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The group's skimmer has added some capabilities that steals credentials from admins. View the full article

Silent letters are celebrated in P is for Pterodactyl, a funny new picture book that describes itself as 'the worst alphabet book ever'. Instead of relying on the traditional 'a is for apple', this book explores "all the words that misbehave and make words nearly impossible to pronounce," so expect to find lots of Czars, tsunamis, and mnemonics. Given that the English language is notorious for its contrary rules and counter-productive etiquettes, it's amazing that a mischievous book like P is for Pterodactyl hasn't appeared before. And even though the words it uses to represent letters have a very limited use, they aren't technically wrong. Learn the A, B, Czs with this book The brainchild of Raj Haldar, AKA rapper Lushlife, and computer programmer Chris Carpenter, P is for Pterodactyl features illustrations by Maria Tina. Published by Sourcebooks, the book has become a surprise runaway success with the first print run of 10,000 selling almost immediately. This didn't do anything to slow down the book's popularity though as it was soon picked up and shared by Facebook group Imagination Soup. At the time of writing, Sourcebooks reports that more than 100,000 orders for the book have gone unfulfilled, but the good news is that it's busy working on reprinting another 210,000 copies. Although not technically wrong, this alphabet book has comparatively limited use P is for Pterodactyl is currently sitting pretty at number 8 on the New York Times bestseller list, not bad for a book that started out as a joke about a Q is for Quinoa flashcard. Want a copy of Pis for Pterodactyl to call your own? More copies are expected to become available this month. Related articles: The making of Oliver Jeffers' best-selling picture books How to illustrate a children's book The best photo books in 2018 View the full article

If you’re new to CGI, you may feel that there are far too many 3D art tools to choose from in a dizzying array of software. In this article I'll aim to break everything in CGI down to the very basics, so that every artist can be armed with the knowledge of which tool is best. Let’s explore materials and shaders by looking at luminous surfaces. Lighting is one of the key skills to master in CG, and learning what each of the light types can do really helps artists mimic the real world in their CG scenes. The issue is, not all lights are… lights. A lot of objects emit light, a classic example being the rear of a firefly. So how do CG artists re-create emissive objects? They do it through the use of luminous effects within the material itself. The luminance properties of a shader/material are some of the most fun elements of texture work, as they can bring a scene to life instantly, whether it’s lava from a volcano or the screen of an old TV set. As the luminance channel is usually interacting with a wide range of colours from the shader, it really adds pop to a scene. Clever use of luminance properties can bring big improvements to a scene Mike Griggs Depending on the render software being used, the luminance properties of a material can have a lot, if not all, of the same properties as a light object, making them truly powerful and a key part of a compositing workflow. Clever use of luminance properties can bring big improvements to a scene, especially for effects that would be quite difficult to create with light objects alone. Motion graphic UI elements, for example, are really enhanced by the use of emissive properties. As luminance materials are embedded within a material, they can use the same sources as other parts of the material, for example animations for the screen of a TV can be played through a luminance channel, creating realistic interactive lighting. In fact, luminous materials can also be used as actual lighting, for example when lighting a product shot. The full range of modelling tools from the application can be used to create easy-to-preview light shapes to enhance the reflections in a scene. 01. Add luminance Balance your lighting for a realistic result Look for a group of settings that may be called Luminance, Incandescent or Emission. These usually tend to be the same options as found in a diffuse colour or similar channel. The major difference is with the intensity option, which can quickly blow out image-based textures in the emission channel to the predominant colour. If this is the case, look to balance the lighting in the scene in order to achieve a much more realistic-looking result. 02. Make use of animated textures for screens Certain textures can interactively light a scene One of the best uses for emissive textures is in creating animated screens, as these can bring in texture sequences which can then interactively light a scene. As everything is being calculated in the render, complex effects such as refraction and subsurface scattering will react properly to the emissive texture. These kind of effects would be difficult to match in compositing. It is always best to render emissive textures ‘in-camera’ if supported, and if it doesn’t impact on your project time. 03. Use the luminance channel for compositing A coloured matte speeds up compositing A great use of the luminance channel is to make coloured mattes of a scene if the render engine in question has limited matte support. Once a scene has been rendered normally, make a new version and switch off settings such as Global Illumination and apply new shader materials to the objects. Using pure red, green and blue is a great way to start, as these colours can then be used by keying software in the compositing application, to create a variety of mattes from one image pass. This speeds up the compositing process and saves disk space. 04. Emissive textures for highlighting objects Emission textures can bring an image together Using emissive textures can be a great way to bring objects in a scene to life, whether this is by using them as highlights on an edge of a motion graphic UI element, or to add an extra bit of colour to an object in a scene. If a scene isn’t looking exactly how you want it or an object isn’t clearly defined for its purpose, do not be afraid to add a touch of emission colour (usually the same as the diffuse colour) in order to help the material pop in the scene. 05. Create bespoke lighting rigs Bespoke lighting can make a product shine One of the hardest things to do is create exciting lighting. This is where emissive textures can come into their own, as they can be combined with a 3D application’s modelling toolset to create bespoke lighting setups, for product shots for example. Many 3D applications have controls regarding visibility of objects. Use the visibility tools if they are available to control whether a lighting object is seen in the render, creating an easy-to-understand lighting setup. This article was originally published in issue 238 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 239 or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: Model 3D textures quickly with Normal maps Get started with Diffuse 10 amazing Adobe After Effects plugins View the full article

The laptop giant will settle a 32-state class-action lawsuit stemming from pre-installing vulnerable ad-targeting software. View the full article

You're reading Free Mockups for Design Presentations, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! In the world of 3D mockups, the presentation comes in all shapes and sizes. While we are accustomed to associating 3D objects with brand identities such as Modern Branding Identity Mockup Vol.2 or Coffee Branding Scene, they can be used … View the full article

