These are a couple of Sean Payton pieces I did right after it was announced that he was moving to Dallas. I found this pic of a guy dipping his girl and replaced the girls head with Paytons and the guys head with Kenny Chesneys because we all know Sean loves him some Kenny Chesney. I did it with MS Paint and posted it to another board that I frequent and everyone got a kick out of it, but I'm looking for some more "professional" type opinions here.

Basically I was wondering if anybody had any constructive criticism/tips for improving my abilities. I have been doing things in Paint for years and I love making these pics because I am always getting ideas on things I want to do but I know I have pretty much taken MS Paint as far as I can go with it. What (free) programs would you recommend I use based on the knowledge that the most complicated thing I have ever used is Paint, and what improvements do you think I could make to the above image with more advanced programs?

Here is an offshoot of that image that I never finished.

I wanted to replace all the white around SP with a sideline setting, which I could probably easily do in paint, but the hard part is the thought bubble. I wanted to fill in the white spaces there with sky/grass/hay/etc from the original pic so that it would fill the thought bubble rather than there just being a square pic inside the bubble. I could probably do this in paint as well, but it would be tough to make it look decent so I didn't bother. Any tips on a program to use for this and how to get it done with that program?

Anyway, sorry for the extremely long post. Thanks in advance to anyone who actually takes time to read it and offer advice/opinions/comments.

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Posted by Spurticus

Columbia, SC

Member since Apr 2011

2997 posts

Posted on 5/6/11 at 4:48 am to bop

short n sweet reply:

I don't see anything wrong with it bro.
Nice work. I tried Paint for a while when I was
first attempting to do farks, and I couldn't
get anything to look good. Bought a version of
Photoshop Elements, and got a couple of books
from the library on Elements Basics, and Lighting
effects and played around with it until I was
comfortable with it. I see a lot of nice work
by people using Paint now. . . . .This one is
as good as any a lot of people post using GIMP,
PhotoShop or other programs.

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Posted by bop

Petal, MS

Member since May 2011

60 posts

Posted on 5/6/11 at 4:16 pm to Spurticus

Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking forward to expanding beyond paint so that I can finally start working on ideas that I feel like would be very difficult if not impossible for me to pull off decently in paint.

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Posted by timdallinger

Member since Nov 2009

1594 posts

Posted on 5/8/11 at 2:25 pm to bop

I addressed software issues in the "Teach a Man to Fish" thread. For freeware, you are looking at GIMP or Paint.net. Paint.net is more intuitive (especially for someone used to Paint) but GIMP is more powerful. I personally use Paint.net.

For this particular piece, you could have "feathered the edges" using one of those programs. That makes a cut edge transparent for a few pixels. It makes a softer edge and more cohesive image. I probably would have flipped Payton's face as well so he is looking at Chesney. Also moved it just a touch to make it fit a little better with the girls neck.

When I am editing a photo, I want the effects to be as subtle as possible. Almost so someone wouldn't initially think it was 'shopped. So to do that, you really have to be selective with your source photos. It also depends on the final application. For instance, I won't spend as long on a sig pic as I will on a Wallpaper. And if it is a quick joke, I don't mind it doesn't look polished.

This really is good work though. I started in Paint myself and realize how tedious changing individual pixels can be. If you have any questions or feel I can ever help, feel free to ask. Post a thread or post in the "Teach" thread. There are several of us that check that regularly.

Welcome aboard.

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