This Week's Rant

[littlesammy]

So, we pretty much all agree that Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo has great hands, right? Strong hands, nicely shaped, just made for holding... things. Or thighs. Or... well, you get the picture.

His hands can use any number of descriptors of awesomeness.

But the one word that does not work for them is "calloused

Comments

[littlesammy]

Goodness, there's certainly no need for starting out with the big guns - trust me, if you want to just fiddle a bit, you certainly don't need Photoshop. GIMP is actually a very good choice. Another program that I used with love and adoration before I learned how to work with Photoshop is PaintShop Pro by Corel - it's commercial, but less expensive, and it does almost the same things PS does. These days, I'd also recommend Photoshop Elements, the "little sister" of the Creative Suite, which is better suited for average users because you can use it intuitively. Both PaintShop Pro and Elements offer 30 day trial versions so you can look at them and decide which one you find more to your liking. But really, GIMP works just as well for a start.

Courses are actually a good thing, at least when we're talking about the "big" Photoshop. There are a lot of online tutorials for all kinds of effects, but it sure helps to get a basic understanding of what all these functions do, you know?

There are three communities on LJ I can recommend because they offer a lot of tutorials and resources like textures (and these can seriously prettify your icons!) icon_textures, icon_tutorial and texturize. That should give you something to work with for a start. :)

[proseac1]

Wow! Thanks for all the great info!

I did stumble across icon_tutorial awhile back, but I haven't had time to sift through to find the most basic information. Most of the questions on there seem quite advanced and are way beyond me.

One more question, and I promise that's it: is there any trick to ripping the DVD's onto your hard drive? I've tried copying the files, but they were all protected and I couldn't get anything to open. The only way I've been able to do it is to just pause the DVD and then hit "printscreen" to capture the shot.

Thanks again for all the great advice!

[littlesammy]

Hey, ask away, I certainly don't mind. :) Copying the files doesn't get you something you can use. There are proggies that help with it, but it's nearing midnight over here and my head is really, REALLY fuzzy by now because I had to take painkillers for my back. So I'll write you a PM tomorrow and get some info together, 'kay?