PDN Fanatics

Here is how I made the clouds for my Cloud Hopping picture, as requested by Lance.
Please bear in mind that the settings I use here is purely a guide. You will probably come up with something completely different.

Only one plug in is required for this tut . Ed Harvey`s Dents. -

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/11520-ed-harvey-effects-v336/ (now incorporated into PDN - thanks Lance for mentioning that. )

Anyway , lets get started.
First you will want a nice sky coloured background. I used 8cc2ff foreground and cfecfe background but you can used whichever you prefer.Then just add a linear gradient to get something like this. -



Next, on a new layer, you want to make a white ellipse -



Now use Dents to get a `jelly' look . Play around with the settings until you are happy. I used Scale - 85, Refraction 13. The rest I left at default settings. You can do it more than once if you wish using Ctrl-F. For this tut I repeated it once. You should now have something like this -



New layer, select the cloud using the Magic Wand and on your new layer draw a light grey line along the bottom of the cloud. I used bcbcbc for the grey in this one.



Deselect and use Gaussian Blur . I used 35 as the setting but it will vary from cloud to cloud. You want to end up with something like this -



Merge your two cloud layers.
Next it`s back to the Dents for the fluffy look . I used these settings -



Use a transparent gradient as to blend the cloud in . I find using a radial gradient works best and gives you more control. You should end up with a nice fluffy cloud -



Then just duplicate,move and use transparent gradients to blend them together like so -



For the best effect you should repeat the tutorial a number of times with different settings to get different shaped clouds each time. After all , when did you ever see two identical clouds?

And that concludes this tutorial. Enjoy.

Thanks Goonie. Put this on my list of to dos. Really realistic!

Almost Realistic clouds, great tut and outcome.

brilliant work around for some nice clouds mate. I can see this being used in other areas as well .

Thanks for the tut. I have done something like this before, but I never thought about the trick with the two layers. *Puts an X in the calendar. I learned something today.*

Thank you, Goonie! BTW, Dents is part of PDN now, if I'm not mistaken. In either case, that's going to help me with my butterfly pic.

Thanks everyone. I`m glad you like it.

Lance - it`s a pleasure to help out mate.

I really like this method, strikes a nice balance between control and automation. Been playing around with it a bit, getting some interesting ideas. Nice Job!

My blending in could have been better, as could the sky colour but I'll definitely use this way the next time I want clouds in a landscape ... nice one Goon'

Oh Wow! That was a neat lesson Goonfella. I believe the painter, Constable, used to practice doing these

That`s an excellent cloud Welshy.Well done .Thanks for doing my tut.

Thanks to you too Pixey. Never knew about Constable. Interesting.
Maybe you could play around with the Dents / Gaussian blur a bit more though. Hasn`t quite got that `fluffiness' to it. Nice first go though.

well here's my attempt. I couldn't come up with what you had goonie but i tried lol.... had to use splinter blur to get desired effect. Mine came out cartoony

I think that`s a great effort Chad. Looks really good.

Nice to see my tut is proving so popular.

Chad, try to use Smudge with the jitter function enabled at a low, low setting, and play with it. That's how I did mine. Edit: Almost forgot, I also used Twist.

Goon, I used S3D instead of using elliptical and followed some of your steps. To make it more like in my butterfly picture, I used Smudge and PowerStretch to stretch the cloud up.

It`s interesting to read how people have adapted the tutorial for their own needs. It`s nice to see some innovation and new ideas being tried instead of everyone doing exactly the same thing.