One of the less known features of Adobe Fireworks is how easy it handles pure vector resources such as EPS or AI files that are normally associated with Adobe Illustrator. It is really nice when you don’t have to jump from one application to another in order to get job done. In this tutorial I will show you how to create grunge text in Adobe Fireworks using Adobe Illustrator AI texture.
In this tutorial I will show you how to create a simple but solid looking pill icon using Adobe Fireworks. I have used Adobe Fireworks CS6 but any version will do just fine. Neat way of creating icons in Adobe Fireworks is by using reference image as a guide to help you while choosing gradients and fills.
Pen tool in Adobe Fireworks is really cool and the behavior of the tool is pretty much similar in other Adobe editors (Illustrator and Photoshop). Once you master the tool the sky is the limit, but really. Pen tool can be used for creating complex curves and shapes, masks and lines but one situation where it is most useful in my opinion is in making complex selections and extracting specific parts of the image.
Usually you can achieve top notch results by just applying some basic techniques in Adobe Fireworks. To create a nice piece of cheese, you can see below, I will use some gradient fills, some shape making and a bit of free hand pen tool. It is a good idea to google up some nice reference image while making such objects I did look take a peek at some of them myself before I made this.
When it comes to tweaking and improving photos Photoshop is second to none. I am far from being a serious photographer. In fact I really rarely use the camera but one thing I know for sure, that is that by using curves in Photoshop you can improve the photos’ color and general look significantly. I will show you how to use curves on one real example. Few years ago a friend of mine visited Andes mountains and took many snapshots, I will use one of his photos to show you what you can achieve by using curves in Photoshop.
Adobe Fireworks is really awesome tool but when it comes to finding resources sometimes it can drive you mad . You can find what ever you think of for Photoshop but if you are looking for some set of styles or source files for Fireworks well that is another story. Never the less here is my small contribution to Adobe Fireworks community, a nice set of gold gradient styles for you to use as pleased.
More than a year ago I wrote article about should you design for IE6. Things have changed and I don’t support it any more for some time. If you check this site in IE6 (if you still own that relict) I am sure it would look really bad. Don’t get me wrong if a client asks for IE6 support I would go along but unless I really have to I wouldn’t touch that stuff. IE6 is history and HTML5 is here to stay. There are still headaches, IE7 and IE8 have minds of their own too but IE6 was pure evil I tell you.
Creating cool gold credit card icon in Adobe Fireworks is really easy once you get the grasp of some of the basic tools. In this tutorial I will show you how to use various gradients, some masking approach and some other easy but effective tricks. Of course I will include the original source file with all the styles used so you can check it out for yourself if you have some problems with following this tutorial.
As a web or a graphic designer you don’t need to use Photoshop, there are many other cool editors which can be your weapon of choice. I write often about Adobe Fireworks and Illustrator but I use Photoshop just as well. I use Photoshop for what it is the best and that is photo editing and manipulation. For prototyping and making mockups in my opinion Fireworks rules but some things are missing and than Photoshop comes to rescue.
Another great and easy Adobe Fireworks tutorial. Nice thing about this tutorial is that this technique can be applied almost the same way in most graphic editors (Illustrator, Photoshop…). I choose to write about Adobe Fireworks more often because there are tons of Photoshop and other tutorials and that is not fair since Fireworks deserves more attention. It is pretty easy to find a neat seamless image to use as a background in web pages but sometimes you just cannot find what you are looking for or you want to make something special and unique.
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Feel free to check on my portfolio to get familiar with my skills and style. Contact me any time krstatzar{at}gmail.com