This tutorial is the first in a series designed to highlight and showcase the powerful abilities of the the Nik Collection, which is a suite of 7 plug-ins that provide an impressive array of photo editing capabilities: from color correction, retouching and creative effects to image sharpening and a wide range of special effects.

While they used to retail for $500 (and worth every penny) the good folks at Google are making it available to everyone free of charge because that’s their way.

Grab a copy here and let’s get started!

How to Transform Your 3D Art into a Charcoal Sketch

1. Using Silver Efex Pro 2 (Nik Collection)

In this installment, we will be using Silver Efex Pro 2 to turn this render of Antfarm’s Walker HD (see below) into a fine art charcoal study. For the duration of this tutorial, Silver Efex Pro 2 will be referred to as SEP2. Brace yourselves; technique is coming…

Basic Daz Studio 3Delight render without any additional lights.

I’ve taken a basic 3DL render without any additional lights, but obviously you can do this with any image (even a photograph) that has the proper value range into the SEP2 suite and run Antique Plate II (preset 36) with the default settings. Since you want it to look like a sketch, you mostly want a high contrast image without much midtones (those values will be lost).

Therefore, if your results aren’t looking like the example, just undo the SEP2 filter and adjust the levels until you get a good balance of lights and darks (in Photoshop). Then restore the filter with Ctrl+F. Rinse, wash, repeat until you get the desired results. Alternatively, you may also adjust contrast and brightness from within the SEP2 interface.

Once you are happy with the results, Right click > Flatten Image.

Image after applying Antique Plate II (preset 36) from the SEP2 suite in Nik Collection tools.

2. Warming Filter and Increasing Contrast

Once you have a solid base, the edges are already fading out just like an unfinished sketch. Notice how the clouds have become abstracted, almost like a doodle and they’re getting lost in all the background noise which is starting to look like paper grain. You could almost stop here, but why not push it a bit further?

Warming layer filter settings in Photoshop.

Create an adjustment layer/photo filter (in Photoshop) and select the Warming Filter(85). Ensure that Preserve Luminosity is ticked, then run the density up to around 88% or so.

Image result after applying the warming adjustment layer described above.

This is way too orange, but have no fear, we’re going to fix that now.

Photoshop layer stack after these operations.

• Copy the SEP2 (background layer) via Ctrl+J.
• Desaturate with Ctrl+shift+U.
• Invert with Ctrl+I.

The end result is shown below. This will be your layer mask, so hit Ctrl+A to select all and then cut it with Ctrl+X

Our image mask after desaturating and inverting our background (original) image.

• Duplicate the Silver Efex Pro 2 (background layer) twice.
• Apply a layer mask to the first one (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All).
• Go to the channels tab and then paste the layer mask in the alpha channel with Ctrl+V. Note that visibility of the layer must be on before pasting, then turn it off after.
• Set the layer to Multiply to punch up the shadows.

That’s nice but I want some more color in there, so

Photoshop layer stack after operations to punch up our shadows and add in more color.

• Merge the photo filter onto the other background layer copy. (Right click > Merge Down).
• Set the layer to Linear Light.
• Then Right click > Create Clipping Mask. See how rich those dark values just got?

Our Photoshop layer tab after performing the operations described here.

Still looks a little drab, so let’s duplicate the photo filter layer and reset the mode to Normal, but drop the opacity down to 40%.

Our 3D-art image after adding in a warming filter and punching up the shadows in Photoshop.

3. Add Hatching

To make it look more like a sketch, let’s introduce some hatching. Save what you have so far and then flatten everything (Right click > Flatten Image). Launch SEP2 and use Wet Rocks (preset 23) to get this grainy looking result.

Image result after applying the Wet Rocks (preset 23) from SEP2, in the Nik Collection tool.

Photoshop layer stack after adding Angled Strokes operations.

• Ctrl+L and enter 15/.75/255 to adjust the value range.
• Set the layer to Overlay at 40% opacity.
• Do Filter > Brush Strokes > Angled Strokes. I used 50/15/3 but if you’re doing your own image, just try for something like the image below.

Adjust Filter > Gallery > Angled Strokes until we get something that looks like this. Settings will be different depending on your image.

If you want to add some color, now would be a good time to try Hue/Saturation or even just Alt+Ctrl+L. You can keep messing around with it, but I’m done…

Final result of transforming our 3D-art render into a charcoal sketch using Photoshop and the Nik Collection tools.

Summary

While the Nik Collection was developed for photographers, any Photoshop user can tell you that Photoshop isn’t just for photographs and neither is the Nik Collection In fact, since 3D-art renders are really just simulated photographs, we will enjoy a much higher degree of overlap with the intended purpose than someone using the Nik Collection on colored line-art, for example.

I’ve began this series with a technique of turning a render into a charcoal sketch to underscore the concept that the Nik Collection has a much wider gamut of applications than mere photo editing, so you need not restrict yourself to using these filters only in the ways in which they were intended.

There are applications for the Nik Collection that the developers never even dreamed of!

In future installments, we will be exploring many different uses for the Nik Collection; some will cover the features much like a manual, while others will take it to a completely different level. Please look forward to it!

This article and all of the images within were created by the very talented Alex Ledante. Copyright © Alex Ledante. Check out his gallery here.

Depending on the artist, some things can be more effectively done in post, and some in Daz Studio. We get to decide, which techniques best help us transform what we see in our heads onto paper.

Step-by-Step Daz Studio Iray Post-Work Tutorial

My current Daz Studio Iray post-work process consists of 3 stages:

• Stage 1 – Combine Iray light layers and fix rendering artifacts.
• Stage 2 – Soften, sharpen, glow, color, and contrast.
• Stage 3 – HDR filter. We are currently using Color Efex Pro 4 from the Nik Collection. Available for free here.

All three stages are performed in Photoshop, but depending on the look that I am going for, I sometimes skip Stage 3. We will be using the Pearls image above in our step by step post-work tutorial. My recent images can be found here.

Stage 1 – Combine Lights and Fix Rendering Artifacts

Add in a soft background layer and our 5 Iray rendered light layers.

1. Add a soft image to provide an appropriate background. Here, we used one of the photographs from Lady Kassie’s Oriental background set.
2. We rendered 5 different light layers in Daz Studio Iray – Key, Fill, two Back Lights, and an Environment Map. For the Environment Map, we used the Tropical Ruins HDRi from sIBL Archives. We have Dome turned off, and saved the light layer as a PNG file.
3. We add in our light layers using the process described in How I Combine Iray Lights in Photoshop.
4. The added gray Photo Filter layer on top of our IBL layer is used to darken our IBL image, so that it fits our background and composition. By changing the gray color, we can lighten or darken our IBL layer.
5. If we zoom in on our current image, we will notice that there are certain rendering artifacts. In particular, the Asian woman’s hair collides with her thumb-nail. In addition, there is a missing pearl on the strand around her hand.

