Layers TV: Episode 22

CATEGORIES: Layers TV Archive | Web Editor | February 13, 2008

RC takes us through creating a simple print ad using Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. Corey explains the concept of the Divine Proportion and how to use it to evaluate image composition.

Download the Quicktime (.mov) version of Layers TV. You can also download each episode by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes.

Special Thanks

Thank you so much to iStockPhoto for providing us with images to use for the show. Be sure to visit them for all of your image needs: iStockPhoto

Special thanks to John Chase at Korg for the use of the M3. For more information on the Korg M3, please visit www.korg.com

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RC takes us through creating a simple print ad using Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.

Use Photoshop’s Pen tool to make a path around the product of your ad
Open a new document in InDesign
Use a Clipping Path to bring your selection into the InDesign document
Add a background color and some text
Use the text wrapping options to control how the text flows around the object
Bring logos created in Illustrator into InDesign and resize them to fit the ad

Corey explains the concept of the Divine Proportions and how to use it to evaluate image composition.

After designing a shape, paste it into Photoshop as a path
Use that path to define a custom shape that you can then use any time you want
Use the custom shape tool to locate and place your custom shape
You can resize, scale, warp, and adjust your custom shape as you need
Check out Corey’s tutorial on how to layout the Golden Section to help you recognize Divine Proportion

Don’t forget to send in your comments for a chance to win prizes from Layers TV!

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Visitor Comments »

Corey, I tried the tutorial and when I bring the shape into Photoshop then choose Define a custom shape the shape is blacked out(it looks like a solid black rectangle instead of the proportion shape).

Comment by Joe | February 22, 2008 @ 10:03 am

Ok, I’m doing something wrong. I built the Golden Section in Illustrator, as Corey’s tutorial showed. I think I did it exactly. I selected it, copied it and pasted it into a new Photoshop document as a path. I selected the path and Right-clicked it to bring up the menu and selected Make Custom Shape. When that dialog box comes up, it shows the shape as a black rectangle. If I save it and try to use it, it comes in as a gray rectangle. I’ve tried a dozen times and get the same results.

I downloaded the Golden Section file from the Illustrator site and opened it in Photoshop and it works! Trouble is, it doesn’t seem to be as easy to use. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks. And may I suggest when doing the tutorials in the podcast, slow down a bit. Sometimes you grab a tool and use it without explaining what it’s for or how it should be set.

Great podcast! Keep it great!

Comment by Charles Pearce | February 23, 2008 @ 11:20 pm

Was watching a tutorial for indesign on some tips. The gentlemen mentioned that they would be posted on your website as a pdf file for downloading. I searched your website but was unable to locate this file. Where can I find this pdf file?

Comment by Nancy Henry | February 25, 2008 @ 5:29 pm

Hey Guys, catching up but this was another great episode. I have not had the time to create the golden proportion but knowing about it will help me to take and make better shots.

Comment by Khizkey | March 5, 2008 @ 10:57 pm

There is a utility called Composer for Mac OSX which displays a floating window that shows these guide lines:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=112&t=471310&highlight=composer

Comment by Jim Goshorn | March 22, 2008 @ 2:36 pm