Arbenting Design Blog

Watercolor Sprays : A High-Resolution Texture Pack

Angie Bowen — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:23:34 +0000

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Watercolor has always been one of my favorite mediums, it’s so versatile and easily manipulated, not to mention it’s portability. A couple of weeks ago I ordered some misters so that I could mix my own watercolors and mist them in a fine spray. These little misters have opened up a whole new world for in my paintings.

Rob is the one who finally suggested that they would make an awesome texture pack for us to give away. I was so wrapped up in playing with my new toys to have even considered it! We made sure to include a few light and subtle textures as well as some bright and bold ones, so hopefully they’ll be useful in a variety of projects.

I made these using Mr. Misty misters, Da Vinci Watercolors (which I have to say are some of the most vibrant and creamy watercolors I’ve ever used) and Fabriano Artist Paper.

Specs

Size: 2146×3444 pixels : 300 dpi
Included: 1 zip file containing 6 jpgs
Style: Watercolor
Free for both commercial and personal use, no attribution required
Do not repackage or redistribute. If you would like to share these freebies, please link to this page.

Texture Previews

Watercolor Sprays : A High-Resolution Texture Pack is a post from Arbenting

Artist Showcase : The Digital Paintings of Marta Nael

Angie Bowen — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 00:26:32 +0000

In the ever-on-going search for inspiration and inspirational artists, it is always a special treat when you discover a powerfully talented person whose worked had, until now, escaped your view and completely missed your radar. Today, we have such a treat to present. An artist of stirring capabilities whom we only recently come across. And we are so glad that we did.

Marta Nael is an illustrator and painter whose work on digital canvases has paved the way for her to make a living freelancing with her emotive and charged pieces. The sensational artistry with which she wields her tools, be they analog or digital, is truly an inspiration and a delight to behold. And we are pleased to feature some of her impressive works to our readers.

So many of her digital paintings mirror analog brush strokes so precisely that you cannot often tell you are looking at a digital piece.

Artist Showcase : The Digital Paintings of Marta Nael is a post from Arbenting

Over 550 Photoshop Brush Packs For Commercial Use

Angie Bowen — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:40:14 +0000

In an attempt to keep the blog here as useful and up to date a resource as we possibly can, we have attempted to comb through some of our extremely popular posts and keep them as current as we can muster. So this is the refresh of the reboot of Over 550 Photoshop Brush Packs for Commercial Use. Oh, yes, it is a mouthful. This was certainly one of the most popular posts we have published n the blog, and we hope our continued efforts to keep it up to date will keep it that way.

We have scoured the internet to collect free Photoshop brushes of complete awesomeness to keep recompiling this behemoth of a post. Beneath our spotlight for this post we have numerous Photoshop brush packs from some great sources. In fact, we have pulled about a max of 4 packs from each of the resources listed, but rest assured, if you visit the site’s themselves you will see that they have so much more to offer.

NOTE : While we do our best to ensure that all of these resources are freely available for personal AND commercial use, always check the site’s terms of use as licensing can change at any time.

And remember that all of the brushes here at Arbenting are free for commerical use as well!

Enjoy the showcase. And please let us know your thoughts!

Webtreats

Brushchick

Webdesigner Lab

xedgewolfx

The Shoreways Photoshop Brushes

Smashing Magazine

We Are Amerikan Made

Fudge Graphics

Individual Brushes

4 Watercolor Stroke Brushes

82 Sumi Strokes Brushes

Postage Label Photoshop Brushes

Big Color Burst Texture

My Cloud Brushes

Fan Stroke Brushes

24 Colorful Wooden Patterns

4 Wall Textures

Over 550 Photoshop Brush Packs For Commercial Use is a post from Arbenting

Waldseemuller World Map Photoshop Brushes

Angie Bowen — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:06:34 +0000

In 1507 Martin Waldeemuller, a German cartographer, carved an intricately detailed, and ornamental rendering of the world as it was then known. In 2011 Rob Bowen, a graphic designer, set out to create a dual set of freebies using Waldseemuller’s world map, a set of vectors and a set of Photoshop brushes. After many failed attempts to be able to combine these large vectors into a single manageable file, Rob gave up on the complete vector set, and instead turned the large pieces over to his partner in crime (and life) so the Photoshop brushes could be made from the enormous vectors.

