More downloadable e-book! Graphic Goodness Exercises Series 2

Open publication - Free publishing - More amreta

And special for you who enjoy creating kindwords cards together with me .. ;o) here comes the tutorial in one practical file as well. You can view it online above or download the pdf file here: Graphic Goodness Exercises Series 2 - how I create my Kindwords Cards

Like this e-book? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Graphic Goodness Exercises Series 1 - Now in a downloadable e-book!

Open publication - Free publishing - More amreta

Hello friends! I'd like to thank some of you who sometime ago gave me feedback about the Graphic Goodness Exercises Series: why don't you compile the posts and put them in one downloadable e-book? I thought "wow, what a good idea!" - I hope you too find the e-book a very practical complement to the original blog posts. Here's the first e-book, you can view it online above or download the pdf file here: Graphic Goodness Exercises Series 1 - Gratitude Cards

Like this goodie? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

A Year of Fortune Cookies - card kit - free download - part 1

Oh dear, now I understand what the problem with creating a tutorial...my way. It's that I always found something new each time I went further with my graphics, and the tutorial I previously made feels, well, ...old (!) But anyway, I also understand it's a process I really cherish and don't you think it's worth celebrated? *winkwink* As mentioned in yesterday's "blackberry post" I still have no internet access at my new place, and now working from a cafe with free wi-fi...I'm running out of time! I'm posting below now the Kindwords Cards Free Package for you to download, and as time permit I'll do the "explanation" in the next post, just take it as a series :-D

Now, if you can't wait to play with the kindwords cards kit and to create your own... download the package here (zipped 6,55 MB)

Talk to you again tomorrow, I'll explain everything about this kit :-))))))

Like this graphic goodness goodie? Do share it with your friends and give them a treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Graphic Goodness Exercises 2: Kindwords Cards

Hello!

Until today I have created seven kindwords cards for my new series, A Year of Fortune Cookies, and I already feel so energized. Loooooove it! I got this excitement of looking out 'fortune cookie words' each day, and sometimes I just felt like it was the words who found me. I guess it's true what people always say..."energy flows where attention goes".

Anyway, now we come to the Graphic Goodness Exercises 2...making Kindwords Cards! Whoohoo!

Now, if you already practiced alot with the Graphic Goodness Exercises number 1, it will be very easy. This time, we'll also use my Rose Bears webset for sample. If you haven't got the webset, you can get it for free with newsletter subscription, here.

Okay, let's start :-)

One. Open Adobe Photoshop program, prepare the Rose Bears webset.

Two, create a new working board on Photoshop. Set it to 640 x 480 pixels. We are going to create a patterned background. Choose one patterned tile from my Rose Bears webset, open it on Photoshop. Click on the menu 'select' 'all', then copy and paste it into the working board.

Just like what you have learned from GGE 1, either repeatedly paste the tile or duplicate the layer. Put them in a row covering the working board. To make it quick, you can also merge several layers, then duplicate.

When the entire working board is covered, flatten the image (or merge the layers).

Voila! You get the patterned background ready!

Three. Create another working board, only now smaller. Let's reduce it from the first working board by 60pixels both the width and length, which means make a 580 x 420 px working board. Choose one tile you want to use for the second background. Then, using this tile, repeat step two.

Four. When the second working board is ready, select all, copy and then paste it to the first working board. It's normally centered automatically.

Five. To give a cutout effect (which i love!), see I apply shadow here (click 'layer' - 'layer style' - 'drop shadow')

Six. Now I want to put a fancy transparent tape on the working board. Here's how I make it:

Repeat step two with another graphic tile..but only a small one, let's say 100 x 50 pixels. Then copy and paste and place it at the top of the working board, like taping the first and the second background together.

Oh, then I wanted to rotate it a little bit. You still remember how to use the 'free transform' tools, right?

Next step, I want to make it transparent. Again, use the 'layer style' function and use 'blending options' as shown on the image above. A blending toolbox will pop up and see below I changed the green tape's opacity to 50% (blend mode: normal).

Yay! The card background is now ready!! :-)

Seven. Using 'type tool', now you can add your text. For this kindwords cards I also drop 35% shadow to the text.

