Digital Collage Technique

retrokat

Transparency

Melvis, you're right about transparency - another one of the really fab things about working in layers.

I didn't think I'd use it much on Golden Tarot since I was trying to avoid modern-looking effects. But then, even on that project I found invaluable uses for it - for example, in making the skin on the faces and hands of characters more even.

Since I was working with source material such as frescoes, often sections of the original image were in poor condition - crumbled, cracked. By pasting over a semi-transparent layer copied from a small area that had good skin, I could do a repair but still have the original cracks etc showing subtly. This made it look a lot more genuine than if I'd been stuck with pasting a solid patch.

You can also use a very transparent layer of crackling over a whole finished collage to 'bring the picture together' and make it look like an old fresco/oil painting. Subtly, of course :)

If it makes you feel any better about starting from scratch - I was very overtired one night while working on GT and managed to overwrite my layered version of http://www.goldentarot.com/malast.htm with a flattened version without realising. When I went to back it up the next day, I realised the file size was way too small. No layers! My stomach sank. After desperately trying to restore it somehow, I realised I HAD to do it again from scratch. At least it was a bit quicker the second time as I knew what I was aiming for. *sigh* Like you, I didn't make that mistake again. I backed up every layered file to CD as I finished, before making a flattened version for print.
 

truthsayer

this thread is really helping me. i'm learning in class but i'm understanding terminology that you use! it's giving me more self-confidence. my mother wants me to take a picture of her father(long deceased) and put it in an old picture. when i learned about scanning and layering, i got really excited b/c i know i can do that for her.

then today a friend who is writing a book called asking if i knew anyone who could do a book cover for her. i told her that i probably could using photoshop. i suggested she got thru magazines and personal photos and put together a collage of what she wanted. then i would scan it and make adjustments with photoshop. even if i have to completely redo it, i think it will help me understanding what she wants this way.

i told my instructor about the paintshop site and she told me it was a good program. i could tell she still prefers photoshop but i was impressed by what i saw at the site.

i have a version of photoshop that came w/ my scanner but it's not as sophisticated as paintshop or photoshop. when i was working on my cards for the FACT deck, i used that photoshop but i was never totally satisfied w/ my results. i like what i was trying to express but there's some improvements i'd like to make to the drawings.

maybe one day i'll do my own deck. i have ideas but nothing is written in stone.
 

Major Tom

Retrokat - It's really great to get these tips from someone who's getting published. :) Like my friend Kayne I thought I knew *everything* about Photoshop and PaintShop.
 

retrokat

Share your own tips!

I'd appreciate any tips from you guys too. Just cos my deck's getting published doesn't mean I'm any more expert than you :)

As I say on my unrelated website http://fork-you.com - "The more we learn, the more we realise how little we know..."