Job done!

I handed my Photoshop project in today. Completion is a big relief, I'm pleased with my work and effort, I couldn't have done any better.

I'm currently experimenting with getting the sound right for the songs, I will put them on in the next week regardless of whether they're totally up to scratch...sometimes temporarily filling the gap is a means of getting to the goal.

I'm going to relax for a bit now and go hell for leather on Flash in the days ahead. I can't wait to crack it.

COURSE ESSAY 2

After religiously buying copies of Photoshop Creative magazine for the last nine months I must admit to being a little disappointed in myself when I realised that the primary website I was going to write about in this essay was Chelsea FC's!

I could have studied poster art, music sites (particularly festival-related ones), advertising, photography and a wealth of other worldwide web pages but, no, I chose football.

Well, what a bloke am I!

Music and football have been my two chosen Photoshop fields during this course which may be a tad lacklustre to many.

However my spirit of adventure is consoled, albeit to a minor extent, when I recall how my sweet and feisty girlfriend described my music project - www.startree.co.uk - as being "gay and psychedelic".

Perhaps these words explain why I started my Flash course in the manner of a man who'd just been ten rounds with Joe Calzaghe - I don't consider myself gay or psychedelic at all! - but I've now recovered my senses and I'm fit to write these words.

I have to be honest, it's with some trepidation that I do so, this particular course assignment is the one that sees my tendency to procrastinate reach epic proportions, but I'm here now so let's go for it.

So why write about Chelsea's site?

Well, I'm a fan, I have been for over thirty years.

More importantly, from a website perspective, the site is awesome, just take a look.
I like the site because it's so well-structured, a look at the Landing Page which is very neat, gives a very fine impression of what to expect.

With regard to its use of Photoshop our lessons with our Course Tutor Jamie began with a study and replication of a rugby site, in fact the Photoshop header for the Dragons' site we studied and duplicated was much more complicated than that on Chelsea's.

The header on the Chelsea landing page is very simple. A black background and blue border contains some minimal text. The Chelsea badge and some flags, links to ChelseaFC sites across the world, are also included. This header can be found on all the pages within the site although on the main, index page, it's augmented with a few more links. It's a powerful lesson in simplicity.

Below the banner, on the left hand side of the Landing Page, an advertisement, created in Photoshop, can be found.



As I write the Photoshop ad image is a simple one, it shows Chelsea players Nicolas Anelka and John Terry looking resplendent in next season's kit. I suspect these images have been created in Photoshop, simply cut out and placed on a black/grey gradient.

Two logos appear on the ad and the text used - an encouragement to become a member of Chelsea FC - is made more noticeable courtesy of what looks to have been the Blending Options Drop Shadow tool.

The ad image used in this site position changes during the day, as I've just found out. After checking the word count on this essay I returned to the site and lo and behold a new ad was there.

This one. another born in Photoshop, was very polished indeed. It shows a mobile phone on a blue-black gradient. The text and emblems are natural, as it were, no special effects, but the phone appears in a kind of spotlight. Another sophisticated touch, at least in my novice eyes, is the way a reflection has been used to highlight the sheen of this mobile.

I've never added a reflection to any parts of my work so how this one done gives food for thought. I would probably make a copy of the phone. I'd then rotate it 180 degrees, save the image and use the eraser tool to clear all but the bottom of the phone.

I'd then place the image slightly askew of the main one. Whether it was done like this I do not know, there's probably many ways of doing this.

Elsewhere on the landing page four miniature Photoshop images can be seen. They are: an advert for the new Chelsea home kit; an ad from the Bookmakers Paddy Power; a 3D player gallery link and finally a button that leads to a Chelsea fans' survey feature.

They're all encouragingly simple. A feature of quite a few of the Photoshop images on this site is the use of a background gradient with a simple player image and text in the foreground. No frills, but it looks good. It's very simple, even I could replicate these works without too much fuss.

