 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
Welcome to my Resource page. This is where you will find links to various products and services, such as software reviews, tutorials, and tips. Check back regularly as this page will be updated often.
New!!! The Corel PHOTO-PAINT X3 Insider The Corel PHOTO-PAINT X3 Insider. Like "The Photoshop Companion" below, this book contains information based 17 years worth of experience as an Artist, Writer and Photographer, but specially writtend for PHOTOP-PAINT. When you visit this site, sign up for the newsletter and receive absolutely FREE, a chapter from the book.
New!!! The Photoshop Companion The Photoshop Companion. This is a book is based on my 17 years worth of experience as an Artist, Writer and Photographer. In it, I’ve finally pulled the best Photoshop tips, tricks and techniques together into one resource that will help anyone become a better Photoshop user. Guaranteed. Visit this site, sign up for the newsletter and receive absolutely FREE, a chapter from the book.
As a Computer Artist, or any Artist for that matter, marketing is probably one of the most important aspects of your success. In this section are several articles and resources that pertain to affiliate marketing. To learn more, read on.....
When I began my foray into affiliate marketing, I came across a couple of books, both by Robert Allen. The first was Multiple Streams of Income..Now in its second edition, this book gives a great overall view of the many opportunties available to make more money, but more importantly, multiple streams of income. If you're wondering why this is important, if you have multiple income streams you won't run into as much financial trouble as you would if you had only one and that suddenly dried up.
After reading this book, I settled on my main source of income: the Internet and read Allen's other book: Multiple Streams of Internet Income. If you're just getting started in the field of Internet marketing, this book gives you a good overview of the technologies available.
Shortly after reading these books, I decided to build an affiliate marketing Web site. One of the first applications I came across was Site Build It.
Site Build It is an effective tool for the would-be Web marketer who who wants to build Web pages but has a limited knowledge of HTML.
Other great resources will show you how to create Adwords campaigns. My two favorite resources are Google Cash and The Definitive Guide to AdWords.
Another useful resource will help you determine which keywords are appropriate for your Adwords campaigns. Of these tools my favorite is the KeyWords Analyzer.
The one system that I used to make the most money in Affiliate Marketing was Protege, developed by Terry Dean and mentored by Jeff Mulligan. This truly incredible program showed me a method of marketing - specifically the joint venture, which made a huge difference for me. My first payment, after one month of sales was into 5 figures. More is to come.... By my own experience, this method works and if you're really serious about making money online, you need to consider this approach.
You'll be able to read up about some of these different programs in my Marketing section.
This next section contains links to a wide variety of resources, such as software tutorials and different products that you can use to streamline your graphics environment.
Photoshop Tutorials: A collection of articles that show you how to get the most out of Photo Shop and the devices that work in conjuction with it. on Topics include: Buyer’s Guides, Monitor Calibration, Graphics File Formats, Compression, Scanning Issues, White Balancing and much more.
ColorVision offers a wide range of monitor calibration products for users at every level. Whether you take photos around your home or office, or if you are an avid photo enthusiast, or if you are a professional photographer, they have a solution to match your requirements.
 |
Supplies, Furniture, Technology & More!
|
|
Maya 3D animation software, a popular application with animation schools and one which I’ve reviewed and written about over the years. Currently, it's estimated that over 50% of animation jobs feature this application. If you want to get into animation, I recommend that you learn this application.
There are several drawing tablets out on the market but in my experience, only one is so popular that it has become an industry standard – in my opinion. That tablet is Wacom.
If you're looking for a new Top Brand Monitor, you'll find some good deals here.
Goldenpinecone.com In addition to templates for general web design, several of these templates are specially designed for the affiliate marketing students of James Martell.
Template Monster A good all-around resource for templates and tutorials. One of the biggest template sources on the Web.
Here is a general link for Photography Gear. Depending on your needs one of these will do the job. If you’re shooting artwork that can fit on a tabletop, a copy stand, such as the Bogen System 800, but if you don't need something as heavy-duty, the Bogen - Manfrotto Super Repro Copy Stand with Large Baseboard 30x36 is also a good choice. If you already have your own lights, you might want to consider the Bogen - Manfrotto Repro Copy Stand with Large Baseboard 30x36. If the work is larger than that, as in the form of paintings, you’ll need to use a tripod and free standing lights to photograph your art.
If you decide to use a tripod, make sure it’s of sturdy construction and if necessary, brace the legs with sandbags. Here, I recommend Bogen-Manfrotto. If you wish to purchase a tripod head separately, I recommend the ball head as it's easiest to adjust quickly.
For lighting your artwork, I recommend tungsten lights. When looking at the lights, the higher the wattage, the better, as it will cast more light.
If the intensity of the tungsten lights is too severe for your artwork, polarizing filters often solve the problem. In this case you’ll need two Polarizing Filters that you can place in front of the lights. You'll also need a separate stand or a clamp to hold the filter in place. Here, you need to be careful not to place the filter too close to the light as the heat may melt it.
