Need help honing LO skills

[StephanieLH]

I was told by a designer that she picks her CT based on three things

1. cluster skills
2. shade
3. depth

I was not achosen for her team because there were others who had these skills stronger than me. I can not argue that but what i want to know is how, oh how, do you get better?

Shadowing is always a challenge and one I struggle with in every LO I do. But does anyone know if there are tutorials out there that actually give information that is not trial and error?

All three of these elements work together obviously and influence each other but i am at a loss where to turn to get stronger at these.

Thanks for reading.

Stephanie

[MommaTrish]

ummm... lol. Really, as far as I'm concerned, all three of those are almost always trial and error per LO. 99% of the time each LO will be different enough that on at least the shadowing and depth you will always have to adjust some. And the way you cluster is going to affect those. Because the shadowing/depth on a flower right on paper (or another "flat" surface) will be completely different than a flower on a bulky surface. As for the actual clustering, look at your elements, and then ask yourself what I do "Could that actually be on top of that in real life?"

[jacinda]

For clustering and depth, I would look at her CT Gallery layouts, and lift a few so you get an idea of what she is looking for. Really, it's just practice, practice, practice. As for shadows, One Little Bird is going to have a shadow workshop soon, so keep an eye out for that. I think she already has a good tut on her blog. The workshop will expand on that. I've also heard one of the designers at Deviant Scrap does a great workshop for shadows.

[newfiemountiewife]

It takes a lot of practice, it really does. I have styles that I've created for myself to use, so it's a bit easier, but on ribbons and the like, it's nice to warp them too, so they look more realistic. I tend to get lazy on that part sometimes though LOL.

I do believe Misty had a tutorial or two on shadows, I'll go search it.

You really have to find your own style and go with it. Style also evolves over time, trust me! But the main thing is to practice doing different things, and don't be afraid!

ETA that I searched for Misty's but the page is gone from her blog. I do know Blogger has been a pain the past few days, not sure if that's the reason. Maybe you could PM her?

[SirScrapalot]

A lot of it is trial and error, and well practice. If you look at some of my first layouts, they are downright scary. I would look around, I am sure there are some classes or tutorials about shadowing, depth, and clustering.

I did do a few posts about shadowing on my blog. My last post is a collection of all of them.

[profiler_mar]

There are a lot of shadowing tuts out there, but I have gotten lazy and use shadow styles. I can do shadows myself and have written tuts on shadowing, but with awesome shadow styles like THESE from Jenn Barrette, why torture yourself? I also use Peppermint (One Little Bird's) shadow styles. I use a combination of hers and Jenn's on every LO pretty much.

For clustering, you really have to practice and develop a style that works for you. I suggest you find scrappers you really admire and bookmark their galleries, so you can be inspired by their clustering. I did this a lot while I was developing my own individual style.

As for depth, again practice and look at galleries of people who stack and layer a lot. I love to layer like crazy on my pages, and it takes practice to get it to look realistic. A good rule of thumb is to think about how things would work in real live...could you really put a flat, sticker type element on top of a button? If you think about the way the ellies would work IRL, it will help you as well.

Lots of luck to you!!

[KristinCB]

one thing to.. ahead of everything. is making sure you are scrapping how YOU want to scrap. If you aren't wanting to do lots of clustering and lots of shadow work etc you don't have to.. just putting that out there too. I think its most important above all else to be scrapping how you want to be scrapping and not trying to be scrapping in a way that isn't you (ie in hopes of getting on a certain team etc)

Just keep scrapping is my motto - the longer you do it the more things you learn and tricks and skills will just sorta come naturally i think

[profiler_mar]

Oh yes, that is an excellent point, def make sure your scrap style suits YOU first!

[Nevada Jen]

I think it also helps to do exact scraplifts of people whose layouts you like. Its something I just committed myself to do because looking at my sad little gallery here versus some of my older layouts, I have definately lost my touch!

[profiler_mar]

Originally Posted by Nevada Jen

I think it also helps to do exact scraplifts of people whose layouts you like. Its something I just committed myself to do because looking at my sad little gallery here versus some of my older layouts, I have definately lost my touch!

