Sintilia Miecevole asked:


A basic understanding of computers is all a person needs to create their own graphics with today’s design software. Even with just small amount of design understanding, people can still use simple design programs to build their own cartoons strips, holiday cards, flyers and invitations. Your business and yourself can save money on special occasions by using one of the several user friendly affordable programs that are out there.

The number one choice for design software by both professionals and amateurs is Adobe PhotoShop. By cropping, recoloring and adding special effects, PhotoShop allows users to change photos anyway they wish. Entirely new pictures can also be created by using special drawing tools, or existing pictures can be modified anyway the user desires. PhotoShop uses a system of “layers.” By using layers, separate pieces of a picture can be changed while keeping the changes separate. For example, you can change the color on the bottom layer without affecting the color on the top layer. If you wish to draw more than creating full pictures, Adobe Illustrator may be the choice for you.

PhotoShop is a pixel-based program while Adobe Illustrator is vector based. What does this mean your probably asking yourself? When you make a picture in PhotoShop, you must use a certain resolution. A computer screen displays 72 pixels per inch for a clear picture, but when you print a 72 dpi picture, it appears blocky and blurred. If you are making a picture for printing in PhotoShop, you need to use 300 pixels per inch to get a nice, sharp image. Because Illustrator is vector-based, it uses a system of paths rather than pixels. In simple terms, it uses lines rather than colors. This means that everything you create in Illustrator can be enlarged up to any size you wish without ever becoming blurry or grainy. Designers often use Illustrator software to build logos for a variety of advertisements. The same picture or logo drawing can be used on a small business card or enlarged to fill an entire billboard.

For those wishing to create simple greeting cards or party invitations, there is a variety of user friendly software programs made specifically for these purposes. Many offer templates for several print sizes and folding options. For the more experienced user, the software program Quark is an excellent print layout tool. Adobe InDesign also offers professional quality layout options along with many of the same tools used in Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator. If you are to use these two programs, you will easily be able to create professional quality materials with InDesign.

There is a wide variety of file types used in graphic software programs. Most have their own native formats that can only be read by the parent programs. PhotoShop files have a .PSD extension, and Illustrator files are AI, making them only accessible by PhotoShop. When you are working with a work in progress, it is a good idea to save files in these formats, as they offer you the greatest flexibility in altering your creation. However, once you have completed your work and are ready to print your materials, you can save them in a variety of ways. Web pictures should saved as JPEGs, GIF or TIFF files. Pictures ready for printing are best saved as EPS files, to preserve color accuracy. If you plan to send graphics via e-mail, PDF offers the greatest flexibility, as most computers have Acrobat Reader, the program needed to read the PDF file type.

No matter what software fits your needs, making digital graphics can be a enjoyable and simple hobby, or even a professional career. It can take some time to get used to the terminology, but once you learn the tools of digital art, you will be on your way to building functional and decorative graphic masterpieces to share with the electronic world.

Bollywood News

Daniel S Peterson asked:


Artists who are endeavoring in the business of faux finishing or other art related ventures have it tough, the odds are stacked heavily against us. The business sense you need to have in order to be an entrepreneur in today’s complex world is many times squeezed out of us by the lack of business knowledge or the confused interpretation of what should be and what really is. The task of balancing business and art is a difficult thing to accomplish for most artists, it’s just not how were made and doesn’t come easy for us. The average person may be able to make a descent living doing his or her own thing, but an artist has many hurtles to overcome if he or she wants to be truly successful in this business. Becoming the businessman that succeeds in today’s economy is very difficult and exhausting.

We generally make bad decisions in business for many reasons. The biological aspects of the brain ( left versus right hemisphere) helps to cause a creativity versus organizational skills crisis. The attitude of creating art for the love of it and not for the money is a silly notion and won’t pay the bills. There are many reasons for bad decisions that help to embellishes the fatal flaws in our business practice creating problems that we could otherwise have avoided. 15 years in and out of the business I finally felt somewhat free of the artist “way of thinking”, for example bad pricing methods, giving away services, non existent marketing plans, or our infamous verbal contractual agreements etc. They were all included in my repertoire of business practices but after years of correcting and repairing bad business decisions and habits i thought I was somewhat clear, and then BAM… the economy. I soon found that builders were very much at a standstill, designers were slowing way down, Realtors were not selling, and homeowners had cut out much of their luxury item spending.

Faux finishers and other artists wear blinders protecting themselves from the mature nature of running a real business. I know many in my field of faux finishing that when success grants us a six, ten or twenty thousand dollar job we’re in many ways set for life, or so we think. We sit back at night to relax ridding the weight off our shoulders only until another month creeps by and were in it all over again, looking for the next paycheck. Thoughts cross our minds constantly about what we should be doing with our business but we procrastinate and eventually end up not doing anything at all. We are thinkers in business but not doers, that needs to change if we’re to survive in today’s economy.

