Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
New Design on My Blog
Yes. You're in the right place. I thought I'd try something new. Thanks for checking in.
One more ATC.
One more ATC.
Back to Basics
Taking a short break from digital in order to play with the cool stuff I got for Christmas.
I like my hole punch and the star shaped grommets.
Experimenting with Tim Holtz Alcohol inks and Winsor & Newton inks for backgrounds. Also using Ranger Mini misters.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas!
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| ©NeonSun Studios. All rights reserved J. Currie 2010 |
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| ©NeonSun Studios. All rights reserved J. Currie 2010 |
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| ©NeonSun Studios. All rights reserved J. Currie 2010 |
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The winner is...
Thought I'd do two posts tonight. This post is for the winner of the
final draw of my, 2000 Views Contest. Thanks to everyone who took part.
As of tonight I have 2,480 views from 35 countries. The prize is either a
print of your choice from my Etsy Shop or 3 downloadable sheets of
your choice from my Etsy Shop.
Soo...
Soo...
THE WINNER IS
Dar Rainbow
Congratulations!
Email me
blabla369@hotmail.com
Email me
blabla369@hotmail.com
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Shapes and Styles
While I was trying to find my new, downloaded styles were, I discovered the shapes menu. The shapes menu is just below the gradients on the tools menu, usually on the left side of the elements workspace.
There's a fly out menu that shows the different shape options. When you're finished playing with the boring circles and ellipses (hold shift to make a perfect square or circle) look at the bottom of the flyout menu and you will find custom shapes. There will probably be hundreds of them.
At the top of your page will be the current custom shape tool, the colour, and the style. These all have drop down menus. In the style menu you might just find your missing styles. If you click on the arrows at the right hand top of the page it will show a list of styles available to you. Here's an example of making something only using custom shapes.
Add a brush stamp.
You can also download custom shapes
http://debh945.deviantart.com/gallery/11633451
or
http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=custom%20shapes&order=9&offset=24
Here's a custom bookplate shape made from the Scrappin Cop.
Here's an example of a shape that has been reworked.
Remember, onece you make the shape you can treat it like a regular layer. You can erase, use the brush, enhance colour, add light, multiply, etc.
There's a fly out menu that shows the different shape options. When you're finished playing with the boring circles and ellipses (hold shift to make a perfect square or circle) look at the bottom of the flyout menu and you will find custom shapes. There will probably be hundreds of them.
At the top of your page will be the current custom shape tool, the colour, and the style. These all have drop down menus. In the style menu you might just find your missing styles. If you click on the arrows at the right hand top of the page it will show a list of styles available to you. Here's an example of making something only using custom shapes.
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| puzzle custom shape with metallic fill and brush |
You can also download custom shapes
http://debh945.deviantart.com/gallery/11633451
or
http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=custom%20shapes&order=9&offset=24
Here's a custom bookplate shape made from the Scrappin Cop.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Playing Around with Brushes
Just a short post about playing with brushes.
I was looking at some awesome wallpapers at http://www.starwalt.com/HD_4.html when I realized that a lot of them were made using stamp brushes, her stamp brushes. http://www.starwalt.com/photoshop_stuff4.html I thought it would be fun to try and get some of the same results.
I already know that I can add shadows to a brush by using the FX styles and double clicking on a drop shadow.
Then I realized I could use anything in the STYLES pallette. I could use a glass button to make the stamp shiny or add a metallic finish. So I whiled away the better part of the day trying out new combinations. Here's something I came up with. Most of the piece is made using brushes and FX from thr SYLE menu. Notice the 2 sets of crows. They are made with the same brush. One layer is flat while the top layer of crows has a shadow added.
About the Styles Pallette
Once you start playing around with the styles pallette you will probably want to add some more surface textures.
http://www.deviantart.com/ is a good place to find some free ones to experiment with.
http://graphicriver.net/ is a site which you have to pay for FX.
Both sites have good work.
TO ADD A STYLE
I save the style to downloads.
- The style will have .asl where the .jpg usually is. Your style will be marked FX . At the bottom will be the word styles.
