The Wildcat's Lair

Welcome to "Wildcat's Wallpapers."  Yet another sub-blog series within "the Wildcat's Lair."  This particular sub-blog is devoted to my graphic artwork, and despite the alliterative title, I won't always focus on some of the computer wallpapers I've designed.  Case in point: this first entry for Wildcat's Wallpapers takes a look at how I made my Halloween "costume."  This entry proved rather long, so I've posted it in two parts, essentially posting the second half first to make it look right.  We'll see if this works.

Let's get the embarrassing part over with.  Yes, this is the original photograph I took of myself with the digital camera.  Looking at it reminds me of how hot it was.  This was taken in the middle of summer, so that jacket was darn hot!  Also reminds me of how foolish I felt.  Hard to pose like some Sith Lord-killing Jedi warrior when you're holding a plastic lightsabre.  The prop is necessary, because it helps me make the computer-generated lightsabre blade.

I'll save the exact technique to make the lightsabre blade for another time, but here's a few pointers.  I was shocked to discoverthat no matter what the color the blade's aura is, the center is always white.  Using my Paint Shop Pro 7, I checked the color on a picture from StarWars.com to verify this.  To give it a colored aura, I actually use the drop shadow effect.  I set the shadow's horizonal and vertical both to zero, essentially placing the shadow directly beneath the blade.  Then I change the "blur" setting until it looks as though blade is glowing.  In this case, I opted for a blue blade, but once the blade is made, I can use Paint Shop Pro's "colorize" function to change the blade to any color I like.

Next, I cut myself out of the original picture.  You'll notice I also remove the original green blade of the toy.  Sometimes, the blade I create doesn't completely cover up the one in the picture, so it's easier to just to get rid of it.

From here, I make a copy of the cutout I've made of myself and then erase all the clothes until I'm left with just my skin and hair.  The cutout of the jeans is actually a separate layer, but since I use the same technique with it that I do with my flesh, I've included it in this image.  Sometimes, you'll get a better cutout by setting your "eraser" to where it has a softer edge.  This way the cutout blends in with its background better once you add in a background, because the cut isn't as harsh.

To view the rest of this entry, click here.

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• #1 Comment from aurielalata 
  11/8/05 3:17 PM | Permalink

  I've got to get PaintShopPro. This is too cool!
  
  Jess