Many artists did not plan on losing so many clients recently and such, are no longer in business. It’s time to focus on running a business and diversifying or you’ll be standing in line at your local warehouse waiting for an interview. For most of us our hidden talents don’t lie in the fields of computer technology, managerial accounting or in the department of research analysis. Many of us are unemployable to jobs like those mentioned because we have honed our skills throughout the years creating what we’d like to think of as the perfect career choice, but stubbornly we have dislocated ourselves from the hum drum 9 to 5 jobs that pay actual salaries. Becoming a self employed artist is an honor and it takes more guts than most people could ever dream of, but to do it right you must become the businessman 70% of the time and be the free flowing artist 30% of the time.

Bollywood News

L Scott Hewitt asked:


Many elearning projects make use of voiceover to enhance the learning experience. Selecting the right voice for your content is just one thing to think about!

Ensure that you understand who owns the copyright and get your contracts in place
Before you sign any contracts make sure that you are clear about who owns the recorded material and how it can be used. You should be really clear about where you can use the material, how often and for what purposes.

Have you selected the right voiceover artist?
At the start of the project talk to your client about the type of voiceover artist that they have in mind. If possible email the client some sound clips so that they can listen to some examples of voice styles. Most voiceover artists have sound samples that you can use. It is best to include the client in the selection process. If you are requesting voiceover samples talk to the artist so that they can provide you with a good range that you’ll be able to listen to.

What will you get at the end?
Do you want mp3, wav, DAT, CD? It’s best to agree with the voiceover artist how you will receive your final files. We work with a superb artist who provides all of our clips in mp3 or wav so that we can use them right away. Think about specifying the filenames of the clips, it might cost a little more but if you’ve hundreds of clips called 1.mp3, 2.mp3 it is going to be difficult to sort them in the future.

You can divide up your script and provide your requested filenames, this makes it even easier for the studio.

Make sure your artist understands your acronyms and abbreviations
Don’t assume that your voiceover artist will have worked in every business sector! You may have a certain way of pronouncing abbreviations that you need to get just right. Talk to your artist over the phone or provide them with an example sound file that they can listen to if you have any tricky words!

If you have a section which you think might provide some problems ask the voiceover artist to provide you with a few variations so that you can select at a later date.

Make your script easy to read!
Before you start recording make sure that your voiceover artist had had time to read your script. The voiceover artists that we work with all offer their advice and opinions to ensure that we get the best recording. Take time to listen to their views, what looks good on paper often needs changing before recording.

Simple things like double line spacing and making sure sections don’t go over onto a new page will all help your voiceover artist.

Finally let your voiceover artist actually see the project that you are working on. If you can let them have access to project materials it will really help them understand exactly what you are looking for.

Bollywood Forums

Richard Rowley asked:


Getting more and more scarce, just like so many other openings are artist job opportunities. The current economic crisis is to blame but does that mean that there are no position or methods to create a good income through your art?

If you are qualified to be an art teacher, great. This type of post is going through a boom right now in many countries across the world and that in itself can open up a lot of opportunity for artists, but what if that’s not you, you’re not qualified or you feel a salaried teachers position will squash your artistic flare.

Well there are a few routes to go down, some more obvious than others and some that are just making there way into the mainstream. A lot of artists like to have a finger in each pie and use as many outlets as possible for their work, consider:

As a pro heading to a gallery is the most common method. Some people choose to set up their own galleries or shops.

But perhaps in this digital age think about:
Selling your work on ebay. Setting up a website, displaying and selling your work to buyers. Open a co-operation website with several artists. Selling your work through web services designed to sell art work to buyers

The eBay option is more common than you think, many artists have even used such simple methods as a digital camera and photoshop to snap away, modify and edit and then place the work on eBay. Some of the more abstract photography and art work appears to sell very well.

The last option in the list is also a growing and preferred method for many. There are now a few websites where you can submit your unique work, from sketches to oil paintings or photos and the website displays this work to buyers for you. If it sells, you get paid. It can really be that simple.

But do make sure you read up and find the best sites for this type of artist job opportunity.

Bollywood Forums

Murtaza Habib asked:


Artists are people who transfer their thoughts, feelings, ideas into drawing art. Artists use huge range of methods and materials to create different kinds of drawings. Drawing artists are considered into the category of fine artists.

This category consists of art workers such as painters, sculptors, illustrators and drawing artists who produce art work that is unique and original. It was a time when the world artist denoted a craftsman. The department of major and minor arts was first developed in the works of Leon Battista Alberti. They gave value to the intellectual skills of an artist rather than the manual skills.

As the art academies produced in Europe, the gap between fine arts and applied arts was deeply set. In the present time, the definition of arts and artists are dependent on the culture. It is necessary that an artist should have been perfect working environment to do his art work peacefully. You find many artists having their own studios at their bungalow, warehouses or buildings.

Artists always prefer to work from their own studio from the home. Sometimes few artists share their studio space, if they have good understanding. Drawing artist’s studio should be well lighted and have a proper ventilation system as artists are usually exposed with lots of fumes, glue, paints and other materials.

Generally freelance artists work as per their own scheduled time, but they have to really work hard to sell their drawings. The drawing artists who are working for companies, they have a standard work schedule for a week, and they need to finish their work before the deadline given by the company authority.

Many self employed artists also take part time work from companies, so they can earn money continuously. So drawing artists have to be worked in a pressure situation, either they are self employed or working for others.

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