`kuschelirmel

loves pretty things

+Watch Send a Note Give

Best of #photomanipulated March 2013

Tue Apr 9, 2013, 11:02 PM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

As usual, better late than never

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend

So here goes: the best submissions to #Photomanipulated in March:

Tulip mania in the country of the windmills by *Leina1

^{Stock images & brushes courtesy of ~ChristasVengel-stock, ~RiNymph-Stock, ~dazzle-textures, ~DadiLights, ~MouritsaDA-Stock, ~frozenstocks, ~PilgrimSoul, *joannastar-stock, ~Atenaispd, bittbox & =kuschelirmel-stock.
Design & coding by =kuschelirmel-stock.}Journal Credits

18 Comments

Know your Basics - Textures

Journal Entry: Thu Mar 28, 2013, 10:44 AM

♦ Of Copyright & Premades ♦
♦ Photomanips for Beginners ♦

There are a lot of tutorials out there on how to create / photograph texture as well as how to use them on a technical level, but the question of why and when to use textures is rarely touched. This article wants to fill that gap and therefore looks at texures from a slightly different perspective.

Textures in Manips as you know them

For a photomanipulator, the first thing that comes to mind when hearing the word "texture" are images that can be used in soft light or overlay mode to texture a manipulation or parts thereof. What most manipulators therefore have in mind, are images like the following:

Beautiful textures, sure, and useful, too, but have you ever thought of doing more with them than the aforementioned overlays? And have you ever considered using other kinds of textures, too?

A more objective look at Textures

The following definition is an excerpt from the google dicitionary (I omitted the parts that have nothing to do with this article):

tex·ture
The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or a substance (skin texture and tone; the cheese is firm in texture; the different colors and textures of bark)
The character or appearance of a textile fabric as determined by the arrangement and thickness of its threads (a dark shirt of rough texture)
The tactile quality of the surface of a work of art

So textures in "the real world" are something to touch and feel, something that will also influence the appearance of a surface - for example think of naturally occuring textures such as bark, velvet, leather. And they are something you can see, too, think of smooth skin or rough wood, of messy hair or grass and smooth, polished metal.

That in turn means: not only something with bumps and ridges and obvious structure is a texture, but also what we generally perceive as "not textured" is!

Let's take a look at an image that you would normally call "not textured" to illustrate this point:

What you can also see in this example, is that smooth and rough textures are both in there and their contrast is what makes the image work. For example, if the sea were not calm, the waves would create unrest and the trees on the hill would no longer stand out. It would all just "mush together".

And that is an effect you can also get from overlaying one texture over everything. I'll show you one of my "early works" to demonstrate:

While at this point I had figured out how to use masks to get smooth transitions as described in this tutorial, there's just something off about that load of textures. Today, I would do it differently: I would get rid of the overlay textures in the middle where the fractals are to make sure the fractals could stand out from the background (maybe I'd try to make them glow - definitely I'd change the overall lighting which here is not existent).

Let's look at some more examples from around deviantArt:

and see why they work so well from a texture point of view:

This images uses all kinds of different textures to draw your eye to the focal point: the girl is smooth throughout, even her hair seems soft and orderly without being unnaturally neat. The ground is made of stone and sand within a relatively calm sea. The almost idyllic image gets some tension through the sharp edged shards of glass, the glass itself being smooth.

Detailed and contrast-rich smoke textures around the figure give it an eerie quality which is enhanced by the none-distracting outer edges of the canvas. There you have only hints at the big folds of a curtain or something similar.

Boundaries between life and death by =willerdesign

The subtle use of textures in this image is just stunning: they serve as a 3D environment forming the ground and the back "wall" of the "room" the guy is kneeling in, while keeping it abstract enough so our brain doesn't protest at the surrealism of the other elements in the image (tiny trees, big leaves etc). Other textures have a more graphic function, pulling together the elements (the light bent lines that go over some of the leaves or the dripping textures on the heart for example).

The grimy prison wall is in stark contrast with the world outside, just like life in prison and freedom are different things alltogether.

She draws crosses on the walls. by ~daunhaus

Smooth and textured areas work together to form something almost abstract.

Darkness and light - good and evil - represented in colours, tones and texture.

A great example of abstract art using textures and smoothness to draw the viewers' eyes.

And lastly, one image to serve as the exception that prooves the rule: in this one, the textures are very prominent throughout the image and in this case, they help to enhance the horror-movie atmosphere. But also note that even though the textured-vs-smooth contrast is not evident, there is another form of contrast to take its place: darkness and light.

So how am I supposed to use these textures?

In the case of textures seen as rough vs. smooth patches, the answer as to how to use them naturally goes beyond the aforementioned "use something from the texture gallery and put it on soft light" approach. Even if you include selective application of such textures, you would fall short of what we have seen in the examples above. Often, the texture is already inherent in the photographs you use to create your manips, so maybe instead of asking yourself if you want something to be "textured" at all (as in overlay a texture image), rather ask yourself:

"Are the different elements of these base images helping my image when i put them together or does it feel distracting?"

If you do it that way, yuo might end up deciding to get rid of some more bushes and use more uniform-looking grass instead (or add some bushes if you need more texture) to make sure your main object / animal / person is in focus.

A very popular method to get rid of texture and focus on the main subject is to blur the background and the foreground, mimicking photographic depth of field blur. This sometimes works great, other times I feel like someone was just lazy with their background and overall composition, so they blurred it. It's more or less the "oposite" of using a texture layer all over (or on just the background), just this time, you remove texture instead of adding it.

Here are some examples of where this method works well:

This method creates texture-vs-smooth contrast and a sense of depth (see Know your basics - Perspective) all at once, which is probably why it's so popular and often abused rather than used.

Just remember: whatever you do, do it with your eyes open and aware of the effect and considering its negative side effects. And besides: Thinking about an alternative is a good idea to stand out from the crowd.

In Closing

Textures are just one aspect of any image, be it a photomanipulation or a drawing or whatever else, but it can pay off to think about them for a few moments longer than you may be used to. Any image draws their energy from the contrast (or lack thereof) between its individual elements - and aside from light/dark and colour, texture is another way to create contrast!

If you liked this article, you may also like the others from this series, they are linked below.

Jasmin

Articles and Links

Photomanipulation for Beginners

_{an article about what photomanipulation is and what you need to try it - and on the ever so important issue of "where do I get pictures to play with?"}
--> read article <--

Of Copyright & Premades
_{is an article that strives to explain what copyright means, who it protects and that simply putting work into something will not make using something without permission okay.}

Know your Basics - article series:

_{A series of articles that try to explain some basics in art that you may or may not have heard of before but didn't know what to do with them. All of them are written especially for photo- manipulators, but the principles should hold true in any genre.}

--> Know your basics - Colour Theory <--
--> Know your basics - Composition <--
-->Know your basics - Perspective <--

Tutorial Treasury

--> 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 <--

Journal Stock Credits: ~Kaotiksymphony-Stock and ~MouritsaDA-Stock.

46 Comments

Since you asked...

Fri Mar 15, 2013, 4:58 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Thank you to *XilaPhoenixArt, =CamaroGirl666, `ginkgografix, ^SanguineVamp, ^PirateLotus-Stock, *marni-smith, ~natash29, *Lou-in-Canada and ~ZRobert for the interesting and funny questions

This was harder than I thought - so please excuse the lateness

*XilaPhoenixArt: How do you deal with stress situations?

