Hello everyone! My friend Alex Mathers asked that I let you know about his latest eBook ‘ Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for category Colorburned
One of the reasons that I enjoy working in Fireworks so much is the ease in which it allows you to apply basic effects to objects. In this brief video tutorial I will demonstrate how to apply a pattern overlay to a gradient in Adobe Fireworks. This technique is very useful for creating all sorts of objects in Fireworks including backgrounds, headers, banner ads, and just about any other type of design you can think of.
Video Tutorial
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You may remember not too long ago when I released an enormously popular set of Smoke Brushes on this website. I really enjoyed creating that set and received a ton of positive feedback; so much so that I decided to create another set of Photoshop Smoke Brushes for you guys to enjoy.
Ever notice how inspiration always hits you when you least expect it to? The other day I had just sat down in front of the television. I was flicking through some of the channels and just happened to see a promo for some show that had some really nice typography with dripping ink. I instantly started thinking about how this could be accomplished and realized that a nice set of Photoshop Brushes would work nicely.
I instantly got to work and the result was a set of 35 High Resolution Photoshop Brushes that can be used to Create Ink Drips in Photoshop. After a bit of experimentation I realized that this set could be used for a variety of purposes aside from just ink drips. In fact, this set works well for water drips or even ice sickles.
As a designer, there are a few things you need in order to keep creating fresh works of art. One of those things is (the often forgotten) ‘motivation’. Motivation is an important factor in your ability to convey new messages each and every time your pen hits the paper (so to speak). But how do we keep our motivation running at its highest level?
I Want My Mojo
At times, you will find it hard to stay motivated with the client’s latest demands changes with their design and it can easily deter you from all future projects along that path. As a result you will continue to feed that ‘lazy’ voice that will say things like “Maybe you should hold back on designing for a while” and “Take a break for a month” to avoid further annoyances.
It is in that moment that you need to reactivate the activity and reclaim your ‘mojo’. Keep working on that clients design and then make contact with a few more businesses to create opportunities for your next projects. It is in that activity that you will find your ‘mojo’ to continue along the design path with a greater strength and with fresh ideas.
Spread it Out
By increasing your activity (e.g. jobs, meetings etc) you will be spreading out your workload across various activities, which will in turn increase the amount of feedback you will receive. Instead of just having one client with one project and waiting for their satisfaction with the completion of the project; spread out your client/activity base so you are not waiting on one person. The more projects you have going on at the one time the better your chances to be able to take any criticism and work with it, without it heavily affecting your motivation.
Keep it Real
By adding more variation to your workflow, you will inevitably keep things much fresher in your mind and have the ability to change much easier; making your current and future projects a bit more exciting. However, you do need to keep it real and only add extra activity without pushing aside a current project that needs urgent attention.
Streamline the Flow
With up to ten projects on the go at any one time I am continually challenged to create unique pieces of work, which in turn fuels my motivation to keep going. It also keeps my mind busy which helps streamline the flow of information and helps me process my thoughts into workable ideas much easier. When you have a lot of new things going on at the one time you will constantly be in ‘the zone’ and your ideas will soon flow like a water park speed slide.
Conclusion
Motivation is the fuel that will continue to push your designs further allowing you to reach out to bigger and better opportunities. It is with activity that our motivation will thrive. Keep your activity pumping by expanding your clientele, workload or projects, and allow yourself the chance to stay in ‘the zone’ more often.
While the above message may be simple, it is very effective in creating a powerful design portfolio and constant excitement throughout the design process. I wish you all the best with your endeavours.
As most of you guys know, I’m a big fan of Read the rest of this entry »
When you work with patterns in Illustrator you will find that you are constantly having to tweak them in one way or another. This is because sometimes color schemes or elements in the pattern change for one reason or another. Since recreating the pattern from scratch would be time-consuming, you will need to learn how to make quick edits to your patterns directly from the swatches palette. This brief tutorial will explain how to edit an existing pattern swatch in Illustrator.
