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Smudging + Squiggles
Tue Aug 28, 2018 3:07 pm
Old school naman tayo! All defaults.
1) Cut out your stock and place it into the canvas. Remember the rule of thirds and avoid "floating head syndrome."
2) Put down a linear or radial gradient as your background. In example 1, I used a linear gradient comprised of 2 shades of green because it contrasts with the pink / skintone in the stock. In example 2, I used a radial gradient comprised of yellow and red taken from the stock via eyedropper tool. In both cases, the gradients originate from the left because that's where lighting will be.
3) Grab your soft-edged circular brush (set to around 60-80% opacity) and pick a light, saturated color. For 1, I picked a slightly lighter, more colored green. For 2, it was a more saturated orange. Create a new layer between the stock and the background gradient and brush so that it starts from the lighting's origin and so it spills out a little past the stock.
4) Now, to integrate the stock a little into the background... eyedropper tool the color of the BG closest to the stock's edge. Then, make a new layer on top of the stock and use your soft-edged brush to put some of it overlapping the stock. In both examples, I decided to blend the edges furthest from the center (in 1, that's the stock's right, in 2, the stock's left).
5) Lens flare! Create a new layer, fill it with black. Then go to Render > Lens Flare and pick whatever you like best. Make sure it originates from wherever the lighting is. Set this layer's blending mode to Screen and then erase the cheesy looking bits (most of the rays should be gone because that's a tell-tale sign of filter use... and we want to hide that =P). In 1, the lens flare is underneath the stock because the light area is underneath it. In 2, the flare is above because the light area overlaps it.
6) Awesome, now let's get some texture in there. Select the Smudge tool and pick either the Chalk or Spatter brushes. Set Strength anywhere from 60-100%. Around 60, you'll likely keep blurry edges. At 100%, you're going to get the texture of whatever brush you're using to smudge and some hard edges. Now, just go and smudge those layers of soft-brushing you made earlier. Feel free to add more layer of soft-brushing and smudge them for more texture. And don't forget that you can sharpen a smudged layer to bring out those edges a little more.
7) Alright, you've got the big strokes down and some good texture / overlapping. Now for some smaller elements to really focus in your effects. Grab your hard-edged circular brush, size 3-6, set its opacity to 100%. Create a new layer and select a standout color from your background or stock and start drawing squiggly lines. Don't be afraid of getting messy or drawing over your stock, you can always move them and erase parts later. As always, make sure their direction goes with the "flow" of the tag...
Now, arrange the squiggles so that they focus in on the stock. You may have to resize them to get them to "fit" properly. Sharpen each squiggle once to make the edges more defined. Then take a soft-edged brush and erase certain areas (especially the ends) so that they "blend" into the background.
9) Keep adding more...
10) Nice. Now, for a little extra blending to integrate the stocks more... Eyedrop tool the background color closest to the stock's left edge. Soft brush some over the very left edge of the stock and set the blending mode to Soft or Hard Light. Muck around with the opacity settings so it doesn't stick out too much. Repeat with the right edge. Voila. It's subtle, but it helps.
11) Here's where it gets cool. Create a new layer on top of everything else. Then select Image > Apply Image. This will create a layer that is a duplicate of the whole sig. Grab the Rectangular Marquee tool and select long areas of the duplicate and copy and paste them as new layers. Do this a couple times... You should end up with 4 or 5 strips of your tag. Then, rotate them all so they fit with the tag's flow and arrange them so that they overlap the stock here and there. Erase the parts you don't want and then you'll get something like this:
12) Add text accordingly and you're done.
Ayos no? Remember, it's not the number or flashiness of your effects, it's how you use them. A few not so fancy effects that flow with your tag do a lot more than random flashy stuff that isn't relevant to your stock at all. Pag mas simple, mas maganda sa mga mata.
1) Cut out your stock and place it into the canvas. Remember the rule of thirds and avoid "floating head syndrome."
2) Put down a linear or radial gradient as your background. In example 1, I used a linear gradient comprised of 2 shades of green because it contrasts with the pink / skintone in the stock. In example 2, I used a radial gradient comprised of yellow and red taken from the stock via eyedropper tool. In both cases, the gradients originate from the left because that's where lighting will be.
3) Grab your soft-edged circular brush (set to around 60-80% opacity) and pick a light, saturated color. For 1, I picked a slightly lighter, more colored green. For 2, it was a more saturated orange. Create a new layer between the stock and the background gradient and brush so that it starts from the lighting's origin and so it spills out a little past the stock.
4) Now, to integrate the stock a little into the background... eyedropper tool the color of the BG closest to the stock's edge. Then, make a new layer on top of the stock and use your soft-edged brush to put some of it overlapping the stock. In both examples, I decided to blend the edges furthest from the center (in 1, that's the stock's right, in 2, the stock's left).
5) Lens flare! Create a new layer, fill it with black. Then go to Render > Lens Flare and pick whatever you like best. Make sure it originates from wherever the lighting is. Set this layer's blending mode to Screen and then erase the cheesy looking bits (most of the rays should be gone because that's a tell-tale sign of filter use... and we want to hide that =P). In 1, the lens flare is underneath the stock because the light area is underneath it. In 2, the flare is above because the light area overlaps it.
6) Awesome, now let's get some texture in there. Select the Smudge tool and pick either the Chalk or Spatter brushes. Set Strength anywhere from 60-100%. Around 60, you'll likely keep blurry edges. At 100%, you're going to get the texture of whatever brush you're using to smudge and some hard edges. Now, just go and smudge those layers of soft-brushing you made earlier. Feel free to add more layer of soft-brushing and smudge them for more texture. And don't forget that you can sharpen a smudged layer to bring out those edges a little more.
7) Alright, you've got the big strokes down and some good texture / overlapping. Now for some smaller elements to really focus in your effects. Grab your hard-edged circular brush, size 3-6, set its opacity to 100%. Create a new layer and select a standout color from your background or stock and start drawing squiggly lines. Don't be afraid of getting messy or drawing over your stock, you can always move them and erase parts later. As always, make sure their direction goes with the "flow" of the tag...
Now, arrange the squiggles so that they focus in on the stock. You may have to resize them to get them to "fit" properly. Sharpen each squiggle once to make the edges more defined. Then take a soft-edged brush and erase certain areas (especially the ends) so that they "blend" into the background.9) Keep adding more...
10) Nice. Now, for a little extra blending to integrate the stocks more... Eyedrop tool the background color closest to the stock's left edge. Soft brush some over the very left edge of the stock and set the blending mode to Soft or Hard Light. Muck around with the opacity settings so it doesn't stick out too much. Repeat with the right edge. Voila. It's subtle, but it helps.
11) Here's where it gets cool. Create a new layer on top of everything else. Then select Image > Apply Image. This will create a layer that is a duplicate of the whole sig. Grab the Rectangular Marquee tool and select long areas of the duplicate and copy and paste them as new layers. Do this a couple times... You should end up with 4 or 5 strips of your tag. Then, rotate them all so they fit with the tag's flow and arrange them so that they overlap the stock here and there. Erase the parts you don't want and then you'll get something like this:
12) Add text accordingly and you're done.
Ayos no? Remember, it's not the number or flashiness of your effects, it's how you use them. A few not so fancy effects that flow with your tag do a lot more than random flashy stuff that isn't relevant to your stock at all. Pag mas simple, mas maganda sa mga mata.