I recently dropped by Barnes & Noble to check out the latest design and tech magazines, whah inevitably led to my wandering over to design books and eyeballing them to see if anything caught my attention. Naturally, one did: Creative Photoshop CS4: Digital Illustration & Art Techniques by Derek Lea.
As I flipped through the pages, my attention kept getting drawn to the vivid illustrations and sample works that appeared throughout. You can see for yourself by checking out the page samples on the Creative Photoshop CS4 web site. I decided to take a look at the table of contents and realized that this was definitely something that I was interested in.
The book is divided into four sections:
- Drawing & Painting
- Unconventional Methods
- Real World Photoshop
- Illustrative Photography
Each of these sections breaks down into multiple chapters covering specific applications and techniques. Every chapter includes shortcuts, tips and corresponding project files that can be downloaded from the book’s web site. Technically, you don’t even need to purchase the book to download the project files, as Lea has posted them publicly for anyone who happens to come across the book’s website.
What I found to be most useful about this book is how detailed each lesson is. Lea takes the reader through every step of the process, provides screen captures of each work as it progresses through the lesson being taught and even provides the project files for you to take a look at. Every lesson is given a difficulty rating from 1-5 and includes the fundamentals that are needed to complete each lesson.
I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record or that people may be beginning to think I’m on the take, but the fact of the matter is that I only read good books! No, I’ve read some stinkers, but I generally only buy books that I think will be of interest to me and most of the time they are. Anyway, I digress. This book is a great addition to any Photoshop enthusiast’s library but most appropriate for users beyond the novice stage. Anyone with a grasp of the basics can learn a lot from this book and take their skills to the next level. I have a number of Photoshop books that I have accumulated over the years and I already deem this to be one of my favorites.
Check out the book’s website and sample pages or go ahead and purchase your own copy of the book!
