My Ink Blog

A Collection of 20 Stunning Nature Inspired Desktop Backgrounds

Andrew Houle — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:42:37 +0000

Desktop backgrounds are a huge source of inspiration for me. I’m constantly changing mine in an effort to keep things fresh, and keep my creativity flowing. Because of my quasi-obsessive behavior and all the cool wallpaper and photography sites out there, I’ve developed quite a large library of photos.

I thought I’d share some of my favorites here, check out this stunning collection of nature inspired backgrounds!

Autumn Sunshine

Framing the Sky

Rocky Beach

A Snowy Day

Landscape 7

Fields of Gold

Oirase Gorge

Spring Wheat

Barn to be Wild

Ghost Fog

Lazy Days II

Drops of Rain

Grass Rainstorm

First of May

Great Falls

Upcoming Fog Highway

Jungle Dreaming

Man Of War, Lulworth

Silence

Milos Island, Greece

Wallpaper Sites

All of these wallpapers were found at the following sites.

Choosing a Hosting Company: What to Know

Brian Franklin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:25:59 +0000

When working with and setting up your website you will need to decide on a hosting provider. Hopefully the two of you will have a happy relationship but make sure that you have an understanding of everything involved before agreeing to a plan. Below you will find descriptions of the most popular forms of web hosting as well as some pointers on what to look for in the various hosting plans.

Shared Hosting – The Affordable Plan

If you run a small online business website or a personal site you will in most cases get sufficient web hosting through a shared hosting plan. This is without a doubt the most popular form of web hosting today and one good reason for this is the fact that you will get strong and reliable hosting for only a couple of dollars per month. When searching for a web host that is providing shared hosting there are a few things that you should look for in advance. Make sure that you will get enough disk space, bandwidth and that they do not suffer from poor uptime. The uptime can be checked via an online uptime monitor.

Dedicated Hosting – The Rolls Royce

If you know that your site will attract a lot of visitors on a daily basis you better also have hosting that can handle it. If not, you can count on your website being slow or in worst case scenario, come crashing down. To give you a very basic definition, dedicated hosting is when you and your business will have a server that is entirely for your business. Thankfully you will not have to make any room for the server as it will be stored in a secure place by your hosting provider. Depending on your level of expertise you will be able to choose between managed, which means you will have the content to look after but not much else, and unmanaged hosting. Now, just because the hosting is dedicated it does not have to mean it will cost a fortune. Quality dedicated hosting will usually cost you between $60 and $200 per month which is not much considering the power of the solution you will get.

VPS Hosting – That Thing In-Between

Perhaps your site will get a substantial amount of traffic but not to the amount that you are in need of dedicated hosting. If this is the case you will probably be satisfied with VPS Hosting. VPS will give you a powerful and stable hosting solution that is more customizable than shared web hosting. Things to look for in Virtual Private Server plans are lots of RAM, monthly transfer, disk space, good customer support and unlimited add-on domains.

Green Hosting – For a Clean Conscience

The earth is not getting any healthier, at least not without our help, and that is why many web hosting providers have started to take their responsibility in offering web hosting that can be classified as “green”. Green hosting usually means that the web host either purchases carbon offsets or that they use eco-friendly energy sufficient servers. Green hosting can be found in all forms of web hosting but the most common thing is to find it among the shared web hosting providers. When it comes to the plans they should be equally strong and feature-packed as any other hosting plan. If they are lacking a feature simply pick another web host as there are many green hosting options available in all price ranges which should meet your needs.

Cloud Computing – The Trendy Hosting

Cloud computing is something that has grown in popularity the last year or so and it is really something out of the ordinary. This form of hosting is a great solution for everyone that at times need their hosting to be somewhat stronger (for instance when an article gets Digged) and at other times just needs it to be very basic. A great benefit with cloud computing is that you do not pay for more hosting than you are using.

MyInkTrail: Best of the Design Community June 2009

Andrew Houle — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:56:06 +0000

Well, I’m a little tardy on this month’s MyInkTrail… but better late than never I suppose. Despite some domain and hosting issues MyInkBlog is back on track.

