If you’ve been a writer for any length of time, or paid attention during English class, you’ve probably heard about how one way we categorize different kinds of writing is by word count. Like how you probably know short stories are, well, short, compared to a novel.
But if you’re a writer, you might be asking yourself: do I really need to pay attention to these distinctions?
The short answer, as with most things, is: it depends!
It mostly depends on why you’re writing, or what you’re attempting to write for. For example, if you’re writing a story in the hopes of submitting it to a magazine, you’ll want to make sure you stay inside the word count they give you as part of the instructions. Same as, if you’re contracted to write a book to send off to a publisher, most of them won’t publish works in certain genres if they’re not within the expected range. This is usually because they know avid readers of a certain genre are typically expecting a certain word count, and if your book is shorter, or longer than such, people might not read it. (Unless you’re an already established big name – for example, Stephen King can colour outside the lines)
On the other hand, if you’re writing just for you, adhering to a strict word count limit isn’t as necessary and, I’d even go so far to say, it can actually be detrimental!
If you’re trying to write a story while keeping a firm word count in the forefront of your mind, you might find you’re more frustrated, distracted, and it might just become all around harder for you to get the story out of your head.
I recommend just letting your story flow, and not worry about a word count until you’re done getting it out of you. Once you have it down on paper, then you can add the word count parameters as part of your editing. If you’ve come up too short, see if you can fit an extra scene in, or if you’re over, see if there’s parts you can take out without changing the flow or plot, or leave it on a cliffhanger/to-be-continued, if you’re planning to make it a series.
One of my all time favourite pieces of writing advice I’ve ever gotten is: a story takes as long as it takes.
It makes writing sound so simple, doesn’t it?
I keep this advice in mind all the time, which is why I don’t bother checking a word count of a story until I’m done writing it. Now, I know I’m lucky, since I mostly write for myself on Patreon, (and here) I don’t have to adhere to a strict word count limit. The only word count rules I have to keep in mind are ones that were self-imposed. (And those were only put in place because I upload so many)
That said, I still think it’s a better way to write, and would recommend anyone to try adopting this style!
Instead of getting bogged down with all the nit-picky editing elements – oh, your story is 10 words off from your word count, you used ‘too many’ adjectives, you misspelled a word – if you let your critical editing voice sleep – or beat it to death with a stick, because you’re a good writer, damn it! Stop being so hard on yourself! – you can focus all your energy on telling the story.
In my opinion, telling the story is the most important part of writing. Screw the rules! Take your time, focus, and tell your story. It’s more important to tell it ‘correctly’ than to try and squish it to fit into a predetermined sized box so it’s ‘right’.
Also, in my experience, if you take the time and tell the story you want, in the way you want, most readers won’t care if it’s a little over or under a specific word count. They’ll just be happy they have a new favourite piece to add to their collection.
Also also, once you get the story down how you want it, and know the word count, it can help narrow your focus of where to submit it. Instead of being at the mercy of the magazine, publisher’s, etc. rules, you can find the rules that fit your story, instead.
Like this article? Check out more writing tips here!
A lot of Photoshopping involves just editing multiple pictures together to create your desired final image. Because of this, there’s usually multiple ways to achieve specific effects. Editing multiple images together is usually faster and easier, assuming you can find appropriate stock photos to work from.
But, it’s not nearly as fun.
There’s a certain magic/slight ego trip you get from adding something to your project that you created from nothing. And you should! It’s super cool to know you have that power. It can also save you time from sifting through a bunch of stock photos, trying to find the right one.
So, how do you create clouds from scratch? Let’s find out!
Step 1
As always, you’ll want to start a new project, and it’s helpful if you start with a background image that clouds wouldn’t look out of place in.
For this tutorial, I chose the following image:
But, you can start on a plain coloured background, if you don’t want to work on an image. Just make sure you change the background colour from White so that you can actually see the clouds.
Step 2
Once you have your background sorted, you’ll want to select the Brush tool.
After you’ve got the Brush Tool selected, go up to the menu at the top, so we can change some of the Brush attributes.
In the Brush Menu, we’re going to change the Hardness to 0% and the size to a roughly big one. The exact size will depend on the size of your document. For me, the Size was 55 pixels.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll want to click on the button beside the Brush Preset Picker. In my version of Photoshop, the button is a folder background with what I’m assuming are paint brushes in a cup over top of it.
This button is called the Brush Panel button. And, you may have guessed, clicking it will open the Brush Panel.
We could’ve also changed the Size and Hardness from this panel, but for most Photoshop things, using the Brush Preset Picker is faster.
From this panel, we’re also going to change the Brush’s Spacing to 35%.
Step 3
Depending on the size of your document and the picture you chose, that might be all you need to change before you start adding clouds to your image!
To add the clouds, now that you’ve got your brush set up, all you need to do is paint them in using your mouse.
To help make them look like they belong, you’ll want to draw the shape of the clouds that go with your image. For the picture I chose, white, fluffy clouds would work, so that’s the type I’ll paint in.
I’ve also added a New Layer to paint the clouds on, instead of adding them directly onto my background image. This way, if I mess up or don’t like the shape of a cloud, I can easily erase it, without also erasing the sky.
I’ve also gone ahead and renamed the layer to Clouds. This is optional, but renaming layers to keep them straight is a good habit to form, especially when you work on more complicated effects that have a lot of layers.
Also, don’t forget to make sure this layer is on top of the background layer, otherwise you won’t be able to see the clouds you paint!
Keep adding clouds to your image until you’re happy with it, then save the PHSH file and PNG/JPEG file and boom! You’re done.
This additional step is 100% optional, as it depends entirely on the type of cloud you’re attempting to create.
Step 4
For this step, you’ll want to go back to the Brush Panel, and check-mark and change the following options:
Shape Dynamics:
Size Jitter: 50%
Control: Off
Minimum Diameter: 30%
Angle Jitter: 0%
Control: Off
Roundness Jitter: 20%
Control: Off
Minimum Roundness: 1%
Scattering:
Both Axes: Check Mark, 120%
Control: Off
Count: 10
Count Jitter: 100%
Control: Off
After you turn on and change these values, you can go ahead and test out your new cloud brush, to see the difference it made.
