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The Dell XPS 13 has been updated for 2019 with some key changes that make one of the best laptops even better. Launched here at CES 2019, the Dell XPS 13 (2019) is faster and more powerful than ever, thanks to new eighth generation Intel Whiskey Lake CPUs. Crucially, Dell has addressed last year’s biggest complaint and ditched the ‘nose cam’, moving the webcam up above the display, instead of sitting on the bottom bezel. But by-and-large, much about the Dell XPS 13 remains the same – and that’s a good thing. Dell XPS 13: Price and availability Two of the different Dell XPS 13 (2019) colour options: black-and-silver; and artic white and rose gold So far, we only have US pricing for the base model Dell XPS 13. For $899, you’ll get an 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD and a 1920 x 1080 non-touch display. At the very top of the range, you’ll get an 8th generation quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, a 2TB SSD and a 4K touchscreen – but we don’t have pricing for this yet. The new Dell XPS 13 (2019) is available from today, 8 January, with more colour options becoming available later in the year. Dell XPS 13: Design The biggest visible change to the Dell XPS 13 is the webcam has been moved from bottom of the display – where it became dubbed ‘nose cam’ – to above the display. To do this, Dell’s re-engineered the webcam, shrinking the housing from 7mm down to just 2.25mm, and making this Dell’s smallest-ever webcam. It uses a 720p widescreen sensor with four far-field microphones, and has temporal noise reduction to help make images clear. The hinge mechanics have also been improved, making the Dell XPS 13 easier to open with one hand. And a new colour has been added to the collection: frost silver joins the existing rose gold and artic white, and black and silver options. Finally, you get two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one USB-C 3.1 port, a microSD card slot for expanding the memory and a 3.5mm headphone jack, plus a wedge lock slot for securing your laptop. Dell XPS 13: Display The XPS 13 (2019) is the first Dell laptop with Dolby Vision The Dell XPS 13 (2019) has retained its slim Infinity Edge bezels, and still gives you the choice of a 4K (3,840 x 2,160) with 100 colour gamut or FHD display (1,920 x 1,080). What’s new this year is a touchscreen option for the FHD model - before this was only available on the 4K version. There’s also support for Dolby Vision, which Dell says can make highlights in images 40 times brighter and blacks 10 times darker, compared to a standard picture. Dell XPS 13: Performance Armed with new options for eighth generation Intel Whiskey Lake CPUs, plus a dual-core i3 model to start, the Dell XPS 13 has more power for multitasking, and should keep you going for a few years. Memory options range from 4GB to 16GB, and SSD storage from 128GB to up to 2TB. The company claims a massive 21 hours of battery life for the Full HD display and Core i5 version, and up to 12 hours for the 4K with Core i7 model. Is that too good to be true? We’ll test how well they hold up when we do our full review. Dell XPS 13: Early verdict The Dell XPS 13 was already an excellent laptop. The biggest change on the new Dell XPS 13 (2019) is the repositioned webcam, but the addition of Intel Whiskey Lake only reinforces its best-in-class reputation. Bear in mind that the XPS 13 doesn’t have the graphics performance of the larger Dell XPS 15. This isn’t a laptop for serious video editors or gamers. But if you’re a photo editor or a creative specifically looking for something lighter, more mobile, with a better battery life and still promising great colour accuracy, the Dell XPS 13 (2019) initially looks stunning. We’ll bring your our full review soon. View the full article

Bad actors are imitating high-level executives in the shipping industry to launch BEC attacks that could lead to credential theft or worse - system compromise. View the full article

Microsoft January Patch Tuesday roundup includes four critical patches for its Edge browser. View the full article

When it comes to tech trends, there are few better places to get a glimpse of the future than at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. On Monday, before CES 2019 officially opened its doors, we had a preview of the biggest tech trends to watch in 2019 and beyond, courtesy of Steve Koenig from the Consumer Technology Association. We’ve highlighted the most exciting tech trends for designers below – all of which can be seen on the CES show floor this week. Much of this tech has been talked about before, but what’s new in 2019 is we’re finally seeing its first commercial deployment: think 5G, 8K TVs, self-driving cars. “We’re seeing a lot for the innovations we’ve been talking about for years becoming reality,” Koenig told the assembled media in the Las Vegas Convention Centre. “So what direction are these trends and technology pointing to? The answer is that we are fast approaching a new era of consumer tech: the ‘data age’.” How to build trust in emerging tech According to Koenig, we’re transitioning from the ‘connected age’ of consumer tech, where we’ve been focusing on connecting people, into the ‘data age’ – where we’ll now concentrate on connecting things. “5G will become the central nervous system of the data age. It isn’t like flipping a switch though,” he cautioned. “The build out of the 5G network is like a toddler learning to walk: we’ll see the networks expand in the coming years. In two or three years we’ll see the majority of these 5G networks up and running around the world.” Here are the biggest 2019 tech trends on show at CES this week that designers need to know… 01. Embedded AI Intel launched its Xeon Scalable CPUs featuring robust AI and memory capabilities at CES this week AI is gathering serious momentum in households around the world. The McKinsey Global Institute likened the global impact of AI to the steam locomotive in a late 2018 report, and that analysis certainly chimes true at CES. The likes of Nvidia and AMD are showcasing their latest processors devoted to machine learning and AI. They’re designed for end devices like TVs and smartphones – why? To improve the UX. Embedded AI means our TVs will always display the best picture quality, and our camera phones will always take the best photos. “Embedded AI is a major device trend to look for,” Koenig confirmed. 02. The rise of the digital assistant Digital assistants sit at the most visible part of the AI spectrum. “There are more smart speakers, smart displays – digital assistants are quickly becoming omnipresent,” said Koenig, adding that right now there are over 20,000 compatible devices with Amazon Alexa. Even the Church of England has an Amazon Echo app. “Services, business – everyone is supporting these digital assistants," he continued. "Why? Because consumers are starting to expect it.” 03. Voice will be a paradigm shift With the rise of digital assistants comes voice design – as we've talked about before. Voice isn’t universal as an interface yet, but in certain cases we’re increasingly pivoting towards it: to ask questions; check the weather and so on. (Things we’d normally open an app for.) With digital assistants, we’re speaking to more brands and services. And with every conversation, the AI becomes better trained. “This activity is showing us we’re on the cusp of a major shift in consumer behaviour. This will multiply as we move into the data age,” predicted Koenig. “Voice will become established as a go-to digital option. Digital assistants will be our digital co-pilots.” 8 tips for designing voice interfaces 04. There are limits to automation “We’re beginning to understand the limits of automation, where AI doesn’t really fit,“ said Koenig. “The things we ascribe to AI are solving really hard problems, but when we pass physical tasks to robotics, they struggle. There has to be training. Also, there are a lot of cases where the tech worked fine but it failed because we need that human element.” Koenig says that we can expect more human-machine partnerships in the data age. But he believes that the outright automation of different job tasks won’t mean mass job displacement for people. “These systems will take over tasks that aren’t safe for humans, like search and rescue,” he pointed out. “Ai is all about perfecting processes, freeing us up to do other things. Job displacement will be the real outlier. And we’ll come up with other things – we always do.” 05. AR has quietly overtaken VR Zara has introduced augmented reality displays into its stores – expect more of this in 2019 “VR surged at front at first, but AR has quietly pulled forward,” says Koenig. “We’re seeing a lot of innovation in AR.” From wearables and fashion to tourism and education, there’s an abundance of AR hardware and software at CES this year. Smart mirrors – where consumers can see what they look like in different garments without physically wearing them – could revolutionise fashion retail; while the tourism and education sectors are already amplifying experiences with AR. “The forecast for VR headsets is fairly flat,” he added. “There will be more experimentation over the next few years; the headsets will get better. But on the S-curve of adoption, we’re still at the bottom of the curve – in the middle of the next decade we’ll see the inflection.” “That said, VR is the perfect fit for brands – look at what Audi did with its Enter Sandbox demo. It’s a great way to communicate brand experiences.” 06. 8K TVs are here CES is writing another chapter in display innovation this year, with 8K TVs out in force. Do we really need them? Yes, says Koenig. Here’s why. ”Screen sizes keep getting bigger and bigger,” he explained, ”because consumers demand them. It’s a global thing. In this sense, 8K is right on time. The average screen size shipping this year is almost 50-inches.” The super-big TV segment is the fastest growing in the sector – and it makes sense. But if you’ve only just invested in 4K, don’t worry. There isn’t much 8K native content yet. It’s coming, sure. But these are just the first steps. 07. The rise of resilient tech Genny makes water out of air...yes, really “Resilient tech is emerging in the context of smart cites,” said Koenig. Without resilience these cities can be fragile, he added, highlighting areas of cyber resilience, 'emergency preparedness' and anti-terrorism as areas of growth. Take the Genny, an atmospheric water generator that literally makes water out of air. The small home and office device can generate 25 to 30 litres per day, needs only electric infrastructure to operate and can be installed anywhere. It won a CES 2019 Best of Innovation Award – and there are plenty more examples of this growing tech trend across the CES show floor. Also read: Huawei squares up to Apple with new MateBook laptop Startup beats Samsung to show the world's first foldable phone Wacom unveils new entry-level Cintiq View the full article

