Digital Art Tutorials

iPhoneography - "Masking" Tutorial

2011-10-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I love editing photos in a creative way, and when I am not at home in front of my computer using Photoshop, I'm busy taking pics. and editing them all on my iPhone. This new found art, and my current obsession is called iPhoneography, and with all the incredibly cool apps. that are out there, you can do some pretty amazing things without even touching your computer. Now I've spent plenty of time exploring many of the free apps. that are out there, and that's a great way to get started, but for about $1-$2 a piece, you can do a lot more with just a couple of paid apps. Considering the low price, (if you already have an iPhone) it seems well worth the investment if this is something that interests you. And of course, as an advocate of integrating at least a little bit of creativity exercise into your life every single day, I think this is a perfectly easy way to do it!

Two of my favorite apps. are Camera+ and Photowizard. Not sure how to use them? Here's a tutorial on how to use some masking techniques. Enjoy! And if you like it, you might also want to visit me @magrelacanela on Instagram, my favorite free app. and iPhoneography social network.

Photoshop for Kids: Cinemagraphs Made Easy

2011-10-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

New tutorial just posted on the Adobe Education Exchange. Here it is. It was made using Photoshop CS5Extended, but any full-version (extended) version of Photoshop will do. It's the beginning level tutorial for making "cinemagraphs" or animated .gifs. This one teaches simple frame by frame techniques, but there's lots of room for creativity! Consider doodles on your pictures, making them into moving digital paintings, or rotoscoping frames of video. These ones are pretty basic, but for more advanced techniques to create really stunning cinemagraphs, see my earlier post on cinemagraphs. Enjoy, and stay tuned for my next cinemagraph tutorial on how to create time-lapse cinemagraphs with Photoshop.

Photoshop for Kids: Pattern Blocks

2011-09-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

This is a beginning level Photoshop tutorial for kids, but is fun enough for all ages. Taking an old concept/activity that kids are familiar with, these have now become digital pattern blocks. You will learn to make beautiful shapes and designs. There's lots of room for creativity! While learning basic geometry shapes and math skills, you can also learn to use some of the tools and commands that are commonly used in Photoshop. All the animations were done in Photoshop CS5Extended, so see the "Photoshop for Kids: Animation Made Simple" tutorial for information about animating your pattern blocks. The copy-right friendly Photoshop file that accompanies this tutorial is available for download on the Adobe Education Exchange.
edexchange.adobe.com/pages/home where you can share your own resources, or vote for your favorites. To win big prizes, submit your own resources by October 14th.

Photoshop for Kids: Digital Doilies

2011-09-13T00:42:00.000-07:00

Call them doilies, snowflakes, or just beautiful tiles, this lesson integrates some geometry with basic Photoshop skills. No scissors required! It's fun and easy for kids of all ages. You can also find this on the Adobe Education Exchange where you will also find loads of other great resources for Adobe Educators. Enjoy!

PhotoshopforKids (of all ages): DigitalDoilies from NicoleDalesio on Vimeo.

Screencasting 101 + Tips for recording internal audio

2011-06-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Incredibox

I've been doing screencasts for some time now, for my Photoshop and other technical tutorials, but what I didn't know how to do before, was to record the internal audio.

I am not yet an expert, but I think I've got it. (Thanks to my friends on Twitter for helping to answer this one!) To explain more about what screencasting is, and with internal audio, it's when you want to take a video of your computer screen, but also make sure to record the audio that is coming from inside of the computer, and not the noise or talking that is happening in the room just outside of it. To get best results on internal audio, you do not want to be recording the audio coming out of the speakers on your computer, and then going back into your computer's microphone. It just won't sound very good. This is only a good option for voice overs on your screencasts.

First you will need some screencasting software: This allows you to take a video of your computer screen. For best results, and highest quality, use the paid software options, but there are also free alternatives. Adobe Captivate is the industry standard on this one. The screencasting tool inside of Quicktime on a Mac allows you to record video or audio (or webcam) and is also nice for doing quick and easy screencasts that you can edit later in your favorite video editing software. However, I did not have luck recording internal audio on this one. I'm not sure why not, but maybe I was doing something wrong. For free alternatives, try Jing (which you must download) or Screenr, a free online tool that limits you to 5 minute screencasts.

