Learning Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects

[LordBaguette 840]

Been taking stock of my life recently and to be honest I have just been extremely bored and frustrated without having any kind of challenge in my life at the moment. Whilst I am still being paid for 38 hours work, I currently have hardly anything to do (boohoo i know) but it means I have a lot of spare time. I wanted a new challenge and have decided to begin learning Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects, with a view to hopefully start creating some free lance logos / art etc to hopefully eventually start making some money from it, and long term maybe even a career. I would also like to get into Motion Design eventually once comfortable with the software. Sick of where I am currently I just want a change of pace

 

I was interested in graphic design as a kid and did use photoshop back then a lot and Fireworks. But I havent done anything like that in easily over 10 years, so will be starting from the ground up with youtube tutorials. I saw @Grebothis interested in digital art, just wondering if anyone else has any experience with the programmes / the industry. Any tips etc would be great maybe even share your portfolios

 

[GazzaGarratt 11,049]

Love that you're trying something new Tom, I think its a great thing to learn too. One of those things many of us would want to be great in but it takes time to learn how it all works. I can't offer much advice from my angle, although if you want to help create some stuff with me at FG likie visuals, gifs, etc then please let me know. This is the right time to get involved if you @Greboth as an example helping out some FGers and also doing the GT Sport ones. @jordie1892  is also kindly helping out with some visuals for FIFA and I certainly wouldn't mind you chiming on any other games that we could do stuff for. Hopefully it all helps from a practice and portfolio perspective.

[Greboth 2,721]

I don't know how much I can comment TBH, I learned photoshop as a hobby along side my degree so it's possible to learn it to a reasonable level as a hobby.  Though I've never used it professionally to be able to comment on that side.  Though I can say, I'm aware that I do have gaps in my knowledge due to learning through tutorials and things which may not exist had I learned it formally.  I don't know if it is an issue but something to consider if your ultimate aim is to use it professionally.

 

Photoshop is a fantastic program and certainly has it's uses for design and editing existing photos/images/logo's etc but I know most logo work will be carried out in Illustrator simply as it's a vector based program v photoshop being raster based.

 

The biggest tip I think for anyone starting out would be learn the keyboard shortcuts - there's a LOT of them but knowing them makes your workflow easier.  Some of them are pretty simple to learn, B for brush, T for Type etc. some not so much but still make sense like G being for bucket fill (it's because it's on the same tool as gradient fill) though some make no sense like V for move or O for dodge/burn/sponge tool.  On the subject of shortcuts, shift+shortcut key will rotate through the different options of the same tool (so g to select gradient fill, shift g to change to bucket fill, shift g again will take you back to gradient fill).

[tronic44 3,642]

I know nothing about these programs but just wanted to say good luck!

[phil bottle 9,754]

You could also move on to video editing and start making gaming videos as a way of practicing. 

All good though, it's important to keep the brain occupied in these times👍

[GazzaGarratt 11,049]

26 minutes ago, phil bottle said:

You could also move on to video editing and start making gaming videos as a way of practicing. 

All good though, it's important to keep the brain occupied in these times👍

 

Totally agree on both counts. Video editing is the same theme running through what you want to learn and you have access to plenty of clips of your own (and ours if you want them). I know you used to do pretty well back in the day on YouTube so no harm in picking some of that back up. That brain needs to keep active between now and whenever stuff will come back to the world we once knew.

[jordie1892 681]

I started learning Photoshop around 2010 by making signatures for the guys on the old MW2 Forum. Lucky enough to now use Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and After Effects in the day to day of my job.

 

! I think to start just ensure you are comfortable with using the basic tools. Even with the more complicated work I do now, it's essentially just problem solving how to get to your end result using those basic tools. I remember finding a lot of the tutorials quite boring (and I have a terrible attention span), so try and pick ones that have you create an end image (not just 'this is how to do X'), and you will start to just absorb the information.

 

If you need any help with anything, feel free to shoot me a message!

 

I'll attach a few examples of recent work I have done:

 

1 - Free Standing Display Unit to go into Sainsbury's stores. You can see this in stores across the UK currently

2 - Disney Storytime Collection Slip Case - A new product available on Amazon. I don't often get to design the actual products, more the marketing materials, so this was a fun change of pace.

3 - I create yearly catalogues across different the different imprints. Whilst I can't share the 2021 catalogue, this is a page from this years.

[GazzaGarratt 11,049]

On 11/5/2020 at 5:07 PM, jordie1892 said:

I started learning Photoshop around 2010 by making signatures for the guys on the old MW2 Forum. Lucky enough to now use Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and After Effects in the day to day of my job.

 

! I think to start just ensure you are comfortable with using the basic tools. Even with the more complicated work I do now, it's essentially just problem solving how to get to your end result using those basic tools. I remember finding a lot of the tutorials quite boring (and I have a terrible attention span), so try and pick ones that have you create an end image (not just 'this is how to do X'), and you will start to just absorb the information.

 

If you need any help with anything, feel free to shoot me a message!

 

I'll attach a few examples of recent work I have done:

 

1 - Free Standing Display Unit to go into Sainsbury's stores. You can see this in stores across the UK currently

2 - Disney Storytime Collection Slip Case - A new product available on Amazon. I don't often get to design the actual products, more the marketing materials, so this was a fun change of pace.

3 - I create yearly catalogues across different the different imprints. Whilst I can't share the 2021 catalogue, this is a page from this years.

 

Loving the work @jordie1892 !

 

I think you hit the nail on the head in that starting to do work, no matter how bad you may think it is at the start will always help you improve. Like i've said to you before Tom, the offer is always here for anything we can come up with. Don't rest, make sure you use the opportunity whilst you can.

[TurboR56Mini 967]

So how's it's going @LordBaguette ?