Welcome to Tutorial 6 for Artweaver

We are still on Brushes and I want to show you just one more effect.

Adding a handpainted border/frame to your banner.

Tutorial Image 1

We are still in the Brush Palette.  This time, select Airbrushes from the top left dropdown box and Bristles from the Type box.

Change your colour if needed and then drag your cursor around the edges of your image.  You can do this in one go or in stages.  You can alter the size of your brush to make it narrower or wider.  Keep going until you have ‘framed’ your image with a handpainted-effect frame.

Tutorial Image 2

This image shows the finished border.  You can take more time than I did and make it a lot neater or make it messier and more handpainted if you prefer!

I hope you found these tutorials helpful.  Feedback is always welcome on the Forum and if you need any help with any of this, just post in the Artweaver thread there.

Welcome to Tutorial 5 for Artweaver.

Here is the effect we are going to achieve in this tutorial:

Ok so normally I wouldn’t actually have this many stars and in this colour but this is just an example for the tutorial so you can clearly see the effect!

Right so, on with the tutorial! You have your basic banner primed and ready.

Tutorial Image 1

From the Brush Palette (make sure you have it open) Select Artist Brushes from the Dropdown box on the top left of the Palette.

Tutorial Image 2

From the 3rd box along the bottom of the Brush Palette, select Fairy Dust. Change your colour to something appropriate.

Tutorial Image 3

Start clicking on your image to see the stars appear. I have added some in turquoise so you can easily see the effect. You can add one star with each click.

Tutorial Image 4

Or if you drag your cursor across the image, you can add many stars at once, for a random effect.

So that is basically how to access and use the Fairy Dust brush option.  I’m sure you can think up many uses for this brush.

Welcome to Tutorial 4 - Using Nozzles!

Here is the end result of this tutorial which I think is rather nice.

So let’s get started. Begin with your basic banner - you can add the text now or later - it makes no difference really.

This tutorial involves something new - Using the Brush Palette. Now don’t worry as it really is simple and if you make any mistakes, well you can just undo or close your image without saving and start over!

Tutorial Image 1

Click on the Brush Tool from the Tools palette.  You will not be able to use the Brush Palette until you select this tool.   If your Brush Palette is closed, open it.  Then click on the Brush Type box and select Nozzles from the dropdown list. Then select Image Hose from the Type box if it is not already selected.

Tutorial Image 2

Select your Brush shape - in this case Circular - from the Type dropdown box.

Tutorial Image 3

Now along the bottom of the Brush Palette there are 4 boxes.  Click on the second box to open the dropdown list and select Clover Leaves.   Change your Brush Size to something suitable for the size of your image and the effect you want to achieve.  In this case my Brush Size is 25.

Tutorial Image 4

Click on your image where you want the Clover Leaves to appear.  You can then add Clover Leaves randomly all over your image.  However, in this case, we want to use them to create a border around the banner.  So click somewhere near the edge and then drag your cursor along the edges of your image.  You can do this in one go if you have a steady hand or you can stop and resume at any time.

When you are finished you should have something similar to the banner at the top of the tutorial.

Welcome to Tutorial 3 which is very short and to the point.

If your image is a little blurry or unclear to start with, or it gets that way after you’ve changed the size, all you need to do is sharpen it up a little - or a lot - by using the sharpening tool. Note: You can do the opposite by using the Blur tool to make things blurry too!

Tutorial Image 1

Sharpening effects vary from image to image, so try Sharpen or Sharpen More to achieve the desired effect. So we can go from the image above to this image in one easy step:

Tutorial Image 2

Told you it was short!

Welcome to the next tutorial. Please make sure you go through the first tutorial so you understand the basics before trying this one.

This is what we will be creating today:

What have we done to this picture?

See the star bursts at the top left and bottom right of the image? See the pink fuzzy shadow around the signature? That is what we will be creating in this tutorial.

To achieve this effect you will need to have already installed the Plugin Pack. See Tutorial 1. If you haven’t then please do that now and come back.