So there we are, a clever, polished, simple Photoshop paradise and we've yet to get past the Landing Page!

Before I look at what's on the main Chelsea index page I just want to contrast what I've written about with a few other football teams, another Premiership side and a team from a lower division.

The Manchester United site (http://www.manutd.com) also employs a landing page. It takes a fair while to appear on the screen and the use of Photoshop is disappointingly minimal and average.

The banner features a dark map of the world tucked away in the right hand corner of the page - and little else.



The fantastic Man Utd badge is on the middle level on the left of the landing page - surely this should be at the top of the screen? - elsewhere the designers have mostly and simply added text to photographs.
Disappointing.

Far more exciting and dramatic are the Photoshop posters found on some lower division sites.

For example Bristol Rovers' landing page (http://www.bristolrovers.premiumtv.co.uk/) invariably features a large Photoshop banner. In match weeks two large cut-outs of respective team players in action are skilfully placed under platinum-coloured text headlines. It sells the match in a dynamic way.

At the time of writing the site features one big poster which, despite my efforts cannot be downloaded. On the left is a very striking image of a model wearing the new kit and on the right hand side there's an ad poster. The background is of grass, probably the team's turf, and superimposed on this are some mini tables using a variety of energised-looking texts.

While there's not a great deal of difference between the teams's landing pages, in the sense that they're all very simple, entering Chelsea's site and index homepage is a different matter. The site is run on Flash so I can't comment too much on it but, again, Photoshop images can be found at the foot of this marvellous base, mostly adverts for betting and the new kit, as mentioned above.

Of all the images I've seen on these sites the most memorable and dramatic shows seven Chelsea players placed on top of Stamford Bridge.



I think it unlikely that these boys posed for the camera atop the stadium (!) so cut-outs of the individual players and use of layers to place them have been adopted.
I suspect - because there are a number of ways of doing things in Photoshop - that the gradient tool has been used to make the sky look the way it does.

Alternatively, the Designer could have taken a dramatic skyline and worked from there. Either way, both methods will probably have seen the artist add various touches to the firmament via the brushes palette.

I do not know whether the London Eye is visible from the top of Stamford Bridge. If it isn't then this landmark has skillfully been added to one of the earlier layers.

If it is then the designer has probably taken a wideshot picture of Stamford Bridge and then daubed it in shadows and reflections (there are many ways to do this) as well as adding the player cut-outs, altering their size with the Transform Tool.

Adding text is straightforward and so all in all it's a very polished production.
However the one element which could have been better is the sun. I'm not convinced that a sun at that height in the sky will give that kind of light or glow.

But who says you must always be authentic, after all this is a piece of software which is notorious for the fake wonders it can help to create.

I hope this essay is satisfactory. I must admit to feeling slightly uneasy about criticising the work of Photoshop artists far more talented than me though I've learnt more in the process.

I would just like to finish this piece by wishing Chelsea and Bristol Rovers all the best next season.

Flash Lesson 4

I rediscovered my genius last night - my genius for being bloody useless!!

It resurfaces once in a while, it's my knack of being a complete natural at going about things in a very bizarre way.

Sometimes I can be really intelligent, others very slow and thick indeed...a man of extremes.

Anyway, there's no point dwelling on being well off the pace.

I just need to complete my Photoshop project by Saturday's deadline and then keep on keeping on with Mr Flash. I'll catch up eventually.

As for Photoshop I showed some character last night. I was rather down after the lesson but I came home and worked until 1am, doing my best to give my site some nice final touches.

I added images to the links page, got rid of the roses on the site (they looked bloody ridiculous!) and added an OTT song to the front page just for some much-needed fun.



It's progress.

And the good thing about cutting the flowers is the site looks much neater and sparer, I can now use the space they've left to add some song lyrics to the respective pages as and when the tunes are ready.

Creative Web - Site Uploaded

I put my site onto the class web page - www.creativewebcourse.co.uk - today. It took a couple of hours all told...is it me?

