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?

[Troglodyte]

TBH mate, slowly  Picked up a few mags with some tuts. and will try and get some time to really sit down and play with PS. 

[Ed]

You'll get the hang of it sooner than you think, if you keep at it.  It's the old thing about wanting to do it enough - I only started to get the hang of it when I was thoroughly determined to sort out a project.   It doesn't have to be like that tho.

[Troglodyte]

Now that I've seen the potential, I want to be able to achieve similar results, but get frustrated when I don't understand the mechanics. But I guess practice (lots) makes perfect.

[Ed]

Now that I've seen the potential, I want to be able to achieve similar results, but get frustrated when I don't understand the mechanics. But I guess practice (lots) makes perfect.

Dunno - I've practised a lot, and I'm still nowhere near perfect   But don't let that put you off

[Criminally Insane]

deviantART is another good 1.

http://browse.deviantart.com/  for tutorials etc

http://www.deviantart.com/   their homepage

LoLza

[Ed]

I didn't realise there were tuts at deviantart - I thought it was just a display type site   I'll have to check that one out

Hey, and it looks like you've got the $50 in the bag for the art comp - fancy writing a story too?   Can't believe nobody seems to be showing an interest after all the advertising I've been doing   It's just fucking weird :wha?:

[Criminally Insane]

I didn't realise there were tuts at deviantart - I thought it was just a display type site   I'll have to check that one out

Hey, and it looks like you've got the $50 in the bag for the art comp - fancy writing a story too?   Can't believe nobody seems to be showing an interest after all the advertising I've been doing   It's just fucking weird :wha?:

yeah @ the browse.deviantart, use the sub categories,find resources, tutes in there.

always hard to get members when you have a new site, like a new business, it takes time, but you will eventually get a steady flow.

i`m also working on some other images, as for the competition, i aint bothered about the money, winning- yes, but the money -no, lol,also, 1 of my wallpapers i made ages ago, has become the 34th most downloaded on themexp.org, yayyyyyyyyy, as from the 1st Nov, well thats the email they told me, as they are runnning a comp on there also, winner gets webspace free and something like $100, comp runs every month, if i had entered, i would of won $67.

[ gets email ] .......................

Hi gh0st m4ch1n3,

Just a quick note to let you know that the top 100 author competition for the
most file downloads during last month has ended and that you came in 34th
amongst authors who ARE NOT in the competition. As I mentioned before, any
author that wants to be in this competition, wants a free domain with us and
free hosting with us (In return for allowing us to place ads within the
downloads) and who comes in the top 100 can win anywhere from $20 to $100 and
that if you would have been one of these authors, 34th place would have been
worth $67 to you.

Don't worry that you missed out last month, as we aim to continue running this
competition for as many months as possible, so let me know if you want to be in
with a chance to win next month.

As always, I am here to help by email and now by phone Monday to Friday on ***
*** **** (Toll free number should be coming soon)- My buddy Dale is handling
support calls so ask for him by name :-)

Regards.

Steve and Eric.
(The ThemeXP Guys)

............................................................................


LoLza

[Ed]

Yeah, I've seen your stuff over at themeXP before - pretty impressive, especially being #34 in the most downloaded catagory, well done mate  

BTW, if you want free webhosting and stuff like that, there are quite a few offers like that in the 'employment agency' area of n-sane's forum - in exchange for building web templates, usually.  Some of the offers are really generous, with sub domains, e-mail accounts, tons of server space and bandwidth.  Might be worth you checking out, if you're interested 

About the prize money - if you win it, maybe you should use it to buy Pix a bunch of flowers for putting up with your grumpy arse

[Criminally Insane]

thnx m8, lol. i think i have enuff websites @ the moment

yeah i thought it was good of themexp telling me about that,and was surprised, cos i never submit work there anymore, swissboy got jealous, he ended up being part of their team back then and changed my pass a few times, so i never used them again since then.All i do now is help out wherever i can, or ppl seeing my work and contacting me.

Flowers?  

LoLza

[Ed]

Yeah, by the sound of it you've still got a few friends over there.  Like you say, it was good of them to mention it - they could have kept stum and hung onto the money.  Could be their way of getting you to upload some new work for them - maybe swissboy did the rounds and scared off all the talent, and now they want it back?  Could be  

It only takes one asshole with a bit of power to royally screw up something good.  Pretty childish changing your password - guess the kid couldn't stand the pace

Are you doing anymore brushing work ATM?  I keep meaning to get on and learn how to do it, but everytime I try, it looks like a 5 yr old did it   Fucking terrible - doesn't help being profoundly colourblind either   Have to keep looking at the hex codes to try and figure out what colour I'm using

[sepia]

I will agree that plug-ins and filters are of great help, but after a while, they become quite recognizable. sometimes making your own stuff is easier and much more unique--if you want someone to look like they are held together with fish hooks or pins, jam a bunch of them through some white or light yellow cheese and photograph them. Apply on a different layer and then use color modes to show what you want.

I think the very best PS site is actually a whole course, and free--http://www.photoshopgurus.com/tutorials.html

Some other nice dark sites that have tuts in some, or just gelleries in others are
Abnormis: http://www.abnormis.com/
ConceptArt: http://www.conceptart.org/
2D Valley (good place to get stuff): http://www.2dvalley.com/
Noir: http://www.noir.org/
Twisted Realmz: http://www.twistedrealmz.com/

And like it was said earlier in this thread, DevArt is great.