There are times when I ask people if I can use their images for my art work. How it works for me and the person I am collaborating with …
There are times when I ask people if I can use their images for my art work. How it works for me and the person I am collaborating with is that once I have finished my work with their image I email it back to them in high res and ask them to post it on RedBubbe for 50% mark up as well as I do the same, so that myself or the other person own the art equally and we both have a chance to make a profit of the finished piece. If you were someone who is willing to let me use any of your images , feel free to comment here and let me know.
I posted a piece on how to do t-shirts a while ago. I deleted it when I realised that a lot of my ideas were wrong, but I think that I ca…
I posted a piece on how to do t-shirts a while ago. I deleted it when I realised that a lot of my ideas were wrong, but I think that I can offer some useful advice this time. The template posted here at RB is what I’m using now. If you haven’t worked with it before the simple way to eliminate the white rectangle and red lines is to click on Select – top left – then All, then go to Edit and Cut. That wipes everything off. I have saved the template in that fashion now. I had a lot of trouble with fonts. Everywhere I looked on the net I found instructions on how fonts could be added to the Gimp menu and I couldn’t make any of them work. My final solution was: a – make sure every font I wanted was loaded into my Windows font folder; / b – uninstall Gimp and the GTK Runtime Environment which it requires; / c – reload the latest versions of each, available here. Maybe I just got lucky, but it worked. All fonts now available. I had created another problem for myself by creating my own template, but this wasn’t an issue until recently when RB changed the production method for the T’s. Effectively I had put all my messages on a white background rather than a clear background. / I found the answer on this page, which gives instructions on how to make any colour transparent in Gimp. If you’re starting from scratch in Gimp and want to do a text T, it’s very simple (he said, having banged his head long and hard over this problem). Once you have the template open and prepared as I described earlier, click the bold T (for Text) on the control panel. This will open a box which will show options like fonts, colour – click on each to display the full range – size of text, and alignment. Click on the point of the template where you want the words to appear. This will open a small window – as you type, the words will appear here and also on the template. The template display will create a yellow boundary around your words. I find it easiest to start in the top left corner and then move the text to where I want it by clicking on the four-arrow icon. This should turn your yellow boundary to white, and the text will move as you desire. Hope this helps. PS: I’ve just used the colour to clear technique to create a negative version of my Amaze T shirt, Amaze T2. ADDENDUM: I posted this piece, Programs I Use, in the forums some time ago. I’ll link to it here for your further consideration.
I am currently working through my third CS3 tutorial and I picking up a ton of useful tips for my photographic workflow. I just HAD to s…
I am currently working through my third CS3 tutorial and I picking up a ton of useful tips for my photographic workflow. I just HAD to share this one with you. Regarding Hue/Saturation. When you overdo this on an adjustment layer in your photos your detail is lost and it looks really blocky. Sometimes you just can’t get the saturation adjustments you need. Here’s how its done – Thank you to Chris Orwig for this one. 1) Open you image and convert it to LAB colour using: Image – Mode – Lab Colour 2) Create a curves adjustment layer 3) In the Curves dialog box ALT-click the grid to get a more detailed display 4) Go to the a – channel 5) Pull the black slider on the bottom of the grid into the right just one grid line (in this example although you can play!) 6) Pull the white slider opposite into the left by the same one grid line 7) Switch to the b channel and repeat. 8) Check out your image. This method actually increases saturation in tones you couldn’t even see that you had. Its excellent for autumn leaves or rivers and waterfalls. 9) When your done exit Curves dialog and convert your image back to RGB (select to Flatten in the pop up prompt) 10) Your all done. This is by far the best tip I’ve discovered so far. I tried it out of interest on a shot from this afternoon and it brought out lovely greens in Autumn leaves and a lovely hazy blue on water and waterfalls. Try it – I think you will like it! :D
Adjustment layers are a great way to work in Photoshop, they give you the flexibility to go back and alter adjustments on the fly – makin…
Adjustment layers are a great way to work in Photoshop, they give you the flexibility to go back and alter adjustments on the fly – making sure that you don’t have to lose any of the work you have done by undoing steps to correct an error. Another positive about adjustment layers is that they add very little size to your file, which is a bonus if you don’t have 8 gigs of RAM at your disposal :-) I’m going to give you a kind of example here using a Hue Saturation adjustment layer to add colour back into an image. What you need to bear in mind is that it applies to all of the adjustments that are available under adjustment layers. Adjustment layers can also be useful when using blending modes on a single image without having to duplicate the image and add to the file size. Try this one yourself. Open an image, duplicate it of course :-) and close the original – now go to the little ying yang looking symbol at the bottom of the layers palette and click on it to bring up the menu – click on levels for now. When the dialogue box opens, click OK without making any adjustments, then pick a blend mode …. lets say multiply …. your image will now have used itself, to darken itself …. or you could say that you have used the image to darken the image without having to duplicate the background and then apply a blend mode. Take a look at your file size ….. You can also turn the adjustment layer on and off, reduce the opacity, add a mask to darken certain areas, use a gradient to edit the mask or perhaps a brush. There are several ways that you can do just about anything in Photoshop, and bringing back colour into an image is no exception. By default photoshop has the history set at 20 states of undo, so if you reach 21 states any previous work will not be available to go back and edit without losing all of the work you have done. You can change the amount of history states available to you by going to Edit>Preferences>Performance and at the top right hand side you will see History States | Cache Levels – just change the history states to a higher amount if you like. Using adjustment layers, rather than permanent adjustments, will give you much more flexibility in your editing capabilities. Getting into the habit of saving your image as a .psd file right from the outset and then remembering to ‘save’ along the way … press Ctrl + S or go to the top menu bar and press ‘save’, will make sure that you are never disappointed if PS freezes or your computer has a hissy fit and dies. Lets get back to the tut :-) I’m going to add some colour back into an image that I have used a Hue/Sat adjustment layer to desaturate. Why not just go to the top menu bar and use Image>Adjustment>Desaturate you might be asking – because it is a permanent adjustment – one that I may decide that I don’t want there in the future and doing this change with an adjustment layer gives me the option of turning it on and off using the little eye icon, going back in and adding some saturation back into the image etc., If I try to do that 25states later using the permanent adjustment I will lose all of my later work. There are also several ways to add colour back into an image. You can start with your B&W image, place a new layer above that, choose a colour and fill the layer, change the blend mode to colour, soft light etc., add a mask, invert the mask, and then start adding back in the colour – but what if you decide that you don’t like that colour ? You then have to choose another colour, lock the transparent pixels of the layer, then fill with the new colour. You can also create a new blank layer, choose a colour to paint with, change the blend mode of the brush from the top menu bar and paint away – but still, if you decide you don’t like the colour then you will have to go through the process for the first method. What if you could just move a slider to create a different colour ? Now wouldn’t that be a whole lot simpler ? Here is our start image, just click through for the larger image. The first adjustment layer we are going to use is a hue/sat and we are going to desaturate the image. What you’ll notice in the below image is that I forgot to take a screenshot of the desaturated image and had to go back and take one after I had made several adjustments. Its as simple as turning off the adjustment layers. Next you are going to use a hue/sat adjustment layer again, but this time you are going to check the colorize button when the dialogue box comes up. Then go and adjust the sliders till you get a colour that you like. This is probably the most time consuming part of this adjustment until you become familiar with where the colours lie, and using the saturation and lightness adjustments. I chose a blue colour that was similar to the original image, you can choose whatever colour you like. Obviously that isn’t quite what we want to happen here :-) Adjustment layers come with a mask – that’s the little white box on the right hand side of the adjustment box – click on the mask to make it active and then press Ctrl + i on your keyboard to invert the mask to black (hide all) white is reveal all. You could also go to Image>Adjustments>Invert – just make sure that the mask is active. Grab your paintbrush and start painting back in the pants. You should now have something similar to the image below. I haven’t painted back in all of the pants, I’m just showing you how to achieve the adjustments. Just say that you had taken this image in B&W originally, and I pop over to your place and notice what you’re doing and say ….. the pants on that scarecrow weren’t blue :-) The easy way to choose another colour is to double click on the adjustment box itself – not the layer mask – and the dialogue box will open and you can adjust the colour to something new. What I would normally do when re-colouring an image is duplicate the blue layer, turn off the visibility of the original blue layer and then make the adjustment to the copy. This way you will still have the choice of reverting to the blue copy if you decide you want that one instead. In fact, you could make as many different coloured trousers/pants adjustment layers as you wanted. When doing something like this it is wise to get into the habit of naming the adjustment layers. You can do this by double clicking on the text next to the mask and renaming this what you want. You can see in the image below that I have carried on with a few more adjustment layers and named them. I’ve also done 3 different shades of red for the jacket, shoes and pocket on the pants. I would then do a different red for the scarf. I’ve also done the hair and the flowers, both of these more need more refining to make them look realisitic but I would do the refinements on adjustment layers. I’ve highlighted the file size at the bottom of the image. You may also notice as you progress with your design, composite, colourising etc., that the adjustment layers can start to get out of hand. This is where Grouping layers together can come in very handy. Select which adjustment layer you would like grouped together i.e. in this particular image you might group together the clothing as I have done – although I accidently added the hair and shoes to the group and couldn’t be bothered going back and grabbing another screenshot – so just ignore those 2 layers :-) Click on an adjustment layer then hold down your Ctrl key to select the next one etc., If your layers are one above the other you can click on the top one, then shift click on the bottom one to select them. Next go to the little downward triangle near the top right hand side of your layers palette, and from the menu select the option ‘New Group From Layers’ Each of the layers you chose will now be in a folder which you can name, I used Clothing in the example below. All you have to do now is open that folder using the little arrow to the left of the folder to have access to the adjustment layers, but more importantly you can still edit each of those adjustment layers. And that’s it really. Remember to save often while you are working on a file, as I said at the beginning of this.
