Wednesday, October 29, 2008
STEP THIRTY FIVE
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Then I duplicated and rotated to get the ring of eight backgrounds. Next, I used the shape tool to create a deep green ocatagon for the center.
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Then I pulled up the image with the ring of stars. I deleted all the central elements leaving the deep purple circle and the ring of stars. I linked all the elements in the circle with the Sedona background and clouds. I then cntrl dragged it into the ring of stars. I had to scale it down a little and place it on center. I wanted the clouds to overlap the star ring, so I had to restack layers to accomplish that.
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Now we get to admire what we have done. I'm sure improvements could be made, but I am satisfied to where I am ready to move on to other things. Part of the beauty of these programs is that if I get inspired to add or change something later, I can go back and do so. As long as you keep layered versions, it is easy.
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At this point, I make a duplicate image and flatten it, but I save the layered version. I can then save in different formats as needed. I will usaually keep a PDF in CMYK for printing, a hi resolution JPG for viewing in Photo Gallery and so on, and a lo resolution JPG for the web as well as my PSD or CDR files
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I hope you have found these lessons helpful. Feel free to give feedback, make suggestions and spout off respectfully.
STEP THIRTY FOUR
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
STEP THIRTY THREE
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Perhaps the wider image could work, or maybe it will work better in a future design; so it is an idea I will keep as a working tool.
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We will start with this image by creating a new layer from background. We can then use the magic eraser to remove the sky. I then create a new layer on which to do my painting. Again we will use a dark brown outline with the brush tool and fill in color with the fill tool.
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It was a cloudy, rainy day when I took a lot of my Sedona pictures. That makes them kind of dull and indistinct. For our purposes, however, that doesn't matter. We can create our own distinct shapes and vibrant colors. Things like the houses in the forground are also easily eliminated. The point is that you can use photos for this that might not be good enough for other uses.
STEP THIRTY TWO
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It occurred to me to try linking layers and cntrl dragging them onto a new, larger page. I tried it and it works. Afterward, you can unlink the layers and retain all your editing potential. So what is the lesson here? I mean beside learning that I am an idiot?
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One is that there is often more than one way to do things and that experimentation is part of the learning process.
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Two is that the more you work with this process, the more shortcuts you will devise and the more ability yoy will develop to solve problems encountered along the way. I have only been working with computer graphics for nine months. I have worked out a lot in that time, but I am just begining. Many of you who have more basic experience with computers and computer graphics will be able to take what I am showing you and run with it.
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Three is that we all help each other by sharing what we have learned. That is the whole point of this tutorial. I am sure that some of you are going to say that you know of quicker, easier or better ways of doing things. Brian recently suggested that I check out fractile software. That would open a whole other dimension that could be applied to these designs. I am not ready to go there yet, but perhaps you are.
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In short, take what I am showing you as a starting point and grow your own approach as you go.
STEP THIRTY ONE
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After scaling the cloud to fit and positioning it around the hawk, I had to add some sections to the cloud so that it surrounded the hawk. The trick here is to keep an interesting asymmetrical shape, while fitting it around a symmetrical hawk shape. We don't want the cloud to become an uninteresting blob.
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I had to work with raising and lowering the cloud layer in the palette to alternately bring it in front of or in back of the hawk as I used the brush and fill tools to add sections to the cloud. By zooming in, I was able to get the detail I needed.
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After deciding that the result was satisfactory, I duplicated the cloud around the circle.
STEP THIRTY
STEP TWENTY NINE
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One more thing. Making one of these designs generates a lot of files. In labeling and organizing them, I end up with some long file names. Sometimes, I get one of those pesky messages saying that the file name will be truncated. I have started using one little trick to conserve space. To eliminate the space between words or abbreviations, I alternate caps and lower case and run the letters into each other. That way I can read them while conserving space.
STEP TWENTY EIGHT
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This software can make you feel so clever sometimes. In a few minutes, I will show you an example of how dumb it can make you feel.
