Filter Forge Friday.

Happy Friday!  Today I want to introduce you to a very useful program called Filterforge.  You can check out there website here:  http://filterforge.com/.  It is a plugin for Photoshop that allows you to use all the thousands of filters that the community at Filterforge has made.  I will be showcasing a few filters every Friday for the next couple weeks to give you an idea of what you can do with it.

The First filter I selected is called Enhance.  The name is self explanatory.  It is a filter that greatly enhances the color and vibrance of your photos.  The following picture shows the before and after shot using only the filter Enhance.  All the filters on Filterforge have presets to choose from or you can make adjustments to the settings and tweak it to perfection.

  

The second filter is called Edge and Tones.  This is a really fun filter to make that okay picture into something really fun!  This is a filter that makes cartoon and comic style images by controlling the picture tones.

  

The third and final filter I want to demonstrate is called Van Gogh Flow.  I’m sure everyone has seen a picture of Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night.  Well, this filter gives you that same feel.

  

This software program has all the tools needed to make your own customized filters.  Also, can even adjust and tweak the filters that everyone else has created.  You get a 30 days free to try out the program.  Make sure to create as many filters during your trial period because you can earn credits to upgrade the account if your filter gets downloaded and used by the community frequently.

I wish I was better prepared when I download the program last year.  I only bought the basic edition.  After the 30 days you can’t create your own filters.  I didn’t have any time to create any new filters.  I should have spent my time creating the perfect posterizing filter.  I would have made it to have an input selection for how many colors you wanted.  A tone selector to adjust highlight, midtones and shadows.  Also, I would have added the ambient light source to allow for artificial lighting or darkening of the picture.  Hopefully, I will be able to upgrade my account to create all those wonderful filters I should of done.

If you don’t have Photoshop, you can still use it as a standalone product.  It is a little pricey, but if you love using filters on your pictures …. you will love this software program.

Portrait Tutorial: Assembling Your Paper Portrait.

Hello everyone.  I have been making paper portraits for all most a year and thought it was time to share some of my knowledge I have learned.  Once you have posterized the image and created your layers for cutting, it is time to cut and and glue your project.  For this tutorial, I decided on Tom Cruise.  It is a little inside joke on one of the forums I follow.  If you wish to try this project for yourself, you can send me an email.  I have most of the more popular programs and should hopefully be able to convert the image to a file your software can recognize.  Just send me an email with the subject line Tom Cruise  at paperkutzstudio (at) gmail (dot) com and I will forward the file to you.  Make sure to specify what type of file you need (i.e. SVG, MTC, SCAL, WPC, etc..) or I will send a standard SVG file.

Here are step by step instructions on assembling your cut portrait.

1.)  The supplies needed are:  paper trimmer, glue (I prefer Aqua Liquid Glue), X-acto knife, scissors, craft pick (Tim Holtz), tweezers and of course, your paper.   For this project I used 6 sheets of Bazzills cardstock.  They are: White Classic, Mystique, Stonehenge, Dusk, London Fog, and Raven.   Don’t fear deciding on your paper.  Bazzill cardstock makes it easy when you stay in a monochromatic color pallete.  The grays I used are from the Warm Gray Monochromatic Series.

1. Supplies needed

2.)  Cutting out your paper can go quickly if you have two cutting mats to feed into your cutting machine.  Once one finishes, insert the next layer.  Remember to work from lightest to darkest.  Using two mats gives you time to remove all the pieces while your cutting the next layer.

2. Cut layers ready to be assembled.

3.)  There are many different glues out on the market.  Experiment and see what works best for you.  I prefer Mono Aqua Liquid Glue by Tombo.  I buy it in bulk off of Ebay.  It gives you enough time to adhere your layers and is forgiving enough to replace if not positioned correctly.  I get kind of messy as I like to use my fingers to rub the glue around the edges.  Start gluing from the farthest point and work towards you.  This will help avoid getting glue all over your hands.  Also, there are times that I use an adhesive spray that is re-positionable when I have  larger pieces that I am working on.

3. Gluing your layers.

4.)  Applying your layers of top of each other.  Usually I will cut a border around all my layers to ensure proper alignment (8×10, 12×12, etc..).  On this project I decided not to as I was working on a portrait that is on a corner.  Alignment was pretty simple on this particular portrait.

