Asylum

[`Poet.]

Heya! Thanks so much for applying to be a student on Mayhem Studios - I look forward to working with you!

Just a quick introduction... I'm Poet, obviously, but you can call me anything you want xD I use Photoshop, but I do have GIMP downloaded so that I can reference it if I need to, when teaching :3 I'm very flexible on assignment due-dates. I'm very busy with schoolwork and such, so I completely understand if you don't finish your assignments right away.

If you're going to be absent for more than a few days, though, I would appreciate it if you could tell me, just so that I know you haven't fallen off the face of the earth xD

So, let's get started!

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Okay, before I put your assignment up - I know you said that you haven't mastered anything yet (on your application). However, I'd like to know, have you explored GIMPs tools at all? Tried to make a manip?

This is just so I know where exactly to start.

And also, do you have a deviantART account? This is just so that I can keep in touch with you/contact you on there if I need to.

If you don't have one, it's not a problem :]

Thanks!

[asylum]

Hi Poet, it's very nice to meet you. I'm Asylum as you can see, but anything is good. Sorry for the somewhat late reply, I've had to work a lot lately.

I have tried playing around with the tools before, but haven't done anything major. It's just recently that I've been feeling ambitious xD

Also, I recently made a deviantART account for the purpose of my lessons. And I felt like a bit of a loser, since everyone else has one and I never did xD My username thingamajig is asylum41609.

[`Poet.]

Alright, so the first thing I'm going to have you do is cut out a horse using the path tool! (Yay! xD)

First, just take a look at this page: people.clarkson.edu/~hamiltgr/gimp/gimpDoc.html

It's a good intro. to Gimp's tools.

Next, I'd like you to try and cut the horse out :3

Here's a tutorial that I'd recommend you use: maerocks.deviantart.com/art/Cutting-Path-Tool-Tutorial-104537729?q=boost%3Apopular+in%3Aresources%2Ftutorials%2Fdigiart%2Fphotomanipulation%2Fthegimp+path+tool&qo=0

I'd like you to cut out this horse (it's just a headshot, so you don't have to do the whole body right now): pralinkova-princezna.deviantart.com/art/Stock16-Horse-head-129523339?q=boost%3Apopular+in%3Aresources%2Fstockart+horse+head&qo=50

Oh, and in the cutting tutorial, at the very end, it says "select the 'Selection from Path'". Once you've selected that, press Ctrl+C to copy the selection. Then you can paste it onto a new image, and you should have just the horse, not the background!

Please PM me if you have any questions, and I'll try to explain it in more depth. Thanks! <3

[asylum]

Finished Personally, I feel quite accomplished for doing this xD

asylum41609.deviantart.com/art/First-Lesson-184212990

[`Poet.]

Your first time cutting out a horse? Seriously? That's amazing! Absolutely fantastic job!

I'm really impressed!

Now, I see a few little areas that still have the background on them, so I'm going to have you go back with a hard (not fuzzy) eraser, and very carefully erase the rest of the background off, so that we just see the horse.

And also, I find that if you put the horse on a brightly colored background (like neon pink, yellow, purple, blue - not green), you can see the horse better, and see any areas you have missed.

Anyway, I circled the areas that have background still on them: i54.tinypic.com/rwi1sj.jpg

Go ahead and do that, and then we'll move on! <3

[asylum]

Mmk, so here's the touched-up version.

asylum41609.deviantart.com/art/First-Lesson-Attempt-2-184226404#/d31om04

I think the ears are a little bit sloppy; you can see the places where I nicked them with the eraser. Other than that though, I think it looks a bit better.

[`Poet.]

Yep, looks a bunch better! Nice job!

Now, the next thing I'm going to have you work on is smudging.

However, before you do that, put the horse on a neon-colored background. Because see how the blaze (white part on the horse's nose) blends in with the white background, so it's hard to see where it ends?

Well, if you put it on a colored background, that won't happen, and the whole horse will be easier to see. (Just don't put it on red or orange or brown, because that's the color that the body is.)

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Now for smudging:

On the horse layer, you need to lock the transparency. This is so that when you smudge, you wont' smudge over the outline of the horse.



See the area circled in red? Make sure that that box is checked on the horse layer.

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Now for the actual smudging part...

Make sure to duplicate the horse layer, first.

Click the tool that looks like a hand and a finger pointing. Then select the hard "Circle 11" brush. Don't check any of the brush dynamics.

For the scale, I use (for this horse) 1.8. And for the rate, I have it on 60.

Use this tutorial for smudging: i55.tinypic.com/2n060xu.jpg

As you can see, I smudge along the muscle lines, then smudge the opposite direction until the horse looks completely smooth. Then reduce the opacity of the smudged horse layer a bit so that it doesn't look so plasticy.

Let me know how it goes!

Thanks! <3

[asylum]

Well .. this was my erm .. attempt, if you can even call it that. I'll explain why it isn't even finished though.

asylum41609.deviantart.com/art/Smudging-Attempt-1-186408379

Well, when i started, I started with the neck and I think it went all right. But as soon as I gained some confidence and started on the face, all the colors began to blend together (the chestnut, the white, the gray). Also, it seemed like the whole facial structure disappears when I smudge the face. It's really frustrating and I would be forever grateful if you could help me out with this xD

Sorry to be such a pain !

EDIT: I attempted smudging again, this time with a lower brush strength. The results were a little bit better. And by better, I mean the face didn't smudge together xD But then it hardly looks like it's smudged. -shrugs- If you want to take a look, here it is:

asylum41609.deviantart.com/#/d3319f3