Step 1:

Open your image and make sure the layer is a locked background. If you are unsure how to do this, right click on the layer and press ‘Flatten’.

Step 2:

Now we would be adding a shadow around the image where intense light is present; we want the picture to have a dark fantasy look, so we need to remove excess light and add shadows. Use the paint brush and select the foreground color as black. Paint the white area in a smooth fashion so it blends in with the picture to give it a more natural look.

Step 3:
As you can see, the final image has sharp and attractive eyes with good shine and darkness altogether, with emphasis on the iris. We will be using the dodge tool under highlight range and add shine to iris by painting a semicircle around the pupil and use the burn tool under midtones range and add darkness to the pupil and the outer lining of the iris.

Step 4:

Now we will be changing the color of the image using Ctrl+B to alter the color balance of the picture. Change the slider according to your picture.

After adding the color, darken some more areas like so.

Step 5:

Now we will be adding eye shadow and makeup to the model. For this, we need to create a new layer and paint over the eye using color of your choice, I will be using a slightly darker red. Now use a Gaussian blur to blur it and set the mode of the layer to overlay.

Step 6:

Now we will be adding some extra elements to give the image more of a fantsy look. I am adding circles above the eyebrow in a dark red color.

Add inner shadow to the circled by using blending options of the layer (double click the layer).

Step 7:

Now to finish the photo, add some shadows and highlights where needed and finish it off by adding some text.

Voila! Enjoy your surreal portrait.

Photoshop is nothing but a tool, one of many tools in fact. It’s a shame to see people think as I did, only a few short years ago.

Graphic Design is art. The beauty of a well designed piece is astounding and can be well appreciated by all. As a new type of art form (by new, I speak in relation to art that has been around thousands of years) some people may not realize that this is art. Traditional art is done on a canvas, or with sculpting tools, and even on city streets. Design is a digital artform, which gives naive people the misconception that anyone can be a Graphic Designer and create ‘designs’. Unfortunately, the term ‘design’ is thrown around so loosely that Graphic Design nowadays has seemed to be ‘dulled down’. In fact Graphic Design origniated without the use of computers, years and years ago. Thanks to technology, designers’ jobs have become much easier. Before it was creating fonts from scratch. Now, we can download a font with ease.

To me, Graphic Design is the ability to release my creative energies. To apply elements of design, such as typography, proximity, color, alignment and so forth, to create a piece of art. I am not the best designer out there, but then again, there was only one DaVinci. I make an effort to constantly learn more and more, so that I can call myself a designer. I’m at the point where I know I can. Mastering your tools (Photoshop, PC/Mac, tablets, Illustrator, etc) and knowing your skills (elements of design) is a must for anyone wanting to be in the field. Anything less, is not design.

A situation that really stood out to me was this: Someone I knew posted on Twitter or Facebook that she loved creating ‘graphic designs’. This was in reference to hacking some google images together onto a low res t-shirt design, with Paint Shop Pro. This, is not Graphic Design. This is learning and exprimentation. In no way shape or form would I ever call this person a Designer. Not to judge or put anyone down, because that is not what I am doing here, but this person knew nothing about design, nor did they want to. They simply wanted to finish the task at hand: design a shirt.

It’s things like this that really make me reevaluate my thoughts on Graphic Design. In reality, it is what it’s always been: an artform that not everyone can master. Simple.

What are your thoughts on this? Tell us what Graphic Design means to you!

1. To begin, open up the picture you wish to edit. I will use a picture of myself. This is actually a low quality photo, as it was taken with Photobooth and then hustled about on Facebook before I decided to edit it.

2. The next step is to duplicate your photo. You can right click the layer (in my case, background) and press duplicate, although I like dragging the layer to the ‘new’ icon at the bottom of the layers panel. The reason I use two layers is a) to compare between before & after, and b) just in case I mess up or need the original photo again.

3. Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Curves. Yes, I know that in CS4 there is an option to do it from the adjustments window, but that means affecting the whole image which may or may not be desirable at times. Also, showing you this way ensures that you can use the technique for CS3 as well.