Monday, October 27, 2008
STEP TWENTY SEVEN
STEP TWENTY SIX
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I woke up one morning with the image of the man and hawk surrounded by a yellow aura. In my dream, I was creating the piece in tile. I have not done that yet, but it could be impressive. If any of you are good with tile, and want to use the design to do it in tile, feel free. Just send me a photograph of the finished piece. How is that for a Tom Sawyer?
STEP TWENTY FIVE
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There is a little guess work involved. If you have a way to make it scientific, let me know.
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I started by duplicating the first star and dragging the copy to the bottom of the circle with the down arrow.
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We know that we want to fit so many stars into a 45° arc of our circle. We want to divide 45 into equal parts. If we divide by 3, we get 15° of arc. That is obviously too much. If we divide that in half, we get 7.5 degees of arc which should be about right. That gives us 6 stars in each 45° arc. That will come to 12 stars per quadrant or 48 stars for the whole circle.
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The question is, how big should the first star be to fit into the 7.5° of arc we need? There may be a way to determine this with a protractor function, but I have not figured that out yet. You could also divide a quadrant of your radial guide down into the 7.5° segments and scale your first star to fit that. The way I did it was to duplicate and rotate my linked pair through the first 45°. When I did so, it was a little too big; so I scaled it down slightly.
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I deleted the test layers and returned to my linked pair. I duplicated that and rotated 90°. I linked those 4 layers, duplicated and rotated 45°. That gave me 8 layers already highlighted which effectively links them. I then duplicated and rotated 7.5°. Then duplicate and rotate that set another 7.5°. Repeat that 2 more times and you will have a complete ring, unless I lost count and you need to add one more set.
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Those of you have ever tried doing this kind of thing with a ruler, protractor and compass will be as amazed as I am and what this software can do.
STEP TWENTY FOUR
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I don't like the light blue touching the larger circle of the same color, so I see we need to stroke the outside of the large light blue circle with another color; perhaps another 12 pixel yellow ring. Let's come back to that. First, I want to complete our outer ring of stars.
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Of course, we could have added some other element to this ring. I like to repeat imagery like this, so we will go with this.
STEP TWENTY THREE
I am combining several sub steps in this one. First, we were outgrowing our page. Poor planning I know, but showing you what not to do is part of the teaching process. That way I get to show you the fix.
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To fix this I merged several layers. This was a little tricky. I had to move layers around so that the ones I wanted to merge were together. I left out the Sedona background and the clouds because I know I want to be able to edit them later. Had I merged them that would have made editing them impossible. The layers are still there, just hidden.
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Without telling you, I had added the double 8 point stars in the corners around the mandala circle. I left them out of the merge as well, because I want them to stay where they are.
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I then highlighted the layers I wanted to merge and hit merge layers. I was then able to use transform>scale to reduce the size of the circle.
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That left room to add the deep purple circle behind the light blue one. I used the shape tool and the stoked it under layer styles with a 24 pixle yellow border. Cool huh?
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If we wanted to put the clouds and Sedona background back in, we would have to reduce them and fit them back into place. I don't want to bother with that right now, so we will proceed to the next step.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
STEP TWENTY TWO
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It's starting to shape up. Each element adds more color and interest. The trick is to keep everything balanced and in harmony, so that it has a pleasing impression.
STEP TWENTY ONE
STEP TWENTY
I duplicated the cloud picture and created a new layer to paint on. Using the paintbrush tool set on 5 pixels and dark blue, I outlined the various shapes that make up the cloud. Then, I used the trusty fill tool to add the colors. Trusty that is as long as you don't have any gaps in the outline. Then you need to hit undo real quick.
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Next I positioned the cloud behind the top hawk. When I did so, I found that I needed to add a little more cloud to the bottom so that it surrounded the hawk. That was easy enough with the help of the eraser and paintbrush tools.
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I just finished by duplicating layers and rotating around the circle. That is becoming old hat by now. I'm kid enough, however, to be continually amazed by the process.
STEP EIGHTEEN
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Actually, this doesn't look as good as I would like. Perhaps we can come back to this and improve it, but for now; let's move on.
