How do you create the colors/lights/glows that are in much of your work?
This is probably the question I get asked the most and the one I like answering the least. It’s not that I don’t like to “share my secrets”, but rather I feel it’s much more helpful to simply encourage you to experiment until you get things looking like you want them, if using color/light/glows is something you’re after. In Photoshop, constantly experiment with different layer styles, blending modes, custom-made brushes, and settings. There’s not a lot of rhyme or reason. However, if you’re looking to work these elements into photography, for example, the most important piece of advice I have is this: strive to integrate new design elements into the photograph rather than simply “placing them on top”, so to speak. Think about the way light and color would realistically play off the subject matter in the photo - how it would affect shadows, skin tones, existing light & color. For me, it’s extremely important to integrate these things in order to create a near-realistic, "in-camera" aesthetic illusion rather than to have what looks mostly like 2 separate things - a base image and things on top of that base image. If you need specific technical help, I suggest checking out the tutorials in magazines like Computer Arts and on sites like
Abduzeedo | Graphic Design Inspiration and Photoshop Tutorials and
Adobe Photoshop Tutorials from Beginner to Advanced | Psdtuts+.
