Ok, I have had quite a few requests for this tutorial, so I thought I should share it with you. Once you are familiar with this technique you will find creating stencils and vector art easier to master using a similair process. Actually, this tutorial features 2 major techniques I use often. First, creating stencils and then vectoring it on illustrator. So here we go...

STEP 1: First simply open the color or B&W photo or image you will be using in Photoshop. Ok, so I got mine from Getty Images... pls. don't sue me ;P

STEP 2: Now, once you have your photo opened you need to convert it into a greyscale image.

I'm using a photo that's in greayscale so there's no need to convert it. But if you plan to use a colored image, you have to convert it to greyscale by clicking on Image > Mode > Greyscale. Or by using the 'desaturate' feature... that's Image > Adjustment > Desaturate

STEP 3: Once you have your image desaturated you need to adjust its 'brightness and contrast' use Image > Adjustment > Brightness/Contrast to make the job a little easier and to increase the contrast between the black and white areas of the image.

This is one of the most important steps as the levels of contrast you create here will dictate the outcome of your stencil. Try and visualize the end result by understanding that only the black areas will be selected by photoshop. In other words you should be able to get rid of any grey or midtones but still keep the picture's detail. Adjust the intensity of these black areas by sliding the 2 bars shown until you are happy with it. Trust me, it just take a little bit of experimentation but its worth it...

STEP 4: Basically what is happening here is that photoshop will 'select' a desired color, in this case highlights, midtones or shadows of your image. Because we are creating a single layered stencil you will need to select the 'shadows' of the image. That's Select > Color Range > Shadows then click OK.

STEP 5: Now you will see that photoshop has created a selection of the shadow or black areas of your image. You know... those ant-like thingies on your image.

STEP 6: Now create a new layer in Layer > New > Layer and using the paint bucket tool fill the selection on your new layer with black.

STEP 7: Hide the original layer under the new one you have created and walah! You have now converted an ordinary image into a useable stencil. You may have to clean the image slightly to remove any undesirable specks.

STEP 8: Next step is the second technique I was talking about earlier. To turn your stencil into vector art its time to bring out the Adobe Illustrator or Streamline. But if you have Adobe Illustrator CS2 you can use the "Live Trace" tool. 

Basically you can do this two ways A) The hard way by using the Adobe Illustrator Pen Tool and trace your image or B) Use Streamline to do it for you. Using Streamline is easy but the results are simplistic. So if you want sophisticated images I say go for Illustrator. See the difference for yourself...  

So there you have it. Your very own stencil/vector art image. But if you ask me, you can still take it up a notch and play with it just like I did... Its just a matter of layering effects and textures... even experimenting with typography. All you need is a little imagination and some wicked cool effects.

The same stenciling technique was also used for this wallpaper that I made as a favor to one of the guys from the band Sheila and the Insects. All of it was done on Photoshop and I didn't even bother to vector it on Illustration.

Wanna share your cool stencil/vector art? Add a comment and I'll feature them :D! So guys, its time to get creative!

Philippine Offshore Design and Development (PODDCorp) turns one this month and marks the event with an art exhibit dubbed, “panagtagbo” featuring both fine and digital art pieces by local graphic artists, at Room 705, on January 16, 2005, at 6:30PM.

Poddcorp

Hi all!

The PODD Corp. family will be joining the Sinulog Festivites this Sunday as well as the fluvial parade this Saturday. I'll be bringing my spankin' new cam to document the whole party. If you can't spot us... we're the crazy bunch near Mango wearing the PODD tees and drinking like hell! Pit Senior, Everyone!

PODDsters take to the streets

Can Can you say blatant self promotion? hahahaha

Poddcorp

Last Jan. 16, The Philippine Offshore Design and Development Corporation (PODD Corp.) held its first-ever Art Exhibit dubbed "panagtagbo" (convergence) at Room 705 Keppel Building. The event was graced by Honorable Vice Mayor Mike Rama and PODD's Uberboss Todd Walderman.

