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[Skel1ingt0n]

Odd request, I know... But, here goes...

I was a teaching assistant for a design and visuals class for over a year, where I taught introductory and medium Photoshop and InDesign skills. Problem is, I've always listed the programs under my skills on my resume, thinking they'd be good "bonus" things for me to have for a job. However, wouldn't ya know it, I just got a face-2-face interview for Monday for an Creative Copy position in which my skills with the design suite are very important. And I haven't touched the programs in like two years.

Basically, I need a crash course for PS and InDesign, where I can learn basics and danced technique in a day. I think since I'm "re-learning", I'll be okay, if I can find such a thing. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[RDreamer]

Personally, what I do is find or come up with a project that utilizes whatever program I need the refresher in, and then I just do that. I find, personally, that not only do I get bored at tutorials, but the info really doesn't stick. I need to learn by doing. So if I were in your position I'd just come up with something that would resemble what you'd do at this new job, and open up Photoshop and InDesign and whatever else and get it done.

 

[megarockexe]

I decided to do a branding project as a personal project. For this, I chose to rebrand Rosewill, that budget hardware company with the script-y logo. I like the packaging I designed and it will be main focus due to time limitations I've got. I prettied it up and prepared it in Photoshop, but I feel like it's missing something to tie it all together.

Any last-minute suggestions?

 

[cbox]

I'd get rid of the floor and soften the shadows and brighten up the scene a bit too.

 

[Kikarian]

I have updated the OP, With "What is Graphic Design?" and a few links...

 

[Kikarian]

Shameless Bump.

 

[kehs]

I'm having a little frustrating problem with Illustrator and color management. (CS4).

I can't figure out how to have Illustrator respect the color profile of an image when it's linked, rather than embedded.

Specifically, when I link and RGB image, the Adobe1998 profile is ignore, and the color shifts. If I instead embed the image, all colors remain the same.

I have Illustrator set to use Adobe1998 as well in the color settings, but it will change color regardless. I've tried all the settings and the only time this happens is when the file in linked rather than embedded.

 

[Futureman]

I have to design a cover in Photoshop.

I've never really used guides before and I'm wondering if there's an easy way to do what I want.

Here's where I'm at:

so the white is the actual cover. As you can see, I have one guide exactly in the center right now. BUT... I need TWO guides that are 0.22" apart. That is the width of the spine. I need the guides exactly in place so I can get the text for the spine exactly where it needs to be. Is there a way to be more precise with guides? I could just eyeball it and use the ruler at the top, but it feels like that'd be too "loose" and wouldn't give me an exact result.

 

[kehs]

I have to design a cover in Photoshop.

I've never really used guides before and I'm wondering if there's an easy way to do what I want.

Here's where I'm at:

so the white is the actual cover. As you can see, I have one guide exactly in the center right now. BUT... I need TWO guides that are 0.22" apart. That is the width of the spine. I need the guides exactly in place so I can get the text for the spine exactly where it needs to be. Is there a way to be more precise with guides? I could just eyeball it and use the ruler at the top, but it feels like that'd be too "loose" and wouldn't give me an exact result.

Reset the origin to the where the guide is(drag out from where the two rulers meet on the top left). Bring up the info pallete (f8). Then just drag a new ruler and watch the info palette for placement you need it at(.11"). Repeat on the other side.

 

[Futureman]

AWESOME. YES.

For some reason that f8 info pallette has alluded me for awhile. I feel like I'm pretty damn advanced in some areas of Photoshop, but still clueless on basic stuff like that. I think I may sign up for Lynda again and go thru more tutorials.

 

[Screenboy]

Evening peeps, im trying to score a Junior Graphics role at a Design Agency, to show some of my work ive got a Tumblr set up. If any of youse could have a look and tell me what you think I need more of and give some criticism that'd be great. You can visit it here: http://www.la86.co.uk

 

[cbox]

AWESOME. YES.

For some reason that f8 info pallette has alluded me for awhile. I feel like I'm pretty damn advanced in some areas of Photoshop, but still clueless on basic stuff like that. I think I may sign up for Lynda again and go thru more tutorials.

