Our house is being fumigated this week because we have wood-boring beetle damage under the floors. Yes, this means the big circus tent over the house. So we are staying elsewhere.

Surviving at the Motel 6
I originally reserved 4 nights for us at Motel 6. I have no idea what I was thinking. It turns out that while Motel 6 is cheap to stay at, it has very little in the way of creature comforts. You get a bed, a bathroom, matchbook-sized soap, a small desk, air conditioning, and a 19″ TV. Plus unidentifiable stains in the carpet that could be chocolate or could be something else. Plus a “non-smoking room” that reeks of stale smoke. Then there’s the meth-addled chick who dug a cigarette butt out of the ashtray outside the front office, then tried picking up on my husband while I was walking beside him.

We even had to bring our own small fridge, an iron and ironing board, and a clock radio, just so we could function on work days. My cell phone had zero signal indoors.

I also paid for 4 days of Wi-Fi so I could conduct business with my laptop. The “Motel 6″ Wi-Fi never connected, in spite of two lengthy phone calls I made to the tech support number I was given. I ended up having to pirate the signal from nearby sources, which made me really resent Motel 6. It turned out that the Wi-Fi signal to my room was shut off, but that was not figured out until two days into our stay. Lame.

Thriving at Days Inn
Near the end of the second day, I couldn’t take it any more. We made a reservation at the Days Inn across the street. We canceled our last 2 days at Motel 6. Moving into Days Inn was like switching from pauper to prince. For $16 more per night, we now have a gorgeous room in a hotel with interior hallways that require a room key to enter.

This room is nicer than our house (though smaller). And it reminds me of all the things that make living in a hotel a treat, rather than a misery. These are all things that our $60/night Days Inn room has, that the Motel 6 rooms don’t offer:

• refrigerator with a small freezer
• microwave
• thermostat on the air conditioner (so you don’t have to keep turning it on and off manually)
• shampoo, conditioner, and lotion
• tissues
• ideal, consistent water pressure
• coffee maker, instant coffee, and tea
• table in addition to the desk, two chairs, two nightstands, and some kind of sideboard which is great for keeping food and supplies on
• iron and ironing board
• alarm clock/radio
• art on the walls
• drawers for clothing
• free Wi-Fi (Motel 6 charged $3/day, and it didn’t even function in our room)
• free continental breakfast, including cereal, juice, and waffles
• sheer curtains between the window and the heavy drapes (add privacy while letting in light)
• hair dryer with built-in night light in the bathroom
• smells nice

Talking Dollars and Sense
In terms of costs, the Days Inn room is a much better bargain. If you add the costs of Wi-Fi and buying breakfast for two elsewhere, the Motel 6 room costs more per night at $44. Considering that buying a canned or frozen lunch to microwave in our Days Inn room saves another handful of dollars, I now appreciate why you’d want to pay more for a hotel room.

I’d also like to mention that the fixtures here are surprisingly lush. The furniture made of matching, carved, real wood. The bathroom counters and tub surround are granite. The wooden hangers are plentiful. The pool is bigger. The TV is bigger and has more channels.

The moral of this story is: when you travel (especially for business), consider the total package of a hotel/motel. Don’t assume that a cheaper room is a better financial decision.

On July 9th, I posted here about my initial attempts at getting a marketing plan for BluLob off the ground. This is an update and a general impression of my experiences so far. If you find yourself mentioned here, please understand that I found everyone – with rare exception – to be personable and having the best intentions. That rare exception would be my first item: National Association of Professional Women.

National Association of Professional Women
A couple of weeks ago, I got a postcard from the “National Association of Professional Women”. It offered a free membership and online networking opportunities. I paused but then I figured, “What the hell?” I filled out the card and returned it. On Tuesday, I received a phone call from a very businesslike-sounding woman. She said she would like to interview me for consideration as a NAPW member. I sincerely answered a series of questions about my experiences and strengths. I started sensing tiny red flags when she started two questions with, “As a successful business woman…” I found that rather presumptuous and felt more aware of a script the woman was reading. Eventually, she said I had met their unstated requirements for membership. She began to rattle off a lengthy list of benefits of membership.

