Letterpress

[FrenchBlue Joy]

A project from this past summer.  The first time I tried to prepare anything in Photoshop, and it was a lot to bite off!  I had taken a Photoshop for Calligraphers class, but it didn't specifically address the things that one needs to know when preparing files for Letterpress (threshold adjustments, etc.), as much of the content was geared toward making web-ready content and mock-ups for clients. 

I've been busy since with weddings stuff, and I have a really lovely Letterpress printer who is happy to take care of the digitizing (I send her my 'original artwork' and she deals with it), but I'd love to become MORE Photoshop-literate so that I can take care of layout and cleaning things up myself.  Then, I need to learn Illustrator, to be able to make vectors.  $$$$$, well, €€€€€ that is.  Illustrator is going to cost about a thousand euros... *groan*.  It will be worth it, though!  Creative control... 

[Erica McPhee]

Joy,

These are just beautiful! And your photography skills are stellar as well. Such a romantic feel to these. I will gear the tutorial toward creating finals for printing.

I will also do a quick tutorial on resizing photos for web viewing.  This way you save bandwith, maintain the sharpness of your images, and it makes the full size image easier to view.

Thanks for sharing these! I so admire your work!

[FrenchBlue Joy]

Haha!  I didn't click on them after they loaded, so I didn't notice they were so huge.  I just shunted the quality down to 'medium' and figured that would fix it. 

Do you see, Erica?  Many of us are totally computer-illiterate out there in calligraphyland!  I mean, the most I ever did on a computer was word processing and internet, before I started trying to figure out how to build a website and letterpress print!! 

Ok, I opened them in PS and saved them for the web, but they're still enormous.  Oh well, I look out for that tutorial.   

By the way, you're awfully nice about the photography...  I don't know anything about photography at all-- just enough to see that there was dust or gunk on my lens and it left smudges on the invitation!   (Shh, don't look at them up close) 

[lisaridgely]

Stunning, Joy! Truly gorgeous. I love your style!

And I agree, the styling and photography is beautiful!

[Erica McPhee]

Joy - you sell yourself short! First rate my dear. 

I have the advantage of having been a professional photographer for many years! I learned Photoshop like a second language. I was also a systems analyst for HR so I have the computer background as well. It's been a great lead in to doing websites and such.

However, when I had to relearn web design using CMS systems and the whole social media scene, I was thrown for a loop. Perhaps I am getting old and the new tricks are getting trickier because everyone else seems to have jumped in no problem! 

I will definitely add that to the list of tutorials though.

Can't wait to see more of your work!

[Jane Farr]

Beautiful work, Joy!

[FrenchBlue Joy]

Thanks so much, Jane! 

[Eileen]

Just lovely - the calligraphy and the photos!

[Emily]

Beautiful! If you get the chance to learn Illustrator, I'd recommend it - you can do so much with it. Even better with a pen tablet!

[Erica McPhee]

Hello!

I moved the Illustrator topic to the Letter Pixels board so we can find it when we need it!