Ok... i did not really know where to put this thread, since there are some tutorials, but that is not actually what I need.

Everywhere I look at this forum a see beautiful avatars and fanarts, and I just wonder, how in earth are you doing? Which program do you use? How do you mix faces from two or three pictures in one without making it look fake?
Just in general, how do you do? Cause I get stunned almost every time x)

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~ From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king. ~

I'm not a graphics maker myself (not even close ) but I do now Arweb has made some great tutorials. You can find them here:
http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/misc/index.html

Hope that's helpful

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by Lembas

I use Photoshop now, but before that I used GIMP. Personally, if you want to try out making graphics, that's a great one to use. It's free and fairly easy to learn the basics.

As to your question about blending pictures together, well, it varies. When pictures are from the same scene, it's very easy to make them fit together - they already are colored much the same. When they're from completely different scenes, I tend to use lots of gradients or textures to just change the color up altogether.

If you want to try out GIMP sometime, I've got a tutorial of the very, very basics up >>here.

If you've got more specific questions, like showing a made fanart and asking how it was done, I'd be happy to answer things.

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going on a journey through my old claims

Anameleth: Thank you very much, that was helpful


Nurrantiel Mashiara: Yeah, I had GIMP before... but not now. I will try with Photoshop CS3 and PS Elements 6, and if that does not work I shall download GIMP again.
Thank you very much

_________________
~ From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king. ~

I have been using Photoshop for the past four years, and Paint Shop Pro before that. It really does not seem to matter what program you use; making graphics just takes continuous experimentation and you gain the experience from that. Trust me, my first attempts would probably make you all want to gouge your eyes out.

I remember it took me a while to get the skill of blending well. You just have to keep trying and making, and you will get it!

And graphics just aren't the same without resources like textures, brushes, and all of the different tools that come with a graphics program. I make my own resources so I use those, but there are thousands of resources available for free use.

But really, the secret is to keep going and improving yourself each time. ^^ That is all there is to it.

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Graphics by me, Daenerys banner by Moist von Lipwig!

Thank you for the tips I will try some stuff out today and see what I get for result ^^
Must say that I love the one in you signature!

_________________
~ From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king. ~