How to learn basic Photoshop quickly?
December 26, 2019 8:23 AM Subscribe
I would like to learn the very basics in photoshop: tracing a jpg or gif graphic image, saving a clean vector file, flattening layers and whatever other very basic things that could be helpful in preparing digital artwork for enamel pin manufacturing. I've tried to teach myself photoshop - but this was literally decades ago - and found it to be incredibly non-intuitive. Can you recommend a concise and direct tutorial, and also is there a way to do this without paying a huge subscription fee to an Adobe cloud account? I am PC based if that matters.
Maybe I'm just getting old or something but all my computer skills to date were self-taught, including SketchUp, CAD, DOS, basic html and open source softwares like photoscape, inkscape, LibreOffice etc. For some reason I just have a photoshop learning block& would really, REALLY like to overcome it.
Maybe I'm just getting old or something but all my computer skills to date were self-taught, including SketchUp, CAD, DOS, basic html and open source softwares like photoscape, inkscape, LibreOffice etc. For some reason I just have a photoshop learning block& would really, REALLY like to overcome it.
You could sign up for a free month trial somewhere like LinkedIn Learning (used to be Lynda.com) to learn the basics of most Adobe programs. But I agree with odinsdream, if you want to create vector artwork, you want to work in Illustrator or an equivalent drawing program, Photoshop files are always pixel based artwork files, Illustrator creates vector based artwork files for something like enamel pin artwork creation.
posted by blacktshirtandjeans at 8:40 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by blacktshirtandjeans at 8:40 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
If you are attempting to create enamel pins, there is likely a specific set of final art requirements (file format, physical size, file size, etc) for doing so. Can you post these "specs" or this outline of final, acceptable art specifications? As mentioned by odinsdream, generally vector art is created and edited with Illustrator, not Photoshop. So you might be searching for guidance in the wrong way at a very basic level.
Without knowing exactly what your end goal for this artwork is, yours is a hard question to answer. It sounds like you need artwork for creating enamel pins. For instance, are you trying to take a raster image and "simplify" it into a set number of colors then create a vector image of the result?
I'm not discounting the other answers here. But Photoshop and Illustrator are such vast, powerful and flexible applications that more specific info about your immediate needs will be helpful here at AskMetafilter.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:48 AM on December 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Without knowing exactly what your end goal for this artwork is, yours is a hard question to answer. It sounds like you need artwork for creating enamel pins. For instance, are you trying to take a raster image and "simplify" it into a set number of colors then create a vector image of the result?
I'm not discounting the other answers here. But Photoshop and Illustrator are such vast, powerful and flexible applications that more specific info about your immediate needs will be helpful here at AskMetafilter.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:48 AM on December 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Take a Photoshop class, with an instructor and actual lessons and all. There should be plenty of options to do this at a local community college, professional certificate program, etc.
If you really want to learn it, and many years of self-directed learning haven't done the trick, then it's time for guided learning in a specialized environment.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:02 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
If you really want to learn it, and many years of self-directed learning haven't done the trick, then it's time for guided learning in a specialized environment.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:02 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
tracing a jpg or gif graphic image, saving a clean vector file
You want Illustrator for this, in addition to or instead of PS. Photoshop has some vector tracing features (Convert Selection To Path) but they're very basic.
Photoshop hasn't really changed that much over the last 20 years, either. Most of the feature focus these days is on digital photo editing, which you won't be doing. Older tutorials ought to still apply to the current version.
posted by neckro23 at 9:04 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
You want Illustrator for this, in addition to or instead of PS. Photoshop has some vector tracing features (Convert Selection To Path) but they're very basic.
Photoshop hasn't really changed that much over the last 20 years, either. Most of the feature focus these days is on digital photo editing, which you won't be doing. Older tutorials ought to still apply to the current version.
posted by neckro23 at 9:04 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Adult Education may have affordable classes, and if they do, the computers with softyware may be available during labs. Youwill get access to an expert and can work on the things you most need. I find Adobe PShop to be non-intuitive, with a stiff learning curve, so be persistent. Your library may have a computer or 2 with PShop. I mostly use PaintShop, it has a ton of features, might be enough for your needs, and free.
posted by theora55 at 9:15 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 9:15 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
I may be writing about my own learning style rather than a general truth, but attending a class wouldn't do much for me in learning software as deep and broad as Photoshop or Illustrator. I needed to do things, adding skills as I needed them, one by one, to become good at both.
