Brush Sets

For the brush set project we had to demonstrate how to use preset brushes and how to create your own custom brushes. I had some prior experience in this area so it was actually pretty easy. First I found my calligraphy brush and some ink, I figured I’d draw out my own strokes and scan them into the computer to be fixed up and turned into the brushes. After drawing out some strokes I liked I scanned them in and opened them up in photo shop, where I cropped them out and fixed the coloring. By turning the image into grayscale, and then adjusting the level under the image, adjustments menu. Then I selected the area I wanted to make into a brush and went to edit, and then Define Brush Preset. It then asks to name the stroke and then the stroke is added into the preset manager. I later went back and added in one more picture brush based off a fox paw print. I also tweaked some of the setting for each individual brush to achieve a certain look with it. I did this by opening the brush manager a adjusting the level in categories such as Shape dynamics, Scattering, and Color dynamics.

Exploring Layers and Layer Styles

My goal for this project was to create a composite image of 3-4 pictures I took myself. This weekend was very uneventful for me, so I ended up grabbing some neighborhood pictures and some pictures of my dog to experiment on. First I cut them all out and then arranged them. Then I used the menu icons beneath the layer palette to open such options as; adjustment layers, blending modes, and layer styles. First I used multiple adjustment layers to fix the brightness and color of my dog pictures so they resembled outside lighting. Then I used the layer styles to create shadowing for my animals. Then I used a few blending modes to change the color of the cars and also for the transparent flower border. I used one “blend if” mode for a dog I placed in the bushes and I blend out his black fur and some orange fur to make him appear as though he is peering through the leaves.

Color Correction 2

For this project my goal was to select objects within the picture, cut them out and put them onto separate layers. Then I was to color adjust each object in order to demonstrate basic types of color adjustments. My boyfriend took me to the cub’s game, so I took the opportunity to snap a couple of images I thought would be suitable for this project. I ended up choosing a close-up view of the field with the players and umpires in the shot. I figured it would be easy to cut out the players and adjust their colors.

BEFORE

AFTER

 I started my project by setting my image up to be a photo shop document. Then I duplicated the back ground and began cutting players out. Each time I cut one player out, I would delete the background, rename the layer, and duplicate my locked background over again, and repeat the process until I had as many players cut out as I wanted. All that was left to do was to open up the image drop down menu, go to adjustments, and individually assign each layer with a color balance, hue/saturation, black/white or vibrance adjustment. The pitcher on the pitcher mound, I turned black and white with the black/white adjustments layer, and then I tweaked each color to highlight more shadows on the player to give him more detail. On the player that had 2 on his back I used a color balance and dulled out his colors making him darker. The player with the number 47 on his shirt I used hue and saturation and made him a little more like sepia color to give him more of an old timey look.  The player throwing the ball to the pitcher, I used the vibrance adjustment and just made him brighter, making him pop from the background a bit more. The guard standing next to number 47, I used two adjustments on, first I kicked up his vibrance, and then I used a color adjustment and tried to lower the levels of yellow in his pants, making them brown. I also used one more black and white adjustment on the umpire on the far left, this time I was looking to bring more contrast to his dark clothing and I concentrated on raising the levels of the warm colors in order to boost the “inner glow”.

Color Correction

(Monument) Before/After

(Rooster in Shadows) Before/After

(High Contrast Bird) Before/After

For this project my goal was to color correct each image and then present them in a before and after image. The first image I corrected was of the monument. I noticed that this picture was a little bit too blue, which washed out some of the colors. So first I copy and pasted the image over to another layer and then opened the Image drop down menu. There I found the Variations tools; which samples and displays the picture in various tones of color, and also brightens and darkens them. First I tried neutralizing some of the blue out, by adding a warm color like red to warm up the picture and give it more color. I then darkened the photo a degree, to make the shadows more pronounced, and finally I added some cyan to even out the red, and then some yellow to brighten the colors. I think the final product made the picture more rich in color and clearer to see. The second picture I corrected was the Rooster in the dark. In this picture my goal was to brighten the picture and make the rooster pop-out from the background better. I repeated the first steps again, and once in the variations tool, I began to brighten the picture. I noticed that as I brightened it the color was beginning to wash out somewhat. So I added red to preserve some of the color, and later added cooler colors to even the red out again. The result made the rooster easier to see and the background is much clearer, you can also see the wooden stump in the back now. The last picture I color corrected was the high contrast bird. The problem with this one was that it was a little too bright and almost yellowy. It made the white features of the bird hard to see. So I repeated my first steps, and once in variations tool I began trying to remove some of the brightness and yellow hue by adding in cool colors like blue, and green; and mixing in some warm colors to balance them out. I then darkened it a few degrees to make the lines and shadows more pronounced. The result made the shadows on the bird more noticeable. The variations tools made it very simple to color adjust all of these pictures, and this was my first time using this tool. I don’t think I would have been able to achieve the same look if I had used just a simple layer adjustment.

