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Friday, June 17, 2011

A New Job...Or Hobby. Depends On How You Look At It...

Dear Reader,


A few months ago, my fiancée introduced me to Photoshop. He gave me a four hour *class,* if you will, and sent me on my way.

I’d learned out to cut out a model, change a few aspects to pictures, and a couple of other Photoshop capabilities. As usual, I forgot half of it. I need to do something over and over again, to come close to remembering it, before I ever master it.

After that, I became obsessed, and too impatient to actually take classes, or research how to use the program. I wanted to play. I wanted to play now. So, I did. Though my company, Otherworlds Publicity, I purchased a stock photo account, and now, I had all I needed—or did I?

At first, I was producing something interesting *art.* But then I started to figure out how to force the tools to do something close to what I wanted, though I doubted these tools were being used as the creator of Photoshop intended them to be.

Then, I started to do advertisements, trailers, graphics and cover art for a few of my friends—which lead me with a position for a cover artist position with the publisher, XOXO Publishing. This is when my new hobby made me think, I needed to know more. How to do things I never expected to know, short of spending thousands of dollars I don’t have on way cool graphic artist courses/classes. So manned with my laptop, I searched the internet and You-tube photo manipulation tutorials (both of which I highly recommend to any beginner or advanced graphic artists.) These people who take the time our of their lives to make these free videos and articles are fabulous! The techniques not only show you new ways of doing things, but they also make you think of new aspirations, and you begin to develop the skills and the knowledge of the finer mechanics of Photoshop to go your own way—which was what I wanted all along.

I hope to grow even more in the coming months to come, learn new things, and create author’s visions. As well, in the coming weeks, I hope to answer some of the questions people have been asking me about how I do what I do. It’s hard to explain how, when I’m not entirely sure how I did some of these graphics in the first place, but I will try. Fortunately, some of the questions I can answer, giving some insights and tips.

These are some of my covers I’ve done in the last month or so for friends and the publisher I’m working for. As well, after that, are some of my graphic art pieces.

More can be found on my Deviant Art page:


COVER ART


Justice For Leanne just released with Solstice Publishing! 



Pick up Elenna Tylor's Blind Alley: 


Tracey Fischer's The Midnight Hour is now released: 


Check out more about Debra Jayne East's BRAND NEW book, which just released today: https://www.xoxopublishing.com/shop-online/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=101&products_id=155


GRAPHIC ART


"Website Welcome Graphic" found on www.kaydenmcleod.com



"Fairy Transformation"


"The Dragon Queen"


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