I was not born yesterday (just the day after), so I interrupted her to tell her that I was guessing that there was some cost associated with all of this. She told me in her flowery way that they had two membership levels, each as a one-time fee. One was $698 and the other was $498. Clever. Probably most who fall for this go for the cheaper one and that’s why they offer one that’s $200 higher than what they really expect to get.

I told the woman that I had ZERO dollars to spend on this. Truly. No money at all. She gave me the option of a $289 membership with fewer advantages. I reiterated that I can spend zero dollars. She tried a $189 membership, then an $89 membership. Clearly not getting it, and assuring me that I had correctly identified a scam. I also happened to Google the organization while on the phone with her, and found this. She finally said something about a free trial membership, and I managed to politely get off the phone.

Lesson learned: don’t fill out anything for an unknown organization without some extensive Googling beforehand.

eWomen Network
I went to a second meeting with eWomen. This time it was a dinner meeting with more people – maybe forty. Dinner was decent. The meeting had some interesting aspects. Some women had display tables for their businesses, which provided a topic for conversation. I am sort of awful at small talk, so I was grateful for this. There were a couple of speeches, and two sessions of “speed networking” with 4-5 women per group. One of the speeches was on the “Elevator Pitch”.

The Elevator Pitch is the idea that you prepare a quick rundown of your business that serves as a miniature commercial when you meet new people that ask what you do. You begin with asking a question like, “You know when people have a hard time getting ________ done?” And then person is supposed to respond in the affirmative. Then you follow up with “Well, what I do is _______.” You’re supposed to identify a “pain point” that you help people resolve, and then tell them how you can help them with it.

I am still dubious of this approach. The woman who gave the speech – and who gives paid workshops on it for a living – is very nice. Like too nice. Maybe she is earnestly like that, but her enthusiasm and friendliness is almost off-putting. I hesitate to outright call it insincere until I get to know her better, but you probably know what I’m talking about. And the Elevator Pitch approach itself seems to turn an ordinary person into an actor on stage. I don’t want to deal with actors myself, and I don’t want to appear sales-y to others. And what happens if the person says, “No, I really don’t know people who feel that way”? If I heard the Elevator Pitch, I might be tempted to say that because I could sense that I was supposed to give a manipulated response in order for the script to work.

I do recognize the importance of identifying that “pain point,” especially since I provide services. I want to develop a website that speaks to the real problems that people (and businesses) have. And I believe I have real solutions that will help them make their businesses look amazing. It’s not a matter of lack of confidence in the work I do. I just want to be myself.

This reminds me of the Showtime show called Bullshit, starring Penn and Teller. I love this show. Many episodes are about people who make up phony solutions for real problems. They make a lot of money doing this, and manage to do it year after year without real results because the people who invest money in their “services” truly invest emotionally as well. I am beginning to realize that there are lots of people in the business world who do this as well. They make a living out of helping (or pretending to help) businesses grow through various approaches. The Elevator Pitch is not new, and I imagine lots of people earn money telling you how to do it. I can’t tell yet if the Elevator Pitch helps anyone generate business, or merely pretends to.

Okay, anyway, I did join eWomen that night (luckily “eWomen Network” doesn’t have a bunch of bad results in Google). With my new membership, I got a free workshop for the Elevator Pitch. It will be next month, and I’ll report back here.

CraigsList
I’ve responded to a handful of part-time and contract job job postings on CraigsList this week. This has resulted in nothing but one response which turned out to be a check cashing con. I reported this to CraigsList’s legal department.

I also posted an ad for my design services. Also zero response…until today, day 7. I got a small illustration-type job. I will continue to try this marketing technique. Hey, it’s free and requires only time to repost the ad once per week.

