We’ve had amazing milestones on multiple marketplaces in the last week or so. When I heard the news it reminded me of the timing and significance of all the planets aligning on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Well, maybe that’s because I’m an Envato fanboy. But don’t miss the details below.

I’m sure you already closely follow the sites you have the most interest in. Here are some interesting things from the rest of the Envato world you may have missed this week.

The Marketplaces

When the Planets Align by Torley

Marketplace Growth Officer Scott Wills told us the amazing news on Yammer this morning. Lots of marketplaces have just gone to the next level. Here are the details:

• GraphicRiver broke 40,000 items.
• AudioJungle broke 50,000 items.
• We’ve surpassed 5,000 items on ThemeForest.
• And VideoHive has surpassed 15,000 items.
• And the big one: We now have over a MILLION marketplace items.

Scott’s response says it all: “How can something insane be so stunningly beautiful?” Yeah, it sounds like the planets aligning to me.

Congratulations to the marketplace team and our hard working authors. That’s a lot of items!

The Tuts+ Network

Tuts+ Manager David Appleyard recently posted the Top 33 tutorials for January from across the network. Check them out!

AppStorm

Here are some articles of general interest from across AppStorm this week:

FreelanceSwitch

There were some great posts on FreelanceSwitch this week. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Five Tips for Running a Successful Home Office
• The Euro Crisis Presents a Unique Opportunity for Freelancers
• Why Sleep is so Important for Freelancers

Well, that’s it for this week. What was the highlight of your week?

One of the more interesting additions to the Elite program has been the price adjustment tool that we offered at the entry point to the program. However late last year we put it on hold to assess its impact, how it was working, and most importantly our broader direction for pricing. And unfortunately I’m writing today to let you know that we are officially shelving the tool.

As you know the marketplaces are based on the premise that items have their prices set when they go up for sale. For a long time we’ve wanted to move towards a more dynamic model for pricing, and this tool was our first attempt at adding a dynamic component. While it has had some success, it’s become clear to us that it’s not the long term solution. We are now working up our next iteration of making pricing more dynamic, which I hope to announce details of a little later this year. In the meantime the current tool has been removed from use.

Envato Elite $75k Mark

With the price adjustment tool removed, we’d still like to have some benefits to hitting the $75,000 sales mark (aside from making lots of money!) So as of today you will see on our Envato Elite page that there are some new additions that we will be rolling out for our current 160 authors.

Specifically when you cross into the Elite program, all your items will receive a badge marking them as the work of an Elite author to help distinguish these items for buyers. If you’re a forum user you’ll now be able to give yourself a custom forum title which is good for a bit of fun. And every Elite author will get 12 months of access to our Tuts+ Premium product which includes all our RockablePress books, a bunch of courses and lots of other materials to keep your skills improving.

We’re still cooking away more improvements to the Elite program, and will be back to share both those and more details of our pricing plans in the near future.

In the meantime I wanted to give a personal apology for the inconvenience of not having access to the price adjustment tool. I know many existing and new Elite authors were warming up to the tool and increasingly using it. And I realize that in those cases, our new additions will likely not make up for the removal.

I’d hoped to announce the new plans along with this change, but we aren’t quite ready and for pricing changes it’s really important to be completely ready! I’m confident however that when we do roll them out, this new iteration will continue to make selling with Envato even more profitable! In the meantime, all items that have been repriced will remain at their last price.

If you have any questions, please feel free to add them in the comments or on the forums and I’ll pop around and answer them!

Have you checked out the marketplaces’ free files for January? Download them while you can!

VideoHive: Fallen Galaxy

• No plugins required
• Pre render optical flares
• Resolution: 1280×720
• 7 text placeholders
• 10 Planets Texture
• 13 Space Elements
• 1 Text Texture
• Duration: 50 Sec
• Archive size: 260 mb
• Include video tutorial (How to paste your text)
• Music only for preview
• If you like it follow me

GraphicRiver: SWAMP STYLES V2

Swamp Styles V2. Download file includes:

1. a PSD Photoshop file with all the styles applied to text
2. a Photoshop ASL file with 6+ styles
3. a PSD file with the PNG objects – moss, vines, dragonflies, grass, moss – that you can add on top your text for more realistic style
4. a help file that explains how to use the styles.

Font names and links to free Font download inside the Folder!

3DOcean: Helpcopter

A model helicopter is made in 3d max 2011. In Render-paradise sp4a 1.50. The model is best for the second plan. It’s easy to animate and use in games, booklets, postcards, videos.

CodeCanyon: Menu Maker CSS3 jQuery

This is a JavaScript code that gives you a friendly tools of making a navigation Menu bar with a rounded corner and a smooth animation for search input box. Making navigation menu was never been so easy. All you got to do is dragging the slider bars to change the menu properties.

