Shadow Workshop 2024

[Corrie Kinkel]

43 minutes ago, Michele said:

Thank you. I picked the colors from the photo of the duck. I know you often use that method. I also use the newer color palette which helps you choose appropriate colors.

Michele what a great idea I always use the older materials palette, but it is mainly a force of habit. I'll check on it and see if I like the new one better.

[Michele]

13 hours ago, fiona cook said:

makes me wonder how you can go back to the drop shadow settings after actioning it to see what values were set?

I'll add the settings to the text of the layer. I can always edit it if I change them.

 

[Jen Brown]

Shadow Workshop Lesson 1

[Jen Brown]

Shadow Workshop Lesson 2

[Michele]

Day 4

Need more practice 🙂

[Jen Brown]

Shadow Workshop Lesson 3

I need more practice on how to do lifted corners from the artistic point of view. The method of doing the lift is straight forward and easy to follow, it need practice to make the lifted corner look more realistic. It was a fun lesson to do.

[Marie-Claire]

Lesson 3
I still have to practice a lot !

[Marie-Claire]

On 8/21/2024 at 5:48 AM, Cassel said:

 

@Marie-ClaireIt is ok to follow the exact same settings. Do they make sense to you?

 

They are logical to me and a good base to start with. Sometimes an adjustment is needed depending on the size of th element of course.

[Rene Marker]

9 hours ago, Cassel said:

Stay tuned! (but yours looks good) Warping the shadow on flowers is not always necessary. In fact, I usually don't do it, but it is an option that could add a touch of realism in some situation, with some flowers (not all).

Thank you about the cluster! I've struggled for years to get them to look right.

Jill, the gal that I got the shadow settings from said she never uses a warp on her shadows. Another scrapper that does fantastic clustering does (she uses PS). Both look great so I think it is a personal choice.

[Rene Marker]

2 hours ago, Michele said:

I'll add the settings to the text of the layer. I can always edit it if I change them.

 

This is a good idea.

Another way to find the settings that works only if you save the file as a pspimage... check the edit history in the image information. Yes, it is a little overwhelming to see all that stuff at first but once you know what you are looking for, it is easy. I just wish that the edit history had a search function! I prefer using that easier than the history palette.

[Daniel Hess]

Oh...I don't like the curled ribbons LOL.  Here are the three from the lesson plus an extra that I downloaded.

[fiona cook]

5 hours ago, Michele said:

I'll add the settings to the text of the layer. I can always edit it if I change them.

 

Now there's a good idea. I tend to label the layers anyway but adding the values, brill!

[fiona cook]

Lesson5 I've added the ribbons to a project but all three on my design are a bit much but show how versatile they can be.

[Rene Marker]

Well, I have found something that I don't like. My hand is just not steady enough to draw a shadow. IMO, mine look like crap and this is not my first try at it! I did also try just using the push brush on those areas (not shown here) and I can live with how they look.

When I use curly ribbons on a layout, they usually are encompassed within a cluster or as a base for a flower/foliage so only the end shadows are what need to be tweaked. I'm sticking with that from now on!

[Donna Sillia]

I really hate unusual shadows. 😄 I did download the page for future use. I have some tomatoes that I have to make into sauce today, so I'll save the practice for later. Carole, I know I make a lot of mistakes with shadows, but will keep practicing. I find shadows harder that vectors. Maybe you should make some preset shapes so we don't have to draw them by hand. LOL

[Marie-Claire]

Lesson 4

[Corrie Kinkel]

I am not very happy with the results and drawing my own shadows by hand and have them nicely fit with the existing ones is very difficult. Like Rene my hand isn't steady enough to make this into a succes! I'm sorry and will try to avoid using this kind of ribbons unless they are already properly shadowed by the designer. I'll check in the store if Carole has a script for such curly ribbons that have a shadow!!  There is a tutorial that explains the making of a curly ribbon with shadows and that is a bit of work but gives a nice result. I did one for the Build a Kit from last year. With using the warpbrush I'm more or less oké now and use it when necessary. What I show here is by no means my first attempt and I forgot how many times I started anew. 

[Gerry Landreth]

Day 5.

After reading the comments from others about this assignment, I'm in good company.

The first two were done entirely with the warp brush. The third one required a hand-drawn shadow. I was using a mouse, but I suspect it will be easier with a tablet. I'll go back and see if that works better.

[Cassel]

@Susan Ewart Your shadows on the flowers are pretty good. Is one shadow purple or is it an optical illusion?