Eight. This time I use my graphics to decorate the card. Very easy exercise...just choose the graphics from the Rose Bears webset, for example. Open one, select all, copy, paste it to the working board.

And I also drop the rose graphic 35% shadow to give the cutout feel...

Okay, ready!!! If you follow these steps..congratulations!

Now you know how to use my websets to create cards, in addition to the cutout graphics you've learned earlier in Graphic Goodness Exercises 1. Certainly now you can combine both! Isn't that exciting? :-)

Do-It-Your-Way challenge this week do a lot of practice and create as many kindwords cards repeating these exercises as you enjoy doing it :o)))  create your own {fortune cookie - kindwords cards} series share the cards online. blog it or post it on facebook. share it (or share the link to your blog) also on www.facebook.com/amretasgraphics . Spread the good energy! be grateful and celebrate each time you complete the exercises! :o)

Have a graphic goodness today!

Like this kindwords card exercise? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Graphic Goodness Exercises 1: Day 11

Hurraa! I hope you had a very nice Christmas!

I also hope you had good exercises with the graphic goodness and now we're going to talk about using 'eraser tool'. In the first part I include the PSD file for you to practice using the eraser tool, and I also uploaded the PSD file of the image above for your to play :-)

Download the files here:

The exercise
The image

So, let's start now :-)

Open the exercise file. Click on the eraser tool as shown in the screenshot above. The eraser features panel will appear at the top of the screen below the menu, and you can experiment yourself with the diameter, mode, opacity, etc. It's fun! :-)

Now make sure you are on the right layer. Click-and-hold your mouse and drag erasing the image. Ay, can you see it? Play again. As much as possible (...kidding...but a lot of practice will help :-))

Now I just pasted a red graphic to the working board, and I want to make a heart-shaped image.

so I clicked on the eraser tool again, and set the diameter to a small one. Then I use it to create a heart in the center of the red graphic.

Once I got the shape, I erase the outer area of the red graphic (I enlarge the diameter first to make it easier to erase), so, the red heart stands alone now.

Yippi! Now I got the brown and red graphics to create flowers. I added more elements that you have learned from the previous exercises. Open the PSD file of the image and you can play with it. It's another fun exercise :-)

Have a great week!

Graphic Goodness Exercises 1: Day 10

Download PSD file Day 10

Wow! Day 10. Let's wrap up a bit what we have learned until day 9:

• copy and paste the digital papers to the working board
• rectangular and elliptical marquee tools
• move tool
• lasso tools
• duplicate layer
• type tool (including coloring and changing sizes)
• arrange layers
• transform tools
• select and cut layer to create shapes

If  you missed the Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 -  Week 1, go here.

Today using the same image as day 9, we are going to practice:

• group or merge layers
• simple drop shadow tool
• using brush tool

Ok, let's start :-)

First, open the PSD file from Day 9.  You can see on the layers list that there are a lot of layers in the document.

Now, start experimenting. Take two or more layers that you want to put in one group, or, to merge into one image.

• click a layer on the layers list
• press Ctrl button and click another layer you want to put in one group or merge with the first layer 
• click "Layer" on the menu at the top, then "Group layers" if you want the images to still be individual only that they are 'together' - or "Merge layers" if you want to merge the images into one image.
• in the sample PSD file Day 10, I merged the entire small layers to make one doll image
• repeat the steps several times until you get the hang of it

Second, let's experimenting now with dropping shadow to the images / layers

• start the practice with one layer. For example the 'Thank You' text. Make sure you're on the right layer. Now click "Layer" on the menu at the top. On the sub-menu, click "Layer style" then "drop shadow" and the layer style box will pop up
• now it's time to play with the shadow box :-) you see in the picture below, on "drop shadow structure", I chose "multiply" on the 'blend mode' box, 35% opacity, 120 degree angle, distance 5px, spread 0px and size 5px 
• repeat these steps with other layers, and try to experiment with various blend mode, opacity, angle, distance, spread and size

Third, just a quick taste to brush tools, because I want to add pinky blush to the doll's cheeks (we'll talk more about brush tools in a few days):

• click on the brush tool on the tools menu as shown in the picture below

You see in the picture above:

• when the brush tool is selected, the brush menu appears at the top of the working board
• here I set the brush size to 32, mode normal, opacity 50%, flow 100%
• and on the toolbox, you see I already changed the color to pink
• if you still have other color there, double click the color box, and another color box will appear, and you can set the color of your choice
• click on the layer where you want to apply the brush tool (in the sample, it's the face or layer 2)
• now you can 'spray' the pink paint with the brush tool to the doll's face to create blushing cheeks
• repeat these exercises. you can always click on 'Step Backward' or 'Undo' by clicking first "Edit" on the menu at the top, whenever the result of your brush-painting is not yet satisfying, and then try again and again. have fun! :-)

to be continued....

Graphic Goodness Exercises 1: Day 9

Hello friends! Sorry for the absence.... I got sick and had difficult time staying for sometime in front of the computer ... learned something, though, next time I will use the scheduled post so there will be no interruption :-)

Download PSD file Day 9

So, before we start, I'd like to make sure that by now you have followed the tutorials and must be familiar with:

• copy and paste the digital papers to the working board
• rectangular and elliptical marquee tools
• move tool
• lasso tools
• duplicate layer
• type tool (including coloring and changing sizes)

And from week 2:

• arrange layers

If  you missed the Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 -  Week 1, go here.

Today we are going to learn about using more tools and functions that I mentioned in the previous post:

• transform tools
• more select and copy/cut functions

And tomorrow, using the same image as today's, we are going to talk about:

• group or merge layers
• simple drop shadow tool

Ok, let's start!

First, we are going to make a doll / girl image. On the step by step below, you will learn about transform tools and some variations on select tools. You will also use a lot of 'arrange layers' function so it's a good repetition from what you learned in the previous post. Anyway, you will always have to repeat most or all of the steps, which means you will get a lot of practice along the way :o)

• create a working board. Here I have the 640 x 480 pixels as usual, and copy-pasted the light blue paper
• make an ellips from the light-beige paper, for the head
• make three yellow ellips and arrange them around the bottom of the head. The light-beige head might be place under the yellow ellips, so put it forward using "arrange layer" function (see tutorial Day 8)
• make a purple ellips and put it under the yellows
• make a long dark blue ellips as shown here, for the dress

Second, to make a bell-shaped dress, use elliptical marquee tool on the dark blue ellips. Since you want to erase the outer area of the marquee, click "select" on the menu at the top, then click "inverse". When the inverse area is selected, push the "delete" button (on the keyboard) and then you will get the bell-shaped dark blue - as shown in the pictures below. Note: make sure that you work on the right layer (check with the layers list on the right).

Third, now we are going to start using the transform tools.

I want to make the sleeves which have the same shape as the dress, only smaller. So:

• make a duplicate of the blue dress
• on the menu at the top, click "edit" then "free transform"
• hold and drag your mouse to make the image smaller

Now I want the sleeve I just created to rotate a bit. So repeat the steps "edit" -> "free transform" and you'll see once again the blue sleeve is 'wrapped' by a box with 7 transform points as shown above. Place the cursor outside the transform box until the rotating cursor appears, then hold the mouse and rotate the sleeve. Apply the transformation.

Note: when you do the transformation, make sure that you are on the "move tool"

You now get the sleeve image...

• make a duplicate
• click "edit" -> "transform" -> "flip horizontal" ... and voila you've got two blue sleeves one for the right, one for the left side of the dress
•  use move tool to place them on the top-sides of the blue dress.

Fourth, now we are going to make the legs and shoes.

• using rectangular marquee tool, make the legs from the light-beige digital paper
• make a duplicate then place them behind the dress
• using elliptical marquee tool, make a small blue ellips
• almost similar to step two (on how to make the bell-shaped blue dress) - create a selection area with elliptical tool on the small blue ellips (check with the layer list that you are working on the right layer)
• press "delete" button and you'll get a half moon image. duplicate the image, then place them on top of the legs

