1st November 2024

Graphics Course. Part 2a. Using Layers.

This is a small additional video we made about using layers to combine two or more images. There is a general example to show you the overall methods and another which is speciiffically geared towards card making.

N.B. Although we have done this as part of the Paint.net course, using Paint.net, the same technique should be possible in any graphics program which uses layers.

Graphics Course. Part 2a. Using Layers Video.

 

Graphics Course. Part 2a. Using Layers.
Graphics Course. Part 2a. Using Layers.

The first part of the video show 3 different images being combined; Brewster, the biplane and a general image of a lake. (for those of you who worry about these things I believe the lake in question can be found part way up Snowdon). Whilst the image of the sheriff is quite easy to deal with as it is a cartoon, the image of the biplane take a bit more work. Obviously the more work you put into it the better it is going to look. Having said that I think you will agree, even with our minimal amount of work the plane in particular looks quite natural.

One issue you may come across which we didn’t, it shadow. If other objects in your background image have strong shadows it will look rather strange if any object you add hasn’t.

Brewster Wanted Card Front.
Brewster Wanted Card Front.

The second part of the video is about adding a photo to the wanted poster in the Brewster Sheriff image. This is a great technique and would make a good front for a Birthday card. The Technique is fairly simple as the Brewster image has nice clean lines. You could use the same technique to add a photo behind a photo but you may find the space harder to cut out.

These are just a couple of different ways where using layers will help you in your graphics projects. There are lots more and we will touch on it again later in the course.  For now i hope this gives you enough to practice on and to put into practice with your card making. Being able to add someones photo to a card does make it really special.

The link below is for a zip folder containing the images used in this tutorial.

Zip File.