Start with your banner sized image. I’m not going through all the stages of making a banner, that’s what Tutorial 1 is for!  Click on any of the following thumbs to view bigger size and details.

Tutorial Image 1

Click on Filter > Plugin Pack > Super Nova. This will open the Super Nova edit box and display a Starburst on your banner. You can move the starburst around and change the colour of it to suit your needs.

Tutorial Image 2

You can also apply this effect multiple times just by repeating the steps above.

Tutorial Image 3

Add your text signature in the usual way (see Tutorial 1 for details)

Tutorial Image 4

Adding the Drop Shadow effect to the text. Click on Layer > Drop Shadow

Tutorial Image 5

Tutorial Image 5a

Change your settings to suit. Change the position using X and Y sliders, change the Radius of the drop shadow - smaller is more concentrated, larger is more diffuse. Change the opacity of the colour, and change the colour itself.

Tutorial Image 6

And there you have your new banner, with two starbursts and a signature with a fuzzy pink background.

Tutorial 3:  How to sharpen up blurry images.

If you have followed a link from the forum, then please ensure you download and install the program and the Plugin Pack, before we get started with the tutorial! You can download from the link on the forum or from the Artweaver website. (always check the Artweaver site for the latest updates) The program is free of charge and quite simple to use, so let’s get started with our first basic signature banner!

1. Open ArtWeaver and let’s look around.

Tutorial image 1 is has the various (Palettes) boxes labelled. Tools palette, color, preview, brush and layers are open on default. You can close/minimise these, re-open them if closed, and moved them around the desktop if required. Holding your cursor over the icons on the Tools Palette will tell you what each one is called. Note: You will have to use the right tool for the right job ie you cannot move things about if you are not using the move tool; you cannot use brushes if you are not using the brush tool.

Tutorial Image 2

2. click on file> open to open the image you are going to work with. For this tutorial, you can use the photo of Angelina Jolie which you can find it here from Google.

3. Because this is a very quick, basic tutorial, we are going to change the shape of this image immediately to banner size (500 x125 pixels). Click on Image > Image Size and change the width and height to 500 width and 125 height. Please note: You will have to uncheck the Constrain proportions box in order to do this. (Constrain proportions retains the aspect ratio of the image, which in this case, we do not want!)

Tutorial Image 3

4. Once you have changed the size of the image you may notice that your image looks a bit small. This is because it is only displaying at a % of its actual size. At the bottom left corner of the image, click on the little arrow next to the 50% and select a larger size, so you don’t go blind trying to work with it.

Tutorial Image 4

5. At this point this is all you need to do to make a basic banner. You can then add your name or other text to it and save.

Tutorial Image 5

6. Adding text. Once you select the Text tool, click somewhere on your image where you want your text to be. (it doesn’t have to be too precise as you can move it later). You will also notice that the options along the top have changed to Text options - font, size, colour etc. Make your font selection from the dropdown box (what you see here depends on what fonts you have installed on your computer). Click the colour box to select a font colour. Type in your text. Note: you can’t do anything else at this stage until you either click Apply (if you are happy with it) or Cancel (if you are not).

Tutorial Image 6

7. Just for fun or if you aren’t happy with the position of your text, click on the move tool and drag the text to another part of the image.

Tutorial Image 7

8. So we have banner at correct size and some text added. That’s all you really need to do, but if you want to do more, read on…

Tutorial Image 8

9. Look at Tutorial Image 8 again. See over on the right, in the Layers Palette, you have two layers? On the Tutorial image, one layer shows background image and the second layer shows the text you just added. So you have two layers; one is an image, and the other is just text. This is very important. Imagine you have two pieces of paper on your desk, one on top of the other. If you draw something on the bottom layer, it will not affect the top layer, right? Same thing applies here. You must ensure you select the layer that you want to work with, otherwise some of the options will be greyed out and unavailable to you, or you will not get the effect you were hoping for.