Fifth, to create the hands

• I made a duplicate of the leg
• I wanted to make the image thinner, so I clicked on free transform tool (which means "edit" -> "free transform") and place the cursor to one of the middle-side points, and once the transform arrow cursor appear, hold and drag the mouse inward, to create a thinner rectangle. Apply the transformation.
• Now I wanted to rotate the image to suit the sleeve image. Repeat step 3 on how to rotate the image. Hints: free transform tool -> rotate
• Make a duplicate, click "edit" -> "transform" -> "flip horizontal"
• Using move tool and arrange-layer, place them behind the sleeves
• Make a small ellips from the light beige paper. Make a duplicate then place them on the hands

Sixth, to create the hair and the face

• repeat steps 2 on how to make the bell shaped dress, now with the black digital paper. Use free transform tool if you want to make it bigger or smaller
• place it behind the light beige head
• using elliptical marquee tool make an ellips from black paper. By now you know how to make it bigger or smaller :-) then use once again the free transform tool to rotate it. Place it on top of the head to make a side bang. Duplicate, flip horizontally, then place them on top of each other.
• make two tiny black ellips for the eyes
• repeat steps 4 on how to make the half moon images for the shoes, only now use a red paper

Voila! The girl graphics is done and now you are ready to add some more details as you like. Here you see I added hair ribbon (by now you know how to make them :-)) and the decorative bubbles and text.

Tomorrow we'll continue with dropping shadow to give a cutout and 3D-like effect to the image.

In the meantime, have a graphic goodness today! :o)

Graphic Goodness Exercises 1: Day 8

Download PSD file Day 8

Welcome to the first Graphic Goodness Gratitude Exercises  - Week 2!

Starting today to the next 7 days, set aside at least 30 minutes to repeat what you've learned in the GG exercises week 1, plus to get familiar with some more basic tools on Adobe Photoshop that I use most often to create my 'cutout' graphics. It is a very important step to exercise your "graphic goodness creative muscles", which means, the more you practice, the more you'll get creative... guaranteed!

And if you are already familiar with working on Photoshop, feel free to develop your own techniques later, and share it with us here, or on Facebook.

First, start with opening (in Adobe Photoshop) the digital papers I included in the f.r.e.e. goodiebag (if you haven't got one, get it here).

By now you must be familiar with:

• copy and paste the digital papers to the working board
• rectangular and elliptical marquee tools
• move tool
• lasso tools
• duplicate layer
• type tool (including coloring and changing sizes)

If  you missed the Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 -  Week 1, go here.

Second, now here are more tools and functions that you will learn in this tutorial week 2:

• arrange layers
• transform tools
• eraser tools
• group or merge layers

Third, now let's start! :o)

First, I will copy and paste the background, then blue and pink ellips, and then brown treebark to the working board.

You see above that the pink circle is on top of the blue and the brown treebarks on top of the circles.

Fourth, now I want to move the blue circle to the front, and the brown treebarks to the back.

I click my mouse to one of the treebark (see on the layer list: it's on layer 4). Then on the menu at the top, I click on "Layer" and on the submenu "Arrange". Four options pop-up: Bring to Front, Bring forward, Send backward, Send to back

Fifth, now you see the options. Click on 'Bring to front' if you want the image / layer to be on the very front (on top of other layers), and click on 'Bring forward' if you want the image to move one layer on top. The same with the opposite. Click on 'Send to back' if you want the image / layer to be on the very back and click on 'Send backward' if you want the image to move one layer behind.

Experiment with the images on the working board, practice until you really get the hang of it :-)

Notes:
Another way to move the layers is by moving / dragging the layer on the layers list. Click on one of the layer, the hold the click and drag the layer up or down. What you see on the layers list is actually where exactly the layers are placed.

And voilà! Congratulations! You've completed today's exercise! :o)

Tomorrow  we'll continue with some practices using transform tools

See you tomorrow!

Have a graphic goodness today!

GGE 1 Gratitude Cards Day 7

Download PSD file of the image above here

If  you haven't done so, read the "playnote" dan "do-it-your-way challenge" for this Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 - Gratitude Cards Week 1 - here.