Another way is to set your rulers to inches ( ctrl R and right click the ruler ) and then hit view > new guide.

 

[RDreamer]

Evening peeps, im trying to score a Junior Graphics role at a Design Agency, to show some of my work ive got a Tumblr set up. If any of youse could have a look and tell me what you think I need more of and give some criticism that'd be great. You can visit it here: http://www.la86.co.uk

You've got a pretty decent variety of stuff there. I'd say you're only really missing something like a magazine spread or brochure, or just something that shows how you work with a lot of copy. The website sort of touches on that, but I'm not sure that's enough.

 

[Zekes!]

I haven't posted in here since the first page, but here's some cover art I made for a local hip-hop artist's upcoming single:

I don't like the text on the bottom but he wanted it there.

 

[noah111]

Love this, would buy it on a shirt

Thanks. It's funny since I ended up making those simpler versions just for my own peace of mind, since I the others were too cluttered imo. Unsurprisingly, I haven't seen him use the simpler versions anywhere.

Anyway, he contacted me again somewhat out of nowhere asking me if I could do another album cover for him (titled "Montmartre"), he wanted it to be 'suave' and 'classy'.

I'm pretty busy with my studies but I didn't want to say no, but I def. think this'll be the last time I do anything for free. Anyway, they're quite simple and sort of unpolished but he liked them, so that's that I guess.

Spoiler

Can you guess which one he went with?

[EDIT] Didn't want to bump this thread with a double post, but I was looking at the new Coldplay album (mylo xylto or something) and was fond of that style and wanted to try something similar.

Wigged it and made this;

& this quick one

 

[Futureman]

Graphic design, animation, visual arts podcasts???

 

[Devolution]

Graphic design, animation, visual arts podcasts???

What are you asking?

 

[timestranger]

awesome stuff; i really need to start building my portfolio

 

[Futureman]

What are you asking?

Podcast recommendations in those areas.

 

[Futureman]

any help?

#1 is my finished Photoshop drawing. What I do is take a photo of my sketch, and then trace over this in Photoshop (#2). The thing is... I like leaving the sketch lines underneath at around 30% opacity. But as you can see, the design of the face usually changes after I draw it in PS so the lines don't match up.

what would be the best way to mimic this? I messed around with the Filter Gallery but with uninteresting results. Don't know much about custom brushes... is there some "charcoal" brush I could use? Looked thru the included brushes but I'm either using them wrong, or I gotta download extra brushes?

#3 is what I've been doing... Blending options > Inner Shadow. Looks better than nothing and gives the different body parts some dimension... but I'm wondering about other creative options I could use?

 

[noah111]

Why don't you simply invest in a wacom tablet?

 

[neptunes]

Why don't you simply invest in a wacom tablet?

Aren't those kind of useless? Or you referring to a wacom version with a screen?

 

[Devolution]

Aren't those kind of useless? Or you referring to a wacom version with a screen?

No they've been called tablets long before iPad and those things came on the scene.

 

[kehs]

any help?

#1 is my finished Photoshop drawing. What I do is take a photo of my sketch, and then trace over this in Photoshop (#2). The thing is... I like leaving the sketch lines underneath at around 30% opacity. But as you can see, the design of the face usually changes after I draw it in PS so the lines don't match up.

what would be the best way to mimic this? I messed around with the Filter Gallery but with uninteresting results. Don't know much about custom brushes... is there some "charcoal" brush I could use? Looked thru the included brushes but I'm either using them wrong, or I gotta download extra brushes?

#3 is what I've been doing... Blending options > Inner Shadow. Looks better than nothing and gives the different body parts some dimension... but I'm wondering about other creative options I could use?

Jump into the brushes palette and mess with the attributes for brush strokes, width/scatter/opacity.

You can easily replicate "hand drawn" strokes with a mouse and tweaked brush.

 

[neptunes]

No they've been called tablets long before iPad and those things came on the scene.

I know what they are, I have one, but a lot artists I've spoken to find it useless for illustration and drawing. They would much preferring drawing on paper and scanning their work. I also cannot get over the disconnect of drawing from scratch on a wacom. I juat find tracing, coloring, or general design layout stuff more suited for a wacom. Where as actual drawing seems so much better using a cintiq.

