Photoshop Tips

[Stush]

From a designers perspective, can I get some opinions on what we should look out for when designing pictures and things on Photoshop? What kinda things should we Critisize and think about ourselves before we deem it complete. Things like colour combinations, artistic originality and things like that.
A list of things that will be critisized on.

If you would be kind enough to further help me, I'll upload two pictures and you can rip them to pieces :P. Critical release for you, time to learn for me. :P

1)

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/1355/demi3zn2.jpg
2)
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/1882/stush1ne9.jpg

And the only main reason for the background colour is because it's the background colour of the game I'm playing, and that's my profile pictures I made for me and my friend.


Bearing in mind! I'm only 15, and not at all a professional designer, so a newbie type jargon would be nice. :P

Thanks!

[budafist]

Hi Stush and welcome to GDF.

I think the most important thing from a designer's point of view is what is the message the "client" wants to say with these designs?

Graphic design is more than making images look pretty with photoshop filters. That's is called Photoshop play time.

And yes, I realise you are 15. Good to learn now what graphic design is...or isn't.

Tell me, what are you trying to say with these pieces, do you think that the message is clear (or could be clearer)?

[Stush]

I don't know aye, I don't really think about the message I'm trying to convey, which I should really, it would make my pieces much much more original and things.
I guess the message the client would want me to try to incorporate into my design would be he is something fresh and new, this is also a very new style for me to use. and thats all I think off :p

The second one was my one, and I wanted to I guess show of some skills, but the message and theme of the picture isn't something I think about..

Yeah I guess I don't really see messages in pictures aye, it's something I'm not tuned into-which I wish I was.. I suppose I could squeeze out some analysing of an image and it's message, but not clearly-and it take some brain juice indeed.

Oh and if the hole 'scribbling in Aotearoa' is relevant then awesome, cause I'm also in NZ at the moment :P

[PrintDriver]

You have to understand something else about a Graphic Design career. It isn't about making the pictures YOU want. It's all about what the client wants. A lot of people don't find that out until they graduate from College and get out there in the real world.

Something else to consider when designing anything in Photoshop is how is it being reproduced. Is it going on the web? Is it going in a newspaper? Is it going in a slick magazine? Is it going to be a mural? All of these affect the starting resolution of your Photoshop file and will determine if any of the stock images or photos you use will be suitable for output at the size you want to produce them.

[Broacher]

Your question could easily be translated into "how to I do great graphic design?'--except, as PD pointed out, it really should be: How do I do great graphic design for people who are paying me to do so?

And the answer is pretty much the same way a singer gets to the Metropolitan Opera House.

[budafist]

At 15, if you want to do design as a job one day it may pay to "practice" on things that have more meaning. Playing around in photoshop is fine, but to be taken seriously, you need some more serious pieces. Have a look through the showcase section of this forum. Have a go yourself at designing flyers, logos, business stationery.

Post up in Showcase and learn from there.

p.s. What part of Aotearoa are you in?

[DavidLieb]

BTW, your work is pretty cool. Good sense of color and style. If you keep at it, you'll be totally killer when it's time to go pro. I always tell my young designers to remember that "classy" is often more cool than "cool".

[Stush]

Thank you David for the compliments :P. I do try hard lol.

And budafist, I think I will try and make some of those business cards and logos and such. I also think I'm going to try to get a strong clear message in one of the pictures I make for the people on the game I play, I think that doing that will create an original style and hopefully make me a popular designer in the game. ^^

I'm living in Auckland, Papakura

[budafist]

Cool Stush. You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders :)