Portfolio Sketchbook

In this video I display a portfolio that I use to store my loose sheets in.  I use it as a sketch book more than it's original design.  These portfolio books come in various sizes and can be found on Amazon or in any major arts and crafts stores.

-Steve

XnView - Image Editor

This is a free open-source image editor that I have used for a long time.  It works on all the major platforms (Windows, Linux and Mac) and is very light weight consuming very little resources.  XnView will not replace Painter or Photoshop but can be used for quick editing, batch editing and converting along with many other features.

XnView can be download from http://www.xnview.com/en/

In this short tutorial I cover how I use XnView, which is mainly to browse and organize my images and copy / cut thumbnails from full page scans allowing me to keep what I like.

-Steve

Sketchbooks...Which ones I use and why.

Just my thoughts on sketchbooks and which ones I like and use for travel / ideas, design and finials.  I believe sketching is fundamental to art. It is a good practice to sketch everyday even if it is just doodles.  I design better and my imagination flows easier when I draw regularly.  With practice one becomes better.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/NAzjFgyTZA4

Working with Vine Charcoal ...Value Sketching

Here I demonstrate how I use vine charcoal to do a value sketch which helps me to visualize a new character. It is a great approach to opening up one's imagination.

 I had to do a voice-over since the original audio contained too much noise.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/gSZdFenNlC8

"Alien Buggy" - The Making Of

This is an overview of my workflow of a design sketch that I did recently.  I cover the design stages and the pitfalls of not having a sold composition planned out at the beginning.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/17Ah5XWPAlw

Free Painter's Wheel for Photoshop

This is just what the titles says ...a free painter's wheel.  It was created by Len White and can be found a www.lenwhite.com and how to install it.

Character Design - "Creature"

For lack of a better name I refer to this character as "Creature".  This was done in pencil and finished off in Painter and Photoshop.  The tutorial merely covers the basic process used in character design and is aimed less at "digital" and more towards "art".  This is far from being a finished product but the design phase is a vital set in any composition.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/n_m_OTByZCA

How to Create Custom Tool Presets in Photoshop

Tool Presets in Photoshop is a very powerful feature that is also very easy to use.  It enables you to save a brush and it's attributes with or without color.  This speeds up painting tasks when using your favorite "go-to" brushes and tools ...it isn't just for brushes.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/FElyx5K6W3Y

How To Extract Image Sequence From A Movie

 

Have you ever wanted to capture or extract multiple images from a movie you took? In this tutorial I take a MOV file, convert it to AVI with Pazera and then save the AVI as an image sequence with Virtual Dub Mod. 

Create Color Palettes in PS CS5

Here is a video that I posted to YouTube last year but never included on my blog. Keeping in the theme of "Color", I demonstrate how to create and edit color palettes from an image automatically and manually in Photoshop CS5.  The manual method is also compatible with GIMP and CS6.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/0LMsDNM0MoM

Adding Custom Brushs to Photoshop

This is an easy and fast way to add brushes to Photoshop without having to restart Photoshop.  For years I have navigated my way through layers of folders to add or delete brush sets in Photoshop, then restart it so the new brushes were available.  But by chance I stumbled on to a very simple way to accomplish it. Weather we are doing work on our laptops, desktops or  other computers, It is very helpful to keeping various installations of Photoshop the same.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/YejwZrsuIsU

Hurricane Sandy

The weather has no concern for artist's schedules. Seriously we are thankful that we made it through yet another storm.  Though we did have power from our new generator, we did not have phone or Internet access so we were a bit isolated from the world.  Considering the devastation in other states, we fared quite well.  Our prayers go out to those who have lost their homes and loved ones.

Transform Tool Short Cuts in PS CS6

Another quick tutorial demonstrating the short cuts for the Transform tools in Photoshop CS6.  Learn how to quickly duplicate a selection, merge and transform it.

Steve

Copying Is Good Practice

There are a lot of ways to learn how to perform a task.  In art one of the fundamental ways is to copy other artists work that you admire taking away skills and approaches that you may not otherwise learn. 

GIMP: How To Add Themes UPDATED

This is an update to the original tutorial on theme. In this tutorial I show how to download, adjust the themes and install them in either version 2.6.11 or 2.7.3.  In the end I preview the new themes and show how to set it as your default so it loads automatically.   The custom themes can be downloaded from GNOME.

GIMP: How To Add Themes

Adding Themes to GIMP (2.7 +2.6) is rather simple once one knows how. This tutorial covers the steps and allows one to change the working environment of GIMP quickly. All that is needed is the new version of GIMP 2.7.3 and custom themes downloaded from GNOME. 

With custom themes you can go from the default the to a custom theme.

GIMP: How to Create Perspective Grids with the Path Tool

 

This tutorial shows how to use the Path Tool in GIMP to create perspective grids. I did an earlier version showing the workflow done in Photoshop and was asked how to do it in GIMP. The tool is the same but the methods differs from application to application.