mind cartoon, charecter, comic, cg paint blog.
Author: Rich Goldman
Digital illustration is big business these days. A quick look at roadside billboards, club flyers or magazine covers should be enough to convince anyone that the art of the digital designer has never been in higher demand, and its popularity just keeps on growing.
But defining exactly what digital illustration is proves tricky. We all know what the words mean, yet the myriad of ways in which illustration can be applied makes it one of the most versatile of the creative arts and as such, it’s pretty difficult to pin down.
With a strong creative vision and the right software, concepts can be articulated in limitless ways; each style opening new doors for expression. The one crucial skill that ties it all together is the need for some innate artistic ability. You don’t need to be a virtuoso with a pencil to be good at computer art, but there’s no doubt that most professional illustrators are proficient with traditional art techniques.
The basics of image structure are the same across mediums, after all, and with software increasingly able to mimic traditional drawing methods, the transition to digital has become almost seamless. Let’s take a closer look at the main branches of digital illustration and discover a little more about how the experts put them together.
Vector art
It’s no great accident that vector illustration is currently one of the trendiest and easily recognisable of the digital art disciplines. The signature flat colours and clean lines are easy to spot and quick to grab attention, which of course makes the style hugely popular with advertisers looking to catch the eye of potential consumers. In addition, their reduced colour palettes and scalable technology means they are perfect when it comes to artwork for the Web.
Created with precision by manipulating Bezier paths, the mechanics of vectors are based on mathematic principles that make them infinitely scalable without suffering degradation. This trait is extremely attractive to illustrators because it means images can be shrunk to a stamp or stretched to a billboard, without having to be redone. Paths are also easy to edit at a later stage, making vector images quick to tweak and rearrange if need be.
Vector shapes are often produced with photographs or hand drawn scans as templates, digitally tracing as much of the outline and detail as needed. Programs such as Flash can even create vectors automatically by tracing over photographic or pre sketched material, allowing picture elements to be created quickly and with little effort. However, the real artistry comes when choosing which elements to take to the digital image, and knowing how to colour and arrange the final illustration.
Keeping up to date is crucial and, since digital artists typically spend hours in front of a screen involved in their masterpieces, it’s all too easy to become isolated from what’s going on around you. Styles ace constantly changing and trends can come and go at great speed, so keeping your finger on the industry pulse is vital. Not only does it make good commercial sense, but it can also act as a rich muse from which to draw ideas
Mixing media
While vector art focuses on clean shapes, simple forms and bold chunks of colour, other digital illustration techniques take things in the opposite direction. Since the arrival of Photoshop in 1990, artists have been able to digitally manipulate photographic material and combine it with other visual ingredients, and when layers arrived with Photoshop 3.0 five years later, the stage was set for a new form of digital image. In 1995, digital photo illustration was born.
Based on the traditional method of using scissors and glue to cut and paste photos and artwork together in new arrangements, it’s a technique that has always been popular with children but has now become the favoured strategy of many an adult illustrator. This is primarily due to Photoshop’s specialised, yet accessible and intuitive, toolset, but also reflects the success the strategy can have when attempting to convey a complicated collection of ideas.
Sketching toons
While everyone knows that Photoshop is the king of detailed mixed media illustration, less well known is the fact that it’s also astonishingly good at producing line and comic style artwork. Deftly sidestepping the need to use intricate filters and effects, the hand drawn, hand coloured look is gaining favour with artists and art directors alike.
Because of the time saving tools that Photoshop offers, professional comic book artists are beginning to use the software to colour their hand drawn sketches and are taking digital art into previously unexplored areas. Using a mixture of both hand drawn and digital painting, new styles are surfacing that are making a massive impact on the established illustration industry.
Realer than real?
But for many artists, the Holy Grail of computer art is realism. Recent advances in graphics technology have enabled software developers to accurately simulate
real world drawing and painting tools by modelling how inks, chalks, oils and paints behave when they are applied to different surfaces. Using random particles to create natural looking strokes on simulated materials, you can now produce painted images that are all but indistinguishable from their hand made equivalents.
Since you can also grab a graphics tablet and paint directly onto your digital canvas, digital painting is less a description of an illustration style and more a literal possibility. As well as further mimicking the traditional within the digital arena, it’s also easy to pick up and get started. To this end, having some experience with real world painting is a definite advantage.
Because the technology behind natural media is so intricate, there are only a handful of programs that can actually achieve believable results. The most specialised is Corel Painter, which takes the possibilities to extremes by providing an array of simulated traditional drawing and painting tools. It even goes so far as to model the way that watercolour Paints behave when wet, with drips, runs and splashes. However, with some crafty brush creation and expert manipulation of layers, equally exciting effects can be replicated in your humble copy of Photoshop.
Pixel power
But although illustration software is advancing, it would be a mistake to think that the industry is focussing purely on pushing the undiscovered boundaries of digital imaging. In among the simulated paintings, clean vectors and intricate photo collages, a resurgence of old school pixel techniques is proudly celebrating the humble beginnings of computer art.
Pixel illustration is arguably where the whole digital illustration shebang began, back in the days when computer screens could only display a small number of colours at a low resolution. But, like so many limitations, this situation forced creativity and produced a unique style that’s now being snapped up in an industry that’s constantly on the lookout for something different.
Because low resolutions mean large pixel sizes, pixel art uses geometric rules that ensure perspectives are correctly maintained . A by product of this is the familiar isometric view that’s so common in this style of illustration, yet it does lend itself surprisingly well to conceptual art.
Pixel art continues to gain momentum, with increasing numbers of advertising and editorial commissioners looking to capitalise on its retro style designs. The bold use of colour and scrutinising detail also make it ideal for clients wishing to attract close attention and its popularity shows no signs of slowing.
Make it yours
With so many creative styles to work with, there are many entry points into the world of digital illustration. If you already own an imaging package, then you’ve got all the tools you need to get started. The disciplines we’ve delved into cover the majority of styles that are suited to computer art, but who knows what some hot new illustrator will come up with tomorrow. The range of software available combined with the sheer diversity of human experience, means that there is unlimited opportunity for individual expression.
