Heres a pic i messed around with a while back. This was done at the request of the son whose father actually flew these aircraft during world war 2. I had it printed up on canvas effect photographic paper and framed nicely and it looked like a real painting.

first image is of how it started.

and this was the pretty much final result.
does not look so effective on this scale and on a computer screen but you get the idea.. hopefully.

Nice work grass hopper..

Indeed PS is just great by all means....
Fireworks also has some advantages.

I've been using the gradient tool in the past few days.... and this tool is just great..

Although you mostly go with photos... here is a sample of the things i did with the gradient tool

nice. cool stuff we have here.. and it would be nice of you guys to actually let the members know how it was done by listing the steps. ;)

Originally posted by NaBHaN
nice. cool stuff we have here.. and it would be nice of you guys to actually let the members know how it was done by listing the steps. ;) I completly agree with you about this, personally i'd like to know how such things are done

Sure why not...

As for mine..
Here are the steps to do something similar..

@ Open a new file in photoshop and set it as an RGB color with all other settings as default.

@ In the foreground/background option on ur left window.. set the white as the foreground and black as the background.

@ select the gradient tool.... making sure that it's set to foregroud to back ground.. and select radial gradient from the above lbar.

@ set the mode as difference from the above bar.

@ now in the working place ..... click and hold from one corner to another... keep doing so randomly from whatever side to whatever side.... keep doing it for at least 10 times... more if u want a complex background.

@ go to layer> dublicate layer. press ok

@ go to edit >transform >flip horizontally

@ now on the layers window on ur right hand side there is a bar with normal change it to lighten... u'll see that ur background is now horizontally symmetrical.

@ now go to layer> merge down

And your back ground is ready... :)
will post the details of the foreground image later

Ill try to remember the process i went through.

The first step is removing the plane from the existing picture.
I did this using the magnetic lasoo tool. Its accurate to a certain extent but requires patience and a steady hand for something with intricate lines and detail.

having outlined the aircraft as a selection i then cut it from the picture using edit - cut. same as in any other program.

I searched the net for a pictures of stormy skies.. the only one i could find was pretty small and only half the picture was sky so i selected my favourite area from that picture and pasted it into a blank photoshop canvas.

To get the whole sky i used the rubber stamp tool. This is the best tool on any photo editing software in my mind as allows you to erase mistakes or unwanted areas with so ease.
It works by cliking on an area you want to copy then move to the area you want to fill and the selected area is reproduced exactly in the new area. It takes a little bit of getting used to but with a bit of practice is a very powerful tool.

So the whole sky was repeating blocks of the same bit of sky. This of course didnt look very realistic so i i started repeating the process so the areas started overlapping. I did this several times the whole image started to smooth out about. I finished the sky by using a various grades of the airbrush tool and selecting colours from around the sky. Painting in different areas to give the whole sky a broken and stormy cloud back ground.

The next problem was the lighting in the plane. this had reflections on its body of a bright sunny day. Also between the glass of the cockpit and gun mounts was blue sky, and perhaps most difficult to correct the propellors had blue sky between the blur.

The cockpit and gun mount glass required some patience and a very small brush selection to fill in the window gaps with the new background. Like wise with the reflections and highlights on the body of the plane. Finally the propellors needed to be erazed and re-created using the airbrush tool to get the effect i needed.

this is what i came up with .. using evilio's method :sweat:

Combine good tools with natural talent and the result will always be a good one..

Nice one Nabhan.

Nice one Nabhan...

Here is another thing i made ;)

LOL evilio it looks like Star Wars meets the Michelin Man! :sweat: Pretty cool :)

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this... but your new avatar looks like something the doctor would see during a rather uncomfortable medical procedure :eyes: Could you at least make the lumpy parts a different color? :p

nice and interesting stuff:)

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this... but your new avatar looks like something the doctor would see during a rather uncomfortable medical procedure Could you at least make the lumpy parts a different color?

ROFLPMSL nicely put Moony.. i think i would have probably been less polite about the description.. Evilo.. moony has a point...

Oh moony.. it is supposed to be one of those graphics where each person would fnd something different ;)

Nice work over here guys!

It's amazing what you can do with all those computer programs, lol, should try one myself, though it will probably take me like forever to get one done!:)

Thanks Doc.. You should give it a go. you never know there could be a budding Picasso in you just waiting to be set free.

Originally posted by EviliO
Oh moony.. it is supposed to be one of those graphics where each person would fnd something different ;)

LOL I wonder what that says about me?!!! :duh:

best left at that i reckon moony.. for once. "chit chat" might be best avoided