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Rated as high-risk vulnerabilities, these privilege-escalation flaws could allow an unauthenticated attacker to access protected content.
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Adobe has tons of design software that makes creating digital content a breeze. From InDesign to Photoshop, The Complete Learn To Design Bundle can teach you everything you need to know to become an excellent graphic designer, content creator, or virtual artist.
You'll also learn the basics of HTML and CSS – important skills for anyone interested in web development – as well as web design for Wordpress. Illustrator, Bootstrap 4, and Sketch App will also be at your fingertips.
The Complete Learn To Design Bundle is yours for the low price of just $39 – that's 96 per cent off the regular price.
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You're reading How to Create and Customize an Email Newsletter Template [YouTube Tutorial], originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+!
![How to Create and Customize an Email Newsletter Template [YouTube Tutorial]](https://designhost.gr/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=https://designmodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/email-newsletter-create-747x420.jpg&key=b62923440e1e4a7eb8366dbe2d892af46e556fcc937a314fd94a8f37350e2dd2)
In this video, you’ll learn how to create an email newsletter and use animated GIF images in it. A few weeks ago, I received an email from Withings with a new product release, this is how it looks. I like …
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Wacom is celebrating its 35th birthday, and offering some amazing deals to mark the occasion. We've already seen the price of the MobileStudio Pro dropping by up to £300, and now Wacom is also lowering the price of its Cintiq Pro 13 by more than £100.
The smallest graphics tablet in the Cintiq Pro range has been reduced to £799.95 from £999.95 (or €859,90 down from €1099.90). It may not seem like the biggest price drop, but Wacom rarely runs deals, so it's worth jumping on this one. For more bargains, check out our article on the best cheap Wacom tablet deals.
- Buy a Wacom Cintiq Pro 13 with £200 off
We awarded the Cintiq Pro four and a half stars in our review, and were especially impressed by how Wacom had managed to make the drawing experience feel more natural, and by the quality of the screen. Read our Cintiq Pro review here. Wacom has long ruled the roost when it comes to graphics tablets, but if you're not sure which device is right for you, take a look at our guide to the best drawing tablets in 2018.
We gave the Cintiq Pro four and a half stars in our review
The price cut comes as part of a series of sales and price drops being rolled out over the next few months as part of Wacom's 35th anniversary celebrations. The company launched in Japan in 1983 with the aim of finding better ways to connect humans with their computers (the name comes from the Japanese syllable ‘Wa’ for harmony and ‘Com’ for computer). It worked to develop an intuitive input device for the more creative uses of a computer, and the result was the digital pen tablet.
“In combining our long-standing expertise with new opportunities offered by the ever-evolving IT industry, we stay committed to providing creatives around the world with the best digital pen experience possible” says Nobu Ide, CEO of Wacom. “Being a technology leader in the field of professional instruments for art and design, we are developing new solutions in VR to offer artists and designers the creative tools of the future.”
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Most people see user interfaces daily, whether it's inside a mobile app or on a website, so it's important to get it right when creating them, and if you can enliven them with some CSS animation, all the better.
While building for the web, particularly when it comes to animation, you have to consider things like browser support and performance. In this tutorial, we're going to walk you through two of the best solutions for creating UI animations and transitions.
We will be using a combination of CSS and GreenSock (GSAP). We are all aware of CSS but some of you may not be aware of the GreenSock platform. GreenSock is a JavaScript framework that enables you to easily create stunning animations with HTML elements using just a few lines of code.
Images and logos have particularly stood out a lot more over the last few years. How often do we use emojis rather than text? Mobile navigations seem to use icons rather than text and over time users come to know where each will take us. We are going to start by creating an animated navigation bar just using logos. When you hover over each one, it will animate to the final state, which will look similar to this screenshot.
We have the six navigation icons and one of them shows off what the hover state will look like once the animation is completed
Build the navigation
First of all, we will create a new index.html file and set up our navigation area along with six links. Each link will be made up of an icon taken from Ionicons. We will need to assign a class to each.
We won't be covering the full HTML or CSS document in detail but you can get the full code listing from GitHub.
Next, we will need to create a CSS file that's called style.css and then insert the following line of code to import Ionicons:
We will now set up the class navlogo for our navigation images inside the stylesheet. Here we will set up the position, height, font size etc.
Next, we need to set up the animation for our .navlogo element. Here we will create the rotation and transition effects, as well as changing the element colour on hover.
Finally, we will need to add an event that removes the hover class when the mouse is no longer hovering over our logos. This is to make sure that our logo comes out of its animation. Create a new JavaScript file called main.js and then enter the following code:
Our navigation is now ready to go, apart from adding some hyperlinks. We have managed to achieve this just by using CSS3.
Create and animate buttons on load
The buttons will appear one by one with a one-second delay in-between. GreenSock enables you to do this with any HTML element
We will now add four buttons to our page and use the GreenSock library to slowly bring in each button, one after the other with a one-second delay. This will create a nice transition effect.
First, we will need to reopen the index.html file and create our button section using the code below:
We then need to set up a reference to the GreenSock library inside the <head> section.
Finally, we need to set up our animation. This will only take one line of code. StaggerFrom is a function that will stagger the start time of our element. In our brackets, we specify the name of the element. In this case it would be .anibutton. We also need to set a duration and in this case it is set to one second between each anibutton element.
Background and element colour transition
This is how the UI will look after the background and button transition from one colour to another
The next thing we are going to look at is transitioning the website background and buttons from one colour to another. We don't often come across this feature on websites, although it would definitely be interesting for things like accessibility or for web app preferences when the user might want to set their own colour scheme.
Make sure that you have a background colour and a border and text colour set up for your page in the style.css file.
Next, we will create a JavaScript function to set up our various GreenSock colour transitions.
We are going for more of a dark mode look here, so the background will be dark but the buttons will appear light. The first line of code will change the background colour to a darker variation over a period of three seconds. The second and third line will change the colour and border of the text to white over a period of three seconds.
Finally, we will need to call the changeBackground() function from one of our buttons found in the index.html file.
The project is now ready to run. Of course, you can go a lot further by adding new elements and changing the colour style for those, too.
This article was originally published in issue 309 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 309 here or subscribe here.
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Motion capture is one of those terms that gets bandied about, with the assumption that everyone knows what it means. But what is motion capture, exactly? And how is it relevant to those making 3D movies, as well as creatives in different areas?
Let's find out...
What is motion capture?
This is the sort of image that can be created after motion has been captured
Motion capture – also known as mo-cap – is when a person or object's movements are tracked through a number of sensors that are placed on them. This data is then collated and can be used to replicate the motions of the person or object. It is also possible to track a person in relation to other objects such as the elements of a set.
The technique is often used in films, for when animated or CGI characters need to replicate the motions of a real person, such as for characters like Gollum in The Lord of The Rings. It can also be used to form a pattern, such as the motion capture of Sir Simon Rattle's conduction that was used to create the visuals for the London Symphony Orchestra's identity, by The Partners (now Superunion).
What are the drawbacks of mo-cap?
Motion capture can be very expensive, and requires a lot of specialist kit for it to work. You may have to reshoot the scene if there's a problem, rather than trying to fix the data later on, and you can't use it to replicate movements that an object or a person can't do (i.e. ones that don't follow the laws of physics).
However, nowadays, innovations in AI are addressing these problems and helping to bring mo-cap to the masses.
How is AI shaking up mo-cap?
