Kristan Franco Graphic Designs and Web Resources

10 stunning HD wallpapers for your desktop

Posted by Kristan Monday, November 30, 2009 View Comments

These 10 stunning digital art and photo manipulations would definitely sizzle up your desktop throughout December.Every concept is so unique in their own different digital approach. Since everyone of us have different screen resolution, these HD wallpapers are also available in different wide screen versions.

Well, if you happened to be using Plurk, I created a Plurk theme using one of the cool designs they offer.

1.) The Dope Show

2.) Krump It

3.) Ready to Race

4.) Mind Outburst

5.) City on the Brink

6.) Colony

7.) Altitude

8.) The Opal Lake

9.) Route to Castle Mountain

10.) No Place

Do you agree with my list? Well. sizzle up your desktop NOW! Don't forget to subscribe in my posts.

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How to create your own custom brush in Photoshop

Posted by Kristan Sunday, November 29, 2009 View Comments

In creating certain Photoshop canvas, it's either we use images, or brushes to come up with the desired output. There are brushes that are already default in Photoshop while some are made through Photoshop, and can be downloading from thousand of sites giving it away for free. Here is a step on how to create your own custom brush which can be use in any canvas.

Requirements:

Appropriate image to be made into a brush
Knowledge on contrast
Defining brush
Lasso tool or pentool

Step 1 - LEVELS AND DESATURATION. Import your photo by simply dragging and dropping into the workspace. This photo (from google) is a cityscape, so definitely, the brush we are making is also a cityscape brush. First major move is to adjust the levels of the photo (Ctrl + L) to reach the desired contrast of the image.

After reaching the desired contrast of the photo, go to menu bar and select image > adjustments > desaturate or simply use the shortcut (shft+ctr+U).

Step 2 - REMOVE EXCESS ENTITIES. As you can see in the output of this photo here, the clouds are still visible, thus, when converting it into a brush, the clouds would be eventually included in the sample brush. The main solution to this is to remove it manually by using either the Lasso Tool (L) or Pen Tool (P). After creating the marquee, remove the clouds by filling in white color in it, or simply brushing it with white color on the foreground.

After achieving the results just like in the photo, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + D to disselect the marquee you created in the "cloud" part of the photo. After disselecting, press M to select the marquee tool, and drag it to create a selection on the part of the photo thate you want to transform into brush.

Step 3 - DEFINE BRUSH PRESET. After selecting the part of the canvas, or the whole of the canvas, make sure that the marquee is running, then go to edit > define brush preset then rename your brush. After doing so, hit B tho select the brush tool, and find your custom brush on the bottom of the brush palette.

Tips:

Choose photos that shows possibility of good output when highly contrasted.
Higher photo resolution means higher resolution of brush.
Enjoy experimenting!

You can download the final brush output HERE. The file contains only ONE BRUSH. Next time, i'm gonna be uploading my premade brushes, be sure to subscribe in my post. :)

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Why watching The Next One concert is a must?

Posted by Kristan Friday, November 27, 2009 View Comments

If you are one of the 21 readers of this site, then probably, you could've read my winning post about David Pomeranz' concert established by Dreamwork Ventures. It must've been the cheesiest words that gave my blog entry to reach the first place in blog writing contest about the great singer's concert.

That was long ago, and that blog was now into deep silence. As an introduction to my latest blog, a more personal one, this post would be an official entry to Dreamwork Venture's and Gensan News Online Mag's Sarah Geronimo The Next One blog writing contest, while stating your 5 reasons why you should watch the Pop Princess' event.

...Yes, Sarah Geronimo? Ring a bell? That name is always in the air. The one who made "sundance" famous and that soul-hitting notes "Forever's Not Enought"? Definitely, Sarah Geronimo's The Next One Philippine Tour had just hit Gensan. December 11,2009 would be a history where she will rock Lagao Gym, GSC.

Here are 5 reasons I formulated on why you should watch this concert.

1.) Pop Princess-turned actress.