Google AdWords
A fellow attendee at the eWomen morning meeting I went to heartily endorsed Google AdWords for advertising one’s business. She said her business got 3 clients in the first month from it. I signed up on July 8th. Since then I’ve gotten over 20,000 impressions, 18 clicks, and zero clients. I guess I’m doing something wrong. Here’s the text of my ad; I probably need to talk benefits instead:
Eye-Catching Websites
Your website designed by a true
artist and web expert. Blue Lobster
blulob.com

Following Up
I sent out a small batch of follow-up emails to people I met in March at a business expo. Two people responded, and one of them wanted to talk at greater length about working together. She works at a mailing service, and I met with her at a Starbucks on Tuesday. Our meeting was awesome. She not only may have some contract work for me with her existing job, but she is looking into starting her own business and it seems I would be her designer of choice for that venture. She gave me a folder full of samples from the mailing service, and we chatted about the relative merits of each design. I was grateful for the samples, which I immediately took to my design class that day to enhance my demonstration of the design principles.

I also spent Monday lunch with a nice lady I met at the eWomen dinner. She is a writer who specializes in writing for websites. We are both artists, and she seems really down to earth (a characteristic you can probably tell by now that I value.) If eWomen comes to nothing else, I hope to generate some friendships with other women.

All in all, though, all my networking so far has resulted in zero business. I hope that this changes with persistence.

Next Up
I will have my first official marketing planning session with Avaunt next Monday. I am still a long way from identifying a niche to market my services to. I hope that in this meeting I can explore a number of options and come up with something that is uniquely “me”. I would love to work with the colorful/kooky/funky/artsy style that I seem to do the most. Like that blue lobster drawing up there in the banner. I just don’t know if there is enough of a market for that stuff. Again, I’ll report back here.

The following is a guest post from Karen Schweitzer, who writes for OnlineColleges.net.

20 Free Resources for the Starving Artist

Launching your art career doesn’t have to be a costly adventure. The Internet provides an abundance of free education, communities, and galleries specifically for beginning artists. Here is a list of 20 resources to get you started:

Free Education & Tutorials

ArtGraphica
ArtGraphica is a free traditional art tutorial site that runs on this principle: with the right motivation and skill anyone can create art. The site provides lessons and commercial tutorials in charcoal, ink, pastel, graphite, watercolors, and acrylics.

Art of Color
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers this free online course to help self-learners understand the science of color. The course teaches students about the history, interaction, and psychology of color.

About.com
The About.com Guide to Painting offers an extensive online guide to painting. This site discusses everything from technical strategies to exhibiting and selling work.

Planet Photoshop
Planet Photoshop provides an assortment of different tutorials covering everything from basic to advanced Photoshop tools and effects. This site is an excellent place to perfect your skills or learn something new.

Art and Technology
This free online art history course from Capilano University discusses the uses and history of technology in art.

Art Communities

DeviantART
DeviantART is an online community for traditional and digital artists and photographers. The community offers galleries, critiques, job forums, and even a store to sell your work.

FoundMyself
This online artist community provides free galleries for any artist to share their work and opinions. Users can also buy and sell artwork commission-free.

The Vision Grove
The Vision Grove is a social art community for all forms of artist. The site provides artists with a place to post, share, and sell works of art.

MyBestCanvas.com
MyBestCanvas.com is a free artist community that allows you to post your work for others to bid on. Not only is this an excellent site to sell your work, it is also a good place to find forums, news, competitions, events, and videos.

MyArtSpace.com
With over 50,000 members, MyArtSpace.com is a great place for contemporary artists to show their work. The site provides a highly established blend of artists, collectors, and critics to connect, review, and communicate on your art pieces.

Art Galleries

Art-3000
This free online gallery welcomes all artists and photographers. Art-3000 also features a way for potential buyers to communicate and buy work commission-free.

Wanae
Wanae is a worldwide art exhibition site open to every artist. Artists can create online galleries to sell, exchange, or just show their works free of charge.

NoBullART
With a quick and easy setup, this online gallery opens your art to the public for free. NoBullART gives you a place to exhibit and sell work while connecting you with other artists.

Saatchi Online
Saatchi Online is a free online gallery to promote your work. This gallery has thousands of worldwide visitors daily for maximum exposure and is open to art students as well.

AllArtOnline.com
AllArtOnline.com is a free exhibition and promotion website for contemporary artists worldwide. This site provides users with a gallery to house and sell pieces commission-free.