Depends on the situation I guess. If it's meeting a deadline at work, I have found that panic solves nothing. It will rather keep you from doing your work properly and you'll end up fixing things right and left later. So, try to keep calm and do one thing at a time. If you're afraid you might forget something, make a list and start with whatever is most important. Everything else will have to wait and the world will not fall to pieces if you're a day late (once).

If the situation is having to do something that makes me nervous (like giving a presentation in front of lots of people or going somewhere where I don't know what's in store), I also try not to panic and to compensate what I'm insecure about with trying to learn everything there is to know. For example, I make sure my presentation is good in my eyes and if I'm insecure about anything I check with a collegue (or two).

*XilaPhoenixArt: What are the best/worst qualities in your character?

I'm an open person and a fast learner. I like to share what I know, but sometimes I need some time to myself - especially in the mornings I'm just no good at small talk. I can be impatient and sometimes I come across as arrogant and bitchy because I am very outspoken. Especially when I see something happening that I feel is injust, I will speak up and be very direct about what I think needs changing.

*XilaPhoenixArt & =CamaroGirl666: What inspires you the most to make your art? what inspires you and keeps you going?

Books, TV shows and movies I think. I'm a big fan of good stories! But of course there's other stuff, too, like seeing what other people do and travelling to different places. Lately, I've been so uninspired it's not funny anymore. I'm not sure what to do about that but wait and see. It's not the first time that I feel like that and it won't be the last, so I know it'll pass sooner or later, but it still sucks.

`ginkgografix: What things - beside Photomanips and photography - would you be interesting in learning additionally?

I've always loved to write, but mostly fanfiction and when I do write, it takes me ages to finish a story. I'd love to learn how to get faster and how to start writing somehing original. But then again, I'm not really dissatsfied with the writing I do, it's a hobby after all and it gets done when I feel like it.It doesn't have to be the best out there as long as it takes me into a different world and makes one or two others happy when they read it

`ginkgografix: Have you ever considered a creative carreer or was and will it be always just a hobby?

When I was still at university, I tried doing some commissions. It was kinda fun for a short while, but on the other hand it was frustrating as hell: payment was bad especially considering the hours it took, the clients seemed to be either undeceisive ("could we maybe try it this way, too?") or so set on something I simply hated ("How about orange?!" - yuck!) that the going was slow at best and then there were the tons of requests that offered no payment at all but "exposure" (biggest lie ever). I came to the conclusion that if I were to actually live off of this, I would need to learn to view manips not as fun, but as work. And I didn't want to do that. In my current job, I also come into contact with clients who may be indeceisive or stubborn, but it's engineering, so I can mostly say things like "it's a nice idea, but it won't work for this or that technical reason". It's a lot better than trying to keep someone from using garrish colours as you can imagine.

^SanguineVamp: Photomanip gets a bad rap sometimes, especially considering we are such a small gallery. Still, we are pretty awesome. What is our biggest strength, and how can we capitalize on that to make the community even stronger?

We are small enough so that we can actually know each other (at least by nickname and in passing), and yet it is big enough so that everyone can find like-minded people. So we should use that to our advantage and make this a community that is inclusive instead of giving others a hard time for doing goth / horse / beginner / ... manips. To each their own - you don't have to like any given style, but you should respect it.

^SanguineVamp: I'm handing you a magic wand. What would you change about dA? Or about the photomanipulation community specifically?

I wish people in general and on dA specifically would stop pretending they are tolerant and finally live it. The whole shouting about who stole whose idea (when it's so obvious that the manip's idea took like 10 seconds of looking at the stock to use it in that specific way), what group rejected you (when you didn't even bother to read their rules or ask why afterwards) and the constant bitching about faves and watches and what not just shows you are not tolerant, not open and very self-centered. You're not here for art, but for some sort of popularity contest. Personally, I just ignore most of that, butsometimes it is hard not to listen. If I had a magic wand, I would make people understand that their millions of faves and watchers and what not are not going to get them anywhere. If you just have watches and faves galore because you are a nice person who is always on dA commenting on other's work (and there's nothing wrong with that by itself, don't get me wrong), but your art is mediocre, you will not get asked for those commissions you'd love to be doing, those big ones for big companies/movie makers/writers/musicians etc.

^SanguineVamp: You've been a CV for photomanip twice. Are you a glutton for punishment? (I'm kidding, you don't have to answer that.)

Haha, maybe? When I came to dA in 2004, dA was a much smaller place than it is today. And the volunteer team was also very different. For one, there weren't this many and for two, they stayed until they were fed up. Also, they were called gallery directors back then and the general idea was for them to handle miscats, feature DDs and write some informative news articles (which back then was a priviledge for admins and volunteers only).

Especially the part about the "staying till you drop" was a two edged sword: on one hand, there was a constant for the galleries (which I'm glad has come back somewhat with the mentoring program which allows those who are not burnt out to stay on longer than a year), but on the other, it often happened that activity from one gallery or other was low. And when someone handed in their hat, it always was a huge drama because deviants would first think "who made them leave?" rather than "oh, they've had enough". Today, deviants will shout for your head when you don't set a DD every single day. Strange how this has changed, isn't it?

So, what I'm trying to say is that both of my terms were different experiences, but both were definitely worth it. I could probably ramble on about those differences, but I don't want to bore you to death. I just want to say this: if you love what you do here on dA, just do it. You don't need a hat to write articles, found groups, initate projects etc. Sometimes, being in the spot light like that can even be a negative experience. There will be folks complaining about your choices (DDs, features, articles, interviews) who previously knew you but didn't complain because to them, only now that you have that hat, they see your choices as life-altering somehow. When in truth, they are not. But no amount of reasoning will help there and if you're the person who takes such things to heart, I would think twice about putting on a hat. Sad but true.

^SanguineVamp: You are a brilliant artist and a brilliant engineer. How does your head not implode from all the brilliance? (Read: How do you stay grounded, and how do you not let one side of your brain take over too much?)

*blushes* I'm not so good with compliments

Both my art and my work are things I very much love. And they have more similarities than one might think which makes them easy to get into one head. For instance, a manip can be like a puzzle: you know what you want to create but you need to find the stock first and then blend it and put the finishing touches on it. In process engineering, you have a similar puzzle: you get a request from a client. You now need to see which basic components you need to make that happen. Then you start to make them fit together and fit with the overall concept (for example low energy consumption or low investment) and then at some point you go into the details (what does this heat exchanger need to do exactly, how should it look?) until you get a complete processing plant ready to build

^SanguineVamp: As a friend, I would describe you as passionate yet pragmatic, very well-balanced, and courageous/fighting for what you believe in. What are the three traits you most value about YOURSELF?

k

*phew* I would sign off on passionate yet pragmatic and fighting for what I believe in. And I think I am self-confident most of the time

^SanguineVamp: Relativity: theory or inescapable truth?

Truth!

^SanguineVamp: Where's your next vacation going to be? We'll hold a devmeet there. I'm kidding. Just curious about where else you'd like to travel.

my boyfriend would have something to say about a devmeet at our vacation lol

Seriously though: we have already booked two weeks in Italy in September. Tuscany Expect pictures And in May we wanted to go to southern Bavaria (Germany) for a week, near the mountains for some hiking (or what I call hiking anyway, nothing too stressful *grins*). But that isn't booked yet.

