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60 Sources of Inspiration for Photography

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Photography: mab2413

Are you struggling for new ideas? Do your creative batteries feel as flat and lifeless as a skunk in the fast lane? Here are 60 ways to breathe new life into your love of photography and re-energize your inspiration.

1. Play with Photoshop
So much of photography these days happens after the shutter release has been pressed. There’s probably a ton of things that you don’t know how to do in Photoshop. Learn something new and see what that does for your photography potential.

2. Read the Manual
It’s not just Photoshop that can do all sorts of things that you don’t know about. Your camera probably has more settings and functions than you know… or know what to do with. You might find a lot of new ideas in the middle of your camera manual.

3. Watch a Movie
Manuals are all well and good, but movies have cinematographers too. There’s not much you can’t learn about landscape photography by sitting back and watching an old Sergio Leone film.

4. Read a Newspaper
Or you can be a little more intellectual and read a newspaper. The Sunday magazines have the best photos but the work by the staff photographers can be great models for creating striking images for amateurs as well as for photojournalists.

5. Visit a Flea Market
Strange objects mean strange shapes, odd shadows and plenty of potential for unique compositions. And you don’t even have to buy anything.

6. Shop at a Farmer’s Market
You never know what you might find at a flea market. At a farmer’s market, you know you can find colors, spheres, people and displays. And dinner too.

7. Check out Some Wedding Photojournalism
It might not be the sort of thing that your clients expect, but the images on display at the Wedding Photojournalist Association’s website might get you thinking about brides and grooms in a whole new way. Instead of the posing and the tripod, you’ll get to blend into the crowd and document the scene. It’s a whole new skill and it could give your wedding photography a whole new lease of life.

8. Hit the Water
You don’t have to be a scuba diver to shoot underwater images. You just need waterproof housing and access to the sea, a swimming pool or even a pond. And once you’re wet, don’t forget to look up as well as down. Some of the most inspiring images can be taken at the point where the light hits the surface of the water.

9. Hit the Streets
There’s a good reason that street photography is so popular: there are so many good things to shoot there. If you haven’t been photographing roads and crowds, give it a go. And if you have, try a different road.

10. Join a Demonstration
Demonstrations are full of flags, banners, placards and crowds. You can lose people in the mass or pick out expressions in the crowd. The only cause you have to support is photography.

11. Watch a Sports Event
The pros have it easiest at sports events with prime positions and lenses longer than your arm. But you can still try something new at your park on a Saturday afternoon.

12. Visit the Zoo
It might not be as thrilling as a Kenyan safari, but a zoo still has the sort of photographic subjects you can’t find anywhere else. Of course, you don’t have to try to squeeze your lens between the bars. Shooting the kids in awe at the monkeys can create some interesting images too.

13. Shoot Fast at a Race Track

Photography: joel.weismann

Race tracks also give you an opportunity to use a new technique: speed. Fast cars and a faster shutter speed can make for some inspired shooting.

14. Visit an Exhibition
Obvious, really. And yet so often overlooked. Any decent-sized town is likely to have at least one photographic exhibition on at any one time. Take in yours and see what the top photographers did to get on the wall.

15. Browse Google Images
You don’t even have to leave the house to find inspiring images though. Toss keywords into Google Images, admire the good photos that turn up and ask how you would have improved the poor ones.

16. Join Flickr Groups
The pictures in Flickr Groups are great places to see what other people are doing with a theme; the discussions are great places to find out how they did it. And you’ll probably find that the feedback you get on your own photos will give you plenty to think about too.

17. Just Step Back and Watch
For children’s photographers in particular, there can be a temptation to just dive in and get the photos. Sometimes though, lowering the lens, stepping back and watching the subject can reveal whole new sides. That’s true for portrait photographers, wedding photographers, animal photographers… in fact just about any photographer!

18. Roam the World with Flickr Maps
Flickr Maps might be a bit slower than Google Maps, but it comes with Flickr Images built-in. Choose a part of the world with interesting topography and see what photographers have done with it.

19. Change your Angle
Most people shoot an object by placing the lens right in front of it. When David Rubinger lay on the floor to shoot up at paratroopers in front of Jerusalem’s Western Wall during Israel’s Six Day War, he created an iconic image. What would you create?

20. Change your Time
Find yourself shooting at the same time of day each weekend? So break a habit. Discover what the light at dusk, mid-afternoon or early morning can do for your ideas. And it’s not just the light that can make the difference here. Just breaking your routine can often be enough to give you a new perspective and a whole new way photography habit.

21. Browse Stock Sites
You don’t have to be a buyer to check out the images on stock sites. You can be a professional photographer looking for ideas too… especially ideas for commercial images. And the searching is simple. Looking at the top-sellers will give you a good idea of what the market is buying, and browsing by category will show what other photographers are doing with their themes.

22. Write a Blog
Darren Rowse, over at Digital Photography School, mentions how much just writing about photography has helped to improve his picture-taking. It doesn’t matter if no one reads it; just putting your thoughts on the page could give you some new ones.