More play means more imagination. That's the thinking behind Toyi, a creative play kit that sees children become toy designers. Created by Ögeday Uçurum and Elif Atmaca, Toyi encourages kids to develop their design thinking by upcycling everyday objects and transforming them into creatures, rockets, and anything their imaginations can come up with. Designer Atmaca came up for the idea of Toyi based on her experiences as a child of moving from city to city and not having traditional toys of her own to play with. This experience tuned her in to the needs of children, which she's brought to the design of Toyi. Each Toyi kit includes seven different parts, including flexible connectors, eyes and hands, which are designed to wrap around objects and turn them into creative toys. As Atmaca puts it, "play is the most natural and powerful tool to develop children's creativity". Whereas 'traditional' toys have a shelf-life and limited use, Toyi follows in the footsteps of open-ended, multipurpose toys like LEGO in that the imagination of the user is key to getting the most out of it. Toyi's reliance on everyday objects is a great added touch, though, as it prompts children of all ages to see the world around them anew. Check Toyi out in action with the video below. Like the look of Toyi? There's still time to back the development of the kit over on Kickstarter, with perks including a bespoke playbook and an Ambassador Pin. What's more, Toyi believes that every child has the right to play. To this end, Uçurum and Atmaca have teamed up several civil society organisations around the world to send a Toyi kit to disadvantaged children. So even though the project has already smashed its funding target with time to spare, your donation could still go a long way and change the life of a child. Related articles: Coding for kids: 8 top toys 10 inspiring design toys for your desk The best creative Christmas gifts for kids View the full article

Search engine optimisation is an essential skill for any blogger, entrepreneur, or content creator. That's because we all rely so heavily on search engines nowadays. In fact, the top three spots on any Google search receive nearly 60 per cent of all search engine traffic for that keyword. To better understand your site's SEO, try out SEOPop Pro: Lifetime Subscription. This tool analyses your site and gives you a report card, showing you how well you're doing when compared to the competition. You can then identify mistakes that are lowering your search engine ranking, and check out breakdowns of your social media impact. Take a look at your page load times and mobile performance for an even more well-rounded understanding of your site. Get SEOPop Pro: Lifetime Subscription for only $24.99. Related articles: 5 ways to boost your website's SEO Climb the Google rankings: How to master SEO 10 must-know SEO tools for search success View the full article

As editing tools and plugins make the creation of high quality video faster and easier for editing teams, the time spent reviewing video with clients, collecting feedback and getting work approved is still proving costly. For many, the video review process involves countless emails, ineffective reviews, untold amendments and, in turn, a lot of frustration. Collaboration is, of course, important, but if there are not methods in place to receive clear feedback, misunderstandings can arise and projects can be delayed unnecessarily. Thankfully, this bottleneck in the video production process is one that’s easily solved. Simply follow these tips and you’ll be delivering videos that meet your client’s needs, without requiring multiple rounds of revision, in no time. 01. A new kind of feedback A faster, better kind. Emails have a time and a place, but receiving feedback on a video is not one of them. If you want to get your videos reviewed quickly, you need to offer a way that makes it easy to do so. Using a collaboration tool like OpenText Hightail removes the delay that emails bring, and instead offers fast, specific feedback via timestamped comments alongside the video footage. In fact, Hightail’s precise commenting service allows users to mark the exact second where they want to leave feedback, and, even more precisely, highlight the specific part of the screen they are referring to. The precision Hightail offers means neither creator or reviewer are ever in doubt as to what needs to be done. And this extends to audio too. Hightail also allows users to leave feedback on audio streams in exactly the same way, with timestamped comments, as the video footage. Want to see it in action? Sign up for a free 14-day trial Hightail today. Get specific, fast feedback on your video footage with collaboration tool Hightail 02. Set expectations early Sounds obvious, right? But you’d be surprised how often creative frictions arise off the back of not clearly outlining the number of video reviews in advance. Make sure everyone knows where they stand from the off by defining when a cut will be ready for review and when feedback on that cut is due. How many reviews needed will be determined by each project, however, it is typical for a video process with a rough, fine and final cut to have between five and six reviews. The start of a project is also the best time to determine how your reviews will take place, be that face-to-face, in a virtual meeting or using a collaboration tool like Hightail. 03. Educate your reviewers It’s easy to assume, because you’re the expert, that everyone else understands the video editing process too. However, that’s simply not the case. In many instances, delays and frustrations are caused by a simple lack of understanding that could easily be avoided. By educating your clients about the process, not only are you making life easier for everyone overall, you are also building trust and your reputation as someone who others will want to work with. An easy way to educate your reviewers is to create a document that outlines the stages of your video production process, including how many review rounds there will be, what the reviewer should be looking at and breaking down any jargon. The more a reviewer knows about what goes on in the editing suite and what’s expected at each stage, the easier it will be for them to meet your expectations and collaborate in a meaningful and cooperative manner. View the full article

