Drawing Vector Images

Digital photographs are bitmap images made up of thousands and thousands of pixels while vector graphics, even if based on a photo, are drawn with lots of lines (& math) in an illustration program such as CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator. Often, you can tell the difference by sight because vectors tend to be slightly artificial, just a touch too perfect to be pixels.

But sometimes it's hard to tell. Take a look at these people pictures drawn in CorelDRAW posted at Designbeep. On a few of them, at first glance you might mistake it for a photograph.That's some serious vector work.

The Language of Curves - from About.com Graphics Software, you'll find explanations for paths, nodes, handles, splines, and Bezier curves including detailed illustrations which can be really helpful if you've never worked with vector paths and curves.The Anatomy of a Vector Illustration - at Mike's Sketchpad a vector illustration of a bird is dissected to show the objects, curves, and points. The article includes tables comparing certain vector elements from CorelDRAW, ?Illustrator, FreeHand, and Canvas.Vector Drawing Tutorials - learn how to use CorelDRAW, Illustrator, and other vector drawing programs.

In addition to being the right tool for vector drawing and logo design, illustration programs can often double as page layout programs for projects that don't involve tons of text and lots of pages (that is, not for books and newsletters usually). You can design your ads, business cards, posters, and simple brochures in an illustration program.

If you don't have the time, patience, or skill to draw your own you can get some free vectors to use in your projects. Here's a random sampling of the many vector art sites out there to get you started.

Vectorious.net sells vector art but they also have freebie vectors in their Vector art blog where you'll also find tutorials, tips, and collections of inspiring vector illustrations.FreeVectors.net showcases free downloads of vector art from a variety of authors for personal use and some are also licensed for commercial use or have creative commons licensing.Vecteezy has free vector illustrations, icons, and patterns from many authors. Some will be personal use only but others have more liberal licensing.

What software do you use for vector artwork? Do you use illustration software for page layout projects too? Share with us in the comments.

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Stick Figures

Awhile back in the forum Imjumper wrote, "I am looking for some software that has a wide variety of stick figure people~I have Art Explosion 600k and it has some but I am looking for something with a large selection. Know of anything?" Tell us in the comments. Browse these stick figure images I've found or learn how to draw your own in the tutorials.

Drawings of Stick Figures

If you're looking for images related to stick figures, here's what I've found (for free and for purchase). Includes collections, individual images, and dingbat fonts. Not all are strictly stick figures but they come close.

ScreenBeans Clip Art from A Bit Better are a cross between stick figures and cartoon silhouettes and available in Windows and Mac packages and a lot of different themes.FreeVectors.net turns up a lot of people silhouettes. Not exactly stick figures but might work for you.deviantART has all kinds of images of stick figures, including animations. You'll need to check the terms of usage on each one.Flickr turns up a lot of pictures of signs and some drawings when you search for 'stick figure.'Fontspace has some stick figure dingbat fonts. MyFonts sells P22 Frau Jenson People.ClipArtOf has individual royalty-free Stick Figure Clip Art & Illustrations for varying prices.Hand Drawn Stick Figure War Brushes are for use in Photoshop (no commercial use though).

Sure, just about anyone can draw a stick figure (maybe) -- I drew the stick figure above. But here's how to draw good stick figures.

How to Draw Stick Figures shows you the basics and several styles of stick figures (not all stick figures are the same!).This How to Draw Stick Figures tutorial goes into details on proportion and balance.In Stick Figure Tutorial you have to at least know how to draw a line and a circle, goes through various body parts and poses. It concludes by telling us "You'll need about 10 years until you can finally draw stick figures realistically."

Updated March 2011

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Proofreading Marks

Three important rules of desktop publishing are: 1. Proofread, 2. Proofread, 3. Proofread. But once you've proofread the material how do you indicate the needed changes? You don't have to be a professional proofreader to benefit from the use of standard editors' marks and proofreading marks.

Proofreaders' proofreading marks are a combination of symbols and short notations used to mark up both draft documents and typeset pages. Markup may occur at two different stages: when copyediting material (editors' marks) before typesetting when proofreading typeset materials (proofreaders' marks).

The symbols are virtually identical but may be used slightly differently depending on the material.

Why to Use Proofreading Marks
Just because most of your work is done on the computer doesn't mean marking up a hard copy is obsolete. There are some types of errors that only become obvious when seen in print. Don't rely solely on what you see on-screen.

