Inspiration: Grayson Castro

Grayson Castro has some nicely illustrated pieces, which a good portion focus his subjects being zombies. His Obama/McCain illustration and the President George W. Bush being torn apart are the pieces that intrigue me the most and wonder if they have a political message behind it.

View more of his work here

 

 

 

Create a magazine cover w/ Photoshop & Indesign Tutorial

Here's a tutorial on creating a cover from Photoshop and Indesign. It shows from the rough sketch done beforehand(I feel that is underrated nowadays) to exporting the file so it's ready for the printer.
Read the rest of the tutorial here

"Plasma Light" Illustrator Tutorial

Here is a cool bright light effect that you can do in Illustrator. It's cool, but I feel it's better to just to do it in Photoshop. One thing that the tutorial doesn't tell you is you have to convert the mode from CMYK to RGB, otherwise this effect will not work. The image above is what I created, because I wanted to make sure I could do it before I shared it with you all. The tutorial is quite simple, but it was missing that color mode conversion.

Read how to do it here

Zombie Attack Owl 11 x 17 Print by Quakerninja

I came across this print done by Quakerninja and I thought it was a cool illustration worth posting. It's 11" x 17" glossy print. Quaker's style is fluid and you can see by the strokes used for the feathers. I do like the color of the owl and thinks it was a good choice. For $9.99 this is certainly a steal.  Purchase it while it's still available here.

New textures from CXCityBrand.com

Apparel company CXCityBrand.com released a new texture pack, which is awfully nice of them. You can use these for your apparel designs or add that little something extra to your other graphic designs.

You can download the 300 DPI textures here

New Donatello piece from David Rapoza

As some of you may know, I posted digital paintings by David Rapoza last month and here is his latest creation, Donatello. He really does some great work. If you're interested in obtaining his Ninja Turtles paintings as prints, you can pre-order them here It includes Metalhead, the Ninja from the footclan, Slash, and more. You don't have to be a fan of the Ninja Turtles to respect and appreciate David Rapoza's work.

Inspiration : Lettering by Andrei D. Robu

Andrei D. Robu is a designer that I came across and thought his lettering was inspirational. He showcases various styles in his portfolio. I advise you to take a look, especially if you're a fan of typography. View his portfolio here

How To: Working With A Model

For all the photographers out there or any of you art directors/designers that are on shoot here are a couple tips from Expert Photography on how to work with models. How to find a model, discussing location, payment, and rules are mentioned. I disagree on them with signing the model release form after the shoot. I like to have the models sign the model release before the shoot in. I feel it locks them up and can prevent them from changing their mind, although it's rare if they do, but it's a precaution. Rules and boundaries are definitely necessary when working with a model, because if they're uncomfortable the photo won't come out and it can damage your business reputation. They mention collaboration create great photos and from my experience that does work.

Read the rest of the article here

Is Tropical "The Greeks" Music Video

I thought this was a clever music video and without the animation this wouldn't be anything worth looking at.

The Secret To Freelancing – FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!

I came across this article over at FreelanceSwitch.com and thought it was necessary for me to share the link, so you can read this article. Directions are very important and Speider Schneider explains why. He shares some very haunting stories of freelancers that were hired, then followed by the axe. I highly recommend you reading what was written and the tips offered. There is a pretty humorous comic about a rep discussing an assignment with an artist.

Please read here: http://t.co/l3Je9gy

Freelance Freedom #209- Payment Resolution

Click to enlarge

Meat -Time Lapse video by Stuntkid

Here's another cool video. It's a time lapse of coloring in Photoshop CS 5 by Stuntkid aka Jason Levesque. Back in January I posted an "Inspiration" post on him. He does create good art and this time lapse you get to see him work. I like looking at these videos and feel I can take something out of that I can apply to my work.

Broken Fingaz - Graffiti Stop Motion

This is a cool stop motion video and it is creative. It's only 1:51 long, so take a quick break and view what Broken Fingaz has done.

21 Unique ways to show off your business card

39 Articles shows some really cool and definitely unique ways to show off your business cards. Some of these will definitely make you stand out.

Click here to see all of the ways

Baby Magneto

(click to enlarge)

This is a very cool image that was created by Victor Hugo Queiroz. It looks like Pixar X Marvel combo. He used 3ds max, Photoshop, VRay, and ZBrush to make the image you see.

