Yes, as a coreldraw user (i use it more often than illustrator), I am proud to announce that the CorelDraw Graphics Suite X6 download version is available at coreldraw.com!

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 is the newest version of Corel`s flagship graphics suite consisting of vector-based illustration application CorelDRAW, photo editor PHOTO-PAINT, WYSIWYG web design tool Website Creator (new addition), and a host of valuable utilities and content.

Featuring a completely revamped typography engine, inspiring new color styles and harmonies, and powerful shaping tools, the new suite offers graphics professionals its most creative and powerful tools to date. With a focus on opening up new creative possibilities for the design community, this major upgrade delivers improved workflow and performance making it even easier for both aspiring and experienced designers to connect with assets, work with leading edge tools and technology, and output their design projects with confidence (the-digital-picture.com).

 
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 – Video Tour

If you want to connect with friends or meet new people on Facebook, you should look best on your profile picture because it is the first thing people will look at.

Professional photographers use special lenses to create soft focus effect on portraits. Soft Focus is an important effect in photography. It is commonly used in glamour shots and to some extent in wedding photography as well.

The good news is that you don’t have to go to a professional photographer (or a cosmetic surgeon  ) and spend a lot of money for your profile picture. Now you can pick any photo of yours and easily turn it into a marvelous (oh yeah!) profile picture.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to improve your Facebook profile picture using diffuse glow effect in Photoshop. This is pretty simple to do. Just follow the 7 simple steps.

Before and After processing

Step 1. Open your image.

I used a photo of Angel Locsin for this tutorial. Angel is a Filipina television and film actress and commercial model (courtesy of pinoyexchange.com).

Step 2. Press CTRL+J to duplicate the Background Layer to Layer 1

Step 3 : Go to Filter>Distort>Diffuse Glow.

Step 4 : The Diffuse Glow dialogue box opens. On the control panel enter the following values:

Graininess: 0

Glow amount: 12

Clear Amount :15

Click OK.

Glowing angel. This is how the result will look like

Step 5. With layer 1 still selected,  Go to Edit>Fade Diffuse Glow.

Step 6. When the Fade dialogue box opens change the Mode to Luminosity

Step 7. Drag the Opacity Slider down. Amount will depend on your image (I used 75%). Click OK when satisfied.

You’re Final Result should  be like this.

The final result.

Just a reminder. Don’t forget to save your work (File > Save as> select jpg format )

Here is a collection of 10 Amazing Vector Illustrations from CorelDraw Community Galleries. This collection will be a great source for your inspiration.

1. Mirror  by Alexxx1

2. After the act by balung

3. Robot_nimax by lukas84

4. Sexy bike by Marcos Barreto

5. Drifter by Bandila

6. store fronts by lisak

7.  Nano ant by GruberJan

8. Coffee by Alexxx1

9. Gipsy light by Orlando Aquije

10. The boxer by bandila

This is in response to CorelDraw’s ‘great designs shared’  campaign.

This campaign encourages CorelDraw users to share and tag their works such as flyers, signs, billboards, embroideries or graphics designs, on Flickr or Facebook that will fuel the inspiration of other CorelDraw users.

For more information about CorelDraw’s ‘great designs shared’  campaign, you can visit this link.

Note: This image was drawn using CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5

Useful  CorelDraw Tips and Tricks series:

1- How to quickly mirror an object? -> Hold down Ctrl and drag a selection handle to the opposite side of the object.

2- How to select a hidden object difficult to select? -> Press Tab  until a selection box appears around the object…
3- What is the fastest way to select all objects in your work space? -> Just double click the Pick tool!

Tips and Tricks source: CorelDRAW team.

With Photoshop, amazing photo manipulation is possible. Hence, there is no doubt that photo manipulation is very useful and requires a lot of imagination, creativity, precision, and skill.

Photo manipulation is one of the best ways for you to begin using Photoshop, as it exposes you to a wide variety of techniques.

In this post I’ll feature 12 useful tutorials for creating your own photo manipulation. The tutorials shown here will help you gain knowledge/techniques in creating interesting artworks in Photoshop.

1. The Art of Photo Manipulation. Techniques and Examples

2. Color Correcting Photographs Using the Curves Adjustment

3. Photo Effects: Apply a Color Effect to a Photo

4. Create Rockstar Poster in Photoshop

5. Create Blood and Milk Typography Poster in Photoshop

6.  Creating a sexy mechanical pinup in Photoshop

7. Playing with Displace Filter in Photoshop in Photoshop

8. Create a Falling Fantasy Photomanipulation using Painting Techniques

9.  Photo Effects: Create a Lamb’s Coat in Photoshop

10.  Retouching a Studio Portrait

11.  Making a Color Wizard in Photoshop

12. Create a Comic Art Style Photo Manipulation in Photoshop

By default, CorelDraw’s Powerclip is auto-center. This means that when you powerclip an object , it will automatically shift to the center of the main object (container). This setting requires you to manually shift the position of the power clipped object (content) to the desired location by editing the content of the power clip.

To avoid this (and so save time), we have to change the default setting that controls the powerclip.

Go to Tools>Options (above image), a pop up will appear locate the Workspace> Edit tab and click over it and on the right side of it you will find “auto center new PowerClip contents” marked check (image below). Uncheck it, click OK and it’s done.

Useful  CorelDraw Tips and Tricks:

a) SELECTING HIDDEN OBJECTS BEHIND ANOTHER OBJECTS
You can select an object that is hidden behind other objects so that you can edit it. To select a hidden object:
1. Using the Pick tool, select the topmost object behind which the object you want to edit is hidden
2. Press ALT, and click the topmost object again to select the object directly behind it
3. Repeat Step 2 until you have selected the object you want to edit. Watch the Status Bar to see when your object is selected.

b) CREATING A SCRAP FILE OF FREQUENTLY USED OBJECTS
To quickly save a small portion of a file, to be used in another document, drag the item to the Windows desktop. This will create a “scrap”. It can then be dragged into another document. This is a quick way to save an entire page from a multi page document. CorelDRAW uses automatic naming so you can drag other files to the same Windows location (i.e. Desktop) without copying over other files.

c) CREATING A QUICK DUPLICATE
Say you have an image selected and want to create a duplicate of it. Simply hit the (+) Plus key on your numeric Key Pad and a duplicate image will be placed directly on top of the original image

Tips and Tricks source: http://www.engraversnetwork.com

I have compiled 12 useful  Adobe Illustrator tutorials that can be a great source of inspiration when you are  trying to design a  project or just want to enhance your skills in `vector art.`

Okay, let`s try them one by one.

1. Create retro graphics in Illustrator

2. Create Grainy Textures in Illustrator

3.T ips for Working with the Gradient Mesh Tool In Illustrator

4. Simple organic shapes the Illustrator way

5. Creating a crazy cool logo in Illustrator

6. Create Fun, Eye-catching Text with Adobe Illustrator

7. Illustrate Image Into Vector

8. How to Create an Abstract Vector Design in Illustrator

9. Create cool infographics in Illustrator

10. Use Adobe Illustrator to Create a Clean Website Layout

11.Create an Adorable Puppy with Negative Space and the Paintbrush Tool

12. Create a Print Ready Business Card Design in Illustrator

That’s all. Did you enjoy those tutorials?

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