This month I focused on quality HTML and CSS advice. At the end of this roundup is a featured sites list which is chock full of cool new sites I’ve found this month. I hope you folks enjoy this month’s best of the design community!

Articles

10 HTML Crimes You Really Shouldn’t Commit

Chris puts together this list of 10 HTML issues to avoid. It’s a simple list, but a great reminder. A must read for newer web designers.

How To Approach Categories and Navigation in Blogging

I love articles that go into depth on the proper way to handle navigation. It’s something that I need to improve on and will do so in my next design iteration of MyInkBlog. A lot of good points are made about the common misuses of categories within blogs.

CSS Beginners Do’s and Dont’s Part 2

This article covers 5 important tips to help you write cleaner, more optimized CSS. And if you’re thirsty for more, be sure to check out the first part.

4 Tips for Creating an Effective Poster Design

This article features helpful design tips when working with large poster designs. And 3 of the tips are ideal for pretty much any graphic design that you do.

Take Your Design To The Next Level With CSS3

I love the new features in CSS3. I plan to use a lot of progressive enhancements in this site’s redesign. So anything CSS3 related I’ve been reading up on.

Defending Your Offense

Kyle makes a ploy for designers to know their weaknesses and to improve on them. He offers some great advice on how to take your designs from good to great.

Web Nerd Terminology (Explained)

The web nerd dictionary; I love it! Check out this post out and learn up on terms like “Borked”.

Five Minute Upgrade – Making Your Design Pop

Paying attention to the small details can really help you improve your designs. This post features quality tips about how to make your designs pop.

Tutorials

How to Create a CSS Menu Using Image Sprites

This is certainly not the first time css sprites have been covered, but this is a clear, concise explanation that features cool Apple-inspired menu example.

Displaying Author Meta Information in Wordpress 2.8

This tutorial covers some of the new features of the author meta information that you can utilize in Wordpress 2.8.

Turn Any Font Into a Sketch Font

The handwritten font look has become really popular lately in web and graphic design. This tutorial shows you how to create a cool sketched look on any font in just a few steps.

Freebies

Free Hi-Res Old Grunge Paper Textures

Textures are an awesome addition to almost any photoshop design project. These hi-res grunge paper textures are a fantastic addition to your texture library.

30 Different Flying Birds Vector Freebie

A cool set of 30 free vector birds. I love having this type of file in my designer’s toolbox.

30 Photoshop Brushes: ‘Drippy Sprays’

This is a nice set of spraypaint style dripping brushes that are sure to help you grunge up your designs.

20 Spray & Splat Brushes for Photoshop

As long as we are on the subject of grunge brushes, here is another great set of spray, splatter brushes.

Compilations

50 Alluring Typography and Grid Focused Websites

A compilation of beautiful typography and grid designs in websites. This post makes for a great bookmark to go back to when you are in need of quality web design inspiration.

14 Invaluable Tools To Check The Real Worth of Your Design Work

It’s always fun to find out the estimated value of your blog. This post showcases a bunch of estimators, and some other tools to help you estimate design costs.

26 Beautiful Photoshop Tutorials on Designing Posters

A collection of 26 poster design tutorials. A really good list, that was made even better by including a MyInkBlog tutorial :)

My Web Design Toolbox

I talk a lot here on MyInkBlog about having a designer’s toolbox. Liz from Cmd + Shift Design Blog shares the tools that she uses the most.

Featured Sites

My Web Design Toolbox

A great new texture site that is well organized and beautifully designed. I love that the site showcases a good use of texture within it’s own design and offers texture inspiration and texture tutorials.

Flippa

This is the spin off of Sitepoint Marketplace. A cool new design with great new search features. Clearly, this is the best blog auction site available.

FontEx

A beautifully designed site that showcases a collection of hand-picked quality fonts. The site features easy to use categories and the fonts are also indexed by letter.

Morgue File

A newer and free stock photography site. You can never have enough of these resources.

The Designed

A cool new design blog. Quality roundups, tips and resources.