Design By Humans- Out of School Sale

All t-shirts are $15 at Designbyhumans.com I personally think they have the best overall graphic tees out there. Definitely pick one up, before the sale ends on June 19th.

Win a Wacom Intuos 4

Hello Everyone! Go Media is having a contest to promote their WMC Fest.( Weapons of Mass Creation Fest) Entering is very simple and you can go to their blog for a chance to win. Wacom Intuos 4 is a nice tablet and I recommend it. They're not cheap, so I highly recommend entering to save money. I've used it and you'll like it.

To enter click here

To read more about their Weapons Of Mass Creation Fest, which involves 20 speakers, 20 designers, and 20 bands click here.

Miles To Go Sale - 30% off w/ discount code

Miles To Go is having a sale and is offering 30% off with the discount code "poe". Miles to Go is a literary based brand. The designs on the t-shirts all have to deal with a part of a story from a novel or a poem. If you're a fan of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, they have a pretty cool t-shirt with two different colorways. Check them out here http://store.milestogoclothing.com/

Creating HTML E-mails : Guide for Web Designers

Hello everyone! Cameron Chapman wrote this very useful overview for web designers on html e-mails. She offers tips on what to use and tells you what to expect. Cameron also tells you what sites have e-mail templates to use as a guide for creating your html e-mail. Read the article here

40 Beautiful Free Fonts For Creating Attractive Typography Headlines

Creative Nerds compiled a great list of free fonts that you can use for your next design. Not all free fonts are garbage and the ones mentioned in their article are worth using. I know I've used some of the ones listed on projects like Museo and Nevis.

Check out the list here

Michael Weinstein NBA Logo Redesign

I came across this site via someone's twitter feed and this was great. I like sports logos, because they're so cool, bold, and iconic. I'm continuing to come up with some well illustrated mascots and my own logos. Since I grew up a fan of the NBA sports entertainment, I always wanted create my own logos of the teams. Michael Weinstein decided to redesign some teams and give a brief history on the chosen teams. I think they're pretty well executed. He adds a very clean look for the logos he recreated. My favorite is the New Orleans Hornets logo, but the Clippers comes close. I disagree with his comments on some of the teams older logos, but that's my opinion.

You can  read each case study here or see all the ones he designed here.  

Create Abstract Plantery ring cloud

If you're interested in adding this type of look then this tutorial might be the one you would like check out.

Read tutorial here

Freelance ain't Free Posters

Check out these nifty posters.(Yes, I said nifty) Remember you want to get paid for your work. This posters comes in 5 color ways as well as 1 t-shirt that does not look like the posters. The posters are printed on 10x13 inch recycle paper. The cost $20.

To purchase go to http://freelanceaintfree.com/

Create a realistic orange in Photoshop

If you want to create an orange from scratch, check out this tutorial. It's a nice step by step tutorial that tells you how to make this orange. It shows the color palette you want to use and how to get the texture. Take a look and see, maybe you can use the techniques for something else.

Read tutorial here

Sesame Street + The Goonies = Cool Mashup

I thought this was a cool mashup. It's hilarious to see Bert as Sloth and Ernie as Chunk and it was well done. You can see more work from Slaterman23 on his Flickr page.

Revelation by Yuta Onoda

This piece is called "Revelation" Mixed media and Digital. (Featured in Wired Magazine)   More work from Yuta Onoda view here http://www.behance.net/yutaonoda

Money, Power, and Women from Split Reason

The famous line from Scarface was the basis for this Super Mario Bros. theme t-shirt design. It's funny, because this line is very relatable to the game. If you're a fan of the 80's, or a Scarface fan and a gamer, or just a gamer that likes this t-shirt you can pick this shirt up at Split Reason for $19.95(shipping price not included). On the site it says your order will ship in 1 to 3 days, which is great since some companies take some time before mailing out your order.

Other important info on the shirt is

100% cotton (doesn't feel like cardboard)

10.2 ounce crewneck T

Double needle cover seamed neck, taped neck and shoulders, double needle sleeve and bottom.

Pre-shrunk

iPhone Wallpaper by Ross Moody

The quote for this iPhone wallpaper designed by Ross Moody is true and needed to be shared. "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." That is so true, because you're actually doing something whether you're practicing a new technique, hanging out with your children, chatting it up with an old buddy, doodling on your sketchpad, etc. Click on the image to download this for your ipod, iphone.