#My fav program was actually photoshop

[sirgavvainet]

Idk how people can use procreate so easily I just can’t make anything look right in that program

[currrsy]

✦ little navigation ✦ hellooo guys, my name is cursy and I draw! - what program and brushes do you use? I draw in photoshop (on gaomon tablet) and procreate (on ipad)! for ph I use this brush pack (it's free) and for procreate I use basic pencil brushes, peppermint for lines is my fav. - do you take commissions? I usually opening slots on my twitter everymonth! so if you wanna comm me you can ask me here or follow me on twitter (same name @ currrsy) and checking for new slots! - trades\collabs\requests? sorry, I have no power for this qq I can draw requests, but im not promise that i'll do it... (busy and lazy) but mutuals, don't be shy to ask me about trades! - will you draw comic? any projects? actually, I draw one comic for years but it's only on rus. it's a horror story about teenagers who lives in 80's. I'm gonna to translate it on eng in the future, not sure when qq. anyway, you can check it here on my tg chanell (remember that it's on rus)! I finally did it! hope it helps you guys, and maybe i'll add more actual questions here later!

[celbrini]

Hi! Sorry if you've made a post on this, tumblr search notoriously unhelpful, but I was wondering if you knew of any guides or advice posts concerning making edits/graphics? Beyond being curious about the actual creation process I'm also interested in basic logistics like, how do you handle all the photos being high quality with watermark or low quality without? How do you handle sourcing images and fonts and such? Anyway I've always thought graphics are real neat so if you have anything you could link me or something that would really rock :)

HI! sorry for the real late reply but there isn't like a masterpost of this, there are of more specific things (gifmaking) but specifically making graphics is such a different beast because every artist does smth different. BUT there are some thing I personally use!

firstly this is my own Pinterest board of posters and graphics that inspire me. I tend to go on there n scroll around if I don't know what I wanna do with a graphic! I highly rec starting one with your own style and vibe! then all my pictures come from Getty and I use this watermark Getty remover which is sadly enough AI so I splice it. basically I add both the pic w and w/out the watermark and just cut out the watermark part. now everyone does stuff differently but I have a photoshop action saved that adds sharpening and noise that I throw on any pictures I might use. try sharpening is like around 300 amount and 0,5 on the radius and I add about 3% noise. Getty is high quality on its own but when I work with really low quality stuff I just mess around with sharpening until it looks good which is different every time. for fonts everything from me comes from DaFont its easily usable, most isn't free use but I don't really sell my work normally so it doesn't matter either way.

outside of that instagram has a lot of good tutorials about basic effects, YouTube is always amazing and other then that I always recommend just messing around with the program. especially photoshop you kinda have to find your own way around it and figure out how it works for you!

the last thing I want to share is my own little explanation tag that I have on this blog and my main which is #design.stuff, I get a lot of questions about specific design elements or share stuff bc I am a teacher so I'm always curious about how to teach over the web and indirectly so I always love explaining stuff.

that's the last thing I wanna give u, please NEVER be scared to ask designers HOW they do stuff 99.9% of the time they LOVE explaining to you what or how they work! so don't be shy and just ask ur fav artist how they do they things.

[laughterlust]

Hello! :D I was wondering a couple of things if that's ok :)

1: What got you into doing art as a whole, did you teach yourself or go to art school? 2: Who is your fav OC to draw? If any. I also want to say that i love your artwork. And a lot of your stories are such a fun read! I love everything you upload and i cant wait for the next post ^-^

Hello! Thank you so much, I'm really glad to hear you enjoy my work! c:

1.) Well, I'd been doing traditional art since childhood. I've always loved drawing and being craftsy, and I was always curious about delving into the world of digital art ever since I first discovered the likes of DeviantArt & Elfwood. I learned Photoshop in high school, and was an Art major in college; I did a ton of paintings, pastel-art, mixed media, and some photography.

