Adobe Photoshop Tech Tip: Saving for the Web Feature:

Illustrators, or designers that use Photoshop and Illustrator for print, sometimes struggle when converting their files for web use. Here is a general rule of thumb for the differences between preparing files for print versus for the web:

Print: highest quality settings possible to match your printer's settings
Web: highest quality possible without sacrificing download speed.

Adobe Photoshop has a Save for Web feature that allows you to prepare files for online use. You can choose from the following file extensions to save your work:

GIF: for hand drawn illustrations that are scanned or animated GIFs
PNG: for use when needing to save a file with transparencies
JPG: great for photos and common web format.

For this example, I am using an Illustrator file that I opened in Photoshop. Normally, I take a screen shot of an Illustrator file and open it in Photoshop. In Photoshop, choose File > Save for Web:

This will open your file in a new window. From here, you can choose your options in the top right, use preset features in Photoshop, or create your own settings.

In the lower left, it will give you the current status, as well as the download speed. You can change the download speed as needed. Also, I choose "progressive" under the format selections. This puts a snapshot image online of your image as it downloads. For me, I find the JPEG 80 percent settings to work just fine.

Choose save when you are ready, and it will save a copy of your work.

There are other settings you can experiment with, such as the 2 up and 4 up tabs, which will allow you to preview multiple settings simultaneously. This is just a quick way for "non web" designers to save images for the Web. Enjoy!

A.J. Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car illustration day 7:

I added more four more decals, and completed the driver's compartment of AJ Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car. 

Go to http://smantzart.blogspot.com/p/gallery.html to view more of my race car illustrations.

A.J. Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car illustration day 6:

I added more decals, rim detail and more detail on the driver's compartment of AJ Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special. Go to http://smantzart.blogspot.com/p/gallery.html to view more of my race car illustrations.

Adobe Illustrator Tech Tip: Type on a Path Tool:

Adobe Illustrator's Type on a Path Tool is great to type on a drawn line or even a shape, if you want a look different from just typing standard text. To use the Type on a Path Tool, first, draw a shape or line that you want to type on. In this case, I am going to type text on a tire, so I created a secondary circle to type on:

Next, choose the Type on a Path Tool. It is inside the traditional Text Tool in Illustrator:

With the Type on a Path Tool selected, click on the path (shape or line) you created to begin typing:

If needed, you can use the selection tool to move the path (shape or line) to place your text at the desired place:

Finally, you can go to Text > Type on a Path > Type on a Path Options, to change the appearance of your text. In this case, I am going to "flip" the text to the inside of the circle:

So as you can see, the Type on a Path Tool in Illustrator has many options. Enjoy!

A.J. Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car illustration day 5:

I added more decals, text, more driver compartment detail, and began to detail the rims on AJ Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car illustration.

A.J. Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car illustration day 4:

I added more decals, and worked on the driver's compartment of AJ Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car.

Adobe Illustrator Tech Tip: The Swatches Panel

The swatches panel in Adobe Illustrator is great for saving colors for your particular document, but it also holds other important color choices as well, such as gradients.

First, go to Window > Swatches:

Then, press the Swatches library menu button:

In this example, I am going to choose Gradients > Metals. I am going to use the steel gradients to paint the chrome on a tire rim. 

Then apply the gradient to your selection: 

As you can see, there are many options inside the swatches panel in Adobe Illustrator, and selections made in sub panels are automatically saved to the main swatches palette. The metal swatches are great for painting chrome bumpers, trim, lettering and rims!

A.J. Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car illustration day 3:

I added more decals, color to the number, more chrome and driver area to this illustration of AJ Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car.

A.J. Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car illustration day 2:

I added some color and roughed in some chrome on AJ Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson Special race car.

A. J. Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson race car illustration day 1:

AJ Foyt's 1964 Sheraton Thompson race car has been on my list to illustrate for quite awhile. I was fortunate enough to see it at a vintage car event last summer at Pocono raceway and was able to take plenty of reference photos.

Benny Parsons' 1969 Ford Torino Cobra:

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