So You Want To Be A Graphic Designer Part 1

So you've been seeing all these gorgeous graphic sites around the web and you've decided you too want to try your hand at it? Great! The first thing to do is learn to make graphics.

For making simple graphics, I'd suggest you start out with a program like GIMP. Others say paint, but it's capabilities are extremely limited. GIMP is freeware so you don't incur any costs and you get a pretty decent graphics program. You can download it at the link below. ^^

http://www.gimp.org/

Or if by some miracle you've been able to snag a copy of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, great for you! When I first started designing, I was working in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 and later switched to Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Now I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended.

I believe that the best way to learn is a hands on approach, so just start opening images and playing around with the tools. Once you get comfortable, start searching for simple tutorials. Below are a few sites you might try for tutorials.

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

http://gimpology.com/

http://gimp-tutorials.net/

http://www.tutorialized.com/

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/

http://www.photoshopstar.com/

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=photoshop+tutorials

Once you've started to get the hang of your program, whichever it may be, you can start posting your graphics online for feedback. I would suggest deviantArt to start with and there are plenty of online graphics forums which can help you get out there and get feedback on your work! I for one would love to help out anyone just starting and I bet lots of other site owners wouldn't mind lending a hand to a fellow designer. We were all you at one point in time, granted for some it was longer ago than for others.

In conclusion, I'd like to show you some of my earlier works. I was at one time extremely proud of them, but looking back I see how ugly they were. I can still smile though, because they show just how much I've improved over the years. (:

*NOTE: These were done sometime in 2006, so about a year into my designing career, but nonetheless are a stretch from what I make now.

Click and drag them to your address bar to see the full size.

So You Want To Be A Graphic Designer?

Salutations! (: I've decided to write a short guide entitled So You Want To Be A Graphic Designer? This series is a guide to getting into graphic design and what being a GD entails. The guide will include a variety of resources to help you get started as well as tips and tutorials from yours truly.

Thanks to Angie and Reena who's blogs pushed me to writing this guide!

If you'd like to submit any tips, please email them to me at auroramazing@gmail.com and I'll add them with the most relevant post. ^^

YO.

Hey everyone, Aurora here ~ I've been seeing a crazy influx of blogspot sites lately so I figured I'd get my own. d: I'm thinking I'll operate this like a sort of design advice column, so you can message me questions anonymously or comment and I'll answer them every weekend in a blog post. (:

If you'd like me to review your site, I can do that as well, just email me about it and I'll post a full-fledged review in a post here or email it straight to you.

I'm out,

Aurora