The Asian woman’s hair collides with her thumb-nail. In addition, there is a missing pearl on the strand around her hand.
6. We can fix this in post by using the Clone Stamp tool. In general, however, we want to minimize the number and extent of fixes we need to make, as we will get better results by dealing with it in Daz Studio.

Removed collisions and added in a pearl using the Clone Stamp tool.
7. Copy our completed Stage 1 image (shown below) by doing Shift + Ctrl + C (Edit > Copy Merged).
8. Create a new file by doing Ctrl + N, and then Ctrl + V to paste our Stage 1 image into the new file.

Completed Stage 1 image.

Stage 2 – Soften, Sharpen, Glow, Color, and Contrast

1. Right-click on our Stage 1 layer and select Merge Down.
2. Add glow to our image by using the process described here.

After running the Shiba Glow action on our Stage 1 image.

Re-tone or recolor our image by using a Gradient Map adjustment layer, set to Violet, Orange color range.
3. Turn off the Tint layer by clicking on the eye icon to the left of the layer.
4. Select the Glow3 layer. Do Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map.
5. Select the Gradient Map layer and pick the Violet,Orange color range in the Adjustments menu (see right).
6. Set the blending mode of our Gradient Map layer to Screen and set opacity to 30%.
    
   We use the gradient map to retone/recolor our image. The Violet,Orange color range works well in in many cases, especially for realistic images. For fantasy pieces, I may use different colors in my gradient map.
7. Create a copy of all our layers by doing Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E (Stamp Visible).
8. Select our new layer, name it Soften, and set blending mode to Soft Light. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius according to the amount of softening that you want.
9. Open our volumetric light file and paste it after our Soften layer.

Adding two softening operations – Gaussian Blur layer and our Volumetric light.

Select the Levels layer and set the middle value to 0.75 in the Adjustments menu.
10. Select the Soften layer and do Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. This Levels layer will help to increase contrast in our image, so that it doesn’t look so flat. We set the middle value in the Levels adjustments settings to 0.75 (see right).
11. At this point, our image looks rather dark and a bit blurry. Therefore, we want to lighten our image and bring back some detail.

After our softening effects, the image looks rather dark and a bit blurry.

Right-click on the Environment Map layer and pick Duplicate Layer.
12. Open our Environment Map (Tropical Ruins) image. Right-click on the Environment Map layer and pick Duplicate Layer (see right). In the pop-up menu, under Destination > Document, select our current working image (see below).
     
    This will duplicate our Environment Map layer into our working document. We name the layer Lighten.

In Destination > Document, select our current working image file.

This is what our Photoshop layer stack looks like after adding the lighten and sharpen layers.
13. Set the blending mode of the Lighten layer to Screen. This will add the Environment Map light into our image. Adjust opacity to the level that we want. In this case I set it to 60%.
14. Duplicate our new Environment Map layer (this time into the same document, which is the default). Name this new layer Sharpen.
15. Set the blending mode of this new layer to Soft Light and opacity to 100%. Go to Filter > Other > High Pass. Set the radius to 5.0 pixels.
     
    This creates a sharpening layer from our Environment Map to bring back some of our image details. We can further increase sharpening by setting the layer blend mode to Overlay. As usual, we can use the opacity dial to make more minor adjustments.

 
After adding our lighten and and sharpen layers, our image is now brighter and has more detail.


Left – Before; Right – After adding the lighten and sharpen layers.

Add warm tint and a Vignette layer.
16. Turn the visibility of the Tint layer back on by clicking on the check-box to the left. This will give a warm tint to our image. We can control how warm our image is by changing the opacity of this layer.
17. Select the Tint layer and do Layer > New > Layer. This creates a new layer on top of our tint layer.
18. Select our new layer and name it Vignette. Ctrl-A to select the entire layer and do Edit > Fill. In the pop-up menu select Black as our fill color and make sure that opacity is set to 100%.
19. Set the blend mode of our Vignette layer to Multiply and opacity to 30%.
20. Do Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Click on our mask layer to select it.

How to select the Elliptical Marquee Tool.
21. Select the Marquee tool on the left Photoshop toolbar. Right-click on it, and select Elliptical Marquee Tool (see right). Draw an elliptical marquee around the area of our image that we want to emphasize (e.g. her face and pearls). We can also do Edit > Free Transform to rotate and scale our elliptical marquee to get it to the right position, size, and orientation.

Draw an elliptical marquee in the area we want to emphasize. Edit > Free Transform to rotate, scale, and move, our selection.
22. Once we have it in the position that we want, do Edit > Fill > Black. This will create a light area around the part of the image we want to highlight.

Create a light area around the part of the image we want to highlight by using our Vignette layer.
23. Click somewhere else on the screen to deselect our marquee. Do Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to soften out the edges of our circle.
24. Duplicate our Vignette layer and set blend mode to Soft Light. This finishes our Stage 2 process.
25. As before, Copy our completed Stage 2 image (shown below) by doing Shift + Ctrl + C (Edit > Copy Merged).
26. Create a new file by doing Ctrl + N, and then Ctrl + V to paste our Stage 2 image into the new file.

Our image and layer stack after finishing the Stage 2 process.

Stage 3 – HDR Filter

1. Right-click on our Stage 2 layer and select Merge Down.
2. Click on Color Efex Pro 4 from the Nik Collection (Download for free here).
3. Select Detail Extractor in the Color Efex Pro 4 interface. In this case, I use the default settings (see below) and hit ok.

Use the Detail Extractor in Color Efex 4 from the Nik Collection to bring out more image details.

Our Detail Extractor layer with a mask for the areas we want to emphasize (e.g. face).
4. This adds a new Detail Extractor layer to our image file. We can then set the opacity of that layer to control the level of detail added. In this case, I set the opacity to 30%.
5. In addition, we may only want to add detail on certain parts of the image. To do this, select our Detail Extractor layer and do Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All. Then, paint in the areas where we want more detail.
6. Also note that the Detail Extractor operation will lighten our image. To re-balance the layer so that it better matches the original Stage 2 image, we add a Levels adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels). Make sure to check Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask, so that the Levels adjustment only applies to our Detail Extractor layer.

Make sure to check Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask.
7. Set the middle number in the Levels adjustments menu to 0.9. This finishes our Stage 3 process.

I do not always use the HDR filter. For this composition, I actually prefer the softer image, so I posted the finished Stage 2 image in my Daz Gallery. In fact, this applies to all of the methods outlined above; we only apply them if they help to enhance our image. Experiment with opacity and adjustment settings to get the results that you want.

Hope you enjoyed this step-by-step post-work tutorial.

Asian woman holding pearls final image (with HDR filter).

I use the Piano Bar scene (shown below) to illustrate how I do this. In this scene, there is very strong light coming in from behind the figure through the windows of the building. This light also creates interesting patterns on the table surface of the bar, which makes for a fun lighting environment.

The scene uses Bar Interior by Soulless Empathy and the Sultry Noir Bundle.

