Wide's World

Creating the elements

by

Widearea

Porno-Graphix

Stranger Elements of Danger

The art of computer graphics can sometimes involve the simulation of our natural environment. With an image editor and some basic chops it is possible to create entire worlds at your fingertips. This week we will look at ways to simulate the four elements of creation - earth, air, water and fire.

The Tao of Nature
Let's begin with earth, check out the wind, and finish off with fire. Water will be in there somwhere. Now, as a graphic artist the real challenge is in one's ability to experiment and develop methods of arriving at any desired effect. Most image editing programs have built-in the algorithms with which the most killer art can be created. I know that any reader of Wide's World will be able to follow along this week's exploration and far surpass the examples used to illustrate our elemental journey.

Earth
1. Open your image editor (in our lessons this week we used Photoshop) and select File -> New and create a new canvas.
2. Select an earthtone by clicking on the foreground swatch on the toolbar.
3. Select Edit -> Fill and fill with the selected foreground color.
4. Select Filter -> Noise and choose Add Noise from the submenu.

This results in a simulated, rough earthtoned effect. Try thinking about better ways to communicate the same.

5. Select the Type Tool from the toolbar and type in the word "Earth".
6. In order to apply filters to any type layer it must be rendered as a graphic layer. Select "COMMAND/CTRL+E" to merge down the type layer, or select Layer -> Type -> Render Layer(MAC)/Create Graphic(WIN).
7. Select Filter -> Stylize and choose Wind... from the submenu. Select the "Wind" radio button and set the direction of the wind in the dialog box and hit "ENTER/OK."
8. Select Filter -> Artistic, choose Rough Pastels... and play around with the sliders in the dialog box. You can toy with the many artistic effects available, so don't limit yourself to what we do here.
9. Select File -> Save As... to save your work.

Water
1. Select File -> New and create a new canvas.
2. Select a water colorshade by clicking on the foreground swatch on toolbar and choose your color from the popup.
3. Select Edit -> Fill and fill with the selected foreground color.
4. Select the Type Tool from the toolbar, click in your document window and type in the word "Water" in the type dialog box.

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