Next, there is a good chance you will need Soundflower. This was what did the trick for me, as it allows you to pass the internal audio to the other application. The good news is, you can download it for free.

Then, before you record your screencast of your Skype video conference, go to system preferences on your computer and change the audio input to "Line-in" (Make sure to change back later.)

I had success doing this with Camtasia for Mac. I haven't tried any others, but would be curious to know if they would work too.

So why would someone want to do this? Well, maybe you would want to record a video conference you had with someone over Skype. Or maybe you want to capture music that is playing on your computer. Here's a screencast I made for just that purpose. I made it with Incredibox, which is a free online music making tool that would not let me download afterward. Originally I wanted to do this so I could record and save music on the Google's Les Paul Guitar. (So this is great for musicians!) Too bad I am not so good at music. I guess that's next on my list of things to learn..

Phone to cloud with Picasa Web Albums

2011-06-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

My search for a perfect solution to transporting and backing up my smart phone pictures to the cloud has continued. Finally I think I found my favorite way to do this, and this works for anyone with a phone that takes pictures. (See my previous posts for more information about sending to Flickr or other free photo storage sites.) But what I really wanted to do was to send my iPhone pics. to a Picasa Web Album. All you need is a free gmail account to get set up with your free Picasa Web Albums. There is nothing to download to your smart phone or computer, and I love Picasa Web Albums because you have much more control over privacy settings. You can mark your photos private, public, or "unlisted" which means that only those who you share the link with can see them. I also like Picasa Web Albums because they work so well with other free tools by Google such as Blogger, Google Sites, Google Maps, Picnik and more.

To do this, first log into Gmail. Look for the "Photos" button on the top of the menu bar, and click on it.

Next click on the little gear on the top right hand corner of your Picasa Web Albums page, Look for "Photos settings."

You are going to look for the option to upload your photos by email. You will have to type in a secret word. This will give you a unique email address that is hidden within your gmail/Picasa Web Album account. Every time you want to back up your photo from your phone to the cloud, simply email it to this special email address. For your trusted family, friends, or classmates, you can also give them the secret email, and you can collaboratively contribute to a photo album.

After you have done this, your photo(s) will land directly in your drop box in Picasa. You can move, organize, or edit these later from your computer, or change your privacy settings. But for now, they are safe in the cloud.

Enjoy!

Cinemagraphs: Photos Brought to Life in Animated .gifs

2011-06-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

From animated .gifs

I just learned how to make a cinemagraph, and here's my first quick sample. It's pretty cool, and even a little creepy. Something between photo and video, it's a picture that surprises you when it moves.

For much more beautiful samples that have inspired me to keep working at it, here are some links to explore. I couldn't do a better job myself, but Russell Brown from Adobe shows you how to do it in this video tutorial using Photoshop CS5 Extended. Here's another step by step written tutorial here.

From animated .gifs

"I don't teach old school" with Flickit.

2011-05-27T00:18:00.001-07:00

I don't teach old school., a photo by magrelacanela on Flickr.

Testing the Flickit app. I like it! This is a great way to post directly to the cloud from your phone.

Air Camera / Drop Box- My review on a couple of free Smart Phone Apps. for file transfers from phone to cloud to computer

2011-05-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

So nowadays we are taking more and more pictures with our phones instead of our digital cameras. And even if you are not a photographer, you are still probably like me, and are looking for easy ways to share and transfer your smart phone photos to a good online storage space. Air Camera seems a promising solution, as it allows you to take photos on your phone, apply a cool filter (with lots to choose from, if you like) and then upload to their site where you can safely store your photos in the cloud. Although it can be a little tricky the first time to figure out where your photo went, and it may take a minute, it definitely works. You can then easily access these photos on your account on your smart phone or from any computer with internet. From there, you can easily share with sites like Twitter, Facebook, or get a link to share or embed on your blog or website.