How I Add Glow to My Daz Studio Images

How I Add Glow to My Daz Studio Images

1. I start, as usual, by creating my standard light layers in Daz Studio Iray. This includes an IBL (Environment Map), Key, Fill, and two Back lights. Here is a more detailed tutorial on my Iray lighting process.
2. Next, I want to create an outside glow layer using just my Environment Map light (IBL). Therefore, I open my IBL light layer in Photoshop.
3. I right-click on my IBL layer and choose Duplicate Layer. I change the name of my duplicate layer to Glow Base.

My layer stack after adding Brightness/Contrast and Hue/Saturation adjustment layers to my Glow Base layer.
4. I select my Glow Base layer and do Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast. I click on Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask so that the adjustment only applies to my Glow Base layer.
5. I also do Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation (with clipping mask).
6. Now I can control both adjustment layers to properly set my glow base. In general, I want to set Contrast very high so that I enhance the highlights in my original image. By changing Brightness, I can increase or decrease the area of glow.

Make sure to check the Use Legacy option in the Brightness/Contrast adjustments area.

This will allow us to make the brighter areas much brighter and the darker areas much darker, thus clearly separating out our glow spots. Note however, this is not an option we want to generally use because it causes loss of image information. This article has more a comprehensive discussion of the Use Legacy option.


My Glow Base layer with contrast 100, brightness -60, and saturation -100.

Creating my first glow layer (Glow1) from my Glow Base layer.
7. After I am done adjusting my Glow Base layer, I duplicate the combined image by doing Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E. I name the new layer Glow1 and turn off the visibility of the Glow Base layer.
8. I select my Glow1 layer and do Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. I set my Gaussian blur radius to 10 pixels. I set my Glow1 layer blend mode to Screen. I set my layer opacity to 20%.

My Photoshop layer stack after creating all three glow layers.
9. I duplicate my Glow1 layer and call it Glow2. I do Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set my Gaussian blur radius to 50 pixels. I set my layer opacity to 30%.
10. I duplicate my Glow2 layer and call it Glow3. I do do Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set my Gaussian blur radius to 120 pixels. I set my layer opacity to 50%.
11. Now I can control the amount of glow in my image by changing the opacity level of my three glow layers.

Give my glow a warm tint to simulate sunlight.
12. Finally, I want to give my light a warm tint so that it simulates sunlight. To do this, I create a new layer (Layer > New > Layer). I select the new layer and fill it with an orange color (Edit > Fill). I set blend mode to Overlay, opacity to 10%, and name the new layer Tint.

Final image of my IBL/Environment Map light with three layers of glow applied. Glow1 = 50%, Glow2 = 60%, Glow3 = 70%.

The reason why I added glow separately to my IBL layer is so that I can control the level of glow there separately from the rest of my other lights. However, we can also apply glow to all our lights at once. In the image below, I applied my glow technique to the full Piano Bar scene (with all lights present).

Applied the above glow process to all the lights in my Piano Bar scene.

Note that while the front glow is appropriate, the back glow is a bit weak. To add that extra punch to our composition, we want to increase the glow coming in from our IBL layer. Since we have already created a separate glow layer for this, we can simply make a merged copy and paste it into our full scene. Set the blend mode to Screen, and adjust opacity to suit our liking. In this case, I set opacity to 50%.

Added extra glow for the IBL light layer.

Here, I describe the light combination process. In particular, I talk about adjusting light intensities, tinting, and more. Again, I start with the simple Princess of the East image. This image uses the NeoIndia Outfit and Hair Bundle as well as the Mandgadfor ruins in the background.

In the Princess of the East image, I have the following light layers:

• An IBL light layer using Barcelona Rooftops from sIBL Archives.
• A Key, Back, and Fill layer, following the three-point light system.
• A volumetric spotlight layer.

How I Combine My Iray Lights in Photoshop

Step 1 – Control IBL layer intensity

1. I open all light layers in Photoshop.
2. I go to the IBL light file.
3. I right click on the IBL layer and select Duplicate Layer. I rename the duplicate layer IBL.

Duplicate my IBL background layer.

Set the layer blend mode to Screen and control the intensity of my IBL through the layer opacity slider.
4. I select the Background layer, then go to Edit > Fill, and choose Black in the pop-up box. This should fill our Background layer with a solid black color.
5. I select the IBL layer, and set the layer blend mode to Screen.
6. Now I can control the intensity of my IBL light by increasing or decreasing the opacity of that layer.
7. If I want to increase the intensity of the light by more than its original, then I simply duplicate the layer.

I can increase the intensity of my IBL light by more than its original by duplicating my IBL light layer.

Step 2 – Add in Key, Back, and Fill lights

1. I copy my Key, Back, and Fill light layers, and paste them into my working file in Step 1.
2. These layers quite often have speckle noise. To remove this, I go to Filter > Noise > Despeckle. I repeat this operation on each layer until most of the noise is removed.
3. I set the blend mode of each of these layers to Screen.
4. I adjust intensity by changing layer opacity or duplicate the layer, if necessary, similar to what we did for the IBL layer in Step 1.

In this case, I want a strong silhouette to the right, so I want a very strong back light. I achieve this by duplicating the Back layer to double its strength. To further emphasize the strong back light, I weaken the Key layer, by setting its opacity to 30%. I leave my Fill at 100% to lighten my entire figure.

Finally, I also create a duplicate IBL layer and set its opacity to 30%. This allows me to lighten everything in the image, including the backdrop.

Final result after adding in my Key, Back, and Fill lights, and adjusting intensities according to the values above.

Step 3 – Toning, Tinting, and Masks

A few other Photoshop operations that come in especially handy for combining my Iray lights include:

1. Changing light tones with the Levels Filter.
2. Tinting lights with Photo Filters.
3. Lighting areas selectively by using masks.

I illustrate these additional operations using my Luthbelli Classic image. Another useful lighting tip that I use here, is to add another Back light on the left-back side of the scene. In this way, I can add light rims on both the left and right sides of my figures.

Useful Photoshop operations for combining my Daz Studio Iray lights.

1. Changing light tones with the Levels Filter

I use the same process described above to combine my Iray light layers and control their intensities. In this image, I set my IBL opacity to 50%. When I add in my Key light, I find that it is adding too much light to my figure. In particular, I want there to be greater contrast between the left and right sides of the girl’s face.

Too much illumination added by my Key light, so there is not enough contrast in my pin-up girl’s face.

To change this,

1. I select my Key layer, and then add a Levels adjustment layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. I make sure to check “Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask” in the pop-up window, so that my Levels adjustment only applies to my Key light.
2. I reduce the level of mid-tones in my Key light (0.70), and increase the level of highlights (201). This article has a detailed description of the Levels adjustment filter in Photoshop.
3. I add my second back light to get a rim on the left side of my figures.
4. The final result is that there is greater contrast between the left and right sides of my pin-up girl’s face.

Changing light tones using the Photoshop Levels Filter

2. Tinting lights with Photo Filters

To make things more interesting, I add my main back light to the image, and tint it blue so that I get a blue rim around the right of my figures.

