If you are like me and you are wondering why in the world Adobe decided to eliminate the previous functionality of the Paint Bucket tool in Illustrator CS3 with the introduction of the new ‘Live Paint Bucket’ tool, fear not — a solution is at hand.
Continue reading 'Fill Vector Paths Old-School Paint Bucket Style in Illustrator CS3'
by George Coghill -
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Adobe just released an incremental update to InDesign CS3 (5.02), and it’s so new it seems to not be in the auto-update as of yet. Per the Read Me file:
 This update fixes known issues with Anchored Objects, Character Alignment, Step and Repeat, Indexing and Table of Contents, Text and Fonts, Dictionaries, Color, Scripting, Graphics Import/Export, InDesign Interchange files (INX), XML, Library files, and Printing, as well as other miscellaneous issues.Â
Continue reading 'Adobe InDesign CS3 5.02 Update Released - 10.5 Fixes On Apple’s Shoulders'
by George Coghill -
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Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
After various random rounds on Twitter lamenting the demise of Macromedia Freehand, cartoon-style illustrator Garth Bruner decided to do something about it. He’s started posting an ongoing series of YouTube video screencasts demonstrating key differences between Freehand and Adobe Illustrator. He highlights how he created vector art in Freehand, then jumps over to Illustrator to attempt the same task, comparing tools, techniques and workflow.
Continue reading 'FreeHand & Illustrator Comparison Video Series By Illustrator Garth Bruner'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
As you may have noticed on this blog, I am a bit of a software junkie, particularly shareware/freeware. I love the ingenious functionality some of these independent developers bring to OS X, and also the direct access you have to the creators of the software.
MacHeist 2 is, as the name implies, a followup to an extremely Mac-only discount shareware software bundle promotion that debuted in the winter of 2007. Until January 23, 2008 at midnight, for $49 you can snag $370 worth of quality software. Last year’s apps were decent, this year’s apps are outstanding. My only regret is that I already own most of the apps that I would want out of the bundle! Â
Continue reading '11+ Excellent Mac OS X applications for a phenomenal price: MacHeist 2'OS X applications for a phenomenal price: MacHeist 2′
by George Coghill -
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I just stumbled across some more Creative Suite 3 issues on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, on the Adobe support site Photoshop page. Supposedly this will be fixed by an OS X update, not an Adobe update (and Adobe and Apple are working together on this issue).
Continue reading 'Even More CS3 & 10.5 Leopard Issues: Photoshop CS3'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
A plugin that I always forget to tout, since the functionality it provides seems so intrinsic to Illustrator once it’s installed, I forget it’s a third-party enhancement.
Select Menu for Adobe Illustrator (Mac and Windows, free) from Graffix Software is available for every version of Illustrator from 8 on up to CS3. It adds additional selectable items under the Select -> Objects menu.
This plugin really comes in handy at the production stage of prepping your art, allowing you to find all sorts of items that you need to preflight. It especially comes in handy after flattening transparency, such as when you export art to an older version of Illustrator. I find lots of klunky and open paths all over the place after flattening transparency, and I couldn’t imagine how much of a pain in the neck it would be to clean up art without Select Menu.
Continue reading 'Essential Adobe Illustrator Plug-in: Select Menu'
by George Coghill -
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James Demsey over at design blog The Creative Mac (formerly The Creative Guy) posted some additional issues with Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Mac OS X 10.5. Seems in addition to the Open/Save/Place issues I mentioned earlier, copying vector art from InDesign to Illustrator has issues, as does hiding InDesign.
Continue reading 'More CS3 Problems On Leopard'
by George Coghill -
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Fairly recently I worked up this cartoon goldfish for an illustration project of a cartoon style aquarium. This was part of a recent round of cartoon illustration work for a client doing some re-branding of their aquarium water treatment/cleaner/additive Algone. The cartoon fish tank illustration was used to update a product instruction sheet.
Continue reading 'Cartoon Goldfish Character Illustration'
by George Coghill -
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This cartoon sketch of a trendy ‘cool guy’ rocker type mascot character was created for a current project. He was to the the male ‘companion’ character for the cute cartoon indie rock/alternative rock girl created for the same project. While I love how the head and face came out, I am not so pleased with the body - could use a bit more flair. This is an initial working sketch, so had the client approved that would have been edited. The client wanted to go in a different direction with him, so he’s on the reserve list for perhaps another project.
Continue reading 'Cool Guy/Rocker Dude Cartoon Character Sketch'
by George Coghill -
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This cartoon sketch of a cute indie rock/alternative rocker girl is one of a series of cartoon characters I am working on for a current project. She went through quite a bit of revisions in look, dress and age - but the final came out perfect.
Earlier version had her a little too old and road-weary - I thought we were going for a more ‘edgy’ character but the client wanted a younger, cuter version. The iPod, chain wallet and Chuck Taylor sneakers were a must.
Continue reading 'Cute Cartoon Indie Rock/Alternative Rock Girl Sketch'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
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