If you prefer, you can also later download those photos that you took on your phone to your computer without having to plug in to the computer and sync it up. It's pretty cool. So besides convenience, why else would someone want to do this?

Well, besides the fact that this is a great (free) way to back up your pics. when you are on the go, why would you want to do it?

Simply put, for those photographers, digital artists, teachers, or parents (like me), you can really get creative with it! And I love anything that sparks creativity. How about for those photo of the day projects? Or for those time-lapse projects that take a really long period of time? (like photographing your child's face once a day. (See also the Everyday app., another one I love) How about the tree in front of your house? How about as a way to document student progress? You could take a photo of their drawings or writing as they learn and develop. For anyone interested in science, here's a great way to document your experiments. There are lots of possibilities. (For more info. on ideas on time lapse, see this video tutorial I made.)

Air Camera allows you to make separate folders for each of your projects that are safely stored, and easily organized.

Still don't like this free app.? And yes, it's still not perfect, so my favorite alternative is the Dropbox app., although the storage is more limited. No filters in Dropbox, but with that app. you can also transfer videos or audio files from your phone to Dropbox in the cloud, and then back to your computer without syncing. It is also a great way to share files with others as well.

If you know of any other better ways to tranfer media from phone to cloud to computer, please share.

Photosynth - an incredible panoramic photography app. for your iPhone or PC

2011-05-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

Just discovered a truly amazing app. for my iPhone, quite possibly the best FREE app. I have ever found. Then I also realized you can make them on your PC. I love it! This app. makes interactive panorama / 3D photos. It allows you to view a thing or a scene from all angles. See sample below. Also, make sure to see the Photosynth website and download the iPhone app. I love it!

Photoshop for Kids: Digital Painting

2011-04-10T21:27:00.001-07:00

Photoshop for Kids: Digital Painting from NicoleDalesio on Vimeo.

Location-Based Digital Storytelling

2011-03-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

Being that I have a huge interest in this topic, I have done a lot of research on it. Here's a website I have put together that I am using for my ed. tech trainings. It's everything you would want to know and more.

Enjoy! Digital Storytelling on the Go

Digital Storytelling

2010-12-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

For me, digital storytelling means empowerment. I believe that no matter who you are, and how old you are, each person has something to teach us, so digital storytelling is a great project for anyone. There are lots of great resources out there to learn about digital storytelling, and there are lots of ways you can do this cheaply and easily. (See my links at the top of my blog.) As an elementary school teacher, I'm also interested in how we can make this easy for even younger children to do. I have found that it is best to give them a prompt to get them going, and to keep it short and sweet. Another idea is to have each student contribute only one photo, and do one voice over for a group or class project. Here's an ideas of how you can use digital art instead of photos for the visuals. This short student sample from a third grader was the story about a real dream he had the night before. With a little "imagination" he was able to escape danger and unfortunate events by transforming his canoe whenever it was needed. Using only his finger and a free app. called "Doodle Buddy," he painted his story on the iPad. His voice overs were then added using iMovie.

Photoshop for Kids: Scratch Art

2010-12-20T22:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun tutorial to do with your kids that's both easy and fun! This won the award for the best resource submitted at the Adobe Education Exchange, my new favorite "hangout" spot to "meet" like-minded, creative educators. I'm learning new tricks with Adobe software and thinking in a whole new way. Enjoy! Also, if you create any student samples, please send them my way, and I'll be sure to post them.

Scratch Art: Photoshop for Kids of All Ages from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.

This is a fun tutorial for beginners, kids, or anyone teaching kids who likes scratch art. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

Photoshop for Kids: Animation Made Simple

2010-12-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

Photoshop for Kids (of all ages): Animation Made Simple from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.

Here's a tutorial that teaches basic animation concepts right inside of Photoshop CS5 Extended. You can animate each layer's position and opacity, as well as animate 3D objects. If you find this tutorial helpful, and use it, please send me a link to your samples. Thanks!

Just a few free/cheap resources for Digital Storytelling.

