Magazine Workshop 2025

[Donna Sillia]

  On 2/22/2025 at 5:59 PM, Clarine said:

Our little granddaughter is growing so fast.   She is such a joy to hang out with.

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What a cutie! Are those glitter shoes? I love glitter and have glitter shoes in black, gold and silver.

[Linda Rexford]

Day 6, pg 7.  So hard to choose photos for this project, I have way too many!

[Jeni Simpson]

  On 2/22/2025 at 3:39 PM, Connie Collier said:

Day 6 - it's dangerous to start adding new elements this late in the game because I'll want to go back and tweak all the previous pages. But I can't help it. The page needed a sprig. 🙂

 

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You are using some beautiful photographs, Connie. They are all so clean and clear, and they are cropped so well.

[Art Kuiper]

Well, here is my day 6 entry. We're almost at the end of this fun project. One more day to make the best magazine page of the bunch. There are so many great ideas in this forum. It's a joy to see them and get new ideas for designing meaningful images that catch people's attention.

[Gerry Landreth]

Day 4. The pictures aren't the best, but they bring back nice memories. 

Edited February 22 by Gerry Landreth

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 2/22/2025 at 4:46 PM, Rene Marker said:

Day 6. PSP layout. I did rotate the template because most of my photo were landscape orientation. I did the instructions as given for the photo. But, I also wanted to include 2 more photos that were landscape orientation. Since there were the 3 mask groups hidden, I used the top two putting a single photo in each one. Then I linked the 2 photos and moved them to the bottom of the page and aligned them with the other photo.

Affinity layout. I used the template as is with 4 individual photos. That was no problem at all. My problems started when I wanted to add text. I did a lot of screaming and scared the dog. I wanted the text at a specific point in the layers panel but it kept flipping to a different layer and changing to the Pan tool. I tried both Artistic Text and Frame Text multiple times and it wouldn't let me type any text. I even tried saving the layout in psd format and doing the text in PSP. Definitely didn't get what I expected when I opened the psd file in PSP (I'll put a jpg of that in another post). That didn't work so I had to keep trying in Affinity. I even tried Affinity Publisher and had the same issues. I finally typed my text in OneNote (where all my tips and tricks notes are for both PSP and Affinity), then tried to copy/paste to the layout. Even that took several tries before it actually worked. If my hair wasn't already grey, it would be after this session!!! I did get the layout done. 

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Rene not be able to put your text in reminded me at a somewhat similar problem I had in Affinity. In the end it had nothing to do with the text as such but with the  layer where that text was suppoost to go. That layer was not selected with the move tool and then nothing happens. Maybe your problem was different though.

[Susan Ewart]

Lesson 3, only 3 behind now.  Will likely finish next week as I need to do some "adulting" now (errands, boo hoo)

Fonts are Gill Sans Ultra Bold, Gill Sans MT (older windows versions) and the other one is Girlie...something (sorry) from CF.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to add the word "Rock in the empty space or not.  I didnt for now and will probably add the logo I had made up for the "Office of Oddities).  I also added the frame, very small and put it behind the mask.  I'm living with it for a bit to decided if I like it like that or not.

 

Edited February 22 by Susan Ewart

[Corrie Kinkel]

I'm making some extra pages for my magazine with more photos I want to use. I used 2 of the extra diamond templates, but adjusted them to accommodate the photos. I rearrange the order in which they will be presented. On the right page is a photo of one of the informationboards around the area and above it is a photo of the sign at the entrance of the Grove.

[Jeni Simpson]

Day 6
I'm all caught up, at last.
I had another photograph of the cattle in their summer retreat, this one overlooking the township of Roxburgh, in Central Otago. 

[Euka]

Day 6 and a visit to the amazing Lake Ballard - I tried to walk out to the hill but trying to keep my shoes on in the mud was too difficult!    I have added my 2nd D5 page from a previous magazine workshop on Menzies.

Edited February 22 by Euka

[Rene Marker]

  On 2/22/2025 at 9:59 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Rene not be able to put your text in reminded me at a somewhat similar problem I had in Affinity. In the end it had nothing to do with the text as such but with the  layer where that text was suppoost to go. That layer was not selected with the move tool and then nothing happens. Maybe your problem was different though.

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I couldn't even get text to work on a single layer image. I know I'm doing something wrong but haven't figured out what yet. I should look at some youtube videos and see if I can figure it out.

[DianeM]

Page 6:

[Jenny MacKay]

Day 3 that I missed posting. An interesting exercise to colour part of the text. 

[Gerry Landreth]

Day 5.

[Cassel]

@Euka I am glad that the program upgrade fixed your issue.

@Jeni Simpson You can definitely create lots of textures and with a little bit of work, make them seamless too.

@Jean Naumann It is fun that we almost have "live" photos!

@Carolyn Rye Yes, learning new tricks and techniques can be a bit challenging, but with repetitions, it will get easier.

@MoniqueN. Looking forward to seeing your magazine pages, even if they are not all of the same format for now. You might be able to resize them later.