Once you finish adjusting the Scattering, you can go ahead and hide/close the Brush Panel again by clicking the double arrow button at the top of the panel.
Then, you can go ahead and test out the new clouds brush, to see the difference it made. If you like the look of these clouds better, go ahead and erase the Step 3 clouds and repaint them with the Step 4 settings.
Or, if you didn’t notice a difference, or don’t like the way the new clouds look on your image, you can un-check the Shape Dynamics and Scattering settings to revert the brush back to the Step 3 settings and repaint the clouds. Or, if you painted the Step 4 clouds on a different layer, you can go ahead and just delete that layer, keeping your Step 3 clouds.
Or, if you want to get crazy with it, you can paint a mix of both setting’s clouds.
As I said above, it’ll all depend on the image you’re trying to create!
Of course, you can play around with the settings above to find what value changes work best for you.
After you get the hang of painting white, fluffy clouds, feel free to keep experimenting! Change the percentage values, the Size of the brush and even the Hardness! That’s how you’ll learn to create different kinds of clouds, like… long, white clouds.
Or wispy, barely-there clouds.
Or cloud writing.
Or even… different coloured magical clouds!
Like this tutorial? Check out the rest of the series here!
Let’s face it, some days, you just don’t feel like writing. Maybe you had a weird dream, woke up on the wrong side of the bed, have a lot going on in your personal life, or, maybe your inspiration is just being a bitch and hiding from you.
Whatever the reason, every writer has been there. It’s a totally normal – albeit annoying – part of the process.
Unfortunately, writer’s block can also seem to happen at the worst of times, so you may find yourself at times needing to write even when it’s the last thing you feel like doing. Yes, even when you’re self-employed, this can happen!
And also unfortunately, as I’ve talked about in past articles, if you are self-employed, if you aren’t doing something, it’s not getting done. And I’m sure I’m not the only writer to pull a, ‘Oh, I’ll write it tomorrow’, and then have ‘tomorrow’ turn into another day, or week…. or month.
So, what can you do if you have a looming deadline, the guilt of pushing an article/story has been eating at you long enough and you just need to get your writing done today?
Step 1. Open Your Laptop As Soon as You Wake Up
Make going on your laptop and opening the document the first thing you do when you wake up. Yes, before breakfast, coffee, morning yoga, or whatever else you usually do. The only thing you should allow yourself to do between your feet hitting the ground and opening your laptop to work is go to the bathroom. (Because let’s face it, no amount of willpower will let you power through really needing to pee)
This way, there’s nothing to distract you from writing. You haven’t started any other tasks that you ‘have to’ finish first, the only thing you need to focus on is already in front of you.
If you need to, you can even unplug/turn off your internet so you aren’t tempted to check your e-mail, play games or whatever other sneaky laptop distractions you use to continue putting it off.
Just because you’re on your laptop, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re working, does it? That’s right, I see you fellow procrastinators!
Step 2. Just Start Writing
Just start typing. This is probably the hardest part to do. In the middle of a writer’s block, depending on the reason, you may feel slightly frozen with your fingers hovering over the keys, all semblance of a point leaving your body.
Stop overthinking it and just start writing. Chances are, you’ve been at least partially mentally writing your article for the entire time you’ve been putting it off. That means the words are in there!
Start typing and you might be surprised at how fast the ideas start to flow out of you.
Before you know it, you’ll reach the end of the article, and then you’ll feel silly for sitting around and waiting for your inspiration to come back.
It’s a harsh truth, but you can’t always wait for inspiration. (Especially if you’re writing non-fiction) If you’ve turned your writing into your job, that’s awesome! But also means you no longer have the luxury of only writing when the mood strikes.
You’ve got a job to do.
You may have noticed if you’ve read some of the other Working From Home articles, but a common theme is to just make yourself do it. You’ve gotta find the willpower/drive/whatever-you-want-to-call-it inside you. As much as reading articles may help you spark new ideas, or try new techniques, ultimately, it all actually comes down to you.
No amount of advice from a stranger on the internet is going to magically write your article/story.
You need to find a way to make it happen.
Oh, and if you got a sense of deja vu reading this article (like I did when writing it), it’s because you’re remembering my Breaking a Writer’s Block article. Which is admittedly similar to this one, but different enough it definitely wasn’t a waste of time to write a second one.
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Technically, this Photoshop effect isn’t strictly for making tear drops, you can use it to create any other clear liquid drops – sweat, condensation, big rain drops, etc. But since I first learned this technique because I needed to make a tear drop – for the creation of my 6th book cover, Broken – that’s the name I’m sticking with.
Like most of the other effects I show you, there’s multiple ways you can create tear drops in Photoshop, and again, like most of the other effects, it’s not nearly as hard as it may seem.
Step 1
As always, you’ll need to start with an image you’d like to add the effect on. Since I’m going to be showing you this for a tear drop – and since I already had the picture on hand – I’m going to be using the same sad girl face I used on my book cover.
Feel free to use the picture above, or you can choose your own sad person, or water bottle, or forehead if you’re going to be creating sweat or condensation. Though I will say, it might be easier to follow along with the tutorial in the same way first. Just so that you have the steps down before you start deviating from the tutorial. I’ll add example pictures of condensation and sweat at the end of the tutorial, so you can see what it looks like on those images, too.
Okay, so once you have the picture you want to add the effect to, we’re going to make a New Layer, and then on that New Layer, use the Pen Tool to draw a shape. Preferably, a tear/water drop shape. (Or as close as you can get) If you’d like, you can also rename this layer to something simple yet identifying, like Pen Tear Drop.
If you’ve never used the Pen Tool before, the way to use it is by clicking multiple times, which are called Anchor Points, to create the shape you want. It’s similar to the Polygonal Lasso Tool (which I showed you in this tutorial), except the line doesn’t hold until you create the next Anchor Point.
Each one of those squares are the Anchor Points where I clicked. If you don’t use multiple Anchor Points to create your shape, you won’t end up with a shape, but you’ll instead just have a dot. Or if you click once to ‘start’ the tool and once to ‘stop’, you’ll get a line.
