So, the tutorial that most of you wanted from me was about creating the crazy hair I use in some of my photos.
If you've no idea what I'm talking about and stumbled upon this randomly, here is an example of one of my photos where I've used it:
Things to note: I'm using Photoshop CS4 so some of the actions I write might not be the same for you but the general "how to" should remain the same.
Ok so lets get started.
The very first thing we do is download ourselves some nice hair brushes. You can find quite a lot by going to google and searching for "free photoshop hair brush". I got mine from deviantart for free. Be sure to check out how the creator of the brushes allows usage.
If you have a file but dont know how to save it to photoshop, you basically drag and drop the file by going: My Computer > C Drive > Program Files > Adobe > Photoshop CS4 > Presets > Brushes
Then on photoshop you can load it by clicking the "brush" icon, then at the top where it shows your selection, brush size etc, there's a little arrow at the top of the drop down bar. You select "load brushes" and it will show you the brush you've just downloaded.
Ok - so lets get to the actual photoshop addition element of it and how to make it look real.
To demonstrate, I'm going to use my X-Ray photo
Here is the picture already editted but without the hair
Now, using the "eyedropper tool", we select the main colour of our hair. This will make sure we're using the right shade.
Create a new empty layer by going to the "create new layer" icon at the bottom right corner of the layers pallette.
Select the hair brush you want and it the size you'd like it to be. You can change size and direction of the brush by selecting the brush then going to the "brushes" panel and selecting "brush tip shape".
Then apply the hair brush to the new layer and go as wild as you'd like.
Erase the parts that overlap with your face, ears etc using a soft eraser brush.
So far, we should be here:
It looks cool, but one problem.. everything else in the photo has a shadow to it's bottom right but the hair does not. So, we will create a shadow for it.
Right click on your "new layer" with the hair and click "duplicate". We now have a second layer of hair exactly the same as the first.
Move it very slightly down and very slightly to the right. Not a lot
We now have our shadow's base. But it just looks like an extension of the rest of the hair we've created so...
By going to blending modes which is located in the top left corner of the layers pallette - automatically set to "normal", we click it to bring down a selection of different blending modes and we select "soft light". This is already looking like a shadow but it's a little strong so we lower the opacity until we get it to look more realistic and more similar to the rest of the shadows in the photo.
and
voila.
side note: if you have light coloured hair or have highlights, then your task is going to be much longer because the only way I know how to do it with light hair is to erase chunks of the hair (making new layers each time you need to use a different colour) and keep changing it's colour using the eyedropper tool over and over again.
Hope this helps! Leave me a comment if you found it useful :)
"Crazy Hair" Tutorial
New Design Blog!
Welcome to my new designed blog. Almost everything you see here is custom made by myself so I'm quite proud of it. It's not my final final blog cos once I get my own site sorted, I'll put in a new blog but it is rougly what it will look like. Anyway, yay. I spent about 6 hours making this look the way it does :)
Erm, photo update? Hmm, well, I've still got my lil exhibition going in North London so if you wanna go see it then you are welcome to message me but it's in a cafe so dont expect cheese and wine :-P
We had a meetup with a group of extremely talented female self-portrait artists from around the South of England (S.E. and S.W.) which was really great. Got some great photos out of it so look around flickr for those - they're going up slowly on everyone's accounts ;) And check out the ladies (and gents) who were there! They are..
Brady*: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradyguido/
Miss Aniela: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndybisz/
* Pia *: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kissa/
:Anna:: http://www.flickr.com/photos/koch_anek/
Leilanivw: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leilanivw/
Sarah Schloo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schloo/
* Garron Nicholls *: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garron/
The slobbering fanged Wolfy creature: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfwc/
"Untitled" Photoshoot
So, as promised, I will show you guys the b/w version of the "Untitled" photo on my stream. Something you guys should know is I do a lot of my photos pretty late at night and edit them really late too so usually, I upload them in the hours past 12am! Anyway, so here it is. I hope you guys like this one (I'm always unsure about my b/w's. I admire other peoples but think my own look crap most of the time)
Also guys, dont forget, I am poor (seriously, not just fake poor) so if you'd like to buy some prints off me, that'd be ultra great! I dont sell them for very much at all! Visit my etsy store (link at top of page) or just send me a flickrmail/email (fill in contact form on the side) telling me which you'd like and for a price list. I do sell 90% of my photos so it's not limited to the one's on the etsy store.
Now to go back to essay writing..
