Josh Fulfer posted:

A recent study shows that you can sell more products online with the use of graphical representation. So if you are a graphic designer or an internet entrepreneur, you need to know more about this study.

A few years ago, the key to a successful website developing is the keyword density. As long as the keyword density is correct, a website that sells products can easily attract search engines. In effect, there is a little attention given to the layout of the website. But the recent study shows that you can sell products more effectively if you have better graphics, which includes eCovers.

eCovers are now the key to selling digital products online. So in order to make money online by selling digital products, you need to have an effective eCover for every product. How can you obtain this?

With the help of Action Scripts for Photoshop, you can actually make eCovers by yourself.  But why should you use action scripts for Photoshop if you can simply hire a graphic designer to make an eCover? Shouldn’t you let the professionals do the work?

A graphic designer can certainly make great and high quality eCovers. But their biggest drawback is the price. Getting their service is rather expensive, and even if you could afford one, using software applications that help you create eCovers is much worth it than hiring graphic designers.

Action Scripts for Photoshop contains a variety of templates that you can choose from. These templates can help you start the design of an eCover. This application also contains a number of special effects that will help you design the eCover so that you can make it look unique, even though you are using a template. This application even contains the function to convert 2D images to 3D presentations so that it would look more attractive.

Now that you know how powerful the action scripts for Photoshop are, then you should try using it. But first, you must learn the factors that make an effective eCover graphics. With the action scripts for Photoshop, you can make the best design considering the following factors:

Impact – The design of your eCover must immediately create an impact for anyone who sees it. People should become curious of your product once they see the eCover.

Characteristic – your eCover must stand out from the rest. By now, lots of digital products have their own eCover. So the eCover that you should make is one that looks unique.

Message – After a potential customer has decided to know more about your product, your eCover should be able to give more information to the potential customer so that he becomes more interested and therefore increase the chance of buying it.

All these factors should be considered in making an eCover so that you can get more customers to buy your product. And with the help of this useful application, you can create a good eCover that effectively brings all these factors on your eCover design.

Once you get your own copy of Action Scripts for Photoshop, you get an access to 40 different templates and a video tutorial on how to use this wonderful product.

Neha Chandra posted:

1×1 Art gallery

Stall no. B07,

Hall no. 7,

India Art Summit,

Pragati Maidan,New Delhi.

From – August 19, 2009 to August 22, 2009.

As the capital gets ready for the second edition of India Art Summit with every art gallery choosing the customary option of presenting a group of artists, there is one exception that comes as a breath of fresh air, and art! Dubai-based 1×1 Art Gallery is the only gallery to present a solo artist and will be showcasing a brand new series of works by Calcutta’s renowned and equally reclusive artist Chittrovanu Mazumdar at the summit.

Says Malini Gulrajani, Director, 1×1 Art Gallery: “Most people would shy from showing a single artist at such an international platform. I, however, believe that commerce should be the last concern of a gallery and to do justice to Chittro’s work that I admire so much, a solo exhibit was the only way.”

Reciprocating the loyalty in equal measure, artist Chittrovanu Mazumdar has created for this project a brand-new series ranging from three-four large mixed media works in mediums as difficult and diverse as tar, wax, metal, light and photography that will be wall mounted; a series of small photographic as well as wax works and a sculpture-installation. There are works made of lights on mild steel panel with dimmer, speakers and soundtrack; acrylic paint, wax and tar on plywood and mild steel; wax on plywood with gold leaf as well as tinted silver leaf and few digital works of human and landscape imagery with wax and tar on mild steel.

According to Chittrovanu Mazumdar – “The blueprint for my new works is the cohabitation of opposites.” He explains that by using light-hungry, night-dark tar and the trays of light that feed those depths while simultaneously reflecting off them; he has juxtaposed mythical reverberations of black and white. The human weight of history – of making, of handcrafting – bespoken by age-old materials such as beeswax, metal, tar has been combined with sheer virtuality to produce digital prints, screen images and electronic soundscape. The promise of touch foregrounded through the textured tactility of poured colour or the exposed skin are evident in the prints on display. The curved arc of the containing womb-pod with its eternal potential of bursting, birthing and the unsettling presence of the unknown and the known are present amidst all the neatly framed geometric assertion on the walls.

Another highlight at the summit will be Chittrovanu’s video titled ‘Sleep’ which will be shown at the Video Lounge. The fifteen-minute video showcases the interrogation of the surface where the depths erupt unpredictably through cracks in a seemingly seamless skin; the metaphor of sleep and escaping dreams that inevitably rupture the face of an ostensibly calm and tranquil order as aural signs of disruption, chaos, always imminent and never predictable, haunt the mind.