For some reason links etc would not work, a lot of it was down to the uppper/lower case problem.

I must admit that I've underestimated the volume of work involved in the Dreamweaver and Photoshop courses.

Still, I'm hungry for it, though it can be frustrating, so bring it on!

I began my second course essay last night and started recording some of the songs.

While the songs are good (nice tunes, words) my guitar sounds terrible and the voice...don't go there!

Patience, John, patience!

COURSE ESSAY 1 - HOW MY SITE WAS BORN

I have to submit two essays for my Photoshop project, one on my site, another reviewing the use of Photoshop on another website.

Here's what I've written for the former of those tasks

Note 1: This is being sumbmitted in hard copy so the A PLEA BEFORE I START section is written for the aid of those who haven't seen this site.

Note 2: The site's songs will be uploaded soon, the site is currently 90% complete.

www.startree.co.uk: HOW MY MUSIC SITE WAS BORN

A PLEA BEFORE I START

What follows is an account, broken up into segments for ease of reading, of how I developed my first music website in Photoshop.

Before I begin this essay in earnest I would ask the reader to refer to a website I set up in conjunction with my Photoshop project.

The site in question is called John's Photoshop Diary and it can be viewed by logging on to the following address: http://johnsphotoshopdiary.blogspot.com/

The aim of this blog was to chart my Photoshop progress in both the lessons I attended, and my site's construction, as I went along.

In short it is a comprehensive, step by step account of all the work I've done on this project.

A word of warning. By the time you view my Photoshop Diary it's likely to be dominated by my workings on the Flash module I began in April.

However, if you scroll down to the first entry in January you can take things from there.

Finally, with regard to this plea, I have decided not to include hard copy pictures of my site with this essay solely due to environmental concerns, I'm all for saving paper.

Sketches/Work in Progress referred to below can be viewed at my website diary.

A WISE MAN LEARNS FROM HIS MISTAKES

My learning speed during this course was greatly enhanced by the fact that unlike my time spent learning Dreamweaver, I had the Photoshop programme at home.

It was a costly investment but it saved me a lot of stress and made the lessons far more enjoyable than those of Dreamweaver.

So before the course started I had a good, basic knowledge of Photoshop and in hindsight this stood me in good stead.

THE LESSONS

For notes on the lessons please go to my web diary.

The dates you need to view are:

Thursday January 31st, 2008

Wednesday February 6th, 2008

Tuesday March 11th, 2008
(This entry covers lessons on Febuary 27th and March 5th, 2008).

Wednesday March 12th, 2008

NOTE: I missed the first lesson because I was in London. The ones that took place after March 12th were connected with project work and I deemed it better to work from home during this phase.

WHY A MUSIC SITE?

I considered putting together a football or rugby-style photoshop interface, the type of which can be found at many football sites like the following:http://www.bristolrovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Welcome.

However I wanted to serve myself and give expression to some of the songs I've been writing, purely for my own pleasure, over the last few years.

Music is very important to me, the wonder of creation has saved me from the abyss many times, so giving myself a challenge with regard to one of my great pleasures would, I hoped, be rewarding and provide me with great project stimulus.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Planning my site was very difficult, I had to work my way through a wealth of options.

As my Photoshop diary illustrates I spent a long time devising a name for my project as well as working on banners, using the Photoshop drawing tools and experimenting with colours and gradients.

Initially I wanted to work with images associated with the sun and I spent a long time working out how to creating rising sun effect as a Photoshop animation.

I also pondered the notion of using the freeform pen tool throughout the site in order to create very simple images. The amateur nature of these designs would, I thought, compliment the amateur nature of the recordings.

At one stage I was keen on employing a splash page with a green valley mountain, flowing river and rising sun (see April 1st diary entry).

Ultimately, though, I was dissuaded from using this because it would just overcomplicate things.

