![\"\"](\"http:\/\/psdtutsarticles.s3.amazonaws.com\/article_improving_your_ps_skills\/tut9.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n2. Experiment<\/h3>\n
The best way to learn anything new is to experience it for yourself. While following tutorials can be incredibly helpful, you should also take some time to just experiment on your own to see what you can create. You can try to apply things you have learned from tutorials, or just experiment with things you\u2019re not familiar with. Photoshop has so many different functions, features and settings that you\u2019ll really need to become familiar with them in order to understand their potential.<\/p>\n
Free form experimentation can open up your creativity and help you to get more comfortable with Photoshop. In order to ever be able to put the lessons you learn from others into practice in real world scenarios, you\u2019ll need to be able to do some experimentation and adaptation. There may be some tutorials that teach you exactly what you need to do, but more likely they\u2019ll teach you a skill or technique that can be used on your own projects, but you\u2019ll need to adjust it to fit with your particular needs.<\/p>\n
When working with experimentation, find something that works best for you in terms of learning new things. I like to work with large images by experimenting with wallpaper design because the large canvas size opens up all kinds of opportunities and you can take it in just about any direction that you want.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/psdtutsarticles.s3.amazonaws.com\/article_improving_your_ps_skills\/experiment.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n3. Start with the Fundamentals<\/h3>\n
There\u2019s so much to learn with Photoshop and so many possibilities that it is essential to get a firm grasp of the basics and fundamentals before attempting to move too far along. Like anything else, the foundation of your Photoshop knowledge is critical to the end result. If you\u2019re new, rather than trying to follow along with advanced tutorials, take some time to get familiar with the basics before anything else.<\/p>\n
Elite by Design published an excellent three-part series a few months ago on How to Master Photoshop in Just One Week<\/a>. Part one<\/a> of that series starts with some tutorials on all of the basics of Photoshop, including the interface, the tools, shortcuts and more. Having a solid working knowledge of these items will make it much easier when you want to work on something more complex later. Part two<\/a> of the series covers such topics as typography, web components and photo manipulation. Part three<\/a> covers more advanced tutorials.<\/p>\n On the subject of fundamentals, Psdtuts+ has some resources including: A Comprehensive Introduction to Photoshop Selection Techniques<\/a>, Tools & Tips: Photoshop Actions<\/a>, Tools & Tips, Smart Objects and Smart Filters<\/a>, Tools & Tips, Photoshop Brushes<\/a>, and 30+ Useful Resources for Improving Your Photoshop Efficiency<\/a>.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve learned by following tutorials and you\u2019ve done some experimentation on your own, it can be helpful to get feedback and constructive criticism from other designers. There are groups of graphic designers all over the place that can be excellent sources of feedback. Psdtuts+ has its own Flickr group<\/a> for this purpose and a number of other design blogs have their own groups as well. Additionally, there are hundreds of Flickr groups for designers that are not associated with a specific blog or website.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/psdtutsarticles.s3.amazonaws.com\/article_improving_your_ps_skills\/elite.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n4. Participate in Groups and Get Feedback<\/h3>\n