Selection and Cropping

Before

After

Hair Picture 1

On hair picture 1, my objective was to cut out the woman and as much of her hair as possible. My main target was to cut out as many intricate strands as possible without showing much of the white background. First, I used the Magic Wand to select big sections of the picture such as the woman’s face, shoulders, eyes, and the hair nearest her scalp. After selecting as much as I could without selecting the background, I activated the Quick Masking tool, which shaded in the areas I had not selected. Making it easier for me to spot areas that I could still outline more hair or areas that needed to still be cut out. Then I began using my smudge tool, by making it very small and using it to smudge my masking color off and away from thin strands that had be shaded in. Once I had enough hair un-shaded and was satisfied with the amount of feather I had done on the hair with the smudge tool. I began to use the eraser tool, again making it very fine, and then using it to clean up the edges of the hair. Once I was done with that, I went back and touched up some of the areas of hair I had previously smudged up, to make the strands more visible. I also worked by turning off my colored channels and just used my black and white channel to spot areas that still appeared rough or jagged edged. Once I was finished touching it up. I inverted my selection and cropped it out. Without the white background, I could see that some strands of hair had been cut out as well. So I grabbed my smudge tool again, and smudged the broken strands together mimicking how they flowed in order to make believable but false strands of hair. Finally, I went back and touched up around the edges where white background could still be noticed. 

Hair Picture 2

On hair picture 2, my objective was to cut out the child and as much of her hair as possible. First, I used the Magic Wand to select big sections of the picture such as the girl’s face, shoulders, eyes, and the hair nearest her scalp ( Like, I had previously done with the first picture.). This time it was more difficult to select with the magic wand, because there were many color tones in this picture, and the wand would make selections outside of the person or parts I was aiming for. So I selected as much of the person as I could. Some of the background was selected as well, but I fixed this when I activated the quick masking mode, by filling in the portion that was left un-shaded. I used a similar technique as I did in the first picture, by alternating between smudge and eraser to uncover parts of the pictures that had been left unselected. This time it was more difficult because the girl’s blonde hair had green sheen to it and it made it very confusing to make selections. Therefore, I feel as though I left a lot of green halo on her outline. I think I could have done better on this picture, if I was allowed the use of the color range selector. But I did get a lot of practice with the quick-masking, Eraser and smudge tool.  

Gamasutra Articles I

Amanda Torres

Professor Charles William III

Game Design II

 May 8, 2012

Gamasutra Articles I

The article entitled “Creating a Winning Game Industry Art Portfolio,” discusses methods which have been used by professionals in order to make their portfolio more appealing to employers. The author, Brent Fox, offers his advice on how to make an art geared portfolio stand out above the rest. He addresses several aspects of one’s portfolio; carefully listing and describing what should be show-cased in each area. Fox emphasizes that art that can be directly linked to the game industry, is the most effective. For instance Brent suggests that when designing art for your portfolio, that it is wisest to design around a game concept or theme. This way the employers know that the person applying has some background knowledge of games or  the game industry. The author also advises that designers demonstrate specific skills within their art, as well as demonstrating basic artistic skills such as proportions and color/lighting.

At first, I felt as though demonstrating portioning in someone’s art was not as important as demonstrating one’s style. But my professor explained to me that employers are looking for people who possessed at least the basic skills in art, because they are expected to demonstrate a certain amount of consistency. Knowing how to properly proportion a character is crucial because it allows the artist to reproduction a piece over and over again, quickly and cleanly. It also aids in the creation of 3D models, by making it easy to distinguish shapes in the figure. So if an artist can add more well-proportioned characters to their portfolio as opposed to more stylistic characters, it will help make their art portfolios stand out.

Article: 

http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/165645/creating_a_winning_game_industry_.php