For the first time since 2015, Wizards of the Coast has released an annual Core Set of cards for Magic: The Gathering. The 2019 set is available now and it’s bedding in with players as they get to grips with some very in-your-face creatures and spells. It also contains some exciting imagery and a selection of work from new artists to keep the fantasy card game’s main themes as fresh as ever. Over the past few years, M:TG sets such as Amonkhet, Ixalan and Dominaria have focused on settings and narratives based around historical and mythological themes. There have been pirate and dinosaur invasions, Egyptian-style gods and vampiric hints of horror. Core Set 2019 gets back to basics in many respects. We caught up with some of the illustrators to find out more about the art techniques and thought processes that went into making the new set. Click the icons in the top right of the images to enlarge them That means dragons “We went into M19 with a goal of evoking classic fantasy that a variety of people know and love, regardless of whether they’re long-time players, or are just picking up their first Magic cards,” says senior art director Cynthia Sheppard. In addition to the planeswalker Nicol Bolas – as seen in the game’s hero art by Magali Villeneuve – four elder dragons come to the table including the impressive Chromium, The Mutable as illustrated by Chase Stone, and an array of lesser ones like Lathliss, Dragon Queen by Alex Konstad. Alex Konstad's Dragon Queen Lathliss However, you never know where the best artwork is going to turn up in a new set. Something as simple as Rustwing Falcon, a white card costing one mana, has an eye-catching silhouette as it’s dropped by a player on their first turn. The artwork was painted by British artist Paul Scott Canavan who’s new to the extensive Magic universe. “Getting Magic briefs is my favourite part of the job,” says Canavan, “because they’re always descriptive but flavourful, with lots of scope to tackle them in your own way. The brief for Rustwing Falcon was all about the light and colour, selling the idea of a beautiful bird soaring about the grasslands, flecks of rich gold in its feathers.” Rustwing Falcon by Paul Scott Canavan – of the new Magic artists Planeswalker cards are a major focus for players because they’re so powerful. Core Set 2019 sees the return of old favourites, including Ajani, leader of the cat warriors, and Liliana the necromancer. The latter was painted by another new magic artist, Livia Prima, who as well as creating the necromancer and a gorgon for the black series, also painted Angel of the Dawn for the white section of the release. “Angels, necromancers and gorgons complement each other in a fantasy world. It’s such a pleasure to paint different moods and characters one after the other,” says Prima. Livia Prima painted this Angel of the Dawn for the white section of the release One new planeswalker was introduced to the set in the form of Vivien Reid, who is aligned with the game’s green manna and who can summon creatures and direct them to attack using a magic bow. The card was painted by Austrian artist Anna Steinbauer. Dark and violent Visually, the Core Set has a darker and more ominous feel to it than the previous release, Dominaria, which had a light and dreamlike tone. Core Set 2019 takes players back to the planes first introduced in the 1990s. In play, creatures’ powers can be built up quickly and although many intricate control strategies can be developed, it perhaps facilitates a more aggressive gameplay style. Slawomir Maniak caputres Ajani's last stand For the artists, however, each brief contains four main goals. “Firstly, it needs to say something about what the card does. Does the creature fly? Does the spell draw other cards? Our creative team is responsible for distilling down the card rules and mechanics to visuals that we then give to the artists to bring to life,” says Sheppard. Cards also need to connect with the overarching themes of the set. As Sheppard explains, “That’s what helps a goblin or a burn spell, for example, look different from set to set. “Thirdly, it needs to be illustrated with care and good craftsmanship. Much of that is on the artist and their abilities, but we will sometimes push.” “Finally, it needs to look different from other cards on the table. Art is remarkably important for quickly identifying what cards are being played by opponents during a game.” Fresh blood Naturally, Core Set 2019 contains the work of some of Magic’s legendary artists, including Chris Rahn, Magali Villeneuve and Svetlin Velinov. But with each new magic release the art directors at Wizards of the Coast bring in new blood. While some of the more experienced painters are able to develop a knack for painting iconic card artwork, sometimes it’s work by new names that players gravitate to. Svetlin Velinov's Fraying Omnipotence When Dominaria came out in 2018, it saw the debut of Tyler Walpole. One of his commissions was a Knight Token, a sort of fodder card that’s usually summoned by a more powerful creature or spell. However, with a unique stained glass style to it, his knight became a card of choice for just about everyone playing a white deck. For artists, making a card desirable among players is a trick of the trade. “The biggest piece of advice I give new artists is ‘be yourself’,” says Sheppard. “Sometimes there’s an unspoken pressure on artists to try and make their work look different, or like a generic average of everyone else in the game – and that goes for all clients, not just Magic. But the truth is that if we want to work with you, we think you have something special to bring to the game, beyond just an ability to paint.” This article was originally published in ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 166 or subscribe. Read more: 22 best painting and drawing apps for iPad How to design believable fantasy beasts 20 sketching tips to help you make your first marks View the full article

