I've been using Photoshop for many many years, but I've never taken a proper course in it. When I started using it as a teenager it was a case of playing around with the buttons and seeing what works. I feel in Photoshop there's quite often a few different ways of doing something, but some ways are a lot quicker!
Here's a few Photoshop tips that I've picked up over the years.
Disclaimer, these tips may be quite obvious to some of you, but some of them were revelations to me! Also please note I use a Windows PC, so some tips may vary if you have a MAC.
1.Select layers quickly/Moan to your friends
My first tip would be moan to your arty friends, as they may have a solution! My moan was regarding layers. If you're like me you probably use way too many layers and then can't find the one you're looking for. I would waste quite a bit of time scrolling through the long list of layers. Until my friend pointed out you just need to right click on the area with the move tool, it will then gives you a list of layers in that area. Select the layer you want and you're go to go!
Below is one of my latest illustrations of a ladybird using these Photoshop tips.
2. Use groups & layer masks.
Using groups and masks is sooo handy. You can create masked groups for different areas of your illustration to easily edit and keep your lines clean. Basically a mask shows the areas in white, and hides the areas in black. This means that whatever you do will stay within the mask you've created. I find this particular handy for adding different marks and textures.
3. Learn keyboard shortcuts
You don't need to know all the shortcuts under the sun, but these are the ones I recommend.
To reorder layers:
- Ctrl Shift ] Moves layer to top
- Ctrl Shift [ Moves layer to bottom
- Ctrl ] Up 1 layer at a time
- Ctrl [ Down 1 layer at a time
Other handy shortcuts:
- Ctrl A Selects current layer
- Ctrl Shift I Changes selection to inverse
- Ctrl D Deselect layer
- Ctrl Alt Z Undo
- Shift Ctrl Z Redo
4. Use Alt & Shift with the selection tools
I remember when I first got into Photoshop I created a lot of photo manips. I would get so frustrated trying to cut around a person using the lasso tool. Thinking back it reminds me of those buzz wire games, where if you touch the wire it buzzes and you have to start again from the beginning. If this is your technique let me save you some time. Simply hold down the shift key to add to your selection, and the alt to take away!
5. Flat your colours
If you like to create your lineart and then colour it in, you should have a go at flatting. This is something I'm fairly new to, so I'm going to recommend this really useful video by K Michael Russell. The purpose of flatting is to block in your colours, you can then add all your details, shadows textures etc on top.
I hope this was helpful, let me know what you're time saving tips are!