Love Letters

Brush work...

I've been playing with Photoshop brushes after reading a post by Michelle Ward.  Michelle never ceases to inspire and amaze me... every time I stop by her blogs, I leave energized and revved up to try something new.  I've made lots of brushes in Photoshop, but I've never used them to the great effects Michelle has.  The image below is really just play... I used a background brush to make some texture, and then made a brush from type, and played with the color.  If you have Photoshop or another photo editing program, go play, and see what you can come up with... I promise you'll have fun.  But be sure to stop by Michelle's site, either  Michelle Ward, or her other site, GPP Street Team.

New Banner

This is my new banner, made using images of Moo cards I had made. Have you ever seen a Moo card?  It's the same width of a typical business card, but half as tall (that depends on how you're looking at it... in other words, just as long on the long side, half as wide on the short side). The texture is really lovely - nice, thick cardstock with a wonderful, smooth coating. 

100 cards cost roughly $20, plus shipping, and you can have all 100 cards printed with the same image, or you can upload multiple images to use, for the same price.  Once you upload the images from your files, you can move the image around under their template, & enlarge the image somewhat, until you get it just like you want it. 

I love my Moo cards!  And it's fun to present a few of the cards to people, so they can pick their favorite... some people have even asked me for multiples.  I'm always flattered. I'd like to think if nothing else, they make a nice little bookmark!  (If you'd like one of my Moo cards, I'd be delighted to send you one... just leave a comment requesting one, and I'll email you back to ask for your snail mail address).  

And if you decide to order your own Moo cards, let me know if you post an image... I'd love to see your version of a Moo card!  

Now, go make something!

xoxo,

K.

Digital collage part deux...

Since putting together yesterday's Photoshop tutorial (my first, by the way, so be kind. My ego is fragile!)... I've been thinking perhaps I could've elaborated on a couple points... so here goes!

One of the layers I used was a really interesting layer all by itself, and the effects I used with it could really use a bit of explaining. Here's the original scan:

This is an image from a TIME magazine article on marriage, and the title sort of caught my eye (wink, wink!)... but I also LOVED the graphic elements below the title... the letters are SO much fun! (Sorry I wrote over them, but you can still see the general effect, right?)
After scanning the image into Photoshop, I cropped it down to the sized I wanted to use, which eliminated the title and ended up only being a fairly small portion of the letters at the bottom. Then I used the magic wand tool to select all the black from the background, and then deleted it. This left a bit of a grungy, grainy look to the background, and that was perfect for what I was aiming for.

The next step was to put the new layer of letters over the original base layer, and then add a drop shadow... shown below. You can see that the first image is the letters without manipulation, and the bottom image is the same image with a drop shadow added. Not too much of a change, but effective for what I wanted to achieve.

Next, I took the same image from just above, and changed it from normal blending mode to Color Burn blending mode. The effect is quite obvious and kinda cool, no?!

So here's the final collage image without the blending mode Color Burn applied to the layer we just worked on:

And here's the final collage image with the blending mode Color Burn applied to the layer we worked on:

It's pretty easy to see how setting this layer to Color Burn sort of pulled the piece together. This layer without the blending effect would have stuck out like a sore thumb, and that just wouldn't be right! So, what do you think? Was that at all helpful? Please give me feedback... I'd like to know what you think... really! So, thanks for stopping by, now GO PLAY!!!

Digital collage "how-to"...

A few folks have asked me questions about the digital collage I posted Thursday, seen below:

So I thought I'd try my hand at making a tutorial for you, so you could see my process. (Please note: This post has been re-edited since its original posting on Thurday, March 6th... hopefully it is an improvement over the original post!)
Keep in mind, there's twenty different ways to get to the same place in Photoshop, so you might choose to do things differently, and that's cool... (I'm working in Photoshop CS). The first layer of this piece is a photograph of a 5"x7" canvas I painted and scrawled some mostly illegible lettering onto. Without any manipulation at all, it looks like this:

The next layer, is text from a magazine page I'd glued onto a journal spread:

In the image below, you'll see how I deleted everything on the page above, except for the text that I wanted to use. Because of the postage stamp in between the T and the Y, in CITY, I decided to just use the text to the left of the stamp, which was more interesting, anyway. I selected the part of the text I wanted to use and put a mask over the rest. Then I changed the blending properties to vivid light, and turned the text to horizontal, and moved it all the way to the right, up against the edge. (Kinda edgy, right?!?) BTW, if you don't use masks much, (which is true for a lot of people because masks seem really intimidating), give it a try... go ahead and just play with the mask feature, don't be afraid of it! Not sure how to use masks? Read the manual or use Photoshop Help, or google a Photoshop tutorial... there are even video tutorials out there that will show you how to use the mask feature, which is awesome! (Clearly, I am not that sophisticated)!

This next image is the third layer, and I realize it is difficult to see... it is white letters from a magazine article, and I deleted everything in the background... then I applied a drop shadow and used the color burn blending effect.

This next layer is part of that journal page shown above with the CITY text on it. I took the section to the right of the CITY text, the part with my handwriting on it and a fleur de lis, and selected that, deleting the rest of the page. This layer was set to blending effect multiply after deleting all of the background, so that the image is like a transparency set on top of everything else.

