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Channel Z - Issue 3 (1993-01)(Daz)(Disk 1 of 2).adf
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Text File
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1988-05-25
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7KB
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230 lines
Well its Saturday night and instead of going out and enjoying myself,
Im forced to stay in, after receiving a threatening letter this morning
from a crazed editor telling me to do an article on AMIGA ART,
The rest is history......
CREATING YOUR PICTURE WITH DELUXE PAINT IV AGA
----------------------------------------------
If you have just upgraded from an A500 or A600 to the A1200 and enjoy
creating pictures or Art in general, then you will probably have or
want to get Deluxe Paint IV AGA. (Refered to as DP4AGA from now on)
If you were lucky enough to purchase or receive as a gift the
"Desktop Dynamite Pack" for Christmas then you will have already had a
chance to mess around with the functions of DP4AGA.
We all know that the AMIGA has exellent graphics capabilities, the A1200
in particular, and DP4AGA is a very good package for the budding artist.
I can only speak for myself, but when it comes to Art, my AMIGA is an
extension of my imagination.
If you have a quick look through the manual that comes with DP4AGA you
will get a rough idea of how the basic tools work on the package.
(The ones down the right hand side of the screen.)
I was going to go into detail about how to use them but to be honest,
the descriptions in the manuals are exellent anyway.
Now obviously an artist is only as good as his tools, most of you are
probably using a TV to view this text. Really though, to get the best
use out of DP4AGA you need a monitor or like me a 14" SONY TV with Scart
socket. These obviously give much better colour definition, and picture
clarity but unless you are using High Resolution or above, a normal TV
is fine.
O.K you've got an idea in your head for a picture. Don't try and reproduce
it on screen straight away, sketch it on paper first, see what it looks
like. If using this process try and draw your picture on a piece of paper
the same size as your TV or Monitor Screen (most of us use 14inch anyway).
Right you've sketched your idea down on paper, don't go into to much
detail as there is time for that later on the computer screen. Now take a
clear piece of plastic (a record cover sleeve etc.) and place it on your
design. Now using a BLACK narrow tipped marker, trace your image onto the
plastic. It is best to tape down both your design and the plastic so they
do not move.
You are now nearly ready to transfer your image to the screen.
You can use the same method if you see a picture or piece of Art in a book
or poster and think it would look good on the computer screen, but
obviously you would have to take more care and time, and if working from a
book make sure you have a good supply of natural light.
[ And permission from the Author of the book to reproduce his work. - ED ]
Load up DP4AGA and select a suitable resolution (Obviously the higher the
resolution the more detail that can be added.)
Right, now either way we have an outlined image on a clear plastic sheet,
now, place the plastic sheet on the screen and turn the TV on. All being
well the static should stick the plastic to the screen, if it doesn't,
don't worry, just attach it with four small pieces of sticky tape.
(Make sure the plastic is flat against the screen.)
Now select WHITE as the drawing colour and click on the FILL tool.
Click anywhere on the black screen and the screen will turn white.
(Really? Yes really!)
Hey Presto, your image stands out like a sore thumb!
Now you are ready to transfer your image to the screen. Select BLACK as
your drawing colour, and select the STRAIGHT LINE drawing tool. Now
very carefully trace around the outline of your image (I prefer to use
the straight line tool as the free hand tool is not as acurate, unless
you have a very steady hand.)
This is a very time consuming process, try and get the lines to match as
close to the original as possible, don't rush, take you time. When you
have drawn a certain amount save the picture to disk, this, although
time consuming if you working from floppies is a good habit to get into,
as there is nothing worse than after spending ages on a picture, having
it completely erased because you pushed the wrong key or the fuse went
in your computers plug, [ or your computer dies after being Spiked by
lightning, as happened to me! - ED ] don't laugh, it happens, its
happened to me.
When you have finished, just double check that you have traced ALL the
lines to the screen.
Remove the plastic from the screen, and all being well it should look
something like you wanted it to. If you are working from a book etc,
you can now start adding the colour and detail, always draw the part on
the picture which has the MOST detail first, as this is usually what takes
the most time. The picture I am just working on at the moment is of a small
girl looking at her reflection in a pond, so I will attempt to draw her
face first as this has the most detail. (I may have bitten off more than
I can chew).
Before I finish there are a couple of tools you may find useful.
Magnify (Magnifying glass icon): By clicking on this you can zoom in on
your picture, if you click on this icon with your right mouse button you
can increase the size of the viewing square, and the left mouse button to
decrease the size. This is really an essential tool for adding intricate
detail.
Changing the colour: If you find you cannot select a suitable colour
(Even though you have 256 to choose from),click on a colour close to the
one you want, then where it is displayed at the top of the palette click
on it with the right mouse button, a requester menu will appear, and by
moving the sliders, you can change the colour to the one you want, then
just click on OK.
I hope this article has been of use to you, it has been aimed at the
beginner but I hope it will help others. I am no picasso, but there are
alot of artists out there who don't even realise how talented they are,
and I hope by using DP4AGA you will find out.
Remeber when you are drawing, don't sit down in front of the screen for
eight hours pondering on an effect you cannot achieve. Take a break,
think about it, then come back later when you are fresh and have another
go. Well ive gone on long enough, if you want to know a bit more about
Deluxe Paint IV AGA (maybe some special functions, dithered fills etc),
write to CHANNEL Z, and they will see what they can do.
I hope to see some of your ART in future issues of CHANNEL Z.
REMEBER, above all, enjoy yourself !
Bye.
by Paul Horton. (c) CHANNEL Z 1994
[ ED's note ]
If you want to see some of Pauls work, Just load the pictures called :
NEARDARK and AMY from the main menu.