The update comes on the heels of critical fixes in an unscheduled patch last week. View the full article

The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2019 is in full swing, and there's some impressive tech on show, not least the new Huawei MateBook 13 laptop. Widely touted as a potential Apple MacBook Air killer, the MateBook 13 features an incredibly narrow-bezel display and an 88 per cent screen-to-body ratio, which is more generous than the MacBook Air's 82 per cent. The best laptops for graphic design in 2019 And it's not just weight that the MateBook has on its side. Its two configurations, an entry-grade version and a high-end version, are not only backed up with powerful 8th Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, the screen also supports touch, something we've yet to see on the MacBook Air. However, that said, there's no support for a stylus. The new MateBook 13 is 0.7cm thinner than the new MacBook Air The MateBook 13 sits among Huawei's already established MateBook series, slotting between the cheaper MateBook D and the premium MateBook X Pro. Like it's older siblings, the MateBook 13 offers a 3:2 aspect ratio display, at a 13-inch size with a 2160 x 1440 resolution. It's clear Huawei has Apple in its sights, with this latest offering 0.7cm thinner than the MacBook Air. We'll be getting our hands on one soon at CES 2019 to really get a feel for it, but right now – and considering that the pricing smartly undercuts Apple’s latest MacBook Air by 100 bucks – the MateBook 13 looks to be an option creatives might want to seriously consider. Read more: View the full article

Royole has unveiled its FlexPai – the world's first foldable phone – at the CES 2019 trade show. While the benefits of having a phone that folds remain hazy, electronics companies have been tripping over themselves to get one out for some time now. In a surprise move, relatively unknown startup Royole has overtaken the likes of Samsung to be the first to get an actual flexible phone onto the market. The Royole FlexPai is a 7.8-inch phone with a flexible AMOLED screen. We first heard of Royole's foldable phone in October 2018, when the company announced the FlexPai would go on sale for around $1300 just a few days later. Prior to the news, big players such as Samsung, LG and Huawei were the big names in the race, but none had managed to get their efforts to market. Originally debuted at an event in Beijing, a demo at the CES trade show currently running in Las Vegas was the first chance for a major audience to see the flexible phone in action. CEO Bill Liu wowed the audience by demonstrating how the FlexPai could be folded from a 7.8" tablet into a smartphone with displays on two sides. Liu also announced some details about the revolutionary phone. When folded the FlexPai offers two screens: one with a 16:9 aspect ratio and the other a wider 18:9. It's powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 855 chipset and runs Android's Water OS, which supports the split-screen mode. It also includes two cameras (including one 16MP wide-angle lens) that work as both rear and front cameras, depending on how the phone has been folded. Sadly, early reviews suggest the FlexPai is still a little rough around the edges – it's not a contender for the best smartphone for designers quite yet. Flexible accessories What do you need with a foldable phone? Well, flexible accessories of course. As well as showing off its competition-beating FlexPai, Royole has used CES 2019 to reveal a flexible keyboard, bendy speaker, and smart selfie stick, all featuring thin, foldable displays. This flexible keyboard rolls up into its casing The bendy QWERTY keyboard connects to your phone via Bluetooth and can be laid on any smooth surface. The cool part is that when you're done typing, you can roll it up and pop it in your bag, or pocket. The keyboard works wirelessly and Royole promises impressive battery life. As well as the bendy keyboard, Royole showed off a smart speaker with a 7.8" AMOLED flexible touchscreen. Users swipe and tap the screen to play music or watch movies. The device also includes an 8MP camera that pops out of the top and rotates 180 degrees. Whether these flexible devices are part of a passing fad or set to become a stable of the smart office of the future remains to be seen. More news from CES 2019: CES 2019: Wacom unveils new entry-level Cintiq CES 2019: Gaming giant MSI unleashes high performance laptop for creative pros View the full article

