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40 Amazing and Fantastical Winter Photo Manipulations

Winter is now in full swing for the Northern Hemisphere. Snow and cold have engulfed the northern latitudes. In the Southern Hemisphere, summer has taken hold, bringing with it blazing temperatures. For those of you in the north, the image manipulations below can help us appreciate the beauty of winter. And for those in the south, they can bring some much-needed relief from the heat. Photo manipulations are probably one of the most entertaining and interesting things to do with Photoshop. Combining unrelated elements into a single image, often combined with other filters, textures, and effects, to create one-of-a-kind works of art can be as challenging or simple as you want it to be, depending on exactly what you’re trying to create. There are a variety of ways these artists use to combine individual elements into a cohesive whole. Lighting effects, texture overlays, softening, and more are all put to the test with some of the examples below. And if you try all of those and aren’t happy with the results, sometimes emphasizing the fact that the image is a composite can work wonders. Lighting Effects One of the quickest ways to tell that an image is a composite is by the lighting. Combining elements that have different light sources can be a dead giveaway, and takes extra time to correct in Photoshop. Added lighting effects can also obscure the edges of individual elements, further unifying the overall composite. HumanKite by Ydole Lighting effects can bring consistency to images with otherwise-disparate elements. Disenchanted Lullaby by Queenofladiestoilets An unexpected element (such as the hummingbird in this winter scene) adds interest to photo manipulations. Frost-bite by Mindfreak-Kid The icy colors and glowing snowflakes make this evoke the chilly temperatures of winter. Ice Eye by Lorency Moon Race by Loojeen Snow Storm by SophieBuckley The Coming of Winter’s Rain by Aussie-gal Snow Queen by iKink Another image that includes unexpected elements. Winter Fairies by Remembering-amnesia External Force by AniOcean UpSideDown by Glenn Karlsen Ice Age by Geir Akselsen Snow has Funny Ways Sometimes by DaizyB Color Color, specifically saturation and tone, can go a long way toward bringing harmony to individual elements within a photo manipulation. The examples below showcase this technique beautifully. Ice Queen by Pedaltone Using the same hues and saturations throughout a composition does wonders to unify the overall image. Ice Queen by Mustesielu Icy eyes are a popular manipulation subject. The Goddess of Winter by Jenna-Rose Winter at the Ruins by Jenna-Rose Winter’s Princess by DevilKittyDesigns Wintergreen by RumiAji This is My Winter Song to You by Bebelabree Another case where a monochromatic color scheme lends consistency to the image. Winters Dream by Brenda-Starr Listen to the Silence by Talie Lines Early Morning Snowfall by Talie Lines The Road to Recovery by Talie Lines Frozen by SalaBoli Snow…Winter… by Draganea and Ljilja Texture Overlays Adding texture overlays to your images works well to obscure the edges of individual elements. Frost Horse by Abyssus-Angelus The hint of wings in this image adds an element of fantasy, and the use of textures throughout and the monochromatic color scheme blends everything together. Spirits by Mondpferd Adding a texture to the entire image can help blend the elements included and obscure any outlines. Queen of the Winter by HeyJude4 Another example where texture (in this case, a ripple filter) blends everything beautifully. Snow Blue Blood by Sturmfeuer Winter Wanderer by Lilykoi Softening Adding a bit of blur, layer feathering, or a soft glow filter can work wonders on the overall effect of a photo manipulation. These filters do tend to add a feminine touch to images, so they’re best reserved for compositions where that’s desirable. The Sugarplum Fairy by Happybubbles Softening the edges throughout your image helps tie everything together. A Snow Covered Dream.. by Arcangelic Falling Dreams by Depth02 The Swan by iKink Winter Angel by Destinysolo Winter Walk by Klibnob Emphasizing Separate Elements When all else fails, stop trying to hide the fact that your image is a composite. Sometimes emphasizing the separateness can make your manipulation look more artistic, and lets you stop bashing your head against the wall trying to get it just right