But honestly my college's digital art program was... Kind of a joke. Most professors there were very of the mind that traditional art was the "real" art and that digital art was mostly meant moreso for like. Advertising. So the most they taught for digital art classes was how to render a hyper-realistic backpack in Illustrator, and some typography techniques.

So when it comes to digital art, I'm mostly self-taught. I took the basics I learned, and looked up tutorial videos for the various drawing software I tried out over the years (my current program being Clip Studio), and went from there. Took a long time to get my art to a point where I'm actually proud of my style, but it's been worth it 👍

2.) My fav OC to draw? Ooof that's a tough one. There's many I enjoy drawing just because I love their expressions so much. Rags, Victor, Balthy, Roscoe… I wanna draw Willie and Nillie more often for a similar reason. Rags is definitely the OC I've drawn the most of over the years. He's very near and dear to me.

Thank you again! <3

❌🔞MINORS AND NO AGE IN PROFILE DNI. This is a NSFW blog, you will be blocked on sight. (More DNIs in Pinned post.)🔞❌

[delta86-art]

1, 4, 7, 23 for the art ask?

1. Art programs you have but don't use

I currently have krita. It was the first art program I ever used, but I eventually had to move to photoshop since it’s what my high school art classes wanted me to used. I recently deleted photoshop cause it was a buggy mess and kept deleting my brush presets.

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

My zorua character Ali… or just any quadrupedal character in general.

I think it’s mostly because unlike bipedal poses I can’t make reference pictures for quadrupedal characters myself and it’s harder to find good references of quadrupedal characters.

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

Watercolor. I think it looks incredibly pretty and I’ve seen many artists do some frankly amazing things with it. However, whenever I try it I end up wanting to tear my hair out. (It’s actually the reason I left my university’s art club since all they did was watercolor).

23. Do you use different layer modes

Oh boy do I. I use so many layers it makes my brother (who’s going to art school) mad at me .

I use layer modes to achieve pretty much all shadow and lighting effects. I find that it helps keep all the shadows and lighting looking consistent. However I also think it is a crutch that I need to eventually put aside. I think it would be better for me in the long run if I learned how to render without the use of layer modes. That way I could force myself to get a better understanding of light and shadow than I currently have.

[clown-stripe]

So like. I got diagnosed with *yet another* chronic illness two days ago. Doctor says I have fibromyalgia, which is what has been causing the constant full body pain that makes me feel like every inch of my skin is a bruise being pressed on 24/7

Which makes sense, and I’m glad to know that I’m not just crazy, because I’ve been in pain literally since I was born, to the point that I don’t have a single memory where this pain wasn’t present, at least in the background. So I really thought it was normal, and that everyone felt like this until it got a lot worse in the last few years that I’ve been dealing with flare ups of Crohn’s and lupus, but neither of those can explain the constant pain I feel underneath every inch of my skin

It’s a relief to get a diagnosis, because for a couple years now, since it started getting worse, I thought this feeling was just what people talk about when they say you reach your late 20’s and can’t neglect good habits anymore without feeling it. That this pain was just bundled alongside the feeling of getting sore + stiff from not exercising/sleeping well enough. I have wondered on several occasions how the hell everyone lives full lives with this kind of pain, or why more people don’t kill themselves upon finding out that they have to feel like this for decades??? Because sometimes I can’t bear the thought of feeling this pain every day for the rest of my stupid little life. I’m not strong enough to bear that burden when I’ve already lived 28 years with it and I feel tired all the way down to my fucking bone marrow from carrying this pain with me everywhere I go, even in my sleep, in my dreams I feel it because I’ve never *not* felt it and I have no idea what it feels like to not be plagued it.

But now that I know what’s wrong and there are treatment options to try? Maybe I’ll finally get to know what it’s like to not be in pain.

