finalhope

hey everyone, i've been lurking around this site for about a year now. And the time has finally come where it is imperative for me to learn some things. Basically I need some help.For Economics we have to make this fake business and figure out how to make a profit yada yada --Anyway i'm in charge of making the site for it. The company is called Fitted Teez (innuendo?). It's a custom T-Shirt company and so here are some designs i've thought of -- but now i need them in photoshop and looking all clean like. I'm having a lot of trouble with it. Can you guys help me out with getting them as jpegs and web ready? Feel free to modify them-- nothing is set in stone.
Heres a link http://img24.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img24...ogohelp9ce.jpg

MisterMister

Howdy ChiNoaNoah - hope you had a great holiday.

The first thing I would do is scan what you have drawn into Photoshop, that is if you have a scanner. If you do then just stick your drawing in the scanner, open Photoshop, and select File > Import > and select your scanner from the pop-out menu.

This will open your scanning software and you can then scan the image into Photoshop. Once you have the image in Photoshop then I usually take the Pen Tool and start tracing what I have drawn until I get something I like. Then I create a new layer and start filling these shapes and working with them to get the design I like.

Let me know if this helps. I will be around here this evening so if you ahve any more questions just post them here.

- dc

finalhope

ive thought of that-- but how can i get them to look really sharp as if they were done entirely in photoshop? thanks for the speedy reply... the assignment is kind of due in a day or two [innocent]

MisterMister

Anything drawn with the Pen Tool will be clean and crisp. Basically because the paths drawn by the Pen Tool are vector paths and retain their clarity, even when scaled up or down.

Say you drew your T design and then decided to make it bigger. Just enlarge (transform) the paths you created to make it the size you want and then stroke and style to your liking. The design will remain crisp and clean because as I said, the Paths themselves are vector objects and retain their clarity at any size.

This is how I draw all my own designs, especially Spark on my website (my mascot character). I take a drawing, scan it into PS, and then clean it up and redraw it using the Pen Tool. You can also import paths to Illustrator, if you need to do some work in that program. Just use File > Import > Paths to Illustrator...

- dc

finalhope

Ok, so to outline-- What sort of techniques do you suggest? (im on a mac btw). Which tools/options should i select? I noticed that once i made a bunch of lines, they were all different layers... Can you explain what exactly is going on with that? thanks again.

MisterMister

The tools I mentioned above - the Pen Tool. As far as techniques you just have to practice using it. You will develop your own techniques as you go. If you want to practice using the Pen Tool and would like some tutorials on using that tool then I recommend Mike's Sketchpad:

http://www.sketchpad.net/photoshp.htm

On this page you will find a lot of links to Mike's tutorials on using the Pen Tool. They are quite good and you can also download the PDF files to do at your liesure. Try those and see if that helps.

- dc

MisterMister

I found some more tutorials on the Pen Tool for you. This first one explains in more detail about the tool and its various uses:

http://www.gfxlab.com/tutorials/tuts/pentool/pentut.htm

This next page (by the same guy above) gives a step by step tutorial on using the tools for a project:

http://www.gfxlab.com/tutorials/tuts...ustompaint.htm

On this next page is an entire list of links to Pen Tool tutorials:

http://www.graphic-design.com/Photos...s/0302-17.html

You can find practically anything on Google by typing in key words and searching the Web. To find the above sites I just typed in "photoshop pen tool tutorial".

Hope this helps.

- dc

Joy Foraker

Hi CNN -- Since time is dear and you are not so familiar with the design tools, I suggest that you make your logo using fonts. I've made a couple quickies in large scale for examples --you can do a lot with very simple fonts or very complex ones. Play with fonts!

retired_Wick3d

I strongly suggest that you use a vectorized font (ie TrueType) when you create your logo. If your company gets successful you will need that logo on printed media as well and if the only logo you got is a jpeg you will have to re-do it.

My opinion is that a logo should be something more than just a few letters placed on a fancy background. I suggest that you play with the letters. Try to mirror some letters or use a upside-down 'm' as a 'w' etc.

BTW - if your logo is text-only try to save it as a .gif instead. A jpg-image could get fuzzy.

Here is a quick try a made.



Good luck.

/Moltas

Joy Foraker

Moltas - Nice, clean logo. Good advice for CNN.

CNN - Usually even beginners can work with fonts by following the "help" screens within Photoshop. Why don't you give that a try first --remember to post your results here. .