Originally posted by Gerbill - Gaming Host:
[qb]
oh heather can you put a short tutorial on here on how to make simple banners with simple techniques in photoshop....
if it's not to much work I'd really appreciate it [/qb]
Uhh...I could try...lol...this is kind of funny because I am usually the one asking for them...not giving them. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Well...one of the fun parts about banners is the brushes you use. You can make your own or download them.
-To download them try using a search engine and typing Photoshop 7.0 (or whatever version you have) brushes. Sites I recommend are:
Insominac Imprints Miss M Photoshop BrushesJust click and download and I suggest you keep them all in one folder. MAKE SURE TO UNZIP THE BRUSHES BEFORE TRYING TO LOAD THEM. To load them, you click on your brush tool and the top bar will change for brush options. At the top it will say brush with a picture of the brush you are using and a little arrow will be next to it. Click the arrow and it will bring down a menu of different brushes in that particular folder. To load new brushes click the arrow at the top of the drop down. It's in a light blue circle. This brings out the options. You can either load the other standard sets of brushes that come with photoshop or load the new ones you just downloaded. To download the new ones, go to load brushes, find the folder you saved the new brushes in and click and open.
-To make your own brushes create/take an image. (have an image open). Then go to Edit-Define Brush...give it a name and you have created a brush. To save it go to the load menu and hit save...it will save all the brushes in that folder...I haven't quite figured out how to make a new folder yet...so if anyone figures it out let me know. And that now gives you an array of brushes. You can adjust the size with the first drop down and moving the little bar at the top back and forth. You may also adjust what effect the brush has by the mode, and the strength by adjusting the opacity and flow.
Now on to the filters. On the top bar there is a tab that is called filters...these filters will manipulate your images into all sorts of ways. Feel free to have fun with these. I usually use these to manipulate the image I plan to use as the background. There are also filter packages you can purchase and add to the variety you have, but the standard ones are good enough.
Now on to transparencies. When you would like to fade an image or cut and past pieces of an image this is what you use/do. You use the Marquee Tool (the dotted line square) and make a square around the part of the image you would like to adjust/cut/whatever. Copy then close or minimize the image then Go to file-new. For present size hit custom (It should already be set to this, with the exact measurements of what you just copied.)...then on the bottom where it says Contents hit transparent. A box should open with grey and white squares on it...this means that it does not come up...transparent.
Paste the image onto the box and depending on what you want is how you will erase. Click on the erase tool, and if you are going to erase around the image have the opacity and flow to 100%. If you would like to make a faded image...adjust the opacity and flow accordingly. You can change your type of eraser the same way you change your brushes. I suggest that when ever erasing do not go any smaller than a 3pt brush, because anything smaller than that no one will notice.
Once you are happy with your erase work than copy and paste it onto the image you would like to blend it with...I use the blender tool afterward and go over the edges to make it look like it is more part of the image. The blending tool is the one that looks like a little rain drop.
What if the images you want to match up are way different sizes? No fear...to adjust images sizes you go to Image-Image size and adjust accordingly...this also helps when figuring out what size the images you are working with are.
What if you would like the image to face the opposite direction? Can do...Go to view Image-Rotate Canvas-Flip Canvas Horizontal/Vertical...or tweak it in all forms of directions.
Every image you paste on another is called a layer and any brush work you do will only be done onto the last layer you pasted, or whatever layer you have a selected. To have your brushes affect all layers you must save it as a whole. Save it as a .psd so you can fix it later if you want to then save it as a .jpg. Once saved close the window you are currently working on and open the .jpg version...this will allow easier brush effects.
There are so many things that I can tell you about photoshop but that is about the basics. Oh, if you would like some different fonts try dafont.com. There is explanation on how to download and load the fonts on the website.
Have fun...explore...and don't refrain from trying new things...there are endless things to do with the program and most I learned from just trial and error.
Let me know if you need and more help.
Heather