Just like the map was divided into twelve pieces, so is the brush pack, creating one brush from each of the richly detailed illustrated map sections. These 12 all new Photoshop brushes are now ready for you to download and start using today!

For more about the Waldseemuller Map visit the Wiki via that link.

Specs

Size: 2000px – 2500px
Included: 1 abr file containing 12 brushes
Free for both commercial and personal use, no attribution required
Do not repackage or redistribute. If you would like to share these freebies, please link to this page.

Detail Previews

Full Brush Previews

Waldseemuller World Map Photoshop Brushes is a post from Arbenting

Social Media Circles Icon Set – Updated

Angie Bowen — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:30:03 +0000

The Update

In this update we removed a handful of icons due to them being obsolete, meaning the site is either gone or on it’s way out. We also added some requested sites including Gmail, Pinterest, Forrst, Dribbble, Behance, and G+. StumbleUpon, The Web Blend and Posterous were updated to match their new branding.

Specs

Size: 32×32, 64×64, 128×128
Included: 1 zip file containing 234 png files
39 icons in 3 sizes and 2 styles (clean & grunge)
Free for both commercial and personal use, no attribution required
Do not repackage or redistribute. If you would like to share these freebies, please link to this page.

Icon Previews

Social Media Circles Icon Set – Updated is a post from Arbenting

Blog Content Strategy Concerns: The Content Commitment

Rob Bowen — Mon, 28 May 2012 08:41:49 +0000

As anyone working in the web knows, content strategy is an important aspect of web design and maintenance. We understand that we have obligations as content creators to ensure that the content we create meets various standards and remains accessible and clear. We understand that the content on a site is essential to the site’s effectiveness and sustainability. But when you start talking about the content of a blog, those same considerations get weighed differently.

Most content strategists will tell you that keeping your website’s content up to date and current is vital for keeping the users coming back, trusting in the knowledgeable nature of those behind the brand; and if the site is selling a product or service, it is a good way to keep your potential customers informed of new developments. Many will also stress the importance of maintaining said content for the life of the site.

But when it comes to blogging, we have to realize that these content considerations have much different implications. And to a larger degree, much more of a commitment. But as we find all over the web (even in our own blog archives) these commitments are not being kept up. And that could be, in large part, because many in the blogosphere only see traffic as a barometer for how effective their content strategy is.

They do not understand that content strategy for a blog is not just a numbers game, but goes much deeper. And it also is about making commitments to content that we create.

What’s the Difference?

Before we dive into the questions that this strategizing has yielded, I figure that there may be one or two readers who perhaps do not see any difference between your standard website content and the content created for a blog. But after years of freelance blogging and writing website copy for clients, I see the two as completely separate kinds of content. And both need a content strategy, but blogs need a content commitment.

Your average website content tends to be focused on the brand behind the site, and centers around what is going on within the company. Most changes to content will be in regards to company directives, staff, or products and services. If they have a blog, it too will be mainly delivering information on the latest moves the brand is making.

Your average blog content tends to be geared towards the industry that the blog is focused on, and centers around what is currently shaping said industry. Most of the content goes up as snapshots of what is happening in the industry, and has been researched and prepared to be relevant to the times. But the times change, and so does the industry.

What Commitments Are We Making?

There are implicit commitments we make as content creators for a blog. We know this as we head into these waters. But when we are looking at our content strategy, we have to go over these commitments and consider them carefully. Otherwise we are doing our content a disservice, as well as those who consume it.