So the doctor gave me a new medicine for it to try that will hopefully make my nerves feel less, and I can actually do things again instead of just being in bed thinking about how bad the bed hurts against my skin and how gravity is a curse because I can’t just float so nothing is touching me and making my skin hurt. And all the ideas for various art to make I’ve been saving up for when I’m capable of sitting up and holding a pencil again can be worked on. I can finally take the drive out of my old busted laptop to get all of my concept drafts off of it because I only managed to save the most important/almost finished artworks on it before the battery swelled (and my fav version of photoshop too, because I’m an idiot and don’t commit which one it is to memory so I can just pirate it again, I just keep transferring the program files to install it again lmao)

Maybe I’ll actually get around to coming up with a permanent pseudonym to start posting my art under, and finally start sharing it outside of Snapchat where it disappears in 24 hours

[vydri]

15 Questions For 15 Mutuals

@skinslip tagged me, thanks : ) ♡

Are you named after anyone?

pretty sure im not...

Do you have kids?

yes, just one ♡

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

a little, idk

When was the last time you cried?

i did cry a tad bit like an hour ago i think... idk it was dumb

What’s the first thing you notice about other people?

uuuhh idk their hair i guess

Eye color?

dark brown

What sports do you/have you played?

well as a little kid i played a tiny bit of soccer and basketball, nothing more than that though

Any special talent?

arts and crafts i guess? im one of those jack of all trades, master of none types...i know my way around tools and can build things... im pretty good at a lot of video games, and things like photoshop and illustrator and other computer programs and typing

Where were you born?

Oklahoma

Scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings i suppose

Do you have any pets?

no, i dont, but my partner has a dog

How tall are you?

5'4" i think idk

What are your hobbies?

same things as my talents lol, plus collecting toys and oddities, watching cartoons, embroidery, making jewelry, drawing, i use to crochet but it hurts my hands a lot

Favorite subject in school?

my fav main subject was english, otherwise it was woodshop, i was actually really good in that class, i got lots of awards from it. we didnt have art class in my high school but I'll choose that from middle school lol

Dream job?

I dont even know anymore, i definitely always wanted to work with cartoons some how, or make toys idk

tagging: i dont have that many mutuals but I'll try lol

@ladygummybuns @sodapopsweetheart @jabronibaloney @mercy-misrule @heartlesspop88 @alittlebitodd @ashcray

i accidentally posted this before i could tag people but i tagged who i could think of.... im sorry if i forgot about anybody. i know most of the mutuals i use to have are no longer active

[toranekooo]

what editing program(s) do you use, out of curiosity?

depends rlly! i actually use various, depending on my mood and/or the availability of my devices LMAO gifs are 9/10 always made on PC bc im not struggling w my software on mobile. everything else is usually on ibis paint x + the occassional photopea if im not going insane. all gifs are photopea except a secret special set i made w photoshop bc it had fav blorbo rights . FUN FACT i can recreate my ibis paint psds easily on photopea but not vice versa bc im a dumbass like that. sorry if this ask is too long and/or if most of this is unwarranted i just have a lot of words. ive never used polarr a day in my life bc uh. No. i like making my own psds thanks <3

[ozzzzzie]

1, 4, 5, 16

1. Art programs you have but don't use:

i have an adobe creative cloud license thanks to my uni but i hate using photoshop. like. for photo editing and collage im sure its great! but for illustration it just feels so dogshit. idk. ive been using csp since i was ~13 and im super used to it... i am trying to get a little familiar with ps bc i feel like i should/ have to... but it sux really

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw:

hm... i struggle with fanart a lot bc sometimes the source material is just so good that my fanart feels empty or unnecessary if that makes sense...? or idk. theres nothing specific i find consistently difficult to draw... really depends on my mood. WAIT actually nvm i struggle to draw boutarou from golden kamuy.. hes one of my fav charas but i struggle with drawing his giantness

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself:

probably like 40% i post 60% i keep to myself.... i used to post like everything i drew pretty much immediately after doing it but these days its a combo of i do not draw nearly as much as i used to, and stuff i do draw i feel isnt good enough to post/ no one will be interested in it. i dont finish a lot of stuff too so most of my drawings are just sketches... 90% of the stuff i draw doesnt even get exported into pngs/ scanned in lol

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing:

drawing more realistically/ with detail i guess. i often prefer simpler/ more abstract solutions. idk

[zheida]

1, 4, and 21?

