Encompass Rose: December 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012

Pure Gorgeous Summer

Usage samples for this texture set.

This image is not stock. Sorry, I don't own the rights to the portraits.

You can find the stock images I used:

here and here.

I had a lot of fun with this and I hope it can give you guys some ideas of how the textures can enhance your work.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Tutorial: Textures From Scratch in PSP

Program: Paint Shop Pro X5, should work in earlier versions.

Difficulty: Intermediate. Assumes basic knowledge of program features and menu locations. (ie: I'm not going to explain where the materials palette is or how to switch to the gradients tab.)

Translateable: Theory should work in other programs. I don't know if they'll have the exact features and materials used.

I started writing up a much longer and more detailed tutorial like this back in October, but I somehow lost the reference images I made for it, so I probably won't be finishing it.

I want to start off by saying that I have a huge resource library. Some of them date back to the early 2000s and have survived 4 or 5 computers. I don't even know how that's possible since I lose things I need all the time.

I also like making resources. I think I've said before, making graphic resources is as much fun--or more--for me than making the art I use them for. So, I absolutely encourage folks to browse stock photography and free resource sites.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that a lot of people seem to ignore the resources they have built in to their imaging programs. There's a lot of material that comes with Paint Shop Pro, and there are a who bunch of effects you can use.

There's no right or wrong way to make a texture. Different methods very often produce similar results. I use stock pictures in my textures a lot. Sometimes I just find that it's easier and faster to make a custom texture for a project as I go along. This texture was done with a "quick and dirty" method to get a usable result in relatively short time. If I was adding it to a project, I'd probably alter it some more once I had it on that canvas.

Normally I would have a project about 2/3 finished and I'd have realized that the background needs something, so I would think about applying (more?) textures. Since I don't have a ready-made project here, I just made it up as I went and wrote down the steps. I had no idea what I was going to get when I started it or if it would turn out at all. The best way to learn is just to open your program and start experimenting. You'll make a lot of crap, but you might just come up with a method you like and will be able to utilize in the future.

Public Domain Colorboxes

Some boxy backgrounds I made as a test.
Free for any use, including redistribution. Credit and notification not required, but they are appreciated, especially if you are going to redistribute

Tutorial: Polaroid Collage In Paint Shop Pro 8-Part II

Now that you have some polaroid frames, let's make a background for a collage.

What kind of background will depend on the style of collage you're making. A grungy background is usually done by layering a few textures and adding some brushes as embellishments. I think a composite like that would be a tutorial in its own right. If there's enough interest, I would be okay doing it, but for right now I'm just going to show you a simple way to make a wood grain background, and then I'll show you how to turn your frame .pngs from part I into a stack of pictures.

Tutorial: Polaroid Collage In Paint Shop Pro 8-Part I

Program: Paint Shop Pro 8

Difficulty: Intermediate. Assumes a working knowledge of Paint Shop Pro menus and interface. The tutorial isn't difficult, but there are a lot of steps, and I don't post as many screenshots or explain in as much detail as I would for a beginner tutorial. Comments are welcome if you have questions.

Translateable: Should work in any imaging program that supports layers and has a few basic blend modes.

Computer Troubles

I've had some computer trouble this week. It is functional for the moment, and I am hoping that it will stay that way for another few months. Among other things, I had to get a new monitor. This one is a different resolution than my old one, so you'll probably start seeing textures more in 1920x1080 and not so many in 1680x1050.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Impressions: Corel Paint Shop Pro X5 After 3 Weeks

I was going to wait a month, but I realized a month would be right at Christmas, and that's probably not going to be a time when I'm interested in blogging. I was previously using version 8 (yes, I know.) because I didn't really like PSPX and didn't find that there was enough in it to warrant buying. So some of my impressions are probably going to mention "new" features that have been in several of the Corel versions since then.

Disclaimer: The following is my opinion. It's a bunch of impressions, not a full review of the program.

Contest Rejects

This series of images were created as contest entries for rgbstock.com. Of the 8, I entered two. They were both rejected. The admin comments read:

"Only authentic work, please. No deviants."

I worked my fanny off on these. I don't know what makes them "inauthentic" simply because I used patterns that were created by another artist on DeviantArt instead of using the standard ones that come with an imaging program (which are, quite frankly, made from public domain images) but here you guys go.

Happy holidays. Free for any use now, and you can go ahead and make new resources out of them if you want. All I ask is you credit Roula33@deviantart for her patterns. Credit me if you want.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Public Domain Background textures

I regularly use the site Pixabay.com so I decided to upload some textures there. That means this series is public domain, even though the license on the deviation says attribution. You can do whatever you want with them including redistribute. Credit is not necessary but still appreciated, especially if you're going to re-post them.

Edit--12/16/12--

As it turned out, of these textures, the only ones that were accepted on Pixabay were the green and red patterned backgrounds. I'm guessing because those are GIGANTIC, even though they're my least favorite of the entire group.

Oh well. I'm keeping them up, and will probably be adding more to this post, but I don't know that I will continue to submit them on stock sites.

(As a reminder, not all of my resources are public domain. I rarely ask for credit, but I do still hold the copyrights on them, and I don't normally allow redistribution, so please be aware of the descriptions and licenses in other posts. Thanks.)

December Resources, Post 3

I meant to post these last weekend, but I got distracted with work. I hope they're still useful for folks.

Download

Alternate Download @ my DA gallery

Free for any use.

Most are seamless and I added a white background for the previews. Varying resolutions. Some of them use the font 60s chic

Friday, December 7, 2012

December Resources Post 2

Download
Alternate Download @ my DA Gallery

Free for any use.

Various sizes, most 500x500 px; some are transparent and I applied a background for the preview.

These are in PNG format, no .pat file. All were saved at 300 ppi so they can be used for big print projects.

If you find my resources useful, please consider making a point donation.

And thank you for your faves and comments.

I know there are a lot of these holiday themed patterns floating around; seems like most of them are either low res or they only have .pat files, so I made some for those of use who don't use Photoshop.

Larger Preview below

December Resources Post 1

Download

Alternate Download @ my DA
Larger preview below

Recent Photomanips

Due to the stock providers' terms, I don't have permission yet to post these images directly on Encompass Rose Design. So I'm posting thumbnails that link to my DeviantArt Gallery. Photo credits can be found on the DA pages.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

November Texture Post 7

Free for whatever you want.
This is an older set I hadn't posted yet.

Download
Alternate Download @ DA

Larger Preview And Gallery Below

Scrapbook Elements, Post 1

Unrestricted, use for whatever you want.

I made these as an experiment in scrapbook design. I've never been into scrapbooking, but I have some friends who are. I don't know whether I'll do any more, but it was a fun learning experience. Everything was saved at print quality so you can use it for digital or handmade projects. The backgrounds will also work for other types of projects besides scrapbooking.