Awesome site

[Ed]

One of the best dark sites I've ever seen - these guys are amazing.  I can't believe their forum is so dead with so much talent there.  Take a look at the PS tuts, and that's just the tip of the iceburg.

http://www.noir.org/2dTutorials.html  Unreal.

[Troglodyte]

My God, they make PS look like child's play I'm almost convincing myself that I could have a go at this GFX malarkey What do I need, other than PS? There's one image about half way down I think is brill: Souleater by Roberto Campus.

[Ed]

My God, they make PS look like child's play I'm almost convincing myself that I could have a go at this GFX malarkey What do I need, other than PS? There's one image about half way down I think is brill: Souleater by Roberto Campus.

Um, for that, the other thing you'd need is a ton of skill and about six months of spare time

If you want to have a go at using Photoshop, we can get you started and point you at some good tutorials between us

[Neuromancer]

PLUGINS PLUGINS PLUGINS

Time and talent already having been mentioned.

My brother in law mentioned had a CD-R full of plugins if I wanted them.  Something about hollywood effects or whatever.  I wasnt really paying attention, GFX are not my gift.

I have decided that my gift is non-sequitor instead.  A completely useless talent, unless I decide to become a charismatic religious dictator or some other 3rd world despot.


5/4 of people dont understand fractions

[Troglodyte]

If you want to have a go at using Photoshop, we can get you started and point you at some good tutorials between us

I'm sure I could get a copy of PS via my work. They have all manner of networked software packages for staff.

I know I've absolutely no experience with gfx, but still I'd like to try and have a go. Would something like a signature be a project to start with?

[Ed]

Yeah, a sig is usually the first thing people try to make.  Let us know when you get a copy of PS and we'll give you a few pointers to get started.   

[Troglodyte]

Will do. Should I be looking for a particular edition of PS? And what other software could/should I be using?

[Ed]

Will do. Should I be looking for a particular edition of PS? And what other software could/should I be using?

Photoshop 8 is the latest build, but I use Photoshop 7 - I can't be arsed to get the newer version, plus most of the tutorials out there are written specifically for 7, so I think it's the better choice.

PS comes packaged with Imageready, but you don't really need it unless you want to make animated gifs or websites.

You don't really need anything else, but there are a load of filters and other plugins that you might find useful - you just have to scavenge for them, and they're not necessary.  Quite a few people seem to use 3D progs in conjunction with PS, but there's a steep learning curve involved, so I've never bothered yet

[Troglodyte]

Let us know when you get a copy of PS and we'll give you a few pointers to get started.

I couldn't get PS 7 through my work They were being a bit Bolshy about site licences ... 

So I grabbed a copy (sans manual) from Ebay for under a tenner  and loaded it tonight. Next step gents

[Ed]

You PAID for it?   Nah, ten quid is an absolute bargain, if it's the full version.

Forget the manual, it'll just bog you down and put you off trying anything.  One basic rule to remember - if it won't let you do something you want to do, add a layer, and 9 out of 10 times you can carry on and do it then.

Your most useful tools are your brush, paint bucket, eraser and lasso.  Forget about the rest for now.

Open it up and go to file>open then find a pic that's already on your computer, like a photo or something.  Then go, file>save as and rename it, saving it in another directory altogether, in case you cock it up   Then you'll still have the original one left unscarred.  Just play with it for now, like, with the lassoo tool, draw around a face until the line meets (continuously) then go edit>copy then ctrl+d to deselect, then ctrl+v and a copy of the face will appear, which you can move around on the screen with the 'move' tool (looks like a cross with an arrow on top of it).  Note that you can resize the face by dragging the corners of the box it's in.  You can even open up another photo and ctrl+v to paste it into that one, then move it into place with the move tool

I'll give you some tutorial links tomorrow, if you want them.

[Troglodyte]

Yup, full version (and free p&p to boot!)

At first glance it looked terrifying    but I guess any new piece of software can have that effect.

I'll have a play around with a few pics that I've loaded recently, and see what I can come up with.

One basic rule to remember - if it won't let you do something you want to do, add a layer, and 9 out of 10 times you can carry on and do it then.

Yeah, I noticed adding layers featured large in the tuts on noir.org's pages.

I'll give you some tutorial links tomorrow, if you want them.

Cheers. Same time, same place tomorrow night then, it's a date

[Ed]

Yeah, it does look daunting when you first look at it, in fact I had it on my comp for over a year before I actually did anything half useful with it.  I kept opening it up, trying to do something, anything, with it...and it wouldn't let me.  I couldn't even draw a straight line with the bastard thing   Each time I just gave up, after damn near kicking the crap out of my PC with frustration.    

Then I found out about adding layers, and I was off

[Ed]

Sorry, came here to post a link and got sidetracked senile old bastard that I am....

Try these to start off with - www.wacom.com/tips/index.cfm?category=Photoshop (you don't need a tablet to do them)  if you get stuck on anything, just shout.

[Troglodyte]

(you don't need a tablet to do them)

Christ, is it that bad that I've got to start popping pills

Cheers mate, I'll have a look over the next few days/nights and see how I get on.

[Ed]

So how're you getting on?   Or aren't you?