dekeBlog

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 » 

Welcome to the Friday forum, my dekeOmmunity. Today's post is brought to you by the Toronto wing of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty via Photoshop Diva Katrin Eismann. In a nutshell (which is an admittedly hard and tiny place to put such a complex issue), Ogilvy Toronto posted this video---"Thought before Action"---about a magical and socially conscious Photoshop action that reverted the model to her true unretouched self. Thus, retouchers are reminded in flagrante delicto that they are not honoring True Beauty. 

(That is, if professional retouchers do all their work in one fell swoop without saving their file before applying an action downloaded from the internet.) 

As the story goes, this action, presumably made available at sites like Reddit where art directors, graphic designers, and photo retouchers lurked---was called "Beautify" and falsely claimed to create a skin glow effect. The mindless unassuming users of the action would instead find their work reverted to the photo's original state. 

(Wait, Reddit? The place where my teenage son goes to look at animated GIFs of sloths playing banjos? The place where President Obama says anyone can ask him anything as long as they can do it in the next half hour? That's where pros go for their retouching actions? Welcome to dekeOnline you poor hapless souls.)

Ok, there's something poetic about using something called an action to attempt to incite---maybe not actual action, but at least social consciousness---about the way women are force-fed unreal idealization in advertisement. And yet, I must ask the following:  Read more » 

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 » 

Today's tutorial is a step-by-step recounting of a recent Deke's Techniques in which Deke exploits the great exploiter: Andy Warhol. In other words, I'm exploiting Deke exploiting Andy exploiting art. And Photoshop is enabling us all. 

With this technique, you can take any portrait photo, choose any color scheme, and rip off, I mean pay homage to Warhol yourself. Or get your assistants to do it, because that's what cheaply produced Pop Art is all about. Maybe you too can sell your creation for $100 million. Or maybe you'll just enjoy the priceless gift of learning to effectively use blend modes in the pursuit of digitally manufacturing mass produced art. 

Read on see how to start your own Photoshop Pop Art Factory:  Read more »