RADiCAL takes away the need to wear a special mo-cap suit (the figure on the left is the 3D model created from the movements of the lady on the right)
When Gavan Gravesen and Anna Bellini co-founded RADiCAL, it wasn’t with a mind to move the needle on their profits; they aspired to propel massive acceleration in the 3D content pipeline.
Two months after its public unveiling, RADiCAL’s AI-powered motion capture solution presents a spectacular break from tradition, cutting down the cost, hardware and skills users need to bring to the table. RADiCAL has already amassed close to 10,000 users, landed a partnership with NVIDIA, and seen interest from a number of larger studios.
What is RADiCAL?
The simple yet innovative AI turns ordinary 2D video into 3D data, without the need for any dedicated equipment or constrained environments. It allows 3D content creators of all stripes to utilise motion capture when animating humanoid characters.
“The idea was born after Anna and I had worked together in a previous venture in a related field,” explains Gravesen. “In 2017, we decided to put all of our efforts behind building the technology that became RADiCAL – we loved the idea of solving a real problem, shipping products and breaking down a major roadblock in the 3D content pipeline in the process.”
Guided by the simple principle that the solution had to be entirely hardware-agnostic and easy to use, the team combined deep learning, generative models, robotics, computer vision and biomechanics to “create an AI that would be easy enough for a novice to use, but sufficiently robust for an expert to add to their toolkit,” as Bellini explains.
How can RADiCAL be used?
In other words, RADiCAL aims to provide a solution that is universally available and integrates seamlessly with existing workflows. Gravesen explains: “Our hardware independence means that any camera can become your capture device, and any environment, indoors or outdoors, can be your studio.”
Users are able to record and upload 2D video footage from within RADiCAL’s iOS or Android apps, or use a cloud-based custom profile that can process content from other cameras.
Gravesen explains: “The final output is an FBX file rigged to the HumanIK standard that you download from our cloud service, for use in any 3D software or gaming engine. And we’ll add more rigs and file standards over the next months.”
What's next for RADiCAL?
In the future Gravesen and Bellini want to see the technology seamlessly powering 3D work across a variety of platforms
The company will soon turn their attention towards those that remain reluctant to work in the cloud, promising to offer on-premise installations to select customers in the near future.
Bellini explains how she built the technology: “Massive amounts of data are being processed to support an AI model capable of plausibly reconstructing human motion. We strive to capture and express subtle motion loyal to the actor’s movements. We don’t rely on canned motion or existing machine learning solutions. Instead, we crafted custom, low-level CUDA kernels for use with NVIDIA GPUs.”
RADiCAL’s solution is not yet real-time, but the team is optimistic it’ll get there soon. “We expect to release a version of our AI that runs device-side and in real-time in early 2019, perhaps earlier,” says Bellini. “Future versions will also feature multiple cameras and accommodate multiple actors. In other words, we will offer a whole range of products with different features over the next 12 months.”
The co-founders’ mission is to enable and empower independent creators and studios to embrace motion capture in a variety of new ways. Gravesen notes that “for the 3D ecosystem to grow as fast as we want it to, we need to change things up. We can’t rely on the AAAs and majors alone to create the content that we all know is needed. Rather, we need independent creators, creative agencies and studios of all sizes, corporate in-house teams, even students and academics to be empowered.”
Bellini concludes: “By making a tool that’s accessible no matter the size of the project, we can help to genuinely accelerate the 3D content pipeline across the board… for film, TV, gaming, AR and VR alike. Our users have brought us into their pipelines at all stages: we see independents, AAAs and majors using us in previz as well as in production.” RADiCAL’s apps are now available, for anyone to try, on both the App Store and Google Play.
Gravesen hopes that by giving motion capture to everyone, the team can continue to remove the roadblocks in content creation that involves human motion.
This article was originally published in issue 237 of 3D World. Buy issue 237 or subscribe.
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Turning thirty is a big deal. And while it's an anniversary that can fill a lot of people with existential dread, Roald Dahl's beloved bookworm Matilda Wormwood seems to be taking it in her stride in a series of new ink drawing illustrations by Sir Quentin Blake.
Unveiled by BBC News, the new set of illustrations was created by Blake to celebrate 30 years since the publication of Matilda. But rather than depict another scene from the book, which he illustrated upon its publication, Blake has imagined what Matilda is getting up to three decades on.
Unsurprisingly, she seems to be doing alright for herself. While plenty of people Matilda's age are scrimping for a deposit or juggling work and life struggles, the child who famously bested the beastly Miss Trunchbull has gone on to have a glittering career, or five. We wouldn't expect anything less from the Wormwood wunderkind.
Her love of books has seen her become a celebrated poet laureate, with her epic poem The Trunchbull Saga fascinating audiences across 20,068 verses. In between penning poems, Matilda finds the time to be the CEO of the British Library, an astrophysicist, special FX artist and a world traveller and linguist. Check out the illustrations by clicking left to right in the gallery below with the arrow icons.
Since its release in 1988, Matilda has gone on to become the best-selling Roald Dahl book, with 17 million copies flying off the shelves. The story was turned into a film in 1996, and a musical with music by Tim Minchin even more recently, and has been taken into the hearts of generations of readers and viewers who identified with the downtrodden Matilda.
Along with some quotes from the woman herself, the illustrations will feature on the covers of anniversary editions of the book, released on October 4. As well as getting Blake to check in on Matilda, the book's anniversary saw the Roald Dahl Story Company ask the British public who she's still friends with. The top answer? Her childhood best friend, Lavender.
Happy 30th birthday, Matilda.
[All images C. Quentin Blake / Roald Dahl Story Company 2018]
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Some fonts are so maligned, they've become a running joke even for non-designers. Others are over-used to the point of near-total exhaustion, or misused so much we've forgotten their original purpose.
It takes skill and experience to choose the right typeface, and the nuances of different types of font can make a huge impact on a brand's personality, or the tone of a piece of design.
There are thousands of options out there, and yet certain fonts are everywhere. Some seem to make a mockery of the art and craft of typography in and of themselves, while others just seem like a lazy, default fall-back option.
But is all the hatred justified? Read on for five of the most-hated typefaces, and why some of them might well deserve a second chance...
01. Comic Sans: the butt of all jokes
Based on comic book speech bubbles, Comic Sans was originally intended to make 'Microsoft Bob' more friendly
Let's get this out of the way early. Regularly mocked by designers and non-designers alike, Comic Sans is the clown in the room – the darling of children's playrooms, dodgy PowerPoint presentations, ramshackle lemonade stands and passive-aggressive workplace signage the world over.
People really love to hate this font. It's famed for being amateurish, silly, chosen by people who want something informal and jaunty, but are 'designing' their poster in Word – and Arial or Times New Roman just won't cut it.
We get it. In so many situations, Comic Sans is horrible. But consider its name: it's not called 'Comic' Sans because it's comical, but because it's based on the type in comic book speech bubbles. In fact, it was originally designed by Vincent Connare to give 'Microsoft Bob', a helpful dog bundled with Windows 95, a warmer, more playful tone in his speech bubbles – but was never actually used for that purpose.
It wasn't meant for use outside of comic speech bubbles, and yet it's absolutely exploded worldwide. There are campaigns to ban it, and it's become an easy short-hand reference for bad typography. The reality? It's actually perfect for its intended use. It's also great for accessibility, and is officially recommended by the British Dyslexia Association. Its crime isn't use, it's misuse. Give Comic Sans a break.
