Getting My feet Wet

As I promised, I'm doing digital art again. Decided to get my feet wet by doing a challenge on Flickr.

© NeonSun Studios 2011. All rights reserved.

www.flickr.com/groups/makeitinteresting/discuss/72157627527361135/

Starter image with thanks to "http://www.flickr.com/photos/27805557@N08/3330979732/Joes Sistah
Skin, wings, halo - JoesSistah
Model: JoannaStar Model pack at Deviant Art
Background: Darkwoods
Wreath: Ms.Bailey
Eyes: LoveandStyle at Deviant Art

It took about 2 hours. I'll probably go back and do some more work on it. For now (at 4:30 am) I'm happy with it.

A small tutorial on this image:

The vines were actually a wreath. After positioning it I used the eraser tool and wiped away the center of the wreath with a hard circle brush. I reduced the size of the brush and cleaned up the edges around the face and shoulders.

The skin is done using a S2 wrap. This method is so popular that there is a group on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/s2wrap/

Here's a quick and dirty way for photshop Elements users. Don't look for the alpha channel. There aren't any in Elements.
1 - Place your pattern layer directly above the face layer.
2 - Select MULTIPLY in the CONTENT pallette that your layers are in. This will make the pattern layer translucent.
3 - Select the ERASER tool from the TOOLS on the lefhand side and find a hard edge, round brush/eraser  from the lefthand top brush drop down menu.
4 - Scrape away the the pattern around the face. Adjust the size of the eraser brush to get into the nooks and crannys, like the ears, etc.
5 - Done.

For the wings which were originally white I used ENHANCE ->ADJUST COLOUR function. There is more on that here on the April 28th 2011 post.
http://neonsunshine-jody.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html3 - 

Let me know of anything you'd like to learn about and I'll see what I can do. I would love to hear from you. Also don't be afraid to leave a comment about posts. Tell me if the tutorials worked for you or feel free to add any info or links related to posts. Let me know if the TUTS didn't work for you and why. After all we are all in this together.

You may of noticed my snappy new social media buttons at the bottom of the posts. Try them out out. They work exceptionally well. Better than anything I've used before.

New Look- Welcome to Adventures in Photoshop.

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon. I cleaned my apartment. Cleaned my desk. Then I thought I'd give a new and brighter look to my blog. Feel free to comment on the new look.
I found a big list of  photoshop tutorials on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/itsanaddiction/discuss/72157606931837566/
You can check it out. I learned how to make a shadow. A much easier way to make a shadow is to go into EFFECTS and find the drop shadows. You have more control if you have a layer for each element on your art.

There are tutorials on making picture cubes. Then there's a tutorial on making an S2 wrap.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/s2wrap/

Very creepy picture of Audrey Hepburn.

As you can see I'm still working on the technique.
I added a clock to my blog. That way you'll always know what time it is in Vancouver. There are a few new links. I deleted a couple of blogs I follow to trim down the blog a bit. As you may have noticed it is slower to load lately. I'll see what else I can do to improve that.
Artwise I've been playing with time, so to speak. The scrappin cop has come out with new png of watch parts. I'll leave you with a couple.

I discovered a new use for metallic gradients. I used it on the clock face to give it a bit more depth. It's done with a metallic bulls eye gradient. Then reduce the opacity until you're happy with it.

Inner clockworks courtesy of Fallen Angel.

For those of you who have slacked off seeing the dentist, there's the best tutorial I've seen in whitening teeth in photoshop.
http://www.brusheezy.com/blog/18-whiten-teeth-in-photoshop-tutorial
It's easy peasy after a few tries.

All artwork property of NeonSun Studios unless otherwise indicated.
© NeonSun Studios 2010