Zen Stone Tutorial?

[silvercaper]

I've searched to no avail. Is there a tutorial on making zen stones?

Thanks for your help.

I posted a picture, but would prefer the shiny black stones.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

I'm not sure what you're asking? How to stack stones and photograph them, or do you wish to make the entire image from scratch?

[silvercaper]

Hi EER,

I was looking to make the zen stones from scratch. I'd like to make individual stones and stack them however I like.

I bought your e-book last night, but haven't had time to read it yet. For those that don't have a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle for PC reader.

Thanks for your help.

SC

[Ella]

I put something quick together to give you some ideas .

You can make own stone texture or use premade one, I used WelshBlue´s which he generously shared. You can find it in his gallery http://forums.getpai...lue-air-cooled/.

I used Shape3D to make a base stone http://forums.getpai...showtopic=18968

and then you can use different distortion methods to shape the stones to your liking, I used Bulge.

-------------------------------

I started with this texture http://i616.photobuc...es/1texture.jpg.

and here are some steps with screenshots:

Open new image and copy and paste your stone to different layers.

Shape the stones to your liking.

Use Selection tools and Move pixels for final adjustments and placing of stones.

Then I ran AA´s Assistant to smooth the edges and added some shadows and background, result is this:

Edited November 3, 2012 by Ella

[yellowman]

Nice Tute Ella,

I remeber also Stones image of Welshblue, I can't find it in the gallery, was trying to link it here.

[jim100361]

Ditto. Great tute. Nice finished look. TY

[silvercaper]

Ella,

What a great tutorial. Easy enough that even I could follow it. This is exactly what I had in mind Thank you very much.

Here's my first attempt. I couldn't figure out the shadowing, would you mind explaining? If anyone has any other tips, please chime in.

Thanks again Ella, and Welshblue and Yellowman as well.

[jim100361]

One each layer use the drop shadow plugin

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=8375

[silvercaper]

Thanks Jim. I was actually using the drop shadow plugin, but couldn't get it to look like Ella's, so I thought that she had another trick up her sleeve. I'll keep trying to see if I can get it to look more polished.

Thanks again,

SC

[jim100361]

The alternative method is to add an additional transparent layer beneath each stone's layer, draw a filled ellipse, and then apply the guassian blur. You may need to play with the size of the ellipse and blur to get the right feel.

[Ella]

Basically it is what jim said , I didn´t save all the steps for shadows but here are some which might help.

I used Drop Shadow for shadows between stones and for bottom shadows I used 2 black filled ellipses and applied Gaussian Blur. Bottom shadows are each on own layer so you can play with settings and blur to get the right look.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Ella

[silvercaper]

Jim,

Thanks. I played around with the drop shadow plugin and did get a better outcome. Any other suggestions for improvement. Is the shadow too large or off to the right too much?

[silvercaper]

Thanks Ella, you're the best. I appreciate you taking the time to help.

SC

[jim100361]

Compare yours to Ella's and you'll see the shadows are more constrained to the surface of the stones (roughly designated by the red ovals) below each of them, don't overlap into the background (designated by the blue arrows) and are darker.

You've got the right idea. A little polish and you've got it made!

[silvercaper]

Thanks Jim! I tried cleaning it up and using the elliptical blur trick for the bottom shadow. I can definitely see an improvement with each iteration.

Thanks again,

SC

[Ego Eram Reputo]

I bought your e-book last night, but haven't had time to read it yet. For those that don't have a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle for PC reader.

You've made me a happy author!

I put something quick together to give you some ideas .

Something quick? Gosh Ella - that's impressive!

I'm going to ask you to post this in the Tutorial section. Please?

[Ella]

Thanks I posted the tutorial in Creations section or maybe Begginers would be more appropriate?

Edited November 4, 2012 by Ella

[yellowman]

Yes Welshy that one, and another one I remeber was some stones by the beach or water...