PixelPerfect With Bert Monroy

PixelPerfect With Bert Monroy | 1 GB

Be amazed and learn as master digital artist Bert Monroy takes a stylus and a digital pad and treats it as Monet and Picasso do with oil and canvas. Learn the tips and tricks you need to whip those digital pictures into shape.

Episode 1 - Lightning

Using photoshop in fantasy art. Create lightning, sparkles, and a mystical vortex the same way professional effects and movie matte artists do.

Episode 2 - Patterns and Animations

Watch as Bert teaches how Photoshop is also capable of animation.

Episode 3 - The Lamp

Bert explains the thought process that goes into making a piece of art. We'll see a complete project and then focus on Bert's attention to detail in creating a lamp in the corner of the larger piece of work using textures, layer styles, and the warp feature.

Episode 4 - Type Treatments

There's more to type than just the font. Bert applies a little fluffy, pillowy, and bubbly treatment. What's that mean? Watch the show and find out.

Episode 5 - Making Bling-Bling with Filter Tricks

Make effects by getting creative with filters and combining filters – the results may even be a girl's best friend.

Episode 6 - A Series of Tubes

Bert shows us how to make realistic looking neon tubes. Never blow glass again.

Episode 7 - From the Shadows

In this episode, Bert shows us how to use light, shadows and reflections to change the way an object looks in any given environment.

Episode 8 - The Ray Gun

Bert delves into the dark side to show off the danger of weaponized digital pyrotechnics.

Episode 9 - Layer masks & Alpha channels

Bert uses examples to explain the difference between layer masks and alpha channels. Both work the same way, but for a totally different purpose.

Episode 10 - Inside Damen 1 of 3

Bert explains how his work of art, Damen, has over 15,000 layers and 500 alpha channels by focusing on the level of detail in just a part of the train at the station.

Episode 11 - Inside Damen 2 of 3

Bert continues with his behind the scenes look at his 1.7GB digital painting, Damen, by demonstrating how his use of Illustrator and vector graphics played a role in the creation of the artwork.

Episode 12 - Inside Damen 3 of 3

Bert draws attention to the textures used in his huge digital painting, Damen. See how beams and bolts and all the rusty details within them are created.

Episode 13 - Drops of Water

The universal solvent takes center stage as Bert demonstrates how to create realistic looking water droplets and explains how in imaging it is important to study reality in order to re-create it.

Episode 14 - Rapid Weathering

All the steps for creating rusty and corroded type… old, broken-up and degraded.

Episode 15 - The Extract Command

Bert demonstrates how to pull things and objects out of an image using Photoshop's Extract Tool.

Episode 16 - Colorizing

Bert shows how to take drawings (like comics) and/or black and white photos and apply color where color does not exist. Amazingly simple and very cool.

Episode 17 - Displacement

It might take Einstein to help explain the complex physics of bending light, but when it comes to bending pixels, it is an art commonly referred to in Photoshop as displacement. Displacement can let you use the lumonosity values of one image to bend the pixels of another; a "relativity" of sorts. No offense to Einstein, but Bert can explain this one on his own.

Episode 18 - The Pen Tool

The pen tool is a very powerful tool, but a very misunderstood tool and very difficult to use. Bert spends this entire episode teaching just how the pen tool works.

Episode 19 - Banners

No, not advertising banners on websites, but banners in the original sense of the word such as described in the current wikipedia definition: "A banner is a flag or other piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or other message." In this episode, Bert shows how to create a banner that is flowing back on itself with ripples using the pen tool that he described in episode 18.

Episode 20 - Perspective

A very important thing to keep in mind when you're creating images from scratch or even putting things into existing images is the concept of perspective. Bert goes back to basics to teach this concept, starting with a horizon line and adherence to the rules of mother nature.

Episode 21 - Woodshop and Metalshop

Watch as Bert manipulates filters, among other things, to create (completely from scratch) a wooden plaque with a brass plate that has a name on it.

Episode 22 - Marquee

PixelPerfect with Bert Monroy. If this show was at a vintage movie theater, that might be the sign on the marquee outside. In this episode, Bert demonstrates how to create a marquee with lettering. The lettering is stenciled on to a thin looking, transparent plastic layer, warped and affixed to the marquee..

Episode 23 - Fire

HOT!! HOT!! HOT!! This episode is smoking hot. By popular demand, Bert works his magic and shows us how to create fire. It is not quite as simple as lighting a match, but as Bert demonstrates, it is not too much more complicated than that.

Episode 24 - Rain

The universal solvent is back. It looms, floating in a condensed visible mass, then bursts from its vaporous state, streaking to the earth at teminal velocity. Those blurred droplets called rain are a pretty simple thing to create, it's just a couple of filters and you've got it. Bert takes it a few of steps further to create a whole stormy scene with rain, lightning and an ominous sky. Oh, and there's a pirate ship in there too.

Episode 25 - The Brush Engine

Sure, lots of video games have a physics engine – ho-hum look at gravity and inertia work their magic. None of them have what photoshop has: a brush engine. The brush engine was developed back in Photoshop 7 (before CS) and is what makes Photoshop a true painting program and revolutionized the way Photoshop works. In the longest episode of PixelPerfect yet, Bert explains and demonstrates the inner workings of the brush engine.

Episode 26 - Photoshop CS3

Photoshop CS3 is out and there are so many new features and changes! Bert scratches the surface by showing off the new tools interface, non-destructive filters, and Martin Sargent. Martin Sargent?? Well, you'll have to watch for yourself.

Episode 27 - Chrome

Pimp my text!! We've all seen those car and videogame ads with the pimped out chromed text effect. Guess what? You don't need to go out and pay professional designers thousands of dollars for it. All you need to invest is about 10 minutes and watch this episode of Pixel Perfect and see how easy it is to get that nice shiney sparkly chrome effect.

Episode 28 - Water Reflections

The universal solvent is back yet again. One of its great properties is its reflection of light. In this week's episode, Bert reflects on how to make photo-realistic water reflections whether it be up close or from a distance. Not only does he reflect, he demonstrates … watch and see.

Episode 29 - Swirls

In this episode of PixelPerfect, Bert digs into his Adobe toolbox and employs Illustrator to create swirls and conjure up a weird and bizarre glow swirl effect with his Photoshop magic. Grab a chair, load up Illustrator and Photoshop, then follow along and play. As Bert always says, the best way to learn is to play.

Episode 30 - 3D Text

2D might be cool for Flat Stanley, but it isn't for text. In previous episodes, Bert showed us how to bling and pimp our text and in this episode he is going to demonstrate how we can add a whole new dimension to our words. That is right!! 3D text!!

Episode 31 - Shadows

What lurks in the shadows? Is it something scary and frightening? Nothing so nefarious in this insightful episode of PixelPerfect in which Bert casts light upon the mysteries behind creating advanced shadow effects within Photoshop.

Episode 32 - Complex Interlocking Patterns

Interlocked patterns. Little holes cut in metal. Perfect symmetry