New and experienced scrappers alike share the quest to take on new challenges, improving particular skill sets. Whether your aspirations or small or large, it is often helpful to state them in public. Even if there is no formal follow-up, making a declaration can offer a much-needed push to actually accomplish a goal.
In this post, let’s each identify one new skill or technique that we want to learn in 2010. Then, also state one way you might accomplish that. I’ll start.
I want to learn how to use my new Wacom Bamboo Craft tablet. I’m eager to see what this tool can offer to my photo editing, scrapping as well as other creative projects. I’m hopefully I can even make some freebies for everyone with these new skills. I plan to look for online tutorials to get started.
So, what about you?
Hi Jennifer!!
You’re going to LOOOOVE your Wacom tablet! They’re sooooo fun! I wanted to point out a great website that you can visit to “practice” doodling and such. Yes, you can practice in any program that is compatible with the Bamboo, but THIS site is just really fun when you just want to goof around! The site is called Sketch Fu http://www.sketchfu.com! We are all addicted to it at my house!
I want to learn how to turn photos into “pencil-sketched” looking drawings! And I would also love to perfect “Blending Photos” on background paper. Those are my two items that I wish to learn this year!
Hugs,
Candi
I have recently signed up for a 4 week course in the Wacom Bamboo Tablet class with http://www.JessicaSprague.com. It is already very interesting and very well taught. It is a bit expensive, $55.00 but I think it is going to be worth it because I have had a Tablet for a year and not been able to use it for much.
I too am in Jessica’s class, which was actually 20% off for the whole month of December, so I only paid $44.00. But I’m also in Tiffany Tillman’s Brushes class at http://www.reneepearson.com and she’s covering lots of tablet stuff already in just her first lesson. The two classes are complementing each other very nicely.
One of the coolest new tricks I’ve learned lately is… making plaids that are perfectly color matched to my photo.
I open the photo in PSE7, use the crop tool to select just ONE line of pixels across the photo. Open a new document and move it onto it. Then stretch it across to fill the page… it looks like a bunch of lines. Select the layer and COPY and PASTE INTO A NEW LAYER. Turn the new layer 90 degrees and lower the opacity to your choosing. The resulting plaid will perfectly match your photo.
I have used this to double frame a photo, using solid layers along with it.
Good luck!
Ginnie
ps… I will post a couple of the pages that I did this with shortly.
here is a page that I used the plaid for a frame… I’m not very web savy so I may have to add a 2nd post for another page <sorry for my non-saviness hope this works
http://s643.photobucket.com/albums/uu155/ginnielu/plaids/?action=view¤t=Dana-Disney-01.gif
2nd page…
http://s643.photobucket.com/albums/uu155/ginnielu/plaids/?action=view¤t=44Anniversary-PS-03.gif
I too would like to learn to use my Bamboo tablet. I hope people will continues to post links to tutorials – hopefully some will be free 🙂
I am always trying to learn a new skill in Photoshop – I am still trying to master the art of making flairs. I want to make my own circles, squares etc to add papers or photos to.
Funny you should post about that today. I just started this thread over at Ripple’s Scrappersonline:
http://www.scrappersonline.com/forums/showthread.php?571-Wacom-Tablet-Tutorials&p=1878
Hope it helps you. One day I might get one!
Have mastered CSS and HTML, now I have to learn Flash. That’s my goal for 2010. Also to try to scrap one layout a month.
Stan at Scrappers Workshop
I want to kick up my Illustrator skills. I first learned the program more than 15 years ago, and have not kept up like I should. I think I have an arrangement to swap Photoshop tutoring for Illustrator lessons with a graphic designer friend here in town. If we can’t find time to get together, I may consider an online class. It’ll be a lot faster if I can sit with someone and skip over what I already know, and go right to the good stuff, though!! There’s no substitute for talking with someone, which is why we teach all our classes at scrappersworkshop.com live. That’s how I need to learn, to ask questions right when they occur to me!
I want to take better photos for my layouts. I am now using mostly pictures that my mom and sister take. I would like to get a decent digital camera and take photos for myself. In conjunction with that, I would like to learn how to pick the best of the photos I have to scrap with.
I am a researcher at heart so while I save money to buy a camera, I will be asking scrappers what kinds of cameras they have as well as looking for online reviews.
I want to learn how to fix my PSP and PSCS4 so the stupid pointer stops freezing up after 15 minutes. I haven’t scrapped in months because the move tool stops working. Argh!
Same for me Jen – the tablet! I got the Bamboo Craft as a birthday present… that was 8 months ago 🙁 I sill don’t know how to use it. Luckily though, I am going to the digiscrap retreat in Utah this April and taking the bonus class the night before on how to use a tablet! Yay so excited to learn!
I would love to learn to use Photoshop better so I can make my layouts look more believable. I don’t use shadows effectively and I know there is so much more to learn that will just improve my overall look of my layouts.
I also want to learn to take better photos. I just sort of point and shoot and hope it turns out good…but I want to take WOW photos.
This year I promised myself to just learn as much as possible about Photoshop, Photography and anything related to art.
I’d like to learn a little html. Stan or anyone else: can you let me know where I can find some tutorials, free or reasonably priced? Thanks!