OMFG Photoshop Help

28th May 2012 at 17:05

Well, All you need is a computer and a photo-editing software. Photoshop can get pricey, so I would recommend Gimp. It's a free program to download and works a lot like photoshop. You can probably google it and it will come up.
As far as using it, there is either a built in help section or other tutorials on the internet. Since I don't know exactly what you need to know, I'll just leave it at that. I cam try to answer any more questions if you have them.

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7 replies since 28th May 2012 • Last reply 28th May 2012

Emmyann07

Reply #1: 28th May 2012 at 22:10

If you're a student you can sign up for a discount with adobe so long as you have proof of registration or photo id.

I've really enjoy photo shop and have spent the last 7 or 8 years learning new ways to use it. The best advice I have is just to try EVERYTHING. Figure out what each button does, look at tutorials (deviant art has some great ones) and if you can try to find another class in the future. Adobe even makes really handy books on PS CS basics.... It isn't too difficult to learn there is just so many things to do it can take a while

When I started I got a wacom tablet... it was a little expensive for me but since then the price has gone down quite a bit. You can even get tablets that are basically a touch screen monitor so you can work directly on your piece. When I bought my laptop I invested in an HP TM2 tablet laptop that I have been very pleased with. If it's out of your price range a tablet isn't entirely necessary but they are extremely handy to have.

GL with your fashion school hope to see some of your work in the future

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Andrea

Reply #2: 29th May 2012 at 19:07

• Okay Gimp, Wacom/TM2 I need to check it out. Thanks for the help I’ve used photo editing from picnick when it was still up but the last time I actually used Photoshop was like 9-10 yrs ago. The different “layers” confused me, I don’t really get why you need them. At least now I’m not completely lost.

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Emmyann07

Reply #3: 29th May 2012 at 21:09

You don't have to use layers they're really just their for your benefit. You can work on different sections of your drawings or photos without affecting the others, make copies and add effects.

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aranumenwen

Reply #4: 13th October 2012 at 22:10

I know this is kinda old but I'm gonna post on it anyway...

I've used photoshop (and wacom bamboo tablet) for a while for fashion design and digital paintings and stuff, and to be honest the whole layers thing is a life saver.

The layers come in super handy if you draw things in steps. Say you have your croquis (or template) you can have that on one layer, start a new layer and start drawing on that one. that way if you have to erase things you can erase all you want without messing up your croquis underneath. A lot of the time I'll keep my croquis in one layer design pants on one layer shirts on another.

Depending on how detailed your make your drawings you may want to do the basic out line on one, and then do all the details in another and maybe some shading on another. Then when you'er totally happy with everything you can merge them all together. Or if you can't decide what goes with what you can make certain layers be invisible and switch them back and forth until you decide. Or save them both as a midway point.

Although keeping your layers straight at first is really annoying. Just remember to name them when you start them and keep them in some kind of order that make sense to you and to be aware of what layer you're working with. There's always he undo button but it only goes back so far.

Another thing, if you have a picture that you've already drawn on paper and scanned, and opened in photoshop, its always a good idea to do any extra drawing to it on another layer. That way you don't end up messing up your original file on accident.

Photoshop can be super intimidating, and to be honest I'm still amazingly lost on a good half of all the fancy stuff. But unless you're a super duper serious digital painter or photo editor, you won't need really any of it. Although its still way worth having that as compared to having freeware, I found most of them to be undependable and some of the wacom features don't jive with gimp for instance. or vica-versa.

And I mean I'm not advocating piracy (unless we're talking about boats) or anything like that, illegal and all that. BUT its possible to get a normal copy of photoshop completely free. Newest versions and everything. Shhh...I didn't pay for mine, because there's no way I would pay $600 + for what I currently have.