So, I guess we'll give it a shot and start this off pretty easy. This first week will be mostly basics, I want to see where everyone is at and provide some good basic tips that maybe not everyone knows about. This week will be the most reading heavy.
Why Tag?Most people agree that tagging just started out as a way for members of a forum to personalize and distinguish their post from another, often consisting of their name and some graphics to support it.
(the following from wikipedia)
"The creation of tags is a widespread online hobby, regarded as a subsidiary of graphic art. It has been a long-lived phenomenon in internet terms, with little recorded history, and obscure, non-specified origins.
This is largely due to its collaborative nature, and the disappearance of various websites important in the development of the hobby. The (tagging) community is notable by its emphasis on sharing, mutual support, advice and appreciation.
In fact, a conventional classing system (Novice, Moderate, Intermediate, Semi-Professional, Professional) is sometimes used to rank people on their skills in making sig tags.
Many (tagging) websites feature a busy forum and tutorials and users are encouraged to download images. Increasingly, these sites tend to be membership-based."
Why are you tagging on d2jsp...?If you read the above paragraph, you will understand there are actual websites that focus on tagging or general graphic design. D2JSP is not one of those sites.
If you want to get more serious about tagging, then go check out other sites that progress the "art" of tagging with much better support systems.
Some sites: planetrenders.net (aka PR), tagfreak.net (this is pretty new, but has tons of resources), tagmonkey.org (im less familiar with this but it has a good tagging section),
The Basics of Tagging (and design)The basics are pretty damn important and if you don't pay attention to them in the beginning you will have a very slow going time. I would explain them all myself but Odin has made a great tut to do that for me, so I will leave it up to you to read it and understand it.
http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=50972641&f=105&o=0If you have any questions about this guide then feel free to ask in here, we will try to help you understand as best we can.
Destructive vs Non-Destructive?So, this term is something I've recently learned about, which is kind of sad, but I feel is really useful to any design work you will do in Photoshop.
Destructive design is where you will either edit or delete directly on layers (such as drawing on the background, or erasing parts of a stock image)
Non-Destructive design is when you use tools such as layer masks, extra transparent layers to work on, and effects layers to keep the content 100% intact should you need to go back or move around something.
It is very important to having a good work flow that you learn to use non-destructive methods as often as possible because it honestly just isn't productive to save multiple copies and erase directly when you can do otherwise.
Here is a good tutorial I found that shows how to quickly use layer masks and some tricks with them
TutorialsIf you've been here at all you will have noticed that very often regulars recommend doing more tutorials to beginners. This is in part because tutorials early on can be immensely helpful and it will help teach you new tools and lets you have insight into the workflow of other taggers.
Another important thing to notice is that not all tutorials are good examples to grow from. Some tutorials are for the very basic of designers and will demonstrate techniques that just aren't good, you should learn to realize which tutorials to skip and which to get to.
Always try tutorials that look hard, this is because even if you dont get it in the beginning you can slowly learn it by asking others to help explain. You will learn much less if you do tutorials you think you can easily do.
"Video vs Written"There are two main formats for video tutorials which can commonly consist of a youtube video or if you are lucky a live stream from a designer.
I generally do not like youtube video tutorials for tagging but if you feel you get more out of them (sometimes dialogue and actually seeing the steps can help clarify whats happening) then do look for them when you can.
As well, written has different formats with the basic vertical tutorial being the most common you will find. Also you will sometimes run into a slideshow style tutorial which are a bit harder to follow but allow for some additional things to occur.
Perhaps more important than vertical tutorials though is LRO psd (learning rights only psd) this is literally the photoshop file that you can open up and dissect. This is a harder way to learn in my opinion but it will open up more high quality learning options because you can get them right from the "Professionals".
RippingThis is a very bad thing to do, and trust me, if you get caught people will not be happy so read and understand carefully.
Ripping is the direct copy of someones work, often seen by people taking tags and putting different names. It also consists of taking copyrighted material (seen often on deviantart, be very careful if you use anything from there) or direct layer ripping (this is when you take layers from learning rights only psds, this will piss people off even more).
It is important to avoid ripping at all costs because not only is it frowned upon by all your peers, but if you practice it as you move into other design fields you will get fired/sued in a business environment for doing it.
So, that covers a bunch of the basics for now and I hope you read this stuff and understand it, if not please ask for more information.
In addition for everyone who is planning in trying this class out I want you to try this tutorial by BlazinPhil:
http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=55869780&f=246 This is so I can kind of see the level everyone is at. Keep in mind the stuff from Odin's tut and what is written here as you do this tutorial.
Good Luck