02. Helvetica: death by ubiquity?
Posters promoting Gary Hustwit's Helvetica documentary, by Experimental Jetset – set in Helvetica, of course
Ubiquity breeds contempt, and in many ways Helvetica is a beautifully crafted typeface that has become a victim of its own success. It has become the 'safe choice', the neutral option – or for some, an easy way to be effortlessly cool and timeless. But its ubiquity is partly due to the fact it's not always used for the right reasons.
Released in 1957 as Neue Haas Grotesk, and renamed three years later, Helvetica is the poster boy of the International Typographic Style, or Swiss Style – in fact, 'Helvetica' is Latin for 'Swiss'. It was embraced by cutting-edge designers throughout the '50s and '60s, and its popularity has continued to soar since.
A dizzying number of brands have used Helvetica, or modifications of it, for their logos over the decades – from American Airlines to The North Face, Panasonic to Post-It, and countless more besides. Clearly, that becomes an issue in terms of standout, and brand personality.
Helvetica is a great typeface. But it's not always the most appropriate choice. It's terrible for large passages of text, for instance, where its tight spacing and uniform weight interfere with legibility. It's also not as neutral as people assume: Gary Hustwit's feature-length documentary discusses how in some contexts it will blend into the background, while in others it will smack you in the face.
Apply critical thought to your type choices: while Helvetica can be a lazy default option, it can also be perfect for the right project. Don't abandon it just on principle, but remember there are alternatives to Helvetica out there.
03. Papyrus: the target of SNL parody
Papyrus is much-maligned and widely misused, but can actually be effective in the right context
Everyone loves a bit of faux-Egyptian, slightly distressed type, right? Well... not so much. Papyrus is right up there with Comic Sans in the pantheon of hated fonts, and while Helvetica inspired a thoughtful documentary, Papyrus has the honour of being ripped into by Saturday Night Live.
The skit, starring Ryan Gosling, mocks how a global blockbuster like Avatar could seemingly just type 'Avatar' into Word, and change the font to Papyrus. Besides movie posters, the font may also be irksomely familiar from everything from faux-rustic cafe menus, to church programmes, to online captchas.
Inspired by Biblical times, Chris Costello created Papyrus in 1982 as a side-project while working in an agency. He later sold it to Letraset... who licensed it to Microsoft. It's now thought to exist on over a billion computers worldwide.
There are entire blogs dedicated to the overuse and misuse of Papyrus, but as with Comic Sans, the blame shouldn't be levelled at its creator. It's a little baffling that such a distinctive typeface, influenced by the look and feel of ancient Middle Eastern civilisations, could be applied to so many modern contexts – the fact is, it can't. That's not to say it's not fit for a purpose; it's just not fit for every purpose.
04. Mistral: the oft-misunderstood script
Mistral changes tone entirely in sentence case and all-caps, as shown in these designs for Drive and Straight Outta Compton
Script fonts in general, and handwriting fonts in particular, get a lot of a flak. Bradley Hand – popular amongst teenage girls in the '90s, and now splashed across all manner of invitations, school announcements and story books – is a case in point, as it actually looks nothing like natural handwriting.
Mistral, however, has a rather more interesting heritage – designed to evoke the sophistication and elegance of postwar France. But it's often tarred with the same brush as other script fonts, especially when misused. The problem is, rather like Comic Sans and Papyrus, Mistral is widely available to non-designers who don't think twice about butchering it.
Originally designed to mimic a sleek, sultry 'autograph' style of writing when in sentence case, Mistral changes tone entirely when in all-caps – and looks like it's been angrily spray-painted by a teenager.
Both tones of voice can be effective, if used properly. Once again, the issue here is misuse in the wrong hands. Set large passages of text in Mistral in an attempt to mimic handwriting and you're in trouble. And the shouty, more edgy all-caps approach is all-too-often diluted by badly designed signage. The examples above show how effective Mistral can be in the right hands.
05. Trajan: the king of movie posters
Trajan's widespread use in film and television transcends genre conventions – but are we bored of it now?
Just as the movie world seemingly keeps the same gravelly voiced individual on standby for every new trailer, the designers of its marketing materials are rather attached to one typeface: Trajan (with Bank Gothic as an eager understudy).
The range of applications are vast, and transcend genre and mood entirely. Since the 1990s, Trajan has graced disaster movies such as Titanic, sci-fi flicks including Minority Report and Stargate, touching dramas such as A Beautiful Mind, and fantasy epics Game of Thrones.
There's seemingly nothing this pseudo-Roman serif, which came helpfully bundled with Adobe Creative Suite for years, can't communicate when it comes to movies. In some ways, it's so over-used as to become little more than background noise as part of a movie poster, so you focus on the title rather than the font it's set in.
Like the gravelly voiceover man, it's become part of the short-hand vernacular of the movie world – just another familiar trope, which has its place. But it's also an opportunity for more independently minded poster designers to stand out from the crowd with something radically different.
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Bypass works on iOS 12 and Apple's latest iPhone XS model phones allowing an attacker to access contacts and photos.
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When someone finds out that I work in watercolour, their immediate response is often “But watercolour techniques are so hard!” An unsurprising reaction, perhaps…
I discovered watercolour as a teenager, and instead of being intimidated by its unpredictable nature, I saw endless possibilities. I gradually realised that watercolour offers a unique, collaborative relationship with the artist – one that isn’t so straightforward and requires experimentation, openness and most importantly, patience.
By its very nature, watercolour appears to be a difficult beast to tame. After all, its primary vehicle is water! It’s key to bear in mind that there’ll always be an element of surprise when working with watercolour.
Over time and with lots of experimentation and implementation of tried-and-true techniques, I’ve learned first to control what I can, and as for the rest, work intuitively and allow watercolour to be watercolour. At times it will take the wheel whether you like it or not, but you’ll live for those moments when it pleasantly surprises you!
As well as having an open mind and endless patience, working with watercolour requires a particular setup, proper materials, a little technique and a lot of experimentation. In this series, I’m going to share with you how I work with this incredibly versatile and exciting medium and make the best of watercolour’s delightfully protean nature.
01. What different watercolour papers are available?
Click to see the image full size
Watercolour paper comes in three textures: hot, cold and rough. Both cold and rough watercolour paper have a bumpy texture, and will give you more vibrant colours.
However, I enjoy working with hot press because the smooth texture enables me to achieve sharper details. Watercolour paper also comes in various weights. I recommend starting with 140lb. The heavier it is, the less likely it is to buckle under a lot of water. Aim to use top-brand papers such as Arches or Strathmore, because the quality of your paper is very important.
02. Choose your brushes
From left to right, size 1 squirrel hair mop brush, Kolinsky sable brushes sizes 6,3,2,1,0, Size 1 liner sable brush
Watercolour brushes can vary widely and it can be tough making a decision on which ones to buy. There are both synthetic and natural hair brushes available for watercolour use, and each have their own strengths.
I prefer to work with Kolinsky red sable brushes, because the natural fibres hold liquid better than synthetics can, although they are more expensive. Brushes come in many shapes as well, though I most commonly use Rounds ranging from size 0 up to 6.
03. Select the right palette for you
A nice perk to working with watercolour is that it can always be re-wetted when dried, so an old palette can be brought back to life in a snap
Responsible watercolour artists typically use a large palette divided into wells for their colours. My particular method of working with limited colour palettes has landed me on a small, cheap eight-well palette with two mixing areas. I keep several around, including larger circular palettes in rotation, so that I can dedicate one per painting. This is useful when I’m working on more than one piece at a time.
