Transforming a Photo to a Graphic
Transforming a Photo to a Graphic
ntroduction . . .
As you can tell, I'm a beginner at this one too. I've tried it several times and invested hours and hours in accomplishing this much. This isn't a 4 or 5 hour job - more like 18 to 24 hours. This is an introduction and the tutorial is a progressive thing (as I learn better methods, I will update it); as such, there will be no pdf file to download. My hate is off to the designers like Christina Gibbs, who not only make selections tutorials for beginners, but create their babies from their heads instead of from a photo. I wish I could do that too; my goal is not to create graphics of cutsie babies, but to transform my own grandies and greats into graphics I can safely share with others over the internet for use in image building. I wish I could say it's as easy as 1, 2, 3; but it's NOT!
etting from photo 1 to image 2 . . .
Well; this part I'm an old hand at now! Got it down to a science and wrote a tutorial especially for a friend. After a couple more tutorials for her, her gentle persuasion won out and I started writing tutorials and ventured into posting my tutorial suite of my site. If you can't clean a portion of a photo for tubing and other means of using the item in your creations, my Cleaning tutorial is where you start! The secret is to take very small sections at a time to clean and practice, practice, practice until you can achieve a cleaned image with all the little curvature parts in tact without any jagged or pointed edges. Then clean the image you want to use from a VERY large photo and save it as a psp file.
This is the part that this tutorial will hopefully get you on your way to. What do you need to know? EVERYTHING you've learned and more. How do you prepare for it? By doing tutorials people post that introduce you to the Paint Shop Pro tools, option controls, settings and experience in using them. THEN . . . you're ready to try.
utline of fundamental approach to the project . . .
The first thing is to get the image into the computer by scanning or using a digital camera. Don't have one? Impose on a friend who has.
canning . . .
Start with as large of a photo as you can get; facial features need to be sharp and clear for best results. I use an 8x10 with a resolution of 300dpi then I resize as small as possible so that the details are as large as I can get them; I use PSP7's filter, Effects/Enhance Photo/Clarify set at 1 or 2, to sharpen the scanned image. after cropping to the part I want to use and resizing (generally to an image somewhere around 1500 pixels tall depending on the shot since I prefer full body shots for this endeavor.
igital camera . . .
Set the camera resolution to the largest you have - hopefully you have one that is at least 1.3 megapixels (one of mine is 1.3 megapixels and the other is 3.3 megapixels, both equipped the ZOOM feature because I do a lot of portraiture). Set it to it's largest resolution and get just close enough to the subject that you can fill the viewer with the subject. Import the image into the computer and open in PSP to crop, size and clarify.
Looking for a camera? I'll vouch for the Sony CyberShot and the Olympus Camedia; they are great! The Sony is EXPENSIVE; the Olympus is high mid-range expensive.
ow you have the image in the computer, cropped, sized and clarified . .
Clean the the image according to my cleaning tutorial or another that is similar - the eraser tool doesn't get it done!
I am doing a bit at a time. I did the eyes and eyebrows and from that you should be able to get the mouth and possibly the nose done for practice. I provided a practice image of the facial features. As I get more done, I'll post it!I know some of you will be able to do this one practice and know immediately how to complete your own image with no further help - that's why I'm posting a piece at a time as I get it done, because that's how you transform the image - a piece at a time!
Tutorial Part 1 . . . . . . Eyes
Tutorial Part 2 . . . . . . Mouth
Tutorial Part 3 . . . . . . Nose & Cheeks
Tutorial Part 4 . . . . . . Arms, Legs, Hands & Feet
Tutorial Part 5 . . . . . . the Head and other Body Parts
Tutorial Part 6 . . . . . . the Hair
Tutorial by CSGreen
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