williams | silverpeakarts.ca

There are lots of pre-made web buttons floating around out there you can grab whenever you need a “button” look. But when you have to create something specific, perhaps a little more realistic than the standard glassy button – or a little less symmetrical – then you have to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself.

Think of it this way… do you want the same buttons as everyone else or do you want to create unique graphics for yourself or your clients? Whatever the answer is there is no harm in knowing how they are built using Adobe Illustrator.

Finished Image

January 6th, 2009 | Tags: adobe, button, clipping mask, CMYK, coke sign, gradient, graphic artist, how to, illustrator, Outer Glow, print production, RGB, tips, transparency mask, tutorial | Category: graphic artist's resource, illustrator, tutorials | Leave a comment

You can use a displacement map to make a graphic follow every contour or corner of an underlying texture or shape, such as a flag or cloth. More »

May 20th, 2008 | Tags: adobe, channels, displacement map, fit logo to flag, how to, photoshop, RGB, tutorial, wavy, wrap texture | Category: graphic artist's resource, photoshop, tutorials | Comments (6)

I found a nice blog entry on zenfulcreations that suggested we all google our own content to ensure no one is using it unaccredited.

It seemed like a good idea, although I really didn’t expect to find anything. But I did. More »

May 15th, 2008 | Tags: CMYK, content theft, flightcheck, illustrator, indesign, markzware, photoshop, preflight, Production Artist, quark, RGB, Studio Manager | Category: graphic artist's resource, industry notes | Comments (5)

As a quality control manager at a large Advertising Agency, I learned that mistakes can be made by the best and most careful artists.

It boils down to the old adage.

YOU CAN HAVE YOUR JOB DONE:
QUICKLY
CHEAPLY
ACCURATELY…

PICK 2.

More »

April 15th, 2008 | Tags: accordian fold, binding, bleed, CMYK, glue flap, illustrator, indesign, mockup, pantone, Printer, quotation marks, resolution, RGB, rich blacks, safety, spell check, spelling, top ten, tri-fold, trim, Typographer | Category: graphic artist's resource, print production | Leave a comment

Doing colour correction on skintones can be problematic. Sure, you can adjust them until they look good on your monitor but they don’t print well. The problem is that your monitor may not be calibrated properly, you may be dealing with colour casts on the original photos, or you may simply lack target colours to adjust to. More »

January 2nd, 2008 | Tags: adjust, adobe, calibrate, CMYK, color, colour correction, curves, fleshtone, mid-tone, midtone, photoshop, RGB, skin, skintones, tone | Category: graphic artist's resource, photoshop, print production | Leave a comment