And after buying a magazine called Computer Music Special (The Musician's Guide To The Net) I abandoned the idea because this fine publication stated that Splash pages are a waste of time as they frustrate most visitors who simply want to enter a site as swiftly as possible.

I began to make progress with my site when I drew the shape of a tree on a new document (see entry on Thursday April 3rd, 2008).

This development proved to be the rock from which to roll. It's easy to see how the front page and site theme gradually evolved from this image.

A couple of weeks after devising this image I found the look I was after (see the entry on April 15th entitled Much More Professional).

I ditched the Freeform Pen tree and searched for an image of a tree from the Web.

I cut it out placed it on the page, adjusted its height via the Transform Tool and then discovered, quite by accident, that placing the tree underneath the gradient layer resulted in a good gradient effect not just for the sky but for the tree too!

Thereafter the front page was really in the final straight. All I needed to do was add (and choose the style of text), work on a name for the project, devise the CD covers, find a suitable image of myself and add small touches here and there.

Adding an image was, I thought at the start of the project, going to be tricky because I don't like seeing pictures of myself.

But the blue silhouette effect on the site made a tricky task easy. I asked my nephew to take a picture of me playing the guitar. I then cut it out and placed it on the page. I adjusted the size with the transform tool and moved the layer up and down the stacking order, placing it in a position which maintained the silhouette effect.

After doing this, though, the job was still not done because part of my guitar-playing image was transparent.

To remedy this and give myself some little glow I used the Blending Options tool.

I used Blend Mode "Dissolve" and put an Outer and Inner Glow on my image. This gave my blue silhouette more definition - a nice Ready Brek effect! (don't ask!)

THE CD COVERS

Because I did not use rollovers of animated GIFs in my project I feared that it might not be well-received. However, my argument would be why use these options if they're not suitable?

I may use an animated GIF in the future but for now I'm happy with what I have done.

However, to expand my project further, and to avoid charges of skimping on effort (would I do that?!), I decided to add images/CD covers to help illustrate the theme of each song.

Here is a brief explanation of how I did so for each tune.

COVER 1 - WAR CRIMINAL

As you will see from my Photoshop Diary I experimented on this design during the early stages of my project, when I was still thinking of designing my project with the Freeform Pen Tool.

My aim was to create a very stark image, one which complimented the song. I wanted to convey or at least represent the amount of bloodshed our ex PM has been responsible for in the most powerful way I could.

I took a portrait of Tony Blair from the Internet and experimented with different effects in the Blending Mode section.

I found that by putting "Colour Dodge" on the picture, the blue shaded image "whitened" considerably.

Next, I erased the few bits of blue that lingered in the background, brushing over them with white.

This left a very stark effect indeed.

Next I wanted to add some blood to the picture. I created a new layer and filled it, using the eyedropper tool, with the red of the poppy Blair is wearing in the image.

To get the splash effect I then moved the layer between the background layer and the background layer copy.

Finally, I used the Brush tool to create a stark, brutal, blood-splattered effect around the edges of the picture.

I think this is the most powerful of the images I created, gratifying because I have managed to duplicate what I envisioned directly through Photoshop.

COVER 2 - CALLING ON YOU

This was very simply done. I just opened a picture of a crucifix which I took in a graveyard in Mayo a few years ago and added some text to it with the text tool.

COVER 3 - HOMETOWN SONG

I devised this image using Photoshop's Photomerge facility (File then Automate).
I then cut the statue image of Llantrisant legend William Price out of a pic taken in my hometown in May. It was then pasted on to the photomerged pix where I adjusted its size using the Transform tool.

COVER 4 - GOD BRING ME SUNSHINE

I measured the size of the area I want the CD to cover on the Startree page. I then found a beautiful image of the sun with some birds flying in a silhouette formation!

Next step was to find an image of a man in a hammock as this reflects the song's lyrics.

Originally I was going to place the hammock image to the left on the sun and erase the birds.

However, I found that the hammock image fitted very neatly into the sun itself.