4. Once in your curves, adjust it according to your image. It’s not always where you have to move the point like I did, it varys according to your photo. As you can see, it really brightened the photo.

5. Now I’m gonna fix the marks on my face. Zoom in. ( I did once). Click the ‘spot healing brush‘ tool and make it small. Just big enough to cover the spot. Now, press the spot once. If it doesn’t look right, undo and try again. If not, you could always go in with the clone stamp.

My results from this is shown below. Pretty good so far? I think the spot removal looks natural!

For the most part, that’s pretty much it. Of course there is more that you could do, which I will show you as well. If you are using these techniques for a quick Facebook picture, then you probably wouldn’t have to do much more. So now, here are a few more edits.

• I made the color of my face a bit brighter, just to make it pop. Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. I picked the ‘red‘ filter, and increased the saturation by 17.

• I went to Image > Adjustments > Levels and played with them to make everything just a bit brighter.

That’s all folks! What did you think? Should I write more tutorials like this one? Or better yet, is there anything specific that you would like to learn about? Below is a side by side. Because I had the 2 layers, I made the edited layer at 90% opacity because it was a little too bright.

WG Watercolor Brushes Vol1 | PSDTuts+

Watercolor Splatters : A High Res Photoshop Brush Set | Room 122

Free High-Res Photoshop Brushes: Grungy Watercolor | BittBox

Splatter and Watercolour Brushes For Photoshop

Watercolour Strokes Brushes | ~fudgegraphics

Free High-Res Watercolour Photoshop Brushes Set 1, Part 2 | Blog.SpoonGraphics

26 free “destroyed” watercolour PS brushes | The Shoreways

17 Free Water Color Blob Brushes for Photoshop & Illustrator | Colorburned

Watercolour Splatter | ~designbyninjas

watercolour brushes set 2 | The Shoreways

Hi-Res Brushes | ~mcbadshoes

Free Brush strokes!

I hope you enjoy these brushes!

Final Effect:

The image we will be using:

Now, open up your image in Photoshop. Click on the ‘adjustments’ button on the layers palette (it’s the one thats round and half grey half white).
Click on color balance.

Change the settings for highlights to this.

And the shadows to this.

Hopefully, it should look something like this now.

Now we have to add in some contrast, because it’s looking rather dull. Go back to the adjustments button, and click ‘brightness & contrast’. Set the contrast to whatever you think looks best.
Now, to add extra contrast, click down onto the original background layer. Hit Ctrl+J (Or just duplicate the layer the other way) and change the blending mode to overlay.
Lower the opacity of the duplicated layer down to around 50 – 60 so it’s not too harsh.

If your finished product looks like this, then ta-da! You did it right.

Finished Product:

Sorry if this wasn’t extremely helpful or if it was confusing. It’s my first tutorial, and I hope to get better.

-Keely.

The business card is one of the most important ways for young designers and entrepreneurs to locally promote themselves.

If you have already started doing freelance work or are thinking about doing it in the near future, I highly suggest having a business card to hand to potential clients.

Why?

Credibility

For a young professional, having a business card adds a ton of credibility to your cause.
If you claim to be a designer-for-hire but cannot easily give a business card to your client, it will seem unprofessional and you will probably be forgotten.

However, if you can back up your claim by giving them a card, it will give the impression that you are professional and dedicated.

Nobody wants an inexperienced kid working for them. Show them that you are serious about your work. It goes a long way, trust me!

Ease of Contact

Your business card holds all of the most important ways to contact you. Your phone number, e-mail address, and anything else which is important to you.

The business card lets you give all of this information to somebody directly and easily. No more searching for a pen and a napkin when you see the opportunity for work.

Your potential client will be much more inclined to contact you if you make it easy for them.

Remember – if you give a personal phone number, answer the phone professionally! No “Hey”s and “Yo”s!

To Showcase your Talents

If you are a designer, why not incorporate your design skills into your business card?
Your business card is often moulds your client’s first impression of you, so take the opportunity to win them over on the spot by showing them your work.

