This is a Sephora brand product and it retails for $12 at Sephora stores and Sephora.com
What it is:
A travel-size heated eyelash curler.
What it does:
Keep your lashes looking lovely, even on the go, with the Sephora Brand Mini Heated Eyelash Curler. This handy little tool is perfect for curling stubborn straight lashes, anytime, anywhere.
It sounds pretty interesting to me. Also it is pretty affordable. So no harm in giving it a try!!
From Cosmo The Merry Martian comic books...profoundly unfunny (but still captivating in their weirdness-osity) single-page gag fillers featuring Z9 'n' Z7, Squarehead, and Jimmy Jupiter...
Click on any page for a full-size comic book scan
Click on any page for a high-resolution comic book scan
Well, after thinking about it some more, I guess these would be pretty funny if you're eight years old, which is the target audience for this comic. Anyway...they're so awkwardly bizarre that they're intrisically groovy.
Here's a look at Cosmo The Merry Martian himself...
Click on image - BIG video will open in new window
ArtRage time!
That's right -- we finally made it through all of the Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials... and now it's finally time to play with the paint!
I use ArtRage every time I paint a cover for Nickelodeon Magazine. ArtRage is a digital painting program that imitates the look of real paint, as well as other natural media like pencils and pastels etc. etc. The thing that makes ArtRage such a wonderful program is that it's ridiculously easy to use -- you can just jump right in and play!
And it's not like I knew how to paint before I used this program. ArtRage is so easy and so funny use that I just gradually picked up the techniques and going to show you by playing around with the program. I've never even read the manual! Okay -- every once in a while I'll look something up in one of the tutorials... but 97% of all the tools and features are totally intuitive.
But it isn't just for play... I've been using this program for professional jobs for the last two years, and I don't need to look any further for a digital art program that gives me exactly the tools I need and the results I want.
Here's the weird part -- for some bizarre reason, this amazing ArtRage application only costs $25. Twenty-five bucks! The "other" famous digital painting program costs $400, and it's so freaking complicated that I always end up tearing my hair out before I can actually get any work done.
There's even a free starter version available at the ArtRage website, but after you try it out, I know that you'll see that the $25 for the full version is the bargain of the century. I strongly encourage you to download this application and try it out. And ArtRage runs on both Mac and Windows!
They have a bunch of great tutorials and very helpful forums on the ArtRage website, too.
Since this is the first video in the series, it's primarily dealing with setup and tools. And a lot more trimming on this series so we could get to the good stuff really fast. ...and just as I did before with the Adobe Illustrator tutorials, I'm going to show you the exact settings that I use every time I fire up ArtRage.
*******************************
How to import a PSD file into ArtRage
#1 When you import a layered Photoshop PSD file into ArtRage, it has to be in RGB mode, not in CMYK mode. You can change the mode in Photoshop before you bring it in to ArtRage.
#2 When you import your drawing, ArtRage will put it on the lowest layer and give it an opaque paper background......To be able to see through your linework to the color paint below, DO THIS: On your imported Drawing layer, go to "Edit Paper Settings" and near the bottom of the options dial the "paper opacity" (NOT the layer opacity) to 0%
*********************
I already have the next two videos ready and lined up for posting this week -- so after you watch this one, keep checking back for the next few chapters. This whole series is going to be fast-paced and chock-full of useful information and killer tips
Column 1 Top to bottom: Vintage gold, Golden Olive, Old gold, gold mode
Column 2 Top to bottom: Tan, Choclate brown, Cocomotion
Column 3 Top to bottom: Pink Bronze, Melon, blue Brown
Column 4 top to bottom: Violet, Teal, Fushcia, Cornflower
My love for pigments is not very old...its pretty fresh and new. In one of my last posts i had mentioned how a video on you tube impressed me with pigments.
I have a CCO nearby, so i bought my first few pigments from that place especially because i am new to piggies (i lovingly call them piggies) and secondly because i would never finish the whole jar in this lifetime...so paying something close to $20 per jar was kinda little "filled with guilt"...:). I do prefer buying pigments from CCO over the store.