Proofreaders' proofreading marks provide consistency and help to avoid miscommunication. Whether sharing work with others or proofing your own work, proper use of proofreaders' marks saves time and frustration. "Whether you are communicating with your own reader or with the client, standard proof symbols offer a graphic system adapted to saying much in small spaces, with precise, determinable meanings and relatively little ambiguity in use. I suggest they are indispensable." Max Field"When you edit your own work, use them. If you just make chicken scratches all over your copy, then go back to it a day or two later, you'll find yourself saying 'what did I mean when I wrote that?' If you ever find yourself working with a copywriter, your copywriter will use them, and you had better understand what they intend for you to do to change the copy." Valerie Martin Stuart

How to Use Proofreaders' Proofreading Marks
There's no need to memorize every one of the dozens of symbols used in proofreading. You'll become familiar with the most frequently used symbols quickly enough. Keep a chart handy for everything else.(See the sidebar for several different charts of proofreaders' marks.) At the copyediting stage text is often double-spaced, leaving plenty of room for inserting editors' marks and notations within the text. At this stage most markup will indicate additions and deletions due to grammar, spelling, and style. In single-spaced or typeset material use carets, circles and other simple marks in the text to indicate a problem. Place proofreaders' marks and notations in the margin adjacent to each line of marked up text to indicate what to do. Markup at this stage indicates typesetting errors such as transposed characters, incorrect fonts, improper indentation or text spacing, widows and orphans, or missing design elements.

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Fifties Color Palettes - Atomic Age 1950s Color Combinations

Atomic Age Color Combinations
Color Palettes with CMYK Formulas

These Atomic Age era color palettes are quite bright compared to earlier browns, grays, and more subdued combinations. Not as vivid and eye-popping as what was to come in the Sixties, this era still had its share of bright pinks, seafoam green, and chartreuse. Reds leaned toward orange or pink while blues were closer to cyan.

C100Y100K50 | K40 | C10M25Y80 | C40K100 | White
A dark green pairs with the neutrals of gray, black, and white and a lovely harvest gold.

C80M100Y100K15 | M60Y80K10 | M35Y100 | M15Y35K25 | C40K100
A warm, earthy color palette with golden yellow and a touch of taupe.

M100Y100 | M20Y100 | C40K100 | White
Vivid red, bright yellow, and black.

Two shades of blue-green, a red, a brown, plus a dash of black and white.

C12M95Y60 | C75M6Y20 | C4M5Y2 | C40K100
The palest pink stands in for white in this palette with a definite 50s flavor as seen in the pinkish red and bright light blue.

M40Y10 | C50Y10 | C40K100
Another red/blue/black look uses light red (pink) and light blue as highlights and accents with lots of black.

M75Y100 | C22M30Y55K5 | C15M70Y75K20 | White | C40K100
A warmer color palette of browns and orange with black and white.

C10Y100K15 | C50Y100K20 | C10M100Y80 | C40K100 | White
This isn't a Christmas red and green - there's decidedly yellow tinge to those greens.

Color Meanings and Mixing Colors
Discover the cultural meanings for these colors and more ways to mix and match colors.

More Color Palettes
Explore more color palettes to evoke a certain mood or make a color statement.

Use Swatch Books
Use PANTONE Color Guides to get just the right shades for your color palettes and to find CMYK-PMS color equivalents.

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What Is DTP Software?

Desktop publishing software is a tool for graphic designers and non-designers to create visual communications for professional or desktop printing as well as for online or on-screen electronic publishing. Answer: The term desktop publishing was originally coined to describe Aldus (now Adobe) PageMaker and among professional designers refers primarily to high-end page layout software applications including Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. However, an explosion of consumer programs and the associated advertising hype stretched the use of "desktop publishing software" to include sofware for making greeting cards, calendars, banners, and other crafty print projects as well as all the peripheral programs for handing fonts, graphics, and later Web design. It also resulted in a wider range of low-cost, easy-to-use software that didn't require traditional design and prepress skills to understand and use. Other applications and utilities often lumped into the "desktop publishing software" category are better classified as graphics, Web publishing, or presentation software, and any number of utilities and plug-ins for specific related tasks such as color calibration, font management, or imposition. The DTP software lists below are those that do the core task of desktop publishing - composing text and graphics into page layouts for publishing.

Desktop Publishing in the 21st Century further expands the meaning of desktop publishing and thus broadens the definition of desktop publishing software to include software for Web design and other forms of visual communications beyond print design.

The main players in the field are Adobe, Corel, Quark, and Serif with products that stick close to the original use of desktop publishing software for professional page layout. Additionally, Microsoft, Nova Development, Broderbund and others have been producing consumer or print creativity and business desktop publishing software for many years.

Adobe makes many software packages used by designers. You've probably heard of Photoshop, for example. But these other programs are not page layout software applications for print publishing. They are graphics software, Web design software, programs for creating and working with the PDF format, such as Adobe Acrobat, and other related software tools. The primary desktop publishing software or page layout software applications are:

Corel is best known for its graphics suite that includes CorelDRAW and Corel Photo-Paint. In the past it has produced creative printing or home publishing programs used for desktop publishing too but the primary page layout software from Corel is:

Microsoft produces Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and various consumer graphics and creative printing programs used alone or in conjunction with other applications to do some form of desktop publishing. Their entry into page layout for print is:

Quark has other software but the one most closely associated with desktop publishing is QuarkXPress and its many XTensions (produced by many third party vendors) that enhance and expand the basic capabilities of QuarkXPress.