^SanguineVamp: What is your favorite color, and what does that say about your personality? Does that come out in your art, do you think?

My favourite colour is purple. It might say that I loved my first car, a Nissan Micra, to death In my art, I use just about any colour as long as it's bright and positive, so not really much of a connection I guess.

^PirateLotus-Stock: What is your favorite sweet?

Chocolate!!!! Always chocolate! In all forms: regular chocolate, pralinés, drinking chocolate, ice cream, cakes,...

*marni-smith: How do artists get their photomanips to look so polished....smooth...blended?? Almost like a photo? Is it a matter of coloring or filters or gradients???

That is a very complex question because there is not just one thing that makes or breaks a manip. It's more a whole host of things, but filters usually break a manip, rather than help it, because they are often used unspecifically on the whole image without regard of if they're actually needed. For me, the two most important aspects of a photomanipulation are 1) is the stock cut out with care? Or are the edges too sharp or too smooth? and 2) Is the light fitting? do the shadows sit right? And the highlights? Including the colours of those - for example, using pure black and white for shadows and highlights will make your work look flat and lifeless. To achieve these things, you have to combine all the techniques you know about and if you don't know many, I would suggest to read and follow some tutorials to build up your repertoire. Even if you think you know a lot, there's always something new around the next corner And then just practice, practie, practice. There are no shortcuts here, I'm sorry.

~natash29: I was wondering how you got started and any advice on where to start. I love photography but I'm looking to make more creative pictures. Any advice would be appreciated.

Originally, all I wanted to do was learn HTML and create my own website, so I started by following tutorials on how to make buttons and layouts in Photoshop. So my advice to you would be to find out what interests you in manips and start following some tutorials that teach you that look or technique and then branch out from there. Don't try to take on too much too fast or it will be frustrating. Rather try playing around with the program of your choice and your photos; maybe start by doing some digital scrapbooking to get a feel for the tools. For more on starting with manips, you can also read this article.

*Lou-in-Canada: are you on dA all day every day?

I used to be when I was still studying, but these days I'm here once a day without really doing much on weekdays and a bit more on weekends - I wish the day had more hours

~ZRobert: Why? XD

Because!

26 Comments

Attention! SXC.HU not usable for manips!

Thu Mar 14, 2013, 4:19 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

I just came across a journal by ^SanguineVamp saying that sxc.hu's terms of use have been misinterpreted by us (= photomanipulators) all this time!

She wrote an e-mail to sxc.hu to clear this up and the fact of the matter is

sxc.hu is NOT availablefor derivative works, i.e. photomanipulations and collages

unless you ask the individual photographer for permission and get it (getting no answer is NOT an affirmative I'm afraid).

Here are Jade's journals on the matter:

About sxc.hu stockGreetings!
A few of you have been really worried lately about using stock from sxc.hu here because of the change in their ownership. Basically, you were concerned that their license says that you cannot redistribute their stock in whole or in part, by itself or combined with other elements, without the written approval of the original photographer.
As we all know by now, creating a photomanipulation is considered "making a derivative image." And we know we can't make premade backgrounds without permission from the photographers, as doing so is redistributing their work.
I advised a couple of you to check with the Help Desk and sxc.hu to find out the whole truth before making rash decisions about your group that could potentially make everyone panic.
Using my own personal account, I wrote to sxc.hu to find out what the story was. Here's what I said:
I was just wondering whether creating phot

Dead Horse is Dead.Hi all,
Thanks for your patience with the stock nonsense these days. I received this e-mail as part of a mass BCC today:
Dear [name of original writer],
Thank you very much for your email.
I have multiple requests for the same information from many devianart users, this response is bcc'ed to all parties seeking clarification.
I am aware of all the discussions regarding the use of sxc.hu images by devianart users. It appears a lot of the users have misinterpreted the terms of the license agreement granted by sxc.hu and I will be happy to clarify and hopefully answer all of the questions.
1. The rights granted by sxc.hu license are very limited and specific. You may not use sxc.hu images in photo-manipulations or digital collages. Furthermore, you cannot create any derivate works with the use of

Now, what you do with this information is up to you. I for my part will no longer use sxc.hu stock because I don't want to have to wait for permission each time I consider using something. Thankfully, our resouces and stock gallery here on dA is very extensive.

BUT also there I would be careful sometimes - if it feels off, I don't use the stock. That is especially an issue for premades, brushes and cut-out stock as some people seem to think that by altering something they make it their own and somehow have the right to pass something that was stolen on to others.

Please help by spreading the word!

What this means for #photomanipulated:

For #Photomanipulated's gallery submissions, we will have a transition phase, I'd say until the end of this month (March), where we will still accept manips using sxc.hu stock. When the manips folder changes to April, sxc.hu manips will no longer be accepted (unless you have special permission by the photographer - this can be a link to their userpage where they give blank permission or you writing to them and getting personal permission. In both cases, give a link to the profile, in case of the latter, please write that you have permission from the photographer, just as it is customary to do when asking any other photographer for permission to use their image in a manip). I hope you understand we cannot make an exception there, just because it affects virtually everybody. I'm sorry.

Take care!

Jasmin

PS: I haven't forgotten about the "ask me anything" journal - I'm currently answering the questions, but some are trickier than I thought, so it'll take a few more days.

59 Comments

Ask me Anything + Feature

Mon Feb 25, 2013, 8:35 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Sooooo, our wonderful Jade, aka. ^SanguineVamp, posted a journal answering questions she got in notes, comments and a poll. At the end, she dares everyone to follow in her footsteps so I though, why not?!

You can ask here in this journal, in a note or on this poll [link] .

Ask me anything!

It can be something personal (though I do reserve the right not to answer anything too personal) or related to dA / manips / stock and resources / photography / Photoshop techniques... Whatever you like.

Feature

7 Comments

Back from Poland and Brazil

Sun Feb 17, 2013, 6:56 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Soooo, as you may have seen, I'm back from my business trips.

Krakow, Poland

The first one was to Krakow, where I was for the first time since going there frequently, confronted with such bad pollution that I was actually glad to leave. It's a shame, because even in winter, the city is wonderful and offers visitors and inhabitants alike so much! But then you leave a building and think "boy, why does this feel like I've smoke a pack of cigarettes when I haven't been smoking in years?" The pollution is partially a problem of the weather in Krakow (which you can't do much about: when there's no wind, there's no wind and that's that), but also comes from the fact that many people are forced to use coal for heating their appartments because of high prices for oil, gas and electricity. Some even burn garbage (including plastic) because they either try to save on coal as well or simply don't know any better. The result is a pollution that is among the highest in Europe and sometimes rivals or even surpasses Indian and Chinese cities. You can read more about the issue here Something in the air in Krakow.

I'm not bringing this up to talk badly about one of my favourite European cities, but just to raise awareness about an issue that I thought was not an issue at all any more within the EU. I hope this will change and Krakow can be the beautiful city it's meant to be

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

My second buisness trip wasn't even a week after returning from the first one. This time, I went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! And this time, it was not for my current project (as it was with Krakow), but for a project I had done the proposal for and the client wanted to have a seminar on the technologies. So I got to go to Rio for one day of giving a presentation (which btw went fine, thankfully!) with 12 hours of flight one way. The flight arrived in the early morning on Wednesday and we left again late on Friday, with my presentation being on Thursday with the option of the client keeping us in the office for Friday as well.