A new year means new resolutions, which in the world of 3D means checking the lay of the land to make sure the tools you're used are the still the ones that are best suited to your needs as an artist. To kick off 2019 properly, we've gathered together the tools you should consider adding to your 3D art toolkit. All of the applications in this list are either new or have undergone a big update recently, so they're worth a fresh look. 01. MODO 12.2 New denoting techniques in MODO 12.2 promise faster and cleaner renders While MODO has been around for over a decade now, the latest version has definitely set out MODO’s stall for the future. With the integration of the latest rendering tools such as AMD’s ProRender and Nvidia’s OptiX Denoiser (pictured) with a heavily revamped and streamlined UI. MODO offers artists a strong platform to consider with its best-in-class subdivision modelling toolset – which can be leveraged to work with game engines easily through customised layouts and exporters. MODO 12 has also introduced a VR viewport (on Windows only) that allows artists to get close to their models in a way that is simply is not possible in other digital content creation applications. 02. Redshift 3 Redshift has earned its place in the industry as one of the leading GPU-rendered engines – its biased underpinnings allows much more flexibility than unbiased alternatives. Redshift is also famed for its very clean animations across a wide range of host applications, as can be seen in the Bruton Stroube video above that uses Redshift. In 2019, Redshift 3 will launch with a refactored core that increases the trace depth limit, allowing more indirect light bounces and improved transparency levels. Even faster render speeds are coming with Redshift 3 thanks to optimisation for the latest Nvidia RTX cards, as well as a wealth of other new features later in the year, including distributed and network rendering. 03. V-RAY Next While there are newer rendering kids on the block, Chaos Group has been hard at work maintaining and improving V-Ray with the launch of V-Ray Next, currently available for Autodesk 3DS Max and Autodesk Maya. V-Ray Next features GPU acceleration that offers a 2x speed bump over previous GPU V-Ray options. A much improved IPR for lightning quick playblasts, crypto matte output and volume rendering all mean that Chaos Group is continuing to keep V-Ray amongst the leaders of 3D rendering technology. 04. Octane 4 Released in November 2018, Octane 4, the leading unbiased GPU render engine, promises a lot for users in 2019. Octane already had one of the fastest interactive previews of any render engine, but with the addition of OTOY's own Brigade real time path tracing engine, Octane 4’s preview is between 10 and 100 times faster than previous versions. Out of Core geometry support is another feature of Octane 4, along with new denoising techniques with the implementation of the machine learning-based Spectral AI denoiser (video above). Hopefully Octane 4 will make good on its promise of allowing Octane to work with any GPU, as OTOY has worked hard behind the scenes over the past few years to maximise Octane's compatibility. 05. Gravity Sketch VR is fast realising its potential as a true creative tool. Price discounts on VR headsets, coupled with great software have meant that many areas of creative design are embracing VR. At the forefront of this creative software revolution is Gravity Sketch. When used as a concept development tool for 3D creation, there is little that can touch Gravity Sketch's ability to immerse an artist in their design. By purposefully limiting the toolset and features, Gravity Sketch enables artists to sketch in 3D and then use the intuitive snapping, surfacing and patch tools to create prototype models that can be exported as an OBJ or FBX into a full 3D or CAD application to be be refined. However, the lighting and texturing tools are good enough in Gravity Sketch to create a unique model sheet. 06. AMD ProRender A number of our highlights for 2019 are render engines that make the most of the new GPU hardware on its way in 2019. But many artists have already paid a significant amount for their 3D modelling software, and understandably begrudge having to shell out for a third party render solution no matter how good it is. Thankfully AMD has realised that this is an issue and made its hybrid CPU/GPU render solution AMD ProRender available for free. AMD ProRender is available as a plugin for Autodesk Maya, 3DS Max, Blender and SolidWorks as well as being the inbuilt accelerated render solution for Maxon Cinema 4D and MODO. There is also support for ProRender in Unreal Engine. ProRender is already an industry standard, is easy to learn and comes with a great inbuilt material library (with the plugin versions). It works on practically any Windows or Mac computer and is well worth checking out in 2019. 07. Houdini 17 SideFX, the developer of Houdini, has recently released the latest version of its procedurally focused 3D application. Houdini 17 Banshee features the OpenCL accelerated Vellum cloth solver for better simulations, with support for multi-layered cloth elements and dynamic constraints for stitching, bracing and tearing. Vellum also works across hair and grooming. There is a new material-based destruction tool paradigm that pre-fractures materials such as concrete, glass and wood and then builds networks to tie the resulting system together. In fact there are too many new features to list here. As ever, Houdini starts with the free Apprentice edition, but the Indie version is great value for freelancers and is also available for subscription on Steam. Take a look at our 15 top Houdini tips to get started. 08. Cinema 4D 20 Many Cinema 4D users have started looking at Houdini to cover some of the shortcomings in Maxon’s digital content creation software. However, the release of Cinema 4D R20 changes all that by offering a whole new motion graphics fields-based paradigm, node-based materials, improved viewport performance, and improvements to the hybrid ProRender integration including features like motion blur and SSS (see these in action in the video above by f°am Studio). Couple these with modelling improvements such as the new CAD importers and the whole new volume modelling paradigm, and Cinema 4D becomes one of the most compelling, easy to learn and stable digital content creation applications available in 2019. It is rightly being awarded an Academy Award for its MoGraph toolset in February. For advice and inspiration, take a look at our roundup of Cinema 4D tutorials and Cinema 4D tips. 09. Blender 2.8 It is hard to believe that Blender, the open source digital content creation application, is now 25 years old. There are few, if any, applications that can do as much as Blender can – from 3D modelling and sculpting, to animation and compositing, all available for the perfect price of free (take a look at our roundup of brilliant Blender tutorials for inspiration). With the recently released Blender 2.8 beta and accompanying roadmap, 2019 looks like an exciting year for existing and new users alike. Blender works on nearly every platform and the improvements in Blender 2.8 concentrate on making Blender easier to use, with a new UI, the Eevee real-time renderer (which works both for viewport and final render) and a raft of other new features. 10. Substance Painter Substance Painter has become the industry's favourite texturing application (art by Nikie Monteleone) Ladies and gentlemen, we may have a winner for the standalone texturing application of choice for the industry. Substance Painter seems to have become the default tool for texturing assets, with a constantly updating toolset that strives to match the creativity of its users. After a gangbuster year in 2018, Allegorithmic has spent the holiday break showing off some the stunning creations Substance Painter has been involved with, from games to CGI. When coupled with the rest of the Substance suite applications and the fantastic Substance Source asset library, this is a toolset that works as a linking tissue between 3D and game creation applications for keeping material looks consistent. It is deserving of any CG artist's attention in 2019. Read more: Become a better 3D artist How to land your dream job in 3D Essential Cinema 4D plugins View the full article

A Wacom Cintiq Pro is the dream creative tool for many artists and illustrators keen on drawing or sketching directly onto the screen; the only problem is that they don't come cheap. Even if you aim for the bottom-end 13-inch model you're not going to get much change from $800/£800, so if you're a student or just getting started in your creative career, the tool is almost certainly beyond your budget. However, there's some great news from CES 2019 for anyone who's after a creative pen display without having to cough up a fortune. Wacom has just announced the new Wacom Cintiq 16, and it's an entry-level model aimed at young designers, students and hobbyists, for a price that's much more manageable than anything in the Pro range. The Cintiq 16 has just enough features to make it a must-have entry-level pen display Cheap-ish and reasonably cheerful, the Cintiq 16 looks like it could easily become the go-to option for any creative who needs a pen display but balks at the price of a Cintiq Pro; it doesn't have the full range of Pro features, but there's enough there to get the job done. The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2019 It features a decent-sized 15.6-inch HD display with an anti-glare film and reduced parallax so you can always see what you're doing. It's not a touchscreen, but it does come with the Wacom Pro Pen 2, which gives you 8,192 levels of sensitivity, low activation force and tilt recognition. Thanks to the Pro Pen 2's Electro Magnetic Resonance technology, you'll never have to charge it, and it also features two programmable side buttons for instant access to your favourite shortcuts. Get 8,192 pressure levels with the Pro Pen 2 For setting things up comfortably, it packs foldable legs that provide you with a 19-degree tilt; if you want steeper angles there's an optional stand that'll give you up to 68 degrees. And while the Cintiq 16 doesn't feature any ExpressKeys other than the Pro Pen 2's side buttons, there's ExpressKey Remote available that gives you 17 customisable, app-specific ExpressKeys, as well as a Touch Ring. If you fancy a bit of an upgrade then the Cintiq 16 is fully compatible with Wacom's complete range of accessory pens, and while if you sit it side-by-side with a Pro model you'll instantly spot the difference – the 16's display isn't as bright or as crisp as the one you'd find in a Pro, and its colour gamut is lacking in comparison, too – it's a cracking piece of kit that's going to be much in demand when it goes on sale later this month for $649/£529.99. Related articles: Wacom Cintiq Pro 32 review How to draw: the best drawing tutorials The best cheap Wacom tablet deals in 2019 View the full article

