Quick question on graphics from a New-B

[scottauten]

Hi all! I'm VERY new to the whole wordpress stuff, but am equally as excited about getting started. Between Frugal, Impact and now Catalyst, I should have enough tools to get myself into some trouble. LOL

I am not very familiar with graphics design and wanted to get some feedback on which programs would be best for a newcomer such as myself. I am guessing Photoshop is somewhere near the top of the list, but is that a program that a newbie can just jump right into or should I start off with something more of a "beginner" program?

Also, I am seeing more and more blogs and websites using various graphics of a 3-D white man and/or men. I'd love to include that style into my website. Is there a program that I can buy that has a large collection of options with that 3-D character?

Thanks, in advance, for your help. I can't wait to get started!

Scott

[surfjam]

Hey Scott,

Although I use Photoshop most of the time, I've been using it for 10 years and I still wouldn't consider myself an "expert." Besides that, it's very expensive. If you really need to become a graphics pro, get past the learning curve with a good reference book and power through it. Otherwise, you might just want to try Gimp, (http://www.gimp.org/). It seems to be the best free image program.

As for the 3-D images you are looking for... I use iclipart.com by paying for an annual membership that was less than $50 and lets me download as much as I want. They seem to have a whole lot of style options including 3-D. I use them all the time to find the parts and pieces to make my own images.

[optdave55]

Hi Scott,

Photoshop has a stiff price tag and a steep learning curve. Some more newbie and cost friendly options to look at are:

PhotoImpact 13
Xara Designer Pro 6
Serif DrawPlus X4

For images, you might try these sites. Most images only sell for $1 - $3 each and there are many abstracts and illustrations which work well as web headers. If you can find one you like, it is much easier than trying to design it yourself.

http://us.fotolia.com/

http://www.123rf.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/

http://www.canstockphoto.com/

- Dave

[scottauten]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Great info! I can see, already, that the learning curve is going to be alot of fun (NOT!) LOL

If anyone else wants to contribute, thanks in advance!

Scott

[francism]

Hi Scott,

You can get the 3D white man graphics here - http://www.presentermedia.com/index.php?target=category&id=140&maincat=clipart

Francis

[scottauten]

Thanks Francis... It's the Mother Load!!! LOL Let me ask you, does it matter that they advertise it as powerpoint clipart or can it be used on websites & blogs as well? Also, what size (DPI, resolution, pixels, inches, etc.) is best used for web designs? Thanks again, to everyone, for their input!

Scott

[hawk]

Hi Scott, I have been using photoshop for a couple of years, so I know that is good. I was also put onto a very simple FREE paint tool that is called http://paint.net/. I use this often when I want something done quickly and easily.

You can easily create banners and image boxes (with text) for your marketing, I use this when creating some banners for some affiliate products for my own personal touch. The way I look at it if you are going to have an image, you may as well link it to some of your affiliate product (thats if do affiliate marketing).

I put together a simple document with screenshots that you are welcome to use - it walks you through the set up of an graphic with text using paint.net (just tried to upload, but the document is too large to upload to the forum). So I will give you some instructions (without the screenshots).

___INSTRUCTION START______
Creating images using Paint.net
(located at : http://paint.net)

How to create an image box with text

• Source and purchase your istock images
• Log into paint.net
• Click on file/new
• Create a graphic 250 pixels wide x 250 pixels height
• Click OK, which will give you the box below
• Click on layer/add new layer
• Open the image that you want to use
• Then click on the square tool
• Then click on the ‘shift’ button and draw a square around your image (note: add a little extra area for you to type text in at the bottom of your image)
• Press control+c to copy image into your 250x250 box
• Then press control+v to paste, choose ‘keep canvas size’
• Click on layer/add new layer
• Note: Next you can add text that will either say that you will send them to your squeeze page or your affiliate product
• Next click on the ‘text’ graphic to commence adding text, ensure that you make the text underlined and blue in colour & bold (so that it looks like a link)

• If you find that the foot of the dog runs into the text, you can erase this by picking the ‘colour picker tool’ (you must be on the layer of the image to select the colour of the image), then create a new layer to rub out the part of the foot that is interfering with the text and
• select the ‘paint brush picker’ and choose a larger size paint brush ‘size 10’ (see menu below) and move over the area that you want it to blend so the text is easy to read
• Then click file ‘save as’ jpeg file (note you won’t be able to change the layers if you do this). Select ‘flatten’ as you save.

• Then insert your image into your wordpress or website. Click edit post, then click add image by clicking in image icon, find your file. Then activate the link with the url location of your affiliate link or squeeze page and update page.
How to create a Header Banner with text

Just repeat the same process. You can create a header banner with text for your websites as well. Just change the sizes.
---INSTRUCTION END---

bye for now, good luck with your creations, Karen

PS: Also look at these image sources

(some free images on this one)
http://www.sxc.hu/

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/

[francism]

Hi Scott,

The formats of the images on presentermedia.com are png and jpg, which are two of the main formats for web graphics so you'll be fine there. As to size, you'll need to work out how much space you want the graphic to occupy and then use the relevant size. Png's and jpg's can also be resized to the size you want.

Francis

[davep]

My graphics program of choice is Xara's Photo & Graphics Designer.
http://www.xara.com/us/products/designer/

But a nice freebee is PhotoFiltre - I use it a lot for quick and easy changes to images like cropping, resizing, changing formats etc...
It also has some nice pre-sets for improving photo appearance - like auto-levels, auto-contrast, adjust shadows & adjust highlights.
http://photofiltre.free.fr/download_en.htm
Cheers, Dave

[hawk]

Hi Scott, one other thing, you can get a free pixel ruler that you can load onto your computer. You can measure vertically or horizontally. I use mine all the time when working with images. This makes it easy to get the right measurements in pixels for various things on your website or graphics. I'm currently using my free pixel ruler from www.mioplanet.com. cheers, karen

[francism]

Hi Scott,

I totally agree with Karen that a screen ruler is essential. Another free one to try is the WonderWebWare Screen Ruler - http://wonderwebware.com/screen-ruler/

The good thing about it is that it can give you horizontal and vertical measurements at the same time - and also gives screen positions.

Xara, the program recommended by Dave, is great for doing web graphics like headers and buttons. It's cheaper and easier to use than Photoshop.

Francis