I would be careful of an "exact" scraplift. But scraplifting is most definitely a good idea!

[StephanieLH]

Thankj you all for your encouragement. I have gone to Peppermint's site and downloaded her styles from OScraps. I have not wrapped it around my head how to install them yet. Maybe in the morning when I am fresh.

The other thing is I use PSP... I am taking a class in PSE9 but it is slow going. They have just started on layers. I know there is essential things I need to know about the program but they are taking bby steps. And alot translates.

Anyway, styles and actions are one of the reasons I am switching over after 7 years. I may have to play with the burn layer style in PSP and see how that does.

I guess I am being impatient with myself. And maybe too I have lost the reason why I scrap. I need to enjoy myself more and worry less about CTs.

hugs to you all!

[StephanieLH]

I don't see a link to your blog Aaron. I would love to check out those post on shadowing.

ty,
Stephanie

[profiler_mar]

Stephanie, here is the tutorial: http://www.sirscrapalotdesigns.com/b...ast-i-think-so

[StephanieLH]

TYSM!

[SirScrapalot]

Originally Posted by profiler_mar

Stephanie, here is the tutorial: http://www.sirscrapalotdesigns.com/b...ast-i-think-so

Thanks...I totally forgot...

[profiler_mar]

No worries didn't take me long to find actually!

[Stacey42]

Burn & multiply are both useful in PSP with shadowing. Screen can be good too if you duplicate the shadow layer & then use the Hue/Sat option to change the top shadow to a couple shades darker than the object you are shadowing. I usually end up with multiple layers & blends when I am doing clusters. But clusters are not my strong suit.

[newfiemountiewife]

Originally Posted by profiler_mar

Oh yes, that is an excellent point, def make sure your scrap style suits YOU first!

This is exactly right. For a long time I tried to scrap how I thought others would want, so I could get on the teams I wanted. But after I said "who cares, I'm just going to do my own thing", I got what I wanted, because *I* was shining through on my pages.

You don't want to be someone else! You want to be you!

[brooke22]

Allot of it is just practice and finding what your style is.
Clustering used to downright scare me, I dont really know why. But I have been getting allot better at it but it takes practice.

Scrap lifting is a great idea, especially with the clustering. Other people did it really well and I didn't, but lifting what they were doing it started to make more sense to me.

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by KristinCB

one thing to.. ahead of everything. is making sure you are scrapping how YOU want to scrap. If you aren't wanting to do lots of clustering and lots of shadow work etc you don't have to.. just putting that out there too. I think its most important above all else to be scrapping how you want to be scrapping and not trying to be scrapping in a way that isn't you (ie in hopes of getting on a certain team etc)

Just keep scrapping is my motto - the longer you do it the more things you learn and tricks and skills will just sorta come naturally i think

So, so true.
Yea, CT's are awesome and all, but regardless, you have to scrap for you!
I love clustering, I really do. I think the pages that do it well are simply amazing. But you know what? I can not cluster for the life of me. 700 flowers on a page may look awesome, but *for me* it's just not realistic. I come from a paper mindset, and I just can't move past that (though LOTS of people can, and again, it looks amazing). That's my style. That's my "issue". So you know what I do? I don't cluster. Cuz I'm not good at it. And there's NOTHING wrong with that!

Shadowing is definitely trial and error, and definitely something that *I* think everyone should work on. Because 500 layers or only 5, everything still needs a shadow, you know?

This is a hobby. It's supposed to be FUN! Don't stress about CT's or what the designers want, unless it's what you want too. Then them being happy is an awesome bonus to YOU being happy.

[MandaT]

Just keep scrapping, even if you don't make the CT's you want right now, it doesn't mean you're not doing it well or doing something YOU love. It just means your style isn't what the particular designer is looking for at this call.

Keep scrapping, find your style & the skills will just start to hone themselves, as you get more comfortable with doing pages YOU love, then everything else will start to fall into place too.

And when the designer has another call, apply again, sometimes it might take, 1 or 3 tries, you just never know what they are looking for.

