Since then I have taught myself how to use GIMP (the free software that's very similar to Photoshop)... well I still could do with doing a course or something but I'm getting there! There are actually loads of really good tutorials on the web. So I've mainly been learning about layers and blending images. What I've learnt is it is VERY time consuming (at least it is to a amateur!) but ultimately rather rewarding!
Last month I made my own book trailer for WitchCraft, using Microsoft Movie Maker and GIMP to edit the images. You can see it here:
http://youtu.be/wjejCk1eNX8
And this week I decided it was time to tackle the blog design! First I again found tutorials for making blog Headers and backgrounds which gave me the dimensions I needed. I made the header first bu blending a couple of images linked to my books together and altering the colours. Overall I decided to move away from the blood red colours and use blues and purples instead. I was rather pleased with my banner but when I uploaded it found it to be too short, so beware, the tutorials out there are wrong on width dimensions. I then went to blogger design page and found the page width which I then used to set the width. You can see my banner above easily so I won't post it again!
But this is the background I created:
Again I kept with the blue theme and added the black tulips which represent the tulips Luke leaves on Jess's grave. There are also hearts made from metal shavings and the moon.
Another note for other newbies to blog design: Blogger tells you to use a image 1600x1400 wide or bigger yet when you try to upload it tells you file is too large and after I kept making the file size smaller I lost the quality completely. So unsure what to do I ended up uploading a image size 1350x1200. It's still not perfect. I would have preferred the image to be zoomed out a little so the tulips etc weren't as large and more visible... but currently I don't know how to do that! So this will have to do! Anyway, it's much better than the original boring blogger background. What do you think? Have you designed your own?
The new design is beautiful. I can't figure out Gimp to save my life. Or photoshop. Looked at tutorials once and tried and my end results didn't turn out. ^^;;
ReplyDeleteI've had Gimp for about 2yrs and I'm only just figuring it out lol! I'll email you the tutorials I used if you want?x
DeleteNaw. I need to focus on writing. I'll let others more skilled than me deal w/ Gimp and photoshop. ^^
DeleteI love the new design it is very beautiful, love it. I have worked with Gimp a lot before but not lately. I love gimp and html kit. I have wanted to do my own web site. But I have not been that great at it. So that is the reason I got into blogging and the love of reading of course. So that I could use the little html that I have taught myself. One day I hope to get back to doing more tutorials with gimp and teach myself how to make my own blogger backgrounds and headers ect... I also need to refresh my html skills. You forget so much when your not practicing or using a lot of it. But there is so much to learn and know that I don't think anyone can hardly remember it all. That is why there are desk reference books and free tutorials out there on the market. Ok enough about my experiences, the new design is as I said is very beautiful. Love the header. You did a great job with the colors and putting/blending them together. Layers can be tedious at times. The size of the pictures can be a pain. Different formats for different types of pictures/images can get kind of complicated as well.
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