Some simple blending experiments with the text followed and the job was done.

PLACING THE CD COVERS

Once I had decided on the size of the respective images I had to ensure that they all appeared in the same place on their respective pages.

I did this by activating Rulers on the Photoshop interface.

I then used the Navigation option, clicking on the Info panel to ensure each pic had the same page dimensions.

A NOTE ON THE SONGS

They're OK, they make me happy, anyway.

The recordings are not professional because this is just a hobby of mine. I intend to record them on my Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, hopefully they'll be on site in the next week.

To upload them on to my Dreamweaver page I clicked Insert - Media - Plugin and then chose the appropriate MP3 from my hard drive.

I'm sure there are more sophisticated ways I could have put music on to a website but I think that when putting together a site entirely in Photoshop the options are limited.

But I don't mind. For now I like what I have done, placing the MP3 at the foot of the page.

I will probably work on a more sophisticated website, adding Flash elements, at the end of the year. For now a site entirely in Photoshop will do.


LOADING THE SITE

My heart skipped a beat when I uploaded the site on to the worldwide web. Initially I felt joy at seeing my work connected but then I feared that the pages would be too big, that anybody clicking on to my site would be frustrated by the time it takes for the pages to appear.

However, so far this has not proved to be a problem.

I will certainly bear this potential pitfall in mind in the future.

REFLECTIONS AND THE FUTURE

This site will do for now. I don't think I'll design a site entirely in Photoshop again because in the future I'd like to make use of Flash effects, I would also like to add video effects too.

Perhaps, in the months ahead, I'll add a small animated gif to the site, a sparkling diamond tree or better still, a star. A few ads and banners at the foot of the page would not go amiss either. Rollover buttons for the menu remain a consideration.

When time is not at such a great premium as it is now I may also add stars to the night sky and little, almost hidden, transparent images within the sky and tree.

And as the number of songs I add to the site increases the songpage could well transform into a series of mini CD cover pix, a kind of gallery.

CONCLUSION

There were plenty of head-in-hands moments during the course of this project, a lot of agonising, but I never felt as lost or dejected as I did during my Dreamweaver course.

Finding project clarity was probably the hardest task but once that was found my project flowed.

I'm happy with the site I have produced, though in the months ahead I'll probably look back on it and blush at its limitations...but you've got to work through sites to improve, that's what I'll say to cheer myself up.

Overall, I think I have a very good grounding in the workings of Photoshop, I enjoy playing with it and I'm excited at the discoveries I will make in this amazing piece of software.

To digress for a short time I'm pleased to say that as a consequence of studying Photoshop my freelance website (www.johngilheaney.com) will be overhauled this summer. I now know what it lacks.

And, to my delight I have been asked to do some basic photoshop-related work for my brother's business.

In summary, the foundations have been laid it's time to build the house!

I would just like to thank Jamie for his patience and insight during all the lessons and my fellow classmates too, the course was fun and rewarding and that's the main thing.

Up and strumming!

I've uploaded my project on to the net, it can be found at www.startree.co.uk.

From a photoshop project perspective it's almost complete. Perhaps it needs an extra gloss to make it zing.

All I really need to do now is record the tunes (a task in itself), write the essays connected with the project and upload it onto the group's Creative Web course site.

I'm very pleased to have put the project up a week before deadline. It's rewarding. This project has been a vast improvement on my dire, Dreamweaver days.

I know my work is flawed, it could me more sophisticated I know, but I've done my best, put a lot of work in. I will get better.

I must admit my heart skipped a few beats yesterday when I put the project up on the web.

Initially I felt the joy of seeing my work connected - what a wonder the web is!

However, as the pages slowly loaded I thought "Oh no, perhaps the images and pages are too big, the site will be too slow in loading..."

Ah, the perils of designing a site entirely in Photoshop! A painful way to learn.

Anyway, I'll bear that in mind in future. I think it's going to be OK.