@Jen Brown I am particularly enjoying seeing all those embroidery/sewing projects!

@Jenny MacKay Great pages. If you plan on printing them or displaying them together, make sure you create some consistency. For example, some pages have shadows, others don't. Some text looks printed on the paper, some look like they are paper cutouts. They can all be great, but it might give a more cohesive look together.

@Jacques I will have to explore that option too. I still have a lot more to explore!

@Connie Collier These pages are meant to be revised throughout the workshop since I am not teaching all the techniques on the first day. As long as you keep a layered version of your pages-in-progress, you are encouraged to go back and tweak the previous pages.

@Corrie Kinkel That is really the perfect photo for that template! I love to see some of those extra templates.

@Rene Marker That is frustrating. It has not (yet) happened to me so I don't have any suggestion/explanation for that text issue. I'll keep an eye on that and if it happens to me, I will explore further (and also put notes in my notebook). It looks like saving in PSD in Affinity does not save the "mask" part, unless it is PSP that can't read it. I wonder if there are specific settings needed for the file to be usable in PSP?

@Linda Rexford It is nice and very subtle how you used photos as backgrounds.

@Anne Lamp That is a magnificent tree and perfect for this template.

@Clarine This will end up to be such a wonderful album for her!

@Donna Sillia It is fun to see how even a resized template can still be used effectively.

@Art Kuiper If you are inspired by what others post, I am sure others are inspired by yours!

@Gerry Landreth It is a great idea to post both pages together. If you make them as a double page in one image, you can make them up to 1000 pixels in width. The 600 pixels limitation is mostly for the single pages since it makes them 600 pixels high. That last page, where you cut the template diagonally gives a great result. I think you are the first one to cut diagonally!

@Susan Ewart That reminds me of a show called "Third rock from the sun". It didn't last too long, but I remember watching it.

@DianeM That photo is perfect for the 4 quarters template!

 

[Anja Pelzer]

here is now my day 6 page

[Jeni Simpson]

Day 2 re-done
I altered the headline text to Lemon Milk, the headline font used on all other pages. I think it improves the page, and brings it into line with the others.

[Jeni Simpson]

Day 3 re-done

[Susan Ewart]

  On 2/22/2025 at 10:17 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

I'm making some extra pages for my magazine with more photos I want to use. I used 2 of the extra diamond templates, but adjusted them to accommodate the photos. I rearrange the order in which they will be presented. On the right page is a photo of one of the informationboards around the area and above it is a photo of the sign at the entrance of the Grove.

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I would love being there.  What an awesome experience you had.

[Susan Ewart]

  On 2/23/2025 at 3:44 AM, Cassel said:

That reminds me of a show called "Third rock from the sun". It didn't last too long, but I remember watching it

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I used to watch it.  I should have remembered and got the title that way.  But I was looking up other names for the earth and one description started as,  The 3rd rock form the sun, Earth..... etc"  Then I remembered about the show.  

[Carolyn Rye]

Day 5 Using Affinity.  Finally got to do this.  I found the Templates were easier to adjust than PSP.  As said in the beginning - some good, some not so good.  We need to be able to combine them both.  I still have not been able to change the color of the blue border.  I did copy it from the prior template but there must be a way to change the border color.  

[Carolyn Rye]

Day 6 using Affinity.  This was fun.  I still believe Affinity is easier to use with Templates.  I tried to do an outside border again, and I did manage to get the color I wanted but for some reason, it was wider on the right borders than the top borders.  I could not find where to adjust this.

[Cristina]

  On 2/21/2025 at 4:38 PM, Anne Lamp said:

To me that LOOK i saying " They know I don't like the water in that little bath tub, do they REALLY think I am going to let them put me in that REALLY BIG one?"  NOT!

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Anne, I love your comments! 🤣

[Cristina]

Day 5.

I had a hard time with the Text technique shown on Day 5,  using the Recolor Adjustment Layer and Mask Layer.

The outside part of the Text would disappear as soon as the mask was created.   To make a long story short, after watching the video quite a few times and comparing it with my setup, I noticed a difference in the Recolor Adjustment Layer shown in the video and mine.   I was working in Affinity 2.6.

I tried the technique in Affinity 2.57, and it worked perfectly.   However, I didn't add it to the layout because I was tired of working with it.

Nevertheless, it was a learning process, and it is an interesting technique.

 

[Ann Seeber]

  On 2/23/2025 at 10:59 AM, Cristina said:

Day 5.

I had a hard time with the Text technique shown on Day 5,  using the Recolor Adjustment Layer and Mask Layer.

The outside part of the Text would disappear as soon as the mask was created.   To make a long story short, after watching the video quite a few times and comparing it with my setup, I noticed a difference in the Recolor Adjustment Layer shown in the video and mine.   I was working in Affinity 2.6.

I tried the technique in Affinity 2.57, and it worked perfectly.   However, I didn't add it to the layout because I was tired of working with it.

Nevertheless, it was a learning process, and it is an interesting technique.

 

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I doubt if Dr. Who would fit into that phone booth, even with sci/fi magic! 😉