For example:
So you’ll want to make sure to use the Anchor Points to create the shape, otherwise the Pen Tool won’t appear to work. If you need to, you can also zoom in on your picture to make creating the shape easier. To zoom in, use the CTRL and + buttons on your keyboard. (Zooming out is CTRL – , makes sense, right? Clicking ‘+’ brings you more/closer and ‘-’ minuses/moves you farther away)
Step 2
Once you have a shape you’re happy with, you’re going to right-click on the shape and then select Make Selection from the drop-down Menu that appears.
In the Make Selection Dialogue box that appears, you shouldn’t need to change anything from the default, but this might depend on your version of Photoshop, so I’ll list what the values should be below. Once you finish changing them, or if you didn’t need to change them at all, just click the Okay button.
Feather Radius: 0 pixels
Anti-Aliased Check Box should be Check-marked
New Selection for Operation (in my version of PHSH, the other options are greyed out)
After you click the Okay button, you should notice that the shape you drew is now now shows the dotted selection lines, instead of the Anchor Point square dots.
Once you finish that, you’ll want to Fill the shape with white. To do this, you can use the CTRL + Delete buttons on your keyboard, or if you switch from the Pen Tool to the Selection tool and then right-click on the shape, select Fill from the drop-down menu, and then pick White from those options.
If you noticed my Layers panel has an extra layer, this is because I created 2 tear drop shapes. The first one I forgot to fill with white, and then wondered why Step 3 wasn’t working. I had to go back and re-draw the tear, so it will be a different shape for the rest of the tutorial. Also see? Even us pros mess up!
Once your shape is filler with White, you can now Deselect it (right-click using the Pen or Selection tool and choose Deselect) to get rid of the dotted outline. After this, go on over to the Layers Panel and change the Fill to 0%. You can either do this by sliding the slider all the way to the left, or simply type the number 0 into the box.
Step 3
Next, you’re going to right-click on the Tear Drop layer and bring up the Blending Options Dialogue Box. From there, you’re going to check-mark the Bevel and Emboss option, and then change the following values:
Bevel and Emboss:
Inner Bevel
Smooth
Depth: 530
Direction: Up
Size: 50
Soften: 0
Angle: -90,
Altitude: 0
Highlight Mode: Screen (White)
Opacity: 50%
Shadow Mode: Multiply
Opacity: 75%
After you change the Bevel and Emboss values, you’ll also want to add an Inner Shadow, with the following values:
Inner Shadow:
Linear Burn (Leave Black)
Opacity: 30%
Angle: -63 (Uncheck Global Light)
Distance: 4
Choke: 0
Size: 16
And finally, a Drop Shadow, with the following values:
Drop Shadow:
Multiply (Leave Black)
Opacity: 55%
Angle: 127
Distance: 7
Spread: 0
Size: 8
At this stage, your tear should actually look like a tear. If however, you’re in the same boat as I am and it’s not looking even remotely close, don’t panic!
I discovered through creating yet another tear (yes, I ended up making 3 for this tutorial) that you need to do the steps not only in order, but without breaking between them, especially between making the selection, filling with white and first applying the Bevel and Emboss effect.
I have no idea why, but for some reason, the Bevel and Emboss effect just won’t look the same if you take breaks between those steps. I know it makes no sense, but sometimes Photoshop is just… let’s say finicky.
My 2nd tear drop ended up looking badly because to make these tutorials, I’m writing the steps while I’m also doing the effect in Photoshop. This is not only in case I need to make any tweaks to the steps I already have written, but also so I can get the screenshots used in the tutorial.
Unfortunately this breaking up of the steps seems to make the Bevel and Emboss effect act weird, so I had to make another tear and do the first steps up to the Bevel and Emboss values a second time.
I’ll admit it you can’t tell that the shape looks better in that picture, but you can clearly see the difference between the third tear and the second one at the same stage.
After seeing the Bevel and Emboss wasn’t acting wonky, I went ahead and applied the Inner Shadow and Drop Shadow.
I noticed however that while this third tear was looking closer, it still wasn’t quite as accurate as I thought I could make it, so I also changed the values for the effects to the following:
Bevel and Emboss:
Style: Inner Bevel
Technique: Smooth
Direction: Down
Depth: 530
Size: 10
Soften: 0
Angle: -124 (Uncheck Use Global Light box)
Altitude: 0
Highlight Mode: Screen (White)
Opactiy: 68%
Shadow Mode: Mulitple (Dark Grey #373737)
Opacity: 75%
Inner Shadow:
Blend Mode: Linear Burn (Lighter Grey #525252)
Opacity: 30%
Angle: -145 (Make sure Use Global Light is un-checked)
Distance: 4
Choke: 0
Size: 8
Drop Shadow:
Blend Mode: Multiple (Dark Grey #1e1e1e)
Opacity: 55%
Angle: 127
Distance: 4
Spread: 0
Size: 3
If your tear isn’t looking quite like a tear, try these second set of values to see if that helps. A lot of the time in Photoshop, trial and error is the only way to get an effect to look right. This is because of a lot of different factors, but the main one will be the image you’re applying the affect to. If you’re not using the same picture I am the colours, lighting, shadows, etc. are all going to be different, so the values you choose to create your effect will vary.
This is why I always recommend playing around with values, to see if you can find different ones than what I use to get the effect to work on your image.
Step 4
Yes, there’s still another step to the tear process! However, these last two steps are completely optional. This step, which involves warping your tear shape to make it look more realistic really only needs to happen if you didn’t draw the shape exactly how you wanted it to look the first time around.
If you’re already happy with the shape of your tear, feel free to skip ahead to Step 5!
If you’d like to try changing the shape of your tear, follow along. This is called Warping, which I may have talked about before, but off the top of my head I don’t remember, so I’ll just explain it again.
To Warp your shape, right-click on the shape and then select Warp from the drop-down menu that appears. If the first time you right-click the only options that come up say the current layer name (in my case, Tear 3) and Layer 1, you’ll first need to click on one of the squares that’s outlining the shape. (The ones you’d use if we were going to resize it)
After clicking the resize square, then right-clicking should bring up the drop-down with the Warp option.
You should notice after selecting Warp that a box/grid shows up over your tear, with little circles at certain points around it. These circles are the points you’ll use to warp the image.
