Tutorial #7 - Advanced Glow Effects: With Color Text

Boy, have I ever been busy these last couple weeks. The semester is almost over and the catchup work has been draggin' me down.

But this week's tutorial was another shot at glow effects. Will Advanced Glow Effects: With Color Text stick out among the many failures of Glow Effect tutorials?!?

Final image:



WOAH.
This actually looks somewhat like the example! Any differences were my own design choices. The instructions were helpful and clear and there were many screenshots... EXCEPT in step 9, instead of giving you the exact specifications of the layer styles, they ask you to DOWNLOAD their original file.
NO NO NO NO NO NO
I worked on this tutorial on a train. When I got to step 9, I couldn't continue until I reached a place with internet. I was not pleased.
My suggestion does not go to you, but to the creator of this tutorial. Next time, supply the .psd file at the beginning of the tutorial and explain that it is needed to finish the tutorial.

That is all!

Length of time: 35 minutes.
Level: Intermediate.
Clarity:
Handiness:
Cool factor:
Source: http://photoshoptunes.blogspot.com/2009/12/advanced-glow-effects-with-color-text.html

Tutorial #6: Na'vi Tutorials.

Everyone and their mother has been doing Na'vi tutorials recently. I've found a lot of good ones, a lot of horrible ones, and many in between. Instead of doing one tutorial, I decided to pick and choose things from several.

The tutorials I used, in order of best to worse, were:
Na'vi Avatar Photomanipulation Tutorial
Create James Cameron's AVATAR Movie Poster in Photoshop
Angelina Jolie as Na'Vi from Avatar Movie

Original image:



Final image:



Not bad. Not bad at all.

Each tutorial had its good and bad sides, but worked fantastically when combined. Really, they each had completely different styles. The success of the tutorial depends on what you'd like to take from each. My only tip is to make a lot of copies of your progress. Save often.

And because I always need to complain about something, this tutorial was undoubtedly the worst thing I have ever seen.

Length of time: 6 hours.
Level: Advanced.
Handiness: (I learned a lot.)
Cool factor:

Tutorial #5: MP3 Player Design

I've always been interested in product design, but assumed that they usually do these sorts of drawings using a 3D program. When I saw this tutorial, I was extra excited.

The tutorial uses almost nothing but blending options to create the 3D effects. It's probably not the most practical way to create this effect, but it certainly worked.

I'm not sure if this is an actual product, but in the middle of my tutorial I noticed something kinda fishy.

APPLE LAWSUIT

My end result was pretty sweet looking though:

Woah! It actually LOOKS LIKE THE EXAMPLE.
I'm rather surprised and pleased with this tutorial. It was easy, clear, and ended up looking fantastic. I wish there was more room to play around, but I don't really have any other complaints.

Just kidding.

One complaint that I did have, was that they were giving you specific dimensions for every step, but never explained how to CREATE those dimensions. I spent a good bit of the tutorial, just trying to figure out how to specify the dimensions of an object. Eventually, I gave up and guessed. It made the tutorial a bit harder to follow, but it still worked. SO WHATEVER.

Length of time: Entire project: 2 hours.
Level: Intermediate.
Clarity:
Handiness:
Cool factor:
Source: http://www.zymic.com/tutorials/photoshop/mp3-player-design/

Tutorial #4 - Creating Energy Spheres

Today's tutorial is Creating Energy Spheres in Photoshop.

I've been trying to get the hang of this whole glowing energy effect, but no tutorial has been able to explain it quite right. Will this one prove different?

Before:

After:

Nope.

But, as always, I made the best of it.

I've tried several glow tutorials, but something always gets lost in the process. This one was no better, however, they did lead me to some really nice energy ball brushes.
Lets just say that copying and overlaying the layers for the energy balls helped IMMENSELY.

Length of time: Entire project: 1 hour. Energy balls: 20 minutes.
Level: Intermediate.
Clarity:
Handiness:
Cool factor:
Source: http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/design/photoshop-design/creating-energy-spheres-in-photoshop-119/