04. Pick your paints
Here are some of my most frequently used watercolours, along with speciality Finetec gold and silver pans
Watercolour paints most commonly come in tubes or pans. I prefer to use watercolour tubes because I can achieve better intensity right off the bat. I work with several brands, but my favourites are Grumbacher and Winsor & Newton for basic colours, and Daniel Smith for speciality colours and those that granulate nicely.
My techniques for creating texture take advantage of the pigment separation that comes with these speciality colours. Student-quality watercolours won’t get you very far, so I’d recommend spending a little extra on the good stuff, since you’ll have it for some time anyway. Some of my current rotation of watercolours are over five years old!
05. Get additional tools
Click to take a closer look at some of Kelly's favourite tools
My favourite part of working with watercolour involves the tools that push the medium even further. I most commonly use kosher salt and ice cream salt for texture effects (the latter creates larger texture). I’ll also occasionally mask to preserve an area of paper with the aid of masking fluid or tape.
This article was originally published in issue 162 of ImagineFX, the world's leading digital art magazine. Buy issue 162 or subscribe here.
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You're reading Apple Steps Into the Future with MacOS 10.14 Mojave, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+!
Mojave is Apple’s latest version of its macOS, launched more than 34 years after the first Macintosh shipped in 1984. Mojave [Mo-HA-vey] is a North American reservation in the area between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The new name follows …
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Popular email marketing service Mailchimp has launched a new brand identity and design system. The rebrand comes courtesy of COLLINS, working alongside Mailchimp's in-house design team. Notably, it sees the company doing away with its much-loved script logo design in favour of a sans-serif wordmark, and introducing a cheerful yellow as its brand colour.
Although we've seen a number of companies say goodbye to their script-based wordmarks in recent years, to its credit Mailchimp hasn't joined the ranks of bland, identikit san-serif logos. The new wordmark uses a custom typeface that is equally full of character.
Freddie, Mailchimp's simian mascot, has also had a makeover. The hat and cheeky wink remain firmly in place, but he's now a simplified, single-colour silhouette. The shift also means Freddie can appear alongside the wordmark as part of a more unified system.
"Our beloved logo script and Freddie icon had hierarchy issues and never appeared together," explains Mailchimp. "This meant the icon wasn’t always recognisable on its own. Through a process of iteration and refinement, we've developed a wordmark that lives in harmony with the Freddie icon to build equity for both."
Quirky photography and illustrations give the design system plenty of energy
In 2013, Jessica Hische updated the company's original script logo, making it lighter and more legible. However, this time around Mailchimp has taken the plunge and gone for a full-blown rebrand, introducing completely new design system, and dropping the camelcase styling (it's no longer 'MailChimp' but 'Mailchimp').
Mailchimp describes the mood as "playful and expressive". Cooper Light has been adopted as the brand's main typeface, while a sunny Cavendish yellow brand colour introduces a shot of energy into the system. The new look also uses illustration much more heavily, in a distinctive, off-kilter style.
"Our new illustration, motion and photography systems act as the perfect counterpoint to the standardised core brand elements. These expressive parts of our brand are more organic and playful while still communicating a message," says Mailchimp.
You can find out more about the rebrand on Mailchimp's website.
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To mark World Cleanup Day earlier this month, Futura DDB has turned rubbish into art. The studio worked with Ecologists Without Borders and a group of volunteers to gather rubbish found in the fields and streets of Slovenia. They then turned their findings – from drinks cans and batteries, to bottles, tires, helmets, clothing and furniture – into letters.
The images were vectorised and will be made available as a free font. Designers will be able to use what the team call ‘the cleanest font in the world’ in its original, full-colour format, or as a silhouette variant. Granted, it might not be your most widely-used font, but Futura DDB suggests it could be useful for NGOs or any individuals hoping to raise awareness of littering problems.
Take a look at how the font was made in the film below.
“We want to encourage people to learn and understand the importance of the right behaviour towards nature and proper waste management. That’s why we were extremely happy that we were able to create something memorable from trash, together with hundreds of volunteers collecting it,” says Ecologists Without Borders president Urša Zgojznik. “Now we can finally write and send a clear message to the world as there are more appropriate places for trash than nature.”
[Via Branding.news]
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To create this cover for ImagineFX magazine, I went through some pretty well-established steps from my creative process, which can be applied either to character design work or more elaborate illustration work.
My aim with this workshop was to focus more on the chosen subject matter than on art techniques. However, it turned out to be more of a lesson on why it’s so important to spend enough time on planning out your pieces properly, so you don’t have to spend your time fixing mistakes later on.
A job with even the tightest of deadline is manageable if you put in a basic amount of ground work. So read on to learn some dos and don’ts about how to deal with feedback, avoid and fix mistakes, and check out where I nearly mucked things up big time!
01. Work up initial character ideas
Start with a basic sketch of your idea
After I receive the brief and collection of reference material, I work up a very basic sketch. The ImagineFX team have a pretty clear idea of what they want for the piece, so for the technical aspect it’s more about making something interesting out of some subtle character nuances. That turn of the head, the crook of the smile, the eye contact. These gestures will eventually play a pretty central role in selling the image.
02. Create key shapes
Focus on key shapes as you make a new sketch
I have a good idea of what I want to do with the figure and her pose, so I sketch it out. I focus on the key details and overall shapes that would both work well and enable me to show off some interesting tribal elements. After I send off my sketch, I receive an edit for the angle of the face, but the rest of the details are approved.
03. Combine sketches to check for errors
Create a clean piece of line-work to work from
Using the previous sketches as a base, I combine the elements into a single sketch, and then set to work creating a clean piece of line-art to work from. It’s now that I run into my first mistake. At this stage I should have taken a step back and constructed the face properly. Had I done so, I would have seen what would later be revealed as I began to add colour and light. This does happen from time to time, and it comes down to the fact that you can get away with a lot more in a drawing without it becoming problematic, than you can in a painting.
04. Start on the colours
Use reference to inform your colour choices
I decide on a simple desaturated background to begin with, choosing to focus on a lot of contrast and colour play on the character. During this point in the process I spend time looking up some references. As well as taking some deep dives on Google and Pinterest, I enjoy leafing through Jimmy Nelson’s Before They Pass Away. This is a book about tribal societies around the world, and is filled with beautiful photos on each of them.
05. Introduce light and shade
Take care over the details at this stage
Once the colours are established, I move on to the lighting and shadows, and in the process run straight into my second mistake. I like to put down my shadows using a Multiply layer: first laying them in very simply and directly, before going over and softening up any edges that need it. I’ll usually spend a good amount of time in this stage to make sure I have something I like before moving on, and while I don’t rush it here, I should have spent a lot more time working out my details beforehand.
Yet I had a somewhat painterly result in mind, and this was my second mistake. I had spent time researching the subject matter, but none on working out the precise execution, and this will come back and bite me in the proverbial ass.
06. Fix the background
Larger brush strokes can create an abstract feel
When I have all the lighting information established, I pop a Normal layer on top of everything and begin to paint for real. At this point, depending on how well I’ve done in the other steps, I usually get to have a lot of fun rendering out neat little details, pushing and pulling volumes, and designing all the little elements that gives a viewer a reason for a second look.
It’s during this stage that I decide the background is looking dull, so I try to rectify things with larger brush strokes. I want to leave it abstract, yet use it to help move the eye. However, because I’ve already established the light on the character, I can’t alter the main elements in the background.