1. Art programs you have but don't use 

god i have many, i do have photoshop and illustrator i use super rarely, acesprite, graphicsgale, procreate, sai, sai2... i used to sai but have since gone to clip studio paint kjdhf

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw 

ixil is my fav oc who is hard for me to draw AT LEAST LATELY he used to be easier but he also used to be smaller. big dudes in general i really wish i was better at drawing at least so i can make more of them or draw my friends ocs as good as possible LOL i have trouble making them like... wide enough.

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways 

ive got MANY of these my interests are actually pretty broad contrary to belief, i do rly enjoy old anime and manga the most obviously but i also really love like... 70s american cartoons like puff the magic dragon, schoolhouse rock, -- another love is like those old fantasy paintings by 70s fantasy artists that did the original D&D editions, i love wizards on vans and psychedelic art (I used to do that style primarily when i was a teenager.) RANKIN BASS SPECIFICALLY is something i just adore everything from that company. I'm very into puppetry and i own a shitload of artbooks from the jim henson company etc etc like dark crystal and labyrinth are just things i love more than anything. i love weird goblin creatures and just bizarre 70s-80s fantasy things. pretty much if its weird old fantasy genre? I love it.

[elvmoe]

Oh Okay personal questions nice! Okay let’s see- Elvmoe, what are some inspirations that have influenced your art? And out of curiosity, what program do you use? Oh oh and- favorite movie that you could watch over and over again?? Personally mine are Over Board and Stardust.

With influenced do you mean other artists or?? If it's artists, I started drawing for Pokemon, and Ashionglee is one of the artists who inspired me to create Pokemon artworks (the reason why this tumblr exist in the first place tbh) 😂 Please check out his IG, his artworks are awesome! https://instagram.com/ashionglee?igshid=bkqzp7hvnxuq

I use mostly Paintool SAI to draw, and Photoshop for additional touches!

My fav movie is Tangled, and I adore Ghibli movies too! I actually haven't heard of those movies you mentioned, I might check it out!

[mmm-asbestos]

(Just wanna say you have amazing art) What program do you use to draw?

THANK YOU

i think i’m permanently fused with photoshop at this point

like i actually tried to move to other programs, like with everyone making fun of PS and stuff, but i panic when i don’t have my usual PS keyboard shortcuts and layout

so yes, i use PS, it’s trash, but it’s my fav trash

[snowflakechallenge]

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #12

Introduction Post* Meet the Mods Post * Master Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9 * Challenge #10 * Challenge #11

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

Remember the early oughts? Remember Web 1.0? And Geocities and blinkies? What about Flash games? It was only last month that Adobe Flash finally died its ignoble death.

In the spirit of those times, let resurrect some old LJ memes! (Think Buzzfeed quizzes but with less data mining (not to say that didn't happen)).

When I looked at my tags page, there were 159 entries tagged ‘meme’ which I guess is because memes were what I used to say when I didn’t know what to say. In the early oughts, I wasn’t new to the internet, but I was new to the interactive version of it presented by LJ and its clones. In order to seem interesting, I did a *lot* of memes.

As I explored back in my journal, I found a lot of memes that are now defunct, but I wish were still functioning. Like the Friends Icons collage, which seemed to be a bit of code that gathered all your friends’ default icons into one picture. And Quizilla seems to be a Teen Nick site now. Other links looked extremely sketchy.

Challenge #12

In your own space, resurrect an old meme. Leave a comment in today’s post at The Fandom Snowflake Challenge on DW saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

The challenge: look at the list of old memes below (I’ve checked all the links to be sure the ones below are still functioning). Pick out one that appeals to you, follow the instructions, post in your journal, and then come back here and share! Make sure to tell us which one you did.

