How to make an avatar or edit picture in Photoshop

[Slate]

Edit in 10.5.07:
I fixed all the pictures that didn't work, and i also fixed a lot of english problems that i had when i wrote it in 2006. I found a lot of mistakes at my english, so im sorry if you didn't understand everything, english is not my first language and i know all my english only from toontown. I hope its ok now. If you find any more mistakes or if some of the pictures won't work again, please PM me so i can fix it. Thanks.

A lot of people here ask me for avatars, or ask me how to cut pictures and edit it like me... And its really easy if you have photoshop, and i don't have place for all the pms so i need to delete them every time, and im tired all the time so i don't answer fast, so i think that it will be good if i will write to evreyone how i do that, and if you have photoshop you can try it by yourself.

I use in Adobe Photoshop CS, but i know that you can also do it with CS2 and 7, and i believe that it will work with almost all the versions, maybe some little things will be different, but you all know english better than me so im sure that you can do it.
I can't post a lot of pictures in one post, so i will do it in parts, please don't answer until i will finish.

Here is all the parts:
1. how to make the background?
2. how to cut the picture?
3. how to paste the picture and change the size?
4. how to write the text?
5. how to finish the avatar and save it?

To show you, i will make an avatar for Queen Raven Rockenscooter. I month ago (look how long it takes me to answer) she asked me for avatar from this picture:
<snip>
and she said that she want an avatar with the picture and the name of the toon.
If you don't want text, you don't need part 4.

So, here we start:
1. how to make the background?
Avatars in this forum are in the size 64x64, so you open your photoshop and make a new file like that:

Some of the things might look different in different versions, so just look for the red things and check it.
After that click OK.

Now we need a picture to take the background from it. You can take any picture with big part of background, and bigger will look better. You can take screenshots of almost evreything in toontown and make backgrounds from it, its really easy. I will make my background from this screenshot, from 2003:
<snip>
to show you how i take the toon from ttc to dd.

First, open the background picture in photoshop. Now i use in this tool:

Make a selection of the part that you want:

And click on Ctrl and C to copy that.
Now, back to the new file that we made and paste it by Ctrl and V.
Then choose Move Tool and check that it looks like that:

Now change the size to the size of the first file (64x64) and click on a different tool.
You will see that:

Click Apply, and the background is ready!


I will post some backgrounds at the end for you if you don't want to make one by yourself.
Now wait, i will post part 2.

[Slate]

2. how to cut the picture?
To cut the picture, i use in Pen Tool:

Make sure to check that your pen tool is like that:

If something is different, change it. Thats really important or it won't work.
Now open the toon picture and look close on the part that you want.
Then make a selection of it with the pen tool, but only on the part that you want.

Make sure to do that again in the part that you don't want inside the toon, like this part:

When you done, it should look like that:

Now, ONLY WHEN YOU USE IN PEN TOOL, click on the toon in the right thing in the mouse, and choose that:

Then click OK and your toon will be selected:

Now all you need to do is copy it with Ctrl and C, and you finish part 2.
Now i will post part 3.

[Slate]

3. how to paste the picture and change the size?
To paste the picture, we do the same thing that we did with the background.
First click on Ctrl and V to paste and choose Move Tool:

Then change the size to the size that you want and choose different tool:

Then click Apply, and move the picture if you want, until you like it:

And now if you want you can add a little shadow to the picture, to make it look better. You can do it different than me, but i will show you how i do that and you can do the same if you want.
I click on this:

And at the new window i choose all this:

And sometimes i also choose Bevel and Emboss and change the depth from 100 to 1, because sometimes it makes the picture look better.

You can also try more things at the list and see how it looks.
After you finish, click OK, and we finish part 3.

Now i will post part 4.

[Slate]

4. how to write the text?
You need this part only if you want to write some text. If you have a long name, sometimes its better do not write it, because you have a place for a short text only...
There is a lot of ways to write text, i will show you what i did in my avatars.
First you choose a font, i use in toontown font almost always, you can see how to get it here:
Toontown Fonts!
The font that i use on is ImpressBT.
Now in your photoshop make a text box wherever you want, and if you want your text at the middle, make the box from one side to the other, and not longer or shorter than that, like this:

Now check your options, and do all the same like me (except the font, the size and the color, if you want something different):

Then write your text:

Now choose that:

And choose what i did, or something else if you want:

Now you can change more things like i did at the end of part 3, and when you done click OK, and we finish part 4.