07. Streamline my workflow
Commit to your work by compositing layers (click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image)
As I began to find something I can push to a finish, I decide to commit to what I’ve got so far. So I duplicate all the composite layers that make up the character and combine them separately. This enables me to more easily work with the Smudge and Mixer Brush tools.
08. Go back to the background
Sometimes it's best to step away from your work before making changes
At this point I realise that I’ve stared at this painting for too long, so I leave it for half a day before coming back to it. And of course, by then I’ve had just enough time to let my insecurities get to me, and so began to fiddle some more with the background.
09. Tackle the values in the scene
Think about the effect you're trying to achieve in the background
It’s at this point that I look for values rather than colours, and begin to play with the idea of stormy clouds in the background and cold light from an overcast sky contrasting with the tons of reflected light from the landscape. I work more on the character, too – getting her to a place that’s close to her final appearance. Once there, I send it in for ImagineFX’s final approval before finishing.
10. Act on feedback
You can't beat some good art direction
After the second round of feedback I go to work addressing the team’s notes. In general, there was a call for more colour and a brighter background, perhaps something that would read like a sandstorm. I like the idea of that as a palette, although the sandstorm itself might look odd with the character being so formally dressed. I end up getting what I had wanted before, however – a nice, rough, painterly background – and thanks to the art direction this really helps the image.
11. Increase the contrast
Pushing the contrast can create a striking figure
The second round of feedback had also done away with her tribal scar patterns, and so I want to leverage the details of the figure in another way, by really pushing the contrast within the figure. Using a Curves adjustment I achieve something I like. Then I begin to do a second round of rendering on top, collapsing all contributing layers down into one for ease of painting.
12. Solve lighting and anatomy issues
Lighting the figure correctly is really important
As I’m wrapping things up, I decide that the contrast between the background and foreground light isn’t working for me, so I use a Darken layer to alter the colour of the front light, which sets up a clearer contrast. This is something I should have planned from the start, and could have done a much better job in setting up so that the overall effect would have worked better, but sometimes you just have to improvise. I also have to deal with my sloppy initial drawing when I finally realise that the face is reading too wide. I use the Lasso tool to make the necessary adjustments.
13. Add finishing touches
Simplify your image at the end of your process
One last round of rendering, when I push a few details around and simplify some of the busier parts of the silhouette, and I’m ready to call it done. I add a final Curve adjustment layer to gently move the colours into the blues, to contrast a little more with the background.
Lessons learned from my process
Overall, I’m happy with how the piece has turned out, although the path I took in getting here was less than optimal. Solid planning prevents poor performance and in this case it’s proved to be true, if not disastrously so. Spend your time where it matters: the initial stages is where you’ll ultimately make or break your image.
Check that the fundamentals are solid, that your choices aid the image, and always have a plan that you can refer to. That way you won’t freak out too much when you realise you’ve screwed something up, and you’ll always find a way to finish the piece. I hope this workshop has been helpful, and I also hope the fine people at ImagineFX will have me back sometime in the future!
This article originally appeared in issue 162 of ImagineFX, the world's leading magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 162 or subscribe here.
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More than 20 percent of GitHub repositories containing an attack tool or an exploit proof of concept (PoC) are written in Python.
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Coding means different things to different people. When it comes to finding the best laptop for programming, there are a few things to consider. The heart of programming in any language is not particularly demanding – you’re only writing lines of text, which any computer should be able to manage. However, it’s always nice to have some horsepower under the hood.
More memory will mean today’s heavyweight Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) such as Visual Studio will run buttery-smooth, and it becomes easier to make changes when working with complex website layouts that have huge amounts of background code. Large, complex programs compile faster with a faster processor.
And while burning the midnight oil for hours when working on a large project, comfortable ergonomics make a big difference, so you’ll be grateful for a great keyboard and decent screen.
What’s more, if you think your new idea is going to be the next big hit on Apple’s App Store, you need a laptop running MacOS to use Xcode, Apple’s IDE that’s used exclusively to develop applications for the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Similarly, if you’re considering working with game development, within an environment such as UnrealEd or Unity as part of your project, you can’t ignore graphics performance either.
Here’s our pick of the best laptop for programming, suitable for a range of budgets.
Using a larger 15-inch laptop such as this Dell XPS 15-9570 rather than a 13-inch model for coding makes plenty of sense. It gives you space to lay out windows in your IDE, or see a full-sized GUI for a high-resolution phone or tablet app. In code view, it means you can fit as much text as possible onto a single line, so it’s easier to run through your application.
There’s enough space to split the screen, with code on the left and a preview of your app or webpage on the right, which will save some serious time when reloading your work.
In addition to the large 4K screen, the XPS15 offers strong performance. Compilation times will be accelerated if you opt for a six-core model, and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti gives this machine some 3D grunt in game design tools as well. For more information, take a look at our sister site TechRadar's Dell XPS 15-9570 review.
Despite dated stereotypes of programmers being stuck in bedrooms and offices, many coders see the profession as highly sociable – whether it’s working together on group projects, or attending one of the numerous workshops and conferences that exist all over the country.
In that case, you might prefer an alternative to the larger laptops we’ve suggested and instead, put portability at the top of your wish list. The 13-inch Asus Zenbook UX-430 is an ultraportable option – weighing just 1.25kg and measuring 15.9mm – without a massive price tag. However, even though the Zenbook is slim and well priced, it has a specification that’s still great for coding work.
While Apple’s MacBook and the now-ancient MacBook Air are the most portable Apple laptops in the range, the 13-inch MacBook Pro received a tasty update this year that makes it our first choice for working with Xcode to develop apps for iOS and MacOS when on the go.
Quad-core eight-generation Intel CPUs are now an option, delivering across-the-board performance improvements, making this MacBook both portable and powerful. While it might weigh slightly more than the aforementioned MacBook models, the performance boost will be worth it when running taxing processing tasks, such as heavy-duty coding projects.
And since Macs can run Windows just fine via bootcamp or in a virtual machine such as Parallels, you’ll be able to use your Mac to develop apps for any platform on Earth.
For Android developers, a Chromebook might seem a natural choice for the best possible integration with Google’s software and services, with full support for running Android software natively. However, Chromebooks are designed to be highly affordable, with available features and performance suffering to bring the price down.
While a cheaper Chromebook can still work fine for those who are new to coding (especially children just learning coding skills, for example), the Pixelbook has been designed to compete with the bigger boys in laptops. It still runs ChromeOS, which supports Google’s Android Studio development tools, but the hardware is right up there with a standard Windows laptop. As of writing, full Linux support is in beta as well.
You get a dual-core Intel Core i7, 8GB or 16GB of ram and up to a 512GB SSD, with a high resolution 12.3-inch QHD display, delivering 2,400 x 1,600 resolution. It also folds down into a tablet, as per 2-in-1 Windows devices, used in conjunction with an excellent stylus. The brushed aluminium design is absolutely unrivalled by the cheaper Chromebook models as well, with a very comfortable chiclet-style keyboard, and plenty of ports.
Rounding off our pick of the best laptops for programming is the ThinkPad p1. With this model, Lenovo has taken the kind of computing experience most of us assume is only possible with a desktop workstation housed in a large box under a desk, and not only made it portable, but squeezed it into a form that in thickness, is close to an Ultrabook.