I never used to ask for pigment samples at MAC store..infact i never used to ask for any sample...but then later i decided i would go ahead and ask for these.
I have collected close to 20 pigment samples in a short period of time, thanks to a lovely MUA at my local MAC.
What lovely colours and boy!!! The MA gave me pretty generous amount of each sample. I don't think i will ever need to buy any more piggies especially from the permanent line, simply because if ever i run out of them my MA will give me some more again....:)
I know this is bad! Samples are for trying out and later we are supposed to buy full size..but its ok...i have given my share of money lots a time to MAC and made them richer by few hundreds of dollars....guess i deserve it...:)
The only thing that i hate about pigments is their ability to mess!!! These are in powder form. So their is bound to spillage and stuff. Also, very difficult to travel with. A little negligence and you get a whole messed up vanity case.
But again, with soo many lovely colors, its worth taking extra care.
Due to their powder form, they can be mixed with other colours to make a totally new color. There are billions of permutations- combinations...the possibilities are endless!!!!
I'm coloring the line art on SpongeBob in today's Adobe Photoshop tutorial video. Most of the steps are the same as they were for coloring Patrick in the previous video... but since repetition is the mother learning, I think that'll help to see it all once more on a different character.
The way I select all the line art on SpongeBob is to use the magic wand tool on the clear background.
This selects all of the clear areas of the canvas... but then I use the inverse command from the selection menu to flip the selection to SpongeBob's line art only.
I imagine there is an easier way to do this, but this screwy little method has always worked for me.
The advantage of having all the line art selected is that I can go over it with a big fat color brush, and I don't have to worry about going outside of the lines. I still have to use the brush tool (rather than the paint bucket) because not all of the lines are painted the same color.
Another key tool that I use frequently is the eyedropper. The eyedropper tool lets you sample colors from any place on the canvas.
I usually import a small reference drawing of the characters I'm working on so that I can quickly grab any color I need to. This is especially important for licensed characters that have a very specific and unchanging color scheme.
As an added audio bonus: about one minute into the video, you get to enjoy the sound of an ambulance siren passing by outside my window. It adds a little bit of real-life drama, doesn't it?
I'm not a big fan of using Photoshop as a painting tool, but it's definitely my go-to graphics application when it comes to image manipulation and coloring simple flat line art. Only the outlines are going to be colored in Photoshop -- all of the fills and background art will be painted in ArtRage 2.5, a wonderful painting program that beautifully simulates the look of natural media like oil paints and pastels.
And the three best things about ArtRage 2.5? It's super simple to use, it's ridiculously inexpensive, and it produces results that are good enough to allow me to continue painting covers for one of the most successful magazines in America. Stay tuned, because with the very next video, we will start a brand-new series on digital painting with ArtRage 2.5!
-------
...and to catch up on the previous tutorials:
Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop Cartoon Inking tutorial videos:
This is one stuff i was pretty excited about when i saw the promos and adds on various beauty blog. Knowing the fact that MSFs accentuate my pores, I picked it, but honestly i am not liking it!! Refined MSF is a warm, peach toned MSF.I really want to like this stuff, because it meets all the criteria that i search in a MSF. Its finely milled, soft in texture, no over the top shimmers, no huge chunks of glitter...just the right amount of sheen....with soo many good qualities i am still not liking it!!! WHY?? I tried this with various brushes like skunk brush, fluffy brush, blush brush. I tried it on its own, over 2 different colours of blush, as highlighter, as all over face colour...YES, all over the face. If you swirl a huge fluffy, face brush in the areas with less peach veining, it gives the face an all over sheen...this was probably the best way of application i liked on myself. Well, Its OPAQUE!!! I found that using it over the blush as highlighter kinda changed the colour of my blush. It looked ashy!! This left a whitish residue on cheeks. This being opaque i think it works best as all over sheen powder type stuff. But again, shine, shimmer, glitter its all subjective. It depends on person to person...something that didn't work on me, doesn't means it won't work on everybody... Currently, i don't know what to do with this one.... swap...or keep???
http://xinarox.blogspot.com/search/label/Review has some lovely comparison swatches. The opacity of Refined MSF is easily visible in the swatches. Luckily it worked for this lovely gal...i wished it worked for me as well....:) This definately is worth giving a try though!!!