Here Are Some Choices:

Desktop/Wallpaper screen shot - take a screen shot of the background (desktop for computers or wallpaper for mobile devices) on whatever device you are using. This one was originally just desktops, since it predates tablets and phones becoming so ubiquitous. Post the pic in your journal.

I Write Like . . . - Paste a few paragraphs of your writing into the box and see which famous author has a style most similar to you. It doesn’t have to be actual fic writing; you can post your latest blog post, but the longer, the better the tool works. Although don’t go too long; it will just cut it off. It will generate a little bit of code with a banner, which you can post in your journal.

Music shuffle - go to your favorite source of music that can be shuffled. Your main Spotify playlist, iTunes, your YouTube music playlist. Hit shuffle. Write down the first line of the first twenty songs that come up. When people visit your journal, they have to guess what the songs are. Strike through the ones that have been guessed with the guessers name at the end of the line.

What Number Are You? - click on the phrases that describe you, and then post the text that you get along with your number in your journal.

What Kind of Shoe Personality Do You Have? Anyone who knows me knows there’s no way I would pass this one up. I should get my shoe mood theme back on my journal.

Fail Cat - If you have a PC: Open paint, close your eyes, draw a cat. Post the results. If you have a phone or tablet: Open the notes app, close your eyes, draw a cat. Post the results. (I do not know what program you would use if you have a Mac without something else installed like Gimp or Photoshop, Macs do not seem to come with a default drawing program).

First Line - Post the first line of the first entry of each month for the past year in your journal.

The Dewey Decimal System - find out which category in the Dewey Decimal System you are.

Nearest Book - 1. Grab the nearest book; 2. Open the book to page 123; 3. Find the fifth sentence; 4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions; 5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Spell Your Name - pick a category: movies, books, TV shows, musicians, songs, etc. Spell your name with the first letter of each. Your real name, your username, you choose!

Kleenex Moment - Pick the top five movies that make you cry, and tell us what the Kleenex Moment is (when do you reliably reach for the hankies).

Which Historical Lunatic Where You? A series of yes or no questions, which will give you a block of text to copy/paste into your journal!

Which SciFi/Fantasy Character Are You? Gives you a pic to post in your journal.

If you have a fav meme from back in the day, by all means, post it in the comments with instructions and links so we can all participate!

Check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

(If you want us to reblog your response here at our Tumblr, we’re tracking: snowflakechallenge2021.)

[aaronstveit]

Hi! Do you have any advice for edit-making? I haven't done it before.

hi anon!!! sorry for the late response, the past few days have been a lot and i’ve been v busy!!!!! yes of course i’ve got some advice for you!!!!

find an editing program that you enjoy! personally i use (and love) photoshop, and it’s all i’ve ever used, but i know some people swear by photopea, canva, etc. and i’ve never noticed a difference between edits made with different programs! i know that photopea and canva are free and technically speaking photoshop costs money or whatever but you can download it cracked here (mac) or here (windows)

make the types of edits that you are interested in!!!! personally, i like making gifs, and lately i’ve started making graphics, but some people only like to do one type of thing, and that’s okay!!! if you like giffing, do that! if you think moodboards are cute, make those!!! graphics, doodle edits, typo edits, etc - it’s all up to you!!

also, edit things that are interesting to you!! when i first started editing, i worried a lot about how popular the subject matter was instead of considering how much i actually enjoyed it. notes are great and i love validation, don’t get me wrong, but you are going to enjoy editing a lot more when it’s something you like than when it’s just something random!

now, personally, coloring is my favorite part of editing, but i do recommend using PSDs when you start, just so you can get the hang of things!!! when you do color by hand, please believe me when i say that selective color is a godsend and will make your life 1000x easier!!! personally, my coloring levels are usually brightness/contrast, selective color, vibrance/saturation! i tend to keep it simple but some people use curves, levels, gradient maps and more! it’s really all up to you!

