GFX Paradise

GFX Dictionary v1

2009-01-14T15:58:00.000-08:00

~GFX Dictionary v1~

Note:
If you have something for us to add on the list, please e-mail us on:
filip-kun_sharinganownz@hotmail.com

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A
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Abstract
A random, sharp, and usually crisp type of style. Usually involves some amorphus shapes in the background. This is generally the easiest style of signatures.

Animation
The term for something that moves on it's own.

Avatar/Avvy
A small image, usually square and no larger than 120x120 pixels.

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B
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Border
A line that encompasses the main image of a signature. The most common size is 1 pixel, with the most common color being black.

Burn Tool
Use and brush this over a section of a render, or the whole render itself. whatever you want and it'll darken down the spot use a clicking motion.

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C
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Canvas
The working space where you create your digital image.

Clone Stamp
Good for removing text. to use hold alt, click where you want you start the copy then drag to the place you want to use it. Unpress alt and start a brushing motion.

Crop
To "clip out" a selected portion of an image.

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D
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DodgeTool
Use and brush this over a section of a render, or the whole render itself. whatever you want and it'll lighten up the spot. use a clicking motion.

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F
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Filter
An effect that changes/distorts a layer or image without the use of a brush, vector, or font. Can be found in the "Filters" tab.

Font
The style of text being used.

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G
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GIF
A savefile type, save a PSD fil as a gif when incorperating animation.

Gradient
Effecient in in the use of vectors and minimalism sigs. can give depth, create abtract, give a metal effect, create a shine, can also be used as a simple background.

Grunge
A messy, gritty, hard looking style of graphics, and widely used in the Graphics world. Slightly more difficult to master, this is still a fairly simply style. There are two kinds of Grunge style as are about to be explained.

:Hard- A style of grunge that is messy, contrasted, and dark. This will make your signature have that heavy, junkyard feeling.
:Soft- This is a grunge style that is usually made up of a rusty, gritty sort of look, but not too dark, contrasted, or messy. Easier to use than Hard Grunge.

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H
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J
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JPE/G
A savefile type, second bets quality save. Higher file compression. use save @ 10, not 12. there is no quality difference other than 12 making you're filesize bigger.

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K
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KB (Kilobytes)
The unit used to measure the filesize of an image.

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L
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Liquify : This tool is effective for creating distorted or exaggerated features to photographs for a realistic feel.

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M
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Magic Eraser
Same use a magic wand. Click on a color to erase it.

Marquee
A dotted line selection tool. Each shape of tool creates a differently shaped, selected area.

Mask
A special layer that goes on above another layer, or can be "joined" with another layer. Alters the lighting/color/contrst of an image in a non-intrusive way.

Matting : A technique to make photographs stand out on a page.

Monotone
Only a single shade of color. (Without variety.)

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O
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Opacity
Synonymous to transparency. The more opaque something is, the more visible it is.

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P
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PenTool
A tool efficient in rendering and vectoring.

Picture
A setting. Includes a render and supporting objects.

Pixels
The tiny little units that make up any digital image. Pixels are each transparent but can be filled with color to produce an image when they are grouped together. Pixels can be square, hexagonal, octagonal, or cross-shaped depending on your program's settings.

PNG
A savefile type, BEST quality out of any other savefile type. Use for transparencies.

PS
[Abbreviation] "Photoshop" When using it in a thread title as a tag, include the version after it.
PsP
[Abbreviation] "Paint Shop Pro" Also can be referred to as "Jasc. Paint Shop Pro."

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Q
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R
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Rasterize
To convert any kind of layer (Mask, gradient, font, etc.) into a normal layer.

Render
The actual picture in your signature/image.

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S
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Scanline Effect
A simple pixel pattern applied to a signature. Most likely, these scanlines with consist of 3 styles.
:Style 1- Dots.
:Style 2- Diagonal Lines.
:Style 3- Gridlines.

Signature
A small graphic. Underneath my post,you will see an example.

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T
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Tech
This is generally the most difficult style to master. It involves lots of lines and points to give the signature a feeling of technology, science, or other sophisticated concepts.

Text
Any writing on the image.

Transparent
To make light visible through the image.
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U
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User Bar
A very small signature that usually says something about the person with it. Standard size for one is 100x50 pixels.

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V
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Vector
A special kind of mask that can be formed to resemble shapes.

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W
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Any definitions that are not posted here and you wish to add some definitions of your own, post them here and they will be updated by our Moderation Team.

Halo Sig Tut

2008-12-27T12:21:00.001-08:00

Yet another tutorial. A basic one at that!
It will teach you how to use your stock good, how to make interesting backgrounds and you'll learn a thing or two about things such as the placement of font and the use of Curves.

Enjoy!

The link to the tutorial:
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3461/myhalosigtutrq5.jpg

Spidermen sig tut

2008-12-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well here is a link to this brand new easy sig tutorial I made:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2z4jz2o.jpg

In it you'll learn to make something like this:

An introduction to GFX

2008-12-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

~An introduction to GFX~

Taken from Wikipedia:

"Graphics (from Greek γραφικός; see -graphy) are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers etc."

