Mask Workshop (2024)

[MoniqueN.]

9 hours ago, Cassel said:

Welcome to all the posters. At this point, we have 147 registrants! Woohoo!!! That means we should see a lot of wonderful projects in this thread.

Welcome to all the newcomers to this workshop, namely @Barbara Caulton, @Diana Moore, @Mariana Trapnell, @Deana Davis, @Jen Brown, and others. If you ever get stuck, don't hesitate to ask in this forum. There is always someone ready to help (sometimes, faster than I can).

Welcome to our return participants. Even with the same tutorials and templates, you can always try something slightly different.

@MoniqueN. Nice photos of windmills. Can you check if you might have hidden the shadow on the bottom right photo? It seems to be missing.

@Rene Marker Two layouts for the price of one! For the first layout, can you check if the shadow layer for the middle photo on the bottom might have been moved? It should be above the left photo, but it looks like it is under.

@Jen Brown Cute kitty! I love the patterns you used in the background. It looks like you used washi tape!

@sharon thompson Choosing photos and supplies is often the most time-consuming task. The more you have, the worse it is! LOL The mistake you made when saving in PNG, I bet you learned from it and likely won't repeat it too soon! 

@Deana Davis Did you end up getting the first lesson? If not, here is a little secret: you can access the lesson page through the Workshops in the DIAMOND members' section!

@Gerry Landreth That font you used is a great one. Simple yet elegant!

@Corrie Kinkel Those flowers really pop on the dark background!

@bina greene Are those your photos? If so, where are they taken? I would love to travel with you there! Maybe you could add a location on the layout? I might just be nosey!

@Anne Lamp Oh, you will get a lot of fans in this group with that Foxy girl!!

@Bonnie Ballentine I am so glad you managed to get all those "ordinary" photos of day-to-day activities. This is a great snapshot of a fun activity.

@Harmony Birch It is great to hear that you are already comfortable enough to tweak a mask to suit your need!

@Emerald Jay Oh, another cutie!! Will we have more pictures of that little star in future lessons?

If any registrants are reading this thread and have not received their confirmation emails, (1) check your spam folder or (2) reach out to me. 

Keep up your work, and show us your lessons. Those projects are made to be quick, so I hope you will catch up. Don't be shy!!!

@Cassel, yeah you were right! Changed it now 🙂

[MoniqueN.]

The shadow came out of the shadow now🤪🧐 (Shadow bottom right was missing in my previous uploaded lay out 🙂

[Ann Seeber]

Lesson One - Magic in Colorado (with her dad, my grandson, Will) trying out an Arctic Cat snowmobile, called a "Kitty Cat" and her first skis. Background paper, Marisa Lerin; font is Mama. 

[Marie-Claire]

15 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

It is such a timesaver and it is probably the script I use the most!

I also use that script a lot !

[fiona cook]

I have now used the extra template and some supplies that Carole gave us to practice the technique. It did help to question with each move what I was actually trying to achieve with each layer. Thank you Harmony for your help there.

For this template I found it easier to rename the Stroke layers (1-5) to differentiate them. The main image I created from a picture tube I created of hearts and placed it on my photo of an old painted wall. The wall image fell short of the Mask window so I duplicated the wall image to fit, and used the Smudge brush to blend the join. Then Merged down to one layer. 

[Corrie Kinkel]

2 hours ago, fiona cook said:

Corrie, I have note taken on paper like you which I find easier for me to digest. Susan, your idea of screen shots of the steps I will take up. I had made a mistake on the last photo for this lesson and still don't know what I did wrong (See snip of my layers) I rectified by deleting the offending layers and replacing by dragging across from the original template and redoing just that last photo.

My theme is back to my local tree project and because the main tree image was not wide enough for the mask , it caused a sharp edge where it fell short. I used a black brush stroke inside the white area of the mask using a splodgy brush tip (a-dozi's background-08 003) to blend the edge in.

The 2 background layers were blended with Multiply having used Adjust\Colour\Colour Mixer to change a red to blue.

The main title font is Mama which Carole gave us the link to download

 Fiona by looking at your screenshot I noticed that you have the shadow layer inside the mask layer, probably by mistake. That shadow layer has to be outside the mask layer and on its own layer under the mask layer. Look how the other 2 small photos are done in your layers palette. You can pull that shadow layer out of the mask layer and place it below the mask layer. I hope this makes sense to you and isn't it nice to have some notes on "old fashioned" paper next to the computer!