23. Read a Blog
Of course, reading a photography blog is even more inspiring thing than writing one. Not only can you learn what went into a photo and where the idea came from, you can also discover how to sell it. But then we would say that, wouldn’t we?

24. Buy a Photography Book
You can never own too many photography books, and each one you buy should give you a bunch of new ideas. Although that’s true of both books of photographs and books about taking pictures, you might find that photography guides give you more inspiration than a collection of images. The former will give you techniques to try out, while the latter will show you the techniques the greats have used. Stil, if you’re really stuck, go shopping.

25. Browse a Bookstore
Or save your cash, take a pile of book to the store’s café and sit and enjoy yourself. In fact, you don’t even have to take the photography books with you. Even the dust jackets of the hardbacks can give you ideas for shots, especially commercial images.

26. Step Away from the Magazine Racks

Photography: cathyse97

And if book covers can give you ideas, just think what magazine covers can do. These are designed to be eye-catching and stand out on a shelf. They could make your next photo stand out too.

27. Make Friends in the Photography World
Some photographers find it easiest to shoot alone. Others like to shoot as a group. Everyone can benefit from the feedback, discussions and habits of other photographers.

28. Join Photography Organizations
If you’re a professional and you’re not a member of a professional photography organization, you should be. Not only can organizations help with insurance and legal matters, their news, contests, and profiles of other photographers can inspire to make your own splash among your peers.

Photography: hen power

29. Shoot Yourself
When you’re stuck for a subject, always remember that there’s an interesting one behind the lens too. Be brave. Put yourself in the shot for a change.

30. Revisit Your Past
You probably have a stack of old images that you rarely review, including many that you can’t bring yourself to look at. Give them another chance. A shot that failed a few years ago might well be achievable today — and give you ideas for more.

31. Revisit Places You’ve Been Before
And the same is true of locations. Even if you’ve taken a photograph in one location, it doesn’t follow that you’ll take exactly the same image a few days, months or years later. The light will be different, your skills will be different… and so will you.

32. Ask “What if…?”
Some of the greatest artistic answers have come from asking the right questions. A good one to start with is always “What if…?” What if you focused on the foreground instead of the background? What if you changed the ISO? What if you got a flash of inspiration?

33. Leave Constructive Comments
We’ve mentioned that writing blogs can help to give you new ideas, but so can writing comments on other people’s images. Just make sure the comments are constructive. Praise the photographer’s use of shadow, for example, and you’ll be telling yourself how to get similar praise.

34. Join Photo Contests
Everyone and their uncle these days seems to be running a photography competition. And for good reason. They’re a great way to motivate photographers to shoot outside their boxes.

35. Choose a Theme
Photo contests are helpful because in addition to prizes, they also give subjects to shoot. But you don’t have to actually enter a contest to win one of those. You can pick your own theme. You could even use the categories on stock sites as inspiration for subjects.

36. Check out the Big Winners
And of course, taking a look at images shot by the winners of big photo contests, such as the Pictures of the Year, can show how far your image are from those at the top of the profession… and what you need to do to join them.

37. Go Back to the Rules
You probably know the rules of photography. And you probably know how to bend them and when to break them too. So maybe go back to when you were first learning techniques and try working strictly to rule for a while.

38. Just Shoot Anyway
There are always times when you lift the camera, look at the screen and think, “No.” But what would happen if you did it anyway? At worst, you’d waste a bit of disk space. At best, you might surprise yourself and find a new kind of composition.

39. Get a Cause
Few people are more motivated than those who believe they’re working for the common good. So join them. Pick a cause, offer it your photography skills and the end will help inspire the means. You could find yourself shooting all sorts of things from campaign posters to t-shirt images to angry demonstrations. The variety should be as satisfying as the campaigning.

40. Play with Textures
While photographers often pay attention to light and composition, the texture of the materials in the subject can be left behind. Try focusing on touch rather than vision for a few shots and see what happens…

41. Play with Colors
Or be traditional and paint your pictures with bold colors and sharp contrasts. Or try using different tones of just one or two colors and see what that does for yourt results. It might not be original but if you haven’t done it before, it could be time to give experimenting with colors a try.

42. Drop Color Altogether

Photography: cayusa

Of course, you could also be super-traditional and focus on practicing your skills in black-and-white. Do you know which shots would look best without color?

43. Play with Settings
Chances are, once you’ve found a camera setting that works for you, you don’t stray from it too far. So start straying. Play with the exposure, change the ISO, switch the shutter speed. And build on the results.

44. Play with a Point-and-Shoot
When you shoot with a DSLR, you can get used to all the bells, whistles and options that come with an expensive camera. So lay it aside, pick up an instant and shoot on the cheap. You’ll be amazed at what downgrading can do for your creativity.

45. Just Play
The beauty of digital photography is that there’s no penalty for making mistakes. That gives you a free ticket to stop worrying about whether a picture will turn out well or be an embarrassing flop, and just shoot. So try just enjoy taking photographs without thinking too much about the results.