 Honorable Vice Mayor Mike Rama Talking to Uber PODD Corp Poddsters Christine Rom and Todd Walderman

 "Pahangtagbo" artists Florence Cinco (center in khaki shirt) with PODD Corp Poddsters Ryan Anin (in black shirt), Leo Guevara (in blue) and friends 

"Incursion Into the Space" a wood carving by Jet Florendo

Graphic Artworks by PODD Corp.'s own

"Nimfa" a Butterfly Mosaic By Victor Abellana

Bottle Art By Nunelucio Alvarado

Poddcorp

Coffeehouse Fiction is holding the 16th Dame Lisbet Throckmorton Fiction Writing Contest from Jan. 1, 2006 to April 30, 2006.

Their Mission Statement

We're here to elevate great fiction and to advance talented writers. We understand the maddening challenge encountered by new writers. You can't get published because you haven't been published. An agent won't read what you've written. Marketing trumps talent.

Fiction is our pursuit. Your writing can be historical, fantastic, contemporary or futuristic. We don't care. Our only requirement is that it be disarming and original. We delight in your talent and take joy in promoting your genius.

Interested? Read more here

Prizes

Poddcorp

Hi guys! I've uploaded some wallpapers with pretty cool graphics and designs for you... Just click on the link, right-click on the image to save it on your PC...

most of these wallpapers are sized 1024 x 768 so i'll try uploading some smaller ones next, ok...

I'll upload more wallpapers in a couple of weeks :D 

           

Poddcorp

I have long admired Google as a company for having values that set them apart from other corporate giants like Yahoo or Microsoft's MSN. Their goal as they themselve put it to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Yet ironic still that a company that vows to "do no evil" has made a mockery out of itself by announcing last Tuesday that it will comply with China's laws by doctoring its search results. Honestly, what's the point of having not only the most relevant search engine on the planet but also the most powerful provide the Chinese people with irrelevant and "incomplete results".

Well it could be due to the fact of a billion potential users and possibly taking advantage of the biggest growing market in recent years. Why it would be unthinkable for Google to restrain themselves from tapping on this enormous wealth.

And dare I say goodbye to corporate responsibility? Did Google sell out? Well I guess we can have our questions aswered that is, if they can hear past the sounds of money.

Source

Poddcorp

Gates said that despite rampant software piracy, sales of the company's software in both countries were increasing every year. He also added that he was optimistic China and India would come round to licensing as Taiwan and South Korea had done.

Source

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Personally, I am against software piracy or any piracy for that matter. I was talking about this with a friend of mine and he said something that honestly took me by surprise... "To combat the problem of software piracy many companies have had to lower the prices for their products in order to enourage people to buy the real thing. Do you think that without software piracy they'd do that?" I said "yes but not without government intervention." 

while we're on the subject of piracy... you can check out Janis Ian's thoughts on it... its worth the read.

Poddcorp

Everybody has a good idea. Maybe once in our lives we stumble on something monumental... something we think will change not only our lives but also the world. Our Eureka moment! But then once in a while we get a small idea spark that turns to a blaze... My week's blaze is gapingvoid.com - art + urban philosphy on the backs of business cards...

Author Hugh Mcleod shares his views on how to be creative

a goog read :D

Poddcorp

Just a quick note: This is a very basic photoshop technique. I find this photoshop tip more helpful if you have pics that have way too much contrast between the shadows and highlights. The effect is very subtle and makes skin natural-looking and rosy. I find that this tip also works well with images that are over highlighted.

Step 1: open an image to edit. I chose an undoctored image that I got from Getty.

Step 2. Make a copy of the layer (Ctrl+J) and invert the colors (Ctrl+I)

 

 

 

Step 3: Then Desaturate the image (Ctrl+Shift+U) or Image>Adjustment>Desaturate

Step 4: Add a layer mask (Layer>Add Layer Mask>Reveal All) to the new layer.

Step 5: Select the newly created layer mask, and use the "Apply Image" tool (Image>Apply Image)  
 

Step 6: Apply the following properties on the layer mask of the new layer:

Source: filename
Layer: Background
Channel: RGB
Blending: Normal
Opacity: 100%

Click OK.

Step 7: Change the new layer's blending mode to "Soft Light" and walah you're done.

 Like I said before the effect is subtle and this technique might not work on all pictures. But is worth experimenting on.... :D