Commercial Photoshop with Bert Monroy (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

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

Product Description

You know Bert Monroy's personal portfolio - now get to know his commercial work.Case studies take you step by step through Bert's client work for Apple, AT+T, Logitech, and more. Glean creative and Photoshop-specific insights from the guy Adobe goes tofor information. Includes a behind-the-scenes look at working as an artist when someone elseis calling the shots.

Bert Monroy has long enjoyed successes as a digital artist, as evidenced by hiscredentials and his books: Bert Monroy: Photorealistic Techniques with Photoshop andIllustrator and Photoshop Studio with Bert Monroy. Well-known and highlyregarded expert in the Photoshop community, he has received heavy exposureon TechTV in the past year and his reputation as a master teacher ofPhotoshop and digital illustration has grown dramatically as a result.In this newest book, Bert switches from sharing the secrets behind his personalportfolio to unleashing the Photoshop tips he uses when working oncommercial projects. This book is complete with case studies that walk readersstep by step through the commercial design process--including conceptcreation, digital editing, production, and working one-on-one with clients.Whether you're looking to better your Photoshop skills, break into the field, orare simply a fan of Bert's work, this book will not disappoint.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press (December 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073571388X
• ISBN-13: 978-0735713888
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #820,608 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent How-To Book, May 6, 2004

By	V. Maciulski - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bert Monroy is, undoubtedly, one of the most amazing Photoshop artists IÕve ever seen. He can produce images that look like photos, even though no photo was used.

All of the examples in the book are from actual projects. This is a BIG book. The pages are about 10 X 10 and full of color photos of each step in the various projects he shows. The large size is more suitable for sowing the step-by-step examples, but I found it slightly unwieldy.

He is very complete in his explanations, so that even someone with only modest Photoshop skills should be able to follow along easily.

He shows several photo quality images he created from scratch for a magazine. He says he creates realities in Photoshop. I was in awe of the shiny chrome-plated shower handle in a bathroom scene, the reflection in a water puddle on a path he created next to grass and bushes he created, the glow of the light bulb he made and the textures he created for a stucco wall and marble floor.

Monroy also show several projects in which he composited many images together for amazing results. It gave me some inspiration to do some projects on my own. He explains it very well. There is even an explanation of how an alpha channel works.

And there are examples of re-touching and correcting images in order for them to be used in advertisements and magazines. His attention to detail is phenomenal. (Perhaps it is due to his 20 years experience as an art director with a New York City Ad Agency.)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Illustrators, January 5, 2005

By	Terry Smith "http://terrysmith.net -- http:/... (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bert Monroy is a commerical illustrator with 30+ years of experience in the business and co-authored the very first book on Photoshop. Needless to say, the technical content of this book is unquestionable and quite educational. While many of the techniques in the book can be applied in other areas, a prospective buyer should be aware that the book is completely targeted toward illustration work. One of the techniques that Bert is famous for is creating photo-realistic images by painting them entirely in Photoshop with very few stock photography elements. Whether this is good or bad depends on what you're looking for, but don't buy the book thinking it's going to teach you how to retouch your family photos. One of Bert's many other books would be better suited for the later.

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book for photoshop artists!, November 18, 2008

By	LovesBooksMusicandMovies (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

Bert Monroy is the Babe Ruth of Photoshop. He co-wrote the first book on Photoshop, and has created brushes included in photoshop. In my opinion there is nobody better then Mr. Monroy for creating art in Photoshop, his photo-realistic paintings will leave you speechless.

Enough about the man himself,(I can rant and rave about Bert all day). Lets get to the book.

This book is not for an absolute beginner, it's more geared toward the intermediate/advanced user.

The book showcases different paintings of Bert's and then goes into some detail of how he created certain parts of it, with short tutorials of the techniques used. He does not hold your hand and walk you through each and every step, but gives you enough info to hopefully figure it out, with some prior knowledge of the tools.

Throughout the book he uses both Photoshop & Illustrator. You will need both programs to effectively reproduce every project.

I absolutely love this book. Just to see Bert's work is very inspiring.

Since this book is OOP, a used copy is very expensive. I got mine at the library, but there's a digital PDF version available from the publishers site.

If you like Bert's work, this is a great book on revealing his techniques. A must read book.

Happy reading!