Wallpapering Newbies

[Selena_Wolf]

I could use some help with making a good wallpaper in PSP.

[Eyerate]

I agree with most of the non-flame posts in this thread. Ive worked with alot of amazingly talented graffik artists and webdesigners in the past year and i have a thing or 2 to add to this thread. kadaan was 100% correct when he stated that extraction is one of the most important processes in any graffiks(i prefer this sp ^^) creation. He did however neglect to mention one thing. Extraction is much easier than running an eraser around the edges of your base image. All version of photoshop since 5.5 have an extraction feature built in which can be accesed by the hotkey cntrl+alt+x. Basically you outline the image sections you want to keep(smart highlighting on well definied areas such as light areas on dark bgs, and toggle the brush size with the [ and ] keys) and fill the inside. This will leave you with a nice base cutout. Then use the history brush and the eraser to touch up the edges. It is much more convienient than doing it all manually and trust me, your mouse hand and eyes will thank you.
Also, every one of the programs mentioned in this thread are GOOD programs. However, if you feel a little inventive and have some extra time on your hands(and ALOT of ram and cpu power), I would definitely recommend toying around with 3D Studio Max 5. Its an extremely powerful modeling program with a very nifty texture import feature. Its very very pricey at around 2500$ but im sure if you really want it you can find a way. Actually a little factoid about 3dsmax5 is that its used by pixar studios to create most of the movies(disneys toy story among others) they do. A cheaper alternative is BRYCE 3D Studio. Its not as powerful or user friendly as 3DSMax but it definitely can create some amazing things with the right person behind the monitor. Again both of these are for the ADVANCED graphical end user so i dont recommend this to newbies.
On a sort of sidetrack if your feeling inventive i recommend toying around with Ulead Gif Animator 5. Its a pretty powerful gif based animation suite thats alot of fun to work with and is easy on the cpu cycles, ram, and wallet(about 40&#036. Its very user friendly and doesnt really take to much time to learn. Ive learned its best if you create your base images in *insert image editing program here*(i prefer p'shop) and import them into the suite. Ive attached a small gif that i did as an aim icon just to show a tiny example. If you would like to see more you can IM me via AIM s/n: SCnGPhantasy.
Good luck in all your graphic endeavors.

-Eye

[DeadlySin]

wow, thats really helpful eyerate. im sure it will assist me when um.. i move one to advanced WP's
btw. im new to these boards, i often just browse through as a guest.
umm i followed the advice of kadaan and i tried making a wallpaper for Shaman king. and well. here it is :

[Kelvin Wenas]

we can't say that "this program is the best", or "that program is the best", it depends on yourself, which one do u use most.

even if you have the program which a lot of people said that this is the best program, but you cant use it, or dont know how to use it, it is useless

but even if a lot of people said that that program is bad, but you can use it well, you can use its functions to its maximum

eventhough it depends on the user itself, but you can't expect a "ms paint's picture" to be compared with "adobe, ulead, psp pictures" the gap is too large, but what adobe, ulead, psp can do is almost the same, whatever you use it you can make a good wallpaper, now its only depends on the user's skill.

if you want to advance to a better level, like Eyerate said, try to use 3d studio max, or Maya, or else, I dont know how the others use it, but i only use it to make a background to something that are "mecha-like" "techno-like"


wallpapering in my way is..

1) search for the picture, it is recommended to have picture with high quality, or larger pixels, with full part of it(see the pics below
->
The Pic I found, the hair is cropped, we can try to edit it, and draw by ourself, or just copy from the other part of the image, that can be pasted to recreate the part which is lost, in the example, i draw by myself, but avoid this

2) and so... so... is the same as kadaan

[gadgetgirl16]

Originally posted by DeadlySin@Dec 31 2003, 03:32 PM
wow, thats really helpful eyerate. im sure it will assist me when um.. i move one to advanced WP's
btw. im new to these boards, i often just browse through as a guest.
umm i followed the advice of kadaan and i tried making a wallpaper for Shaman king. and well. here it is :

WOW o.O that is verry GOOD, Deadlysin..........but one qustion for u all, is a wallpaper surpose to be by pixles sizes? i allways wonder about that..........the wallpaper needs to fit in the screen..........but ive seen wallpapers that are in different sizes that where called wallpapers...........but do they have to be pixle sizes?

[MistressPookyChan]

gadget, wallpapers do come in a variety of sizes to fit various screen resolution. The most popular right now is 1024x768 (pixels). They are said in pixels so that wallpaper makers can get the right size for the monitor.

