Please Give Me Some Photoshop Tips!

Kindle · Feb 19, 2012

This is my first formal photoshop, very simple. Please give advice on how to make my art more visually appealing as well as some tips to improve my work! Thanks.

Wrote_Murder · Feb 19, 2012

Hmmm, Well photoshop can be a wonderful tool. But I find it's best used when mixed with other tools. Cinema4D would be the best example. Add some lighting, some more layer difference, etc. The best place would be youtube, that's where I learned all my skills in a matter of 2 weeks, and I consider myself as good as anyone else.

Imagine · Feb 19, 2012

The text. It's too messy, and just not pleasing to look at.

Otherwise, there isn't much more to say at this point without revamping the whole thing.

Alteranz · Feb 19, 2012

1) Don't use those novelty "design" typefaces with off-centre letters and random little curls/motifs or erosion. Use a plain and classic font OR use a much cleaner and bold stylised type if you'd like to keep with a certain "game" theme - something like this: http://www.dafont.com/morpheus.font

2) Using thick and heavy black outlines on everything is a no no. Reduce the stroke on it to a mere 1px, or remove it entirely - and rather than having it solid black, make it a darker tone of the text itself.

3) L2colourtheory. http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

4) Clean up the edges of all your objects. Cleaner imagery is always the key to a more refined design - that means doing your best to eliminate patchy colouring/shadows/highlights, making the edges of shapes/renders/stocks smooth and flowing, and fitting it in well with the surrounding design elements.

Spraynwipe · Feb 20, 2012

As Alt said, font choice is the best starting point for you. Go with a sans type font, or something without fancy lines all over the place. Simplicity often equates to professionalism in graphics design.

Colours are definitely the other aspect you need to work on. It is better to follow a theme using a site like Kuler (look it up

) than to throw random colours together and hope that it works. If you don't know what you're doing, of course.

Kindle · Feb 20, 2012

Wrote_Murder said:
Hmmm, Well photoshop can be a wonderful tool. But I find it's best used when mixed with other tools. Cinema4D would be the best example. Add some lighting, some more layer difference, etc. The best place would be youtube, that's where I learned all my skills in a matter of 2 weeks, and I consider myself as good as anyone else.

Is cinema 4D free? Thanks for your pointers

Imagine said:
The text. It's too messy, and just not pleasing to look at.
Otherwise, there isn't much more to say at this point without revamping the whole thing.

Could you please suggest different fonts etc. so I actually know what to do?

Alteranz said:
1) Don't use those novelty "design" typefaces with off-centre letters and random little curls/motifs or erosion. Use a plain and classic font OR use a much cleaner and bold stylised type if you'd like to keep with a certain "game" theme - something like this: http://www.dafont.com/morpheus.font

2) Using thick and heavy black outlines on everything is a no no. Reduce the stroke on it to a mere 1px, or remove it entirely - and rather than having it solid black, make it a darker tone of the text itself.

3) L2colourtheory. http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

4) Clean up the edges of all your objects. Cleaner imagery is always the key to a more refined design - that means doing your best to eliminate patchy colouring/shadows/highlights, making the edges of shapes/renders/stocks smooth and flowing, and fitting it in well with the surrounding design elements.

Im a bit confused about #4 - do you mean as in my elipse should melt it with the purple background?

Spraynwipe said:
As Alt said, font choice is the best starting point for you. Go with a sans type font, or something without fancy lines all over the place. Simplicity often equates to professionalism in graphics design.

Colours are definitely the other aspect you need to work on. It is better to follow a theme using a site like Kuler (look it up ) than to throw random colours together and hope that it works. If you don't know what you're doing, of course.

Thanks

Wrote_Murder · Feb 20, 2012

Well... you can get it for free....TPB.. is my source for it.

blazee · Feb 20, 2012

Easiest thing for you to do that will make your work look a lot better is to use simple fonts with styles from the Internet. Makes it look 10x better without learning anything hard.

kovan · Feb 20, 2012

Alteranz said:
1) Don't use those novelty "design" typefaces with off-centre letters and random little curls/motifs or erosion. Use a plain and classic font OR use a much cleaner and bold stylised type if you'd like to keep with a certain "game" theme - something like this: http://www.dafont.com/morpheus.font

2) Using thick and heavy black outlines on everything is a no no. Reduce the stroke on it to a mere 1px, or remove it entirely - and rather than having it solid black, make it a darker tone of the text itself.

3) L2colourtheory. http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

4) Clean up the edges of all your objects. Cleaner imagery is always the key to a more refined design - that means doing your best to eliminate patchy colouring/shadows/highlights, making the edges of shapes/renders/stocks smooth and flowing, and fitting it in well with the surrounding design elements.

^listen to this guy

@Wrote_Murder,, you learned photoshop in 2 weeks and you consider yourself as good as anyone else?... trust me,, there is ALLOT more to photoshop than you can learn in 2 weeks