Martini Hour 014, In Which Deke and Mordy Teach Colleen to Draw a Yellow Hat

Submitted by colleen on 12 May 2009 - 12:15am.

I know, you've been wondering... when the hell are we going to discuss Illustrator in the 'lounge? Well, the answer is, when we can get the one and only Mordy Golding to join us. You're asking yourselves, "How can you guys discuss Illustrator over single malt scotch in an audio-only podcast?"Answer: get two of the best Illustrator teacher-experts on the planet, close your eyes, and get your virtual Curious George on. Oh, sure, Deke and Mordy go all retro and insider, but really you can't beat these two trying to help me get over my fear of paths and start my first Illustrator document. 

In addition to helping me getting started in Illustrator, Mordy excavates his childhood love of yellow, but the one thing we don't ever quite get around to, is the secret fact that yellow is the color of...Illustrator! Coincidence? I think not. Join us!

Interested? How can you resist? Here's the regular-quality (192kbps) audio file. You can stream, or for best results, right-click and choose Download or Save.

Don't want to miss a single episode of this singular treat for the ears and mind? Subscribe via iTunes. And don't forget, this is a separate subscription from your regular dekePod podcast.

Got a question you'd like us to answer on the show? Write us on the site, or even better, call 1-888-dekepod. (That's 1-888-335-3763.) Practice, be charming, and ask us something really intriguing. Or just ask a really sincere question with great earnestness.

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Comments

adobe certification preparation

Submitted by Apurv on 19 June 2009 - 12:05am.
Dearest Deke Sir, I'm a great admirer of you,specially your way of teaching.You make it all sound so easy and simple.Wish I can teach like you someday. Sir I've few queries which I wish you could answer.I want to become an adobe certified expert using your tutorials.But in India, there's only one Adobe authorized training center.And the photoshop taught over here at best of institutes is limited to Matte Paintings and digital paintings.Its no way near to the depth you teach in your tutorials.And I have no previous years practice papers.. I even called up the adobe center here in India, but they have no clue about the exams.I had no idea about the exam pattern and type of questions asked.So I just went and gave the exam, but flunked.I got 53 marks.lolz..But then I had just done a single tutorial from one on one series, that to basic one. so now m preparing for a re-certification in cs3,n I dont have a clue if m even eligible for cs4 directly or not.moreover, they never even gave a feedback as to what questions I answered incorrectly so I can evaluate my performance. And why were the dialogue boxes made available below each question.can we also type in our answers there just in case we're doubtful?? Also, there were a lot of questions related with other softwares, their integration with photoshop.Have you covered any tutorial on Photoshops integration with other softwares, d way 2 import-export files B/w adobe softwares.Do we need to study the softwares like indesign and illustrator as well?? At present, I'm making notes of each tutorial by you, because the exams were very tricky I guess.even the simple questions were confusing me that time.making notes of one on one series took 8-10 days for me, m I too slow??how much months of prepartion should we put in for this exam?? I don't even know the standard of the students there preparing for the exams and their preparation methods.and last but not the least,Sir, whats the value of this certification over there. Kindly guide me Sir, I look upto you as an inspiration.and kindly forgive me for troubling you with so many queries in my first comment posted on this site.you must be thinking what a fool we have here. but whats best then asking the person you learn from day to day?? Regards Apurv.

Recoloring in Illustrator

Submitted by gagood on 16 May 2009 - 5:18pm.
Regarding Colleen's dinosaur, I was surprised that neither Mordy nor Deke mentioned Live Color. In many cases, this is easier and more effective than using the "select same fill" command. Coincidentally, Mordy recently had an article on recoloring artwork posted on iStock Photo's web site ( http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view.php?ID=609).

A Martini Hour Question

Submitted by glennbroadway on 14 May 2009 - 6:02pm.
Firstly, I'll warn you, I'm British. This means that not only will I make sure I use words like colour, aluminium and analogue, as well as potentially referring to my car's 'boot' or my mother-in-law's 'bum bag', but I may well throw in the odd 'blimey', 'ave a butchers' or even a 'that Guy Ritchie, he's a proper geezer ain't he?'. My question is Illustrator related. Smart guides are great. I'm starting to love them. But please tell me this: Is it possible to grab a shape or path and have one particular control point snap to another object? What's that? You need an example? How can I do that in text!? Erm... Okay! Let's say I have the FedEx logo, all grouped up, and I want to move it so that the point of the arrow (what, you didn't notice the arrow?) snaps to a guide. Where do I grab the shape? What magic combination of keys do I hold down so that that one, particular control point does all the snapping? Thanks to both of you. Glenn.

Oh, Snap!