The good news was that they didn't need us on Friday, so we were able to take the day off and go to Corcovado which is where the Christo Redentor (Christ Redemer) statue, the landmark of Rio, is situated. And another piece of good luck: the clouds that had been hanging low over Rio even that very morning were vanishing and we actually had a great view all across town!

Rio de Janeiro Panoramic View by `kuschelirmel

It wasn't perfect because of the haze, but it was still absolutely mesmerizing! I don't even know how long we just stood there staring and trying to identify landmarks

You can see all the way from Galeão airport to Ipanema beach (not on the picture above, but when you're there, you can).

In those three-minus-one days I actually managed to take a swim at Copacabana (where our hotel was), sip Caipirinha in the bar at the roof of the hotel in the evening, taste some Brazilian dishes I have forgotten the names of (but one was black beans which seems to be very Brazilian but unfortunately tasted of nothing), get a taste of the famous Sucos (which are basically smoothies made from fresh (!!!) and to European people exotic fruits in any combination you like, with and without sugar - sem açúcar

), almost get sunburnt in February (almost! Thank god!) and get to know at least a little bit of Portuguese ("Obrigada").

It's a beautiful city and the people in it were great! A special thanks goes to my taxi driver who tried to talk to me even though I could only guess what he meant (I speak some French and Italian which is similar, at least in writing - plus I had just come from a 12 hour, season-hopping flight so I was completely exhausted anyways) and who still gave me a tourist's guide to Rio to keep so I would know what to do while I was there

I uploaded some of the pictures I took as stock on =kuschelirmel-stock - some examples:

12 Comments

#Photomanipulated Best of Jan. Features

Fri Feb 15, 2013, 9:48 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Finally back (not just physically, but mentally, too) from my business trips (I will get to an extra journal for that, but first the features) - I hope you'll excuse my tardiness once again.

The features below are the Best of January 2013 manips from the submissions at #Photomanipulated

Jasmin

18 Comments

Gone for a bit

Journal Entry: Sun Jan 27, 2013, 2:48 AM

I just wanted to let you know that during the next two to three weeks or so I will not be online as much as I usually am (which in itself isn't all that much to begin with, I admit).

I will be on two business trips and in between I doubt I'll have much energy to do manips or upload stock or whatnot.

I will answer all my messages when I return (that includes the notes I still haven't gotten to).

I hope you'll all give me some wonderful images to look at when I get back

Jasmin

6 Comments

Oportunity for You + Supergroup + Rules Reminder

Journal Entry: Sat Jan 19, 2013, 8:16 AM

♦ Of Copyright & Premades ♦
♦ Photomanips for Beginners ♦

This journal is for #photoshop-tutorials of which I am the founder and which could use some more activity and live, especially since the group is very big and it would be a shame not to fill the blog with some cool journals.

Unfortunately, my own time is rather limited and beyond accepting or declining submissions, it's been rather quiet around here.

Oportunity

Soooo, I wanted to ask you, our members, if one (or a few) of you would like to join in as Contributors. What I would have you do will not include accepting/declining submissions, but filling our blog with life.

A few things I could think of would be features on our tutorials and tutorial writers (a spotlight for the coolest one submitted within the last month or tutorials and their uses, maybe interviews with tutorial providers etc), features on tutorials in general (onsite tuts as well as offsite ones) or articles on specific topics that offer a range of learning resources, like for example "how to blend pictures into one manip", "how to cut out an object or person from its surroundings", "how can one use textures" and similar things. Also, I could imagine a list of contests that is updated every week or every other week to be a great addition to the blog.

If you are interested, please write the group a note. Don't forget to tell us what kind of blog you would like to do and how often you plan on submitting one (on one hand we want to show some activity and you to commit to this for a while, but of course we first and foremost want to see quality, not quantity).

Supergroup

Our super group status is running out in February. If you like this group and appreciate the high quality tutorials we provide, please consider donating some points to help us keep this status. Please donate to `kuschelirmel here [link] and please mention it's for this group so I know what to use it for

Rules Reminder

We're getting an increasing amount of submissions that are not tutorials:

We do not accept anything but tutorials and then only those pertaining to Adobe Photoshop and written in English. We do not accept styles, brushes, stock or any other resources. We do not accept artwork of any kind. And we do not accept anything that has no explanations in it (for example step-by-step images showing the progress of a painting or manip without comment) - that also means we want the explanations in the tutorial, not in the artist's comment where you have to scroll back and forth.

I've also had to decline a lot of tuts for being hosted on youtube or external tutorial blogs:

We only accept submissions that are hosted on deviantArt. The main reason being that it's a deviantArt group with deviantArt submissions, but it's also a question of safety in that other sites could be malicious. _{If you want to submit a video tutorial to dA that is not in flash format, you can easily get access to submitting films as outlined here FAQ #842: How do I become a submitting member of the film community?}

I shouldn't have to mention this, but here we go:

We will not accept anything with copyrighted materials in it. No celebrities, no sigs with "renders" that are just cut up screenshots, no "just find some textures on google" crap within your tut. You make sure you are allowed to use what you're using like any other self-respecting manipulator - if it feels shady to us (for example if credits are obviously missing or your linked sources are not legit), it will be declined. _{You can read more about copyright here [link] if you're interested.}

As always, I've been declining a lot of submissions that were not up to the gallery standards.

I know it can be frustrating to get your work declined, but it is not meant as an insult. It does not mean your tut sucks, it just means it needs some more work before we would accept it or that the topic has been done so many times that it simply isn't much of interest any more (eye manip tutorials are such a case as are some line-art tutorials that teach you nothing that hasn't been shown a million times). If your work gets declined and you want to know why, don't hesitate to ask. You will get an honest critique with pointers on what to do better (might be you need to be more specific or work on your presentation, things like that). You are always welcome to submit another tutorial.

In Closing

I would hope to see you around at #photoshop-tutorials and that by putting this in my own journal as well, maybe some people will be willing to help with the blog to get some more life into the group

See you around!

Jasmin

Articles and Links

Photomanipulation for Beginners

_{an article about what photomanipulation is and what you need to try it - and on the ever so important issue of "where do I get pictures to play with?"}
--> read article <--

Know your Basics - article series:

Tutorial Treasury

--> 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 <--

Journal Stock Credits: ~Kaotiksymphony-Stock and ~MouritsaDA-Stock.

12 Comments

Thank you! + Get to know me + Feature

Tue Jan 8, 2013, 8:51 AM

Thank you all for the lovely birthday wishes!

_{Especially since I'm the kind of person who constantly forgets other people's birthdays}

Jasmin

Get to Know me

I know I have gotten tons of new watchers in the past year and while I'd like to think I'm rather uninteresting, I know people are always curious to find out a bit more about the people they're watching.

If you would like to know more about me, please visit the following journal over at my stock account and maybe leave a comment if you like so I can get to know you, too!

