Basics 5 - Patterns

Hello,
Making your own partners is like a calculator. You can probably do without, but it would mean allot more work and allot more time. You can draw that tiny little leaf over and over again, fill that plate with two hundred handpainted french fries, but why would you if you can simply magically make them appear? There a french frie! Another french frie! And another! I'm starting to feel like Oprah.
Lets start!

1. Draw your figure on a transparent layer. Do this with ONE preferably bright color. 
2. Select and copy your figure. 
3. Look in your brush shapes and the first brush you'll find is the one you just copied!
4. Now you can start paining with that brush. Some things you can use them for are
• You can enlarge it or make it smaller
• It is possible to make it more transparant
• You can use it in the darken/lighten-tool (orange square)
• It works as an eraser

It is very useful for making said french fries, flowers and grass but can also be used for patterns such as bricks, stripes, lines, dots etc. 

I hope this will save you allot of time and unnecessary frustration. If you want to learn more you can go to basics 6.

Greetings,

Will

Basics 4 - Shades

Hello,

I am going to tell you how to make shades by using "Darken/lighten" or, as I prefer to call it, "the shower". You can make things darker or lighter with this option. To make shapes more real you can add shades. The shades you need to add are different for every shape but the ones you will be using most are the round and squire ones. Any other shapes are a mix of these.

Lets get started!

1. You choose the side where the light comes from. In this case, it comes from the left. Just like in real life the side that isn't lighted is darker.
2. Now you know what side you need to shade you can start working. I will start with the circle. 
1. Choose "darken" and start following the outline. For round shapes you need the airbrush because it makes a more smooth transition. 
2. You can now make the side where the light comes from a little bit lighter. This makes the object slightly shiny. I really recommend doing this with round shapes.
3. Now the cube, which as you can see is not a cube yet. It is a oddly shaped object and by drawing allot you will learn this basic shapes. The light here comes from the front left, hereby not lightening the top and side (the side a bit less than the top). Using different amounts of shade also makes the shape more real.
1. Think of the logical shapes. All squire shapes can be easily shaped by drawing lines from corner to corner. 
2. Now make the places that are the most far away from the light the darkest by selecting the appropriate area with the "free select"-tool. Then make it darker. In this case the darkest area is the side so make sure to make this area darker than the top.

You can see above how I did it and which shape brush I used. The pyramid is a example of a object which can be made 3d with lines and made realistic by only darkening one side. The cilinder is a mix of these two techniques. You see the airbrush-technique on the side and the round brush on the top.

I hope this helped you making your drawings more realistic. And remember: Every shape is just a mix of round and squire. 

If you want to learn more, you can go to basics 5.

Greetings,

Will

Basics 3 - Layers

Hello,
Now we will learn how to make layers. You make layers when you want to add something but not edit the existing image. There are 2 kinds: the white and the transparant one. Lets start!

1. If you do not have a layer menu already open go to "Windows" or "Panels" Now move your mouse to"Dockable dialoges" and click on layers
2. Click on "Layer" and select "New Layer" 
3. Choose a white one for the basis and a transparent one on top of it. You can name the layers to make it easier. (Names like "background" and "layer 1")
4. Paint something on layer 1. 
5. Do you see the eye next to the layers in the menu? Click on it. You can use this to make certain layers invisible.   
6. Now make sure you have layer 1 selected. Click on "Duplicate layer". If you did this correctly you now have two identical layers. Name the second one "layer 2".
7. Add something to the painting in "layer 2".
8. Now you can choose if you like the second layer. If you do, use "Downward merge". If you don't, use "delete layer"

Now you know the basics of using layers! They can be very useful, especially when you make big projects.

If you want to learn more about making graphics, you can go to basics 4.

Greetings,

Will

Basics 2 - A steady hand and basics

Hello,
For making graphics it is very important to have a steady hand. The first task is for practicing that. I will describe the basic steps so you can learn how to paste a image into Gimp and select your tool.

