Hello all my artsy friends! I hope everyone is enjoying the Love Our Designers event that has been taking place since the middle of February (and continues through the first three weeks of March). If you don’t know what I am referring to, we are celebrating one of the TLP designers each day (with coupons and sales and challenges). Check out the Love Our Designers thread in the forum to find out who we are celebrating today. :)
I just wanted to stop in today with a quick tip for sprucing up the photos on your digital layouts. One of my favorite ways to add some interest to a photo (or in my case, one of my daily sketches) is to add some digital paint to it. This technique works great on black/white photos or sketches, but can also be used with color photos. Here is an example of the technique:
I added a painted flower stamp from the Bright Side TLP collab to add some interest to the sketch. Because I used a digital stamp from the same kit I used on the rest of the page, it helps the framed sketch coordinate with the painted background and look fully integrated into the page design. This technique also works well with regular photos (especially black and white ones). You don’t necessarily need to use a painted object – digital paint splatters create a fun or even grungy effect!
The best thing about digital paint is that you can try out different stamps and move them around on the photo until you find the perfect fit (it doesn’t work quite that easily with traditional paint). Also remember that you can flip an element horizontally and vertically in most programs, along with rotating and moving it around on the canvas, which helps a lot when you are trying to make it appear as if the stamp was actually painted on photo. To flip an element horizontally or vertically in Photoshop, activate the element in the layers palette switch to transform mode (Ctrl>T). Right click on the element and choose either Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical. And that is all there is to it. :)
I hope you have fun with this tip and add some digital paint to your next photo-centric page!
Until next time ~
Judie (HeyJude)
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