4. Applying the layers.

5.)  Gluing the islands are the most difficult part of the assembling process.  Islands are the little pieces of paper that are needed, but are not part of the major layer.  Never discard your unused paper until after the project is finished.  As you can see from picture 5, I used the discarded layer as a guideline to help assist on where the little pieces need to be placed.  Just place your discarded paper (left) on top of your portrait and align the pieces.  You know have an exact position of where to glue your final pieces.

5. Gluing the islands.

6.)  Continue applying your layers starting with the larger pieces first and work towards the smaller pieces to glue last.

6. Applying the final layers.

On this project, I decided to modify the pattern to make the lightest layer a silhouette.  I have grown fond of this technique as it allows the freedom to apply any background you wish to the project.  Now, you don’t have to do a silhouette layer to get the same affect.  You can just hand cut a few pieces and tape them to the back of the second layer where the holes show through.  This will save on paper, but will cause a slight uneven portrait.

The final portrait.

I hope this quick tutorial on assembling your Paper Portrait helps you better understand my process.  I plan to release more files in the future.  Let me know if you found this tutorial helpful.  Also, comment on this page if you have a request for my next shared portrait file.  I will probably go with the majority who leave a comment for my next freebie file.  Please be sure to follow my blog or sign up for email alerts for my next post.  Starting in August, I plan to start posting more of my projects and will hopefully get more tutorials up as time allows.

Thanks.

Paperkutz

Paper Portraits: True Blood

Hey everyone, I decided to do a series of True Blood paper portraits.  My goal was to do  Bill Compton, Eric Northman, Sookie and Jason Stackhouse.  They are all designed to be 8×10 frame.  They are all made with 5 layers in a black and white style.  Also, I added 3D Crystal Color Lacquer to make the blood drops.  It was a pretty fun project.

Let me know if anyone has any ideas for a new series of portraits I should make.

Hello world!

Welcome to my little part of the digital world.  I am Paperkutz and this blog is dedicated to the happenings inside my studio.  Since this is my first entry, I felt it appropriate to give a little background on myself.  I have been creating art for about 3 years and unlike others artistic types, I have not been creative my whole life.  This has only been a recent occurrence in my life.  I blame it on my love of paper!

I scour the internet looking for new techniques and other artists who specialize in paper.  I love to learn new styles and try to incorporate different methods into my own creations.

I started cutting paper by hand with an X-Acto knife and scissors, but soon discovered electronic cutters.  I love creating by hand, but as a husband and father of two beautiful girls, I don’t have the luxury to cut everything by hand.  Of course, I still regularly pick up the blade and cut certain pieces by hand.

The first steps in my artistic journey was with making mosaics and decoupage.  From that starting point, it was an easy transition into the world of paper cutting.

As my wife and I have two young daughters, I was “forced” to help on the layouts to her scrapbook pages.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed making the die cuts and making new layouts.  Back in early 2010, I wanted to challenge myself on taking on a larger project.  So, for the next 3 months I spent any free time I could make for myself and began creating a Mayan Calendar entirely out of cut paper.  It was even featured on one of my favorite blogs, Dudecraft.  http://www.dudecraft.com/2010/03/best-of-dudecraft-flickr-pool.html

It was on Dudecraft that I discovered paper cut portraits.  I was floored when I discovered these.   It became my mission to be able to make them on my own.  So, I spent the next few months learning the process and creating my own technique, but I kept thinking that there had to be an easier way.  Months past and I revisited my earlier attempts and started messing around with my electronic cutter and after trial and error, I learned how to cut them using a machine.  It became my newest obsession!!  I couldn’t stop myself.

My First Paper Portrait

I started posting my portraits on the Pazzles Craftroom forum and even inspired others to attempt their own designs.  Later, I discovered the software program Make The Cut (MTC) and found a whole new group of paper enthusiasts.  Dozens of portraits later, I wanted to take the technique a step further and add multiple levels of layers.  A local art gallery had a “call for artists” with the theme being Public/Private.  I immediately came up with the idea of Paperazzi.  I consider myself a paper paparazzi and thought it appropriate for the theme of the show.  It is very “Edward Scissorhands” meets “steampunk”.  This definitely represents my creative soul.

I am currently in a group show with some other artists and it felt great to actually display my art, instead of  it remaining hidden in the studio.

Now that my family has moved into our new home, I have the space to take on even more projects and even go bigger in scale.  This blog will be a virtual studio to my creative endeavors.  I hope you come back often.  Enjoy.