Now wait for the last part...

[Slate]

5. how to finish the avatar and save it?
When i finish my avatars or my edit pictures, i put a black frame on that because in the forum it looks better. I do that with the Pencil Tool in size 1, and i just look close and paint it:

And then its done and we need to save it. The maximum size for avatar in the forum is 20kb, so we need the best quality in less than 20kb. We can save it in gif or jpg. jpg will look good only if we will choose a good quality, so you can try that for the start and see if the best quality of jpg in less than 20kb looks good.
To save it in jpg, go to save and choose that:

Now you will see this window:

12 is the best quality. Try to save it in 12 (click OK) and see how many kbs is it. If its too many, try to save it again in 11. If its still too many, try to save again in 10, until you have a good size.
If your best size is not on 12, try to save one more time in gif and see if its better.
To save in gif, click on save and choose that:

When you done, ALWAYS SAVE IT ALSO IN PSD FILE, because maybe someday you will want to edit or change something.
After you save, choose the best file that you have, and its ready!


If you need more help:
If you don't understand or if you want to ask something about how to make the avatar EXCEPT how to make an animation:
Post here.

If you want to make an animation:
You can click at the end of your photoshop and jump to image ready and try by yourself... Its too hard for me to write here how to make it because its too many things, maybe i will do it someday, but not now... No one told me how to make it, i just tried things by myself and learn it even with a bad english, so i believe that you can do it too. If you still can't do it, you can PM me and ask me to make it for you, but that might take a long time because i don't like to make animations.

If you don't have photoshop or if you try and you just can't by yourself and you really need me:
You can still ask me to make it for you, but that can might take a long time. If its not animation, i will do it faster, but still it might take a long time.

Want to PM me for avatar?
First, there is a lot of people here who want to make avatars, so you can ask them too. If you don't really want that only i will make your avatar, don't ask me. If its not an avatar and its just a nice edit picture then feel free to ask me, avatars are boring for me but something else will be nice.
Don't post here for avatars or edit pictures, just PM me, because i might not read it if you post it here.
Tell me what you want in your avatar.
PM me the picture, and if you post it in another place, do it BEFORE you PM me, and when you PM me send me the link. Don't tell me just what animal you have and tell me to get the picture by myself.
After you write it and before you send, USE THE PREVIEW MESSAGE, and see if the picture and the links are all work.
DON'T SEND MORE THAN ONE PM, i have too many and i have to delete everything because i don't have enough place for all. If you send one, wait until i will answer to you, and send me another PM only if you don't need the avatar anymore, or if you need something else, not about the avatar. Don't change what you want after you PM me and send me another one, think about that before you PM.

Good luck!
Please tell me what do you think...
If you try that, post here what you made!

[Slate]

Oh, and now, like i said in part 1, some backgrounds that you can take if you want:

[The Darkmew]

OMG this is a great thread! I have no clue how to do anything in Photoshop, and this will help me lots! This should be stickied...

[Karani]

lol u have to order it or just have it on ur start icons

[xXBabyBekahXx]

someone should make this a sticky!!!!

[Wayne]

Where do we get Photoshop?

[Slate]

Originally Posted by Crazy Romeo

Where do we get Photoshop?

You buy that or download a trial version for 30 days from adobe's site: www.adobe.com

[Tyro]

alittle help? i tried adobe just now. i have the 2.0 started edition.its not working right. can you post the link of exactly were to donwload it besides the adobe website?

[Slate]

Originally Posted by Big Bongo

alittle help? i tried adobe just now. i have the 2.0 started edition.its not working right. can you post the link of exactly were to donwload it besides the adobe website?

Try this:
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/tryout.html

[Crazy lil` duck]

Owooo! Thanks for posting this, I've been playing with photoshop but never noticed this.

[Buster]

Originally Posted by Slate

5. how to finish the avatar and save it?
When i finish my avatars or my edit pictures, i put a black frame on that because in the forum it looks better. I do that with the Pencil Tool in size 1, and i just look close and paint it:

wats a pencil tool i dont see anything liek that