paulscottondesign
41 Years Experience
Marbella, ES
Male, 58
I have been in the graphic design industry since 1981 working in London, Los Angeles & Spain. My career started in the traditional way on a drawing board, using Rotoring Pens, Magic Markers, Pantone Pens & Letraset working as a Designer/Visualiser/Artworker. My design career has taken me through the music, toy, t-shirt, packaging & print industry. I am now a freelance graphic designer (British) based in Spain with many clients worldwide ...now using Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign on a Mac.
UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Yes to a point but you will struggle and maybe miss out on a lot of clients. Photoshop is not a design tool or a print tool ...it is for retouching, colour correcting and image manipulation. Indesign is a tool for bringing together design elements and photos from Illustrator and photoshop. A lot of clients will send you print jobs as a PDF but some will send as either an InDesign or Illustrator file ...and some may ask for or you may require to do some adjustments before printing. With photoshop you are restricted to one page images and will not be able to do magazines or multipage documents. My advice is to buy the whole creative suite otherwise you will not survive as a commercial printer. Hope this helps
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Its not just the software that makes a good poster it is also you as a creative ...software is a tool the creative thinking comes from you.
As a professional I use the Adobe Creative Suite ...Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign ...but you may be looking for a free alternative as that option is pricey for a novice. But unfortunately I cannot help you with any ideas for free or cheap alternatives and suggest a Google search as I am sure there are many solutions out there ...and if you get good you might make money and that can afford the Adobe Creative Suite ...good luck.
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Well at the end of the day it is down to your personal preference ...but I must admit that I went through many different names early in my career ...and looking back some of the names where ridiculous ...so when I was older I kept it more professional ...and now my company name is my actual name with the word Design on the end. But when you come up with names like Black Pooka ..yes it is a cool and funky name, but make sure that it will stay cool and funky, the logo should reflect that and you need a story behind the name that gives a good reason why it is called that. Hope this helps.
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK .
Hi Lexi,
Without sounding rude, to be honest, the obvious thing would be to ask your graphic designer what he requires from you to do the designs as he is the one that will be doing it. If it was me you were asking I would require a full brief on the project outlining your exact requirements and what your end result needs to be. I would need to know sizes, preference to colours, sketches of what you envisage and how you plan to print them so I know what format you require the final approved artworks in. Then your designer can provide you with an accurate quote. I am an expert in Illustrator and used to design t-shirt graphics for silk screening in Los Angeles so if you need a quote on the designs I am happy do do so. You can contact me on info@paulscottondesign.com
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Firstly the best place to create a portfolio is at www.behance.com ...it not only showcases your work but (if your work is good enough) you may generate clients from it from around the world. You can also sync this portfolio with your own personal web address at www.myportfolio.com (at a very small cost per month). That is where I host my website ( www.paulscottondesign.com ).
As for building up your portfolio work, carry on with the self motivated work ...in turn that may very well create paying clients. You just need to start promoting it on the web via social media etc. Set up a Facebook business page, Linked in page and Twitter account.
Another good place to do work for your portfolio is www.99designs.com ...although I am dead against sites like this (as I find them an insult to the graphic design professionals) ...if it helps a newbie to build up a portfolio all well and good. And if your design/illustrations are chosen you make a bit of money too.
Hope this helps.
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Well, I have always been very creative ever since I was a youngster. So I guess it was in my blood. Having said that, I did not know what I wanted to do when it was almost time to leave school ...but my art teacher convinced my mum to take me to an interview at the local art and design college. I was too late to get in to the college and there was a waiting list ...but after the interview they put me to the top of the list and I got a place within days. I was at the college for 3 years and got the highest grades possible in the 2 main exams. Just before I left college I applied for a sought after job in London that was designing record sleeves (about 200 people applied) ...and I got the job (this was back in 1981). I have been a graphic designer ever since and have never regretted it. I am now 55 and still being very much creative and enjoying every moment.
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Hi Lou, without seeing the file itself I am not sure how the file is fused together. It may be rasterized or an embedded jpg ...in which case you will not be able to separate it. But if it is still as a vector you can select the background then ungroup ...you might have to do it a few times to break it down. Or if it will not ungroup you will need to use the direct selection tool to select each individual part of the background then copy or delete the parts you want or do not want. Unfortunately this is how you do it in illustrator ...I do not know how to do it in Inkscape as it is a program I have never used. Good luck.
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