It’s the only laptop of this size that offers professional-grade Xeon processors, with up to six cores, an Nvidia Quadro P2000 graphics card and up to 64GB of memory. You can stuff it with up to 4TB of nVME SSD storage, and opt for a 15.6-inch 4K display that’s not only touch-sensitive, but colour-accurate too. It’s a great general-purpose workstation, capable of all kinds of visual design work and heavy lifting processor-intensive tasks.
Of course, it works great for coding as well. That’s partly thanks to Lenovo’s excellent keyboard design, but in general, the ThinkPad P1 is superbly built, including a semi-rugged chassis that can survive light knocks, a very healthy selection of ports, retaining two original USB Gen 1 ports, as well as two newer, Thunderbolt capable USB type C ports and HDMI. Make no mistake, if it’s raw performance you want, this is the laptop to go for.
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A lack of authentication in Apple's Device Enrollment Program could allow attackers to scoop up Wi-Fi passwords and VPN configurations.
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When it comes to online art classes, it really is true that you get what you pay for. Invest in high-quality tuition, delivered by leading professionals, and you'll soon find your ability as an artist improving by leaps and bounds.
In this post, we've brought together 10 excellent art classes that we reckon are worth every penny. Number one on our list is Drawing Essentials with Glenn Vilppu, in our view the best online art class you can access right now. That's because it drills down into the fundamentals you need to master before you can develop your skills. And it does so in a way that speaks to a beginner as much as an experienced artist.
How to choose the right online art class for you
When it comes to choosing the right art class for you, there are a number of factors you need to take into account. These include what skill level you currently have: beginner, intermediate or advanced, as not all classes will be relevant to your level. It's also worth checking who's teaching the course, and what their credentials are. That said, just because they're university-level tutors may not mean their classes are any good, or vice versa if they're not; so it's always worth checking out the reviews and testimonials on their site. (If they don't have a section for these, that in itself should set off alarm bells).
More obviously, different art classes require different media. So check what materials you'll need, as this could significantly affect the overall cost of taking the course. It's also worth seeing whether videos are downloadable, whether course work is provided, and whether there's an option to get feedback on your work from the tutors. (That's unlikely to be the case if you're going for one of the cheaper classes, of course, but once you're moving into the hundreds of pounds, it's probably something something you should expect). If you can't find what you're looking for here, be sure to check out our other quality how to draw tutorials, covering a variety of subjects.
Here are 10 of the best online art classes around...
01. Drawing Essentials with Glenn Vilppu
Glenn Vilppu is a big name in art education, and for good reason; his six-week drawing class is the best of the best
- Pros: Covers fundamentals; critiques available
- Cons: Expensive; time commitment required
One of the world’s most famous art teachers, Glenn Vilppu instructs professionals at animation, game and film studios worldwide, as well as universities, art schools and private art academies. And the one problem he constantly comes up against is that many students walk into the class without knowing the fundamentals, such as how to hold a pencil correctly.
So this six-week course attempts to fill those knowledge gaps, and is aimed not just beginners but any artists, even professionals, who have never studied formally.
At $600, it’s not cheap, but bear in mind you won’t just be passively watching video lectures. The aim is to replicate the experience of attending a real-life art class; so you get your work critiqued weekly, alongside group discussion and the opportunity to get answers directly from Vilppu. You’ll also be able to see critiques of the other students as well, as would happen in a regular live class.
Once you're done, Vilppu also offers some world-class figure drawing classes on his site. He strongly recommends you don't jump ahead, and take this class first, however knowledgeable you think you are.
02. Drawing and Sketching for Beginners by Robin Slee
Robin Slee's introductory course is a great way to dip your toe into the water
- Pros: Cheap; feedback offered on work
- Cons: Only for total newbies; videos not downloadable
Right the start of your journey, and want to know what all this art stuff is really about? This introductory-level class on Udemy is a great place to begin, and at $19.99, it's far from a huge financial commitment.
Tutor Robin Slee, a self-taught freelance digital artist and illustrator, is keen to get you started on the right track, and covers fundamentals like how to hold a pencil correctly and how to make marks. That might sound childishly basic, but these are not actually intuitive things (as we mentioned in the previous entry, even experienced artists get them wrong), so it's pretty useful to nail them at this early stage. And Slee's instruction is clear, simple, jargon-free and easy to follow.
The course consists of over three hours of video content, segmented into 25 modules, accompanied by practical exercises for you to download. There's also a dedicated Q&A section where you can post your questions, ask for feedback, or share your results from the course.
03. Draw and Paint Online: Beginner's Art by Peter Stanyer
Peter Stanyer offers high-quality, interactive art tuition at a very affordable price
- Pros: Covers fundamentals; feedback provided
- Cons: Requires time commitment; not the cheapest
Internationally renowned artist, author and tutor Peter Stanyer has taught art for over 20 years at many different levels in further and higher education. Aimed both at complete beginners and more experienced artists who enjoy recreational drawing, his online art classes will teach you the techniques you need to draw with confidence.
All the fundamentals are covered here, including mark making, tone, colour, shape, composition, perspective and more. Requiring around 30 hours of study, this class involves a number of assignments made up of carefully structured, practical, drawing or painting projects. With personal tuition and feedback from Stanyer thrown in as well, this course offers excellent value at just £148.
04. How to Paint: Absolute Beginners Acrylics Course with Will Kemp
Learn the foundations of working with acrylic paint in this three-and-a-half-hour online art class
- Pros: Low price; suitable for beginners
- Cons: No feedback; just 3.5 hours in total
Are you someone who “dreams of becoming an artist but keeps putting it off until you have more time?” If that’s you, then this relatively short and snappy art class could be the kick up the backside you need.
Over three-and-a-half hours, Will Kemp - an award-winning artist who’s studied in Italy, run his own art gallery and taught in museums and schools - explains the foundations of working with acrylics and why they're the simplest and most effective way for a beginner to learn to paint.
You learn about setup and materials, colour mixing, pigment choice, brush-handling and palette-knife techniques, as well as gels and mediums. Once that's out of the way, you're then encouraged to complete three paintings (a still-life, a landscape, and a seascape) using three different colour palettes.
This class is split over seven video lessons, which can be either streamed or downloaded. Kemp suggest you take time off for a “painting week”', in which you take a different lesson every day; alternatively, you might prefer to study one every weekend. He also includes downloadable reference material and although you won't get feedback on your work, at just £49, it's still a bit of bargain.
05. Mastering colour with Richard Robinson
Struggling to get your colours right? Richard Robinson can help
- Pros: Tight focus; low cost
- Cons: No feedback; only two hours long
Fine artist and teacher Richard Robinson asked his students to name the biggest stumbling block when it came to painting, and an astonishing 72 per cent said it was getting their colours right. So in this two-hour art class, which can be both streamed and downloaded, he explains everything you need to know, from how the brain sees and analyse colours, to the key to colour relationships.
With 40 practical exercises to complete and 159 pages of printable lesson notes, this class is suitable for everyone from beginner to advanced. It's pretty cheap at just $45, but if you're still not convinced, you can ‘try before you buy’ by viewing the first chapter free on the website.
06. Figure Drawing Fundamentals with Stan Proko
Learn how a body is shaped, how it moves, and then how to draw it realistically
- Pros: Great value; comprehensive instruction
- Cons: Feedback prioritised for premium subscribers
Historically, art schools have always taught a systematic process for drawing people that can be applied to figures of any body type, set in any position. Running across 15 and a half hours of downloadable video, this class delivers exactly that.