Of course you can leave your comment here as well, I'd love to get to know you all

Hi, I'm Jasmin! And who are You?Hi, I'm Jasmin,
and I'm not very good at introductions, but seeing as I've got plenty of new watchers, I decided to try anyway

So, who am I? Well, in this so-called real life, I am a process engineer working for a plant engineering and construction company based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. I design plants that remove certain unwanted gases (like CO2 and H2S) from either natural gas or synthesis gas streams. I live with my boyfriend in a small town just outside of Frankfurt at the foot of the Taunus.

The contrast between countryside and this skyscraper-filled city is great; and not just for taking photos.
Though taking photos is of course my most prominent hobby - that and creating photomanipulations, which you can fin

Featured

...some recent faves

22 Comments

#Photomanipulated Best of December

Wed Jan 2, 2013, 9:51 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Feast your eyes on
the Best of #Photomanipulated's submissions from December 2012

I wish you the best for 2013!
May the ~~force~~ creativity be with you!

Jasmin

28 Comments

Best of #Photomanipulated November

Wed Dec 12, 2012, 9:32 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

And again a feature that needs the preface "better late than never"

I hope things will slow down a bit after Christmas.

Take a look at #Photomanipulated's gallery for more great manips!

Cry of a Broken Winged Bird by =Vanleith

36 Comments

Manip Challenges 004 Winner

Sat Dec 1, 2012, 12:56 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Okay, first of all, I'm sorry I completely forgot to announce the winner

Life has been a bit hectic and now that Christmas is around the corner, it seems to take on more speed instead of less

But better late than never I guess

Note that even though at this moment, there are three distinct first places, I know the third and fourth have been switching places a lot and they also were on the same amount of votes for quite a while, so they both get to be third.

1st Place

Cycle of Time by ~vs3a

2nd Place

Sly as a Fox by ~Aegils

3rd Place

Time for Harvest by ~ArtSail

and

Far Away by ~msriotte

All of them will be contacted by my stock account =kuschelirmel-stock for their winnings

And again, please excuse the delay!

16 Comments

Back from Krakow + last Journal

Sat Nov 17, 2012, 12:57 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Sorry for any delays in answering messages - I was on a buisness trip to Krakow last week and only had limited access to the internet. I didn't even have my real camera with me, so I had to use my phone camera to bring back some memories:

They're a bit grainy and blurry, but I hope you can still see how fascinating Krakow is at night

Reminds me that I have to dig through the ones I made in March (with the real camera) to see if there's anything upload worthy (here or at my stock account) in there.

As for my last Journal

I rant because I care. I disabled comments because I just wanted you to listen and not get into formulating your reply right away. I know my words are harsh sometimes, but if you know me, you also know that that's not meant to be extra-insulting, but just a way to stick to what I feel is important. And then there's the fact that "we Germans" in general and I guess German engineers in particular are rather straight forward, which to others might be offending while we don't think twice about it.

When I was CV I rarely ranted just because having a hat comes with a different set of unwritten rules. You're suddenly more than "just another deviant", you become a role model, a mediator, a ring master who for the most part cannot allow themselves to rant because the fallout is always unproportionally big and the whole thing so not worth it. So now, I'm not a CV, but I still have eyes and ears and I am sympathetic to those who don the hat because they want to help. To see them getting beaten with virtual sticks just because they are not fulfilling everyone's expectations - no matter how unrealistic those may be - makes me want to scream. So I ranted because I can do it while others may not be in a position to.

I disabled comments because I didn't want to make my journal a home for a big discussion or even a shouting match or two. There's been enough enough of that, not only last week, but in all my time here. dA is a very important part of my life and I care what goes on here. I want to help make this a great place to be and as much as I hate drama, I will not stand by just to keep the peace when I know that stuff is going horribly wrong.

Of course, you can argue that ranting like that is not the way to change stuff. But I ask you then what is? I've tried for years to get everyone to be inclusive and nice by organizing contests, writing articles, founding groups, etc. but to be honest, that can only go so far. And for my own sanity as much as this often praised and just as often belittled community, I refuse to hold my tongue.

I'm still working on the "how" though

Jasmin

28 Comments

The Reason...

Sun Nov 11, 2012, 8:09 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

...why so many CVs burn out after the shortest time are people like those that have surfaced on ^SanguineVamp's latest journal.

Those that think, CV-ing is a "job" and that the CVs have to do just about everything from setting a DD every day to holding contests. Don't forget to write tutorials or at the very least guiding news articles at least every second day. And don't you dare miss one tiny subgallery or trend while doing all that. Oh and the DD suggestions that you do get, do tell each and every single suggestor why their suggestion wasn't used - and don't you dare say "because I don't think it's well enough blended" because hey, it sure as hell has an awesome idea behind it and maybe the deviant has some sort of disease/disability/misfortune/etc and just needs a DD to get a better life.

WTF?!

Wake up! It's YOUR community. A community by definition consists of different people with one common interest - in the case of web communities at least and in our case that common interest is photomanipulation.

The CV may have more abilities, or power even, to promote, share, encourage than the "regular member", but s/he is only one person who is VOLUNTEERING some (not all!) of their time because they like dA and their chosen genre.

How can you expect them to spend their days looking for new art to feature only to complain afterwards that this or that was not up to what you think a DD should be like? If you see something you like, why don't you just send a dd suggestion note to the CV? If you don't try, your faves may never be brought to the CV's attention. And if it's not featured? Then it's not featured. Simple as that. There is no special art in selecting stuff. You don't need to read the CV's mind to find out what they like and how good is good enough. Just when you see something nice, shoot them a note. It takes you 5 seconds.

If it's not accepted, don't be pissed and don't take it personal. Just try again. And for god's sake, don't go looking through the DDs each day hoping to see your name there as a suggestor. The feature is for the deviant who created that amazing deviation. It's not your personal, ego-boosting playground. I remember the shit I had to listen to because I forgot to add one person as suggestor (on a DD that was suggested half a dozen times at least). How old are you? 5? The deviation got a spot in the DD feature and you complain your name was missing? Is that about the art or about your ego?

Believe it or not, but deciding against featuring something may not be rationally explainable - and no one (!) said it has to be! There's usually some degree of expierence with the reception of DDs that figures into it that is not something you can easily put into words. On top of that, if someone has a chance at a DD every 6 months at most, then you do want the DD you give someone to be for the very best deviation they currently have to offer - and if you feel like that person is in the middle of a very steep creativity/learning curve, then it may be wise to wait for one or two more submissions before giving the DD.

And now some shocking news: I have had dozens of suggestions rejected. Even for manip DDs. [Note for those who don't know: I was manip CV for quite a while, twice.] Sometimes, going back to the suggestion I can see that maybe it's not all that much of a "wow" pic when looking at it with a bit more distance. Sometimes I don't know why it was rejected. That does not mean I throw a hissy fit and stop sending in notes whenever I see something I personally think is cool.

Btw, those that shout the loudest usually are the ones that have never tried to send in even one suggestion, though. It's sad, but it's been my experience.

But of course, it doesn't stop with DDs.

You can hold contests or challenges, organize chat events, throw out articles by the dozen and whatever you do, no matter how much it is, someone will crawl out from under some rock and complain. It's frustrating to no end.

And I wish I could disable comments on journals. Because I don't want to discuss this. I just wanted to vent. Because frankly, it's one of the reasons I'm unlikely to go for a third round of CV-ing.
EDIT: turns out you finally can (disable comments on journals). good.

