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Five Key Things about Working with Graphics in InDesign

Submitted by colleen on 19 April 2013 - 12:15pm.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working more with InDesign lately and thinking about how learning InDesign's layout capabilities might be of interest to more people as the Creative Cloud model makes it more readily available (i.e. it's free as part of your subscription, so you might as well give it a test drive). Or maybe, like me, it's been a while since you've needed to use ID, and you're looking to renew your acquaintance. 

Given that dekeOpolitans are generally graphically oriented creatures, I've made a list of five things about using graphics (photos, line art, logos) in InDesign documents. These observations may come in handy should you wish to create garage sale flyer, an invitation to an intergalactic cocktail party, or anything else that might combine your carefully crafted graphics with pithily presented text in InDesign. 

intergalactic cocktails in InDesign

So here's my list of five things about working with graphics in InDesign.  Read more » 

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Deke's Techniques 101: Creating a Jaunty Star of David in Illustrator

Submitted by colleen on 11 December 2012 - 12:15pm.
Deke's Techniques 101: Creating a Jaunty Star of David in Illustrator

In this week's free Deke's Techniques video, Deke McClelland gets in the Hanukkah spirit and creates this festive, jaunty Star of David in Adobe Illustrator. Starting with the simple circle on the left (below), Deke cuts, twists, warps, and strokes it into the complex shape on the right:

Honestly, how awesome is that? Read more » 

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Deke's Techniques 85: Designing a Seamlessly Repeating Hex Pattern in Illustrator CS6

Submitted by deke on 21 August 2012 - 12:15am.
Deke's Techniques 85: Designing a Hex Pattern in Illustrator CS6

By now, a few of you may be using Illustrator CS6. In which case, you have access to the new Pattern Options panel, which---among other things---allows you to create hex patterns. By which I mean, patterns that are organized into hexagonal tiles instead of the regular old rectangular ones. And it designs the patterns seamlessly, with remarkably little planning on your part.

Here's the official description from lynda.com: Read more » 

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Scaling and Editing Traced Artwork

Submitted by deke on 29 October 2010 - 12:15am.
Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Advanced PREVIEW, Part 6

Welcome to the final installment in my six-day, cradle-to-grave, Halloween-induced extravaganza, in which I finish off the large-format pirate flag that I've been making all week. I begin by enlarging the skull and sabers in Illustrator. The result is a work of infinitely scalable razor-sharp line art that I could not have possibly matched had I upsampled the original pixel-based image in Photoshop. Then I adjust the color scheme and modify the placement of a few paths---if for no other reason than to demonstrate that what began as a sketch is now a pliable collection of vector-based outlines that I can modify as much as I want.

Here's the official description: Read more » 

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The Power of Multiple Martini Transformations in Photoshop

Submitted by deke on 29 September 2010 - 12:15am.

Wouldn't it be great if you had a device that would create martinis for you, each one a suitable replica of the previous, without your having to painstakingly mix each of them separately? Well, when it comes to virtual cocktails---or really anything else of value and deliciousness---you can leverage Photoshop's ability to duplicate, scale, and reposition a layer with the Free Transform command and the judicious application of some modifier keys. And then, amazingly, you can ask Photoshop to do it all over again.

See, a while back, I was creating a graphic for my weekly Martini Hour podcast (using a martini glass image from Gunnar3000 of the Fotolia image library, shown below), and really appreciating this terrific, if largely undocumented, shortcut that allows you to repeat a transformation---including duplicating, scaling and repositioning a layer---without having to tediously reenter values, mouse around your image, or remember how you lined things up the first time. 

Here's how I turned this single refreshing beverage into three, each spaced equidistantly and scaled appropriately, efficiently, and somewhat miraculously. Read more » 

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