Graphic Design

How to Create a Sparkling Fantasy Photo Manipulation

2011-04-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Final Image Preview

Step 1

The first step is to create a background for our image. This time we’ll use a simple combination of different textures using the blending modes. Just open the first texture and the second one over the first. Now change the mode of this last one to Multiply and the Opacity to about 40%, then Merge them.

Step 2

Now duplicate your layer, Desaturate the upper one and use the Eraser Tool (E) to delete parts from the upper left zone. Use the Motion Blur in this layer like in the sample image below, merge the layers, and finally add some magenta and blue using Image > Adjustments > Color Balance.

Step 3

Now grab this image of a woman. Cut her out from the original picture and paste in the center of the new image. We are going to modify her color and light using the blending modes again.

From the beginning we have in mind that we want the light falling from the upper-left corner of the image, so we have to show this in the girl and her lights and shadows. First, let’s go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and add some more saturation to the image.

Now duplicate our layer with the girl, and with the upper layer selected go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and add more brightness. Change the mode of this layer to Screen and the Opacity to 58%. Finally, you can delete (using a blurred brush and a Layer Mask or the Eraser Tool) the darker parts (under her arms and hair).

Duplicate our first layer with the girl again and move it over the other. Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and make it darker. Pay attention to the shadows in her dress, don’t be worried by her face or others zones at this point.

When you have some good details in the shadows of the dress change the Layer Mode to Linear Burn and use the Layer Mask or the Eraser Tool again to delete the zones that you don’t need to be dark, like her face, the light zones in her arms, etc. Now merge the Layers of the girl.

Finally, use the Burn Tool (O) to make the zones darker than you need. I retouched her hair and some details in her face.

Step 4

The face in our image doesn’t look too big, but it still seems a little pixelated, we can fix this using the Smudge Tool (R). Select it with a small brush (about 16 px) and the strength set to about 30%, and use it on her skin with small strokes in the direction of her features. You can use the Blur Tool (R) to help with this process, but use it carefully because we don’t want the face out of focus.

Step 5

Now let’s duplicate our girl layer and add some Cyan, Green and Blue to the lower one. Go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and change the settings to those shown below.

Change the Layer Mode in the one on the top to Hard Light, the Opacity to 40% and use the Layer Mask or the Eraser Tool to delete most of the image, just leave some of its warm tones on the left side, where the light is falling over our model. Merge the layers with the girl and finally go to Image > Brightness/Contrast and add a little more of brightness.

Step 6

We’re going to create the shadow of the girl in the easiest way. Just create a new layer over the girl and use the Brush Tool (B) with black selected to draw some uneven horizontal lines under her feet and her back.

Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and use a horizontal blur with about 760 px. If you need some more shadows over the girl just supplicate the layer, erase the shadows that you don’t need, and merge the layers.

Now let’s add a transparent shadow falling over the background. Just duplicate the “girl” layer, fill it with black (for example, go to Levels and make it dark) and move it to the position shown below. Then make it a little smaller using Free Transform (Command + T) and add a Gaussian Blur (Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur) of about 21 px.

Change the Layer Mode of the shadow to Soft Light, the Opacity to 75%, and finally erase the lower part of the shadow.

Step 7

Now create a new layer, select the Brush Tool (B) again with black selected and a blurred blush, then draw some dark zones, as shown below.

Go to Filter > Motion Blur and add the settings shown below. You can use the filter twice or more if you prefer.

Change the Opacity to about 70%, erase some parts if you consider it necessary and change the Blending Mode to Multiply. If you want to add more shadows in some parts just repeat the process painting in other places.

Step 8

Now, in a new layer use a smoke brush with a white color selected and put it behind the girl. You can use Gaussian Blur to make it out of focus.

Step 9

Now we’re going to create some subtle rays of light in the corner of our image. You can draw some lines and use the Motion Blur, but we can do it with the same brush that we´ve used for the smoke. Just duplicate some of these layers and apply the Motion Blur (Filters > Blur > Motion Blur) with the settings shown below.

Now move the layer to the corner and repeat the previous step with another brush. Use Free Transform (Command + T) to change the angle of the rays. I used three different layer for the light to get a good result.

Step 10

Now grab an image with ribbons in it. Open the new image and select the ribbons, as shown below.

Copy and paste them into our image and go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Modify the settings as shown below.

Finally, use the Burn Tool (O) to make darker the zones in the ribbon that are not touched by light. You can adjust levels or other settings to get a perfect color and light.

Grab some more ribbons from another similar image. Select them and paste them into our image, then change the color/saturation, and use the Burn Tool (O) in a similar way as in the previous step.

Add the shadow for this last ribbon falling over the girl’s dress. There are a lot of ways to make it. For example, draw a black stripe, use Gaussian Blur, change the opacity and the blending mode to Multiply, much like we did in previous steps.

For the shadow of the second ribbon, duplicate this layer, fill it with black and apply a Gaussian Blur.

Change the blending mode to Soft Light and erase the parts that you don’t need.

Finally, I add a new ribbon and a new layer of shadow under the model.

Step 11

Now let’s add some flower imagery. This is a simple cut and paste process. The only important thing is that you change the levels or colors little in the images as needed.

Use some stock images of flowers to add behind the girl. You can download these images: 1, 2, and 3.

The only remarkable details are some shadows added using the brush and some Gaussian Blur, then change the color in one of the images. To make this just go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, select yellow colors, and change the Hue bar as shown.

Add a flower image in the hand of the girl. To integrate it in the image select the layer of the flower and draw a black shadow in the upper part, then use the Gaussian Blur again (Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur). Now change the opacity of the layer if it’s needs. Create a new layer under the flower and paint two little shadows, use blur again using a subtle Gaussian Blur, and change the opacity as needed.

The system to add the other flowers are always the same. It’s easy and it only requires that you choose good stock images. For example, it’s important that the light in the flowers is logical and respects the light source of our image. If light come from left, don’t use images with the shadow in the right. It’s really simple, you just need cut them, and correct them a little with Levels as needed.

Step 12

Now let’s add some rays of lights flowing from the hand of the girl. To make this, select the Brush Tool, select a hard brush with a size about 8 px and white as the foreground color. Now select the Pen Tool (P) and select in the upper part the option of Paths.

Now draw a curve similar to the one in the image and press the right button on your mouse, then select Stroke Path. In this new menu select Brush and check the Simulate Pressure box.

Press OK. Now press the red button on your mouse again, and select Delete Path. In this layer, select Layer > Layer Style > Gradient Overlay. Add a gradient from black to blue as shown below. Then select Outer Glow and add a blue glow.

Now add a Gaussian Blur to the layer. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and add 2,5 px.

Now duplicate the layer and change the position of the new one.

Select the Brush Tool again and use the smoke brush with a white color. Draw some of smoke and select Edit > Transform > Warp to adjust the curve of the smoke as needed.

For the other ray of light I’ve used the same steps as those above.

Step 13

Now create a new layer, use a brush with a white color to draw a stripe, and then use a blur on it. Finally, change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay. Then you can move it over the ribbons to simulate shine.

For the rays behind the girl use the same system. After you’ve created one of them, duplicate it and move until you’ve done something similar to the sample below. Finally, add the smoke as you’ve done previously.

With these simple ideas I’ve created different points of lights marked in red in the next below. With a mark in blue you can see another ray of light that I’ve drawn using the previous steps.

Step 14

Now that we’re finishing the image, we just need to add details to make it more attractive.
For example, let’s use some petals to decorate the image here and there. Use some flowers too and put them in our image as if they’re flying. To make the movement effect just go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

Cut another ribbon, paste it in the right corner of our image and add a Motion Blur. Then go to Layer > New Adjustments Layer > Drop Shadow and add the setting shown below.

Add another ribbon in the bottom of the image and repeat the Motion Blur.

Step 15

Finally, let’s add some Adjustments Layers. Go to your upper layer and then to Layer > New Adjustments Layer > Levels. Modify the settings as shown and repeat the process with Color Balance and a Gradient Map. Then change the opacity in the Gradient Map layer to 9% and in the Levels layer to 75%.

Conclusion

The final image is below and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Have fun applying these techniques in your own work!

By. psd.tutsplus

20 Expressive Negative Space Photography – Negative is Positive!

2011-04-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

There are several things that graphic designers can learn from other professions. Photography is one such field that shares similar techniques with graphic design. Minimalism and clarity of work are both common traits of graphic designing and photography. Likewise, one of the best tricks of incorporating minimalism in an artwork is using negative space.
Negative space is the space around an object of attention. Although some might argue that negative space is wasted space, the absence of content does not mean the absence of interest. On the contrary, negative space generates attention as it puts a stronger emphasis on the subject. It also helps in arousing the emotions of the object in focus.

Focusing on the Subject:

While employing negative space, the aim of photographers and graphic designers is similar. Both try to use negative space to bring focus onto the main subject of their artwork. But sometimes it is not the subject, but the negative space around it that makes an artwork worthwhile. Integrating negative space in photography is quite challenging but very beneficial at the same time. Some situations will present themselves for negative space. While in other situations, you will have to improvise with the subject to find the proper backdrop to give the effect.

Exhilarating Examples of Negative Space in Photography:

Let us now take a look these 20 expressive examples of negative space in photography. I would recommend you try this technique next time you take photos and see how it adds more focus and emotion to your photography.

Negative Space Photography # 1

Negative Space Photography # 2

Negative Space Photography # 3

Negative Space Photography # 4

Negative Space Photography # 5

Negative Space Photography # 6

Negative Space Photography # 7

Negative Space Photography # 8

Negative Space Photography # 9

Negative Space Photography # 10

Negative Space Photography # 11

Negative Space Photography # 12

Negative Space Photography # 13

Negative Space Photography # 14

Negative Space Photography # 15

Negative Space Photography # 16

Negative Space Photography # 17

Negative Space Photography # 18

Negative Space Photography # 19

Negative Space Photography # 20

By. graphicdesignblog

Crate Poster in Illustrator

2011-04-04T00:15:00.000-07:00

Lately, we received many requests for more illustration tutorials, so for this week we decided to show you how to make this cool hellboy poster in illustrator.

Before we begin, I must say this is going to be a more advanced tutorial, you won't need to know how to draw, but with you know it will be a lot simplier. The basic requirements is to be good with the pen tool and blending modes, so let's do it buddies.

Step 1

Open adobe illustrator and create a A3 vertical canvas (42 x 29,7 cm or 11,69 x 16,54 inches). Using therectangle tool ( M ) create a rectangle to fill all the canvas and with the gradient tool ( G ) put a golden gradient on it.

Create a new layer ( ctrl + L / command + L ) and repeat the same procedure, but this time make a rectangle with some distance from the canvas, in order to make the golden border. Using the gradient tool ( G ) create this brown gradient in the opposite direction of the golden.