2010-11-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

For those who aren't lucky enough to have cool software like iMovie, Premiere Elements, Camtasia, or even Power Point, there's always Brainshark. I like Brainshark for Digital Storytelling or even for creating online tutorials, and there are lots of reasons why I like it. First of all, it's FREE, and there is no software to download. It's also relatively easy to use, and it's easy to share your Brainshark presentations by emailing, posting a link, or by embedding it on your website. At first glance, it seems pretty simple and business-like, but I do believe there is a lot of potential for creativity here. Most importantly, it allows you to upload your own photos and then record your voice to match each slide. This way you can tell your story easily. There is even a small library of free, royalty-free music that you can add as background music, and that makes it all the more interesting. Lastly, if audio is what you want, you can download your audio recordings as MP3 files to use for podcasting. Cool!My sample video shows how these presentations can be done cheaply and easily using Brainshark combined with other free/cheap digital media making devices.

Fotobabble and Psykopaint

2010-11-14T01:56:00.000-08:00

Here's a digital painting that I made using a very cool and free online resource called "Psykopaint." I added audio using Fotobabble. It was lots of fun, and easy to make and share. For more details, listen to the audio recording.

Photoshop for Kids: Making 3D Objects

2010-10-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

I love Photoshop, but I also love 3D... Here's another tutorial for you.

Photoshop for Kids: 3D Objects from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.

This tutorial teaches you how to make 3D objects from custom drawings, photos, or video clips in Photoshop CS5 Extended. (also can be done in PS CS4 Extended). This is a tutorial that covers the basics of working with 3D, and is appropriate "kids of all ages." It's a great way to integrate geometry and art. Enjoy!

Creative Commons Music downloaded for free at CC Mixter:
"I Like It Like That," by Stefsax

Photoshop for Kids: Patterns

2010-09-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest tutorial - helpful for any math teacher that also teaches art and Photoshop. Otherwise, I'm sure any digital scrapbooker would like this, as it teaches you how to make your own custom digital scrapbook paper. This lesson can be modified to the skill level of just about any Photoshop user.

Photoshop for Kids: Patterns from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.
Here's a beginning level Photoshop tutorial for kids. (of all ages) This tutorial shows how to make patterns, and is great for a math lesson since children study patterns. It is also a fun way to design your own "wallpaper" or your customized digital scrapbook paper. Enjoy! Also, feel free to submit your pattern samples to me, and I will add it to the gallery and post it in my blog.

DoInk - A great way to teach animation for kids

2010-09-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

This site was so much fun, I spent some time playing around and even made my own animation sample. After much discussion about the best ways to teach kids to do animation with my Google Certified Teacher group, many different sites/softwares were mentioned. After going through them, DoInk is the one that I liked best for using with my students, and I will definitely be using this with my students. It's like Adobe Flash simplified, so it's user-friendly, and a great way to teach kids basic concepts of vector drawing and animation. The best part is that it is free, so this is a great option for our school. I also like it because you don't need to download anything to your computer, so if you have internet, you are good to go.

You can try it out even if you aren't registered, but you have to sign up with an email if you would like to post your animations, share, or download them. You can't add audio on the site, but your files which download as .swf files come can be opened and edited in Flash.

When animating, you can choose between frame by frame animation, or by stacking each drawing on top of each other in a composition which becomes layers in a time line. Some basic commands allow you to animate each drawing individually.

Happy animating!

Here is my very first animation from DoInk:

Bee Positive! by magrelacanela, made at DoInk.com

Photoshop for Kids: Silhouettes

2010-09-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Google Certified Teacher network, I recently discovered the Adobe Education Exchange. Here I discovered a whole new world of Adobe resources, but also a whole new crowd of like-minded digital creatives. They had a challenge to share resources, so I submitted my "Photoshop for Kids (of all ages!)" tutorials and created a new batch to go with the ones I already had. I'm thrilled that Adobe and the other Adobe teachers received them well, because I won! I earned 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 9th place! The 1st place winning resource was a tutorial that I previously posted here called Photoshop for Kids: Scratch Art, and the second place was a new tutorial I made called: Photoshop for Kids: Silhouettes. It's on my new channel on Vimeo called:

Photoshop for Kids (of all ages!)

