Photoshop idiot, right here!! (waves hand)

[miTunes75]

Hi all:

I'm looking to create album covers for some playlists and I'm completely clueless. After you hit new I dunno what to do. I'd like to create some wild backgrounds somehow, add text of the "playlist" title, etc.

Any patient people out there willing to either reply or PM to get me started?

Thanks a lot guys.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Well, first you get my two cents. If you paid $300 (edu version) or $600 + for the standard version of a program that you do not know how to use then why wouldn't you spend $30 on a book that will help you understand the basics? Sure, you can say to learn, but why not try the demo and see if you're into it? That's just a thought that is all.

There are tutorials on the web and I would recommend that more so than PM. If you want to PM me, I'll respond with things I find in google because chances are they're going to explain everything better than I will because people have spent a good amount of time writing down all of the basics and posting it on the web for free for people like you to learn on a professional program that they just shelled out hundreds of dollars for. These people are dubbed saints in my book.

Beginner's guide to Photoshop

 

[Doctor Q]

Rather than creating your wild backgrounds directly in Photoshop, you could do the following:

1. Play your playlist in iTunes.

2. Check Turn Visualizer On in the Visualizer menu.

3. Give it a minute to build up a pattern, or wait until you like what you see.

4. Press shift-command-3 to do a screen capture (or, if you know how, capture just the iTunes window).

5. In Photoshop, open file Picture 1.png, which is the screen capture. Note: The screen capture might be named Picture 2.png, Picture 3.png, etc. if you have done previous screen captures.

Then it's time to work with the image in Photoshop.

Do you want to get your background this way, or do you have something else in mind?

 

[vectormasked]

Wow. This is like asking someone for guidence and advice on how to build a car from parts.

To create cool and crazy background you're gonna need quite a lot of practice and talent, unless you know exactly what you want and get a tutorial for that specific look.

And like Jessica said, you could probably buy a 30 dollar book to learn the basics. It is definetely a good investment.

For tutorials online check:
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/ (one of my fav digital arts magazine)
http://user.fundy.net/morris/?photoshop146.shtml
http://www.spoono.com/photoshop/tutorials/
http://www.phong.com/tutorials/
http://www.pixel2life.com/

 

[miTunes75]

Honestly, the program was given to me by my family member when I bought the mini, so the hundreds of dollars I shelled out is irrelevant.

However, I do like the ideas of doing screenshots, the tutorials gave me some ideas to work with also.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[faustfire]

Well, first you get my two cents. If you paid $300 (edu version) or $600 + for the standard version of a program that you do not know how to use then why wouldn't you spend $30 on a book that will help you understand the basics? Sure, you can say to learn, but why not try the demo and see if you're into it? That's just a thought that is all.

There are tutorials on the web and I would recommend that more so than PM. If you want to PM me, I'll respond with things I find in google because chances are they're going to explain everything better than I will because people have spent a good amount of time writing down all of the basics and posting it on the web for free for people like you to learn on a professional program that they just shelled out hundreds of dollars for. These people are dubbed saints in my book.

Beginner's guide to Photoshop

Wow, quite the "thinly" veiled accusations of piracy there.

 

[dornoforpyros]

Well, first you get my two cents. If you paid $300 (edu version) or $600 + for the standard version of a program that you do not know how to use then why wouldn't you spend $30 on a book that will help you understand the basics? Sure, you can say to learn, but why not try the demo and see if you're into it? That's just a thought that is all.

There are tutorials on the web and I would recommend that more so than PM. If you want to PM me, I'll respond with things I find in google because chances are they're going to explain everything better than I will because people have spent a good amount of time writing down all of the basics and posting it on the web for free for people like you to learn on a professional program that they just shelled out hundreds of dollars for. These people are dubbed saints in my book.

Beginner's guide to Photoshop

haha pwned! this is my new favorite post ever