Fine if you want to produce way out creations........
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I am a serious photographer with many years experience of using Photoshop and have a keen interest in the merging of art and photography. So the title and description sounded just the thing. But I have to say I was disappointed. The book is well written with lots of how-to examples but much of the content relates to "way out" creations more appropriate to the work of illustrators than photographers. So if you want to create images of people with segmented heads, design comics or cartoons, make your mother-in-law look 30 years older or produce weird and fanciful art - then this may be just for you. On the other hand if you live a little closer to the real world - be warned!
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Excellent book, by an exceptional artist.
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Creative Photoshop by Derek Lea, is an easy to follow, extremely well written book and includes a CD Rom with all the necessary image files, so you could recreate the tutorials inside the book.
A great book, by a great artist.
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A must have!
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I don't usually write reviews but after going through this book in depth I want to recommend it to everyone who is interested in digital art. Finally, a Photoshop book that tells you how to create stunning art in depth is here!
The cool thing about Lea's book is that it is a series of very detailed tutorials. What sets it apart is that each chapter walks you through the process of creating a single, stunning piece of art. All of the files are on the disc and the linear, methodical, step-by-step approach helps you produce something amazing, rather than leaving you to fend for yourself. The cool thing about Lea's approach is that each chapter is self contained and as long as you follow each step, you'll create the amazing image at the beginning. You can jump around from chapter to chapter rather than building up from start to finish, which is also cool.
There is also a lot of inspirational art included in galleries at the end of each chapter. So even though you created the art in the tutorial, you have a clear indication of what else you can do after learning Lea's techniques. It really is amazing to see how much diversity one guy is capable of. I found the explanations clear and on the same level with my skills, which I guess could be considered intermediate.
If you want to create impressive art in Photoshop, this is the book for you. However, if you're a newbie, and you want to learn quick and simple tricks this isn't the book for you. If that is the case, you might benefit more from some of the very basic tutorials for free on the net, or you may want to check out something from the more basic 'classroom in a book' series.
This book is essential for those who want to really flex some creative muscle in Photoshop and aren't afraid to get into something complex. You'll learn to work in a range of different styles and the techniques you'll learn can be applied to original work of your own.
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Detailed discussion of sophisticated digital art techniques
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This is one of very few Photoshop books that focuses on the creation of digital art, rather than the techniques required for certain standard tricks and effects. I'd say that the book to which it can be most closely compared is Daniel Giordan's 'The Art of Photoshop'.
Each chapter provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for the development of a piece of striking Photoshop art: all of the tutorial images are genuinely inspiring, rich in textures, reflecting the author's emphasis on the importance of incorporating scans of real world objects into digital illustration. There is plenty of valuable advice on gathering source materials: simple effects generated from old fax machines and photocopiers provide the raw materials for some of the most impressive pictures.
For me, the most useful feature of the book is its discussion of alpha channels, which are used again and again to build up each image's complexity. I had never before appreciated quite how powerful channels can be as a means of adding convincing textures and distressed effects to digital imagery. This book illustrates their versatility more clearly than any other I've read. If you are interested in creating 'grungy', 'weathered' digital imagery, you must read 'Creative Photoshop'.
Congratulations to Derek Lea, and needless to say, highly recommended!
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Fantastic!
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I have a fan of Derek Leas work for a number of years since first discovering his tutorials in Computer Arts magazine. I often emailed Derek asking him if he was going to write a book on advanced digital imaging techniques. Derek finally took the challenge of writing a book and to say that the wait was worthwhile is an under statement! If you are a keen digital artist hungry for new techniques to apply to your work this is the book for you. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!!!
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