you’re totally going to talk yourself into thinking your edits are ugly, but i promise that they aren’t. when i start talking myself into hating the things i make, i always stop and make myself imagine what my friend marthe would say about it because she’s always so supportive and encouraging. i swear, half the edits that i’ve posted in the last year wouldn’t have seen the light of day if it weren’t for her.

find resource blogs here on tumblr and download fonts, PSDs, and templates that you think are interesting! i have found all of my favorite fonts here and i find more that i love all the time! some good resource blogs are @quirkyresources @springresources @chaoticresources @allresources and i also have a sideblog where i reblog resources i see on the dash @dawnresources!!! plus my very fav font intro just because i love it fjdklsfjds

there are also SO many cool and helpful tutorials here on tumblr!!! i love tutorials because sometimes when i’m following them, i find something i didn’t even know existed on photoshop and i can suddenly do cooler things with my edits. some of my fav tutorials: how to gif in photoshop - multiple gifs in one canvas - adding a gif overlay (like sparkles)

this is all i can think of right now, i hope this helped!!!!💛✨🌟🌙🌻🌼☀️⚡

[darksoulszine]

Interview with Mecharune

Today we interview Mecharune! One of our contributors in THE FIRST FLAME.

Q: How did you get into making art and for how long have you been doing it?

I've been drawing since I could hold a pen, and I've gotten serious about it in 2017. Prior to that, they were mere scribbles on blank notes.

And just like others, I got into art as a form of exposure toward literacy and pop culture

 Q: What traditional media or digital program do you prefer to use and why?

I use mechanical pencil and brush pens for traditional media. As for digital medium, I use Photoshop CS6 because it's an industry standard. Other times, I would use Autodesk Sketchbook on my mobile phone for portability purposes. And it's free :)

 Q: Do you mostly make fan art or are there original works you are also passionate about?

I'm currently leaning toward fanart, but they're mainly for practicing and engaging more with the community. I do have several original works in mind, a continuation of my original artbook/album and IPs.

 Q: Is there any artist or art movement that inspires you? Which ones?

Masahiro Ito, Yasushi Suzuki, and Isamu Kamikokuryo are my primary artist

inspirations.

I'm always fond of H.P Lovecraft, dark fantasy and steam punk world. So any creations alike that relives the depiction of these themes had great inuence toward my artwork as well. Namely, Silent Hill, Bloodborne, and Bioshock.

 Q: What would you say to someone who is willing to dedicate their life to art, but doesn’t take that step because of the risks?

If you're passionate about it,

go for it regardless of how long it will take for you to get there. Acknowledging the risks should help you keep an open mind, not tearing down your confidence. Plan ahead, be patient, be determined, and ultimately be creative in tackling challenges.

Q: What do you like about being an artist?

It's the liberation to express yourself and, perhaps, to influence others (e.g.  initiating  conversations).

Q: Show us some of your favorite artworks that you made and tell us why.

"Blissful Redemption"

This is one of my early digital illustration that I created. I like to bring out genre- bending themes into my work. And this art piece marries both mecha and fantasy in certain ways.

“Limits”

This is actually the rst illustration of that year, 2017, when I too started to pick up the motivation in pursuing my artistic journey. It's an original piece inspired by the year Fire Rooster of Chinese Zodiac Calendar, and maybe an original IP in development.

“Yurie - The Last Scholar”

I love everything that From Software has to offer since Armored Core. And Bloodborne by far is my most favourite. I really like the Scholar's Lore for their admiration and unusual harmony they had with the Great Ones. Yurie was my rst Bloodborne fanart that I've managed to create, but also my first time tackling a full body portrait with background.

“Fear the Old Blood”

First art of 2019

Q: Where can we find more of your work? Are there any personal projects you would like to share?

