Afraid of the unknown when it comes to digital scrapbooking? I began
my journey not having a clue as to what digital scrapping even was,
let alone where to begin. I will admit that this venture takes some
time, but I can attest it is painless and so
REWARDING!
I started off with the book,
Scrapbooking the Digital Way, which
came with a free trial of Paint Shop Pro and free sample graphics to
go through each chapter tutorial.
Setting small goals and mastering each chapter, before
moving on, helped decrease my confusion and gave me confidence when
I was able to replicate the step-by-step tutorials (For those of you
who have Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, a great training
video CD is the
Scrapper's Guide - Scrapbook Basics,
which is also available in our store).
Click here for a free sample chapter on making
your first digital collage
from Scrapbooking the Digital Way Book (Ch. 14-1 MB PDF)
Understanding layers is the most crucial factor to master, and
the book has a whole chapter devoted to it, with screen shots, so
you can see for yourself what each layer on a scrapbook page is and
where it is located in the layer palette. Once you feel comfortable
with this, moving forward will come easier. The next technique I
studied was how to effectively use a drop shadow to give your pages
depth and that added touch of realism. Practice changing the default
settings to view the differences in the effects a shadow will make.
Keep the direction of all shadows the same for each page. Choose a
setting you like and this will become your default within Paint Shop
Pro. An added feature in Paint Shop Pro is the shadow can be on its
own layer, so you can modify it at a later time. In Adobe
Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, drop shadows are part of a layer
style, which can be modified or deleted at any time.
Before
After Drop Shadows applied
I began digital scrapping using no drop shadows on my photos or
mats I created/cut myself, hence, the
“before” layout. You will see the drop shadows in the “after” layout
and how the photos and elements subtly appear lifted off the page,
adding dimension. Be aware that many elements in our CDs
and Page Paks already have a drop shadow applied. Adding
an additional shadow will give an unrealistic, heavy shadow.
Normally, if an element is saved with a .jpg extension, it will not
have a drop shadow. We do this to elements that you likely might
rotate, allowing you to apply the appropriate shadow direction and
depth.
In the past year and a half, I have vastly increased my technical
knowledge, as well as challenged myself as an artist to combine both
paper and digital mediums. I am so happy I know both! Dive in and have fun, you’re going
to love the results!
Beth Ervin, CottageArts.net
