Deke McClelland
Electronic publishing pioneer Deke McClelland is a popular lecturer on Adobe Photoshop and the larger realm of computer graphics and design. He hosts the in-box videos that ship with Photoshop and Illustrator CS4, as well as many previous versions of the programs. He has also created hundreds of hours of tutorial-style video training for industry leaders lynda.com and, prior to that, Total Training. In addition to his video work, Deke has written over 80 books translated into 24 languages, with more than 4 million copies in print. These included many For Dummies books and the bestselling title ever published on Photoshop, the Photoshop Bible. (He has since parted ways with that knucklehead publisher.)
One of the most award-winning writers in the technology market, Deke received the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Computer Book in 1989. Since then, he has garnered more than 30 honors, including seven independent citations from the Computer Press Association and an elegant-looking Russian citation that he's never been able to read. In 2002, he was inducted into the National Association of Photoshop's Photoshop Hall of Fame. (Interestingly, this was Deke's second Hall of Fame induction. His first one was in high school for his art and theater work. Who'da thunk?)
In 2004 Deke created the One-on-One™ book series, which uses video, step-by-step exercises, and hundreds of full-color illustrations to provide readers with the closest thing possible to private instruction from a recognized expert. These ambitious, self-paced guides include the bestselling Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One and Adobe InDesign CS4 One-on-One. Late in 2006 Deke teamed up with vanguard online training company lynda.com to bring the One-on-One training strategy to a line of video products, beginning with Photoshop CS3 Beta One-on-One, the first series available for the public beta of Photoshop CS3. His other One-on-One videos include Photoshop One-on-One, Illustrator One-on-One, and InDesign One-on-One: Style Sheets. One-on-One videos for CS4 are in the works.
In the design and graphics space, lynda.com is the most popular video training company and Deke is the company's most popular and award-winning trainer. In 2007 and 2008, his videos (which also include Photoshop Channels and Masks and Photoshop Sharpening Images) have won an unprecedented nine industry awards, including The Communicator, Horizon Interactive, Omni Intermedia, Ava Platinum, DV, and Hermes Creative Awards; two Videographer Awards; and the highly coveted 29th Annual Telly Award.
In Summer 2008, Deke introduced dekePod, his series of free, irreverent, once-every-other-weekly videos on computer graphics and digital imaging.
Deke is an Adobe Certified Expert, a member of the PhotoshopWorld Instructor Dream Team, and a regular speaker for the Photoshop Fling cruise seminars. Deke lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, two super-powered monkey boys, dog, cat, turtle, three-year-old tadpole, and frog. Not to mention a bunch of bugs that the youngest child keeps hiding in his room.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on April 16, 2012
Excerpted from Photoshop CS6 Beta Preview on lynda.com.
The most obvious change to Adobe Photoshop CS6 is its darkened interface. If you work in Lightroom, then you are already familiar with a dark gray workspace. If not, this Lynda.com video by Deke McClelland is a good introduction.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on February 22, 2012
Excerpted from Deke's Techniques on lynda.com.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on November 23, 2011
Excerpted from Deke's Techniques on lynda.com.
Words communicate ideas. So can photos. Combine the two and you have not just an image that's worth a thousand words, but an image that is a thousand words.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on October 31, 2011
Excerpted from Deke's Techniques on lynda.com.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on October 5, 2011
Excerpted from Deke's Techniques on lynda.com.
Starbursts are very popular in layouts and illustrations of all sorts, and that's a problem. You don't want to look like everything else! But that doesn't mean you need to give up starbursts — customize them instead.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on August 11, 2011
Excerpted from Deke's Techniques on lynda.com.
Pegasus (a horse with wings) may be a mythical animal, but you can bring it to life in Photoshop. To begin, you'll take two photos—one of a normal horse, one of a normal bird—convert them to grayscale, and combine them into the beautiful silhouette of a winged horse.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on April 7, 2011
You could call this Photoshop how-to "Deke... In... SPAAAAACE!" In this eight-minute video, I'll show you how to go from a plain black rectangle to a cosmic scene complete with stars, planets, and space gas.
All it takes is Photoshop's Add Noise and Gaussian Blur filters, some Levels adjustment, strategically placed Lens Flare, and you'll have a universe suitable for Web and print projects.
Click the screenshot below to view the step-by-step tutorial video:
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on February 24, 2011
Excerpted from Deke's Techniques on lynda.com.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on February 3, 2011
Have you ever noticed that when some objects get really hot, the edges are bright, the centers are burnt dark, and you can see heat rippling upward? That's what I'm going to teach you how to do, in Photoshop, with type.
You'll use a smoldering combination of Smart Objects, four layer effects, the Ripple filter, and the Bas Relief filter. While the results will be positively smoking, you can also tweak a few steps to make type that looks like neon.
- Features: Written by Deke McClelland on January 24, 2011
Learn how to turn ordinary type into extraordinary gold. This is no garish fool's gold, but a lovely soft, volumetric effect that will lend luster to your own creations. And because it's done with Photoshop's layer effects, your treasured text can be edited at any moment if you change your mind about its gilded message.
This particular effect doesn't require a smart object, keeps the text 100% editable, and is accomplished almost entirely using layer effects. It couldn't be more flexible.
