Zero2illo 2nd Super Sale!

Our friends over at Zero2Illo are hosting their second Super Sale!

If you were to buy each e-book separately, this bundle would cost $200!

For two days only (July 4-6), the entire bundle is $39.95!




Here is what's included in this great package:

10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives by Alex Mathers of the Red Lemon Club



Confessions of More First Timers by Khristian A. Howell

Find Your First Illustration Client... Today! by me, Char of Colourisma ;D

Hire an Illustrator: $20 Off Annual membership

A Guide to Uncover Your Unique Illustration Style by Jonathan and Lea Woodward of Zero2Illo

Zero2Illo Zine: Issue #1 by Jonathan and Lea Woodward of Zero2Illo

The 12 Week Challenge Kit by Zero2Illo

Hello Momentum e-course by Lea Woodward

As well as the:

The Kinetiva Manifesto- How to Become a Pioneer of Your Own Life (free)

Remember this deal only lasts from July 4 - July 6!

Be sure to get your bundle today, before you miss out on a really special opportunity: 

Trick: The benefit of Picnik

If you're not familiar with Picnik, then now might be a good time to start!

If you use Firefox, there is a great little Addon called Picnik (v2.3), which allows you to right click on any image and edit it all online.

In Chrome, you can use the Picnik Extension for Chrome.
Both versions allow you to edit images without having to login or sign up for an account as well.

If you're used to using the internet for reference, but have been frustrated by having to move the image from the internet to Photoshop, this little addon will greatly reduce the time fiddling with images online. Need to flip an image horizontally? Adjust contrast? You can do a lot all within Picnic without having to leave your browser!

Tools of the Trade: Photoshop CS5.1 Subscription Edition

I was so excited when I heard that Adobe was allowing a subscription of Photoshop that I went ahead and pre-ordered it almost a whole month in advance.

Benefits
While a great deal at $35 USD/mo for a year's subscription, you do need to know that you are still only renting the software, not buying it through a payment plan. This works out well if you have your own business and can write it off as a business expense. And at $35, even those on a modest budget can manage.

A perk, from what I understand, is that you get updates as they arrive and unlike those who buy the software outright, you don't have to pay extra for it.

Disadvantages
However, for the affordable price and updates, there are some downsides to the subscription edition.

The biggest one I've found so far is that you can only run the software while online. I realise this is an anti-pirating precaution, but it does become frustrating in situations where I will not have a wifi connection or I will have to pay to get one (ie: airports). I'd still have to count it as a major downside to the software.

While Photoshop ran absolutely fine before, it hasn't been the same since I tried to run it while offline. I'll save someone the hassle of a 90 minute phone call with tech support and give you the full blown version of the answer to the problem that I was actually able to cram into a single tweet.

If you accidentally (or purposefully) start Photoshop Subscription Edition up without being online first, you'll find the Adobe Application Manager pop up and presents you with this message: "We are unable to activate Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 subscription edition," informing you that you're not allowed to run the software offline. On my MacBook OS 10.6.7, when I tried to press "Try again", it went to the next screen to Activate the software, but stalled and never gave an error message.

To temporarily fix this issue on a Mac:

• Go to Macintosh HD -> Library -> Application Support -> Adobe -> Adobe PCD
• In Adobe PCD you might find a pcd.db file, delete it.
• Go to Adobe PCD -> cache
• In the cache, you will find a cache.db file, delete it.
• Open Photoshop and re-enter your serial number and Adobe login information.

To temporarily fix this issue on Windows:

• In C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe PCD
• Move pcd.db out of the folder or delete it. 
• Then in the Cache folder, delete cache.db.

The next major issue is that I have to do this every time I close then reopen Photoshop, extremely aggravating- especially since about 50% of the time, it also forgets my shortcuts that I've set up (I have a Norwegian laptop keyboard setup, so I can't use normal shortcuts). If anyone knows how to permanently solve the problem, I'd be forever grateful for the information!

For now, I have a quick fix, but I'm hoping on the next update (any time soon would be nice), this issue will get resolved.