The aim of this Guide is to provide easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions to achieving the Orton Effect without the necessity of bei…
The aim of this Guide is to provide easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions to achieving the Orton Effect without the necessity of being a Photoshop guru. For this purpose I try to describe the process in plain and simple language. If you are a digital artist guru, you may wish to turn away at this point to avoid the Groan Factor. I still call myself “new to Photoshop” and I have found a lot of tutorials on this topic assume a much higher level of knowledge than I have and are not very intuitive. One of the problems is that if you don’t “get” a particular step in the process, you’re gone. So, I try to explain the steps in easy to understand terms (hopefully!) and, importantly, describe what each step should look like after it’s done. So if you are not seeing the result of each step replicated on your screen, you know you have to stop and try again. If this happens, go to the top toolbar, select Edit then Undo [whatever it is you’ve just done] from the drop-down menu and try again. I have revised and expanded the Tutorial again, in December 2009, to: Use an actual image through the Steps. Include thumbnails of what to do. Describe the steps as per Photoshop Elements 7 (PE). Show a shorter way of using Blending (Step Five). To achieve the Orton Effect you will be creating Layers, but don’t worry if you haven’t done this before. I hadn’t. The method I am about to describe is the simplest I have found. It’s not my method, but the description is all mine. I said at the time of the original Tutorial I would revise it to include screenshots of the various steps. It’s only taken me a year or so to do so. The steps described below assume almost zero knowledge of Layering, and ignore other adjustments you might be making to the image, for example Sharpening the image before you start work on it, which is highly recommended. Step 1 Choose your image. I have found that an image with a lot of white in it, for example waterfalls, is not ideal for the Orton Effect. Try to select an image which is not underexposed, has strong colour, in focus and sharp, and which has a dominant subject. Flowers are ideal. For the purposes of this Tutorial, I will demonstrate the Steps using this image, shot in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney on 30 November 2008: / Handheld Canon EOS 10D, Canon EF 180mm f3.5L USM Macro Lens, ISO 100, f3.5 at 1/180th second Step 2 You’ve got PE (or Photoshop CS2 or later) open. Now select File from the top toolbar and select Open from the drop-down menu. Choose your Flower shot and open it. (You may be using a non-flower image, but for ease of reference I will refer to it as Flower.) Ok, now look across to the right of the screen. See the Layers palette? It should be showing a thumbnail of the Flower image, together with the label Background, like so: Feel the excitement. This is your Background Layer. Step 3 Move the mouse over to the thumbnail. Right-click the word Background. A small window should now open, like so: Select Duplicate Layer. A small box should now immediately appear in the middle of your screen, like so: It is asking you to Name the Duplicate Layer. Name this Layer Focus, like so: Click on OK. (Note: It doesn’t really matter what you name it, but Focus will do for our current purpose.) Step 4 Look across to the Layers Palette. There should now be a new rectangular box immediately above the original, called Focus, like so: Pause now and look at the tiny eye icon. You will see that it is now the Focus layer on your screen, so this is the “copy” you are working on. OK, moving on ….. Right-click the Focus rectangular box and select Duplicate Layer again. This time when the naming box appears just click OK because we will use the default name for this Layer, being Focus copy. Your Layers Palette should now look like this: Step 5 OK, now we are going to blend the Focus copy. Look at the Layers Palette again. See the drop down menu at the top left, showing Normal as the default? Click on it, then scroll down the menu and select Screen: The Focus copy layer should now have a bit of a washed-out look to it as a result of selecting Screen as the Blending Mode. (I have found that if the Screen effect still leaves a fairly good image, the Orton Effect will be enhanced. Too washed out and the Effect is diminished.) My Flower now looks like this: Step 6 Right-click the Focus copy rectangular box in the Layers Palette again, only this time select Merge Down (it’s the 3rd from the bottom): This will collapse the Focus copy layer onto the Focus layer, like so: Step 7 Right-click the Focus rectangular box in the Layers Palette again and select Duplicate Layer again. Name this copy Blur, like so: Click OK to close the box. Now, look across to the Layers Palette to check it looks like this: Step 8 Now, find and open the Filter menu on the Tool bar running across the top of your screen. Select Blur. Another menu should open. Select Gaussian Blur (don’t ask): A new window should open. You will see a Preview of the image with a default blur Radius setting of 15.9: (You can play around with the radius later.) For now, just click OK to close the window as we will accept the 15.9 (I have found 15.9 to be right for most images anyway). The blur you are to achieve with this step should be enough to discern the shapes without the detail. Here’s how my Flower looks now: Step 9 – The Magic Happens! This is the fun part. We now make one more blending option. Click on the same drop down menu in the Layers Palette you used to create the Screen effect, only this time select Multiply – it’s closer to the top of the menu: You should now be able to see the Orton Effect! This is how my Flower now looks: Step 10 OK, you now have a few options before saving the image. I’ll show you one. If, however, you are happy with the result, right-click the Blur rectangular box in the Layers Palette one more time and select Flatten Image (it’s the last option on the menu). This basically collapses all the layers into one final image and is the last thing you do in Layering. Your Layers Palette should now look like this: You can now Save the image as normal. But, if it looks too dark, you can adjust the Opacity level with the sliding bar before flattening the image. Look for the tiny Opacity tool in the top right of the Layering Palette. (TIP: If you find you need to go below 50% the Effect is significantly lost and maybe it wasn’t the right image to start with. If you are using Photoshop CS2 or later, another option is to adjust the Fill and leave the Opacity at 100%.) I’m not happy with my Flower – too dark – so I’m going to reduce the Opacity to 75%, like so: Now my Flower looks like this: How does yours look? Before I go, here’s some Samples of pre- and post- Orton Effect I prepared earlier: Before Orton Effect / Canon EOS 10D, Canon EF 28-90mm f4-5.6 Plastic Fantastic Zoom Lens at 28mm, ISO 100, f5.6 at 1/60 second After Orton Effect / Opacity at 100% Before Orton Effect / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 28-90mm f4-5.6 Plastic Fantastic Zoom Lens at 90mm, ISO 1250, f13 at 1/100 second After Orton Effect / Opacity at 100% Have fun / Peter
I’d like to make these journal posts a bit more colourful and nice to look at. Would you be happy for me to use images from your RedBubbl…
I’d like to make these journal posts a bit more colourful and nice to look at. Would you be happy for me to use images from your RedBubble portfolio to break up text or as examples in these posts? These journals may be cross posted to forums or other blogs too. Naturally linky love and accreditation is a given on all images used.
Adding a slide show to redbubble Ok not really a slide show but it is very close, It’s an animated gif image. / You can see one ”...
Adding a slide show to redbubble Ok not really a slide show but it is very close, It’s an animated gif image. / You can see one My Bubblesite These images can also be linked / Doing this will require you to have software that can make an animated gif image. / And of coarse I know of a free software program that can be used and this tutorial will explain how to do this using this free software. The free software is called / unfreeze and you can Get it here / Once downloaded and installed on your / computer we are ready to go. The first step is to get the images you want to include in your slide show, I am going to use my redbubble images set in frames for my bubblesite homepage. Sign-in to your redbubble account Click “My Bubble” then “Art” find the image you want to include and click the “show public view” Now click the “buy/preview” button / Select the product format you want to use Card, Laminated print, etc.. Then save the image to your computer. Internet Explorer users “Right Click” the image and select “Save Picture As” / Firefox users “Right Click” and select “Save image as” / And choose a location on your PC where you can find it easily. / You can use as many images as you want, but remember you want them to visit your gallery so keep the number of images to a minimum. / I’m going to use 8 images for now. / You can re size your images if you like the Unfreeze software will resize your images to fit in a 375 pixels(high) X 360 pixels(wide) box but the software will not center the image. For those that want their images centered in the box, Use your photo software to edit the images / The software program (unfreeze) that I recommended above requires the images to be in gif format. Doing this in your photo software may be different than mine. But I will open the image in my photo software “Paint.net” and then click the “Save as” option and change the format (type) to gif ( Graphics Interchange Format).They will be saved in the same folder that I put the ones I downloaded from the bubble. Once the images are in the gif format. We are ready to create the animated gif (slideshow) Open the folder where your gif images are located Start “unfreeze” a small window will appear / Drag your images into the white window Then set the delay on the right, I used 60, Make sure the “Loop animation” box is checked Now click the “Make Animated Gif” button Give it a name and Click “Save” To make the images change slower add more than one of the same file The image that I created here was made using three copies of the same image,delay set to 90 / Example: drag and drop “image1.gif”,then do it again drag and drop “image1.gif “ This one has four of the same images and delay set to 60 Now the image can be uploaded to a web site, since Redbubble does not support this file type. You can use Dropbox which is a free file store, share, sync software Get it Here it allows you to have 2 gig of file storage for free. Plus when I change the slide show gif I just created dropbox will take care of the rest. / So changing my slide show is as easy as making a new one and saving it using the same location and name on my pc as the one I’m using now. / Now Insert the new image on your bubblesite or profile / Use the image location (web address,web url) with a ! before and after the image location / For more on Linking images etc. see this post How to Customize Redbubble / And your done. / You can also include these in your description boxes these have been reduced in size A great way to promote your calendars on your bubblesite remember these images can be linked to the buy page. / Happy Bubbling / Dan / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission
There are many reasons for using tags 1. Creating links to make it easier for your visitors to find what they want / 2. K…
There are many reasons for using tags 1. Creating links to make it easier for your visitors to find what they want / 2. Knowing what images are in what group / 3. Help your visitors find what they want faster. NOTE: It may take 20-30 minutes before you will be able to use your new tags in the search boxes. / For keeping track of what images are in what group, I’ve found that the easiest way to do this is by Tagging the image with the group name. Then making a bookmark for easy access to Group lists, This method will also show new images as long as you add the tag when you enter the image to a group. / To add tags to images Click your “art” button or Here , Then next to the image click “edit”, The tag box is below the Description box. / Tag Example: All images that I’ve submitted to the Group “Animal Kingdom” , I’ve added the following tag “animal kingdom” remember to separate the tags with a comma ( , ) / Search Example:The following will work for all users as long as you put your username, and tag in the places indicated in bold below / http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / Once you get the results Bookmark it, Now the next time you try to remember what images you have in a group or have I reached the group limit you can click the bookmark and see what images are in that group and how many. / Bonus: Using the links from above to organize your images for visitors, Link an Image or text with the Links you created above. / You can see some of your links using tags by clicking your username in the top right hand side of any redbubble page (this takes you to your public profile page) / then click Art, Calendar, or T-Shirts then on the next page on the left there are text links with the tags that you have added to your work. / ( if your not sure how to do this See this post Creating Links Etc…on redbubble ) EXAMPLES: / Linked text "Birds":http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / Birds / Linked image / !www.imageishere.jpg!:http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / You can click the link below, It will open in redbubble it won’t give you any results but then you can then change the username in the address bar click “go” or just hit enter bookmark the result or add it to your “favorites” for future tag making . / http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname BONUS TIP: / Searching your tags using the search box on the 2009 Gift Guide (see image below) will result in a page of Framed Prints, T- Shirts, Calendars or Canvas Print previews of just your images…..but you will need to tag the works you want to appear with your username. / Then you will be able to customize the results a little better to show only your works…. / / Examples: from my profile…Place your mouse pointer over the link but do not click it to see what tags I used to create these links notice that my username(envelope150) is in all of them. / all my images in the framed product version / Just my Flower images in the framed product version / Only my owl images are here / To use these images on your profile or in your descriptions check out this TUTORIAL:Using Small Product Preview II How to tag your journals / writings The above method does not work for my journls or writings / Example:I have a few How-to’s in the How to Redbubble group and I’ve tagged them with”htrb” So if i create a tag like above it would be / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/art/everything/tags/htrb / unfortunately the results give me a blank page (click the link above if you don’t believe me) / Here is how we can get the results we need (want). / See Here http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20htrb/journals / If you have a lot of writings it might be a good idea to tag these for many reasons. 