Here’s a freebie for all my loyal readers: a free Photoshop action I created myself to eliminate repetitive tasks I (used to) go through each time I scanned in a new sketch for further work in Photoshop. Boost your productivity with this free Photoshop download.

My custom Sketch Prep action — as you can see from the screenshot — simply resets your color swatches back to the default black/white, does a Select All on the background layer, cuts the image to a new layer (leaving you with a flat white background layer) and then bumps the opacity of the newly-created layer down to 20%. It then adds a fresh new blank layer for you to start drawing in.

Typically when scanning artwork in, I scan just roughly sketched concepts and use the power of Photoshop layers to refine the sketch. This is why I bump down the opacity and work on a new blank layer.

I also like to have a flat white background layer so it simulates working on paper, but the actual sketching itself I want to be on it’s own transparent layer to making potential copying & pasting easier.

Installation is simple: download the Sketch Prep action file (right-click the link and do a “Save As…”) to your hard drive, open your Actions palette in Photoshop, click on the fly-out menu (in the top-right corner of the palette). Navigate down to the menu item that reads “Load Actions” and in the resulting dialog box, navigate to where you saved the downloaded action file. That’s it! Now it’s a new folder in your Actions palette and ready to help you create your next masterpiece.

If you find this Action useful, or have any tips to improve on it, I would love to hear about it in the comments section below. Enjoy!

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Scanned Sketch Prep — Free Photoshop Action is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Productivity Tip: Floating, Transparent Reference Images Using Screenshots & Free Software Afloat (0)
• Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool (0)
• Free Printable Keyboard Shortcut Cards for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop & More (4)
• Annotated Keyboard Graphic With Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts (2)
• Adobe Pen Tool Cheatsheet: Free Download (2)

Here are a few handy keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop for those of you out there like me who spend an inordinate amount of time in the Creative Suite primarily using Illustrator. These are not keyboard shortcuts that you can use in Illustrator, but rather are keyboard shortcuts providing methods of doing things in Photoshop that you are used to doing in Illustrator that at first it might seem isn’t possible, like click directly on an object to select it, drag to a new layer, etc.

Key commands are formatted for Macintosh; Windows users swap out “Command” for “Control” & “Option” for “Alt”

Create A New Layer: Command (Apple key)-Shift-N
Illustrator bonus tip: I used to think you couldn’t do this in Illustrator using a keyboard command, but I was recently digging into the Keyboard Shortcuts prefs and discovered the keyboard shortcut for creating a new Layer: Command-L. Awesome!

Jump to the next/previous layer: Option – ] or [
This would be similar to selecting an object

Move The Selected Layer Up or Down: Command - ] or [
This would be similar to moving an object up or down

Copy A Selection To A New Layer: Command – J
Similar to an option-drag to copy an item

Select Any Object, Regardless of the Current Layer:
Similar to selecting Illustrator’s Selection tool and selecting/moving an object. When using Photoshop’s Move tool, hold the Command key and click on the object. That object’s layer will be selected as well. The Move tool’s options allow you to set this as the default behavior, but I find it odd to work that way. I much prefer using the modifier key to enable the feature.

Manipulate An Object With Transform Handles:
Highlight the layer whose object you wish to  manipulate, then hit Command-T. The Transform box will appear, and you can then drag the object around as well as resize with the transform handles.

A bonus, non-keyboard tip for resizing just a Selection: make your selection using the Marquee tool (or any other selection tool), then go to the Select menu and choose “Transform Selection” to get the transform handles.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

6 Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts For Illustrator Users is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Tip: OS X Window Switching Keyboard Shortcuts for Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign) (1)
• Free Printable Keyboard Shortcut Cards for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop & More (4)
• Adobe Pen Tool Cheatsheet: Free Download (2)
• Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators (16)
• Annotated Keyboard Graphic With Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts (2)

The current MacUpdate Promo is offering the excellent shareware tool Default Folder for only $19.95 until midnight on 10/27/2008.

I have been an extremely satisfied user since way back in the OS 9 days, and highly recommend you pick up a license while this great deal is going on. Default Folder is worth every penny of the $34.95 standard price, so at almost half off it’s a steal.

