What filter goes best with "obsession"...
Jul. 10th, 2005 05:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spacealien_vampI've been reading some Photoshop references over the past couple of days, figuring that it could come in handy, what with my drawing/painting/icon designing/embroidery pattern designing obsessions addictions hobbies. I had fiddled around and done things by trial and error, but there's a limit to how much can be figured out that way. (The pen tool, for example, always confused the heck out of me. Every time I tried to draw with it like the pencil or brush, it spit out warped lines everywhere.)
Now I know what the pen tool is supposed to do, as well as blending levels and layer masks. Many of the filters (like emboss and difference clouds) that previously seemed useless because they screwed up the colors are now making more sense.
Coincidentally, one of my team teachers asked me to design the cover for the booklet that's being put together as a project in one of my senior classes. Each student is writing a two-page spread, in English, describing some aspect of Japan or Japanese culture. She said I could just copy one of the flower paintings that I've already done in my sketchbook if I wanted to...but all the flowers I've painted so far are extremely tiny, so I didn't think they'd make a good cover graphic.
Instead, I've spent a number of hours playing around with layers and filters and masks and blending and gradients. The "tea" image is an example of one of the logos I came up with (one of the students wrote about the tea ceremony). I'll show my results to my team teacher tomorrow and see what she thinks.
Other than that, I haven't done much since Friday, save the usual shopping/cleaning/reading. I did get my hair cut today, which was the most excitement of the weekend. (It's HARD to keep up a conversation in a foreign language with a hair dryer blowing in your ears, I'll tell you.)
Now I know what the pen tool is supposed to do, as well as blending levels and layer masks. Many of the filters (like emboss and difference clouds) that previously seemed useless because they screwed up the colors are now making more sense.
Coincidentally, one of my team teachers asked me to design the cover for the booklet that's being put together as a project in one of my senior classes. Each student is writing a two-page spread, in English, describing some aspect of Japan or Japanese culture. She said I could just copy one of the flower paintings that I've already done in my sketchbook if I wanted to...but all the flowers I've painted so far are extremely tiny, so I didn't think they'd make a good cover graphic.Instead, I've spent a number of hours playing around with layers and filters and masks and blending and gradients. The "tea" image is an example of one of the logos I came up with (one of the students wrote about the tea ceremony). I'll show my results to my team teacher tomorrow and see what she thinks.
Other than that, I haven't done much since Friday, save the usual shopping/cleaning/reading. I did get my hair cut today, which was the most excitement of the weekend. (It's HARD to keep up a conversation in a foreign language with a hair dryer blowing in your ears, I'll tell you.)
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Beautiful, beautiful...
Date: 2005-07-10 05:02 am (UTC)The booklet sounds like such a great idea. You'll have a very useful product afterwords. I hope they think about sharing with their sister city. Could I put in an order for one to use as a reference for the pen pal project? Maybe it will help give the students ideas of things to write about. Let me know what it might cost.
Photoshop sounds like an awesome program to be able to use completely. Maybe if I learned to use it, it wouldn't matter that I have absolutely no artistic talent. But I'll bet you really have to have a good eye for art anyway to be able to decide what to do. I think I'm just out of luck.
Re: Beautiful, beautiful...
Date: 2005-07-10 05:15 am (UTC)I could certainly ask.
But I'll bet you really have to have a good eye for art anyway to be able to decide what to do.
The nice thing is, you can just play around with different colors and fonts and effects...and if you don't like the result, you can hit "undo." (I love the "undo" function SO MUCH.)
Re: Beautiful, beautiful...
Date: 2005-07-10 05:31 am (UTC)This is a confidential whisper, OK?
Date: 2005-07-10 07:03 am (UTC)Re: This is a confidential whisper, OK?
Date: 2005-07-10 01:03 pm (UTC)It's a cross between the lasso--it draws a selection area--and the shape tool--it turns what it draws into a "path." The main difference is that it adds anchor points as it goes, so that the anchor points can be adjusted later. That's the simple part.
The confusing part is that there are two kinds of line segments between each anchor point--straight or curved. If you make a series of clicks instead of dragging, you make straight line segments. If you drag (like drawing with the pencil), you're drawing a curve. So the nice thing is, it lets you draw really smooth curves. The bad thing is, it's totally NOT intuitive.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-10 09:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-10 01:06 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Any excuse to play around with colors and fonts will have me addicted in no time. I'm still just a dabbler...it's amazing what professionals can do. But it's a fun way to pass the time.
Hair cut?
Date: 2005-07-11 11:42 am (UTC)Picture please?