Always feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? Get more done every day with a productivity booster bundle. The Complete Productivity Booster Bundle will help improve your time management skills and teach you how to get twice as much work done every day. Boost your focus, and watch your work efficiency skyrocket. You'll be surprised at just how much more you're able to accomplish every day. The Complete Productivity Booster Bundle is yours for just $29 – that's 98% off the regular price. Related articles: 5 top tips for creating a productive workspace 8 simple productivity tools for designers 8 must-have products for a smarter studio View the full article

When working on projects like app design or branding collateral it’s important that there is consistency between different elements, to give a sense of continuity across the design. In Affinity Designer, Assets help address this issue. You are able to save sets of Assets, ready to drop into your document for repeated use. In this article, we'll show you how to get started using the Assets function in Affinity Designer. Watch the video above for a 2-minute overview, or read on for some top tips. This is part of a series of video tutorials showing you how to use Affinity Designer - a popular vector art tool for Mac, Windows and iPad. 01. Accessing the Assets Panel You'll find the Assets panel under the Studio category You can access the panel and add it to your workflow by going to View > Studio > Assets. Once selected you can drag it to your panels and keep it there for future use. I keep my Assets panel next to my colour palette. 02. Importing and exporting Assets There are plenty of UI kits available for Affinity Designer It may be that you are working with team and there is an existing collection of assets for your design, or that you want to download a UI kit (many of these are now being made for Affinity Designer). To import Assets, simply click the Options icon on the Assets panel and click on Import. This will bring up a finder window for you to select the relevant .afassets file for immediate installation - no need to close and reopen the app. To export Assets, just hover over the export option. This will create an .afassets file, and from here you can make your own asset kits for others to use. 03. Creating Assets Drag a design element into the relevant category To create an Asset, just drag whatever object you want to into the the relevant category. Things that you will reuse often, such as buttons, logos or illustrative elements are good things to turn into assets. However, technically you could go all out and turn whole website layouts into assets - if, for example, you wanted to replicate a template. 04. Creating categories and sections Organise your Assets into categories and sub-categories Click on the option/menu icon in the Assets panel to create additional categories and sub-categories. Sub-categories are useful if you want to divide up assets, for example: you might have one sub-category for branding (logos and so on), one for illustrative elements and another for UI elements such as buttons or icons. 05. Embedding Assets Embed assets to hand them over to another party Finally by clicking the option/menu icon in the Assets panel, you can embed your assets into the file. This means that when you share the file with someone, they will also be able to access all the assets relevant to the file. This is great for handing over work to a client, or if another designer wants to pick up where you left off. More in this Affinity Designer tools series: Using constraints Using Grids The Pen tool The Export persona The Pixel persona View the full article

Combining vector and raster tools, Affinity Designer is an affordable-yet-powerful alternative to Adobe CC. It’s available for Mac, PC and also iPad. Offering impressive quality and features, this tool provides a great middle ground between the more basic free graphic design software and the pricey but feature-rich Creative Cloud suite. In this tutorial, we’re going to be taking a closer look at Symbols. When creating design systems for things like websites or apps, its important to keep a sense of continuity in your work, which is where Symbols come in. With Symbols, you create an object and any changes you make will be reflected across all other instances of that object across the whole document, in real time. These features really are a game changer in terms of productivity and can save you hours of time when utilised correctly. Read on and watch the tutorial to see how symbols work. 01. Accessing Symbols You may want to add a Symbols shortcut to your window if you use it a lot To access the symbols panel, go to View > Studio > Symbols. It may be useful to add this to your your window permanently if you make a habit of using this feature. Once opened you can see three buttons with their own symbols: the first on the left is Create, second is Detach and the third is a Sync symbol. 02. Creating Symbols To create a Symbol, select the object you wish to turn into a Symbol. If your chosen object has multiple layers, make sure they are grouped to a single layer first, or else you will create several separate Symbols. 03. Editing Symbols Any edits will appear across all instances of your Symbol Now you've created a Symbol, you are able to drag and duplicate it to be used in other elements in your design. The beauty of symbols is that any edits are duplicated across all instances of that symbol. So, for example if your symbol is a button, any tweaks to that button's design will appear in every instance of that button. Ideal for creating consistency within your designs. 04. Detaching Symbols This feature enables you to make an edit to just one instance of your symbol Let's say maybe you want to make changes to only one button and not have the changes affect the rest of your your document. This is where the Detach tool comes in handy. With the symbol you wish to change selected, press Detach and you are now able to edit this element independently. More in the Affinity Designer tools series: Using constraints Using Grids The Pen tool The Export persona The Pixel persona View the full article

Taiwanese gaming pioneer MSI has announced a powerful new ultra-portable laptop for creatives at CES 2019. Aimed at professional artists, video editors, photo editors, graphic designers and animators, the 15.6-inch P63 Modern comes with up to the latest eight-generation Core i7 processor, and optional discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q graphics with 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM. The best laptops for video editing The best laptops for graphic design Meanwhile, True Color Technology promises up to 100% sRGB on the IPS-level FHD panel, and four-sided 5.6mm bezels provide an 86% screen-to-body ratio to help you see every detail of your creations. There’s also Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 for your camera phone, a fingerprint sensor, support for 802.11 Wi-Fi and two 2W speakers. In addition, MSI claims the P63 Modern has an “all day” battery that can last up to 16 hours, which we look forward to putting to the test. The new laptop, which was launched in collaboration with the Discover Channel here in Vegas this afternoon, is part of MSI’s Prestige notebook series. Weighing in at 1.6kg, the 15.9mm thick device comes in charcoal blue and boasts a Quiet Mark certification for its Cooler Boost 3 dual-fan cooling system – which means it’ll be particularly quiet when you’re working. MSI also showcased the MS65 Creator. This 15.6-inch laptop comes with a 4K HDR IPS-level display with 100% Adobe RGB. Pricing and availability haven’t been announced yet, but both laptops will ship sometime this year. Read more: The best laptops for photo editing Asus announces new StudioBook S for pro designers The best laptops for Photoshop View the full article