As others have written, I think designing enamel pins is something for Illustrator. It would be hard/impossible in Photoshop.
The main thing you'll need is to understand bezier curves. Whereas there is an intellectual part of understanding bezier curves, the real useful learning is hands on, being slow and error-prone at first, until you get the controls of the lines in your hands as well as your mind. Don't be overly frustrated when it's not fluent to you at first: that's the way it is.
If words are enough, this website gives a good albeit condensed introduction.
posted by tmdonahue at 9:27 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
As others have written, I think designing enamel pins is something for Illustrator. It would be hard/impossible in Photoshop.
The main thing you'll need is to understand bezier curves. Whereas there is an intellectual part of understanding bezier curves, the real useful learning is hands on, being slow and error-prone at first, until you get the controls of the lines in your hands as well as your mind. Don't be overly frustrated when it's not fluent to you at first: that's the way it is.
If words are enough, this website gives a good albeit condensed introduction.
posted by tmdonahue at 9:27 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
...tracing a jpg or gif graphic image, saving a clean vector file, flattening layers and whatever other very basic things that could be helpful in preparing digital artwork for enamel pin manufacturing.
As others have said, you want Illustrator for this, not Photoshop. The enamel pin manufacturer will most likely want vector files, either in PDF or EPS formats. And, while Photoshop can save as an EPS, it's still just an image file, not vector like Illustrator makes.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:28 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
As others have said, you want Illustrator for this, not Photoshop. The enamel pin manufacturer will most likely want vector files, either in PDF or EPS formats. And, while Photoshop can save as an EPS, it's still just an image file, not vector like Illustrator makes.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:28 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
since you want to learn a "basic" skills, you can ask a college student to tutor you. He/she doesn't even have to be an Illustrator major, but know some Illustrator and be an experienced tutor. I found such a person in a local community college tutoring center.
posted by Oli D. at 9:40 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Oli D. at 9:40 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
If you want to generate clean vector images without "paying a huge subscription fee to an Adobe cloud account" you might try GIMP for image cleanup and Inkscape for the vector tracing - they're both free & open source and they both work fine on PC.
If you're comfortable learning from YouTube videos you might get where you need to go with tutorials like this .
posted by jcrcarter at 10:19 AM on December 26, 2019 [6 favorites]
If you're comfortable learning from YouTube videos you might get where you need to go with tutorials like this .
posted by jcrcarter at 10:19 AM on December 26, 2019 [6 favorites]
I may be writing about my own learning style rather than a general truth, but attending a class wouldn't do much for me in learning software as deep and broad as Photoshop or Illustrator. I needed to do things, adding skills as I needed them, one by one, to become good at both.
FWIW all of my design software classes were hands-on labs with exercises working exactly as you described.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:51 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
FWIW all of my design software classes were hands-on labs with exercises working exactly as you described.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:51 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
I agree with hiring a tutor. Pay a good rate for a couple hours of in person time in 30-60 minute chunks,, and maybe an extra retainer for a couple weeks of remote support.
You probably want to know things in both photoshop and illustrator, and will do better with direct help on the things you’re interested in than a broad overview that you’d get from classes, even online ones.
posted by itesser at 11:48 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
You probably want to know things in both photoshop and illustrator, and will do better with direct help on the things you’re interested in than a broad overview that you’d get from classes, even online ones.
posted by itesser at 11:48 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Also, someone involved in illustration/design/digital art will probably be able to help you find good cheap/free tools for your purposes that would be suitable alternatives to Adobe CC
posted by itesser at 11:50 AM on December 26, 2019
posted by itesser at 11:50 AM on December 26, 2019
Best answer: You might be thinking of Photoshop because you say "tracing a jpg or gif graphic image" and using Photoshop, yes you can trace it on a separate layer by zooming in and laboriously drawing with the brush tool and using the eraser tool to clean up mistakes. But Illustrator has a Trace* function that will automatically trace an image. You have to fiddle with the parameters, it's not foolproof, you will still need to adjust the curves but it gives you a solid headstart on a vector image.