I'll try and bash out the essays over the next few days and then dig deep into Flash.

Total rubbish

I'm not going to go to tonight's Flash lesson and it's not to do with the football. The fact is I'm too embarrassed.

I tried getting up to date with the work this week but I haven't made the progress I've craved.

And this morning I tried to do what should have been a very simple exercise from Katherine Ulrich's book...and couldn't get past third base.

So two questions: Why am I so rubbish and what am I going to do about it?

I think my problems stem from the fact that, as with Dreamweaver, I hit this class cold, with no experience of the programme. Missing the first lesson didn't help and I must admit that the pace of learning has been too swift for me.

This state of affairs is a contrast to my Photoshop lessons. I had time to practice before class so I wasn't completely lost as I am now.

So what do I do?

The first thing to do is stop feeling so bloody wretched about this. Perspective, man, perspective!

The second is to simply go back to the start. Diligently follow Ulrich's book from page 1 over the next two weeks (when the next lesson begins) and be rock solid with the basics.

I know that ultimately I will produce a good/very good project it's just at the moment I am trying to run before I can walk.

The Ready Brek effect!

My deadline for the Photoshop project is looming so I need to get my skates on.

This evening I planned how I was going to transfer pages onto the site (illustration above), thereby acquainting myself with my old mate, Dreamweaver!

I carried out a list of snagging on the main page which included adding some flower stems and sizes, adjusting the transparent aspect in my trousers (! and ensuring that all my right arm was visible (see previous pages below).

I did the latter two tasks by using Blending Options.

I used the Blend Mode "Dissolve" and put an Outer and Inner Glow on my image. This gave my blue silhouette more definition - a nice Ready Brek effect!



The index page is now complete so is the song's page, both have been saved using the "Save for Web" facility.

I need to carefully and precisely place the song images in place then start adding the tunes and writing up my project.

The slog of Flash

I did an hour's worth this morning.

I'm still playing catch-up although I can import pix onto the stage, align them, transform them into graphics etc. My work also resembles what the finsished product should look like. I'm probably nearer than I realise to getting there but I'm demoralised at the moment.

I also have a dilemma with regard to tomorrow's lesson.

My team, Chelsea, are playing in the European Cup Final, probably their biggest ever game...and it coincides with the class.

I think I'll make a late decision tomorrow.

Photoshop "CD cover" 4

OK, it looks more like a postcard but a deadline's looming!

This is the last of the four, it's to illustrate a tune about my hometown.

I'm tempted to put a series of much smaller images behind the statue but time is of the essence.

This was simply done. The four background pictures were assembled using the magical Photomerge facility (File then Automate).

I then cut the statue image, of William Price, out of a pic taken in Llantrisant on Tuesday. It was then pasted on to the photomerged pix where I adjusted its size using the Transform tool.

Photoshop "CD cover" 3

This is a rough idea of how the images will look on their respective song pages.

This is a very simple image and truth be told I haven't done anything with it except add text. It's a picture I took a few years ago in a graveyard in Mayo. It's to illustrate a song called Calling On You.

To be honest I think the page could look stronger. Hopefully the tune will augment its visual nutrients (what a phrase that is!). Seeing the above makes me crave the ability to insert a slideshow onto this page but unfortunately that's beyond my ability at the moment.

In terms of the main page I've decided to go with the blue background instead of the green. It's cleaner, more vivid...and it matches the colour of my new, fine and dandy blue suede shoes!

Flash Lesson 3

Another night of frustration. I'm picking up a lot of info in class and from books but I get stuck at the basics and this prevents progress.

Tonight's big problem was how to work in a document and then transfer to the buttons I was working on.

I spent ages trying to solve this conundrum and I'm still not clear on it now. However I did learn that to change from one state to another the simple task of clicking on the border of the image you're working on will do the trick. I was working in the button rather than in the bigger document.

Jamie began the lesson with a quick recap of last week's work. He then showed us how to fade up an image, the large one that appears when the mouse is placed over a button.