10. At this stage, you have two options. You can either select the layer that you want to work with, by clicking it in the Layer palette. (Try it now and see that the layer will turn blue in the Layer palette) or you can merge the layers together if you no longer need them separate. Note: Also when you are looking at the Layer palette, click on the little icon that looks like an eye. This turns visibility of the layer on and off. (Try in now with the text layer and you will see it disappear on the banner).

Tutorial Image 9

11. Merging the layers. This is not necessary at this stage but you can do it now for practice and undo do it again. Click on Layer > Merge visible (or Shift + Control + E) and watch the layer palette merge the two layers together. Click on Edit > Undo (or Control + Z) to undo your last action ie the merge.

Tutorial Image 10

The following are all extras you can do with your banner to go beyond the basic.

Tutorial Image 11

12. Colourise. In the Layer palette click on the layer with the image not the layer with the text. Then click on Image > Adjustments. There are 12 options here which I would encourage you to play with. These include Colourise, Greyscale and Posterise etc. Remember that everything can be undone so long as you haven’t Saved the image! Select Colourise, which will open another box. You can then change the Hue, Saturation and Lightness of the image. The Preview window shows what effect it is having on your image. Play around with the levels and remember you can always click on cancel if you don’t like it!

Tutorial Image 12

13. Text Effects. So you have your text in the font and colour of your choice, and that might be enough for you. But you can also add various effects to text very easily in this program. So let’s look at a couple… In the Layer palette click on the layer that has your text in it. Then click on Filter > Distort >Fisheye. At this point you will get a popup box asking if you want to proceed, click Yes. You can now play with the Fisheye filter to distort the shape of the text.

Tutorial Image 13 and 14

14. To try the next effect, Undo what you did with the Fisheye Filter (Edit >Undo; or Control + Z). Start over - Filter > Distort >Ripple and play with the Filter to make the text ripple.

Tutorial Image 15

15. Other fun Filters to try with text are Filter > Texture > Grain, Filter > Stylize > Oilify, Filter > Texture > Bumpiness, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and so on.

All of these filters can also be applied to your image!

16. Now if you still want more, we can add a frame to your banner. In the Layer palette, click on the layer that has your image in it. Then click Filter > Filter Gallery which will open up another box for you and display your image as a preview. Note: You can make many changes in here, not just frames, but for now, scroll down and click on Frames icon.

Tutorial Image 16

17. Scroll through the frame options till you find one you like. Remember however, the position of your text! Don’t worry, all you have to do is click on the Text later and using the Move Tool, move your text to another position on the banner!

Tutorial Image 17

18. Saving your banner. Do not save it as the Artweaver default file type as you will not be able to use it!!! Click on File > Save as and then select either Jpeg or Gif from the dropdown box. Important: When saving, note the Image Quality slider at the bottom of the Save Options box. I recommend saving at a higher quality otherwise your image may look blurry. As you move the slider left and right you can see the file size underneath, and it shows how long it would take to download the image at various speeds.

Then load it up to your Photobucket Account or other hosting site.

Tutorial Image 18

And that’s it! We’re done and you should now have your own basic Signature Banner.

I will quickly write some small tutorials to highlight other features of this great free program.

Celebrate Our First Birthday!

We are celebrating our 1st Birthday this month so we thought we would have a couple of banner contests to celebrate!

The theme for this contest is A TRIP DOWN BANNER MEMORY LANE!

The Empire of the Cat started life as a banner shop in April 2005, before moving to this new site. So to celebrate our original Banner shop concept and our love of banners, we are having a ‘trip down banner memory lane’ contest.

How to enter:

Open your banner closet and look at the back of the closet and dig out your old - but still loved - clothes. This could be the first banner you ever had, the first banner you got from one of the banner shops here or one that you’ve held onto for sentimental reasons - whether it fits you or not lol

As it is a special occasion, we are offering mega karma to the winners!
*don’t forget to tell us who made your banner so we can reward them too*

No need to request a banner for this contest as you are browsing through your existing collection!

A limit of 5 per member since a year is a long time and we all have so many beautiful banners. Please list the banner maker who made it for you and why you chose the banners you entered

Don’t forget to wear your banners around the site and Celebrate with us!