1. Copy the image below and open Gimp. 
2. Paste the image in the Gimp worksheet (You don't have to make a "new", just paste). 
3. Select the brush in your toolbox. 
4. Select a color in the menu (open the menu by clicking on the "color 1&2").
5. Choose a round "shape brush"(these are in almost every situation the best).
6. Find a size brush that is simmular in size to the images below.
7. Now move your mouse over the lines. He! You are painting :)
8. If you make a mistake you can simply click "Crtl-z" for undo and "Ctrl-y" for redo.
9. Try to learn to paint as accurate and fast as possible. 

I hope this helped you to learn the basics of making graphics. A steady hand is very important to make clean images. If you want to learn more go to basics 3.

Greetings,

Will

Basics 1 - The tools

Hello,

To make it easier for me to explain how to use the program I am going to tell you the names and basic uses of the tools. This is  to avoid having to talk about "that blue thingy in the upper left corner". Which is of course, not very effective. So not feel overwhelmed, you will get to know every one of them one by one. This is just to have a over all view of what the program can do. Lets start!

The panels:
Wow! Calm down, its easier than it looks! Here are the 5 panels that you will use the most:
- Worksheet: Takes no genius to figure this out, this is the sheet where you will be working on. You can make a new project bij clicking on "File" and on "New"
- Toolbox: Your tools and options. The images are the different tools (I will explain them later). The 2 squares are colors and the options below very per tool but are mainly "Size", "Shape" and "Covering".
- Colors 1&2: You can select 2 colors at the same time between which you can switch easily. Also, this is the item you need to click for the color menu.
- Colors: Here you can select the colors you need.
- Layers: The Layersmenu is for layers. I will come to that later.

The tools:
These are not all the tools. I choose the ones that you will be using. Here we go:
- Square select: Select square shapes
- Change size: Change sizes of selected objects
- Bucket: Fill selected areas
- Blur/sharpen: Sharpen or blur areas
- Wand select: Automatically selects same colored, connected areas
- Select color: Choose a color you used before
- Turn: Turn selected objects
- Text: Add text
- Pencil: Draw more pixelated
- Circle select: Select round shapes
- Eraser: Erase paint
- Move: Move selected areas
- Shift: Shift items a bit so that it fits the perspective
- Special fill: Kind of like bucket but with special patterns
- Ink: The most "real- looking paint brush
- Hand: Smudge colors
- Select color: Select ALL items of the selected color
- Zoom in/out: Summons puppies.
- Free select: Draw the shape you will be selecting (for items that are not round or square)
- Mirror: Mirror items horizontally of vertically
- Brush: The easiest brush to use
- Perspective: Easily change items into a good perspective
- Darken/lighten: Make items darker or lighter

Tool options:
- Shape brush: Choose brush shape
- Covering: Make it see through
- Size: Choose the size

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I hope that explained the program a bit. If you feel like it is allot, just remember "Bucket", "Brush" and "Eraser" for now.

See you at basics 2!

Greetings,

Will 

How to make Graphics - Hello

Hello,
You being on this site makes me think you want to learn how to make graphics. If not, continue searching random cat pictures. If I was correct, you are in the right place!

What are graphics? Graphics and images that people make online by using drawing programs such as photoshop or, as we will be using, Gimp. I'm not saying that using other programs is not correct or won't work, but it will be less practical. I myself use Gimp because its 1. Free and 2. Good. In 4 years of making graphics I never wasn't able to do something.

You can easily download Gimp here:
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/


So how will we be doing this? Its quite easy! I will post/posted tasks that will slowly build your skills. If you find the first tasks to easy you can skip them. These skills will include color, filters, shapes, perspectives, shade and drawing styles. If you have questions you can ask them in the comments. If you want to you send me a link to your work and I will give advice or compliments.

Here is the link to the first basics,
Good luck!

Will