 

[exhume]

I know what they are, I have one, but a lot artists I've spoken to find it useless for illustration and drawing. They would much preferring drawing on paper and scanning their work. I also cannot get over the disconnect of drawing from scratch on a wacom. I juat find tracing, coloring, or general design layout stuff more suited for a wacom. Where as actual drawing seems so much better using a cintiq.

This guy's talking about tracing and colouring though. Or am I missing something here?

 

[cbox]

any help?

#1 is my finished Photoshop drawing. What I do is take a photo of my sketch, and then trace over this in Photoshop (#2). The thing is... I like leaving the sketch lines underneath at around 30% opacity. But as you can see, the design of the face usually changes after I draw it in PS so the lines don't match up.

what would be the best way to mimic this? I messed around with the Filter Gallery but with uninteresting results. Don't know much about custom brushes... is there some "charcoal" brush I could use? Looked thru the included brushes but I'm either using them wrong, or I gotta download extra brushes?

#3 is what I've been doing... Blending options > Inner Shadow. Looks better than nothing and gives the different body parts some dimension... but I'm wondering about other creative options I could use?

Just create a new layer ontop of your lines/colours and add in a darker shade. Many cartoonists do this to add depth and shadow to their flat cartoons. That is, unless you doj't want that look. Once done, hold the alt key and move your cursor inbetween your two layers and click. This will constrain the new layer to the shape of the layer beneath.

 

[Atramental]

I need a crash course on Adobe Fireworks in order to make mock website.

Anyone know a good tutorial out there that could help me out?

 

[Atramental]

How's this monochromatic color scheme working for this webpage? My instructor suggested that I make some of the elements a warm orangish-red but when I did that I was too distracted by all the things I made orange.

 

[cbox]

Orange would certainly add to the warm and stressed subject matter but it's up to you. I'd say brighten up your nav items, never put dark blue on grey - hard to read

 

[Atramental]

Orange would certainly add to the warm and stressed subject matter but it's up to you. I'd say brighten up your nav items, never put dark blue on grey - hard to read

I'll go ahead and do that.

Also, I guess I can make the navigation text turn orange when the mouse cursor goes over or clicks on it. That's probably a better solution when it comes to adding that orange my instructor wants.

 

[Oppo]

He wants you to add orange because it's the compliment of blue. You can do it with little minor accents, it doesn't have to be anything big and bold.

Also I'd say try looking at a version that is totally desaturated (grayscale) and if it's too muddy then consider upping the contrast on some bits.

Like I'd try adding an orange/reddish Inner Glow (normal, around 50% to start) style to the logo squid, stars, swirly header-thing and lower summoning the elder gods text, see where that gets you. Yellow is ok too if you are complimenting something more purple.

/2¢

 

[victreeb3l]

I would just say design in a CMYK color mode file format. If you design in an RGB mode and try to print, you will likely get a less consistent image since it was designed using colors from the light spectrum instead of what is capable with print.

If you already have the files designed, you can just switch the color mode on the fly, and it will try to preserve it as close as possible. If things changed somewhere, you can still tweak it back to being close to the original as possible.


Also, when it comes to printing, I'm wanting to say you should tell photoshop/illustrator to read the colors. You might be best off just asking the printer when you're there, but I'm pretty sure you want PS/AI to handle colors... It's easy enough to just change the thing in the drop down for the printer, so just ask. : P

very late on this, but thanks for your help i just created the photoshop document on CMYK and when i pasted the vector on it, i guess the colors auto adjusted. was a slight color change but nothing drastic at all. client said he loved the printed version so i guess thats that lol

id like to broaden my skills and move towards more print work. im gonna hit up my local printers and see if i can learn anything from them. maybe do some free work for them to teach me the ropes or something.

 

[Futureman]

Just create a new layer ontop of your lines/colours and add in a darker shade. Many cartoonists do this to add depth and shadow to their flat cartoons. That is, unless you doj't want that look. Once done, hold the alt key and move your cursor inbetween your two layers and click. This will constrain the new layer to the shape of the layer beneath.

can you explain a little more about the "add in a darker shade" part? I'm a real beginner at this. Thanks.

