Martini Hour 031, In Which Colleen (Ahem) Follows Deke and Mordy on a Geek Excursion

(Thanks to Mhelcor for the correction on the this week’s title! —cw) It’s a true sign of my special penchant for total geeks that there is nothing more enjoyable for me than to sit with two notorious experts, and listen to them talk about something I know almost nothing about. Oh, sure, there are martini’s involved, so that helps. And eventually I find out I’m learning along the way.

But really, for those of you who love Illustrator adventures, we’ve got a show for you with our good friend Mordy Golding. These two could duke it out (or maybe just a friendly thumbwrestle) for World’s Most Knowledgable Illustrator Expert, and yet they’re both so sweet and helpful. And for those of you who don’t care much about Illustrator, really just take the time to listen to the magic of two passionate experts sharing their knowledge, specifically about Illustrator’s Transparency palette. By the way this is the episode has the added advantage of hearing Deke state his distinction between computer graphics and digital imaging, which I tell you, is something, after years of working, drinking, and generally hanging about with Deke, I only just found out.

Here’s where Deke and Mordy go on their mutual Illustrator love adventure:

Most people ignore the Transparency panel (or palette as Deke would have it) in Illustrator, but Mordy and Deke take an in-depth look at it, and on all the things that you can do with it. Things that might involve driving people down the line crazy because they have no idea how you set the things that you set. And listen as I call Mordy out on the Transparency panel in Illustrator being the only one with more than one “state.” Seriously, you can’t get better Illustrator info than from Mordy, and don’t forget to check out even more Mordy at Real World Illustrator, which you should do as often as possible.

Toast of the Week: Mordy toasts Deke’s entire lynda.com series on Channels and Masks. And although we generally discourage people toasting us, it’s hard to argue with the amazing nature of a Deke deep dive like only Deke can.

Where else can you get two certified experts going head to head in a mutual admiration society. With cocktails no less. Here’s the regular-quality (128kbps) audio file. (Note we’ve decreased the size of the “regular quality.” You can stream, or for best results, right-click and choose Download or Save.

Don’t want to miss a single episode of this half hour full of an hour’s worth of relaxation and information? Subscribe via iTunes. And don’t forget, this is a separate subscription from your regular dekePod podcast.

Got a resolution example that has you vexed that you’d like Deke to throw his considerable brain at? Call 1-888-dekepod. (That’s 1-888-335-3763.) Practice, be charming, and ask us something really intriguing. Or just ask a damn fine question with great earnestness.

Next entry:Photoshop Top 40, Feature #31: The Brush Tool

Previous entry:Photoshop Top 40, Feature #32: The Pen Tool

  • Nice Design

    Your design is very cool. I like how you add that transparency line. It can make you picture so sweet.

  • I need to unwind with this!

    I need to unwind with this! lol!

  • Is this spam?

    I hate to delete links if they’re authentic. Does anyone know this language?

    Merrily merrily.

  • wasn’t is suppsed to be Colleen’s turn this week?

    I’m officially startled to see you guys breaking the good habit of alternating “in which”-es for the shows! :)

    It should have been titled “In Which Colleen watches Deke and Mordy Going on a Geek Excursion” ... or something along these lines, to stress yet another phrase.

    Hence, my toast goes for Colleen!


    Cheers.

    M.

  • Indonesian - of some sort.

    “Identity Restoring the Nation” according to Google, and the “homepage” of “Lutvi Avandi, a website programmer”, hence: a shameles plug :-)

  • Oh, no. You’re right!

    Deke *wanted* it to be my turn last week so we could say “Colleen needs to get with the program.” But I forgot I had to rearrange those words to fit the pattern. Deke is going to have issues with this!

  • Bad, Colleen, bad!

    Now we’re going to have three Dekes in a row on iTunes. Oh, how the other little podcasters will tease us!

    Actually, I’m overjoyed to see anyone even notices our pattern.

  • Fair enuff

    The once and former link is dead.

  • Not a turncoat after all!

    I cut my teeth on Deke’s CorelDraw for Dummies many years ago, and I knew that when I needed to learn Indesign, I had to get Indesign CS2 one-on-one.

    So when I won a copy of Mordy Golding’s book on Adobe Illustrator, I was pleased but also nervous that I had abandoned my Great Guru for a lesser mentor. You can imagine how glad I was then to hear Deke refer to Mordy as his ‘go to guy’ for when he wants to know about Illustrator.

    Mordy showed his credentials as a top tutor by sticking to the topic despite the shenanigans in the cocktail lounge (when Colleen nicked Deke’s olive, for example). Thanks guys and gal for a very entertaining and informative 30 to 43 minutes.

  • Cool Vintage

    It’s fun when one can see modern tech applied to antique art.

  • You are my heroes!

    Have you ever had one of those revelation moments? The kind where you smack your forehead and think omg! ..or maybe a big DuhHuh?

    I had one of those moments when I listened to Mordy explain how to use a raster image as an opacity mask in Illustrator! Oh this is so much easier than my old method of grunge effects using live traced raster images and then creating a clipping mask and a cumbersome opacity mask.

    I consider myself an Illustrator expert but I’m not too old to learn new tricks. Thank you Mordy and Deke! Everything I’ve ever learned about Illustrator is because of you guys.

    Hugs and Kisses!

    -Jerry

  • Is there a link to an explaination of the other opacity options?


    Since you ran out of time I thought Mordy said he had some explanation of the other options in the opacity pallet in Illustrator on his site but I can’t find it.

  • try this link…

    http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2006/01/teris-wisdom-transparency-palette.html

    Mordy Golding


    http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

  • keeping to the topic…

    I’m flattered by your kind words. While staying on topic with Deke and Colleen is challenging, I’ll admit it’s easier when I’m on the phone. You should see the three of us in person—literally hours could pass. Too bad I can’t make it out to Vegas or we would have a fun time at Photoshop World…

    Mordy Golding


    http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

  • I’m glad you enjoyed the

    I’m glad you enjoyed the technique. I’m also thrilled to hear that you were able to understand it just from listening. Admittedly, it’s a deep topic, and it can be hard to visualize the technique—so I’m glad it got through :)

    Mordy Golding


    http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

  • Thanks

    Thanks so much Mordy. I was actually pausing it and rewinding the podcast while trying to do the steps in Illustrator. It was definitely one of those rare Wow moments for me.

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