Trends are easy to identify a few years after they've happened. But they're notoriously difficult to spot at the time. For its new issue (#287), Computer Arts spoke to a wide range of creatives, from diverse disciplines and at different levels, at creative studios across the world, to hear their takes on the trends heading our way in 2019. Read on to discover some of the standout themes they picked up on. For the full article, which is packed with plenty more trends to discover, pick up a copy of Computer Arts #287 from Friday 7 December, available in our online magazine store or from good newsagents. 01. Smashing stereotypes Kelly Anna's She Stole the Show exhibition celebrated women's inner champions In illustration, there's been one standout trend in 2018: the varied ways in which women are being represented through illustration. "From gender issues to body politics, what it's like to be a woman today is being explored in a more unapologetic way than ever before," says Alex Thursby-Pelham, lead designer at Wieden+Kennedy London. Galvanised by #MeToo and similar movements, illustrators are feeling encouraged to break away from caricature and explore more nuanced and multi-dimensional portrayals of women that confront the status quo. "Scrolling through Instagram, Matisse-inspired nudes follow politically charged illustrations of female solidarity and resistance," Thursby-Pelham enthuses. "Empowered, angry, joyful, funny, flawed, opinionated… they're all here. Polly Nor’s 'You don't know him like I do' – part of her searingly personal Airing my Dirty Laundry in Public show And it's not just about what is being produced but what isn't, the designer continues. "The furore caused by the recent cartoon of Serena Williams in Melbourne's Herald Sun – deemed sexist and racist – goes to prove that in 2018, gendered stereotypes aren't met with a shrug, but with fiery backlash." "This year feels like a time where these varying perspectives aren't just 'nice to have', but absolutely necessary," she concludes. "Fingers crossed that this trend will long outlive 2018." 02. Colour gradients 2018 was the year of the gradient Advancements in screen and display technology have led many to dub 2018 the 'year of the gradient'. "HTML5 enables people to code gradients rather than having to manually make graphics for them," explains Mitchell Nelson, lead creative at Jazzbones. "And this year, there's been a big focus on duotone gradients as opposed to flat colours, which are more limited. A lot of websites are now using brighter gradients with dark schemes, to give a slick, almost tech feel." Helen Baker, a freelance brand identity designer based in Wiltshire, concurs. "Gradients are now recognised as colours in their own right, and are seen in an increasing number of logo designs," she says. "The Brit Awards, for example, has moved from the use of flat colours in previous years to a rich 'red carpet' gradient." Rachel Brandon, graphic designer at PLMR, posits that this trend may be a reaction against digital design in general. "With a sense of movement and 3D to it, a gradient appears as though it has life and weight to it," she says. "As screens take over from physical, print-based mediums, the lifelike look these elements create could be one reason for their sudden surge in popularity." 03. Striving for simplicity A pared-back look from Bond for Anton&Anton Kioski There's been a broad trend towards simplicity in design for some years now, and it shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, as we live more of our lives on apps and websites, it seems only to be accelerating. "Consumers are now used to seeing a flatter, cleaner, uncluttered design aesthetic in the apps and sites they use," says Alastair Holmes, associate creative director at This Place. "So it makes sense that companies should want to reflect this in their overall branding." Examples abound. "Burberry recently turned heads with a bold step in typographic simplicity, cutting ties with the elegant graphic ornament of the past and adopting a timeless, grotesque approach to its new identity," notes Lee Hoddy, creative partner at Conran Design Group. 04. Super-functional logos Wolff Olins created a new wordmark for Uber in 2018 "This year has seen more and more corporates adopting the 'lowercase sans serif' model, with a reductionist, one-colour symbol floating nearby," says Michael Johnson, founder of Johnson Banks. "So now we see virtually the same typography used by everyone – from BT to the Premier League, to Airbnb, to Spotify, to Uber, to you-name-it." He's not sure whether we've seen this trend peak. "At first this approach seemed more interesting, more stripped down, more 'less' if you like," says Johnson. "But I'm really starting to wonder quite how long this kind of corporate me-too-ism can continue." Chris Maclean, creative director of Wolff Olins, is among the optimists though. "We're losing those glossy sheens and skeuomorphic embellishments that are a hangover from the UI design 10 years ago," he points out. "We're witnessing a return to classic logo design, where less is more, and anything that doesn't express the core essence of the brand is discarded." Furthermore, he believes that the simplicity of the logos themselves is being balanced out elsewhere. "While some might argue that logo design has become more conservative, exciting things are happening in the expressions that surround the logo," he argues. "More and more brands are recognising that a cohesive brand identity can be a much more expressive palette than the logo alone. This means the identity can evolve while the logo remains consistent over time." 05. Disruptive typography Future London academy branding by ONY We're experiencing a noticeable trend towards more sophisticated typography in web design," says Alex Blattmann, senior designer at Dalton Maag. "Serif styles are, once again, taking centre stage, after years of avoidance in the pursuit of simpler, sans serif forms." Rick Banks, director of Face37, takes a similar view. "Last year I predicted in Computer Arts we'd see a reaction to the geometric sans-serifs that dominated 2016, and I think I've been right," he says. "Wolff Olins' Chobani rebrand is a prime example. Pentagram's Vroom and Mother's Debenhams rebrands are other highlights. I see this trend continuing over the next few years, with brands and designers wanting more personality in their type and logos." In terms of 'more personality', there's been mini-trend for what Riccardo De Franceschi, senior designer at Dalton Maag, describes as a 'brutalist' approach. "This is where type gets compressed or expanded to the extreme, as well as being outlined or even mechanically slanted," he explains. A more mainstream way that designers have been adding extra personality to their typography, meanwhile, has been through the rise of custom fonts. "Brands are asking themselves: how can I be myself if I'm using the same font as a hundred other brands, especially when that other brand is a real asshole?" says Chris Harmon, art director at Loyalkaspar. "In response, more and more brands are making custom fonts that honestly feel like themselves, and no one can copy them." 06. Motion graphics in branding 2018 has seen a major change in what motion designers are being asked to produce, with a seismic shift in 2018 towards social content. Creative agency DMS has seen a 60 per cent increase in this area, reveals head of motion graphics Nico Varga. "In today's world, our clients need to engage with their audiences faster," he says. "So we're using bumpers – a five-second teaser before a promotion trailer – that incorporate engaging dynamic subtitles to entice the audience to click and view the promotional content." Designing for social means rethinking your approach, says Katie Cadwallader, senior designer at Supple Studio Ltd. "Twitter and Instagram now loop videos, encouraging our films to be more like GIFs and less like stories with a beginning and end," she says. "The length of animations is adapting too. Anything between 30 seconds and five minutes is now a no man's land: you're either designing for likes or for a lunch break viewing." This is just a part of a larger trend, which is seeing motion design become better integrated into the branding mix, according to Wouter Sel, co-founder and animation director at Volstok. "More than ever, video is part of the brand instead of merely being a billboard for it," he says. "Motion design is now deeply embedded in the customer journey." The full version of this article, including more trends to watch out for and an in-depth look at what's on the cards in the design world, can be found in issue #287 of Computer Arts. You can buy a copy from Friday 7 December, or subscribe to Computer Arts. Read more: Look back on our trends predictions for 2018 75 best free fonts for designers The illustrator hotlist 2018 View the full article

After identifying the official VLC media download page as "unsafe" with its Bing search engine, Microsoft now suggests it was done in error. View the full article

Even designers with the keenest eye for detail and an inside-out understanding of colour theory will have struggled to identify the right hue at some point of their careers. To make the process of finding swatches and their equivalent colour values easier, Pantone has updated its Color Finder tool. With controls that enable users to pick, search and convert colours, the new and free Color Finder is a comprehensive and intuitive way to sift through Pantone's chips. Wave goodbye to using a gradient bar to hazard a guess as to the right colour, simply start clicking samples and narrowing down the search fields. These parameters include Pantone Matching Systems for graphics, interiors, skin tones and much more. Colours can also be narrowed down by hue groups and smooth orders. Thanks to the search bar and convert fields, users can find colours by their name, sRGB, HEX, and CMYK codes as well. Once you've settled on a colour, you can click on the swatch to find its exact RGB, HEX and CMYK values. Pantone will also helpfully recommend which samples you should purchase from its collection. Check out the tool in action with this handy video posted on Pantone's Instagram: With an in-depth array of search options now bundled into one place, Pantone's Color Finder promises to be a real time-saver, and judging by its enthusiastic reception on social media (check out those Instagram comments), it looks like this is the tool a lot of designers have been waiting for. Related articles: Are you ready for Pantone: The Game? Pantone creates the world's most unignorable colour Discover your colour IQ with this Pantone test View the full article