There is always something about these "kits", "sets" that attract me. I find this is one of the very good ways to try a new brand of make up or better add good quality make up in your stash.
Stila has loads of such kits and you can get them at bargain price on this site called beauty crunch.
I got this particular set by Stila called the Pretty face set from Sephora at JCPenney. My JCpenney Sephora has very unusual stuff, that i normally don't get to see at regular Sephora.
The one i picked is in medium shade.
This kit has :
1. Foundation sticks: 2 shades of foundation sticks. The shades have no name, just alphabets!! mine is 'c' and 'd'. One is light enough to work as a concealer and other one is perfect as a foundation for me. They are pretty creamy and work just fine. I use the Sonia kashuk's blue blender sponge to apply this one. Personally i hate any kind of foundation on my face, but then again, there are times you just can't get away with that!!!
2. Tinted moisturizer: The very famous Stila illuminating tinted moisturiser. It has SPF 15. The kit has shade in No 1. Personally, i find them a bit sticky. i don't hate it, but i am not a huge fan. I would suggets trying samples if possible, before buying the full size, as it retails for $32 i ges.
3. Mascara: Stila Major lash mascara. I have yet to try this one. I already have other mascaras open and in use, so didn't want to open a new one... or else it will dry out!!!
4. Stila Lip glaze: Lip glaze in Brown sugar. It comes with the pen kind of tube with a brush applicator. I personally like this color. Again, liking a shade of lipstick or a lipgloss is pretty subjective. It varies from person to person.
In all a good deal for all 5 products. $25!!!....not at all bad, knowing the fact that the moisturiser alone costs $32 and the lipglaze is a whopping $22!!!
Some people use Photoshop channels to isolate the line work, making it easier to color only the lines. I have never really understood how to use channels. It's probably not very difficult, but I seem to have a mental block against it. Every time someone tries to explain channels to me, my eyes glaze over in my brain gets vapor lock.
I have my own crazy system for isolating the line artwork: Use the magic wand tool to select the background (every thing that's not the line work)...
...then use the invert command under the selection menu to invert the selection.
Every thing that was selected is now not selected, and every thing that was not selected before is now selected. You know something is selected when it has those dashed lines moving around like marching ants.
Now all of the line work is selected. Next, I use the eyedropper tool to sample the character's color off of the model sheets.
When you're working on characters that have a consistent color design, you can't just guess at the color. It has to be perfectly on model 100% of the time.
Now, when something has selection lines around it, that becomes the only area that can be worked on in Photoshop. If you paint over a selection, the paint will only stick to the area that is selected. So no matter how sloppy you are, it is impossible to color outside the lines when you're working on a selection. This is a great feature because it lets you color the line work really fast and loose, but it always looks perfect when you're done.
The only dangerous thing about using selections is when you forget that something is still selected. If there is a small area on your canvas with a selection around it, you can't paint or draw or do anything else outside of that small selection area. This is one of the most common causes of "Total Photoshop Roadblock." Nothing seems to work anymore!
So make sure to always deselect your selections after you're finished working on them. You can go to the Select menu and choose "Deselect," or the quicker ways to use the keyboard commands: Command+D on Macintosh, and Control+D on Windows.
UPDATE: "Anonymous" left this super comment about this post:
"something you might find useful: There's a checkered button above the layer box, and when you click on it it locks all the transparent pixels, which allows you to paint the lines without going out of bounds without having to select everything."
Well, I tried it, and it works beautifully! In fact, it also solves that antialiasing problem, which means that working withantialiased line art will work after all! When I get a chance, I'll go back and put that info into the video ^_^
