This is something I've been curious about for a while now. A while back, I got entirely out of manipping, and I later realized that the reason was that I didn't enjoy my own manips. Since then, I've changed my approach to manipping, and I've found myself finally liking my work. So, my question is: do you enjoy your own manips? And, if so, which ones are your favorites? For me, some of my top picks are:

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=6383
This was the first time I ever fully embraced my foot fetish in a manip, and was probably more than a little inspirational for the viewer-sub manips I would make later. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time (even more than I usually do) making sure the eyes were as close to perfect as possible. I also got a little poetic in the text. ^^

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7130
I think I was in rare form when I made this manip, and many on the site seem to agree. It's currently my most-favorited and highest-rated manip (and one of the highest-rated pics on the site, I think). I owe A LOT to the awesome source pic, of course, but I'm quite happy with both the eyes and the text (I don't know if I've ever written a sexier script for a sub).

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7807
This one is almost entirely because of the awesome source pic, but the concept I came up with for it really made me smile. A school specializing in brainwashing catgirls is an idea I'd commission pics for if I had any cash. And I think I was channeling my inner Aperture Science associate when I wrote that text. :P

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=8898
I'm probably just biased towards this one because it's my most recent, but I like it for many of the same reasons I like the previous one. I also put a lot more work into it, and am rather satisfied with the results, even if I'm still iffy about the text around her head.

So, what about the rest of you?

Man, I hardly like any of my own manips. The one of Madoka that I just posted is the first I've somewhat enjoyed in a long time, and it was really easy :/ I was starting to think it's not possible to enjoy your own work, haha. Maybe I just need a different approach too.

Well, the thing to remember is your work will always seem less interesting to you, for a couple reasons. For one, I think a pic starts to feel "old" the longer you work on it. So, by the time you finish it, you may not want to look at it any more. Second, you will ALWAYS see the flaws in your own manips, because you probably spent a good time looking at them and trying to fix them.

That said, it IS possible to enjoy your own work. For me, the problem was that I was manipping pics just because they looked easy to do. So, I was choosing a lot of pics that I wouldn't have looked twice at otherwise. In other words, I was taking pics I didn't really like and trying to make them into pics I would like. Of course, all I got out of it was more pics I didn't really like. I fixed that by only manipping pics that interested me in their base form. You'll notice that many of my recent manips have the "feet" tag (even if they're not the focus, they're there). Appealing to two of my fetishes at the same time helped a lot.

Another thing I started doing was adding text, which added that little bit of personal touch. It also made my manips feel more varied and broke up the monotony quite a bit. For that same reason, I started trying a bunch of new things, like adding props and even making viewer-sub manips. All of that helped make it feel less "same ol', same ol'".

Of course, these things may not work for you, specifically. You just have to examine what it is that's keeping you from liking your manips, and see if there's anything you can do to fix it.

I don't have many manips yet (I've got a few that haven't been posted yet, mostly because they're 3/4ths done or I'm writer's blocking on hashing out the draft for a text manip), but I actually like mine so far. I find it kinda surprising because my general opinion on any creative work I produce is "this is utter dogshit". I think it might be because this is a relatively amateur community; I'm comparing my work to people who do this for fun a couple hours a week, instead of people who've been writing professionally for decades.

Only manipping pictures that appeal to me to begin with probably helps too.

Yeah, only manipping what you enjoy is certainly key.

Alien, even if you start that way, you'll find that you start gravitating toward manipping anything you know you can without even realizing it. Watch your back or you'll start to feel drained like the rest of us went through.

I'm still struggling once in a while with avoiding manipping pics "because it's easy" and finding ones that I just plain like, and I've been messing around at this for years.

I have to reiterate that the second one is really one of the best things on this entire site. I commend you for your continued work, Mindwipe. You're a bar for me to aspire to someday.

I am pretty self-loathing when it comes to manips. I tried text-manips on the Collective and didn't really like my text. Seemed too long winded and not hot in the slightest. I never bothered posting them here, especially as the images (mostly Shadowednavi art) already exist here.

Here I try to pick the best possible picture and make sure it's hypno-appropriate. I like the pictures I select just fine but my manipulations (usually just emptying the eyes) don't always end up as nice as I'd like. I know others would do better with my picks if they found them first.

If I had to pick 5 favorites I suppose I'd select:

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=5702 - This right here is by far the best editing I feel I have ever done on eyes. Even looking at it now it looks like this is how the original artist intended to display her. I also take a little pride in knowing that I was making it for another person, I saw the image and thought of Vandrill (whose elf-ear fixation was on discussion at the time) I'd consider it my first true success in manipping.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7820 - I love Demon Belldandy more than any other character being hyponotized so the source image was alluring as all get-out but this was the first time I felt brave enough to try and alter the expression of the original image. I see a lot of flaws and failures but it's progress. I'm proud of that and as I said, I love the original image.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=8895 - This was the most work I've done on a single image and you'd need to see the original to understand why. Selvaria was crying and had a look of disgust. I edited all tears away from the image and adjusted the expression to look more emptied. I really don't like the black line on the lip and it will ruin that pic forever for me but again. I'm still learning. Progress is good.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7888 - Just because of how many subjects there were and how I managed to get the music notes to trail through each of them.

