Amazon.com Review
Bert Monroy's demonstrations on the cable channel TechTV's The Screensavers are so popular that he was their roving reporter at the 2004 Photoshop World conference. Monroy is impressive at showing, step-by-step, how he performs his Photoshop "magic," sleights of hand that can seemingly create images out of air, or in this case, pixels. As in his previous books, each section begins with one of his amazing Photoshop "paintings" and walks readers through some of the techniques used to create it. Here, though, Monroy is emphasizing his production process as a commercial artist, from working with client sketches to organizing his work.
The first chapter covers some of the more under-utilized weapons in the Photoshop arsenal (channels, adjustment layers, the pen tool, and clipping paths), and is worth the cover price alone. From there, the book focuses on case studies, each featuring different techniques. Mini-cases include compositing for a Chevron brochure, using Illustrator with Photoshop to create a Las Vegas-style marquee for a magazine cover, and creating a 3D cityscape for an online game. Going into greater detail are the more complete, step-by-step case studies for a realtor magazine (moldy bathtub, slippery walkway, peeling lead paint), a medical magazine (some birth control pills), and a Broadway poster (neon lights). These examples showcase Monroy's mastery of layers, clipping groups, layer effects, brushes, and filters.
At the end are two of his most popular demos from TechTV. In the first, he creates an underwater scene out of a garden path using Hue/Saturation, the gradient tool, Glass, Crystallize, Add Noise, and Ripple filters, layer masks, a few fish from another photo, and a couple of other easy-to-copy steps. The other example is one you'll run to show your friends: piecing together two scans for artwork that's too big to fit on a scanner. I won't give the secret away, other than to just say that it's a lot better than slowly sliding one layer over another, trying to look at all the points in the image to see if they line up. And, it involves the difference mode (hint, hint).
Although there's no companion CD with project files, you won't have any trouble recreating his methods with your own artwork. Professionals will pick up new skills; basic users will feel empowered. Bert Monroy is popular because he's just that good. --Angelynn Grant
From the Publisher
Bert Monroy was one of the first Photoshop users out there, and his artwork is unarguably some of the best in the business. But more importantly, especially for those of you wanting to improve your Photoshop skills, Bert is as great a teacher as he is an artist. In his newest book, he takes you through some of his favorite commercial projects, including everything from a grungy bathtub to a Broadway poster.
Through the deconstruction of real-world projects, Bert takes you step by step through the technical and creative processes. You’ll master channels, layers, masks, custom brushes, cloning, and more; and you’ll learn to set up and retouch compositions that sell.
I’ve worked as an editor on plenty of Photoshop books (ever since version 3), and Bert Monroy never ceases to amaze me. If you want to learn from a master craftman, Bert is your guy.
Jennifer Eberhardt (feedback@newriders.com)