You can follow this curated link: https://linktr.ee/mecharune

In terms of project, I'm currently in the progress of making BB 5th anniversary zine scheduled for 2020 release. Stay tune for more sneak peaks in the future :)

Q: What order did you play the soulsborne games in? Which is your favorite?

DS2, Bloodborne, DS3. +Fav: Bloodborne

Q: When you got eaten by a mimic for the first time, what did you yell out loud?

The Lord’s name in vain.

Get the zine at: 🔥 [ THE FIRST FLAME ] 🔥 info page

𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞:

on tumblr @darksoulszine

on insta @DarkSoulsFanZine

on twitter @SoulsFanZine

[juunshua]

henlo! can u post a gif tutorial cause your gifs are so pretty and look amazing, even on mobile which messes up with everythjng 😆

ahh anon u flatter me!! thank you for your kind words!!! i honestly have ways to go, but it means a lot that u say this thank you 

so for starters i have a mac + photoshop cs5 so a lot of this tutorial will be based on what you do for that, but i’m sure u could do the same thing on pcs  (actually pcs have more programs available so i highly recommend, if u have a pc, finding a tutorial that is based around pcs) and other photoshop versions too! but i think the general process is still the same, a different tutorial might just be more nuanced^^

1. Finding/downloading your video~so for normal mp4 videos on youtube i use this website. it’s pretty useful it can download from actually a wide variety of sites like naver (up till 1080p!) ~for v app videos i use this site~ts files i find on kpopexciting or kpop24hrs (u need an account for kpop24hrs i think to download video but! signing up isnt difficult and its nothing fishy. i use it a lot esp for older ts files it has a good archive, kpopexciting tends to be faster though.)~the higher quality files you find the better! i find that it tends to go mp4~honestly finding the right high quality video is a HUGE part of making gifs look nice2. Extracting your video~there are many many many ways to extract your video but I highly recommend downloading avisynth! There are ways to download it for pc! avisynth is beautiful because it doesn’t really reduce the quality of your video to the extent that photoshop does, plus it can extract 60fps from ts files. some gifs ive made through avisynth ( x x x ) if you’re interested in avisynth further, tumblr user @/brandinator is a good place to start! if you want to know more regarding how to use it and a different tutorial through that, let me know! ~now i’m not sure if there is an avisynth tutorial for mac anymore, BUT theres another great program, vapoursynth, that mac users can look into. here’s a tutorial that i’ve found~Before I got avisynth I used VLC player for ts files but I had to basically screenshot each frame individually. Some gifs I’ve made through this method ( x x x ). these gifs are 60fps only bc i found a user who uploaded the ts file in 60fps. usually you cant get 60fps w/o avisynth. but this is also me saying that if you cant get avisynth or vapoursynth, there are still ways to work around it i think! one of my fav giffers for the longest time didnt use either!! and sharpening and coloring were always on point.~I think pcs can use kmplayer? id look into that if you have a pc~for normal mp4 videos I just use photoshops ‘import video frames to layers’ option (under file in the menubar)! you can use avisynth as well, but for me it takes forever to extract what i want in avisynth (minimum like a minute ish), whereas ps can get the part of the video i want to gif in a couple of seconds. I think it’s self explanatory but basically you find the video you want to extract, find where u want ur gif to start, and for photoshop cs5, you hit the ‘shift’ key and let the part u want giffed in the video play. when youre done u lift the shift key and hit ‘ok’ (idk if it differs for different versions of ps). i extract all!!! frames!! it makes it look smoother too :)