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Samsung has unveiled a new laptop at CES 2019 that boasts an incredibly powerful graphics card. The Notebook Odyssey, which picks up where the previous models in the Odyssey line left off, gives creatives – especially video editors and animators – the chance to use an incredibly strong GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card on the go. The best video editing laptops Traditionally, Samsung's Odyssey range has been tailored towards gamers. And while the company has promoted the Notebook Odyssey as a device for 'serious gamers', it also has plenty to offer creators. Not least portability – the Notebook Odyssey comes in a slim 19.9mm chassis weighing in at just 2.36kg, with slim bezels on a 15.6-inch Full HD display. It boasts a refresh rate of 144Hz and Nvidia's G-Sync tech, so you can wave goodbye to stuttering and tearing. The slim design is perfect for carrying around The power-packed GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card is backed up by an 8th-generation Intel Core i7 six-core processor, both of which work together with the Full HD resolution screen like a dream. These two are complemented by 16GB of system RAM. If we can see any issues with this laptop, it's that the 1080p screen might leave a bit to be desired for photographers or any creatives used to working with a 4K monitor. The lack of a microSD card slot could also prove to be frustrating, if someone's trying to send you large files you might need to think twice about how you're storing them. Expect to see the Samsung Notebook Odyssey ship in the US during the start of 2019. Related articles: The 5 best laptops for Photoshop in 2019 The best laptops for programming in 2019 The best laptops for graphic design in 2019 View the full article

A proof-of-concept from the University of Maryland can defeat the audio challenges that are offered as an option for people with disabilities. View the full article

A glitch allowed hackers to access contacts, photos and more on Android devices - simply by answering a Skype call. View the full article

Samsung has previewed a 75-inch version of its MicroLED TV at CES 2019 – introduced last year as The Wall. It’s notable not because it’s so big, but because it’s so small: MicroLED is made up of millions of inorganic red, green and blue microscopic LED chips that emit their own bright light to produce brilliant colours on screen – and this is the first time Samsung has manage to make them small enough to create a TV that would fit in your living room. The benefit of MicroLED is that the picture should be better than OLED, and without any of the drawbacks of using an organic compound. That means Samsung’s TV should be able to deliver perfect blacks, higher contrast and a very wide HDR colour palette – all the while giving the TV a longer lifespan than OLED too. But because MicroLED is modular, at some point in the near future Samsung says we’ll be able to order custom MicroLED TVs at any size or aspect ratio. On show here in Vegas, Samsung’s new 75-inch MicroLED TV is the smallest version so far that's achieved a 4K resolution. At the other end of the scale, the company is also displaying a monstrous 219-inch model, which it says will offer “something above 4K. Price, of course, remains to be seen. But MicroLED displays are incredibly tricky to produce at scale – if one RGB sub-pixel is bad, it could be game over for the whole display – and we’re likely looking at tens of thousands of dollars, at least. So is this the next big thing for TV tech? Samsung certainly thinks so. Time will tell… View the full article

At its heart, design is about solving communication problems for your clients. But for most creatives, this is not a closed-loop profession. Rather than just beavering away in the studio with the blinkers on, it's also about supporting, nurturing and giving back to the industry as a whole. It's a virtuous circle: established industry figureheads pass down their wisdom to nurture the emerging talent coming up, and creatives from all disciplines pool their expertise to collaborate on projects that are greater than the sum of their parts. Giving back benefits everyone: the design industry is stronger and richer for it, and on an individual level, such projects can aid your development as well as benefit your creative resume. Looking for inspiration? Read on for six great ways to give something back to the wider design community this year.... 01. Pass on your skills Jessica Hische produced this 13-part training course on drop-cap lettering for Skillshare As a creative, your skills are everything. If you've spent years honing your raw talent into something your clients want to buy, you should protect that at all costs, right? Well, actually giving something back to the next generation benefits everyone. Through teaching, you can learn a lot about yourself and your process – it keeps your mind sharp, and helps you avoid slipping into lazy habits. It can be hugely rewarding and satisfying. And if you do it well, you'll help enrich the talent pool with industry ready, curious minds. It's not entirely magnanimous, either – you can make some money on the side by lecturing at design colleges, producing an online course on a platform like Skillshare, or even giving an intensive workshop for an organisation like D&AD. Put yourself out there and find something that's a good fit for you. 02. Support good causes For this rebrand of charity initiative Life Kitchen, hat-trick invited a diverse array of creatives to design a plate Healthy budgets from big-name clients may be great for the bank balance, but are not always good for the soul. In 2019, why not find the time to invest in charity projects and use your design skills for good? There are countless ways to do so. Perhaps consider taking on a not-for-profit client – perhaps for a reduced fee, or pro bono if the circumstances are right and you can afford to do so. Create artworks to auction off for a good cause, or join forces with other creatives for a charity exhibition. Not only is this a commendable way to use your skills to support something worthwhile, but it can also boost your profile and lead to other work – or lay the groundwork for an exciting new commercial collaboration in the future. 03. Mentor a promising talent D&AD New Blood Festival – which takes place in July – is a great place to recruit promising talent Internships have a bad rap in some circles, mostly because some deplorable agencies take malleable young creatives for granted, and exploit them for little or no money. We're not advocating that kind of behaviour here – it ultimately erodes, rather than boosts, our industry. But done properly, taking a promising young designer under your wing to nurture their growth is hugely beneficial for all involved. Rather like teaching, you may find you learn just as much as they do in the process. As graduate show season approaches, make the time to attend the ones that interest you – such as D&AD New Blood – and make a genuine effort to engage with people who show potential. Find a rough diamond to bring into your agency and help them grow, and your whole team will be stronger for it. 04. Give a useful talk at a conference Take the time to develop a thought-provoking conference talk rather than just rattling off your work highlights The design festival circuit is filled with big-name designers giving rousing keynotes, or slightly lesser-known creatives walking through their portfolio highlights. These can be inspiring, sure – but if you have the opportunity to get on the stage yourself this year, why not consider planning something with a little more structure, substance and practical insight. The industry will thank you, as your audience will have some more concrete takeaways afterwards. Shed some light on your thought process in a way that has universal relevance and appeal, or use your work to illustrate a broader theme that the audience can engage with. It may take a little longer to prepare, but it'll be worth it in the long run as your talk will be more memorable, as well as more shareable on social media. 05. Do your bit for the planet In 2018, Carlsberg announced its innovative Snap Pack – which uses dots of glue to significantly reduce the plastic used Why stop at design? While you're in full altruism mode, consider giving something back to the whole global community by pledging to be more sustainable with all the design decisions you make. Sustainability is climbing up the agenda for brands across the board, and even small changes help make a difference on a cumulative basis. Consider using recycled (and recyclable) materials, more eco-friendly inks, and cutting right back on the big villain of the age: single-use plastic. Sustainable thinking can stretch to every aspect of your business, and don't be afraid to enlighten your clients (and your peers) on the possibilities too. 06. Promote diversity and inclusivity Organisations such as SheSays, D&AD and The Other Box are all fighting for a more diverse design industry Diversity has been a hot topic in design for some time now, and while there have been some commendable changes in some sectors, there's still a long way to go to dilute the predominantly white, male, able-bodied demographic. Initiatives such as D&AD Shift and organisations such as SheSays and The Other Box are all working hard to promote a more diverse, inclusive industry for all, but real change starts at home. Don't just decry the state of play and wait for someone else to do something about it. Look outside of the usual silos when hiring. Encourage an inclusive working environment that gives diverse talent a chance to thrive. Review your HR policies to promote equality, and provide the necessary support for disabled creatives, or anyone that needs it. Your agency, and the industry at large, will reap the benefits. Read more: Ethical branding: real revolution or fluffy fad? How to make a brand more human 4 huge design trends we'll be seeing more of in 2019 View the full article