STEP SEVENTEEN
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If you look at the Upright Prayer mandala, you will see that I fit a separate background image behind and between each figure. We are trying something new here. We are using one background to spam between 3 figures.
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Keep up the good work.
STEP SIXTEEN
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What works for me, is to duplicate the image and do a layer from background. I can then use magic eraser to remove the sky. If necessary, I will use the extraction filter and normal eraser to assist in accomplishing that.
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Next, I create a new layer so that I can paint over the image. If you are good with painting on screen, then you can work with various brushes and filters to create some beautiful pictures. A drawing tablet and pen is a big help. The technique I use is to draw an outline of the main forms and then fill with uniform fields of color. It works well with the geometric shapes I like to use and the simple rendering I use on the figures. Certainly, you could create more realistic and more organic images.
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I start with the brush tool usually set on 5 pixels. Adjust the size to suit your needs. I like to use a dark brown or other dark color for my outline rather than black. If you were doing a seascape, you might use a dark blue.
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Once you have your outline complete, use the fill tool to color your fields.
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Good job!
STEP FIFTEEN
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There is more than one way to accomplish many of these functions. I am still new to a lot of this digital graphics, so if any of you have better ways of doing some of this design, please share with us.
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I am trying to give you enough detail in instructions to make things very clear. I am assuming a certain level of familiarity with computers and graphics programs. If you need more detail on a particular step, feel free to e mail me, and I will try to clarify as needed.
STEP FOURTEEN
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I stroked this circle with a dark blue, 3 pixel, outside stroke. Adjust those settings to suit yourself.
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Looking good already.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
STEP THIRTEEN
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There are different ways to handle saving layers. What I do most of the time is create duplicate images and label them as phase 1, 2 and so on. Usually, when I complete a ring, I will merge it and keep a layered version. That way, I can back track and change any layer as needed.
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At one point, while creating the Peace Mandala, I had 131 layers in the palette at once. This was after completing a ring with 72 snowflakes in it, each on its own layer. That is a lot to manage, so I try not to let it get built up to those kinds of numbers.
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Zoom in to the center of the mandala and use the fill tool to add the colors. Of course many different color schemes are possible. I like to use bright, pure colors. You could use a pastel palette or more subued colors for a more realistic effect. I mostly like to keep the whole image bright, but you can make a case for creating more contrast by adding more dark colors to bring out the lights and create more contrast.
STEP TEN
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For other mandalas, it is not quite so easy. For example, with a 6 point design; you can't link 4 layers and rotate together. You would link the top and bottom figure combos and roatate the two layers by 60°. Then you link those layers and rotate another 60°. Or rotate the original pair by 120°. You can also enter negative values and rotate in a counter clockwise direction. There will be times when you rotate by 15° or some other value. You are smart, so you will be able to figure out how to enter the needed values in various situations.
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The above view looks good, but we need to allow a little more space between wing tips to leave room for the clouds. So I will reduce the size of the first figure combo and repeat the above process.
STEP NINE
STEP EIGHT
STEP SEVEN
STEP SIX
STEP FIVE
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As you build your mandala, you can keep your guides hidden much of the time, but they can be essential at certain times. You may find times that you want the guides to show in front of or behind certain layers. Just raise them or lower them on the ladder of the layers palette as needed.
STEP FOUR
STEP THREE
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I choose a white background and a resolution of 300. After creating the file, I then use the fill tool to fix my background color.
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I then use Cntrl + drag to move the figure w/ hawk onto the background.
STEP TWO
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I have used mostly Photoshop to create this picture, but I have also used Corel Draw. The principles would be the same for other graphics programs.
STEP ONE
BRIGHTHAWK
INTRODUCTION
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Those of you who are better photographers than I am, could use this technique to create mandalsa from all photographs. So far, I have not done anything with blend functions, but there is lots of potential there. I use a technique of drawing outlines which I then fill with colors. Those of you who are better painters than I am can use a different way of creating the elements for the designs. There is much more that could be done with special effects tools that could give these designs an added dimension. Much can also be done with simple assembly of clip art and scanned images.
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The sky really is the limit, so lets get started.