Proofing

Printers provide proofs on paper (sometimes called "bluelines") or in digital form. Your job as a proofer is to look at both the details and the big picture. Don't make needless changes -- at this stage, any change can cost money. Here are some of the questions you can ask as you proof a document:

• Is all the copy there? Is it where it's supposed to be?
• Are the pages in the right order?
• Are all graphics and photos in place?
• Are there any blemishes or dust spots in the proof? Note them -- they may be minor, but they may reflect flaws in the film from which the final piece will be produced.
• This isn't the time for minor rewrites, but by all means note and fix any major text flaws -- misspellings in headlines, that kind of thing.

What Do Production Artists Do?

Production artists are vital to any industry that involves visual work. They are the people who get the job done, laying out pages, separating images for screen printing, taking the designer's drawing of the Evil Elf character and deploying it in four different views on the video game box.

Many creative artists start out in production jobs. If you are quick, dedicated and learn quickly, it is possible to stay in this role and earn decent money. Design shops will often bring in a freelance production artist to fill in when they're overbooked, or to free up full-time staffers for more creative roles.

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator is a standard in print graphics production, and is a useful skill for a freelance production artist. Its powerful tools may take a little time to learn.

One of its advantages is being resolution-independent. That allows artists to work in relatively small files (reducing computer crashes and wait times), but still be able to export them at large sizes and excellent resolution.

Illustrator is most valuable in print environments, so if your design focus is on the Web you may be able to get by without learning it. Still, it's a useful tool to add to your resume.

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is an essential skill for a print or Web production artist. As the name indicates, it is at its best when working with photographs, and has limitations when it comes to the creation of original graphics.

To combat widespread software piracy, Adobe also sells a reduced version of Photoshop called Photoshop Elements. This is considerably cheaper than the full version and is adequate for Web graphics, but does not contain many of the prepress features needed for professional-quality print work.

A key feature of Photoshop is its "filters" menu, which allows easy manipulation of a photograph to look like a watercolor painting, a windswept landscape, a stained-glass window, and so forth. Beyond the filters packaged with the program, a number of third-party "plugins" are available to help you achieve a specific look.

Typography

One of the easiest ways to create a "look" for a printed piece is with proper typography. Production artists, who generally work on tight deadlines, need a solid knowledge of fonts, type styles and design issues involving type.

This goes well beyond deciding whether to use Times or Arial. Good typography includes knowing how many font faces to use in a single document (no more than four, two is better) and how to kern a display headline so that no two letters are too close or too far apart.

It also helps to be able to spell (sorry, being a designer does not exempt you!) and proofread.

Preflighting

Preflighting is a specialized skill that involves checking your graphics files to be sure they fall within the specifications of the printing equipment you plan to use.

While much preflighting today is automated, printers still have to make time-consuming and expensive corrections more often than they (and their clients) would like. That's why a knowledge of preflighting is a valuable skill for a freelance artist.

One of the ways to develop this skill is to work closely with a printer. It's in the printer's best interest to educate a regular client about the limitations of the available equipment, so a good printer may be willing to take the time to teach you how to do this well.

Revisions

The design process for any product, from a simple brochure to a full-length film, involves multiple rounds of revisions in between the first execution of a concept and the finished product. Many organizations will bring in a freelance artist to handle these revisions and let their existing creative teams work on the next project.

These types of jobs require the ability to get on board with a project quickly, follow detailed directions, and make sense of sometimes-conflicting instructions. You'll need a solid knowledge of any program you're working in, including shortcuts to get the revisions done in a hurry. (It's always a hurry.)

Press Checking

The design industry has a great many standards, computerized color checking, electronic transmission of files to presses. Yet printing is still an inexact science. Colors that match up perfectly in the computer still come out just a little bit off -- and then your CEO's nose looks red, your beautiful green grass looks a sickly yellow, or the color separations don't quite line up right.

One job a production artist may be asked to do is press checking -- going over a product as it comes off the press, suggesting color corrections and looking for printing errors. This is not the time to fix the headline or substitute a new photo -- you're only looking for things the press operator can control.

When doing a press check, respect your press operator. Ask or suggest rather than order, and listen when the press operator explains compromises that may have to be made -- sacrificing the fidelity of one photo so as not to throw another too far off, for example.

Time is money, both for your employer and for the press operator. So be thorough, but be quick. When the product is almost right, go ahead and let the press operator start the run. Minor corrections can be made as the press is running.

QuarkXpress

QuarkXpress has been a standard in page design software in the design industry for more than a decade. While competitors, notably Adobe InDesign, have emerged, Quark is still a vital piece of software for a freelance artist to know.

Quark is most commonly used on Macintosh computers, though the company does publish a Windows version. If you are a student, you may purchase an academic version for a reduced price, though it is considered unethical to use this for commercial work.

If you are familiar with older versions of QuarkXpress, it may be a good idea to get some time in using QuarkXpress 7, which has a number of new features. Quark has also released QID (Quark Interactive Designer), which allows the designer to add Flash animations to Xpress projects.