Wednesday, January 30, 2013

1.13_100x100_8b (Gallery)





Gallery below.
Zip downloads in this post.

1.13_100x100_8

  

Okay, wow. A lot of icon textures here.  This set was going to be an exclusive for Site Supporters, but I guess I am just bad at the idea of not giving things away for free.  So, I broke it into smaller sets for free downloaders.

Site supporters have the option of downloading the entire set in one large file.  You need to comment for the link and password to the large zip file.  Smaller zips are linked in the post and are not password protected. 

Patterns used in this set were provided by Viscious-Speed @ DA.

Zip download links below.
Gallery in this post.

1.13_100x100_7






1.13_100x100_6


Awesome Stuff I Found: Post 1

With my arm messed up like this, there's no way I can post tutorials.  So I thought I'd try posting links to some awesome ones written by others:

The Secret to Composition by lulie on Deviantart is a tutorial written on image composition that makes a complicated and sometimes daunting subject clear and easy to follow.  As with most tutorials on DA, it's written on a .jpg, so I apologize to anyone using a screen-reader who won't be able to access it.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

1.13_red box background set 1_CC0

RBF_redboxes-b_001RBF_redboxes-b_002RBF_redboxes-b_003RBF_redboxes-b_004RBF_redboxes-b_005RBF_redboxes-b_006
RBF_redboxes-b_007RBF_redboxes-b_008RBF_redboxes-b_009RBF_redboxes-b_010RBF_redboxes-b_011RBF_redboxes-b_012
1.13_red boxes_CC0, a set on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Credit is appreciated but not necessary for this set.


CC0



To the extent possible under law,

Rose Fischer

has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to
red box background set 1.
This work is published from:

United States
.

1_13_lattice composer Unrestricted

Playing around with lattice composer.  enjoy.Playing around with lattice composer.  enjoy.Playing around with lattice composer.  enjoy.Playing around with lattice composer.  enjoy.Playing around with lattice composer.  enjoy.Playing around with lattice composer.  enjoy.
Please credit encompass--rose.blogspot.com.  Playing around with lattice composer.  enjoy.

1_13_lattice composer, a set on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Playing around with redfieldplugins.com lattice composer. Enjoy.  Free for any use.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Ouch

Just a quick note.  I've hurt my arm (again.) and typing is really difficult.  So I definitely will not be able to post any detailed text content (tutorials on Encompass Rose or commentary on Fandombouquet) for a while.  Probably until March.  Looks like I won't be participating in any of the writing challenges this winter either.  Maybe Nano in the fall, but I can't plan that far in advance.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Scrap Pack 1

I was experimenting with effects tonight.  I used a smaller canvas because I wasn't doing anything in particular.  These are what I got.  If you find any of them useful, go to town.  Credit if you want.  Don't be an a$$ and claim you made them.



Tutorial: Texture From Scratch In Paint Shop Pro (3)

My texture tutorials are getting a lot more hits than I expected.  Am I allowed to say that?

I didn't really expect them to get much traffic because I use PSP, which is not as popular as Photoshop or GIMP, and I've been writing about texture effects you can make without a camera or stock photos.

I mostly learned to make these because I could never really find the "perfect" one I wanted, and I (sadly) don't own a good camera for photography.  So now I have been thinking about some other tricks I use.

This idea is a simple use of the "Add Noise" feature and various types of blur that are present in PSP.
It will help to know a little about blend modes, but if you don't, it's okay; the tutorial will cover what you need to understand.

The tutorial looks long because I have broken the steps down with explanation for beginners, but once you understand what it is I'm showing you, the basic effect only takes about a minute to produce, and the  twirly colors don't take that much longer.

I think the results are quite pretty if you're looking for a background for a fantasy design or something kind of girly.  :)

Visit this post for a zip download of the four finished textures.
Please note: The zip only contains the finished textures.  It does not contain PSP layer files or PSD files.


Program: Paint Shop Pro 8

Difficulty: Beginner

Translatable: Partially (uses radial blur, but it's possible to skip that step or use another effect)


1-13_Noise Tutorial Textures




Gallery below from my Flickr account

Saturday, January 19, 2013

PSP-Works Gradient Pack 1




Creative Commons License

PSP-Works Gradient Pack by Encompass Rose Design is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at encompass--rose.blogspot.com.



