Challenge #2x03 Results

[kerravonsen]

The results of Challenge #2x03, Parallels are:

Embodiment of style
First:
by kerravonsen

Second: (a tie!)
by kerravonsen
by htbthomas

Third:
by htbthomas

I Just Like It
First:
by kerravonsen


Second:
by htbthomas

Third:
by kerravonsen

Mod's choice
by htbthomas


Thank you, everyone!

I've also revealed the entries in the challenge entry post.

Now, discuss! Techniques, tips, how you did it, what you found hard, what you found easy. Y'know, stuff.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

Thank you for the votes! (Closet Highlander fans?)

How I did the Methos icon:
1) Pick a nifty image (grin), crop it, and shrink it.
2) Tweak the image (brighten, contrast, selective gaussian blur). I actually duplicated the layer each time I made a major change, so I had four layers, each one brighter than the next. However, I didn't make as much use of that difference as I thought I would.
3) The black 4-panel "frame".
3a) New transparent layer.
3b) 3-pixel border (select all, shrink selection, invert selection, bucket fill)
3c) The interior lines - added guides at 25, 50 and 75%, drew 1-pixel lines at those points (snap-to-guides helped with that). Then I had to remove the guides, because snap-to-guides wouldn't let me draw another 1-pixel line next to the existing lines.
4) For each of the four Methos-layers:
4a) add a layer mask (white)
4b) do a fuzzy select inside one panel of the 4-panel frame
4c) back to the layer mask, bucket fill (black)
4d) invert the layer mask. (Sure I could have done a black, fully transparent layer mask and done a bucket fill with white, but I stuck with the defaults)
5) Then I found I wanted more difference between the four panels, so I added colour washes to three of them.
5a) Transparent layer above the desired layer.
5b) Bucket fill (or gradient fill) on layer.
5c) Change mode to "overlay"
5d) Add layer mask.
5e) Copy the layer mask of the layer below, and copy it into the layer mask of the colour-wash layer.
6) The text. I did a lot of tweaking with this, trying to figure out a good caption. I can't remember at what point I decided I'd make the text perpendicular.
6a) Write the text and position it at the centre bottom of the image
6b) Layer to image size
6c) Rotate the layer 90 degrees.

For the Frodo icon:
1) The image was rectangular to start with, so all I had to do was shrink it, rather than crop it first. Paste into icon image.
2) New layer, black. Move below the Frodo layer if it isn't.
3) New transparent layer, make "fake fire" at the bottom. Unfortunately, I've lost the link to the tutorial which explained how to do this. Basically you get (or make) a fire-shaded gradient which is transparent at one end, and apply it. Then use the IWarp distortion to make it into fire shapes by (1) moving up and down (2) spirals in one direction (3) smaller opposite-turning spirals in the other direction. I had to do it a couple of times before I got one I liked.
4) Repeat step 3 (in a new layer), except making fake fire in the other direction, at the top of the image.
5) New transparent layer. Painstakingly draw single-pixel parallel black lines above the fire bits.
6) I then tweaked the black background a bit, using the color-picker to make a dark-red to black gradient, selecting the bottom half, applying the gradient, and then selecting the top half and applying the gradient in the opposite direction.
7) Text. Always hard to figure out a good caption.
8) Text outline. New transparent layer below the text layer. Make the text layer active, alpha-to-selection. Then make the layer below the active layer. Grow selection by 1 or 2 pixels (I can't remember). Bucket fill with black.

[senmut]

Just out of curiosity, what graphics editing software do you use? I learned on Photoshop a million years ago, got away from it, then got introduced to paint.net, tried GIMP, and went back to paint.net.

Text always kicks my butt, for coming up with something both 'pretty' and legible.

[kerravonsen]

I use GIMP. I've never actually used Photoshop, so I can't say how they compare.

Text always kicks my butt, for coming up with something both 'pretty' and legible.
At one point I went through all my fonts and made a list of the ones that looked good at small sizes. I should probably update the list...