In a message dated Sun, 30 Jun 2002 2:58:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> ~Wow-- that is really nice. I love the drop shadow effect! How do you do that? I'm >sure I've got the capacity in at > least three programs I've got here... > Tasha wants to know "What's Donnie scared of?" > Yeah Mikey, you *should* do more drawings! > ~GW Heh... thanks for the compliments, guys! :D ::makes me feel all warm and tingly inside:: Anyway, yeah... the look wasn't intentional, but after I did it I thought it gave him personality. When I was coloring it, I zoomed in really close to the eyes and thought, "Hey, it kinda looks like there should be tears coming out of his eyes" ... But, I thought better of it, and spared you the sappiness. :p As for the drop shadow. It's fairly easy to make whether using a layer effect or creating it from scratch. Okay, I used Adobe Photoshop 5.0 for this (i know i'm a bit behind the times...) Anyway, to make a cheap drop shadow: Go to the Layer menu, choose Effects, and Drop Shadow. You will be given options on how you want it to look. However, these drop shadows offer little depth. They look more like a paper cutout lying on a table. Instead, what I did was duplicate the layer that donatello was on. Fill the Donatello drawing completely with black (remember to check "Preserve Transparency" .. otherwise, the entire layer will fill). Now you have a sillouhette of Donatello. Skew and distort it as you wish (or in accordance with your light source), and if it isn't already there, move the layer behind the REAL picture of Donatello. Next, be sure to UNCHECK "Preserve Transparency" (or else, the next step will have no effect). Now, go up to the Filter menu and select Blur. Choose Gaussian Blur from that menu and set it to the desired amount of blur. Now you have a basic shadow. But it's still too dark for a white background. So go back to the layer pallette and bring the opacity down to somewhere between 25 and 50%. There you go... a nice custom made drop shadow. And it looks like he is standing in a white room, istead of lying on a white table or hovering in space. Note: The original image must be on a transparent layer in order for this to work. ie. The image of donatello should be the only thing on that layer to have color. Was that confusing? Sorry... ;) I'll shut up now... -Mikey QM