See what's unique? Sarah Geronimo made her way on screen with A Very Special Love, and its sequel, You Changed My Life, while maintaining the popular image as, "Pop Princess", with her famous songs, "Lumingon Ka Lang", "Sa Iyo", "A Very Special Love", and many other hits.

Seeing here perform live is very different on-screen, she got to prove the power of her voice, and those manic dance moves she applied in her pop beats. I know, we all want to see the hottest singing sensation LIVE!

2.) Sarah and her "bungisngis" looks

From the hair, eyes, and her smile, it would be better if you who see her in person. Experience her very positive aura using her "bungisngis" expressions.

I've been wanting to see her in person, the fact that she's one of the most famous singer in our country. Her jolly personality would definitely catch everyone's attention.

3.) All-in-one concert

It's not just the Pop Princess who would jive with the Generals on the event night, but also the hottest singing sensations of this generation.

Adding flavors to this concert, Mark Bautista, which would serve as Sarah G's duet partner. While sizzling up the upbeats, Billy Joe Crawford and Jay-R would pop their way in the RnB tunes along with Jimmy Marquez and Simon Wood.

4.) Full Band means Full Blast!

Louie Ocampo, famous musical composer and arranger, the man who , would eventually lead the band that will accompany the Pop Princess. Not just that, i've been seeing the his genius works through famous artists singing performance. APO Hiking Society and Gary V. are just one of the many who applied his works.

So, if Louie Ocampo would lead a band, the creative mix inside the venue would definitely be in full blast. Thus, maintaining the good quality of the music and the powerful harmony of the instruments.

5.) Stress-free

Believe me, my everyday life as an IT student is so toxic, so, this event, would definitely unwind myself. It would definitely break the ice. I've got to relax somehow, and I know, I could enjoy this concert with the upbeat songs that would eventually make us dance.

Got the good points? I know these are just few of the thousand reasons why you should watch The Next One concert.

With the help of Mr. Michael Wee of Dreamwork Ventures and the most famous blog of SOCCSKSARGEN, Gensan News Online Mag, this blog contest is established.

Below is the official poster and sponsors of the concert. Click the image below to see the original size.

Full concert details of The Next One here.

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About

Posted by Kristan View Comments

Kristan Jan Q. Franco is rooted from General Santos City, and is a 19-year old student of Notre Dame of Dadiangas University. With the course Information Technology, he is into web designing, graphic designs, ads, and photography. Having been introduced into digital tools such as Adobe Photoshop and CSS coding, he began designing variety of graphics in his high school days. When he stepped into college, his interests expanded. With a cheap digicam and a Single Lens Reflex camera, he was engaged into photography and sees it as a hobby.

Schoolings: Kristan Franco attended his primary education at Notre Dame of Dadiangas College (now Notre Dame of Dadiangas University), he attended his secondary education at General Santos City High School, the main public high school of the city and graduated to attend college back in NDDU.

From asouthernshutter.com to kristanfranco.blogspot.com: Kristan Franco started blogging under the domain asouthernhutter.com where he mostly showcased his photographs, but due to the expiration of this domain, he decided to drop the niche blogging, instead, he wanted to try out the freestyle blogging, where he can freely express his own thoughts and insights about everything.

Experience in graphic designing:

Since he had been into digital arts since high school, he topped various events during the certain span. Here are some of his achievements.

Won 1st place in 2007 ACLC's SOCCSKSARGEN IT Challenge Audio-visual presentation
Got a place on E-Business Web Designing (4th)
Won 1st place in E-Business 2009 Digital poster making

In the field IT:

Programming is quite a difficult thing to do. He is not to good in programming, but Kristan finds himself in Database Management System. Although those two things are interrelated with each other, he still find IT as an interesting course.

This blog:

This blog would be about my personal thoughts, my experiences (if ever there are), and other stuffs under the sun, but this time, i'm approaching it in a different way to maintain this blog's purpose: personal life, anything under the sun and digital art in one blog (and photography, perhaps).

Welcome to KristanFranco.blogspot.com!

Kristan Franco's other social accounts can be found here:

Facebook

Plurk

Twitter

...other than that, he disowns any account who bares his identical name and similar profile.

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