woot!

[cleolinda]

Here's how awesome heinous_bitca is: I now have Photoshop. It took me an hour to figure out how to do text. BUT STILL.

(Seriously, is there some sort of Photoshop for Dummies out there? I keep trying to read the Help file, but it reads like stereo instructions.)

ETA: So basically, I'm not an idiot? It really is that hard to maneuver? (Thanks for all the suggestions, btw. I'll definitely check out icon_tutorial.)

Comments

[dragonflyknight.livejournal.com]

I think i've seen one at Barnes and noble, take a look around there. If all else fails there are literally thousands of online tutorials.

[ktkid.livejournal.com]

icon_tutorial would be a good place to check out. they have tutorials for photoshop and paintshop pro in their memories or you can ask them questions.

[la-sonnambula.livejournal.com]

thelovehater (aka icon goddess) pointed me to icon_tutorial. Maybe you might find something in the memorable entries (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=icon_tutorial). I'm going to learn how use Photoshop myself and recently ordered this book (http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/prod.cgi?cpidEQ5242582AMPdomain_idEQ1856AMPmeta_idEQ1) from half.com

[alpheratz.livejournal.com]

1) icon_tutorial <-- see the memories there.

2) My memories under "icons" have some basic tutorials. You'll be able to tell which ones are basic, they all have descriptive subject lines.

3) Yay! Congratulations!

Stereo's have instructions??

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nymphette_/]

No fecking way!!!

That just explains so much...

[bibliotech.livejournal.com]

Photoshop Tips (http://www.arraich.com/ps6_tips_llayers1.htm)
Photoshop Online Course (http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/course/bllps5out.htm)
Good-Tutorials.com (http://www.good-tutorials.com/search.php?q=layer&submit.x=0&submit.y=0)
photoshop

I have more...I just have to find 'em.

[partitioning.livejournal.com]

Photoshop 7 for Dummies (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764516515/qid=1085066365/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-8740450-2756761?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) on amazon.com

[binaryangel.livejournal.com]

Hello! I just discovered you journal today...

NEVER EVER BUY A DUMMIES COMPUTER BOOK!!

They are horrible. If you are going to purchase a book, a great beginner's guide is the Teach Yourself Visually (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764536826/qid=1085066458/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-9215009-1339245?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) book. It has excellent colour photos, whereas the dummies books contain primarily text. I don't know if you are using Photoshop 7.0 or CS (there is still a shortage of books on CS, and there is not yet a TYS guide to it). I also love The Photoshop Bible (Professional Ed.) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076451993X/qid=1085066534/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-9215009-1339245?v=glance&s=books). Again, very nice full colour graphics, but this book goes much more in depth.

[darkspear.livejournal.com]

what kind of photoshop are you using?

PS 7 and CS are pretty easy to understand. ^_^

you just have to spend some time with it...

a lot of tutorials can be downloaded off the net, BTW. ^_^

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Photoshop 6. (Did they put the user-friendliness in the 7th edition?)

I'm sure I'll crack it after a couple of days of playing around--and people have left me plenty of great tutorial links. :)

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, Photoshop is a bitch. But a very worthwhile bitch, gives really cool puppies.

Don't worry, there are awesome tutorials, like icon_tutorial on LJ. So many really great instructions.

Hahaha, you're not so bad yourself. Took me about 2 hours to find Contrast. Was rigth under my nose.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

I'm awesome. I read your post and then in my comment wrote something you had already written (concerning icon_tutorial). Go me.

[theonlykow.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes, it does take a long, long time to master.

I'll sugjest this - don't buy a book, anything you can find in a book you can find in a better tutorial somewhere online. I point you to the following:
- Spoono (http://www.spoono.com).
...then I got lazy. They have links to every other photoshop site worth their balls, like Absolute Cross and Rasterized.org. Have fun.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

Oh yes... I've made iconses from your 15MR of Troy... Enjoy! :)

[eronn-actually.livejournal.com]

dtissagirl has a very extensive memories section with some great photoshop tutorials in it. They're here (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=dtissagirl&keyword=icon+making+tips&filter=all) I like how they walk you through how people actually make cool icons.

And I'm hoping my stepdad will let me install photoshop soon. He's got it on CD, and he finally said yes, but he's still being a pain about it.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

UGH. OK, here we go again. Made typo. Fixed. Too much words, yadda etc. Enjoy! :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yay!

(Am still struggling to figure out how to get the nice outline-y text so that it shows up. Woe.)

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

Oh, you need help? Well, once you're done typing (make sure that in the box on the tool bar with the two "a"'s from a drop down list of "None, Crisp, Strong and Smooth" you choose "None") de-select it... say by clicking on the marquee tool or whatever. Then go to the box in the bottom right-hand corner. There's a list of all your layers. Right-click on the text layer and choose "Blending Options". A new window will open. CLICK on the WORD "stroke" at the bottom of a list of words on the left side. In the new window, type "1" in the box beside "Structure size". There's a little box in the middle with a colour in it... mine is red. Click on it and choose the colour you want your outline to be. Then OK out of both boxes. Then go to Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen Edges, click OK, and voila!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I was on the right track. I had muddled that far along (see icon on this comment) last night, but then today I couldn't remember exactly what I did--couldn't get the color to change to black and couldn't get the outline to be thin enough. That helps a lot.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

No prob. Anything else and I shall explain it likea layman... that's what I need, and I always get some confusing PS jargon that confuses the hell outta me... I like to put it plain and simple! ;)

Always here!!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

But... but... the structure box isn't there anymore. It was here last night! And it won't let me change the color! I changed it last night! I can't remember how! I KEEL YOU, HOR!

