Thursday, June 5, 2008 by admin.

I’ll admit it — I love Photoshop, and like to pride myself in being one of the most well-versed in town on the software and its features. One of the best ways I’ve found to master Photoshop (though “mastering” it isn’t really possible for a human being) is to visit some of the countless websites with wonderful tutorials!

My graduate class in Creative Approaches to Digital Media from Regent University is currently sharing tips of the best FREE Photoshop tutorial sites they have found. I will list these, beginning with my own favorites, and then sharing my classmates’ suggestions.

BEST PHOTOSHOP TIPS AND TUTORIALS:

• TutVid Video Training Excellent Flash Website, with free tutorials on most of the Adobe CS3 family. Very practical tutorials, including 27 on Photoshop.
• Russell Brown’s Adobe Photoshop Tips & Techniques Dr. Brown has a dry sense of humor and fame that helps make boring tasks fun, and fun tasks hysterical. Scroll down not only for enlightening and practical Quick Time movie tutorials, but also accompanying files. CS3 Scripts and Extended Scripts are powerful time savers, implementing Java programming to add powerful items to the Photoshop Menu. These are definitely POWER tips and tricks. These range from simple to very advanced professional techniques. Highly recommended for intermediate to advanced users! Plus there is a link to Dr. Brown’s Podcast — this guy is one of the Photoshop Masters, making me realize I know nothing!
• Julieanne Kost, Adobe “Digital Imaging Evangelist” We sometimes miss the great information available directly from the source. Adobe provides excellent resources, and Julieanne Kost is one of their best. A few video tutorials are provided (and links to Adobe TV, which has Terrabytes of free tutorials, news, and related product reviews)
• Adobe Exchange The Adobe user community shares many resources with one another, many free of cost (like Photoshop Actions) and others shareware or professional full-price add-ons. Explore the Photoshop Section for great resources.

Suggested by Michael Zimmerman:

• http://www.celoxdesign.net/free-photoshop-tutorials - Celoxdesign covers a wide range of tutorials categories such as Photoshop, Cinema4D, xHTML and CSS.
• http://www.pslover.com/ - Huge directory of free Adobe Photoshop tutorials, tips and Tricks - from photoshop experts.
• http://www.tutorialman.com - Find The Best Free Adobe Photoshop Tutorials.

Suggested by Kimberly Carr:

• www.photoshop101.com - clear, concise, good info.
• www.photoshopsupport.com - there’s lots of text on the page but chock full of good info.
• www.photoshopstar.com - not my favorite of the three but easy to navigate with good info.

Suggested by Tara Hasbrouck:

• http://www.tutorialized.com/ Search for Photoshop
• http://www.photoshopguides.com/
• http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials.htm

Suggested by Leah Martin:

• http://www.photoshopstar.com/
• http://www.photoshop101.com/
• http://www.adobephotoshoptutorials.com/

Suggested by Eduardo Gil:

• www.photoshopsupport.com/photoshop-cs3/pen-tool-tutorial/index.html
• www.photoshopstar.com/tutorials-page
• www.graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/ig/The-Photoshop-CS2-Workspace

Suggested by Roxanne Griner:

• http://www.photoshopsupport.com/index.html
• http://pstutorialsblog.com/free-video-tutorials-from-watch-and-learn-photoshop/
• http://www.videotutorialzone.com/ (More than just Photoshop)

Suggested by Daniel Desrosiers:

• http://www.3dtotal.com/ps100/pstut100.html This site has 100 cool tutorials for creating interesting art pieces - not just retouching, but crazy, fantasy-style designs
• http://www.photoshopusertv.com One of my favorite resources to use as a teacher is a show/video podcast called Photoshop User TV. Hosted by the president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Photoshop User TV offers great tutorials and advice with a humorous twist. They also share Photoshop news and host conferences nationwide
• http://psdtuts.com/ Another resource for good tutorials

Suggested by Cynthia Hallam:

• http://www.photoshopstar.com
• http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Photoshop/1
• http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials.html

Other readers, please add a reply below with your favorite Photoshop tutorials and resource links!

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008 by admin.

Where do you start when creating your first website? It’s not as hard as it used to be. One of the easiest and quickest ways to get a website online is to use pre-formatted templates. These allow users to see sample layouts, including linked pages, which can all be modified with the user’s own content. This way, nearly anyone can create an attractive website in less than a couple of hours!

One company offering this is 1&1 Web Hosting, which is the company I’m using for this website. Their prices are very competitive, their pre-designed templates are excellent, and the range of services available (useful as you grow) is vast. Go to my portfolio home page to see one of the dozens of templates available in use!

If you’re ready to go the next step and do some real web design, I recommend trying a new Open Source free program called N-Vu. This is very powerful software for web design, and it is available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems. This comes from the Open Source community of developers, the same type of community that created the Firefox web browser and the excellent Microsoft Office free alternative, Open Office.

For the professional that can justify spending hundreds of dollars for a truly professional software package, Adobe Dreamweaver is very hard to beat. There is definitely a learning curve to master Dreamweaver, but it is worthwhile if Web Design will consume much of your time.

I am teaching Dreamweaver as part of my class, Web Design/Interactive Media, offered at Morningside College.  A lot of online tutorials and classes are available, which I will summarize in another blog entry.

E-mail if you have any questions about these or other tools for web design!

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