*not at my laptop just now so I forget if it's Auto Trace or Live Trace, but it's in a drop down menu at the top.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:13 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
*not at my laptop just now so I forget if it's Auto Trace or Live Trace, but it's in a drop down menu at the top.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:13 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Hi guys, yes, you're right - it IS illiustrator I wanted to use, not PS. My bad. So maybe my real question is, Is it possible to export a vector file out of Inkscape?
I'm able to prepare most of my images in Inkscape, but haven't yet found a way to export them as vector art. This is the closest tutorial I've found for exporting out of Inkscape but it's pretty cumbersome. So I thought Illustrator might be easier, hence my original question about learning Illustrator.
posted by yoga at 2:06 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm able to prepare most of my images in Inkscape, but haven't yet found a way to export them as vector art. This is the closest tutorial I've found for exporting out of Inkscape but it's pretty cumbersome. So I thought Illustrator might be easier, hence my original question about learning Illustrator.
posted by yoga at 2:06 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
there is a website called udemy.com that has lessons on just about everything, and i know they cover photoshop and illustrator. most of the lessons are around $20 or so. never pay full price; they almost always have a sale of some nature.
if you don't want to subscribe to photoshop, you can purchase a program called Affinity Photo which does ALL the same things and only costs $50. one time. no subscription. there are great tutorials for Affinity programs on udemy.com. Affinity also has Designer which is like Illustrator, and Publisher which is like Indesign. and they each cost only $50. one time. no subcription. they are just as good......promise.
posted by ydaltak at 2:12 PM on December 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
if you don't want to subscribe to photoshop, you can purchase a program called Affinity Photo which does ALL the same things and only costs $50. one time. no subscription. there are great tutorials for Affinity programs on udemy.com. Affinity also has Designer which is like Illustrator, and Publisher which is like Indesign. and they each cost only $50. one time. no subcription. they are just as good......promise.
posted by ydaltak at 2:12 PM on December 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I have found that the newest Corel Draw is THE BEST at auto tracing. It also has a new brush that will smooth all of your lines/nodes after the trace to make beautiful professional grade vector files with minimal effort.
I design large format graphics daily and Corel is my go to for this kind of work. I use Illustrator for fine art/illustrating.
Using Adobe products my entire adult life, I can attest that Corel was also easier to learn than Illustrator for my particular brain.
posted by phytage at 5:15 PM on December 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
I design large format graphics daily and Corel is my go to for this kind of work. I use Illustrator for fine art/illustrating.
Using Adobe products my entire adult life, I can attest that Corel was also easier to learn than Illustrator for my particular brain.
posted by phytage at 5:15 PM on December 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
So maybe my real question is, Is it possible to export a vector file out of Inkscape?
When you do a Save As..., there should be a fairly large choice of file formats, including .eps, .pdf, and (if I remember correctly) a native .ai version.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:14 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
When you do a Save As..., there should be a fairly large choice of file formats, including .eps, .pdf, and (if I remember correctly) a native .ai version.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:14 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: So After poking around I think I'm going to go the Corel Draw route, thanks phytage!
I took a look at the CorelDraw 2019 site here & while $474 isn't a bad price, I still don't have it at the moment & I'd rather pay cash.
Here's something on Ebay that I can't tell whether it's the real McCoy or what - does this look legit to you guys??
posted by yoga at 6:43 AM on December 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
I took a look at the CorelDraw 2019 site here & while $474 isn't a bad price, I still don't have it at the moment & I'd rather pay cash.