46. Try a Different Specialty
Whether you specialize in wedding, portraits or anything else, try a niche you’ve never done before. You don’t have to do it professionally but just doing it for a while could give you a whole new bag of techniques and inspire new ways of creating your images.

47. Read Forums
We’ve mentioned that Flickr Groups can be good places to find inspiration but so can photography forums. Often, photographers use them to pose questions, but even those questions can get you thinking. The answers can get you shooting. (That can include your answers too. Tossing in your own two cents’ worth can get you thinking about all things you’re not doing — or haven’t been doing yet.)

48. Start a Project
Inspiration might come in a flash but you want it to hang around. Instead of thinking of an idea for one photograph, try thinking of an idea for a series of photographs. If you’d decided to take pictures of lightning for example, expand the concept to include extreme weather as a whole and add photographs of windswept trees and sun-bleached rooftops. That should keep you busy for a while…

49. Take a Photography Class
Photography classes make thinking up ideas very easy. You’ll even be given assignments so that you don’t have to think up subjects at all, just novel approaches to them.

50. Take any Class

Photography: absolutwade

But you don’t have to limit yourself to a photography class. A cooking class will let you create photography subjects that you can eat. A flower-arranging class could give you new ideas for floral photography. Even an origami class could provide a pile of new ideas for images.

51. Define the Perfect Image
Do you know what the perfect image would look like? Bet you’re thinking about it now, right? Instead of thinking how good the next shoot would be, try thinking about what the best shot would look like… then find it.

52. Create a Shooting Schedule
One way to cut back on the regular head-scratching is to plan ahead. Pull out a calendar and decide in advance what sort of images you’ll be shooting each weekend for the next few months. And leave room for flexibility.

53. Pick a Different Model
If you always use the same models or models with similar looks go for something completely different: the opposite sex, a different height, a new age group. See what a different subject can for your ideas.

54. Ignore the Silly Criticism
This one won’t boost your inspiration but it might stop it being blocked. Ask people to comment on your photos and you’ll always get someone with something dumb to say. The challenge is to pick out the constructive comments and leave out the smartass ones that can make you think twice in the future.

55. Do Something Totally Outrageous
Ever told yourself “That would never work?” Well, here’s a “what if…” What if it did work? Go ahead, surprise yourself. Shoot what’s under the sofa. Snap the top of your head. Do something outrageously silly… and see if it works.

56. Give yourself Limits
Some of the greatest literature has been written under the strictest censorship. So limit yourself. Close the door and shoot only an object that you can find in the room. Or tell yourself that you have to produce a fantastic image within the next half hour. Take up the challenge

57. Tell a Story
Good pictures always tell a story. So try thinking of a story then go out and create the images that illustrate it. That could be the story of your street, a narrative describing a community or even the progression of a cub baseball team. Find where your story begins then use your camera to follow it through to the end.

58. Print your Pictures
It’s one thing to view your photos on a computer screen but printing them out and holding them in your hand can be something else altogether. Try printing a selection of your photos and see whether they still work on paper… and how you can improve them.

59. Take an Object, Any Object…
We started this list by pointing out that flea markets are full of strange objects to photograph. But there’s a limit to how you can photograph an individual object in a flea market. So take one home or pick something off the shelf and give yourself a whole new set of still lifes.

60. Buy New Equipment
And if all else fails, you can always use cash. A burst of new ideas always seems to come free with a new lens.

Julian Beever Street Art

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Julian Beever

Julian Beever is an English chalk artist who has been creating trompe-l'œil chalk drawings on pavement surfaces since the mid-1990s. His works are created using a projection called anamorphosis, and create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the correct angle.

Besides this pavement art, Beever also paints murals and replicas of the works of masters and oil paintings, and creates collages. He works as a freelance performance artist and creates murals for companies. He has worked in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Spain, the U.S., Australia and Brazil.

A chain letter containing his art, sometimes mixed with similar art by Kurt Wenner, has been circulating on the Internet since 2004.

Top 10 inspiration tips for graphic designer.

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:47:00 +0000

1. Play with color, textures and your favorite software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel)Every tutorial can be a valuable source of inspiration; just don’t pick too hard or too easy ones.

2. Watch a movieI prefer myself science fiction and fantasy movies as sources of new ideas. But other genres will do as well. Do you remember fun with colors in Matador?

3. Visit the zooThe animals and pets always bring positive feelings to us and watching them you can easily work out your duty.

4. Visit an exhibitionI always collect calendars, booklets and other promo production visiting such exhibitions. Well, I am not going to steal somebody’s ideas, just look for a brand new view.

5. Browse Google images, Flickr, stock photos sitesVery often I find eye catching design works and inspiration accidentally or by searching different keywords on the given topic of future design work.

6. Change your angle and timeIt is rather difficult to have always a fresh look on things, so ask your colleagues, friends or family to brainstorm. Try to generate some ideas in the evening though you usually do it in the morning.

7. Read and write blogsWhile it seems to be obvious, a lot of people find inspirations in reading and writing blogs. I should say, it’s great to have a blog. I learn a lot of useful things planning posts for Graphic design for life.

