Post: The Ultimate Guide: How to start designing! [GFX/Graphics]
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02-17-2016, 11:09 PM
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BBondy
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Welcome to the ultimate guide! We're here to help you learn the basics of graphic designing!
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Welcome to the ultimate guide! We're here to help you learn the basics of graphic designing!
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Becoming a graphics designer isn't easy, but i will help you with the basics of designing. Before we start anything there's a few things i would like to address. You DO need time spare that you can put into designing! A creative imagination will do you a lot of favors when you design, everyone has an imagination, who doesn't ? I know you have. So let me tell you more about graphic designing, it's very time consuming, stressful at times and can be a lot of fun. It's something that mixes up emotions, but sometimes that's when the true colors of your imagination come out... That's all you need to know... Oh, and make sure you're having fun whilst designing!
In this section we will be talking about what to use to make graphics and why. All of the programs we have listed here are what i personally use.
My suggestions:
- Photoshop CS6 / Get a free trial here: You must login or register to view this content.
- Cinema 4D / Get a free trial here: You must login or register to view this content.
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Photoshop: For beginners!
What can you do in photoshop?
Theres a lot that you can do in Photoshop, weather it's from adding text, to editing the way someone looks. There are no limits in Photoshop, well that's what i think anyway. It's amazing! Honestly, take my advice and try it for yourself.
Pros of using photoshop:
- Easy to use
- Simply one of the best on the market for designers!
- Can turn a useless photo into some special!
- Make designing a lot more fun with it's navigation.
- It has everything you need.
Cons of using photoshop:
- Expensive
- Requires a lot of time before you get used to it.
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Cinema 4
For beginners! What can you do in Cinema 4D?
Cinema 4D is more of a side program that is used for 3D items only. You can make 3D text, and many other structures that are 3D. You will find this to be a very useful piece of kit if you want to make 3D like designs or want your text to stand out more. So in a nut shell it can make 3D and other 3D sculptures.
Pros of using Cinema 4
- Very good for 3D modeling!
- Tools are always being updated!
- Easy render system.
Cons of Cinema 4
- Can be hard to use
- Some features are behind on updates ( UV editing, BodyPain 3D )
- Very technical
- Expensive
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In this section, i will be talking about two formats that will get you a far way when designing. For now, you will only need to know about the two following formats.
PNG - Portable Network Graphics
What is a PNG?
Portable Network Graphics (PNG /ˈpɪŋ/) is a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression. PNG was created as an improved, non-patented replacement for Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), and is the most used lossless image compression format on the Internet. = A image without a background. - Google
What are PNG files good for?
They have so many uses. The image that doesn't have a background can be used to put on videos, photos, and can be used as a water mark. Also, logos are saved in PNG so they can be put onto any photo. You will find that a lot of photos on the internet are PNG's, because they don't have a background and can be put onto other colored backgrounds without have a blocky boarder.
When you should save as a PNG:
You should only really save your files as PNG when you don't want them to have a background, or when the file you're working with doesn't have one. I would recommend saving Logo's as PNG and renders of characters, sports men, and other images without backgrounds.
Example of a PNG:
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Not a PNG
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What are color schemes?
Color schemes are when the work you'r doing is color coded. Usually you work with a pallet of 3-5 colors. There are numerous types of color schemes. If you're working with RED you will get 2-4 more colors that are close to RED. White or Black are usually in the pallet.
Why you should color code your work:
Giving your work a color scheme is probably the best thing you can do. The reason i say that is because it makes everything match, it makes the out of place things like they should be there. Which is what you want. Obviously theres only so much that you can do with color, but making sure your work matches is key. Not only does it make it look clean, it makes it look very professional. You will find that color matching your work will make it a totally different standard of work. If you randomly has Blue text with a Red background, it's not going to look great. That's why i highly suggest you working with a few colors that are on a color pallet. I will leave a link to a website that has some of the best color pallets... In my opinion anyway.
Where to find color schemes?
Here is the best place for you to find color schemes for your work. I personally have used this for a long long time and it's made the quality of my work a whole lot better. These are free, and very useful. If you have any other suggestions on Color scheme websites, then make sure to let me know!
The best color scheme sites:
You must login or register to view this content. - My personal favorite - Simply the best!
You must login or register to view this content. - Also a great one to use! Simple and FREE!
You must login or register to view this content. - Take a screen shot and put it into photoshop to use the colors.
What is Cinema 4D good for?
Cinema 4D has a lot of features that can turn your work around and increase the quality of your work easily. If you're someone who wants to have the 3D feel and look to your work, then Cinema 4D will be your friend. It is a basic, and technical program that makes 3D Text and structures. But over the years, theres been a lot of templates released by content creators, which can be used! You don't really need to know much about the program itself to use templates. I will leave a list of templates that you can use for free.
What is a render?
A render is created in Cinema 4D, renders can be used to make signatures and many other things. It's all about the 3D work. I have seen people make Minecraft animations with Cinema 4D. So, a render is made up of custom shapes. Renders have 3 types... Normal, wireframes, and effects. Renders don't have a background, usually saved as a PNG file. Renders are usually used as the main effects of an image.
Effect renders come with a black background, but that is not a problem when using Photoshop because you can change the blending of the layer. You can change it to color dodge, linear dodge, screen, or lighten. So theres no real problem there.
Wireframe renders are very effective. They can be used to apply effects to another layer, their good to make bodies look robotic, but also very good to have in the background of your work.
Examples
Effect Render
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3D Text
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3D Buildings
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Resources and templates for C4
Links are to the video that the creators have uploaded, be sure to subscribe to them if you use their templates, it's only fair.
The best place for stocks -
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3D Text templates -
Lightroom templates -
Plugin Packs -
You must login or register to view this content. - Made by SouthConepts
:More to be added shortly!
In this section i will telling you the main things that you need to know about photoshop and when you're designing. All of the information in this section will be as simple as it can be.
What is Photoshop good for?
Let's be honest, what isn't it good for? It's amazing! But seriously, it's very good for text, and photo editing. You can change the way someone looks, you can make a business brand, you can do pretty much anything. It is also good for 3D text, but if you're using Cinema 4D... i would say stick with that and import the renders into photoshop. I have used photoshop for some years now, and i have done a lot of thread designs, logo's, and branding. It's very good for things like that. I do believe it is used by multi-million pound companies, mainly news papers to make their models look good, lol.
What is a gradient?
A gradients is when one color fades into another color. These can be used to give effect on text and it works really well on the background. You can also use gradients as a overlay. Gradients are a really good way to make text stand out. I will show you some examples and give you a few links to what i think are good templates for you guys to use.
What are the main blending options?
- Normal: Take a rough guess as to what this does... it doesn't change anything. It keeps the layer the same.
- Overlay: This makes the image into an overlay. It will look like the opacity has changed, but it hasn't so don't worry.
- Darken: This will give the image a darker look, this can be good for black and white work.
- Linear Dodge: This will try and remove the main color that is shown on the picture. It tries it hardest to make it look like a PNG Image.
Main effects to use when editing text:
- Stroke - Don't make it too fat, but this will make your text look comic like.
- Gradient Overlay - This will make your text stand out from the rest!
- Outer Glow - I would recommend using black as the outer glow color.
- Drop Shadow - Don't make the shadow to big, it will make it look lost.
Templates for Photoshop -
: Layer style pack You must login or register to view this content. - Made by VexinatorGaming
: Gradient pack You must login or register to view this content. - Made by TheDamDZN
: More to be added shortly
This will be updated all the time with new templates, and sections. Be sure to subscribe to this thread.
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