# Aquasketch Tutorial-- envision your work better! :)



## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Hey all. Recently (and in the past) I've been asked quite a bit about my aquasketch work. Since I think it's a useful tool for me, it might help others to envision their tanks sooner. So, I did a tutorial. 

For this, you'll need photoshop, but even older/freebie versions of photoshop should work for what I do . . . Well, enjoy. You got to full view it:










For many of my aquasketches, I hand-drew everything instead of using the clone stamp. It'll especially come down to that if you have a lot of large-leaved plants, or large-crowned plants that cannot be easily made into a brush pre-set that works. However, this is the easiest method for a beginner, or someone without a pallet, or someone who just flat-out doesn't like drawing. Even if it doesn't come out perfect, follow these steps and you should get some help in envisioning your final lay out.

Note: This method of mine takes *time and effort.* Even with these short cuts, it took me 3 hours to finish, and some of my purely handrawn ones took 10+ hours to finish. You just got to sit down in front of that computer screen, and be patient with it . . .


----------



## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Chong-san, you are the man! Thanks for sharing this technique with us 

I'm too lazy to do one myself, demo....I am always looking forward to your next work Gambarre neh!


----------



## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Good job photoshop junkie. Now what about the people with MACs? haha jkjk. Get Photoshop CS3 BETA!!!1111!!11~~~


----------



## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Thx guys.  Turtlehead-- I have CS2 for my mac iBook too, and it's pretty much the same. 

CS3? Haven't had the chance to play with that one yet . . .


----------



## jassar (Jul 30, 2006)

Great demo! it's cool to see someone else combining art with aquascaping ( that means i'm not crazy! ).
For those who don't have Photoshop, or simply don't need it, you can download the free software: Gimp. It's almost like photoshop..

Cheers!


----------



## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

How about making and selling a package of plant brushes?


----------



## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

lol

I thought about that too Troy. If you guys want me to I can. It'd be not much trouble for me (well, none really since I already have a bunch of brush presets made already.


----------



## aquarium boy (Nov 28, 2004)

haha i do the samething with alot of programs.
one thing that makes it easy for me is a (wacom) tablet.


----------



## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I would love to have a wacom but I don't have much artistic talent...at least not any more in the field of painting or drawing.

Steven - Brushes would be great! Would it work to take a picture of the empty tank and go from there, or is that not a good idea?


----------



## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

That's a very good idea Troy. If you don't like the photo of the empty tank, you could just make a new layer to draw over the edges of the tank. Being able to see edges between all the walls of the tank is very useful to make sure your drawing looks like it would actually fit in there.

Wacom is great . . . I have an Intuos 3, and love it.


----------



## Sudi (Feb 3, 2005)

I just saw this thread.
Great job! I know what I'm going to do when I get home today!
Thank you

Regards,
Matt


----------



## Jubs (Mar 24, 2006)

Very cool write up Steven, I like the idea of brushes.


----------