So as content creators, what is our obligation to the content we create? How long does this commitment to the content last? How long is it expected to last?

Crux: New people are always discovering the content on your blog, so dated information is not always recognized as such.

Commitment to Clarity

The first commitment is effectively the easiest and lowest maintenance one to keep up with. Our readers expect us to be able to clearly convey our messages and points to them. If we can’t provide the clarity, they will take their searches for answers elsewhere. So we always have to be mindful of how we put the information together to make sure our audience can take it effectively.

We want our content to be engaging and for it raise questions within our readers minds, but the engagement and questions shouldn’t be centered around trying to figure out what the hell it is we are trying to put out there or get across. That pretty much defeats the purpose. While we do have to commit to this for as long as we are creating content, the long-term investment here is more minimal than elsewhere.

Commitment to Research

This commitment is one that is almost a given, and is not one that you generally have to remind anyone of. But the commitment to research carries a long term price-tag that is implicitly taken on whenever we post. And it seems to be these implied long term conditions that get left unconsidered when laying out a blog’s content strategy. Especially given that so many of us tend to live in the present.

Research never ends. While our initial research to put a post together will reach a plateau, wherein we have all of the information we need to authoritatively cover the subject matter, we now have to remain abreast of any changes in that area that could render aspects of our post useless or incorrect. We commit to this, because it is expected of us by our audience. We commit to this, because we owe it to our content.

Commitment to Keeping Current

This commitment is touched on in the previous section, but it needed to be gone into further. This deals more with the long term plans for the blog and your content than the short term. Given the potential longevity of a blog, failing to implement a plan for keeping your archives current can be damaging.

From outgoing links, to the information discussed in the post, there is a lot to consider with this particular commitment. Since many can succumb to the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ trap, especially as more projects pile on their plates, we do not remember to schedule and undertake past post maintenance to keep them current. And depending on the frequency that the posts were delivered, the very scale of this upkeep can seem potentially overwhelming.

Sharpening Your Content Strategy

These commitments are expected by our users, and we can commit to upholding them until we are blue in the face; but it is meaningless unless we have a sound content strategy backing it up. Naturally, the size of the operation you are dealing with will determine the best way for approaching these various commitments, and how to keep them; but they need to be dealt with.

This will raise further questions no doubt. But these are not to be shied away from. In fact, it is through these dissections that we can develop a solid and comprehensive strategy which satisfies all of our content concerns. Some of the questions that will undoubtedly come up and need to be looked at are:

What about sites who pay outside freelancer authors for content, who owns this commitment? Is it shared, or does it solely fall on the site runner or the content creator? How often should these maintenance sessions take place? Is it reasonable for users to expect this upkeep with any frequency?

Is it better to update older posts with new information, or leave these ‘snapshots’ as they were when they were released and simply create new posts to readdress those topics? Either way, how do we make users aware of these updates and changes? Where do the analytics indicate these upkeeps should begin?

What are the various costs of these commitments, and how do we plan to offset or cover said costs? Will these commitments and costs impact other models (i.e. advertising, ranking, etc) in play on the blog? If so, how do we plan to address those concerns?

To Conclude

That covers our end of the commitment talk…for now, anyway. But we are interested to hear what you think about these ideas, and commitments to the content. We know we have work to do getting our own archives in line (this post is a sample of putting our thought processes down as we’ve revisited our blog’s content strategy). Have you found any places where your own commitments haven’t been entirely looked after?

Blog Content Strategy Concerns: The Content Commitment is a post from Arbenting

Maintaining Your Entire Freelance Business Alone

Rob Bowen — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:55:47 +0000

As every freelancer knows, having to manage every aspect of the business is quite a task. One that can be very taxing and if not handled correctly can be extremely costly as well. So finding ways to help keep all of your bases covered when you are flying the freelance skies solo is an almost necessary pursuit if you want your business to by sustainable by any measure. Which is what brings us to the post you are currently reading.

