Bower Updates

JKatkina · Post by **JKatkina** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 7:46 pm

I ARE POSTED :D

http://artdragon.mine.nu/~kat/aven/dron ... l#rendakat
http://artdragon.mine.nu/~kat/aven/warr ... ml#edoleyn

Another please. :D I have to write me some story. :D

User Name: JKatkina
Email: jkatkina at gmail dot com
Caretaker/Bond Name: Rutulus
Caretaker/Bond URL: http://artdragon.mine.nu/~kat/aven/veness.html
Hunting Preferences: The warm and crunchy usual!

Post by **Dray** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:39 pm

Edoleyn

Put this guy up and then I'll consider your form. :P

JKatkina · Post by **JKatkina** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:42 pm

*ninja!*

http://artdragon.mine.nu/~kat/aven/warr ... ml#edoleyn (check the bottom)

Post by **Dray** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:48 pm

Jeebus criminey, you're fast! D:

Alright, this is your last one for Rutulus -- if you want more you'll have to send in someone else to do her work for her!

If Edoleyn was Rutulus' first warrior, than Idalon was her first thug. The burstling was tough as nails... little nails, at least for now!

Name: Idalon
Gender: Male
Breed: Xenodragon/Hathian/AAM Beast/Nightmourner/Whorling/Old World/Alskyrian/Danachian/Chaotic/SCD/Flurry/Piralan/Gryvern/Lesser Kynnese/Schatternaki/Geperna/Featherdragon/Iullerbrillan Mutt
Rank: Drone (Low)
Colour: Purple (With Red Boots)
Size: Medium (10' tall-shoulder, 23' long)
Abilities: Bioluminescence, Wall-Climbing, Acid Immunity, Acid Blood, Hive Mind, Resin Secretion, Telepathy
Basic Personality: Bullier, Brawler, Violent

Requires a Bond: Yes
Caretaker: Rutulus
Going With: JKatkina

JKatkina · Post by **JKatkina** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:26 pm

>3 I are fast indeed.

http://artdragon.mine.nu/~kat/aven/drone-male.html

User Name: JKatkina
Email: jkatkina at gmail dot com
Caretaker/Bond Name: Edoleyn (could I ask that if the young'un needs a bond, they attach to Rutulus, though? Like maybe Edoleyn knocks them out and when they wake up they're with Rutulus?)
Caretaker/Bond URL: http://artdragon.mine.nu/~kat/aven/warrior-male.html
Hunting Preferences: Delicious warm and acidy. :D

Xenoqueen · Post by **Xenoqueen** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:31 pm

Gavin's:
http://xenoqueen.deviant-uprising.com/S ... chyluc.htm
http://xenoqueen.deviant-uprising.com/S ... juboen.htm

He doesn't need to many new additions at once, especially if I want to keep squeezing him at xenos wherever people will still let me, but these still tempt, soooo....

No story this time. Too tired to get it out of my head. X3

User Name: Phoenix
Email: thexenoqueen@gmail.com
Caretaker/Bond Name: Satena-mekoze
Caretaker/Bond URL: http://xenoqueen.deviant-uprising.com/SCD/Satena.htm
Hunting Preferences: Compatible with the mini-hive plz, but no color/type prefs. (When you don't want your queen giving into those breeding urges, you go "adopt"!)

Unyko · Post by **Unyko** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:29 pm

OMGYAY!

! *scrabble to get the new little one paged*

And he's up! ^.^
http://unykness.pegaruny.com/MagisPrime ... gholax.htm

Also, those stripedy ones are -lovely-. @.@

*pause* ... *twitch* Darnit! Tell me I can't send Neptuss in again, Dray. XD;

Shard · Post by **Shard** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:31 pm

Wow all mine are lovely, those opals though WOW! So pretty! I can just imagine their glowies

Mud · Post by **Mud** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:47 pm

I agree! I can't wait to see what rofutec looks like!
How on earth do you get those opal/oil effects? lots of patience? photoshop voodoo magic?

Post by **Dray** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:38 am

The opal effect is something I nabbed from Kat -- previously I'd been doing it by hand or taking images of opals off of the internet and turning them into patterns!

Take your shading layer (if the lights and darks are on different layers, copy each and merge them) and put them at the top of the layer palette. merge this down with a layer of mid-grey so that the entire picture is just lights, shades and mid-colours.

Select the lightest colour, create a new layer, and fill that area with yellow. Go back to the grayscale layer, select the next-lightest colour, create a new layer, and then proceed to go through the rainbow.

You ought to wind up with between half a dozen and thirty new layers, each a slightly different colour than the last. Merge them all together and then merge the rainbow-layer with the grayscale, to get rid of the grayscale layer.

Gaussian blur the rainbow layer a touch so that it's not all pixelly. Drag this rainbow-y layer down to whatever portion of the template you want to show as opally... generally right above the base colour.

Change the opal layer to 'colour' or 'overlay' or whatever works best. You may have to adjust the opacity so that it doesn't look quite so much like rainbow-puke. XD

Alternately, change the rainbow-layer to 'luminosity' to get a metallic look.

:D

jess d · Post by **jess d** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:49 am

My two are now adults on their page!
http://www.geocities.com/kavera_weyr/hindar

sooooooo tempted to send him one last time XD

Post by **Dray** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:51 am

He's already got three! You'll have to send someone else! (Same for Neptuss, Uny!)

...Of course, I suppose this doesn't discount the burstlings from going -for- him... good old hive mechanics. XD

jess d · Post by **jess d** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:00 am

Ahh, well that makes the decision easier then! I didn't realize there was a firm limit on numbers

I figured there was on number of "attempts", but this works - no hard decisions for me!

