Question for the experienced painters

[budmorgan]

I'm looking to do my first repaint - I've tinkered with the paintkit and I understand the layers etc... My question is:

How do you typically go about recreating nose art? I.e. the drawings/fonts? Is it best to "trace" over a picture?

I'm definitely a newb when it comes to this stuff, so any and all tips are welcome. I'm using the latest version of GIMP.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

Bud

[Baron58]

Hi Bud,
One key skill to learn for creating nose art from a picture is how to "lift" the subject off the image making it's background transparent i.e. creating a mask or alpha channel.  It's easy if the background is a solid colour but that's usually not the case.  In Photoshop I trace around the shape carefully with the path tool then convert the path to a selection.  Save the selection as an alpha channel and that will allow you to paste the shape, without the unwanted background, into a new layer of the paint kit.  I think Gimp may do this process differently from Photoshop.
This link seems to describe Gimp alpha creation:

http://vendiadev.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/hello-world/

Hope that helps!

Ted

[budmorgan]

Thank you Ted! I'm working on one right now that I think everyone will like! I'll post some previews of the Nose once I get her going!


Cheers!

Bud

[budmorgan]

Hi Bud,
One key skill to learn for creating nose art from a picture is how to "lift" the subject off the image making it's background transparent i.e. creating a mask or alpha channel.  It's easy if the background is a solid colour but that's usually not the case.  In Photoshop I trace around the shape carefully with the path tool then convert the path to a selection.  Save the selection as an alpha channel and that will allow you to paste the shape, without the unwanted background, into a new layer of the paint kit.  I think Gimp may do this process differently from Photoshop.
This link seems to describe Gimp alpha creation:

http://vendiadev.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/hello-world/

Hope that helps!

Ted

Hey Ted - I think I've had a little success... Here's how far I've gotten on my first repaint ever: "La Pistolera"... Obviously very very early, getting accurate graphics in hi enough res was my biggest worry... Please let me know your thoughts! (and I'm sure I'll be bugging everyone for the "chrome look"!

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Cheers!

Bud

[Baron58]

Hi Bud,
Apologies for only just getting back to you on this. That noseart you did looks great! I don't have the P51 yet, but when I do, I'll be downloading your paints!

Ted