Conclusion

Photoshop CS5.1 Subscription Edition is a great value if you go with the $35/mo yearly plan ($49 on a month to month basis), but with some of the early bugs to still work out and the inability to work offline, it might be a deal breaker for some. In that case, just keep saving for the full version!

Do you have any advantages or disadvantages to share about Photoshop Subscription Edition? Please share in the comments!

Tip: References and Lighting

I have deliberated over updates for Colourisma. I decided I should go back to the roots of why I started this blog and move back to providing "tips, tricks and tools of the trade," providing information that's helpful in your artistic journey. I frequently think of little tricks that make my art process a little bit easier and I thought this blog would be the perfect vehicle to get this information out to fellow artists.

Today, I thought about lighting and how to work with reference that may be different that what you need. For instance, what if you needed a hand reference picture, but the lighting doesn't match your illustration?

Step 1: Collect Reference

By Aurelijus Valeiša

Step 2: Desaturate the photo. In Photoshop, go to Image-> Adjustments-> Hue/Saturation

Step 3: Move the Saturation slider to -100

Step 4: Go to Image-> Adjustments-> Invert

Final: Now you have an idea as to how the lighting works in reverse. So if you have a great photo reference, but you are frustrated by the lighting in the piece, then this can really help you reference lighting that works with your illustration.

Get Inspired, Be Inspiring

Hello everyone!

First a big thanks to Char for giving other artist the opportunity to be a guest writer. Thanks Char!

In this article I’m going to talk about inspiration. It’s funny, because a while ago someone asked me what exactly inspired me to draw or to keep drawing. It got me thinking, because drawing has always been a part of my life, so I never really considered the ‘why’ part. Drawing is something that runs in both sides of my family. So this got me also wondering, because having the talent running in the family doesn't automatically mean that you will inherit the ability to draw. Why do I draw?

I've always been interested in creating things on paper. Armed with a piece of paper and a pencil, I started doodling stuff. Most of it was probably unrecognizable from my surroundings, but they told a story in my mind. I think when you are younger you are carefree, you see the fun in everything you do and you tend to draw spontaneous and carefree. As you get older you get more responsibilities and you tend to make things more difficult than they really are. I think this can eventually block the inspiration flow for a lot of people.

What keeps me inspired? Inspiration is a big word and has many layers. What inspires me doesn’t have to be inspiring to others. For me, inspiration can be found in the smallest and plainest things in life. Maybe you see dust twirling in a sun beam and it sparks a feeling, an image or an idea. I can't really explain how it goes, but it feels like it sparks forgotten memories or maybe even memories that haven't been created yet. And it's not that these memories suddenly flash before my eyes, but what I eventually grasp is this feeling that will be translated in a drawing or story piece. It's quite difficult to put it in words though, but I hope you understand what I mean!

Also, just talking to people, hearing others talk or watching other artists draw, can inspire me to draw new things. Sometimes just one word in a conversation can spark a whole new drawing. There are so many interesting things in the world that I often find myself just daydreaming and creating new worlds in my mind. So I try to capture all this in words or quick sketches and I will work on them in a later stage. The same goes for music or reading books or magazines. The way songs are composed or sentences are constructed can be an inspiration for new drawings.

What I often forget that getting inspired also works the other way around. I often hear from others that I inspire them to pick up brushes again or do something new and I’m truly grateful for this. Have to say that I never considered this at all, but it makes sense. By being inspired by others, you improve your own skills and you inspire others to get better as well. It’s a vicious circle, but I often get stuck at the part where I only get inspired by others!

Finally, just one tip: Don’t get scared or too annoyed when you get an ‘artist block’. It’s only normal to have them and it usually happens when you start to over think things and are trying too hard. Well in my case anyway haha. Just let it go, focus on other things and it should get better.

Thanks for reading and feel free to share your stories as well.

Take care everyone,

TJ

About
TJ Lubrano is a freelance illustrator from The Netherlands. She's self taught works mostly with watercolours & ink. Drawing has always been a passion of hers and most of the time she is to be found in her own imaginative world. To get to know more about her, just visit her site A Look in a Creative Mind. TJ can also be found on Facebook and Twitter under the name TJ Lubrano.