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Have an Artful Halloween
Here it is, Halloween, and you still don't have a costume. You could throw on a sheet and call yourself a ghost,
but as a creative professional, you have more pride.
Leave it to a city known for its love of costumes to come to the rescue. The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper
hired artists to create 12 full-color masks you can print, cut out, and wear.
Three of the masks are regional (the governator, his wife, and the San Francisco mayor), but the rest are more
general: a devil, a zombie, Mao with the Rolling Stones tongue -- you know, the usual scary icons. My favorites
are Ferris Plocks' crazy pumpkin and Lance Jackson's riff on Andy Warhol.
You can view and print all 12 masks for free at http://www.sfgate.com/halloween/.
— Terri Stone, editor in chief
More Flexible Fonts
Type designers often create typefaces with a particular size range in mind. With text fonts (optimized for smaller
sizes), that means typefaces that looked good at 10 points can look clunky and awkward at 18 points. Likewise,
when you reduce the point sizes of display fonts, the features that gave the fonts their personality at large
sizes can make them illegible when small.
But it is possible to expand the range of many typefaces. Ilene Strizver tells you which fonts can make the transition from large to small and small to large.
"Examine the details. Hairlines, thin strokes, serifs, and sharp corners get heavier and rounder when enlarged.
As a result, some typefaces that look crisp and sharp at text sizes sometimes feel bland or clumsy at a larger
scale. ITC Caslon No. 224 is an elegant, refined typeface at smaller sizes. When the same typeface is enlarged,
the serifs and thin strokes appear thick and a bit clunky. For large sizes, Big Caslon might be a better choice."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/24850.html
Choose the right type every time:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/23163.html
Convert Color Photos in Photoshop
Once you've read this tutorial by Mark S. Johnson, you'll be able to convert digital color
photos into tonally rich grayscale works of art. Not satisifed? Read on to learn how to
transform grayscale into infrared. Sample image included.
"Now it's time to combine the best elements of each grayscale layer. To do this, we'll be
employing layer masks. Start by turning the eyeball icon for the "reflection" layer off.
Prepare to knock a hole through the "trees" layer to reveal the superior sky and mountains
from the layer below. Do this by single-clicking on the "trees" layer name, and then clicking
on the Add layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/24845.html
When you're ready to print your grayscale images, read this:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/23701.html
How to Use Lightroom: Part 2
The editing and developing tools in Lightroom beta 4 are speedy and flexible. Ben
Long explains how to use them to improve your photos quickly.
"In the process of recovering my highlights, I severely darkened the foreground.
I would normally use the Brightness adjustment in Camera Raw, or additional edits
in Photoshop to restore the foreground elements. Lightroom provides a much better
solution. With Lightroom's Recovery slider, you can restore clipped highlights
without darkening the rest of an image."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/24839.html
Did you miss Part 1 of this series?
http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/24809.html
Let's Dance
You may hate negotiating fees with prospective clients, yet it's a necessary evil if you don't want
to work for less than you're worth. Eric J. Adams not only answers the question of who should make
the first move in the price-setting dance, he tells you which steps will sweep your negotiating
partner off his or her feet.
"A ridiculously low offer may indicate a sense of urgency, and the prospect will smell either desperation
or ineptitude. If your offer is too high, it sends a signal that you don't understand market value or
that you have an inflated sense of yourself."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/24179.html
Catch up on all of Eric's articles at:
http://www.creativepro.com/author/home/218.html
Witches, Pumpkins, Cats, and... Pickles?
In the mood for more Halloween imagery? Fermented cucumbers may not come to mind
when you think of Halloween, but Gene Gable has the 100-year old imagery to prove
that polka-dancing pickles were once common on October 31. Read about this and
other Halloween symbols through the ages.
"From 1932 through the 1940s, Beistle made die-cut placards with Halloween themes.
The letterpress printing was crude, but it allowed for bold colors and thick ink coverage."
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/23498.html
How about a little focus on hocus pocus:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/22843.html
Rearview Mirror: 20-20 Hindsight
Easy Flash coding with Quark Interactive Designer
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/24844.html
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Check out Apple's new zippy Macs
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/24836.html
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Global Graphics has released a new family of its Jaws PDF products
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/24854.html
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Is your Internet persona clean?
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/24846.html
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Our parent company turns ten
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/24837.html
Wacky Web Site of the Week
When Cloning Goes Wrong: How are your "genetics" skills?
http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/23661.html
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