AgroKrag Graphic Design/Illustration, Web Design, Web Marketing

As most of the civilized world learned last weekend Alaskan Governer Sarah Palin was named Republican GOP candidate John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate.  It was something of a shock a number of us since we had no clue who she was.  Then she got up on that podium and our collective eyes lit up… Now I am a Democrat (though sometimes I wonder why) but I’m not above offering a job well done round of applause to our geriatric friend McCain.  Before I found out that she stands against most everything I believe in I was captivated.  Instantly I had a crush on a 44 year old house wife running for VP.

So how will her looks effect the votes of the commonwealth?  Who knows, but if American’s have a single shred of diginity they wont base the future of the country on how hot the VP will be.  All I know is that its nice to see someone on TV 24/7 who is easy on the eyes.

Now you are wondering what the hell this article is doing on AgroKrag, rightfully so.  I had some spare time this past weekend and had the urge to write my first tutorial on a Photoshop technique so here goes.

She loves guns, babies, and America.  The illustration is scanned into the computer and modified in Photoshop.  If you have a scanner like mine you will need to hit ctr+L to bring up the levels menu, now build enough contrast so that the outlines are defined.

Nice little sketch of Mrs. Palin eh?

The process of creating a full color illustration in Photoshop can be either super complicated or very simple.  Depending on the application of the graphic you may need tidy lines and perfect colors.  Here the goal is to take a sketch and color it in while still looking like a sketch.

Once the contrast is set create a new layer and place is below the sketch layer.  Now go to the sketch layer and turn the layer option to Multiply.

Go to the newly created layer and begin coloring the sketch as though it were a coloring book.  The color show appear underneath the dark sketch lines. When you are done it should look dishearteningly ugly.

Note that I have gone through the original sketch layer and used the Smooth tool to get rid of the unsightly grain from the graphite in some places.

Now comes the part that everyone hates. Detailing.  Well I hate it anyways.

There are two approaches to this. One, hand paint the new lines with a paintbrush. Two, use the pen tool to carefully created shaded regions.  In this instance I chose freehand.

Now all that remains is the final highlights and we are done…seems simple enough right?  For the highlighted areas simply take the Brush tool and choose 0% hardness and a pure white, then hit all the spots you want to see light up.  From here you can do anything you want to the rest of the image, sepia tone her who cares, it’s all gravy from this point.

The word tutorial may be a bit condescending here, since most any artist in the field knows these basics.  This is more like showing your work on an equation.

Mmmm finished product.  Feel free to share this image with the world, hopefully everyone will enjoy it, even the lovely Mrs. Sarah Palin.

-Jesse

It was one of the most hard fought runs at the title in years. The displays of guts and desire that the Boston Celtics put forth in the past month and a half is unrivaled in my opinion. Being a basketball fan it is easy to get caught up in the win to win nature of the playoffs, but when you stop and look back at what we all witnessed, it really was something special.

This team was went from being the most dominant in the NBA to being nearly eliminated by the up-and-coming Atlanta Hawks in the span of 15 days. They looked like a team too content with its regular season record, and had a coach who was over thinking every move. The next series was no different, again pushed to the brink of elimination. Until game 7 that is. When Paul Pierce and Lebron James put on that show ( The AgroKrag team was there live ) I knew that this was going to be an intense run through the rest of the playoffs. The Celtics were a team reborn, they were like a middle aged couple rediscovering each other after a term of complacency.

Amazingly with those first two series behind them the task seemed to get easier, Detroit never looked like a team that had a prayer in that series. Then came the Lakers…this series marks the first time in my life that I have watched a game more than one time. I watched game 4 (the 24 point comeback) live and was so dumbfounded that we won, that it took 2 subsequent viewings for it to set in fully. The DVD set that will inevitably come out should serve as a companion piece to the most inspirational of sports movies. Paul Pierce in my opinion solidified his position in both Celtics Lore and the NBA Hall of Fame.

Since the team gave up so much of themselves to bring a title not only to themselves but to a town that has managed to write off all championship-less teams in the past few years, I decided to pay tribute. This isn’t for the fans (particularly the fair-weather Garnett jersey clad fans), this was created for the Players. Whether this will be seen by any of them is a big question mark, but that is no different than what they did on the court. They played regardless of knowing I was watching, so I painted regardless of them watching, it is what we do.

Go Celtics! and thank you for inspiring a legion of fans with the heart you showed all season long.

-Jesse Rand (The AgroKrag Team)