SSbits

This site is updated often and features tips on all things Silverstripe. Which is an awesome open source CMS.

Digging into Wordpress

Chris Coyier of CSS Tricks and Jeff Starr of Perishable Press have teamed up to bring you this new Wordpress blog that will also serve as the home for an upcoming book by the same name that they are working on.

Fuel Your Photography

Another new site for the Fuel Empire. A nice bookmark for cool photography inspiration, news and tips.

10 Free Hi-Res Waterlogged Maps Photoshop Brushes

Angie Bowen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:00:18 +0000

Please do not repackage, redistribute or direct link to the download. If you would like to share these textures please link back to this page.

It’s time once again for that collaborative effort between the Arbenting team and the infamous MIB! This time we wanted to do something a bit different for the Photoshop freebie than we usually do, so Angie struck brainstorming gold and mined through the web to unearth some old time royalty free map images to age and weather into a mighty fine brush pack. These original brushes are free for the My Ink Blog readers to enjoy and include in their design projects of all shapes and sizes. Commercial or personal designs alike, we want you to find as many creative uses for these Photoshop freebies as you can. Let the maps be your guides as you give them new life in whatever creation they become a part of. As always, we have included a preview below for your perusal.

Previews

20 Stunning Photoshop Brushes

Tom Walker — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:20:45 +0000

Finding Photoshop brushes on the internet isn’t hard; there are loads and loads available. Finding ones that are good quality and suited to your needs is rather more difficult. Fear not! We’ve done the hard work for you by trawling through literally hundreds and hundreds of examples, to find the best brushes available today. What’s more, the vast majority of those outlined below are free to download and use (some for non-commercial purposes only).

We’ve attempted to cover all bases with this list. You’ll find grunge, splatter, nature, stain, retro brushes and even more. We’re confident that you’ll be able to find just the right one for you, and even if you can’t, you’ll certainly find some inspiration.

1. Paper Textures

This beautiful set of 25 brushes creates the effect of paper that’s been torn and crumpled in numerous ways.

2. Desert Cracks

A high quality brush set depicting cracks in parched and scorched earth.

3. Cloud Brushes

Create realistic cloud formations with these stunning, soft-textured brushes.

4. Fractaldream

This dazzling fractal brush set will aid you in creating wonderfully irregular, shining images.

5. Grungy Watercolour

This set of 10 large brushes was made from a combination of watercolour and India ink.

6. Dumpster Brushes

The 8 brushes in this set were made from photos of old dumpsters, giving a weathered metallic effect.

7. Spray Paint Brushes

There are lots of spray paint brushes available to download, but this high-res set is the best around. It comes in vibrant colours and looks totally realistic.

8. Stamps

These high-res brushes of text stamps add an authentic feel to any project.

9. Defective Photo Prints

These 12 large brushes depict rolls of photographic film with overlaid calligraphy.

10. Random Splatters

This is a set of five great-looking splatter brushes, each with a unique splatter effect, from round splatters to subtle scratches.

11. Abstract Grunge Brushes

These abstract brushes have a monochrome, spiky aesthetic and are perfect for modifying any background.

12. Grungy Wings

The five pairs of wings (10 brushes in total) in this set were made with a can of spray-paint and a sponge, creating a highly textured effect.

13. Dripping Ink

This drippy brush is simple, but very realistic. It’s perfect for adding another dimension to large text.

14. Fireworks

Add a spark of creativity to your work with these firework brushes.

15. Smoke

Made from photographs of candle smoke, this soft brush set can be used to subtle or more overt effect.

16. Dot Splatter

There are four sets of brushes in the brilliant Dot Splatter series, which was inspired by “pop art”. The dots used are reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein’s artwork.

17. SplatterisM

The 35 brushes in this set look a bloody mess, in the best possible way.

18. Grunge Rust

This grungy set of brushes can be used to create seven different rusty effects.

19. Coffee Stains

Much lighter in colour than other coffee/tea stain brushes available, these are the best around.

20. Retro Funk

This great set includes forty four retro images with a funky theme. Some have been taken from the world of advertising.