The bug bounty "queen" Katie Moussouris discusses the biggest mistakes that companies launching these programs are making. View the full article

Digital sculpting tool ZBrush has long been a contributor to the world of television and 3D movies. Prior to ZBrush, figures were sculpted in clay before being scanned to produce 3D assets, in a process that was as time-consuming as it was costly. Such was its game-changing nature that in 2014 Pixologic co-founder Ofer Alon received an Academy Award for his design and implementation of the software. ZBrush 2018 review CG modeller Jose Limon retells his first encounter with the tool: "ZBrush was first introduced to me while I was attending The Art Institute of California-Inland Empire, somewhere between 2007 and 2011." Currently lending his talents to the teams at A52 VFX and Elastic, Limon has seven years' experience in crafting characters for TV, film and animation, primarily using ZBrush. "I started getting a glimpse of what ZBrush was capable of through the art that other students were creating," he continues. "Eventually I took an introduction to ZBrush course that focused on character and prop creation, I fell in love with the software there and then." Since then Limon has worked on the main title sequences for The Man in the High Castle, Westworld, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, among others. His TV work has earned him three Emmy nominations and one win. Building Westworld Limon was able to translate his understanding of anatomy into the digital realm for Westworld's title sequence Recently Limon utilised ZBrush on the main title sequence for season two of HBO's science-fiction series, Westworld. The software helped him to realise the complex visuals of a mother and newborn baby that appear throughout the sequence. "I knew that we would reveal some portions of their underlying anatomy in the sequence," he explains. "But we were unsure where exactly that would be. I had to approach it in a way where I could easily go back and swap things around. "The first stage consisted of setting up a ZBrush master file for the anatomy of the models: it consisted of a T-posed human body with as much anatomical and skeletal detail as possible. At this early stage, the file was put together from various sources, some recycled models and newly sculpted pieces to fill in the gaps." ZBrush should be used in a non-linear workflow Jose Limon He continues: "One of the challenges on my end was posing the mother and newborn in a way that felt natural. There was no rigging involved so everything had to be done by hand in ZBrush. With the pose approved, the next thing to do was to mask areas of the model where the underlying anatomy would come through. Going back to the ZBrush master file, I took the portions that would be revealed and fitted them into place on the posed model." Finally Limon was responsible for merging the model's anatomy with the outer skin, creating a hollow shell. He explains: "Using the remesh feature in ZBrush, a rough shell was created. From there it was DynaMeshed and re-projected back to the original details. No displacement information was used for the final renders. In order to keep all the high fidelity detail, I optimised the final sculpt using ZBrush's decimation features. This mesh could then be passed on to the artist working on the final model." It's clear that ZBrush was a crucial part of the creative process behind this acclaimed sequence; according to Limon it's all down to the flexibility that the software provides, but that's also what can make it one of the trickier 3D software to master. "As a beginner, it might seem overwhelming at first, perhaps due to the way the UI is set up or where the navigation controls are placed," says Limon. "ZBrush should be used in a non-linear workflow, this is a software where one can achieve the same result in a multitude of different ways and half the time those are radically different from one another in terms of motive or mindset. It's a very improvise-friendly software and one that helped me find the right approach to this sequence. All it took was some willingness to try new things and not being afraid of failure." Concepts and sculptures Madeleine Scott-Spencer's Thorin sculpt as part of Weta's The Hobbit collection For Double Negative's creature and character designer, Madeleine Scott-Spencer, ZBrush has been a part of everyday work since 2003. She adds: "I use ZBrush every day to generate concept images and digital sculptures that will serve as the beginning of the modelling process." With a background in make-up effects, prosthetics and physical sculpting, Scott-Spencer previously worked with New Zealand-based Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. Since making the jump to ZBrush she has never looked back, authoring several books on the software and creating the Introduction to ZBrush training videos for The Gnomon Workshop. Scott-Spencer has also become adept at using ZBrush to create fine art and commercial figurines, having used the software to create many of Weta's Hobbit collectibles. "At Gentle Giant Studios back in 2006 we were the first to create a commercial collectable figure using ZBrush, it was a Grindylow from Harry Potter," she adds. "We sculpted it in ZBrush and then had to work out decimating in other software as there was no Decimation Master yet. We then printed and recast it in wax to part it for moulding. Today the decimation is much easier and I would do all that parting in ZBrush." Nothing else comes close to ZBrush Madeleine Scott-Spencer According to Scott- Spencer there is no alternative to ZBrush when it comes to digital sculpting: "Nothing else comes close and it has tools specifically designed to assist the artist going to 3D print, such as Decimation Master and 3D Print Hub." Early adoption Gargoyles modelled by Southern before output in polystyrene and used to dress the set on Penny Dreadful Digital sculptor Glen Southern was an early adopter of ZBrush, "I've been using it since 1999, which sounds crazy to me when I say it out loud," he admits. "I picked it up on the cover of a magazine and instantly fell in love with it. It was different to the other tools I was using and wasn't used in any production environments back then. There was no DynaMesh, ZSpheres and only a limited amount of brushes. It really became popular once artists started using the high-resolution data for normal maps in games and in displacement maps for other programs." Southern, who also runs his own studio, has been helping to meet the ever-growing demand for training in digital sculpting for over a decade. Such is his proficiency with the software that Southern was asked to help the art department on season two of the horror series Penny Dreadful. Ordinarily ZBrush would be employed in post-production, but the demands of this project called for a different approach. "They wanted to build a witch's castle and the production designer wanted complex architectural pieces made in ZBrush and then carved in polystyrene on a five-axis machine," he explains. "The blocks were 2.4 metres high and the final item was sent off to a department for hard coating, which made the piece feel like concrete. I was making gargoyles, bats, ram heads, columns and a host of sculpts that you might see in an ancient castle." When asked what made ZBrush the right tool for the job, Southern puts it down to its compatibility with other software. "I was working with files from SketchUp delivered from the main draftsman working on the project. They could be as simple as a cube scaled correctly, a piece of wall, or sometimes an arch or a window. Those files gave me the dimensions and I would deliver low- and highpoly versions back to him. The low poly went back into the main SketchUp scene and the high poly was sent to the five-axis machines. ZBrush is perfect for those kinds of jobs – you can make insanely complex organic shapes and deliver them back decimated and usable for several tasks." How to master ZBrush Limon and Southern highlight DynaMesh as their favourite feature in ZBrush, as it allows them to sculpt from a primitive shape with speed and ease Though ZBrush has become an industry-standard tool, its ever-evolving nature can make it a daunting proposition for beginners. Scott-Spencer has some advice for those looking to get stuck into a career in sculpting for film and television: "Look at artists outside the digital world for inspiration and sketch in ZBrush every day. I encourage my students to do a daily sphere sketch, just a head or a face on a poly sphere using DynaMesh or Sculptris Pro mode. This will help build your confidence." Focus on just a few brushes rather than trying to understand the hundreds that are available Glen Southern According to Southern, tutelage is crucial for getting to grips with ZBrush quickly: "Once someone has taught you how to work with the interface and configure it to your needs it is no longer a barrier to you. If you try that on your own with tutorials you can end up taking ages to get to grips with things. Just learn the basics and the rest will come over time. Focus on just a few brushes rather than trying to understand the hundreds that are available." Limon also urges beginners to gradually embrace the freedom that the software provides: "Even though ZBrush is a very robust software, it's best to stick with the defaults and progressively integrate features as you start to expand your knowledge and technique." He concludes: "I recommend to strictly focus on the sculpting side and limit your tools to a few default brushes. This will force you to work loosely, make mistakes, and improvise solutions. This is the way to see and create as an artist, sculptor and visual storyteller. It's going to take time and effort, so get on with it." 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: The 17 best ZBrush tutorials Speed sculpt a creature in ZBrush Sculpt realistic anatomy in ZBrush View the full article

