Boot Camp for Designers: The Start

Creating graphics is a hard task in the webmaster world. Not only do you have to keep in mind your target audience, but also you have to be aware that not every internet connection is high speed; too many graphics, the sites loads slow and too little could make a site look plain. First, Photoshop is not the only program out there for designing. You can use Illustrator, GIMP, Paint.net between others. I recommend Photoshop though, I use it and I am completely satisfied with it.


Anyways, I started using Photoshop Elements; I was too scared of any newer version. Any new Photoshop or any software at that, which you haven’t tried, will look intimidating! You won’t know where to start, which will end up confusing you and you will close the program. Don’t do that, start by opening a blank canvas and play around with the tools.

Getting down and dirty… with graphics!!

As I said previously, I am a Photoshop user, I tried my fair share of other software but regardless of that, I couldn’t get used to any other software, so your first choice could be your one and only.


Okay, you open the program (Photoshop, Gimp, illustrator, etc) and you see all these tools… Where to start?? By opening a blank document, of course! You have to play around with the tools, get familiar with them. Don’t worry about how your first graphic looks, mine looked catastrophic and I am positive most professional graphic designers had a horrible first. So, play around and poke every aspect, later on when you’re actually designing you will know where the tools are when you need them and what they are for.

The recipe to be a designer-YUM!

• 1+ Year(s) of dedication
• Drive
• A LOT of patience
• Interest
• And a teaspoon of creativity

Graphic designing is a long and hard process, you will not become a designer overnight, but in the end it is rewarding. It takes more than a month to learn the basics properly, so if you don’t have much patience, this is not really for you.


You have to be dedicated to learning this. As I said, it’s not an overnight talent, so even if you don’t practice daily, you can practice every now and then. You can’t stop using the software for a long period of time; you will forget some of the tools. I am a believer in dedication, if you have enough dedication; you can learn this in less than a year. Try to be different in your designs, people will often judge and compare you to other people, don’t let that bother you either, take constructive criticism in consideration and make your own style.

Creativity 101

Be yourself! Make your graphics convey who you are! You think you are unique? Yes, everybody is! We have Nutella lovers and we have coffee addicts, Mac fanatics and Windows fanatics. Todo el mundo tiene su gusto – Everybody has their taste, so not everyone will have the same opinion about your graphics, some will love them others will hate it.

Imagine you’re a kid or if you are one, better yet! Now, imagine you are at a candy store…Why do you think you like that one candy better than the others? Because of its unique flavor. This is the same with graphics; the users will like your graphics if they have a unique aspect to them. So even when following tutorials, add your own spice to it, it helps you create a style you’re comfortable with.

Do tutorials help?

To be completely honest, they might but exploring on your own may result ten times better, a longer process, but better nonetheless. If you still think you need tutorials below are some links to excellent websites that could help you:
PSDtuts
Abduzeebo
Nettuts
Vectortuts

Is there a “too much” when talking about graphics on a website?

Yes! Of course there is. A graphic designer should aim to satisfy the users, not make them wait to see your masterpiece! Plus, too many graphics may overwhelm the user, so keep in mind; not too many graphics, but not plain either.

To end, I can’t stress enough that graphic designing is not an overnight process. If you want to make THIS you have to start by this. Be patient, be yourself and make it known in your graphics, you are what will make your graphics unique, be dedicated and don’t give up.

By FullMetalBabe © Setsou Design 2009​

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This is superb. Thanks for sharing.

 

FMB, I'm ready for bootcamp!

I'm going to finally stop "hoping" that I have time to learn how to make graphics and just do it! Are you going to make this an ongoing tutorial/bootcamp?

 

Yes, I will actually make this something "long" so to speak. From the beginning to the "actual" tutorial on making a PSD design, when I explore more board systems, preferably vB as it seems to be one of the most popular, I will make a tut on how to go all PSD->Forum software.

Right now the only forum software that I can manage PSD->Software is MyBB and Dave[My new partner in Setsou Design] is pretty much the code genius.

For this tutorial/bootcamp I want to focus on photoshop users, but I'll be trying t other softwares this week to see if I can expand this "series".

 

I also do straight PSD-to-HTML, and hopefully soon will be able to do PSD-to-Joomla!, along with vB of course. So between the two of us, this article series should cover a majority of the basics.

 

I'll be keeping an eye on this series, that's for sure. Thanks for putting together this series of tuts. It will definitely help us graphically-challenged folks

 

I am very thankful to you for sharing such a valuable information with us.