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.
Continue reading 'Scanned Sketch Prep — Free Photoshop Action'
by George Coghill
View my cartoon character and logo illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Be sure to check out my live and recorded drawing, sketching & vectoring videos.
Published on
November 25, 2008 in
tips.
Tags: Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Creative Suite, CS3, CS4, free, keyboard commands, keyboard shortcuts, Mac, PDF, Photoshop, reference.
Great resource for Adobe Photoshop users — reference cards for quick overviews of Photoshop’s interface, specific and often-used tools.
Includes links to versions for Photoshop CS3 and CS4 as well as both Macintosh and Windows versions.
Some of the “cards” are actually links to Adobe’s own online help (which is where the default Help in CS4 apps now takes you). But the rest of the cards look helpful in learning or referencing common tools such as the Pen tool, the Marquee tool, and the Brush tool. Worth a look and a download for the reference cards that suit your workflow. Sure to enhance your productivity.
Continue reading 'Photoshop Cheatsheets and Reference Cards: Free Downloads'
by George Coghill
View my cartoon character and logo illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Be sure to check out my live and recorded drawing, sketching & vectoring videos.
A cool resource for Star Wars geeks (like me) out there looking for vector art of the logos/insignias for the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire, seen throughout the original Star Wars trilogy.
Continue reading 'Star Wars Insignias — Free Vector Art Downloads'
by George Coghill
View my cartoon character and logo illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Be sure to check out my live and recorded drawing, sketching & vectoring videos.
Published on
November 5, 2008 in
software.
Tags: Adobe, Adobe Air, free, graphics tablet, Mac, resources, software, tool, Wacom, Wacom Bamboo.
Wacom has a new online service and free companion software tool download called Bamboo Dock. The apps available so far are basic — a drawing/doodling app, a map you can draw on and a handwriting recognition app. The others I couldn’t demo as a Wacom Bamboo serial number is required.
The online service is a sort of virtual sketchpad, allowing you to doodle, draw, scrapbook and upload files to “spaces” which are like collections, and inside of each one can add multiple canvases with different contents, themes and such.
I am having a hard time imagining a use for the online portion, but the companion apps look like they might be handy and should be interesting to see how things progress as new tools are developed/released.
Continue reading 'Wacom: Bamboo Dock'
by George Coghill
View my cartoon character and logo illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Be sure to check out my live and recorded drawing, sketching & vectoring videos.
Published on
October 31, 2008 in
productivity and resources.
Tags: Adobe, Adobe Illustrator, art, Bezier, Creative Suite, free, graphic design, how-to, Illustration, illustrator, PDF, Photoshop, reference, software, technique, tips, tutorials, vector, walkthrough.
Sharon Steuer’s free ”Zen Of The Pen” PDF is an excellent introduction to the inner mysteries of the vector pen tool in Adobe Illustrator.
The pen tool is one of those obscure graphics programs tools that everyone tries once, and then gets so confused by that they never get any further with it. And understandably. It looks like a fountain pen, but it doesn’t act like one. Click and “draw”, you get weird “handles” sprouting out from a dot. Ignore that, and some annoying rubber band line gets stuck to your pen tip, all distorted out of — not even a straight line! Right there most Illustrator users think to themselves “this program sucks”.
But they couldn’t be further from the truth…
Continue reading 'Zen Of The Pen'
by George Coghill
View my cartoon character and logo illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Be sure to check out my live and recorded drawing, sketching & vectoring videos.
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