Submitted by rwillustrator on 14 May 2009 - 10:07pm.
Hey there Glenn -- great question. Smart Guides in CS4 will allow you to snap the BOUNDS of any selected art, no matter where you grab the object from, but you can't tell Illustrator to snap any arbitrary point within your selection. That would be pretty cool though. What you'd need to do is grab the object from that point that you want to snap, and then you'll see it will snap to other anchor points or guides, etc. Mordy Golding http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

Photoshop CS4 ACE Test Preparation

Submitted by bodieq on 13 May 2009 - 12:24am.
Deke, I have been chewing through your Photoshop CS4 One on One series, and I am loving it. Just beginning the Advanced now. You are so immensely thorough and clear, I really feel like I "get it" from your teaching, so thank you! My goal is to get Adobe Certified in Photoshop CS4 and this series is my primary education vehicle to learn and master the program. However, what I am looking for is tools to prepare for the exam. Of course I plan to go through every second of your training and get the knowledge, but preparation for the test is a different thing. Assuming I follow your lead through every video tutorial, which I plan to do, what would you recommend I do to specifically prepare for the test? Do you know of any good ACE test prep materials out there? Everything I have found is more training based, and the freebie that Adobe gives you which is a good example of what the test questions are like, but too short to be useful. You are providing the class, I am looking for the "study guide for the final". Any suggestions? Thanks Thanks Thanks. I am lovin it. Bodie Bodie

Theoretically, you should be able to

Submitted by deke on 14 May 2009 - 11:25am.
Go to the ACE landing page and poke around there for a training provider. But I've never found any workbooks or print publications. Does anyone else know of any?? As things stand now, lynda.com is pretty much the nearest thing there is to an official Adobe training partner. In the name of full disclosure, I got a 93% last time I took the exam. (Were I to exaggerate my understanding of Photoshop, I might argue that the test scored 93% when it last took me. In truth, there were a few gaffs in the test.) That said, I can't help but think if you complete my "Photoshop CS4 One-on-One" series and you grok its contents, you're going to ace the ACE.

Thanks!

Submitted by bodieq on 14 May 2009 - 12:06pm.
Deke, I fully agree that if I get your series, I will own that test. (BTW, Any ETA on when the "Mastery" will be available on Lynda.com?) However, though it was a beefy cost, I found and purchased the Photoshop CS4 Test Prep from examaid.com. The Photoshop CS4 one actually just came out, and I have to say that after using it for a little bit, I think it will be an awesome "test prep" supplement to your series. Here's the link: http://www.examaids.com/ Now time to get back to the Advanced goodness and get my skills sharpened. Thanks Deke! Bodie

You're right, PrivateEccles

Submitted by colleen on 12 May 2009 - 8:44pm.
Looks like Mordy and Deke were thinking of Web Premium.

Me? I wasn't thinking of anything!

Submitted by deke on 12 May 2009 - 11:41am.
Mordy's the one that used to work at Adobe. He's your man. I didn't even know Adobe sold software until he mentioned it. All's I'm sayin' is, I cannot afford to be associated with this highly controversial issue. This damn thing has Illustratorgate written all over it.

Illustratorgate

Submitted by PrivateEccles on 13 May 2009 - 7:09pm.
You're right! Here's how I see the future... After there was attention drawn to an 'almost Adobe-less suite' an immediate investigation was launched by the FBI. Which henceforth found cases of other suites missing key Adobe products. The prime case being the E-learning suite ( http://www.adobe.com/products/elearningsuite/ ) which did not include Illustrator, but had Photoshop when it clearly should have had Fireworks! Due to the impending possibility of imbananament, the CEO of Adobe stepped down and was replaced by Mordy Golding. Deke was subsequently hired under the job term of 'groupie'. The former CEO of Adobe later did a series of interviews with a snow man, this was generally considered the training session he never got during the scandal.

Adobe to buy Twitter and Facebook

Submitted by rwillustrator on 14 May 2009 - 10:00pm.
As new CEO of the company, I've decided that Photoshop and Illustrator are "yesterday's news" and as such, am refocusing the company on products that really make money -- Twitter and Facebook. We'll make sure that twitter now uses professional-level typography (paragraph styles will make it easier to style your tweets), and images on facebook will now look better because we've taken the Photoshop stuff and added that in. Boy, this job is a heck of a lot easier than I thought it would be... Mordy Golding http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

Suite!

Submitted by PrivateEccles on 17 May 2009 - 9:12am.
Will they be available in the Web Standard suite? New in Twitter CS5! Write up to 200 characters!! !!! !...! ?

Almost every suite...

Submitted by PrivateEccles on 12 May 2009 - 8:19pm.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think PhotoShop or Illustraitor are in the Web Standard suite... http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/webstandard/ Someone call Adobe! They filled a suite with nothing but Macromedia products!

Bridge to the rescue!

Submitted by rwillustrator on 12 May 2009 - 9:37pm.
Alas -- Adobe Bridge adds the "adobe" flavor the Web Standard Suite (phew)... You got me -- AI and PS aren't included in the Web Standard suite. Who buys the web standard suite? :) Mordy Golding http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

Thanks for the heads up goshad

Submitted by colleen on 12 May 2009 - 9:52am.
I fixed the link (Deke insists I have a martini while I'm posting martini hour to keep it authentic, but we can see the downside of that.) Meanwhile, Deke is loving that someone actually goes for the high rez. ;-)

'nuther minor whoops

Submitted by goshad on 12 May 2009 - 9:02am.
Just thought you would like to know the link for the episode 14 320kpbs file, actually links to episode 13. These "a look under the hood with some why comes and how fors" are invaluable. (seeing as theres nary a drop of artistic ability flowing within my veins, learning some of the inner circle tech oriented tidbits - much of which you won't find in a book or manual, makes me sound like i know what i'm talking about... sort of **LOL**) Thanks again for an absolutely excellent series.. (now if you could figure out how i can download a martini or three, I'd be all set...*grin*)