Photoshop "How To" Thread by Maize&Blue

[Maize&Blue]

Hello Everyone!!!

This is my new Photoshop how to thread. Every week I will post a new "how to" here, for you to follow along with and create design of your own or just to add text to a blank design from all the wonderful designers here.

I will be using Photoshop CS4. Many of you have Elements, and I'm not sure of what I am going to show will work with Elements. If this is so, let me know and I'll see if there is anything I can do. Everything I have learned, I have learned from tutorials and just playing around with Photoshop. Also, there are a few YouTube videos too.

If you are a Photoshop user and know an easier way to doing something, than the way I am showing, please chime in and let the rest of us know about it. Like I said above. I am self taught and any other info would be great.

First I want to tell you some rules of this thread...

1. If you have any questions, leave them on this thread. NO NOT leave me a private message. I will not be answering questions that are dealing with what ever is being taught. The reason for this is that someone else may have the same question that you want to ask. Therefore, helping them out too.

2. If you have something you would like to learn, please say so. This thread is for everyone, not just me.

3. Please be courteous of my time. Believe it or not, I do have a life outside of here.

4. Remember, That any designs that you are going to be creating, if they have any Disney character, Nickelodeon character or any like this are copyrighted and owned by that company. What does that mean to you and I...Don't sell them!!! Bad things can happen.

5. I find many of my clip arts at the following sites.
Disney Clips
Disney Sites
I Love Disney
Plus I will just use Google

6. Many of my backgrounds are found here
Fan Pop
There is also a few clip arts here too.

7. Look into scrapbooking sites to find additional graphics.
Scrapping the Magic

8. Look into find additional fonts, brushes, gradients, shapes and textures.
They will make your job much easier and fun to do. Here are just a few I use.
Brush King
Brushes Download
Mickey Avenue
Dafont
1001 Free Fonts

9. Have Fun!!

Once again thanks for stopping by and if this thread looks like something you could use, by all means, subscribe.

Happy Designing!
Keith

 

[Maize&Blue]

Is there anything anyone whats to learn right away? If not I am going to start with the very basics.

 

[Hmom]

Hi,

So, I have photoshop CS4, but no clue what to do with it. It is actually on my husband's computer, but I would really like to learn how to use it.

I just saved the circular Getting Wild at Animal Kingdom from your photobucket site. How can I change the family name at the top of the circle? I know I could very kindly ask you , but I would appreciate learning how to do it myself. Or is this not something I can do with photoshop?

I've used Corel Draw before, but never this photoshop thing!

Thanks!
Michelle

 

[cogero]

Thanks for doing this and I would love the answer to the previous question. I am actually debating upgrading to Photoshop. Maybe that is what I should ask for my anniversary LOL.

 

[Maize&Blue]

I will be posting soon. Another designer (ShellsShirts) has given me a great piece on resolution that I will the first post. It is probably the single most important thing you'll need to do before you start any designing.

I will answer the other question(s) after that post has been made.

Look for it soon!
Thanks
Keith

 

[ShellsShirts]

To answer your question about personalizing the AKL design. It would be very hard for you to do that with the image you downloaded. Photoshop uses Layers. It's like having transparencies placed on top of the original image. You can modify these layers without changing the layer above or below it. Maize&Blue can go into his original file and just type a new name and save the image. The file that you downloaded is "Flattened" when saved as a JPG, (also under the top menu item Layer-->Flatten Image) so you cannot change the name without changing everything around it, including the background.

In order to change the file, you would need his original unflattened photoshop file (which I don't think you can get ) and font. This is why a lot of disigners personalize their own work. It's very easy to change the type and usually doesn't take more than 5-10 minutes. Otherwise, you would have to delete the background from the image you downloaded and add your own name. This would ruin the gradient in the background and be very noticeable. If you can find this image online without the text on it, you can play around and create your own wording in Photoshop.

I highly suggest looking on you tube or the adobe site for free tutorials/tips and play as much as you can.

Hope this helps.

Hi,

So, I have photoshop CS4, but no clue what to do with it. It is actually on my husband's computer, but I would really like to learn how to use it.

I just saved the circular Getting Wild at Animal Kingdom from your photobucket site. How can I change the family name at the top of the circle? I know I could very kindly ask you , but I would appreciate learning how to do it myself. Or is this not something I can do with photoshop?

I've used Corel Draw before, but never this photoshop thing!

Thanks!
Michelle

 

[Maize&Blue]

Ok everyone, Here is the first "how to" on the thread.

"I want to thank ShellsShirts (Shelly) for this information. I think this is a good start to any designs that you may be doing. There is nothing more frustrating than completing a design and when resizing it, it comes out fuzzy.

