The effects thread

Lettering, and cleanliness aside, i wanted to start a discussion to encourage people to share some of the effects they use to get that extra crispness and vibrancy on their peices. I'm not really talking about generic things like highlights and 3d but more like little discrete things that arent noticed till somone points them out.

The ones i pretty much know and use have been done to death

- If you have strobes in your 3d (little squars or lines) adding a little bit of white mist on top of them will give them a glowing effect kinda like its lit up

-One effect i really like is one seen here done by Askew, he does two sets of highlights, one on the left side in a differnt shade from his fill and then one on the right side which is just the standard white, this makes the fill appear kinda shiny and brings out the colours a lot more as can be seen below:

So anyone else have any effects they would like to share and teach the rest of us to enhance our letters/fills?

Notice the two sets of highlights..

arrows.

what i really like is details in the 3d... like a mist or some indents etc... that makes the piece.... at least for me.

ASKEW'S HOT...FIRST TIME SEEING HIS WORK.....ANYWHOO....IN HIS PIECES....HE'S NOT USING TWO HIGHLIGHTS....IT'S ONE HIGHLIGHT AND A SHADOW ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE HIGHLIGHT...TAKE THAT RED PIECE FOR EXAMPLE....HE HAS HIS BASE COLOR....THEN ONE DARKER (SHADOW) AND ONE LIGHTER(HIGHLIGHT). GOOD THREAD IDEA....MAYBE IT WON'T GET LOCKED.

they're called 'lowlights' and they give the illusion of a 'bubbled' or raised sort of look. hardly unique to askew.

i won't close it, i suppose this could be a decent thread, although i assume more than anything it will just get a few people using all the same tricks in their pieces.

AWESOME THREAD!!!!

I didnt mean askew invented them, just using his work as an example.

Another effect i think looks quite decent is the distorted look either a distorted outline or a distorted fill (usually coming out of the outline) i cant really find any photos of this if, hopefully someone can.

the problem with that is it's a super gimmicky sort of trick, and if you see it more than once in any given month, it starts to look played out. it can be cool, but in the hand of amatures, it's a dissaster waiting to happen.

to adapt an old proverb, you've got to learn to color inbetween the lines before you can learn how to color outside them.

try looking in art crimes in new zealand section 2 find his work http://www.artcrimes.com/

for extra effect, leave out the lines. just use highlights and "lowlights" for the line effect. that should look very special.

edit: corrected a mistake

somehting thats used quite often but really brings out a peice in my opinion is a white inline

this is the best example i could ifnd that u can really see it...imagine the peice iwht out the white inline, its still dope letters n everything but for colors the white sais alot

Fades and arrows.

And lots of them.

^^^

bubbles too...stars are a no-brainer

Dont forget about the bling.

I dont got a picture right now, but for those who don't know, its basically making little 4 pointed skinny stars with white paint on your letters (Lame description i know). Its definately an easy "effect" to try for all you new kids.

BLING-BLING NIGGUH

Cherries with forcefields and lens flares on them.

Using flourescent paint is a good way to get a low light or to add the effect of a glare.

Originally posted by insane30@Apr 22 2005, 08:41 AM

somehting thats used quite often but really brings out a peice in my opinion is a white inline

this is the best example i could ifnd that u can really see it...imagine the peice iwht out the white inline, its still dope letters n everything but for colors the white sais alot

Quoted post

For some reason I stopped doing that.

Let's see... effects... Try using more than one color in the 3D and everything doesn't need an outline. That's all I'll say for now.

silver fill with some white highlights/bubbles or whatever that makes the piece stand out it kinda fucks with your eyes because the silver catches your eye so much that you cant tell if youre imaginign the white effects.

do "stripes" or any sorta shit in ur 3D then shade the end of them with ur outline or 3D color giving ur 3D more depth...

...inlines are the new hot shit again...like multi color inlines...one right next to the other...mostly with flourecents...it's the hotest new shit since blocky arrows and funk letters...jump on it now, 'fore somebody calls you a biter...

I cant find an example but i really like peices that have a misty effect

anyone who knows how or does paint cars for a livin will know what im talking about,they have these metallic paint flakes that you mix with paint and thinner to give the car a eye grabbing attention will ive been mixing these flakes with spray paint and after it comes out its hot lookin when the sun hits it it gleams and grabs the attention of other people and it shines.u can get these paint flakes at any car supply paint store for about $10

All the effects in the world wont save shitty letters. Truely good letters will still be banging in black and white. Please keep that in mind kids, because all too frequently I see kids focusing on special effects instead of what there letters look like.

With that out of the way, drop shadows are one of my favorite effects. It really makes things look like its coming out of the wall.

i like two-toned letters, like harbor blue and pumpkin orange separated by a design where they mix in the middle, ill post a flic if i can find one

All the effects in the world wont save shitty letters. Truely good letters will still be banging in black and white. Please keep that in mind kids, because all too frequently I see kids focusing on special effects instead of what there letters look like.

 

With that out of the way, drop shadows are one of my favorite effects. It really makes things look like its coming out of the wall.

you speak truth

i like puttin bling on

This is post number one for me, and I just have to say that I think it is CLUTCH to put effort into learning about perspective and shading in the sense of creating on paper/walls/your mom the representation of an actual physical object. Also look into graphic design and composition. That's basically what you're all talking about here. Painting didn't start with cans on walls, and besides letter form and styles to evolve from you want to be an ARTIST, who sees SHAPES. Otherwise you'll always bite styles, cause that's all you know. Learn color theory and complementary schemes analogous schemes, kicker colors etc (aka find a color wheel and use it to teach you colors that go together and make eachother POP). I know it sounds stupid to a lot of people to say that, but a lot of beginners just pull from graff. It's an ART and ART principles obviously apply. DON'T MISTAKE THAT. You'll learn to be more creative and have more to pull from than learning it slowly by copying "insert name here's" colors and three tone shading.

that's all I got.

^^I like that, speaks truth.

like it when the 3d has a vanishing point... that looks smart.