Miscellaneous

ConceptArt
ConceptArt is a free online gallery and art education site that offers hundreds of free art ebooks.

Art.Quickfound.net
This site offers several places to find cheap art supplies and free art books in PDF format.

ArtPromote
ArtPromote provides free learning resources to help artists manage their careers. Just a few of the topics covered by this site include copyrighting, website creation, licensing, and promotion.

MorgueFile
Royalty free images are a great way to find inspiration, reference, or use in art. MorgueFile offers plenty of free stock images for all your creative needs.

ArT-YoU
This art directory is dedicated to serving everyone in the art world. The site provides resources and links to promote and market your work worldwide.

Guest post from Karen Schweitzer, who writes for OnlineColleges.net.

The last time I was freelancing, I was a very passive marketer. For the most part, I relied on people finding me online or through referrals. I managed to win and keep a few clients this way. However, as you can imagine I didn’t really make a living this way. It was lucky I was teaching and receiving students loans at the same time.

This time, I am committed to making my design studio very successful. I am pursuing marketing more aggressively than last time. I need to make sure not to spend all of my money right out of the gate, of course. I want to take a little bit of time to evaluate all my options and decide intelligently. Then gain the discipline to work as hard on getting new clients as I do working for my existing clients.

Here are my reflections and notes from my adventures in marketing so far. This is not cut-and-dried and may ramble at times, but if you are new to marketing you may glean some bright ideas that I learned from others. Read on:

June 18 – Cleaning House
I began by redesigning the home page for BluLob.com. Earlier versions put the focus on the blog. I needed to refocus on what I offer to paying clients. So now you will find only marketing items “above the fold” – things that invite visitors to see what I offer in the way of design services. The blog’s still here if you scroll down a bit. I also began the process of prettifying my portfolio. I need to refine it to only five to ten of my best pieces. This is still a work in process. Once I decide  what my niche (target market) will be, I’ll have a better idea which items to include.

June 25 – Finding a Coach
I met with a marketing specialist by the name of Corey Walker. She was gracious enough to give me free advice for an hour. I took copious notes, which I will share with you below. Same of these may pertain to what you do in your business.

Notes from meeting with Corey Walker:

• for online teaching and conferencing, check out wiziq.com
• give some more time to networking and building connections on LinkedIn
• create and use two brochures: one focused on web and one on graphic
• find a local group to network with on a regular basis – people get more comfortable with you over time
• check out a local chamber of commerce – maybe there’s one for East Sac; they often send out:
  • email blasts
  • newsletters
• start up a regular email newsletter
  • include 1-2 articles in each
  • recommends use of Constant Contact
  • each newsletter gets an associated web page
  • post link to web page on Twitter, etc.
  • links can generate additional subscribers
  • content ideas:
    • case studies, redesigns, how a client benefitted
    • simple design tips, design principles
    • how to hire a designers
    • how to take a good head shot for marketing materials
    • what sort of things do I already teach clients about?
    • how a web site comes together
    • tips for copywriting
  • use the lobster as a character with adventures, personality
  • the newsletter does not have to be all-business
  • when I get business cards at networking events, email the person and incidentally ask them if they’d like to subscribe to newsletter
• make a Facebook fan page for BluLob, and link to it on Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
• e-Women Network
  • people are really supportive
  • directors are really focused on helping you grow (as opposed to a chamber of commerce)
  • Corey goes to Folsom chapter
  • most meetings generate something, so it’s worth the cost
  • mostly small business owners
  • mention to people that I am also interested in talking to marketing people at larger companies
• charge less for tri-fold brochure: $650 is more reasonable
• reconsider whether to list prices on website; maybe use a sliding scale depending on business size and budget; alternately, show two scopes for each item, one low-end and one high-end
• Corey can provide the following ongoing services for me:
  • copywriting
  • ongoing marketing plan
  • coaching on newsletters
  • checkups on marketing progress
  • keep me focused on continued marketing and networking

I have already followed some of her advice. I also spent some time researching eWomen Network. More on that later.