Step 2

I used the Code font with bold, you can get it at Font Fabric. Create a new layer ( ctrl + L / command + L )for the text, type "hellboy" and create outlines, then align it vertically using the align panel option called horizontal align center.

Using the gradient tool ( G ) create this mettalic gold gradient (it should take you some time to adjust correctly) in each letter.

Now go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set Offset to 0,1 cm , miter Joins and 4 limit miter.

Using the gradient tool ( G ) create this red gradient and add a dark yellow stroke on it, send it to back and you should get this result.

Finally, let's add some fine detail on the type, using the star tool create a slim star with 4 points, radius 1 with 0,1 cm and radius 2 with 2 cm. Duplicate it using the selection tool ( V ) + alt then rotate it and resize it. Distribute it along the type on it's corners to give some fancy look.

Step 3

Well, let's skip to the illustration part, first of all, you should create 4 guides to help you don't exceed the area of the poster we're going to use. So create a new layer ( ctrl + L / command + L ) and create the 4 rules by using ctrl + R / command + R, pull the guides and posicionate like the sample bellow..

Let's begin with the eye, create this shape by using the pen tool ( P ) , it will be the eyebrown, than create a circle using the ellipse tool ( L ) and a rectangle using the retangle tool ( M ). Place the rectangle above the circle and align the bottom of it to the center of the half circle. Access the pathfinder panel and choose the option called minus front, this should create this half circle.

Usign the gradient tool ( G ) create a light yellow radial gradient on the half circle. Now posicionate it and resize it above the eyebrown in order to look like a eye. Duplicate the half circle using the selection tool ( V ) + alt , change it fill to black, send it to back and resize it and posicionate it till it loo like the sample bellow.

Step 4

Now let's try to draw the rest of the face, first of all hide the two backgrounds, the white canvas is way better to work. Using the pen tool ( P ) create this shape that will be the top of hellboy's cranium. With you have a tablet you may find it more easier to do it with the brush tool, then just expand it and adjust to look like this, fell free to do the way you find more easier.

Repeat the same procedure, but draw it's nose this time.

Try to draw a big mouth like this to give it more like a gorilla look.

Finally draw it's ear, that sould be the easiest part, the basic part of the face it's now complete, let's skip to the details.

Step 5

Let's add some details to the face, using the pen tool ( P ) create simple shapes like this to look like wrinkles, create it above the nose, on the ear, above the eyebrown, bellow the eye and in the head side. This will give a more bad guy's look.

Here's a little trick I've learned watching Hydro 74 works: create a series of triangles and resize it, posicionate it to the part you wanna make the hachure and give more depth.

First add this hachure to the space between the eye and the nose, with a little help from the pen tool ( P )create a clipping mask ( ctrl + 7 / command + 7 ). Repeat the procedure on the wrinkle on the left side of the head.

On eyebrown you won't need to do a clipping mask, but you will have to resize it. It also needs some fine adjustments that you will have to do manually, like the decrease of the triangles.

Make the wrinkles of the mouth by using the pen tool ( P ) and duplicating it with the selection tool ( V ) + alt . The final result should be something like these.

Step 6

This is probably the easiest step, using the pen tool ( P ) you're going to create a red fill around the head. Create a new layer ( ctrl + L / command + L ) and bring it to back, it's better to make the fill separated from the trace because when you need to texturize it will be a lot more easier as you going to see next.

Step 7

The Hellboy beard is really weird, as you can see here. First we're going to draw the goatee, pretty simple, just make a rectangle with the rectangle tool ( M ) and using the pen tool ( P ) add some triangles on it's top.

Unfortunately, there insn't another way to do the beard except by using the pen tool ( P ), after it use thesmooth tool on it, in order to look less sharpen.

Step 8

Hellboy just isn't Hellboy without his cutted horns, so let's draw it, now you can activate the background hidden layers. Create a circle using the ellipse tool ( L ), choose a dark red fill and then duplicate it using the selection tool ( V ) + alt , change the fill of this one to a light red gradient and place it above the darker one.

Usin the pen tool ( P ) create this lines to look more like the rest of the face trace.

Using the brush tool ( B ) create these little lines to give a more solid aspect to the horns. Well, the main illustration it's done, in the next steps where going to texturize it.

Step 9

There's many ways to texturize this illustration, while doing some experiments I've found that is way better to texturize all the elements separated than just putting a texture above all the picture. You can find some realy cool texture here at Abduzeedo, on the Tuesday Total Texture pages. First texturize the gold background, then the brown background and make a clipping mask ( ctrl + 7 / command + 7 ) on a texture to fit only the Hellboy's face. I rather leave the text with no textures, but feel free to use with you want.

Layers Order

Step 10

But with you're not happy with the final result yet, you can just do a little trick and copy the Hellboy's face and reflect it, then you should get this:

Final Conclusion

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned some illustration tips guys, don't get worried with it don't get exactly as the original, try to do your own version too and experiment other ways to achieve the final result.

Download the files

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ALL FILES USED FOR THIS TUTORIAL

By. abduzeedo.com

Jungle Plant Vine Beanstalk Vectors- Free

2011-04-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

I’ve heard it through the grape “vine” that today’s free vectors are awesome. Jack can save his magic beans- because these beanstalk vectors are free. This free illustrator vector download contains six unique vines, beanstalks, and jungle plants. Some are detailed and intricate while others are simple and clean.
This free vector download is a free to be used on any personal or commercial work. The free download file works with adobe illustrator 8 or higher.

Stay tuned for more great free vectors coming soon. Go Green!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD – JUNGLE PLANT VINE VECTORS – FREE

Human Skulls and Skeletons Vector Set

2011-04-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

Here’s another nice vector art set guest post from VintageVectors. There are three versions of a human skull – two in profile and one front view (missing the bottom jaw, ouch!!).
My favorites are the skeletons. There are four in the set, each one sort of posing.
There’s a skeleton weeping, one kneeling in prayer, one thinking and then one who seems to be gesturing, “Come on in”, or maybe “… after you.”
The download is EPS format. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD FREE SKULLS AND SKELETONS VECTORS

Vintage Vector Textures

2011-04-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Vintage vector textures

Ben Steers shares some insider tips and techniques to help give your vector illustrations a retro look

Vintage and retro-style illustrations have made a big comeback over recent years, with designers utilising the features offered by Illustrator to achieve that handprinted, misaligned feel so common in 50s and 60s animation and illustration. was a pivotal period, and brought an entirely new visual vocabulary into the mainstream, with artists challenging the ‘lifelike’ cartoon forms of the time to adopt a sophisticated, stylised graphic language that has hugely influenced modern-day illustration.

The art of this era has a timeless appeal, with its distinct style, use of patterns and mark-making. In this tutorial, I outline some useful tips and techniques for your own vintage characters, while also explaining how to achieve a handprinted effect and use halftone patterns effectively.

Click here to download the support files (2.55MB)

Skills
Use halftone patterns
Add a retro handprinted effect to your illustrations
Master Illustrator’s Brush libraries
Time needed 4-6 hours

01 Get out a pen and paper, and start sketching some loose ideas. For this particular illustration I’ve gone for a one-man-band style of character from the 60s. It always helps to reference individual elements – such as the instruments and uniform here – to inform your sketches. Remember that we’re trying to create a character with a vintage aesthetic, so keep it simple and pay particular attention to your linework. Once you’re happy, sketch out your final image ready to scan.

02 Scan your sketch and open a new document in Illustrator. Go to File>Place and insert the scanned image into the new document. Drop the Opacity to 50 per cent, create a new layer, and start the process of tracing out your image using the Pen tool. Make sure you create new layers for each section of your illustration – the head, body, instruments and so on.

03 Once you’ve traced out your image, it’s time to choose the colour palette. Selecting the right palette is essential in setting the mood and tone for your illustration. I’ve chosen a six-colour palette containing warm earth tones, which will help add a rustic feel to my character. You can either use the swatch libraries provided by Illustrator (Window>Swatch Libraries), or online resources such as Adobe Kuler.

04 When you’ve selected your colours, create a new swatch palette by dragging your colour boxes into the palette. Fill the black and white image with colour, paying particular attention to the balance of colours, keeping them even. Don’t apply any strokes for now – we’ll come back to this later.

05 Now start adding strokes to some of your lines. To achieve the slightly worn, handprinted look we’re after, utilise Illustrator’s brush libraries. Go to Window>Brush Libraries> Artistic>Artistic Charcoal Pencil, and select a suitable brush. The aim is to achieve a good balance between solid-block colour and stroked objects, so be very selective about the elements you choose to apply the effect to.

06 Experiment by applying new hand-drawn strokes over the top of some of your clean vector shapes to achieve the misaligned look that is reminiscent of early illustration styles. Once again, be selective about which elements you choose to apply your strokes to. Less is very often more when creating retro-looking characters.

07 Another common trait of early character illustrations is the use of halftone patterns. The effect produced can be easily replicated in Illustrator. Using your Alignment tool (Shift+F7), create a series of dots, varying the density for lighter or darker areas. We’re going to use this effect for the character’s skin and shadow, as the technique works best on these kinds of areas.

08 Select the character’s head, hold down Alt/Opt, and drag the copy produced onto your dotted pattern. Group the dots together (Ctrl/Cmd+G) and, making sure your copied object is on top of the dots, select both objects and create a clipping mask (Ctrl/Cmd+7). This will give you a cut-out that you can drag back onto your character’s head. You can play with the opacity of the dots if they appear too prominent. Now apply the same process to the hands and shadow.

09 When you have all the colour and lines in place, remove your background colour layer. We are now going to apply some techniques to help give our character a worn, textured look. First up, using some black acrylic paint, make some marks on a piece of paper. Use brushes, pieces of card and so on to create scratchy marks on the paper. Wait for them to dry and scan them in.

10 Open the textures in Photoshop, go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/ Contrast, and adjust the contrast so that the blacks appear darker. Click Save, and place them (File>Place) into your Illustrator file. Now go to Object>Live Trace>Tracing Options. With Preview ticked, change Preset to Detailed Illustration, and then hit Trace.

11 Your textures have now been converted to a vector. Next, go to Object>Expand to edit the image. Ungroup your object (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+G) so that you can further edit the object. Change the object colour to white, select and copy it.

12 You can now go about overlaying the textures onto various parts of your character. Make sure that you paste the object onto the correct layer, and be subtle and selective with your application. It’s easy to get carried away and apply too much. Remember that we are simply trying to achieve a handprinted feel for the illustration: applied correctly, this technique can be highly effective.

By. computerarts

Art Fragmentation of the Photo

2011-04-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

Resources

Jolly Girls

Step 1

Start by opening photo on Photoshop.

