A Short Course on Adobe Photoshop and Web Graphic Design – Part 1

Adobe Photoshop & Web Graphic Design Training

I am not artistically inclined, but I do sometimes dream I can create beautiful art someday.

I attended a 2 day course on web graphic design using Adobe Photoshop CS3 at the Philippine Trade Training Center, Philippines. I really do not know how to use Photoshop except use it to crop out pictures for my blog posts or powerpoint presentations. So I was excited to learn more than the usual. Another reason why I took this course is that I was interested how the Photoshop can be used in creating great looking websites.

Judging from the course program, the training is short but compact. First day of the training course is on the interface, and the tools available in Photoshop. In Adobe Photoshop, you work on layers of images. When this concept was discussed on the training, I was imagining a hamburger.

When you view a hamburger from the top, you would only see the bun, but when you view at the side, you could see all the layers of ingredients, i.e., the lettuce, the pickles, the hamburger patty, the cheese, etc. Similarly, the graphic image you create in Photoshop is made up of 2 or more layers stacked on top of one another.

Here are some important action keys and keyboard shortcuts to remember in Adobe Photoshop, I listed them here because I keep on forgetting them during the course.

Action Keys

Free Transform	Ctrl+T	to edit/resize objects on your layer
Merge Layers	Crtl+E	to merge one or more layers
Deselect	Ctrl+D	to deselect active object on your layer
Liquify Filter	Ctrl+Shift+X	to alter an objects shape on your layer
Invert	Ctrl+I	to invert an image or object

Shortcut Keys

Ctrl+Z	Redo/Undo
Alt+Ctrl+Z	Step Backward/Undo
Crtl++	Zoom In
Ctrl+-	Zoom Out
]	Increase Brush Size
[	Decrease Brush Size
F8	Object Information Window

 

As a hands-on exercise, we were asked to replicate an Iphone using Photoshop. I had a headache doing this, but I did learn a lot. Here is my humble attempt. Does it look close to the original?

Replicating an Iphone using Photoshop

A good tip I learned from the instructor is to always start a project with a clean slate by having only the toolbar and layer panel on your Photoshop screen.  When doing a design project, always breakdown the task into separates. This can be done by doing each objects or tasks in the design into separate layers. That way, your work is organize. Labeling your layers is also a good way in organizing tasks in your project.

To be continued…

Training course information:

Dates: March 26-27, 2012

Registration Fee: PhP 2,250

Instructor: Mr. Martin Cipriano (www.thisisaportfolio.com)

Facilitator: Mr. Gerald David, Philippine Trade Training Center (www.pttc.gov.ph)

Tel. No: (632) 468-8962