June 30 – Finding a Coach, Part II
I met with another marketing expert, Brandon Miller of Avaunt Advantage. This meeting was similarly useful, but instead of “to do” ideas, Brandon schooled me about five major components of an effective marketing plan:

1. Advertising- such as Google AdWords
2. Networking – such as BNI, LeTip, and various chambers of commerce (check out the Asian Chamber even if you’re not Asian!)
3. Public Relations – my tutorials here on Blulob count, but this also refers to being a sponsor of non-profit efforts (little league baseball, anyone?)
4. Cold Calling – terrifying but true: it’s not a marketing plan unless you do it (see notes below)
5. Database Management – keeping an organized contact list and following up with people I meet

Cold-calling will be most effective if I do it myself, because I’m the one with the expertise to answer client questions right off the bat. A few notes on cold calling:

• A cold-calling business person has to overcome TWO fears:
  • Your own fear of rejection.
  • A potential client’s fear of making a bad buying decision.
• Sales is a numbers game. You won’t win everyone over, but you will win over a percentage.
• A good way to cold-call is to offer a free consultation.
• The first thing to do is identify a target market.

Brandon offers a few different marketing packages, starting at $200/month for helping me develop all five components mentioned above. He’s offering direction, focus, ideas and coaching. I am taking this under consideration. If we’re successful with this and I’m getting enough money in, I may upgrade to a more elaborate package. This would include marketing analysis and networking training. He described a number of networking concepts, such as “speed networking” in which you meet 20 people face-to-face and spend 90 seconds each describing what you do.

Brandon says his strongest service is “developing a great message”.

July 1 – BNI
I was invited by my plumber to attend a networking mixer for BNI of Elk Grove. Everyone was really nice, and I met a man and his wife, Todd and Hilary Dorff, who run another web design firm in town. Not only do I enjoy chatting with other people in my field, Todd seemed interested in subcontracting to me as the need arises. Hilary invited me to a free networking event the following morning.

BNI has an interesting arrangement. There are usually several chapters in a given town. Sacramento has four. Each chapter can have only one member in any given field. Unfortunately, each of the Sacramento chapters have a web designer already. I could try to find a chapter further away, or market myself there as a graphic designer instead. Initial sign-up costs something like $400 and there are quarterly fees of around $20. I don’t recall the exact amounts. They allow you to attend two meetings for free before you join.

BNI provided free appetizers at On the Border. Yum.

July 2 – a Free Networking Thing at IKEA
I went to a networking event put on by a woman who does financial consulting. It was held at the local IKEA. Hilary couldn’t make it but one of their salespeople did. There were a good number of people from a variety of industries. After a bit of mingling with free coffee and pastry, we sat in a large horse-shoe configuration. Two people had previously arranged to make special presentations of their companies (these guys provided the snacks). Then everyone had a few minutes each to talk about what they do and to pass business cards around.

All in all it was interesting, but I don’t know yet if it will lead to any business relationships. I contacted a few people afterward via email, but have yet to hear back.
By the way, IKEA offers meeting spaces for free before the store opens. The setting is like a large classroom or conference room. I had the notion to teach a basic HTML course there for a small fee.

July 8 – eWomen Network
My third networking event for the month: I went to an eWomen Network “Strategic Business Introductions” meeting. This one was not free. In fact, I paid $75 to go an a non-member. I had two goals: evaluate eWomen before I join, and meet a few more potential business contacts. Other eWomen events have a lot of people, but this one just had nine, two of whom represented eWomen. The small number was intentional, because the idea was to really connect, and to advise each other.

After a brief introduction by each person, we did an interesting brain storming session. Person one described a particulat business need, and then each person in turn would give suggestions regarding that need. After we went around the table, it was person two’s turn to voice a need. For example, one person expressed the need to get articles published about his industry (Bowen therapy). I suggested publishing them on his very own blog as well as in publications.

The need I expressed was the need to find focus: focus on a niche market, and what to focus on with all my business ideas at any given time (design work, blogging, T-shirt design, teaching, tutorials, etc.)

