(no subject)

[orangerful]

stolenglimpse and I were discussing Photoshop and it made me realize how much the learning curve on GIMP is really hindering my creativity because I just haven't had time the learn the program. Back in the day, I learned Photoshop (erm, which magically appeared on my computer officer!) because LJ was full of tutorial comms and so on. But I don't feel like that community exists on DW anymore, at least not for GIMP. So I went poking around the Photoshop site to see what I could find. I knew they had a free version of CS2 but that software is no longer supported and is over 10 years old and I felt like the graphics I made using it never looked quite right. You can't actually purchase Photoshop separately, it's all part of their "Creative Cloud" suite that is meant for professionals which has an insane monthly fee that doesn't make sense for someone who dabbles.

Then I realized that I never really used Photoshop to its full extent, I just need to crop, mess with layers, add some text and flatten. I found Photoshop Elements, which does have a flat price to purchase and Adobe has a 30 day trial on their site.

So I just signed up for that and downloaded it. Obviously, it looks a lot different from the CS5 that I trained myself on, but the features I need seem to be there! And my ancient collection of brushes appear to work too! Huzzah!

Now to set aside some time to make SOMETHING! Anything! I just made this icon **points for DW users to see** in a few minutes. Not high art, but I was able to crop, clone, add text and a border so YAY!

Resolution for April/May - make graphics! I need to update my DW header because I haven't changed it since 2011 or whenever I got this crazy thing! oooh but what fandom to focus on...

Anyway - thanks stolenglimpse for inspiring me to search! And now I feel like I can really participate in crossovercoffee (which just posted its first prompts so everyone go play!)!

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Nice icon! And yes, I have a friend who was trying to get into Photoshop again and gave up because one can't dabble with it anymore.

Your comment about the communities is quite true -- I think a lot of artists went to Tumblr but icon and banner making has been edged out by other visual work. I haven't changed my banner/style in ages either, in large part because I never see communities offering work anymore. At least icons are still around and I'm seeing new ones crop up every day, but not banners, wallpapers, etc. When was the last time anyone made a mood set?

[goodbyebird]

Aw yay for getting back into graphics! The resurgence here on dw has been very slow, but steady. Hopefully that continues. Pretty icon! I have the same image saved, but haven't got around to it yet. *sobs in advance over the trilogy concluding*

I know iconthat is doing a rainbow challenge atm, so if a color you like pops up, you can make an icon and post. Very low-pressure challenge :) And I know oh_crime posted a set of tutorials recently, or you could dig back in the tags on smallbatchicons; we had some tuts, guides, and discussions a few years back.

[silverusagi]

I am also super annoyed/bummed out over the Photoshop thing. Even if I wanted to drop $800 on a program that I could have and use for the next 10 years, it doesn't work that way anymore.