Art Licensing Blog » Photoshop tutorial

Photoshop Tips: How to use Contact Sheet II to automate your Portfolio and Presentations

Tara Reed — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:00:52 +0000

In December, Art Licensing Agent Suzanne Cruise was the expert of the month for the Art Licensing Info Monthly Ask Call Series. (The hour long audio is available for free – CLICK HERE to get your copy.)

One thing she mentioned was that her team uses the “Contact Sheet” function in Photoshop™ to create presentations for manufacturers. This got my attention because anything that can make my work go faster so I have more time to create is something I want to know about! I promised to figure it out and put it on the blog so here we go…

Contact Sheet II is an automation script (I think it’s a script – I’m calling it one anyway!) that allows you to sit back and watch Photoshop™ grab and organize groups of images for you. It is ideal if you work in a consistent size and orientation, requires a little human tweaking if your image sizes vary.

Contact Sheet II comes in Photoshop CS3 (and earlier versions, I think) but you need to download and install the plug-in if you are working in CS4. Here are the links for CS4:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4048 – for windows
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4047 -Mac

These plug-ins have more than just Contact Sheet II. Here is what it includes (text from the linked web pages):

There are some plug-ins and presets that have been removed in Photoshop CS4. If you wish to use these plug-ins and presets still you can find them in your Goodies folder on your DVD install disc.   This download includes plug-ins for Photoshop CS4 English, Spanish and French versions.

The following plug-ins and associated files are included in this package:

• Bigger Tiles
• Picture Package (ContactSheetII)
• ExtractPlus
• PatternMaker
• PhotomergeUI
• TWAIN
• Web Photo Gallery (WebContactSheetII) plus presets
• Textures for Texturizer
• script for Layer Comps to Web Photo Gallery

Here is a video tutorial of how “Contact Sheet II” works, some examples and some pluses and minuses. I for one plan to start using this more in my business, hopefully it will be helpful for you as well!

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Here’s to your creative success!

– Tara

P.S. Thank you to all the artists who emailed me with help in finding this feature! You are awesome!

P.P. S. Want to learn to create repeat patterns like the ones shown in the video? Check out the 2 eBook series – CLICK HERE

The feedback is coming in for "Product Mock-Up Magic"…

Tara Reed — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:01:48 +0000

… and artists are loving it!

I’ve told you what it is…

• 46 Photoshop™ (.psd) or PNG files with professional photographs of stationery, tabletop and gift industry products. The backgrounds have already been removed so they are ready to use for presentation and portfolio mock-ups.

• 9 video tutorials with more than 2 hours of ‘over the shoulder’ live-streaming instruction. Watch artist Tara Reed apply patterns and learn from a few mistakes along the way! (Then you will feel better when you make them too – right?)

here is what a few artists who have purchased it are saying…

“I was so excited to receive the Product Mock-up Magic CD today. I just finished watching all of the video tutorials. You did a great job! It was amazing to watch you work. I devoured every word you spoke and every move you made with the cursor. Now, I’m truly inspired to create my own mock-up designs and market them to manufacturers.”

– Michael Campbell, artist

“Tara Reed’s Product Mock-Up Magic saves me time and makes my life easier. With the product templates provided, all I have to do is drop my artwork onto the templates and make revisions. Now I can focus on designing.”

– Liz Revit, artist

“I absolutely love Tara’s Product Mock-Up Magic video tutorials! The lessons are very easy to follow, cover many tools and techniques. Even as a fairly seasoned Photoshop user, I learned many new tips and shortcuts that I did not know before. However, I think this product will be a revelation for beginners. My product mock ups previously were very flat in appearance. The library of blank product images supplied with the dvd will help me produce realistic product mock-ups very efficiently. I hope Tara will develop an entire series of video tutorials on a range of skills for licensed artists.”

– Debra Valencia™, DeVa Design, Inc.
contemporary pattern design for stationery, gift, craft & home décor
www.DebraValencia.com

Product Mock-Up Magic is an invaluable tool for any artist looking to license their art. Being able to take your art and show manufacturers that you understand how it can work on products shows that you understand and are serious about the business of licensing. That you are a professional. And sometimes, it just gives them ideas they may not have had looking at the ‘pieces’ (images, borders, patterns, etc.)

When you place several mocked-up examples together for presentation, add “These are mock-up ideas, all designs are available for license” – that way there is no confusion about wether your art is already licensed or not. When you show actual licensed products, be sure to add something like this: “product manufacturered by XYZ company using my art under license.”

SO… do you have your copy yet? CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO AND GET ALL THE DETAILS TODAY…

Here’s to your creative success!

– Tara

Showing how your art looks on products just got a whole lot easier!

Tara Reed — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:25:28 +0000

I feel like I just gave birth… not to a child this time but to a project that has been developing for months. And this blog post serves as a ‘baby announcement’ of sorts because the baby is here, I couldn’t be more delighted, tired and proud to tell the world!

This is my first physical product that must be delivered by mail and not by digital download. Why? Because it has too many pieces and too much content.

What you get:

What you need:

• Photoshop™ (the video tutorials show CS3 screens but the concepts should work with most professional versions of Photoshop™)

• Art that you want to show on products.
The tutorials focus on placing repeat patterns and borders on the product photos but you can use the same concepts for more illustrative art as well. If you don’t know how to create repeat borders & patterns and save the patterns to the pre-set manager in Photoshop, I highly recommend you consider working through the Repeat Pattern eBooks before buying this product.

• CD drive on your computer to access the product photo files and video tutorials.

Here’s a video that shows you a little more…

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To get all the juicy details and a list of exactly what is included, head right on over to:

www.ArtLicensingInfo.com/mockup.html

Check it out now while there is a ‘pre-production’ price of $67 if you order before October 20th (products will ship on October 21st). Even a few freebies thrown in too. So go now… learn more!

Here’s to making things easier!

– Tara