So if you think you could be the next big thing then don’t delay because, whatever your style, now is your chance. The hipness of digital illustration is just beginning to break into the consciousness of the mainstream and there’s never been a better time to explore your creative potential.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/programming-articles/digital-art-explore-illustration-185720.html
tags: Cg & cartoon Articles. author: admin comments: 1 Comment
June 14th, 2008
Author: Erik Curre
So you’re making your own web site. You’ve been working on it for a while, you have some good content, but something is still missing… cool graphics! Let’s face it: a web site without nice graphics is like a TV show without color. It’s boring and drab and won’t look very visually appealing. You want your site to catch people’s attention and make them say, “Hmm, this looks interesting, I think I’ll check it out”. One of the best ways to do this is to have a good header graphic at the top of the page.
What is a Header Graphic?
A header graphic is an image consisting of three parts: a background, a title, and a sub-heading. For example, let’s say you are building a web site about dogs. Your background might be a scenic view of a city park with a few dogs running around having a good time. Your title might be: “Dog Lovers Paradise”. For a sub-heading, you could either use the URL of your main web site (www.yourdomainname.com) or a line of descriptive text saying what your site is about: “all the info you need to be a good dog owner”, “buy discount dog food here”, “how to take care of your dog”, etc. If you are running on online business, you could put your business slogan here.
How do I get Header Graphics?
There are 3 main ways to get header graphics, depending on how much time and money you have available:
1. The expensive way – hire a professional graphic designer to make them for you
2. The cheap way – buy a customizable set of pre-made graphics from the Internet
3. The free way – make them yourself!
Option #1 may be great for big corporations that have a lot of money, but it’s not so practical for small businesses or individuals who make web pages as a hobby. Sure, you might be able to hire a freelance graphic designer who will charge $50 per graphic or something like that, but even that’s a lot of money for most people.
When I design web sites, I prefer option #2. This is a great balance between time and money. It’s easy to find header graphics packages that cost a lot less than hiring a professional. Such packages typically provide a number of different generic backgrounds and styles so you can pick one that fits the topic of your site. Graphics are given to you in a format that makes it easy to edit the individual elements of the image, such as the popular Adobe Photoshop .psd format.
In a .psd file, image elements are organized in layers that can be turned on and off, or changed as you see fit. So you could pick a header graphic that you like, change the title and sub-heading to be whatever you want, and then save the new image as a .jpg file for your web page and you’re done! It’s that easy! You can have a nice, professional looking header for your web site in as little as 2 or 3 minutes! All you have to do is spend a little bit of time and money finding a good graphics package to use.
If you have a little more time and want to make something truly original, then you can go with option #3: do it yourself. Making your own header graphics can take a lot of time, but the rewards are well worth it. If you are good at it, you could even go into business for yourself as a freelance graphic designer or make your own graphics package to sell!
How do I Make My Own Header Graphics?
First, you’ll need some good image editing software. I prefer Adobe Photoshop, but it’s kind of expensive. If you want free software, I suggest using Gimp, which can be downloaded from here:
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
You need to download and install both the “Gimp” and “GTK+2″ packages to get Gimp working. I also recommend that you download the optional help files and animation packages. If you do a search for Gimp on Google, you’ll be able to find plenty of tutorials on how to use the program. But I like Photoshop, so for the sake of this article I will be talking only about Photoshop.
After you’ve got image editing software, you need to find a good background for your header. I find that the best backgrounds are scenic landscapes: mountain views, beaches, parks, cityscapes, urban vistas, forests, lakes, etc. To avoid copyright issues, you should grab a digital camera, go out and take a picture yourself from someplace near your house. Going back to my earlier example about a “Dog Lovers Paradise” web site, you might visit a city park and take a picture of some dogs running around the park.
Now put the background photo into Photoshop and crop the image (select the part of it that you want to use for your header graphic, and cut away the rest of the picture). I recommend using a rectangular 700×125 pixel chunk. Be sure to include a bit of open space that you can put your title and sub-heading on.
Many effective header graphics include pictures of people, animals, vehicles, or other objects in the right or left side of the graphic (obviously you should use something that is related to the topic of your web site). You can get people pictures by surfing the Internet for clip-art collections, or by taking photos of your friends and family. So let’s say you want your lovable pet dog to appear on the right side of your “Dog Lovers Paradise” header. Follow these steps:
1. Take a picture of your dog and open it with Photoshop.
2. Resize the picture so it’s small enough to fit into your header.
3. Use Photoshop’s lasso tool to outline the dog and copy & paste it into your header as a new layer.
4. Use the move tool to position the dog where you want it.
5. Zoom in and use the eraser tool to get rid of any messy edges around the dog. You want the dog to blend into the background so it’s not obvious that you copied & pasted from another image. For your eraser settings, I recommend using brush mode with a 5-pixel diameter and opacity of 100%. These settings will give you a nice fuzziness around the edges.
The last step is to add your title and sub-heading text. Obviously the title should be larger than the sub-heading. You might also want to use different colors to differentiate the sub-heading from the title. Pick an empty area in the middle of your header for the title text. The sub-heading usually goes at the bottom below the title. I like to use Arial or Impact for the font. Impact makes a good impression for the title and Arial is good for the sub-heading.
Adding special effects to your text is a nice finishing touch. Right click on the name of the text layer and select Blending Options from the menu. You’ll have to experiment with the different styles to see what works best for you, but I recommend using a combination of Drop Shadow and Outer Glow. The Stroke style can also produce nice results.
And that’s it! You’re done! Don’t forget to save the final image as both a .psd file and a .jpg. You want the .psd so you can easily make changes if necessary. Here’s a summary of the steps to make your own header graphic:
1. Start with a background graphic.
2. Copy & paste clip-art (people, animals, etc.) onto the background.
3. Add title and sub-heading text.
4. Add special effects such as a Drop Shadow and/or Outer Glow.
5. Save as a .psd and .jpg file.
It sounds complicated but it’s really not that hard. Once you are familiar with the process, it should only take you 2 or 3 hours to make a professional looking header graphic from scratch!