Tint my Back light blue by using the Photo Filter adjustment layer.

1. I do this by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter. Again, I check “Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask” in the pop-up window, so that my Photo Filter adjustment only applies to my main Back light.
2. I set my Photo Filter to Cooling Filter (82), which is a blue color. I then adjust intensity until I get the right level of blue for my Back light, which in this case is at 83%.

I add my main back light to the image, and tint it blue so that I get a blue rim around the right of my figures.

3. Lighting areas selectively by using masks

Blue highlights that I want to remove are marked by the red circles.

Unfortunately, I do not like some of the blue highlights in my current image. In particular, I do not like the sharp highlight on the body of the motorcycle and the blue on my girl’s headdress. To remove these unwanted highlights, I can mask them out.

Masking out certain blue highlights and masking in only the eye areas of my fill light.

1. For the headdress highlights, I just want to remove the blue color. Therefore, I mask out the area in my blue Photo Filter adjustment layer. I do this by selecting the mask layer on my Photo Filter and then painting the area black.
2. For the motorcycle body, I want to totally remove the highlight. To do this, I go to my Back light layer and do Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. This creates a layer mask for my Back light. I select my layer mask and paint the area I want to remove black.
3. I add in my Fill light, but I only mask in the eyes area to brighten my pin-up girl’s eyes. To do this, I go to my Fill layer and do Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All. Then, I select my mask layer and only paint the eye area of my figure white.

Finally, I create a layer with all of my lights combined by doing Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E. I set the layer blend mode to Screen and name the layer All. This allows me to brighten all of my lights. In this image, I set the opacity of my All layer to 50%.

And just like that, we are done! In the next tutorials of this series I will discuss my post-work techniques including adding glow, softening effects, creating contrast, and more.

Final image with all my Iray lights combined including IBL, Key, Back, Back2, Fill, and All.

One great place to hook up with other fellow artists is Deviant Art. Deviant Art is huge! There are 3d-artists, traditional artists, digital painters, photographers, photo manipulators, and much much more. There are beginners, hobbyists, students, writers, and professional artists.

If you like a large social setting for art with a lot of diversity, then definitely check out Deviant Art. To get us all started, we did a great Q&A session with Becarra, a popular 3D-artist on DA and a wonderful friend.

Mando Creed Fan Art by Becarra.

This article and all of the images within were created by the very talented Becarra. Copyright © Becarra.

Q: How do I get to know people?

I have a simple philosophy for this. ‘I have never met a stranger’

Simple as that!

Well okay, it’s not really as simple as that but I hope you see my point.

I’m a bit of a chatterbox, I like getting to know people. In my replies, responses and comments on other’s work, or to notes I receive, I do try to leave more than just a passing comment. Sure I get lazy sometimes and it’s all too easy to just say ‘Outstanding’, ‘Well done’ or something similar.

(I do find myself doing it quite a bit at times if I’m honest, and I kick myself each time!).

When I do manage to say a little more, I try not to make it about the art directly by commenting on the lighting or some other technical aspect. I try to make it a personal comment and inject a little humour, or even leave an open comment which may garner a response from the artist themselves. This opens the door to a two way dialogue and if you just treat other’s as people then they are more likely to chat with you.

Never be afraid to ask questions, but do stay away from the personal one’s. I never ask for personal details such as ASL (age, sex, location), Skype or messenger details. No, no no! Just don’t do it!

You won’t win any friends that way, plus you never know who you’re talking too!

In essence, play it cool, play it safe.

Disney Princesses – Frozen Fan Art by Becarra

Q: How do I get watchers (followers)?

Hmm… It sure beats me!

Seriously though, getting followers is something that I don’t actively try to do, I never say ‘watch for watch’ or offer incentives to people. I don’t see anything wrong with that but I think my work speaks for itself, and if other’s like it enough then they may consider adding me to their watch.

Many artists old and new often doubt themselves and their work, myself included, even to this day!

While other’s may see our work and either like or dislike it based on personal tastes, us artists will always see our work in a different light. Even on completed pieces we still see flaws and omissions, which is why I am always open to any feedback whether positive or negative. If something is pointed out about an image I’ve made and I think it needs fixing, I’ll do my best to do so. People often appreciate the fact that you’ve taken their views into account.

One thing I learned early on is to leave ego out of the equation. If you can’t or are unwilling to accept other’s views of your work, then maybe a public forum isn’t the place to showcase said work. You could always disable comments I guess, but where’s the fun in that!

Feedback is always welcome, and I think potential followers appreciate this openness, and feel as if they can be a part of your creative process.

Another way of attracting followers is to get yourself out there by joining groups, submitting your work and becoming an active deviant. Lol that sounds wrong but I’m sure you know what I mean!

More on groups later!

900 Watchers by Becarra

Q: How do I get views?

Views in my opinion are something that we have very little control over. It’s entirely up to the individual if they want to ‘view’ any given deviation. If they choose to move on, then so be it.

Our followers are more likely to view our work, and even then they may not comment on it. They don’t have to of course, many people are here just to look at the pretty pictures, some are here for very specific reasons and I say it’s each to their own. I’m not here to judge anyone’s tastes, besides, it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same thing anyway!

Now this is just me, but I cannot limit myself to just one style of art. Some like to focus on portraits, nudes, pin-up’s, scenery, animals, vehicles… the list is endless.

I like colours, the more bright and vibrant the better, I like sci-fi, fantasy, horror, pin-up’s, nudes, humour… I think my work reflects this in some ways (this is me being modest here!), and I think that if your personal gallery has more to offer than just one focus, then it may attract more views, and hence, more followers!

50k Pageviews – Another Life! by Becarra

Q: Should I join some groups?

Yes. Definitely. Without a doubt! Didn’t I say we’d get back to this!

Groups are another way of gaining a broader community presence, and allow you to see art you may not have stumbled upon in your travels through DA.

There are many types of groups. Some like to focus on a particular art style, photography, writing, poetry, even tips and tricks, Photoshop, stock images and more…

If you can think of it, there is probably a group for it out there.

Individual groups themselves will always have their own guidelines and rules, which is to be expected, but they can offer so much more than just an outlet for your artistic talent. They are micro communities of like minded individuals who can share tips and tricks, jokes, stories and above all, friendship if you are brave enough to delve into their world. Many groups have affiliations with other groups and this just widens your exposure to both other artists work and yourself for others to view.

If you feel so inclined you can offer to become a contributor to your group or even ask if it’s possible to become a group admin! You may have to have been a member for a while or be vouched for before it becomes official, but it can show that you’re serious about both the group and your community presence.

You don’t have to limit yourself to just one group either! It can easy to find your way into many groups, so remember to take your time, and only join those that you think you have something to offer!

Groups can offer a place to belong, a reason to do what you do and above all they can offer the support you may be looking for.

So what have you got to lose?

When Darkness Falls… by Becarra

Should I do NSFW art or not?