December is nearly upon as and as we prepare to deck the halls with boughs of holly, we're also counting down the days until the big day. And where's the fun in counting down to Christmas without an advent calendar? While we are fans of traditional paper art advent calendars – the ones that you open to reveal a quaint nativity scene, bit by bit – as well as the classic chocolate ones, this year we thought we'd see what else is out there. So here are our favourite alternative advent calendars in 2018 for those who love web design, animals, print, beautiful products and err...naked people. 01. Mr Bingo's naked advent calendar Find out what's underneath the gold ink in a tantalising Christmas countdown from Mr Bingo What more festive than naked people in a pub? Well... quite a lot of things, but that doesn't make this naked calendar from Mr Bingo any less fun. Count down the days by scratching off the gold ink to reveal a naked body underneath, and then you get to tell your friends you've seen 25 naked people in December. They may or may not be impressed. The people featured in the calendar are ordinary folk who applied to be part of the project, and you can see more about the making of the project via the video below. 02. Here Design's advent calendar shop An Anarchy of Chillies poster is one of the products available in December from the Here Design shop, but which day will it be on? In another alternative advent calendar project, Here Design is revealing a new item on its online shop each day. Products include tote bags designed by Here for the Tate and notebooks from the Nigella cookbook collection. This is a great way to combine your Christmas shopping with some festive counting, or just drool over Here Design's beautifully crafted work. 03. 24 ways' advent calendar for web geeks Last year's 24 ways provided plenty of insight If you're looking to improve your web design and development skills, then 24 ways is the advent calendar for you. This website posts a different web article for each day in December in the run up to Christmas, and this curated list is a fantastic way to improve your skills. This advent calendar also lasts post-Christmas as the site stays live, meaning you can binge in the new year if you miss some articles. 04. Junique's the animal kingdom This advent calendar features a rolled up print by a different artist each day One for print lovers: get a new print every day with this advent calendar in a box by Junique. Various themed calendars are available – including black and white, motivating mantras and botanical beautie – but there's something about getting a box full of flamingos, owls and penguins that pleases us. Read more: The best Christmas gifts for illustrators Indie film goes viral with the true meaning of Christmas Iceland Christmas ad banned due to political message View the full article

If you want to be a graphic designer, you'll have to master certain essential creative tools first. Luckily, you can learn how to use a whole bunch of them with one streamlined course – The Ultimate Graphic Design Bundle: Lifetime Access. You'll learn how to create awesome concept art by drawing with Photoshop (get Adobe Creative Cloud here). You'll discover aspects of real-world graphic design using Illustrator, even creating your very own flat design spaceships, practise typography, logo design, and a whole lot more to gain some hands-on experience before you launch your career. Try it out for just $29 – down 98% from the regular price of $1592. Related articles: 6 best web design tools for coding novices 29 web design tools to speed up your workflow in 2018 4 design tools you never knew you needed View the full article