Are you a graphic designer? Create a personal logo for your card! Web designer? Make it look like a website!

Keep it creative yet professional.

Creating a business card

For this exercise, we will be creating a simple business card using Adobe InDesign. This is the best program for bringing together text and images, as well as preparing your document for professional print.

1. Open a New Document in InDesign

Go to File -> New -> Document

Make the document 1 page. Width 3.5 in, Height 2 in. Make the margins 1/8″ (0.125 in), as well as the bleed.

Press OK.

2. Create your text.

Click on the text tool or press “T” on your keyboard. Draw a text box.

Write in your name, position, and essential contact information.

3. Import your logo or graphic

This should be created as a vector image in Illustrator, however a 300 PPI jpeg will be sufficient.

Click on the ractangle frame tool or press “F” on your keyboard. Draw a frame.

Go to File -> Place or hit Ctrl+D (Command+D on Mac). Browse for your image, and hit OK.

Right click, and go to Fitting Options -> Fit Content Proportionally. Your image should now fit your frame.

You can adjust the frame size and keep fitting your content proportionally, or you can adjust the image inside the frame by hitting the direct selection tool (A).

I want my image to appear to continue off the business card, so I will ensure the graphic continues until the red bleed line.

4. Choose your color theme.

Do you want the background to be white or colored? White will generally be cheaper to print, however professional printers should have different colored stock – check ahead.

For this card I will use a lightly stained background, and use the two shades of green from my image for consistency.

First, use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle that fills the entire bleed area. Next choose your background color. Right-click, go to Arrange -> Send to Back.
I chose a brown, which complements the green of the image, and turned the opacity down to 30%.

Next, I highlighted my name, chose the eyedropper tool, and clicked on the darker green color.

5. Perfect your layout

I selected the line tool and drew a green line from the bleed margin up to the tree stump. I right-justified my name and position (using the text bar at the top).

This symbolizes me, chopping down a tree. Suitable for a lumberjack, no?

I highlighted my contact information and made it 8 pt, to give focus to my name.

Finally, I added in the (fake) company name at the top, and gave it the light green color from my image.

6. Print

Now that the layout is complete, print your business cards!
I suggest using a professional printer, especially if you are using colors and images that bleed out of your document.

Trying to print out a large amount of these yourself will be a huge headache, and will cause more problems than good.

Invest the money for professional printing!

As you can see, it is relatively simple to create a professional business card using InDesign. All it takes is a little patience to learn the program!

Looking for the best printing services to print your business cards for the holidays? Visit PsPrint Online Printing to get the best deals!

I’ll post my entry soon.

I really hope you guys enter; I love seeing your ideas!

The Challenge

This week’s challenge is to create a logo for a company (fake) that you would like to own or be a part of one day. For example, if you really love books and dream of owning a book store, create a logo for that store!

To enter your logo, host it at Photobucket or TinyPic, and post the URL in a comment on this post.

The winners (3) and prize will be announced next friday.

Have fun everybody!

Remember guys, these little exercises were made to help you further your design abilities and learn more in the process. This is how the pro’s do it, because practice makes perfect! I look forward to seeing your entries! Thanks!

UPDATE: If at least six people share, the winners will win .info domains!

My Logo:

Julia’s Submission

Photoshop’s Painting Tools

Top 12 Image Editing Skills Every Photographer Should Know

Installing and Managing Brushes and Other Presets

Getting Started in Photoshop

Photoshop’s Pen Tool: The Comprehensive Guide

5 Really Easy, yet Essential Photo Retouch Techniques for Photoshop Beginners

Working with Layers in Photoshop

Easy Tutorials to Get Started

Reader Tutorial: Typography Wallpaper in Photoshop

3D Pixel Stretch Effects in Photoshop

How to Create Interesting Rainbow Text Effect

Where do you go to learn new skills in Photoshop? Let us know!

Send affordable and high quality commercial printing custom greeting cards this holiday to send to your friends and loved ones.