@Euka The flower shadows are good. For the lifted corners, be careful that the push is ALWAYS toward the bottom right even if it is a top corner. And yes, using the Warp brush needs a steady hand. I am grateful to have a graphic tablet as it is easier (for me) to control than a mouse.

@Jen Brown Great start. All the shadows look like they are correct on Lesson 1. On Lesson 2, I think you might have moved the white square between the wavy element and its shadow. Do you see that? For your Lesson 3, the lifted shadow looks very good!

@Michele you are doing great! Yes, more practice will make the process easier over time.

@Marie-Claire Those lifted corners look very good. They are perfectly angled! The flowers are well shadowed too. Good job!

@Rene Marker I agree that the Edit History is not very intuitive to use. And if you have several elements that were shadowed, you have no way to know which one was which either. Although you might not be happy with the curly ribbons' shadows, I think they are quite good! 

@Daniel Hess I don't blame you for hating curly ribbons! They are a nightmare. Yet, they are available in many kits and if they are used they NEED those scary shadows. A "regular" shadow would look even worse! The shadows on the top three ribbons are very good. For the fourth one, you might look at "curving" the ends of the hand-drawn shadows to meet the other pieces. But for the assignment, it is quite a good start.

@fiona cookThat is nice to see the ribbons "in action". For the green ribbon, just like I mentioned above to Daniel, see if you could "curve" the ends of your hand-drawn sections to meet the other "flat" pieces.

@Donna Sillia Preset shapes for those shadows would be impossible to use as you would never have the same size, thickness, height, or angle for each "loop". For the red ribbon, the shadow is pretty good, although it seems a little thick. For the green one, if you added more blur, it would look even better.

@Corrie KinkelEven with a not-so-steady hand, your result is quite good! And no, a script would not be feasible as each loop would need to be custom, and remember: a script cannot SEE the image so it can't tell whether that loop is up or down.

@Gerry LandrethI have to say that those shadows are quite good! I do find it easier with a tablet than with a mouse, but I am also more comfortable with it for everything.

I know that curly ribbons are very hard to shadow correctly, but from what I see, you are all doing a good job. One important lesson I hope you will remember is that curly ribbons CANNOT have a regular flat shadow. That is the obvious mistake. So, if you choose to just not use those ribbons, that is fine too, but you also know what to do if you really like one of those ribbons and you want to use it. Of course, it is a matter of practice and only a handful of exercises might not be enough for you to feel comfortable yet, but it will come.

Tomorrow, we will look at clusters. Don't be scared. We will go through the process one shadow at a time.

[Linda J Walker]

I am certain I will NEVER use a curly ribbon! 😆  If I find I have any, I may just have to delete them to save my sanity!

[Rene Marker]

1 hour ago, Cassel said:

I agree that the Edit History is not very intuitive to use. And if you have several elements that were shadowed, you have no way to know which one was which either. Although you might not be happy with the curly ribbons' shadows, I think they are quite good! 

I don't usually have a problem figuring out which drop shadow in the edit history is for which element. I do all shadows as the last thing. And, I always go from the bottom to the top of the layers palette. So when looking at the edit history, if I scroll all the way to the bottom then scroll back up slowly, I can tell what shadows (or bevel settings if I used a bevel) that I used on each item... last drop shadow = top layer of layers palette.

Thanks for the compliment on the shadows... I still don't like them!

[Anja Pelzer]

my day 5 , 

I think also that I need more practice with it, 

[Susan Ewart]

Lesson 5

This was tough one, following the ribbon to see which part should be lifted.  I need lots of practice especially where it meets at the bottom.  I kept making the brush line too short and then I couldn't get it to match nicely  with the reg shadow.  I tried 2 extra ones and they were harder.   

[Susan Ewart]

23 hours ago, Euka said:

I think I need a new mouse/mouse pad or maybe just steadier hands!  I like how manipulating the shadow creates a more realistic effect - BUT - being able to move them to good effect is the tricky bit!    

@Susan Ewart  We do have wombats  but not many in my area - being nocturnal unfortunately we mainly see them as roadkill :(.

Sad to hear about the wombats.  They are so cute.  And a steady hand I have to agree.  One little wobble of the mouse and it looks weird.  

[Susan Ewart]

3 hours ago, Cassel said:

Your shadows on the flowers are pretty good. Is one shadow purple or is it an optical illusion?

It probably is, I accidently clicked on it and didn't realize it turned purple.   And then I realized, hey, how the heck did that get purple, thinking it was PSP acting up because I never take it off black....then common sense prevailed, I laughed at myself knowing that I had clicked on it by accident and changed without realizing it.  I had fixed one purple shadow and missed the other one I guess.