Here are my loose notes from this meeting:

• One woman found success with Google Adwords; she pays $50 per month and found three clients her first month. I went ahead and singed up yesterday. I’ve gotten 4 click so far but no calls. Patience, patience.
• A sales expert recommended this method of cold-calling:
  • Have 100 face-to-face interactions within a two-day period.
  • Get to know people – don’t try to sell. It’s about relationships.
  • On a second visit, hand-drop off a card with a box of chocolates.
  • It can take five to seven interactions before someone buys.
• Tell stories in your marketing. I had the brainstorm to include a sort of story-telling element to my portfolio items.
• Check out Get Networking Now to find future network events (Sacramento region).
• Constant Contact offers email marketing and newsletter services, and a free trial.
• The Small Business Administration (SBA) has “Score” members who coach people with their businesses. (I searched for mentors in California for “Advertising and Marketing”, which came the closes to what I do. I submitted a request for advice from Peter Thomsen in Sacramento.)
• Interview a number of business coaches before deciding on one (eWomen Network gives you two free coaching sessions – with two different coaches – with your membership.)
• Check out Stephanie Chandler in regards to professional publishing and producing/selling eBooks.
• Delegate basic business functions when you can to a service like SimpleBackOffice.

eWomen Network costs $290 to sign up, then $16.95 per month. Events are an additional cost but members get a discount. Members also get access to a large online community where they can create a business profile page. And there’s the coaching service too. A few women whom I met yesterday have already called or emailed me.

Conclusion
I have been working very hard the past two days to digest everything I’ve learned, follow up on suggestions, and reconnect with everyone I met. I’ve emailed a hello to a number of individuals whose business cards I’ve kept since March. I’ve also tracked down a number of them on LinkedIn and requested connections with them.

I think I will budget $200-300 per month for a while to get my marketing really going. I will be going to one more eWomen event next week, then probably go ahead and sign up with them. That will burn up July’s budget. Then I’ll start working with Brandon Miller in August to get those five marketing components going.

I’ll let you all know in the future, with complete candidness, what generates real clients for me with real money, and what doesn’t.

I solicited high-res photos from my online friends on a message board, and the first responder gave me photos of his baby. “300″ is copyright Warner Brothers, not me!

On top is the original photo.

Beckett 300

I had so much fun with the photo retouching I did yesterday, I did another one today. I found this photo on Google images and attempted to take 20 years off her. What do you think?

random lady

This is just a quick post to share some Photoshop fun I had today. I found a random guy on Google and tweaked him a bit. The result is sort of graphic novel-ly.

Some Dude

Reflected Phones

Table of Contents

• Rule #1 – Make sure you have the correct image reflected.
• Rule #2 – Angled sides get their own reflections.
• Rule #3 – Separate items get their own reflections.
• Rule #4 – Items pointing toward you have smaller reflections than you think.
• Rule #5 – Cars don’t float. And they have underneathy-bits.
• Rule #6 – Round and cylindrical objects need special handling.
• Bonus Guide: Make It Look More Like a Wet Table Than a Mirror
• More Reflection Catastrophes

Rule #1 – Make sure you have the correct image reflected.

Photoshop Reflection Bloopers
The following images were created without a strict eye for detail.

Upon reflection, it's only 4GB.

Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray: who's gonna notice?

You just spun it around, didn't you?

Reflection Reality
In this photo we can see how a reflection appears when we look at a flat object face-on:

Flat-surfaced item, face on.

Notice the yellow lines I drew on the right-hand copy. The R is both upside down and backward. There is an element of perspective here too.

Reflection Realism in Photoshop
Here’s how to get a much more realistic reflection for a simple, flat item that is not turned at an angle:

1. Start with a layer that has just your image, separate from the background.
2. Press Ctrl+J (Mac: Cmd+J) to duplicate the layer.

Duplicate the layer

3. Press Ctrl+T (Mac: Cmd+T) to enter the Transform command.

Transform command

4. Click and drag down on the top-center square (handle) of the Transform box. Drag it all the way past the bottom edge of your object, so that it is flipped and not quite as tall as the original object.

