Basic Manipulation

So to start out you want to grab some stock photos(or use your own). I think that DeviantArt is rather easy to use because if you look at the left hand side of the screen it has categories. One category is resources and stock images. Click it. Then in that same catagory bar click stock then search for what you want. I picked out a gorgeous background with some red leaves and I chose a leopard appaloosa horse to combine with my background.

manip1.jpg picture by ChickenNoodles

Go into Photoshop and open your photos. Use the Quick Selection Tool to select your object. Its okay if you get some background. Cut your subject from it’s background and go to ‘File,’ ‘New,’ ‘Image from clipboard.’ It should open a new window with just your subject. Feel free to close the window from which you cut your subject from. Erase any extra background. ‘File,” ‘Select all.’ Copy it.

manip2.jpg picture by ChickenNoodles

Once you have just your object then you can select it and paste it onto your background. Resize it and move it around to get it where you want it.

manip3.jpg picture by ChickenNoodles

So now you’re thinking “I have it how I want it…but it doesn’t look like it FITS. it looks like I pasted it on!” Well you can fix that by changing the lighting and shadows under ‘Enhance.’

manip4.jpg picture by ChickenNoodles

That’s a bit better but still not right. Well next you can add shadows! Personally I added in my shadow by duplicating the layer my horse was on and making it totally black, then twisting that layer until it was where I wanted it. Then I just reduced the opacity of the layer. I also added a shadow for the tree next to the horse.

manip5.jpg picture by ChickenNoodles

Finally you must give credit where it is due. You have to tell who you got the background from, who you got the object from, and tell the world that YOU created this manipulation! You can add any other text you want while you’re at it.

Manipfin.png picture by ChickenNoodles

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Create Your Own Photoshop Brushes

Last time we showed you where to go to get all sorts of wonderful pre-made brushes for Photoshop. But what if you still can not find that certain brush or want to personalize your work even further? Well, you can make your own brushes and it is very easy.

1. Start with a photo, vector or design that you would like to use for the foundation of your brush. Try and keep it simple. I chose this photo of a bird on a railing.

2. Simplifiy the photo to suit your design. I chose to remove the background to make sure that I only got the bird shape as my brush. This makes for less tweaking later.
3. Desaturate the picture. The brush presets use only grays, blacks and white to define the brush.

4. Manipulate the Threshold until you get the effect you want.

Lower Threshold

Higher Threshold

5. Define your brush. It will automatically add the brush to the set you have open when you click on the arrow next to the brush size. It will also show the default brush size that you created the brush in below it.

You now have a new brush that you created yourself! Check it out.

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10 of the Best Places to Find Photoshop Brushes and Other Resources

Starting out the New Year with my classes, we will be utilizing Photoshop Brushes from Internet sources as well as creating our own.
Here in my estimation is a list (in alphabetical order only) of 10 of the finest and easiest to navigate resources for Photoshop CS4 Brushes. Some of the sites have other resources such as shapes, textures and vectors as well and best of all they are free!
Photoshop-Brushes

Brusheezy

Brusheezy

http://www.brusheezy.com/brushes
This site which claims it has a “stupid name” but has “cool brushes” is not so stupid but very cool. It is part of a network which offers free vectors, web themes, and flash as well. You can even submit your own resources.

BrushKing

BrushKing

http://www.brushking.eu/
BrushKing boasts hosting 6615 brushes in 358 packs. The site is extremely user-friendly, arranging brushes in categories and showing the latest additions on its front page with a very slick download interface.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt

http://brushes.deviantart.com
DeviantArt has long been a wonderful showcase for traditional and digital artists. The artists can choose to offer their designs, illustrations and resources for free or they can use the site as a vendor for their works. DeviantArt is one of the greatest resources for Photoshop brushes, textures, patterns and the like on the net.

FBrushes

FBrushes

http://fbrushes.com
FBrushes is actually an affiliate of BrushKing and has a similar format. It also offers free textures and patterns. At the time of this posting it has 5,735 brushes in 303 brush packs.

My Photoshop Brushes

My Photoshop Brushes

http://myphotoshopbrushes.com
Myphotoshopbrushes.com features free non-commercial use of its great variety of brushes, gradients, shapes and styles. All are rated and organized into categories. There are some excellent brush tutorials included on the site.

Obsidian Dawn

Obsidian Dawn

http://www.obsidiandawn.com/
Obsidian Dawn is not as flashy as some of the others listed here. Indeed it’s scope is much broader than the other sites including shapes, patterns, web graphics, vectors, images as well as brushes. The brushes that are included are many and diverse. They are offered in multiple formats such as Photoshop (versions 7-CS4), Photoshop Elements, and Gimp. Included also are the jpegs used to create the brushes in case you want to recreate them yourself using programs such as Paintshop Pro. Eacg category of brushes is explained in detail. There are twelve cool tutorials on the site as well.

Free Photoshop Brushes

Free Photoshop Brushes

http://www.photoshopbrushes.com
I came across photoshopbrushes.com quite by accident and almost overlooked it. But names for categories such as Weasel Skull Brushes caught my eye and I was enamored by the unusual textures, subjects and diversity of the brush selections. There are tutorials as well and you can submit yur own brushes. Brush sets are also labeled chronologically as they were added.

PS Brushes

PS Brushes

http://psbrushes.net
Maybe some of you have tried this site and found it to be very disorganized. Well, they recently re-organized and it is very clean and easy to navigate. It is updated every week. Items are put into categories, which are listed on the left, and you can submit your own brushes through the contact link.

QBrushes

QBrushes

http://qbrushes.net
QBrushes claims it has “Quality Brushes for Photoshop” and indeed it does. The interface is very slick with a drop-down menu that gives access to more specific categories than are listed in the clickable menu. It is more like a mini social network in that it allows you to join, create a profile and choose favorite brushes that are featured on your log-in page, next to your avatar. There is a kindred site called QVectors but sadly you have to register separately for that.

WOW Brushes

WOW Brushes

http://wowbrushes.com
WOW brushes and it’s companion WOW Vectors is very direct and well designed. WOW Brushes has only 14 pages of mostly textured brush sets. But knowing this it is perfect for those who do not like the overkill of going through pages and pages of brushes when they just need a simple but stunning shape or flourish.

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Welcome!

Cosmic Creations Design Inspiration Blog is a compendium of all things Graphically Inspiring from around the web-great things from some of the most awesome designer, tutorial and tip sites. Please feel free to send me links to your design accomplishments, tutorials or whatever you think will spark my reader’s interest in the world of design and we will try to include it in Inspirations..

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