[Keiko_Umi_Chan]

How do you find a wallpaper for the image you want when you're making a wallpaper? (Sorry if I'm not making sense.......) I mean, you select an image, where or how do you find a background for that image so you can create a wallpaper for it?

Keiko

[Kelvin Wenas]

using other image, or create it

[MistressPookyChan]

Kelvin is correct! the backgrounds you see in the wallpapers are created. they are usually made with a program like photoshop or paint shop pro. If you are curious about how someone made a background, just ask them! most wallpaper artists (and for sure the ones at this message board&#33 are very friendly and willing to give you a little hint. However, the best way to learn is to experiment.

[EternalBlue]

Yea playing around is fun ^^. Crazy, I was toying around with filters and I figured out how to do a warp effect. Then I saw Wizzards that he posted on AG.net and I was like WHOA I just did that :blink: lol. Just toy around, see how things work out for you ^^

[wizz-o-matic]

That's what I always say. U need to play around, just play and have fun and eventualy something may come up.

[Kelvin Wenas]

and a few tips or tricks, maybe if you need it

Annihilate everything that get in your way

if you have a picture like this
http://img1.photobucket.com/albums/0...t/train001.jpg
and you feel it is disturbing, lets clear it

phase 1, create new empty layer over the picture

phase 2, select lasso tool (either lasso tool or polygonal one or else is ok)


phase 3, re generate the line that lost


phase 4, select the color of the line


phase 5, select the brush tool


phase 6, brush the selected area until you feel the color matched with the original line
http://img1.photobucket.com/albums/0...t/train007.jpg

phase 7, do that with the other parts

and you are finished, without that annoying object
http://img1.photobucket.com/albums/0...t/train008.jpg
now try yourself

[Keiko_Umi_Chan]

Awesome! Thank you guys sooo much! Any tips on how to make the background? Like how to make all those designs. Anyways, I appreaciate all the good tips you all gave to me! They were extremely helpful, and to any artists of the wallpapers in anime wallpapers, I must say they rock! I mean it! They're really cool! Again, I thank you!

[Pfc_Friel]

Hooah

lot and lots of info
this will be very very helpful

[Snipe_EX]

man

you guys a really arguing while i was gone

[MistressPookyChan]

no spamming please, snipe. thanks

[Snipe_EX]

sorry pook

but for the background design

in photoshop i think there are a technique to copy a little bit of the character and make background image out of it but i forgot how

this topic is pinned so i think many people can help with it

[wizz-o-matic]

Yeah, and don't forget the tutorials on AG.net KLICK

And if someone is iterested I've uploaded some brushes that I made another KLICK

PS. Any other tutorials on AG.net would be welcomed so feel free to post them!!

[Fortune]

I have a few questions.

1) How does one go about making a picture monochrome, so that they're able to use a different, in-color picture in the foreground?

2) Does ANYBODY, ANYWHERE know how to use Fireworks MX to even half the extent that some of the good people here know how to use PhotoShop?

[wizz-o-matic]

Originally posted by Fortune@Mar 18 2004, 09:45 AM
2) Does ANYBODY, ANYWHERE know how to use Fireworks MX to even half the extent that some of the good people here know how to use PhotoShop?

khm, Fireworks, I made a web page once with it. At that time I used version 3.0 :lol:
But don't know much about MX version (thought I have instaled it on my comp - with Dreamweaver and Flash )

[Xian Pu]

To make a picture monochrome in PSP, just go to the drop menu 'Image' and go down to gray scale. Voila, your once colored image is now black and white. Now, if you want to make it semi-colored, then you merely go over to the adjust drop menu and go down to colorize. From there; you just play with it until you're happy with it.

Adobe Photoshop, same thing really. Go to Image, then grayscale, and it's black and white. Honestly? I'm still figuring out how to colorize a B&W image in Photoshop. It's a bit more of a... b*tch than PSP to adjust, so you've really just got to play around with it until you are satisfied.

[WinterC_16]

i jus make the image bw then put a color layer over it. but thats the only way i can do that wit my software, photoimpresion 4 from arc soft :P must get new software

[wizz-o-matic]

Hm, another way of monotoning (Photoshop) is: Duplicate the layer you wish to be monotone, colorize the 2nd layer (ctrl+U) and then just set the blendings option at color.

[~OhioStar~]

:^_^: I have PSP 8. I'm no expert on making wallpapers myself, but I do like to take different pictures and just work with them. I am still learning, but I have fun doing it.

[MistressPookyChan]

The best way to learn about a program is to test it out and play around with it. You are doing exactly what I would suggest to a photoshop newbie, OhioStar, so kudos to you!