EDIT2: if you feel compelled to leave an immature comment on my userpage because you can't leave one here, be my guest. I will block you and hide your comment. I do not have to take bullshit from any one of you idjits. Especially not if all you do is holler and throw a hissy fit. All I can say to that is "fuck off" because obviously you won't understand that any other way.

No Comments

Manip Challenges #004

Sun Oct 14, 2012, 5:13 AM

My Stock & Resources | #Photomanipulated

After a longer hiatus, they are back! Find below our 4th Manip Challenges!

Please don't forget to credit and notify all resource providers you use stock of - including the challenge stock!

_{Note to NaySayers: this is supposed to be a fun event. It's called a challenge because there are rules to observe. But it is in the nature of these rules that a lot of similar images will be created for this. While everyone likes a great idea and/or a piece that is on a high technical level, this excercise is not meant to be seen in such a light. Meaning that in a classic contest, we usually look for originality and compete with others -- here, we look for a personal moment of satisfaction, maybe helping someone break their artist's block by doing something just for the sake of doing it. Not everything always has to be a big competition. Sometimes, all you need is a nudge to do something at all. We like to provide that nudge. If you don't like looking at a lot of similar pieces, maybe you should go and find one of the countless "real contests" to watch and engage in.
~ Jasmin (who felt compelled to say this because she's tired of having everything turned upside down by people who just seem to be best when complaining about one thing or other)}

The Rules

You are given 8 stock images (see below) of which you have to use at least TWO in a way that we don't have to go
hunting for them with a looking glass.
You can use additional stock, but I ask you not to use premades - this is a challenge for your skills, not for someone else's.
Your entry has to be a photomanipulation or a digital mixed media piece with a good deal of photomanipulation in it.
Please specify in your artist's comment that this is an entry for #Photomanipulated's Manip Challenges #004!
Your entry has to be uploaded to dA and submitted to #Photomanipulated's Manip Challenges folder (you need to be a member for that - everyone is welcome to join, just click the "join" button on the left side of the group's front page!) before the deadline specified below.
All stock used has to be credited properly and it has to be legitimate stock to begin with.
_{No celebrity pictures, no stuff "found on google" - you can't use anything you don't have permission to use. Plus you should be aware that not everyone offering free stock has the right to offer the images in the first place (so called "renders" are a no-go, as are premades using stock from sxc.hu or other stock sites!). Please read this article for more information on copyright.}
If you are using your own photos I ask that you say so in the artist's comment to avoid any misunderstandings
You can enter as often as you like, but keep it reasonable. Personal tip: choose one entry (your best) to officially enter, so you don't have yourself as competition.

The Deadline

Saturday, October 27th, 11:59 pm CET (German time zone)

Countdown (so you don't have to wrap your head around the whole time zone thing)

The Stock

Remember: you need to use at least TWO (can use more) of the stocks below.

The Prizes

This is not a contest as such, so the prizes will be small. I hope you'll find inspiration in these, not riches. However, a little incentive
doesn't hurt, so I'm offering exclusive stock from my stock account =kuschelirmel-stock for the winner (maybe for the top three, but
that depends on the turnout). And of course there will be a journal featuring all participants and the winner especially.

Exclusive stock graciously donated by =kuschelirmel-stock
Journal features graciously donated by: `kuschelirmel

Donations are welcome, but keeping with the challenge idea, I don't want to offer points! If you want to donate, please donate exclusive stock or journal features! No llamas either please.

The Judging

I (`kuschelirmel) will narrow the entries down to 10 (should there be more than ten entries to begin with) and then we will have a public vote at #Photomanipulated -- there will be no asking others to vote for you! If I find out you're cheating, you'll be disqualified.

The Entries

All entries can be found in this folder (where they should be submitted to by you to officially enter).

Good Luck!

CSS credit goes to:
Stock: ~Dragoroth-stock, *little-spacey, *mimose-stock, ~Dralliance-Stock, *Dracoart-Stock, !gaiastock, *CAStock
Brushes: ~MouritsaDA-Stock
Coding & graphics: =kuschelirmel-stock

32 Comments

My Apologies + Features

Sat Oct 13, 2012, 6:03 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

First off, I wanted to apologize for neglecting #Photomanipulated for the last few weeks. I was highly frustrated with everything and ready for a holiday that everything seemed a chore. So I removed myself for a while, then I went on holidays and now I'm back in action, finally!

For all those of you who like our Manip Challenges, there will be a new installment in the coming days

But now, on to our features for September, all of these are from #Photomanipulated

The Nightingale and the Rose by =Long-LostLove

Jasmin

50 Comments

Back from Vacation (with pictures!)

Thu Oct 4, 2012, 4:38 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

okay, so I've been back a few days now. I've managed to clear my message centers (both here and at =kuschelirmel-stock), upload some new stock (though none from the vacation yet) and start a new manip (which proves to be a helluva lot more complex than my previous ones - just good that I still have a few days of vacation left). I also started going through my vacation pics to create a photo book from them and I finally managed to choose a handful to send to my parents via e-mail -- and those are the ones I wanted to show you

(Note that none of those are stock unless they pop up officially at =kuschelirmel-stock)

Côte d'Azur

I'm gonna start with my all time fave: a picture that shows you why they call this the Côte d'Azure (blue coast):

We were in an apartment with swimming pool just above the Golfe de St Tropez (that blue bit at the back - the wide lense didn't quite do it justice):

One of the most spectacular views can be had from Gassin looking down on the golf - the night before it had rained so on that day you could actually see the Alpes in the background (click for bigger view):

But that was not all (top to bottom: view from Gassin towards Grimaud - Ramatuelle - View from Ramatuelle - Bormes les Mimosas):

If you know me a little then you know I love good food and drink:

In the Massif des Maures you can go for long walks (or as in the case of the first image, you can also go by car on tiny roads that gave me the creeps):

But of course, there's also the beach:

And the port cities St Tropez (first image) and St Maxime (second):

Jasmin

40 Comments

Going, Going, Gone! + Features

Fri Sep 14, 2012, 10:21 AM

Stock Account +
#Photomanipulated +
Get This CSS +

Just dropping in to tell you I'll be on vacation for two weeks without internet access. I'll be back with photos and another week off for sorting through them and dong some manips again.

So long,

Jasmin

Features

From #Photomanipulated's Gallery

18 Comments

PREMADES #Photomanipulated SubmissionRules CHANGE!

Journal Entry: Fri Sep 7, 2012, 10:18 AM

♦ Of Copyright & Premades ♦
♦ Photomanips for Beginners ♦

First, let me clarify: I'm not just talking about premade backgrounds, but also about cut-out stock and brushes or anything else where people use images (their own or other people's) to create the resource. And while this is mainly geared toward members of #Photomanipulated, I do hope that this journal will also be able to shed some light on things for others.

Personally, I've never been a fan of premade backgrounds, but I'm also not the type of person who thinks everyone else should do as I say just because I have a bad feeling about something. So far, that held true for premades: I steered clear of them because I feared copyright issues, but I didn't have much more than a bad feeling and some research on my part to confirm this. Now, an official dA blog has strengthened my believe that as an artist, using premades will do you more harm than good.

