Quest to expand my skills

[Rooster]

Illustrator has terrible text control. It's OK for a setting a few lines of type. If you want better control you jump to indesign.

The trifecta of Indesign, Illy and PS as a skill set is a very marketable one. Corel might be popular in sign shops, but I've never once seen a corel file arrive from an ad agency.

In the end though, all the different apps are just different tools to achieve the same result. If you've been sticking stuff together for years with a hammer and nails, it doesn't take very long to figure out the business end of a pneumatic nail gun. It just becomes a matter of logistics (where's the f'n menu to do what I want to do!!!!).

(Edit: Shouldn't have walked away to check the cutter mid-reply)

 

[luggnut]

Regardless of which program/programs you choose to master, checkout Lynda.com. It is an online fee based education system and covers many popular titles and vendors. The fees are $25.00 per month or a yearly rate of $250.00. To me, that sure is a bargain.

yep $25 a month... all the vids you can soak up. great deal

 

[royster13]

Could not get by without my Adobe Suite and www.lynda.com

 

[Flame]

I've never once seen a corel file arrive from an ad agency.

\

You know why? Cuz ad agencys hire art school weenies, and art schools teach using one thing... ADOBE PRODUCTS. Because...? Adobe has an awesome marketing strategy and gets in with practically every school and learning agency.

But I've always been a firm believer in buy what actually WORKS, not what is popular. Thus I am a Corel fan after spending 3 years initially with only Adobe. Don't get me wrong, Adobe has good software, but I prefer Corel and don't see anywhere where Adobe really outshines Corel, it's like choosing a +2 pencil with a red eraser, or a #2 pencil with a blue eraser.

 

[signmeup]

You know why? Cuz ad agencys hire art school weenies, and art schools teach using one thing... ADOBE PRODUCTS.

Amen!! Flame you nailed it!! I can't for the life of me figure out why otherwise intelligent people don't see this. You use what your industry dictates that you must....not the best tool for the job.

Someone mentioned above how intuitive Abobe Photoshop really is. Adobe has never made anything intuitive ....ever.

 

[signage]

Within Adobe illustrator can you edit and change a bitmap?

In Corel you can edit amd make changes in Draw!

 

[signage]

Double post!

 

[wes70]

I find more and more that designers are using and accepting Corel. I work with 2 local print shops and they prefer that I send and recieve files in Corel over Illy.

 

[JoySigns]

A community college class in Photoshop could be very helpful, especially if you need a little extra motivation to move along in the learning process.

 

[Gino]

I think if you wanna become good at desktop capabilities in your designing.... you'd wanna do it in Corel, Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, InDesign, Flexi, Free Hand or any other desktop kinda software, but if you really want a sign design program.... get ANAgraph. That's about the only true sign man's program around. I also used to have Gerber software, but haven't kept it up to snuff, but it was never as good as ANA. However, ANA and Gerber software was the tops in sign software. The rest of these programs are just effects programs and to me it's comparable to.....

Ever sing in the shower and you think you sound so-o-o good.... well, that's what these desktop programs do.... they just fool the vast majority into thinking they are good with a whole bunch of useless effects.​

Learn the basics anyway you can and you'll do far better in any shop with sound basic abilities. Anyone can add a bevel, shadow or inner line detached face thingamajig.... but does it stand up on it's on merit ??

I'd like to see the contests come back to these forums and we put it to the real test of true design without the effects and crazy gingerbreading. Will the real design artist..... please..... stand..... up !! ​

.

 

[mark in tx]

I receive files from a lot of different shops, from other sign shops, ad agencies, newspapers, printers, etc...

You need to learn as many programs as you can, or at least how to output from them, that's where the money is.

Every program has its benefits and drawbacks, most of which I think are tied to knowledge of the program capabilities.

The best way to learn a program is up to you, you know if a classroom environment works better for you, or an online tutorial, or a youtube video.

The fastest way is probably to sit down with someone skilled in the program and have them teach you.

 

[Rooster]

\

You know why? Cuz ad agencys hire art school weenies, and art schools teach using one thing... ADOBE PRODUCTS. Because...? Adobe has an awesome marketing strategy and gets in with practically every school and learning agency.

But I've always been a firm believer in buy what actually WORKS, not what is popular. Thus I am a Corel fan after spending 3 years initially with only Adobe. Don't get me wrong, Adobe has good software, but I prefer Corel and don't see anywhere where Adobe really outshines Corel, it's like choosing a +2 pencil with a red eraser, or a #2 pencil with a blue eraser.

I've seen some big dollar jobs go really sideways in the past because of some color "issues" with Corel. I'm a big believer of using what works too. That's why I avoid Corel. It's burned me in the past so I just don't trust it anymore.

 

[signage]

Rooster what version corel did you run?

 

[Ponto]

"...But Gino's right, all of these programs are just tools. If you can't design, you can't design, doesn't matter if you're using a pencil or photoshop. If your design skills are weak, hone them first, then move on to translating your vision through whatever program you choose.

Well said!!!
JP

 

[BobM]

I think if you wanna become good at desktop capabilities in your designing.... you'd wanna do it in Corel, Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, InDesign, Flexi, Free Hand or any other desktop kinda software, but if you really want a sign design program.... get ANAgraph. That's about the only true sign man's program around. I also used to have Gerber software, but haven't kept it up to snuff, but it was never as good as ANA. However, ANA and Gerber software was the tops in sign software. The rest of these programs are just effects programs and to me it's comparable to.....

Ever sing in the shower and you think you sound so-o-o good.... well, that's what these desktop programs do.... they just fool the vast majority into thinking they are good with a whole bunch of useless effects.
​

Learn the basics anyway you can and you'll do far better in any shop with sound basic abilities. Anyone can add a bevel, shadow or inner line detached face thingamajig.... but does it stand up on it's on merit ??

I'd like to see the contests come back to these forums and we put it to the real test of true design without the effects and crazy gingerbreading. Will the real design artist..... please..... stand..... up !!
​

.

You are so right Gino. I started with ANAgraph doing just simple signs and truck lettering. Graduated to SignLab and Corel. It was so much simpler with the ANAgraph. I'm sure I didn't use it to it's maximum limits, but it was easy to learn, quick and easy to use.

Three years later I'm still finding new ways to do things in both SignLab and Corel.

 

[signmeup]

I've seen some big dollar jobs go really sideways in the past because of some color "issues" with Corel.

Ahhhh.....the ever popular "colour issues."

 

[J Hill Designs]

yeah, like color vs colour

 

[signmeup]

Hey, I can't help it if you guys can't spell properly.

 

[Marlene]

ok...for all you photoshop guys...is it best to learn it on your own or try and go to classes and learn from them??

I did one of those one day semiars that travel around the country, usually, they are filled with people asking how to open the box the program came in so you won't get much out of that. I did buy a book that had a companion disk with it so you could try out the different examples of how tos. that was pretty good.

 

[Rooster]

Rooster what version corel did you run?

It was a long time ago. A very early version for sure.

We measured dot percentages on the film output from corel files compared to files created in Illustrator and found that when we spec'd a 40% dot in a raster file that was placed into Illy we got back a 40% dot. When we placed it in Corel we weren't getting what we asked for. We ran the tests because we took it up the hoop from a client about why the color shifted in his corel file.

This was long before color management. I'm sure things have changed for the better but that was enough to guide me down Adobe's path and they haven't let me down since. The only time I've ever had problems with files from an Adobe product was when they bought out Aldus and were selling Pagewrecker prior to the release of InDesign. I think everybody with a history in pre-press has some Pagewrecker stories though.