>> Saosin

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Hey courtney!
So, first thing, I need to know what kind of things you want to learn in these lessons. I also need to grade your picture skills. So, you will be making a picture using;
- This horse; www.boxlt.com/images/Blaze1-3-04f.jpg
- This background image; image16.webshots.com/17/7/32/47/2595732470027899871HDdjkW_ph.jpg
- The text 'Task 1' must be included somewhere on the picture.
- The theme should be darkish and spooky.
- You can use textures, brushes, and any effects you like, but those are the images you must use. You will be graded for this image, so try your best!
I will also be making the image, so you can compare the two.

[saosin]

Mmmk. Start whenever <3.
I got the paitence.

[-- x panorama]

-- x i154.photobucket.com/albums/s277/shandesigns/TaskOne-1.jpg

There is my picture, incase you need any inspiration

[saosin]

Okay. Heres my attempt
tinypic.com/view.php?pic=67h1d35

I added;
Dark strokes to the background. To make it look darkish how you wanted it.
A greeinish texture type, to give it a greeny look. I still think its still a bit much of green.
I burned the background, to add a bit of shadow, to the sky as well, it made it a bit yellowish.
I burned the horse image a little as well.

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Ok. WQell, my first comment would be that your smudging on the mane and tail is a little too soft - use a 2 pixel brush, on hardness 0. Secondly, the textures/effects on the background are very good, but perhaps a more subtle effects would have been better.
There are a few bits under the horse's belly where the cutting is slightly dodgy.
I'm not sure what you did to the text, but A. the font does not look good (redsneck needs to be used below 16pts or it looks odd), and the effect has made it go grey...which looks kind of weird.

You are currently working at
Level Three -- Bronze
The student's cutting skills are acceptable, and text is used with more creativity. Effects are used well, and the images, colours and fonts that are chosen complement each other reasonably well. The student can smudge manes/tails/hair acceptably.
To acheive Silver (L4), the student must improve their use of fonts, colours, smudging etc.
Example;; i154.photobucket.com/albums/s277/shandesigns/Screenshots/Levelpic_bronze.jpg

You need to smudge with a smaller brush (see above), and use more appropriate effects.

Next, we need to decide what level you want to reach, and what you want to improve. So just post with a little list of stuff you want to learn, tell me what you struggle with, etc etc...

[At School Doing a Exam]

These are some things I would like to learn, have struggles with.

• I would like to learn to use brushes, and download new fonts. Exspeacliy on how to save them, and on what file. The last time I tried, I didn't have the correct file to save it on, so it wans't all that posible to practice and get to know them like I wanted too.
  
  
• Another main is a good picture, like a plain picture, but yet it has shines added to the horse, and it suits the picture well. Example, Blue Crab or such on HL.
  
  
• How to make my pictures more clear, And how to make fading objects, example, when a horse is standing in water, you can't just put a horse in water and make it look like hes just standing there.
  
  
• Another, Sorry theres so many
  How to give reflections, again, one that has to do with standing in water, Shadows is another good thing.
  
  
• Another is nice textures, how to use them, and what kind.
  
  

My goal. To get my highest. Which is perhaps silver, but then if I believe I work hard enough, I'll try my best to move on to Gold

[Silly me]

hahah i just noticed one thing. Lets chnage the gold to atleast one of the highest levels. say my ffirsst goal would be level 5. lol

[-- x panorama]

Ok, let's get started!
Luckily this is all easy stuff that I know how to do.
-Brushes...well, first of all, find a good image - I'll use this as an example. So, copy and paste it into PSP, and select it (just make a square selection) TIP: The image MUST be on a white background. MUST be. Otherwise it will not work! Once you have selected it, go into the brushes, and go into the brush menu. Then, tere will be a small icon with a dotted line round a picture of a brush. Click this, and name your brush. Hey presto, your very own custom brush!

- To download fonts, first get some from here. This tutorial will tell you how to download them.

- I'm not sure what you mean about the plain pic with shines to it, but perhaps you mean a white glow around it? If so, you go to 'Effects, 3D effects, drow shadow' then set the colour to white, make sure the little pointer thing (in the square) is dead center, and fiddle with the settings umntil you get the effect you want.

- To make a horse look like it's standing in water, simply set the eraser brush to 0 hardness and a large size - around 70-80, and fade the hooves slightly. This tells you how todo reflections. It's quite hard to explain, so if you just read that it will save me some time

- Textura is a great site for textures, and they are good and big.

- For shadows, create a new layer underneath the horse picture, and use the eraser to draw in the shadow - but left click, so it makes a black mark. (you need to have it on a low hardness - 0 is best - and a size that matches the horse's legs). Then fade i to opacity 60-80 - depending on the light in the picture.

- These tutorials pretty much cover all this stuff, if you aren't sure about what to do.