As you’ll have realized by now, How to Cheat in Photoshop CS5 deals with techniques, explaining how to achieve particular effects quickly and easily. Two further books take the process further.

Art & Design in Photoshop looks at how we design the book and magazine covers, posters, cartoons and packaging that we see in the world around us. Just like How to Cheat in Photoshop, it’s divided into easily digestible double page spreads, each one taking the reader through a particular aspect of the design experience. In Art & Design you’ll learn how to create covers and posters for thrillers, comedies and textbooks; examine retro poster design; and look at contemporary design styles, from The Simpsons to line action, urban graffiti and texture-heavy imagery – and it also explains how to simulate the work of some of the world’s most famous artists, including Seurat, Turner, Francis Bacon, Matisse, Andy Warhol and more.

100% Photoshop takes the photographs out of photomontage. Starting with a blank canvas, it shows how to create stunning artwork directly in Photoshop, without using any images, third party plug-ins or other applications. It shows how to draw a huge range of objects and scenes, from household items to fantasy figures, from outdoor scenes to a classical still life. Written in the same clear, step-by-step approach as How to Cheat in Photoshop CS5, it takes your Photoshop skills to a new level.

Available online and from all good bookstores.