One-on-One

This week, lynda.com, home of what I now know to be over 500 hours of Deke-on-Video-Training, announced they have added the ability to share "playlists." This means, if you are a member of lynda.com, you can round up a bunch of courses into one handy list, and then share that list (via a link, email, or social media) with whomever you wish. 

For instance, in honor of the impending arrival of the final installment in the Photoshop CS6 series, also known as Photoshop CS6 One-on-One: Mastery, I have added the first three installments of Deke's series into a Photoshop CS6 One-on-One playlist so that members of lynda.com can make sure they're up to date on the series before the finale arrives. Perfect for your weekend Photoshop enrichment. (And, hey, if you scheduled things cleverly, you could probably get through this list in a free week trial membership from lynda.com/deke: You know, if you didn't sleep, pay attention to your children, or work too hard at your regular job for a week.) 

^{lynda.com members can click on this image and be taken to a page where they can add my list to your collection.}

Read on to see how to add courses to your own playlists, get a free trial at lynda.com, and get my secret for on how to watch a completely free "playlist" of dekeVideos from the lynda.com library. Read more » 

Some of you have expressed interest as to when (or even if) my final course, Photoshop CS6 One-on-One: Mastery, will go live at my beloved video publisher lynda.com.

First, let me assure you that it will and I am almost done recording the damn thing.

Second, I thought, gosh, I might as well give you a sneak peek into what's in store. There's plenty of exciting stuff---Lighting Effects, Adaptive Wide Angle, animation, and video editing---not to mention a new take on high dynamic range, better known as HDR.

Most of the HDR tips and tricks I've seen present the feature as something like digital magic. (I myself have been guilty of this crime.) But this time I'll be rolling up my sleeves and showing you how this weird and semi-fantastical feature actually works. For example, did you know that, under the right circumstances, you can indeed create an HDR portrait shot?

Using myself as the proverbial guinea pig, I was able to take the following pedestrian portrait shot (captured ever-so-deftly by my buddy Lucas Deming; the pedestrian aspect is altogether my fault):

And transform it into this lustrously volumetric image using Photoshop CS6's enhanced HDR Pro module, entirely without the assistance of Liquify, the Healing Brush, or any selective retouching:

As many of you know, HDR Pro requires multiple shots captured at different exposures. (This began as a three-shot bracketed series, btw.) So how do you manage to capture a living, breathing, flinching human being under such conditions? Answer: Very carefully. Read more » 

Oh goodness gravy, I have been remiss. Last Thursday, my newest video course, Illustrator CS6 One-on-One: Advanced, hit the virtual shelves of the lynda.com Online Training Library. And it's been the talk of the town. If you imagine this site is the town. And I'm the only one talking. But it's been popular so perhaps you'll want to listen up, even if I'm just yackin' up my own junk.

The course is 11 hours and 2 minutes long. Exactly 6 minutes shorter than my previous course, Illustrator CS6 One-on-One; Intermediate. Which makes it precisely 0.6% more powerful. (I did the math!) Please allow me to share my favorite three sample files from this inspiring and ultra-long but ultra-inspiring course.

Starting with, are you familiar with the concept of color harmonies? They play an essential role in the behavior of the exceedingly useful Color Guide panel and Recolor Artwork command. If this is news to you, check out Chapter 25, "The Color Guide Panel." Specifically the movie called "The 23 color harmony rules, diagrammed." In which I show you how each of the color harmonies works, in a real Lab color wheel so you can't help but understand, as pictured below:

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Just returned home from a long day at the office. And, boy, am I psyched.

First, my Illustrator CS6 One-on-One: Advanced course goes live at my beloved video publisher lynda.com tomorrow. It will include, among other things, the following neon type effect created entirely from scratch using Illustrator combined with just a small dash of Photoshop. Working together as never witnessed before in the history of mankind.

I'm so taken with it, I might feature it in a future episode of Deke's Techniques.

Speaking of which, second, I recorded a crazy number of Deke's Techniques movies just this very day. (Technically yesterday, but whatever. I'm still awake.) All of 8, which is amazing, given that I usually record on average about 2. They're really hard! Anyway, as a result, you have this collection of Andy Warhol-style silkscreen-like variations to look forward to:

I plan to call it Andy Warhol taught everyone nothing.

I know, I've explored Warhol treatments in the past. But while that was funny, this is better. I'll get back to you later on everything. Read more » 

That's right, Part 2 of my cradle-to-grave video treatise on Adobe Illustrator CS6 is out on lynda.com. I would have mentioned it 2 weeks ago, on November 21, when the course went live. But I was on vacation in Ireland. In the northern city of Derry, to be exact. And while Colleen was blogging every day, and I was making her graphics, it seemed somehow antithetical to the whole vacationing thing for me to mention my for-profit course. You know what I mean?

But I'm home now. And I've even sneaked in a couple of days of legitimate work. So what the hell, time to blog the course. That image below, that's a Venn diagram bear. He's not a dog, he's a bear. Perhaps a bit over-eager. But still, he's a bear.

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