Graphics Tutorials

[Fozy]

Resizing Images - Specifically Avatars -- [color=#282828

Beardy™]This little guide will explain how to re-size avatars in Photoshop. Let me start by first saying that this is by no means the only way you can go about re-sizing your desired avatar/avatars, but do know that this way will more than likely give you the best result. I hope this guide will at least help a few people out. If anything though, this guide is for beginners looking to get into GFX making, specifically avatar making. So, lets get started.
 

First, I would like to thank Clique. I learned this method from him. Also, godflow for the sizing idea. He may not have been the originator of the sizing idea, but it's who I saw it from first.

 

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• Find your desired image. Since this is a wrestling forum based around WWE for the most part, you'll find the best WWE stocks/images on WWE.com or sometimes you can get lucky and find some good ones on Google Images.
   
• At this point, you should already have Photoshop open. What you want to do next is go to File - New. This should open up the options to change your width and height. Next, you want to edit the width and make it 154, then go ahead and edit the height and make it 364. Also, make sure to the right of width and height it says Pixels. And to the right of resolution it says Pixels/Inch. You should now have a white 154x364 rectangle that looks like this:

  Test

  
   

• Copy and paste your image into Photoshop. I think this is pretty self explanatory. Go back to your browser, right click - Copy Image, go back into Photoshop, go to Edit - Paste. Now, your image has filled what was a 154x364 white rectangle.
   
• What you want to do next is press CTRL T or go to Edit - Free Transform. You should now see a box of sorts pop up with little squares in each corner and on each side. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the image below.

  

  
   

• Click, hold, and drag. Now, what you want to do is hover over a corner square until you see a diagonal arrow come up. Click and hold one of the corner squares as shown above and below, like the one I pointed at in the images above and below for example. It has to be one of the corner ones, otherwise it will not turn out right.
  
  Now, HOLD Shift and drag the square in a diagonal way, basically down to the opposite corner. Make sure you're holding shift the entire time. Now, you're re-sizing your image. At this point, its up to you what looks best. Just continue to drag while holding shift until you have something that looks good. (NOTE: If you need to let go of Shift during this process to maybe move the image so you can see where you're at, do so, but STOP dragging the square down.) Once you want to start dragging again, HOLD Shift again, and begin dragging the square down once again.

  

As I said above, at this point it's up to you to decide what looks best as far as the proportions go. Do know you should never worry about getting the entire image in, just the important part of it. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO CUT THINGS OUT. Of course, not all images look great when things are cut out, such as body parts, but for the most part, they should look fine. If you try to fit every little thing in the image into the little square shown above, chances are it's not going to look good.

BUT, what looks good to me and what looks good to you more than likely isn't the same, it's completely up to you. I hope this wasn't too confusing and I hope this helps the new and maybe some already experienced GFXers. If you have any questions at all, don't be afraid to ask me or maybe some of our many other experienced GFXers. Enjoy present and future avatar makers! 

 

How to Add Finishing Effects to Avatars -- Nate

note: this is a continuation on Beardy's tutorial so check it out before reading any further.

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• Now you have your canvas size. nice. If you followed Beardy" s tutorial correctly, the blank canvas should look something like this.

  
  If it does, you can skip to step 3, if it is on its side, it means you mixed the dimensions up. Don't worry though, it is an easy fix!
   
• If your canvas looks like this.

  
  You can fix this easily by heading up to the toolbar up the top, and clicking;
  -- Image
  -- Image Rotation
  -- 90* CW
  

  

  
   

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  Now you should all be at step 1. If you're still not, go back and re-read Beardy's tutorial. Because I have no idea what you did! What you want to do now is find a nice image. Whether it be from;
  — wwe.com
  — tumblr.com/tagged/[wrestlernamehere]
  — or just images.google.com
  

  

  
  
  This is a nice image for an avatar because you don't need to make him extremely thin to get good details in, and if you don't want to make avatars and just request them, think of "How many details will the creator be able to get into this avatar, and how good will it look?" If you think we will be able to work with it, request away!
   

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  Now, getting the image on the canvas is easy, but if you don't know how to place it correctly, it can ruin the entire avatar! That's what I'm here for. When placing pictures on a canvas, always remember your rules of thirds.
  

  

  
  You want as many details on these lines as possible, which is why you pictures shouldn't be centered. What you saw was an alright placement. However I think I can do better.
  

  

  
  That's better! Onto the next step.
   

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  Sharpening! NO avatar can be complete without it, whether it is sharpening edges to give it a cleaner look or just sharpening to put more focus on your wrestler instead of the background, you need to sharpen! Reaching this tool is simple and you will be following similar steps to the ones in Step 2.
  
  — Filter
  — Sharpen
  — Sharpen or Sharpen edges, depending on the image.
  
  I decided to sharpen this image, because sharpening edges made it look bad! I recommend trying out both tools (Sharpen, Sharpen edges) for every avatar you make, to see which one looks better!
  

  

  
  

  

  
  BOOM! Now you can stop here if you want. But stopping here is for pussies.
   

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  Cuuurves. These can make or break your avatar, and I have a way to do them that fits every avatar! To get to curves, you need to click the yin yang looking symbol down the bottom of your layer box!
  

  

  
  Click that shit!
  

  

  
  Click that shit 2.0!
  

  

  
  
  Nice. If you got this you're on the right track. Now what you want to do is mess with your RGB and Blue values, until they look like this.
  

  

Before & After Curves

 

How to get Better Quality Images from WWE.COM -- Darth 6am3r™

Now if you go to WWE.com to get any image for your Avy or for rendering it,you might get that image with black border.This thread will show you how to get your images without the black border and better image.
 

Step 1:Choose an Album you want to get your pic.

Step 2:Right-Click the image you want and click the Open Image in a New Tab button.

Step 3:After that,edit the link address and remove the following words from the link address. "/styles/photo_large/public/"

 

How to Make a Stylish Professional Forum Signature in Adobe Photoshop

 

Applying PSDs to Graphics -- NerdGFX

This is a tutorial on how to apply a PSD colouring to your Photoshop documents. 

 

A PSD colouring (not to be confused with just a PSD) is a project/document with ready-made adjustment layers, often in a group. Many Graphic Editors use PSD's to create an element of depth between what was originally shot and what was made post editing.

 

First we want to find a PSD we'd like to apply. You can find PSD's on tumblr.com, deviantart.com or any site that promotes editing via software.

 

Search for a PSD (via tumblr)

 

Now, pick a PSD after you've searched, I'm going to pick this PSD (.psd416 by galaxyps)

Click on the permalink (it should be underlined) and download the PSD

Credit: .psd416

 

Make sure to save it to a place you'll remember, it's best to keep your PSD's all in one place for easy-searching!

 

After you open your PSD unhook it from the panel, creating a windowed document.

 

Then open the image you'd like to apply the PSD to (do the unhook thing for this image too)

 

Make sure the PSD is selected, now drag the folder icon to your image of choice (ignore the horrendous GIF quality)

 

There you go, you're done. Easy, effective and adds what would take some hours to do in 3 minutes. 

 

Have fun  

Edited September 29, 2014 by Fozy