Learn how to break into the games industry and revolutionise your character and creature concept art with the latest issue of ImagineFX magazine – which goes on sale in the UK today. Packed inside the pages of issue 169 you'll hear from top creatives and art directors in the industry, who are all raring to share their career-shaping insights. So if you've always dreamt of designing worlds and characters for AAA titles, be sure to pick it up! Buy issue 169 of ImagineFX here Elsewhere in issue 169, Patrick J Jones continues his detailed figure drawing workshop. This time he reveals how compression and gravity effects can be used to create more realistic looking bodies. Meanwhile, Shedworks co-founder Gregorios Kythreotis shares how to use Unity, Photoshop, Procreate and Maya LT to create a fresh approach to video game art in our cover art feature. There's also the latest news from the digital art world, plus reviews of books and tools that you need to check out. Make sure you don't miss it! Never miss an issue: Subscribe to ImagineFX here Explore what's on offer by taking a peek at the lead features, below. Break into the games industry Top artists spill industry secrets Plenty of artists want to break into the world of designing for games, but fewer turn that ambition into a reality. We hear from recruiters in the field about what they're looking for in a portfolio and how you should go about grabbing their attention. From how to go about making yourself known online to good convention etiquette, this feature gives you the low-down. Inside studio CD Projekt Red Say hello to the organised chaos of CD Projekt Red Polish games studio CD Projekt Red is perhaps best known for its fantasy RPG, The Witcher. As with lots of fantasy properties, the success of this series is built by the investment of the fans. We visit the studio to hear how it works and creates products that keeps its players happy, as well as how it runs on a pinch of creative chaos. Explore the work of Darren Bacon This month we're bringing home the bacon... Darren Bacon that is Halo's lead concept artist Darren Bacon shares his story this month in our artist's portfolio. He talks about the principals of good game design, the make or break moment that defined his career, and how he achieves the final five per cent that separates the good art from the great. Create a portrait with oils Master oil painting with this straightforward workshop Oils paints can be an intimidating medium to work with, but thanks to this tutorial by Howard Lyon you'll learn how to harness oils to produce a portrait with an academic approach. Covering everything from tools to painting techniques, you'll be creating portraits worthy of the masters in no time. How to flesh out a conecpt Train your brain with this in-depth workshop Got an idea for a piece of concept art but don't know how to take it to the next level? Lucas Staniec syas that it's all about having the right mindset, not the right artistic skills. Learn how to hone this elusive mindset with his in-depth tutorial for developing elements of a piece of concept art. Related articles: Improve your concept art skills in Photoshop How to break into movie concept art How to be a better concept artist View the full article

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Creating jaw-dropping images of the Milky Way screaming down towards the horizon is the preserve of professional photographers, right? They might like you to think that, but once you’ve got a handle on what's required and the settings you need, you will soon discover that night sky photography – like any form of landscape photography – is mostly about you, not your camera equipment (that said, even the best camera phone isn't going to cut it here, we're afraid). Finding Dark Sky Parks and dark skies around the world, and getting yourself to them, is half the job, but once you're there, you will need a basic level of equipment to take advantage of any clear nights; a DSLR camera, wide-angle (fish-eye) lens, and a tripod. You'll probably also want a good camera bag, too. None of this gear is particularly complicated, and it needn't be expensive, though like any photographic niche, you can spend as little or as much as you want. Here are some tips on great products for beginners to night sky photography, plus a few step-up products so you can see where your future may lie. We've also outlined some tips on how to get started in astrophotography (skip straight to the tips here). Do you need a really expensive camera to start taking photographs of the night sky? No, you absolutely don't, and this entry-level Canon DSLR is an excellent place to start your experiments. Known in the UK and Europe as the EOS 800D and in the US as the Rebel T7i, this reasonably lightweight camera has a 24.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor and a DIGIC 6 processor, which helps deliver decent high-ISO noise performance during long exposure shots. Okay so it's not a full-frame sensor, but it does the job if you are starting out, and the vari-angle touchscreen is both easy to manipulate and navigate. Your future may involve having to purchase a full-frame DSLR for its better ISO capabilities, but for now, concentrate on getting outside and taking photographs at night. If there's one thing that every night sky photographer needs, it's an excellent tripod that's both reliable and quick to set up/collapse. This aluminium tripod from Manfrotto is hefty enough to serve its purpose without being too heavy to carry, and has some nice touches. The ball head is easy to use, allowing quick and precise placement as well as a quick-release for your camera. The three legs use a lever locking mechanism that's easy to lock down and lift, while the central column extends at the touch of a button. Many astrophotographers and nightscape shooters will tell you that you must have a full frame DSLR, but that's not true. What is true is that by using an entry-level DSLR like the Nikon D5600 you will see more picture noise within long exposure photographs. If you're just starting out, that's not a huge issue. This entry-level camera's lightweight build makes it easy to travel with, while its tiltable LCD screen makes it simple to frame shots, and makes it possible to rely on a small tripod. Capable of 24.2-megapixel pictures, you'll eventually grow-out of its APS-C-sized CMOS sensor, but the Nikon D5600 is nevertheless a great camera to start getting out and about at night with. If you're going to take pictures of the night sky, you need a wide-angle lens. That way, you can fit a lot of landscape and sky in each image. However, such lenses often come at a premium price if you stick to buying from the camera manufacturers. So it's worth looking for a third-party lens, one of the best value being this Korean-made 14 mm wide angle lens from Samyang/Rokinon (the brand name changes between Europe and the US). Not only is this one of the most affordable wide-angle lenses around, but it's also excellent quality, and produced to fit all major brands of camera, such as Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Fujifilm and Sony. However, it is a manual lens, so you have to be comfortable with manual mode to use it away from night photography. A pricier auto-focus version, the Samyang AF 14 f/2.8 lens, is also available, but its auto-focus brings no benefit for night photography. If you're after a DSLR camera with a full frame sensor for astrophotography, it's a three-way fight between Canon (its 5D and 6D cameras), the Sony A7 Mk III, and this, the Nikon D850. At the heart of the D850 is a full-frame CMOS sensor that achieves an incredible 45.7MP, and it also allows 4K video capture. For easily lining-up shots there's a viewfinder and a tilt-angle LCD screen, though at 840g this is a pretty heavy camera. If you want to save some money, but stay with a full-frame sensor, consider finding a cheap deal on the camera the D850 replaces, the Nikon D750, which will serve you almost as well for half the money. Most photographers use exposure times of around 20 to 30 seconds to capture the night sky. Although that might seem like a long time, it can take much longer than that to gather enough light from distant star clusters and galaxies, and if you want great pictures of galaxies and our own Milky Way, you need to open the shutter for a few minutes. The only problem is that Earth rotates quickly, meaning any exposure time over about 30 seconds will feature visibly blurred stars. Cue this simple equatorial mount, which is placed between camera and tripod, and moves the camera in-sync with the Earth's rotation. That means you can use both wide-angle and zoom lenses, and expose for a few minutes without trailing stars. This one is relatively simple to use, thought it needs to be aligned to the Northstar, Polaris, using a small built-in polar scope. Another similar product is the iOptron SkyTracker Pro. Although any crop sensor DSLR camera can be used to take images of the night sky, only a full frame sensor is sensitive enough to produce images containing a bright Milky Way. The Canon EOS 6D Mark II's 26.2 megapixel dual pixel CMOS AF sensor and a huge range of ISO settings makes it ideal for capturing detailed RAW images of our galaxy – best photographed in summer in the northern hemisphere – as well as faint displays of the Northern Lights. However, the Canon 6D Mk II is a fine step-up camera for nightscapes for another reason; it weighs just 765g, which makes it much easier to travel with than most full-frame DSLR cameras. This Mk II version also has an articulating touchscreen LCD, which the first incarnation, the Canon 6D, lacks. However, if you want to save some money, go for that first version, which sells for around half the price second-hand. 5 tips on how to get started in astrophotography 01. Choose a camera Your smartphone is no good here Your smartphone? Forget it. To get decent pictures of the night sky, you need a large sensor, something you only get with a DSLR or mirrorless camera. There are two types of DSLR; crop sensor, and full frame. The latter has much better ISO capabilities, and produces a much cleaner image from long exposures. That said, full frame cameras are very expensive, and it's fine to start out with a crop-sensor, entry-level DSLR. Some mirrorless cameras are also now being used for nightscapes, such as the Sony A7 III. 02. Get a wide-angle lens Don't be afraid of choosing a third-party manual lens To photograph the night sky in all of its glory, you need the widest view possible. This means finding a wide angle lens, most of which are fisheye lenses of some kind. Aperture – how much light the lens lets into your camera – is critical, and the lower the F number of a lens, the better. Although it is possible to get down to F1.8 with some expensive lenses, most wide-angle lenses while get you to about F2.8, which is fine. Don't be afraid of buying third-party manual lenses, which are often cheaper and/or better than big brand lenses. 03. Keep everything stable and still Heavier tripods are more stable, but you sacrifice portability A tripod is essential for night sky photography. The bigger your tripod, and the heavier it is, the more stable your setup will be. However, if you are travelling light, a small tripod will just about do as long as you don't mind kneeling on the floor to line up your photo. A shutter release cable is also very useful for opening your camera's shutter without touching the camera, an so introducing a vibration that will cause blur. 04. Get your timing right The best time for night photography is six days before a new moon It's pretty obvious that you need a clear night sky to take photographs of stars, so don't bother going outside if it's cloudy or raining. You should always avoid full moon. The best time to go on a night sky shoot is from six days before new moon through until four days after new moon. That's the ‘stargazing window’ when the early evening night skies will always be moonless. 05. Sort your settings The settings required aren't as complex as you might think Think this is the magic part? Actually, apart from having to do everything in manual mode – which may be something new for you – the settings required for night sky photography are not complicated. First, put your camera into manual mode. Now turn the focus dial on your lens to infinity focus (if your picture turns out slightly blurred, you can tweak this slightly inwards). Turn the aperture dial (f number) to the lowest setting, probably F2.8, and set the ISO on your camera to 1600. Set the exposure to 25 seconds and … go! Of course, you can play around with a higher ISO, and a shorter exposure, but with these basic settings you will get more or less what you need from the night sky. 06. Compose the shot Foreground features can add drama to sky scenes Pictures of stars are boring. The first time you take an image of the Milky Way can be exciting, but any picture of the night sky is more impressive if the photo is properly composed with something in the foreground. Try an old barn, an interesting tree, or something unusual, like a rusty old car. Since you are taking the picture at night, your subject will help produce an ethereal look that the presence of stars will only add to. Read more: The Northern Lights: Top photography tips The 6 best laptops for photo editing in 2018 15 ways to improve your photography skills View the full article

