Here are 5 tips that will save you time:

• Straighten images: If you have an image that is crooked and needs to be straightened, all you need to do is- go to the “ruler tool” which can be found by clicking and holding on the eye dropper tool. With the ruler tool selected click on 2 points to match the crooked angle. Then go to “Rotate canvas” found under “Image” from the top menu, click on “Arbitrary” and you will see that the angle has already been entered, now click on OK and voila.

• Rotate view tool: This tool will rotate the entire canvas, while this is not a tool for creating art itself, it is an essential part of the process. Rotating the canvas allows you to view your art in a different light, which will help notice things that you normally wouldn’t. Its easy to get caught up in the small intricacies while loosing sight of the overall look and feel. This tool will act as a second opinion.

• Group layers: Layers is one of photoshop’s greatest features. I personally use plently of layers while working, this helps me go back to a layer and not have to re-create it, but this makes it hard to find and manage layers. Do these two simple tasks every step of the way and it will save you a lot of time and effort. First- name all layers to match what’s on them, Eg. red ribbon (this can be done by double clicking on the layer’s name). Second- group a set of layers that belong to each other. Eg. Ribbons & Bells (This can be done by holding the ctrl key while clicking all the layers you want to group, next press ctrl+g, rename the group and your done)

• Pre-plan your output: Begin with your end in mind, Decide how you are going to use the art once completed, will you print it on a business card or on a poster or will you use it on the web. If your going to print it out, you should think about what size and set the resolution to atleast 300 pixels/inch and color mode to “cmyk”. If you plan to use it  on the web set the resolution to 72 pixels/inch (to allow your image to load faster)and colour mode to “rgb”.

• Save space, by working smart: Photoshop files can at times take up a lot of space on your drive, you can save space by hiding all the layers prior to saving the file. This is especially useful for large files with lots of layers and at times can save you close to 50% the size. (To hide a layer- click on the eye at the left side of the layer.)

These tips should work for most recent photoshop versions.