I’d suggest starting out small, because over-warping could ruin all your hard work. Try at first if you can, to just slightly warp the tear so it looks like it’s moving over the bottom of the eyelid. This should mean slightly adding a curve to the top part of the tear.
Once you’re happy with your warped tear, click Apply in the dialogue box, or the Enter button on your keyboard to keep the changes.
Step 5
The final step (aside from saving) is to add a highlight to your tear. This is also an optional step, since the Bevel and Emboss effect should’ve added at least a slight highlight to your tear. But if you want to add another one, here’s how:
You’re going to make a New Layer and can rename it something identifiable (I called mine Highlight). Then, use your Pen Tool to draw another shape. This one should be smaller than your tear, and a skinny, almost banana shape. Once you’re happy with the shape, the process is the same: Right-click to Make Selection and then CTRL + Delete to make it white.
After this, you can change it’s Opacity so it’s not as stark white, or rotate it if you didn’t draw it exactly the same bend as the tear.
Once you’re done fiddling with the highlight, or if you didn’t think you needed one, go ahead and zoom out and take a look at your masterpiece!
If you’re happy with how it looks zoomed out, the only step left to do is save your file! Don’t forget to save both a .psd (Photoshop) file and a picture (.jpeg, .png, etc.) file so that you have a work file, just in case you need to come back to it. (Or to remember how you created the effect)
Like this tutorial? Check out the rest of the series here!
One of the most highly debated things in writing is whether or not you should set a daily word count. Some writers swear it’s the greatest thing they’ve ever implemented, while others curse having a daily target like it slaughtered their first born child.
So, which of these sides are right? Is setting yourself a word count actually helpful or hurtful?
Truthfully, it depends on what kind of writer you are!
If you’re someone who works best or feels more efficient by setting yourself goals, you may find that setting yourself a word count can help keep you on track to get everything want to get, done.
If you’re someone who tends to procrastinate, setting a word count might also be helpful for you. Having that goal might be just enough pressure to nag at you while you’re ‘wasting’ your day watching TV and help you get off your butt and get going.
On the other hand, if you’re someone who has a lot of anxiety or tend to beat yourself up if you don’t make your goals, giving yourself a daily word count might just be setting you up for failure. If you end up being busier than you’d like or something unexpected happens or maybe the words just aren’t flowing that day, having a goal that you’re constantly not reaching won’t do your mental health any favours.
You need to know what kind of writer, and person you are in general, before you can ultimately decide if setting a daily word count is a good or bad idea. All writing advice needs to be tweaked to you, personally. You are the only person who can hold you accountable for reaching – nor not reaching – your writing goals. Advice is just meant to help you, but if you read something that makes you snort and go, “Yeah, right.” then skip that particular thing!
If you’re not sure whether or not setting a daily word count would benefit your writing, test it out for a bit first! There’s no rule that says you have to keep doing a particular thing if you don’t like it. Try it on for a few weeks or months and then see how you feel about it after. If it made you more productive or you liked it a lot, great! Keep it up. If you find it added unnecessary stress to your life or you didn’t actually stick to it, dump it and try finding something else.
You also don’t have to get that specific with setting yourself a word count, either. This might sound cliche, but being a human, setting some sort of goals is just something that makes us function better. We need something to strive toward. It’s unfortunately just the way things work. But, if you know what kind of goal setting works for you, you can essentially hack yourself into being more efficient.
For example, if setting a daily word count is too much pressure, try setting a weekly, monthly or yearly word count. Or, if that still sounds like too much pressure, or you’re worried about little things like spiraling because you gave yourself a 1,000 word count goal and you only managed to write 995 words, try setting more generalized goals for your writing. Like “I’ll write 2 short stories by the end of the week”, “I’ll write 3 articles a day” or “I’ll finish a chapter each month.” The goals you set will of course depend on what kind of writer you are – blogger, novelist, short story fictionalist (is fictionalist even a word? Well it is now), etc. – but no matter what kind you are, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a type of goal that’ll work for you.
It will also depend on whether or not writing is your career or more of a hobby. I’m not going to say it’s not important to set goals for your hobbies, but if it’s your job and you find yourself feeling behind, you might want to not be as lenient in your goal setting than if you were someone who writes more casually.
Not getting fired or being able to keep a roof over your head are great generalized goals, but you may find getting slightly more specific if writing is your livelihood (or you want to make writing your livelihood) is better for you long-term.
Specifically for me, I don’t set myself a daily word count, or monthly, yearly, etc. Since I’m a blogger and short story writer first (and I have wicked procrastination skills), I give myself more leeway in my goals. Mine are more general: I work on articles and short stories Monday to Friday, then leave the weekends for scheduling promotional posts, working on my current book (or whatever other big yearly project I’m working on, like a text-based game), coming up with new merch designs and socializing.
I find giving myself this more casual weekly goal is great because this means I could for example, write 3 articles one day, write 2 short stories another, and not feel as badly about ‘only’ getting a Photoshop tutorial done a different day. All my work is still getting done, and it’s enough of a schedule to keep me organized, but not so scheduled I feel suffocated creatively, which in turn minimizes the amount of time I spend procrastinating.
Of course this system isn’t perfect. Unexpected life changes, and/or the holiday season tend to wreak havoc on my work schedule, but if I stay the course for more of the year than I don’t, I tend to stay a few months ahead of when the posts and short stories go up, so I actually give myself some leeway for life events.
It’s like I’ve given myself the gift of time, and honestly, couldn’t we all use a little more of that?
Like this article? Check out more writing tips here!
I was going to say I chose to do a sunset so we could get over our winter blues, but we actually had a pretty mild winter where I am, so not too sure how well that works. Whether or not you also had a mild winter, learning to make a sunset effect in Photoshop can still be fun!
This tutorial is one of the simpler ones, so you’ll have plenty of time to practice, and might pick it up faster than some of the others!
For this tutorial, it’s going to really help you out if you choose an image that’s almost a sunset, anyway. I initially tried this effect myself (as well as some Youtube tutorials) using a picture that had high-noon sun lighting and it just did not work. At all. I’ll show you that disaster at the end of the tutorial, so you can see.
