A brief introduction to color settings

If you already asked yourself why your pictures were not the same colors when you send them via mail, or why they don't look the same on the internet and on your computer, this tutorial is for you.

It's been 19 years now that I use Photoshop for movies, prints on paper and the internet. Photoshop is pretty straightforward, but there's a few things that were always difficult to handle.  The color settings is one of these. It's a very important point, and I'm always surprised to see how little artists actually know or care about it!

Here's a picture seen on my mac with basic color settings, and exactly the same when seen on a basic browser on the internet.  Do you see the point? 

When you draw on a piece of paper, a picture is a picture and what you see is what you get. 

But you always have to adapt to the color of the paper (never perfectly white) and the impediments of the medias ( no luminous red in gouache).

On your computer it's just the same. There's parameters. At some point programers found interesting to try to counter balance the picture you have on your screen with color settings, to fit some use or another (web, print, cinema). It's like, the temperature of color is so and so, but it displays differently with different color settings. Talk about a pain for the color lover.

There's color settings on every steps of a picture process, and very little people are aware of them. Your scanner will apply one set, then the software you use, then the printer, and sometimes the internet browser. It's very difficult, even for professionals, to be aware of every steps. If it's not consistent form beginning to end, the colors will change and it can be a huge problem. 

There's 3 kinds of color settings in Photoshop. You will have settings that applies to the software itself and the way it displays pictures. You will already have some settings on the picture itself, or you can apply some in Photoshop. And then you will have the possibility to export your picture in a setting or another.

Weirdly enough, the way to change the color settings isn't the same from one Photoshop version to another. Please check your documentation for more information.Before doing any picture, check the settings (shift+command+K) or choose edit>color settings in newer versions, looking in the preferences for older versions.  Choose according to your needs. For the internet, it's better to choose sRGB, even if some browsers like Safari are able now to detect a different profile.

I'm not really fond of SRGB, but I had to adapt myself to it because it's the default one in numerous applications (baaah). Then make a new picture according to these settings, or open a pre-existing one. Say yes when asked to convert to the new settings. Color will look different sometimes, it can even be a HUGE surprise. Correct accordingly. You a can also assign (dangerous) or convert (better) an opened picture to the new setting (look in the Edit menu to find these options).  Photoshop has also a specific module for saving for web and devices  (File > Save For Web & Devices) 

 It's different in each version, but basically, look around until you have found the "convert to" and"saves as" sRGB option. It doesn't exist in all the versions. If you have an older version (pre CS3), make sure you converted your picture in sRGB first. If you don't pay attentions and build a picture in Photoshop with unadapted color settings ( like Adobe 1998 instead of sRGB for the net), then it might appear different on a media that accepts only sRGB. I learned it the hard way with Non Dairy and had also the problem with my first Moo Cards. It is important to make sure that, in and out, all your color settings match.

In conclusion, I recommend to ALWAYS check with your client what kind of color setting they need for the finished product. If the client doesn't know, choose sRGB by default, and ask for test prints if possible.

(dites si vous ne comprenez pas, demandez dans les coms, je ferais une traduction, mais la je n'ai pas le courage d'y passer les heures nécessaires, merci!)

seven characters inspired by the toys on my desk.

Summer time

Et moi je suis allee me coucher

If you feel a bit down, listen to your favorite song. If not feeling better, mark the rythm. If it doesn't work, danse. If it still doesn't work, sing. 

If not doing better, go to bed. 

I'm off.

Multitasking

The post is actually the French translation of the picture . Click it to see a bigger version.

Je ne me souviens pas du tout, mais pas du tout avoir dessiné cette voitu' de course  sur la page ou je peignais ma botte de radis.  Par contre, je me souviens très bien du petit machin haut comme 4 pommes* qui est passé derrière moi pendant que je peignais, avec l'air très concentré et un arrosoir plein. 

Je crois que j'ai dessine la voiture de la main gauche pendant que je finissais la peinture de la droite. Et que c'est comme ça que j'ai sauve le plancher, le chat, ma santé mentale, et la journée.

Yo.

* Il est grand pour son âge.

The cutest cookbook ever written

I'm delighted to share with you the best news in cookbook publishing for a very long time indeed! Random house is re-publishing the odiously forgotten Mud Pies & Other Recipes, from Marjorie Winslow, with original illustrations from Erik Blegvad. I myself own the first 1961 edition (on the picture), and it's one of my favorite books ever.

The author details no less than 42 recipes to cook in and from the garden, with staples like mud pies a la mud, and the never to be forgotten dandelion soufflé, a recipe which needs the most light hand for the utmost delicate results.

The recipes are always clear and easy to follow, with hardly more than ten lines per recipe, a simplicity only met in the best French cookbooks like la Cuisine de Mapie or the Ginette Mathiot. You can tell by reading them that the author really knows her subject, and has a long and full experience of cooking for dolls. Everybody knows how such a public is difficult to content, but believe me, it is impossible to do better.

My favorite recipe is the fried water. It's a bit on the heavy side, but with such a dish you can feed the dollies AND the flowers. As a mom and a gardener, I can't but appreciate a double duty that will save me a lot of work.

Join us in celebrating forgotten times when cooking was a game, with this delightful vintage book with exquisite illustrations. You can pre order here. I sincerely hope that it will be a great success. Unfortunately it was never translated in French, and I do regret it, because I would make the gift of this chef d'oeuvre to every little girl I know, as a very necessary complement to their culinary education. Please Random House, do translate!

Sample from the book:

Fried water

Melt one ice cube in a skillet by placing it in the sun. When melted, add 1 cup water and sauté slowly — until water is transparent. Serve small portions, because this dish is rich as well as mouth-watering.

Brilliant!

Mud Pies and Other Recipes, Marjorie Winslow and Erik Blegvad, published by Random House, ISBN: 978-1-59017-368-8 (1-59017-368-6) On Sale: October 5, 2010 Price: $15.95

Chez moi-Home

Dans la brise de mer, la voix d'un enfant qui joue, l'ombre de la treille, et mon the a la menthe qui refroidit.

 In the cool sea breeze, the voice of a child playing, the shade of the apple tree, sipping mint tea.

Art store, toy store

I can't believe it took me 20 years to get the courage to actually test the art material on the paper I use, instead of buying it and hating it at home.

J'aime bien dessiner des formes et puis faire des persos autour, c'est un peu rigide comme technique, mais ça délie l'imagination. 

Quant au masking tape, c'est du faux archi faux, j'en veux avec mes motifs à moi maintenant. Peut-être qu'en imprimant sur washi. Il faut que je tente!