 

[Futureman]

I think I just need serious foundational Photoshop coloring skills. I'm using an Intuous 4 and PS CS5. What are my best bets? Books?

here's a pigeon I'm doing now:

All I really do now is create a new layer underneath the line drawing, and then paint the different sections with a 100% opacity circle brush. Then just erase the areas where I was sloppy and the color layer underneath came out from the lines... then select both layers and I merge them when I'm done.

I guess I'll start watching some YewToob videos.

 

[mblitek]

Hey Guys & Gals, I'm developing a new website. I need your opinion on colours and logo design so far. I think this is pretty final:

The basic design brief is this. The website will primarily feature motorsports, interesting engineering feats of past & present etc. I like the chain link logo as when it is layered & overlapped it looks like racetracks. I also think that down the line it presents itself well to branding ie stickers, tshirts etc.

This is the colour combo I like best as the site needs a bit of flair which is the red but also the blue as the blue/grey is that technical bit.

Then here are some other possibilities but none of them look that great:

Any help or opinions would be amazing!

 

[Angelus Errare]

We have a graphic design-gaf!? My new favorite thred, actually just started designing my new portfolio site after having my last one down for a few years. God I fucking love gaf, so much goddamn diversity.

 

[Typographenia]

I think I just need serious foundational Photoshop coloring skills. I'm using an Intuous 4 and PS CS5. What are my best bets? Books?

here's a pigeon I'm doing now:

All I really do now is create a new layer underneath the line drawing, and then paint the different sections with a 100% opacity circle brush. Then just erase the areas where I was sloppy and the color layer underneath came out from the lines... then select both layers and I merge them when I'm done.

I guess I'll start watching some YewToob videos.

If you're looking for color theory in general, just read up on color theory. Don't muddy the water with throwing photoshop in there yet.

If you're looking for what's the best way to go about using colors/painting in photoshop, I would recommend just finding some tutorials and trying stuff out. The best thing about PS is there's a ton of ways to go about reaching the same end. It really comes down to personal preference and how you develop your own work flow.

Hey Guys & Gals, I'm developing a new website. I need your opinion on colours and logo design so far. I think this is pretty final:


The basic design brief is this. The website will primarily feature motorsports, interesting engineering feats of past & present etc. I like the chain link logo as when it is layered & overlapped it looks like racetracks. I also think that down the line it presents itself well to branding ie stickers, tshirts etc.

This is the colour combo I like best as the site needs a bit of flair which is the red but also the blue as the blue/grey is that technical bit.

Then here are some other possibilities but none of them look that great:




Any help or opinions would be amazing!

You might try redoing the logo with less of the pegs(? whatever those are called on gears) and make them a little larger. I think the problem I have with the design currently is, like in the smaller examples, the detail gets lost on the overall logo at a smaller scale. It starts to look more like an amoeba than a gear, personally. I it might behoove you to just do a quick mockup to see what you think.

You might go in and tweak the kerning on your type, too.

 

[cbox]

Logos

I'd get rid of the .com, that never has to be in the logo unless it's the company name. People don't need to know they're on the website, while on the website. If you need to make print media, print your full.com address separately with a nice font.

Right now, the gear on the left is HUGE and is overpowering the rest of the logo. I'd make it a bit smaller and try and angle it so the gears all connect somewhat. Not necessarily touching, but closer together. You may even be able to transform the 8 looking object into two G's, and replace the first two letters in each line.

Good luck!

Also, when mocking up logos, just keep it black/white, or white on a colour, etc. Finalize the design, then apply textures style.

 

[Dr Stabbingworth]

Can anyone recommend a good font sorting program?

My basic problem is that InDesign has a huge list of base fonts + the fonts I've added. So sometimes I'm looking for a font of sans serif style but I don't know sans serif font I want. Is there a way to sort fonts by style? Or is there a program that does this?

What are some solutions that other designers use?

 

[cbox]

I use suitcase fusion, but it's quite expensive.

There's nexusfonts also, and a bunch of free ones floating around. Are you on PC or mac?