8. Join contestsContests give you topic, motivation and excitement. In addition you can have look at all possible answers to one question.

9. Ask “What if…?” If Angelina Jolie would be a man and we leave on Mars instead of Earth? Just asking such a questions boost you creativity. Try to ask yourself more specific questions.

10. Define the perfect designThe more real is perfect design in your head, the better you can them implement it in real design work.

Why avoid RGB to CMYK conversion before print?

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Image->Mode->CMYK is possibly most perplexing command in Photoshop. Because each print device has its own color profile and moreover even own adjusting algorithm for color conversion.

By converting RGB image to default CMYK profile you decrease quality of print work because in print device it will be converted second time anyway adjusting image to concrete color profile and by any conversion you lose valuable image data. Sometimes print machines have better technology/know-how in conversion images from RGB to CMYK and preparing them for print.

You have to know that ideally the new color profile for print machine should be created quite often. Each print job needs a different CMYK profile depending on rubbers, inks and paper type used, pressure, density, print speed, temperature and relative humidity of the press room. Al these parameters have an effect on dot gain and so they can‘t be calculated by Photoshop or other software. They have to be adjusted, ideally, just before press run.

Tip: Preferably color conversion should be made by prepress department of printer company. Contact the prepress department at the printer you are going to use and ask them what they exactly want. Avoid printing in companies where staff did not hear about color profiles at all (I met such people). And don’t forget to use at work good monitor and calibrate your screen, better by hardware not software approach.

Brad Downey Brings Wonderland to Life

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:31:00 +0000

“It would be so nice if something made sense for a change,” exclaimed Alice. While his work may seem as amazing and fantastical as something straight out of Alice’s Wonderland, Brad Downey’s creative street artwork does have a rhyme and reason beneath the madness. Downey is a New York street artist with a twist: his bizarre contributions to the urban art of public spaces could, if only for a moment, be confused with traditional street furniture.

Downey’s work often conveys characteristics of animation and life to inanimate objects and in many cases encourages interactivity. While not always legal, his street art does cause him less trouble with the law than that of other urban artists. Also, by cladding himself in the apparel of a typical city street worker he manages to pass himself off as virtually invisible while installing most of his projects.

Being raised in an always-traveling military family has informed Downey’s complex perspectives on the urban environments around him. His later studies at the Pratt Art Institute helped him hone his vision into a variety of media, sculpture more than most but film and painting as well. With his experience, praise and awards, Downey can be expected to keep transforming city street furniture around the world to realize his visions of Wonderland, one art object at a time.

More Unusual Art from Everyday Materials: Post-It Note, Sculptures and Murals

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:10:00 +0000

Never underestimate the power of simple office supplies. Post-It Notes come in many vibrant colors and provide everything from a building block for engaging sculptures to a collection of blank slates for interactive community art projects. Here are projects that involve covering, cladding, sculpting and decorating with simply sticky pieces of paper.

Do you suppose the owner of this vehicle was entertained or furious when he came back to find his car plastered in bright pink, blue, purple and green sticky notes? It might not be high art but it certainly makes a pop impression Warhol may have admired.

There’s no reason that this kind of art needs to be limited to non-representational forms. In this case the artists playfully took advantage of multiple stories of glass frontage to create a nifty illusion recalling a classic video game that appears both day and night.

If Donkey Kong, then why not Ray Charles and Elvis as well? Once you get started with this kind of art there really aren’t many limitations, particularly at a larger scale and from a distance. The outcome is predictable but the effect is nonetheless interesting.

Post-It projects also don’t have to simply be interesting things to look at. In this case, passers by were encouraged to contribute to the wall by writing their to-do lists and leaving them in place for all to see - a kind of civic group exercise in sharing and organization.

Word Of The Day!

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:20:00 +0000

"Graphic Design is a meta-language that can be used manify, obscure, dramatize, or re-direct words and images. It can be powerful, elegant, banal, or irrelevant. It's not inherently anything at all, but pure potential."

123KLAN OFFICIAL ON LINE DEALER

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:46:00 +0000

Checkout 123Klan apparel,goodies,toy and much more at 123Klan online store page.

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Update Artkami Creative Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:34:00 +0000

We got news to share with you!

Artkami Design Studio is a group team from Malaysia. We try to create the network of designer around of this world. Now, our first project is creating Artkami Creative Magazine. Its online magazine with PDF format and it’s free to download.

What is inside in this magazine?

We try to giving you an inspiration of idea. We collect the artwork around of the world to share inside this magazine. We also got an interview with designers. In this interview readers may take these opportunities for them learn how to be as designer. In this magazine there also include a tutorial in graphic design. Either Photoshop or Illustrator it’s really good for help the readers to know the good skills in graphic design.

We also create free art space to all designers around of the world. They may submit an artwork to share inside this magazine.The artwork is 20cm x 20cm for one page and 40cm x 20cm for two pages. From this submission the designers may promote their self to public. It help’s to make an relation with other designers around the world. For the readers they can see the creativity of designers.

Dennis Hwang Google Logo Designer!