Wow, this is Great! Now What?
You should put a header graphic on every major page of your site, especially your main home page. If you like making headers, you could consider going into business for yourself as a freelance graphic designer or start selling your headers and open on online store! Even if you’re just making a personal home page as a hobby, you’ll be able to impress all your friends and make them say, “ooohh, look at that!”
Regardless of whether you choose the do-it-yourself approach or decide to be lazy and use customizable pre-made graphics, you can have really nice professional header graphics for your web site with very little time and effort, at very little or no cost. Header graphics will make your site look more attractive and will entice more people to read your content. And that’s never a bad thing!
Have fun building your web site, and you can always contact me if you have any questions or need help with something related to this article. Good luck!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/how-to-enhance-your-web-site-with-header-graphics-256703.html
tags: Photoshop tutorials articles author: admin comments: No Comments
June 3rd, 2008
Author: Matt Jurmann
When followed, this guide will prove to be quite a valuable web design resource. From the inexperienced to the experienced, this guide has something for everyone.
The Process of Great Web Design Just to make sure we are all on the same page, lets begin with the basic definition for “web design”. According to Wikipedia, web design is:
“a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of electronic media delivery via Internet in the form of Markup language suitable for interpretation by Web browser and display as Graphical user interface”.
The process of web design can be compared to the process of writing a research paper. In the conceptualization/planning stage, flowcharts (the outline) are created which illustrate the navigational structure of your website. In the modeling stage, static wireframes are created (the rough draft) which illustrate the skeletal layout for each section of your website. After the wire frames are created, graphics, colors and text are used to create the design of your web pages based on the layout of the wire frames. In the execution stage, your design is converted into a format supported by web browsers, text and content are added, and finally, your website is published live to the Internet for the world to see (final draft).
All three stages of the design process are equally important. Many web designers skip a stage in order to save time or because they don’t think that is is necessary. However, all three stages are necessary if your goal is to create a successful design and respectable website. Even if the three stages are used, there are many mistakes that web designers can make that will lead to poor-quality, non user-friendly websites.
It’s time to clean out the cabinet of bad web design practices and restock it with the good ones.
Stage 1: Conceptualization and planning
This stage is skipped more often than the other two stages. Most writers don’t enjoy creating outlines for research papers, and most web designers don’t like creating flowcharts either. Don’t be lazy. If you put forth the effort and plan out your website, then you will find the web design process to go smoothly with fewer mistakes made along the way.
There are a few things that you will need in order to effectively conceptualize and plan your website:
-a brain
-a pen and paper
-(optional) flowchart software
-a general idea of the different sections of your website
To begin, grab your pen and paper or launch your favorite flowchart software. We use OmniGraffle Professiona for Mac OS X which costs $150 per license but is well worth it if you create websites on a regular basis. If you’re on a PC, then SmartDraw is a great FREE piece of flowchart software that you can use. A pen and paper work just fine, though.
There are many methods to creating flowcharts. We are going to show you the most basic way to do it for the sake of time and the length of this article. If you want to learn more about flowcharts search for flowcharts on Google or Yahoo.
View the flowchart that we created when conceptualizing Chromatic Sites. (1) At the top of the flowchart we list the name of our website. (2) Next, we include each primary section of our website: Home, About, and Services. These sections are the main navigation for your website. What the names of each section will be is entirely dependent on the content of your website. Try to use as few sections as possible so that your visitors are not overwhelmed when navigating through your website.
(3) Next, add all of the secondary pages (subsections) that will be listed on each of the primary pages. For Home, we have included Professional Web Design, Web Development, and Search Engine Optimization. The secondary navigation needs to be more descriptive than the primary navigation. The deeper your websites’ navigational hierarchy goes, the more descriptive each label should be.
The Dos
-Less is more; keep the number of primary sections to a minimum. We use 6 sections on our website which is more than enough -Whether you use a pen and paper or flowchart software, keep things as clean and organized as possible. Although you (and anyone working with you) are the only ones that will be using the flowchart, it still needs to make sense -Your primary sections should use broader terms, while secondary and tertiary terms should be more descriptive
The Donts
Creating a flowchart is pretty straight forward; however, there are a few mistakes that can easily be made:
-Don’t use very descriptive terms in your primary navigation unless your entire website focuses on one narrow topic -Don’t try and lump multiple topics on the same page. Create a general section for these topics and from that section create subsections. This will make the subsection (descriptive) web pages more likely to have better rankings in the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask) Once you have created a concise and descriptive flowchart, you’re ready to move on to the second stage of the web design process:
modeling.
Stage 2: Modeling
In the modeling stage, static “wireframe” mockups are created. Each mockup illustrates a bare-bones skeleton of the layout for each of the web pages that will be included in your website. This stage is important because it gives us an idea of where different elements will be placed in our design. Some of these elements are:
-logo
-navigational menu
-content
-images, videos
To create these mockups, you can use a pen and paper or your preferred mockup software. In the past we have used Photoshop, but lately we have been using OmniGraffle Professional. OmniGraffle is not as resource intensive as Photoshop is and it allows us to assemble our wireframe mockups much quicker.
In addition, make sure that you have the flowchart(s) that you created nearby as you will need to reference these from time to time to make sure that you are mocking up all of the pages that will appear on your website.
Here is our example of how a wireframe mockup should look. As you can see, there are no colors or graphics included. This is exactly how a wireframe mockup should be - a skeletal layout of your design. The purpose is to be able to have a general idea of where each of the web page’s elements will be placed.
We usually begin from the top left and work our way down to the bottom. There is no specific way that a wireframe should look. Use your imagination. However, make sure that when creating your wireframes you don’t forget to include the most important elements of a website (logo, navigational menu, content placement, images/video placement).
