Living In Layers | By RC | January 05, 2009 | No Comments
Hey everyone, I am back from my travels and getting back to the grind here in sunny Tampa, FL. I have to say, I could not be more excited to touch down in the land of palm trees and un-congested roads. You probably may not know this about me - but I am a big cold weather person. If it’s anything over 75 degrees, I’m usually very ornery. At least, I was.. I can’t tell you how much I longed to get back to warmer weather. I guess the grass is always greener.. live and learn.
I wanted to share that picture above that one of our readers made - really for no other reason than to show off what you guys are doing. I thought Gert van Duinen did a bang up job on the illustration, and totally deserved a little love. Rock on, Gert! Now I have something to put on my desktop back at the office. Click on the image to get to his Flickr site!
I’ve got to tell you, I am way excited for what the new year is going to bring!! There are a couple of resolutions that I made, and as time goes on, I will totally be sharing, but here are two that I am immediately going to work on:
1. Take a Class! Be it Photography, Graphic Design, Web Design, or whatnot - the best lesson you can learn is this: You will never know -everything-. In keeping with that, there is ALWAYS something that I can learn by taking a class.. It’s about expanding your horizons and learning something you can add to your bag of tricks. Go to Kelby Training, and take a look at the classes there. If you don’t do InDesign - make it your priority to try. After Effects not your thing? Try a class! In this economy - diversification is key. You’ll be glad you did.
2. Go Compete! This one I am really excited about. You really don’t force yourself to the nth degree unless you compete (my opinion). If you run, the best way to take yourself to the next level is to race. If you shoot, the best way to get the juices flowing is to compete in a contest. Check out Photo Compete. This is a website that keeps track of all sorts of Photo contests that are happening. Get to shooting with a prize in mind, and throw your hat in the ring. I know I will. Win or lose, it’ll get me off the sidelines.
Obviously, this also rings very personal for me.. I mean, I want to take a cooking class, and I would love to beat the other guys on the elliptical machine.. but really, do you want to hear me talk about that? Probably not.
Check out our online Magazine
Hey.. as much as I love writing to you guys daily - I would also be remiss if I didn’t remind you to check out Layers Magazine! If you haven’t seen the inside of it recently Click Here to go see a Flash-based copy, right on the page. I am very proud of our magazine, and always recommend to all of you to subscribe!
Contest Winner and Contest Time
Before I go, let’s do this.. Contest Winner Jonothan Bonilla won last week’s Layers blog contest and got a cool Fay Sirkis DVD. Way to go Jonothan!!!
This Week:
Go to the Contact page, select the Layers Blog drop-down, then fill in your name, email address and answer to this week’s following question. Remember, the contest will end Thursday 5PM, and the winner will be announced Friday morning.
The Contest Question: We have an Illustrator tutorial called Vector Art Goes Hollywood here on the Layers magazine website. Tell me who is the author and what is it about?
The Prize: A copy of Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature by Matt Kloskowski, as well as a year subscription to Layers Magazine!
Time to go de-clutter my desk. Have a great week. Back tomorrow!
Living In Layers | By RC | January 01, 2009 | 6 Comments
Happy New Year from The Layers Magazine Blog
Hey guys.. I just wanted to stop in and wish everyone out there reading a very happy 2009. 2008 was a very very incredible year for me, and I have got an amazing amount of things in my life to be thankful for.
One of the things that I am very grateful and thankful for is for every single one of you. From the bottom.. Thanks so much for watching Layers TV, checking out the new stuff that we bring to you, and for letting me into a short part of your lives through the blog. I appreciate all of the emails, comments, and posts via Twitter and Facebook that I get from all of you. I consider myself truly blessed to be able to come to work to do what I love.
One of the things that I love the most, is being able to share all of it with you guys.. I’m honored, and grateful.
Let’s start our New Year wonderfully. Smile, Hug, and be thankful. We’ll pick this back up tomorrow morning.