1. Keeping track of what groups they are in / 2. Easy reference for other bubble members / 3. sorting by topic / 4. and many more…. I will try and explain the easiest way to do this and hopefully make it as painless as possible. / I will explain how I created the above results for my How to journals / Fist and most important tag all your work with your username / Step 1. Tag the journal I’m using “htrb” / Step2. Make a link to the list of journals with this tag / To do this we will need to use the search box / Enter your username and tag “click Search” I’m going to enter envelope150 htrb / Step 4. When you get to the results page copy the address from the address bar or bookmark it. / If your tags are fresh give it a little time for redbubble servers to catch up(up to 10-min) / Now you can use the address to make links to your journals for easy reference or group tracking. / I high lighted my username and tag below in bold, When copying the results you will have the %20 where the space is suppose to be. http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20htrb/ Click Here to see the results if you like Using the method above to create links for your images adds the ability to use more than one tag / Example: If I want to make a link to my osprey(bird) images I would use the search box and enter envelope150 bird osprey click “search” and I get this / http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20birds%20osprey only my images that include the 3 tags will show up / This method would be good for the Flower Lovers to separate their Flowers images not only by type of flower but color as well. Using tags like username flowers roses red and then searching those tags to make a link to their “My Red Roses Collection”. / Hope this tutorial helps in getting you started in fully customizing or just organizing your bubble profile. Bonus Tip To make a text box appear when someone hovers over a link add text in (these) like below "Landscapes(View my Landscape Collection)":http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / See how it works below just place your mouse pointer on the link but do not click it / Landscapes / Happy Bubbling / Dan / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission
Here is the Table of Contents for my How-to’s on Customizing your redbubble profile and bubblesite. / redbubble does not allow you to post…
Here is the Table of Contents for my How-to’s on Customizing your redbubble profile and bubblesite. / redbubble does not allow you to post “HTML” (webcode) but here are ways to add things and get the custom look to make your profile stand out from the rest… Working with text [Formatting] / The basics of formatting text creating Bold Itallics and more… More…... redbubble Formatting [Text wrapping images] / Learn how to use tables to text wrap your images, align text / and more… Creating Links Etc…on redbubble / The basics of creating clickable text and images post them on your profile, in forums or on your bubblesite Adding Calendars to your bubblesite / Here is a way to add a calendar to your bubblesite with a link to the buy page Using Small Product Previews / Here is how to use small framed,laminated,cards,etc.. in your descriptions or profile page to create a great looking gallery and inspire some clicks to the buy page. Using Small Product Preview II / Here is an easier way to use small previews but only for Framed Prints, T- Shirts, Calendars and Canvas Prints Quick (Redbubble) Search Bookmarklet / Just a simple search for redbubble helpful when looking for a group or wanting to search the forums for some help or advice… Repeat post Time Saver / This one will show firefox users how to create shortcuts to the toolbar for notepad files that are located on their PC for quick access. Framed image on Bubblesite home page / Add a framed image to your bubblesite main page and keep it out of view from visitors to your regular bubblesite. feedjit Live Traffic Feed / Get to know your visitors with a Live Traffic Feed widget Edit your Slideshow widget / How to change your Slideshow widget to display your T-Shirts and more.. Edit your Sales Widget… / How to change your Sales widget to display your T-Shirts and more.. Using promotional image Banner / How to customize the banner provided under the “promote” tab..change the background color the number of images and more… Using tags on Redbubble / Use tagging to create subject links to allow your visitors quick acess to what they are looking for. Using a Paypal button on redbubble / If you are selling original art on redbubble and want to use a paypal button or selling photo prints from your home see how to add that paypal button to your descriptions or journals. Add a Slide show to your Redbubble Profile/Bubblesite / Ok not really a slide show but it is very close, It’s an animated gif image. Visitor counter on your bubblesite or profile page / There are two different counters in this how to one with just the numbers and one with a little more stats from your visitors. Mapco visitor counter on your profile/bubblesite / This is a How-to for using maploco on your profile, To show where visitors to your page are coming from on a map. Tutorial: Add a flag counter to your bubblesite or profile / This will show you how to add a flag counter to your profile page, bubblesite or group overview page. Tutorial: Embed YouTube Video / A closer .look at how to embed video Redbubble toolbar / I’ve found that the easiest way to navigate on redbubble was to create my own tool bar with links and shortcuts to the things that I do on the bubble. / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info / Host or Co-Host Tutorials Featuring the easy way / If you are tired of rummaging through countless pages trying to feature a group member or an image that won a challenge try this Tutorial. Need more Help? / Chat with me on Skype User Name / envelope150 Happy Bubbling (with Bling Bling) / Dan / Please don’t Copy and paste my written works as that would really hurt my feelings :) / you can copy the code below and paste it if you would like to share this Journal with others on Redbubble / "TUTORIALS:Bling Bling for bubbling(by D R Moore)":http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2120386-tutorials-bling-bling-for-bubbling / or on the web / <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2120386-tutorials-bling-bling-for-bubbling" title="by D R Moore">TUTORIALS:Bling Bling for bubbling</a> /
To add a calendar to your bubblesite is not in the bubble site set-up or the mange gallery as of yet. I look forward to when this will be…
To add a calendar to your bubblesite is not in the bubble site set-up or the mange gallery as of yet. I look forward to when this will be incorporated into the Manage Gallery section for our bubblesites. / So the only way to advertise our Calendars is to give them a link to the right direction to view our calendars. / There are many ways to do this on redbubble / You may simply add the calendar covers to your bubblesite home page Here is one from my collection to get the image url it is the same process as used before. / If you missed it before Click Here for How-to Click “My Bubble” then “Calendars” or Click Here / Next Right click the cover image and copy the image url / Then just place the image in you description with a link to the buy/previw page To get the link without the comments etc. Right click the Buy/preview button then select (In FireFox) “copy the link location” with Internet Explorer select “Copy Shortcut” paste it right after your image location / Example for the image above I used the below / !http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/calendars/page:0/product:calendar/size:small/view:preview/1709263-5-d-r-moore.jpg!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/5781572 / Pages: To select a different page change the number in bold above / Like this /page:1/ will display the first page of your calendar and so on. / Sizes: Change the size by changing size:small to size:medium Another option would be to make a slide show using your calendar images I’ve created three different sizes For my tutorial on Adding a slide show to redbubble See Here Happy Bubbling / Dan / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission
Creating Text Links / To make your text clickable or link to a web address / Put quotation symbols ” ” on each side of the word/sentence …
Creating Text Links / To make your text clickable or link to a web address / Put quotation symbols ” ” on each side of the word/sentence you want to make Clickable and then a Colon : (no spaces), Now put the url (web address) of where you want the clicker to go. / EXAMPLE: "View My Gallery":http//example.redbubble.com / Will give you this View My Gallery / You can also make a Text box appear when hovering over the link by adding text in brackets / Like this "View My Gallery(Go to My Gallery)":http//example.redbubble.com / The text above in ( ) will appear in a box if someone hovers over the link / Like this ( put your mouse over the link but do not click it ) / View My Gallery / To use formatting with your text link. Add a space between the formatting symbols and the “ / EXAMPLE: "Space*View My Gallery*space":http//example.redbubble.com / will give you this / View My Gallery Using images in your descriptions ,profile page,etc / First you must know where the image is located (web address) / Example: http://www.mypicture is here.jpg / To use a framed, laminated print, card etc.. image from redbubble click the “show public view” in your “Art” section / / then click the “Buy/Preview” Button / / Set the image as you wish to use it, Card, Framed print etc…once you are done follow the instructions below to get the web address If using firefox simply right click the image and select “copy image location” Using Internet explorer right click the image then select “Properties” A Properties box will appear copy the Address(URL) High lighted in blue / “right click” the Highlighted text then choose “copy” / or once it is highlighted hold the “control(CTRL)” key and press “C” Mac users hold the CTRL or Apple key and then click image to get the menu / You can now paste the image location in the location where you want to use it (right click and select “paste” or hold the Control key and press “V” on your key board) Now put a ! before an after the image location like this !http://www.mypicture is here.jpg! / To make it clickable or linked add the colon : and web address after the ! / like this :http://www.your going here.com / The final entry Will look like below / !http://www.mypicture is here.jpg!:http://www.your going here.com / The text box mentioned above can be used here as well by adding your text in ( ) / Like This !http://www.mypicture is here.jpg(Have a Look)!:http://www.your going here.com / Will give you this ( Put your mouse over image but do not click to see ) / Using Just the Image / To use only the image go to you art section by clicking “My Bubble” then “art” / on you art page find the image you want to use and get the image address or URL as described above / EXAMPLE http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:xsmall/view:main/2903258-2-magnolia.jpg = !http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:xsmall/view:main/2903258-2-magnolia.jpg! To change the size of the image replace the size:xsmall to one of the values shown on the right. / (Click the links for a preview of the size cropped version ) / xsmall = 60px × 60px / small = 135px × 135px / xmedium = 200px × 200px / medium = 300px × 300px / large = 550px × 550px / xlarge = 663px × 663px watermarked to use this one you need to remove the /cropped from the image URL Cropped Version / / Not Cropped / You can also remove cropped/ from the image address to maintain the shape of your image. / Note the sizes may vary depending on your image shape. / Here is a good example why you may want to remove the cropped/ from the image / Notice the cropped version cuts off the cards in his hands but doing this has changed the thumbnail size. To create a Larger preview link use some text or an image and link it to the xlarge view. / Here is an Image Example be sure to remove the /cropped from the xlarge view How it works The text I used !http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:xsmall/view:main/2412521-3-pink-rose.jpg(View Larger image)!:http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/size:xlarge/view:main/2412521-3-pink-rose.jpg To create a large product preview add /pixelsize:875×440 as shown below / Click here to see BEFORE and AFTER EXAMPLE (laminated print) URL: http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/backgroundcolor:d1d1d1/border:whitewithdetail/pixelsize:875×440/product:laminated-print/size:large/view:preview/2099882-6-resting.jpg / Click Here to preview larger size / Use youtube video on your profile just use the simple code below / youtube:video url or web address of the video / For more on how to do this see Here Create a contact link or e-mail me link / Example: "contact me":mailto:myname@myemailaddress.com / Your bubblesite has a contact option, to turn it on / Go to your profile edit page Click here / then scroll down to the e-mail section / and click the box next to / Allow people to contact me via email / Allows visitors to contact you with a form on your BubbleSite. Your email address will not be displayed After you click it you can go to your bubblesite and on the top where the links are you will see these links / Home Gallery About Contact / Clicking the Contact link will open a new window with the Contact form / If you want to use it on redbubble then use the code below. / but change the username to yours / "Contact me by E-Mail":http://username.redbubble.com/contact / Contact me by E-Mail Leave me a comment if you still need some Help or Chat with me on Skype My User Name / envelope150 To use a Skype live status link copy and paste this text and change the username in bold / Leave two blank lines before and after the code |Chat with me on Skype| / |!http://mystatus.skype.com/balloon/username.png!