What does it do? Here’s a quick overview:

Default Folder X attaches a toolbar to the right side of the Open and Save dialogs in any OS X-native application. The toolbar gives you fast access to various folders and commands. You just click on the buttons to go to your favorite and recently used folders, manage the folders and files shown in the list, and make changes to your settings.

Default Folder also fixes a number of problems in Open and Save dialogs, allowing “rebounding” back to the last selected file, putting the path listing back in the top menu, and correcting bugs in scrolling column views.

It’s hard to describe, but once you use it for a day or so you’ll understand. The biggest feature for me is the rebounding in Open/Save dialog boxes — you can invoke a keyboard shortcut to jump to the last X number of folders you’ve recently used in any Open/Save dialog box on OS X. And it can also be set to that Open/Save dialog boxes jump to the enclosing folder of the file you are working on; super handy when working in graphics programs where you may be all over the place opening files from different folders, but need to save each in it’s own respective folder.

Take my word for it, you will love this piece of software. Awesome icon too

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Must-Have OS X Productivity Tool Default Folder 43% Off 10/27/2008 is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Must-have Adobe Illustrator plugin: Zoom to Selection (4)
• Jumpcut: Free OS X Clipboard History Utility (0)
• Great Wacom Tablet Scrolling Software For Mac OS X: Smart Scroll X (4)
• Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool (0)
• Default Folder X – Essential Mac Productivity Utility Software (0)

While I had no idea that Photoshop had a 3GB RAM limit, a clever user over at MacOSXHints.com has figured out a hack/solution/workaround using a RAM disk as a virtual scratch disk. Clever.

Seems Photoshop only lets one use 1GB of RAM for the application itself, and another 3GB of RAM for files. But, since Phtoshop also lets one assign scratch disks, you can set up a RAM disk as a Photoshop scratch disk with whatever available RAM you can assign to it.

RAM disks are not faster than actual RAM, but much faster than a physical hard drive according to the author of the tip. He also suggests it’s best suited for someone with 8GB or more RAM installed.

Me, I have yet to hit the ceiling as far as I can tell with the 6GB RAM installed on my MacPro. But I thought I would spread the word for those of you who might benefit from this.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject – more RAM is always better. If you are using the memory chips that shipped with your computer – Mac or PC – get more. At the very least double it. Ideally you should max it out if financially feasible. Check out a site such as DealRam to get good comparison pricing on RAM modules.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Photoshop’s 3GB RAM Limit – A Workaround For OS X Users is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators (16)
• Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool (0)
• Free Printable Keyboard Shortcut Cards for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop & More (4)
• CS3 + G4: Using Adobe Creative Suite CS3 on a PowerMac G4 (2)
• Adobe Pen Tool Cheatsheet: Free Download (2)

SneakPeek Pro is a QuickLook plugin fro Mac OS X 10.5 (”Leopard”). In a nutshell, it extends file previews in both QuickLook and the Finder to previously unsupported file types such as Adobe Illustrator .ai files and EPS files.

If you aren’t familiar with QuickLook, it’s a pretty awesome new feature of 10.5 which allows you to quickly preview a good number of core file types — PDF, JPG, PSD, Word docs, movies, text files and more — without actually opening an application. One just needs to tap the spacebar with a file highlighted in the Finder, and a floating bezel-type window opens up with the full image, document or movie. Even works with multi-page documents as well. It’s just plain awesome.

A big drawback with QuickLook as it ships in Leopard — at least for us vector artists — is a curious lack of support for Adobe Illustrator .ai files. No icon previews in the Finder either, and that’s not just a 10.5 situation either.

At $20, SneakPeek Pro at first seems a bit pricey, but once you demo it and the demo expires, those grayed-out file icon previews in the Finder will beckon you to register. In fact, I bought a license more for the Finder previews than the QuickLook functionality, since QuickLook, being so new, has yet to be integrated into my workflow just yet.

And in addition to just .ai and .eps files, it also handles previews for InDesign .indd documents as well as legacy Freehand .fh11 documents.

And if that weren’t enough, in QuickLook view for us Illustrator users there’s also a list of placed files in the documents. And for all the supported file types, there are lists of the swatches used as well as the fonts!

