20 Top Artists and Designers Face Off

The premise of the book is an interesting one; it pitches 20 world renowned graphic designers in 10 “rounds” of Photoshop Tennis. Ok, so what is Photoshop Tennis? Photoshop tennis involves two graphic designers armed with only their creative talents, an email address and a fired up version of Photoshop.

The challenging artists have a given timeframe within which they must complete 10 rounds, known as “volleys” to produce a final image. The match begins with a “serve” where the first artist will create an image of their own design and choosing. The image created is then sent to the challenging artist for the volley. Each volley is to be completed within a predetermined timeframe and involves modifying the other’s image to any extent preferred or deemed necessary. When round 10 is reached, the match is over, and who is the winner? Well, creativity obviously.

But how are these matches helpful? The book is not written for the novice Photoshop user, yet to enjoy it and to gain insight into the designer’s creative drive and thought process you are not required to be a guru of the software. Having some form of experience, however, will definitely aid the reader in understanding the designer’s description of their technique and in filling in the gaps of the steps taken when the designer.

The book is a showcase on layer centric design, almost all the images created, around 100, are created thanks to the versatility of layers, from setting simple layer blending options to the more avanced layer properties.

The most powerful and valuable insight this book affords, however, is the artists ideas on paper. And I’m not referring to their visually stunning images, but their thoughts expressed verbally to describe what drives their choice and what creative process was used. Now, I realize that an image is worth a thousand words and that visual art cannot be expressed in common language, but the comments the designers provide do indeed rearrange the method of how one would approach a new composition. And while I know that creativity can simply not be taught, one can be shown the tools, whether these are the mind’s creative thought process or the power of layer based design, and use them to expand their skill set and refine their creative process.

There is a difference between what your imagination can reach and what can be accomplished in Photoshop, and this book definitely gives some idea of what can be accomplished and how to go about doing that.

So, if you can’t wait to start playing Photoshop tennis, then why now head to Designologue, a site developed and designed by Shaun Inman, who is one of the contributors of the book, where you can get on centre court of your own Photoshop Tennis Open.

If you know of any other useful books about Photoshop, please feel free to share them with us by posting in the comments section.

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	1. 04-10-2007 18:11
	I've used this book in the past, and i have to say it helped me in the sense you described.    I'd recommend it to any one interested in photoshop. Guest Report

Michael

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