Step 2

From this photo choose one of the girls. I choose the one in the middle and use the Crop Tool to select area. After selection, go to Image > Crop.

After selection, go to Image > Crop. You should have something like photo below.

Step 3

Now we are going to increase contrast of the photo. To do that, duplicate layer (Ctrl+J) and change layer mode to Overlay on new layer.

Step 4

Duplicate again new layer (Ctrl+J) and change layer mode for it to Screen instead of Overlay.

Step 5

Merge all the layers together with Layer > Merge Visible. Now we have only one layer. Apply Image > Adjustments > Levels with next presets for this layer.

Step 6

Apply again Image > Adjustments > Levels, but this time you have to change options only in Red channel.

Step 7

Go one more time to Image > Adjustments > Levels to make some changes in Blue channel.

Step 8

Duplicate current layer with Ctrl+J again, then apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with similar settings to these:

Step 9

Change layer mode to Multiply for this layer.

Step 10

Duplicate current layer with Ctrl+J and change layer mode to Soft Light on new layer created.

Step 11

Copy current layer one more time with Ctrl+J and change layer mode to Normal for copy.

Step 12

Select Rectangular Marquee Tool and create selection similar to mine on newly created layer.

Press Delete button to clear selected area and remove selection with Ctrl+D.

Step 13

Apply Strole layer effect by going to Layer > Layer Style > Stroke for newly created frame.

Final Image

You might want to experiment with different filters, layer styles and layer modes and all that to get some unique outcomes, you just have to get creative!

By. PhotoshopStar

Photoshop Tutorial To Enhance Photos and Still Keeping Skin Pores

2011-04-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

1. Open the image in Photoshop.

2. Duplicate

Duplicate the Background layer by dragging the background layer to the small symbol new layer on the bottom right of the Layers palette.

3. Stamp

Still on the duplicated layer, use the Stamp tool to reduce the most visible flaws. Use the alt key to pick the sample (use the closest color of the skin), then stamp on the skin we want to improve. For dark circles combined with wrinkles, stamp only at the edges to smooth the difference. The less you use the stamp the better. Usually I use a relatively big brush, but with low opacity. For an unwanted spot, use the right size, just enough to cover the spot with a higher opacity.

4. Duplicate the Background Copy Layer

5. Blur Current Layer with Gaussian Blur

Radius 1.5 Pixels

6. Add Noise To It

2.45% Gaussian

7. Move

Move current layer (Background copy 3) below Background copy 2.

8. Click On The Mask Tool

And use the black brush (in mask mode) to reveal the layer underneath, which is the smoothed version. Leave the eye brows, eye lashes, eyes, and lips, outlines untouched.

9. If The Dark Circles Are Too Dark

Use the square tool to select the eyes, copy and paste to a new layer. Use the Levels option (Ctrl+L) to lighten the skin around the eyes.

10. Apply A Mask On The Eyes Layer

And use a brush to remove the edges and the inside of the eyes. Now you can see that the skin under the eyes is the same brightness as the other part of the face.

11. Repeat (optional)

If the face is not smooth enough, feel free to duplicate Background copy 3, and repeat step 5 with a higher number, followed by step 6. Adjust the opacity of the layer until the result is satisfying. The lower the opacity, the closer it is to the actual picture.

12. Duplicate The Layer For The Hair Enhancement

Use levels to enhance the brightness and contrast of the hair. Pay no attention to the face: it has no effect because we will use this layer for the hair only.

13. Move The Hair Layer One Backwards

Apply mask and brush on the face layer to reveal the enhanced hair.

14. Repeat 12 and 13 With The Eye Color and Brightness

15. That’s it

Now you have a natural-looking photoshopped picture.

By.Elisha Leo

10 Tips to Rescue Your Graphic Design Project

2011-04-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

Whether you're giving a critical sales presentation to a client, producing visuals for a meeting, event, trade show or seminar, or unveiling the new company logo before an audience of shareholders, top-notch graphics will help ensure that you, your products, and your message receive the attention they deserve.
Yet when you decide to do the graphics in-house to reduce turnaround time or cut expenses, those logos, photos, charts, graphs, pictures, timelines, illustrations, etc. can be a source of frustration, embarrassment, stress and perhaps lost business.
Following ten simple tips to surefire do-it-yourself graphic design, however, will help maximize your visual punch, minimize your mistakes, and give you the professional-look your graphics deserve. Not to mention, cut down on the headaches.

1 -Take a deep breath

Especially if you have a key presentation looming that needs charts, graphs, and visuals and all you have are loose papers and a migraine, first take a deep breath. Put on a fresh pot of coffee. Clear your workspace. Handle those last minute telephone calls. In short, you are going to need to focus your attention on your design project, so prepare yourself. You're about to solve your graphic design problem in classic, do-it-yourself fashion.

2 - Outline your project

Make a simple list of the presentation graphics you think you'll need. Don't get into details at this point. For example, you might list: opening-- photo of young couple with product and company logo; midpoint-- new market piechart and bar graph of financial growth; close-- photo of new satisfied customer using product. You just want to create a rough outline that can help steer you through the project.

3 - Define what you're trying to say

To keep your audience visually interested you must keep things simple and avoid clutter that will confuse your focus.
Communicate one concept at a time with your graphics. Your message can contain various parts, but your communication as a whole must concentrate on the key concept you want to get across. To shoot for more is to court disaster. At all costs, avoid making everything important, as that's the surest way to create visual anarchy. When you attempt to give great importance to more than one message (or visual item), you introduce confusion and succeed only in dispersing the viewers attention instead of directing it where you want it.

4 - Keep it simple

Visually, simple is better than complex, especially when images will only be seen a short time. Avoid the complex since it obscures your message rather than clarifies it. Use pictures, illustrations, graphs, etc. to punch up an important point, and to make complex ideas simple. However, avoid literally mimicking what's said in the text. The graphics must enhance and play on variations of the text to make it more interesting - but never stray from the spirit of the message. At their best, graphics add humor, emotion, reality, believability, and playfulness to help bring about understanding and agreement in viewers.
Keep text simple and readable, without overdoing emphasis. Use changes of size, style, color, and position, including bullets, symbols and other devices to highlight and organize your text in moderation. To avoid distracting the reader, limit the number of fonts to two or three in no more than three or four readable sizes. Keep the background simple, and use contrast to ensure legibility. Contrast is the noticeable difference between things, and can be as simple as bolding or underlining text in some cases. But don't fill every bit of "empty" space, as well-chosen space can serve to "frame" graphic elements you may want to emphasize.

5 - Lay out your type, graphics, and photos

Look at how the elements blend together. Lay out the type, graphics, photos, etc. in rough format similar to how they will be presented. If you know how, use computer formatting on programs such as MS Word or Excel to experiment with layout. Or you may want to lay out the physical materials on a desk or conference table. Similarly, you may want to tape or pin them to a wall or cubicle to see how vertical display affects their visual impact.
Now, here's where a little strategic thinking can set your graphic design work apart from the norm:
Visually group graphics to show similarity and build interest. Try to visually group objects using similarities of theme, color, direction, position, alignment, etc. Show what goes with what, so your viewers will draw the proper conclusions. For example, a picture of worn-out old shoes could depict a potential client's current database management system (DBS), and brand new track cleats could depict your DBS product. Of course, things that belong together must have characteristics in common, and must be similar enough to be perceived as a group or set.
Also, make visual order part of your message. For example, decide WHEN the viewer should notice your logo: Before reading the copy? After reading the headline? Should the viewer note your company name before or after the product you're selling? These strategic distinctions can boost or detract both from your credibility and ability to persuade.

6 - Add emphasis with a little color and contrast

The graphics of your piece must be easily seen and attract more attention than anything around it. If not, your audience's attention will go elsewhere: to a competitor's ad, booth, flyer, banner, etc. To improve the odds of getting your audience's attention, use color and contrast in moderation to create interest. Remember to use emphasis sparingly, like spice in cooking, because a little goes a long ways but too much simply overpowers.
That said, attention does gravitate toward the area of greatest contrast. (That's why print is usually black-on-white, which makes the letters stand out for easier viewing, instead of say, black-on-brown). For example, in a visual ad or billboard, a single sentence on an otherwise empty page demands attention. You can't help but read it. Other examples of good, eye-catching contrast: a white spotlight in a dark theater; a 3-D object jutting out of a flat wall; a moving object among motionless ones (or a stationary object among moving ones); and a bright, colorful poster over a dull, monochrome background. Similarly, at a trade show you'd want your signage to run horizontally if you're competitors' signs run vertically. In each case, your audience is visually attracted toward what stands out or offers contrast.
Here are a few types of useful contrast to consider using in your graphics: large/small, light/dark, flat/3-D, high/low, short/long, strong/weak, smooth/course, one/many, full/empty, warm/cool (colors), before/after, complex/simple, straight/winding, round/angular, continuous/interrupted, horizontal/vertical/diagonal, etc.
For a series of visuals, use contrasting sequences to build interest as well. Contrasting sequences such as before/after, young/old, or gradations of color can guide and build the viewer's interest by suggesting degrees of importance, recognizable patterns, or consequences. When establishing what the viewer should notice first, second, third, etc., control the order in which he perceives the various items, using a scale of contrasts from most different to most similar. The greater the contrast, the more importance a visual item is given.

7 - Get a fresh perspective

After focusing on your graphics project, it helps to get a fresh perspective. Ideally, you should ask someone with art or design experience a few questions. How do these graphics strike you? Do they support the message? What would you change? The less they know about your presentation, company, or product the more helpful their opinion, as it will more closely approximate your audience's reaction. But really, anyone's opinion helps to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in your designs, so don't be afraid to ask. And don't be afraid to accept criticism. If no one is available, take a break from your project if at all possible, so you can approach your graphic project with fresher, less biased eyes.

8 - Put on the finishing touches

Then adjust your graphics project according to the objective feedback you received. Here's where you may brighten or lighten colors, change font sizes, or rearrange graphics for better overall layout.
Also, round out your pictures and graphics with carefully chosen words. From caption to headline and story, words are a critical part of the message you're visually communi-cating, so they must be chosen and arranged carefully for the whole to work. Include only what's important, so as not to dilute your carefully crafted message.
Along these lines, speak your viewers' language in a way that addresses their problems and answers their needs. For example, if your picture shows a healthy Mr. Jones tussling with grandkids after successful bypass surgery, mention how your new medical product reduced recovery time to three weeks from the normal three months.

9 - Take one last look

No matter how careful you are there's always last minute mistakes to catch: misspelled words, misaligned margins, or graphics that still need to be rearranged to lessen distracting "white" or trapped space. Use spell and grammar checkers, then print out sample copies to test overall visual effect until you're satisfied with the results.