If some of your pages will be using the same layout, then it is not necessary to mock all of those pages up (although you certainly can).
Just be sure to mockup any unique layout that your website will have.
You’ll thank yourself later.
The Dos
-mockup all unique pages
-include important elements (logo, navigation, content placement, images/video placement) -start from the top and work your way down -reference your flowchart created in stage 1 to make you don’t forget to mockup any pages -save, save, save - like with anything on the computer, save your mockup(s) every 10 minutes or so
-focus on clean, user friendly layouts -label your elements so you don’t forget what they are when you reference them in stage 3, execution -use other web sites as inspiration; there is nothing wrong with taking elements from other sites and making them your own (see “donts”)
The Donts
-don’t include graphics or colors (that’s for the next stage) -don’t make your mockups too “busy”; focus on clean, well organized, user friendly layouts -don’t skip this stage; it is just as important as the first and the last -if you take elements from other websites, make sure you don’t plagiarize; there is a difference between being inspired by another website to create certain elements of your design and blatantly ripping off their layout and colors
Stage 3: Execution
In the third and final stage, execution, the planning from stages 1 and 2 are combined to assist in creating a live, interactive website.
The third stage is by far the most time intensive since you will be 1) creating the graphics 2) creating the content, and finally, 3) converting the web designs from images into code that web browsers use to present your website to the world.
By the time you reach the third stage, you should have a clear idea of:
-how your visitors will get from one place to another (stage 1, flowchart) -how your web pages will be laid out (stage 2, wireframe mockups)
If you don’t have a clear idea of these two things, go back to the first and second stagees and continue to develop them. You will find that the third stage is easiest when you have constructed a clear, concise battle plan for designing your website.
Ditch the pen and paper
In stage 3, you need to be using Photoshop or another image editing program since you will be using colors and graphics to create the layout for your website.
We usually begin creating the “home” page (index) first. Use your wireframes that you created in stage 2 as a template for each of the pages you create. However, instead of using solid boxes, use graphics, colors and text instead. Each page must look exactly how you want them to look on the Internet since this is the final stage of the design process.
Be sure to include the background for your navigation (but don’t actually add the text to your image). When converted using CSS (cascading style sheets), your navigation should be in the form of text and not images. Images are not crawl-able by the search engines (the keywords used in your navigation won’t be indexed in the search engine results pages, meaning fewer people will be able to find your website).
When you’re happy with your designs and feel that they are ready to be put on the Internet, it’s time to break apart the designs so that you can create a CSS based layout. For more information on converting your layouts to CSS or marking up your website in CSS, visit w3schools.com. After looking around the Internet, we couldn’t find a decent image-to-CSS tutorial - so expect one from us in the coming weeks. Converting your designs into CSS is extremely important since table layouts are a thing of the past.
Here is an example of a nearly-completed website of the layout we mocked up in stage 2. This was taken directly from our web browser and as you can see, there is now a logo, colors, a pretty navigation system, a footer, and a most importantly, a clean, organized layout.
Thanks to the planning in stages 1 and 2, our layout is well-organized and easy to use.
The Dos
-reference your templates that were created in stage 2; though it is fine to deviate from your original layout, you shouldn’t need to -do some research before creating your actual design; get ideas from other sites and make them your own (without plagiarizing) -include color and graphics to create the final look for your web pages -use CSS (cascading style sheets) to convert your designs from images into markup understandable by web browsers -reference your flowchart from stage 1 when coding your pages with hyperlinks; it is better to use a drop down menu that includes all (or the majority) of the links in your website on every page; this will allow for easier navigation and also make your pages easier to crawl when the search engine spiders stop by; a great place to get CSS drop down menus is at DynamicDrive.com -finalize your design while working in Photoshop or whatever image editing software you use; it can be a pain to make changes to your design once it is converted into markup (code)
The Donts
-don’t include the text in your navigation menus when converting to CSS; instead of using image text, use regular text that is readable by search engine spiders -don’t use tables when converting; even if you need to buy a book on CSS, it will be worth it; tables are dead -don’t skip the first two stages just to save time; your website WILL be better if you start from the beginning of the web design process (instead of at the end) -don’t forget to compress your images when they are cut apart for CSS; there is nothing worse than a slow loading website because of large image files; Photoshop has a “Save Optimized For Web” option (CS3 - “Save for Web and Devices”)
Process Makes Perfect
By following a web design process such as the one illustrated in this article, you increase the chances of creating a website that is well-organized, easily navigable, and very user-friendly. Lets face it - if visitors get lost or become confused while attempting to surf your website, they might hit the back button and look for a more user friendly website. People do not like to think when it comes to finding their way around websites. Don’t make them think. You do the thinking by planning out your website from stage 1 to stage 3 and you will find that more people will enjoy visiting your website.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/dos-and-donts-guide-to-great-web-design-215942.html
tags: Photoshop tutorials articles author: admin comments: No Comments
June 3rd, 2008
Author: akvisteam
Few things in life stir our memories and emotions the way photographs do. Unfortunately, as time goes by, old photographs fade out, get stained, or get otherwise damaged. In order to preserve them, many people try to digitize photos to pass these cherished images on to future generations.
AKVIS Retoucher restores damaged photographs to optimal condition with minimal effort and amazing results. Surface defects such as scratches, water spots, flakes and stains can be removed automatically, just select the defects and run the program.
Moreover, the software is able to reconstruct the lacking parts of a photo using the information of the surrounding areas. You can, therefore, restore a torn photo or a photo with some parts missing.
AKVIS Retoucher is a handy tool for improving the composition of your photos. You can remove date stamps, logos, small irrelevant details (wires, refuse bins, etc) and even big objects (i.e. people who fell into the shot by accident, cars in the background). If you need to increase the canvas size (from one side or proportionally) to bring the main object into focus, i.e. to center it, AKVIS Retoucher will help you to extend image patterns to the blank areas of the canvas.