Tutorials: Create a Vector Fighter Jet

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a fighter jet using 3D modeling. You’ll create complex lighting effects on its body using the Appearance palette and simple gradients. You will also learn about the technique of creating special Art Brushes, which will help turn any of your future work into professional images.

PhotoDune: Count money

A man counts money isolated on white background.

ActiveDen: AS3 XML Image Pan Map with Tooltips

The AS3 XML Image Pan Map with Tooltips is a sophisticated AS3 component allowing you to setup an interactive map with points of interest and labels. You can choose whether to have a panning map or a static, non-moving map. Everything is customizable easily via a XML config file and the long list of available parameters will make sure that all your clients needs are fulfilled.

All three examples in the preview were created by simply editing the XML config files. There is no need for you to open flash in order to utilize this component at its full potential.

AudioJungle: Firefly In A Fairytale

When we think of fairytales, we either think of something magical, something fantastic (or like a fantasy), or a story with a simple message, and/or that takes us to another place. This track (and other tracks in my Fairytale series) aim to reflect that ideology.

This track represents a firefly. When I picture a firefly, I see lots of lights, and twinkles, hence there are a lot of bell sounds in this track. I also think of electricity, and so there are a lot of synths in this track too. The structure of this one piece follows the ‘ABA’ form, with the middle section ( being significantly darker than section A. However, with this contrast, it makes a piece of music that ebbs and flows.

Perfect for sites, backgrounds, presentations that require something ethereal and relatively uncomplicated.

ThemeForest: Clean HTML CSS Template

6 Types of Sliders (Hot !!!) 42++ Validated xHTML pages Unlimited Color Schemes & Skins Cufon Font Replacment Ajax, Validated Contact Form 960 Grid System Design & Markup Standart 6 Types of Pricing Pages, 12 Sidebar Elements 9 Colors of Styled Buttons Tables, Boxes, Accordions Tabs, Toggles
Easy to Use & Costomizable & Much More …

If you’re a coder looking for something to read, I have the perfect gift for you. Game Coder Magazine has just come out, and Issue 1 is totally free! (Registration is required.)

The website’s About page gives a good summary of what to expect:

Game Coder Magazine is a payable bi-monthly magazine devoted to game development. It covers the trends in game programming, presents useful tools, techniques and tutorials.

Our magazines are useful for everyone interested in game development, both professionals (game developers, game programmers) and hobbyists.

The magazine is released only in digital form, every issue is available for download in pdf from our website.

What exactly is in Issue 1? Here’s a summary from the press release.

Creating Games in Corona SDK
by Michelle Fernandez
The world of game development has become increasingly popular in the past couple years among many mobile platforms such as iOS and Android. In this article, we’ll be learning how to make a simple 2D shooter type based game in Corona SDK from start to finish in less than an hour. With Corona SDK you can develop games on Mac or PC, so everyone can join in on the fun.

Starting mobile game development
by Sebastián Castro
The word ‘mobile’ became very popular in the computer world in the last 10 years. In the last 2 years it is ‘mobile games’. All of us know games about birds vs pigs, ropes cut and fruits destroyed and those games are associated with the word ‘millions’. Millions of downloads and millions of dollars. All of us (game developers) feel really tempted to go mobile and become millionaires with our super duper game. It is possible.

Simple Snake-based Game Using C#
by Lorik Abrashi
My goal was to create a game using Panels that are similar to the game “Snake”, in 2 dimensions. In the game we come across some sort of “foods” that the snake eats, and while eating this food, the tail of the “Snake” grows. In this game, the tail does not grow. Therefore, I have created some random obstacles and every time the snake takes points, the obstacle appear randomly and increase in number. As the score gets higher, the walls begin to move horizontally and vertically to make the game more difficult.

Organizing UI in WNA using XML files
by Bogdan Tănăsoiu
When developing a game we often find ourselves in the middle of a fight: How much time will we spend on crafting new features? How about time spent on polishing it? And so on… A couple of headaches from the past made me want to write this article that, I sincerely hope, will aid as many of you in your future endeavors regarding game development.

Creating anti-aliasing and motion blur effects
by Marcin Chełkowski and Michał Kawecki
During the design process of latest addition to one of our most known franchises – the Ski Jumping series – we decided to go fully 3D. When it comes to programming on iOS platform one of the most challenging aspects are special effects, especially anti-aliasing and motion blur, because of lack of native support on the OS side. Below you will find out how we managed to deal with those matters. Dig in!

Interview with Akira Mobile
It is very important to have a strategic plan about what your game will be about – what is your game’s key feature? We decided early on that our game will be about city building and strategic war experience. Everything else is secondary, but these things we want to get right and focus a lot of resources there.