Drag the top handle down

5. Press Enter/Return to complete the transformation.
6. Click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

Add Layer Mask icon

7. Select the Gradient tool from the Tools panel.

Gradient tool

8. Up in the Control panel, click on the Click to open Gradient picker icon.
9. Select the Black,White gradient (3rd from the left on the top row).

Gradient Picker

10. Select the Linear Gradient in the Control panel.

Linear Gradient

11. Make sure that the layer mask is still selected in the Layers panel. It should have a broken rectangle framing it.

Layer mask selected

12. Click and drag a gradient from the center of the reflection up to where the two box images meet. Hold the Shift key down to keep the gradient straight. Don’t let go of the Shift key until you let go of the mouse button.

Drag a gradient up

Gradient on layer mask

White background

Extra Credit
To make this image more realistic, add perspective.

1. Select the top (reflection) layer and press Ctrl+E (Cmd+E) to merge it down to the original image layer.
2. Edit > Transform > Perspective.
3. Click and drag the bottom-left handle to the right a bit.

Drag the bottom-left handle to the right

4. Press Enter/Return to save the transformation.

Finally, I added a thin black shadow line with the Line tool. I also put a chic white-to-gray gradient on the background layer.

Reflection in perspective

Next: Rule #2 – Angled sides get their own reflections.

Photoshop Workspaces

Photoshop I Lesson 1a – Rearranging and Saving Workspaces

I designed 60lessons.com to be a resource for teachers. The lessons are meant to be 45 minutes long each, and grouped into units of 10 lessons each.

But anyone can follow them! Please check it out.

Orange Cream Text

Create the Basic Text

1. Create a new RGB document which is 1000 pixels by 500 pixels and 72 pixels/inch (white background).
2. Select the Horizontal Type Tool in the Tools panel

Horizontal Type Tool

3. Up in the Control panel, set these text styles:
   1. Select a font which is straight up and down, and has thick strokes and a pointy serifs (serifs are those little bits that jut out from the tops and bottoms of letter strokes.) I chose Lady Copra Narrow.
   2. Change the font size in the Control panel to something large like 200pt. Just delete the current size with and type in “200″.
   3. Click on the Center text icon.
   4. Click on the Set the Text Color color swatch to open the Color Picker.

Type Control panel

4. Select a bright orange color. I chose R: 255, G: 165, B: 0. Click OK to save the text color.

Bright orange text color

5. Click in the center of the upper half of the image window with the Type tool.
6. Type the words “Orange Cream”. Make sure to use capital letters at the beginning of each word, and lower case for the rest.

Orange Cream text

7. Click the Commit any current edits check mark icon in the Control panel.

Commit any current edits

8. Open the Character panel (Windows > Character).
9. Click on the Small Caps icon. This makes all your letters upper case but keeps the first letter of each word a little larger.

Small Caps

Add Some Dimension

1. Ctrl+J (Mac: Cmd+J) to duplicate the text layer.
2. With the Type tool still active, change the text color for this duplicated layer to white (use the color swatch in the Control panel again; R: 255, G: 255, B: 255).

Change duplicated text color to white

3. Press V to select the Move tool.
4. Use your arrow keys to move the white text down and to the right slightly. I pressed the down arrow twice and the right arrow twice.

Move white text down and to the right

5. View the Layers panel (Window > Layers if it is not visible).
6. Click on the top-most “Orange Cream” layer and drag it underneath the second “Orange Cream” layer. Your white text will seem to disappear in the image window.

Move top Orange Cream copy layer down

7. With the now-bottom “Orange Cream” layer still selected, press Ctrl+J (Mac: Cmd+J) again.
8. Select the Type tool and change the text color for this duplicated layer to a brownish-orange (from the Control panel again). I chose R: 180, G: 11, B: 20.

Change text to brownish-orange

9. Again press V to select the Move tool, and use the arrow keys to move this brownish text down and to the right. I pressed the down arrow twice and the right arrow twice.
10. In the Layers panel, drag this layer below the other two “Orange Cream” layers.

Move the brownish text over

Next: Add Some Yellow Zest