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:00:00 +0000

Just another day's work for Dennis Hwang (Hwang Jung-moak), a 29-year-old Korean computer artist in the United States, who has been drawing the face of Google for almost eight years, creating a buzz of sorts with his simple yet witty designs.

With its seemingly magical ability to produce the most relevant search results, Google is already an established destination for the Internet savvy. Recently, Hwang's creative logos have been expressing the playful heart of Google behind the impressive technology

For Piet Mondrian's birthday, Hwang transformed the "Google" logo to emulate the artist's signature style of utilizing colorful blocks. Claude Monet's birthday saw the logo turned into a dreamy watercolor, complete with floating lily pads.

Hwang recently spoke with The Korea Herald to give his take on the artistic side of the popular Internet search engine.

Herald: How long did you live in Korea as a child? What was it like?

Dennis Hwang: I was born in Knoxville, Tenn., but moved to Korea when I was about five years old. My hometown was Gwacheon where I had a very normal childhood. I went through public schools like everyone else, spending six years at Gwacheon Elementary School and two years at Munwon Middle School. Actually, much of my ideas and style stem from the time I spent during my childhood in Korea. Whatever challenges the logos bring, I can often rely on the little doodles that I used to do in school when I was young. Something that used to be frowned upon turned out to be my greatest asset.

Herald: When did you move back to the United States?

Hwang: I came back in 1992 when my father received a Fulbright Scholarship to research in the United States.

Herald: What was it like going to an American school all of a sudden?

Hwang: I was placed in a public middle school but was completely unprepared for it. I didn't speak a word of English. For the first six months, I couldn't communicate with the teachers or students. With the help of ESL programs though, I got better. My father returned to Korea, but my brother and I decided to continue our education in the States. My parents have made unimaginable sacrifices for us over the last 10 years, and I wouldn't be this successful without their support.

Herald: What was the first logo you designed for Google?

Hwang: Google had been using outside contractors to do the earlier logos, so the first project I got was modifying the Fourth of July logo in 2000. The two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, wanted something more fun, so I redrew parts of the image. The next logo was for Bastille Day, which is the first logo I did from scratch.

Herald: Which letters are your favorite targets for manipulation?

Hwang: Understandably, the "O" and the "L" are the easiest to deal with. The "O" has become a Halloween pumpkin, a Nobel Prize medal, the Korean flag symbol and the planet earth. The "L" has been used as a flagpole, the Olympic flame cauldron or a snow ski. The first "G" is the most difficult to deal with, and I don't think the "E" has gotten much action because of its location.

Herald: How did you come to do the Korean Independence Day logo?

Hwang: Google makes a big effort to recognize holidays that aren't necessarily mainstream. The Korean Independence Day logo was seen globally by tens of millions of people. Numerous Korean-Americans wrote to thank us on Aug. 15 last year. Many expressed how proud it made them to see the Korean flag.

Herald: What are your future plans?

Hwang: Who knows? It's very important to me that I can work both technically and artistically. Google is a perfect place to do that. It allows me to have a programming job while letting me express myself artistically, with the added bonus of having my work be seen by tens of millions of people in a single day.

Herald: What is your favorite letter among the ones found in the word "Google?"

Hwang: I've stared at the logo for so long and so often. I love them all equally.

By Kim Jin Staff

Fwis Graphic Design Group

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:44:00 +0000

Some of Fwis Project

Fwis is a graphic design group in Portland, Cupertino and Brooklyn. Visit http://www.readymech.com/, http://www.iwasateenage.com/ and covers.fwis.com for a few of our side projects, or contact them if you would like more information.

Artkami Calling Designer For Entries!

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:55:00 +0000

Click to enlarge the flyers

Jamie Hewlett

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:35:00 +0000

Jamie Hewlett poses with his artwork

While some musicians have reinvented themselves as cartoon characters – Michael Jackson and the Beatles included – it took the launch of Gorillaz in 1999 to challenge expectations of what an animated band could accomplish.

Through a wealth of printed and onscreen presentations, Jamie Hewlett, cult comic artist and co-creator of Gorillaz, produced a fiction-as-fact illusion of the band. His detailed storyboards and character profiles have brought to near-life the group’s four members – Murdoc, 2D, Russel and Noodle – and made the virtual group Gorillaz a real entity in the international music industry.

On leaving Northbrook College, West Sussex in the late 1980s, Hewlett developed the anti-heroine comic character Tankgirl for the music and culture magazine Deadline. The popular strip quickly became the focal point of the magazine introducing Hewlett to other creative projects, including more mainstream comics, advertising campaigns and record sleeve design. The extraordinary Gorillaz project grew out of a shared interest – and apartment – with Blur’s lead singer Damon Albarn. The debut self-titled album sold an impressive six million copies worldwide, making Gorillaz the most successful album ever by a virtual group.

For the 2005 launch of the second studio album, Demon Days, Hewlett took the visualisation and personification of the band to a new level. Working with long-time collaborators Passion Pictures, the group’s ‘live’ performances were upgraded from 2D projections to complex quasi-holographic performances in which the band were fully rendered onstage in 3D for the MTV European Music Awards and the Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards. Jamie Hewlett works from his design company Zombie Flesh Eaters, based in West London.

