First Attempt, Need help with this Image of Courgage

[Jay Sheinfield]

This is my first attempt at Foto Sketcher and my first attempt at cutting and pasting in photoshop........first question, how/where do I get Asian letters to paste into the post. I admit I'm pretty lame at anything like this......I am determined, though. :)

I took this image at the local Zoo and had to hand paint the sun, since I couldn't figure out how to paste between layers and then move the sun to the background behind the tiger. Can someone point me to a link/tutorial that explains this????????????Please!

Thanks,

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image and application, Jay. Hope you get it as desired, as the Oriental week is one of the most fun weeks. Dan is a good assistant, and you will learn a lot.

I like what you have here, but for your information and to try to help you ...

I might be able to help you with some of your issues.

I'll take the easy one first. There are language translators on the internet. It works like a dictionary in that you type in your sentence or word and it gives you the charactors in the desired language. You can then cut and paste them into PS and adjust the font size as desired, though I found it easier to use the information and free hand the symbols. One caution, don't expect a language major to retranslate it from our charactors. Sometimes it is not accurate and meanings change. But it will give you what you need for your image.

As far as putting layers together, I have a lot to learn on this as well, but when I have had success, I found the magic eraser tool to be great. It will erase the BG and leave it transparent. It eliminates large areas of similar color or shades. Stay a little away from your subject when using it, or outline your subject with the normal eraser and then go in to fine tune the transparent area.

I put an opaque layer behind the one I'm erasing. I use white or black color for the layer, so I can see the critical areas I am working on and by resizing the eraser, I can get very close. I also blow up the image as much as possible to help to visual see what I need to erase and what I should avoid erasing. Be careful that you highlight the layer you want to erase. It will erase any layer you highlight, not just the most visible one. While you can repaint the BG layer, you will waste a lot of time if you don't know which layer is being effected by your actions.

Putting the layer behind the subject layer is easy either of two ways. You can go to Layers and position it by moving it back, or you can move the layer in the listing of layers by highlighting it and pulling it below the subject layer title.

Once you've erased the area of the subject layer that you wish to be transparent, you can paint or insert your new BG layer as desired and put it under the subject layer, as noted in the above paragraph. If you highlight that area, in the listing of layers, you can move it under the subject layer without moving the subject, for final positioning. Once you have the layers lined up, you can merge them to lock them together.

Your text should be on a separate layer, so if you make a mistake you can easily either correct it or start over without affecting your prior work.

Once you have your text finished, you can move it to the proper layer so that it shows as you desire.

Your basic image is nice. Composition can be modified as desired. If you have the sun on the subject layer, make a duplicate/copy layer and erase it and move it to a new layer (Create New Layer) and proceed as above.

I hope this helps you. I don't have links to send you to, but hope you can understand the above. PM me if you need more info, unless someone comes to our aid! :o :)

[Patti Edens]

I think you are on to something. I like the potential here!

Try googling Photoshop layer masks and take a look at one or two of the tutorials. I think you will catch on pretty quickly how to do what you want. Essentially, you put each element on its own layer and then you can change the order of the layers so that you bring elements to the front. You can put a mask on the layer and paint opn the mask in either black or white to reveal or hide what is in the layer below. The beauty of using masks is that if you make a mistake, you just paint over the black with white or the white with black to reverse the reveal/hide.

[denise ippolito]

Jay, If you go to my blog and at the top select the post list. Look for Paste Special Tutorial. I did a step by step tutorial for this assuming you are using CS5.
Defont is an excellent site that Dan Brown turned me on to. It has a large variety of free fonts. I recommend creating a chop using the define brush in photoshop. I have a tutorial on brush pre-sets on my blog that will help you along w/ that one too. I love the colors and the tiger, I do wish the eye was a bit more visible. Nice job.:)

[Anita Bower]

Great job hand paining the sun! I've no clue how to do what you want, but seems others have given you leads.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Repost attached..............


Ok, just wanted to thank Mark, Patti and Denise for helping me out, on how to do this stuff. Rather than trying to learn all the things at once, I decided to stick with the original image and hand-paint the symbol for courage....... I also did the border by hand (its white, so you can't see it), until I read up on Denise's' blog.

Anita, thanks.......I'm just too tired now to do it all over, the right way. :)

I'm not sure this qualifies for the Weekly Theme at this point, but it was fun to do......................if it still does qualify, I would appreciate someone entering it......no biggie either way.

[kostas nianiopoulos]

verry good Jay , for my taste i'll with the 2nd one , maybe some more chinise lettes ?

[Anita Bower]

You are smart to learn only a few things at a time. Otherwise, one gets overwhelmed!:)

[denise ippolito]

Jay, Great looking final image! I added the weekly theme prefix for you.:)

[Christopher Miller]

Very cool image for Asian week, Jay! I love your image design with the tiger and BG. The addition of the Chinese character makes it perfect. Well done.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Jay, I love your final results. Very original and well done (you're a quick learner:)).

[Patti Edens]

I like it a lot! Great idea and you did exceptional hand lettering!

[Dan Brown]

Very powerful Jay! I really like the repost with the calligraphy. This to me looks like a more contemporary Asian piece. Good work and creativity!

[Jay Sheinfield]

Thanks everyone. I learned a lot from doing this.