|My User Name / username| Once you get the hang of creating links and posting images give my other tutorial a try. More…… redbubble Formatting [Text wrapping images] Beware this one will frustrate you Happy Bubbling / Dan Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more Toolbar info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More Please don’t Copy and paste my written works as that would really hurt my feelings :) / you can copy the code below and paste it if you would like to share this Journal with others on Redbubble / "TUTORIAL:Creating Links Etc…on redbubble(by D R Moore)":http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2145517-tutorial-creating-links-etc-on-redbubble / or on the web / <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2145517-tutorial-creating-links-etc-on-redbubble" title="by D R Moore">TUTORIAL:Creating Links Etc...on redbubble</a> /
As we have already noticed, Redbubble dont speak the same lingo, as in, it doesnt use HTML or CSS etc, which means; we cannot use a lot…
As we have already noticed, Redbubble dont speak the same lingo, as in, it doesnt use HTML or CSS etc, which means; we cannot use a lot of the widgets, scripts and all dem goodies out there in here. Which is ok, but sometimes i found that i wanted to promote about my other sites/projects here in my profile.. but couldnt.. till now :) / (well, I figured it out now..prob been able to for ages already..hehe) As you that may have read my previous post, i discovered more of Feedburner goodies recently. In that discovery i found a Widget that can animate your RSS feed – that doesnt use html or scripts, which means we can use it in here! I utilized the RSS Animated widget in two ways : First, i’ve been wanting to bring my journal post entry titles further UP in my profile, but cuz ive got a pretty jam packed profile on the left hand side..it forces the Journal Entries way down to the bottom end, and i dont know if people scroll that far down! LOL! So with animated rss widget from Feedburner (i chose the Email option/display) I can now place (like below for example) in the higher end of my profile, where it will ‘flash’ the most recent post (utilizing my rb journal rss feed), Hopefully giving it more attention.. the second way i used it.. / is to take the half banner size option on white background of the same Animated Widget – with feeds from my two sites, Artdictive and Webgrrl’shop – flashing the most recent posts there.. / WANT TO MAKE A QUICK ANIMATION OF YOUR ART * / for display purposes like the moving images below ? / Go to PICASION where you can Create Animated GIF online for free! Upload your pictures or grab them from Flickr or Picasa Web, make avatars or funny animations and post it to MySpace, LiveJournal, Facebook or Redubble. No need for Flash FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO SEE STATS / At the bottom of my profile you should be able to see LIVE STATS, free service by FEEDJIT . Make sure you get the Run-Anywhere Widget (link takes you directly there) Usually they all are scripts, but this one is not and i’ve been quite happy using Feedjit services on most of my blogs for free interesting stats. See how it all looks at my profile (clickty click) Have you found tools and toys you can use in Redbubble?*
This how-to will briefly explain a method of using tables on redbubble to Create sets, Text aligning, Text wrapping in Descriptions,Journ…
This how-to will briefly explain a method of using tables on redbubble to Create sets, Text aligning, Text wrapping in Descriptions,Journals and profiles. There must be 2 blank lines between the table and other text (Press Enter two times before and after the table) To make a table insert a “|” (vertical bar) between the items to be contained in the cells. / The Examples provided below in BOLD can be copied and pasted. Then just replace the text with your links, images, text or whatever you wish. / For the basic text wrapped image use. / |text|image| / To put the title above the image use below / In order to keep a blank cell I will use   Text wrap an image | |Title w/ link| / |Description|Image w/ link| Preview Click Image to Preview it on my Bubblesite The Cattle Egrets is a popular bird with cattle ranchers for its perceived role as a bio control of cattle parasites such as ticks and flies. A study in Australia found that Cattle Egrets reduced the number of flies that bothered cattle by pecking them directly off the skin. It was the benefit to stock that prompted ranchers and the Hawaiian Board of Agriculture and Forestry to release the species in Hawaii Profile set w/ title or tag link / This also can be used in a Journal entry / For titles above the image use the table below / Note I used 6 size:xsmall images/ use size:small to match the ones already on your profile |”View my Set title or tag link”| |Title1 w/link|Title2 w/link|Title3 w/link|Title4 w/link|Title5 w/link|Title6 w/link| / |image1 w/link|image2 w/link|image3 w/link|image4 w/link|image5 w/link|image6 w/link| It will look like below or you can change the two lines and have the titles on the bottom. |image1 w/link|image2 w/link|image3 w/link|image4 w/link|image5 w/link|image6 w/link| / |Title1 w/link|Title2 w/link|Title3 w/link|Title4 w/link|Title5 w/link|Title6 w/link| View all images in My Bird Collection Screech Owl Missed a Spot Osprey II White Pelican My Girl Preening Flamingo Notice that several of my images have long titles that extend past the Xsmall image / One fix for this would be to press enter after the first word Example: |Title1 w/link|Preening / Flamingo| / |image1 w/link|image2 w/link| Preview My Girl Preening / Flamingo or Put the second word at the bottom / In order to keep a blank cell I will use   Example: \ |Title1 w/link|Preening| / |image1 w/link|image2 w/link| / | |Flamingo| Preview My Girl Preening Flamingo Looks great on your profile |image1 w/link|image2 w/link|image3 w/link| / |Title1 w/link|Title2 w/link|Title3 w/link| / Preview Jupiter Lighthouse Free Poker Lessons Missed a Spot No go forth and create that great description that really stands out more than the rest See this description on my Profile , Bubblesite This is a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird / Which is in the bird family Trochilidae, and are endemic to the Americas. They can fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. Their English name derives from the characteristic hum made by their wings.Which they can do up to 53 times a second. The extremely short legs of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch. To scratch its head and neck it raises its foot up and over its wing. Happy Bubbling / Dan See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info Chat with me on Skype User Name / envelope150 © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission /
Welcome to my longest tutorial so far. / This Tutorial has a lot of information in it That makes it seem harder than it is be patient but …
Welcome to my longest tutorial so far. / This Tutorial has a lot of information in it That makes it seem harder than it is be patient but I know you can do it. / Using small pictures of mounted prints, posters, matted prints, canvas prints, shirts or cards. / To do this you will need the Picture Number / To get this go to your “art” section and find the image you want to use right click it to get the web address(URL) / It will look similar to this / http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:xsmall/view:main/2472080-2-lavendar-rose.jpg / The number in BOLD in the example above is the picture number, use it in the below examples where it says PICTURENUMBER NOTE: The codes used in this journal can not be copied and pasted it will not work To get the small previews to work you must right click these images to get the Web address or URL (see how below), Or once you create your small previews you can right click those. If using firefox simply right click the image / and select “copy image location” Using Internet explorer right click the image / then select “Properties” A Properties box will appear copy the Address(URL) / High lighted in blue Select the text and then “right click” the Highlighted text then choose “copy” / or once it is highlighted hold the “control(CTRL)” key and press “C” To paste the web address press “ctrl+V” or right click where you want it to go and select “paste” I’ve also included the HTML code for using these on the web. / You can copy and paste these / Then just paste the web address you got above where is says / paste image location here and Change the PICTURENUMBER / The options can be changed at anytime. All of the examples I provided will go to your profile page. / If you want them linked to your bubblesite you will need to know the set number / of where the images are. / To get the set numbers go to your bubblesite “gallery” and right click a set (folder) / select “properties” in the box that appears you will see the web address (URL) for the set (folder) / EXAMPLE: http://USERNAME.redbubble.com/sets/7279/works / The number in Bold above is the set number. Below are examples of where to put the link. / Note:The USERNAME, SETNUMBER and PICTURE NUMBER needs to be changed to your information / To use on the web (linked to bubblesite) <a href="http://USERNAME.redbubble.com/sets/SETNUMBER/works/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> Here is the version for RB (linked to bubblesite) !paste image location here!http://USERNAME.redbubble.com/sets/SETNUMBER/works/PICTURENUMBER / BONUS TIP Make a super small preview by using /pixelsize:60×60 / http://images-0.redbubble.net/img/art/backgroundcolor:f7f7f7/backingcolor:white/pixelsize:60×60/product:greeting-card/view:preview/2472080.jpg / CARDS grey background black background white background Here is an Example of a card image location with a black background http://images-0.redbubble.net/img/art/backgroundcolor:000000/backingcolor:white/pixelsize:170×180/product:greeting-card/view:preview/2389415.jpg To use it on redbubble / !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> Don’t forget to use your picture number Options / To change the background change the backgroundcolor: / !http://images-0.redbubble.net/img/art/backgroundcolor:f7f7f7/backingcolor:white/pixelsize:170×180/product:greeting-card/view:preview/PICTURENUMBER.jpg! Colors for Grey use backgroundcolor:f7f7f7f7 / for Black use backgroundcolor:000000 / for White use backgroundcolor:ffffff To change the background of the card for those cards that don’t fit the layout of the RB card change the backingcolor:white or backingcolor:black EXTRA Adding the backgroundcolor: examples from above to the large card preview will also change the background. / Example!http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/backgroundcolor:000000/backingcolor:white/product:greeting-card/view:preview/2333688-5-great-blue-heron-ii.jpg! / Will give you this / Mounted Prints no border border / white w/details / large image border / black w/details / small image Here is an Example of a mounted print image address with a white border with details http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/pixelsize:170×180/border:whitewithdetail/product:mounted-print/size:large/view:preview/2324884.jpg To use it on redbubble (No border) !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web (No border) <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> Options / Change the border:noborder / for White border with details border:whitewithdetail / for Black border with details border:blackwithdetail / You can also change the size of the two images that have a border / by changing the size:small / to size:medium or size:large Framed image Cherry/Black / Large Cherry/white / Medium Cherry/Off White / Small Here is an Example of a framed image address with a white background, cherry frame, black matte and a large image. http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/backgroundcolor:white/framecolor:cherry/framestyle:flat30/mattecolor:black/pixelsize:170×180/product:framed-print/size:large/view:preview/2001857.jpg To use it on redbubble !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> OPTIONS / Change the frame color by changing framecolor: Frame Colors framecolor:cherry / framecolor:black / framecolor:charcoal / framecolor:mocha / framecolor:walnut Change the matte color by changing mattecolor: Matte Colors mattecolor:off%20white / mattecolor:bright%20white / mattecolor:black Change the size of the print image by changing size: Image Sizes size:small / size:medium / size:large The background can also be changed by changing the backgroundcolor:white Colors for Grey use backgroundcolor:f7f7f7f7 / for Black use backgroundcolor:000000 / for White use backgroundcolor:ffffff Laminated Image Black / w/Details / Small White / w/Details / Medium Black / w/Details / Large Here is an Example image address of a Laminated print with a small image and a black border with details http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art//pixelsize:170×180/border:blackwithdetail/product:laminated-print/size:small/view:preview/2294839.jpg To use it on redbubble !