Uncovered

OK after while downloading other peoples hard work i thought it's time to drag my lazy ass into trying to make some of my own,
I've CS4 installed this is all totally new to me so now for my Q&A time

1. reading material ( i have " Adobe Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a Book " ) is this ok for me to start off with if not please state what i should either buy or download from a website.

2. as i said i have CS4 installed and that's it do i need any extra addons or plugins ?? if so plz list.

3. is the normal res for covers and labels 300 DPI

Thanks for any advice given no matter how small a snippet...

I would suggest first thing would be to download a template and see how a PSD file is compiled..... Then have a play around with it to see what the different commands will do. Especially if it is completely new to you. You could write loads and loads here but it wouldn't make too much sense...
Find a studio template and have a go at making a cover. When you get stuck........ post here for help. Jump in at the deep end!!!!

Hi m8,

Photoshop can be a very hard program to learn, it is best to stick with trying to learn the basics first. The book you have got should be very helpful to you, but i wouldnt try to get to advanced to quickly as you will probably get very frustrated.

The best way i found to start with photoshop was to just have a play with it, download some of the resources, ie a template and some images and then load them up into photoshop and see what different things do, or choose a film you would like to make a cover for and give it a try, asking questions and learning as you progress through the cover, there is no point in knowing things you will never use and i think even the best designers dont know everything about what the program can do. alot of designers start with labels as they are a little bit easier to get to grips with, your book should be able to tell you all about opening files and using layers etc......

There are 100's if not 1000's of different plugins avalible but it depends what you need to do as to if you need them or not, i would suggest at first not having any, then if you find you would like to create a certain effect, you can just ask how this is done and someone might suggest a plugin or point you to a tutorial which will help. You will find it best not to have to many plugins installed as it slows photoshop down alot.

Yes all covers and labels need to be 300 dpi, this ensures good quality and it's also what most home printers print out at. So no matter what program you use to print your covers they should be the correct size, Remember different case sizes have different templates, for instance a standard case is 3240x2175 @ 300 dpi, you can print this out in any software and it will fit into a standard case, where as a slim case is 3150x2175 @ 300 dpi. there is a list onsite of all the different case sizes but it all depends on what you would like to make, just ensure you get the right template and you wont have any problems with size.

As i said before the best way would be to choose a film, then from this you can determine what resources you will need, ie what studio template and artwork. Then you might want to have a look at what other people have done for that film, then open it all up in photoshop and have a play around, try to get a sort of idea how you would like the finished cover to look in your head and try to recreate it, then if you get stuck just ask and someone will help you, if you get stuck for ideas you can always go through the WIP section where even more help is avalible, with ideas and techniques.

Hope this helps a bit and i have not waffled on to much

Thanks for the advice, I've been reading a bit and playing around but now I'm going to start a label as suggested as they are easier, I've googled a poster site and found a few good ones but these are all movie sites. As any one got any links to Game sites PS3 Xbox360 etc etc not looking for free ones as i know most of the best ones charge which is ok with me.
many thanks once again.

I dont know of any myself tbh but it might be an idea to ask chiholam as he does alot of games covers and labels

OK.....throw your CS4 book in the fire, you will be reading stuff that in the main does not help you produce "alternative cover art". I used to read so much stuff my head caught fire!
Like dirk said......jump right in and hit every button to find out what they do, what happens, what does not happen and bloody hell look whats happened.
Its a good idea to grab yourself a DVD/GAME Template and familiarize yourself with the layers pallet and what the layers contain and the order they are in. You cannot make anything in PS without using layers.
I studiously avoid any kind of Internet tutorial as most of them are crap....[my opinion only] but, you may wanna look out for some as you go.
If you start learning today you will have it all tied down in 5 years from now ....but, hey you will have heaps of fun in the process

For me it was Video Tutorials (Lynda.com), A whole lot of Expierimenting, and quick Google searches for tutorials on things I wanted to accomplish at that moment!

aLTRe-eGo

its only taken me 4 years, and still learning.....jump in and have a go like ky says, and it wont kill ya or anything.....but it may make ya drag your hair out