All artists have their own unique workflow when creating 3D art in ZBrush. This workflow can mean a bunch of techniques or a hierarchy in which you achieve certain stages. The more time and experience you get with ZBrush, the more advanced a workflow you will create for yourself. ZBrush lets you take charge, create your own menu and organise the interface to best suit your needs. Try to take advantage of that and save out your own preferences. If there are brushes or buttons you often use, find a place and put them somewhere easily accessible, create a separate menu or assign a keyboard shortcut to them. The Custom User Interface (UI) is a great way of controlling your workflow and maintaining a familiar, comfortable work environment. 30 top examples of 3D art There are things we do automatically because they have become our routine, but there are also ways and techniques we might be forgetting or have never investigated. I have gathered some basic knowledge and created this simple ZBrush tutorial to remind you of those little things which, when incorporated into your workflow, can help you work much easier or quicker. 01. Use image planes PLines can help you identify the parts on the model/reference image you're working on These are incredibly useful for likeness sculpts. Say you have a front and side picture of a person you are trying to sculpt, or a blueprint you need to follow – the best thing you can do is set up the image plane. First, make sure your reference images are the same size and preferably square. Navigate to the Texture folder and import them in. Activate the floor grid (shift+P), go to the Draw menu, click on the Front-Back sub-palette and select your front and back images. Repeat accordingly with Left-Right view. An interesting feature you will probably notice is blue and red lines pointing from the brush icon towards corresponding areas of the reference images. These are called PLines. They help identify the parts on the model/reference image you work on. Notice that there are also a bunch of sliders that can control the opacity of the grid images as well as your model. If you already have a model you would like to use as a reference, you can turn it into a grid. Below the opacity sliders, you will find a Snapshot To Grid button. Pressing it will take your model and make it into a reference grid. You can save your new image plane file by pressing the Save button located above the Grid Elevation slider. 02. Utilise Scale Master Scale Master prevents scale issues that can creep in as you import and export Artists often experience a common problem working across multiple software – scale issues. Import and export can seriously affect the model's scale. It is useful to use GoZ when constantly switching between ZBrush and other software, because it holds up the bridge for smooth file transitions. If you do not use it but want to make sure your scale is correct, you have to change it manually in ZBrush using the Scale Master plugin. Scale Master calculates the size of the model, lets you choose the units you wish to work with, can generate a bounding box as a subtool, and finally, exports the selected tool as an OBJ file with generic units as the selected unit scale. 03. Work with Sculptris Pro With Sculptris Pro you can just get on with sculpting your model One of the most recent additions in ZBrush allows you to focus on sculpting instead of constantly worrying about the subdivision level. Sculptris Pro works fantastically with Clay brushes. The smaller the brush the more dense the tessellation, and the more detail support. Do not forget to switch off Sculptris Pro when smoothing out your model, because Smooth also works in this mode. This problem happened to me a lot when I tried to smooth out the mesh, increased brush size and it wiped my details, replacing them with bigger polygons. 04. Backface masking Backface Mask can be a lifesaver Working on a thin mesh can cause a little trouble when trying to move or sculpt on one side and the backfaces follow the brush. One of my favourite tools in ZBrush is Backface Mask. Hiding in Brush > Auto Masking, Backface Mask can be a real hero and save your day, or at least some stress. 05. Hard surface modelling Try ZModeler or Gizmo 3D for hard surface modelling ZModeler is a great tool that enables you to create hard-surface models in ZBrush. It is the most basic yet useful. Hover over the polygons or edges to see what options you have. For extra choice and more complex creations try Gizmo 3D. It provides a vast array of options enabling very precise tool manipulation. Spend a little time familiarising yourself with the cones and corresponding colours, and it will all come together. 06. Dynamic subdivision Dynamic subdivision can smooth out your mesh without adding extra polygons Use dynamic subdivision found in Tool > Geometry > Dynamic Subdiv to smooth out the mesh without adding extra polygons to it. Applying it generates three subdivision levels. It can be useful when working on a low-poly mesh or with ZModeler to view the model in higher polygonal density, but with the brush still operating on a lower-resolution base mesh. 07. Use the colour picker Press C to grab the colour your cursor's pointing at It may happen that at some point during polypainting you lose track of colour coordinates or you need to match the exact tones on a different tool. You don't have to write your RGBs down. Just hover over the desired colour anywhere on the screen and press C on the keyboard. It will pick up the colour your cursor is pointing at. 08. Subtool master Stop digging through menus to find the tool you need This plugin was designed to make your workflow a breeze, simplifying your operations. It is a quick access to tools like Low Res Vis, which sets the subtool to the lowest subdivision level. Instead of going through the menus in search for a single button, or remembering all the hotkeys, all you have to do is learn one hotkey that you then assign to the entire palette. 09. Remesh By Union Remesh By Union is a great alternative to DynaMesh When you have subtools you need to turn into one solid mesh, but for whatever reason you do not want to DynaMesh them, you could use Remesh By Union. This is an option available in Gizmo 3D. All you need to do is merge the tools, activate Gizmo 3D and hit Remesh By Union. ZBrush will do its best to stick the topology together with the least amount of changes. 10. Activate symmetry With Use Posable Symmetry you won't lose your centre of symmetry again If you lose your centre of symmetry at some point or you need to edit a model that has been transposed, do not despair, as you can easily find it again. Simply go to the Transform menu, activate Symmetry and turn on Use Posable Symmetry. This will allow ZBrush to locate the symmetrical centre and the corresponding points of the subtool, and you will be back on track in no time. 11. Compare with snapshot Use snapshots to easily compare versions of your model Do you ever wonder whether your model looks better with or without some detail, or which colour or pose works best, and you wish to compare them? Rather than constantly jumping back and forth between the model's history, or duplicating subtools to compare the models, try snapshotting it. Press Shift+S on the keyboard to snapshot the model and drag out another version next to it. Having them side by side is a much smoother way to compare your subtools and details. 12. Check silhouette A silhouette can help you find cool poses and spot errors in your model It is a good habit to work on a silhouette of your model and check how it's looking every now and then. It helps to get an interesting pose and quickly find any faults in your model. Just switch to a flat colour and look at it from different angles. 13. Lights and background In the Light and Render menus you'll find all you need for setting up lighting and shadows Even if you do not use ZBrush for its rendering properties, it is still useful to know how to set up simple lights and backgrounds for testing purposes. The Light menu provides everything you need for a straightforward setup of lights, shadows and the environment background. In the Render menu you will find more options for further shadow adjustments. 14. Utilise the turntable A turntable animation is a simple but effective way to show off your work Having a turntable animation can help showcase your work. There are many applications out there you can use to make it interactive on your website or social media. ZBrush offers a simple way to record a turntable, a timelapse or front and back history. It is all located in the Movie menu. You will find a great amount of options to choose from to suit your needs and vision. It is definitely worth experimenting with. This article was originally published in issue 239 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 239 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: ZBrush 2018 review Model a stormtrooper in Maya and ZBrush ZBrush at the movies View the full article