3. Coloring/Sharpening/Cropping/Etc~now this is the step that I can’t really give a tutorial on because honestly it varies for everyone! but i feel that this is the step that a lot of ppl need guidance with (me included) because it is the hardest step, probably because it is so ‘up in the air’ for lack of a better word? there is no one right way of doing it the possibilities are literally endless but here are some tips~Coloring:       ~most important rule: don’t whitewash ur gifs!!       ~other than that, the world is yours.       ~honestly have fun with this part! coloring is something that i haven’t fully learned yet       ~i tend to play around mainly with the curves, selective color, hue/saturation, and color balance layers       ~you can also download psds other ppl have made (i dont do this myself) and use those!      ~also i feel that a lot of the times, the right coloring can make ur gif seem higher quality. coloring can also play a role in reducing gif size if u do it correctly.      ~honestly this part is just a lot of experimentation, over the course of a gifset and over the course of time in general. some people find their coloring style easily, but i was not one of those people. ive spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to adjust what layers to get the colors that i want and i think only as of this era ive been able to execute the coloring i had pictured in my mind. so patience is a virtue!!! ~Sharpening:      ~ah yes my biggest enemy: sharpening      ~first things first, i sharpen my gifs using smart sharpen + topaz                  ~settings for my smart sharpen are 500%; 0.4                 ~check the box that says ‘more accurate’ and i personally remove ‘gaussian blur’      ~some people also use topaz denoise, and/or topaz clean     ~ honestly topaz is a lifesaver for me bc it smoothes out a lot of grain that can be introduced via coloring! also!!! it can reduce gif size by a lot!!!!!!!!!!!          ~on topaz denoise i hit the ‘light’ setting on the side and adjust the settings accordingly          ~idk how to use topaz clean even though I have it, because it refuses to work          ~to apply topaz you have to hit ‘flatten frames into layers’                ~some gifs i’ve made with just topaz and no avisynth ( x  x x x)        ~there are ways to make it look nice without topaz but i’ve forgotten how after i got it               ~id duplicate the frame then use smart sharpen and ‘gaussian blur’ under ‘blur’                       ~then adjust the opacity levels in some way.                       ~my settings for the opacity levels aren’t good so i’ll refrain from sharing               ~some gifs ive made through this method ( x x )        ~last but not least i’ll bring up avisynth again. avisynth is nice at preserving video quality                 ~a lot of ppl i know say they don’t even sharpen gifs out of avisynth                 ~here are some gifs i have made with avisynth + topaz ( x x x x x x x )    ~honestly when it comes to sharpening, im still floundering with it. my sharpening needs a lot of work but, amongst the people who i consider good sharpners, most of them use avisynth, topaz denoise and/or clean, and smart sharpen! so all the resources are here !

~Cropping:     ~it’s super important to follow tumblr dimensions otherwise gifs come out looking grainy! even when they’re not ! (case in point: x in which i used 168 instead of 178 for the dimensions)~Timing:   ~Timing is so important!!! I almost forgot!! Always make sure u dont have duplicate frames for starters! for 60fps source videos i use .03, for mp4s i typically use .04 but sometimes the frame rate is kinda funky so you may have to go slower accordingly! and the important thing about timing is that if u use smart object, when u save ur gif, it’ll be in a different timing? like .04 gets changed to .07 but in order to fix that, u can simply just save ur gif in the wrong timing, and then reopen the gif in ps, simply change the timing to what u want on all ur frames, and then save it again!! idk if that made any sense but laskdjf this was the biggest mystery for me for so long omg4. Saving the gif~personally the save settings I use are “Selective/Adaptive” ; “Diffusive”; Dither: 100%; 256 colors. sometimes this makes the gif super grainy so i use “pattern” instead of “diffusive” in those instances5. Pray Perseverance   ~a lot of the time when you’re giffing, gifs won’t come out the way you want it (i’m sure for every gifset i’ve uploaded on tumblr, there’s a gifset that i started making and never finished because it looked really bad). idk sometimes it feels like photoshop has its own will, sharpenings wont always work the same way each time, video quality won’t be the way you want it, i’m honestly still very experimental right now I don’t have ps figured out at all. so yeah…sometimes all u can do is that when u hit that save for web button (that ruins everything alskf), pray that ps doesnt mess it up too bad ahahaha but also that even when it does, its okay and you can try again! or try something new!

this is a super generic guide! let me know if you need more information!