Q. How long have you been a professional artist?

A. Professional? I still don't class myself as 'professional'. I only learnt to do Photoshop about a year-and-a-half-ago. Tim Watkins (a Zombie Flesh Eater) actually showed me Photoshop. I used to get him to sit with me and help - I was at this point where I thought, I can't learn this. There are too many 'things', too many buttons. And then he showed me the basics and now I love it. But it just takes me a while. I like drawing on bits of paper, having a physical drawing in front of me. So 'professional' I wouldn't say but I am an artist definitely.

When I started on comics I lived in a little flat. I used to live in Worthing, near Brighton, on the seafront, which is not a very expensive place to live. Comic books don't pay very much money at all. In my opinion, one page of comic is a work of art. Eight panels of drawings that can be quite wonderful - depending on who's drawn them - and you'd get £150 for that, which is not really very much.

So, comic artists have to generate ten pages a week in order to live a decent life. That's when I was working from 11am to 12pm smoking lots, listening to music and just churning it out. And that's why I stopped doing it.

Q. Tank girl was a massive success. Would you go back to comics?

A. Maybe. I would like to write and draw my own comic but I don't think I could work in the comic industry again; I'm out of the loop with that scene. There are far too many very talented comic artists who still have the energy to sit and draw ten pages of comic art every week. I've been on that conveyer belt and I don't want to do it again.

Q. What or who inspires you?

A. Jack Davis, Ronald Searle, Liberatore, Moebius, Tony Hart.

I stopped reading comics a long time ago, because I am the sort of person who, if I see something I really like, I'll probably copy it. Both my kids are really good at drawing and they've got a weird sense of humour so the things they draw are really odd. I have copied some of their drawings. So I have actually ripped my kids off. I like the way when you're young your control of a pen is so rubbish and yet you can get these great shapes out of things.

Q. What would appear on your CV if you had a CV?

A. I've never had a CV. Aren't CV's by nature very hard things to write? I think I've been very lucky because I've always been able to do my own thing. There have been times where I worked for other people, times when I did a lot of advertising work, which I hated. I'd get the job because of my name and be told 'yeah, we love your shit'. And then they'd give me the brief and I'd do it and they'd change it.

As soon as I get told what to do, I can't do it. But I've always been able to do what I want. Doing comics for years, I did all my own character and we wrote all our own comic strips and we were never told what to do. So that's how I started and that's how I shall continue.

Q. Is working on Gorillaz becoming a chore?

A. No, not a chore. I’ve never done anything where I've had to generate so many ideas everyday. When we started doing this with Damon, we said everything had to be checked by us, which meant we had to okay everything. That’s a good thing because it meant we were able to control everything that happens to the Gorillaz but it's also a bit of a curse because dozens of things a day have to be checked.

I just want to get on with what I do, which is draw pictures. You know, I come into work in the morning and I want to sit down, put my earphones on and draw pictures, like I used to do and do that all day. But every five minutes there is an interruption and it takes me an hour to get back to where I was. So that's a bit annoying just because what I like is drawing. That's the fun bit for me. At the same time it's good because it's been an exercise in having to come up with so many ideas all the time.

Q. Do you do all the Gorillaz artwork?

A. Most of it. On the website, for instance, there's a lot of artwork which both Tim and I generate - building games or building rooms. But the characters, images for the videos, single covers, they're all my stuff.

Particularly when it comes to the videos and performances a lot more people are needed to generate the animation. I come up with the ideas for the videos and storyboard them very clearly and then we cut the storyboard to the song so that the animation team know where every single cut is, and they can get a total idea of the vision for the video. Then I supply lots of 'key drawings' for each scene, so a drawing for every ten animation stills.

Pete Candeland is the animation director at Passion Pictures, they produce all the videos and performances. I'm very involved in the process though and oversee everything. It's a good team-up and a happy collaboration process. They're the same team who've worked on Gorillaz from the beginning.

Q. How has the Gorillaz project changed since the first album?

A. It's going better for me this time, I feel more in control. The first time round it worked, and we were pleased with it. But everyone said it was a gimmick. It wasn't, but I think it left a bit of a taste in our mouths.

We'd been working on it for nearly two years before the album was released (May 2005). Some of that time was spent just getting back into the headspace and preparing everything ahead of time. We needed to do that because they are only six of us at Zombie Flesh Eaters, and we're doing everything - press, the website, illustrations and advertising - from the studio.

Back when we started Gorillaz it was a fresh idea but it's better now because it's running more smoothly. Now it looks like what it’s supposed to look like.

The relationship with Passion Pictures is getting easier in the sense that we have exactly the same team involved - maybe a few more people, in fact, to make it easier. And they really know how to draw the characters now - they've got it.

Q. What's your working relationship with Damon like?

A. Damon has an opinion about what I do, of course. And if I don't like a song I'll tell him - then he'll probably tell me to..!