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40 Amazing and Fantastical Winter Photo Manipulations

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Glenn Robinson Interview

Glenn Robinson is a California native and an extremely unique designer. He has an impeccable, incomparable style of perfectly blending many different elements. But on top of that, unlike most designers, Glenn only does this as a hobby, and his work is arguably better than some full-time designers. In this interview Glenn shares some of his wisdom with us about proper blending, and some of his work among other things. So lets get into another great interview! 1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field? Thanks for the invitation to be interviewed, first of all!  My name is Glenn Robinson.  I’m a native and current resident of Sacramento, California USA.  I got started with digital art back in June of 2006.  One evening while at home I was searching for some Photoshop tutorials online and I happened to stumble upon a “GFX” community website called ParallelFX.  They had a tutorial section on their forum showing people how to make forum signatures and tags.  After hanging around that community for a while I learned that there was actually a worldwide culture of digital artists producing a wide range and variety of artwork, and this very much intrigued me. I went from making small forum signatures to working on larger canvases sometime in 2007.  Since my childhood, art has always played an important role in my life.  So now, even as an adult, it was no strange occurrence to find myself being attracted to a new, powerfully expressive medium such as digital art. Tree of Life and Knowledge 2. There are so many different elements that you incorporate in your art, from 3D to photo manipulation. How do you blend all these styles in a harmonious way? Three things are most important in meshing various elements together: (1) composition, (2) lighting/shading, and (3) blending. The placement of the various elements is going to make or break a piece: this is where composition comes in.  Even though your objects are totally unrelated or created using different media, you can place them with, on top, or around other things in a way that looks good.  The trick is trying to figure that part out.  Experimenting is key, but as a general rule you want your composition to point to some main focal object. Lighting and shading help all of your pieces make sense with each other.  Making sure all of your objects have the same direction of lighting and corresponding drop shadows brings a sense of realism to your piece that is crucial. Blending is often times such a nebulous term thrown around by digital artists.  What I personally mean by blending is taking the time to balance out the brightness and contrast, levels, and tones on each individual object layer to make sure it all looks like it belongs on the same canvas.  I usually take my blending cues from my main focal object, striving to make every other element blend with it.  Sometimes blending means texturing, smudging, or soft brush erasing certain parts (or all) of the other elements to make them fit, too

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Glenn Robinson Interview

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Best of the Web – November 2009

