Most recent design, playing about with result. Comments appreciated. Following ''OneTwo'' advise: Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage3 Stage4
needs to be brightened up, especially the effects. Just use a soft brush, and on new layers, brushing in white, reds and oranges in the areas need to be brightened up. (so like brush in red on the red area to the left of the stock, setting to overlay to try and make the effects vibrant) All the new layers you do, set those layers to overlay & soft light to brighten up the tag.. Make sure you play with your opacity as well to make sure some areas aren't to strong. if you want to lighten up the stocks face, just brush on it with white and set to overlay, probably lowering the opacity to a nice brightness.
Yup, Face needs a brighten bad. But the compo is good. Maybe not so much sprinkles. Not bad though, just fix the lighting.
I think the top one is better, now you just need to blur the background a bit to give it some depth. And when making the colors brighter, you always have to know when to stop (well a good artist always needs to know when to stop when creating things, being sure not to add to much). And if things are too bright, or if you just want to darken up a part of the background or anything. On a new layer, brush over what you want to darken with a soft brush in black. Then set the layer to soft light, it might be 'too dark', so just by lowering the opacity, it takes away some darkness depending on how much you reduce it. All little tricks like that are what comes in handy when using photoshop
Ok so what method should i use to blur and some depth? all my layers are separate. Your advise is appreciated.
ok, its pretty simple. create a new layer (ctrl >n) then apply image (Image > Apply Image) i think thats where it is ^_^ cant remember because i deleted ps. ok so now everything you've done under neath this one layer is all in this, and i found, after being able to use apply image to it's fullest, is when i started making my best tags. So dont stop using apply image. Now what you need to do is, Filter > Blur > Blur (if thats where it is, i would check my ps if i could for you) ok, so now your whole tag will be blurry. Select your eraser tool, and make it soft like you did with the brush. Erase all the blur over the stock (hitman, so this will be even on some of the sparkle, and his tie, make sure you dont erase any of the background blur when erasing on the tie, so just make the eraser size small) then the stock will be normal with the background blurred. But, you dont want just your stock being the only thing clear, so erase some parts of your background, id suggest the background to the bottom right of your stocks shoulder (the colored side) Look at my slayer tag i have in my signature, how the cross isn't blurred at all, and you see as it gets further away it gets blurred more, so it looks kinda real. Try and aim for that on your tag, so the background to the right (colored side) of hitmans head will look furthest away. ok, so now you have your background a little blurred, with all erased on the stock and a little on the background. Create a new layer, apply image again. Then filter > blur again, exactly like you did the first time. now everything should be blurry, erase all the blur on your stock exactly like last time, and erase all the blur on the tiny part of the background again. BUT this time, you want to erase a little higher on the background to hitmans right side (colored side) so the blur near his head is strong, and the strength of the blur seems to be getting stronger, so it actually looks like its getting further away. This is called depth of field, so its not just blurring like crazy, and having the same ammount of strong blur across your whole background. But in your case, id say just dont worry about erasing any of the blur to the right background of the tag (black and white side) so you leave it all blured out. Ok, you can follow the same steps again, if you want to make the blur stronger as the background gets near hitmans head, you decide how much you want to add.. Hopefully you understand everything im writing here, if you dont know just ask. But now, a little something extra. Create a new layer, apply image, then go, Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen (i think) .. then alot of your blur will be gone, get your eraser, and erase over the background where it use to be blurred so it comes back. But be sure not to erase over your stock and the tiny bit of background you left unblurred from the start. This will make your stock stand out, and your whole focal point alot stronger. Though, if the stock looks too sharp (little dots on it) just lower the erasers opacity a little, make the eraser size smaller and erase the sharpness on the stock. As you get use to doing all this, you should start to try and add lighting to your tags, you can have an ambient lighting or forced lighting. Though you can learn about that later, for now, just focus on getting your depth right any questions, just ask me or wait for some one else to reply if im not on. And when i say, the right side of hitman, im doing it from the stocks perspective so to say, which is why I said if its the colored side or not to try and make it less confusing ^_^
Updated... thanks for the deatiled post, i think with time and practise ill be able too master it. Comments please
you really need to erase all the sharpness on the stocks face, with the 'sparkle' before being sharpened, it was at that stage were it didn't stand out in a negative way, was just there to balance the tag. After sharpening it stands out way to much. you should click the eye on the layer with the sharpen, so then you can see what it looked like before, then erase what doesn't look good after comparing. With the sharpness, i think it should all be erased where the 'sparkle' is. Because it just looks over-sharpened bad. Espcially on the stocks chin and around the mouth. You can leave the sharpness on the top of the head and on the stocks shoulders (the edge) I think the left sides background could even be blurred a little more
Thanks again, updated . Think its looks a lot better at the moment. Thanks for all the advise given, took it on board.
not bad,it looks okay aort from the it man thing on the top left...maybe if u had the colours on both side would be cool..top one much beter
stage 4 looks the best next tag you do, try and work on your stocks quality, this tag, i think the 'sparkle' or watever brings the quality down a little. But nothing to really worry about now, id just suggest start thinking about your next creation keep at it, depth is easily looking the best in the last