Says Chittrovanu Mazumdar: “I consider myself as an expressionist painter and believe that art is a private activity for the artist, a search within the individual. To me, work is the space of freedom where everything can move, turn around, transform and become something else. There are structures and systems that one follows up to a point but then gets out of them.”

While this would be 1×1 Art Gallery’s first foray into the Indian market, the artist himself is no newcomer. While his last solo show in Delhi was at Bodhi Art Gallery in 2005, Chittrovanu has shown extensively across the globe since his first art outing in 1985. He has established himself as one of India’s leading contemporary artists. Fusing the intellectual with the sensual in a unique way, the artist has exhibited across the world like at Jehangir Art Gallery (Mumbai); Bose Pacia Modern (New York); Seagull Foundation (Kolkata); Latit Kala (Chennai); Aicon Gallery (London). He had also been invited to display at the Victoria Memorial Durbar Hall, Calcutta (1991) and joined the ranks of the previous two invitees M F Husain and Bikash Bhattacharjee.

Born in 1956, Paris, Chittrovanu Mazumdar studied painting and printmaking at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Paris in 1983 after graduating from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta with a gold medal. Starting his career as a painter with huge canvases, mammoth solo shows and exploring a broad spectrum of media and technology in his work, his range of references is vast, incorporating inputs from his own culturally rich upbringing in Kolkata and Paris and an astonishing range of eclectic reading in three languages – French, English and Bengali. His work pulls from various influences, be it visual, musical or lyrical. His paintings – using bold brushstrokes, layered imagery, abstract images and elements of collage – express the conflicting experiences and beliefs that exist within modern society and man. His canvases exude intensity and vigor and are representational of his feelings of angst and suppression in a fast paced city.  Distinctive by their blaze of colour and a free-flowing application of paint, his works have the ability to seamlessly shift from abstraction to figuration and naturalism. He treats the conventions of modernism not as constrictive theories but as stylistic options, employing abstraction, figuration, the macabre and the jovial all in a single work.

One of his most unsurpassed exhibitions in the past titled ‘Undated – Night Skin’ had amorphous sounds floating in plangent music. Embedded in the ominous military machines were fragments of human experiences – images of living spaces, dreamlike landscapes, panels of intense red impasto like coagulated blood, flowing water, cries, the lights of a city at night, the wail of an infant, a woman alone, sirens and traffic sounds, stained walls and doors and windows, a female voice pleading, a placid pig wallowing in the filth etc.

Equally evocative is the artist’s photography work that he has showcased in the past. His photographs tells a story of a place where violence, vandalism and death have just taken place, producing a comment on the present socio-political situation of India. One of the digital prints shows a calf’s carcass that lies abandoned to its fate, the potential symbols for death and decay, connoting the cyclical nature of life – what comes from the earth goes back to the earth. Says Chittrovanu: “I had a strong interest in photography and began to incorporate my own photographs in my works with painterly intervention or with a third presence, the intrusion of an exterior world. However, in due course of time, I started using photoshop on it. For the photographic series, I had travelled to Jharkhand where I chose a one square kilometer of desolated marshy land as the location and reworked on my clicked images. It was the textual and visual possibilities of a fictionalized documentary that inspired me to do these series.

Continuously reinventing himself for the past three decades, Chittrovanu has always been ahead of his times and moved in a new direction with every show, simultaneously returning to the most primeval of human emotions – fear, hunger, ecstasy, desire. His art boldly blends elements of pop art with abstract swathes of colour, dealing with human paradox and ambiguity, of the seeping grey of daily life that escapes the purity of black and white. What appears to link the very visually and formally different phases of his work is the intensity of sensual immersion demanded by the artist of both himself and the viewer. The viewer feels compelled to unravel the meaning behind the artist’s often fragmented compositions. Through the layers of translucent and opaque paint over collages of images and text, one suddenly notices the vehement gaze of belligerent eyes or a desperately outstretched hand. Mazumdar states, “I enjoy the fact that it isn’t a definite, complete form. The half-formed figure is always in the process of becoming. It remains a promise, full of possibilities.”

