That Marky chose me among women to design what will now be a part of him until he leaves this earthly life and his earthly shell, I’m very thankful for that. It’s something I have done that will not pass away, at least hopefully not for a very long time. Sniff…..now I miss him. Like the deserts miss the rain.
I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile. There are one million ways to get the exact same effect in Photoshop and you probably already have your own ways of doing this, but in case it helps anyone anywhere – here are two eeeHEASY (heh, heh) ways to get two effects that I use all the time for the usual little design jobsies that come up in one’s service for the Lord.
Exhibit A: You want something more interesting than a plain background for your Christmas card/birth announcement/wedding invitation so you start with a colorful photo.
In Photoshop, open duplicate the layer then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and adjust it to a nice state of um….blurriness.
Too easy. Here’s something I put together with this technique recently.
Exhibit B: A gradient. When I found this technique on some PS tut blog I was giddy with joy at the simplicity (oh the simplicity) of this technique. I’ve used it on things that really needed no gradient at all just because it was too easy.
Fill your background with any color (it could even be a photo)
Make a new layer. Use your polygonal lasso tool to make a shape like so, and fill it with black.
Then run the same Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur on the layer with the black shape.
And you’ve got yourself an entirely adjustable gradient layer. Praise the Lord! Here’s something I used this technique with. Gives stuff a nice little zing.
Sniff. In the interests of honesty and full disclosure, this post was partly made for the purpose of highlighting this very last image that you see here – the one with the great big 2009 on it. I’m oh so pleased with it and the Lord saw fit to break me by not allowing it to be used for reasons that make sense, but it still hurts in places deep inside of me. I had to make a different cover and my heart just wasn’t in it. Ah, well.
Hope these few novice tidbitietes of information have helped in some way. I’ve made this post after a number of glasses of not halfway bad White Zinfandel (I love that I can say that in public) while I simultaneously try to listen to Nat King Cole and cultivate my budding friendship with the new friend I think I have made in Florence (name drop) over Skype, so if this hasn’t made as much sense as I think it has, that’s well….kind of the reason. God bless you.
This is the one year anniversary of these photos. They were both such troopers – it was so very awfully cold, you can read it all over Dan’s “you have so got to be kidding me” face in the last pic. Very few people in my life have been willing to suffer so much for the sake of art. After we took the photos I took a hot shower and remember having a very nearly close to perfect cup of coffee while I Photoshopped to my little heart’s content. The photos came out exactly the way I wanted. That was a good day. I miss Dan. He will probably hate me for making this post.
Oh and, as soon as Chuck and I find matching Santa hats to wear while we hand deliver the last of our Christmas cards to our homies, I’ll post our card here so you can see the results of your prayers.
I apologize to all those with slow connections, full size is the only way this painting looks good. Been working on her for far too long and I know I should keep working on it until there’s millions of tiny details and I’m perfectly satisfied, but I’m tired of having it sit around so here is my second digital painting ever! There’s a lot of stuff that, again, I know I should fix so if you point out something that’s off, chances are I’ll agree with you heartily.
If you look at it real closely you can start to hear a voice in the background “New from FOX, a drama that will leave you breathless. She has no past, and now she must fight for her future. Tina Botoxlips is…..The Avenger. Thursday night at 8:00.”
I was following a tutorial on skin painting but the guy just ended up looking way too effeminate to be cool so I thinned out the neck and made it a girl. I made the mistake of starting out with way smaller resolution then I should have so I couldn’t do much detail on it. Now that it’s done I can do something way cooler (hopefully) with lots of detail.
About 7 hours with Photoshop CS3 and DigiPro tablet.
Chuck: hey
Chuck: here’s a thought
Chuck: my butt is numb
Chuck: asleep
Chuck: I can’t feel it
Chuck: its almost like its not there!
Chuck: WOW!
TallGoddess: wowie zowie
Chuck: Maybe I’ll be lighter if I step on the scale
TallGoddess: good luck with that one
Chuck: so
Chuck: what are you going to do for me
Chuck: for my 21st birthday?
Chuck: I hope you’re thinking about it at least 21 hours in the day
Chuck: 1 hour for each year I’ve lived
TallGoddess: I’ll bake you a cake as fast as I can
TallGoddess: I’ll pat it
TallGoddess: roll it
TallGoddess: and mark it with a J
TallGoddess: to celebrate ME
TallGoddess: yay!
Chuck: That’s terrible
Chuck: here I am
Chuck: comeing into adulthodd
Chuck: hood*
Chuck: learning to spell properly
Chuck: and all you can do is think of yourself??
Chuck: That’s it
Chuck: On YOUR 21st birthday…I’m…I’m…
Chuck: Going to buy a tub of ice cream
Chuck: and eat it MYSELF
Chuck: hahah
TallGoddess: maybe I’ll finish that vector of you and post it on my blog
Chuck: I knew you were going to do that
TallGoddess: really? I just thought of it now
Chuck: I know
Chuck: I thought of it before you
Chuck: I knew you were going to think of it
Chuck: I told you I can see into the future
TallGoddess: you’re bulimic
TallGoddess: you can read minds
Chuck: I know
Chuck: no
Chuck: I can see into the future
Chuck: If you just thought of it now
TallGoddess: oh
Chuck: How could I have read your mind before?
Chuck: I have to outdo everyone on your b-day present
Chuck: because i’m your BFF
Chuck: its important
Chuck: to out do people
Chuck: I have to be BETTER!
TallGoddess: I hope I outdo everyone with you
Chuck: Its important!!
TallGoddess: but i don’t know
Chuck: well – if you’re unsure
Chuck: just get two things
Chuck: it solves everything
TallGoddess: I did
Chuck: ha!
Chuck: wow
Chuck: That’s pretty fantastical
TallGoddess: now I’m insecure
TallGoddess: what if you like Luca’s speakers more then my present?
Chuck: Ah
Chuck: I wont
Chuck: I’ll like the speakers
Chuck: But I’ll like yours more
TallGoddess: promise?
Chuck: See – its the BFF’s responsibility to out do everyone else
Chuck: but it’s also the opposite BFF’s responsibility to like the BFF’s present more then everyone else’s
Chuck: its a real give and take
TallGoddess: well, I just hope I can deliver
Chuck: me too
Chuck: I have high expectations for you
Chuck: hee
Chuck: Are your palms sweating yet?
Chuck: Don’t ruin your keyboard
TallGoddess: I’ll do my best
Chuck: good
Chuck: Now
Chuck: Good bye
Chuck: and good night
TallGoddess: good night BFF
Chuck: I said it first
TallGoddess: wutev
Chuck: wutevEREREREERERERERERERERERERERE
Chuck: You need to go to ER
Chuck: Get it?
Chuck: Emergency Room?
Chuck: hahahahah
Chuck: GO there to get your ER’s back
TallGoddess: wow, we’re feeling bril today aren’t we?
Chuck: Yea
Chuck: we are
TallGoddess: you’re such a dork
Chuck: but you like it
Chuck: You think i’m cool
Chuck: You want to be just like me
TallGoddess: you don’t have to rub it in
HBD BFF! I thought I’d go with the abstract instead of the sentimental this year. And, oh hey look, I finished the vector.
Feel free to leave mushy gushy berfday love for Chuck, just the way she likes it.