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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Photoshop with C.B. Cook

Hello! I have C.B. Cook here with us today to talk about PhotoShop. A nifty little program that I can't afford, so I use Gimp instead. Still, if you can afford it, it's nice to have.

Find her on the Interwebs:




Photoshop
C.B. Cook
Hello, friends! I’m C.B. Cook, author of Twinepathy and Paralyzed Dreams. I’m a teenager/college student and a self-published author. I’m really happy to be here with you guys! I’m going to be discussing Photoshop with you today, as we talk about publishing.
Almost everyone has a cover creation software that they absolutely love, if they make their own covers. Mine is Photoshop. Now, I know Photoshop isn’t for everyone and it has its flaws, so I’d like to go over some pros and cons of Photoshop and some of my favorite aspects of the program.

Pro: Photoshop has a looooot of tools. As in, so many that I have absolutely no idea what half of them do.
Con: It’s true… Photoshop can definitely be confusing. With so many tools, it’s easy to get lost in the layout trying to find out how to just change your font size!
Pro: Since Photoshop is a program you install on your computer, you can get extra fonts, stamps, effects, and more online (some free!) to use in the program, unlike some online programs.
Con: Depending on what version of Photoshop you get, tutorials might be off for you, or they might use tools that don’t exist in your version.
Pro: Since Photoshop is a program you install on your computer, you can get extra fonts, stamps, effects, and more online (some free!) to use in the program, unlike some online programs.
Con: Installing new fonts and other extras may be hard to figure out, since they usually have to be in a specific folder.
And finally, the complaint many people have…
Con:  Photoshop is really expensive. The fancy extended version is $999. Which is a lot. The cheapest, which is Photoshop Elements (the one I have), is $79, which is still pretty expensive.
Pro: If you’re in school, whether you’re in high school, college, or even homeschooled (Yay homeschooling!), you can get student discounts. It’s still pricey, but if you’re wanting to do professional design work, it might be worth it.

A few of my favorite aspects of Photoshop
I’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring Photoshop and everything it offers, so I’ve found several things that I really like about it.
Gradients
Gradients are something I really enjoy using. They help make thinks stand out more without drawing too much attention to themselves. If you have white text you want to put on a gray background, you can put a black gradient behind the text to provide more contrast. True, you could do the same with a black rectangle, but that draws more attention to that one spot. On the cover of Paralyzed Dreams, you can see that I used a gradient behind the title to help the white text stand out more.

I also like using the gradient tool on text, as you might have seen on the cover of Twinepathy. The gradient tool can do normal gradients like the one above, but it can also do different shapes like diamonds and circles.
The Eyedropper Tool
This is a tool that’s pretty simple, but it has saved me multiple times. All this tool does is pick up a color from a picture in Photoshop so you can use it for font colors, your paint bucket, and other things. You can only have one foreground and one background color at a time, so it’s really easy to lose a color that you might need again.
Quick Selection Tool
I am terrible at changing out backgrounds. Because of that, I try to avoid it as much as possible. But when I have to change a background and can’t avoid it, the quick selection tool helps me a lot. Basically, this tool will help you outline your central object (a person, a building, anything) so that you can delete the background or copy the object. I don’t know if many other programs have this, but it’s a really handy tool.


Those are a few of the things I really like about Photoshop. Do you use Photoshop? If so, what are a few of the things you like about it? Comment below with your thoughts!

8 comments:

  1. I fail at using anything like Photoshop lol. I have Gimp which I use to put my covers together, but I still usually do artwork and then patch it all together. Your covers are both awesome, I especially loved the one for Twinepathy. Using programs like Photoshop is definitely an art itself :)

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    1. Hehe, I'm the opposite. I fail at anything using artwork, so I have to find pictures and stuff and do everything in Photoshop. XD Thank you so much! Twinepathy is probably my favorite cover that I've ever done. :) Thanks for the comment!

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  2. Interesting! I'm aware of many different tools in Photoshop and Gimp, but it's fascinating to see examples of how those tools can be used to add awesome elements to covers.

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    1. I'm glad! At first, I had no idea how to use anything, so it was mostly trial and error. I'm glad I was able to pass on more of that information. Hope it helps you! :)

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  3. Photoshop. :D It's basically one of my favorite programs ever. (Last summer I got to play around with it almost every day and get paid for it and it was so awesome.) But you're right; it is super expensive. :P

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    1. Oooh, that's sounds like fun! I wish I could do that. :D I wish it was cheaper, but the student discount does help. Thanks for the comment!

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  4. I haven't used Photoshop, but with how much people talk about it, it must be pretty great :D. Maybe I'll look into it more, thank you for this post!

    ~ Savannah
    scattered-scribblings.blogspot.com

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    1. You're welcome! Photoshop is one of the standard tools used by people who are serious about graphic design, which is why it's so expensive. If you're planning on doing a lot of graphic design, it might be worth the investment. :)

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Hi! Now that you've read my post, hast thou any opinions that thou wouldst like to share? I'd love to hear them!