(Terms of use are different from the main site TOU; please read below carefully.)

Short Terms:

  • You can use this set in your commercial or non-commercial art projects.
    -Attribution is requested for personal, non-commercial use.
    -Attribution is required for commercial use. (Please use http://psp-works.deviantart.com or link directly to this post.)
  • You can republish this set FOR FREE on your website as long as the set stays together and all of the original previews and .txt files are included. (Notification is requested.)
  • You cannot sell the set unmodified.
  • You cannot extract individual contents and distribute those without the documentation.
  • You cannot include the set in a package with other resources unless you include all the relevant credit documents and previews and have the rights to redistribute all of the content.
  • Please notify me by commenting on this post or sending a note to psp-works.deviantart.com

    Full TOU can be viewed here and is included in the zip file.

Full Preview below.

Usage Samples

This header was made by friend Aruna7 for a private roleplaying forum she belongs to.  
The texture is not one I posted publically; I made it for her as part of a gift pack, but I have some alternates I will be making available soon.  

I really like the text effect and the use of the shapes in the texture, plus the color scheme is my favorite, so I decided to share (with her permission.)


Copyright, The Creative Commons, Courtesy, and You

I decided to create a new group on DeviantArt this week.  The group's called PSP-Works and I'm going to be uploading some resources that are specifically designed for the group.  (Mainly PSP-specific content like gradients or preset shapes.)

So I was writing up a special TOU doc tonight, and it got me thinking.  I've been contemplating writing this post for months and I just haven't had the time or motivation.


I love the internet.  I love its potential as a tool for sharing and building, especially when it comes to creative content.  That's what the Creative Commons is meant to help accomplish.



This work is now available as part of the text Copyright answers on Amazon.com

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Tutorial Gradients

This set goes along with my last tutorial.  These are all the gradients I made from the images used there.

Gallery and larger preview below.


Tutorial: Making and Using Custom Gradients In Paint Shop Pro


Program: Paint Shop Pro (Should work for most versions.)
Difficulty: Beginner
Translatable: Sorry, not this time!

The gradient tools in Paint Shop Pro are set up a lot differently from the ones in the other programs I've seen. They can seem a little daunting at first, but once you get used to them, it's pretty simple. I'm going to show you step by step how to make and save custom gradients.

I have 2 versions of PSP on my computer.  PSP 8 was made by JASC Software.  The latest version, PSP X5 was made by Corel (which bought out JASC several years ago.).

For compatibility purposes, I try to make my gradients in the older version.  I'm doing most of the work in PSP 8, but I include screenshots and directions for both programs.  The gradient editor hasn't really changed from one version to the other.   So, no matter which version you have, you should be able to follow along.


Click here for a set of gradients I made using the images in this tutorial.  It contains all of the ones in the examples and a bunch more.

Notices: Images used in this tutorial are public domain.  Links to the originals are provided in the text.
Tutorial content is (c) Rose B. Fischer and Encompass Rose Design.  It may not be reprinted without express permission.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Quick Tip: File Locations in Paint Shop Pro



This applies to any custom content that you want to make in PSP.

Paint Shop Pro allows users to specify any number of custom locations for their files.  You don't have to have one specific folder for your gradients or brushes, but it's good to know where the files are so that you can back them up or find them if you want to share them.

Since I make content to share online, I create a new subfolder for each set. You don't need to if you will only be making a gradient here or there, but it's good if you plan to make a lot of them or if you download custom content made by others.  Otherwise it will be hard to keep track of where the files are stored and who made them.




  See Ex-1 for a quick overview.  Detailed instructions are below.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Paint Shop Pro Brushes-Rectangles



I started this brush pack a while ago.  At first it was just going to be the large sized layout brushes.  I use those for making textures.  Then I got to thinking that some folks might like the smaller elements as well and the brush pack got quite a bit larger than I planned.

There are about 70 brushes total. I can provide smaller zip files on request. I was going to break the set up, but I am having trouble with the galleries and preview images right now.  If there's enough interest in the set, I will try it again.

There is a gallery of the imagepack here on my Flickr account.

Monday, January 14, 2013