Therefore I am compelled to share this vast array of knowledge with you folks, so you too can suffer that wonderful feeling that can only come from a crushing defeat.
#1 -- and this is very important, do not, I repeat do not, select any studio finished artwork, doing so will not guarantee you a loss, in point of fact using a pre-made studio image may actually get you a win, thereby nullifying the whole point of this exercise in futility. I mean if you're not serious about losing then you might as well stop reading right now.
Armed with this tried and true magic formula thinking it would not fail me but still knowing that at anytime a win might come and forever shatter my hard earned, long standing, perfect losing streak, I decided to slap the dragon yet again and take a chance.
First, I proceeded to select three base images with which I could build my losing entry for the EFX Romance Label Contest. Since this label was for Top Gun which came out in the mid 80's art was limited and of inferior quality, still that just raises the bar as it requires more effort to insure that I get them in to a losing state and that the glory for the loss does not come from crap artwork on it's own.
With a clear mission in mind now and the firm resolve of granite--I picked these images, one of the main characters standing on the tarmac, a plane in flight and a title I liked that would need extracting.
To begin I placed the main characters in a good position keeping the hole location in mind because we don't want that to directly disrupt any of the main imagery with a big ugly hole, at this point we will not worry about the background as most of it will be gone anyway.
One thing I want to do is leave the tarmac up to where it meets the horizon and since it won't really show that much anyway in the final label, I'm just stretching the right edge of the background over to the label edge like so, this will give me a passable tarmac across the entire bottom.
Next a little pre-fab work on the main image to lighten it a bit overall and then some basic color correction to get us up to this starting point.
Moving along, I removed the upper background, then cut out the plane and got him positioned in place, made a little saturation adjustment to the characters and faded out the bottom edge of the main image where the title will be placed.
With the title extracted, placed and color adjusted some, I proceeded to final sharpened the main characters in order to being out some more detail on them, plus made a few more little touch-ups here and there.
Lastly I added a final color adjustment layer to the entire image to bring all the tones together and get everything looking like it belonged together.
With the text and logos thrown in there along with several hours of work this world class loser is finally complete and ready to take it's rightful place in the CT Hall of Shame.
So there you have folks, you are now equipped to be masters of your own destiny and if you follow all these steps exactly and spend enough time getting all the details just right--then you too can produce labels guaranteed to not win any contest anywhere, ever, lol.
Don't despair if you happen to win after first using these techniques, it takes time to hone your skills but fear not I'm living proof that it can be done so hang in there, you can do it have a little faith.
The Legal Disclaimer Mumbo-Jumbo:
No animals were harmed during the making of this tutorial although the Yorkshire terrier next door is living on borrowed time let me tell you, your results may vary (you could win in spite of my best efforts to teach you how not to) I will NOT be responsible for your wins, Kylumi is NOT a Pokemon it's just the way he combs his hair, Banks is the King of Cosplay, wysmommy is a awesome cover designer, avoid direct exposure to sunlight, use NO bleach and towel dry only!
Void where prohibited. No representation or warranty, express or implied, with respect to the completeness, accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, or utility of these materials or any information or opinion contained herein. Actual mileage may vary. Prices slightly higher south of the equator. All nude models are over 18 years of age.
Any resemblance to an actual tutorial, living or dead, past, present or future, is purely coincidental. Some names have been changed to protect the innocent. Some assembly is required. Batteries not included. Contents may settle during shipment. No user-serviceable parts inside. Use only as directed, Do not eat. Not a toy.
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Those of you with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to learn that there is no hidden message revealed by reading this tutorial backwards, so just ignore that Alert Notice from your operating system.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions belong to me alone, the distinction is yours to decide...
The entire contents of this disclaimer are not protected by copyright, any parts of this disclaimer may be copied or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means optical, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, telepathic, or otherwise, without the express witnessed and notarized prior written consent, in short we just don't care what you do with it.
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Hope you folks had as much fun reading this as I did writing it, after all if we can't laugh at ourselves who can you laugh at, oh yeah there is always Wrenchy...
![:-]](./images/smilies/21.png "Batman")
Kelly McGillis