In the second half of the lesson Jamie showed us how to place our gallery work into a larger document. He said when we've cracked this then we'll have made big progress as most Photographer's website gallerys are as advanced as what we learned tonight.

Unfortunately, I am a fair way of this stage at the moment. I ended the lesson by studying and copying the timeline with the four buttons on it. I'm going to try to replicate this at home.

If I can just work out how to move between the gallery and the buttons I should be able to make swift progress.

The only way I'll experience this Eureka moment is through hard work. I've definitely got the zeal for this. When I got home last night I raced through Katherine Ulrich's Flash (Visual Quickstart Guide) which was a consolation.

Perhaps my best approach for the next few days would be to do as many exercises from the books I have. Maybe that way I'll find solutions to the problems I've got.

Notes.

Below are scanned copies of the notes I took during class tonight. Although I can understand the shorthand these pages probably look indecipherable to the viewer. Fair enough, so's my knowledge of Flash!

I'll get there.

Rolling a ball on the motion guide

I did well tonight. I persevered, for two-and-a-half hours, working out how to move a ball along a motion guide.

I know I'm slow but all the internet guides and Flash books I consulted did not fully explain things so I had to absorb the bits that worked and work out the rest for myself.

And although we did this exercise in class my notes were poor and I figured that really thinking about what I was doing, rather than replicating things, is what I need to do.

This is the way forward because as well as doing the task in hand I pick up a lot of information along the way. I need to be patient, think things through...and be even more patient!

This is how I rolled the ball along the line.

1. Add motion guide.

2. Draw a line on the motion guide layer.

3. Alter Motion Guide layer's Tween (in properties bar) to Motion. Make sure the Snap box is ticked.

4. Draw a circle on layer 1.

5. Click on layer 1 and alter Tween to Motion and make sure Snap is ticked.

6. Click on stage.

7. Convert circle to symbol (Movie clip)

8. Create frames (I went up to 40) on both layers.

9. Click on layer 1. Move the circle to the final frame/edge of the line. Click on playhead and insert a keyframe.

10. Control - Rewind.

11. Control - Play.

12. Job done!!

Photoshop "CD cover" 2

Today's been very productive!

I am pleased with this cover, it visually represents a very bleak and stark song of mine called War Criminal which was written about Tony Blair's last day in office.

This was another simple piece of work.

I took a portrait of Blair and experimented with different effects in the Blending Mode section.

I found that by putting "Colour Dodge" on the picture whitened the image considerably.

Next, I erased the few bits of blue that lingered in the background, brushing over them with white.

This left a very stark effect indeed.



However, I wanted to convey or at least represent the amount of bloodshed this man has been responsible for.

I created a new layer and filled it, using eyedropper, with the red of the poppy Blair was wearing.

To get the splash effect I then moved the layer between the background layer and the background layer copy.

I am happy with this.

Photoshop "CD cover" 1

Back to work on my Photoshop project!

This is the first of four "CD covers" that will give a visual image of each of the songs I put on the site.

This cover represents a simple song I've written (God, Bring Me Sunshine) about idling and getting the most out of life by taking it easy (but not stinting on work I'll have you know!).

This was a simple task.

I measured the size of the area I want the CD to cover on the Startree page.

I then found a beautiful image of the sun with some birds flying in beautiful silhouette.

Next step was to find an image of a man in a hammock, this links to the song's lyrics.

Originally I was going to place the hammock image to the left on the sun and erase the birds.

However, I found that the hammock image fitted very neatly into the sun itself.

Some simple blending experiments with the text followed and the job was done.

Grasping the basics of Flash

I put in an hour-and-a-half today. I went back to the basics.

I worked on the library and how to create a symbol, a task which was so frustrating because I know it's simple but I couldn't grasp it.

Still, trial, error, repetition...worked a treat...after 45 minutes of bafflement.