10 - Print out and mount your final presentation

Since all your previous work counts for naught if the final graphic product isn't displayed and mounted properly, it's critical to prevent the wrinkling, bubbling, warping, and peeling that can sink an otherwise impeccable graphic presentation. To this end, I have long used and recommended Pres-On products. Well known amongst professional graphic artists and photographers, Pres-On has a broad line of do-it-yourself, self-stick mounting board products for just about every application. I've mounted everything from extremely large oversize prints like architectural renderings and giant logos, to small decorative items, and consistently Pres-On mounting products makes it very easy to do and gives me professional results.
Their newest mounting product Score & Snap, is made of a thin, surprisingly strong, plastic material that's coated with self-stick mounting adhesive. It was designed to mount logos, photos, charts, signs and other graphics quickly and easily, with the capability to correct mistakes, but with subsequent permanent positioning. Once a graphic is mounted, the protective plastic can be easily scored with an X-Acto knife, then snapped off into the desired shape. Because of the consistency of the plastic material, its versatility in positioning graphics, and its clean edges, it makes it easy to produce a spectacular looking finished product that won't come undone at the worst possible moment.
With a firm grip on your graphics project, you can now look forward to the presentation deadline without knots in your stomach. Who knows, with the knockout graphics you cranked out, on a shoestring budget to boot, you could be in line for a promotion. As a parting tip, ask for a raise, as you've just added polished graphic presentation to your list of job skills. Just keep your Graphic Design Rescue Tips handy because the next project might not be so easy.
by Dali Bahat

25 Really Colorful Anime Wallpapers

2011-04-01T23:49:00.000-07:00

A collection of cool high quality anime wallpapers from popular anime series such as Naruto and Bleach to flagship video game series like Final Fantasy that has been rounded up for you to view and download!

View full images through links above each image.

25 Really Colorful Anime Wallpapers

Bakemonogatari - Shinobu Oshino

The Zodiac Aries by Kagaya

'In the Golden Age, Heaven and Earth were the one world, where Gods and people had been living together.' - Kagaya Studio

Magna Carta: The Phantom of Avalanche - Calintz

Anima Dinah the fallen angel

Naruto - Obito Wallpaper

My favorite character (the Hachibi being second in my list). This is because Obito is the only Uchiha who thinks and acts similar to Naruto (funny and bright). His death was too early while the writers could have given more twist to make him survive. ^^

The Dance by BaroqueHouse/Buno

Edward Elric wallpaper

Code Geass - The Witch and the Warlock

Girls of anime

Ichigo Kurosaki with hollow print

Maid and dog wallpaper

Chibi .Hack// - Azure Kite and Haseo

Blue eternity

Cute and colorful wallpaper

Chibi Straw Hat Pirates

One Piece chibi.

Do_I_Look_Like_EMO_Anime

Eureka Seven

Renton Thruston and Eureka of Eureka Seven anime series.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

Echoes of Time - Clavat race.

Sora with Disney Princesses

A Kingdom Hearts wallpaper featuring the KH protagonist, Sora.

Ragnarok Online - Knight

A sword maiden.

Natsuki - Rainy Days

Street Fighter IV- Cammy

Cammy in latest Street Fighter installment, SSFIV, who specializes in sweeps-oriented combos.

The Beautiful and Deadly women of Roanapur

Anime Femme Fatale.

White and Black wallpaper

Yoko of Gurren Lagann

By. bloggertemplateswidgets.com

Business Cards: Ideas and Inspiration

2011-04-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today we continue looking at business cards that stand out, and here’s hoping you get some inspiration and ideas! After all, you only get one first impression, so your business card should be something that showcases the best of your design abilities. On Wednesday we looked at the use of interesting shapes, 3D business cards, and business “cards” made out of other objects. Today, we’re looking at different techniques.

Color

Let images and color draw attention to your card. If your name incorporates a color, the reiteration on the card can create a memorable impression. Take a look at the elegant, striking, and fitting use of color on these business cards, all from Inspiredology.com.

Clever Associations

The next four pictures are taken from creativebits.org.

Have a lawn-care business? Consider seed packets as business cards.

Or perhaps you want something to help people find their way to your map-printing business:

Work Samples

Maybe you want to include a sample on your business card. This gives people a tangible vision of your work.

Image: Toxel.com

And of course, if you claim to be an interactive designer, an interactive business card (from creattica.com) is a good way to back up your claim.

LIST OF FREE TEXTURE SITES : FREE 2D AND 3D TEXTURES FOR PHOTOSHOP & OTHER SOFTWARE

2011-04-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

LIST OF FREE TEXTURE SITES

LIST OF TEXTURE DESIGN ARTICLES

3D Cafe Free Stuff Section - Free background textures & Photoshop textures

2 Textured - Free textures for digital artists and designers.

3DElyvisions - downloadable JPG textures for creating virtual realities.

3D Rekonstruktionen - Downloadable textures for roof, brick, floor, glass, sandstone, and others.

3D Valley - The Textures on 3D Valley are unique to this site.

AAA Free Background and Textures - Find over 2000 free textures and backgrounds for your website including Photoshop textures!

Absolute Background Textures - The largest collection of free textures on the net as well as Photoshop textures.

Absolute Cross - Seamless Textures. There are 10 separate "Texture Packs" for you to choose from, each one containing 50 original seamless textures ( Photoshop textures )

Amazing Textures - A beautiful texture library that has hundreds of free textures to download, high-resolution textures, images, backgrounds, wallpapers and texture maps. Check out their massive collection of Tiled Textures or see their users' Top Textures.

(software) Andromeda Techtures Filter - $109 - Not just another texture library - Techtures offers over 500 hand rendered tiles which can be modified using "engines" within the filter and dozens of instant special effects: Smoke, Stars, Explosions, Water Droplets, Lightening, Embossing, and dimensional and environmental texturing.

Animax - 1000 Free textures for download.

Archibase Architectural Portal - Browse Categories and Download Free Quality 3D Textures.

Archive Textures - Over 3500 free quality textures for download.

Arroway Textures - 60 professional multi-layered textures in high resolution. See details for a catalog with preview, demo rendering and further information for each texture. Each map is available in 360 kilopixel resolution for free download.

Backgrounds, Bumps, and Textures Over 4,500 Backgrounds, Bumps, and Photoshop Textures, and still in counting.

Back of Beyond - Back of Beyond's textures are free to download for any commercial or non commercial use. They are approximately 2048x1536 and are optimised jpg's alternatively you can purchase the entire collection on CD/DVD for £15 the images on this version are not optimised jpg's so the quality is a little better.

Ben Cloward's Texture Archive - Ben Cloward loves taking pictures of items that have texture and you can benefit from his site.

Blender Texture CD - A variety of different types of textures for Blender.

Blender Texture Library - A collection of opensource textures by the Blender community that you may use free of charge.

Boogaholler - Photographic Textures - These can be used as 3D model surfaces, backgrounds or to hang on your wall. For seamless textures.

Celestia Motherlode - This page contains textures for Earth's Moon.

CG Arena - You can download free textures from CGArena to use in your projects.

Cinema 4D Textures - A repository of Cinema4D textures.

Clearingpoint.de - Here you will find a wide range of textures. For use e.g. for your 3D program, your desktop or your homepage.

CG Textures - The world's largest free textures site.

David Gurrea - The materials posted on this website were made between 1994 and 1998 and they were David's first jobs as a Texture Artist. You can find different quality textures, and a lot of variations made for specific uses. These textures were made out of painting over paper ( with gouache ) and computer retouch.

Digital Artshop - Our range of Photoshop textures, backgrounds and other resources are available for download from our online store. All of our current textures and backgrounds can also be purchased on two CDs.

Doug Turner - Some of the textures on this site are completely finished and tileable, while others are just a good starting point.

Free 3Ds and Textures - A free online resource for high quality, large resolution textures.

Free Art Textures - Free textures including textures of Metal, Stone, Wood, Textiles ...

Free Textures Dot Org - Download hundreds of free high quality textures .

Got 3D Textures and Models - Got 3D takes thousands of photographs each year for their products. Because of time or quality, most never see the light of day. Got 3D are making these textures available to help everyone.

Grunge Textures - A growing collection of free high resolution quality images ready for you to download including Aircraft Aluminum, Asphalt Textures, Brick Textures, Concrete Textures, Drains, Vents, & Grates, Grafetti & Vandalism Textures, Metal Textures, Mud, Clay & Earth, Old Machinery, Paper & Cardboard Textures, Peeling Paint Textures, Rusted Metal Textures, Spills & Splatter Textures, Stone Textures, Trash & Garbage Textures, Wood Textures, and other Distressed Surfaces.

The Fat Strawberry - This site features seamless tiling textures for web backgrounds, 3D projects, game mods, scrap booking, prettying up your My Space page and countless other uses.

Hyperfocal Terrains - Features over 90 ultra high resolution textures such as grass, rock, sand, dirt, gravel and more! All available as 2048X2048 high quality jpegs.

Imagecels View thumbnails of over 2,500 royalty free tileable Texture Maps and photo-realistic clip art libraries

Image After - In the imageafter.com 'texture' directory you can expect free high resolution textures of metals, floors, skin, wood, rock, walls etc. Mostly photographic textures.( texturas, texturen, texture) All textures can be freely downloaded and used in you commercial or personal works. The size of the textures range from 1600x1200 to 2560x1920.

Infinity Textures is a powerful texture designer and generator

Julianne's Background Textures - 50 different swatch overviews. Each overview has 10 different swatches.

Klicker - A collection of free textures.

KTN 3D Textures - Here you will find many different types of textures. Some are your traditional and some are way off from that.

Lugher Texture - Download free and beautiful textures for your 3d projects or image editing projects. Here you can download all types of texture maps that you need to use in your software, such as Cinema 4D, LightWave, Maya, 3D Studio MAX, Rhino, Bryce, Poser, 3D Studio R4, or others.

Marlin Studios - Home of the world's greatest texture maps and 3D model libraries.

Mayang's Free Textures version 10 - Have over 1750 free to download, free to use, high-resolution textures.

Medieval Texture Pack - The crazy bat has put down his melon gun and given up on paypal and decided to release his medieval textures to the world under the creative commons license. That means you can download and use them as you like if you make sure I'm in the credits and you don't resell them as textures.

Mega Tex - High quality textures for free download.

Mutation Abstraction - 2000 Royalty-Free Textures on CD-ROM

MXM Gallery - This site has been created as a meeting point for those who want to share their Maxwell materials with other users. You will find hundreds of wonderful materials to use in your scenes.

Photo Textures - Great photographs that can be used for textures.

Pixel Poke - Free 2D and 3D textures.

Planit 3D - PlanIT3D free 3d models textures sound fx tutorials and architectural resources

Planet Quake - Download these textures for use in real time game modifications and other 3d applications.

