As many of you may already know, this week has been very intense for me.  I've pretty much put my life on hold until Monday night is over.  The good news is, one of my latest Photoshop tutorials has been chosen as a finalist in the Photoshop Evangelist Contest.  That's great!  I'm proud, and I loved making my video.  But now is the hard part, because I have to campaign so I can get it to win. Persuading as many people I know to take a minute out of their day each day to vote for it is a lot harder, and a lot less fun.  So why am I doing this? Of course I have been asking myself this too, so I remembered another video I'd made and noticed that it was 2 months and 3 months ago that I posted it.  Watching it again, I can see improvements I could make, but I still like it very much because I think it explains me and my motives very well.
See below.



 But after watching it, I'm struck with the irony of the situation.  This is not the first time I've done a campaign like this, nor is it the second. Those who have known me know that although I have had some successes, I've tried and failed many times before. It's not a good feeling. But I pick myself up and keep going.  I carry on because I love the challenge and I love learning. I hope to lead by example so my students and my own children can learn from this.  I still hold on to this idealistic view that I'm making a difference in the world as I do my best to inspire others.

For those of you who can appreciate my goals and my work, I hope that you will vote and continue to vote for my video today and tomorrow.  Best wishes to all, and may the best video win.  No matter what happens, I really appreciate the wonderful support and encouragement I have gotten from so many of you.

Be sure to use a computer (no phone or tablet) and here's the link to vote.

Thanks!
Nicole

Hidden Gems: Rotoscoping in Photoshop CS5 Extended

Here's an easy fast paced tutorial on how to do rotoscoping, or frame by frame animation on a video clip using Photoshop.
 

Hidden Gem: Make Stop-Motion Videos in Photoshop

Extended versions of Photoshop not only let you work with video, but they also work well with image sequences.  Here's a quick tutorial to show you how to make a stop-motion video using Photoshop, and it also shows you how you can mask around the object to give it a transparent background.


For more information, check out this other tutorial of mine.  It's slower paced, and somewhat similar.