Once I get my prize, a copy of Adobe's Master Collection, I'll certainly be making plenty more. For now, here's 2nd place:

Photoshop for Kids: Silhouettes from magrelacanela (Nicole) on Vimeo.

Photoshop for Kids(of all ages) Here's a great Photoshop project that's great to do with kids or adults, and is suitable for just about any level of Photoshop user. This can also be modified as you like to work into a language arts lesson if you add words or pictures on top of the silhouettes.

Enjoy, and if you make any silhouettes of your own using my tutorial, please send me a link/copy of what you did to add to my collection.

Music from Jamendo's Creative Commons collection: "Deep Sea Diver" by Heifervescent

Making Silhouettes and Tagxedo Art

2010-07-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

For this tutorial, you will be using two of my favorite FREE online tools. The first is Sumo Paint, and the second is Tagxedo. You can also use Photoshop for the first step, but if you are like me, and are doing this with your class, you might not have it. For those of you who are familiar with Wordle, Tagxedo is like just like that - but even better! Have fun, you'll have to play around with it, but it's fun! Enjoy, and do send me your sample creations if you have some. I will add it to my "collection."

Tagxedo

Free Online Resources: Here's a tour of just a few that I like best.

2010-05-13T22:49:00.001-07:00

Click on the slideshow to view the captions/descriptions. Enjoy!

Make Your Own "Annoying Orange" Video in Photoshop

2010-04-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

annoying orange pictures

If the original "annoying orange videos" aren't annoying enough, here's a tutorial that shows you how to make your own annoying orange video. All you need is an "extended" version of Photoshop and some video clips of your face and some fruit. If you make your own version of the annoying orange video, send me the link and I will include it on my blog. Enjoy!

Make Your Own Annoying Orange Video in Photoshop from Nicole Dalesio (magrelacanela) on Vimeo.

Here you can download a copy of the tutorial on your iPhone:
Annoying Orange PS Tutorial-iPhone.m4v

Video Art in Photoshop: Using Filters on Video Clips

2010-04-14T16:42:00.003-07:00

Video Art in Photoshop: Adding Photoshop Filters to Video from Nicole Dalesio (magrelacanela) on Vimeo.

Here's a short tutorial on how to edit video clips using Photoshop using Photoshop CS3 Extended. Enjoy! Feedback is welcome. Thanks for watching.

Sumo Paint Kaleidescope Sample/Tutorial

2010-04-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

Sumo Paint Kaleidescope Sample/Tutorial from Nicole Dalesio (magrelacanela) on Vimeo.

I used a filter in the free online photo-editing program called Sumo Paint. With the click of a button, I could make new Kaleidescopes. I used "ScreenToaster" a free online screencasting service to record what I made.

www.sumopaint.com

www.screentoaster.com

Export a Flash animation with a transparent background.

2010-04-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

Export animations from Flash with transparent backgrounds! I'm sure there are various reasons why you would want to do this, but I have been thinking that it would be useful so I can mix them with my videos. You can also import video into Flash, but there are things that are easier and better to do in Flash, while there are things that are simpler and easier to do in your favorite video editing software. Even if you are using basic software like iMovie, you can layer your Flash animation with a transparent background on top for fun videos that have animation interacting with your video. Here I created a quick animation in Flash. I'm still learning Flash, and still working on my drawing skills, but you can get the idea. I then provide a sample of what you can it might look like if you put it on top of video. The possibilities are endless. Check out the directions at the bottom of the post.