It's taught by Stan Prokopenko, an accomplished fine art painter who works for the Watts Atelier school in California and shares his knowledge with millions online through both free YouTube videos and more weighty, paid-for courses like this one.
Aimed at both beginners and experienced artists looking for a refresher, this figure drawing class will teach you how to draw human figures by breaking down shapes into simple forms. You’ll learn about structure, gesture, balance, exaggeration, proportions, shading and more. And for just $89, you can't say fairer than that.
07. Painting portraits with Mark Carder
Mark Carder has painted Presidents, so he's in a good position to teach you about portraiture
- Pros: No-nonsense style; videos are downloadable
- Cons: Not right for beginners; no feedback
Mark Carder is a highly regarded artist who has painted commissioned portraits of two US Presidents and a US Secretary of State, among others. His online art class demonstrates and explains the process of painting portraits using a photo as your source material.
Carder’s style is direct and to the point, with zero waffle and targeted advice throughout, covering how to photograph your subject, draw the face, blend fleshtones, work with a limited colour palette, match colours, and maintain a likeness throughout the process.
Some of the specific techniques Carder outlines are a little unusual, and the class doesn't cover how to draw a portrait from life. But if that doesn't put you off, these eight hours of downloadable videos, aimed at intermediate and advanced artists, are top quality, well structured, and offer fascinating insights from an artist at the top of his profession; all of which isn't bad for $100.
08. Charcoal Drawing with Aaron Blaise
Disney's Aaron Blaise offers you the benefit of his expertise and experience when it comes to drawing with charcoal
- Pros: Famous tutor; engaging style
- Cons: Not right for beginners; no feedback
Aaron Blaise spent 21 years of his life as an animator on such films as Beauty and the Beast, Lion King and Brother Bear, which he co-directed. He’s now left the movie business, but Disney’s loss is the art world’s gain, as he’s turned his hand to teaching digital painting. And it turns out he’s very good at it.
In this art class, Blaise creates a charcoal drawing of a lioness, in real time, across five hours and 30 minutes. He draws from a photograph, and you can download a high resolution version of this image, print it out, and follow along at home.
Blaise’s commentary is insightful, informative and really helps you follow what he’s doing. He always strikes the right tone: always helpful, never patronising.
You'll need some basic drawing skills to follow this class, so it’s not suitable for total beginners. But overall, this is a high-quality class for anyone wanting to get to grips with charcoal, wildlife drawing, or both; and £45 seems a pretty fair price.
09. Ink Drawing Techniques: Brush, Nib, and Pen Style
Yuko Shimizu offers an invaluable insight into the secrets of ink drawings as part of a Skillshare subscription
- Pro: Comprehensive guide; short and to the point
- Cons: Requires Skillshare subscription; no feedback
Yuko Shimizu is a Japanese illustrator based in New York City and a veteran instructor at the School of Visual Arts. In this online class, hosted on the Skillshare platform, she offers a detailed guide to essential inking and drawing techniques.
Subjects covered include the differences between types of papers and inks; basic brush, nib, and ink techniques; Asian vs. watercolour brushes; and sketching and scanning essentials. In short, there’s a huge amount of ground covered in this 90 minute class, made up of 15 separate lessons, and everyone from the novice to the experienced inker will benefit.
You can’t actually buy the course separately; you’ll need a Skillshare subscription to unlock it. But at just £7 a month you might fancy that anyway; and at time of writing there's a two-month free trial offer, with the option to cancel at any time.
10. Activate the canvas with Nancy Hillis
Want to shift from representational art to something more abstract? Then this is the online art class for you
- Pros: Unique approach; potentially life-changing
- Cons: Expensive; no feedback given
Fed up of making representational art, and want to walk on the wild side? This five-module, self-paced art class will guide you through your first steps in abstract painting. You'll discover how to experiment, loosen up as artist and unleash a brand new perspective on your art.
In each module, Nancy Hillis, abstract artist and psychiatrist, walks you through a systematic process for reflecting on your inner landscape and mindset. Included are a written lesson and between three and seven video demonstrations that walk you through ways of “activating the canvas”.
There are a few pricing options, but the cheapest one costs $197 and buys you one year of access to the class, which is suitable for both beginners and experienced artists; because it’s not really about technique but unlocking your creativity. In return, Nancy says, “You'll learn exciting ways to create bold, raw, immediate and alive paintings by activating the canvas intuitively.”
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There are many ways to use your design and illustration skills to generate extra income, over and above picking up freelance work. For many creatives, profit isn’t top of the agenda when planning a side project. It’s a bonus, rather than the main goal. However, even if side projects don’t bring in extra income immediately, the boost to your graphic design portfolio can lead to work indirectly – or make money in unexpected ways further down the line. Here, we explore four ways designers have branched out and turned a sideline project into a big earner.
Main image: Radim Malinic and Tamás Árpádi
01. Sell digital assets
Diana Hlevnjak sells patterns and textures via Shutterstock and iStock, as well as her own site
Diana Hlevnjak was working for a small web design firm when personal circumstances led her to relocate to another city. She managed to work remotely for a while, but times were tough and her contract was terminated shortly before the company shut down.
Hlevnjak had been selling digital assets through stock libraries for some additional income, but there wasn’t enough to cover her costs. She focused all her efforts on the task to see how lucrative it could be. “I liked the fact I didn’t have to deal with sales, clients, meetings and similar tasks that introverts don’t like,” she confesses. “It also meant I could work from anywhere.”
When she first started out, the returns were low, but gained momentum as she kept putting up more and more products on more and more platforms. Hlevnjak’s focus was on graphic resources such as patterns and textures, an area she’s passionate about. This is crucial, she argues, to stay motivated when building up a large portfolio of assets.
I liked the fact I didn’t have to deal with sales, clients, meetings and similar tasks that introverts don’t like
Diana HlevnjakShe watches trends across illustration and design, as well as fashion, interiors and architecture. “Last summer was big on monstera and cacti plants, which came from Scandinavian interior design,” she says. Although her work is still sold on Shutterstock and iStock, Hlevnjak points out that the volume of assets on the large libraries means things that are on-trend one month are soon buried beneath new trends.
She has instead been focusing her efforts on more niche marketplaces such as Creative Market, where watercolour illustrations and textures tend to fare well, as well as her own website: Polar Vectors. The strategy has paid off: Hlevnjak has successfully managed to turn an occasional sideline into her primary earner. “As a freelancer, I am accepting less and less client work, and it’s become a minority of my revenue,” she reveals.
02. Teach a Skillshare course
Online courses are a practical option if you have a busy schedule
Following her success on the conference circuit and growing love of public speaking, Jessica Hische decided to turn her hand to teaching – and her hectic schedule meant an online course was the best option.
“I haven’t been in a position to commit to teaching at a university – I’m hardly ever in one place for 15 weeks straight,” she explains. “Skillshare was a good in-between of an on-stage talk and a more intimate classroom. You can pour more into an online course than you can a one-hour talk, but it does scale, unlike in-person teaching.”
You can pour more into an online course than you can a one-hour talk, but it does scale, unlike in-person teaching
Hische’s first course was based on her Penguin Drop Caps book project, which was itself inspired by one of her best-known side projects: Daily Drop Cap. Although Hische was responsible for putting together the course content, Skillshare took care of all the “production heavy lifting”, including filming and editing. Her second course took a more general angle, focusing on the logo development, feedback and the revision process.