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A while back I snapped some photos at the quilting exhibit at state fair where I live. I came back with a lot of ideas for creating seamless vector patterns and decided to put a few of them to use. The result was 4 fabric inspired pattern swatches based on some of the quilts that I saw. In this download you will find a vector houndstooth pattern, a basket weave, a mosaic, as well as a really nice rectangular pattern that you can use in your work.
Examples
Customizing your default settings for Illustrator can save you tons of time. Adobe has done a lot in recent years to make it easier for us to create new documents but even though they have managed to save us a few clicks here and there you can save even more time by making some quick adjustments to your default Illustrator profiles.
Illustrator profiles contain lots of information regarding documents including; pattern swatches, brushes, symbols, graphic styles, and much more. In this brief video tutorial, I will show you how to make a set of pattern swatches into a persistent swatch as well as how to customize your default settings for Illustrator pattern swatches.
Video Tutorial
Resources Used
You may remember several weeks back when we released a set of Read the rest of this entry »
I am often asked to write tutorials demonstrating how to create some of the designs in my site’s gallery. One of the more popular requests is for a tutorial demonstrating the effects used in Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t know about you guys but I love a great set of light effect brushes for Photoshop. I could spend days messing around with them trying to come up with the perfect effect. The best thing about Photoshop brushes however is that for the most part, you don’t have to spend a long time messing around with them; a few clicks is usually all it takes to create a pretty amazing effect. Today, I am releasing one of my favorite sets of brushes to date; a set of 40 high resolution Photoshop brushes for creating streaks of light. It seems like each set of light effect brushes I make get better and better. This set is really amazing and I hope that you enjoy them!
The other day, I was walking through a parking lot and trying to think of some ideas for new Photoshop Brushes at the same time. Like most people deep in thought, I found myself staring at the ground trying to think up some ideas. Then it hit me! No, not a car; an idea. Why not create some brushes that could be used to create lines on the road; like the lines in a parking lot?
That is why today I am releasing 20 Paint Roller Brushes for Photoshop that can be used to simulate the look of paint being rolled on to any surface. After a bit of experimentation, I found that these brushes were good at not only drawing lines on pavement but they could also be used for simulating the look of painting on dry wall. In addition, I found that this set could also be used to create some really nice photo borders. This set of Paint Roller Brushes is very versatile and can be used for just about any purpose. Hopefully, you will enjoy them!
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Here is a set of 15 Seamless Animal Print Patterns for Illustrator and it was one of my favorites. There are several types of vector pattern swatches in this set including realistic looking giraffe, tiger, cougar, leopard, panther, and cheetah prints. This set of patterns is only available to Vector Plus members but it is definitely worth it. Click the link and download this set today!
It is always exciting to see new design blogs spring up adding their own distinct flavor and perspective to the community. Every now and then we’ll see a blog that really stands out from the rest and Web Designer Depot is certainly one of those sites. With nearly 70,000 followers on Twitter and about 30,000 RSS subscribers, Web Designer Depot has become one of the most dominant design blogs out there. Web Designer Depot is not only just a great site, but they are also a fantastic member of the community who regularly advertises on other blogs – even this one. That being said, we decided to round up some of our favorite posts from Web Designer Depot.
The Difference Between Art and Design
The subject of what separates art and design is convoluted and has been debated for a long time. Artists and designers both create visual compositions using a shared knowledge base, but their reasons for doing so are entirely different. This article discusses the differences between art and design in considerable detail.
Several months ago I created this set of 21 Vector Splats for my friends. Typically, I like to let several weeks go by before I post one of these sets on this site but for whatever reason I forgot to mention this set until now. There are a lot of splats out there but this set is really nice and includes quite a bit of detail. Keep in mind that this set is only available to Vector Plus members so if you’re a member, head over and download it. If you’re not a member, consider joining; it really is a nice program.