Now normally, I’d consider using a picture that’s already close to what you want to achieve as ‘cheating’ – if you were going to just use the pre-made picture as-is, you might as well go all the way and just find a full sunset picture – but seeing the difference between the high-noon picture and the one I ended up using was so drastic, I’m giving it a pass. (Also because I couldn’t figure out how to make it work on the high-noon picture)
This is the picture I ended up using:
Step 1
After re-sizing your picture to fit your new work document, you’ll want to make a Gradient Layer.
You’re going to have to create your own sunset colour gradient for your image. The specific colours you use will heavily depend on the colours your image already has. If you don’t pick colours that are already somewhat close, it won’t tint the image correctly and will end up looking very fake.
You’ll want to use 4 sunset colours, and then the last colour you’ll need to make light grey.
For my image, these are the colours I used:
1st: Pale Yellow: Colour Code #fffac4
2nd Brighter Yellow: Colour Code #fcf38d
3rd Pale Orange: Colour Code #ffbb5b
4th Brighter Orange: Colour Code #ff8b2e
If you plan on using this effect often, feel free to Save this Gradient by giving it a name and then pressing the New button to add it to your Gradient Presets.
Once you have the correct colours, you’ll want to click on the colour bar to make one of those pointer things show up on the top of the bar, and then change it’s Opacity to 75%. Or, you can just drag the pointer that’s already at the top on the left side (over the pale yellow) over until it’s over the Pale Orange and change that ones Opacity.
You’ll also want to change the Opacity of the pointer that’s over the Grey to about 30%.
Once you’ve changed those Opactities, click the Okay button.
Then once you’re back in the Gradient Fill dialogue box, change the Style to Radial, change the Angle to 130 and change the Scale to between 120-135, depending on what works best with your image. (Mine was 135)
Step 2
Now we’re going to change the Brightness of the picture. To do this, go back to the Create New Fill/Adjustment Layer at the bottom of the Layers Panel and select Brightness/Contrast from the menu.
In the Panel that pops up, you’ll either want to slide the Brightness slider down or just replace the value by typing in -26.
After you successfully lower the Brightness, just click on the double arrows at the top right-hand side of the panel to close it.
Step 3
Now we’re going to add a filtered look to the whole picture. To do this, we’re going to add 2 Solid Colour Layers.
To make the 1st Colour Layer, go back down to the Create New Fill/Adjustment Layer at the bottom of the Layers Panel and click on Solid Colour.
The first colour we’re going to pick is going to be a darker colour. For my image, I had to choose a shade of Brown (#644503), however in one of the tutorials I saw on Youtube, the person made this colour a pinky Red. This will depend entirely on the image you chose.
If you find it easier, feel free to use the colours I’m using in this tutorial, and then once you’ve gone through all the steps, go back and see if changing the colours will make the image look better/more realistic.
The next colour layer we’re going to add is going to be a bright colour. For my image, I found a bright Orange (#ff7200) worked well. The Youtube tutorial person made this colour a pale yellow.
Step 4
Now that we’ve got both the colour layers, it’s time to incorporate them into the image!
Still being on your bright colour layer, change the Opacity to 35% and change the Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Next, go back to your darker colour (Brown) layer and change it’s Opacity to 27%, and then change this one’s Blend Mode to Vivid Light.
Step 5
At this point, you should see your image looking sunset-y. If you don’t and you’ve been following the tutorial colours, don’t worry. You might just have to change the colours to suite your own image.
For this step, we’re going to go back to the Gradient layer, and change it’s Blend Mode to Hard Light.
It doesn’t look like my image colour changed because I already had the Gradient layer’s Blend Mode to Hard Light. If it was on Normal (like yours should be), this should be what it looks like:
Step 6
Can you believe we’re already at the last step? Yep, it’s true!
The last thing you need to do is drag your darker colour (Brown) layer so it’s sitting underneath the Gradient layer.
To do this, just click on the layer in the Layer’s Menu and then drag it until it’s under the Gradient layer. Once it’s in the right place, take your finger off the mouse button.
Once you’ve got the darker colour under the Gradient, all you need to do is save because this effect is now done! Don’t forget to save both a PHSH file (.psd) and a picture file (.png, .jpeg, etc.), this way you can go back if you need to adjust something and/or to just play around with colours or layers later.
Also, as promised, here are my failed attempts at creating a sunset on a picture with high-noon lighting.
First, the original picture:
And now the first failed attempt. This attempt was the one I did by following a Youtube tutorial.
And this is the failed attempt from after I changed colours to see if that would help.
The 2nd attempt was closer, but no matter how I tweaked the colours – whether making them more red, more orange or more yellow – I just couldn’t make it work with the lighting. No matter what I did, it just kept looking fake/edited. I also had to add the sun to the image, and I feel like that also contributed to the failure of it.
So yeah, in case you didn’t know: just because I make these tutorials doesn’t mean I don’t also still fail at making effects! This is why I always try to remind you guys not to feel bad or get down on yourselves if you try an effect and it doesn’t work. There are many factors that go into making an effect work – the picture you choose, your version of Photoshop, and sometimes I swear just if you’re having a lucky day.
Keep practicing and fiddling around and you should get it eventually!
Also I don’t remember if I’ve ever said, but if you guys ever have questions about any of the effects I share, please feel free to reach out and ask! The whole reason I started this tutorial series was to help people (mainly indie authors) and it wouldn’t be very helpful if you found the tutorial confusing, or come away with more questions than answers.
Like this tutorial? Check out the rest of the series here!
Important: This is the last article for 2023. (Aside from December’s Product Review) I’ll be taking the last half of December and first half of January off from posting.
I’ll be back January 12th, 2024 with the first short story of the new year! (The first article will go up January 15th)
Knowing when/if you should take a vacation or time off from work is confusing at best. But it’s even worse when you work for yourself.
It’s not like you can ask the boss and get your request approved or rejected and that’s that because well, you are the boss! And being your own boss, while full of amazing benefits can also muddy the waters on important things.
You’re the boss, so you have to decide how much or how little you work. Not only does this have the potential to muddy your day-to-day life, but what about big upcoming events? A wedding? A funeral? Some kind of emergency?