ABOUT 1X1 ART GALLERY

A major force in promoting Contemporary Indian Art in Dubai, 1×1 has organized and presented ‘Af-fair’ in Dubai in March 2008 curated by Bose Krishnamachari bringing to fore works of artist like Anant Joshi, Hema Upadhyaya, Jyothi Basu, Justin Ponmany, Riyas Komu, TV Santosh, Parvathy Nayar, Minal Damani, Vivek Vilsani and Aji VN soon to be launched as a documented book. Few other shows 1×1 has presented lately are ‘The New Place’, ‘Route-en-Route’, ‘Urban/Image’, ‘Art Paris’. Solo exhibits include Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Jogen Choudhary, Jatin Das, Jaideep Mehrotra, Senaka Senanayake, M.F Husain besides group shows presenting ‘Pratul Dash and Rajesh Ram’ and ‘Farhad Husain, Kazi Nazir and Binoy Varghese’.

Steve Ceaton asked:

Web design nowadays is getting more involved than ever before.  Gone are the days when a web designer could create a beautiful looking design in Photoshop, and then just slice it into html.  Nowadays this is only the start of the story.

Usability is one of the buzz words going around in the web design world. As are worlds like RSS Feed, Twitter and Call to Action.  A website is so much more about connectivity today than it’s ever been, and a good web designer needs to take all of these things on board when creating a design.

Another huge diversion that web design has taken is in to the world of Flash and video.  Web video is becoming ever more popular as bandwidths have increased and video capability now needs to be thought about and implemented in to our web designs.

With search engines like Google now gaining the ability to read information contained within Flash movies, and even having the ability to decipher human speech, web video is gaining momentum at an incredible pace.  It won’t be long until a standard static website looks as old fashioned as a bowler hat and a dickie bird tie.

Designing a successful website is now demanding a multitude of skills, and the emphasis on teamwork is stronger now than ever.  Ideally before the web designer is even involved a website project should be shown to a search engine marketing specialist.  They will know what social networking widgets will be needed to be worked in to the design, and they should be well versed in search engine optimization, so as to know what will work for the search engines.

Then maybe a graphic designer would be more of a benefit than an actual web designer, to design the back drop and scenery that will contain any ,web presenters or Flash movies.  After this an expert in Flash Actionscript may be required to make any Flash animations, menus or movies interactive and usable.

Finally then a web designer may be able to take all the pieces and put them together to create the website.  It is getting much more difficult now to be a web design one man band, and maybe as the Internet progresses the web designer will play an even lesser role.  We can see a point in the future where websites will be fully animated mini TV shows.  The entire website may then be filmed in a studio, and built in Flash, with a graphic designer designing the peripherals and effects.

It’s all great news for web users, but not so great for web designers.  My advice to any web designers out there both new and experienced it to either learn some new skills (most specifically Flash), or starting building a team to manage to coming onslaught of new website marketing media.

antmtl710 asked:

So after many videos of speed retouching I’ve gotten tons of emails from YouTubers that wanted an actual tutorial. Not just speed retouching to music. Unfortunately I’m kept very busy shoot fashion and commercial work to do these but right now its the holidays and i have some down time. Enjoy! PS: Sorry for the sound quality, this was my first podcast and first time recording my voice, I have since gotten a better mic so future videos will me clearer sounding.

Mario Churchill asked:


You may have been amazed at how your friends or family have manipulated photographs from way back when or truly impressed by the visually stimulating personalized electronic greeting cards you received from your colleagues. No matter what your ulterior motive is for buying that graphic editor software, such as Adobe Photoshop, the question now is how you are going to learn how to use them and impress yourself or other people on how creative you can be with such tool.

Unless you want to be a professional graphic designer, it is advisable that you first learn the basics of the software from free Adobe Photoshop tutorial available to you. You may be extremely excited to weave magic on your digital images, but you need to know that you cannot just enhance or create beautiful pictures if you do not know even just the fundamentals of the software you just bought. It would also be futile to pay for advanced Adobe Photoshop classes or tutorials because you might not be able to fully comprehend what your instructor is saying, especially if you are not really very familiar with computers, because you don’t even know the basics.

Do not panic. The first free Adobe Photoshop tutorial that is available to you is from the software CD itself. After installing the software, navigate and look for a tutorial or help section. Such software usually has tutorials that will show you what you can do with your new acquisition. Chances are you will be able to know what the icons on your screen signify and do with the help tool provided by the manufacturer of the software.

Another way to get a free Adobe Photoshop tutorial is to ask a friend to teach you. This is one of the best methods to learn the software because you will have someone guide you while you trying out the software. Moreover, this tutorial is interactive so you can ask your friend questions if some things seem difficult to understand. However, usually a tutorial from a friend is actually not entirely free. It would be nice to treat your friend to lunch or dinner after he or she has painstakingly explained and showed you how to use Adobe Photoshop.