There’s a free 15-day demo download, so you have no reason to not try it out. That is unless you aren’t ready to buy a license — because trust me once you use this, there’s no way you can avoid the purchase.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Illustrator File Previews: SneakPeek Pro QuickLook Plugin For Mac OS X is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators (16)
• More CS3 Problems On Leopard (1)
• Mac Vector App Showdown (0)
• Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool (0)
• CS3 + G4: Using Adobe Creative Suite CS3 on a PowerMac G4 (2)

Jumpcut is a very handy clipboard extender for Mac OS X. What Jumpcut does is remember a user-specified number of text items copied to the clipboard, and allows one to select from them when pasting.

The standard OS X clipboard allows the user to paste only the last-copied item. Jumpcut just keeps track of everything you have copied using the Command (⌘) -C shortcut or the Edit -> Copy menu item.

I find Jumpcut particularly useful when composing blog posts, emails or other text related documents where I will be including a number of URLs. It’s also quite handy when doing layout design edits, copying the many client revisions from an email or PDF sticky note, and then heading over to your graphics or layout application and pasting in the items in their respective sections. Much easier than copying & pasting back and forth from one application to the other.

There are quite a few other clipboard utilities, most of which offer additional features, but also additional bloat and extraneous floating windows. Most of them are also not free. Jumpcut has a clean user interface, as seen to the left; when invoking the user-specified keyboard shortcut (mine is set to Control-Option-V), the bezel overlay is shown and by using the arrow keys, you can cycle through all the recent items added to the clipboard via Copy. There is also a menubar item which stores these as well, and when clicked gives a visual list of the actual text in the clipboard history.

I have read some gripes about Jumpcut not supporting images, but for me the text functionality serves my purposes 99% of the time.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Jumpcut: Free OS X Clipboard History Utility is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool (0)
• Color Blindness Software Tools for Artists (1)
• Productivity Tip: Floating, Transparent Reference Images Using Screenshots & Free Software Afloat (0)
• Pencil: Free Vector & Bitmap Drawing/Animation Software for Mac & Windows (0)
• Pantone Huey Monitor Calibration Tool (6)

Just a quick tip for the freelancing and self-employed — that pain you feel paying all your taxes at once because you’re too lazy or forgetful to dole out your quarterly tax payments to Uncle Sam? It’s over. If you’re like me, and 99% of your banking and bill-paying is done online, there’s a tax payment solution for you.

Head on over to the awkwardly-named Electronic Federal Tax Payment System where you can sign up to link a bank account of your choice to use for electronic withdrawls to pay your taxes, and in particular your quarterly estimated tax payments. You’ll need to fill out an online application, and then they send via snail mail a confirmation letter with some top-secret codes and passwords, which you then need to call a super-secret telephone number to confirm and get your password. If you haven’t already done so, you then link a bank account with your routing numbers and account numbers and such. From there you can make a payment, and even schdule the upcoming payments before they are due, specifying the date the funds are transferred.

I have an ING Direcxt account where I keep my on-hand savings. ING Direct offers a pretty decent interest rate for money that you basically have access to when you need it. You also get access to routing numbers and all that jazz so you can use it as a direct deposit/withdrawl account. I keep my main checking account pretty much empty, transferring as much as possible to the ING Savings account to earn some interest and save for taxes, major purchases in the future and the like.

Up until this point in time I was just paying the IRS penalty every year for not filing my quarterly payments, and this year decided to put an end to that nonsense. I do just about every other financial transaction possible online, and made a point this year to find a way to handle these tax payments as well. It actually was pretty easy to find once I actually looked.

Do yourself a favor an automate the process – no more checks, no more stamps, no more paying all your taxes at the end of the year and freaking out that you might not have put enough away.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Automated Online Estimated Tax Payments For Freelancers & Self-Employed is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Tips For Freelance Illustrators: Nate Williams (0)
• Pencil Grades: An Overview (0)
• Illustrator CS3 Tip: Create A Color Group From Selected Artwork (0)
• Digital Coloring Tutorials by MAD Magazine cartoonist Tom Richmond (2)
• 12 Realities of Pricing Design Services (0)

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.

Ever since upgrading to CS3, I have been extremely annoyed — to say the least — that the Paint bucket tool was “updated” to the new Live Paint paint bucket tool. Want to extend the toolset? Fine. but don’t take away existing tools.

