// November 9th, 2011 // Comments Off // Book Reviews, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft
You can purchase this book from the from Amazon or from the authors here:
Purchase on Amazon
http://www.duirwaigh.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=793&Itemid=111
So you have photoshop.
If you have photoshop then you probably have a huge technical tome of some sort that you intend to read so that you can really use photoshop.
Someday. When you have time.
That’s why I have to say I’ve really enjoyed Digital Art Wonderland. This is a book that gives you the keys to the castle without having to drag all the bits there stone by stone. Does it explain every technical detail behind the tools it encourages you to play with?
No, and isn’t that a relief? 
To work best with the techniques described here the authors recommend that you have Adobe Photoshop CS5 but they also note that CS3 will work. I have CS4 and haven’t struggled at all.
This has opened so many creative doors for me and I plan to do much more exploration because now that I don’t have that huge technical manual staring me in the face I feel like playing and play is the main focus of this book. Learn to let go, click around, and see what happens.
There are excellent explanations of layers which in particular have frustrated me for a long time. Armed with a bit of understanding whole new vistas of exploration open up. There are also suggestions and instructions on using scanning, paper ephemera, your own hand drawn art, and vintage stock images to create artwork that is truly yours.
Below you will find a few papers that I came up with when I was playing around with the instructions. They are not elaborate at all but I thought some of you would have fun printing them out and cutting them up for collages, journal pages, or whatever you can think of. These are free to use, share, and enjoy. If you do make something wonderful I would love to see what you’ve done! I want to do some more keyholes myself and then do a collage on a wooden box, I have a fascination with the idea of stepping through to unexplored places.
Here is the PDF file:
Digital Art Papers PDF file
If you like to do digital art but want to dispense with a good amount of techy stuff and just play then Digital Art Wonderland is a great jumping off place.