In addition to polarizing filters for the lights, you need a Circular Polarizing Filter for the lens (B&W is highly recommended). To make sure that the filter is working properly, place a coin on the working surface directly in front of the lens; then slowly turn the ring on the filter. When the coin turns black, the light has been polarized. Mark the position where the coin turns black on the polarizing filters using a silver or gold marker so you’ll remember how to set it properly.
Note: When shooting with a polarizer, you’ll lose around 2 stops.
It should be noted that some photographers don’t like the results created by polarizing filters. In that case I recommend using a Soft Box, which fits over the lights and softens the glare.
If you don’t want to use a Soft Box, or it’s too expensive, another option is to use Scrims, sheets of translucent material that you can place between your lights and the artwork, softening it.
When shooting with film, I recommend using 50mm Lenses for film based SLR cameras. What I recommend here are lenses that you can manually focus for copy work. If you use a digital camera, one that offers macro capability is highly recommended. With a digital camera, make sure you get one with an optical zoom, not digital.
Here are two different types of film for photographing your artwork. The first one is Fujichrome 64T Type 2. This film is available in several format sizes depending on what camera size you're using to copy artwork and is manufactured for use with tungsten lights. Make sure to refrigerate the film prior to using it. If you choose to photograph your art outside, I recommend Kodak E 100 GX, which I recommend for shooting artwork outside on a cloudy day.
Digital Cameras are another option. If you choose to purchase one, I recommend a camera that that offers from 6-9 megapixels. Generally, Canon is one of the most favored cameras. The Rebel and Powershot models are very popular, depending on your application.
Don't use the camera meter. Gray Cards to determine the correct exposure. These can also be used for a digital camera as well. Make sure the card completely fills the viewfinder when metering and use this setting to obtain the correct exposure. The 18% gray card will be accurate to within two-tenths of a stop (you'll probably need to take the camera off the stand and move forward with it until the gray card fills the field of view). When you photograph art, use a cable release to trip the shutter. If vibration is still a factor, use the mirror lockup (if your camera has one). Another option is to use the camera self timer feature. By the time the shutter releases, the vibration should be gone.
For photographing flat art, I recommend the use of an incident light meter to measure the light falling on the surface to be photographed. It should be even across the entire surface. If not, you'll have to reposition the lights accordingly.
Some forms of dust and lint can be safely removed using an antistatic cloth (that you can purchase from a photography store), a carbon fiber brush (such as the ones sold to clean records), and hand held anti-static whisks. Other options are de-ionized filters that extract dust from the atmosphere. However, unless the original is in impeccable condition, you’re probably going to have to do some retouching after it’s photographed or scanned. If the image quality is critical, you’ll probably want to give the image a once over in Photoshop.
For special effects, you can use color gels, as in the Rosco Color Correction Kit. This kit permits the color correction of virtually all mixed-light sources found on location. There are sixteen 10" x 12" filters for light source color correction. Materials include a range of blue and amber balancing filters along with a selection of green and magenta color compensating filters. Another useful addition to this kit is the Rosco Swatch Book. It contains samples of every color in the Roscolux line. It also includes information on the transmission curves for each filter. And finally, you can access all the Rosco filters here.
An example of a less expensive film scanner is the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000. A good choice for a flatbed scanner is the Epson Perfection. With a more expensive scanner ($500.00+ for a flatbed and $1,500.00+ for a film scanner), you should obtain moiré free scans under almost all circumstances.
A good choice for a flatbed scanner is one of the higher end Epson Perfection models, such as the Epson GT-30000 Large-format Flatbed Color Scanner. Prints have a shorter dynamic range than film, making them easier to scan. A professional would need to spend between $500.00-1,500.00 and up to $3,000.00+ for an "11x17” scanner.
All inks saturate the paper used with your desktop printer, some more than others. With light paper grades, the ink tends to bleed through to the other side more than with a heavier grade of paper. This can cause problems if you want to print on both sides of the sheet. A good overall paper choice is a 24 pound bond paper. If you're looking for a photographic result, that's not the best choice. Instead, look at photo quality papers, such as those produced by Epson or HP. Also, the color accuracy and quality of your prints will depend on several factors, such as the inks used, the heaviness of application, the paper and the printer itself.
If you want more control over the CMYK process, I recommend Professional Photoshop 6: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (with CD-ROM) By Dan Margulis. An electronic prepress master reveals how to get the most out of Photoshop Renowned among graphic design professionals for his technical grounding and ability to clearly explain difficult principles and techniques, Dan Margulis has updated his bestselling book, Professional Photoshop 5, to help readers quickly master Photoshop 6 and learn how to take full advantage of its latest tools and capabilities. Rather than focusing on program features, Dan Margulis builds on a solid foundation of classic design concepts and skills. This new edition has been substantially expanded to include coverage of issues surrounding image handling for devices other than offset printers, such as final output on desktop color printers, high-volume copiers, and large-format printers for outdoor displays. This book is considered to be the bible of color printing. The author, Dan Margulis, is a color correction expert and is one of first three individuals to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame.
