How to Tell an Inexperienced Designer

the only way to hide you inexperience is with experience

Thanks. While that is obviously true, it’s also pretty cliche. I think you can do better = P

Thought this was cute too: 25 Signs that you may be a Hardcore Graphic Designer

http://www.designertoday.com/Articles/4665/25.Signs.That.You.May.Be.a.Hardcore.Graphic.Designer.Humor.aspx

Expanding on the filter/livetrace thing, it’s all in how you do it really. Someone who knows what they’re doing can use them and you might not even be able to tell. I generally caution inexperienced designers to stay away from them, because I think a designer/artist in the beginning stages of their development should be focusing more on their basic skills and the fundamentals (composition, color theory, perspective, drawing, anatomy, negative space, and all the other stuff I’m leaving out). Clicking on all the bells and whistles in photoshop/illustrator isn’t going to make you a better artist, and you may end up having to unlearn a lot of bad habits. It’s my personal opinion that if you can’t make something look really good on paper or canvas, then you might not be reason for photoshop yet.

As for tracing over photos or parts of photos. You just want to be careful. If it’s a picture you took, or something that you have the right to use, go for it. If it’s a picture you found on google images or something and you don’t know who took it or who it belongs to, be careful how you use if you choose to use it. If you can change enough so that you’ve used it to make something altogether different and new, then you should be good, but there’s gray areas with that. Just try to think like you’re the owner of the photograph and you saw the art, would you be mad? Would you feel that someone stole from you?

That makes sense. They would be my own pics anyways.

Maybe I should have clarified: I can make things look really good on paper (drawing) and in photos. And I’m fairly well acquainted with Photoshop and Illustrator’s capabilities. What I’m not experienced with is graphic designer “culture.” For example, I know many designers hate the flare effect and Papyrus font. Those seem random to me.

I recently went through a folder of designs when i first started with photoshop/etc… um… vectors! i trashed the whole damn thing. it was vectors and fancy fonts i downloaded off of the internet that at the time i thought no one else had.

um… using vectors, pictures, livetrace… i still use all of these—but i make them mine. i’ll use livetrace on something i drew up to make the lines smoother or give it a different look. i’ll use a vector as a model for something i’d like to draw similar. i use pictures the same way. sometimes i can’t draw it as well as the pictures shows, so i’ll trace the picture. a good example is with hands, i can’t draw very good hands—so i take a picture of my hand in a certain pose and trace it digitally.

if you livetrace a picture of obama, then write rock out with your barack out on the bottom in “bleeding cowboys font” and pop a splatter vector behind obama… that’s pretty amatuer. ask yourself how far you went to make it yours. you did nothing but use other peoples hard work. although created with fundamental tools, this could blossom into something utterly bamf if you take it in and enhance it to a point of awesomeness and in lieu, making it “yours.”

Good luck, son!

i think the main thing is to not show obvious laziness. that’s what designs/designers get called out on, not the use of the tools provided.

i use live trace for some of my designs but then i hit the design with a lot of editing so all of the linework is crisp and sharp. you have to put the time in to get a great final result.

Tiny.Cue.Cards said: That makes sense. They would be my own pics anyways.

Maybe I should have clarified: I can make things look really good on paper (drawing) and in photos. And I’m fairly well acquainted with Photoshop and Illustrator’s capabilities. What I’m not experienced with is graphic designer “culture.” For example, I know many designers hate the flare effect and Papyrus font. Those seem random to me.

I can understand how font stuff can seem a little random. I guess the problem with Papyrus is that it says “Hey look, instead of coming up with a creative way to do my text I used this highly recognizable overused free font!” As for photoshop’s lens flare, I don’t see that one as random at all, it just looks flat out ugly and cheesy 90% of the time, and it just calls attention to itself. Totally takes the focus off of whatever should be the focus and says “HEY! LOOK AT ME! I’M A PHOTOSHOP LENS FLARE! JUST HERE HANGIN OUT ON THIS ALREADY BAD LOOKIN ART MAKIN IT LOOK EVEN WORSE!!!” Haha.

These types of things will become more apparent the more you design and the more you look at design.

avoid this heroes i guess:)
lol

No design project is too high brow to resist the powers of Lens Flare. What client could challenge the combined effects of Crystallize and Emboss!? Their only known weaknesses are large file sizes and molecular solvents.

Concept by Chop Shop and illustration and interpretation finely executed by Joshua Kemble.

lol @ above.
I always thought some of Photoshop’s filter effects looked chunky and tacky, and am still wondering why some of them are on there. Not to mention some of the raster filters in AI, a 2 pt. gaussian blur looks pixelated on the edges.

Haha, you notice the artist didn’t use the actual filters on the heroes they represent? I think that says a lot about those filters, haha.

Tiny.Cue.Cards said: That makes sense. They would be my own pics anyways.