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> Options / Change the border: / for White border with details border:whitewithdetail / for Black border with details border:blackwithdetail / You can also change the size of the two images that have a border / by changing the size:small / to size:medium or size:large Matted Prints Black White Off White Here is an Example matte print with a black matte http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/mattecolor:black/pixelsize:170×180/product:matted-print/size:medium/view:preview/2472080.jpg To use it on redbubble !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> Options Change the matte color by changing mattecolor: Matte Colors mattecolor:off%20white / mattecolor:bright%20white / mattecolor:black T-Shirts / Clothing Here is an Example image address of a white men’s T-shirt with a black background. http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/clothing/backgroundcolor:000000/pixelsize:170×180/bodycolor:white/product:tshirt/size:large/style:mens/view:preview/2478267.jpg To use it on redbubble !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> Options / The background can be changed by changing the backgroundcolor: Background Colors for Grey use backgroundcolor:f7f7f7f7 / for Black use backgroundcolor:000000 / for White use backgroundcolor:ffffff The Preview Style can be channged by changing the style: Style long sleeve style:longsleeve / short sleeve style:mens / V-neck style:vneck / Girly Fitted Short Sleeve style:womens The Preview Color Can be changed by changing bodycolor: / Note each T-shirt style may have Different color options Body Colors style:womens / style:mens Colors bodycolor:white / bodycolor:creme / bodycolor:silver / bodycolor:lemon / bodycolor:aqua / bodycolor:babyblue / bodycolor:lightpink / bodycolor:heathergrey / bodycolor:gold / bodycolor:grassgreen / bodycolor:teal / bodycolor:red / bodycolor:kellygreen / bodycolor:raspberry bodycolor:asphalt / bodycolor:army / bodycolor:cranberry / bodycolor:brown / bodycolor:forest / bodycolor:navy / bodycolor:black style:longesleeve Colors bodycolor:white / bodycolor:pink / bodycolor:heathergrey / bodycolor:asphalt / bodycolor:brown / bodycolor:navy / bodycolor:black style:vneck Colors bodycolor:white / bodycolor:lightpink / bodycolor:heathergrey / bodycolor:asphalt / bodycolor:cranberry / bodycolor:brown / bodycolor:navy / bodycolor:black EXTRA using the backgroundcolor: on the large view will change those as well / EXAMPLE http://images-0.redbubble.net/img/clothing/backgroundcolor:000000/bodycolor:white/product:tshirt/size:large/style:mens/view:preview/2478267.jpg / Canvas no options To use it on redbubble (linked) / !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web (linked) / <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> Posters no options To use it on redbubble (linked) / !paste image location here!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER To use it on the web (linked) / <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/PICTURENUMBER"><img src="paste image location here" alt="" /></a> BONUS TIP You can create a large preview by changing the pixel size / from pixelsize:170×180 to pixelsize:875×440 Click here to see an Example / Thanks for reading my longest Tutorial so far. / Hope you find it useful / Happy Bubbling / Dan / NEW Tutorial Using Small Product Preview II / Here is an easier way to use small previews but only for Framed Prints, T- Shirts, Calendars and Canvas Prints Need More Help? / Chat with me on Skype User Name / envelope150 Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More Please don’t Copy and paste this written work as that would really hurt my feelings :) / you can copy the link below and paste it if you would like to share with others on Redbubble / "Using Small Product Previews":http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2502507-tutorial-using-small-product-previews / or on the web / <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2502507-tutorial-using-small-product-previews">Using Small Product Previews</a> / /
If you are tired of rummaging through countless pages trying to feature a group member or an image that won a challenge and have so many …
If you are tired of rummaging through countless pages trying to feature a group member or an image that won a challenge and have so many more pages to go and your mouse hand is cramped. Try this method. / NOTE: This only works for groups that you Host / Co-Host / Also be careful in doing this as it will have the reverse effect on a featured image. / It will remove it from the featured section if it is already featured. / Be sure to visit the groups “overview” page to make sure your handy work has included all the images you wanted to feature. / You can click thew images below to see them larger / To feature Challenge Images 1.On your groups “overview” page there is a link to your “featured work” section / / right click the link / and select (with Firefox)”copy link location” / / (with internet explorer) “copy shortcut” / / Now you are ready to feature some images the easy way / 2.Go to the challenge page that shows the awesome challenge winners that are about to be featured and while holding the control (CTRL) key left click the lucky images / / doing this will open them in new tabs in your web browser / / 3.Now the fun part Clicking one of the new tabs that were opened will take you to the image page drop a comment if you like while you are there. To feature it in the address bar highlight the web address all the way to the word “art” / / then press and hold the control (CTRL) key press “V” to paste the address you copied in step 1 / or you can right click the Highlighted text and select ‘paste’ from the pop up menu. / / Here is an example / Original address (the part in bold will be replaced) / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/art/2934496-2-egret-dock / Now the new address to feature this image would be / http://www.redbubble.com/groups/groupnamehere/featured_works/2934496-2-egret-dock / 4. Now just press enter (or click GO). / 5. Click the “feature” button on the confirmation page and your done. / / You can close the tab and move on to the next one. / This also works for T-shirts / Example address (the part in bold will be replaced) / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/t-shirts/2478267-4-original-mobil-phone / Feature a Group Member To feature a group member go to their public profile page and click the “send bubblemail” link and in the address bar there is a number that you will need to feature the group member. / Example: The number below in bold is my number / http://www.redbubble.com/mybubble/conversations/new?recipient_id=14964058&return_to=%2Fpeople%2FEnvelope150 / Highlight and copy the members number / Go to the featured members link on the groups page / EXAMPLE: http://www.redbubble.com/groups/groupname/featured_users / and add the copied number at the end of the address in the address bar / Like this / http://www.redbubble.com/groups/groupname/featured_users/14964058 / Press enter and presto a featured member. / Featuring Writings and Journals also works by going to the members writing or journal page and clicking the work to feature and pasting the address like we did above. / Examples:replace the part in bold / Writing / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/writing/3092254-feature-me / Journal / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/3092254-feature-me See this Tutorial in action on youtube / Happy Bubbling (Happy Featuring) / Dan Need More Help? / Chat with me on Skype User Name / envelope150 Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More Please don’t Copy and paste this written work as that would really hurt my feelings :) / you can copy the code below and paste it if you would like to share with others on Redbubble "Featuring the easy way(Host Tutorial)":http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2948588-host-tutorial-featuring-the-easy-way / or to share on the web / <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2948588-host-tutorial-featuring-the-easy-way" title="Host Tutorial">Featuring the easy way</a> / or / /
I’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketin…
I’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketing, sales and money-based articles written over the last two years. I really REALLY hope you enjoy reading and applying them into your sales-campaign. First, let’s take a look at you, the artist within. Wait, that sounds like the first article… 01. Defining the Artist Within / 02. I Have a Special Condition! / 03. Keep that Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive / 04. Two Crafty Ways to Become a High Profile Photographer / 05. Playing the Popularity Game Without Caring if You Win or Lose / 06. What Makes You Think Your Art is Good Enough? Here is the guts of this article, the really in-depth stuff that should help understand how to better use Redbubble in your venture to either make money or make a name for yourself: 07. Are You Selling More Artwork ? / 08. Helping YOU Make a Profit on Redbubble ! / 09. Pleasure from Profit from Pleasure / 10. Quality Marketing Equals Sales / 11. Selling Your Art Successfully / 12. Sell, Give, Donate and Use Your Skills / 13. My Marketing Strategy / 14. How to Sell Anything / 15. Tips to Successful Photography. / 16. Twelve Months on Redbubble The trick is to read each article, and then ask yourself: ‘How does this apply to my situation?’. I’m very sure you’ll find a way to incorporate the ideas I’ve used here to improve your situation and increase your sales! I look forward to hearing how much more sales you make over the next few months!! EDIT [11:32 PM 15/05/2009] / Some of you will now want to run an exhibition, gallery or stall of your artwork. For that I have compiled another list of links that should help you! / ... Running Sheet for Exhibitions Since this is my article, I have to get a few shameless-plugs in here somewhere. I have T-shirts for sale that will get you noticed! / ... Your Name on a PHOTOGRAPHER Shirt / ... Photographer Shirts / ... Redbubble Shirts for Artists, Writers and Photographers Postscript / I started writing simple tips that any Redbubble Artist could use. I don’t write them so much any more, but I keep them here for my own reminder. I hope you enjoy these two that relate to this post enormously: / ... Tip #001 / ... Tip #004
Twitter.com is mainstream due to exposure from Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, and a number of other high-profile…
Twitter.com is mainstream due to exposure from Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, and a number of other high-profile players. The now debunked rumor (in the U.S.) was that a Twitter television show (that box people watched before the Internet) was in the works. A quick, boring background: Twitter is a self-described “service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” (in 140 characters or less) The full story is on Wikipedia (where everything is true). While there are no rules for using Twitter effectively, there are strategies and tactics that work better for selling art online. To see Rule #1 for using Twitter for purely marketing and PR (public relations) purposes, click here now. Despite the above guidance, there are no shortage of opinions about how to use Twitter for marketing and PR … 629,000 at last count. So, if Twitter isn’t a marketing and PR tool, “What is it good for aside from announcing that awesome breakfast?” At its core, Twitter is a messaging system and relationship building tool. In aggregate, your Tweets should give people more information about you, your artwork, and your creative process. You can use Twitter to engage followers in a discussion about [your] art. Here is my shortlist of tips for using Twitter to further your artistic bone fides. Please feel free to add your tips and tricks in the comments area below. If you want to be effective using Twitter to promote and sell your art: DO / - Use search.twitter.com (also see Twitter Advanced Search) to find and follow people interested in art, t-shirts, design, interior design, office management (these folks buy office art), etc. Essentially anyone with an interest in creativity. - Use Twitter to alert followers about: + Your progress about a current project or series. Use a RedBubble Journal article, Twitpic.com or another service to post works in progress; people love to see work in a fluid state. You can engage and pre-sell people on the design, solicit feedback, etc. + Tell people the beginnings of “the story behind a work.” Continue the story on your RedBubble Profile Page or on the ‘Show Work’ or ‘Configure Page.’ Note: The one thing that most Twitterers are lacking is great content; content is the most expensive tool in a Twitter toolbox. The good news is that you already have this content in your RedBubble Profile and/or Bubblesite. + Link to relevant content such as a RedBubble Journal Post or an article by an industry thought leader. Use TinyURL.com, Bit.ly or another free service to shorten your links. + Announce the addition of new work to your RedBubble profile. + Announce a promotion, e.g., a short-term reduction of your royalty, or a RedBubble-sponsored promotion. Always announce the promotion with a deadline. You can send one reminder when you’re 24-36 hours away from the end. That’s all though; no Tweet spamming. + Live ‘tweet’ an event. For example, every gallery in my hometown opens its doors on the Second Saturday of each month. Restaurants, musicians and street vendors also use the event to gain exposure. Twitpic, post to a RedBubble journal article, or simply tweet the goings-on – show your work, other work, action, etc. Give context to your work and your story. DON’T, if you want to use Twitter effectively for selling art … - Don’t use Twitter to announce what you had for breakfast. - A lot of people are voyeurs, but you’re looking for action, so create a call to action. E.g., use verbs like “see, click, view, read, try …” - Be ultra-efficient with your words. Get the point across and add a link if needed. A preamble isn’t needed for a Tweet. - Don’t use Twitter as your soapbox for negativity. On Twitter, no one can see you; they just hear you. If your language is ugly, well … EXTRAS You can customize your Twitter background to include pictures of your art and design, as well as your RedBubble URLs, a personal website address, phone number, or some context about you and your work. Remember to keep it simple. Note that I didn’t tell you that it’s imperative to use Twitter. Twitter isn’t for everyone. It’s an exercise in dedication, efficient use of words, and restraint; verbal diarrhea is not recommended nor effective. Please add your commentary, ideas, etc. below. Regards, / Jason, aka Jersey2J and 50Champ