 

[noah111]

Haven't slept in more than thirty hours (again) and the internet/electricity went out. Passed the time and made this (band album cover);

alt

Not sure if it'll be put into use anytime soon, but it was fun making. Sleep deprivation + photo editing is genuinely trippy.

 

[Jzero]

If a high resolution JPEG @ 300 DPI looks a little pixelated when importing(placing) to InDesign that doesn't mean the print will be blurry/pixelated right? Currently doing some ads for my sisters yearbook and i've never used InDesign so i'm not sure. Going to View> Overprint Preview fixes it a lot but i want the print to look perfect.

 

[Toppot]

If a high resolution JPEG @ 300 DPI looks a little pixelated when importing(placing) to InDesign that doesn't mean the print will be blurry/pixelated right? Currently doing some ads for my sisters yearbook and i've never used InDesign so i'm not sure. Going to View> Overprint Preview fixes it a lot but i want the print to look perfect.

It should be fine, by default InDesign will make it look bad on your screen to save memory and run faster, when you have lots of big images it would get bad very fast. Overprint preview should give you a much better idea of how it will look printed.

Sometimes Importing an image, rather than linking to an image, can change how it looks on screen. Though when printing its fine so long as the linked file can be found by the printer (ie the links work and the images are there with the InDesign file, you haven't just sent the file and not the images that are linked in the document) if not it will print a lower res version that it has saved in the document that it uses for previews. Imported images stay crisp but can make the file size balloon and have difficulties printing on more pedestrian and office printers.

With printed stuff the proof is always in the pudding, doing test runs to see how they look on the specific printer, making tweaks etc is very important. You don't want to send a job to the printers and then realise you have made a big mistake and wasted 100's if not 1000's of dollars. If you can you want to have direct contact with the printers (the people) and get them to look over the file and do a test run before they press the 'make 1000 etc'.

 

[Futureman]

Designing a logo for a website. I want it at the top. It's an orange sun and I used a brush to give it a "glow." Pictured here:

here's the page I want it on:

http://www.thesummer123.com/ski.html

The background is a background image of fur that is repeated. How can I place the transparent logo (the transparent parts would be the "glow" with a mix of orange and transparency) sit on top of the background image? I've never really worked with transparent GIFs enough, and it seems there isn't enough color information to do what I want.

any advice on how to proceed?

 

[neptunes]

Has any designer here transitioned into mobile (or just regular) development? Either through UI development or just genral art asset creation? In trying to break in myself and would like some pointers. I don't have much experience with working with a development team, and pretty much at the point where I would work for free just to gain some. My knowledge of 3d modeling programs is pretty limited, would that hinder my opportunities?

 

[la flama blanca]

Designing a logo for a website. I want it at the top. It's an orange sun and I used a brush to give it a "glow." Pictured here:

here's the page I want it on:

http://www.thesummer123.com/ski.html

The background is a background image of fur that is repeated. How can I place the transparent logo (the transparent parts would be the "glow" with a mix of orange and transparency) sit on top of the background image? I've never really worked with transparent GIFs enough, and it seems there isn't enough color information to do what I want.

any advice on how to proceed?

Save it out as png.

 

[Futureman]

Save it out as png.

hmmm...

http://www.thesummer123.com/1tester.html

what am I doing wrong? It's saved as a .PNG in Photoshop and when I view it OS X and in my HTML/CSS editor, it also shows as transparent.

but when I view it in Chrome, it's just a white background?

edit: hmm, when I save in Photoshop... the box for "Alpha Channels" is grayed out and I can't select it.

edit x2: figured it out. Gotta use PNG24 in Photoshop.

 

[nib95]

Haven't slept in more than thirty hours (again) and the internet/electricity went out. Passed the time and made this (band album cover);

alt

Not sure if it'll be put into use anytime soon, but it was fun making. Sleep deprivation + photo editing is genuinely trippy.

I fucking LOVE these. Especially the top one. Hard as hell to read but looks amazing.

 

[Futureman]

Designing a blog for my friend's summer play list. Not done yet, but here's a look so far:

http://www.thesummer123.com/1tester.html

Safari doesn't support transparent PNGs??? I saved as a 24-bit transparent PNG in Photoshop. It works in Chrome and Firefox, but not Safari.