Not yet having the time to fully explore all the new features of Illustrator CS3, including the new Live Paint features, I am for the most part using the tools I am familiar with to create my artwork. The Paint Bucket tool was one that I used quite a bit, and not really understanding the functionality of the new Live Paint Bucket tool, I found myself slowing down quite a bit to use unwieldy workarounds to accomplish what the paint bucket did.

Finally fed up, a quick Google search revealed the solution: option-click with the Eyedropper tool achieves the same effect. Thanks to the poster over at the Adobe Forums for the tip!

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Fill Vector Paths Old-School Paint Bucket Style in Illustrator CS3 is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators (16)
• Illustrator CS3 Tip: Create A Color Group From Selected Artwork (0)
• CS3 + G4: Using Adobe Creative Suite CS3 on a PowerMac G4 (2)
• Zen Of The Pen (2)
• Video: Photoshop CS4 Drag-Resize Brush Keyboard Shortcut (3)

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.

Bruner is admittedly an Illustrator newbie. As with other Freehand users who were forced to migrate to Illustrator after Adobe’s acquisition of Macromedia (and subsequent retiring of Freehand), Bruner feels as if he’s taken a major productivity kick in the pants. But he’s also open to the idea that perhaps he’s just not aware of the best way to accomplish certain tasks in Illustrator, and therefore the videos are also presented as a kind of open dialog for himself and other Freehanders who need some help making the switch.I have been following these Illustrator gripes on Twitter with much geek interest, as I had never used Freehand and wondered what the fuss was all about. I also thought it a great way to find new features to bug Adobe for on their feedback/bug report/feature request form. Illustrator Von “Vonster” Glitschka seems to have taken the attitude that Adobe will not heed these requests, but I am hopeful. I may be a bit spoiled from having access to shareware developers over the years, where often you’ll see feature requests implemented the next week, or even the next day.

Already some of Bruner’s videos have brought up some workflow issues he was having due to lack of knowledge of Illustrator, but also he’s shown many cool features and tools previously available to Freehand users that I would like to see implemented in Illustrator CS4.

A must-see for any Freehand user migrating to Illustrator, but also interesting for those Illustrator vector artists out there to see how the other half has been working all these years. If you see a feature or tool you like, be sure to head over to the Adobe software feature request page and ask for it. Only features requested via this form are considered, and project managers on the Adobe forums have repeatedly said these submissions are taken seriously.

Shortly I will be posting in regards to what seems to be the major Freehand user requests, including Vonster’s Illustrator main feature/tool gripe/wish list. If we all ask for the same features and tools, they have to get noticed.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

FreeHand & Illustrator Comparison Video Series By Illustrator Garth Bruner is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Video: Photoshop CS4 Drag-Resize Brush Keyboard Shortcut (3)
• Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators (16)
• The Beziér Artist’s Liberation Front: Adobe Illustrator Feature Requests (0)
• Ten Essential Low-Tech (and Cheap!) Tools for Cartoonists & Illustrators (3)
• Illustrator File Previews: SneakPeek Pro QuickLook Plugin For Mac OS X (0)

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.

The default Adobe Illustrator select menu set offers: Brush Strokes, Clipping Masks, Stray Points, Text Objects, Flash Dynamic Text and Flash Input Text. Select Menu adds the following useful items: Guides, Paths, Open Paths, Closed Paths, Filled Paths, Unfilled Paths, Stroked Paths, Unstroked Paths, Dashed Paths, Undashed Paths, Compound Paths, Groups, Live Object Groups, Gradient Meshes, Envelopes, Symbols, Raster Art and Placed EPS Art.

These additions quickly become essential tools, and like I mentioned above you’ll soon forget that these aren’t built-in to Illustrator, they are that handy. And be sure to check out the other free and reasonably-priced plugins available as well. And for another great plugin, check out my post on the Zoom To Selection Illustrator plugin.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Essential Adobe Illustrator Plug-in: Select Menu is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Related posts

• Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators (16)
• Video: Photoshop CS4 Drag-Resize Brush Keyboard Shortcut (3)
• Must-have Adobe Illustrator plugin: Zoom to Selection (4)
• Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool (0)
• Free Printable Keyboard Shortcut Cards for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop & More (4)