Seamless Factory is easy to use texture maker which accurately stitches images into seamless patterns.

Shebob's Texture Factory - Textures of rust, metals, slime, and wood, files are in .PCX and JPG format.

Spectralogue - A great, ad-free, and free downloadable textures site.

Stock Textures - High quality, photorealistic, tileable, and free textures.

Textura - All of these textures were created completely in Photoshop, using PS tools.

Texture Bits - The free texture library.

Texture King - Huge number of free quality textures from Texture King.

The Texture Barn - Royalty-free textures for computer graphics, illustration, game design and everything else.

Texture Forrest - A nice selection of textures.

Texture Library - Collection of all of the textures that are avaiable on the Internet for free

Texture Library 2 - The textures are divided into the following categories and an attempt has been made not to burden any single page with too many images. Be aware that some textures can be interpreted in a number of ways.

Texture Love - Bringing you the feels you’ve been looking for.

Texturemonk - Home of one of the Largest collections of Quality Seamless Realistic textures!

Textures Pedramk - High quality texture maps.

Texture Processor is the unique program for creating various textures.

Texture Warehouse - Free, High Resolution Textures to Designers and 3D Artist. Our images are licensed under a Creative Commons License(Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0). Their textures are updated frequently.

(software) Texture Workshop - (Free to Try, $25 to Buy, Windows) - is a multifunctional toolbox which allows to turn practically any picture into a repeatable tile very quickly and easily. Such tiles are used as backgrounds of webpages, as wallpapers, as textures for 3D objects and for many other purposes.

Textures to the Max - Our flexible materials let you create an amazing variety of great composed materials quickly and easily, put corrosion, dust, or dirty aspects the way you want them using our special tileable masks and materials libraries as template settings.

Texture Vault - A great textures site and it has a great selection of high resolution photo based textures.Textures to serve the entertainment industry.

Texturenwelt - in German, but it looks like a great texture site.

Texture Z - Discover the wonderful colors and textures of the world! Texture Z has quite a few free texture photos for you!

The RealTexture Library - Over 1300 high-resolution photorealistic texture patterns.

Wild Harmony Studio Textures - Here you will find hundreds of free textures and stock photographs. They are free for use for almost any purpose

WWA - huge amount of wood textures for download.

Z7Server Free Textures - On this website you can find more than 1350 texture to download. textures on this site are divided into catalogue.Excelent use is as background, in games graphich, or in 3D programs and so on..

ARTICLES ABOUT TEXTURES AND PATTERNS USED IN GRAPHIC DESIGN

Free Textures : List of Free 3D & 2D Textures for Photoshop & Design - An article from our sister site, All Web Design Resources, with a huge list of free textures sites.

21 Amazing and Free Texture Backgrounds Collections for Designers - Some days I catch myself browsing random things on the net, and sometimes I find things that really grab my attention. Today is one of those days. I found these texture collections on deviantart. These textures are incredibly simple , creative, original and beautiful. Enjoy.

24 Beautiful Wood Textured Website Designs - My friend starts searching “wood texture” keywords on Google and browses some websites galleries for inspiration. In the result of many websites sorted 24 websites for inspiration, which all of that listed here. Many of them use full wood texture images as background to control the uniqueness of whole layout and some designer use wood texture in top header and some of in multiple graphics element. All of them I really like, because all are unique look in all the way.

30 Great Free Paper Backgrounds and Textures - If you would like to add some nice effects to some of these textures, you can read a tutorial I wrote about creating paper folds and creases to paper textures in Photoshop.

36 Cool Free Textures - Internet it's the best resource for everything you might look for. Looking for Photoshop brushes? You got it. Cool pictures? Sure! What about textures? That's also easy!

40 Excellent Photoshop Tutorials for Textures and Backgrounds - Photoshop provides designers with unlimited options for creating unique and attractive backgrounds. One of the most popular approaches is to create some type of textured background, and fortunately there are a number of helpful tutorials to teach you all the tricks you need to know.

99 Free Canvas, Paper, Paint, and Metal Textures - As a designer, it’s not always possible to take the time and generate your own textures for all of your graphics. Thankfully, there are tons of convenient stock textures that others have freely contributed to the design community! We’ve gathered 99 of our favorites in this gigantic list!

350+ Brushes, Textures, and Fonts: Massive Hand Drawn Roundup - You don’t need to have your finger on the pulse of web design trends to know that hand drawn style is hot right now. To achieve this look you have a few options: you can do some sketches and doodles on paper and scan them in, or you can draw them directly in Photoshop. The third option would be to take advantage of the resources found in this article.

Add Stock Textures to Images - Add Stock Textures to Images with a PSD file. In this little Photoshop tutorial we’ll be designing a quick art piece, and then we’ll be adding some texture to it, this is to demonstrate the use of texture in artwork, as you may be able to see in works from people such as GoMedia. Obviously this method will work better with some things and not so well with others, so please try to use it in moderation, if you will.

Creating an Awesome Grass Texture in Photoshop - This is the fourth and final installment of my series on creating textures in Photoshop. If you missed the first three, they were creating: Water Texture, Wood Texture and Stone Texture. This tutorial will combine much of what we learned about in the first three installments, we will also go over some new techniques, and add some finishing touches that pull the whole look together.

Design Inspiration: 5 Websites with Excellent Use of Textures - In case you downloaded a few of my high resolution textures and you don’t know how to implement them in your designs, I would like to present you a small list of hand-picked websites, which all make superb use of various sorts of textures.

Photoshop Tutorial to Make an Old Tile Texture - Learn about Making an Old Tile Texture with Photoshop.

Photoshop Tutorial 8 : Combining Textures - n this next example we’ll see how painting in shades of gray allows you to introduce transparency effects: Darker grays conceal more, lighter grays reveal more of the layer. Or put another way, the closer you move towards black, the greater the masking effect; the closer you move towards white, the more the revealing effect.

Repeating Seamless Background Image Tutorial - A trick often employed on webpages is to use a seamless background that can tile both vertically and horizontally. If your website gets alot of traffic and you don’t like paying for extra bandwidth costs you need to optimize your site for every single kilobyte. This generally translates to NOT using a giant JPG as a background. (unless you’re doing silly myspace layouts) This tutorial will explain how to make seamless backgrounds for your webpages.

Seemless Textures in Photoshop - Using a seemless texture is one of the most popular, and easiest way to create a nice scalable background for use on anything, all it requires is the use of the offset filter and a few different tools, like smudge and/or clone. So open up your copy of Photoshop and lets get learnin!

Textures and Patterns Showcase - In this post we present a showcase of sites using textures and patterns— we want to focus designer’s attention on design options available beyond wood.

Texturing Shadows the Easy Way - Here’s a quick look at one easy way to create realistic shadow effects in your textures.

Ultimate Collection of Free Textures on the Web | Background Patterns | Seamless Tiles | High Resolution - The ultimate collection of background patterns, background tiles and free textures for your website. All high quality. All for graphic designers. You can download them for free and use them in Photoshop to fit your web pages.

Watercolor Roundup: 200+ Beautiful Brushes and Textures - Here are some of the best watercolor brushes and textures that can be found on the web.

Why Bother with Texture - When the audience can relate to your design, which is telling the story of a person, business, product or service, they can have a much deeper connection than with a composition devoid of that experience.

Top 5 Graphic Design Tips

2011-04-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

Great graphic design looks effortless, but it requires lots of attention to details. Think back to an eye-catching advertisement, publication, or flyer you saw recently. Do you remember why you liked it? Perhaps it was something specific like the use of a cool graphic or font. Or, more likely, the layout and the words worked together to create an eye-appealing, memorable message that you're still thinking about today.

A lot of thought, money, and skill probably went into that design. But you don't have to be a design guru to achieve expert results! Follow these five tips to create effective, professional-looking marketing materials for your small business.

Select appropriate font treatment: More is NOT better when it comes to fonts. Pick no more than two typefaces per document - one for headlines and one for body copy. Stick to a simple, clean font for easy body copy readability. Headline fonts can be a little more creative. For emphasis on certain words or phrases, use italics, boldface, or underlining sparingly. Also try to make the typeface match the personality of the service or product you're representing.

Use white space wisely: Just because the space is there doesn't mean you have to fill it! Good designs contain well-planned white space. ("White space" is simply the areas in a layout that are left bare - without text or graphics.) It gives the eye a break and helps to highlight the important points. Make sure to have enough space around the edges and in-between columns and articles. And remember that there is a fine line between not enough and too much white space. Consult well-designed magazines and ads or computer templates for layout inspiration and ideas.

Find effective graphics and photos: It's always better to use too few than too many graphics. One great graphic is so much better than four weak ones. Sometimes they are not even necessary. When you do use graphics and photos, make sure they help illustrate your point, rather than just inserting them to take up space. Likewise, be sure their sizes are appropriate to the space. Stick with high-quality graphics - in this age of affordable, quality clipart, there is no excuse to use any image that isn't perfectly clear and neat. Never use a "gif" file in a print document; those are created for web use only. Make sure the graphic element illustrates your main point - it's the first thing the reader sees, so it's important it portrays your message accurately. Lastly, don't mix differently styles of illustration or photography - keep a consistent look to create harmony.

Keep copy short and neat: Readers are more likely to read short sentences, paragraphs, and articles written as if you're having a friendly conversation. Break up large blocks of text with bullet points and subheads. Instead of using fancy multi-syllable complex vocabulary, use everyday words that your audience will understand. A good rule of thumb is to write at a sixth-grade reading level. Finally, always have someone else - whether a professional copy editor or a skilled friend - proofread your work. It's impossible to catch all your own typos.

Watch the flow: People generally read a page from top to bottom and from left to right. Draw people into the top left corner of your ad or newsletter with a headline or strong graphic. Then, pull their eyes down and through the text in the mid-section of the page, and finish up in the lower right corner. Picture a "Z" shape. Finally, be sure to include a "call to action" at the bottom to get the results you desire. For example, give readers your contact information and special offer, and tell them to "Call today!"

by Sara Pedersen

Gender affects a Graphic Design Project – Is HE right or is SHE wrong?

2011-04-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

One thing I admire about graphic designing is that there is no dearth of talent and flair in this field. Regardless of the gender, the graphic design field is crammed with both, male and female, talented graphic designers. But socializing with a gathering of both male and female designers, I have observed some variances that relate to the human gender.
Now don’t get me wrong here, I don’t intend to entice gender discrimination. This is my personal observation as a graphic designer and I would appreciate if you would share your views on the subject as well. By discrepancies in male and female designers, I don’t mean the colors, fonts and shapes that male and female designers adopt. There are certain characterstics of both male and female designers that make them unique and distinct from each other. These personal traits have a certain influence on how they work on a graphic design project.