Maybe I should have clarified: I can make things look really good on paper (drawing) and in photos. And I’m fairly well acquainted with Photoshop and Illustrator’s capabilities. What I’m not experienced with is graphic designer “culture.” For example, I know many designers hate the flare effect and Papyrus font. Those seem random to me.

the lens flare is so obvious… its sooooo hard to make it look not lazy and contrived. some people can use it well, but 99.9% of people cant! and papyrus is so so so so so overused, its like a cliche for new age/spirituality/organic products/spas/ect. its gross. i was doing some research on an illustrator and when i came to their site it was like it was made in the early 2000s and it used papyrus as the font and i was turned away.

as for the original post… i personally trace over photographs for my designs. these photos are either my own or based on stock (or multiple stocks..) whose license allows it to be used in that way. its really really tricky, if you just took an image off of google and traced it you would have to do sooooooooo much to make it transformative and even then, like stray said above its a grey area. if you trace though you have to do it really well, i do it as if im inking over a pencil drawing, almost as if i was a comic artist (i have no interest in comics, believe it or not!).

ive also used live trace… my birds aflight design was actually a live trace. however, before anyone loses complete respect of me, i had to put in hours of pre editing a stock photo before even going to live trace it.. theres certain properties you get when you live trace, theres this certain abstractness to it, so if you want to make an abstract design and know what your doing than it can help rather than hurt you. had i not live traced it, i probably would of gotten too fussy with my linework and the design would lose its abstract qualities.

I hear you on that Asher, won’t lose that much respect ;-)jk. I’ve “cheated” on occasion with stock photo’s, but it tends to be vector related 99% of the time and mostly when I either can’t draw it to my satisfaction or would take too long to draw and am on a deadline – like a car and a hot rod club who wants a shirt hella fast.
To me personallyu, live trace seems to create more work – fixing all the crappy looking results it would give, when I could just get it right the first time with the pen tool :-) (yes I’ve toyed with the settings and still do on occasion just to see… but I still don’t like it)

thestray said: Haha, you notice the artist didn’t use the actual filters on the heroes they represent? I think that says a lot about those filters, haha.

lol
I’m wondering what’s with Crystallize woman’s vulture claw- like left hand/arm and the 70’s retro style one bare legged costume?. The grrl also needs a shoe, can’t run around fighting crime barefoot with no toes.

asher2789 said:

Tiny.Cue.Cards said: That makes sense. They would be my own pics anyways.

Maybe I should have clarified: I can make things look really good on paper (drawing) and in photos. And I’m fairly well acquainted with Photoshop and Illustrator’s capabilities. What I’m not experienced with is graphic designer “culture.” For example, I know many designers hate the flare effect and Papyrus font. Those seem random to me.

the lens flare is so obvious… its sooooo hard to make it look not lazy and contrived. some people can use it well, but 99.9% of people cant! and papyrus is so so so so so overused, its like a cliche for new age/spirituality/organic products/spas/ect. its gross. i was doing some research on an illustrator and when i came to their site it was like it was made in the early 2000s and it used papyrus as the font and i was turned away.

as for the original post… i personally trace over photographs for my designs. these photos are either my own or based on stock (or multiple stocks..) whose license allows it to be used in that way. its really really tricky, if you just took an image off of google and traced it you would have to do sooooooooo much to make it transformative and even then, like stray said above its a grey area. if you trace though you have to do it really well, i do it as if im inking over a pencil drawing, almost as if i was a comic artist (i have no interest in comics, believe it or not!).

ive also used live trace… my birds aflight design was actually a live trace. however, before anyone loses complete respect of me, i had to put in hours of pre editing a stock photo before even going to live trace it.. theres certain properties you get when you live trace, theres this certain abstractness to it, so if you want to make an abstract design and know what your doing than it can help rather than hurt you. had i not live traced it, i probably would of gotten too fussy with my linework and the design would lose its abstract qualities.

Oh Ashley, I lost complete respect for you long long ago.

Haha, jk.

I often like to photocollage elements, then use that as reference for a drawing. Sometimes I’ll trace, but I’ll end up redrawing it a lot to fit my style.

Bohemiantoe said: …
To me personallyu, live trace seems to create more work – fixing all the crappy looking results it would give, when I could just get it right the first time with the pen tool :-) (yes I’ve toyed with the settings and still do on occasion just to see… but I still don’t like it)

me too. thats why only use it if i want a very abstract work and dont want to do any further editing (besides colour changes) after i trace it.

Thanks! I’m loving those Filter Heroes. Genious. And that’s probably exactly what the Lens Flare would say, Stray, if it had tiny Flarey vocal chords.

Do any of you make your own fonts? How often? If not, do you use the ones that come with the program or do you prefer to download/buy them?

Tiny.Cue.Cards said: Do any of you make your own fonts? How often? If not, do you use the ones that come with the program or do you prefer to download/buy them?

Depends on the project. If I have the time I’ll try to draw my own text, but sometimes I’ll find a suitable pre-made font that fits well with the illustration. But there are definitely some “red flag” fonts that a designer should never ever use.

I have been using livetrace in pretty much every design(I think) I’ve done in the past year and a half or so.

Oddeti said:

Tiny.Cue.Cards said: Do any of you make your own fonts? How often? If not, do you use the ones that come with the program or do you prefer to download/buy them?

