Q & A

Back to Elftown Tutorials

What is this wiki?
A wiki where you can ask questions about traditional and digital arts and crafts and photography, although more abstract questions aren't forbidden either. But this isn't a chat-wiki, so keep off-topic comments off this wiki.

How do I ask a question?
Write your question on the wiki. You can use the comments too if you are absolutely anti-wiki-editing, but please don't where possible. Any questions made in the comments should be moved to the page. Separate the questions with a hr-line, don't write your name.

Who will answer my questions?
Other Elftowners, tutors. Note that they are not necessarely professionals, nor do they represent Adobe or other such companies. Consider this like asking advice and opinions from friends.

How do I answer questions?
It can be discussed in the comments, or you can type the answer straight to the wiki, under the question. If you do answer to the wiki, put your name before your reply, so there won't be a confusion if someone has a different opinion on the answer. Don't overflow the asker: if you know tons about the subject, only answer the question here. You can make an in-depth tutorial about the subject.

What shouldn't I ask?
-Something that is dealt with somewhere else (how Elftown works, how to become a guard, where are you or whether someone would like to cyber with you).
-Something that is already answered by this wiki or a tutorial.
-Comments and criticism for a specific piece you are working on (use wikis like cc page, The Critique Board and others that are meant for that purpose).
-Something that is so broad that it can't be answered clearly and briefly (something like "how does Photoshop work" is too broad.)
-Something that is too complex or abstract to be answered by people (so no "how to represent the essence of the human soul in agonizing pain over his relationship with God in a universal way so all audiences will understand?")
-Something that is too trivial or non-useful (like "what is the earliest version of Photoshop that had paths?")

What if I ask something I shouldn't?
The question will just be deleted, no harm done. But if you do it repeatedly on purpose, it will be considered as wiki harrasment.

Should I ask and give myself a reply about something I know, but not all people know?
No, use the questions for things you want/need to find out. If you know a lot about something, make a tutorial about it!

Add questions below to the bottom of the list.

In Photoshop, how do you use the airbrush? How is it different from the normal brush?
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Does anyone know how to use the hue/saturation (or other settings) in Photoshop to make Elftown-green images? What values to edit in hue/saturation to get the wiki-green or the house-green? I'd want to turn a greyscale picture to greenscale, and multiply doesn't work (the image doesn't have a white background).
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How do I get colors to look like a gradient like this: http://www.elftown.com/stuff/eofquestion2.jpg without using the gradient? (I am more specifically talking about the hair and face going from dark to light without looking choppy...blocky or like it was smudged or...well...IT LOOKS FLOWY!
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Well, have the basecolour you want to shade on a separate layer, then lock transparent pixels (there is a button for that on the layers window) After that just chose the colour you want the shadow to have and color with the airbrush, low opacity (about 30% or something, try and see for yourself :) At least that's how I would have done it. Using a graphics tablet there would help a lot, but it should work with a mouse too.
(and the same goes when you apply colour on the lines, to make them change it in a flowing manner, use the airbrush with low opacity and perhaps low flow :)

If you don't know how to change opacity or lock pixels or so, try looking at some photoshop tutorials here. I'm sure there is someone that explains what you're after. :)

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I need help on simple backgrounds. How do you use filters, styles and textures to make backgrounds? Why won't the styles work? How do I get a background from filters, styles and textures when I can't find the textures and don't know how to use them?
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