Really I'm not at the level where I can feel pride in my work.


and my least favorite would go to:

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7657

Because it's very poor editing on a picture I love oh so much (I have a thing for anime girls who look like my wife. I'm not sure if that's weird.) I could have done better with the eyes and I really should have done more with the screen to sell the hypno-theme of the pic. It was laziness and I suffer for it by ruining an amazing (original version) picture that I genuinely adore.

I... don't know what to say, bell. I'm flattered.



I really like this one, and I had no idea that you did that much work on it at first look. Neither did I notice any issues with it. ...In fact, I'm still not sure I notice any issues with it. But of course, you will, because you were up close and personal with it.

Anyway, just keep on steadily improving. Maybe one day you'll feel like going back and taking another shot at the manips you're unhappy with.

Bellchan, do you mind if I ask you how you did the screen within screen in the last image?

Also, I really enjoyed your Silveria and Tifa manip as well. So much so that I think I might take a crack at it. I just found the original. (It was a bit harder to find than I thought.)I can see you did a bit more with this than the others and you even changed the expression, slightly. I'm proud. :) Good work, man.

Edit: In addition, I think it's completely normal to feel an attraction for things that remind you of your beloved. ESPECIALLY if it's anime.

Thanks guys. I'd love to see what you pull off with it L+N.

I got the screen within a screen by using Transform tool on photoshop and playing with the perspective tool and used the dots to follow the pattern of the image that was on the original.

I've only altered the expression in one manip so far:

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=6576
Compare it to the original
http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=1779592

But even for something simple (compared to what others have done), it was NOT fun. Since then, I've tried to pick images where I'm already fine with the expression. Adding text sometimes helps. My hat's off to those who alter expressions regularly.

Your expression actually looks better than the original. The original expression looks like she has a pair of lips below her nose AND a giant mouth to the right.

Yours actually looks like the mouth is attached to the lips.

Her mouth being on the side of her head in the original reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog...

Altering her expression was kind of an afterthought for that manip. I was gonna save it with the original mouth, but then I realized it just looked WEIRD. My original upload still had the mouth too far away from the lips, but Vorp pointed it out and I fixed it. Changing the expression was a simple process, all things considered... I just didn't enjoy it. I'm not saying I'll NEVER do it again, but I'm trying to avoid it at all costs.

I'm new to this whole manip community but the way I work is if I don't like it it's not worth uploading. I often try several different things on a single image such as adjusting facial expressions, adding props, different effects on the eyes, ect, before finally deciding that I like it enough to upload.

Plus I dont have many in my gallery so picking favs is kind of meaningless, nethertheless i do think my better one at this point is
http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7690

and least favourable is
http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7787

I do plan on actually drawing some hypnofun sooner or later since I have some experience in art and illustration but I haven't been motivated enough to go through with it, mostly because everything i draw is never good enough by my standards :\

I suppose now that I'm of hiatus (essentially...) I'll get more active in this discussion.
When it comes to me I chose my manips based on the following three factors:

- Whether or not I like the art/or character involved.
- Whether or not I find it challenging yet doable.
- Whether or not I can see a story in the image.

These things basically determine if I like the image in a "manip it" sort of way. If a pic meets at these requirements I'll have no problem downloading into my "To Do" folder. Although that is the core reason I do have another source of motivation.
I may come off as somewhat of a douche by saying this but I also like making manips for "prestigious" reasons. When I think back to the days when anime manips were common on the collective (and people actually had the tact to at least tag their images as "anime") I remember all of the praise and words of gratitude for work that I found to be just sub-par. So basically I thought, "if they like work like this then imagine how much they'll like my work if I actually try!"
Well that's not exactly how things worked out, lol. Anyway moving on...


I like all of my manips so it would be hard to pic a clear favorite but I'll try.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=861
It basically marks the first time I put a prop in an image. Plus it's of Haruhi a typical dom. I'm so into TTT I can barely careless who's who as long as their roles are well established. So for me this on is a big win.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=937
Mainly because this is the first image to which I actually altered the body in way.
Plus it's of Estellise, my second favorite tales girl. I actually made a lot of really noticeable mistakes but I still like the image because of all the work I put into it.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=1077#
The source pic lent itself well to my goal. I'm not even really into bondage but for it to be a princess with an enormous endowment, that just sealed the deal. It's also my first time using photoshop's glow feature, which works beyond my expectations. I was able to improvise and make a prop out parts from the image itself. Her expression is beautiful in my opinion.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7385#
This. Because I love Haku so much. She is my favorite vocaloid. I did a good deal of editing to image and I like the result. It's currently my highest rated manip (even though I voted too... ^_^'). I find her expression to be serene and he stream of drool dripping from her mouth only makes it better,