Characteristics of Female Graphic Designers:

Let us start by first discussing the common traits of female graphic designers and how they have an affect on graphic design projects:

1. Organized & Punctual

In my opinion, the best habitof a female graphic designer is punctuality. In comparison to male designers, females by nature are more organized and disciplined. In most cases, you will witness the workplaces of female graphic designers to be more organized and structured, unlike their male counterparts who (including myself) are generally disorganized. If you’re working with a female graphic designer, you can rest assure that your work will be done on time.

2. Equal Attention to Every Project

The next trait of a female graphic designer is that she will give equal attention to all her graphic design projects. Since females are known to practice the concept of equality more than men, they make sure to treat each of their clients equally. Irrespective of the size of the graphic design project, a female designer will not prioritize them. Instead she will give fair share of attention to all projects.

3. Tend to Panic

Speaking in relative terms, women are more emotional and finicky than men. From what I have observed, female graphic designers are a perfectionist. Their satisfaction lies in perfection and for that they can be extremely finicky about the details of the design. They can be irritating at times as they are eager to get each and every element of the assigned project. Although, it is a good practice to obtain feedback from the clients beforehand but being overly finicky can frustrate the clients at times.

4. Easy to bargain

As I mentioned in my earlier points…female graphic designers are relatively more emotional than their male counterparts. This is why they tend to have a soft corner for their clients as well. Although you may think this is a good thing to be considerate but it has its own drawbacks. A friend of mine once narrated me how she slashed her fee halfway down after her client sobbed in front of her whining about his financial problems. My point here is that female graphic designers are relatively easier to bargain with since they can be convinced emotionally.

Characteristics of Male Graphic Designers:

If you think that I was biased in describing the female graphic designers, wait till you read the male side of the story. Like I said, both genders have their pros and cons that influence a graphic design project. Here are a few traits of male graphic designers:

1. Cool-Headed:

The first thing that you will observe in male graphic designers is the level of patience and endurance. Men are relatively more cool-headed than their female counterparts when it comes to enduring client criticism. Like I said, women are more sensitive than men hence they tend to lose patience when criticized. Although this is not 100% true but I am sure many of the clients will agree with this difference.

2. Lazy Procrastinators:

This is one point that I’m sure most of the male graphic designers will agree to. You must be wondering women are also lazy, but as far as I have observed, male designers tend to postpone tasks relatively more than their female counterparts. Don’t know if it’s a male specific trait, but men can be awfully lazy at times. They can pass on a minimallst design just to meet a deadline. But this doesn’t mean that all male designers are indolent and sluggish, rather you will find more incidences of procrastination with men.

3. Rational Minded:

Like I mentioned in the female section of the post, women are emotionally more sensitive than men. Contrary to that, men are more rational and logical than women. They will prefer using their brains more than their heart. Everything they do will hold a logic behind it. They don’t let their emotions control their decisions while working on a graphic design project. Hence, the point of easy bargaining isn’t true for male graphic designers.

4. Easily Distracted:

I have to admit something here…while working on a clients project, I have several such tabs open on my PC that are irrelevant to my work. I get easily distracted by the social media and instant chat with friends. At first I thought it was only me, but after observing many of my male designer friends, it seems as though distraction is a trait more prone to men. You will also find male designers easily distracted by sports, news and other activities while at work.
By. graphicdesignblog

45 Strange and Funny Photoshop Manipulations – A weird combination!!

2011-04-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

“Photoshop manipulation is the process of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception, through digital means.”

Personally, I consider Photoshop Manipulation to be the best art form of the digital age. If executed well, Photoshop gives amazingly powerful results and can be a lot of fun at the same time. There are countless interesting photoshopped images on net but most of them are old and seen many times. However, to leave you spell bound, I bring you an extraordinary collection.
Here are 45 images by various great artists for your design inspiration….a blend of funny and strange Photoshop Manipulations. Every image has been carefully tracked down here;making you believe that anything is possible with Photoshop.

Some of these works are funny while other pics will leave you awestruck; but all of these will surely inspire you! Anyhow, don’t forget to write in back; telling which images you enjoyed the most…Strange or Funny Photoshop Manipulations

Strange Photoshop Manipulations:
Anything titled “strange” surely makes you curious to find out what is in there. While searching the net for this collection, I came across such pics which really looked creepy and weird. Therefore, I decided putting them under this title. Let’s see how awkward you find these images.

1 ) Letter Fall:

2 ) Eye Count:

3 ) Sliced Hand:

4 ) FootBall Team:

5 ) The Scary Noodles:

6 ) Choose your face:

8 ) Zipped Lips:

9 ) The Track:

10 ) Lost my sight:

11 ) 3Faces:

12 ) Self-Stiching:

13 ) Zebra Stripes:

17 ) Man on run:

14 ) The Evil Side:

15 ) Chopping Expert:

16 ) The Handy Art:

18 ) Let’s go for a walk:

19 ) Thorny shoe:

Funny Photoshop Manipulation:
The above given terrifying images must have left you frowning and depressed. So folks, to cheer you up I display the pleasant side of photoshop, as well. I want you all to leave smiling from my blog:), so enjoy these “Funny Photoshop Manipulations”

1 ) Foot Face

2 ) Strawberry baby:

3 ) Punch hard!!

4 ) Penguins and Watermelons:

5 ) The cock heads:

6 ) Lady beetle:

6 ) Work Load:

8 ) Unexpected Visit:

9 ) Spiral wires or Macronis??

10 ) Egg Plant:

11 ) Road workers at tea break:

12 ) No mercy:

13) Calm Down:

14 ) Burger Attack:

15 )Whale in a soup bowl:

16 ) Wanna ride??

17 ) Vacuum Face:

18) Cleaning the mess:

19 ) Ironing my clothes:

20 )Sinus gonna kill me

21) The Egg Box:

22 ) Mrs. Bean:

By. graphicdesignblog.org

24 Intriguing Logos – When Simple Becomes Complex

2011-04-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Minimalist logo designs are preferred more by graphic designers because of their ease and simplicity. But the difficulty in designing simple logos is to incorporate an effective message within the design. This can be achieved either through the technique of negative spacing or by interweaving the symbol within the typography.
But sometimes…too simple becomes too complicated. Some of the greatest brand identities havelogos with hidden messages. For example, the FedEx logo, designed by the famous logo designer Lindon Leader, appears to be a simple and straightforward. But on close examination, you will notice that there is an “arrow” between the “E” and “x” that signify the company’s aspirations for progress.

Similar is case with the Toyota logo. Many of you might not know that the letters T, O, Y, O, T, A are found within the TOYOTA emblem.

Following is a collection of 24 intriguing logos that look simple but contain a complex message. See if you can find what hidden the messages are in these logos.

1. Logo concept

2. Lantex Transfer

3. Kolner Zoo

4. Interduo

5. HIDE

6. Hidden Cork

7. Helping Hands For Pets

8. Games for Children

9. Fiska

10. ELECTRIC

11. Effective sports

12. Countercurrent

13. Child of the king

14. Bullet

15. Blanco’s Construction

16. A_MAZE_ING

17. Zoorganic

18. Screw

19. PIE (Pi)

20. Pengu Constructions

21. ONE UP

22. NO ONE

23. Neolica

24. Negavite Way

"Which of these logos were hard to comprehend? Which ones do you think were the best?"

20 Funny T-Shirt Quotes

2011-04-01T17:46:00.000-07:00

An Apple A Day

I Need A New Boyfriend

Be Nice To Fat People

Think Outside The Box

Game Over

Anything Unrelated To Elephants is Irrelephant

I Am Disappointment In You’re Grammar

Be a Warning

Mouse Not Working!!

My Computer Beat Me At Chess

All Men Are Idiots

If Life Gives Your Lemons, KEEP THEM

When Nothing Goes Right, Go Left

Shinbone Is A Device For Finding Furniture

I Recycled My Homework

I Am Your Father

Drunkin’ Grownups

I’d Tell You To GO TO HELL

If Zombies Chase Us, I’m Tipping You

YES Officer, I Saw The Speed Limit Sign

Filterit 4.2 Plugin Review

2011-04-01T00:14:00.000-07:00

FILTERiT plugin offers a range of different cool effects for illustrator. Some of the effects like live trail and radial wave which might take some time to create, can now be easily done with this plugin. Below is a list of functions that can be found in FILTERiT4.2 plugin.

Tools

(List of tools: AlignPoints Tool, Broom Tool, Craft Tool, Lens Tool, MetaBrush Tool, Roughening Tool, Trail Tool, Warp Tool, Wave Tool)

FILTERiT adds a few more tools to the tool palette after installing. It has a large list of different types of Warp Tools that you can use to distort a shape/text and the best thing is that you can easily control the point of distortion. Much easier to use that the Warp Tools in illustrator. Another interesting tool is the Broom Tool, you can use it to sweep away a floor of dots and it will scatter away from the broom.

3D Transform

(Types of 3D Transform: Arc, Cylinder/Cone, Screw, Simple Rotation, Sphere, Spiral, Torus(Donut), Twirl, Twist Wave(H/V), Wave(Radial), Wave(Z))

FILTERiT offers a series of 3D Transform tool useful in achieving some cool effects. Here I use Twist to twist a filmstrip and the interface makes it easy to rotate the filmstrip in 3D space to change the direction I want. Using the Torus(Donut) effect, I can create a donut effect style as shown below. If you are looking into creating a ripple effect, you can use the Radial Waveeffect to create the ripple easily.

Live Effects

(Live Border, Live Circle, Live Cutout, Live Emboss, Live Explosion, Live Frame, Live Galaxy, Live Generation, Live Neon, Live Reflection, Live Shadow, Live Tiling, Live Trail)

With Live Effects you can fully edit objects after you have applied the effect. Below is a couple of effects done using Live Trail, Live Neon and Live Emboss. Using Live Trail, ithelps to create a series of the same object and you can twist it in an angle with different tints, sizes and color properties. Some other effect you can try is the Live Cutout to give a paper cut out and pasted on artboard effect.

Conclusion

FILTERiT offers a large range of nice effects, however most of them you will rarely use. Some tools might be helpful to speed up your work and you might find it useful if you work in illustrator frequently. There are days you might need to do some effects like a 3D twist which FILTERiT might come in handy. Or days you might need to create abstract background images with Radial Wave and Broom Tool. Why not see what FILTERiT can do for you by downloading a 30 days free demo before deciding whether to buy.

Download fully working 30 days demo
FILTERiT homepage

Illustrator Tutorial: Vector Drums Kit

2011-04-01T00:01:00.003-07:00

Read this illustrator tutorial to learn how to draw a professional drums kit from scratch. By the end, you will know how to make a tripod stand, drums, different types of cymbals and also how to create the texture for the drums. Hope you will find this easy to follow and useful. Enjoy.

