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Adobe Photoshop Menu Bar Tutorial: Using Logic to Find the Function You Need

Many people new to Adobe Photoshop and other Adobe Creative Suite programs feel like a deer in headlights. Sure, many of Photoshop’s tools will be completely new, and the software is, without question, complex. But, coming into your first projects, we can guarantee that you know at least two things: some items in the main toolbar and the goals of your project. With these things to build off of, we can help you make educated guesses where to look for the design-enhancing whatchamacallits and thingamajigs in Photoshop with good old-fashioned logic and imagery. File & Edit Menus...

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Adobe Photoshop Tutorial: Creating Comic Book Effects

Adobe Photoshop might be a tool, but it is also a toy. Believe it or not, it is more of a toy than graphic designers let on. When I was a kid, I often pictured myself under the cowls of my favorite comic book characters. I had Spider-Man’s dorkiness, reflexes and flexibility. Wolverine and I share a grizzly case of hairy arms. We might be past those days of pretending we had a superhero costume under the mattress, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose our imaginations. In fact, those childhood fantasies could lead to an inspiring design. So, why not use Photoshop to have a little bit of fun?...

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Honing Adobe Photoshop Skills: Creating Memes

Creating designs with a central image and text is one of the most common uses of Adobe Photoshop. Flyers, billboards, magazine ads, book covers and countless other materials use this format. These types of designs aren’t only made by professionals. Regular Joes like you and me put together amusing designs all the time. Memes, for example, are extremely popular on the Web and can be created with the most basic Photoshop tools. Sure, they might not be as polished as a billboard in Times Square, but they are perfect for sharpening Photoshop skills. You’ve got to start somewhere, and creating...

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Honing Adobe Photoshop Skills: Removing Red Eye

Retouching photographs is one of the many amazing abilities of Adobe Photoshop. Even the most talented photographers need help if they want to get their shots just right. Removing red eye from photos always gives photos a higher level of professionalism, and you don’t have to hire a professional graphic designer to do it. Unless it’s Halloween and you want everyone in photos to look like red-eye ghouls, Photoshop has the cure, turning your ghouls into happy, smiling humans. In today’s example, however, we are helping my dog, Claire, who has come down with a mean case of ...

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Adobe Illustrator & InDesign Tool Palette Cheat Sheet

Feeling a bit lost in Adobe Illustrator or InDesign? This tool palette cheat sheet should help you find your way. If you still need extra help, take a look at our Illustrator and InDesign courses! Illustrator Artboard Tool It is: A tool that allows you to resize and move artboards. Graph Tool It is: A quick way to create various graphs. What it does: Takes data for your graph and places it into whatever form of graph you choose, including stacked, bar, line, area, scatter, pie, radar and mixed forms of graphs. Symbol Sprayer Tool It is: A convenient way to add numerous copies of a graphic to...

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Adobe Photoshop Tool Palette Cheat Sheet

Ever try to navigate your way through Adobe Photoshop, only to wonder what all the funky little icons mean? Here is a quick cheat sheet of Photoshop’s specific tool palette to help you out. Also, check out our Adobe Creative Suite Tools post to find out what all the other icons do! Edit in Quick Mask Mode It is: A selection tool like no other. What it does: Creates selected areas using any of Photoshop’s painting tools. This can be used in conjunction with other selection tools. What that means: This mode is a one-stop-shop to nail down a specific selection using tools that normally wouldn’t...

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