Copyright is something that often falls by the wayside with premades. And if it turns out the images used to create the premade were not legal to begin with, the end result is that not only will the premade be taken down, but all the images created with it (in good faith!) will be deleted along with it! This is especially upsetting if you've been using the premade for a commission/prints/etc. but even if you've "only" created a manip as a hobby, it still sucks to see your work to to waste just because someone else wanted to be in the spotlight (and premades are a good way to get some of that these days) for a day.

How can you prevent this?

Either, you steer clear of premades completely, or at least you check their sources! If anything feels off, don't use it - and don't fav it either! No more spotlight for those who can't be bothered to check/credit their resources!!!

How do you know if the sources are legitimate?

Often, this is hard to find out, because no sources are listed. This is against dA policy (see this article), but it still happens. I would suggest to not use those AT ALL. At the very least, an indication of "images shot by me" or something along those lines should be present to tell you they shot the images themselves. If you really like the premade (or brush etc), ask them where they got their images from ("Did you shoot all these different things yourself?").

If sources are listed, do follow them and check the terms of use (i.e. the stock rules) these are licensed under. There are a few things that should set off alarm bells with you:

Professional stock sites (such as sxc.hu, fotolia, dreamstime,...), whether they are for free stock sites or pay-sites - do NOT allow their stock to be redistributed - and that is the word that is usually used in their terms of use: "The images may not be redistributed on their own or along with other images; you are not allowed to share the images with others!" or something along those lines.
Just because someone on dA is okay with their stock being used for manips does NOT mean they are okay with it being used in premades/brushes/etc. Unless there is explicit permission given for this kind of use, assume the use for premades is not allowed! Premades is a relatively new line of stock, so many stockers may not have heard of this before and as such have not had the chance to rule this use out or allow it.
Websites offering "renders", backgrounds, wallpapers, etc where anyone can upload love to have a clause in their terms of use that basically states "the site is not liable for any copyright infringements because anyone can upload anything" should be treated with extreme caution. Now, don't get me wrong, this clause on its own is very common. After all, the site has to exclude the possibillity to be sued for the misdeeds of an individual. BUT the shady sites in question usually have very short Terms of Use and the main part is "we cannot be held responsible for what our members do". Be wary of sites with a lot of celebrity images, too. A site offering legitimate resources should at least be trying to comply with copyright laws and not just claim they aren't liable making plain that they don't care!

On top of that, conditions set by the original copyright holder MUST ALWAYS be fulfilled!

So, if you find that one of the resource providers is okay with use in premades BUT you need to always credit him/her, too, then you HAVE to do that! The restrictions set forth by the original copyright holder can under no circumstances be nullified by the creator of the premade! For example, they cannot allow you commercial use if the original stock wasn't allowed for that etc. So be careful what you can and cannot do!!!

Which brings me to the point of fairness, that is not written in the rules, but that has prevented me personally (and probably the professional stock sites as well) from offering my own stock to make premades with: the person creating the premade puts work into it, that is undeniable, BUT if the photos are not theirs, credit is in my opinion (!) also due to the original stockers. And I've rarely seen that done. Just something to think about...

So, what does this mean for photomanip submissions at #Photomanipulated?

This is the tricky part. In groups I run I tend to trust my members. And that includes not requiring credits in the form of direct links (unless the stocker's rules say so, of course). Which in turn makes it nearly impossible to monitor for premades used that may be illegitimate. Besides, it is YOUR job to get your resources straightened out, not ours (= the admins of this group). It will be YOUR image deleted and not ours. And, most importantly, most people here do not even want to use illegitimate sources. They may not know they are doing so (which is a reason to write this journal), but if told, they'll change their ways to comply with the law.

We are not going to play police just so we can point fingers (and feel righteous). And certainly, we are not going to condemn everyone in this community of manipulators just because there are a few idiots out there spoiling the fun for everyone else. This is NOT what this group is about. We want to educate people and be clear on the fact that the responsibillity lies with you as photomanipulator using images you did not shoot yourself to make sure those images are legit. However, we will tell you in a comment about what using premades might entail if we stumble upon questionable sources on the premades used in your artwork. We are not going to go looking for them. But sometimes, we have more time to check or see something we've seen before, so you may get a comment while others may not (for the same "offense"), with your work most likely* still being accepted.

_{*If it does not get accepted, you will be told exactly why. For example I could imagine a case where the so-called premade is just so obviously not legitimate that we have no choice but to say you knew what you were getting into. And that in turn would be like missing/false credits or credits to illegitimate sources: we just won't accept this because there is a clear line we can draw.}

In Conclusion

Please don't disappoint my faith in dA manippers. I firmly believe that everyone should know as much as possible about copyright and decide for themselves how much potential trouble they want to get themselves into. And while there are some clear-cut lines we can draw here (as outlined in our guidelines: credit is a must and legitimate sources are, too), there simply are some things I am not willing to play judge and jury over - and premades and their legitimateness are one of those things. In part because if we start to check every credit layer, we will get caught up in all this and the purpose of the hroup - to share art and resources - will be lost on the way.

However, if I find that this group gets overrun by manips made using premades with shady sources, I will have to rethink this pollicy. This would result in direct links becoming mandatory and us declining any manip whose resources so much as smell off.

I really don't want to go there.

Do you?

Jasmin

_{PS: please note that for resources submitted to the group, we WILL check your sources nd decline ANYTHING we are not comfortable with. I think this is more than fair.}

Take a look at these, too:

Of Copyright + Premades

Disclaimer: I'm no lawyer, I do not work for deviantArt, I'm merely someone who has been doing photomanips for quite a while and has taken the time to read quite a few articles on the topic. The views expressed hereunder are mine alone. They do not reflect any "official dA opinion" nor are they to be taken as "legal advice". Furthermore, you may live in a country that hasn't signed any of the treaties that govern international copyright law, so you'd have to check with your country's national laws.
I strongly urge you to not only read the journal, but also the comments underneath it as there are a lot more examples of what you can and can't do as well as more links to information being shared by your fellow deviants!
What is Copyright?
I'll paraphrase/quote the wikipedia article on the topic for this:
"Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclus

Stock and Resources: Policy ClarificationThe Stock and Resources community is an integral part of deviantART, both for having an active community of its own as well as providing high quality stock to all deviants.
As this community has grown so much over the years, so has the amount of invalid stock and resources that have been provided by some deviants. The Stock and Resources community feels like this reflects negatively on them, the volunteers have a hard time trying to teach people about valid stock and how to use it correctly, and it gives an appearance that deviantART Staff tolerate so-called “art theft” or copyright infringement.
In this article our aim is to reinforce our policies regarding stock and stock use and clear up some misconceptions.
Stock and Resource submissions to deviantART:
What are Invalid Stock and Resources?
In short, invalid stock or resources are anything which you do not have full permission to upload. This incl

Premade Backgrounds and Group Submission ChangesToday we’re going to address the “Circle of Stock.” Cue Disney’s “The Lion King” theme song and call me Mufasa. Just like in the circle of life, what we do affects another group, and returns to affect us again. We have a responsibility to the artists that use our stock to provide legitimate and safe stock resources. As an administrator for a few art groups as well as stock groups, I have seen what happens to the artists who use invalid stock resources. They have had their art declined, or had to replace stock elements through no fault of their own. This especially includes those who includes celebrity or otherwise copyrighted material, even if it was uploaded to the Resources and Stocks section of

. It isn’t fair to the artists who use the “stock” and hurts the credibility of not only the stock provider who uploads it, but the stock community itself.
Premade backgrounds have always seemed to be flo
The last one especially - it has not been linked in the text of the article, but it explains even more comprehensively what you could be getting yourself into by using premades without credits. For example, did you know that you won't get a DD for anything when your sources don't check out?!