Draw the Tripod Stand

1. Open a new web document. First, to make the stand’s tube, take the Rectangle Tool and draw a long rectangle then open the Swatch Libraries Menu > Gradients > Metals and use Steel to fill the shape. Next draw the other shape that you see in the image below using the Pen Tool, fill it with the same gradient and then draw a flat oval with the Ellipse Tool, fill it with a dark gray and send it to back. Place all the shapes like in the image:

2. Draw more shapes like above and place them as you see in the next image depending on how tall you want the stand to be or how many segments you want it to have.

3. To draw the “legs” of the stand, start by drawing with the Pen Tool the shape from below then Copy and Paste it in back. Move it a bit up and to the left and change the fill to a gradient using darker gray tones then the metal one used for the top shape.

4. Take the Pen Tool and draw the next shape and fill it with a linear gradient from a dark gray to black and add 4 black lines on top. You can see in the image the other ends for the 3 legs of the stand.

Here is how the legs should look like at this point:

5. Now, draw using the Rounded Rectangle Tool a long rectangle then Copy and Paste it in back, move it a bit up and to the right and change the fill gradient to a darker one like earlier. Draw also a small circle on top and fill it with a similar gradient.

6. Next draw 3 rounded rectangles and place them like in the image below then select them all and click Add to shape area and click Expand from the Pathfinder Panel to obtain the shape in the right.

7. Fill the shape with a linear gradient similar to the one used so far and also paste the shape in back and draw the circles like before at step 5.

8. In the next image you can see how to place all the shapes made above:

9. Draw with the Pen Tool the shape that you see below then go to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and select a 3 px radius then fill it with a linear gradient using light and dark gray tones like in the image just adjust the angle value. Draw also a small black rectangle behind.

10. Take the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle then a smaller one inside filled with a similar gradient to the one above just lighter and radial. Copy and Paste in back the first circle, move it a bit to the right and change some of the gradient tones to darker ones.

11. Here is how the stand should look so far:

12. Next copy all the shapes made earlier at step 10 then draw with the Pen Tool the selected shape in the image behind them. Also add a small piece of tube and one adjusting button made at step 9.

Draw the Cymbals

13. Let’s continue with the cymbals so take the Pen Tool, draw the shape in the image and fill it with a golden linear gradient. Colors used by me are: (R=240,G=226,B=190), (R=228,G=199,B=128) and (R=213,G=179,B=130). Next draw the second shape on top and fill it with the same gradient just change the angle so they don’t look the same.

14. To make the transition smoother between the 2 shapes made above draw using the Pen Tool a shape similar to the one in the next image then go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur and select a 2 px radius value.

15. Now take the Rounded Rectangle Tool, draw a rectangle and fill it with a linear gradient using brown tones and draw 6 smaller ones and fill them with a linear gradient from (R=84,G=59,B=42) to (R=200,G=157,B=95) that you can see in the image below. Group all the shapes.

16. Place the group like in the next image then to make the reflection on the cymbal go to Object > Transform > Reflect, select Vertical and click Copy. Next Copy and Paste in front the top part of the cymbal, select both the brown rectangle and the pasted shape and click Intersect shape areas > Expand. Also with the Direct Selection Tool select just the 2 corner points indicated in the image and move them a bit towards each other. See in the image the final result with the Opacity reduced to 35%.

17. Here is how the first type of stand with the cymbal looks like:

In the image below there are other 2 stands made with the same shapes drawn so far.

18. Next draw the first 2 metal shapes in the image then copy the second one and place it like below (the black shape), select both and click Subtract from shape area > Expand to obtain the third shape in the image. Using Add Anchor Point Tool add the 2 points shown then with the Convert Anchor Point Tool drag handles for each point and move them a bit to the left to obtain the curved sides. Place this shape on top of the first one, Copy and Paste it in back, change the fill gradient to a darker one and drag the sides using the Selection Tool to make it bigger. Next draw all the other simple shapes just using Ellipse Tool and Rectangle Tool.

19. Drawing the second type of cymbal is similar to the first one. After you draw the first 2 shapes, Copy and Paste in back the smaller one inside and drag some points using the Direct Selection Tool to make it lightly bigger then apply a 4 px Gaussian Blur.

In the next image you can see how the second type of cymbal looks like:

20. Next draw the first shape from below then go to Object > Transform and reflect it vertically then use an oval to Subtract the top side like in the image. Copy and Paste in back this shape, change the fill color to a dark brown and move it a bit up then just draw the other simple shapes using Ellipse Tool and Rectangle Tool. When you are done group all the shapes, you will use them later again.

21. Here is the group of shapes placed on top of the third type of cymbal and you can easily make it using shapes similar to the ones drawn so far with the Rounded Rectangle Tool and the Ellipse Tool.

22. In the next image you can see how to place all the shapes made above. To make the double cymbal just copy one made earlier and reflect it vertically. Make the top reflection like at the step 16 and for the bottom reflection copy the group made at the step 20, go to Effect > Warp > Squeeze and set the values like in the image below. Then apply an Opacity Mask or just reduce the Opacity for both of them.

Drawing the Drum Sticks

23. To make the sticks take the Rounded Rectangle Tool and draw a long rectangle then using the Direct Selection Tool move the 2 points shown in the image a bit to the right then close to each other. Now go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points and add some more points then move them and adjust the path like below.

24. For the tip, simply draw an oval an fill it with a radial gradient from white to light gray. The sticks should look like this:

Drawing the Drums

25. Start by taking the Rounded Rectangle Tool and drawing a rectangle. Next take the Ellipse Tool and draw an oval like the red one in the image then delete just the upper point and modify the path like you see below. Select both shapes and click Intersect shape areas/Expand then do the same for the top part of the rectangle. Colors used for the gradient are: (R=0,G=83,B=95), (R=110,G=168,B=178), (R=0,G=84,B=87), (R=133,G=180,B=187) and (R=0,G=115,B=118).

26. Now draw the shapes that you see below and Subtract from shape area and Expand to obtain the ones from the right. Fill them using a metal gradient.

27. Do the same for the bottom and also draw an oval to fit the metal parts, fill it with dark gray and send it to back like shown in the image.

28. For the next elements, draw the black shape and fill it with a metal gradient also. Take the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle on top like the red selected one then Copy and Paste in back the first shape, change the fill to dark gray and move it a bit down. Group all the shapes, duplicate, draw the long rounded rectangle and place them all like below:

Here are other examples having different angles depending on their position on top of the drum.

29. Before you modify the metal shape, Copy and Paste it in back and change the fill color to dark gray. Next take the Pen Tool and draw the red shape, make more copies and place them like below. Select the metal shape and the 2 little red shapes from above and click Add to shape area and Expand then select again the metal shape obtained and the other 2 red shapes from below and click Subtract from shape area and Expand. Now place all the elements made at the previous step between the modified metal shape and the one pasted behind. Do the same for the bottom part of the drum.

Drawing the Texture

30. To create the drum’s texture take the Polygon Tool and draw a black shape like in the image then drag it to the Symbols Panel. Now take the Symbol Sprayer Tool, start spraying and don’t stop until you have many many dots like below (the symbol should be very small). You can also use the Symbol Sizer Tool if you want the dots to have different sizes. When you are done go to Object and Expand and also in the Symbols Panel click on the Break Link to Symbol option.

31. Place the texture on top of the drum, Copy and Paste in front the shape of the drum made at step 25, select both the pasted shape and the texture group and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make (the drum shape should be on top). Copy and Paste in front the texture, flip it vertically so the dots don’t overlap, change the fill color to cream or white then set the Blending mode to Soft Light and lower the Opacity to 70% for both groups.

32. Copy and Paste in front of the texture groups the drum shape again and fill it with the gradient in the image using black and white then set it to Overlay.

Here are other 2 drums made in the same way:

Drawing the Bass Drums

33. Start by drawing 3 ovals. Fill the first one with a linear gradient from a dark gray to black, the second one with a linear gradient using (R=245,G=207,B=92), (R=229,G=205,B=128), (R=186,G=137,B=46) and for the third one in the back use (R=200,G=157,B=95) and (R=105,G=84,B=69). Next draw the shape for the body and use the same green gradient as before to fill it then use 2 of the ovals made and Subtract from shape area to obtain the bottom of the drum.

34. In the image below you can see some holding elements that you can draw using the Pen Tool and also use again the shapes made at step 28.

35. To make the “legs” of the bass drum take the Pen Tool and draw the first shape from below and fill it with a metal gradient then Copy and Paste it in back, move it a bit to the left and change the fill color to dark gray. Use similar 2 shapes and Subtract from shape area and Expand to obtain the selected stripe then draw the other 2 shapes that you see in the image.

Next take again the Pen Tool and draw the black shape then the red one on top, select both and click Subtract from shape area and Expand then place the obtained shape on top of the black one and change the fill to a radial gradient from gray to black.

Now take the Ellipse Tool and draw an oval then another one on top, select them both and Subtract again to obtain an edge.You can see in the image how to place all the shapes made.

Here is the entire “leg” and the other one made in the same way:

36. The bass drum with all the parts made above and the texture should now look like this:

The final image

The work is done and hope you enjoyed this tutorial. The final image of the drums kit looks like this:

By. Diana Toma

Illustrator Tutorial: How to Draw a Perfume Bottle

2011-03-31T22:47:00.000-07:00

In this second perfume tutorial series, you will learn another technique to draw a perfume bottle. I will show you how to create realistic gold reflections and to use effects like Glass and Chrome to create the textures for the bottle in Adobe Illustrator. Also this tutorial takes advantage of the Blending modes to create the pink stylish look. Enjoy!

Draw the Body of the Perfume Bottle

1. Let’s get started with the basic shape of the bottle. For that take the Pen Tool and draw the shape from the image and fill it with a linear gradient from (R=254 ,G=239, B=243) to (R=158, G=97, B=120) or another one if you want a different color for the bottle.

2. Now to make the stylish texture on top of the bottle draw with the Pen Tool the curved path indicated in the image then just simply close it. Only the curved part is important. Copy and Paste in front the basic bottle shape, select both the drawn path and the pasted bottle shape, go to the Pathfinder Panel and click Intersect shape areas and Expand. Now fill the obtained shape with a linear gradient using the same colors like the one above just drag the Gradient Slider more to the right and adjust the angle value to obtain the gradient that you can see in the Transparency Panel in the image. This is an important step because the texture and the overall look of the bottle depend on the darker color from the gradient and it’s angle. When you are done set the Blending mode to Color Burn.

3. Draw another path similar to the first one made above, fill it with the same gradient, change the angle value again to obtain the gradient shown in the image then set to Color Burn when you are done. Follow the same steps to create more curvy shapes on top of the bottle, as many as you want.