Here we have taken what we feel to be the four most vital bases that you need to keep an eye on, and attempted to help you get them covered. With what we hope is important information and useful tools/services filing into each category for coverage. As freelancers ourselves, we know that a post like this would have been beneficial to us when we were getting started, but alas, we didn’t come across one and had to learn the hard way on many of these areas.

Hopefully, this post will prevent others from falling into any of the same traps that we did getting started (or keeping going for that matter).

Time Management

Probably one of the most crucial areas we need to keep in check for the sake of our freelance business, and our sanity, is time management. Scheduling your days effectively, and being able to keep to it are major players in the success and failure rates for your freelance business. Especially as we try to maintain a professional edge to remain competetive in our markets as we go up against established companies with reputations for solid results.

If we are unable to manage our time, how is a client supposed to expect us to meet their deadline? We need to ensure that we make our meetings, that we are able to respond to our clients in a timely fashion, that we are able to meet deadlines on time (and not just the final one either, but all that the project demands); and to do all of these things, our time management skills cannot be lacking. If they are, and we suddenly miss the designated window for submitting samples to the client for approval, it reflects poorly on our business, our preparedness, and our ability to complete the project on the client’s timetable.

It only takes one dropped ball to ignite the embers of doubt in our client’s minds. To get them looking at us as a risk, not an asset to their project. That is never what we want. So we have to take all the steps necessary to stay on track, and on time. Below are a few resources that can assist you on this path to better time management.

Customer Support

Another area where we need to step up our games due to the corporate competetion that we will inevitably be facing, is the customer support arena. With other big businesses having entire departments specifically for addressing the concerns and issues their clients run into, we need something in this field of play giving us an advantage. Seriously, let’s face facts. The only way a team of one can be in any way competetive against a team of a half a dozen or more, is with unlimited time and a decent bag of tricks at their side.

Now we cannot do anything about the time part, but we can certainly point you in the right direction with regards to filling your own proverbial bag of customer support tricks. Client’s have great expectations in the customer service department these days, and as such, many may already be a bit leery of opting for the freelancer route simply due to their expectation of customer support needs, and their lack of faith, that a single person can meet them. So as freelancers, a lot of times, we are already coming at this area from a disadvantageous position.

One selling point that we can make to this end, that might weigh heavy in our favor with some clients is this: if they have any issues, they will be dealing with the same person that has handled the project from the beginning; not some faceless stranger to the project who has to play catch up all of the details each time before getting started on ways in which they can help. This is often appealing to anyone who has ever had to play this catch up game with a customer service rep.

Now while that may help a bit, there is still some disadvantaged ground that we need to make up for. In large part, with regards to accessibility. As a single freelancer, we tend to not be as reachable as those entire departments whose only mission is to man the phones, and offer support. But we can certainly give our clients the impression of accessibility in their times of need, which is helpful.

The Importance Of Customer Service To Your Freelance Business
How Freelancers Can Improve Customer Service
ZenDesk : A web based customer support platform

Project Management

Time is not the only thing that one has to learn to effectively manage to make the most of their freelance business. One other vital branch of this management tree is project management. One of the keys to being a sustainable freelancer is being able to run multiple projects at once without letting anything slip through the cracks or fall behind. This is not always easy to do, especially as the unforeseen will tend to rear its ugly and derailing head into the arena on any given project, at any given time. So we have to do all that we can, and focus as much effort as necessary to keep all of our projects progressing along smoothly.

Naturally there are tools that can really help you step up your project management game, but the main factor you need to be concerned with is you. We are the biggest wildcard in this equation. Our organizational skills, our ability to perform under pressure, our ability to remain focused and driven, how we handle the unexpected and deal with problems, and so on and so forth ad nauseam. All of these things play into how we deal with whatever the clients and projects throw our way. They all impact how we are able to effectively manage all of the tasks at hand.