Here's something on Ebay that I can't tell whether it's the real McCoy or what - does this look legit to you guys??
posted by yoga at 6:43 AM on December 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
$9.99 for a lifetime Corel suite? I can't imagine it's real. I suspect you're purchasing a registration/serial number that supposedly still works. Caveat emptor, and all that.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:00 AM on December 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 8:00 AM on December 27, 2019 [4 favorites]
Inkscape's default save format, SVG, *is* a vector format. So when you say "export a vector file out of Inkscape", what exactly do you mean?
If you have raster data in your file, you can't magically turn it into vector art by saving to a format; you have to vectorise it somehow, manually or automatically, both of which you can do in Inkscape (see the "trace bitmap" function).
CMYK colours specifically? The tutorial that you linked to describes a vendor with very exacting specifications -- do you know for sure that you actually need this?
I use Inkscape exclusively, I have used it to produce files for vendors who make physical products like stickers and posters, and all the vendors I've worked with were happy to accept RGB PDF files. Having said that, I have previously come across vendors who were not willing (or did not know how) to convert graphics from the editable vector format given to them to whatever was required by their printing hardware, so I can believe that this could still be a thing.
Inkscape has a third party extension which saves to CMYK PDF, but it only works on Linux, which I'm guessing is why you didn't consider it as an option. But the extension uses Ghostscript under the hood (stealth edit: my bad; it actually uses ImageMagick -- but it links to the Ghostscript method), and you can use it on the commandline as described here, which does work on Windows. This is much simpler and faster than the series of manual steps described in the tutorial. If you read through the comments, there are updates and suggestions -- apparently this does still work on Windows as of this year.
TL;DR: if you already know how to use Inkscape, there is probably no compelling reason for you to spend time and money on another drawing program.
posted by confluency at 1:25 AM on December 28, 2019
If you have raster data in your file, you can't magically turn it into vector art by saving to a format; you have to vectorise it somehow, manually or automatically, both of which you can do in Inkscape (see the "trace bitmap" function).
CMYK colours specifically? The tutorial that you linked to describes a vendor with very exacting specifications -- do you know for sure that you actually need this?
I use Inkscape exclusively, I have used it to produce files for vendors who make physical products like stickers and posters, and all the vendors I've worked with were happy to accept RGB PDF files. Having said that, I have previously come across vendors who were not willing (or did not know how) to convert graphics from the editable vector format given to them to whatever was required by their printing hardware, so I can believe that this could still be a thing.
Inkscape has a third party extension which saves to CMYK PDF, but it only works on Linux, which I'm guessing is why you didn't consider it as an option. But the extension uses Ghostscript under the hood (stealth edit: my bad; it actually uses ImageMagick -- but it links to the Ghostscript method), and you can use it on the commandline as described here, which does work on Windows. This is much simpler and faster than the series of manual steps described in the tutorial. If you read through the comments, there are updates and suggestions -- apparently this does still work on Windows as of this year.
TL;DR: if you already know how to use Inkscape, there is probably no compelling reason for you to spend time and money on another drawing program.
posted by confluency at 1:25 AM on December 28, 2019
Inkscape's default save format, SVG, *is* a vector format. So when you say "export a vector file out of Inkscape", what exactly do you mean?
Thing is, though, SVG is pretty exclusively for use as a display graphic on the web, and doesn't work as a print or production file format. OP will still need a vector EPS or PDF file if their intent is to produce pins.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:02 AM on December 28, 2019
Thing is, though, SVG is pretty exclusively for use as a display graphic on the web, and doesn't work as a print or production file format. OP will still need a vector EPS or PDF file if their intent is to produce pins.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:02 AM on December 28, 2019
Photoshop hasn't really changed that much over the last 20 years, either. Most of the feature focus these days is on digital photo editing,
That's definitely not my experience. Photoshop is a powerful tool for all kinds of art/design application, but using it may be a challenge for those who come from a background of working more vector based.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:02 PM on December 28, 2019
That's definitely not my experience. Photoshop is a powerful tool for all kinds of art/design application, but using it may be a challenge for those who come from a background of working more vector based.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:02 PM on December 28, 2019
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