Photoshop: The basics

The absolute basics to design using Adobe Photoshop

There's a huge amount of resources available to Photoshop users. Brushes, actions, custom shapes, tutorials, video tutorials, the list is long and, in some cases, quite esoteric. It's all quite daunting to a Photoshop newbie - where's the stuff that tells you how to get started?

In that spirit, here's a few basic pointers for Photoshop that we find very useful:

• Don't be scared:::
  Possibly the most important thing to bear in mind when approaching Photoshop for the first time is not to be scared. Though it is incredibly powerful, Photoshop is, at the end of the day, a graphics package and nothing more. It sits on the far end of the scale which has Microsoft Paint on the bottom rung.
  
  Doing something wrong in Photoshop will not:
  1. Cost you money
  2. Resurrect Hitler
  3. Blow up your computer
  4. Blow up you
  5. Blow up the world
  6. Kill a kitten
• It's huge!:::
  Whatever it is that you're drawing, always draw it too big.
  
  The central reason for this is that it's impossible to size an image up and keep it at a reasonable level of quality. Oft is the time when a wonderful piece of work has been completed, only to find that it's too small to be of any reasonable use. On the other hand, sizing down an image that's over-large couldn't be simpler, and there's no loss of image quality.
  
  Sometimes, this approach means that you'll have to wait awhile for certain effects to render, and working with complex images at a large size will take time, and will occasionally be tedious. At times like this, go out and buy more RAM, grit your teeth and persevere, do anything rather than working smaller. Too big is, usually, just about right.
• Be patient:::
  As well as being brimmed to the cram with all sorts of resources, the net also has many fine Photoshop works by many fine Photoshop artists. To the newcomer, this is very, very daunting. It's like playing 'Old King Cole' on a kazoo in a bar where Mozart, Beethoven and Liszt have stopped for a reflective chat.
  
  Don't panic! It takes months, sometimes years of effort to become familiar enough with Photoshop's capabilities to produce high quality work. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're lying.
  
  Just remember, nobody got good at guitar without sounding crap to start with. Let's face it, even Hendrix's first efforts probably sounded like a cat going to the toilet through a sewn-up bum. So hang in there...
• Save it, pal:::
  We've all been there - you've completed your assignment/project/diary entry/random missive and you're ready to pack up and go home. Then your system suffers a fatal crash. Your fingers remain poised over the 'ctrl' and 's' keys, shaking slightly, but there's nothing you can do.
  
  Computers do not respect your hard work, so it's up to you to save as often as possible. This is especially important in Photoshop, where pleasing effects may be arrived at at random, and rebuilding them won't just take hours, but may be impossible. Also, save as multiple file names - when you change something drastic in your project, save it under a new filename (a lot of people simply add a number after the filename, then go up in increments). That way, if you decide you don't like the direction you've taken, you can return to your old version.
• Have fun:::
  If you're not enjoying creating whatever it is you're creating, chances are no one else will enjoy looking at it. Design is a creative process, and you can't force it to work - sometimes, you'll accomplish more in an hour than you struggled to produce all the previous day.
  
  If you're not enjoying yourself, put down the mouse/stylus/keyboard and walk away.
  
  Have a cup of chai. Listen to some music. Write a haiku.
  
  Hacking away at something you hate does no one any good.

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