So we need to do as much work as we can on getting ourselves prepared for each and every project that comes our way. As thorough preparation can course correct so many ills that can derail a project before things get out of hand. Also the more prepared we are, the less likely we are to be completely panicked by any distressing developments along the way that can often land things in something of a chaotic twist. Research and constant learning can be your best friends in this end, something that most freelancers spend most of their careers doing already.

Part of being prepared to manage your projects effectively, is having being armed with the right tools to relieve as much pressure from you as possible.

Invoicing

If you are not able to collect from your clients, then your business is always going to be moving away from sustainability and satisfaction. Which is why proper invoicing procedures are always a must-have element when it comes to keeping your books balancing in your favor. This is also a way of legitimizing your freelance business to clients who may view you as just some disconnected person working from their basement. Which we may very well be, but if we have an effective and professional invoicing and collections system in place, then our clients are less likely to see us this way.

For whatever reason, a professional, consistent billing system does seem to have some sort of psychological triggering effects in our minds. The more organized, comprehensive and structured the invoices, the more legitimacy and weight we seem to give them. So as freelancers, who may not always be skilled or adept when it comes to tracking, pursuing and collecting payments, leaning on some of the various billing tools and services that are available to us online can prove invaluable to our businesses and peace of mind.

That Just About Does It…

…but now we want to hear from all of you! What areas do you think we should have looked at in this post? Or what tips or tools would you have added to those we have already gathered? Feel free to leave us your take and two cents below to expand this freelance resource’s reach even further!

Maintaining Your Entire Freelance Business Alone is a post from Arbenting

15 Natural Greenery Textures : An Arbenting Freebie

Angie Bowen — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:30:15 +0000

Specs

Size: 2080 x 1544
Included: 1 zip file containing 15 jpg textures
Style: Nature, Greenery
Free for both commercial and personal use, no attribution required
Do not repackage or redistribute. If you would like to share these freebies, please link to this page.

Previews

15 Natural Greenery Textures : An Arbenting Freebie is a post from Arbenting

Inspiration in Orange

Angie Bowen — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:14:34 +0000

As our reboot continues, we roll on through the rainbow with our inspirational color series. This week we are going to aim our focus on the next hue that we feel deserves its day in the sun. So today’s color is Orange! Sorry for the Sesame Street moment, but it just felt right. Anyway, we searched through the web to collect some truly inspired designs with an orange focus.

The color orange is a warm color that tends to be associated with joy, sunshine and the tropics. It represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, and creativity. And today, we hope that it represents an abundance of inspiration! Enjoy…

Graphic Art Inspiration

Equinox

Fairy of Halloween Pumpkin

Genesi Brochure Communication Design Studio

Ericsson Adverts

Logo Design & Branding Inspiration

Feng, an asian inspired fashion boutique

Break Bread Hospitality

Global Recruiting Campaign

Low Winter Sun Branding

Pro-Plan Investments Logo

Sergii Bogulavkyi Business Card

Debut London ID

Moody Stationery

Dobrawa Hook

Web Design Inspiration

Tom, Dick, and Harry Creative

Wallpaper Inspiration

Fantasy Island

The Beatles

The Flow of Time

Some Sugar for Your Tea

Photography Inspiraiton

Inspiration in Orange is a post from Arbenting

A Showcase of Amazing Fantasy Photomanipulations

Angie Bowen — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:05:20 +0000

When it comes to inspiration, we always tend to get a huge charge from the galleries of graphic artists who have a penchant for manipulating photos. While recently searching for an inspirational refill, we turned that direction and dove in head first. Then we realized how selfish we were being, so we decided that we should bring our readers along with us. After all, we know for a fact we are not alone in our love for photomanipulations.

So here is a breathtaking showcase of some amazing artists’ fantasy themed photomanipulations. We hope that all of our readers will find these works as inspiring as we do, and get as much enjoyment from it as we got putting it together for you.