[bina greene]

@Cassel: I tried to dl the template that was linked in lesson2 (many thanks for that lesson and the video, Carole💓) but the link for that template has expired. The template is not available any more it seems. 

Edited February 13 by bina greene

[MoniqueN.]

Day 2 "Green"

In earlier days green was a colour to show you had money. Green was too expensive for the "common" people. Nowadays green is still a colour people use for their houses, it matches well with the colour of brick.

Baskerville old face is the font. Photo's are my own, taken at the Openlucht museum .

 

 

 

[Susan Ewart]

1 hour ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

 Fiona by looking at your screenshot I noticed that you have the shadow layer inside the mask layer, probably by mistake. That shadow layer has to be outside the mask layer and on its own layer under the mask layer. Look how the other 2 small photos are done in your layers palette. You can pull that shadow layer out of the mask layer and place it below the mask layer. I hope this makes sense to you and isn't it nice to have some notes on "old fashioned" paper next to the computer!

I am a compulsive note taker.  Sometimes, I take too many different notes on one piece of paper that I cant make sense of them, later when I come back to them.  

 

 

[Susan Ewart]

1 hour ago, bina greene said:

@Cassel: I tried to dl the template that was linked in lesson2 (many thanks for that lesson and the video, Carole💓) but the link for that template has expired. The template is not available any more it seems. 

Same happened for me too

[Barbara Caulton]

Hi all .I will be joining you eventually  hopefully! My psp 23 ultimate has decided to freeze my screen when I access the  adjust brightness . it turns the layer to black instantly with no options to go to brightness or contrast ! Then freezes the program ! I have reset to default but no luck. Catch you soon ! Not sure if I should have started a new thread so appologies if this is in someone elses post !!

[Cassel]

22 minutes ago, bina greene said:

@Cassel: I tried to dl the template that was linked in lesson2 (many thanks for that lesson and the video, Carole💓) but the link for that template has expired. The template is not available any more it seems. 

Oh my!!! I will reach out to the author and I added a different link in the meantime.

[Emerald Jay]

Lesson 2

Oh, Carole, you must have posted while I was working on mine.  I found a different template by Lady22 that I used that was similar.  I love the plaid idea!  Font used was Moonlight Sonata.

[MoniqueN.]

1 hour ago, Cassel said:

Oh my!!! I will reach out to the author and I added a different link in the meantime.

I still have the original psd file, (used it today) would you like me to send it to you?

[MoniqueN.]

1 hour ago, Emerald Jay said:

Lesson 2

Oh, Carole, you must have posted while I was working on mine.  I found a different template by Lady22 that I used that was similar.  I love the plaid idea!  Font used was Moonlight Sonata.

Love the plaid here! 🙂

 

[Donna Sillia]

I going to be using the photos that I took in Fredericksburg, VA for this workshop. The photos in the image were taken on route to Fredericksburg, only a little out of the way, because I love Mallo Cups. The graphics are from the kit. Large font is called "ChocolateHeartFree" and the journal font is called "Chewy" which is a free font.

 

Edited February 13 by Donna Sillia
fix page

[fiona cook]

2 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

 Fiona by looking at your screenshot I noticed that you have the shadow layer inside the mask layer, probably by mistake. That shadow layer has to be outside the mask layer and on its own layer under the mask layer. Look how the other 2 small photos are done in your layers palette. You can pull that shadow layer out of the mask layer and place it below the mask layer. I hope this makes sense to you and isn't it nice to have some notes on "old fashioned" paper next to the computer!

Hi Corrie, yes I see what you mean with how I had it before amending. I relooked at the amended one and the shadow is in the correct place but not showing up on the image so I have changed the Brightness value to make it more visible. Thank you for your help again.

[fiona cook]

For today's Lesson 2 I am still on my Trees theme. I condensed the the main photo mask shape so it suited the format of my photo better. I used a brush tip 'Fuzz soft' to white out the mask a bit on the sun flare and a bit on the trunk to bring those bits out that were subdued by the grey of the mask.