This month we have some very cool content for all our loyal readers. A little bit of everything this month, including some amazing tutorials on typography as well as Photo Manipulation. Then for the freebies we have some nice wallpapers, as well as some high quality textures. And finally some articles including a contest for Mozilla Firefox, and a look at the latest releases from DepthCore and SlashTHREE. So lets get into this months roundup. Tutorial Wrap Create Frozen Liquid Effects Our first tutorial is a very cool one, The author shows us how to take a simple picture of a man and using various techniques we can turn him into ice. On top of that the author also stresses the importance of experimenting because that is what led him to create this cool technique. This is a must try for everyone because the result looks very clean and sleek, and bring a very nice vibe to your art that you can incorporate in any piece. Visit Tutorial Creating Mile High Typographic Art This is a very original typographic technique the final design looks very clean. A small bit of Illustrator is used and the majority is Photoshop, this gets you a very cool typographic technique that you can then mix with other elements like stocks to turn it into a photo-manipulation illustration. This is another tutorial that everyone should check out because of the originality of the technique and final result. Visit Tutorial Star Lighting Tutorial Here is a tutorial that is a bit easier than the first two, so a lot more people can try this one out. The result is vibrant and colorful and the author explains proper lighting as well as using some simple filters to get you a specific effect. The result isn’t dull at all and that’s why you guys should check this one out too, apply these lighting techniques to your own work and it should look a lot better. Visit Tutorial Creating a Pumpkin This tutorial is for the icon designers, the author shows us how to create a realistic pumpkin that can also double as an icon if you like it. The basis of the pumpkin is made with layer styles, so you can check it out if you would like to make one. The end result is very realistic so it is definitely a informative tutorial. Visit Tutorial Master Special Finishes This is another great tutorial, the author emphasizes the importance of finishing touches that will bring out your illustration. Simple techniques including 2D shapes can brighten your illustration, and certain colors can bring out the focal point of your design. So read this tutorial and try to master the final touches so you can apply it to all your art from now on. Visit Tutorial Creating a Typographic Poster This is our second typographic tutorial of the month, even though this one isn’t as original as the first it is still a solid tutorial that most people should read. This is a video tutorial which is even better because you can see exactly what is being done, the author used textures and stocks and mixes them on top of some typography to create a very nice poster. Visit Tutorial (FREE!) Download Picks Noir Grunge Texture The first freebie we are featuring is a great pack of textures. They are a pack of 5 high quality Noir grunge textures, they will give your art a nice dark dirty feel. So make sure to download them and see if you can work them into any of your art. Visit Download Site Fresh Free Fonts Here we have a great set of free fonts, the set has 4 very cool and modern fonts. Not much else to say but check it out, and that these are some very nice looking fonts that every designer should have in their collection. Visit Download Site Paint Stroke Brushes Next freebie is a very cool brush pack. This brush pack contains 12 high quality paint stroke brushes. This is another good download because you can always tweak them and apply them to your art if you are going for a painted feel to your art. Visit Download Site Grunge Pattern Texture Here is a second set of textures for your downloading. This is another grunge texture but this one is much different from the first one, all of these textures have very cool patterns on them, from checkered to diamond. This is another solid download, a set of great high quality textures. Visit Download Site Bastien Allard Wallpaper Our last freebie of the month is a very clean looking wallpaper made by Bastien Allard for Abduzeedo, like always the wallpaper comes in various sizes including the iphone resolution. So if you are into cool black&white wallpapers then check this out and if you like it use it as your background. Visit Download Site Article Wrap Depth Cores Freestyle IV Our first article isn’t really an article but more on the inspirational side, Depthcore one of the best design communities has recently released their latest pack of art. This packs theme was Freestyle so all the art is random, there is a lot of inspiration to be had in this pack so everyone should skim through all of these great illustrations. Visit Article SlashTHREE’s Steam Punk We couldn’t feature Depthcore but not SlashTHREE especially if they have also released a pack this month. This pack had a very interesting theme which was Steam Punk, there is a lot of incredible looking art that is also original. On top of that there is also an interview with a featured artist, so everyone should check this pack out as well as all their others. Visit Article Mozilla Poster Challenge Everyone’s favorite internet browser has just turned 5 years old. And to celebrate Firefox is calling out all the designers to create a poster commemorating their 5 year anniversary. Everyone should check this out and enter because there is some good exposure to be had. extremely helpful and should not be forgotten when designing. So check it out and make sure you know about them before you try and create some more art. Visit Article 51 Inspirational Movie Posters Vintage movie posters were made without Photoshop so they have a much different feel to them than the current ones we all see. So if you want a look at some retro posters then this is your post, 51 very cool posters are featured including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and a bunch of other favorites. Visit Article Facebook Marketing For Designers Getting your work out on social networks is a great idea since there are millions of prospected viewers of your art. That’s why this is such a good article, there are endless possibilities with websites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. So check it out and learn how to properly market yourself on Facebook. Visit Article The Typical Freelancers Life If you are a designer who wants to become a freelancer but doesn’t know what it involves on a daily basis then you should check this article out. The author gives us a run down of a typical day in the life of a freelance designer. Visit Article

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Best of the Web – November 2009

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Engraving of God in vector

This beautiful hand drawn depiction of God is a hand-drawn caricature based on first century engravings. Each piece has an amazing amount of detail and is perfect for your next apparel project. Checkout the complete set of designers at ENIGMA-D.com. To use this vector images use Adobe Illustration, or Adobe Photoshop. Size: 5.2 mb Format: eps

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Engraving of God in vector

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