I love my three! *snugs Dray*

Post by **DragonFlight** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:37 am

I'm confused on this one, Dray....is this like an on-forum signup clutch? Are there still any left? I can't tell. ^^;;

Xenoqueen · Post by **Xenoqueen** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:59 am

Dray wrote:You ought to wind up with between half a dozen and thirty new layers, each a slightly different colour than the last. Merge them all together and then merge the rainbow-layer with the grayscale, to get rid of the grayscale layer.

Oh man, that sounds tedious. Does gradient-mapping not give a decent effect? Let's see....

Okay, turns out gradient mapping just is tedium of a different sort. XD Even so, interesting technique, thanks for sharing! I may have to remember some of these tricks in the future, if I ever grow tired of my own current "opal" methods. X3

Post by **StarFyre** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:37 pm

How do you do gradient mapping? *never heard of that before*

Post by **Dray** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:52 pm

This clutch is 'sign up on the forum' style, but make sure that you read the hatching story at the pickup page to be sure you follow the rules! There are more left, and will continue to be more left until March 1, when the clutch will close.

As for the opal-stuff... it is a little tedious, but the whole process is very quick once you get into the swing of it. *select grayscale* *pick new colour* *make new layer* *fill* for a couple of minutes before you merge down. :D Then you can use that same template for different parts of the body, or for different effects later on!

Post by **DragonFlight** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:56 pm

Ohhhhh, I get it now. I feel like a dork. ^^;;; Thanks, Dray!

JKatkina · Post by **JKatkina** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:03 pm

*froths* OH MY GOD PHE YOU JUST SAVED ME HOURS OF WORK OMFG :D :D :D

<____> How did I never know about gradient mapping before?

*dies of happy*

Xenoqueen · Post by **Xenoqueen** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:09 pm

Well, if Terter will forgive me the brief de-rail of her thread.... :o

I use Photoshop CS, so if that isn't your program of choice, your mileage may vary significantly.

I did what she did, first, with the merging copies of all my shading layers into one, getting a pure grayscale layer. (Yes, I use weird transparency box colors, I know.)

The Gradient Map option is over thisaway, on the Layers palette.

Clicking that with my grayscale layer selected wound me up here, where I futzed around with the gradient until it was a tolerable shade of rainbow puke. This was half the tedious part.

The other tedious part was blurring it and figuring out what layer position/blend setting looked best, and then hand-editting the gradient a little more (like to put some further dark areas in the shadows). In the end, I went with Screen, with the layer at the TOP of the group. This applied the colors to my shading layers which were already underneath, making the template be rainbow-shaded rather than just blue-shaded. That left me with this:

Obviously doesn't produce the same look as what Terry got on her xenos, but it is A look! XD And I only played around with it a short while, experimenting, so who knows--further messings with might produce even better effects.

And now back to your regularly scheduled xenomutt programming.

Post by **Dray** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:26 pm

Damn, gradient-mapping gives the exact same effect as what we were doing. XD Nice!

Mud · Post by **Mud** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:32 pm

How the hell did I miss that there was an adult rofutec already posted? sheesh.
I really like Nijosys :D
I tried both the manual and gradient mapping opal stuff. It worked out save for two things - it seems I jump to hard shadows too fast in my shading :s, and the opal layer just vanishes when you give it a blending option on top of a white dragon. I guess putting it over the shading layers like Phe did would help that? I futzed around with it and still got it to look opal though, or at least I think so.
Thanks for the explanations, and sorry I hijacked your thread.

Post by **StarFyre** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:32 pm

I love you Pheeeee. ^^ I work with CS3, so I'm going to guess it's nearly the same in essence (the little gradient map button is there, at least! I'll have to play around with it later)

Okay, I shall now give Dray back her thread =P

JKatkina · Post by **JKatkina** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:37 pm

Mud -- the blur tool can help round out your shadows for the purpose of getting some yummy opal goodness there. :D Also it helps to fiddle with the gradient you're using, sometimes colors need to be spaced out funny.

As for putting the irridescence atop white, using a not-quite-white, like slightly greyish or slightly tinted a color will fix that right up. :D

Phe -- I think yours may look different than what Dray's doing because you're using the opposite direction of rainbow from us! XD Mine starts with orange for the very brightest parts, moves through yellow-green-blue-purple-red towards dark, finally finishing with orange again in the blackest of the black.

dracosinfernoweyr · Post by **dracosinfernoweyr** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:39 pm

Dude, Dray, I just realized where I've seen Ybelain before. He lives over my bed in the form of this guy!

I just thought that was kinda cool. :D

Also, ignore the dogfeet. Or witness the brave xeno-eating dog. X3

Post by **Dray** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:43 pm

For opal-on-white, I usually change the 'white' to a very pale blue or yellow, and then change the opal layer to 'overlay'... or leave it on normal and turn down the opacity. XD Yay tweaking.

That toy is freaking awesome, Kayla!

Xenoqueen · Post by **Xenoqueen** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:43 pm

dracosinfernoweyr wrote:Dude, Dray, I just realized where I've seen Ybelain before. He lives over my bed in the form of this guy!

GASP! I WANTS ONE. @_@ Where I get?

Mud · Post by **Mud** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:45 pm

Sweet! I'll do more little experiments with this later, thanks guys :D

dracosinfernoweyr · Post by **dracosinfernoweyr** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:55 pm

I has a set!

The only place you'd be able to find them nowadays is ebay I'd think. These guys were purchased around the time one of the Aliens movies was released when I was a kidlet and have hence seen the brunt of my "loving", which is why the winged one only has one wing, I broke the little bit that holds in on off. :(

They had a whole line of them out, based on different animals they burst from I guess.

Post by **Dray** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:56 pm

So much variety! Omfg. XDDD *loves*