Practice is the only way to improve your Photoshop skills
Many times I see web sites or print work I like so I kept on thinking “how did they do it?”. The answer is most of the times. I have no idea. So then I open Photohoshop and start to play, trying to get the same feeling. It does not necessary have to be the same but getting the same kind of feeling is important for me. I do not see myself super-skilled in Photoshop so I need practice as much as time allows me.
Real life inspiration
In other cases I get inspired by products we use in our daily life or by environment we live in. The idea just appears as reaction on something I see. Most of the time I get the whole picture in front of me. In the past the ideas were just sitting somewhere at the back of my brain but this time I have decided I am going to put them out there when they appear.
So here we go. In recent couple of days I spent 30 to 60 minutes on ideas which appeared in my mind and here the results
At the moment I am in period of my life which is influenced by Helvetica so they all use this type-face but in the future I am going to use other beautiful typefaces as well
How often do sharpen your Photoshop skills?
What inspires you?
Comments
Actually I’m a poor graphic designer, but when there’s a MUST here! I open up photoshop and that will come and misery begins! :)
Nice designs ;)
There is always need for good programmers as well as designers so it’s just a matter of choice and preferences. I enjoy boths at the moment. It feels to me a bit like jing-jang.
This is something I have always liked the idea of doing but never actually made the time to do. Although my graphic design skills definitely need improving I only tend to sit and play whenever I have a specific project to work on which usually limits the amount of experimenting I can do.
I see what you mean. There is not enough time. I always wish that day has at least 50 hours :) I usually do this early mornings before I go to work or gym. As long as it takes less then hour its fine. It is not always easy but it helps when you see a progress.
I do all of my designs in Fireworks, and my photo manips/brush play in ps. Time is definitely an issue, and I’m always wondering if Fireworks is holding me back from being more creative.
http://flickr.com/photos/knownasilya/sets/72057594053216790/
I do not have much experiences in Fireworks but as I can see in blogosphere the amount of people using Firework is growing. One of the big leaders is John Hicks. As you can see on his work you can probably do all in Fireworks what you can do in Photoshop these days. I have seen other graphic applicatiosn but I would say these 2 and Illustrator are the market leaders. I know there are some free software out there as well but they do not offer the same possibilities.
At the end of the day these are just tools and the most important is the way you can look at things. I think the most important is to see the light, drop-shadows, colours and positions or layouts.
Lets take colour as one simple example. There are not many solid colours around us. Everything comes in gradients because of the reflecting daylight. What colour is the reflecting light? Is it the same colour as the subject itself? Not really. I always try to look closer and try to analyze those small things…
Helvetica rules most of us. I do use it a lot mostly for commercial designs. But now, I am starting to realize, that it is pretty overused so trying to look for some other faces. The fact is that I am still usually ending up with Helvetica :)
When talking about application usage, I do prefer Illustrator even for photo collages nowadays; there surely still is a need of Photoshop cooperation at all stages. I have found Illustrator to be more friendly when composing because it offers the place to store all elements out of the canvas format. Have never tried Fireworks.
@petr I see what you mean about Helvetica but somehow I still love it and enjoy every-time I see it used on posters, logos or shop windows - for opening hours :)
Illustrator is big challenge for me. I am planning to learn it in the short future. I like to draw and there is lot I could do there with vectors. Considering buying pen-tablet once I learn the basics of Illustrator.
BTW I see you love coffee as well. We should establish web design coffee lovers group :)
Ok, Facebook?
@petr Cool! If you have created a group on Facebook before go for it. If not I can take a look at it. I have not done that before. It might be fun. I have a feeling that there is plenty web designers who loves coffee as we do.
Cool graphics. Can we use these?
@Peter sure - there is creative common license on the content so you can use it just need to mentioned creator, if its only for your personal use (wallpaper etc) go ahead and download the original size from flickr. Enjoy!