I already have a good full time job but I would like to get into web design for fun. Where would someone start? What are some basic programs you need to start making graphics and web pages? Whats best PC or Mac? Is this very expensive to do? I can draw pretty good – are the same skills needed for graphic arts?
The BEST way is to know your chops. Know the tools of the trade and how to use them.
Photoshop, for instance. It is not enough to know how to run a graphic through a series of filters, or to be able to switch heads from one person to another’s, or to put someone in a different scene of to change someone’s eye color. Photoshop is an extremely powerful tool with tremendous capabilities in graphics. To use Photoshop only for those purposes I described is kind of like spending several hundred thousand dollars on a high performanc sports car just to burn doughnuts in a parking lot. Lots of smoke and noise, but not particularly difficult and only impressive to someone who doesn’t know any better.
You need to learn how to use the tool to it’s full potential if you expect to impress clients or a potential employer.
And that’s just Photoshop. The same thing applies to the other tools of the trade like Illustrator, InDesign, QuarkXPress, Flash, Dreamweaver (or other web design app) Acrobat Professional, Word, and many, many others, depending on the directions you want to go and the specific uses.
Many of these tools have some common functions. But the REASON that there are so many of them and why it is worth the money that graphics artists spend on them is that EACH of these have very specific uses. You CAN drive a nail with the fat end of a combination wrench, but why would you when you have a hammer available? And why would you use a twenty pound maul to drive a cabinet finishing nail? You use the RIGHT tool for the job.
Take some design classes. Most community colleges will offer these at VERY low cost. If you don’t want to invest the time, yet, on even junior college, you can often find classes in some of these apps at local adult education classes.
Or, go the slow, painful route of teaching yourself out of a good tutorial book. (I recommend the Classroom in a Book series published by Adobe. But you have to apply yourself dilligently if you expect to compete with the thousands of college grads with degreess in the arts, all of whom would LOVE to beat you to a job or a client.
Draw pretty good? That’s nice, but there were some cave men in France, about thirty or forty thousand years ago that could draw pretty good. But the tools of today require the tools of today.
Start with the relatively inexpensive Photoshop Elements. It retails for less than $100 and does most of the things I expect you want to do. I believe it may also help layout web pages, but I’m not sure if it is only possible with the "slice" tool of the full version Photoshop. Check it out.
I also gave "factdesign" a thumbs up for some very good info on how to start with some basic web design.
Become an intern
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try online school!
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try a tech collage of your own programs from apple like final cut studios 1 or 2. there are alot more out there that you can play with.. but if you get serious look into a good collage like Full Cell
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If you just want to start off as a hobby, then teaching yourself is definitely an option. All you need is a program like NOTEPAD (which comes on Windows) and a program like PAINT (also on Windows). I think PC better, but which one you use is pretty irrelevant if you use the correct programs. I’ve been doing web pages for people for years now, and it hasn’t cost me a dime. Drawing is always a plus, although it doesn’t come in very handy when doing online art. HOWEVER use that art knowledge you have and apply it to what you do on the computer.
the basic language for web pages is html. here is a good intro tutorial:
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/
References :
The BEST way is to know your chops. Know the tools of the trade and how to use them.
Photoshop, for instance. It is not enough to know how to run a graphic through a series of filters, or to be able to switch heads from one person to another’s, or to put someone in a different scene of to change someone’s eye color. Photoshop is an extremely powerful tool with tremendous capabilities in graphics. To use Photoshop only for those purposes I described is kind of like spending several hundred thousand dollars on a high performanc sports car just to burn doughnuts in a parking lot. Lots of smoke and noise, but not particularly difficult and only impressive to someone who doesn’t know any better.
You need to learn how to use the tool to it’s full potential if you expect to impress clients or a potential employer.
And that’s just Photoshop. The same thing applies to the other tools of the trade like Illustrator, InDesign, QuarkXPress, Flash, Dreamweaver (or other web design app) Acrobat Professional, Word, and many, many others, depending on the directions you want to go and the specific uses.
Many of these tools have some common functions. But the REASON that there are so many of them and why it is worth the money that graphics artists spend on them is that EACH of these have very specific uses. You CAN drive a nail with the fat end of a combination wrench, but why would you when you have a hammer available? And why would you use a twenty pound maul to drive a cabinet finishing nail? You use the RIGHT tool for the job.
Take some design classes. Most community colleges will offer these at VERY low cost. If you don’t want to invest the time, yet, on even junior college, you can often find classes in some of these apps at local adult education classes.
Or, go the slow, painful route of teaching yourself out of a good tutorial book. (I recommend the Classroom in a Book series published by Adobe. But you have to apply yourself dilligently if you expect to compete with the thousands of college grads with degreess in the arts, all of whom would LOVE to beat you to a job or a client.
Draw pretty good? That’s nice, but there were some cave men in France, about thirty or forty thousand years ago that could draw pretty good. But the tools of today require the tools of today.
Start with the relatively inexpensive Photoshop Elements. It retails for less than $100 and does most of the things I expect you want to do. I believe it may also help layout web pages, but I’m not sure if it is only possible with the "slice" tool of the full version Photoshop. Check it out.
I also gave "factdesign" a thumbs up for some very good info on how to start with some basic web design.
References :
Designer, Illustrator and Desktop Publisher for over 30 years