Outside of emergencies, how do you decide if you’ve ‘earned’ a vacation? Is it once you’ve finished x amount of work? Is it after x amount of ‘work days’? Sure you could give yourself a certain amount of days off at the beginning of the year, but as we’ve established you are the boss. What are the real consequences if you take a not-scheduled day off? It’s not like you can call yourself into your office and yell at yourself.
I touched on this in my Time Management post, but working from home can severely blur the lines between your work and home life. Feeling guilty for not working when you’re trying to relax at 9pm in your living room is one thing, but actually scheduling yourself a vacation for your stay-at-home job?
Unfortunately society doesn’t help with the pressure that if you work from home (as an entrepreneur) you don’t need time off. It’s not ‘real’ work, right?
Wrong!
Running your own business – especially your own in-the-arts business – usually comes with more work related stress. The stress of making it, doing literally all the jobs (boss, social media manager, booking clients/selling pieces, content creation, customer service, etc.), the aforementioned blurred lines of home and work life, convincing the people around you that the work you’re doing is ‘actual’ work… the list goes on.
You also usually have to be more strategic in your vacation/time off planning. Most (good) 9-5 jobs will give you paid time off, but when you work for yourself, when you take time off, you lose money. And not to mention, you also ‘lose’ time to schedule, or update, or whatever your business. Because everything rests on your shoulders, if you decide to take time off, your business essentially freezes until you come back.
Even if you have passive income, you’re still essentially losing momentum.
So what are you to do if you’re a burnt-out artist? Do you just keep ‘sucking it up’ and plowing ahead?
No, you shouldn’t. Not only is that not healthy for you, it’s actually not healthy for your business, either.
You’ll work much more productively after you’ve given yourself a break. But how do you decide when that time is?
Well I can’t tell you definitively. What works for me may not work for you. And what works for you may not work for someone else. That said, you can try one of the methods above and see if they fit:
Give Yourself a Set Amount of Days Off
Calculate how many days off you can take without hurting your business/losing too much money to bankrupt yourself, and then write them down either in a list or on your calendar.
If you’re not sure, take a look at some 9-5 jobs that offer vacation days and base your number on theirs. If you think you’ll need more, give yourself more, if less, take less.
This also doesn’t have to be a number you stick with forever. At the end of the year, evaluate yourself. Would you have benefited from taking more or less time off? Readjust the number and try again next year. Keep experimenting until you get it right.
Take a Project-Related Vacation
Tell yourself once you finish a certain project, you’ll take a set number of days off. The project can be anything from finishing half your book, to scheduling three months worth of work. This one will depend a lot on the type of business you have.
This type of vacation based days also has the potential to help you be more productive. If you know you get two (or however many) days off after you finish a project, you might be more inclined to not put it off.
Calendar Based Time Off
Some companies use quarterly reports to review things like their earnings, productivity, etc. You could give yourself time off the same way. Tell yourself once a quarter (four months), you’ll get a set number of days off.
Or, tell yourself at the beginning or end of the year, you’ll take a set amount of days off. If you’ve been around here a while, you’ll know that with my website, I take the last half of December and first half of January off from posting every year.
For example, this means that this year (2023) I’m off December 13th until January 12th. This gives me about 1 month to relax, go through the holidays, visit family and start gearing up for the next year.
If you decide to try this method, make sure to let your clients/customers/readers know a few weeks beforehand that you’ll be taking time off/away during a certain period of time. This way they don’t wonder what happened/go somewhere else while you seemingly disappeared.
Whatever method you decide to try to give yourself a break, make sure that when those days roll around you actually take them. No pushing them off to a different day, no “oh well after I finish this” – no. Stop. Pushing back vacation days is a great way to put you right back down the path to burn out.
Remember: vacations only work if you actually take them.
Like the website? Consider signing up for my Patreon. You’ll get cool insider info with my writing while helping me keep the lights on around here – all for as little as $1!
Important: This is the 4th last article for 2023. I’ll be taking the last half of December and first half of January off from posting.
I’ll be back January 12th, 2024 with the first short story of the new year! (The first article will go up January 15th)
This month, I’ll be showing you guys how to add a scar to a picture. That’s right, I’m bringing you yet another ‘creepy’ tutorial to perfect just in time for Halloween!
As with most other tutorials, this one may seem complicated at first, but once we break it down, it’s actually not too hard to execute. And, like all the other tutorials: it’s fun!
Let’s get started.
Step 1
As always, Step 0 is to open a new PHSH document and to pick a base picture. Because this is a… let’s call it ‘dark’ tutorial, a picture that matches will make the effect look better. Look for something where a person is screaming, in some kind of pain or otherwise terrified.
I for example, found this one.
Feel free to use this same image, or one you find yourself. The steps should be the same, with maybe just a slight tweak of colours depending on the base picture. But don’t worry, we’ll get to that.
Once you find a picture you like, you’ll need to decide where you want the scar to be. On my picture, I’m going to put it on the left side of her forehead. After you decide on the placement, we’ll be drawing the scar.
To do this, first you’ll need to set the Foreground Colour to a faded red. #984A48 will work for the tutorial.
Step 2
Once the Foreground Colour is set, create a New Layer, then go over to your Brush Tool. With the Brush Tool selected, go up to the Brush Settings at the top and change Mode to Dissolve.
You’ll also want to change Flow to 50% and leave Opacity at 100%.
Once you’ve changed the Flow, you’ll want to also change the Size of your brush. The size of the brush will be the width of your scar, so make sure you choose one that isn’t too thick or too thin. 6 Pixels should work for today. But once you have the technique down, you can always experiment with different sized brushes to see how the different sized wounds look.
You can leave the Hardness of the brush at 100%. (Or, if it’s not currently set at 100, change it to that)
Now that we’ve got the brush set up, it’s time to make the cut!
Draw a line where you want the scar to appear on your model. Don’t forget that human faces (or bodies) aren’t completely flat, so your scar shape should reflect that.
For example, if you’re drawing the scar on the person’s cheek, the line should follow the curve of the cheek bone.
If you don’t like how your mark comes out, erase it and try again until you’re happy with it. This is why we’re drawing on the New Layer we made and not directly on the model picture.