Q. How have advances in technology affected you?

A. Technology has really helped. If a band is successful there are so many things to do and now we're equipped to do most of it here, in house. We have Maya, After Effects, you can do things in Flash animation and we have our own animators. If we need to do a five-second ident for MTV for instance, we can do it in the studio.

Q. What's you favourite thing to draw?

A. Eggs, bananas, half eaten apples and bow ties.

I Love Typography!

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:43:00 +0000

I Love typography. This website giving you an information about typography and the arts of typography. You may view the site and see the beautiful works of typography!

Checkout the website now.

http://ilovetypography.com/

Sebdesign Online Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:22:00 +0000

Sebastien Nikolaou was born June 3, 1985 in Patras, Greece. Being a child of a greek father and a french mother, he flawlessly speaks both languages, while he early adopted his parents' national culture and aesthetics.

Sebastien's main passion and occupation is graphic design and illustration. Since his childhood he used to draw all time long. Later, being a teenager, he became a graffiti artist; a fact that taught and inspired him a lot in his coming professional work. At the age of 15 when he got into computers, influenced by cd covers, music artworks and music itself, he started creating his first digital artworks. Almost instantly, it turned into a real passion.

Checkout his website now.
http://sebdesign.eu/

Marc Paeps

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:42:00 +0000

Marc Paeps Photography he is photograper from brussels - belgium, with some uniqe objects and photo manipulation. Mybe you will bookmark the website. Checkout and see the coolest work!

How To Improve Your Publicity Design

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:42:00 +0000

specialized skills for the publicity designer

Freelance designers who specialize in marketing materials are in high demand. As a result, freelance promotions designers can make up to $80 per hour. So what specialized skills do you need to be a publicity designer? Actually, you don't need any.

I look for designers who have an awareness of my marketing goals. I look for designers who will sit and read my copy, and will only start to conceptualize the design when they have analyzed the copy. I look for designers who combine artistic talent with some basic marketing knowledge to help them interpret the brief.

And I'm not alone. I'm sure I speak for most campaign managers and copywriters. In short, these are the words of your prospective clients, so take heed. If you want to get ahead of the competition in the publicity design arena, you need to learn the basics of marketing and copywriting.

Buy a copywriting manual

Learning the basic rules of marketing and copywriting is easy. Forget about the expensive courses, you can learn the essentials with a good book.

The three best are:
The Copywriter's Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells. Revised and Expanded, Robert W. Bly (Owl Books, Third Edition: 2006)

A clear, comprehensive guide to the business of and techniques used in advertising copywriting. Includes guidance on the tasks of a copywriter, the copywriting business, and how to write a variety of different printed publicity including public relations material, radio and TV commercials, speeches and sales literature.

Teach Yourself Copywriting, Jonathon Gabay Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 3 edition (2003)

A guide for anyone who needs to know how to produce advertising and marketing materials. The revised edition includes chapters on e-mail and Internet marketing and covers new theories and practices in copywriting. Fully revised for today's practical copywriting requirements, Teach Yourself Copywriting reveals some of advertising's greatest creative secrets. From planning to implementation, it guides readers step-by-step through copywriting skills for a range of disciplines, including the most up-to-date information on the Internet, radio and TV, business-to-business, public relations, recruitment, and charities. Featured are practical exercises, summaries, and quick tips that allow readers to practice their skills, along with a list of useful addresses.

100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists,Shaun J. Crowley (Shaun Crowley E-publishing, 2006)

My book, written specifically for designers, reveals 100 copywriting tricks-of-the-trade including guidance on planning and conceptualizing web and print publicity, how to produce publicity that sells, and how to marry your copy and visuals together. Click here to download it. I've provided an online sample chapter (PDF) for your review.

Freelance POP display design and exhibition display design

Freelance display design is one of the most challenging areas of publicity design. You only have ten seconds to grab people's attention and lure them over to the product or exhibition stand. At the same time, your design must be consistent with the product's or company's brand image, and communicate its sales message immediately.

Here are 10 tips for effective POP display design and exhibition display design.

1. Always think about who the customer is. Who will buy the product? Who will be drawn to the display? What are their likely ages, genders, occupations, incomes, personality types, goals, and aspirations? Use your knowledge of the customer to inform your design.

2. The headline is king. It is the mouth-piece of the display. Your design must reinforce the strengths of the headline to help communicate its sales message immediately. Keep the headline simple and easy to read from a distance.

3. Use compelling images for eye-catching impact. Images have more impact if they are clear, specific, and definable. For example, an image of a telephone on a plain background is more likely to grab attention than an image of indefinable objects such as bubbles, wisps, or stripes.

4. Faces tend to grab more attention than inanimate objects.

5. Use the best quality images you can. Urge your client to buy the more expensive photos, not the cheap free images. Make sure the resolution is sufficient for large exhibition panels. All images must appear crisp and vivid at full size.

6. Brand your display with a visual theme, if you are creating multiple display banners, so people recognize and remember it. Most importantly, the theme must connect to the brand in some way, either via the logo design or the message of the slogan. It's no use people remembering your design if they can't attribute it to the company or product.