Next down is a copy of the previous layer (I circled the fleur de lis in white... it's in the upper left hand corner). I duplicated the layer, added a drop shadow, and set the blending mode to linear burn. It's buried pretty far down in the layers, but it's there. If I hadn't shown you this layer, in place on the finished piece, you wouldn't have been able to see anything much at all, because its appearance depends on the layers below.

This next layer, is a scan of an envelope I made, from a page out of a catalogue for Columbia College in Chicago. I used it set at 61% opacity and Hard Mix blending mode. Again, like the previous layer, this one is buried pretty deeply, but it's there, and it affects how each subsequent layer looks in the final image; as blending modes are dependent on previous layers and the colors in those layers.

The next layer, a close up of a section of an image on watercolor paper, is set at blending mode Color Dodge, and copied three times. There is a copy of this layer is each of the four corners, offset somewhat, but they're in there, they really are!

Next, is a layer made up of some calligraphy doodling I had lying around, set at Color Dodge. Again, the blending effects build on the previous layers and each one affects the appearance of the following layers, too.

The following layer is a scan of an image from a magazine, of a black and white photo of a flower, set at blending mode luminosity.

Next layer is simply the text SERIOUSLY, without any blending modes applied to it. I have absolutely no idea why I chose that particular word to use, but it sort of works... and I'll bet you didn't even realize it was in there, did you?!?

This next layer is a calligraphy doodle I added, using blending mode multiply, which simply makes the multiplied image darker, just like the name implies.

And here is the final layer, some more doodling, set at blending mode Color Dodge. Again, the words are not readily noticed in the final image, but they add a bit of texture and depth to the overall image, and besides, I just like it better this way!

So, here's the final image again... now that I've pointed them out, you can see some of the individual layers, right? Do you see how the individual parts, added up together make the piece "whole"?

I hope this was informative... maybe a bit dry, but if you don't get anything else out of it, I hope you come away knowing you can play with the features & tools in Photoshop, and read up on the things you don't feel comfortable with... without a doubt, along the way, you'll inevitably learn something new! Besides, as my husband says, "Readers are Leaders"!

Now go play!

Digital collage...

Sometimes I wish I had a vision... so often I am at a loss for what to put together... so I just keep "playing" with it until I like it... but that doesn't mean it's good, or that it's the best it could be, or that it means anything at all... it's just something put together on the computer... so I really try not to overthink things. I'd love to be able to say I was inspired by something, and this is my interpretation of whatever it was that inspired me... but that would be a bold faced lie... so here's today's computer play in Photoshop. Rather than scanning the images in, I photographed them, and then downloaded them onto the computer... does anyone else use a mac? Do you have trouble finding where photos are stored after downloading them? I don't know what I've done, but all of a sudden, it's a mystery! I feel really stupid and it's somewhat annoying to have to search for photos that I just downloaded minutes before... waaaah, waaaaah, waaaah... Ok, that's it for my whining, thanks for listening!

Sharing with each other...

This is a little digital collage of a really cool "scrap" of Seth art, that I made after receiving a gorgeous, generous goodie package from Seth at The Altered Page. We did an impromptu swap of scraps and neat little stuff we wanted to share, and it was ALL the fun... although it's kind of hard to guess what someone else will like, especially when you've never met the person face to face, or seen their home or environment. It's a real crap shoot, but Seth did a great job of choosing things for me... the things he chose were layered and earthy and totally different from anything I have that I've made, or found on my own; and I love that. It was such a treat opening all the tied packages Seth put together, and the envelopes closed with cool little bamboo clips... I really appreciate all the effort he went to in putting it all together!

This swap reminds me of Calligraphy workshops I've attended, where I've met some of THE most generous people... people more than happy to share their supplies, to share their knowledge, to give of themselves. We've got a really great little community growing here and it's so cool to be a part of it!

HEY! Speaking of sharing with each other...

Check this out! Julie Prichard, over at The Land of Lost Luggage is hosting a terrific tutorial on how she makes her gorgeous journal pages. Please be sure to swing by "her place" and take a look... this sort of post takes an enormous amount of time to prepare, and she's done a great job with it.

I've picked up SO many tricks I'd never thought of, and probably never WOULD have thought of, if left to my own defenses! So please support Julie's efforts and go check out her tutorial, and be sure to leave her a comment... I KNOW she'd appreciate hearing from you! Thanks, and have a great day! Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING!

Random ramblings...

(Note: crudely drawn suitcase, not done by a professional illustrator and certainly not copyrighted!)

Family stuff...

Digital collage...

I'm passionate about...

This post is in response to my friend Michelle Ward's current challenge... "What do I have a crush on... or what am I passionate about"... so here goes!!

My first all-time greatest passion is with the color red...
and with cherries... because they are red, because they are fun to look at, and mostly because they taste so greatl!!!
And because I don't drink coffee, or anything hot, really... the first thing I drink every morning is a Diet Cherry Coke! The plaid Diet Cherry Coke image above is a mix of the blackletter "picket fence" and the Diet Cherry Coke scan... sort of fun, right? Read on...