Articles and Links

Photomanipulation for Beginners

_{an article about what photomanipulation is and what you need to try it - and on the ever so important issue of "where do I get pictures to play with?"}
--> read article <--

Know your Basics - article series:

Tutorial Treasury

--> 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 <--

Journal Stock Credits: ~Kaotiksymphony-Stock and ~MouritsaDA-Stock.

29 Comments

Journal History

Apr 28, 2013 Manip Challenge Special (#005)
Apr 9, 2013 Best of #photomanipulated March 2013
Mar 28, 2013 Know your Basics - Textures
Mar 15, 2013 Since you asked...
Mar 14, 2013 Attention! SXC.HU not usable for manips!
Feb 25, 2013 Ask me Anything + Feature
Feb 17, 2013 Back from Poland and Brazil
Feb 15, 2013 #Photomanipulated Best of Jan. Features
Jan 27, 2013 Gone for a bit
Jan 19, 2013 Oportunity for You + Supergroup + Rules Reminder
Jan 8, 2013 Thank you! + Get to know me + Feature
Jan 2, 2013 #Photomanipulated Best of December
Dec 12, 2012 Best of #Photomanipulated November
Dec 1, 2012 Manip Challenges 004 Winner
Nov 17, 2012 Back from Krakow + last Journal
Nov 11, 2012 The Reason...
Oct 14, 2012 Manip Challenges #004
Oct 13, 2012 My Apologies + Features
Oct 4, 2012 Back from Vacation (with pictures!)
Sep 14, 2012 Going, Going, Gone! + Features

My Calendars

_{"Calendar 2011" Collection

"Texture This" Calendar Collection

Photomanip Calendar Collection}

I've been published

_{Advanced Photoshop Germany, December 2008}

_{psd Magazine, April/May 2009}

_{Photoshop Creative, July 2009}

I've been interviewed

_{Interview for #eCSSited about my CSS templates etc.
Interview for International Women's Week - Mar 5, 2008 by `SandraPelly
Manip-Equips featured artist: kuschelirmel-stock - Mar 10, 2007 by ~Manip-Equips
Interview with kuschelirmel - Oct 30, 2006 by ~Moniquette
Featured Chat with me held in #Resources by `znow-white -- Log Part 1 + Part 2}

My Tutorials & Resources

_{More Tutorials & PSD Files --> [link]}

More Resources can be found at my stock account =kuschelirmel-stock. Including: Journal CSS Templates, Photoshop brushes, stock images, textures,...

Twenty Under Forty

Twenty Under Forty is a news article that features 20 deviations in each issue that have less than 40 faves at the time of writing the article. It is published on an irregular basis.

Issues of Twenty Under Forty so far:
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

_{Feel free to note me if you have some thumbs you'd like to see included While I have nothing against you suggesting yourselves, I'd love to see you try to suggest someone else's work as well.}

Shoutbox

=OnionBlaze: Thu Aug 4, 2011, 3:33 AM
`d3rzi: Tue Jan 25, 2011, 1:37 PM
`kuschelirmel: Fri Jan 21, 2011, 11:06 AM
`hellfirediva: Fri Nov 19, 2010, 12:27 PM
`kuschelirmel: Sun Jan 24, 2010, 1:52 AM
~Lindowyn: Big big big hug for you!
Thu Jun 18, 2009, 9:58 AM
`bypass2020: Wed May 6, 2009, 12:41 PM
*FreakyBabe: Fri May 1, 2009, 2:40 AM
`znow-white: Fri Jan 30, 2009, 10:42 AM
`d3rzi: Tue Jan 27, 2009, 3:47 AM

Nobody

Advertise | Premium Membership

Etiquette | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Copyright Policy

`kuschelirmel

Textures in Manips as you know them

A more objective look at Textures

That in turn means: not only something with bumps and ridges and obvious structure is a texture, but also what we generally perceive as "not textured" is!

Let's look at some more examples from around deviantArt:

So how am I supposed to use these textures?

"Are the different elements of these base images helping my image when i put them together or does it feel distracting?"

In Closing

*XilaPhoenixArt: How do you deal with stress situations?

*XilaPhoenixArt: What are the best/worst qualities in your character?

*XilaPhoenixArt & =CamaroGirl666: What inspires you the most to make your art? what inspires you and keeps you going?

`ginkgografix: What things - beside Photomanips and photography - would you be interesting in learning additionally?

`ginkgografix: Have you ever considered a creative carreer or was and will it be always just a hobby?

^SanguineVamp: Photomanip gets a bad rap sometimes, especially considering we are such a small gallery. Still, we are pretty awesome. What is our biggest strength, and how can we capitalize on that to make the community even stronger?

^SanguineVamp: I'm handing you a magic wand. What would you change about dA? Or about the photomanipulation community specifically?

^SanguineVamp: You've been a CV for photomanip twice. Are you a glutton for punishment? (I'm kidding, you don't have to answer that.)

^SanguineVamp: You are a brilliant artist *and* a brilliant engineer. How does your head not implode from all the brilliance? (Read: How do you stay grounded, and how do you not let one side of your brain take over too much?)

^SanguineVamp: As a friend, I would describe you as passionate yet pragmatic, very well-balanced, and courageous/fighting for what you believe in. What are the three traits you most value about YOURSELF?

k

^SanguineVamp: Relativity: theory or inescapable truth?

^SanguineVamp: Where's your next vacation going to be? We'll hold a devmeet there. I'm kidding. Just curious about where else you'd like to travel.

^SanguineVamp: What is your favorite color, and what does that say about your personality? Does that come out in your art, do you think?

^PirateLotus-Stock: What is your favorite sweet?

*marni-smith: How do artists get their photomanips to look so polished....smooth...blended?? Almost like a photo? Is it a matter of coloring or filters or gradients???

~natash29: I was wondering how you got started and any advice on where to start. I love photography but I'm looking to make more creative pictures. Any advice would be appreciated.

*Lou-in-Canada: are you on dA all day every day?

~ZRobert: Why? XD

sxc.hu is NOT availablefor derivative works, i.e. photomanipulations and collages

What this means for #photomanipulated:

Ask me anything!

Feature

Krakow, Poland

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Oportunity

Supergroup

Rules Reminder

In Closing

Get to Know me

Featured

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

As for my last Journal

Côte d'Azur

Features

How can you prevent this?

How do you know if the sources are legitimate?

So, what does this mean for photomanip submissions at #Photomanipulated?

In Conclusion

Take a look at these, too:

Journal History

My Calendars

I've been published

I've been interviewed

My Tutorials & Resources

Twenty Under Forty

Shoutbox

Add Media

Style

^SanguineVamp: You are a brilliant artist and a brilliant engineer. How does your head not implode from all the brilliance? (Read: How do you stay grounded, and how do you not let one side of your brain take over too much?)