Old Friends and New PS Skills!
One of the best things about coming back to SL after a year or so is seeing the amazing things some of my old friends are doing. I really miss my old sim and community of new artists and creators, and am beyond excited seeing how much progress their businesses have grown in such a short while. And more so, happy to catch up with them and see them in avatar form after so long! Makes me want to hug their them down to their pixels! So I decided I would start another category in my blog to write a bit about the people who I heart, who have inspired me in many ways.
One very sweet person and talented creator is SarahTheRed Aurbierre, designer behind Vanitas Vestures. Sarah is one of the loveliest people on the grid and has amazing hand-drawn work. On my first week back in SL I went to the I Heart Originals event. I was so excited when I saw her shop and collection of gorgeous clothes, I immediately fangirl’ed Sarah! She has generously donated her Meticulous Pencil Skirt in 4 colors to the Pacific Crisis Fundraiser (in photo above). It’s beautifully done, and can be matched with a simple top for the spring and layered in the fall. Sarah seems to have an item or so at other fundraiser events, and I applaud her generosity. Well done Sarah!
I wanted to also send big hugs to a good friend Rogan Diesel, who’s prolific pose work will keep my photographic needs satiated for quite some time, including the pose in this pic. He too has been quite active in supporting of events on the grid and has mad skills, as I tell him every moment I can. He probably usually thinks I am (pardon the phrase) blowing smoke up his butt, but in reality I am usually hard-pressed to find the words of appreciation I have for his friendship. He’s an inspiration, with his growth of skills beyond pose-making as well, with his work in sculpt-making, texturing and overall creativity. But most of all really, he makes me want to keep on trying, to log in more, and to just pop in to say hi. You know that saying about how the best of friends are those who can be apart for some time, but once you see each other again its as if no time has passed? Yeah. That’s him. But enough smoke ;-)
I’ll post more another time about more of the folks that I am super lucky to have back in my life (or lives, if you want to look at it that way!). But for now, here is a new PS skill to share!
Dodge and Burn: Using this tool to paint in highlights and shadows can add depth to flat images. This is really helpful in creating more realistic curves in avatar portraits and body parts. I spent quite some time on the arm of the image above, and as everything, learning takes time ;-) What I am really trying to say is ignore most of the other parts that I just really couldn’t get too, most especially the hand which I poorly executed the blur tool to try to remove pixellation!
- create a layer and zoom in on the body part you want to alter
- analyze the light source in your photo. You will want to lighten (dodge) areas that would be hit by the light, and darken (burn) the shadows not facing the light.
- in the menu bar on the right, select which tool you want to use. It seemed easier for me to start with the shadows (burn tool)
Burn Tool 
Dodge Tool
- select the brush size from the top menu and use your best judgment based on the photo you are altering
- on the top menu, select the range, of which I choose usually Midtones for no other reason than I am not really sure what the others do and this one works for me! I the range has something to do with how much impact the selected tool has when you use it. But don’t quote me (ever really, I’m learning!)
- select the Exposure which is like setting the opacity. The higher the number the stronger the effect of the tool. I am a PS wuss and tend to keep this rather low and use many brush strokes to get the effect I want.
- now, use your brush strokes to highlight (dodge) and darken (burn) the areas that you want, taking care to analyze the light source and how it impacts the subject. Don’t forget that if you make a mistake, you can easily back-track with the command ctl+alt+z. Better yet, remember that layer you created? Just delete and create a new one to start again!
Oh yeah and the shadow! Hopefully by the end of the week I will have a fancy new laptop that has a graphics card capable of shadows. Until then, I used my notes from this post to make the shadow on this photo!
What I am Wearing:
Pose: Diesel Works – Diva 1
Skirt: Vanitas Vesture – Meticulous Pencil Skirt – Pacific Charcoal **PCF Item**
Necklace: =^^= MIAO Madeline Pearl Ribbon Necklace **PCF Item**
Hair: Tiny Bird – Islands – Rich Brown **PCF Item**
Shirt: *Shai* Alma Mater White
Shoes: [Armidi Gisaci] Barcelona Slingback – Antique Rose
Glasses: Nea-Ban Retro *S*BOX*
Skin: [ PXL ] Linda G3 SK NudeLips