Depends on the project. If I have the time I’ll try to draw my own text, but sometimes I’ll find a suitable pre-made font that fits well with the illustration. But there are definitely some “red flag” fonts that a designer should never ever use.

such as… comic sans, arial, and papyrus to start off with? and then if your finicky like me, copperplate, impact, and any of the lucidas?

edit… and shitty fonts from dafont and verdana for anything print related…

againstbound said: I have been using livetrace in pretty much every design(I think) I’ve done in the past year and a half or so.

no way! on original drawings?

asher2789 said:

againstbound said: I have been using livetrace in pretty much every design(I think) I’ve done in the past year and a half or so.

no way! on original drawings?

Yep, pretty much every outline in every design of mine is livetraced (from my pen and paper drawings); I work with settings that I think work for me (never had any complaints) and of course I do a bit of cleaning up whenever it’s needed.

againstbound said:

asher2789 said:

againstbound said: I have been using livetrace in pretty much every design(I think) I’ve done in the past year and a half or so.

no way! on original drawings?

Yep, pretty much every outline in every design of mine is livetraced (from my pen and paper drawings); I work with settings that I think work for me (never had any complaints) and of course I do a bit of cleaning up whenever it’s needed.

well you have just proved the large variety of results that can be achieved with livetrace depending on the effort put in and the skill of the artist:

^my lazy piece of shit done in about 20-30 minutes… including the mocking it up and submitting!

^your dbh 10k top 20 masterpiece.

againstbound said: I have been using livetrace in pretty much every design(I think) I’ve done in the past year and a half or so.

amazing!

Oddeti said:

Tiny.Cue.Cards said: Do any of you make your own fonts? How often? If not, do you use the ones that come with the program or do you prefer to download/buy them?

Depends on the project. If I have the time I’ll try to draw my own text, but sometimes I’ll find a suitable pre-made font that fits well with the illustration. But there are definitely some “red flag” fonts that a designer should never ever use.

Ditto. Depends on what the piece calls for. I’ll rarely just use a font as is though (unless it’s just for presentation purposes and not part of the art). The last time I made a whole entire font was in typography class years and years ago.

zerobriant said: avoid this heroes i guess:)
lol



No design project is too high brow to resist the powers of Lens Flare. What client could challenge the combined effects of Crystallize and Emboss!? Their only known weaknesses are large file sizes and molecular solvents.

Concept by Chop Shop and illustration and interpretation finely executed by Joshua Kemble.

lol,

Tiny.Cue.Cards said:
I’m REALLY wondering what else is looked down upon, …

if I might ask the question: why?

joopit said:

Tiny.Cue.Cards said:
I’m REALLY wondering what else is looked down upon, …

if I might ask the question: why?

…so he knows what not to do? seems to be an obvious reason.

Actually, it’s so I can alert the FBI to your inner workings . . . dun dun dun . . .

I’m flabberghasted.

I have been known to ghast a few flabbers in my day

Tiny.Cue.Cards said: I have been known to ghast a few flabbers in my day

LOL! I might steal that line someday.

ejiboo said:

if you livetrace a picture of obama, then write rock out with your barack out on the bottom in “bleeding cowboys font” and pop a splatter vector behind obama… that’s pretty

Good luck, son!

Thats a really good idea for a shirt… I think I am going to have to try that one.

You can easily apply multiple features for effects, overall images with blatant filters look unworked… like using Arial or Times New Roman as typefaces, everyone knows how they look… so it looks half-assed. The trick is to take it that step further.

kristenhoward said: You can easily apply multiple features for effects, overall images with blatant filters look unworked… like using Arial or Times New Roman as typefaces, everyone knows how they look… so it looks half-assed. The trick is to take it that step further.

times new roman is not a bad typeface. just saying. overused, maybe, but so is helvetica. typefaces generally get overused because they are good.. although people who use arial are fucking idiots. no offense to arial lovers, but its just helvetica butchered.

this reminds me of the piece i did about times new roman, i guess ill have to upload it to dA now…

edit – just uploaded my design at dA.

My opinion… filters, effects etc… if you know how to use them properly you can tweak them and get amazing results, same with fonts… you can use them as basis and then adjust them to your style or needs… when people limited themselves to the basic use of the tools is when it looks tacky…

I personally try to do everything by myself from scratch because that way I learn more, but sometimes it saves time and helps to use other stuff but as KristenHoward said “The trick is to take it that step further.”… You will learn a lot and become more efficient without being lazy or cheesy… :)

COQUI said: My opinion… filters, effects etc… if you know how to use them properly you can tweak them and get amazing results, same with fonts… you can use them as basis and then adjust them to your style or needs… when people limited themselves to the basic use of the tools is when it looks tacky…

I personally try to do everything by myself from scratch because that way I learn more, but sometimes it saves time and helps to use other stuff but as KristenHoward said “The trick is to take it that step further.”… You will learn a lot and become more efficient without being lazy or cheesy… :)

i disagree with the fonts. if you can get amazing results using ONLY comic sans, more power to you. but i doubt it.