In the journal post titled Relationships Sell Art I reas…
In the journal post titled Relationships Sell Art I reasoned that each artist is their best salesperson; that establishing a relationship with shoppers and buyers through context – a story about the artwork – can aid sales. Most buyers want details that can be shared when they’re asked about the print, t-shirt, calendar, etc. that they’ve proudly displayed in their home or office, on their body, etc. Now let’s step back and look at the factors that the typical consumer considers when buying art – aside from the ever-important context noted above. In a survey of 2,000-plus art buyers ages of 18 to 65 (qualified based on their previous purchase of art), the factors that influenced their purchase of “things to hang and display on walls” included: 60% just liked it / 43% said that it matched the style or design of their home / 39% said that color was a factor / 30% said favorite theme/subject / 29% said it fit their collection / 25% said size influence them / 19% were simply filling a space / 13% said investment was a factor / 9% purchased on impulse / 8% factored a designer/decorator recommendation How can you use this information on your RedBubble pages in order to sell your work? Although we artists can’t control subconscious attraction or a designer/decorator recommendation (unless we know the designer), we can tag our work with 5-7 very targeted terms that will drive visibility via RedBubble search and organic (non-paid) search results. Style, color, theme, and subject keywords are all in our control. In combination with context, smart tagging can help drive and make the sale. What won’t work? Tag cramming or spamming won’t do anything for your sales. It’s the equivalent of marketing a horse when you’re trying to sell a cow. Deception will drive viewers, but not sales. It’s important to note that the above information applies to shoppers and buyers that don’t know you personally. As we’ve discussed before, the easiest sales come from your personal network of family, friends, existing clients, and their extended network of contacts. In the next post we’ll look at genres and the keyword terms that are searched for most often by those looking to buy art. Regards, / Jason
Let’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are se…
Let’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are searched for often, but are hard to win through search engine optimization and expensive to buy through pay-per-click advertising. In a survey of 2,000-plus art buyers ages 18 to 65 (selected based on their previous purchase of art), shoppers aged 45 and above favored landscapes, flowers and gardens, and country traditional themes more than those who are younger. Shoppers aged 35 years of age or younger favored photography, abstract/surrealism, European subjects, and movies or celebrities (pop culture) more than the older [in age, perhaps not in spirit] consumers. Here are the art themes that had the strongest appeal to shoppers (in ascending rank). One caveat: keywords that are a direct hit, e.g., Star Wars, Barack Obama, etc. don’t apply below; it’s a given that brand names are targeted by their very nature. 1. Landscape / 2. Photography / 3. Flowers, Gardens / 4. Wildlife, Animals / 5. Abstract, Surrealism / 6. Impressionism / 7. Tuscany, Paris, Cafes (scenes of Europe) / 8. Still Life / 9. Country Traditional / 10. Pets (dogs, cats) / 11. Sports (baseball, cricket, football, futbol, soccer …) / 12. Religious / 13. Pop Culture / 14. African-American / 15. Brand Icons / 16. Hispanic Art / 17. Other What can we do with this information? We can use the above keywords for tagging, artwork/group descriptions, and Bubblesite text, as well as integrate them into titles, description copy, and hyperlinks in from external blogs, personal websites, and other credible referral sources (e.g., press, social shopping websites such as StyleHive, Kaboodle, etc.) when linking back to your RedBubble pages. In no way should these tags be applied to unrelated work; you’ll drive page views, but not sales. Plus, it’s poor form. There are many excellent categories missing above, e.g., nude art, self-portrait, dance, etc. The recommendation is to think about how you search online. Use common terms and keep it simple. If this article bores you to tears, we suggest that you take a bit from the above and then go with your gut. You know your artwork best, and by thinking like a regular art shopper you might find that fewer tags in a simplified structure will help categorize your work – both in your own mind and for the shopper and buyer. Bringing it all back home. All this sales talk is great; thanks for listening. However, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that the outcome is to provide an amazingly great work of art and design to someone that appreciates it… that we artists made something that someone loves or gave to someone they care about. In many cases, the shopper will come to think of you as a contact or friend; or at the very least, someone that they feel they know a bit about. Regards, / Jason
We previously talked about how RedBubble Groups bond artists by subject matter, and how they are also powerful search silos....
We previously talked about how RedBubble Groups bond artists by subject matter, and how they are also powerful search silos (marketers call them verticals) that can direct shoppers to targeted subjects on RedBubble. Say you’re shopping for abstract art. RedBubble has a beautiful collection of abstract art in Groups. The abstract art group is flush with relevant text, fresh with a diverse art collection, and gets lots of Google love because of third-parties (you and me) link into the Group page. Here’s a free and easy way to help the last point – for any group. Group Hosts can enable a widget that shows Featured Work in a small and attractive slideshow. This widget can be added to personal websites, and as Denis Leary says, “bliggity blogs, facey spaceys and tweetie pages.” This Groups widget features the same format as the personal artwork widget that many members already use; found in the promote area of MyBubble. The opportunity for search engines to home in on a Group page is bettered when there are many links into that page from content rich websites, blogs, social media pages, etc. Why? Google’s magical black box of calculations factors links into a page as part of a website’s Quality Score, i.e., how well the search term matches the page content. If every member posted a link to their Group(s) on their blog using the Group subject as the link, e.g., Abstract art prints, calendars and greeting cards, along with the widget, there would likely be a measurable effect on Group page visitors via natural (organic and unpaid) search results – which is good for everyone in the group. The result is compounded when those links come from sites that already have a good PageRank on Google. Are you still asking why you should promote your Group in addition to your own work? The simple answer is that the collective power of Group referrals helps direct visitors (shoppers) that might otherwise never see your art. Simply put, a better Google Quality Score equals more search engine exposure, and more exposure is good. All of us are pursuing art for different reasons, but most of us want exposure, validation, mind-share, and sales. And in a collective, creative space like RedBubble, good karma, back scratching, collaboration, and referrals go a long way. To allow Group members to use the widget, Hosts need to go to the “Settings” area of their Group and tick the box next to the “Show promote tab?” text. Here are images of the Promote widget and the tick box. / Promote widget / Activate the Promote widget Final note: Hosts control the widget at this time; there is a simple on/off function. In the far future we’ll look to give members control of whether or not to have their work included in the widget. We researched this option after receiving feedback, but it’s a bridge too far at the moment. Thanks! Regards, / Jason
Email marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, an…
Email marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, and acquaintances to create awareness and sales. You can also purchase email lists that are targeted to people that are apt to buy art or apparel (corporate art buyers, retail shop owners), however, the fastest way to lose credibility is to send a bulk email to strangers without providing context, purpose, and pointing out an immediate benefit to the recipient. Always ask yourself what job the email is doing for the recipient. What’s the benefit? OK, you’ve decided to send a mass (aka bulk) email. Now what? 1. Identify your mailing list / Your list can be your webmail contact list, an export of your computer’s address book, Apple or Outlook Address Book, Palm Contacts, etc. Members interested in buying lists should ping me via Bubblemail. Don’t be dissuaded by a small list of just a few people; email marketing works based on list quality and not the total size of the list. Email marketing can be as simple as sending an email to previous customers from your Gmail account. 2. Segment your list / Divide your list in order to test several groups. You can segment the list by sales potential, e.g., purchased from you in the past six months, inactive for six-plus months, new prospects (new to your list and never purchased art from you), etc. You could add a second qualifier if you have the patience, e.g., purchased a t-shirt from you in the past six months… or you could just go the full monty. 3. How will you mail? / This is the juncture at which you will decide if you’re going to send the email from your webmail, personal mail, or if you’ll send email using a bulk email tool. There are many free and pay-per-use bulk email tools online. A few names include Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Campaign Master, SubscriberMail, ExactTarget, etc. Look for a service that does not charge an up-front fee, little or no monthly fee, and that charges less than a cent/penny/pence per email sent. Why use a third-party email tool? a. You preserve your personal email address’ white label status (favorable view) with Internet Service Providers – making it unlikely that your address will be blocked due to an email blast. b. These tools provide templates that make email creation very easy. Some tools make adding content to an email as simple as “drag-and-drop.” c. The third-party will manage your unsubscribe and spam lists, so you won’t need to remember who wanted off the distribution list. Similarly, some services allow you and interested parties to add subscribers using a form; you won’t need to manually add subscribers. d. Third-party tools often include reports that will show you how many people opened your email, how many clicked through (and on which links), as well as unsubscribe and “spam” rates. 4. What to write? / Perhaps you dislike the “hard sell” and choose to send an editorial email that targets everyone in your list. The content of this newsletter could focus on: a. New work / b. Artwork in process – a behind the scenes peek at upcoming work / c. News about you and your work, e.g., recent shows, groups, charity work / d. Photos of you and your studio – or other personal images / e. A short, witty anecdote, etc. lead-in If you’re interested in creating a merchandised (sales-y) email, consider: a. Keeping the copy short and the calls to action obvious. Don’t make clicking through to your RedBubble page hard for the reader. / b. Capitalize on seasonal trends or life cycle events. Holidays are a great reason to talk about your work. / c. Readers love of collections, e.g., art for shared spaces, pop culture t-shirts, landscapes, etc. / d. Show lots of pictures, but keep the file sizes small. If you use Photoshop, use the “Save for Web” function and tweak the JPG quality so that images are small yet attractive. / e. Make any incentives obvious and put them in both the Subject line and at the top of the email newsletter. E.g., if you’re having a sale, offering a free item with purchase (free digital downloads are nice; e.g., wallpaper, printout), etc. 5. Subject line time / Subject lines make or break the number of people opening your email. You can get crazy and send the same email content – using different subject lines – to similar audiences and then measure the different open rates (the number of people that opened each email). My best advice is to include an offer in the subject line (if an offer exists). Otherwise, keep the subject line short and to the point. Humor and personality helps if it’s not obscure. Want to know if your email subject line is too obscure? Send a test to a few friends in the target audience and ask for their opinion. 6. Prepare and test / You’ve got your list, created your email message, and chose a distribution method. Next, paste your message into your email client. If you’re using a third-party tool, load your content into the template you’ve chosen. The only other note I have here is to send a test email to multiple email clients. For example, open a Gmail account, employ Apple Mail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, etc. if possible. Send your test email to make sure that you like the way it looks in each email client. Some third-party tools will show you a preview of your email in multiple email clients (for a small fee). Here are the email clients used by RedBubble members: 25.0% use Yahoo! Mail / 15.0% use Outlook 2000, 2003, Express / 13.0% use Apple Mail 3 / 10.9% use Hotmail / 9.6% use Gmail / 5.8% use iPhone 2.0 / 3.1% use Apple Mail 2 / 17.5% use All others combined 7. Time to send / Good luck. Spell check, recheck, and check your copy again. Then push that send button and be sure to record the results. Basic stats include: / a. Emails sent / b. Emails opened / c. Clicks from the email to your artwork / d. Number of sales – both transactions and total dollars A next step would be to monitor the lifetime value of the customer, e.g., how many sales, dollars, etc. started with that one email. I’ve probably rambled on far too much, but I hope that this article got you started and provided a few new thoughts, tips, and tricks that you’ll test in the near future. If you use email marketing to sell your art, please Bubblemail me or add your anecdotes or pointers below. Oh, one last thing. If you have blog, you might want to look at FeedBurner.com as way to automatically email people each time you post a new blog entry. Feedburner provides the opt-in (sign up) form and automatically distributes the email for you. I can see that many members also use Feedburner through Blogger.com, and feature a link to these feeds and newsletters on their RedBubble Profile Pages and personal blogs, e.g., Jordan Clarke / thickblackoutline / and Stephen Mitchell among others. If you already create articles about selling art, please point us to them below. More information about selling your art can be found under the Selling member name. Regards, / Jason