When I make a design, I keep my DPI at 72 and my size at 11"x11", unless I am making my name designs which are at 72 DPI and size at 11"x7". That's only what I do. I wouldn't go any smaller than that unless you are making something like a avatar or a signature. These are smaller because of the limited space that most web sites, including The DISboards, do not allow an avatar larger than 100x100 pixels or 3.9kb. All adjustments are made when starting a new project. Click "file" then "new" and play around with the options there. Keep in mind that when you increase the DPI, the width and height your file will be larger, and if you have a computer that does not have a lot of memory or hard drive space, it can decrease your computer performance.

Here is a picture of what the screen looks like
[URL=http://s677.photobucket.com/albums/vv135/MaizeBlue/Designs/ZzzOdds%20and%20Ends/?action=view&current=new.jpg][/URL]

So with that said, I ask you to read on about resolution. If there is any questions feel free to ask.

What is resolution?

Digital images are a series of pixels or dots. The more pixels/dots per inch (known as either PPI or DPI) in the image, the higher the resolution. The higher the resolution, the better the image will look and print. Web images are saved at 72 DPI, while images from a digital camera can be used at 300+ DPI depending on megapixel.


What resolution should I use for my T-shirt designs?
(note: this is only for T-shirt transfers and not autograph books using high-res photos or scrap pages)

What resolution you choose depends on the image quality you are using. If you have your own photos or high res scanned clip art, you should use the highest DPI, usually 300 DPI. However, if you are gathering most of your clip art from the web, I would suggest a DPI of 150. Your web image will copy over from the original file larger in size in a 150 DPI file than a 300 DPI. Also, when you enlarge a low res image from the web into a high res file, your image will “pixelate” and look jagged and blurry. This also saves on disk space either on your computer or online photo storage site.

Always make your file the finished size. For example, 8.5” x 11” at 150 DPI for letter sized transfer paper. Do not resize up. For example, you made a mistake and made the original file 8.5” x 11” at 72 DPI or have a page sized at 4” x 5.5” at 150DPI and you want it to print out on a regular letter sized paper. You cannot resize the 72 DPI image to 150 DPI or enlarge the 150 DPI 4” x 5.5” file to 8.5” x 11” without losing resolution and your image will appear blurry. You can always resize down, say from a 300 DPI file to a 150 DPI file or 8.5” x 11” to 4.25” x 5.5”.


Won’t the lower resolution hurt the final print?

Not necessarily. 300 DPI printing is usually reserved for professional printing presses. Unless you are doing autograph books or scrap pages with high res images or printing those images from an online service (such as Shutterfly), your image should not be affected. The quality you get from home ink jets, while photo quality, does not match the quality of a professional press. It also depends upon the quality of the printer/ink that you, or the person your designing for, are using.


Happy Disigning!
Shell"

 

[Hmom]

Thank you

 

[Maize&Blue]

Sorry I haven't updated this lately, my daughter was in the hospital, so I havent had time.
Look for a new update soon!

 

[DaniB]

I hope your daughter is all right!

 

[Maize&Blue]

Today I am going to show you how to cut the background out of your clip art.

Start by downloading this to your computer..
[URL=http://s677.photobucket.com/albums/vv135/MaizeBlue/Designs/ZzzOdds%20and%20Ends/?action=view&current=clipmickhead.jpg][/URL]
(Right click, same image as, ok)

Then open it up in photoshop.
Once this image has loaded, grab your wand tool and click on every piece of red in the background. Doing this will create a moving dashed line around the the Mickey graphic. Then what I do is click select, inverse. and them click "add a pixel mask". This will get rid of the back ground behind Mickey.

This is just an easy background image. There is another way to cut an image out of wallpaper that I'll go over next.

Here is am image of where everything is, just in case you are unsure.
[URL=http://s677.photobucket.com/albums/vv135/MaizeBlue/Designs/ZzzOdds%20and%20Ends/?action=view&current=Wandtool1.jpg][/URL]

Thanks Everyone!

Keith

 

[Bdawg]

Thank you so much! I have been wanting to learn how to make my own designs and then I found this thread. I can't wait for the next post

 

[cogero]

okay I will play once I get home tonight since I need to update the PSE here at work.

 

[Mrs D]

Oh! I think this is exactly the thread I've been looking for all my life!

 

[minnie6895]

Thanks for the info in this thread! I had used Print Shop for a very long time, and am having a hard time getting used to Photoshop.

 

[rescuetink]

WOW!!! This is GREAT!!! I got my DW photoshop for Christmas, but now I loaded it on my computer and I'm learning how to use it!! Thanks so much for taking the time to help us here!!

I hope your daughter is doing well!!!

David

 

[Maize&Blue]

Sorry everyone But I can not continue this thread any longer. Between school and me starting a new job, I do not have any time for myself, my family and continuing this thread. If there is anyone else that would like to take this on, please do so. There is a need for it here and I sure everyone here would be greatly appreciative of it, including myself.

Sorry everyone

Thanks
Keith

 

[cogero]

totally understandable and good luck with everything. Hope life calms down for you soon.

 

[rescuetink]

Thanks!!! And we wish you the best of luck with everything going on in your life!!