Lessons
Planning Your Strategy
06:34 2Digitizing with Photoshop: Step 1 - Scan
03:57 3Digitizing with Photoshop: Step 2 - Adjust/Edit
07:57 4Digitizing with Photoshop: Step 3 - Layer
17:24 5James Victore's Workhorse Fonts
22:22 6Digitizing with Illustrator: Step 1 - iPhone Capture
07:29 7Digitizing with Illustrator: Step 2 - Live Trace
08:58 8Digitizing with Illustrator: Step 3 - Overlay Vector
12:10Lesson Info
Planning Your Strategy
Hi. My name is Laura Victoria and this is my husband, James Victoria. And we're here to teach you guys how to digitize your hand drawn art. And that just means how to get your the work that you've done on paper. You've drawn out with your hands into the computer so you can use it in a multiple ways either What do you say? Like in a magazine, or work for a client on a poster galleries. Whatever the end result is is just how to get the authenticity authenticity of your hand drawn stuff into the computer. And we're going to show you all the secrets. And of course, there ain't no secrets. So we're gonna show you that right now. That's right. So let's begin. First thing is howdy. Hi. It's so good to see here faces to see you here and hello to all of you out there on the Internet. Um, let's just start with what is the dilemma? What are we freaked out about when we think about trying to get our hand drawn work digitized in the computer? What I think about is that many must think it's too comp...
licated and you're not sure that maybe there's a right way to do it, and you're not sure what that IHS. So it's too difficult to even try to go there. Um, or you're scared of doing it the wrong way, right? Or you feel like it requires a lot of fancy equipment, high end scanner, something, you know, a huge, expensive camera camera. And we're going to answer those questions for you. What are we gonna teach you here? What are you gonna learn? I'm gonna teach you two different methods of capturing your handmade designs. Um, and the pros and cons advantages to each method. Um, I'm also going to teach you how to create J pegs and vector files. Thank you. And how to layer multiple images to create a final piece of artwork. Okay, who is this for? This is for you. This is where designers, artists, creative types who need to capture the handmade work and get it into the computer and make it digital. Okay. And why us? Cause we're professionals way as we go along? Yes, because there is no right way. But we found our own right ways. You know our own ways of doing it. and it seems to be working because we get it published in magazines, in museums and galleries around the world. So we're gonna teach you how to do that. No. So, um, starting off with planning your strategy, okay? Before you even begin, you're going. Teoh, look at your handmade work that you've created and you're gonna decide. Okay, what's the end result that I want? So it's going to be this is going to make it different for you know, that the method that you choose is going to be different, depending on what you want it for in the end. So if you are, you know, doing a job for a super high in glossy magazine, you're probably gonna want something that has a little higher resolution. And maybe you're gonna want more detail. So that will defect, whether you use, maybe use scanner instead of taking a photograph. Um, also, um, it will depend on, like, if you say, if you size. So we have a project recent that we're working on recently. That's 18 feet wide, and I want to draw maybe with a Sumi brush and make something, and then it has to be 18 feet wide. How do you scan for that? So we want to talk about Victor. Rising stuff? Yeah. Later A t the end of this. I mean, at the end of demonstration, there'll be some pieces of work that we've done, and we'll show you. We have some of the original bits and pieces here, and we can show you what the end result looks like and how we kind of got there. Yeah. So if you're designing for a billboard a huge billboard, that's gonna be very different than if you're designing something for the web. That's gonna be super low Rez. Okay, so we're gonna teach you the different methods for each way. We're also going to dive into these two different types of files that we use most of the time for most of our work, Um, J pegs and that we usually manipulate in photo shop and then also vector files, which we were talking about before, which are great, too. Very scalable imagery. So allow you to work really big, um, or really small. And those we will manipulate in, um illustrator. OK, so we're going to show you that, too, And we're gonna show you. Well, what I think will be extremely interesting for you guys. It is literally gonna be we're gonna sweep, made some stuff. We're gonna prove preparing some stuff will show you things. But it's gonna be literally how we do it, which is basically, I started in his business, um, doing things by hand just before the computer came out, and I kind of continue that tradition. At one point, I knew how to use the computer, and I've become pretty much an idiot about it. So I need help consistently. So I'll show you the rial way that we work. Which is Laura helping me on the computer and me walking around, holding my ears going. Is this gonna work? Is this gonna work? That's pretty true. Help you out and you know, to reemphasize that, um, I I am not a for shop professional. I am just figuring out as we go along. But the techniques that we use are perfectly great to get, you know, to get your work completed and published and out there in the real world. Okay, Yeah, might be down and dirty, but it'll work
Ratings and Reviews
Melville McLean
It is a mixed report. There should be a thumb neither up or down rating. James Victore is a talented, with a big, as in New York metropolitan area big, bold, self-promoting personality who presents a persona that defies conventions and hates rules. That is all fine although I have never worked with or met a designer who has his attitude towards fonts before. Let me warn others studying design that you might not like that attitude. But everything in his world sounds passionate, impulsive and experimental. I think it is a good thing to be introduced to someone who seeks out working outside the box and embracing the counter intuitive. In short he is an artist who relies on the exciting and chaotic flux of inspiration to happens to design for a living. His left, hand-drawn letters are an expression of that, making words into art. He says he primarily wants emotional responses and people to react like they would to poetry. If you are a little more familiar with New Yorkers and the business you will also recognize all of this as his pitch. It is entertaining. And this course is a performance. His wife Laura is his muse. But this approach will not suit a lot of students here. We are not potential customers hearing a pitch. We are here for educational reasons, mostly practical reasons although he is definitely an inspirational force. And IMO, there are limits to teaching when the instructor is incapable of taking a step back and being objective too. Moreover, he and his wife offer the least of any teachers on CreativeLive that I have seen in terms of sharing in-depth skills and knowledge. In fact, some members of this class knew more than they did and it was the class that answered many questions that the instructors did not know. Laura in particular who was using the software shared with us that she "is not a Photoshop professional." That is an understatement. It can be tedious watching their trial and error approach. Moreover, neither one could explain the difference or use between JPEG, PDF and PSD files. Yikes and double yikes! They send them out to clients in what sounded like an arbitrarily arrived decision. The class was surprised to also discover that neither knew the distinction between kerning and tracking. Worse is that questions like this, the most simple, fundamental ones seemed to catch them both off guard so they were not prepared with an answer--which astonished me. Furthermore, any discussion of resolution was incoherent. They knew bigger was better so they let others decide for them later. Right. Well maybe they can take a few classes here to learn all of these simple fundamentals before teaching their next class because this was unfair to those who turned in as well as those who bought the class. Incredibly, they were ill prepared to teach this course. The class was very loosely organized, often somewhat chaotic and disappointing a lot of the time. I read that James has taught for 30 years. It makes little sense to me. And not everyone will appreciate his novel approach which apparently has not been sufficient to give his wife what she needs to use, let alone teach Photoshop. If you are here to learn specifics to augment your skills and knowledge, this is probably not the best choice you can make. You might prefer Erica Gamet and Jason Hoppe for Illustrator and anyone else you can find on CreativeLive for Photoshop If you want to see two folks make numerous errors, rely upon heuristics, demonstrate they do not understand or seem to even have any curiosity about what is behind their technical decisions and yet still manage to pul off a a fine looking finished product in the end, then this is for you. You also might be inspired by their passion, enthusiasm and maverick approach seen here. What they share is their process, warts and all but they are creative dynamic duo. I liked them but accept that this is a different kind of course than you usually se here. It all depends upon what you are looking for.
michael mcquilkin
I love that you as a designer, use the no rules apply to you work. Also, I love the fact that you appreciate the art of screen printing you posters. The heart would work great as a distress overlay.