You can also zoom in on your picture (using the CTRL and + buttons) if needed to help you get the shape you want. (To zoom back out, it’s CTRL – )
Step 3
Next, we’re going to draw over the mark again, but with an altered Brush. This time, change your Brush Mode back to Normal, double the brush Size (if you used 6px, make it 12px) make the Opacity 50% and change the Flow to 100%.
You also do not need to trace over the previous line perfectly! Having it a little skewed will help with the end effect. Scars are never perfect, right?
Step 4
In the Layer’s Menu, right-click on the scar layer and open Blending Options. Once opened, check-mark Bevel & Emboss to apply the style to the layer.
Once you apply the effect, click on it to open the options. We’ll be changing them to make the scar more life-like.
You’ll also want to apply the Contour and Texture boxes by check-marking the boxes next to them.
Now we’re going to start changing the Bevel & Emboss options. To start, change:
– Style to Inner Bevel
– Technique to Smooth
– Depth to about 285%
– Size to 5px
And Soften to 0px
After making these changes, your scar should look like a welt with a nasty line in the middle.
You can also change the Direction and Angle if needed, though 120 should work for a face. You’ll want to change these values depending on the lighting the picture you chose has.
Once you’re happy with how the scar looks, click “Ok” to apply the changes.
Step 5
Next we’re going to use the Smudge tool to get rid of any pixelated edges on our darker line.
Set the Strength to 50% and smudge the edges very lightly. We need just enough smudging to get rid of the pixelation. If you smudge it too much, the mark will end up looking more like a smear than a scar.
If needed, you can zoom in closer to help you complete this step.
Step 6
After you’re done smudging, make a duplicate of the model layer. The easiest way to do this is to hold down the ALT button on your keyboard while clicking and dragging the model layer in the Layer’s Panel.
If you were zoomed in on the scar to smudge, you can also go ahead and zoom back out now.
Once you’ve made the duplicate, you’re going to Merge the scar layer with it. To do this select both layers (hold down CTRL and then click on each layer) then right-click and select Merge Layers from the drop-down menu.
The option Merge Layers shouldn’t be greyed out if you have both selected. My option is greyed out because my computer is dumb sometimes and won’t show a click drop-down menu when I want it to. The picture above is my options while only having 1 layer selected.
Step 7
Now that the layers are merged, go to the Layers Panel and change the Opacity for the layer. You’ll want something fairly sheer so the scar looks faded. Something around 10% should work. For my picture, I made the Opacity 18%.
If you want the scar to look more pronounced, change the opacity to something higher.
Here’s how my scar looked when I changed the Opacity to 30%.
And this is what it looked like at 60%.
As you can see, the higher the Opacity is, the more pronounced the red is but that’s the reason it will start to look fake if it’s too bright.
If you think the dark line in the center of the scar still looks too pixelated, you can go ahead and use the Blur tool on it to smooth it out. Just like with the Smudge tool, you’ll want to do this carefully.
Though it is Halloween, so if you wanted to, you could throw subtly out the window and go in the complete opposite direction.
It all depends on the look you’re trying to achieve.
That’s it for this tutorial! Don’t forget to save your file both as a PHSH file so you can continue to practice and as a picture (JPEG, PNG, etc.) so you can share it with your friends and family.
Like this tutorial? Check out the rest of the series here!
It never fails to blow my mind the way people react when I tell them I write with music on. There’s always some form of utter confusion, as if I’d told them I birthed a puppy or something.
This got me thinking: is writing with music really that weird?
Back when I was on Twitter, I used to see fellow writers debating about this, as well. And while we all know there’s no one size fits all, I found it weird by just how many people said they wrote in silence, or worse: with lyric-less music. It was practically half of the writers I followed!
The other half of writers swore by writing with music on, but only if the music didn’t have any lyrics. Surprisingly, they had the same reason as my friends seemed to: music with lyrics would be “too distracting” to write with.
Uh… what?!
I don’t understand how so many people don’t understand that it’s actually quite easy – and even helpful – to write with lyrical music on. I have music on for any kind of writing I’m doing, whether it’s my short stories, books, or website articles. Hell, I even have music playing right now writing this article! (23.06.26, AC/DC’s Shoot to Thrill)
I actually find that not having music on and trying to write in silence is distracting. It’s like my brain can’t think when it’s silent. I need the blanket of music to be able to barf my creative ideas all over the room. Writing in silence just does not work for me.
That’s not to say any music will do, though. I find it especially helpful to have music going that matches the emotional vibe I’m going for in a story. I pull the emotion out of the songs I listen to and inject them into what I’m writing. Every single one of my books has their own playlist. I also have a general playlist for when I’m writing short stories, and if need be, I create special playlists for those, too. Or if I’m basing a short story on just one song, I’ll listen to just that one song until I’m finished the story.
Writing with lyrical music on is something I’ve been doing literally forever and honestly now, it’s just second nature. I don’t even have to think about it. When it’s time to write, I turn on my playlist before even opening Word.
Now, you may be thinking “okay, fine, you write with lyrical music on, but you probably have it so low you can barely hear it, which is why you don’t find it distracting” and if you are, you’re 100% wrong!
I have music not quite blaring, but it’s definitely loud enough to drown out any potential background noise. (And definitely loud enough to not hear if someone calls my name) The perfect level of music for me is being able to hear my fingers hitting the keyboard, and nothing else. Funnily enough, if my music is too loud and I can’t hear myself typing, I get the same type of brain-fart as if I were writing in completely silence. It’s a delicate balance between having it loud enough to suck out the emotions from the songs, and not being so loud that it drowns out my own thoughts.
Y’know when it gets too loud and people say they can’t hear themselves think? That’s exactly what happens if my music is too loud.
Writing, and honestly just life in general is so much better when you give it a soundtrack. Whether you’re doing the dishes, working out, or even just walking down the street. Having music on just brings an extra little boost to your day.
If you’re someone who writes in complete silence (or with lyric-less music) and you find yourself sort of stuttering in your writing, try finding a song or making a playlist of songs that matches the emotions you’re going for. You might just find yourself getting unstuck, and who knows? You might realize you’ve been writing wrong and change your ways. 😉
Since it’s summer, I thought I’d stay on theme and show you how to make a cracked skin effect.
