pscates, thanks!

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014




I saw this cool iPod tutorial in macdesign, bought the magazine, got through the whole thing, then realized you wrote it. Pretty cool :cool: Any suggestions for improving it? I had some trouble getting the word 'menu' exactly where I wanted it. Moving text on a path is a bitch. And I don't think my gradients are quite right. One of my first real illustrations. Thanks for the help.



[ 03-31-2002: Message edited by: torifile ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    No problem...glad you were inspired!







    Looks really nice, too.



    Maybe I'd offset the radial gradient on that big center dial to give the illusion of being indented a bit (light coming from upper left, so make the darker part of the gradient in the upper left, to help "sell" the effect. Other than that, it looks really nice.



    I just sent my third tutorial in a few weeks ago for the May/June issue, so keep your eyes open in a month or so. I'm having a blast doing them and I guess, until I'm told otherwise, I'm the guy doing them. At least for a while. They seem happy with them and I enjoy doing them.



    I've been getting some really cool, nice e-mails from people about it.



    Not being a true, schooled writer and all, that's the part I struggle with. Actually DOING the stuff in Illustrator and taking the <a href="http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/utilities/snapzprox/"; target="_blank">screen shots</a> is a piece of cake. It's the writing that I go over about a gazillion times!



    I have to keep each step under 150 words, which isn't really a lot once you start trying to write and explain each step. It really forces you to cut through and try to pare it down to the good stuff. But then you end up wondering "is this too vague or brief?".







    By the way, any suggestions/ideas any of you'd like to see tackled for an upcoming tutorial? I've outlined my next several ones, but some of you might have a better idea or topic.



    Post here, or contact me directly at [email protected] or [email protected]



    Again, thanks, torifile, for the compliments and all. That's a really good job and you're the fourth person who's let me know that this is the first thing they've really done in Illustrator (they e-mailed me their versions too), and they're all coming out looking great. That's how I know that I must be doing okay with these tutorials. People are able to read and follow them and recreate this stuff really well.



    Keep it up. Illustrator is cooler than many people realize. Photoshop shouldn't get ALL the attention!



  • Reply 2 of 9
    Yes, but Photshop is better for us no-talents because 90% of the time all we're doing is taking an existing photo and globbing stuff onto it. With Illustrator you have to have actual talent.



    I mean, you teaching me Illustrator would be like Jennifer Connelly teaching me how to be a fabulous babe. Even if I did everything exactly the way she did, I doubt the results would be the same.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Actually, Michael, I don't agree. The whole point of that iPod tutorial was to try and get across that you don't have to draw ANYTHING to create that iPod illustration!



    All you're doing is using existing Illustrator shapes (rectangles and circles), treating them with a few Pathfinder or corner rounding filters and applying a few simple two-step gradients.



    I didn't physically "draw" a thing in my tutorial. THAT'S what people need to grasp, otherwise they're missing out on a fabulous piece of software.



    Let the software do the heavy lifting. I very rarely sit and truly, painstakingly "draw" stuff in Illustrator. I start off with basic, simple shapes and manipulate them with Pathfinders and various other filters.



    And anyone can learn to do that. Believe me...I've gotten way too many JPEGs this past week or so from people writing me and saying "thanks for the tutorial, here's my attempt!" and they ALL looked great.



    It isn't necessarily about "talent". Not always, anyway.



    It's about knowing how to milk the most out of a piece of software and use it to do what you see in your head. I simply "think in Illustrator". I see something I want to draw, it hardly ever occurs to me to sit there with the pencil tool and tough it out.



    I just go, "okay, if I start with a circle and scale it vertically about 65%, I'll get a nice egg shape...then if I draw a rectangle on top of it and apply the Minus Front command, I'll get..."







    Sounds freaky, but it's true. Make sense?



    Now about that Jennifer Connelly thing...



    Good googley-moogley, she's sexy!
  • Reply 4 of 9
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    I agree. The reason I'm interested in using Illustrator is the fact that I don't have to be able to draw anything, per se. I'm a terrible illustrator, but I like to draw. Having a program that allows me to fix mistakes and get things 'right' as they would be in my mind is great. I also like the precision that's involved. It takes out an element of intuition (something that can't be taught) and adds the fact that I can 'figure it out' eventually. Photoshop is a different realm entirely.



    ps - pscates, could you throw together a tutorial on the pathfinder tools and what they do? I have trouble figuring out exactly what they mean or even what they're supposed to do some of the time. Or maybe a tutorial on the warping effects and meshes. Or something on perspective. Hell, anything would be good. Just keep up the good work.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    I'm working on - hopefully - getting my website "ready for primetime".







    In addition to being an online portfolio, contact info, it's going to have quite a cool little Illustrator tips/tricks/techniques section.



    About half the site will probably be devoted to tutorials and cool little 2-3 step "down and dirty" tricks and tips, and general Adobe Illustrator advocacy and flag-waving.



    Oh, and a fair bit of completely biased, one-sided Apple evangelism, of course.







    [ 04-02-2002: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>
  • Reply 6 of 9
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    [quote]Originally posted by torifile:

    <strong>ps - pscates, could you throw together a tutorial on the pathfinder tools and what they do? I have trouble figuring out exactly what they mean or even what they're supposed to do some of the time. Or maybe a tutorial on the warping effects and meshes. Or something on perspective. Hell, anything would be good. Just keep up the good work. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Here you go

  • Reply 7 of 9
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    You absolutely rock! thx.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    [quote]Originally posted by Michael Grey:

    <strong>Yes, but Photshop is better for us no-talents because 90% of the time all we're doing is taking an existing photo and globbing stuff onto it. With Illustrator you have to have actual talent.



    I mean, you teaching me Illustrator would be like Jennifer Connelly teaching me how to be a fabulous babe. Even if I did everything exactly the way she did, I doubt the results would be the same.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    whats funny is I've always used Photoshop as an art program...not a photo editing prorgam



    once my sister recreated Jim morrisons face in photoshop...starting from scratch and working practically pixel by pixel...she recreated it 100% perfectly....but then maybe a year later the HD it was on got destroyed...and its been lost forever.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    spartspart Posts: 2,060member
    Just bought Illustrator 10.....and I can't wait to start playing with it in OS X. Also already *have* PS 7....not waiting for it to get here.
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