-RC
Living In Layers | By RC | December 31, 2008 | No Comments
Hey everyone.. just popping in to give you guys the quick Layer TV Contest winner for the past episode.
Art Coulson won last week’s Layers TV contest by correctly answering the Festivus question. So, where did Festivus come from? Let’s check Wikipedia:
“Festivus is an annual holiday created by writer Dan O’Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a scriptwriter for the TV show Seinfeld.[1][2] Although the original Festivus took place in February 1966 as a celebration of the elder O’Keefe’s first date with his future wife, Deborah,[2] many people now celebrate the holiday on December 23, as depicted on the December 18, 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Strike.”[1][3] According to O’Keefe, the name Festivus “just popped into his head.”
Read More about Festivus Here
Layers TV is Up
I will say this.. since you are not spending a lot of time hanging out with me on the blog, go and spend some time checking out the New Layers TV episode. We do a little Flash, a little Configurator, and sprinkle in some new Nikon DSLR tips in there while we are at it. You can check out a larger version by clicking on this link, or subscribe to it via Itunes.
Have a wonderful New Years Eve everyone!
Living In Layers | By RC | December 30, 2008 | 1 Comment
Hey everyone.. RC here.. with a very very minute post that I figured to share.
Marcus Geduld on Toon Boom Studio
Marcus Geduld has a great review on Toon Boom Studio. Toon Boom Studio is one of those behemoth animation programs.. but if you’re looking for something a little bit more than Flash in terms of animation, this may help. Check it out here:
“Be careful what you wish for: You might get it. That’s what happened to me when I moaned about Flash’s lack of pro-level animation capabilities. I wound up with Toon Boom Studio 4, a power tool for animators that can export to several popular formats, including QuickTime and SWF.”
Continue Reading the review here.
Photoshop and Lightroom Killer Tips
Every now and again I always want to remind our readers to check out our other sites, Photoshop Killer Tips and Lightroom Killer Tips hosted by our own Matt Kloskowski. Matt does a great job of keeping it simple and giving you great information in the worlds of Photoshop and Lightroom. Make sure you check it out.. you’ll be glad you did:
Photoshop Killer Tips Site
Lightroom Killer Tips Site
Thanks for stopping in everyone. See you guys back here tomorrow for our New Years micro post…. the winner of the Layers TV contest!
Living In Layers | By RC | December 30, 2008 | 2 Comments
Hey Everyone. Happy Monday! Let’s get it started!
Photoshop CS4 - The Missing Manual
Lesa Snider King is at it again! This time, she has written an incredible tome with Photoshop CS4 - The Missing Manual. When you are looking for books on Photoshop, they usually run a couple of different varieties: The ‘let me teach you step by step’ Book, The quick down and dirty book, and the Reference book. At over 800 pages, the book is definitely one of those Reference books, but what excites me about it is the level at which Lesa’s commited to explaining everything out for you. She’s got a great style, the book looks really impressive, and I think is going to be one of those invaluable resources you have to take Photoshop to the next level. Congratulations Lesa. This one looks brilliant!
You can check out Lesa’s Website to see more samples of the book by clicking here!
Poser Pro by Bruce Bicknell
Bruce Bicknell’s got a cool review on Poser pro you should check out:
“I’ve had the privilege of reviewing the past few versions of Poser and been pleased with the content and improvements made from the previous versions. Well, the newest version, Poser Pro, is no exception. The new enhancements left me with a big smile on my face and just so you know, Poser Pro is targeted at users who want to take their creativity and work to another level.”
Read more of the Review by Clicking here
Modo 302 Bruce Bicknell
Bruce completes his double whammy by including a review of modo 302 as well. Check it out!
“modo 302 from Luxology is an amazing 3D program that honestly, until this review, had me very skeptical about its capabilities and position in the world of 3D. But after spending some time with it, I have no doubt that it’s a pro-level 3D modeling solution.”
Read more of the Review by Clicking here
Thanks for stopping in everyone. Make sure you pop back in tomorrow, for the Layers TV podcast!
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