Pros :- How Did You Learn

[_ManWithNoName_]

Just a quck question. To a degree, I may know the answer. CS is a beast.

Im just wondering how you become a top retoucher, not that I want to be, I think there is a difference between a photographer and retoucher.

Since I 1st started, I picked up a lot, but I am still a complete rookie. How did you become as good as you are (examples maybe) and what was the process, journey to that and time too / how long have you been doing it / effort in...

Any good tips.

D

[garibaldi]

In a nutshell, you keep looking at something and honestly say just how shitty t looks, and keep diggin until you get it to where you dont look at it and think it looks like crap anymore. The amount of time, the threshold and the means to get up to the plateau is soleley based on so many factors such as equipment, creativity, intuitiveness, but mostly the individual

[Steve Payne]

Personally I come from a traditional art background. Having painting and drawing skills can give you a real advantage, transferring your skills and knowledge into the digital arena is the hard bit. But you have to understand that Photoshop is just a tool, in the same way that a paintbrush is just a tool.

The stuff you should really focus on is understanding how light and shadows affect three dimensional objects, get an understanding of colour. This sort of stuff is the important stuff. Learning what the menus and buttons do is secondary.

[SilvaFox]

Originally Posted by Steve Payne

Personally I come from a traditional art background. Having painting and drawing skills can give you a real advantage, transferring your skills and knowledge into the digital arena is the hard bit. But you have to understand that Photoshop is just a tool, in the same way that a paintbrush is just a tool.

The stuff you should really focus on is understanding how light and shadows affect three dimensional objects, get an understanding of colour. This sort of stuff is the important stuff. Learning what the menus and buttons do is secondary.

+1. My art background got me into the business. I learned that seeing is what's important.

Seeing what's around you. Turn everything into 2D, (in your head) so you can reproduce it.

Seeing accurate proofs and printed pieces helps to hone your color chops.

I was also lucky to have learned from the printing end backwards. Knowing what the end result is has been invaluable, and there's a lot of people I have to thank for that.

BTW, great post Mr. Payne.

[_ManWithNoName_]

I hear coming from a printing background helps.

I think I need to sit down and study. I have soo many tutorials and techiniques, I don't know where to start or start but it all comes with practice I suppose or realising what you want to do and then trying to do it, probably badly to start with...

Im just amazed at what you can do and what people do, do.

I also wonder how much time people sometimes spend on 1 image as I can tend to rush...

D