And God it's so simple. Import the image. Right click on it, create symbol. Dear, oh dear, John!

At the end of today's session I wandered around the interface acquainting myself with the meanings of screen symbols and discovering the function of options like publish preview.

Got to keep this momentum going and it will all click soon.

Post mortem on last night's lesson

I know what went wrong last night.

Up until now I've been replicating what Jamie has shown us without fully understanding what's happening.

I think because I missed the first class I may have missed a couple of basic, simple points.

For example, last night I couldn't fully grasp what a symbol was or how to create one. (I've since learned).

But as I say, there were positives, I learn things which will stay with me. Like, when using the pen feature to look out for the little sing by the cursor arrow when altering the shape; and how actions should also be at the top of the layers.

Jamie said that the hardest aspect of Flash is getting one's head around nesting so this is what I'll try to do in the next week.

Flash Lesson 2

I struggled tonight, I just got totally lost by the end of the class.

Despite this there are positives. The more I do the better I will be, I've got to go through the pain barrier first though.

And at least I don't feel as disheartened as I did after similar 'lost' nights with Dreamweaver and Photoshop, I know that with patient application I'll get there.

We started with a recap of last week's work, making an image form in fragments when the mouse is put over it. I managed to do this with help from Jamie.

I got lost thereafter though. I couldn't manage to implement the time-saving process in applying this to other pix.

And I found the work on how to create a "gallery in a movie clip" bewildering. My mind just went blank, I didn't know where to start despite the clarity of Jamie's teaching. Oh well, sometimes this happens.

I just need to immerse myself in Flash between now and next week. Stay positive.

(Incidentally, there was a fabulous atmosphere tonight, tremendous vibes, the spring sunshine made everyone seemingly happy and good looking which was lovely).

This week's work on Flash

Oh well, I've done about three hours of play and practice in anticipation of tonight's lesson.

Judging by experiences with Dreamweaver and Photoshop, I think the best approach at this stage is to have an anarchic, spirit of play style and not expect too much.

Fortunately I can adopt this method having invested in the Flash programme a few months ago. Thinking back, the Dreameaver days were dire because I had nowhere or no time to practice, no wonder I struggled and felt so despondent.

I'm quite pleased with the work I've done in anticipation of tonight. I've experimented with layers, altering text, importing into the library, putting pix on the stage, text size, colour and moving the ball!

I've also developed a feel for the interface which is important. I don't feel as daunted with Flash as I did with the previous programmes.

Of course none of the above is earth shattering stuff. But I've made a start and at last this, the last of the four courses I've been on over the last two years (InDesign was the other), will inspire and liberate me.

They are all coming into daily play now. And about bloody time.

I must keep pressing and build a portfolio of sites and results.

Experiment

Flash Lesson 1

I was so grateful to be admitted on to this course. I missed the first lesson because I was told it was fully booked but thankfully, due to Victoria at Ffotogallery and Jamie I'm on board.

Tonight's lesson went very well. Jamie (the tutor) was tremendous. He helped me get up to speed with what I had missed by half-time in the lesson, a feat which I found amazing.

Initially Jamie showed the class how to move a ball along the line.

He then instructed me to create a ball and then move it up and down the stage.

Basically this meant creating a circle and then working with timelines, keyframes and the tween facility in the property palette.

Next, Jamie instructed us how to stop the ball on the path. (At this stage I learnt that pressing Control & Enter makes one see their work on the browser.)

Finally, in this action-packed lesson, Jamie showed us how to create a rollover state and also how to put a border around the mask.

This involved importing an image from the library, working with layers and masks and frames.

I must admit that by this stage I was beginning to have information overload (my fault though I think this understandable) and my curiosity about the scoreline in the European Champions League game between Chelsea and Liverpool was growing!

All in all, one of the best lessons I've had. I'm so happy to be on this course.

I now need to practice the above and sharpen up before the next lesson. This is crucial. I want to make my work on the Flash module the best of the three courses I've attended.