BTS : Avatar Creations

Originally posted by jcutler12888
The avatars I've seen on this thread are so creative and awesome...I hope to get some sort of inspiration to make a truly cool avatar instead of just posting my picture as my avatar cuz seeing all this cool artwork is totally putting my picture to shame. All of you must put so much work into making these avatars...are there any specific programs that you use to overlay images and make these or what? How does that work exactly?

edit on 1/24/2013 by jcutler12888 because: Spelling

P.S. I uploaded a picture to put in my signature but it won't show up when I include it. Any ideas as to why? Is it a dimension problem, like the width/height are too large? Are there size restrictions on the width and height of signature images like for avatar and background images and if so, what are the width and height restrictions on signature images?

edit on 1/24/2013 by jcutler12888 because: Postscript

You know, if you merged the photo into the background image i bet it would look awesome. If you want, I can do it tonight. Or someone can do it in the interim. Or you can use it as a task to learn from.

I use Photoshop CS3.

Originally posted by Dutcheagle

You can use the following programs to edit images but it takes some tutorials to understand if you never used these programs before.

Adobe CS(3,4,5,6) Photoshop
GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program
PaintShop Pro

I suggest if you are not familiar with photo editing you should use GIMP.

I like Paint shop Pro, I feel it is professional but user friendly. I have Photoshop and I cant use it for the life of me and I feel I am a pretty tech savvy guy...but two hours trying to figure out how to add a line or crop the picture drove me nuts and I gave up.

Originally posted by Djayed

Originally posted by Dutcheagle

You can use the following programs to edit images but it takes some tutorials to understand if you never used these programs before.

Adobe CS(3,4,5,6) Photoshop
GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program
PaintShop Pro

I suggest if you are not familiar with photo editing you should use GIMP.

I like Paint shop Pro, I feel it is professional but user friendly. I have Photoshop and I cant use it for the life of me and I feel I am a pretty tech savvy guy...but two hours trying to figure out how to add a line or crop the picture drove me nuts and I gave up.

Well it depends on which one you learn the quickest i mean there are some good tutorials for both programs on the internet for beginners and for advanced.And you have to keep in mind photoshop has been improved a lot since CS6 came out.It's all a mather of reading the symbols .

Instructional Pen Tool video below. It takes some time to get used it but it will be invaluable down the road. Heck it even scares pro designers from what I've been told.

reply to post by Dutcheagle


I started with PSP7 waaaay back, and still tend to lean towards it, but there's just some things it can't do compared to Photoshop. CS5 is a lot more complicated, but it's just a matter of taking a stock image and just playing around with different features to see what they can do to the image.

Besides, as KL said in his previous post, it's about placement and flow. Anyone who has an artistic eye can see just how a picture goes together and where and how to put it all together so you have an image that captures the eye.

Originally posted by kinglizard
Instructional Pen Tool video below. It takes some time to get used it but it will be invaluable down the road. Heck it even scares pro designers from what I've been told.

Now that's a great video and with a combination of pen tool + 3D feature in CS6 you can make almost every 3D object possible.

reply to post by 74Templar


Indeed i do agree with you on that if you play enough with al features you will find out eventually.That's why i said everybody can learn but you have to start somewhere.

reply to post by Dutcheagle


For me it was when i discovered how easy it was to crop images in photoshop. from there i have toyed and figured things out.

not that great at it...but better than a beginner.

reply to post by Dutcheagle


That's how I learned Photoshop. Just played with all the buttons, layers and tools. This was 8 years ago. It's important to push yourself outside you box. This way you will learn techniques that make images come alive. If you already have balance, in image and color.

Play around! Have Fun!

Originally posted by kinglizard
reply to post by Dutcheagle

 

That's how I learned Photoshop. Just played with all the buttons, layers and tools. This was 8 years ago. It's important to push yourself outside you box. This way you will learn techniques that make images come alive. If you already have balance, in image and color.

Play around! Have Fun!

Thanks to ATS, just started playing with GIMP around Christmas time. What a blast!!

Still have a ton to learn to be as good as you guys [such as layers] but hopefully by next Xmas, I'll be better.
Cruisin' the internet for good tips and how to's......

Always look forward to see what you guys come up with next.

Thanks to all of you for the inspiration~~


snarky

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


OMG, that would be AWESOME if you could merge the two images!

Here's my background:



And here's my picture:



Thank you so much for offering to merge them, that's so sweet of you. I really appreciate it.

reply to post by Sublimecraft


Ohhh, I see. Okay, I'm pretty sure that it fits into the dimensions but I was using the signature button so I guess it was making it glitch. Thank you for the advice. =)

reply to post by Dutcheagle


I definitely am a beginner when it comes to this stuff so I'll start with GIMP as you suggested. Thank you so much for the links!

reply to post by jcutler12888


That's what I use is GIMP pretty simple.

-SAP-

reply to post by jcutler12888




ETA: another pass:

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


OMG, IT'S AWESOME!!! I'm gonna have to get my laptop first thing in the morning and add these to my ATS uploads since I can't do that on this iPad! LOL, it reminds me of how Glinda the Good Witch floated down in a pink bubble in The Wizard of Oz...except my bubble is red! I love them both, I can't thank you enough!

Which one do you like better, the first one or the second one?

reply to post by SloAnPainful


I'm definitely gonna start playing around on GIMP tomorrow and see what I can do.

reply to post by jcutler12888


Need any help just ask one of us and we can try to help the best we can.

-SAP-

reply to post by SloAnPainful


Thank you so much for being so helpful and nice! Everyone who's responded to me on this thread has just been so nice and helpful, I'm really grateful for it and I'm so glad to have made new friends since I'm pretty new to the site and still kinda nervous whenever I post, LOL. I'm sure I will need some help at some point so I'm sure you'll be hearing from me in the future, LOL...I always end up asking a lot of questions, haha...

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by Dutcheagle

 

For me it was when i discovered how easy it was to crop images in photoshop. from there i have toyed and figured things out.

not that great at it...but better than a beginner.

Indeed and dont worry you are doing great mate , i was searching for a program to resize image's and found photoshop so i think we have a pretty similair expierence there.

Originally posted by kinglizard
reply to post by Dutcheagle

 

That's how I learned Photoshop. Just played with all the buttons, layers and tools. This was 8 years ago. It's important to push yourself outside you box. This way you will learn techniques that make images come alive. If you already have balance, in image and color.

Play around! Have Fun!

Yup and if you need some push in the right direction you download a few pre made styles , shapes ,brushes , patterns and you are ready to go.I started 7 years ago with CS3 in that time we had Imageready (Animation Layer panel) in a seperate program.

Originally posted by jcutler12888
reply to post by Dutcheagle

 

I definitely am a beginner when it comes to this stuff so I'll start with GIMP as you suggested. Thank you so much for the links!

You're welcome but i have to be honest i cant really help you out with GIMP i never used it, but i am sure some of these great designers here has expierence with it and can help you.But if you have a design request or a general question i'd be happy to help

reply to post by Dutcheagle


K. Thank you.