Today, we'll be learning how to create your own tattoo using Photoshop and/or GIMP! The techniques described in this tutorial will also work when creating clothing or other transparent textures, but for the purposes of this tutorial, we'll be making just a simple tattoo. :)

What You Will Need For This Tutorial

1. Photoshop or GIMP

2. The upper or lower avatar PSD files (if you do not have them, you may download them here). For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be working on the upper avatar layer.

Please choose which tutorial you would like to read: Photoshop | GIMP

Creating Your Own Tattoos Using Photoshop

The first thing we'll need to do is create our tattoo in Photoshop! To do this, open the avatar PSD file you'd like to work on. Upper or lower, it is your choice! For this tutorial, we will be working on the upper avatar layer.

Today is going to be a humdinger of a tutorial - learning to paint directly onto the avatar mesh using Photoshop CS4 Extended!

Please note: This tutorial will ONLY WORK with Photoshop CS4 Extended users.

This was a challenge to me when I was first learning how to do it, and to all the squirrels I've loved before, you're all the best for helping me conquer my CS4 avi-painting fears and issues. Now, here I am, explaining it for the masses - so that you guys don't have to beat your head against the wall like I did! At least... hopefully not MUCH. Saving frustration, that's what I am to do. As per usual, click on photos below to view larger versions.

What You Will Need for This Tutorial:

1. Photoshop CS4 Extended (ONLY THIS VERSION will work specifically for this tutorial). A free trial can be downloaded at the Adobe website here. Please note, you will need to create an account to log in and download the demo.

In keeping with last week's bikini and t-shirt contest, I thought I'd take it one step further before continuing on my regular photo touchup and photoshop/GIMP tutorials! Today we are going to learn one of the things I just KNOW clothing creators get asked most often: wrinkle creation.

Now, this is just one method of wrinkle creation, the one that works best for me. There are a million ways to create wrinkles in fabric, but I am going to show you the one I have found simplest.

To do this tutorial, you will need:

1. Photoshop or GIMP

2. A Photoshop/GIMP clothing file to work on (I have provided the one I will be using for this tutorial - download here). NOTE: This tutorial assumes you have some basic knowledge of Photoshop and GIMP, such as what a layer is, how to create a new one, and how to apply filters.

3. The willingness to learn! Remember, no one starts out at the top.

Please select the tutorial you would like to read: Photoshop | GIMP

I apologize in advance for this being a Photoshop-specific tutorial! I am still very much a GIMP newbie, but, as soon as I learn the lay of the land for how to do this process in GIMP, you bet I'll be posting another tute for it! For now, Photoshoppers, here we go!

Today, we'll be learning how to combine a depth snapshot with a color snapshot to create the illusion of "depth of field" in your Second Life snapshots!

Let me define the term "depth of field" quick, just to give a frame of reference for those of you scratching your heads right now! The term "depth of field" refers to the portion of a photograph (or in this case, snapshot) that will be in-focus (i.e. not blurry!). What we are going to do here is make an attempt at mimicing real life photography by combining a depth shot with a color snapshot to immitate depth.

An example of a real life depth shot (we will be trying to mimic this effect with this tutorial):

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many tutorials to come. Seeing as how this is the question I get asked the most, I thought it only fitting to begin this weekly blogging with a green screen removal tutorial.You will need three things for this lesson:

1. A snapshot taken on a greenscreen (you may download the one I will be working on, or you may set up your own green screen - instructions below - and take one for yourself to work on).

2. Photoshop or GIMP.

3. Patience.

Ready? Great! Let's get started. First, let's learn how to create our own in-world green screen. For those of you who would like to skip ahead, I have provided two seperate tutorials in this post - one will teach you how to remove the green screen in Photoshop, the other will explain the process in GIMP. Please select which you'd like to read: Photoshop | GIMP.

Setting up your own, one prim green screen in world; step-by-step:

Rezzable CEO Jon Himoff denies all charges of Greenies abuse in his London production facility.