For all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive…
For all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive is that Facebook and Twitter leverage your relationships with contacts. And we all know that relationships help sell art. Additionally, Twitter allows you to “follow” people that broadcast information and links that can broaden your understanding of topics, industries, etc. For example, I follow 100+ t-shirt designers via my Twitter account, and have found that the their tweets keep me “in the know” about seasonal and pop-culture merchandising trends. RedBubble has both a Facebook page and Twitter account. Back to Facebook. As an artist and designer, Facebook can be a great awareness builder and sales driver. Here are three easy ways to promote your art and design on Facebook. 1. Friends, and friends of friends, buy art / You may already have a growing list of contacts that Facebook defines as friends. Tell friends about your art and design via: Link to your RedBubble profile page or Bubblesite from your Facebook profile. Post new artwork in your Facebook status. This broadcasts an image, a link, and associated text to your friends. Create a collection (or collections) of artwork as a photo album. Be sure to note the artwork URL in the image description. Note: You might want to watermark your images or overlay your RedBubble URL on the image. While Facebook down-samples files to 72 dpi, expressing copyright is never a bad idea in digital public spaces… though one would hope that your Facebook friends would give credit where it’s due. Use Facebook Notes to tell the story behind the creation of your artwork. If you’re a writer, you can tease your work in the Notes section and link to your writing portfolio on RedBubble. You can also install the RedBubble Facebook slideshow found in the Promote area of MyBubble. Status update of an artwork and link. / Addition of a photograph / B. Groups contain focused, interested buyers / Join Facebook Groups where members share common interests related to your artwork content. By being active in Facebook Groups, you can subtlety migrate interested parties to your RedBubble profile and/or Bubblesite. It’s helpful if you can use your art and design to educate others and gather feedback, e.g., post “New images of Yosemite National Park. I’m interested in feedback about which images I should place on RedBubble.” You can obviously use this same technique on RedBubble. / / C. Use Pages to create fan clubs / Facebook Pages are separate from your personal Facebook profile and are also free to create. Think of your Facebook Page as a business page where you can give people a view of your studio, news of a recent exhibition, show work in development, etc. It’s also good to use RedBubble journal posts to do the same for those watching your RB profile. The distribution power of Facebook Pages comes from their ability to update “fans” whenever you post something new to your Page (like your status update, but for your business). However, note that your friends need to become a “fan” of your Facebook Page in order to receive updates. The Pages updates won’t duplicate nor conflict with your personal Facebook profile. You can also announce promotions on your Page. Here is a contest example created by Diesel Laws. Contest created by Diesel Laws / Advertising is easy, but demands attention / Facebook advertising is easy to set up, but not a “set it and forget it” exercise. You’re dedicating funds to this exercise, so consider the following when creating your ads: What images will capture the viewer’s eye best amongst all of the other Facebook page clutter? What designs sold best for you previously? What art or design is at a price point that will attract a first time buyer? What outcome would you consider a success – exposure and sales, simply sales, etc.? FB ads work on a pay-per-click basis, which means that you’re only paying for the clicks that you receive. You can cap the cost per day, so if you want to test ads at $5 per day it’s simple to do so. FB ads also feature demographic (age, location …) targeting, as well as psychographic targeting (interests, hobbies, career …). This allows you to show ads to people you know or estimate to be very good targets. You were once only allowed to create ads for businesses with websites outside of Facebook, but now you can create ads for Pages and Events too. Start simple / My advice is to try the free options first – especially if you already have a large Facebook friends list. Personal referrals will often convert (create a sale) better than a paid ad. That’s not to say that a targeted ad can’t work well if you present the right image, copy and URL. Let’s close / If you’ve found success with Facebook personal, business pages, events or paid ads, please add your comments below. We’re always looking for success stories or warnings about sales and marketing programs as they relate to selling your art and design. And finally, if you want to help other members sell, you can join our “You Can Sell Art and T-shirts” Group (by invitation). Bubblemail me with the topics you feel confident sharing. Thank you. Regards, / Jason BTW, click here for our Twitter tips and tricks. It’s also worth noting that Twitter integrates with Facebook; your tweets can be broadcast as your Facebook status. Janis also pointed out a great Twitter guide on Mashable.
/ www.photographycampu…
/ www.photographycampus.com Hi Guys. / Some of you may know I’ve recently started writing for DESKTOP magazine about all things photography and photography post production. I am ‘soon’ going to launch an on line learning portal (subscription based) called the Photography Campus which will have video tutorials about photography & videography by real live working professionals. Anyway, I promised a few people that I’d put the articles up here once they’d gone to print. So here’s the November issues article: How to use layer blend modes in Photoshop. As creative folk, we have a wonderful knack of ignoring things when they get too technical. / For most of us, our left brain left years ago, tired of the lack of love and relentless mocking from its hyperactive sibling, the right brain. / It’s little wonder then, so many software functions are overlooked due to their, eeky – geeky – speakiness. / Take the layer blending modes in Photoshop. They promise so much with fancy names like multiply, hard light, dissolve and luminosity. Yet a quick look in many Photoshop help files reveal evil words like algorithms, percentages and the arch rival of all creatives..Maths. Urgh. / In fact the layer blend modes are little rippers when it comes to fixing images and creating interesting effects. They’re non destructive, versatile and quite frankly everywhere. (Seriously they breed like rabbits in Photoshop). / And here’s the thing. You don’t actually have to understand all of them to use them. / By in large understanding the theory of only a handful will have you speaking fluent blending modes and impressing your arty-farty-party friends in no time. Now for some maths you’ll really like. Sure there’s 25 layer blend modes listed in the drop down menu of PS CS4, but in reality they fit into 6 sections and truth be told there’s only 3 you really need to understand. Check out this diagram. The three sections you’ll use the most are the darken section, lighten section and the contrast section. In these groups if you understand one mode, you pretty much understand them all. Here’s how do they work. In short blending modes effect the way the top layer blends with the layer below it. Depending on which blend mode you choose, you can make images look lighter, darker, more contrasty, a different colour or a handful of other styles. / The first group in our layer blends diagram we’ve called ‘whatever’ because it’s not really all that interesting. / Normal is well, normal – as in default, as in 100% opaque, as in nothing exciting to see here…move on. / Dissolve is kind of like the annoying guy at the party. He has one trick (reproduces pixels randomly so things look a little pointilized) and pretty much that’s it. It’s probably not something you’ll use much if ever unless you are that annoying guy, in which case, go away. / The ‘dark’ section modes you will use a lot. They ignore white but blend the dark and black pixels, thereby making an image look darker. The Lighten modes ignore black but blend the lighter colours thus the making an image lighter. The contrast modes ignore mid grey but still blend the light and dark pixels and as such / create contrast. / To see it work in practice, here’s an experiment you can do yourself. 1. Create a Photoshop file. / Make sure it has 2 layers. The top layer has a 100% black object, a 50% grey object and a 100% white object. / The bottom layer is green. Your layers should look like this: 2. Choose the top layer and go to the layer blend mode. Choose Multiply…but wait before you do, ask yourself…if multiply comes from the ‘dark’ layer group what will the result be? Yup you guessed it, it will ignore white pixels, so as you see the white object disappears, the 100% black remains the same because you can’t get darker than that and the 50% grey object makes / the pixels below it darker. Therefore the entire image becomes darker. It will look like this: 3. Now choose Lighten. It ignores black so the 100% black disappears, the 100% white remains because you can’t get lighter than that and the everything below the 50% grey goes lighter. As such the entire image gets lighter. The image should look like this: 4. Finally, choose overlay. It ignores 50% grey, so the grey object disappears and the white and black objects remain. Thus the image will show greater contrast. See: By understanding these three modes you effectively have a good idea of how others in their sections work (give or take a few discrepancies…) If you include normal and annoying dissolve that’s 19 out of 25 sorted before you’ve even ordered your second chai latte. / As for the other blends, rather than us explain them, here’s a way to see their effect with a nifty little keyboard shortcut. / Choose your move tool (V). Make sure the top layer is chosen in the layers box. Hold down the shift key and press the – and + tools. This will scroll through every layer blend style and give you an instant preview of what happens with each one. / So now you know the theory how can you use it in practice? / The most obvious use is to fix exposure. / Here we have Jessie the wonder dog posing in an overexposed shot. Because she’s black and white she provides a good test case. / Firstly we create a new layer above our background layer. We can either just press cmd or ctrl j to duplicate the original layer, or if you wish to keep file size down, you can just choose a Levels adjustment layer and leave it untouched. It will ‘inherit’ the information on the bottom layer and allow you to work the blend modes just as effectively. / We want to blend the darker pixels whilst leaving the whites alone. So we activate the top layer and choose multiply. Shazam instant gratification. You can also try out the other modes in the Darken section to see the variations you can achieve. Here’s the before and after: Jess before multiply: Jess after multiply: Ok let’s try an underexposed shot. And this time we’ll use the Linear Dodge mode form out ‘Lighten’ section. Jess before Linear Dodge: After: Finally in the following shot Jess is exposed OK but looks awfully flat. She needs contrast and that means a mode from the contrast section. Try Overlay. Much better. Before Overlay: After Overlay: Once you’ve used a blend mode you can use it immediately again to ‘multiply’ the effect of it. You can also use the most well known blend mode of all – the opacity slider. Say I wanted to lighten the underexposed shot even more, I could go blend > lighten. Then create duplicate layer of that new layer and choose blend > lighten again. If two blends were too much, I could simply dull down the second blend my decreasing its opacity, effectively creating a ‘blend and a half’. / As an example of using multiple blend modes in the same file check out the following shot. The shot on the left (of a hot rock pool at Yellowstone National Park) is the original shot straight out of the camera. The shot on the right was achieved by combining a mix of layer blends just from the 3 main sections we’ve talked / about; darken, lighten and contrast along with the opacity slider. Some blends were used more than once. / In fifteen minutes we had the shot on the right. It could do with more work but it does show you what’s possible in a short period of time. BEFORE (straight out of the camera): AFTER: I did use a couple of quick layer masks in there as well to determine which part of the image the blend mode affected. What are layer masks you ask? Well, that’s for the December issue of DESKTOP. / In the meantime happy shooting and remember, with any program fear not the names of the processes, just experiment with them until you find what works for you. Then gloat. Some keyboard shortcuts relevant to this article: Use the corresponding number on your keyboard to set the opacity level, eg want 80% opacity? Press 8. / 50% press 5 etc. You get the picture (and yes you can have that pun for free). / To duplicate a layer press CTRL + J (WIN) CMD + J (Mac) / To cycle through blend modes: Press the move tool (V). Holding down the shift key and pressing the plus or minus key lets you toggle through the blend modes. If you’ve made it this far congrats! They key is just muck around and have fun :) / Follow my photo tips & news on Twitter @photocampus