Not only is this effect relatively easy (and fun) but it can also serve as a good reminder to wear sunscreen and lotion!
Step 1
As always, you’ll want to make sure you’re starting in a New Document. You’ll also want to use a picture of a person for this tutorial as well as a cracked texture of the ground. If you missed the first tutorial in this series, you should be able to find either of these pictures on a royalty free image website such as pixabay.com. You’ll need to make sure you’re using royalty free images if you plan on using them for your book’s cover or promotional posters.
If however you’re here just for fun or practice, you can use a search engine to find the pictures you need.
For the cracked ground picture, you’ll want to use one that has no obstructions, many cracks, and is more or less level.
For the person picture, you can use any picture you’d like, as long as there is a clear spot of skin somewhere. I haven’t tried this effect on clothing, but I’d imagine it would still work. Any picture with a clear spot of skin will do.
To keep things simple, these are the pictures I’ll be using.
Once you choose what pictures you’d like to work on and have them in your work document, go ahead and Duplicate the person layer. If needed, you can also rename the layers to keep things straight. I renamed the original person picture “Woman”, the cracked texture “Cracks” and the duplicate layer “Duplicate”.
Step 2
Now that you have yourself all set up, change the Cracks layer Opacity to about 50% or lower. You’ll want to be able to see the face underneath, but you’ll also want to be able to see the cracks. If needed, you can also Hide the original person layer by clicking the eye next to it’s thumbnail in the Layers panel and/or rearrange the layers so the Cracks one is on the top.
Once you’ve changed the layers Opacity, go ahead and align it over your person picture if you haven’t already done that. If needed, you can also rotate and/or resize the picture. The goal here is to get the best looking cracks over the person’s face.
Make sure you don’t resize the cracked texture picture too much, you’ll want to keep it slightly bigger than your person for the following steps. Don’t forget you can always erase what you don’t need at the end.
Step 3
Next, using the Polygon Lasso Tool, select the parts of the cracked photo that are NOT over the face (the ones you don’t need) and then Delete them.
You can Delete your selections by hitting the Delete button on your keyboard.
You’ll also want to make sure you leave some of the texture over the hair and neck (for example) because we’ll need a bit of wiggle room to work with in the next few steps.
Step 4
Once you’ve removed most of the unneeded parts of the Cracked picture, right-click on it, and select Warp from the drop-down menu.
Next, Warp the Cracked layer to fit the face on the below layer. Do this part as slowly as you need to, doing a little at a time. If you warp the cracked texture too much, you may end up doing so to the point it doesn’t look good.
Once you’re happy with the amount of warping, click Enter to apply the changes.
Step 5
Bring the Opacity of the Cracked layer back up to 100% and change it’s Blending Mode to Multiply.
Step 6
Next, you’re going to create a New Adjustment Layer by going to the Adjustments box that’s on top of the Layers panel, and clicking on the Levels button.
In the Properties panel that pops up, check mark the square at the bottom (next to the eye) this will Clip to Layer. (Meaning the effects will only affect the Cracks layer, instead of the whole project)
After that’s checked, drag the Midtones arrow toward the left. You’ll want to drag it until the Cracks are roughly the same shade as the skin of your person. For me, this was about 2.24.
You’ll also want to drag the Highlights arrow to the left to even out the lighting. Again, this will depend on the picture you’re using, but for me, it was 158.
Once you’re happy with the adjustment, go ahead and close the Property panel. Do this by clicking on the double arrow at the top right corner of the box.
Step 7
Next, we’re going to create a Layer Mask for the Cracks layer. To do this, head to the bottom of the Layers Panel, and click the Layer Mask button.
Once you have a Layer Mask, make sure your Foreground colour is set to Black, then use your Brush tool to mask the areas of the Cracks picture you don’t want. You’ll want to make sure the Brush Opacity is at 100% and the Hardness is semi-hard. (Anything over 50% Hardness would work)
You can also use this method to get rid of extra cracks that are on the persons face. (If you feel there are too many)
Alternatively, you could just use the Eraser tool for this, but you’d have to be more careful when erasing the cracks over the face.
Step 8
After you finish that, we’re going to add another New Adjustment Layer. This time, it’ll be a Hue/Saturation layer.
Just as before, make sure the box on the bottom of the Properties panel is selected so the Hue/Saturation layer is Clipped to the Cracks layer.
You’ll want to change the Saturation to something low (mine looked best at -66) so the Cracks layer is almost indistinguishable from the skin colour of the person on the other layer.
Step 9
The next step is to Merge our layers. To do this, hold down Control on your keyboard and click on: the Duplicate, Cracks, Levels and Hue/Saturation layers, then right-click and select Merge Layers from the drop down menu.
After you’ve Merged these layers, you may want to change the Layer name again so you know what it is. I went with Cracked Person, to differentiate it from the original person picture that’s still in the file. However, the name can be anything you want.
And after you’ve done that, you’re done!
You may be wondering: why did I ask you to duplicate the person picture if we didn’t end up using the original?
That’s a good question!
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it in past tutorials, but duplicating your “base” image is a great hack when you’re learning new PHSH skills. In case you mess up, you can just delete the duplicated (messed up) layer, and start over with the original. Keeping it in the work file allows you to keep working without having to stop what you’re doing to go digging through your cache of pictures to find it again.
Don’t forget to save a PHSH file (.psd) of your work, as well as a .jpeg/.png. That way, if you want to go back and edit or change anything (or remember what you did) you can use the PHSH file to help jog your memory.
I hope you had fun with this tutorial. The next one isn’t coming until October, so you’ll have plenty of time to practice!
If you noticed my Layers panel has an extra layer, this is because I created 2 tear drop shapes. The first one I forgot to fill with white, and then wondered why Step 3 wasn’t working. I had to go back and re-draw the tear, so it will be a different shape for the rest of the tutorial. Also see? Even us pros mess up!
The option Merge Layers shouldn’t be greyed out if you have both selected. My option is greyed out because my computer is dumb sometimes and won’t show a click drop-down menu when I want it to. The picture above is my options while only having 1 layer selected.