A free font by me: Walk Around the Block

2010-03-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

Typography is the backbone of graphic arts, and although I have had no formal training in typography, I am fascinated by it. I even have my own font that I created which is free to download on your computer through "Dafont." This is also a favorite website of mine, and a link posted in the favorite website/resources are at the top of the blog. There are thousands of beautiful fonts there, all available for free. In order to make my font, I did not use any special software, which would have resulted in a more professional quality. Nevertheless, I found that I had quite good results by being a little inventive, and a small price. Instead, I used a site, www.fontifier.com For $9, you can create a font using your very own handwriting using this site. (I even did one with my daughter's handwriting when she was learning to write her letters.) You are able to download a template, and after you create your letters, scan it in and send it back to the site. To make my font, I enlarged the template where I could create nice details, then downsized it again, and sent it. It worked. The font has been available on Dafont for almost two years, and has had over 185,000 downloads. I'm amazed!

http://www.dafont.com/nicole-dalesio.d1718

Schwup for easy video editing

2010-03-02T21:41:00.001-08:00

Here's another example of a slick/quick slideshow I made using Schwup.

Flixtime for easy video editing

2010-03-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

Pleasanton Ridge: "This is our family hike to the top of Pleasanton Ridge. Feb.2010"

I just discovered "Flixtime." It looks like another competitor to Animoto. It's a great option for quick slideshow/video making that is an easy way to share your pictures and video clips. Best of all, it's free! I am including my own personal example that I made in about 10 minutes.

Photoshop Kaleidoscope Tutorial: Digital Math and Geometry Art

2010-02-21T01:52:00.000-08:00

Like many kids, I disliked math, and especially Geometry in high school because I couldn't see how it was relevant to my life. I promised to never use it again, but I was so very wrong. Not only do I love teaching it to my third graders, I am fascinated with the creative possibilities of using Geometry within Photoshop. Remember flips, slides, and turns? If only I had known how beautiful they could be, maybe I would have been a little more motivated.

Enjoy the video tutorial on Vimeo,

Photoshop Kaleidoscope Tutorial (Math/Geometry Art) from Nicole Dalesio (magrelacanela) on Vimeo.

Also feel free to download my support files which are a couple of pictures I took in Pleasanton, California, and in Bananaal, Brazil which are in the description for the video on Vimeo.
Enjoy!

Digital Art Tutorials: Google Docs.

2010-02-17T22:25:00.000-08:00

Digital Art Tutorials: Google Docs.

Google Docs.

2010-02-17T22:14:00.000-08:00

I love Google docs., and even more now that you can upload any type of file. Being that I love video, I often have the problem that I want either a safe place to store my videos (in case of a mishap with my comptuer), or that I want to send someone a video that I made. Videos are too big to send by email, and many file-sharing sites have a file-size limit of 100-200mb. Other sites I have used that are helpful are 4shared or YouSendIt, but I now like Google Docs. even better. Files can be up to 1,000 mb, and you can either make the link public for anyone to share, or you can send it specifically to people you choose. It's also a great way to collaborate on other projects with your colleagues. You just need a gmail account to get started. Check it out.

http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=49008

Animoto

2010-01-27T00:13:00.000-08:00

I love Animoto for quick videos that look very professional. It's fun and easy, and they have free services for teachers. Otherwise, anyone can make a 30 second video for free. Animoto now accepts pictures and short video clips. See samples I've made in the blog.

Animoto.com

2010-01-26T15:40:00.001-08:00

Animoto.com

2010-01-26T15:39:00.001-08:00

Animoto.com

2010-01-26T15:36:00.001-08:00

iMovie '09 Tutorial: Mock iPod Video

2010-01-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

http://www.vimeo.com/8937992

Mock iPod Video + Tutorial in iMovie '09 from Nicole Dalesio (magrelacanela) on Vimeo.

2010-01-23T16:23:00.000-08:00

I currently have two Photoshop video tutorials posted on my Vimeo channel.

"Scratch Art" using Photoshop,
http://www.vimeo.com/7371909

Scratch Art: Photoshop for Kids of All Ages from Nicole Dalesio (magrelacanela) on Vimeo.

and a video art tutorial using colorful backgrounds with high contrast black and white images and video. The video art tutorial won honorable mention in the "So you think you can teach Photoshop" contest sponsored by NAPP.
http://vimeo.com/groups/teachphotoshop/videos/7347161

Video Art and Photoshop for Kids of All Ages from Nicole Dalesio (magrelacanela) on Vimeo.

2010-01-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of my blog. It was my New Year's Resolution, and I'm happy have finally started this. Yeah! I did it!