Open APPLICATIONS-ADOBE ELEMENTS
-Next open PRESETS where you will see your STYLES folder.
Just drop the style in there.
You will probably need to re-open elements before the new style is recognized. Also you can add as many as you want at the same time. I've found that most patterns and brushes will work in Elements; but not all styles will.
Here's a tutorial about styles.
http://www.youtube.com/user/riberg#p/search/1/GOltvKuenL8
Have fun!
If you have a problem adding a STYLE then check out the questions. I have written a more detailed post on the topic.
I was looking at some awesome wallpapers at http://www.starwalt.com/HD_4.html when I realized that a lot of them were made using stamp brushes, her stamp brushes. http://www.starwalt.com/photoshop_stuff4.html I thought it would be fun to try and get some of the same results.
I already know that I can add shadows to a brush by using the FX styles and double clicking on a drop shadow.
Then I realized I could use anything in the STYLES pallette. I could use a glass button to make the stamp shiny or add a metallic finish. So I whiled away the better part of the day trying out new combinations. Here's something I came up with. Most of the piece is made using brushes and FX from thr SYLE menu. Notice the 2 sets of crows. They are made with the same brush. One layer is flat while the top layer of crows has a shadow added.
Once you start playing around with the styles pallette you will probably want to add some more surface textures.
http://www.deviantart.com/ is a good place to find some free ones to experiment with.
http://graphicriver.net/ is a site which you have to pay for FX.
Both sites have good work.
TO ADD A STYLE
I save the style to downloads.
- The style will have .asl where the .jpg usually is. Your style will be marked FX . At the bottom will be the word styles.
Open APPLICATIONS-ADOBE ELEMENTS
-Next open PRESETS where you will see your STYLES folder.
Just drop the style in there.
You will probably need to re-open elements before the new style is recognized. Also you can add as many as you want at the same time. I've found that most patterns and brushes will work in Elements; but not all styles will.
Here's a tutorial about styles.
http://www.youtube.com/user/riberg#p/search/1/GOltvKuenL8
Have fun!
If you have a problem adding a STYLE then check out the questions. I have written a more detailed post on the topic.
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Winner of the Final Draw is:
Thought I'd do two posts tonight. This post is for the winner of the final draw of my, 2000 Views Contest. Thanks to everyone who took part. As of tonight I have 2,480 views from 35 countries. The prize is either a print of your choice from my Etsy Shop or 3 downloadable sheets of your choice from my Etsy Shop.
Soo...
Soo...
THE WINNER IS
Dar Rainbow
Congratulations!
Please leave a message and I'll contact you for your address. Comments are moderated, so you won't have to worry about your email address showing up on the blog.
Please leave a message and I'll contact you for your address. Comments are moderated, so you won't have to worry about your email address showing up on the blog.
Christmas Cards and Other Things
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| © J. Currie, NeonSun Studios. All rights reserved 2010. |
I just made a Christmas card. Now I have to find a printer. I hope I'll be able to find someone locally.
If not, there seems to be an abundance of people willing to print your work. Last year I made a photo book with iphoto. They actually put it together and I had it in my hands within a week. This was about 12 days before Christmas. A big thumbs up to them.
Flickr has partnered with Snapfish to print stuff. I recently got a pro membership with Flickr and also recieved credit for a photo book with Snapfish. My daughter tried to use my account to do a photobook. She said they made the layout easy to do. However when she wanted to add more pages they refused to accept the coupon. So if you get this deal, remember, no extra pages.
Apparently there are more than one site for them. Unknowingly she did up the book (which she had to pay for) on the American site. So she had to pay more for shipping and has to wait longer for it to arrive.
It's a going away present, so that person will have left the country before the book arrives. In short, the layout options are great, but be very careful about other details.
Those are the options that I've been involved with. If anyone knows of other online printers then leave a comment. Tell us about your experience.
I then thought about doing a portfolio in book form. I think I'll do it after the holidays.
Monday, December 6, 2010
This week's winner is...
Congratulations!!! Erna Timmer.
You won this week's prize; an envelope of awesome goodness.
The last draw is December 10.
The last draw is December 10.
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