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Color Managed Workflow

If you've ever had printed out a page on your desktop Inkjet printer and held it up to the monitor, chances are you've been a little disappointed at how far off the printed output is from your monitor. Well, it's a common heartbreak, and that's because your monitor and ink on paper are two very different realities. And if you compare your screen and your Inkjet print to the final printed piece, you may very well be looking at three rather different versions of your job.It's really maddening. So what you do you hang your hat on?  Well, the solution to this problem is to have a fully color managed workflow. But that can be expensive, kind of confusing, and a bit complicated to implement. If you want to fully pursue the color managed workflow, you have to invest in expensive equipment to profile your monitor and all your printers. But if you don't want to go that far, you can still improve your monitor substantially by using the colorimeter,  Now, you can expect to pay from $200 and up for a colorimeter. The way it works is the colorimeter and its software combine to send color signals to the monitor.The colorimeter reads the values and then compares them to an internal ideal value.  And then it sets up a Reference File that's called a Profile, that's used to control the output of your monitor. Now, if you're part of a work group that produces a lot of work for print, it actually might be worth hiring a color management consultant to come in, profile all of your equipment for you. They'll use their own sophisticated equipment to set up your monitors and printers without you having to make the investment in that equipment. Now, they'll probably recommend that calibrations and profiles be updated periodically, especially if you add new equipment. Now, in color-critical environments, for example in printing plants fresh profiles are often generated just after new ink is installed in a printer, if that printer is being used for generating proofs.

You should also consider the lighting conditions in your work area. If you have ever gone to a printing company to view proofs, you've probably stood in a viewing booth that's specially constructed for optimal viewing conditions. It may even be a stand-alone room. It's usually painted a neutral gray, and special lights are installed. You may have heard them referred to as D50 or 5000 K lights, and that refers to their color temperature, the K if you care, stands for Kelvin, and that's the temperature measurement system. So why is 5000 K chosen? Well, it's supposed to mimic the temperature of sunlight at high noon. The higher the color temperature, the bluer the light source, and as you go below 5000 K, lights get warmer. For example, the household incandescent bulbs around 2800K. Now, those official viewing sources can be really expensive, but I am going to let you in on a little secret. You can come very close by using fluorescent bulbs from the hardware or home improvement store. Just make sure it says 5000 K or D50 on the bulb. Now, I realize that it's true that your final printed piece is going to be viewed under a wide variety of lighting conditions, from kitchen fluorescents to candlelight, to incandescent living room lamps. So why pick a particular color temperature for viewing? Well, it's for consistency. There has to be some constant to ensure color accuracy, especially when you're judging color corrections from one proof to the next or you are looking at a press proof. You might even avoided wearing clothing that could reflect on the monitor or on a proof that you're viewing with the customer. Now, maybe that's why we all wear black and gray, it's not because we're stylish, we're just being color correct.

If you want to delve deeper into color management, I'd recommend Chris Murphy's course for lynda.com that's called Color Management Essential Training, and Chris is also one of the authors of Real-World Color Management, which is sort of an instant classic on the subject. Don't be intimidated by the heft of the book. It's very readable, very understandable, and it's actually funny in spots--which is pretty amazing given that that's a technical and arcane topic. Now, while calibrating, profiling, and special lighting might seem like an awful lot of extra work, all those things together can go a long way toward giving you more realistic expectations of your final printed result.

Color Wheel

Color Wheel

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knowledge Bobby Parker knowledge Bobby Parker

Skill vs. Creativity

Skill is applied knowledge. It's when you know something and can use it over and over again  - a little like programming a computer to perform certain functions. That's skill. Some teachers are apposed to skill because they believe it kills creativity. But, in fact, it's the opposite - skill gives you the capacity to create. 

Creativity takes place in the unknown - the discovery of a form or image not yet manifested. It is why artists make art. Consider Van Goch in the last 70 days of his life - he created about one painting a day. Why? It doesn't seem his motivation was money. Just imagine coming each day with a painting, propping it up on the bed, and wondering where the image come from. I believe what motivates him to go out the next day and paint again and again was the excitement of not knowing what was going to happen next.

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Inspirational Bobby Parker Inspirational Bobby Parker

Money Is The Most Important Thing

“If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid. Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way.”
— Alan Watts

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Learning Bobby Parker Learning Bobby Parker

Pixels, Image Size and Resolution – Basix

Are you new to Photoshop? Have you been trying to teach yourself the basics of Photoshop but have found the amount of educational material available on the net a bit overwhelming? As the world’s #1 Photoshop site, we’ve published a lot of tutorials. So many, in fact, that we understand how overwhelming our site may be to those of you who may be brand new to Photoshop. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start working in Photoshop.

Photoshop Basix, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak includes 25 short video tutorials, around 5 – 10 minutes in length that will teach you all the fundamentals of working with Photoshop. Today’s tutorial, Part 3: Pixels, Image Size and Resolution will explain the theory behind how pixel images work. It will also explain a bit about the crop tool, image size and resolution. Let’s get started!

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Composition Bobby Parker Composition Bobby Parker

Unnecessary Complexity

As a rendering develops, you may realize that the solution to various compositional problems are resulting in unnecessary complexity. Your rendering might be deteriorating into fragmentation, and it commonly results from the artist's working on one segment of the composition at a time. While this may be a necessary part of the developmental phase of the rendering, such as isolated solutions may result in a lack of visual unity in the overall composition. However, by applying the principle of the economy, the rendering may regain a sense of unity.

Employing the principle of the economy means composing with efficient expressing an idea as a simply and directly as possible with no arbitrary or excessive use of the elements. Economy has no rules but rather must be an outgrowth of the artist's instincts. If something works with respect to the whole, it is kept; if disruptive, it may be reworked or rejected. A rendering is most successful when you express your ideas as simply and directly as possible.

Complexity

Complexity

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Business Side Bobby Parker Business Side Bobby Parker

Digital Asset Library

Over the past couple decades,  I have accumulated a large library of digital assets. These digital assets are the bread-n-butter to my digital workflow. A well organized stock pile of high quality 3D model and textures is fantastic, but they come with time.  I remember spending hours looking for free 3D models to use in projects.  Those days are long gone, but sometimes I need something that I just never needed before. My modeling skills are pretty high, but my time is relatively valuable, so off to the internet I go. Unlike a couple of decades ago, I have larger budgets, so a quick trip to Turbosquid usually does the trick, but before I go there, I always stop over at arcive3d.

Archive3d has 100's of 3d models, which are extremely high quality, and 100% free. So, build your library, keep it well organized for fast searching, and if you get stuck, archive3d might have what you need.

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Cool Stuff Bobby Parker Cool Stuff Bobby Parker

The Sketchbook Project

The Sketchbook Project is the flagship program of the Art House Co-Op, a New York-based organization that stages collaborative art projects. beginning in 2013, participants may sign up at any point and assign their book to multi-city tour of their choices. For further information on entering or viewing The Sketchbook Project, as well as other Art House Co-Op initiatives, visit www.arthousecoop.com

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Inspirational Bobby Parker Inspirational Bobby Parker

Susan Cain Helped Introverts Find Their Voice; Now, She'll Teach Them To Embrace Public Speaking

Susan Cain made a splash with "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking." Now, she plans to help introverts overcome their fear of public speaking. Here are her tips for taking the stage successfully.

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Cool Stuff Bobby Parker Cool Stuff Bobby Parker

I Am Now On Google+

Now there's another way you can connect with me. Add me to your Google+ circle where I will share links to blogs and articles, photos, and interesting videos!

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