Category: Artisan 6 Tips - Robyn Foss

Why is calibrating your monitor important?

5/15/2023

During week 2 of my Artisan 6 Beginner Class we discussed the process of print preview. During class we covered the warning screen that you see after preview and before upload.

The third point states: "I understand that if my monitor is not properly calibrated that the colors on the printed material may not match exactly what I see on my monitor."

I have actually had this happen. Back in May 2016 I ordered a hardbound storybook from FOREVER. I noticed that the blues were way off.

Above: What I saw in my screen. Below: The printed book.

Below: Side by side: my screen and the book.

This is when I understood the importance of monitor calibration. I found out from another FOREVER ambassador what they used to fix this. There is a product by Datacolor called Spyder. I ordered it and have loved it. I haven't had an issue since. Below is a link to check it out on Amazon and a screen shot showing the product in use during calibration.

Check it out on Amazon

Separated Titles

1/25/2023

While I was creating the above page, I added the title on the bottom left and wanted to add more color to the page. In the process of figuring this out, I came up with the technique separated titles. In the close up images below, you can see on the left the title is just yellow. On the right, I have added a section that is pink and have applied the 3D bevel edge effect.

Click do open pdf handout

Handout includes step by step instructions as well as samples.

Samples

All fonts can be found on dafont.com.

Font Manager - Jouranling Fonts

8/29/2022

Last night during my Virtual Café I was asked what are my favorite fonts for journaling. I have LOTS of fonts. 1000's. So, my list of journaling fonts is quite long. I ended up taking screen shots of the fonts I put in the journaling group in the Font Manager in Artisan.

But, let's back up a minute. Did you know that you can organize your fonts in Artisan? First, go to the Content Manager and then in the Manage section of the Content Ribbon, click on "Fonts."

Next, your font catalog will pop up. It comes pre-loaded with some suggested groups. You can add additional groups and remove any of their suggested groups that you won't use. Then, just select one of the font groups from the drop down list, select the font(s) you want to add to it, and then click add.

You will see these font groups at the top of your list of fonts whenever you are choosing the font for a text box or text shape.

My Journaling Fonts

There are sites where you can get fonts for FREE and others that you can get bundles of them inexpensively. Here are some sites I have used before.

dafont.com: FREE
fontsquirrel.com: FREE
fontbundles.net: For purchase & some FREE
CreativeMarket.com: For purchase & some FREE

There are many more, of course, but this will give you access to many to play with.

Rainbow Puff Paint Titles

8/28/2022

Click to open PDF handout

Color Wash Layers

8/28/2022

Did you know that you can apply color wash in multiple layers to create a deeper cover of one color?

Click to Open PDF of handout

Applying Overlay to Multiple Layers

5/4/2022

You can see from the pages below what it looked like before and after I added the overlay to all layers of the page layout.

Before overlay has been added to the right side.

After overlay applied to right side.

Using Artisan 6 to Help you Plan Out Wall Art

3/30/2022

Do you have a wall you want to create canvases for? Do you have a hard time envisioning how it will all look? Well, me too! I hope that this video will help give you tips in your planning process.

Page Design Tips

3/25/2022

The Importance of updating your graphics driver

3/25/2022

Recently I was working on a project in Artisan 6 and I noticed that my work wasn't displaying correctly in the workspace. I could see the preview in the Pages tab on the right of the workspace and it looked correct, but on the page itself it was wrong.

This is the completed page.

The messed up page

Notice in the pages panel on the right that it looks different (how it should look).

I contacted support and they sent me a link for troubleshooting tips and one of the suggestions was to make sure your graphics driver was up to date as well as Windows. So, it was the graphics card for me that was not up to date. However, I hadn't taken the time to read the email and address the issue and the page got messed up again. Grrr...

Messed up again

Luckily I have been using the tip shared by Pixie Jan McCallum to keep a notepad file for my project and I upload all my pages as jpgs as well as two page snips. So, I could just check my notes and fix the page. But I am glad to have my driver up to date so I don't have to do that again.

Key Takeaways

Update graphics driver as soon as the update is available
Document what you use on pages using Notepad app.
Upload completed pages after completion so you don't have to redo the work unnecessarily.

Dramatic Look with Just a Click

2/10/2022

During my recent Historian 4 Beginner Class, I mentioned during our week 3 discussion on editing image that I typically don't convert images to black and white or sepia in Historian. I usually wait until I am on the page and use it as a way to add drama to a page.

Sample using Sepia

Sample using Black & White

You can see the full color pictures below. The black and white was definitely the better choice for the page. Barkley's (the corgi) coloring actually coordinating well with the decorative elements I was using, so I kept him full color. I used remove.bg to cut him out quickly and create room for my story.

Click to check out my upcoming classes.

Author

I've loved photography all my life. Have been making photo albums since high school. I love helping people do something memorable with their photos. Have so much fun planning workshops for people to get together and work on their photo projects, share stories and fellowship. Looking forward to making this even easier with new products that will make it a snap to finish.

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