How I created the image above on Adobe Photoshop:

• open the digital papers from my f.r.e.e. goodiebag
• copy and paste the teal background
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the blue circle, copy the layer to make 4 more, then use move tool to make the composition
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste one big purple ellips, 
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the green circle, copy the layer to many and then use move tool to create a composition of tree leaves
• using lasso tool, create the brown tree bark, copy and paste
• using lasso tool, create the blue and yellow leaves, using elliptical marquee tool to create the dark brown and white circles, then use move tool to place them around the brown tree bark
• using the lasso tool, create the light blue rain drops, copy and paste and copy layer to many, then use move tool to place the rain drops images around
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the dark purple circle, copy layer to make 3 more, and then use move tool to create a composition of the four images.
• using type tool, create the text. Type on this sampler: Georgia. Use the move tool to place the text as you like.

Now you can play and create your own card with the PSD file that you can download above :o)

Enjoy this little tutorial? Share it with your friends using the share buttons on the footer below...

GGE 1 Gratitude Cards Day 6

Download PSD file here

If  you haven't done so, read the "playnote" dan "do-it-your-way challenge" for this Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 - Gratitude Cards Week 1 - here.

How I created the image above on Adobe Photoshop:

• open the digital papers from my f.r.e.e. goodiebag
• copy and paste the beige background
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the red circle, copy the layer to make 4 more, then use move tool to make the composition of a flower
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste one yellow ellips and place it to the center of the red flower
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the green circle, copy the layer to make 5 images and then use move tool to create a composition at the bottom of the working board
• using polygonal lasso tool, create the blue triangle, copy and paste, copy layer to make 6 images and then use move tool to create a composition at the top of the working board
• using the rectangular marquee tool, create the purple ribbon, copy and paste and copy layer to make 3 more images, then use move tool to place the ribbons around the flower
• using type tool, create the text. Type on this sampler: Trebuchet. Use the move tool to place the text as you like.

Now you can play and create your own card with the PSD file that you can download above :o)

Enjoy this little tutorial? Share it with your friends using the share buttons on the footer below...

GGE 1 Gratitude Cards Day 5

Download PSD file here

If  you haven't done so, read the "playnote" dan "do-it-your-way challenge" for this Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 - Gratitude Cards Week 1 - here.

How I created the image above on Adobe Photoshop:

• open the digital papers from my f.r.e.e. goodiebag
• copy and paste the pink background
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the big grey ellips
• using rectangular marquee tool, copy and paste cubes in various sizes and from various colors, copy the layer when necessary to make more images and then use move tool to create a composition of the two houses
• using polygonal lasso tool, create the blue and brown triangles, copy and paste, then use move tool to place the triangles to the top of the houses images, to make the roof
• using polygonal lasso tool, create the brown triangle to create a tree image, copy and paste
• using the rectangular marquee tool, create the green circle, copy and paste, copy layer twice to make 2 more images then use the move tool to make a composition of a tree
• using type tool, create the text. Type on this sampler: Trebuchet. Use the move tool to place the text as you like.

Now you can play and create your own card with the PSD file that you can download above :o)

Enjoy this little tutorial? Share it with your friends using the share buttons on the footer below...

GGE 1 Gratitude Cards Day 4

Download PSD file here

If  you haven't done so, read the "playnote" dan "do-it-your-way challenge" for this Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 - Gratitude Cards Week 1 - here.

How I created the image above on Adobe Photoshop:

• open the digital papers from my f.r.e.e. goodiebag
• copy and paste the beige background
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the big brown ellips, copy layer to make one more image and make a composition at the bottom of the working board
• using elliptical marquee tool, copy and paste the big yellow ellips, use move tool to place the 'sun' image on middle-top of the working board 
• using polygonal lasso tool, create a brown triangle to create a tree image, copy and paste, copy layer to make 3 copies of the image then use move tool to place the images around
• using the rectangular marquee tool, create the green circle, copy and paste, copy layer make 3 more images then use the move tool to place them on top of the brown triangles
• using type tool, create the text. Type on this sampler: Georgia. Experiment with the sizes and colors. Use the move tool to place the text as you like.

Now you can play and create your own card with the PSD file that you can download above :o)

Enjoy this little tutorial? Share it with your friends using the share buttons on the footer below...

GGE 1 Gratitude Cards Day 3

Download PSD file here

Read the "playnote" dan "do-it-your-way challenge" for this Graphic Goodness Exercises 1 - Gratitude Cards Week 1 - here.