Last week I mentioned that I had recorded new video tutorials for Layers Magazine & Psdtuts+. I have been creating videos for Layers Magazine for a while, and I was excited to have met Grant Friedman at Photoshop World. Our conversation at PSW Vegas led to the opportunity to create videos for Psdtuts+. My first tutorial Use Curves Adjustment to Turn Day to Night was posted last Friday and sent shockwaves throughout the community. Never before in the history of Psdtuts+ had such a horrendous-putrid-God-awful-stink of a tutorial ever been posted. At least, not until Saturday when my second tutorial Create a Planet Using Photoshop’s 3D Capabilities went live on the site…

*sigh*

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed with the outcome. No one wants to hear that their work isn’t acceptable. How could this happen you ask? Simple. I clearly didn’t know my audience before creating the tutorials. I have never claimed to be an artist, anyone who follows my work knows I’m more artisan & engineer. My talent lies not in what I create, but my ability to communicate & teach. I could argue the merits of both tutorials, but that would be like telling an Apple fanboy why they should by a PC. Bottom line, I missed the mark. I failed. I laid a big fat goose egg. Twice.

To Maximize Your Talents You Have To Recognize & Acknowledge Where You Suck

A colleague recently suggested I was living in a bubble of positive feedback where everyone kissed my ass and told me how wonderful I am. I can assure you, THAT is not the case. It would be easy to pass on creating future tutorials for Psdtuts+, but I’m not one to shy away from a challenge. The shortcomings in the videos I created were the final images. Can I create better images? ABSOLUTELY. Will all the readers on Psdtuts+ love my work? Probably not, but I’m willing to bet the positives results outweigh any negative reviews.