Typography on the web allows for graphic designers to be expressive with their client’s messages. The web has come a long way with typography, from only allowing fonts that are installed on the user's computer, to now having a whole raft of weird typefaces and fun fonts available from online content delivery networks. If you’ve ever used Google Fonts, then you might notice that when you add a number of weights for the same typeface, because you would like to use it in bold etc, then Google generally warns you that adding these makes the page slow to load. This problem is because a whole typeface of every single character has to be downloaded for each of those weights, regardless of whether you use all the characters. By contrast, a CSS variable font uses variables in the CSS to manipulate the web font properties. This means that one variable font will have all weights, so as the designer you can become far more expressive in the way that you use typography in your design. It doesn’t have to end there though, because some typefaces allow the designer to alter more than just the weight of the typeface, and as such a great deal of flexibility can occur. We are using the open source Amstelvar font, which has no less than 17 variables associated with it, so that you can get some really interesting options from just one typeface. Download this tutorial's files here. 01. Opening the project Open the ‘start’ folder in your code IDE and open ‘index. html’ for editing. In the body section of the page, add the code below to give some structure and content for us to work with using the CSS variable fonts. You can change the text to suit your own needs. 02. Finish the content Now add the remaining code shown below. In our example we have a larger paragraph than shown here in order to allow you a description of CSS variable fonts in the example. You can copy that text from the finished folder or add your own as necessary. 03. Link up the style All of the CSS is going to be placed in its own separate file in the ‘CSS’ folder. As such the link to this is placed anywhere in the ‘head’ section of the code on the page. Save the ‘index.html’ page now as you are done with this and all further code will be in CSS. 04. Load the typeface From the ‘CSS’ folder, open ‘design.css’, which will be empty. Add the code as shown here at the top of your CSS. As you can see this is identical to how you would load any locally stored typeface with current CSS. 05. Style the page Remember to choose text that stands out Now the HTML and body of the page are styled with the margin and padding removed. The font that was loaded in the previous step is now applied as the default font to all text on the page. A background image is added to cover the background and the text is set to white with a slight shadow to help it stand out. 06. Centre the text The easiest way to centre text both horizontally and vertically is to use the newer CSS grid as the display object. This wrapper, which encapsulates all other tags, is set to take 100% of the vertical height with the ‘vh’ property. 07. Auto centre The variable font is applied as a normal font Now the content inside can make use of the auto for both the margin at the top and bottom as well as left and right. This means we get a text box that is going to take 60% of the screen and centre it. The text is also centred and this will help. As you can see in the browser the variable font is applied as any normal font. 08. Vary the font Now the font for heading 1 is going to be given some varying properties. The W3C would like us to use font-weight, stretch and optical sizing, but for this typeface the optical sizing doesn’t work. We’ll work around that in the next step but just check your progress in the browser. 09. Customise the font Amstelvar has lots of control options The Amstelvar font has so many variables that aren’t controlled by W3C commands, but there is a way to access them. Add this line of code that also adds the height of the y-ascender to 700 and the height of the y-upper case. In both instances, they are reduced making the type have a reduced overall height. 10. Make subtle changes The font is now almost unrecognisable from its source Now the styling of the subhead will be added. As you look at this you will see that the weight has been reduced as well as the optical sizing. When you look at this in the browser it almost looks like a completely different typeface given the characteristics have changed so much. 11. Create a separator Now a double line separator will be added between the text. This will only be 40% wide, so slightly less than the text. This is also given a slight shadow behind it. This is just to help aesthetically add a break between the first two lines and the second two lines. 12. The next line The next styling is added to help make a difference in the text. As it stands now it doesn’t look too different to anything done in the previous step, but in the next few steps more variables will be added to enhance the way this looks with some subtle changes. 13. More variables The new variables are marked in bold below. XOPQ is the x width of the letter, XTRA is the width of the curve. YOPQ is the y height of the letter, YTLC is the y height of lower case letters. YTSE is the serif height, GRAD is the grading of the letter. YTAS and YTDE is both the ascender and descender y height. 14. Yet more variables Be sure to save before you refresh The last few variables shown here in bold are the overall y-height of the letter with the YTRA property and then the paragraph weight and paragraph width. Save this and refresh your browser to see the changes take hold. The changes are subtle, but enough to make it look like a different typeface. 15. All change Lots of different styles can be generated with a single HTTP request The next line of text is styled up with this CSS now. Again the settings are being adjusted to give the appearance of a different typeface. Save this and look at the effect that has been generated in the browser. The payoff here is that you have only made one HTTP request for the typeface but generated a different style. 16. Last text The final section of text is being left in the default setting for the Amstelvar font. All that is going to happen here is that the line height is adjusted to make it much more readable on the screen. This completes the styling of all the text. Next is to show how to animate some of the properties. 17. Make it animate Let’s revisit the initial heading tag and add some animation to that. In order to do that, add in the code shown in bold. The animation name refers to the keyframes that will be defined in the next step. It will take four seconds and hold on the last keyframe. 18. Define the start The keyframes for the ‘anim’ are created. Here the starting keyframes are added. The weight of the typeface is changed to its lowest value of 100 and the paragraph weight is changed to 0 so that it becomes bolder as it animates over the duration of the four seconds. 19. Ending point The keyframes are animated from one point to another in this example. The final ending point of those keyframes is defined, which as you can see takes it back to the default paragraph weight and the weight of the typeface is set to how it was originally defined earlier in the tutorial. Test this in the browser. 20. Refine the animation When you test the animation, you will see that it is a little jittery because of the extreme change in the paragraph width. Here this is changed to 50 and the opacity is changed to 0 so that it fades in and makes the transition smoother. 21. Finish off Have fun playing with typefaces to achieve different results! The final amendment is to add the opacity of 1 so that it fades in. Refresh the browser and this works much smoother. Experiment by animating any of the properties over time and you will get some interesting results for your type. And this is all from one typeface! This article was originally published in issue 279 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 279 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: Transform your type online with variable fonts How to set up site theming with CSS variables Find your perfect type with the Tinder for fonts View the full article