New to version 2.5: simplified installation and activation on Macintosh; added compatibility with Adobe Photoshop CS3 beta (Windows and Mac Power PC) and with Adobe Photoshop Elements v.5.; added compatibility with Windows Vista.
The application is straightforward and can be used by amateur photographers who have never performed retouching/image restoration before. The program comes with a game-like tutorial, so any person can master the program within minutes
AKVIS Retoucher Plugin is compatible with Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Corel Photo-Paint and Paint Shop Pro, Ulead Photoimpact and other digital imaging software that supports third-party plugins.
The full functional trial version of AKVIS Retoucher is available at www.akvis.com
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/akvis-retoucher-new-life-for-old-photo-111733.html
tags: Photoshop tutorials articles author: admin comments: No Comments
June 3rd, 2008
Author: Author
Web Color
There are many web design tutorials that cover Web color in detailed scientific terms. However, for our objectives, let’s briefly discuss Web color and how it will be used in the Web portfolio. You will need to develop a color scheme for your Web portfolio pages. This means that you will designate colors for your page background, the type used on the page and any other static elements that reside in the page. There are two types of color that can be used in Web graphics. The colors can be associated with the Web graphic file formats we just mentioned: GIF and JPG.
GIF
GIF files use index color. Index color consists of 216 common colors found on all computer monitors and within all Web browsers. These common colors reside in a Web palette. The Web palette of colors is available in Macromedia Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop so they can be used in design of Web screens without variance of color when the pages are on the Internet. Also, the Web palette is the standard color palette in Macromedia Dreamweaver and Macromedia Flash. This allows us to achieve consistent color across Web applications and Web browsers.
We use Web colors for:
Web text/HTML text
Web page backgrounds
Web page colors used for table or layer backgrounds
Web links
GIF files
JPG
JPG files use red, green, and blue (RGB) for graphical color. RGB color is also known as full color. Full color items include bitmap graphics or photographs. We want to utilize photographs as much as we can within a Web portfolio to add to the visual rhetoric and the narrative that we are trying to present. Extensive use of photographs, especially their manipulation in programs such as Adobe Photoshop, require a brief description of the RGB color model. RGB color is known as additive color because of all colors, red green, and blue were added together at their full intensity that would create pure white. The mixtures of the relative strengths of these colors, “create the millions of colors computer monitors can show” (Kimball, 2003, p. 95). The strength of these colors is set in from zero to 255 with zero being the least intensity and 255 being the highest intensity. When red, green and blue are combined at zero intensity the result is black. At full strength, high intensity, where the values are set at 255, 255, 255, the result is pure white. To remember this, here is a simple metaphor. Think of the red, green, and blue as light switches. Each light switch using a slider has a range of zero to 255. When all the white switches are set at zero the room is dark. What all the light switches are set to 255, the room is lit at full intensity. Once you begin to use image-editing applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia fireworks, you begin to explore computer color within your graphics and photographs. When discussing color usage, full color or RGB color is present in photographic JPG files and other created artwork. Full color images should not be saved as GIF files because of the limited number of colors. By having limited colors, the full color image will represent the true colors using the existing Web palette of 216 colors.
This creates a poor, dithered, and ugly image. That is why it is very important to use the right file format for each specific graphic. When converting print images to the Web, it’s important that you do not use the CMYK color model for anything including graphics. The CMYK model is not a monitor friendly color space. The CMYK graphics cannot be seen in CMYK on the Internet. They can only be represented by the RGB color model or the Web safe (indexed) color model. Here are the rules for Web color:
Full color images (RGB palette) and photos are saved as JPG.
Flat graphics (Web 216 palette) with limited color are saved as GIF files.
For Page backgrounds use the Web safe palette (Web 216 palette) in all computer graphics, multimedia, and Web development applications. Now, let’s discuss Web page and graphic size.
Size
Web pages are measured in pixels. Pixels are the unit of measurement for the screen. A Web page can literally be any size. Standard Web pages usually fit into a few sizes:
W × H
600 × 800
640 × 480 (Dreamweaver default)
1024 × 768
550 × 400 (Flash default)
The default Web page sizes provided in Web friendly applications and listed earlier are a great place to start. You will probably use a smaller, custom size for pop-up windows. The Web page size you choose is up to you. Remember to use actual space for the Web page effectively so that the content is in the proper proximity to the user’s navigation patterns. Web page size affects the way users move around the Web pages and the Web portfolio site. One rule: Pick a size for all main screens and stick to it.
Consistency in page size r should be used on each level of the Web portfolio design flowchart. You will need to understand size in the image editing application when you develop screens and Web graphics. We must keep our graphics within the page size guidelines otherwise they will over extend the Web browser and the user will need to scroll to see them. That is not a good thing and will definitely turn off the user. When you are looking at Web screens and graphics in an image editing application such as Macromedia Fireworks or Adobe Photoshop, you can see the exact size the image will occupy on a monitor when the view is set to 100 percent.
