Man On A Street

[This was originally posted as a Facebook Note on Feb 23, 2010 . I lost several images on old tutorials in the Facebook Note format – maybe because images get moved around. I'm recreating them here. Although the software examples are outdated, the principles used can still apply with newer software.] In 2006, a friend asked me how to achieve this photo effect without using a dedicated photo-editor (eg Photoshop): Here's how: If you have a Linux distro installed, look for the XaraLX package (drawing package like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw but open source like Inkscape). If you don't, download the trial version of Xara Xtreme http://www.xara.com/us/ —trial but more advanced than XaraLX). Here's the finished version: STEP 1. Obtain a suitable picture (I was lucky an oversized priest uniform was lying around heheh). we will trace it using pen tool (Shift-F5) Here's a closer look on how to trace (i set the outline/stroke to yellow so you can see ...

This is an edited portion of a 2007 email reply to one of my PCLinuxOS 2007 graphic design buddies -- gryphen (we only know each other through user names; he's a very talented GIMP artist) -- he was going to design a logo that would represent Linux: I think I have seen a similar comment over at the PCLinuxOS forums saying in effect that the penguin logo is not inspiring enough to make people migrate from Windows/Mac. I admit it got me thinking for a while, then I decided I like Tux the way he is. :) First impressions on First Impression: The black oval beside the logotype looks like a seed of a tropical fruit to me -- I live in the tropics. :) Does it represent a cosmic egg? -- a symbol for the myriad things possible with open source? The universe in a nutshell? Tux viewed from the top? I think the orange parts need a bit more outline so they will stand out when converted to black and white. Andreas Dilger mentioned a some tips that may help. At any rate, you'll find designing...