Actually, if you have a son or daughter who is into computers, you could also ask their help. Children nowadays are so adept at using the Internet and new computer trends and software. You won’t have difficulty in asking help from your children because they know that they have to teach you well or else their allowance might be compromised.

Another way to find a free Adobe Photoshop tutorial is through the Internet. Just search “free Adobe Photoshop tutorials” in whatever search engine you usually use and you will find a lot of sites that offer tutorials that you can download for free. Be sure to type the word free when searching for tutorials because there are also a number of websites that require you to pay for certain file downloads.

Aside from downloading files on how to use your Photoshop, you could also join forums and discussion groups. Such venues will help you learn tricks and new ways of doing things from the experiences of people who have been using the software for a long time.

Lastly, the best way for you to learn is to practice. Do not be afraid to put the things that you have learned from the tutorials to use. No matter how many paid or free tutorials you attend, you will not be able to learn how to completely manipulate the graphic editor if you do not try it out. Go ahead be creative and experiment.

Groshan Fabiola asked:


Advance your Dreamweaver Skills to the Next Level with PHP Training in London and enhance your Graphic Design skills with Photoshop Course in London

So now you know how Dreamweaver works and you are busy creating static, brochure-ware web sites. Well, surely that’s not where the learning curve ends is it? Your Dreamweaver introductory training will have given you the foundation to start a career as a web developer. However, if your aim is to take this career as far as possible, there are further courses you must attend. They are as easy and inexpensive as the previous, but they give you even more essential skills. A good Dreamweaver PHP or PHP MySQL course in London represents the next step into building a strong and successful career in web development.

When looking for Dreamweaver PHP training in London avoid the west end and city venues as you will most likely be paying for high costs of rent/hotels. Yes, they might put on a swanky pub meal at lunch but tell me – are you looking for a gourmet meal or are you looking for knowledge and enlightenment that will allow you to buy many such meals easily yourself in the nearest future?

The best type of Dreamweaver PHP training in London will be a course that allows you to take your Dreamweaver skills to the next level. On such a training course you should be able to build web pages that insert, search, delete or update records from a database. You should also learn how to create a registration page, Check User Name, Create a log in page, Restrict Access to Page and Log Out User.

Upon completing a Dreamweaver PHP course in London you will truly master how to develop dynamic web sites.  I’m sure you would like to be able to do that even if you have to go as far as Enfield in the North East of London.

Unlike the introductory courses about Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver PHP training in London requires Dreamweaver skills, because you must first know how to create a static web site to be able to make it a dynamic data- driven one. Dreamweaver PHP training in London is a one day course and for anyone looking to create dynamic web sites it would be a crying shame to miss it.

For those that are more used to hand-coding their web pages and want to learn PHP MySQL there is an upgrade course called PHP5 and MySQL training in London this is slightly more advanced and would take two days to complete.

Do not be fooled by the many PHP  training courses in London that want you to  remortgage your house or take out a huge loan because it really does not have to be this way. Perfecting your web technology skills and taking your career to the next level is much easier than that. If you have ever wondered what path to take in your life in order to have the money, career and lifestyle you have dreamed of, now is your chance to let go of all doubts and find the answer. Within a short period of time and with little money, you can become a web site developer and getting Dreamweaver and PHP training London is the best and most effective way to achieve that.

If the programming side of developing web sites is not your passion, and you are more interested in the visual aspects, then look for a Photoshop course in London to help you achieve your dreams. By attending Photoshop training in London you will acquire the necessary skills for screen and print. In just a couple of days, you will learn valuable techniques in images, compositing and retouching for online production and print.

Most Photoshop courses in London are aimed at teaching beginners or novices, so there are no requirements for previous knowledge. The only skills you must have are good mouse and keyboard skills. Moreover, by attending certain Photoshop training courses in London you will also have access to online support and tutorials, all at very competitive prices.

Starting a career in the web design and development world seems like something rather complicated until you have found the perfect training provider. There are many training organisations whose goal is to turn a beginner into a professional in no time. Photoshop courses in London, Dreamweaver training in London and Flash courses in London have the best reputation in the world for doing this. You just have to make sure you are going with the right one who will not charge you heaven and earth to gain the skills. More so, a training academy that respects its students and itself will not just be in the business for the money but also because they have an unwavering dedication towards taking students to the next level of development and supporting them along the way. Hence, providing not just introductory Dreamweaver training but also an advanced course, such as a PHP MySQL course in London.



Caffeinated Content

Athena L asked:

My friend told that there are a site that have a good photoshop brushes to download and it’s not at deviantart. So anyone can tell me where it is?