Let’s be clear, not everyone knows what this means. I sure didn’t when I first heard it. The following is the simplest explanation I could find via the internet:

NSFW. (Not Safe For Work).

Used to describe internet content generally inappropriate for the typical workplace, i.e., would not be acceptable in the presence of your boss and colleagues (as opposed to SFW, Safe For Work).

Now let’s be honest, this is generally referring to anything that contains the following:

Nudity, gore, vore, violence, peril, racially or religiously orientated subjects, and of course, things of a pornographic nature.

In reality (i.e., the workplace), it can mean just about everything. I have never worked in a place that allows anything other than what they need to run their business. Even using a simple inoffensive wallpaper of kittens gets taken down!

But should you make NSFW art?

Only you can answer this. Try asking yourself the following questions.

1. Do you feel that you need to do so in order to gain recognition or followers?
2. Do you feel comfortable drawing/creating such things?
3. Where would you draw the line?
4. Are you ready to accept sometimes hurtful or perverted comments and/or requests because of this?
5. Sometimes it can open a door to a whole new world of weird and wonderful follower’s. Are you ready?

If you can answer yes to all of the above then what are you waiting for? Show me what you can do!!!
If you answered no to any of the questions then take your time to think about it before deciding.

Just because you may see a lot of this kind of work on Deviant Art, does not mean you have to do the same, unless you want to of course! Just remember that making your art should be fun and guilt free!

Note – DA has their own policies regarding Nudity and what they consider pornographic content:

• Nudity FAQ
• Pornography FAQ

Will being on DA make me any money?

This is a tricky one for me to address as I’ve never tried selling anything on DA or offered to do commissions. I can only comment based on what I’ve heard so I apologize if any of this is misleading.

While I have not sold anything on DA, or even tried, I have bought a print, just a single print hehe. It was priced under £5 or would have cost 400 points. So far so good. The checkout process, with shipping and handling more than doubled that, then I had to buy a frame for it…

I did look into selling some of my work as prints a while ago. Unless you have a Core Membership you have to use the prices set by DA, otherwise you can set your own. While this may sound appealing you have to remember that DA still takes their cut, they are the ones that actually print the print, pack and ship it after all. I recall at the time I looked into this, I didn’t feel it worth my while to go ahead with offering prints for sale as I’d have to sell a lot of them to see any kind of real profit.

Commissions are another way of making money or DA points.

Many artists offer their services to other members by producing customized works for them. Generally you would discuss in private via note what you want the artist to make. They, in turn, would then discuss fees based upon the type/style/quantity of work requested. This would go back and forth until both parties are satisfied, with the completed work only being given after payment has been received. Most artists use Paypal for these transactions.

Above all you have to respect what an artist will and will not do, for more info, see more NSFW above and not pester them for inappropriate details and/or content. This is all of course looking at things in the short term.

Can you make a living from your work?

Many artists on DA do, either through constant or regular commissions, or even doing some professional work. There is always somebody out there that will be willing to pay for your work, no matter the style or skill level of the artist, you just have to find them!

Revenge of the Fifth 2016 by Becarra.

This article and all of the images within were created by the very talented Becarra. Copyright © Becarra.

While you may not have millions to sink into the creation of a profile picture, you do have the time to carefully consider which profile picture would be most effective for marketing your online writing and products.

Profile Picture Ideas
Source: Blonde and Beautiful Images

Profile Picture Idea 1 – Hot Celebrity

Using a hot celebrity as your profile picture has many advantages.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (from Amazon.com)

First of all, hotness always wins you many popularity points. Second of all, celebrities have their own multi-million dollar marketing machine, so you get to ride on the coat tails of their money and success.

If you choose to use a celebrity picture as your profile, pick a popular, well-liked, character rather than just a generic photograph of a celebrity. For example, instead of being plain-old Johnny Depp, be Jack Sparrow!

Unlike Johnny Depp, the reality; Jack Sparrow, the fantasy, is just as famous, has funky eye-makeup, is roguishly charming, can sword-fight inside and on top of a very large wheel, and occasionally, even cheats death. Truly, there is no reason to be “just Johnny Depp”, when you can be Captain Jack Sparrow.

While picking a character, choose one that you can effectivelyrole-play online. If your profile picture says Jack Sparrow but your articles and online postings say Hannibal Lecter or Lois Lane, then there is a real problem.

Profile Picture Idea 1 – Hot Celebrity

There are many compelling, memorable, and lovable, television and movie characters; so pick one that is not overly used (e.g. all versions of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) and that helps to enhance the products and articles that you are marketing. However, be aware that you always run the risk of someone else coming along and using the same celebrity profile picture.

Another alternative is to morph your own picture with the picture of a celebrity. Social psychology studies show that people are more likely to trust faces that they are familiar with. By combining your own face with a well-known and trustworthy face; you get to stay original, and still tap into the trust and positive personality already established by somebody else.

However, this may risk your readers’ trust. Using a not-well-known or morphed celebrity profile picture may be seen as trying to pass yourself off as something which you are not. When that gets revealed, all that you say, and all that you do, may become suspect. Whether that was your original intent or not, does not matter, as long as your audience perceives it to be true.

Therefore, make all this clear in your profile page. Better yet, write an article about the origins of your profile picture and profile name. I always enjoy such articles because it reveals the writer in a very personal way and establishes a special bond.

Write an article about the origins of your profile picture and profile name.

Profile Picture Idea 2 – My Pet

My profile picture.

After talking about hot celebrities, cats and dogs seem to be somewhat of a let down.

But wait a minute, shibashake the self-proclaimed expert on profile pictures uses a dog profile picture, so perhaps there is something more to this cats and dogs business?

Well, I must confess that I did not put much thought into my profile picture when I first joined the HubPages community. I was a young and foolish pup then, and did not know a lot about writing online, seo, affiliate programs, Google AdSense, or web traffic analysis.

I just wanted to shock and awe everyone on HubPages with my brilliant dog articles on Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer. In my haste, I slapped on a goofy picture of my dog, and put down the first name that came to mind; which was thankfully, the name of my website.

I used my website name as my profile name.

Even though there was a lot less shock and awe than I expected; I was very lucky in two respects.

First of all, I used my website name as my profile name.

In this way, there is greater continuity of experience, for my readers, across my own website, HubPages, eZine, Squidoo, and other online writing and social networking sites. Although not by design, shibashake, became my brand name, and my goofy dog became my brand logo.

Second of all, the goofy dog picture worked out pretty well for promoting my many dog related articles.

The dog profile picture appeals to many of my readers who are dog lovers themselves. The picture also integrates well with my dog website which has many other related pictures, of my four-legged brand logo.

There are, however, also some rather large disadvantages. A dog picture will not appeal much to non-dog people. In fact, it may even turn away some readers who dislike or fear dogs.

In addition, the picture may not showcase my non-animal related articles well. After all, why would you want to learn about online communities, social networking, and positive communication from a dog?!

Before using a picture of your pet as your profile picture, make sure that it does not overly limit your target content or readers.