Digital Texturing and Painting By Owen Demers, Christine Urszenyi, and George Maestri. This book takes you outside the studio and walks you through the museum of life. This full color book combines traditional texture creation principles with digital texturing techniques to enhance your scenes and animations. In the first half of the book, you will learn about the history of textures in fine art and in the second half, how to apply these principles to your 2D and 3D digital scenes.
ITTEN: The Elements of Color. This book was highly recommended in art school. As an artist, an understanding of color theory and application is crucial. This book provides an excellent starting point by a recognized master in the field.
CSS in 24 Hours. Sams Teach Yourself CSS in 24 Hours, teaches how to use cascading style sheets, but also to decide when and how to apply CSS for different browsers and effects. You'll learn about standards compliant CSS, including theory, practice and implementation. Broken up into 24 one hour long sessions, you'll learn how to apply these tasks to your sites. The book has been updated to cover some of the more popular browsers used today. Other updates cover styling of forms, troubleshooting CSS and other new developments.
stylin' with CSS. Stylin’ with CSS teaches you what you need to know to start using CSS in your Web designs. You'll learn how to create interface components (including drop-down menus, navigation links, animated graphical buttons, etc.) without JavaScript. You'll learn how to create code for the newest browsers, while figuring out how to work around the quirks of older browsers. Mastering CSS will help your designe move to a new level.
Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business. Blogging is the topic of many a conversation these days. If you've been wanting to learn more about this medium and what it could mean for your bottom line, take a look at this book. It covers the basics of planning, resource needs, and more. One other thing, blogging, once you sort the kinks out, is simple, but it's not effortless.
Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography. According to the author, "We are in the Stone Age of digital photography. We've figured out how to make some tools, but it is just now beginning to dawn on us what we might do with them. This book is essentially a distillation of what I've been teaching over the last 25 years." Unlike many other books in the marketplace, this isn't a Photoshop book, though Photoshop does have it's place here. Where this book is different is that it takes the available photographic tools and techniques and blends them with the methods of an artist. It is a holistic work.
The Art of Maya. By Alias Software. Alias's Maya is the premier tool for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering, used by top studios to create everything from ads to movies to computer games. This book is an official, heavily illustrated, full-color guide to Maya essentials, directly from the creators of the program.
ArtEffects. By Jean Drysdale Green. One of my favoite texture resources. Here you'll find hundreds of fresh ideas to spark your creative juices. The book is divided into five sections that cover the most-used painting mediums: inks, watercolor, acrylics, oils, and pastels. With more than 400 full-color examples, the book is an extraordinary visual reference that shows how materials can be used in combination with each medium.
2D Artwork and 3D Modeling for Game Artists. This guide introduces aspiring game artists to the tools and techniques used in the game industry with a step by step how-to tutorials section for real-world game design.
Al Ward's Photoshop Productivity Toolkit: Over 700 Time-Saving Actions. Written by actions guru Al Ward, the man behind the popular actions site actionfx.com and the actions guru for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP)
Getting a Job in CG: Real Advice from Reel People. By Sean Wagstaff and Dariush Derakhshani. This book is a Maya Press title -- a joint publishing effort between Sybex and Alias. As the maker of Maya software, Alias (formerly Alias Wavefront) is the authority on the 3D and effects industry, and thus has leant its expertise to this title. Getting a Job in CG is the definitive, insider's guide to landing that critical first job in the industry, or getting an upgrade to an even better position. In my 3D section, you can read a review of this book.
Mastering Digital Photography and Imaging. By Peter K Burian, the co-author of the bestselling how-to guide for film photographers, "The National Geographic Photography Field Guide." This book covers all the essentials for digital photographers, including digital camera and scanner technology, capturing techniques, choosing software, image optimization, color management, and output.
Acrobat 7 PDF Bible. Acrobat 7 has been an important program in my software toolkit and was instrumental in the creation of "The Corel PHOTO-PAINT X3 Insider." I used it extensively for inserting pages, ordering the layout, adding bookmarks and much more. I would have been lost without the Touchup Text Tool, which allowed me to fix many problems after the fact.
The Photoshop Elements 4 Book for Digital Photographers. Designed for the professional, this book contains tips that show you how to accomplish advanced tasks, such as layering bracketed exposures. This is a practical volume, which tells you what setting to use, when to use them and why it's important.
JPEG, (pronounced jay-peg) is the acronym for the Joint Photographic Experts Group.
GIF, CompuServe GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) image file format
PNG, (Portable Network Graphics) format was developed and it appeared as if it would replace the GIF standard.
USGS US Geological Survey
JSC Digital Image Collection NASA JSC Digital Image Collection. Great planet textures, etc.
Mayang’s Free Textures This library contains over 2300 free to download, free to use, high-resolution textures. I’ve used these textures with great results in some of my projects.
