Well, lookee here!

[xtanitx]

It's my first banner... :\ So I'm a little hand-wring-y over posting it. Though, really, I kind of like it and may shrink it down for a friends only image.

Love it? Hate it? Tips and ideas SO VERY welcome. I'm not used to sticking people into images they were never in in the first place.



Well? Aaaand, I just realized I screwed up Buffy's hair a little. Shoot. And that layer is lost to the whims of my image flattening. :< Oh well, it's a tiny thing, and not the worst thing ever.

Also, and totally unrelated, LOST is the best thing in the history of things. I'm just sayin'.

Comments

[easy-to-corrupt.livejournal.com]

Oh, That's Gorgeous!

I don't see anything wrong with Buffy's hair, I think it looks great.

[xtanitx.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I don't know if I should point it out if you don't see it! hahah

(I didn't get all of the background the Buffy image came from removed there towards the bottom of her ponytail.) shhhh. :D

[easy-to-corrupt.livejournal.com]

Dang..Now I see it. :-P Still, The color of the background kind of looked like a highlight of her hair or something to me.

Cutting out people are really hard. I usually use the Lasso tool and zoom in real close

or a little trick I do:

if an image has a one color background I used the magic wand, when the background is selected, go to edit>Select inverse and add a layer mask, then if the images edges look jagged erase some of the mask, then use the lasso tool to clip it away.

[xtanitx.livejournal.com]

I cheated? haha I sized the original screen cap down, then pasted it as a layer onto the larger Spike screen cap, added a vector mask to the pasted layer and went nutty with a brush. It's erasing, but easier to deal with oopsies than with the regular eraser.

I get so impatient with the lasso tool. :\ I'll have to try the magic wand trick, though, and use the lasso on smaller bits, maybe. Thank you! :)

[easy-to-corrupt.livejournal.com]

I've only made one Tutorial, it's not very good but I figured I should give you a link, just in case:

http://buffy-the-vamp6.livejournal.com/126393.html

I also have a ton of Tutorials in my memories.

[xtanitx.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm starting to rack up a few tuts in my memories, too. They're handy little things. I'll definitely give yours a look when I have some time to play. :)

[amyxaphania.livejournal.com]

I think it looks great! I'm shocked that it's your first banner, it's very well done. My first graphical attempts were not nearly as successful!

The only suggestion I'd have is to perhaps play around with the brightness/contrast on the Buffy layer - in comparison to Spike her colouring looks slightly flat.

[xtanitx.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the advice! I can't believe I was so stupid as to not save the whole thing as a .psd before I flattened it and lost the history. So Buffy's just going to have to stay flat. :\ I'll have to see if I can cheat and put her back in as another layer. Hmm. Another lesson learned. :D I have a strong suspicion that getting coloring and contrast of different subjects to match is going to be what I struggle with the most.

I'd never progressed past cropping and resizing an image any other time before. It just seemed so DAUNTING, so I'd end up doing more cropping and resizing and making an icon instead. heh. Hearing that you think it looks good makes me smile like this--> :D

I saw this last night and was too tired to comment. I comment now!

[dampersnspoons.livejournal.com]

Kristi! I'm so proud!

You know, the only advice I could give here is that it looks like Buffy is standing in front of him. Her shoulder is overlapping his and from the perspective you've given us (her standing slightly behind him and down a bit) with it situated like that it seems that Buffy is wee!tiny, ahha! So, I'd either trace Spike's shoulder, copy it and paste it on top of everything (over her shoulder) or you could erase bits of the layer she's in until his shoulder overlaps. The first option is easiest.

You can also put noise on her to match the crackling of the rest since she's so in focus, but shouldn't be if she's behind him. Make sense? I like the textures, though! And I may still have a set of grunge brushes I can send you in a zip file. I'll check and see! (No assignment yet and I hope that doesn't mean he'll email me at 4pm to do 5 hours of work by tonight's deadline.)

Re: I saw this last night and was too tired to comment. I comment now!

[xtanitx.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm actually beaming, much like my icon. :D

I noticed the shoulder thing this morning. Each time I look at it I see something else I wish I'd done differently. But still... I'm pretty danged proud of myself, darn it. hahaha

I do love me some grunge brushes, so if you can find 'em, hook a girl up, yeah?

New boss wouldn't be that big a dick, would he? :<