Freebie: 7 High Resolution Stone Textures

Andrew Houle — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:46:46 +0000

These texture are available under the creative commons license. Please do not repackage, redistribute or direct link to the download. If you would like to share these textures please link back to this page.

These high resolution stone textures are of the stone siding on the lighthouse at Old Fort Niagara. The park is nestled on Lake Ontario and has all kinds of great places to visit, look around and photograph. I love the weathered stone and moss growing along some of the rock. I hope you find some cool uses for these. Enjoy!

A Preview of the Set

Site Update: Why the Recent Downtime?

Andrew Houle — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:33:32 +0000

Some of you may have noticed that MyInkBlog was down the last couple of days. Unfortunately, when I switched hosts from StartLogic to the awesome guys at Eleven2 I wasn’t able to transfer the domain name as well. So when I canceled my StartLogic account I had no way of knowing that my domain name was about to expire.

I really don’t have anyone to blame but myself. The moral of the story is to pay close attention to your domain renewal. It cost me two days and $160 to get it out of the redemption period.

Other Site News

With the site being down it did give me the chance to work on my redesign. Which is coming along rather nicely. I’m currently coding the HTML and CSS, I’ll be Wordpressing it soon. I’m hoping to release the new design in 2-4 months (very tentative). I also got a chance to work on the second part of my tutorial on how to Design A Fresh Blog Theme on the 960 Grid. This second part will be released soon, and it will show you how to code your design in HTML and CSS.

A Showcase of 3D Typography: Tutorials & Examples

Angie Bowen — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:21:56 +0000

Taking things into the third dimension can be a fantastic way to add some character and flair to your typographical designs. However, it can be a huge detractor if say you are using it on a film. (seriously, give it up and just write a decent script guys, stop relying on the gimmicks. sorry, where was I? Oh yeah. Typography.) Typography is an important design element that we are going to focus on in this post. Typography that dares to tread into the third dimension to be exact. First in the post, we are going to point you to a few different tutorials that will teach you how to do a variety of 3d typographical effects to incorporate into your work. Then we are going to show you some beautiful examples of 3D typography to inspire you into using your newly learned techniques. So buckle up your brain, and get ready to kick it into inspiration overload, as you go down through the gathered tutorials and explore delving through dimensions.

Tutorials

Stunning Neon Light 3D Typography

Create a Dream Design with 3D Typography

Valentine’s Day Photoshop Style

3D Typography Photoshop Tutorial

Candy Coated Photoshop Tutorial

How to Create a Richly Ornate Typographic Illustration

The new way to create 3D text

Kaboom! Exploding Text

Glowing and sparkling intense light 3d logo

How to Create Explosive Typographic Effects in Cinema 4D

How to Create High Quality Metal 3D Text in Photoshop

Examples

That’s all she wrote

Okay, so not literally, cause there is this wrap up bit here. Which it is about that time, and we hope that you enjoyed the post. Hit us up in the comments if you have a favorite 3D type tutorial or example of it that we missed so we can give it a gander. As always, see you around the webs.

Logo Inspiration with a Clever Mark

Andrew Houle — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:46:51 +0000

Last week I showcased a plethora of logos with clever typography. Of course a logo isn’t only about great typography, many of the most iconic ones feature a clever mark or symbol, so I decided to extend this series. I hope you enjoy the clever logos that follow!

Final Thoughts

It was really a lot of fun searching out these logos. Which is your fave?

Logo Inspiration With Clever Typography

Andrew Houle — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:12:37 +0000

I love logos! They encompass so much branding identity into one tiny graphic. They are incredibly difficult to create, but when done correctly, they stand the test of time. Well-created logos often look seamless and effortless, but you can be sure that a ton of time went into the planning, research and development.

I also rather enjoy beautiful typography. I find clever typography within a logo design to be awe inspiring. This post was created to showcase many such clever typographic logos. I hope you enjoy and are inspired as much as I was!

Where to Find Inspirational Logos

These logos were grabbed from these helpful logo gallery sites.