Deadline on btvs20in20 has been extended to Friday the 7th!

[red_satin_doll]

You know the drill: I pleaded for an extension on Round 5 of btvsats20in20, and starry_night ever-so-kindly gave more than I asked for. Thank you very much! The deadline for entries is now Friday, November 7, midnight at your time zone.

It's worth pointing out that I'm not the only beneficiary of this extension: as always SIGN-UPS ARE OPEN THE ENTIRE ROUND.  So if you haven't signed out but are inspired by the rainbow theme and want to put a set together, you can still sign up and post through the remainder of the week. Just remember to sign up as a member of the comm if you haven't already, check out the rules and always ask if in doubt. starry_night is the moderator this round; she and bangel_4e always go far above and beyond the call of duty.

As usual, it's not that I don't have 20 icons - I have about, oh 130 - which includes multiple color variations but does not include all the banners I've made this last week inspired by the icons and vice-versa; but I don't have a cohesive set of 20.  It's difficult for me to see until I really lay them next to one another in the template and really see the gaps. And even at that? Not really what I'd consider a cohesive rainbow. I tend to be all over the map.

Which is NOT a case of me putting myself down - because I have LOVED working on these banners and icons and trying out new techniques and effects. I care about having a decent set but I also don't care, if that makes sense. The whole zen attitude thing, without even trying. It's also another confirmation of where my strengths and challenges are in terms of organization, etc.

OT: I was really surprised that #4 was the most beloved of the Robin/Barney icon set I posted the other day, but folks also loved the "BROtp" phrase, which I picked up from m'lady snogged, in the other icons. So for anyone interested, I've put the two together. You're welcome.

This icon is giving me all the feels all over again.

Comments

[comlodge.livejournal.com]

You do know that when I say slash and burn it's because I generally spend no more than two to four hours on a piece. Having said that I've been known to spend a tad more than that. I really mean slash and burn as I rather like to find the shortcuts - I mostly do not spend the hour or more needed to have a perfectly cut out image for instance, instead I remove the bulk in a quick mask and use blends and textures to do the rest for me. I love my pixelated, over sharpened effects and contrast is my god, so I've been known to upset folk by presenting what looks like an unfinished piece. (Okay, when I started I knew no better and did present noisy, overblown work, that was ordinary, lol.)

But, I'm not advocating, for instance the poor cut out job on a piece of free clipart offered by a site that wants you to buy their stuff. The image was tiny, not much more than icon size and so of course i took it and blew it up to fit an 8 by 10 background then added a few adjustment layers for sharpness, lines, edges and colours, etc. You can add back a few pixels with a load of adjustment layers rather than applying an adjustment direct to an image.

It will still be noisy and perhaps a bit blurry but then I set to with the mixer brush to remove the pixelated effect, add back outline and definition and turn it into a painting. I was doing this to puss in boot, when I realised they'd done a true slash and burn on the original cutout and left a ton of artefact from the original background. Just sloppy work.
Sure does not make me want to invest in any of their work if they are happy to offer such sloppy stuff for free.

So I spent 3 hours on that one - painting is time consuming even when it is a kitten in a santa boot. I am yet to decide exactly what I want to do with it. I was really more annoyed that a freebie was so stingy and so wanted to turn it into a full blown piece on it's own. I think it looks okay.

So glad you discovered layers and the true art of blending. Whole new world isn't it? I love the smudge tool myself. It's great for adding a painted effect and chasingdemons nagged me until I found this out for myself. I almost always make a new layer above the image and use the smudge tool in that so that If I go bezerk I can just delete it and start again. Whenever I use brushes I make loads of little strokes so back tracking is usually not an easy option. The seperate layer lets me just start over.

I know what you are saying about overfocusing on the area you're working on. this is a problem no matter the size of your canvas. A banner will actually show your carelessness in for instance not getting the light correct over the whole image, incorrect perspectives of characters and props across the image, poor blending in one area, etc.

One really needs to go into soft proofing mode on full screen and study the project and then let it sit and come back. It's amazing what you thought looked all right will look crap on a revisit. I think that is why the uploading thing draws your attention. Some time has elapsed since you thought you were finished, the workspace of what ever program you use has been removed and your little ol image is left to fend for itself.

I think I might have done something with dodge and burn. I actually learnt a different way to get the effects of dodge and burn because they are two tools that you have to use direct on the layer you want the effect to be on. In other words you have to play with pixels in the image you aint getting back!

Light is wonderful. Who knew splashing white paint around could be that amazing! Have you found Bokeh textures? Amazing light effects with those. :D

Chasingdemons, and pickamix and I guess all the smart ladies make lots of copies throughout their work so that they always have an original to go back to. Chasingdemons in particular, uses groups extremely well and will have a group for each charachter and even for parts of their bodies if she is doing a lot of colouring work. I love her detailed and ordered procedure because, strangely, inside my disordered mind I crave order.

Continued in part two - wordy little minx that I am....

[comlodge.livejournal.com]

Part two

I'm just a tiny bit too lazy to get into it and also, I like to incorporate some of the adjustment layers into other adjustments. I will go back and forth in a piece from beginning layer to end when I'm finishing something. I will turn various layers on and off, as I sharpen, smudge, blur, dodge and burn to get a particular effect.

Mind you if you are going to have more than thirty or so layers, your really do need groups. I actually love to use groups so that I can turn different sections on and off to see if I'm going where I meant to and if 'm not that I at least like where I am going. Oh and, hopefully, lots of snapshots. Now that you are using layers, you must look at groups, if that is available to you.

One of the things I really love about Photoshop is that there is a million ways to do things. You do a few tutorials then just go off and do your own thing. Experiment like hell! :D