This means that you can get an accurate indication of how a page will look before going through the process of making it an HTML Web page. This helps with design and production. It helps eliminate guess work when developing pages. Size also depends on resolution. Let’s discuss resolution next.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-business-articles/best-colors-for-web-designing-78795.html
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June 3rd, 2008
Author: Russell Brunson
Audio Video Marketing is being used a lot nowadays. And one of the reasons for this is that internet marketers are finding it difficult to reach people through traditional routes such as text emails and sales letters. People are becoming more and more Internet savvy and turn to the Internet to find a solution or gain more information about something they are interested in. This is an opportunity for us Internet marketers and audio video marketing gives us the tools for taking advantage of this opportunity. In Audio Video Marketing we can capture the attention of people by providing the information that these people are looking for. Suppose a person wants to learn how to create headers in Photoshop, we can take advantage of this and can offer them free video tutorials on this subject and convince them to provide us their details like email id and name. Even Video and audio testimonials can be used here to show how they were helped by our free Photoshop video tutorials. Another way to use audio video marketing is to upload our videos to popular video sites like YouTube and Google Videos. These sites have a large following of their own and can help us to gain a large number of visitors in a very short time. Some experts also advise us to use videos on our first page as this helps us to create a good first impression. But take care to provide an option for your site visitors to skip the video otherwise you would be losing visitors who don’t want to view the videos at that moment. If you are not sure if audio video marketing is a good idea, then I would like to tell you that some big name marketers have used audio video marketing for their product launches with huge success. If you don’t remember them, then I would like to refresh your memory by mentioning a few of them:- John Reese had used it for launching his Traffic Secrets course, Mike Filsaime used it in launching his Butterfly Marketing Campaign and Michael Cheney used it for launching his Adsense Videos. Audio Video Marketing has also been used by a lot of affiliate marketers who use videos to give prospects a sneak preview of the contents of the course and thus help them to make a buying decision. These are the advantages of audio video marketing which makes it the number one choice of internet marketers. If you are still not using it, then I urge you to get this free dvd that covers audio video marketing and use it gain more responsive customers and prospects. Good luck!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/audio-video-marketing-215262.html
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June 3rd, 2008
Author: Mortar
KongKong Online: The Online Jumping Game
Vitals:
Developer(s): Mega Enterprise
Publisher: GameMediaNetworksRelease
Date: 2008 Q1(open beta already out)
Genre: Online Racing
Starting the game
When you’ve created your account on the GameTribe website, you can log on to KongKong Online. When I first started the game,I noticed it started in windowed mode automatically, which was pretty good for me since I like to chat while gaming. After itfinished loading, I saw the ingame ‘DB’ server selection screen. It looked very clean, nice illustrations, nice buttons, the onlything I didn’t like was how the DB server selection looked like. It looked like something quickly made in Photoshop to be donewith it. Never mind that though, this review is about the game itself, not to complain about my personal preferences of theDB server selection screen. After you have selected your server(which is currently just the Open Beta one), you arrive at the log-inscreen where you can log in, choose your world, choose your character and hop into the game.
The first minutes
Before you can go race other people, you have to finish three simple tutorials. The first tutorial teaches you to use thedirectional keys to move your little toy vehicle around the racing field which is a track in a toy land, this reminded me ofMapleStory’s Ludibrium. So you have to move your character around with the directional keys, not that hard. When Ifinished that tutorial I was eager to see what the second tutorial would teach me. I found out it was using boosting panels.Boosting panels are small tiles and if you land on one it’ll give you a nice boost into the direction the arrow on the tile points.There are two boosting panels, a yellow one and a blue one. The blue one gives the biggest boost. So I finished the secondtutorial and moved on to the third. The third tutorial explains you how to use items. Two little ball like creatures appeared so Icould test my items on them. When I was done with the third tutorial, I was finally able to join the real races with other peopleall over the world.
Racing for the win!
I noticed the ‘race joining’ system was similar to Gunbound’s system. You pick a room and you press the ‘ready’ button. Wheneveryone in the room presses ready, the race starts. There are different racing modes; Speed Race, Battle Race, CrazyRace and Challenge Mode(available to time-attackers). You can also choose between individual racing or team racing. Ichose an individual Speed Race.The loading time was quite short, it was not long before I ended up on the racing track. 3, 2, 1… And there I was, hopping myway to the finish between the other contestants. While racing I got hit by all kinds of funny items, I got turned into a frog bysomeone and someone else threw a thundercloud at me, which followed me and it affected my jumping height. It was a funexperience, though I naturally didn’t won because it was my first race ever.The difference between an individual and a team race is quite obvious I believe, when you choose for an individual race, youhave to race for yourself and get to the finish first. When you choose a team race, you get divided into two different teams.The first member of a team to reach the finish makes his team win. I personally prefer an individual race.
Overall
KongKong Online is a good game, addicting gameplay, nice music and cool items, but the graphics could’ve been better.
Full article on GamingDimension.net
http://gamingdimension.net/
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/kongkong-online-the-online-jumping-game-210853.html
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June 3rd, 2008
Author: Robert Provencher
Professional photographers are aware that if they are going to be in business, they are going to need a website. This is particularly true for photographers who focus on wedding photography and portraiture - potential clients want to see what you can do before they give you a call. Even if they do happen to call before viewing your work, they may ask for the address of your website. If you don’t have one, rightfully or unrightfully, you may be considered an amateur - and perception is just as valid as reality.
Many companies, like Yahoo! and GoDaddy.com and many others will provide software for you to create your own pages if your sign up for their hosting services. Some photographers may find it easier to let a professional web designer put their site together for them. Or better yet, learn the basics of web design and create your own. That way you get to add samples or monthly specials whenever you want. Either way, there are five key elements that every site should have. Most web designers focus only on the design element of web creation and fail to see the sales power and marketing muscle that can be yours when used effectively. Here are five key ideas:
1- You must establish credibility - freely present your credentials and a nice portfolio. Avoid unprofessional graphics at all costs, misspellings, and grammatical errors. The most important message you can telegraph to your prospect is your work. In it holds your biggest benefit that you bring to your prospect. They must be able to see your best work, and as many samples as possible.
2- User-friendliness - make it easy for your site visitors to navigate - they shouldn’t have to go backward to go forward. Or wait for slow loading flash files or work their way through cluttered layouts. And, please avoid the number one mistake that 90% of the photographers do over and over. What is it? Black background with light or white text. I know, I know, you want to look cccooooolll and artsy. But the fact is, and many studies have proven this to be true, that black text on white is the most easily read. Think about it. We read newspapers, magazines, books etc etc etc….alll black text with white backgrounds. Why do you want to go against the current? Ego. That’s why. Don’t let your ego steer you. Let common sense be your guide.
3- Include a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section. You’ll be the one to write and answer the questions, anticipating your customer’s needs for information. This is your chance to add facts that don’t fit neatly onto your other pages. Of course you can include portrait planning tips, location ideas that work best for specific portrait ideas or at certain areas in your area. Include as much information as you can possibly come up with to pre-emptivelly answer the questions your prospect has in their heads. This is a great opportunity to help your prospect in a consultive way. You will be perceived as professional and someone whom they will want to do business with.