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

Yay!

I can't wait to see your new iconses.

If you have any q's, you can ask me too. I'm a self-taught Photoshopper, so tutorials out there might be better, but I might be able to explain some stuff better. :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yay! You and shock_greenleaf are gonna have to be my Photoshop sensei or something, because I'm struggling with outlining stinkin' text at this point. I did it last night! And now it won't do! The things I did last night aren't--like--available, or something! (Where is the "structure" box on the text thingy? Why can't I change the outline color?) I cry.

[(Anonymous)]

ooo! I luv your Troy icons, I've only made one so far. http://www.angelsbleed.com/troy.gif ~ramona (you dont know me, I'm just browsing)

[sodafiend.livejournal.com]

I use a lot of different programs to accomplish what I want, art-wise. One program that's about $50 or so, is Nova Photo Explosion, it does text super-easy and beautiful, probably what it's best at.
Nova Photo Explosion (http://www.novadevelopment.com/products/productinfo.aspx?productcode=pdw)
It's nothing compared to the power of Photoshop, it's like the difference between a Oscar winner and a kid in a grade school play, but, like I said, it does text, really really well.

Tony..Doh!

[sodafiend.livejournal.com]

I meant "Tony" winner.

This icon, with Yami-Yugi, I used a "Neon" filter in PhotoShop, and some "glowing edges", turned it into a .gif, and then in Photo Explosion, took the source picture that I turned into neon tubing and pasted it on semi-transparent, and then reduced the file size. If I had made in proportion his head wouldn't look so weird, but I wanted at 100 x 100 pixel picture.
There is also a freeware program called "SqirlzLite" over at C-net's download.com that can warp things really well, so if you have a need for that, like making "energy" out of colors, that will do it well, too.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

*HECTOR SMASH!* LOL I'm sending you an e-mail to your cleolinda@livejournal.com account with a pic and instructions! lol In a few secs!! :)

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

Haha, it's cute! This is just a guess, but... do you *like* Brad? LMAO! Sweet icon!! :P

Re: Tony..Doh!

[sodafiend.livejournal.com]

I did this with a cheap program,notice the big, easy to read letters, though.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

Since I have free time on my hands that I don't want to spend studying...

type text > deselect (by clicking marquee tool or whatever)

right-click text layer in bottom right-hand box > click Blending Options > click the word "stroke" in the list at the left hand side of the window that just popped up > new window will pop up. there you should have the option to type in "1" pxl, and change the colour > OK > OK .

Filter in the Menu bar at the top > Sharpen > Sharpen Edges > OK.

Guh. If this doesn't work, I will KEEL THE PHOTOSHOP HOR!!!

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

You got an IM program? Mine is in my userinfo, feel free to ping me, or we can meet in IRC, or you can ask and I will reply in comments or email. :)

Click on the text layer on the side to be able to get the selection options to manipulate the text, like stroking/outlining. I'm not sure what you mean about the "structure" box, tho.

And never ever rasterize the layer if you want to change/manipulate the text, because it isn't text anymore if it's rasterized.

[darkspear.livejournal.com]

i use Photoshop 7 at home, Photoshop 6 in the office...

6 is also easy... you just have to memorize the basic functions and it's going to be a breeze afterwards. 7 is better (obviously) and easier to use, i've tried CS at school and it's the best (it makes scanning easier!)...

i don't want to install PS CS at home coz my PC's on the brink of a crash already (low memory)... ^_^

enjoy playing around with your new toy!!!

[(Anonymous)]

i have photoshop 7 - but basically i learned it by trying every thing until i knew what it did... took a while but i can do pretty much anything now.

dummies books = teh suck

general tutorials aren't much good, if you need something specific find instructions on just that.

...hope this helps

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Wow - 33 comments - you're some sort of LJ legend now! If you're looking for help on Photoshop, there's bound to be a community or twenty dedicated to it. I'm a Paint Shop Pro (http://www.jasc.com/products/paintshoppro/?) girl myself - I think it's much simpler than Photoshop - but the fact remains that you should be able to find communities full of tutorials. Some of us are just THAT addicted to our graphics software...

[hawleygriffen.livejournal.com]

I have been dabbling in Photoshop 7 this year, and might be of some use on the basics. Possibly.

Photoshop's a complex thing, but once you master a particular tool/action/thingymajig, it makes icon creation so much simpler. And you can set it to record a particular series of actions so you can apply cool effects without much effort. Not sure if that's in Photoshop 6 or not.

[gniko.livejournal.com]

Back in high-school they had a "Computer Applications" class, and I ended up borrowing everything on their terribly insecure network - Paintshop Pro 7/8 is like a Lite Photoshop, with pretty much the same results.

Icons are fun!