GFX is a word commonly used for Graphic Design.
There are many programs used for this. Such as:

Using these programs a user can manipulate an image, creating a new one. On message boards you will see artist making things called sigs (forums signatures; usually not larger then 450x150 pixels) and avys (avatars; usually not larger then 120x120 pixels).

An example of a signature (sig):

An example of a avy (avatar):

Another very common thing are the so called "LPs" which stands for Large Peace/Pic.
This are manipulations of much larger images. By some standards LPs are those images which have been edited in a photo manipulation program and are larger then 400x400 pixels.

An example of a photo manipulation (sometimes called photo manip.):

Original image:
http://www.letsgo-europe.com/Italy/Venice/venice68.jpg

Finnal Outcome:
http://i33.tinypic.com/2dcihdv.jpg

What is GFX used for apart from this?
Well it is indeed used for many, many other things. From designing websites to designing games.

Here is a list of few styles used to make signitures:

Abstract: Lacks a traditional render. Use of shapes, brushing, and lighting to portray a feeling.
Anime: Render/Stock is in the anime style. Usually bright colored
C4d: Uses special 3D renders. (Commonly called c4d as Cinema 4D is one of the more common programs to make those renders.)
Grunge: A down and dirty style. Earthtones and a gritty feeling are par the course.
Real People: Render/Stock of a real person used.
Smudge: Use of the smudge tool to scatter the render. A lighter more flowing effect than grunge.
Sprite: Use of a sprtie image ripped from a video game as the render.
Vector: Uses 2D shapes, bold lines and gradient to create an image. Pentooling can also be used.

What are Rippers?
Rippers are people who steel other people work and claim it to be their own. If your active around a lot of GFX websites then finding possible rippers is very easy, however sometimes you may be a victim of a rip. How can you prove you made the thing which was ripped? Simple! If you use PhotoShop always save your work in form of a *PSD file then in a form of JPG/PNG what ever. A *PSD file provides and shows a list of all things which you have made on your work, and is perfect proof that you in fact made the sig.

What are Stocks/Renders?
Renders are parts of an image which were cut out and were saves in a PNG format. Stocks are normal images which can be used to form the basic background of your image. More info on this can be found using a simple google search.

Where can I get burshes, redners, c4ds etc. ?
Again, google is your friends but just for the sake of answering the question bellow is a great list of websites which will allow you to download brushes, renders, c4ds and other things you might want to use.

Photoshop Brushes:

http://hybrid-genesis.net
http://damnapple.fredfarm.com/
http://dubtastic.com/
http://linzeestyle.com/imprints
http://www.short-things.gr/_brushes/brushes.html
http://triberadio.com/triberadio_com/brushIN.htm
http://hem.passagen.se/kluckybrushes/
http://brushes.500ml.org
http://claudia.tunapuff.net
http://nadine.fan-arts.net
http://www.spy-glass.net/brushes
http://memento.im-pulse.org/brushes.htm
http://glitter-tramp.com
http://websoup.org
http://www.colour-dreams.net/downloads/brushes/
http://www.damnedinblack.net/brushes.htm
http://www.23outlet.com/html/main.html
http://couleur-rouge.chez-alice.fr//anglais.html
http://qtone.sidez.net/v02/brushes.php
http://policeman.free.fr/brushes/brushes_01.php/
http://kathrynmerteuil.free.fr/brushes/
http://www.youthless.net/yl/brushes.html
http://www.ex-posed.com/brush/
http://www.shipperx.com/kessia/brushes.html
http://www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com/
http://www.peamarte.it/02/download.html
http://photobreed.com/brushes.php
http://www.sfaustina.com/sfaustina_fall_....html#downloads
http://frescostar.ktonix.com/brushes/
http://www.vanillaeyeliner.com/amnesia/brushes.php
http://7-days.net/ps_brushes.php
http://www.toastsnatcher.com/brushes/
http://brushes.artric.com/
http://www.arty.dk/downloads.html
http://www.jeffsdigital.com/brushes/
http://design.vainpeach.com/brushes.php
http://www.pixelchick.dk/pc.php?file=brushes
http://www.brushes.artric.com/
http://www.starrlight.net/brushes/index.html
http://www.aethereality.net/brushes.php
http://brushes.glamorized.net/
http://www.amandashome.com/brushes.html
http://home.wi.rr.com/ashandmanda/brushes02.htm
http://www.inxplicable.org/design/mybrushes.html
http://miincbrushes.topcities.com/brush.htm

Renders:

http://www.gamerenders.com/
http://render-world.com/
http://www.clantemplates.com/renders/gallery/
http://corsalus.com/gallery/
http://www.planetrenders.net/renders/
http://www.pimpmysig.com/
http://www.iphotoshop.org/renders/

Fonts:

http://www.dafont.com/en/
http://www.fontgarden.com/
http://www.abstractfonts.com/
http://www.1001fonts.com/
http://www.fonts.com/
http://www.larabiefonts.com/
http://www.fontfreak.com/index3.htm

Note: If you find any broken links, please report them so I can remove them.

Welcome

2008-12-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

This is the official 1st post on this newly made forum, and I would like to use it to explain this blogs purpose.

To help other advance in their knowledge of GXF
To spark flames which will grow into creative ideas
To help other artist shear their view

With such things said you can expect to see many different things here. From tutorials to *PSD and C4D pack and much much more. So remember to come back and visit us often!