In the end you'll have tons of pages you love, added bonus!!

[Lyd]

It probably took me a good two years of scrapping before I really found my own style and started to get good at it. I'm still learning all the time. And, some of the CTs that I have now, I applied to several times before I got on. Shadowing is key, and I think Peppermint's tutorial is one of the best out there. You can find it on her blog: http://frickonastick.com/2010/03/sha...es-the-basics/

Once I got over being intimidated and decided that it was worth it to spend the time customizing my shadows, I was a lot happier with the way my pages looked. But, like I said, there is always more to learn. So, just keep scrapping for YOU, do pages that YOU love, and the rest will work itself out.

[4noisyboys]

Originally Posted by KristinCB

one thing to.. ahead of everything. is making sure you are scrapping how YOU want to scrap. If you aren't wanting to do lots of clustering and lots of shadow work etc you don't have to.. just putting that out there too. I think its most important above all else to be scrapping how you want to be scrapping and not trying to be scrapping in a way that isn't you (ie in hopes of getting on a certain team etc)

Just keep scrapping is my motto - the longer you do it the more things you learn and tricks and skills will just sorta come naturally i think

yes!! this!

It saddens me when making a CT is the most important thing for people. Just enjoy scrapping the way you want to and do what makes you happy. If you see someones gallery you love and you want to try that style, definitely try lifting a layout of theirs and see how it goes. It might not be something you like after all. I'm personally in awe of gals that can make layouts that are so clean and hardly use any elements at all. It's one of the hardest things in the world to make an amazing layout like that. I try to lift those types of layouts.

Just relax and enjoy scrapping!!

[StephanieLH]

Thank you ladies.

I actually pulled my application for a CT on a site i do QC for. The owner was asking me why and when i told her she poo-poo'd the whole thing. She said she is not looking for the same thing as the other designer and she would not toss my application in the trash. It helped me realize that its all a matter of perspective and taste. I just have to scrap the way i love and let it speak for itself.


HUGE Hugs!

[Nettio]

I was going to recommend Peppermint's drop shadow tutorial on her blog too. It's awesome.

Peppermint and I were also guests on the Paperclipping Digi Show podcast awhile back and shared a bunch of dropshadowing tips. It's free! You can check the episode out here.

My other recommendation for learning shadowing and depth is to look at paper scrabooking layouts in magazines. The key to creating depth is not only layering your elements in a way that makes sense but also making sure you have a lot of contrast within your shadowing (so flat elements have flat shadows while bulky elements have deeper ones) and I find that seeing and studying how real-world layouts are layered/shadowed helps a lot.

[scrapsandsass]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

This is a hobby. It's supposed to be FUN! Don't stress about CT's or what the designers want, unless it's what you want too. Then them being happy is an awesome bonus to YOU being happy.

I think that is so true. Sometimes I think trying to get on a CT makes us feel like we are in high school all over again and trying to hang out with the cool kids (or maybe that is just me... LOL). Not being selected is always tough, no matter what the arena. But I think it is definitely important to find a way to document your memories in your own way and have fun doing it so you can be true to yourself. Otherwise, 20 years from now, you may look back on your LOs and feel like they are totally foreign to you or your family. Just my $.02.

And keep trying. Don't forget that everyone has had to deal with rejection at some point whether it was in the digi world or elsewhere. I read an article today about a woman who wrote a book and was rejected by 26 publishers. She self-published, went and sold them out of her trunk, and now has been picked up by a publisher.

[heathergw]

this is exactly it...

Originally Posted by StephanieLH

I just have to scrap the way i love and let it speak for itself.

yes, it's always fun to grow in your hobby and learn new things, and if you love your pages, that's all that matters.

[ColleenSwerb]

Every designer is looking for different things from their CT too. Clustering may be important to one, whereas another loves clean-lined minimalism.

You can't please everyone, so you have to please yourself first.

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

Every designer is looking for different things from their CT too. Clustering may be important to one, whereas another loves clean-lined minimalism.

You can't please everyone, so you have to please yourself first.

So true.