Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Digital Software - Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator





                                   PHOTOSHOP

Photoshop is a digital image editing software. It used to create website, print designs, and edit photographs, as well as other new media disciplines. It is used by millions of people but its main target market is graphics artists, print designers and visual communicators. It is likely to be used in nearly every picture around us in day to day society such as magazines, brochures, posters, book covers, bill boards. These have all be created or enhanced on Photoshop.  There are many powerful tools on the software which are used to create and manipulate many images. 

Photoshop was established in 1982, which is 25 years of advancing and perfecting the software, which means it is almost impossible to use let alone even learn all of Photoshop’s tools to their full potential and get the maximum benefit out of them. I will display some of the basic tools which are the main ones used on the programme. 


                                             THE PHOTOSHOP WORKSPACE


Photoshop's workspace lay-out and tools are very similar to all of the other softwares in Adobe Creative Suite (i.e illustrator and indesign) which makes these difficult programmes more user friendly.



The application bar is located across the top of the programme at the top of the screen. It is the panel of menus such as file, image, image, layer and select etc. These menus allow you to control the management of the files, edit the file, and manage layers and more. This is the main control panel for the actual file as a whole. 




The famous Tool Panel contains a collection of useful tools used to create, select, and manipulate images. The tools that have a similar function are all grouped together. Some of the tools buttons have an
arrow in the bottom right section which opens a folder of similar
tool version of the tool grouped together which you can use, these
all have similar uses. To access these folders you hold down your mouse.

The Options Bar is located below the Application Bar. The options change depending on the tool you have selected. For example, when you select the Type tool, options pertaining to text editing will appear across the bar.


The panel dock is a vertical dock of panels which is located on the right of the work space. Panels help you managed and edit your image, making access quick and easy to the most common controls. By default there are panels when you open Photoshop: the layers, adjustments, and styles panels.

To access more panels, click windows from the application bar and click on the panel you want to open. To hide a panel, click windows from the application bar and click the panel you want to hide.



                                      IMPACT ON THE INDUSTRY


Photoshop has had a very high impact on many technological  industries. It has influenced the fashion industry strongly by widening the range of ways and techniques of doing things; making them a lot more clearer and professional.

It has impacted the fashion industry in more ways then just one, as many different areas within the industry use this software to create their work. Here are some examples of careers who used the programme.

Fashion photographers – too make their images more professional, crystal clear and also manipulate the images.
Fashion illustrators – too make edit their designs and make them more professional and interesting.

Fashion promotion- too make posters, magazines, and make everything look professional.
Photoshop makes everything look more professional and is highly used in the industry today to change and manipulate things, making things that step closer to the ‘idealistic’ lifestyle. 

                            MY PERSONAL VIEWS ON PHOTOSHOP




I think that Photoshop is a very useful programme to be able to use, but I think it takes a while to pick up the techniques, method and tools. I think it is a good way to make your work that one step closer to being perfect but I am not very literate in using the programme myself and actually find it quite confusing.

Although I believe Photoshop can be a very useful tool, I also believe that Photoshop can be a bad thing as it creates false impression of the way things can be. When abused Photoshop creates a completely false image of ‘body image’ as many images have been manipulated to create the idea of the perfect body. 
I think this can be dangerous as it very brain-washing.
On a more positive note, I have really enjoyed learning how to use Photoshop and create images on the programme. I have found it very challenging but also very interesting. There is a lot of room for improvement though.








                                                                ILLUSTRATOR



Adobe Illustrator is a graphics design software used for creating ‘vector graphics’. It was developed along side with Adobe Photoshop as a programme to run along side it; this is known as a companion product. Adobe illustrator is used mainly for creating logos, graphics, cartoons and fonts to then send into Photoshop to edit and manipulate. 



Adobe Illustrator is a very similar lay out to Photoshop which makes it a lot more user-friendly allows for it to be less confusing. It has it’s tool bar on the left hand side once again, which is the same place as Photoshop. The panel dock is also in the same place as Photoshop as well as the work space option. 





The pen and pencil tools on illustrator  which I used the most, they are extremely easy to use and make using creating fashion illustration a lot easier and less time consuming. The outcome is fascinating as well.

On the left is a list of the tools which are on the illustrator programme.

The pen tool allows you to click and drag around the object to create a completely smooth line around the silhouette of the object you are copying. This tool is very hand as it makes your designs completely perfect.

The pencil tool is when you draw around the object free hand and then you can smooth it out after. I personally prefer the pen tool but this is very good for smaller details.

The paint pot tool is another tool which I used which I used to add my print, I added an image on to the paint box tool and just filled in the area I wanted to be in colour. This tool is really handy as it allows you too fit in a large mass of area in one hit. 



                                      IMPACT ON THE INDUSTRY



Illustrator has impacted the fashion industry as it is a very useful software to create silhouettes for fashion illustration. The tools are brilliant for creating the perfect curve, line or other shapes which makes this professional programme used by many with different industries including the fashion industry. 

The tools make creating the templates for fashion illustration very simple as it is created in a dot to dot, step by step manner. The curves are created in a mathematical process which allows the curves to be completely smooth with no faults. This means that the final outcome is very professional which is one of the main reasons this is used within industry. 


                            MY PERSONAL VIEWS ON PHOTOSHOP



I think that Illustrator is a very useful programme, but I think it takes a while to pick up the click and drag method on the pen tool, as well as other tools. I think it is a very usual programme to create the fashion templates as it is simple and effective as well as the finished result being perfectly curved. I have got a lot more stronger in using the programme but I still find it quite confusing and have a lot more to learn.

I have really enjoyed using Illustrator software as I had never used the programme before or even heard of it so it was something completely new to me. I found using the programme challenging to begin with which as I hadn’t used any of the tools before. I liked the way that the programme was laid out similar to  Photoshop as this made it less confusing as some of the tools were the same on each programme for example the paint tool.

I found that after using the programme for a while it became a lot user friendly and I felt more confident with creating my own work. I look forward to creating more of my own work on the programme in the future and I definitely believe I will be using it again.


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