Oh, hey! Livejournal is still my favorite, because it was the best for the fandom: gave visibility, allowed you to find everything in the same place (groups ç_ç) instead of arts and works be scattered everywhere, and encouraged comments, something Tumblr sadly lacks. But the fandom is all there by now, so... :( I don't even know why I keep LJ updated but yes, I will still be active here.
Congrats, take the plunge, descend into hell! Welcome. Or not. Don't. Save yourself! D:
Ok. Hm. Actually... I have no advice to give? I pretty much self-taught myself, for the little I am able to do. There are plenty of tutorials on youtube for manips, though, and search for them whenever you want to achieve something and you don't know how, instead of wasting time playing around like me. There are videos introduction to PS which should be mandatory, especially to learn how to cut images. Again, I never watched them because I'm a lazy ass, but don't make my mistake. :D Well, this if you don't have a grasp on PS already, obviously. Speaking of that, get yourself Photoshop if you don't have it already: Adobe released the CS2 version for free and it works pretty well. You might have to do some magic to make it work on newer OS but CS2 is love <3 [if you're a newbie, remember: ctrl+s, ctrl+s ctrl+s ctrl+s ctrl+s - I can't stress the concept enough!]
I don't usually fix light much (because I'm unable and I'm too lazy to study again how light work), so I tend to find pics that already have matching lights but sometimes you simply have to manually fix things. Using corrections ("Levels", "Brightnes/contrast") with masks usually works, although at times I had to play with a very useful function called "Shadow/Highlight" that allows you to fix light and shadows.
Sometimes you'll have to reconstruct things. I know there's a brush that does that, but sometimes going copy/past with small bits manually selected is better.
The smaller the manip the higher the quality and the less likely you'll notice anything funny or wrong, so don't be scared to scale. Although, in cases, you might want to use that lovely tool called "sharpen" filter. Always applied as new layer, never on the original!
If you fail to uniform the color of face and body, go all black/white: it always work.
Any general advice? Don't be scared by using 189165198 layers: better have a layer for every smallest retouch than have to redo a whole bunch because a small bit doesn't work after a second review. Also. Take your time to work on the thing in the span of more days. Make as many breaks you can. Shift between 100% to 50%. Everything helps to notice if something doesn't work: your eyes get used eventually, so reviewing the manip a day later is useful (it's like beta work but for graphics instead of written works).
Oh, and last but not least: - don't be overly critical. You will never get the result you want to achieve, never (well, unless you're a genius or learn how to paint on manips): don't be too hard on yourself, it's not worth it, in the end. - if you start post your things, you'll get little attention. On Tumblr, especially, many people like but don't reblog manips. Hell if I know why. Manipping is considered that grey area that a big part of fandom doesn't know what to do with.
Nothing else comes to mind at the moment. Feel free to drop by if you have further questions, or if you want to rant about manipping or what. :)
no subject
Congrats, take the plunge, descend into hell! Welcome.
Or not. Don't. Save yourself! D:
Ok. Hm. Actually... I have no advice to give? I pretty much self-taught myself, for the little I am able to do. There are plenty of tutorials on youtube for manips, though, and search for them whenever you want to achieve something and you don't know how, instead of wasting time playing around like me. There are videos introduction to PS which should be mandatory, especially to learn how to cut images. Again, I never watched them because I'm a lazy ass, but don't make my mistake. :D
Well, this if you don't have a grasp on PS already, obviously. Speaking of that, get yourself Photoshop if you don't have it already: Adobe released the CS2 version for free and it works pretty well. You might have to do some magic to make it work on newer OS but CS2 is love <3 [if you're a newbie, remember: ctrl+s, ctrl+s ctrl+s ctrl+s ctrl+s - I can't stress the concept enough!]
I don't usually fix light much (because I'm unable and I'm too lazy to study again how light work), so I tend to find pics that already have matching lights but sometimes you simply have to manually fix things. Using corrections ("Levels", "Brightnes/contrast") with masks usually works, although at times I had to play with a very useful function called "Shadow/Highlight" that allows you to fix light and shadows.
Sometimes you'll have to reconstruct things. I know there's a brush that does that, but sometimes going copy/past with small bits manually selected is better.
The smaller the manip the higher the quality and the less likely you'll notice anything funny or wrong, so don't be scared to scale. Although, in cases, you might want to use that lovely tool called "sharpen" filter. Always applied as new layer, never on the original!
If you fail to uniform the color of face and body, go all black/white: it always work.
Any general advice? Don't be scared by using 189165198 layers: better have a layer for every smallest retouch than have to redo a whole bunch because a small bit doesn't work after a second review.
Also. Take your time to work on the thing in the span of more days. Make as many breaks you can. Shift between 100% to 50%. Everything helps to notice if something doesn't work: your eyes get used eventually, so reviewing the manip a day later is useful (it's like beta work but for graphics instead of written works).
Oh, and last but not least:
- don't be overly critical. You will never get the result you want to achieve, never (well, unless you're a genius or learn how to paint on manips): don't be too hard on yourself, it's not worth it, in the end.
- if you start post your things, you'll get little attention. On Tumblr, especially, many people like but don't reblog manips. Hell if I know why. Manipping is considered that grey area that a big part of fandom doesn't know what to do with.
Nothing else comes to mind at the moment. Feel free to drop by if you have further questions, or if you want to rant about manipping or what. :)