The aim of this Guide is to provide easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions on how to add clouds to an image which has an otherwise blan…
The aim of this Guide is to provide easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions on how to add clouds to an image which has an otherwise blank sky, without the necessity of being a Photoshop guru to achieve it. Many stunning images on RB are in fact composites, with clouds being brought in from another image to add impact. (Sometimes you can’t easily tell!) It works very well and can transform an image. I have only uploaded to RB one artwork which is a composite of two shots, one being clouds: The original image of the building was clear sky – not a cloud in sight – and was thus a bit bland and boring and a perfect candidate for some cosmetic surgery. This tutorial was prompted by a request to explain how I did it. I still call myself “new to Photoshop” and I have found a lot of on-line Photoshop tutorials, including some others on RB, assume a much higher level of knowledge than I have and are not very intuitive. So, I try to explain the steps in easy to understand terms (hopefully!) and, importantly, describe what each step should look like after it’s done. So if you are not seeing the result of each step replicated on your screen, you know you have to stop and try again. If this happens, go to the top toolbar, select Edit then Undo [whatever it is you’ve just done] from the drop-down menu and try again. (Many many tutorials lose me when they fail to include this vital “check back”.) This tutorial is my longest one yet, given the patience I apply, but once you get the hang of the actions, you will find the process rather quick to do. If you have already read and followed my Orton Effect tutorial (now updated and expanded to include thumbnails), you’ll know what I mean, hopefully, so don’t be put off by this one. I explain the steps based on using Photoshop Elements 7, but users of more advanced Photoshop programs will be able to follow the same steps. I also have Photoshop CS2 (v9.0), for example, and there’s only one slight difference from the PE 7 interface from what I can tell, which I will point out where it’s relevant. If you want to refer back to this tutorial at leisure, feel free to favourite it as I never delete my tutorials. (After all, they’re more popular than my images!) In writing this tutorial I just want to point out a few things. First, I have not read a single tutorial by someone else on this particular process, and the words are all mine. I wish to also acknowledge that Tatiana originally showed me this process. She’s so patient dealing with my impatience! And, finally, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and there is more than one way to achieve what I describe. I’m just relating the method shown to me. Another popular method involves masking. There are LOTS of tutorials on masking. If I have the time and the inclination I will update this tutorial later to include the steps for masking as an alternate process – it’s a completely different path to take to achieve the same result. Lastly, please excuse the standard of screenshots. They’re my first ever attempt at including graphics in a tutorial, or anything for that matter! OK, here we go. Ready? Step One Clouds. You need some cloud photos. Beg, borrow or steal some, or better still, shoot some. I have a folder of nothing but cloud photos. Any day the sky puts on a show I will try and shoot the clouds, just to save them for later use. If you shoot some clouds in JPEG, make sure you shoot them in colour – you can always desaturate to B&W if the image you want to use them in is also in B&W, but if you shoot them in B&W in JPEG you won’t be able to convert to colour to match a colour image. Just another reason to shoot in RAW, really. For this tutorial, however, I am going to use a colour image needing a sky and a B&W sky shot. In theory, this will look weird, and it does, but I will also show you how you can then gradually desaturate the colour image after inserting the B&W sky and achieve quite a startling effect when you leave just a touch of colour. For best results, try to have nothing else in the frame of your cloud shot but sky. No trees or power lines! (If that’s not possible then crop the crap out. But note that creates a potential problem because now your cloud shot will be a different size than the image you want to drop the sky into. That can be fixed, but let’s just worry about equally-sized images for now.) Another advantage of having a “clean” cloud shot is that you can rotate it to horizontal or vertical, depending on the aspect of the image you want to use the sky in. Here’s a little cloud photo I prepared earlier: Step Two Your main image. The one without any clouds. The one you want to insert some action into, some drama. Try to select an image with a completely blank sky. It makes it so much easier for the Magic Wand (I’ll explain later) to figure out the portion of the sky you want to replace, ie all of it. Try to also select an image with straight lines, like a building or, even better, a straight uninterrupted horizon of a landscape or seascape. If you’ve got stuff popping up into the sky, like trees, the method I describe is just made soooo much harder and you may as well stop reading now and go watch TV or a movie. (At this point, the Photoshop gurus are shaking their heads and groaning, because THEY know another method to get around this when doing composites, but we’ll leave THEM on their lofty perches, ok?) Here’s a little image I prepared earlier. You may recognise the building: Cool, but be aware of one important thing: perspective. Unless you are trying to be rather obvious in creating your composite, the perspective of your main image needs to be the same as that used to capture your chosen cloud image. The images I am using for this tutorial were shot from the same perspective, or in other words, with the lens at roughly the same angle for both shots – looking up, at around 70 degrees relative to the ground. If I was to choose instead as my main image a landscape with a horizon, the cloud image I have chosen will not be suitable unless you actually want that abstract feel. Have I explained that well? Tell me if I haven’t. Now, let’s commence cooking our composite. I will refer to my two images in this tutorial as Clouds and Building, just for ease of reference. Step Three You’ve got Photoshop Elements (“PE”) open. Now select File from the top toolbar and select Open from the drop-down menu. Choose your Building shot and open it. Ok, now look across to the right of the screen. See the Layers palette? It should be showing a thumbnail of the Building image, together with the label Background, like so: Now, once again, select File from the top toolbar and select Open from the drop-down menu. Choose your Cloud shot and open it. Look back across to the Layers palette. You should now see a thumbnail of the Cloud image, together with the label Background, like so: Now, left click and hold down the mouse on the Cloud image, and drag it to the side, just enough to show some of the sky of your Building shot. Release the mouse button. Move the mouse over to the Layers palette. Left click and hold over the thumbnail of the Cloud, and drag it over to the sky – anywhere in the sky. Release the mouse button. A copy of the Cloud image should now be “superimposed” over the Building image. Don’t worry if it doesn’t fit. Look back over to the Layers palette. You should now be seeing two thumbnails – the top one called Layer 1 which is the “front” image, and the bottom thumbnail called Background, which is your Building image, like so: Now, ignoring the Layers palette, left click on the Cloud image sitting behind the “superimposed” image. Close it. Step Four Look over to the Layers palette again. See that group of little icons just above the top thumbnail? Hover your mouse slowly over them and their functions should come up, eg the 3rd icon from the left looks like a trash can and when you hover the mouse over it a little word bar comes up saying Delete layer. Well we don’t want to do that. Instead, hover the mouse over the icon on the far left, the one that is a square with an upturned corner. It should say Create new layer. Just remember where that icon is for now. (If you are using Photoshop CS2 or CS3 or CS4, the group of icons is at the bottom of the Layers palette. Hover the mouse over the icons until you find the one that says Create new layer. Remember it.) Now, left click and hold down the mouse over the bottom thumbnail in the Layers palette – it’s the thumbnail of the Building that’s labelled Background – and drag it over to the Create new layer icon. Release the mouse. You should now see three thumbnails in the Layers palette, labelled, from top to bottom: Layer 1, Background copy, and Background, like so: Step Five This is a slightly tricky step. Another click and drag, but best done smoothly and slowly. Left click and hold down the mouse over the Background copy thumbnail in the Layers palette and drag it to just over the top of the Layer 1 thumbnail. Release the mouse. All we are doing here is reversing the order of the top and middle thumbnails, so now your Layers palette should still show three thumbnails, but now in order from top to bottom: Background copy, Layer 1, and Background, like so: Step Six Ok, now the meaty stuff starts. Look over to the left toolbar now (or palette, whatever you want to call it). Hover your mouse until you find the icon labelled Magic Wand. It looks like, um, a magic wand, but don’t confuse it with the Quick selection tool immediately below it. This is the Magic Wand icon: Click on the Magic Wand icon. Your mouse pointer should now have the distinct look of a, um, magic wand. Look up at the little toolbar immediately above the image (which, incidentally, should be of the Building). Make sure the box marked Contiguous is ticked, like so: Now left click once on the sky in the Building image. You should now see marching ants completely around the sky and along the exterior part of the building which protrudes into the sky, like so: (Believe it or not, the technical term for marching ants is …. marching ants.) Step Seven Look closely at the marching ants where they meet the edge of the building. Are there any gaps where you can see the sky? This is important, because if you don’t shift the path of the ants so that they align to the edge of the building, your new sky won’t cover that gap. Enlarge the image if you are not sure. If you see a gap, it is easily fixed. First, press and hold Shift on your keyboard. Second, left click once on the mouse on a gap. Let go the Shift key. You should immediately see those obedient ants form up against the building across the image, like so: Cool, eh? Now, go to the top horizontal toolbar and select Edit. From the drop-down menu select Delete. This will delete your bland boring sky and replace it with your new dramatic sky !!! How cool is that?! Epic. Step Eight Now we have to send the ants home. Go again to the top toolbar and select Select. From the drop-down menu now select Deselect (ha! ha! I love a good alliteration!). Your marching ants should be no more, gone in fact. Does your image look something like this? How cool is that? Step Nine Nearly done! At this juncture, you have two options. You can finish now with the image you’ve got or you can adjust the look of the Building alone and/or the Clouds alone and then finalise the image. To finish now, right click and hold the mouse over the top thumbnail in the Layers palette. Select Flatten image from the drop-down menu – it’s the last menu option: The thumbnails should have collapsed into one thumbnail, called Background, like so: You can now save your image, you’re all done! To work further on the Building alone and/or the Clouds alone, simply left click once on either the Background copy thumbnail and/or the Layer 1 thumbnail and make your adjustments as you would normally do with an image, and then flatten your image and save it. Which is what I did with this image. I simply increased the contrast on the building and desaturated it to the level where there is just a hint of colour. To alter contrast, select Enhance from the top horizontal toolbar, then select Adjust Lighting from the drop-down menu, then select Brightness/Contrast from the second drop-down menu. A separate window will open and there is your contrast slider: To desaturate, select Enhance again from the top horizontal toolbar, then select Adjust Colour from the drop-down menu, then select Adjust Hue/Saturation from the second drop-down menu. A separate window will open and there is your saturation slider: So, how does it look? Epic or what?! Cheers and happy clouding – time to get freaky !!!
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