4- Promote your site. By this I mean managing traffic that arrives to your site through search engines and other online methods or any traffic that is generated by other media sources outside of the web, such as your local newspaper, yellow pages, business cards etc. You can easily and readily find out how many searches are done using specific search terms to do with your city or town. Have your site optimized so it ranks high enough in the search engines and you will get pre-qualified and targeted leads visiting your site. You can also buy qualified leads from google.com or overture.com. Your websites’ job is to effectively sell these leads into clients. Overture and sites such as wordtracker .com have programs you can use to help you research search terms.
5- Sell. That’s right, sell. Too many portrait studio owners are afraid of selling. They seem to think it is nasty and negative thing. Fact is selling is simply offering a fair and mutually beneficial service. The more you tell you better you sell. You mustn’t be afraid to extol the virtues of your service by making offers, pointing out the benefits and backing up those benefits with the features. The truth is people are afraid of salespeople who don’t reveal enough information. That’s why your website is the perfect opportunity to sell, and have the site do a lot of the selling for you by using an informative and consultive approach.
A website should be a reflection of what your business is. You can’t add anything to your web site message that conflicts with the reality that already exists. If you offer great service and products and have a great reputation within your community, your website will be an extension of that message.
A website will not magically create anything for you. You must have something to offer. This is your message. It is what makes you and your business different from all others. Your website is merely a delivery method of your message. An extension of you and our studio.
If you have an innovative approach to your packaging and products, that is a part of your message and it will and should be used as part of your sales message. If you have a dirty, cluttered place and your website suggests otherwise, what kind of message will you give to clients when they do show up at your place of business after they’ve checked out your website?
Take a good look at what exactly your business message is. What is your typical client like? How do they usually buy from you? These are basic, yet essential questions that will reveal more information for you to use in your marketing arsenal.
Remember that your website is an ad, and advertising is selling. Selling is serving. And serving is informing. With that golden rule as a guide you can never create ads or offers that otherwise would hold anything other than the customers needs as top priority. And you will profit by building a trusting and repeat client base.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/web-design-secrets-for-professional-photographers-five-keys-to-a-successful-website-9268.html
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June 3rd, 2008
Author: Robert Provencher
Marketing your photography studio does not have to be expensive. I’ve used hundreds of low cost marketing strategies over the last twenty five years and managed to build my photography studio to the point where I am one the busiest and most successful studios in my city. Here’s a few tips for you:
1. Create a photo display. A photography display can be as simple as displaying a few small portraits at a store and offering some free information about your studio or more elaborate set ups with framed wall samples. You can even create large temporary displays in malls or at events such as trade shows.
The important thing is how it looks. You will attract a lot of attention with some great images, especially from woman, who happen to be your target market. Displays will help you create a lot of business if you play your cards right. Have a great selection of images, be presentable yet never pushy, have a system for collecting names and address’s from those wanting more information by simply asking or offering a draw prize, and keep in touch with all those prospects. It’s the beginning of a potential long term and lucrative relationship.
2. Have a free giveaway. Offer a time limited in studio session and small reprint. Tell them there is no obligation for further purchase, and mean it. You will make some sales anyways and you will acquire many long term clients if you do a good job for them.
Some will only grab the freebie, but the odds are very good that you will upsell without being sneaky or pushy. Especially if you are professional and create some great images. Do this at mall displays, banks, schools or offer it to a list of clients from a non-competitive business in your town or city. Freebies are the best way to get your studio busy, start making sales and most of all for getting tons of exposure.
3. Reward referrals. Make a policy to reward anyone who brings you referrals. When a client brings in a propective client, give them a gift of appreciation, such as a coupon worth reprints dollars at your studio, frames, or to a local spa or restaurant. As an added incentive, give a small gift to the new client as well.
4. Create a tie-in with another business. Contact a local business and offer to exchange coupons. For example, your client receives coupons from a local restaurant, hair salon, spa, or wherever your typical prospect would shop. A great place to start is with clients of yours who already own their own businesses.
5. Make your reception or waiting room “prospect and sales friendly”. Whenever you create a family portrait or are shooting a wedding there are often people waiting in your reception area. Offer them snacks or something to drink. Make sure your place looks great and smells nice. Make it comfortable. Use this time to increase your upcoming sales presentation by explaining some of the items such as wall portraits and other packages and services. Answer objections that you know will be coming up later during the sale presentation with a consultive approach and people will not only trust you more but will likely make the sale easier for you and even buy more. This is also a great time to collect names. These people are somehow associated with you and at this point make excellent prospects.
6. Make copies of news articles about yourself and your studio. Hang them on the walls or pass them out. Past publicity is better than any advertising or promotional literature you can create. Give copies of positive articles to everyone who comes in for information.
7. Raise money for charity. Not only do you help a good cause, you get plenty of free, positive publicity and exposure. Hold a contest, offer some photography classes, give out free booklets- that you can easily write yourself and print for pennies by having them photocopied- think up your own exciting charity event.
8. Submit press releases to the local newspapers about a noteworthy event at your studio or a human interest story. Did you win a photography contest? Is there and article on photography that relates to local sites in your area or has to do with the seasons? Make your release interesting to the readers, never self-serving and you will get press coverage.
9. Give a free photography seminar or presentation at your studio. Invite members of the public and clients family members to be a part. A seminar gives them the chance to see your studio and your work. Offer something timely to do with how to create great photographs with digital cameras or offer a slide show from some of your more exotic travels. You could create an exhibition highlighting your work. Don’t forget to invite the local newspaper.
