Creative Photoshop CS4  by Derek Lea

Derek Lea wrote this book to create for the rest of us the book he always wanted but couldn’t find: a volume that would not only instruct but would also inspire. He wanted his readers to have a launch to expressing out own artistic imaginings through Photoshop.

This is a book of projects. Each chapter presents an artistic rendering with all the necessary instructions. Resource file needed for each project are available online. Chapters area also rated as to difficulty and lists the background knowledge the reader should have to be able to successfully render the piece for themselves. The use of Lea’s rating system may serve to guide some in choosing an order for proceeding through the projects. Really, the book is like a candy store with each project so tantalizing as to make choosing which to do next, difficult. Also, the necessary background knowledge information gives the reader an opportunity to brush up on skills before starting a project and possibly avoiding frustration.

I found the lack of a Table of Contents a bit annoying at first. The text is not designed to be worked from cover to cover but rather from project of choice to project of choice in no particular order. Without the table of contents, however, one must leaf through the entire book to find the next desired project. On the positive side it is quite fun to see all the lovely surprises Lea has tucked between the covers of his book. It turns out to be quite easy to flip directly from chapter to chapter as  Lea thoughtfully put chapter representational drawings and numbers in color coded banners at the top of every page.

As if we haven’t had enough fun with the projects he guides us through in the book, Lea leaves his reader-students with a challenge at the end of the book: to re-create his cover image. He supplies all the resources and none of the directions. Like any really good teacher, however, he has already taught us everything we need to know: all that remains is for us to apply what we’ve learned to be rewarded with an amazing image of our re-creation. Who could ask for more digital fun than this!