My dear dekeIstorians, the final course in Deke's Photoshop CS6 One-on-One series---known to the soon-to-be-initiated as Mastery---is nigh. It's imminent. It's due to be released this week!

I know some of our faithful dekeItarians have been waiting for this one; I'm looking at you skinny3829, tjean1332, and yerachmiel. I'm looking at you because I found your missives of yearning in the comments when I searched for "Mastery." (That will teach the rest of you to think about keywording!)

After the jump (do people still call it that?), I'll let you know a few more details about the course content, but let me just say that this completes the set. In fact, if I weren't sailing somewhere in the Caribbean right now, I'd be adding the Mastery course to my lynda.com Photoshop One-on-One playlist. (I'm typing this in the past, because I'm magic.) 

However, you can a) check out my playlist to get ready for this week's release and b) sign up for a free week trial of lynda.com at lynda.com/deke. A week should be enough to catch up on the 26-ish hours of the series so far and still have the wherewithal (and time) to watch the Mastery course later this week. Here's what it will cover:  Read more » 

What do monsters, microbrews, and Deke have in common? They'll all be benevolently haunting the ADIM conference in Boulder April 7–10. ADIM is the brainchild (braaaains) of Adobe Senior Creative Director Russell Brown, in which he brings together:

1. Some of the most trusted names in photography and graphic design instruction (which of course is why Deke will be there, not just because Deke's Techniques 075 was about zombies), and

2. A roomful of computers, with Adobe Creative Cloud installed, manned by designer attendees (the goody bag for the conference includes a year subscription to CC), and

3. Usually some kind of wacky output device (I believe this year it's a machine that etches beer bottles), and

4. Inevitably, costumes, creativity, and chaos. 

Seriously, just look at this awesome logo. You can read the details of the top-notch (in addition to Deke) instructors, luscious goodie bags, and potentially outrageous, instructive fun here at the ADIM13 site. Did I mention zombies are involved? 

And seriously, wasn't this zombie project of Deke's born to be etched onto a beer bottle? That's what too much delicious Boulder brew will do to you people. (Hmm, I'm thirsty.) Don't be scared; come to Boulder. 

  Read more » 

My lucky dekeRechauns. This week, I've been searching for a four-leaf clover---ostensibly in honor of St. Patrick's Day, but mostly because I needed to think of something to write about for today. And I couldn't think of a suitably graphical project centered around the Ides of March.

My journey took me through dozens of Fotolia stock photos, the cache of prefabricated Photoshop shapes, and hours if not minutes of Deke video training on Adobe Illustrator. Eventually, I used the last of these to create my own personal lucky four-leaf clover that combines the whimsy of Colleen-O-Vision, the spirals of Irish Neolithic art, and an adaptation of one of Deke's infamous pirate-themed projects: 

You can easily adapt my method (which is really just an adaption of Deke's method) for your own. So put down your disgusting green beer (for St. Patrick's sake, just grab a Guinness) and let me share my tale.

I started out searching through the stock images in the Fotolia Image Library. There are some wonderful St. Patrick's Day-themed graphics there. But if you want to skip the Lucky Charms-inspired cartoons, I suggest the keywords "clover" and "carpet." That's how I found this gorgeously lit image by Carly Hennigan (Fotolia image #33180070): 

However lovely this photograph is and however much it makes me want to grab my own Guinness and lie down in a bed of clover, I don't see any four-leafers in the frame. So my next stop was Photoshop:  Read more »