So download Issue 1 and check it out. If you like what you see, take advantage of this discount: Buy a year subscription to Game Coder Mag and get a free year subscription to Software Developer Journal completely free!

What do you think about Game Coder Magazine? Let us know in the comments.

We want to hear from you. Each week we give you a chance to share your thoughts, opinions and ideas. Have your say!

How tidy is your desk? Does it stay that way? Are you more productive when it’s clean or messy?

Congratulations to GraphicRiver author retinalsin (real name Serhat Özalp) whose work has been featured in the latest issue of Advanced Photoshop magazine! Serhat’s file 18 Paint Textures is being given away on the cover CD of issue 92 of the popular Photoshop magazine. Well done, Serhat!

18 Paint Textures by  retinalsin, $4 (or FREE in Issue 92 of Advanced Photoshop)

Well done, Serhat, always exciting to see/hear GraphicRiver being mentioned in print!

Many of us dream of working full time on our own design business, either as freelancers or marketplace authors or a combination of both. Success stories like Kriesi selling a million dollars worth or Peerapong earning almost $50K in a month pour fuel on the flames of that dream. But what does it actually take to start your own design business?

David Horn recently answered that question on FreelanceSwitch with a helpful article called 9 Steps to Starting Your Freelance Web Design Business. He takes the mystery – and glamor – out of the process with nine practical and essential things you have to get done in order to succeed. So instead of just spending your lunchtimes at your day job dreaming of having your own business, now you can get started doing tangible things that will actually help you realize your goal.

I don’t want to steal David’s thunder – you really should head over to FreelanceSwitch and read the whole article, which includes valuable lists of resources. But I do want to whet your appetite so you’ll consider making the trip. So here’s a quick summary of the nine things you need to do to get started:

1. Calculate start up costs. David has a practical list of costs to consider, including software and equipment.
2. Establish your brand. It’s better to carefully consider what you’re going to call your business and how you’re going to present it to the world before you get started. Changing down the track can be difficult.
3. Create your own portfolio website. If you have your own business, marketing is a big part of your job. You need to show off what you can do before clients will offer you work.
4. Figure out how much to charge. This can be difficult, so the resources David lists are invaluable.
5. Develop a sales cycle. This starts with finding good prospects. Your business isn’t just about creating designs – it’s about selling them.
6. Organize a routine. Working from home doesn’t have the same structure and dynamics of an office job – it all depends on you. Discovering the optimal routine for each day is helpful.
7. Find your community and work it. Social networks are a great way to find support as well as potential clients. Make the most of them.
8. Sign up and use learning sites. Stay up to date to remain competitive.
9. Get set up with the tools you’ll need. And to help, David lists a bunch of tools you probably don’t realize you’ll need.

Is your dream to work for yourself? As an author or freelancer or both? Which steps of David’s article did you find most helpful? Let us know in the comments.

Important Note: This is an unofficial contest and is not run by Envato.

Your super awesome Graphicriver Community Mods & Friends have decided to throw a little competition! This is an Unofficial competition that is not being run by Envato – it’s being run by the Mods: quickandeasy, Dzinc, PatrikL, HarveyDesign, silenceplease.

What’s up for grabs?

• $150 (from Graphicriver Mods & Friends via Paypal)
• $50 Marketplace Credit (from Envato)
• 12 month NEW Tuts+ Premium subscription (as you probably know, Tuts+ Premium is way more awesome now)
• 1 Month free advertising for your winning item on Flyerheroes.com
• Competition badge

So, the brief:

Magazine Ad Templates are selling really well, so to spur on the growth of this item type, we want you to design and upload as many Magazine Ad Templates Items as you can.

Obviously your item should meet the Print Template Upload Requirements.

You item should be submitted to the Magazine Category.

Only one item will be eligible to win.

What will items be judged on?

We, the GraphicRiver Mods, will judge the items on their usability, flexibility, preview presentation and general design quality.

The more usable and practical your item is, the more people can use it and therefore the more usable & flexible your item is.

Preview presentation is essential for salability. The better your item is mocked up and presented to reflect it’s quality, the higher the chance of purchase.

When/How can I submit? When’s the deadline?

Submissions start February 7th and the deadline for entry is February 24th. Your item MUST be uploaded, reviewed and on sale in your portfolio by the deadline date to be eligible for entry.

To submit your entry, simply post your preview image in this thread after it is accepted. Eligible submissions can only be accepted after February 7th.

The Winner will be announced on the Forums March 7th and then published on Envato Notes.

Good luck!!!

Congratulations to this week’s featured authors!

