So I signed up for a class: Traci Reed’s “So You Wanna Be a Design Star?” starting the second
week in April 2014 to be specific. I. am. SO. Excited. There are not words. I’m
practically X’ing out the days on my calendar until it starts. Traci promises
to give her tips and tricks based on her real-world experience to develop a
firm foundational skill set as a scrapbook product designer. Take a look at
the class description and consider signing up!
Since I’m a nutcase for this stuff, I wanted to organize some
of the things I’ve been trying to research and learn on my own through web
tutorials according to some of the elements and lessons she defines and will
further cover in her course.
I thought it might help others to share some of these links to various tutorials since it’s taken me a long
time to find information on some of these topics, and it will certainly help me over the course of Traci's class. I’ll add to and refine this
list over time.
I realized that I have
240+ tutorial/resource pins on my Pinterest page on Learning
Digital Scrapbooking, and the list below just STARTS to group them
according to sub-topic. I’ll continue to update my Pinterest page with relevant
new tutorials as I find them and am hoping to break the page out into
sub-pages to give it a bit more order.
Here’s a list of some
of the tutorials I’ve found to get the organization process started:
Tutorial Topics Organized By Course Content
Topic 1: Defining Your Style | Walk through the different styles of scrapbook design, and define YOUR desired style
o
I can’t wait to hear what Traci has to say on
this topic and hear an overview of her ideas of different “set styles” of
scrapbook design. Traci’s blog has
two tutorials on the topic:
o
I know my
favorite scrapbook layout designers, and my
favorite sweet shoppe graphic/kit designers, but I’d love to hear what
“style” these best represent.
o
I also try to keep track of what pages I like
and what
inspires me in other’s layouts. Hopefully this will help me better
understand my own style.
Topic 2: Color Theory | Learn how to choose complimentary kit colors, choose a kick-butt color palette
o
I don’t have a tutorial link for this (although
I’ve read about color theory before), but I love to watch design boards on
pinterest, the design-seeds page &
blog. Here are a few of my
favorite color schemes.
Topic 3: Paper Design | Using the custom shape tool, how to make repeating patterns
o
Shapes
o
Pattern Making
o
Paper
Topic 4: Typography | What fonts to use, what fonts not to use, and how to mix them together for eye-catching word art.
o
The Basics
o
Type Choice Tutorials
o
Creating Word Art
§ Create
a Chalkboard Type Treatment (In Illustrator)
§ Extracting
a Letter Shape from a Pattern for a monogram look (tutorial uses Silhouette
software – but could be done in Illustrator too)
o
In addition to tutorials on type choice, I keep
a Pinterest page of inspiring fonts and
lettering that I might be able to use on future projects. I also keep a
separate page on inspiring borders,
frames, and other word art elements. Finally, I follow design pages
regarding hand
lettering and keep track of my favorite posts.
o
Although the topic description doesn’t mention
that this will be covered in the course, I also have a lot of links to
tutorials discussing how to create and modify text. Some of them are linked above. I'll try to separate out the "creating word art" links from the "modifying type" links in the future.
Topic 5: Embellishments | Learn how to develop simple embellishments from scratch as well as how to effectively photograph and extract real life objects.
o
In addition to these tutorials, I also keep an
inspiration page that shows some of my favorite types of “boy
themed embellishments” in use on scrapbook layouts.
o
How to Make Patterned
Accordion Flowers (in Photoshop)
Topic 6: Increasing Productivity | Methods of organization as well as touch on the great Commercial Use debate and the Ethics of designing.
o
I don't have many links on this topic. I'll have to do some additional research, and post links soon.
Topic 7: Putting It All Together | Packaging a sample mini digital scrapbooking kit.
o I don't have any links on this topic. I'll have to do some additional research, and post links soon.
Other Tutorial Topics
Since this course is really about how to make digital scrapbooking kits, there are a few items not covered above that I also collect tutorials on as a scrapbooker:
Artistic Photo Filters: How to Achieve the Look
Color Photo Processing/Editing Tips and Tricks
o
I have quite a few tutorials on this topic on my pinterest page. I will post links soon.
Black and White Photo Processing/Editing Tips and Tricks
o I have quite a few tutorials on this topic on my pinterest page. I will post links soon.
Layout Tips and Tricks
Recoloring Artwork
Creating Realistic Shadows & Dimension
o
Other
Clipping Masks
Creative Ways to Reuse your Scrap-stash
Using Tools & Styles
That's all for now! See you next Thursday!
Hi Amy! :) Came over from the Design Star class. What a great resource your blog is. This post alone is full of great links. Thanks. I'm going to spend some quality time over here. Hey, I don't think you mentioned Laura Coyle as a resource but she is a world class illustrator with major clients. She also teaches Illustrator classes & has a Youtube channel with lots of good tutes and is offering a free class on pattern creation in Ai. http://www.illustratoring.com/
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