Towai Style Blends

This is a tutorial for anyone interested in making the kinds of blends that you see on some of Towai's graphics. Before we get started though, you need to understand how to use image packs for this tutorial. If you don't already, please click here.

Alright. Now, for this tutorial, we're going to use some brushes (image packs) from Hybrid Genesis. (click the name to visit the site.) Select some of the image packs you like, download them, and create/add the brushes you want to use. I will use brushes from the first three & seventh image packs.

Alright, I'm just going to make a small image (300x300) and flood fill the background to a light blue (#E0EFF8).

Example

Now, create a new layer by going up to Layers> New Raster Later. Select 'Ok' when the pop-up appears. This will always be 'Raster 1'.

Example

Select your brush tool (image to the left) & find the brushes you just added. Use them & just start painting away. I used some blues & purples with my brushes, then added some of the light blue I used in the background.



If you were working with layers (which is always the best thing to do), merge them together by going up to Layers> Merge> Merge Down.

Example

Then, create another new layer & paste any image onto it. (There should only be two total layers in your palette.) I chose to use an image of Riku. Feel free to name it after your image, I'll refer to the layer as 'Raster 2.'

Riku

Now, select Raster 1, right click, & select duplicate in your layer palette.

Example

Afterwards, select the duplicate layer (Copy of layer 1; a duplicate layer will always show up right above the original in your layer palette) and drag & drop it above the other two layers. Riku (or which ever image you used) should have disappeared behind the duplicate. Select the 'normal' option beside Copy of layer 1 in the layer palette and find 'lighten' from the drop down selection. Select it.

Example

You should notice that the layer partially disappeared. Now, at this point, there are a number of different effects you could try to continue blending. You could play around with opacity settings or use some overlay techniques. One that I like to use involves duplicating Riku's layer and dragging & dropping the duplicate layer above all of the others, as we did before. I then like to use the tinted phantom glow technique. My results were as follows (Sorry, I didn't clean up Riku's edges very well. xP):



(You don't have to do this and there are other effects you could combine together to make the image look however you like, such as soft lights, screens, color modifications, etc. I'm not going to through all of those, but if you'd like to test them, just change Riku's duplicate layer's setting to screen, soft light, etc rather than overlay, as we did above.)

For texture effects, you could then create a new layer above all of the other layers (making Raster 3), grab a texture brush, select a grayscale color such as black or white, & paint on that new layer. After you're done painting or even before you start, (so you can see the results of what you're doing while you do it) change Raster 3's blend setting to overlay or soft light. For my texture brushes, I chose to use the final two in the second image pack and several from the third image pack. My results were:



x) Really, once you get done with the lighten effect, it's all up to your imagination. Just experiment with color & lighting effects until you find something you like! Once you're done with the blend, add some text, a blog, whatever you want! =D



If you have any questions regarding this tutorial or are unsure about something, feel free to contact me at dark_riku_765 on neopets.com