Featured ActiveDen Author: LatinFlash

This week’s featured author is LatinFlash, who has 8 items, including the newest from the Video Players category.
View LatinFlash’s Portfolio

Featured AudioJungle Author: urbazon

This week’s featured author is urbazon, who has 691 items, including the newest from the Misc category.
View urbazon’s Portfolio

Featured ThemeForest Author: sebrosen

This week’s featured author is sebrosen, who has 4 items, including the newest from the Blog / Magazine category.
View sebrosen’s Portfolio

Featured VideoHive Author: ruslan-ivanov

This week’s featured author is ruslan-ivanov, who has 9 items, including the newest from the Holidays category.
View ruslan-ivanov’s Portfolio

Featured GraphicRiver Author: getstronghold

This week’s featured author is getstronghold, who has 56 items, including the newest from the Badges & Stickers category.
View getstronghold’s Portfolio

Featured 3DOcean Author: 3dhorizon

This week’s featured author is 3dhorizon, who has 14 items, including the newest from the Electronics category.
View 3dhorizon’s Portfolio

Featured CodeCanyon Author: Fusiondevs

This week’s featured author is Fusiondevs, who has 5 items, including the newest from the Images and Media category.
View Fusiondevs’ Portfolio

Featured Tutorials Author: erengoksel

This week’s featured author is erengoksel, who has 24 items, including the newest from the Miscellaneous category.
View erengoksel’s Portfolio

Featured PhotoDune Author: sergeyskleznev

This week’s featured author is sergeyskleznev, who has 934 items.
View sergeyskleznev’s Portfolio

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

I was born in Nigeria. I’m an R&B artist, graphic artist, web designer, writer (film scripts, novels, inspirational books, poems, etc.),  composer, journalist, novelist, ghost writer, moderator, and editor. I have produced a good number of on-demand graphics resource DVDs that are on sale on amazon.com.

Which marketplaces do you belong to? What types of files do you sell?

As of the moment, my files are on GraphicRiver, but very soon I will extend to other marketplaces in Envato.

How did you get started? Have you had any formal training?

Actually I was inspired by a good number of creative authors. Envato as I know today, is one of the world’s most reliable marketplace and professional graphic design community. I joined Envato after I saw the kind of files that are hosted on GraphicRiver. Yes, I had formal training from Lynda.com.

Describe your home workspace.

I use one of the rooms in my apartment as my workspace. I set up one desktop for major projects and laptop for minor projects, a printer and 24-7 Internet service.

Describe your creative process. What steps do you normally follow to create your files?

Before creating any file, I will first search for a similar file if there is any. I properly go through the process the author took. And what I will do is to create something entirely unique and unbeatable that will surpass the other one and also attract a good number of potential buyers. On the other hand, if the item I want to create is entirely a new concept, the steps I will take will be to:

1. Conceptualize the end result.
2. Determine how it will interest my clients.
3. Get all the necessary materials that I will be needing for that item.
4. Sometimes, use a pencil to sketch the basic formation.
5. Proceed with the creation.
6. Properly complete the item and seek opinions from critics.
7. Present it to my clients.

The process stated above is really very helpful and I will encourage other authors I follow it.

What is your advice to other authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio?

My advice to other authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio is to search for best-selling items, mimic the concept and create something superior that will sell 100 times higher than the previous item. You can enrich your portfolio by creating easy-to-purchase items that many people from different parts of the world can purchase. Also not all kinds of files are approved by Envato. A good number of files are being denied because Envato has a standard and stands by it. Therefore, it is good for you to create those items that can be easily approved and that can make huge sales, so that you can enjoy the fruit of youe labor, and also the Envato team will also make money – both parties will be happy.

What do you do to market your files?

What I do to market my files include:

1. Study the market.
2. See the top selling files.
3. Get item request from clients.
4. Determine whether Envato needs that type of file.
5. Create the file.
6. Upload the file to the Envato marketplace.
7. Wait for feedback from the Envato team.
8. If approved, I will try to advertise the item through some social networks.
9. Enjoy the income!

What are your three favorite files, and why do you like them?

My three favorite files include: HDR Legendary Image Action Reason: Because it is a highly essential item that every author / potential buyer who desires to achieve the best HDR effects in his/her flyers, magazine covers, posters, etc., must have. Action Pro Sketching and Painting Reason: Because this bundle ultimately sketches and paints any portrait or artwork exactly the way it will look like when manually sketched and painted by a fine artist. Realistic Fire Text Styles Reason: Because it contains the best and realistic fire effects that will help every author / potential buyer to achieve outstanding fire effects in his projects for both commercial and personal use.

Apart from yourself, who is your favorite marketplace author, and why do you like them?

My favorite author is Webtreatsbecause they are very talented and very serious with their career.

What do you do in your spare time?

I go to the studio and record some songs with some R&B singers.