4. To make the shape for the top part of the bottle take the Pen Tool and draw the first path in the image then Copy and Paste in front the basic bottle shape, select both the drawn path and the pasted bottle shape and click Intersect shape areas and Expand from the Pathfinder Panel. Duplicate this shape because you will need it again later. Next draw the red path and do the same like before, Copy and Paste in front the basic bottle shape, select both the red path and the pasted shape and Intersect shape areas and Expand. Then select both the black and the red shapes obtained and click Subtract from shape area and Expand to obtain the shape that you can see at the next step.

5. Fill the shape with the same gradient used so far and adjust the angle to look like the one indicated in the image then change the Blending mode to Color Burn. Make one more shape in the same way.

6. See in the next image the other shapes that I made and you can do as many as you want having different curves, sizes and angles depending on how you want the bottle to look.

Draw the top part of the bottle

7. Next you will use the shape made at the step 4 that I said to duplicate. Fill it with a linear gradient using similar colors: (R=158, G=97 ,B=120), (R=243, G=235, B=238) and again (R=158, G=97, B=120) then change the Blending mode to Luminosity. Copy and Paste in front this shape, go to Object/Transform/Scale and make it bigger, change the fill to a linear gradient using white, dark gray and light gray and also adjust the angle of the gradient like you can see in the image below.

8. Now to apply the first effect go to Effect > Distort > Glass and set the values from the next image to the gray shape:

9. Change the Blending mode to Color Burn and lower the Opacity to 90% then select both the top shape, the same from the step 7, and the bigger shape with the Glass Effect applied and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

10. Lower the Opacity if needed for the group created after the mask was applied to 60 %.

Draw the bottom of the bottle

11. To create the bottom of the perfume bottle the steps are similar to the ones for the top part. Use the Pen Tool and draw the path in the next image then Copy and Paste in front again the basic bottle shape and Intersect the 2 shapes to obtain the bottom. Fill it with the same gradient used for the top part at the step 7 and set to Multiply.

12. Scale the shape and change the fill gradient like the one below then go to Effect > Distort > Glass, set the values from the next image and change it to Color Burn. Now use again the smaller shape to mask it like you did earlier.

13. Next Copy and Paste in back the bottom shape, change the fill to a gradient using light gray and dark gray tones, go to Effect > Sketch > Chrome and set the values from the image below then change the Blending mode to Soft Light.

Draw the Sprayer

14. First take the Rectangle Tool and draw a rectangle then go to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and select a 1 or 2 radius value. Copy and Paste in front the rectangle, scale it, change the fill to a gradient using light and dark gray tones then change the angle value to 30 % like you can see in the image below. Then go to Effect > Distort > Glass, set the values from below and change the Blending mode to Color Burn. Now Copy and Paste in front the first rectangle, change the fill gradient to the one that you can see in the image using (R=182, G=137, B=154), (R=255, G=248 ,B=219) and (R=158, G=97, B=120). The yellow tone in the middle is a reflection from the sprayer and the golden ring that will be on top. For the mask select this last shape and the gray shape and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make. Lower the Opacity for the group created after the mask was applied to 50%.

15. To draw the sprayer for the perfume bottle start by taking the Rectangle Tool and drawing one then using the Ellipse Tool draw 2 ovals like the red ones in the image. Take the Direct Selection Tool, select just the indicated points, delete them and then close the path using the Pen Tool. Select both the obtained shape and the rectangle and click Intersect shape areas > Expand. Now place another oval, the same size like the first ones, on top and fill both shapes using a gold gradient. You can create your own or use the ones from the Library.

16. Make the thin shapes on top in the same way. Next take the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle then draw the other smaller ones in the middle or use Object > Path > Offset Path selecting a negative value to make them. Group the 3 circles and place them like in the image then draw the other shapes simply using the Rectangle Tool and the Pen Tool.

Draw the ring

17. Start by drawing 2 oval shapes like below then select them both and click Subtract from Shape Area and Expand to obtain the basic ring shape. Copy and Paste it in back, change the Blending mode to Color Burn, go to Effect > Sketch > Chrome and apply the values that you can see below. This will create the gold reflections but I wasn’t happy with the look yet. For a more realistic look Copy and Paste in back this shape, keep the effect applied and the Color Burn also, just change the fill gradient to one using gray tones similar to metal. See in the image the final look then Copy and Paste in back the basic ring shape, change the fill to a darker gold gradient and move it a bit to the left.

Group all the shapes and place the ring like below:

The final touches

18. You are almost done. To add some glow draw a few small paths lightly curved and stroke them using a brush. The one that I used is called Dry Brush 10 and you can find it in the Brushes Library. Group all the paths when you are done, go to Object > Expand Appearance, change the fill color to white, apply a 2 px Gaussian Blur for the entire group and lower the Opacity to 40 %.

19. The last thing to do is to Copy and Paste in front the basic bottle shape made at the beginning, change the fill gradient to the one that you can see in the image using gray tones and set the angle value to -45 degrees. Then go to Effect > Sketch > Chrome, set the values like below, lower the Opacity to 10% and set to Multiply.

Final image

The tutorial is done, all we need is a name. Here is the final look of the stylish pink perfume bottle.

Hope that you have learnt some useful tricks from this second perfume tutorial and now I encourage you to take what you learned, to be creative and design your own favorite perfume bottle. Also remember to check out my first perfume tutorial to learn another technique of drawing a different perfume bottle.

By. Diana Toma

Vector and Raster Halftone Patterns

2011-03-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Okay ladies and gents, here it is, halftone effects done originally in Photoshop, but can be converted to illy for vector work. I do not take credit for this one however, my boss showed me this nifty little trick. By D-Frag

Step 1. Create a document in photoshop in RGB mode. I just typed out my name to make it simple, but it can be any shape or vector brought in from illy or anything on a layer in photoshop.

Step 2. You are going to want to rasterize whatever shape it is you want to apply a halftone effect too, in this case, i right clicked on my type layer and selected "Rasterize Type."

Now, ctrl + Left click on your type layer in the layer palette to put a selection on it. Now go to Select>Modify>Expand and choose 10 pixels (this will very on everything, so take some time to practice) your selection should now be outside of the type, hit Ctrl + I to inverse your selection.

Step 3. With the inverse selection still active, go to your layer palette and hit the quick mask button, I have highlited it here to show you where its at.

Step 4. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, this blur will determine your radius of your halftone pattern, so make it pretty noticeable at first. Hit apply on your gaussian blur and move on to the next step, your almost done!

Step 5. Okay, now go to Filter>Pixelate>Color Halftone and type in these numbers (these will also changing depending on what effect you want)

Pixel radius: 8

Channel 1: 108
Channel 2: 162
Channel 3: 90
Channel 4: 45

Hit apply, you should now see that it has created a quick mask halftone pattern for you like below.

Step 6. This one is easy, just go back to your layers palette and turn off your quick mask by clicking the button to the left of the quick mask button, ive circled it for you below in case you dont know.

Step 7. Now that you have turned off quick mask you will see you have a halftone selection. Create a new layer in your layer palette, and press Ctrl + F5 to fill with a foreground/background color, or go to Edit>Fill, these both do the same thing. Now fill your new layer with watever color you want. At this point, you could go to File>Export>Paths to illustrator to create this in vector, but we will just continue in photoshop for now.

Step 8. Pat yourself on the back, you are now done with this tutorial, here is the final product.

Magazine Layout

2011-03-31T19:39:00.000-07:00

do a magazine at least once a month.

We have standard sizes, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and full page. That's it.

Our pricing is NOT based on a per column inch rate like a newspaper because a 1/16 page ad usually takes about the same amount of time that a half page ad does, so, our prices are on a sliding scale where a 1/16th page cost is the most expensive. That way if the reps sell a TON of 1/16 (or the MOST common, a 1/4 page ad) we make nothing but gravy on the page.

Once you do one magazine, you'll get a feel for who is a repeat advertiser and who is not. You can usually take the last issue and clean out all the editorial (except for the repeat editorial personalities or sections) and leave the ads that you think will run again.

Then, as the sales are being made you do a dummy. This is sometimes a bunch of paper that you fold up by hand to imitate the magazine or an InDesign Dummy where you kind of know what advertisers you have. You place the ads so that they don't compete with each other and the pages are about 25-50% advertizingadvertising on your ratio, some advertising rags go as high as 70% but they're not magazines.) Once you have all the ads in place THEN you fill the rest with editorial. Hopefullly Hopefullyore than enough editorial to fill the mag, or you'll be doing callouts and BIG headlines and graphics to fill up the space.

The ads are the most important part. Editorial comes second. You can cut paragraphs, stories, stretch stories over two or three pages to make it fit but you cannot do that with ads. Those are your bread and butter.

Once you have the ads all in place (don't need to have them designed or proofed yet - just the placement then you drop in the editorial. Pour the editorial over the top, like milk. Let it settle so that the top of your text is even, all your columns line up. (All your text baselines MUST line up or your text will look funny)

Chose 1 font for paragraph text. It should ALWAYS be the same leading and the same point size. Use a common font for this - DO NOT use anything out of the ordinary or "Unique". If your Art director suggests using anything fancy or weird, ignore him/her.

All your headlines should be the same font as unless there is ONE article in particular you want to get fancy with. DO NOT use more than that or your magazine will look childish.

If you have more than one article on a page, the top headline should be the boldest. Subsequent headlines should get smaller and smaller as they decrease in size and importance.

Your cut lines (captions) should be one point smaller than your paragraph text and italicized. Do not use indentation, bullets or hyphenation on captions.

Your choices are paragraph font, font size and justification you can choose full justification or left aligned, leaving the right jagged sometimes), headline font (size varies), justification , and cut line justification. This is called your style sheet.

Once you have designed one magazine, save these styles in your style settings so that you can easily highlight text and choose a style, whether it's headline, paragraph or cutline.

Callouts are when a story doesn't QUITE fit the page and you need to make it a little larger. You pick the most profound sentence in the article and duplicate it in the middle of the story, larger and bold, perhaps a different colour, that's up to you. It's a cheat.

Bylines can have their own style too, either use your cutline style or create a new one that looks good, but keep it consistent.

Do your best to avoid clipart. There is no place in a magazine for clipart except in ads (and even then, do your damnedest to avoid it). If you need a graphic for an editorial piece, find a photograph. Clipart is for kids.

Most importantly, find a cover shot. Do not use clipart or put ads on the cover. Find a cover shot early on. there is nothing worse than having an entire magazine done and you've got nothing on the cover.

I'll assume you have your masthead done already. Keep that consistent. Do not move it. It should be bold. It doesn't necessarily have to be catchy - that's what your cover shot is for. You can play with it, depending on what the cover shot is.

That's a start anyway.
By Brad Hammerstron