Free Artwork Services

Hey all,

I greatly enjoy image maniuplation, cleanup, and re-drawing. It's part of my current job, and I love taking low resolution images and making them crystal clear again. Because of this, I thought I'd offer my services for free to all Temple members!

Are you working on a new meditation video and you need a crisp and clear logo created from an amazing, but fuzzy logo you found ages ago?

Did you need a logo for a journal or project converted into a vectored image which can be scaled to any size while being crisp and clear?

I'll take a shot at it for you!


1. Image Up-scaling / Enlargement. This is TRUE up-scaling.

Example 1 (Pre):


Example 2 (Post):


2. Converting filetypes. Any type of graphics file converted to any format you need. For example, .JPG to .PDF.

3. Converting rastered images to vectorized images.

Example 1 (Pre, Rastered):


Example 2 (Post, Vectored):


4. Miscellaneous adjustments. Color balancing, enhancement, desaturation, etc. Just ask!

All requests and final versions of artwork will be posted here for record keeping, unless you request a private alteration, which I'm still happy to provide.

Not a formal request, though I do have one that I'll be working on soon for a member here, and I'll post it with their permission!

I finally got around to cleaning up my feedback guide, and wanted to post a proper version here that others can use. Last time I used a file hosting service, and the link is dead. This will be embedded, and attached to the post.

1. Increased DPI of background.
2. Removed artificating / pixelation.
3. Increased overall size / clarity.

Requesting Member: Reacher.
Task: Take a low resolution image, enlarge it while maintaining clarity. Weathered / distressed version as well if possible.

1. Upscaled repeatedly until shapes were salvagable.
2. Desaturated, flattened, simplified.
3. Split each part of the design into it's own element, vectored each by hand.
4. Re-assembled logo fully vectored, touched up by hand.
5. Made a weathered/distressed version in vector form as well.

You do have an amazing skill! If I may be so free to ask, what kind of program(s) do you use to edit you images and projects in such detail?

~ Aqua

Hey Aqua!

You for the kind words. I actually only use Photoshop and Illustrator, and a lot of practice.

I'll also use a special program that allows you to upscale images, using a learning algorithm.

You can use free alternatives like GIMP as well, they just take a bit more work. Is there anything specific you'd like to learn? If love to help!

Cayce wrote: Hey Aqua!

You for the kind words. I actually only use Photoshop and Illustrator, and a lot of practice.

I'll also use a special program that allows you to upscale images, using a learning algorithm.

You can use free alternatives like GIMP as well, they just take a bit more work. Is there anything specific you'd like to learn? If love to help!

Hello Cayce,

Ouu you certainly make my day! I am a forum signature maker myself, I used to be more active in the past. I noticed that you master that craft very well, and it is rare for me to see those skills because, the environment (site) here is not designed for any kind of artists as 'main focus'.

I am not so active on multiple art forums anymore because of some things... well... then you get like isolated from the information you seek I guess. So to see your topic thread thingy thing popping up makes me like very thankful to be able to chat here. As I prefer to learn straight from the source because it is more personal and effective.
The thing I would love to learn are the basics/ first steps of making images look a little bit less pixel like. :blush: Any kind of help, advice, or something that just feels like the first two thingies, would be most appreciated by me! When I am forcing detail into my sigs, I just notice that I get like a certain limit thingy of detail when I reach a certain point.

I can make it beautiful in my head, but when the computer is like struggling to keep up it gets difficult. Good example of that below, where you can see a signature body. I tried to render out an entire boat by hand, for the body. Like cutting out the ropes, sails, keel.. everything.. But when I look close I can just feel the pixels scratching over my mouse! I get like a bit sad when I see those kind of things, so I would love to learn, I will check GIMP out, not sure what it is, but look forward to discovering it! :blush:

Thank you!

Also, if anybody was wondering how to get programs that will help in this process, you don't have to have the Adobe suite in order to get good results. There are free alternatives that work nearly the same and just as well.

Alternative to Photoshop: GIMP | Some GIMP tutorials
Alt to Illustrator: Inkscape | Some Inkscape tutorials

@Aqua

I'm totally not a master, or anywhere close, but I love figuring out how things work and banging around under the hood of programs. Plus, I have to do basic image alterations where I work sometimes, so it gave me a reason to learn! :lol:

Luthein totally beat me to linking to the programs (thank you!), and both GIMP and Inkscape are wonderful free alternatives for sure.

If you'd like to get started learning, the first big thing is the difference between rastered and vectored files, and being able to turn a raster into a vector. Here's some videos to get you started.

1. Differences between Raster and Vector (Inkscape / GIMP).

2. How to vectorize an image, by hand, in Inkscape!

Those two would be your first steps into making images less pixelated / more clear. But in addition to that, if your image is too complex to vector, or doesn't really need a full makeover, that's where we get into up-scaling. I use a local program on my computer to do it, but there's many web hosted versions which work just as well.

You can easily use....

http://waifu2x.udp.jp/

or

http://waifu2x.booru.pics/

Don't be alarmed by the strange URL formatting, they are both safe and perfectly normal websites! It's just a web interface for the complex programming that runs behind the scenes. Simply pick an image, upload it, and then it'll increase the clarity and size of it and spit it back out! These are mainly used for anime-ish images, as you may tell by the names and images on the websites, but they work for almost any image.

After running an image through one of them, you may notice on lifelike artwork (like a picture of my face) the automated up-scale will remove some detail, and smooth some imperfections. This is where experience comes into play. Mess around with the settings, and try different ones! It's an amazing tool, though.

For a practical example, I looked at the signature you provided, and here's what I'd do.

I'd find the ship using www.tineye.com or Google Reverse Image Search . I look for the largest version of it to start with. Then, I crop it out as best as possible, and upload it to one of the image up-scaling websites (or run the code myself), and enlarge is as much as I want.

Then you can add it into a signature, and have a crisp, clear and clean version to use! You could vector the ship as well, but it would produce a more 'clean' / 'clip-art' style look.

Hopefully this gives you some material to practice and try out! But, please keep asking questions, I love talking art and I'd love to share my knowledge on anything that could help you. Plus, if you have specific images you'd like me to take a shot at, I can show you the results and outline my steps. Just let me know!

Thank you Cayce!

I will try all you mentioned out in the next couple of days/weeks, (I am slow :blush: ) After that I shall reflect back on it later trough my vlogs and my Artificium of course! So excited to try this whole thing out.