Make sure that your profile picture does not overly limit your target content or readers.

Profile Picture Idea 3 – My Hobbies

A variation on using the picture of your dog or cat, is to create a composite profile picture of your hobbies, interests, or writing topics. In this way, you can explore your creative side and make something that is truly stunning, unique, and encapsulates your online persona.

However, creating such a profile picture will be very challenging and may require several iterations. Make sure to get input from trusted friends and family members who are not afraid to give you an honest opinion. You can also solicit online opinions, but be prepared to grow a thick skin before doing this.

Profile Picture Idea 3 – My Hobbies

Profile Picture Idea 4 – Abstract Pictures

Unlike pictures of you, or your pet; abstract pictures are less personal.

By abstract pictures, I pretty much mean everything else. An abstract profile picture could depict scenery, objects, or more complex scenes with multiple people and animals.

Unlike pictures of you, or your pet; abstract pictures are less personal. Because of this. there is less risk of alienating anyone. It would be pretty unusual for someone to get angry over a picture of a flight of stairs.

An abstract profile picture is also less topic specific. As a result, you could use the same profile to promote a wider variety of subject matter.

However, the strength of abstract profile pictures, is also its weakness. It is difficult to become friends with scenery or a flight of stairs. Because abstract pictures are less personal, it is more difficult to establish trust with your readers. An abstract picture encourages identification with larger things such as the environment, patriotism, or peace; rather than with the individual. Therefore, more work may be needed to establish your personality and individuality, while promoting your brand.

When choosing an abstract profile picture, find one that has many positive associations, and few or no negative online connections. For example, choose something that represents positive qualities, that will help in your self-promotion campaign, such as vision, endurance, or trust.

Integrity (Wave Crashing By Cliff) Motivational Poster Print from Amazon.com

Best Profile Picture Idea

Which is the best profile picture for me to use to get the most web traffic?

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Each class of profile pictures have their own strengths and weaknesses. Carefully consider your content, target audience, and online goals, before choosing a profile picture.

Once you have picked something, it is best to stick to it so that you are always accumulating goodwill on that same brand name, and brand logo. If you find that to be too tedious, some picture tweaking is acceptable, but always keep the visual subject (e.g. you, your dog, Jack Sparrow, the abstract representation of vision) constant.

Best Profile Picture Idea
Source: http://shibashake.com/blog-art/

A photo greeting card usually consists of one or more of the following elements –

• Background paper.
• Photo frame.
• Empty area in which to insert our personalized photo.
• Card decorations (for example the balloons and teddy bear).
• Card lettering.

Here we describe how to make our own photo greeting cards. We also include a variety of basic image elements including textured background paper, frames, and more to help you get started.

Make Photo Greeting Cards
Source: Photo Greeting Cards at Zazzle

Photo Greeting Cards 1 – Background Paper

The first step in making a photo greeting card is to create appropriate background paper. We can create a simple background by just filling it with a flat color, but this will produce a less compelling card as is shown below.

Example photo greeting card background. Click on the gallery picture links for a full sized image.

Instead of a flat color, we want to texture our background.

• Pattern overlay – The second thumbnail below shows a background with a patterned overlay. I created this by overlaying a patterned brush onto my flat color layer within Photoshop. There are many free Photoshop brushes that we can get on the web.
• Textured background – There are many ways to create a textured background using Photoshop. Since we are making a greeting card here, we may want to create a paper textured background (3rd thumbnail below). I created the paper textured background using Filter Forge.

  We can also create our textured background using tiles and brushes. For example, the 4th thumbnail below features a folded cloth background that I created using these folded fabric brushes.

To the right are some free greeting card backgrounds, for your personal card making needs. Click on the picture to get a full-sized version measuring 1000 pixels by 1400 pixels.

If you are thinking of getting Photoshop, you can usually get it for a lower price at eBay. Just make sure to check the rating of the seller.

Example photo greeting cards with different backgrounds.

Photo Greeting Cards 2 – Photo Frames

Example photo greeting card frames.

Once we have our card background, we want to create a frame for our photo. To the right is a simple frame I created with various Photoshop layer blending effects. I used Bevel and Emboss, Satin, and Gradient Overlay(see settings below).

We can also create frames by using Photoshop brushes or Filter Forge.

To the right I created a few free frames that you can use for your personal greeting cards.Click on the picture to get a full-sized PNG version of the frame.

Once we have chosen a frame, we can cut out a section of our card to accommodate our personal photographs. A simple way to do this is by using the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop (Shift-w).

• I just select the Magic Wand tool (Shift-w) and click in the space within the frame.
• This will select the space within the frame.
• Then, use this selection to cut out a section of my card so that it is transparent.
• Finally, I just layer my greeting card template over my photograph, so that it shows through the cut section.

Photoshop layer blending effects to achieve the metallic look of my card frame.

Photo Greeting Cards 3 – Lettering & Decorations

Example photo greeting card decorations.

Finally, we want to add lettering and decorations around our card. This is the part that I enjoy most because I get to compose together different objects and images to create a compelling background picture.

In general, we want to pick decoration items that –

• Fit our photo card theme. For example, for birthday card pictures, I decided to use a cute clown, teddy bear, and rocking horse as decorations. Flowers are also a great addition because they fit into almost every theme.
• Integrate well with our card color scheme. We want to pick decoration colors that fit well with our card lettering and background color.

If we are using Photoshop, there are a variety of fonts and font blending options to choose from. I usually use the Drop Shadow blending option to make my lettering stand out.

We can also create lettering from within our card creation software or site. However, most of these interfaces will likely not have the range of blending effects that are available on Photoshop. Usually, I create my lettering in Photoshop and them import them into my card creation site as a PNG file.

Photo Greeting Cards 3 – Lettering & Decorations

Free Photo Greeting Cards

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Below are several completed photo greeting cards. You can put in any lettering that you want, and personalize it with your own photographs. Feel free to use these templates for your personal card making needs. Click on the pictures to get a full sized PNG version measuring 1000 pixels by 1400 pixels.

By removing the background, we can isolate our favorite photo elements and combine them with other pictures, drawings, or 3D art, to create something creative, unique, and compelling.

For example, the dog pictures below were created by combining photos of my Siberian Husky Lara, with various fantasy backgrounds. Puppy Lara is starting to contribute a lot to HubPages, so I wanted to honor her hard work and efforts with these special picture awards!

This tutorial explains in detail, how we can remove the background from any photo using PhotoShop. We can also remove backgrounds using GIMP and evenMicrosoft Office, but the PhotoShop tools are easy to use and allows me to remove a background in about 12 minutes.

How to Remove Our Photo Background Using PhotoShop

Step 1

Load our picture into PhotoShop.

Step 2

Create a new layer by going into the Layer Menu at the top of the screen and selecting New >> Layer.

Step 2 – Create a new layer by going into the Layer menu at the top of the screen and selecting New Layer.

Pop-up window for creating a new layer.

