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Just Some Updates...

I’ve been working on the site some, but nothing too spectacular yet. I found an old layout I drew up, so I’m going to work on getting it coded and uses it as the basis for my first Wordpress theme. I hope to release it very soon. I’m a lso looking for some suggestions of things you would like to see on the site, so please comment with a few.

1. First update is an addition to the brushes family, a 2nd set of grunge brushes.

grunge2preview
Download Grunge Set 2 For Photoshop

2. I’ve put up some buttons for you to link to me with. It seemed kind of self defeating to ask people to link back to me for using my stuff, but not offer a button to link me with. I followed a tutorial (poorly) to make these buttons and I like the way they turned out.

3. I also added a Facebook for Lala Land, which I’ll be working on. The button to view it is on the sidebar and I got it from here (more than just facebook, they have many web 2.0 icons). There’s currently nothing on the page, but you can view it here and go ahead and become a fan. I plan to put all my freebies up there, too. Maybe even a few extras.

4. I put up some stock images from my own photography. These images are only to be used with credit back. Don’t even look at them if you’re not willing to credit me if they’re used. This includes any sort of textures, brushes, or any other way the image may no longer be identifiable.

5. I added some new fonts to the fonts page. I found these online and I loved them, so I thought I’d share them with everyone.

cashfont Download Cash Font / Credit Owner

skirules
Download Skirules / Credit Owner

6. I also added a ‘Mentoring’ section that I plan to turn into a service matching advanced users to beginners to help them grow. Before I spend the time getting into all of this, I’d like to know if this is something that would interest anyone. Would you like to help others achieve their potential? Would you like help from someone who already does what you want to do? Let me know if you think this is something I should move forward on. This is taking the place of the old “sponsoring” section Lala Land used to have. I took that word down for fear that Google would misinenterpret it send me to my doom.

Lastly, I’m trying to get a better reach and more readers, so I’m ready to link exchange with those who might be interested. I have standards (it can’t be a link farm) but I’m not going to turn down any sites just because I don’t think they’re “elite”. Let me know if you’re interested. Also looking for suggestions on how to make my site more popular.

Make a Photoshop Brush...

This is a tutorial to show you how to turn a photo into a creepy/grungy brush.

doorway-start  into a brush that looks like  doorway-finished

Start by downloading the photo here.

Open your photo in Photoshop. I’m using Photoshop CS3 for this tutorial.

On the left toolbar choose the quick selection tool.

 

quick selection

quick selection

Use the Quick Selection Tool to select the entire doorway.

 

select only doorway

select only doorway

Then go to Edit > Copy. When you copy something, Photoshop automatically takes the size of what’s on your clipboard to make your new image. So go to File > New and click OK. Then paste by going to Edit > Paste. When you paste, it will paste into a transparent layer on top of a white background. If your background isn’t white, simply delete the background layer.

doorway-alone

doorway alone

Make sure you foreground is White (FFFFFF) and your background is Black (000000). Then go to Filter > Sketch > Conte Crayon. The settings for this should be: Foreground: 11; Background: 7; Texture: Canvas; Scaling 100%; Relief: 4; Light: top. When you’re done it will look like..

dooryway-conte

conte crayon

Next go to Filter > Sketch > Torn Edges. The settings for this should be: Image Balance: 37; Smoothness: 12; Contrast 14.

 

finished product

finished product

Once you’ve got the image you’ll need to create the brush. Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset. Give your brush a name and it will be automatically added to the current list. Make sure that once you’re done making all your brushes you save them to a set so you don’t lose them. (set tutorial coming soon)

It had been a while since I made any brushes, so I want to thank Swimchick for her tutorial to get me back into it.

Grunge Brush Set 1...

Just a quick note to let you know I am here and I am working! Even if I’m not blogging, I’m working on the site. Unfortunately it’s mostly behind the scenes right now, but I did take some photos today and turn them into Photoshop brushes for you. It’s been a very long time since I’ve made anything, especially brushes, so they may not be the best. But let me know what you think. Let me know if there’s anything you think I should improve on. I made them pretty big so you could use them for whatever you want because it looks like Photoshop will let you resize it. As usual, don’t download unless you intend to give credit and a link back.

grunge1previewDownload Grunge Set 1 for Photoshop

I also uploaded all the old brushes I could find. I don’t know what they look like anymore or what they’ll work in, but I listed the date next to them so you can see how old they are. I tried the Photoshop Blinkie Blocks and they really suck. But they work. And the PSP brushes should work in the older versions. I’m not sure how PSP brushes work anymore, but I’ll be working on how to make them so I can offer them, too. Enjoy!

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