Acknowledgments

First and foremost, a massive thank you goes out to my wife Janet. She has always encouraged and supported me. Even when I decided that writing a book would be no problem with a brand new baby in the house. And speaking of babies, a big hug and thank you goes out to our wonderful daughter Charlotte. Her mission thus far seems to be teaching the old man that there is much more to life than work. She is succeeding. Another big hug goes out to Charlotte’s little sister Isabella. She is the wonderful new addition to the family that coincided with the CS4 edition of this book.

Thanks to my mother for always being supportive in my pursuit of art. She always made sure that I received art supplies every year at Christmas. I hope she plans to continue this tradition with her granddaughters in the years to come.

Thanks to Garrick Webster for writing the foreword to this book, and also for being the person responsible for turning me into a writer all those years ago. I’m glad that I know exactly who to blame for all of this. Thanks to Philip Cheesbrough for changing my life by introducing my art to the entire world; seriously Phil, it may seem insignificant to you but this was a life changer.

A very special thanks to all of the editors I’ve worked with over the years: Dan Oliver, Andrea Thompson, Paul Newman, Gillian Carson, Vicki Atkinson, Dom Hall, Joseph Russ, Alex Summersby, Shaun Weston, Tom Mugridge, and anyone else that I may have forgotten to name here. Also, a huge thanks goes out to all of the art directors who have been, and in many cases, continue to be a pleasure to work with: Roddy Llewellyn, Esther Lamb, Johann Chan, Matt Harvey, Martha Weaver, Dyan Parro, Domenic Macri, Jeff Kibler, Mike Mansfield, Erik Spooner, Michael Di Ioia, and the dozens of others that I am surely forgetting to mention here.

A special thanks goes out to Rob Wright at the Toronto Star newspaper. He was the first person to ever commission my work regularly, and although he claims that he was only exploiting me at the time, this was integral to me becoming a successful illustrator. He just won’t admit that he had anything to do with it.

Thanks to Ron and Ann Katz at Kamdar Studios in Toronto. They provided a position for me at their studio that was admittedly demanding, but integral to me learning everything about Photoshop that I know now. Nicest people I ever worked for. Of all the jobs I had, it was the only one that I didn’t end up hating.

Thanks to all of my friends and family who have donated their modeling services over the years.

Thank you to Orlando Marques for agreeing to photograph the model that you see on the cover. Thanks to Josie Lee for agreeing to be that model. And thanks to Carla Marques for her excellent work on Josie’s hair and makeup. You were all a pleasure to work with, and thank you for donating your services to such a worthy cause.

A very special thanks goes out to Steve Caplin. Every once in a while you come across a truly selfless person, and that is Steve. His enthusiasm for this project and willingness to offer advice were invaluable. Everyone should check out his book How to Cheat in Photoshop; it is the perfect companion to this one.

A massive thanks goes out to Mike Shaw, senior quality engineer at Adobe. He agreed to go through this manuscript yet again in microscopic detail, which was a daunting task to say the least. His meticulous work was helpful in so many ways that there literally isn’t enough room to go into it here. Thanks again Mike.

Also, I’d like to thank Valerie Geary, Emma Baxter, Marie Hooper, Carlin Reagan, and everyone else at Elsevier/Focal Press. You are an exceptional group of people, and every step of this process has been a pleasure because of you. I am looking forward to the next edition.

Thanks to Sean Palmerston at Sonic Unyon Records for arranging permission to use the Nein’s press photo. Thanks to my longtime friend Mark DiPietro of Teenage USA Recordings for allowing me to reproduce the Weekend’s press photo. Also thanks to Paul O’Connor from www.paulandpaul.co.uk for allowing me to use his lovely model photo as a resource.

And finally, a huge thank you goes out to all of you who read my books, tutorials, articles, and like my artwork. Thanks for all of your e-mail messages; I get so many from all you that I cannot possibly reply to all of them. Please don’t think that your feedback is unappreciated if I do not reply to you; that is not the case. There just aren’t enough hours in each day for me to reply to everyone.