:00 am

    Filed under: the adventures

    drool canon rebel xti

    3 Comments »

    June 19th, 2007 Posted 6:02 am

    My weekend was wonderful and family-filled, I bought the Canon Digital SLR Rebel XTi and played photographer. I also bought my first lotto ticket and lost.

    Happy Father’s day, Dad.

    David’s mom, Peggy.

    David’s cousin-in-law, AJ.

    Handsome David.

    Devil David.

    A boy and his ice cream.

    Filed under: photos

    approval from the wise

    12 Comments »

    June 20th, 2007 Posted 6:00 am

    Filed under: the adventures

    camouflage

    49 Comments »

    June 22nd, 2007 Posted 8:19 am

    Tuppenny

    Tuppenny

    Filed under: tina illustrates

    the blogs of david

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    June 25th, 2007 Posted 5:30 am


    Everyone in the “Poziri” household was excited this passed weekend about the rehaul of David’s blog. We moved him to Wordpress and he is enjoying all the control he has over every detail of the project. There is a sexy new flash ad on David’s blog that you’ll have to go see.

    Mojito felt the energy and was extra sweet to me yesterday, and even came to lay in my lap WHICH HE NEVER DOES! I was speechless even though it only lasted 37 seconds. We even celebrated with Mr. Bee by having three spoonfuls of honey, each.

    Filed under: the adventures

    twist

    54 Comments »

    June 29th, 2007 Posted 8:23 am

    Filed under: tina illustrates