Dual View The Same Image in PhotoShop

I usually work with some specific area of bimbo doll zoomed in close. It is much easier especially when you are adding those small finishing touches. But the trouble is, when you are zoomed in so close, you can not judge how effective those changes are.

So my work process was: zoom in, add a couple of details, zoom out to the 100% image size to judge the result, zoom back in to fix something, zoom out.... back and forth... it was very frustrating.
But now I have found much better and easier way - I just open the same image in two windows, each set to different zoom level.



The Best thing is - both windows are showing the same photo, anything you do in one of them will be instantly reflected in the other.

How to do this? Very easily.

First, open a second view of the image in a separate document window. To do that, simply go up to the Window menu at the top of the screen and choose Arrange. You'll see an option called New Window for, followed by the name of the image you currently have open.


This opens the exact same image in a new tab. But we want to see them both at the same time, so go up to the Application Bar at the top of the screen, click on the Arrange Documents icon, then click on the 2 Up two column document layout:


You should now see both document windows side by side showing the exact same image.


I usually leave left image at 100% pixel size and zoom in the right image. Also, you can move the diving border to give the your details working space more room. :)

Original tutorial can be found at PhotoshopEssentials.com.

How to create a pattern from an image in Photoshop

* Start Photoshop

* In File menu click the ‘Open’ option, select the image file with pattern and click the ‘Open’ button



* In the Edit menu click the ‘Define pattern’ option



* Save pattern dialog will appear. Just click ‘OK’ (of course you can also rename it if you want)



* And that’s it. Now you can find this pattern where all default Photoshop patterns are and use it. :)

How to make transparent gradient on clothes

Someone asked me how to make this effect on clothes. So I thought that the best thing would be to make a tutorial to help all the people who don't know how to do this.
It's really a simple trick. :)
I will explain how to do it in Photoshop CS5 but similar thing can be done in other versions...


To be able to do this you have to have body base and clothes on separate layers.


So let's start. :)

 - In layers palette select the layer with the clothes on which you want to apply effect.
 - Click 'Add layer mask' button in the bottom of the layers palette

Layer mask is very useful layer. It can help us to 'mask' or hide part of the layer. We can do that by selecting layer mask and painting on it. Painting white colour shows the layer content and black hides it. If we use some shade of grey, layer will be transparent...

 - Select gradient tool in toolbar


 - Make sure that you have set the same setting as me (it's the default settings and selected gradient type is the first in the list)


- Select the colours for gradient.
- I selected a grey as a start colour because if I selected black, the bottom of the dress would be invisible and I want only that it is transparent...
- As the second colour for gradient make sure to select white.

 - Select layer mask

Now we apply gradient to mask layer.

 - Place the mouse cursor below the edge of the clothes that you want to be most transparent

- Click and hold the left mouse button and drag the line until the point where you want transparency to stop

- Release the mouse button

And that's it. All done. :)


I hope that I explained everything. Tell me if I missed something or if you need help. :)

How I create edits...

People often compliment me on my work and ask me how do I do it. So here is my explanation. :)

First to cover some basics.
I use Photoshop CS4. Although I used and CS3 and CS2 previously and this tutorials will work with them too. As for other programs, I don't know if they have all these options. :|

Ok, so the most important thing is to have a good idea. The technique and rest can be learned and with a little patience you can edit like a pro. ;)


First step is to open a bimbo base in Photoshop. Than, I create a new layer and on him with a 1px brush I make a drawing of how it would look in the end. It is just a rough sketch and I will delete it later.



Then we need to create lines of outfit on new layer based on this sketch.
I don't know about you, but I suck at drawing straight, fine lines and most of the time when drawing I use pen tool. I make paths with pen and then stroke them.
You can read how it is done here in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-comicbook.html
(part 3 'Creating the paths where is explained how she creates lips)

I didn't do lines for her hair, because I more like how hair looks without borders...


When we have all the lines, we need to colour the outfit.
Because I can't never decide which colour to choose, I use Fill layers for colouring. This way it is very easy to change colours and find that perfect combination. :)
You can read how to create and use fill layers here in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-lineart3.html



Ok, now we have basic colours of our outfit finished. Now we need to add shadows and highlights to make our outfits more realistic. I add them using hue/saturation layers.
Maybe this sounds complicated, but it is very rewarding in the end, trust me.
You can read how to create and use hue/saturation layers here in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-lineart4.html
First I add shadows:

And then add highlights:



And one last final step. When I am satisfied with chosen colour and shadows, I colour the lines for the outfit. Makes outfit look better in my opinion. :)
You can read how to do this quickly in this tutorial:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-lineart5.html

For the colour of lines, I usually choose the colour of darkest shadow for that outfit part.

And that's it. ^_^
Now you can play with different brushes and decorate your edit. I added flowers to bottom of her skirt and some spots to her underskirt. I created every of this add-ons on separate layer and placed that layer between color layer and shadow layer.



I know that this is not a real tutorial, but I am too lazy to describe all this tools, when there are already good tutorials on web.