Fun with Illustrator

Many people ask me the difference between Photoshop and Illustrator. The answer, super-simplified is this: Photoshop is for editing photos, and Illustrator is for creating art. Now, of course, Illustrator can handle photo-realistic images (to an extent) and Photoshop can definitely create art, but when it comes down to it, I would never try to create a web site mock-up in Photoshop anymore, nor would I ever try to map an image to a 3d plane in Illustrator (well, I might...but that's for another day).
I believe that there are two things that you can do to become an expert with these two programs: practice (obviously) and watch others use them (not so obvious, apparently).
I try to find some really good practices for those wanting to practice, and sometimes, I'm fortunate to find video tutorials (like the crazy posters found here, video double below). Here's a good one for Illustrator. And of course, like all of my vids I post, it's quite interesting for the un-artist too.

"Spacegirl"

"Science Machine"

100 Meter Photos and The Beatles

There is a fantastic photo which can be found here that is an actual 100m long photo. Quite cool.


Also, here's a pretty interesting list of Beatles' songs in order of how good they are. I don't know if I completely agree, but here are the bottom ten and the top ten:

185. “Revolution 9”
184. “Honey Pie”
183. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
182. “Yer Blues”
181. “Good Day Sunshine”
180. “Ask Me Why”
179. “Long, Long, Long”
178. “Little Child”
177. “Old Brown Shoe”
176. “You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)”
175. “I Wanna Be Your Man”

10. “Eleanor Rigby”
9. “Something”
8. “Strawberry Fields Forever”
7. “In My Life”
6. “All You Need Is Love”
5. “Hey Jude”
4. “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End”
3. “She’s Leaving Home”
2. “I Am The Walrus”
1. “A Day in the Life”

On other random notes, Layer Tennis is a sweet little competition where two photoshoppers send a file back and forth, each adding something to the image. It looks like it will be pretty fun, and the second season starts in February. If you're into Photoshop, you should consider checking it out, since you can look at the archives and see exactly how some designers work. Sign up for season tickets (free) if you want to be informed.
And does physics not apply to most of the universe?

Some Photo Tips

David Pogue, NYTimes tech writer, has written a short piece with good tips, or reminders, for photographers, beginners and pros alike!
Check it out!
And here's another fun Photoshop tutorial!