| For most of us, learning more about the Adobe Creative Suite applications doesn't stop with reading one book. We learn from each other at user groups, online forums, conferences, through magazines and web sites. From this extensive network of Creative Suite users, here are some of the best places we know to learn and build the community. Unless indicated, these resources are free. User Groups and Associations Adobe InDesign User Group Chapters Located in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Find out where they are and what they're doing at www.indesignusergroup.com. National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) A trade association and leading resource for Adobe Photoshop education, training, and news. A year's membership is $99, or $179 for a two-year membership. www.photoshopuser.com Adobe Acrobat User Community An Adobe-supported, user-driven web site for Adobe Acrobat users. Includes a listing of Acrobat user groups around the world. www.acrobatusers.com.
Magazines, Web Sites, and Tutorials InDesign Magazine An independent InDesign journal, published in PDF. Sandee is a contributing editor. A one-year subscription is $59. A two-year subscription is $69. www.indesignmag.com Photoshop User This publication is only for members of the NAPP (described above), and isn't available by subscription. www.photoshopuser.com CreativePro.com A web site for the creative professional, with much news and information about Creative Suite products. www.creativepro.com Planet PDF Focused exclusively on the PDF community, this web site has much news, tips and tricks, and forums. www.planetpdf.com PDF Zone An alternative to Planet PDF, with a similar range of resources. www.pdfzone.com Adobe Evangelists A web site by three Adobe "evangelists," full of tutorials and tips. www.adobeevangelists.com Russell Brown Russell, Adobe's Art Director and resident clown, has some fabulous QuickTime movies demonstrating Photoshop tips and tricks. www.russellbrown.com PhotoshopSupport.com A web site chock full of Photoshop tutorials, plug-ins, actions, and other resources. www.photoshopsupport.com Ben Wilmore Ben, Photoshop trainer extraordinaire, has a web site: www.digitalmastery.com. Also a blog: http://whereisben.blogs.com. Katrin Eismann Katrin, world-famous Photoshop retouching artist, has a schedule of her classes and a few PDF tutorials. www.photoshopdiva.com Bert Monroy Bert is a world-class digital photo-realistic artist who works in Photoshop and Illustrator. His web site is a great source of tutorials from his TechTV appearances. www.bertmonroy.com Mordy Golding After several years as the Illustrator product manager, Mordy is now the brains behind rwillustrator.blogspot.com. This blog deals with all things Illustrator. Mordy also has a consulting and training company, DesignResponsibly (www.designresponsibly.com), which helps companies create error-free documents.
Conferences Conferences are exciting events and a great way to immerse yourself totally in the software. Most of these conferences are multi-day events where you attend classes or sessions on different aspects of the software. Besides the cost of the conference, you will also need to pay for transportation, hotel, and meals (although often breakfast and lunch are included at the conference). Conferences are more than just the sum of their individual sessions. In addition to what you learn in the conference rooms, there is a great deal of information traded with other attendees, as well as impromptu problem-solving during lunches and coffee breaks. These conferences are also great places for networking. Creative Suite Conference, held at various locations around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa. Sandee and Steve have taught here. www.thecreativesuiteconference.com InDesign Conference, held at various locations around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Sandee and Steve have taught here. www.theindesignconference.com Macworld Expo Power Tools Conference, where you can sign up for our two-day, Mastering the Adobe Creative Suite seminar. Just imagine, your chance to see the two of us, up close and personal. And don't forget to bring your copy of the book so we can sign it. Photoshop World Conference & Expo, held in the United States and Japan. www.photoshopworld.com PDF for Print Production Forum and Tutorials, held in conjunction with the XPlor and Graphics of the Americas Exhibition & Conference in the United States. Organized by Stephan Jaeggi, renowned European PDF expert. Sandee and Steve have taught here. Find out about the next one by emailing sjaeggi@prepress.ch.
Peachpit Press and Adobe Press Books Peachpit Press and Adobe Press, our co-publishers, publish dozens of books about the Adobe Creative Suite applications. The total number of books is too great to list here. However, in this book we have recommended the following: InDesign CS2 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide, Sandee Cohen Real World Adobe Illustrator CS2, Mordy Golding Real World Adobe InDesign CS2, Olav Martin Kvern and David Blatner. Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2, David Blatner and Bruce Fraser. Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2, Bruce Fraser. Real World Color Management, 2nd Edition, Bruce Fraser, Chris Murphy, and Fred Bunting. Real World Scanning and Halftones, 3rd Edition, David Blatner, Conrad Chavez, Glenn Fleishman, and Steve Roth. The Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book, Robin Williams and Sandee Cohen
You can view information about Peachpit Press and Adobe Press books at www.peachpit.com. |