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=6858#
I felt as though I was being creative with the prop in this image. This is another one that took a lot of editing. Still some obvious mistakes that I was to lazy to fix after realizing them but I put a lot into this so I think it balances out in a way. >.> (biased)

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=5591
Lastly, this is by far my favorite manip and that is because I love Milla Maxwell soooooooo freakin' much. She has to be my favorite 'tales of' girl and most likely my most favorite anime girl ever. (Dare I say waifu...) She's the reason I bought Xillia and Xillia II even though I don't speak an ounce of Japanese (yet). In fact once the game comes out in English later this year I going to make more text manips of her after being better acquainted with the story line. The resolution of the image played another part in its selection (and it made the entire manipping process really laggy). I'm tempted to post a link to the original in the source so that people will know just how much I like the character. (If that makes sense.)


My least favorite manip was just removed. I made back when I was just starting out. I'm going to edit it again an do a much better job.

@Zko
Even if you're new to the whole manipping thing, you obviously have some level of experience in actual photoshopping. I mean, you already blow my levels of experience (next to none!) out of the water. :P
I can tell just by looking at your works.

I remember when you started posting manips, I was talking to Mindwipe and I said, "Oooo, we have a new skilled manipper out of the blue." He just replied, "Where are they coming from? o.O" (NOT verbatim).

Also, I LIKE the idea of what you tried to do in your "least favorite" manip. :P
With a better eyes effect, that could be amazing. I mean, it's the first passable corruption-style manip I've ever seen come out of this community that isn't a simple colorpalette-swap. I personally wish you would take the time and try expand/improve on that. Maybe even make a how-to guide. I ALWAYS love finding new ways to manip images.


@MMD (yep, still calling you that :P)

Yeah, edited slightly, that about sums up my process for decisions, too. Of course, once in a while I just stumble upon a pic I don't really care for, but the eyes just BEG to be manipped and require minimal work. I'll usually jump on those, too, because, I mean, why not?


I STILL don't know how you did it. And this image STILL makes me jealous of your ability to mess with the actual body of the character and make it work. :P
Not that I really wanna do it anyway. It seems like WAY too much work to me.

Lastly, MMD, I wanted to note...
All these links of yours reminded me of something. Your manips, on the whole, are grand. The ONLY thing that bothers me about them is that you often leave the eyes, and borders of, jagged and uncleaned. Don't underestimate the power of the eyes!
If you fixed that discrepancy in work quality, I feel your work would suddenly be so much better than it already is.

Yeah, I notice things like that all too late, I'm afraid. ^_^'
I'm going to start taking more time and edit the eyes first from now on. Since the body can just be exhausting. I usually rush towards the end because I'm so eager to post (especially after hiatus) but I'm going to chill with that. I'm also going to be looking for newer ways to edit the eyes (well, more like irises in my case) so be in the look out for that. I'm still an amateur but I won't stop aiming for improvement.

P.S.


I did it.

I have to ask, Lost+Name--do you redraw the pictures or clip parts out of other ones like HiG talked about doing? I'm particularly thinking of post #5591 and the Yukari one you just posted. I'm also thinking you might be doing some pretty intense cutting and rotating, then fixing problems with smudge and clone, but that sounds like a huge pain in the ass! Although now I kind of want to try it...

Very perceptive.You pretty much nailed it, petal. I do a little bit of all of that when I manip. I try to redraw as little as possible but when I have to, it comes out sort-of crumby looking. I certainly do recommend giving it a try when you can, though. It's really rewarding. :)

I'm surprised that there are people who would say "no" to this question. To me, manips are fantasies translated into jpeg form. Since they are YOUR fantasies, why wouldn't you like them? You just have to put a certain minimum amount of care into the crafting of the manip is all.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=614
One of my earliest ones. I think the use of different coloured text works in showing where the victim's thoughts were overwritten.

http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=6577
My most commented on pic. I wish I knew the secret formula for generating this much interest in a pic other than, "pick a good picture for manipulation."

Like others have already said, I tend to look for pictures that lend themselves to a MC scenes. I particularly like pics that have something a bit different about them. Like an ancient Egypt http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=992 or sci-fi setting http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=3072

I like this pic because I was able to find a prop doll that came close to Tiana's pose. Also, because the site can always use more diversity among its mind-slaves!
;-)
http://hypno.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=7790

I think it should ideally be that way, but I learned firsthand that you can get so caught up in manipping that you lose sight of what you like about it. I made the mistake of making manipping feel like a job, rather than something to do for fun, and I made a bunch of manips that I couldn't care less about. I made them because I thought someone might like them, instead of asking myself if I would like them.

And then there are those who just don't like the way theirs come out looking, which can usually be fixed with practice (it will never completely go away, though).



After spending a lot of time going through people's favorites, I think that IS the formula.