Step 2 will produce a pop-up window for creating a new layer (see right).

Make sure that color is set to none, and mode is set to normal.

Click on OK, and a new layer (Layer 1) will be created, which we can see on the right side of the screen.

We will build a background mask in this layer.

Step 3

Make sure that the photo layer is selected by clicking on it.

A new layer (Layer 1) has been created, which we can see on the right side of the screen.

Step 4

Step 4 – Right click on the Brush Tool at the left of the interface and select the Pencil Tool.

Now, we want to trace the edge between our foreground element(s) and the photo background.

To do this, right click on the Brush Tool at the left of the interface and select the Pencil Tool (see right).

We can set our pencil width by clicking on the width button at the top of the interface (circled red in the picture below). I usually use a size-9 pencil width.

We can set our pencil width by clicking on the width button at the top of the interface. I usually use a size-9 pencil width.

Step 5 – Set the opacity of our background mask to 70%.

Step 5

Set the opacity of our background mask to 70%. I find that this makes it easier to trace out the foreground objects.

Step 6

 – To effectively trace the edge, we may want to zoom in on our photo by clicking Ctrl+. Ctrl- will zoom out of the photo.

Once we are zoomed in, we can carefully paint over the appropriate edges (see below).

Step 6 – To effectively trace the edge, we may want to zoom in and then carefully draw around our foreground elements.

After we finish edge tracing, we get a black outline around our foreground objects (puppy Lara and her computer).

After we finish edge tracing, we get a black outline around our foreground objects.

Right click on the Quick Selection Tool at the leftside of the interface. Select the Magic Wand Tool.

Step 7

Next, we want to paint over the rest of the background area.

To do this, right click on the Quick Selection Tool at the leftside of the interface. Select the Magic Wand Tool (see right).

Step 8

Click the Magic Wand Tool anywhere on the photo background. This will select the rest of the background area, as defined by our edge line.

In the picture below, there is a dotted line showing the background area that is selected by the Magic Wand Tool.

Step 8 – There is a dotted line showing the background area that is selected by the Magic Wand Tool.

Select the fill-color of our choice and click OK.

Step 9

Now we want to fill in our selected background area with a solid color. We do this by going into the Edit Menu at the top of the screen and selecting Fill (see below). Pressing Shift + F5 is a faster way of achieving the same results.

This opens up a pop-up window that lets us select our fill-color (see right). We want to use the same color as our edge-line. Black works best for me, but some people prefer using bright red or blue. Select the fill-color of our choice and click OK.

This will fill our selected background area with a solid black color. Note – we are filling in the background areas in our new mask-layer (Layer 1) and *not* our photo layer.

Step 9 – We fill in our selected background area by going into the Edit Menu and selecting Fill.

Step 10 – Reset the opacity of our mask layer (Layer 1) to 100%.

Step 10

Reset the opacity of our mask layer (Layer 1) to 100%. In this way, we can clearly see our background mask and whether it is properly defined.

At this point, we may make whatever adjustments to the background mask by repainting over certain areas using the Brush Tool or erasing certain areas using the Eraser Tool.

At this point, we may make whatever adjustments to the background mask by using the Brush Tool and Eraser Tool.

Step 11

Select our mask layer (Layer 1) by clicking on it.

Step 12

Go into the Select Menu, and choose Load Selection.

Step 12- Go into the Select Menu, and choose Load Selection.

Step 13 – Click on the Invert check-box.

Step 13

This gives us a Selection pop-up menu. Click on the Invert check-box (see right).

This will select our foreground object, i.e. it will select all the areas that are not colored black.

The dotted line in the picture below shows our selection.

Step 14

Select our photo layer by clicking on it using the layer interface to the right of the screen.

The dotted line in the picture below shows our selection.

Step 15 – Remove our photo background by clicking on Add a pixel mask button at the top right of the screen.

Step 15

Remove our photo background by clicking on the Add a pixel mask button at the top right of the screen.

Note – This only works when we have our foreground object selected, and our photo layer active.

Step 16

 – Turn-off our background mask by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer.

Success!!

Now, we can integrate puppy Lara and her computer with whatever backgrounds or artistic effects that we want.

Success!! We have now removed our photo background.

The process above may seem like a lot of work, but once you get used to it, it actually goes rather quickly. It takes me about 12 minutes to remove a photo background.

I created the picture below, after spotting a group of deer while walking with puppy Lara. I think Lara and her young deer friend look very peaceful together.

Let’s go wild and unleash our creativity on some really cool dog art!

Siberian Husky Lara and her young deer friend look very peaceful together.

Children’s books are filled with many colorful and beautiful pictures. However, as we get older, we leave the pictures behind. We are taught that words are more noble, more clever, and more powerful.

Pictures are childish, and should be left behind with our childhood stories and our old comic books.

The social internet however, has made pictures popular again.

Suddenly, everyone is sharing not just words, but pictures, video, and other media. In fact, pictures and video generally receive more web article traffic than just plain words.

Thus, the common wisdom now, with respect to web articles, is to

“Break your text up with pictures, so that your words are in smaller chunks, and do not overwhelm your readers.

Break your text up with pictures, so that you keep your readers interested enough to read your words.”

Pictures and Words.
Source: Artist Pictures

Why Create Pictures?

Why Create Pictures?

While it is a good thing that pictures are an integral part of online writing again, they are unfortunately still second class citizens.

Pictures are added mostly as an after-thought; as an enticement or distraction to the reader rather than as part of the writer’s story. Pictures are merely traps or devices to trick people to stay on a web article, so that they might click on ads.

Perhaps this is because of the history of words and pictures, but it turns out that our views on pictures have not really changed at all.

Pictures and video generally receive more web article traffic than just plain words.
Source: Mp3 Girl Pictures

Creating Your Own Pictures

Creating Your Own Pictures.

When I write my web articles, I usually think of the content in both words and pictures, so I create both of them together. I find that switching back and forth between the two makes the entire process a lot of fun, and helps with my creativity.

While it is possible to find a great variety of free pictures today, it can be difficult to truly get pictures that express all that you want, and that form a cohesive and integrated mood with your words.

Why create your own pictures?

1. You get full control over the content of the picture.
2. You can create a cohesive theme around your web articles because the pictures express a unified mood and style.
3. You produce more original and compelling content, and differentiate yourself from others.
4. You have greater expressive capability.
5. You get to have more fun.

Do you think that creating your own pictures is worthwhile?

Creating Pictures Option 1

Edit or combine free pictures.

The simplest way to add some originality and personal expression into your pictures is to download a free picture, then add your own content or finishing touches to it. You can also combine multiple pictures together to create something new and interesting.

Adobe’s Photoshop CS* gives you a lot of flexibility and image editing options. The picture layering system within Photoshop enables easy integration of multiple pictures and effects. Initially, it may take a longer time to learn the Photoshop user interface, but that is well worth the effort. Photoshop CS* comes at a very high price, but it will give you the best capabilities to create compelling new content by combining together existing old pictures.

