One of Illustrator’s many potent tools, and something of an unsung hero, is the Width Tool which we cover on our Adobe Illustrator classes for beginners. Nested in with some of the other exotic tools, like Warp and Bloat, the Width Tool allows us to vary the thickness of a stroke at any given point along […]
If you work in InDesign and have a need to share files or collaborate on projects then you may have come across the humble IDML file extension. Knowing a little about how this file format works, and what is included in the resulting file can help you navigate a workflow that needs to cater for […]
One simple, but extremely useful, feature in InDesign is the ability to customise the colour of individual guides. By default the Ruler Guides, the guides we pull out from the page rulers at the top and left of the document window, are set to Cyan. If we go to the Layout menu and select “Ruler […]
Knowing how to utilize the modifier keys in Photoshop can save you time (and unnecessary mouse-scolling) as you work on your latest masterpiece. Here’s 10 ways to harness some of the power in the mighty ALT key! In the interest of clarity I should say this is the “Option” key on a Mac despite the […]
Quickly Reset Dialogue Boxes in Photoshop As Photoshop continues to grow in complexity so too do the various dialogue boxes used to control the many functions at our disposal. It’s easy to get tied up in knots when trying to refine settings and sometimes we just need to start over – if this has you […]
Today we’re going to look at 3 easy ways to create “Light Leak” style effects in Photoshop. Let’s get a couple of things out of the way right up top. Yes, we’re aware that light leaks aren’t exactly a new idea, and we’re also aware that “Light Leaks” has become a catch-all term for an […]
Today we’re going to look at a two methods in InDesign to automatically resize text frames to match the text within. When laying out text it’s often useful to employ panels of colour and/or tints to help separate text from other page content or break-up information into logical sections. Since InDesign allows Fill and Stroke […]
The Layers Panel in Illustrator and InDesign is a potent tool when it comes to organising and editing your content. Both applications work in much the same way allowing you to select, duplicate, lock and generally organise your content in a logical fashion. Depending on your workflow you might use Layers to separate out different […]
When using the Colour Panel in InDesign or Illustrator you have control over each component colour channel when working in RGB or CMYK enabling you to mix specific hues of reds, purples, oranges etc. Sometimes you’ll arrive at the colour you’re after but just need to go deeper or paler. If this has you fiddling […]