Graphic Design & Layout with Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements (PE) is a program that is powerful enough to edit photographs for book publications. I began to wonder if it could be used to create graphics from scratch. The thought was prompted by many of my books containing not only photographs but also maps, charts, flow diagrams, etc.

A little bit of experimenting produced the graphic to the right. It is part of a Power Point presentation on how to get your manuscript published by a publishing house (a new course to be offered by COCC). The illustration depicts the process of going from an idea, to having a publishing house accept the manuscript, to the publishing process, with royalties being paid to the author.

The illustration is a series of clip art images that I found in MS Word and MS Power Point programs. I copied them, saving them as JPG files. Next, I opened a document in PE using the New command and sized the new page. Then, I began to place the graphics on the new page, using a new layer for each one.

The arrows are one of the options within PE. I used a new layer for each one. The most difficult part was making sure the arrows were about the same size.

I used the Text function of PE for the dollar signs, placing them on their own layer.

Lastly, I moved the items around until I was satisfied with the overall balance and saved the illustration as a JPG file.

Admittedly, it took awhile to get it right but it sure beat the heck out of buying yet another program.