Sunday 16 January 2011

/RESOURCE01/ Photoshop, Illustrator & Indesign

As we stand on the eve of a new project, I thought it might be a good idea to create a little collection of useful links and resources. Rumour has it that we will be doing a fair bit of work digitally this time around too. So here goes: (please sound of in the comments if anyone has any additional links/resources and I'll add them to the post!)

/photoshop
Most of you have at least a basic grip on photoshop, but if you feel you need a primer on the basics, visit the Psdtuts Basix pageAdobe TV and . It goes without saying that Psdtuts is an excellent resource, so is this Photoshop CS5 resource, not to mention any of the very many others out there. Remember, a lot of these aren't directly relevant to our work. Instead they will teach you different techniques and tactics for reaching a certain effect/goal. Of special relevance I would recommend looking closely at articles covering photomontages. However, this page might be especially interesting. 

/illustrator
If anyone needs a basic refresher on Illustrator then visit Adobe TV and Vectortuts BasixVectortuts is naturally a good resource, as is this pageand this collection on Smashing MagazineIllustration Classkhulsey.com is especially relevantVectordiarySpoonGraphics and digitaltoolsforarchitects.com (this one seems especially useful!). As before, you will have to use these as resources for learning techniques and tool rather than shortcuts. 

/indesign
I know Guro will be holding a course in Indesign soon, but until then you can start here and here (the latter seems to be especially useful). The following pages are good resources. As Indesign is a layout tool, rather than a drawing tool, it goes without saying that we must regard it as such and use pages linked to as a means to learn how to combine text, images & other graphics. 


Well, that is all for now. I'll update this post as people add comments with links to more resources etc. Until then remember that you have to work a little in order to be able to use the programs you wish/need to, so start digging into the linked resources. 

As for CAD/3D software, a separate post will have to be made for that, I could also do with the help from those in the class with more knowledge about such things.