“It’s been a very good source of income over the years, especially when it first launched and they had a different model for paying teachers,” she reveals. “Initially they sold tickets to each course and teachers made 75–85 per cent of the ticket cost, but a couple of years in they switched to a membership model that does revenue sharing based on class popularity,” Hische continues.
“But not every teacher earns a lot from online teaching platforms,” she warns. “You do really need an audience that’s already interested in your work to take that leap to starting a class.” Take a look at Hische’s Skillshare courses here.
03. Speak at events
Even if they don't pay, speaking opportunities can open plenty of doors
A common thread evident with many of the creatives featured here is public speaking – not just as an income stream in and of itself, but also as a springboard to other opportunities. Jessica Hische, Jon Burgerman and Gavin Strange have all clocked up their fair share of design talks around the world.
“I was first asked to speak about my work because of Daily Drop Cap,” recalls Hische, revealing yet another major opportunity spun off from that one killer side project. “After gaining a bit of experience, the demand snowballed. I was very nervous at first, but with a little practice it has come more naturally to me. I became a good speaker, and conferences are always on the hunt for strong female voices in their lineup,” she points out.
“I try not to do speaking jobs unless I’m paid, or it’s for a good cause,” reveals Burgerman. “It’s work, so I need to be paid! Otherwise there are books and movies I’d rather be catching up on.”
Conferences are always on the hunt for strong female voices in their lineup
Jessica HischeWhile talks at schools, colleges and non-profits are rarely paid, full-blown conferences tend to offer a fee, plus travel and accommodation. “Fees range between $1,500–10,000, with almost all events that I enjoy talking at falling on the lower end of that range,” explains Hische. “The more you’re paid, the more likely it’ll be a very business-like conference, rather than a looser creative event.”
She has several ways of figuring out the right speaking fee, including taking into account how much prep time is involved and how long she’ll need to be out of the office.
Like Hische, Strange insists on transport and accommodation to be paid as a minimum, and always asks for a speaker’s fee for more commercial-focused talks for businesses. “Depending on the size of the festival, some pay and some don’t,” adds Strange. “Over the years I’ve become comfortable having that conversation. They’re nice bonuses to have, but I didn’t get into speaking for money,” he concludes. “It’s the joy and excitement of having the privilege to do so.”
04. Write a book
Gavin Strange turned reams of talk notes into a book
After almost eight years of writing talks – a totally new one each year – Gavin Strange ended up with a vast bank of written notes. After speaking at The Do Lectures he was handed a book by David Hyatt, co-founder of Do. “I loved it because it was so inspiring, but it was also formatted a lot like how I structure my talks,” he recalls. “For the first time ever I thought, maybe I can write a book?”
He got in touch, and the rest was history. Working closely with Miranda West, editor and founder of the Do Book Company, his book – Do Fly – took shape. Although profit is never high on the agenda for Strange’s side projects, Do Fly provides him with some royalties every quarter, and has recently been licensed to indie publisher Chronicle Books to distribute in the United States. Appetite duly whetted, Strange is already thinking about his next book – and how it could be timed to coincide with turning 40 in a few years’ time.
05. Design products
Jon Burgerman has transferred his designs onto a range of items
Over the years, Nottingham-born, NYC-based doodle master Jon Burgerman has dabbled in a dizzying array of self-branded merchandise, from toys, prints, books and T-shirts to mugs, laptop sleeves and wallpaper.
Of course, he had to start somewhere and learnt a few lessons the hard way: “Always make things in small batches first, and see how your market reacts,” speaks the wisdom of experience. “Don’t make a thousand T-shirts. Make 10. I think there’s a basement in Nottingham that still has a few boxes of my unsold T-shirts in it,” he winces.
“Hand-make stuff to keep the manufacturing costs down for low runs,” he continues. “There are lots of print on-demand sites, so make some test pieces, show them to people, and see if anyone will buy them. Go from there. Dead stock can be costly!”
Don’t make a thousand T-shirts. Make 10... Dead stock can be costly!
Jon BurgermanBurgerman also advises thinking about distribution from the outset, however small-scale your operation. “It’s super-easy to make stuff, but how are you going to sell it? Where will people buy it? And how are you going to ship the stuff out?” he reels off.
“It’s not fun spending all day and night packing up little toys into custom-made boxes, then waiting in a huge Post Office queue to send them out,” he adds. “Then there’s things like dealing with missing packages, and grumpy customers who want everything delivered the minute they place their order.”
Ultimately, it all paid off for Burgerman – but his experiences are a cautionary tale for anyone keen to sell their own products online. Thinking of creating your own products? Take a look at our guides to how to succeed as a designer-maker and our business tips for selling design goods for more advice.
This article was originally published in Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 281 or subscribe.
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If you switch on BBC Two tonight for your daily dose of Eggheads, you'll notice that the channel is looking different. That's because today sees the launch of 16 new idents created by British and international animators. This is the first time in two decades that the channel has been given a complete refresh, and it's hoped that the new look, which has a touch of trompe l'oeil about it, will better complement its schedule.
Created in partnership between the BBC’s in-house agency BBC Creative and brand agency Superunion, the refresh involved collaboration with the likes of The Mill, Mainframe, and FutureDeluxe.
Centred around a visual signifier whose curved shape suggests the number two, the new idents tackle the same brief in a range of creative ways, with animations including colourful blobs, furry scuttling creatures, and hypnotic swirling patterns. Check them out in the video below, complete with audio created by award-winning British composer and sound designer Alex Baranowski.
These new idents do mean that viewer favourites, such as the fibre optic, paint splatter and neon strip light idents, have been retired to telly heaven. And while we can still relive them on YouTube, it's sad to see them go.
Maybe they'd had their time, though. BBC Two is all about pushing the envelope and providing an alternative outlook, so these new idents feel like a perfect fit. Seen in action, the new idents wrap around programme footage nicely, and the array of styles helps to keep the rebrand fresh.
"The new channel branding reflects this constantly eclectic and stimulating mix of programming and I am so excited to see it help define this next stage of the channel’s evolution," said Patrick Holland, controller of BBC Two.
"BBC Two exists to bring complex subjects and stimulating content to big mainstream audiences," said Mark Tierney, BBC Portfolio head of marketing, specialist mainstream. "The branding challenge is how to package that content, in all its wonderful diversity, in a consistent and memorable way that helps audiences understand what BBC Two is.
This project is one of those gift briefs that has an immediate effect on popular culture
Laurent Simon"This set of new idents wraps all our programmes and our trails in clear, distinctive and flexible yet consistent branding which can adapt all the time to reflect the variety of our content."
Laurent Simon, executive creative director, BBC Creative added: "This project is one of those gift briefs that not only allow for the best art and design minds in the country to come together - but also has an immediate effect on popular culture with millions of eyes seeing it every day."
Superunion also feels this has been a "gift brief," with Stuart Radford, executive creative director and Katherina Tudball, creative director, saying: "It’s been a privilege to work with the BBC on one of Britain’s most iconic TV brands. Collectively we’ve developed a new approach to channel identity that continuously and seamlessly reflects the breadth of emotions evoked by BBC Two’s stimulating content. Our diverse range of idents allows artistic freedom to our collaborators (much like the channel does for its programme creators), all unified by the iconic curve of the numeral 2."
New idents will accompany this initial batch soon, with animations from the likes of Aardman on the way.
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Threatpost: Adobe Patches 47 Critical Flaws in Acrobat and DC
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The update includes a security bypass bug that enables privilege escalation.
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