CS6

In last week's episode of Deke's Techniques, Deke shared the prosaic, but presumably helpful, process of extending your Illustrator artwork all the way to the bleed. In the course of that video, however, he inadvertently introduced the world to his distractingly compelling character, the Necrowalrus, who happened to be the subject of the artwork in question. 

Just how attention-grabbing was the tangential introduction of Deke's elusive non-existent video game character? Well, I think this tweet says is all:  

@akacolleen is there any chance we can get a JPEG of the Necrowalrus? It'd likely end up on our site worldwidewalrusweb.com

— WorldWideWalrusWeb (@walrusweb) April 30, 2013

So this week, Deke reveals how to draw some key components of his delightful game-changing Necrowalrus in Illustrator. Read more » 

Hey, gang. It's me, Deke! Actually writing a blog post for my very own site. Weird! But, honestly, Colleen's so good at it, who needs me underfoot?

Even so, in rare form, I attend (hello!) to announce this week's free technique. Now I warn you, this movie is not terribly humorous or exciting. In fact, while watching it, I yawned once. Okay, twice. But it was late. And besides, this movie is seriously educational. Perhaps even dangerously so. For this week, I explain how to use the Defringe slider bars in Adobe Camera Raw 7, which ships with Photoshop CS6.

Oh, crap, that sounds dull as shit, even with all the italics.

We start with the following helpful sign that warns men with chest erections not to stumble off obvious cliffs. Wait, no, I have that wrong---there's no red slash through the sign. So it must recommend that men with chest erections stumble off obvious cliffs. Phew, boy am I glad I misread that sign! I'm pretty sure I had a massive arm-shaped chest erection at the time.

Sadly, that misses the point, and it's already much more entertaining than the boring-ass video that accompanies this post. Which, if I haven't already mentioned it, is dull. Great grandpappy-discretion advised. Read more » 

One of my favorite things about Deke is his focus, and by that I mean he gets an idea in his brain and won't let go until he's figured it out. I have a feeling that's what happened the first time he started doing Op Art experiments with Adobe Creative Suite. He focused in on each style, using Photoshop (as in Deke's Techniques 189, known temporarily as Deke's Techniques 105: "Op Art Experiment 1a: Inflated Checkers in Photoshop) or Illustrator as needed. Eventually, he ended up with today's Illustrator technique: an Op Art inspired pattern of undulating lines and hypnotic diamonds. Ironically, as much as it represents the manifestation of Deke's mental focus, it could actually mess with your literal ability to focus your eyes.

But the visual effect is only temporary (I hope). The increase in your powers with Illustrator, however, will be permanent (I also hope). Starting with two sets of curly lines, plus an itinerant diamond shape, Deke duplicates, reflects, joins, blends, and eventually creates a pattern that yields this result. You can then fill an entire shape with your pattern and wow your friends and colleagues with your ability to create perfectly aligned visual mayhem. (You can probably use it to bend them to your will, as well.) 

Along the way, you'll become familiar with these key Illustrator tools, commands, and idiosyncrasies:  Read more » 

Hello, fellow gangsters. This week is remarkable is three regards: First, I'm actually writing my own Deke's Techniques post. (Colleen wrote the last two. But in all fairness, I helped out.) Second, I just today finished recording the last movie in the final course of my four-part Photoshop video opus for lynda.com, which will be titled Photoshop CS6 One-on-One: Mastery. (Lynda doesn't like us making promises, so I can't assure you that it's coming out any time soon. But it is.) And third, in this week's episode of Deke's Techniques, we're back in Illustrator, which I've really been grooving on lately.

I know, you photographers hate it when I visit Illustrator. But in case you haven't received the memo, I'm a graphic artist and I really like to draw. (Did I mention that photographers are sissies because all they do is point and shoot a camera? No I didn't. Which is a good thing because that would've seriously pissed off a lot of people.)

Oh, man, no wonder I don't write more of these things. I'm a liability to myself.

Anywhom, this week, I show you how to create a free-form pattern of size- and color-changing circles inside Illustrator. Which I do by blending between groups, and then grouping those blends, and then blending between those blended groups. Yes, you have to reformat your brain to follow along.

Fortunately, the only thing you have to "draw" is a circle, create a file that measures 612 by 420 points, then make a 43.5-point circle centered at a coordinate location of X: 44, Y: 42. Yowsa, I love this full-on nerd shit.

After that, well, it's all in the video. Spoiler alert: Here's the final size- and color-changing circle pattern, as created in Adobe Illustrator:

And it's all from a single circle! You can draw a circle, right? Well then quit screwing off with your cameras and join in. After all, when you're done, you'll have a piece of art that's worthy of printing on a shower curtain. Try doing that with your high-resolution Ansel Adams homage. Read more » 

In this week's free Deke's Techniques video, Deke will show you how to take all those Warhol variations you've learned about last week and combine them into a perfect composite.

What? You say you didn't create a set of Warhol variations? No problem. You could work with one photo apiece of your six children. Or you could start with six different photos of your favorite kid, leaving your other five to wonder where they lost your love. No matter, this technique works with any set of identically sized photos or illustrations.

But for the record, here is the awesome collection of aforementioned Warhol variations to whet your appetite. (Of course, when I asked him to make this graphic, Deke being Deke decided to try yet another variation for the following.)

As you'll see in the video, Deke's technique for making this grid takes place meticulously, yet effectively, and involves three basic tools:  Read more »