Hoping to transition into a new career in 2019? If you've been dreaming of upping your income and working as an engineer, this online course bundle will have you on your way to becoming a front end engineer in no time. The Ultimate Front End Development Bundle typically retails for $1016, but is currently 96% off at just $39. Engineers are more in-demand than ever before. Now is the perfect time to switch gears and tap into this booming industry. Let the Ultimate Front End Development Bundle get you ready for this new career from the comfort of your couch. Tune into the eight courses whenever you want, allowing you to work at your own pace. The 48 hours of online instruction will school you in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. And there's no need for prior experience, as it's geared towards all levels of learning — including beginners – with courses like The Complete HTML & CSS Course: From Novice to Professional and The Complete jQuery Course: From Beginner To Advanced. Get access to these courses and be on your way to a new career for just $39 today. Want your products featured in The Creative Bloq Shop? Learn more about how to sell your products online! Related articles: The future of web design How to make it in the web design industry 5 articles to improve your web design career View the full article

Whether you're trying to persuade your boss to give you a pay rise or fleshing out the details of a potential job offer, it's absolutely vital to do your homework on pay beforehand – forewarned really is forearmed. "The most important thing to do before deciding whether to negotiate is to conduct background research," says Diane Domeyer, executive director of The Creative Group. "Review salary guides and speak to recruiters," adds Domeyer. "Try to find out if the company is growing or has recently reduced its staff, as these events can help to inform your bargaining power." Once you've armed yourself with the facts, use these five top tips to help negotiate a new salary. 01. Quit playing games
 When sending out your graphic design portfolio and applying for better-paying jobs, be honest about your situation. Domeyer says it's vital to avoid playing games. "Tactics such as misleading a prospective employer about your current salary or other job offers in an effort to obtain higher pay almost always backfire," she says. 02. Don't draw lines
 Always keep your options open when negotiating a contract. Whether you're negotiating with your current employer or a potential new one, Domeyer says it's a mistake to give ultimatums too early on in the contractual process. "Look for common ground and avoid an adversarial stance. You want to start off on the right foot." 03. The time is now
 Start looking around ahead of time rather than waiting until you're thoroughly fed up. "Often, by the time people ask for more money they're quite disgruntled about what they're currently on," says Be Kaler of recruiters Futureheads. "Try to have the conversation before you get to that stage." 04. Know your bottom line 
"Always have a 'Below This I Walk number' in mind when going into a meeting," 
says recruitment consultant Ted Leonhardt. "If you don't go in with one, in a weak moment you can find yourself agreeing to something you later regret. Our brains flick between emotional and rational responses – the rational mind is the slowest part." 05. If not now, try later
 Be aware that pay rises don't have to come instantly. If you can't negotiate more money now, try asking for a delayed or conditional pay bump to be written into your contract. Kaler suggests asking employers to consider writing a pay rise into your contract. "They might say: okay, we can pay that when you've delivered X, Y or Z." This article originally appeared in Computer Arts, the world's leading design magazine. Subscribe here. Read more: Let's talk about money How to make money on Instagram as a creative Learn the art of negotiation View the full article

Looking to extend your skillset in 2019? Maybe you want to learn how to start a blog or discover how to draw? Upskilling can help you skip to the front of the design opportunities queue. But what should you learn, and how? For some creative inspiration, read our for six pro tips from designers who've successfully upskilled. 01. Build your confidence "Have the ambition, confidence and drive to go beyond the area you're working in," advises Terry Stephens, creative director at Studio Nomad. "Look for inspiration that you can apply to your work in a way that's relevant to you." 02. Set broad horizons "Read something new, watch something different, or visit someplace and get lost," urges art director and experimental typographer Craig Ward. "If you're going to develop as a designer, you need to develop as a person." You might, for example, decide to improve your photography skills or learn how to draw better. 03. Be fearless "Flawless design bores me; 'ugly' design gets my attention," declares Jenny Theolin, educator and creative director at Studio Theolin. "I'd rather see you experimenting with the tools you have than considering your next software purchase." 04. Stay adaptable "Adapt to your environment," says Ben Christie, creative partner at Magpie Studio. "You should always be looking and learning, sucking up as much of the world as you can." 05. Work on your problem-solving For Stuart Radford, creative director at Superunion, it's all about developing your capacity to think creatively and solve problems. "The ability to come up with original and unexpected ideas is more valuable than anything," he insists. 06. Be passionate "Be true to who you are," concludes James Hurst, executive strategic creative director at DesignStudio. "If you can keep the spirit alive of doing shit you love, you won't fall into the trap of trying to be the same as everyone else." The full version of this article first appeared in Computer Arts magazine; subscribe here. Illustration: Flavio Montiel Related articles: The expert guide to working from home 30 life skills every designer should master 5 ways to improve your digital art skills View the full article