#tuturial

!! instructions at the bottom !!  I tried to give as much info as I could, with a few tips sprinkled in.

A few years ago this information was close to common knowledge among the vc community, but since then, there has been an influx of people interested in the hobby.

I prefer to use rubbing alcohol over salt or borax for several reasons.

- the specimen can be cleaned with soap and water beforehand. This is extremely helpful when you have items that are caked in blood and/or dirt. Also the excess water won't do anything to the isopropyl solution except dilute it.

- I feel like it's cleaner than using other methods.

- this method eliminates the animals odor (or it has so far in my experience)

- when the specimen is taken out of the solution, you don't have to go over every nook and cranny with a toothbrush to get all of the salt or borax off of it.

How It Works

Rubbing alcohol you find in the pharmacy section of most stores consists mainly of isopropyl alcohol with water making up the rest of the solution.

When placing a specimen in the liquid, an exchange takes place over time. Slowly, the alcohol pulls moisture out of the tissue. This moisture is then replaced with the isopropyl solution until equilibrium is obtained in both the specimen and the surrounding liquid.

(I'm pretty sure this is osmosis. The isopropyl alcohol being a hypertonic solution)

Once the specimen is removed, the rubbing alcohol and small amount of remaining water evaporates leaving dry tissue.

It has been said that using higher concentrations of isopropyl alcohol can lead to tissue degradation. I'm not sure if this is only true for small or fragile specimens (possibly fetuses?), but I have not had an issue with this, despite using 91% isopropyl alcohol.

I have had one instance where something didn't quite dry out all the way. I have a ground hog tail that was dried for MONTHS in 91% alcohol and is still flexible. I believe it's because the tail is so full of fat. Despite still being flexible, it has not begun to smell like rot and the fur has stayed fully stayed intact.

If you're running low on rubbing alcohol, you can try using a Ziploc bag. Excess air can be pushed out.

If anyone has any information that they would like to add, please feel free.

The how-to process for dehydrating with this medium is pretty much the same as using salt or borax.

Whatever you're mummifying needs to be free of rot. Like stated earlier, you can wash the specimen with soap and water if needed or wanted.

Place the specimen in an air tight container, covered with isopropyl alcohol, preferably 70%-90%. Smaller, more fragile items should be used with a lower percentage. If dehydrating several pieces at once, try to not overlap them. 

The amount of time needed depends on what's being dried out, but a month to a month and a half should do the job.

When the specimen comes out of the alcohol, it could be dry already (rare in my experience) or it will still be pliable and squishy. Leave item to dry for a day or two in a cool dry place, and check to see if it's still pliable. If you feel like the specimen might need more time put it back into a fresh batch of alcohol for a few days or a week longer.

If the container you're using is full of items and gets a little crowded, that's ok. Try to rotate them, every now and again. If using a lower concentration of isopropyl, change the solution out at least once, a quarter or halfway through the process.

I use the ibispaint app for pretty much everything. It's limited compared to desktop editing programs, but ibispaint is convenient and easy to use once you know your way around!

I also use waifu2x/waifu2xmulti (awful name, I know) to upscale and reduce noise in images when necessary.

I tried not to let this get too long, but if I need to clarify anything please feel free to message me! (also sorry about how blurry some of the pics are, tumblr has a 10 image per post limit and I had to save space somehow lol)

composition

I try to make my icons more visually appealing by using the rules of thirds. Basically you visualize a 3x3 grid over your image and try to make the focal point align with the lines and intersection points.

This doesn't work with everything. In a lot of cases it's better to have the focus of an icon right in the middle, especially if the character is facing the viewer.

making an image transparent

from a black and white image

Have a completely colored in layer ready, the flag you're using as the background will work fine. Import your image and then extract line drawing. After that, erase any text and extraneous details.

To make sure the negative space of your image is totally clear, follow this series of steps.

Change the settings of the magic wand to 0.5 pt expansion and select the negative space of the image.

Go to your colored in layer and select opacity.

Go back to your art layer and erase the selected area. Remove selected area and put a stroke layer under the art layer. Color in the rest of the image.

from a colored image

Use the magic wand tool to select as much of the background as possible without selecting any part of the character. Lowering the strength of the magic wand tool can help. Draw in the selection layer to select the rest of the background. Select opacity and then erase the selected area.

Adjust the brightness using filter>brightness&contrast or colors using filters>hue saturation lightness if necessary. Duplicate the original image before doing this so that you can easily go back to it.

effects

I use stroke and drop shadow a lot, they're under filters and should be used on layers under your art layer.

Another thing I do is add transparent gradients in clipping layers over the art layer. I use filters>parallel gradation and try to match the color as best I can to a color on the flag I'm using. You can lower the opacity and/or set the layer to overlay depending on the look you want. Be careful not to unintentionally whitewash characters of color when using lightly colored gradients.