Deciding I liked the grass under the tree on my main photo I duplicated it and made a selection of just the grass. I also like the white of the background for this image so I didn't use the plaid idea although I think on some of the designs I have seen today, the pattern suits.

I used the same photo for a panoramic effect for both the small photo masks. I used the Mama font again but am finding I need to kern it quit a bit.

[sharon thompson]

Day 2 starting off great. I actually had that template that is no longer available (large stashes confuse but are can be helpful if you know exactly what you want). I think I have mastered the whole raster to mask group conversion enough to start altering the mask since I wasn't too keen on some of the streaky bits once the photo was added. Went back and forth several times and, between a paint brush and an eraser tool and the pick tool, managed to get rid of the offending streaks. Because of the theme that I was using, I couldn't make my plaid from the photos so I used a another photo of a greenish grain field.... lots of small edges and muted colors in it. That way it wouldn't clash with the plaids in the main photos (all snagged from free photo sites). Added a few very thin borders. Font is Brush Script. I tried using that trick of brushing behind the text to make the words more distinctive but, because my background plaid is so small & tight, the brushing was too obvious. When adding a shadow really didn't work either, I changed the color of the drop shadow to a mid green color from the plaid and it brought out the text a bit. The nice thing about these structured lessons is that, if you make enough mistakes & have to redo things, you get more confident & adventurous (though you still need post it note reminders on your monitors for the command sequences). 

[Barbara Caulton]

Never used a Mask before and no idea what I m doing ! but I have managed to put something together no doubt with many mistakes !The video was excellent, it was my brain and my version of psp letting me down!  My idea was to showcase the first 7 weeks in a puppys life one week a day. After taking two days to do day one  I am not sure how that will turn out! Never mind life is a learning curve ..Just realised I have not put a date they were born on . opps ! The papers and graphics were from MARY FRANS... FARLEYFRIENDS

[Barbara Caulton]

7 minutes ago, Barbara Caulton said:

Never used a Mask before and no idea what I m doing ! but I have managed to put something together no doubt with many mistakes !The video was excellent, it was my brain and my version of psp letting me down!  My idea was to showcase the first 7 weeks in a puppys life one week a day. After taking two days to do day one  I am not sure how that will turn out! Never mind life is a learning curve ..Just realised I have not put a date they were born on . opps ! The papers and graphics were from MARY FRANS... FARLEYFRIENDS

I have'nt put any drop shadows on the text and graphics !! So evident now I see it here ! 

[Susan Ewart]

1 hour ago, Barbara Caulton said:

Never used a Mask before and no idea what I m doing ! but I have managed to put something together no doubt with many mistakes !The video was excellent, it was my brain and my version of psp letting me down!  My idea was to showcase the first 7 weeks in a puppys life one week a day. After taking two days to do day one  I am not sure how that will turn out! Never mind life is a learning curve ..Just realised I have not put a date they were born on . opps ! The papers and graphics were from MARY FRANS... FARLEYFRIENDS

It looks great to me!  Such sweet sweet photo subjects.

Edited February 13 by Susan Ewart

[Ann Seeber]

My Lesson Two - It's a Party! This occurred Saturday, Feb. 10, though his birthday was on the 6th. I used the same old template as last time. Discovered some strange layers. 😁 It happens when I'm struggling with masks, especially if they're in French! 😆 I created the plaid, and the balloons are a template from Marisa Lerin. I do struggle to align photos in a mask that is on an angle. I tried the Free Rotate tool but didn't see much change with it. Is there a trick to it?

[Corrie Kinkel]

I started a bit later today and noticed a new link for a template which I used, although I have the old one and the Diamond one too. I have both used, but a new template is always welcome! For this template I could use a couple of photos that are narrow and long without having much resizing. I made different plaids until I had one that I liked and that went well with the colors of the photos but I reduced the opacity otherwise it would overpower the photos. Fonts are Perfectly Vintages and Arial rounded. The smaller photos had no borders or a mat underneath, so I made very thin borders to make them stand out a bit more.

Edited February 13 by Corrie Kinkel

[Gerry Landreth]

5 hours ago, Cassel said:

Oh my!!! I will reach out to the author and I added a different link in the meantime.

I had the same problem. The link kept redirecting me back to my Dropbox account. Since I had the template from the previous mask workshop, I was able to use it.