10. Leave your business cards everywhere. Whenever you are at a restaurant, leave a nice tip and your card. Drop a stack off at the local jewellry store. Make sure card is loaded with your best samples and print on both sides to maximize the space for your sales message.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/free-articles/photography-marketing-ideas-for-photographers10-low-cost-ideas-9243.html
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June 3rd, 2008
Author: Robert Provencher
One thing I discovered during my experience with digital photography after 20 years of shooting film, and I teach this point in all the many seminars that I’ve put on to hundreds of other full-time pros, is that digital photography is very well suited for the portrait photographer. So why are we the last to jump on the band wagon? Many commercial shooters have known about and mastered the use of digital in their business’s for far longer than the portrait photographer.
My guess is that we’re afraid. Afraid of the learning curve and afraid that the quality just isn’t there unless we spend an ungodly amount of our hard earned cash on some scary looking gigantic array of confusing and awkward, let alone “how am I going to learn how to use this stuff” equipment.
Truth is, you can easily get away with as little as a 3.5 megapixel camera. I know, I used my Canon D30 for the first eight months of my digital journey. That camera created more memories, more sales and more wall portraits that I ever thought imaginable.
Whoa, wait a minute you say, wall hangings? Can’t be!! When I put on my seminars I routinely display many large wall samples for all to see, with some of the older samples I created with the 3.5 megapixel camera; and the reaction I get is usually disbelief.
Listen. The quality is there. I’ve proven it over and over and I know anyone can replicate the same results. Yes, even with a 3.5 megapixel camera.
You’ve just got be careful, that’s all. We have a collection of images at our studio, even large wall hangings captured with our dinky little D30, and they are “jaw-dropping” stunning. I know other photographers who have had amazing results as well. I know that it works and file size is secondary.
There are many reasons, but I’ll work with the main list. Here they are:
*Quality. The quality of images captured with a high quality lens, properly exposed and well posed is more than enough, even if you shoot JPEGS. Yes, JPEGS. Over 90% of the more than 30-40,000 exposures I put through my camera every year is shot in JPEG mode. Why? Why would anyone in their right mind shoot in such a “low quality” mode? The answer is simple: It works.
I like to compare JPEG’s to shooting with portrait film. It is slightly softer (although not even noticeable to the human eye) and muted, ideal for skin tones, right? Besides, we slap on “softar” filters in front of these outrageously expensive lenses and degrade the image even more. Don’t bother. Shoot with a good lens, in JPEG mode, expose properly, pose and create as usual, and it will all come together. Add any effects later. Look at what else portrait photographers have been doing to their finished images besides purposely degrading the image with “softars”. We retouch the surface of the print, sometimes extensively. We canvas mount. Add texture sprays.Oils. Linen laminates…on and on. My point is simple. Portrait photographers do not need to create the very sharpest, highest resolution images available. If they have in the past, they’ve always degraded the image through these other means. It’s kind of ironic don’t you think? You can still shoot in RAW mode if you wish, but it isn’t really needed.
If we needed the absolute highest quality image at capture we would have all been shooting with Kodachrome 64 or Velvia on a 4″x5 camera. But we don’t. JPEGs work. I have many 30″ prints, and even a 70″ print, that was captured in JPEG. And they look amazing. Your can too.
*Control. People want their photos fast. We live in a drive-through world and minutes count. In our studio we create a slide presentation for our sessions and we show them to the clients within 20 minutes of every shoot. Clients love it. They get to see the results instantly. If you fight this you’re fighting basic human nature. We want, want, want, and want to see it sooner than later. Sales go up, the client is already in the studio ready to see the images, and ready to spend. Their is ample evidence that when you show the images sooner, and you create large projected images, which is a cinch with digital, sales go up. Digital gives the portrait photographer more control over the sales process, and ultimately it means more profits.
*Retouching. Let’s face it, people want to look good. What used to take hours and whole lot of aggravation with spray booths, smelly and dangerous lacquers, is now possible with absolute ease. Even when I decided to farm out all my retouching because I had had enough, it still took weeks or months, and huge retouching bills.
Not to mention the loss of control I had over the retouching aspects. It was up to the subjective interpretation of the retouching artist to enhance the images the way I wanted them retouched. Now, with a few basic skills, and all those years of retouching experience all transferred over to the new darkroom, my computer, I can easily retouch to any degree I like. In mere minutes. With absolute astounding results. This ultimately translates to satisfying a basic need that needs to satisfied in our clients, their vanity. They want to look good, and they want it fast.
*Innovation. I could go on for days when it comes to what new products, ideas, services, sales processes, packages, etc, etc…I have been able to create because of digital photography. Suffice it to say for now that I am excited and alive again with passion about my photography and about the possibilities. When you apply the power of digital, and get a handle on it in your workflow, you can create new and exciting products like never before.
I’ve seen it and experience it every week in our busy little small-city studio. The proof ultimately boils down to net profits, doesn’t it?
After all, we are in business first, and creative artists second, right? Right? Are you with me on this one? We are in business to make money and survive. We need new and exciting angles, ways to stay afloat, so we can pay our bills, keep the bankers happy and provide for our families. No one can predict will total accuracy how digital photography will ultimately evolve, but my betting dollar is with it all the way. I’m not taking any chances.
Anyone remember when colour film and paper was introduced as a mainstream commodity? I don’t, I was just a wee lad, but I heard stories about the many studio owners closing their doors and packing it in because they didn’t want to keep up with the demand and latest craze that colour film and colour paper had created. Dinosaurs. Every last one of them. Their loss, all because of a thick head and mis-guided egos. Don’t be a dinosaur.
My biggest discovery: Who the true expert is!
Ultimately the true expert in our business is not ourselves, or our peers. The real expert is the client. They open up their hearts and wallets and fork over hard earned cash for the memories we create for them. Do they care if it is shot on a JPEG? In RAW mode? Do they care if we use the biggest, best, strongest, fastest computers and software? Of course not. When you get into your clients head and listen to the conversation that goes on these things are totally irrelevant.
Far more important to her, and to us, is the fundamentals of good photography. In a whirlwind of technological advances nothing seems to ever stay the same. Truth is, the fundamentals of good photography will never change. That’s where is all starts. Master that and you have 99% of your digital photography challenges mastered.
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June 3rd, 2008
