Photoshop Basics – A Crash Course in Photoshop

Posted on 2011/11/11 at 05:44 by daarken 20 Comments

Learning Photoshop for the first time can be a very daunting task. How do you use Photoshop? How do you setup and customize your tablet? Daarken will take you through some of the basics of how to start using Photoshop in order to begin painting right away. He also discusses how to bind shortcuts and keystrokes to your tablet buttons and stylus trigger.

20 Comments on "Photoshop Basics – A Crash Course in Photoshop"

Corax · 2011/11/18 at 01:58 · Reply

Thanks for the tutorial and the whole site. What do you think about Autodesk Sketchbook Designer? I have installed it recently and it has some nice features.
- daarken · 2011/11/18 at 07:39 · Reply
  
  I’ve actually never used that program before, sorry! Let me know how it works out for you.
  - Corax · 2011/11/18 at 08:34 · Reply
    
    Thanks. I have just tried Sketchbook out. I just wonder if it is as powerfull as photoshop. Thanks angain for the tutorials. Do countinue the good work with the site.
  - AC · 2011/11/18 at 21:52 · Reply
    
    I think sketchbook is a great program for artist’s of any level. Best part is that its light and powerful (of course no where near to as powerful as photoshop). It is cheap, about $50 on amazon w/free shipping. All I can say is that I have used photoshop and sketchbook, I find sketchbook keeps me from getting overwhelmed since it’s light and gives me less options (which is way better in the beginning for artists in my experience…and I am still a beginner.)
    
    Sketchbook or other programs like open canvas, paint tool SAI, or even GIMP(which is a very nice freeware program) are all a better first choice, photoshop should be bought when one improves beyond the novice skill level.
    
    I hope this helps, I think the less options your painting program gives you in the beginning the better.
    
    Cheers!
    -AC
Eduardo Matías · 2011/11/18 at 22:01 · Reply

Hi Daarken! (: before anything let me give you a huge congrats for such a wonderful site :D ! and of course the THANKS ! for the inspiration and for your work ! (:
Now, man I have a problem with the undo and redo command I have a limit that I can use it and the limit is 20 times ._. ! and sometimes that give me problems, i mean this make me paintover and that is great because make me learn how to fix my errors without the cmd+z but sometimes i really like how the things look before I screw it xD so I wonder that is how supposed to be? or my ps cs3 is desconfigurated or have an error? D:

Thanks in advance for your help (:
- daarken · 2011/11/18 at 22:13 · Reply
  
  Thanks! You can actually increase the history states by going to edit – preferences – general. I hope that helps!
  - Eduardo Matías · 2011/11/20 at 20:42 · Reply
    
    :D ! thanks again! it works (:
    i felt like when your miss something and all the time was it in your hand xD hahaha
nib · 2011/11/19 at 21:39 · Reply

Hello! Thanks a bunch for great lessons!

Is there any way to create a separate page, listing your comments across all entries? It would be much easier to follow your words that way, than searching your new comments by re-checking all entries every time.
- daarken · 2011/11/20 at 02:09 · Reply
  
  Hmm, not that I know of, sorry!
sean · 2011/11/20 at 01:06 · Reply

Recently saw your tutorial of the Priest piece on youtube and was blown away! Thanks for the awesome site and videos man,truly appreciate it.
nib · 2011/11/20 at 02:41 · Reply

Sorry, I have a feeling that you’ve misunderstood me because of my poor english :)
I’m talking about Enliighten.com and creating some specific page, that will list your comments, written in all blog entries (“Daarken’s recent comments” or something like that).
So, if you answer means that you don’t know how to create such page – that’s ok then, sorry again :)
- nib · 2011/11/20 at 02:42 · Reply
  
  oh, damn! I missed the reply button. sorry :/
- daarken · 2011/11/20 at 08:46 · Reply
  
  Oh no, I know what you mean. I don’t think I can do that though.
Tom · 2011/11/20 at 23:38 · Reply

Not sure if it’s just me, but is there a reason the volume buttons are disabled in the player? They show up on vimeo, but not here.
- daarken · 2011/11/21 at 08:25 · Reply
  
  It should show up now. Thanks!
Grigor · 2011/11/22 at 12:45 · Reply

Hail! Cool and helpful tutorial as always :) I’d like to hear more about the brush itself though. EVerytime I watch a tut like this i am so over exited and then i crash against the wall once I load PS. The brush is smth rly tricky and important imo. When using traditional media I know what to expect but when i hold the tablet pen in my hand it’s is full of surprises (most of them unpleasant) Would be awesome if u reveal some of its secrets tnx :)
- daarken · 2011/11/22 at 14:06 · Reply
  
  I have several tutorials about brushes coming up.
Steve · 2012/02/12 at 12:11 · Reply

Hey Daarken! Love everything you’re doing, from your work to this site… All of it is so inspiring!

I have a general question about the history items – how many “history states” do you have PS set up to catalog?

Thanks!
- daarken · 2012/02/12 at 18:46 · Reply
  
  Thanks! I have it set to 50 on my tablet pc and then I think 99 for my desktop.
sundoor · 2012/02/19 at 17:21 · Reply

Thanks so much for making these tutorials available! My background is in painting with traditional media, and watching these videos has helped me understand how to use the Photoshop software a lot better. Watching how you use hotkeys and tablet triggers to navigate more efficiently has been especially helpful. I truly appreciate and respect all that you’ve done for the community.