Friday, September 21, 2012

cartoon you!


Making a cartoon you!
Believe it or not, I made this from shapes in powerpoint. The art of shape and clipart manipulation is just a matter of patience and practice – like all worthy endeavors!
Now I am going to break down my picture, to show you some ways to get creative with clipart!

Start with a head! And it doesn’t have to be perfectly round. Next are the features. Zooming in helps with the smaller features,
**tip, choose an object before zooming or it zooms into the center
or you can enlarge the shapes to see them better.
**tip, if you want to make a bunch of separate shapes bigger or smaller, group them so they stay put (under "Arrange").
For the eyes, I use white circles or ovals, colored circle irises to match my eyes, and black pupils – **tip, when choosing a color, play with the spectrum of custom colors.
The eyelids are chords and the eyebrows are arcs, outlined in a little darker shade.
**tip, the yellow squares help you choose the length of the curve.
The lashes are tiny arcs.
**tip, once you make one eye, group it and copy it and  flip it (under "Arrange").

The nose is a scribble, the mouth another arc. The neck is a rectangle, or a pentagon if your shirt will be a v-neck.
**tip, group after completing a step to make the next step easier.
The hair is the hardest…
I used the chord for the larger piece behind the head and lots of moon shapes for wisps and accents - I highlighted the shapes to show you...
**tip, you may have to play with the "bring to front" or "send to back" to get stubborn pieces to lay right, just like in real life!
And finally, the accessories.
My glasses are rounded rectangles, lines and an arc. The shirt is the “flowchart delay” shape.
**tip, to get a fancy fill, right click on the object, format picture, fill, click on clipart and type in what you are looking for, denim, pattern, flowers, etc.
To make any clipart into a blog-ready picture,
make sure it is grouped
right click, choose “Save as Picture”
if you have a photoshop program, you can check it out and crop as needed.

These are basic, basic instructions - so if you have any questions you can leave them in the comments or email me. Or you could just ask for one =) taratylertalks at g mail dot com.

27 comments:

VikLit said...

Tara I am in COMPLETE awe of your powerpoint skills.

Just for fun I will make a 'ME' and mail you it sometime so you can see how bad I am in comparison, LOL :)

J.L. Campbell said...

Hi, Tara,
I like learning something new everyday, so I'm glad I came by. I've looked at PowerPoint with suspicion. Didn't know it has this level of coolness. Must check it out.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

Ha! I made my first novel cover like this...in Visio (not PP)

Angela Brown said...

Okay, because patience will be required, I'm going to set aside a few hours - yeah, I'll need a few hours lol!! Then I'm going to give this a try because darn it, I want to do more than draw a stick figure on paper lol!!!

Thanks, Tara :-)

Laura S. said...

Wow, so cool! That looks like fun. Your cartoon-you is adorable! Love her/your hair!!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You outline the steps really well!

Luanne G. Smith said...

That turned out so cute. I don't know if I'd have the patience to figure all that out. Luckily you wrote it all down for me. Fun.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Wow! I don't know if I have that kind of patience especially with the front to back and back to front thing . . .maybe too much like real life hair drama for me. I guess at least publisher probably doesn't have a poof and frizz setting.

Misha Gerrick said...

Wow I never knew you could do that in powerpoint. :-)

Samantha May said...

This is SO COOL! I have to try this!!

Christine Rains said...

Cool! So much fun you can have with that. :)

M Pax said...

That looks like a blast. I may have to play with power point some more soon.

Unknown said...

Okay, now I really have respect for your headers. I merely thought I respected them before, but now, I'm in complete and utter AWE. You're so cool, Tara. :)

kjmckendry said...

That's really cool! I'll have to try that!

Brinda said...

Umm...HELLLOOO. You make that look so easy. I dub you Queen of avatars. You could make us all one, but I guess you are trying to teach us how to make our own. :)

E. Arroyo said...

Nice. If only I had patience. =) Maybe I'll get one of my kids to do it.

mshatch said...

that is so cool. It must've taken hours! I like your cartoon you :)

Ciara said...

That is fantastic. I might actually have to try this. Although this is probably the time when the directions make it look so easy, but I lack talent to execute it. :)

Annalisa Crawford said...

That's so great. Unfortunately, there's always been a block between what my head thinks I can do and what I can actually do. So, I'll leave the art to you!

Julie Flanders said...

This is so cute!! I love your cartoon. Sadly even with your detailed instructions I think I'd end up with a disaster, I am hopeless with this kind of stuff LOL.

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Coolness! You definitely shared something exciting today Tara.

Ermie said...

Very cool! You must have a lot of patience. :-)

Tara Tyler said...

Vikki! you did a great job! thanks for sending it to me!

JL - i'm glad you did too. it's not just for presentations!

R Mac - i make covers too - it's so fun to play with!

Angela - patience or perseverance, just like editing! if you want to, you can!

Laura - thanks! wish it was so easy to do my hair and keep it in place!

Alex - thanks, i love outlining!

LG - yes, i must write things down!

Tyrean - yes, that part is time consuming and frustrating, just like defrizzing real hair!

Misha - i work with what i have and test the limits!

Samantha - great! show me when you do!

Christine - it is lots of fun!

Mary - you should! i will do another piece on clipart manipulation & button making

Tara Tyler said...

Candilynn, you are too funny! thank you!

Kathy, i'd love to see what you come up with!

Brinda, ha! i do love doing it!

Elizabeth, that's a great idea!

Marcy, maybe 20-30 min, but i've had practice! thanks.

Ciara, thank you. and i know those times...

Annalisa, thanks! i think that about my writing sometimes, especially after reading something wonderful.

Julie, aww! that's ok. and thank you!

Sheena, thanks!

Ermie, for some things i do, for many things i don't! thanks.

Gwen Gardner said...

Wow, I didn't know you could do this in PowerPoint. I must learn how to do this! Is this how you made our badge for Partners in ParanormYA?

Tara Tyler said...

oh no, i didnt put those ladies together, but personalized the ones they have. thats another lesson =)

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

That's seriously cool! Thanks!

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