For a much cheaper alternative, consider using GIMP. GIMP is a free picture editing, composition, and authoring package that has similar functionality to Photoshop. Installing GIMP may require some technical expertise, and its user interface may not be as polished as that of Photoshop, but consider that there is a big difference in price between the two.

If you are only interested in making smaller picture edits, such as resizing, cropping, or color adjustments; then Photoshop Elements may be appropriate. There are also a variety of lower priced or even free software that will allow you to do this.

Note: Make sure that the licenses associated with your free pictures allow for personal edits.

Adobe’s Photoshop CS* gives you a lot of flexibility and image editing options.

Creating Pictures Option 2

Draw your own pictures.

I very much enjoy art, and I do sometimes pick up pencil and paper to sketch.

This method of picture creation gives you the most flexibility. You can draw whatever you can dream of.

However, drawing requires a fair amount of technical skill. For me, my drawing skill does not even come close to matching the pictures I imagine in my mind.

I very much enjoy art, and I do sometimes pick up pencil and paper to sketch, but I only do it as a hobby. It takes a lot of time, study, and commitment to be able to draw well, and I am still far away from that worthy goal.

Creating Pictures Option 2 – Draw your own pictures.

Creating Pictures Option 3

Photograph your own pictures.

With digital cameras, taking photographs has become easy and convenient. Some digital cameras even allow you to capture short video clips. All you have to do is point and click.

Once you are done with your photo taking session, simply remove the memory card from your digital camera and stick it into your computer.

Before purchasing a digital camera, make sure that the memory card standard used by the digital camera is also supported by your computer. Alternatively, most digital cameras come with a USB or FireWire connection for data transfers. This also works well, but data transfers may be a bit slower.

One of the most challenging aspects of photography is finding the right content, at the right time, and with the right environmental conditions. Some types of content may just be unavailable or difficult to capture based on your location. Other types of content including historical content or science fiction and fantasy objects may be totally unavailable for capturing.

Creating Pictures Option 4

Create virtual 3d-pictures.

Creating virtual pictures – Dark Angel.

Creating virtual pictures – Winter Wedding.

Here, you assemble a 3d-scene on your computer, then take virtual photographs of that scene. Other than drawing the entire picture yourself, this option offers you the most flexibility of content, and requires the least amount of technical knowledge.

There are many easy-to-use 3d graphical packages (Daz Studio, Poser, and Bryce) that allow you to quickly construct 3d scenes on your computer in a short amount of time. You do this by adding various pre-made 3d-objects into a scene, and then posing them.

In addition to the ready-made 3d-objects, there are also ready-made poses, backgrounds, sexy dresses, and lighting; so all you have to do is decide on the content that you want, and put it together using the ready-made building blocks that you have at your disposal.

Creating Pictures Option 4 – Create virtual 3d-pictures.

Virtual photography is a combination of all the other picture creation techniques. It gives you flexibility and quality of content without requiring any advanced drawing skills. It allows you to point, click, and capture a scene in very little time.

Unlike real-world photography, you have perfect control of picture angle, lighting, and object positions. You also have total control over the objects and the environment, so you need not worry about how a gust of wind, movement of clouds, or a stray cat may mess up your perfect picture.

If you want to capture historical scenes or visions from the future, you can easily do this by downloading historical and futuristic 3d-models and adding that to your scene.

In short, virtual photography allows you to create very compelling, original, pictures, with very little training and in very little time.

The disadvantage is the associated price tag. Poser currently costs about $100 US, and there may be added costs for buying new and compelling 3d-content. However, you can start by getting some of these free 3d models.

Which method do you use most for creating your own pictures?
Source: http://shibashake.com/blog-art/images/artist-picture

Creating dog art allows me to combine both of these passions.

My dog art process begins by taking lots and lots of dog photos. Most of the time, I engage in opportunistic photography. If I spot my dogs doing something funny, endearing, strange, or artistic, I quickly grab my digital camera and snap as many pictures as I can.

When I am outside the house, I rely on my iPhone.

Occasionally, I will have a specific artistic goal in mind. In these cases, I set up the necessary props, get my dogs into position using treats, and take many dog pictures from a variety of angles. Being dogs, they usually will not stay still for the whole process, so there are also many natural pose variations.

For example, I recently created a set of HubPages related dog art. To achieve this goal, I posed puppy Lara in front of my laptop, and just let her naturally model for the camera.

Once I have all the photos, I go through them and pick the ones that I like most. I try to include those with the greatest variation in terms of pose and angles.

Then, I go through each of the selected pictures and remove their background using PhotoShop. Each background removal takes me about 12 minutes, which is why the filtering step above is crucial.

After removing the backgrounds, we are ready to start generating some fun dog art!

Dog Art 1 – Object Art

A great place to put our dog art is on every day objects such as mugs and t-shirts.

In this way, we can enjoy our dogs in a greater variety of contexts. It also allows us to share many unique, and personalized gifts with our friends and family. I love personalized gifts because each one of them tells me a special story about the gift giver.

One of the key challenges in placing dog art on objects, is that there is no standard rectangular boundary. As a result, it is often necessary to create our own frame.

We may explicitly put in a decorative frame (see below), or the frame may just be the natural boundaries of our subject, for example, the natural outline of the dog and computer (see above).

I get most of my decorative frames from the Renderosity art store. The frames usually come as Photoshop brushes or PNG images.

Here are some object art examples that I have created on Zazzle.

We explicitly frame the image with a decorative heart.

Dog Art 2 – Fantasy Art

I am a big fan of fantasy art and backgrounds.

Fantasy art is very creative, and often features perfect beings in magical realms that only exist in our imagination. The scenes are compelling, and usually painted in highly saturated colors.

For example, the dog art pictures at the beginning of this article were created using fantasy backgrounds by Sveva.

Below are several other fantasy pictures I created to make a calendar of my dogs. Dogs always seem magical to me, thus it seems appropriate to see them in these wonderful, fantasy worlds.

Dog Art 3 – The Human Dog

Another popular form of dog art is to depict a dog in human form; in a way that captures the dog’s character. Dogs have become our very close companions, therefore it is natural that our art, stories, and writings would reflect that close human-dog relationship.

Below are the human alter-egos of my two dogs.

Shiba Inu Sephy has a jaunty tail that bobs up and down while he is walking; which always makes me think of him wearing a hat. Sephy also has the fine features, and rich red hair of the Shiba Inu breed. He is very much a rogue and a scamp, but he is loyal and has the heart of an angel.

Siberian Husky Shania has the lovely, dark Sibe mask around her eyes, and is very fluffy all over. She is a very sweet dog, but she is active and always ready for action.

Continuing with the human-dog theme, below is a picture of my Shiba Inu in bad-ass human form, walking a digital dog!

Notice his “I love dogs” t-shirt.

As you can see, the dog art possibilities are fun and endless. Do not be afraid to explore the wild side, and let your creativity run loose.

Dog Art - Bad-ass Shiba Inu dog walker.