Serif produces a suite of applications for graphics and Web design but the core desktop publishing software application is:

Broderbund produces a number of design and publishing programs in the consumer desktop publishing arena. Although some users do use these programs as freelance designers, the programs are not typically considered professional or high-end tools. The primary audience for Broderbund creative printing software are individuals wanting to create personal projects. The two titles most closely associated with desktop publishing are:

Specialty programs primarily designed just for greeting cards, calendars, or other specific print tasks are also frequently changing names, changing hands, and changing focus. These include programs such as Calendar Creator and Scrapbook Factory.

In addition to the sometimes fuzzy division of desktop publishing into professional, home, and business categories, there are other types of software closely associated with desktop publishing. Of the four types of software for desktop publishing, the Page Layout category encompasses the programs also known as desktop publishing software. The others are specialized or auxilliary tools used in desktop publishing. But the lines are blurred. Much of the best design software is used for both print and Web and sometimes doubles as both page layout and graphics software or creative printing and business software or other combinatons.

For the most complete list, see the A-Z Really Big List of Desktop Publishing Software.

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Tab Delimited Files

A common problem in desktop publishing is how to get data from one program into another program. Plain text files are one solution. You'll lose your formatting but you'll have your text, which you then reformat in your page layout software. But, for some text such as Word tables or Excel Spreadsheets, there's another option -- tab delimited files.

Tab delimited files are one way to import and place data that is arranged in rows and columns, such as tables and spreadsheets. You'll still lose font formatting and colors, but you'll retain the grid-like layout of your work.

A tab delimited file is a special kind of plain text file with a tab between each column in the text. When imported into your page layout software, the tabs allow the columns to line up neatly.

In this Using Tab Delimited Files Step-by-Step tutorial see how to export tab delimited files and two methods of importing them into your desktop publishing software.

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PostScript Printer Required?

If you are a professional desktop publisher or graphic designer who works with commercial printers and service bureaus you will probably need to know and use PostScript.

Desktop publishers often ask "Do I really need a PostScript* printer?" and "Do I really need to know how to create PostScript files?" The answer is it depends. To help you decide here's a brief introduction to PostScript and some examples of when it is good to have a printer that speaks this language and why you should be familiar with PostScript.

What is PostScript?
Simply put, PostScript is a programming or page description language. It is a way of describing what a page should look like. Another such page description language is PCL (printer control language) found in HP printers. For the differences between PostScript and PCL see PS and PCL Comparisions.

Printers print dots. How these dots (raster images) are arranged on the page determines what you see, how the page looks. A printer uses an interpreter (printer driver) to translate digital documents created by your software into a raster image that the printer can print.

Some types of documents such as those created by graphic designers and desktop publishers, contain an intricate combination of fonts and graphics that are best described using PostScript. The PostScript language and a PostScript printer driver then tell the printer how to print that document. PostScript is generally device-independent, that is, if you create a PostScript file it will print pretty much the same on any PostScript device.

Do I Need PostScript?
Developed by Adobe, a leader in desktop publishing applications, PostScript technology (currently at level 3) is often called the language of desktop publishing. Its strength is in its ability to handle the often complex text and graphics typical in graphic design and desktop publishing.

If you do little more than type business letters, draw simple graphs, or print photographs, you may not need the power of PostScript. For simple text and graphics your non-PostScript printer driver may be sufficient for turning your documents into raster images. Otherwise, PostScript — specifically a PostScript-capable printer — is a good investment for most desktop publishers. Some types of text and graphics simply "look better" printed with PostScript. Or, as Adobe says on its Web site, "Adobe PostScript translates your great ideas into print — exactly as you intended."

Commercial printers speak PostScript, making it a common language for sending digital files. Due to its complexity, creating PostScript files can be tricky for the novice but it is a worthwhile skill to master. If you don't have a PostScript printer, troubleshooting any PostScript files you create becomes trickier. PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file format based on the PostScript language and is increasingly used for submitting digital files for printing. With or without a PostScript printer, a basic understanding of the PostScript language is useful when creating and working with PDF.

Additionally, one of the two primary graphics formats used in desktop publishing is EPS. EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) is a form of PostScript. You'll need a PostScript printer to print EPS images.

Next Page: What If I Don't Have a PostScript Printer? & the Bottom Line on whether or not you need a PostScript printer to do desktop publishing.

*Is it Postscript, postscript, or PostScript? Although you'll find it written all three ways all over the Web, Adobe writes it PostScript (uppercase P & S). PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

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