7. Include the product in the visuals you use. Make the product look as good as possible. Make it 3D, make it glow or sparkle, make it jump out and look desirable.

8. Always conceptualize your display so that the product is presented or demonstrated in the best way possible. Don't hide or embed the product, make the design revolve around the product so the product commands maximum attention.

9. Jazz-up your POP displays by using different types of materials. You don't have to print on cardboard-try using acrylic, canvass, or glass-but make sure the material you use is consistent with the product image.

10. Strive for a unique look. Find out what other types of designs your display will be competing with, and use this to inform your approach. For example, if no one else is using fluorescent colors, and this is consistent with the brand image, use fluorescent colors. Maybe you can use lighting to your advantage. Gizmos like battery powered lighting or interactive features help give the display a unique look.

Why don't you write the POP displays yourself?

In many ways it makes more sense for the designer to conceptualize, write, and design POP display design, rather than work alongside a copywriter without a working knowledge of Photoshop.
As a copywriter, I may have visual ideas for POP displays in my head, but unfortunately I can't illustrate them as credible ruffs. A design brief will never capture the vividness of my original idea, so somewhere along the line my idea becomes diluted. Consequently, my designer and I often find it hard to work on POP displays together. I know from colleagues that this happens quite a lot.
So why don't you write the thing, as well as design it? You'll be offering a unique and in-demand service to marketing departments.

As with most POP display briefs, you don't need to write much copy, so you don't need to be a master of the written word. Just learn the basics of copywriting.

Conclusion

- Direct selling promotional material has one objective: to sell. Making the piece look attractive, although connected, is a secondary goal.

- You need to think about the customer and the message in the copy before you sit down to conceptualize your design.

- You need to improve your knowledge of marketing and copywriting to improve your publicity design.

- A good copywriting manual will give you an overview of marketing practice, so you know what your clients want, and what your publicity designs should achieve.

Written by,
Shaun Crowley, http://www.copywriting-designers.com/

Wolda '08 is open now for entries!

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:06:00 +0000

Wolda is the high-profile graphic design awards scheme that rewards the best logos and trademarks designed throughout the world. Thanks to its innovative and transparent three-tier judging procedure it has received the endorsement of the most important design associations all over the world (see list at bottom of page). All the winning logos will be showcased online and published in a printed annual of exceptional quality printed on Sappi acclaimed papers by Fontegrafica.

http://www.wolda.org/

Cool Flyers, Posters, Leaflets - Great Flyer Design Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:47:00 +0000

Need inspiration for your next flyer design project? Here are some cool designs that I have come across. Some of these flyers have cool textures, shapes, and some are even 3d-like. I might have different tastes than you. Please submit designs of flyers that you like and we will have a second Flyer design article when we collect enough cool designs. These designs are great for inspiration, I hope you enjoy them and use them well.

You might also enjoy our Cool Business Cards Part I and Cool Business Cards Part II. Also visit our Best of Brochure Designs List. list of free flyer / leaflet design templates and our List of Flyer Design and Layout Articles.

3K Creations

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:34:00 +0000

3k creations is your one stop shop for all things custom! In need of a Baby Shower Invitation? Birthday Invitation? How about an Engagement Announcement? You can go as far as your imagination takes you. Graduation Invitations, Baby Announcements are only the beginning. During the Holiday Season, use 3k to create your Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa cards.

Checkout the website. 3kcreations.com

3×3 Call for Entries No. 5 and the Professional Illustration Show

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:17:00 +0000

This year you’ll find we’ve simplified the entry process, less paperwork to send in, fewer forms to fill out and you can enter and pay for your entries online. So if you’ve entered before we think you’ll notice a dramatic difference with the ease of entering. But what hasn’t changed is our selection of judges–the very best as always.

Your work will be judged as if it were in a classroom situation as well as judged on its merits as pure illustration.

All entries must be uploaded to our site or your package must be postmarked no later than February 14.

Click here for complete details.

For online payment click here.

For a complete list of last year's winners, click here.

Visto Brahma

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:56:00 +0000

To celebrate the flair, colour and creativity of our Brasilian origins, Brahma beer is launching VISTOBRAHMA, a design competition which offers up and coming creative minds the chance to get their work seen.

There is a main cash prize of £5,000, as well as the chance to see your design on our packaging throughout the UK.

All types of work are welcome, whether its painting, illustration, photography, street art or anything in between, we want to see it.

Our association with creativity spans many years and includes projects such as TrocaBrahma street art in the UK, to our work with a wide range of respected artists including Brasil’s Speto.
You can see examples of artists work for Brahma throughout the site and in the gallery

Please drink Brahma responsibly – www.drinkaware.co.uk

A Digitaldreamer

noreply@blogger.com (V) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:37:00 +0000

Learn how to become a graphic designer.

Read career articles, find graphic design schools, & discover Jobs. Also explore video game design, animation & photography. Get the information you need to become who you are meant to be!

Checkout the website. http://www.adigitaldreamer.com/