Help needed - where to start learning to do graphics?

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I'm very PC competant, I even built my own PC that I'm using now - what I wanted to ask is about imaging programmes.

I recently aquired Photoshop and would wat to know how to be able to get to grips with it in an intersting way rather than just reading a boring online tutorial; maybe something with tasks to complete?

As well as that, I am extremely interested in becoming graphics competant, i.e. being able to use graphics programs to design things, like avatars, sigs, short pieces of flash, and stuff like that on Digital Blashemy. For this I wouldn't even know here to start - programmes or anything, how to aquire skills, etc.

So I'm basically asking if anyone knows of any free/cheap resources of where to get started on any of this?

Many thanks for any help.

David Byrne recently wrote a book describing how he learned to use PowerPoint; specifically, how to make it do what it wasn't really designed to do. It's an expensive coffee table book, but maybe if you Google him you can find a site that has some pointers.

What version of PhotoShop do you have? You could do an internet search for photoshop tutorials.

http://www.adobe.com/studio/main.html

http://www.adobe.com/support/training.html

Is that David Byrne of Talking Heads ?

If it is, is he AS ? Ive seen him being interviewed on TV and when he was speaking, he made absolutely zero sense, its like he was struggling to put sentences together. Then he got up and performed and he was amazing.

All tutorials are not created equal. I've found some of the best tutorials to be written by users under the age of 20 who sometimes sit glaring at a computer screen at 3:00 am sipping on Jolt cola. LOL

Basically...if it doesn't hold your interest in the beginning and walk you through the steps in a language you can understand...find another tutorial that does.

Digital Blasphemy is an awesome site...alot of the images are renders made with Vue d'Esprit, Bryce or Lightwave. But you can do some really wonderful things with Photoshop...have fun with it!

A better way to learn photoshop is to just get some images and play around witht he different tools and see what they do. It's a pwoerful program so you won't be able to learn how everything works by reading a book or taking some online lessons.

A "to-learn" list for Photoshop:

1. Layers. (Learn this one first!) Create new layers and draw objects on each one. Learn how to make a layer invisible. Play with the opacity settings. Use the "Move" tool (the four-way arrow) to slide one layer in relation to another.

2. "Magic Wand" tool. Great for selecting all of an area that's basically the same colour. Very useful when you're trying to erase a background and leave just the subject.

3. The airbrush tool. A must for manual touch-ups. The airbrush version of the eraser tool, set to a low flow rate, works great for softening the edge of something.

4. Lighting effects. Very handy if you do a composite picture and want to change the shadowing patterns on a layer to make it match everything else. Or just to do some really cool effects.

5. The "Lasso" tool. (I prefer the straight-edge version because my mouse hand wobbles too much to trace around something in one go.) Another essential tool when you want to cut very close to something.

6. Masks. Possibly the best way to hide large sections of a layer. The good thing about masks is that they're reversible... If you accidentally hide a part you want, you can reveal it again. (You work with the drawing tool and erasing tool of your choice till you get the mask just right.)

For 3D graphics there is a open source (free) program called blender which is great. Photoshop is great for 2d work although I can also recommend Gimp which is also open source and multiplatform but much the same thing.

I was reading Talking Head's David Byrne's online journal and he described himself as borderline aspergers. Below is the excerpt from http://journal.davidbyrne.com/

My Back Pages

When I first moved to NY in the mid 70s I stayed with the painter Jamie Dalglish. In return for room and board I helped him sand the floors and renovate his loft on Bond Street — a stone's throw from CBGB as fate would have it.

I was a peculiar young man — borderline Asperger's, I would guess. Jamie occasionally made large abstract paintings and I wrote what later became Talking Heads songs.

WOW amazing ! I knew it ! !

thanks chica.

Sorry I've not been on for a while. Thanks for the information guys, this should get me started.