It's hard to believe that we're hurtling towards the end of 2018. It feels like only yesterday that Pantone revealed its enigmatic Colour of the year, and over the last twelve months we've seen the creation of the world's most unignorable colour and a trend for bold and saturated hues. Designers and fans of colour theory are already wondering what 2019 has in store, and now Shutterstock has the answer. Today, the global marketplace for images has released its 2019 Color Trends report based on pixel data and image download data. By studying the actions of its users, Shutterstock has been able to identify the top three universally popular colours, as well as pin-pointing local favourites from different countries from around the world. And just as we saw with the rise of vivid hues back in the summer, it looks like people can't get enough of turbo-charged colours if this report is anything to go by. According to Shutterstock's data, a trio of neon colours have surged in popularity year-over-year and look set to shape 2019. The three colours in question include; Proton Purple, a vivid colour that "represents the palpable positive charge of our daily lives"; UFO Green, which "evokes lush countrysides alongside whirling rows of binary code. It’s both natural and supernatural"; and finally Plastic Pink, a sizzling colour with lots of depth "that captures the electric glow of cities at night". Check out the colours in the visual report below, along with the most popular colours from countries all over the world. Click the image to get a better look at 2019's colour trends "Whether it’s conscious or not, the colours we choose to represent any given occasion reflect more than just current trends in fashion or design – they have a larger cultural significance," said Lou Weiss, CMO of Shutterstock. "If we look to the ideas influencing culture today, technology stands at the forefront. There's tons of energy driving this movement, so it's no surprise that the top trending colours pack a real digital punch." Related articles: 12 colours and the emotions they evoke How to manage colours in Photoshop Create a simple colour chart View the full article

People across all different industries need to make presentations at some point or another. So why not get your hands on a tool that will help you create presentations more efficiently? Slideshop: Lifetime Subscription is on sale now for just $29.99, and it features more than 15,000 presentation templates for PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides. The designs are modern, pre-made, and gorgeous, and unlimited downloads are at your fingertips! Utilise the platform's simple editing tools to create a presentation that's uniquely tailored to your needs. Get Slideshop: Lifetime Subscription for 98% off the regular price right now. Related articles: How to be a better speaker: presenting and pitching tips 5 inspired self-promo ideas for design agencies 9 tips for breaking onto the speaker circuit View the full article

It's free delivery week at Amazon! From today (30 Nov) to Wednesday 5 December, all Amazon UK customers can get free standard delivery on all their purchases – all you need to do is pop the code FREEDELIVERY in at the checkout. Head to Amazon now to get free delivery There's no catch here, but here are the details anyway. This promotion applies to all items listed as 'dispatched' or 'fulfilled' by Amazon, and there's no minimum spend (that means there's no need to scrabble around bulking out your order in order to reach the free delivery limit – hurrah!). You can also use the code as many times as you like over the course of the week. Ideal for Christmas shopping If you – like us – are a little behind on your Christmas shopping, this is the perfect opportunity to make a dent in your list. Stuck for ideas? Take a look at our Christmas gift guides for graphic designers, illustrators, freelancers or kids. There are plenty of items to buy through Amazon on our roundups, so you can take advantage of this sweet delivery deal. It's also worth noting that Amazon is still running Cyber Monday deals this week. You might be a little sick of it by now, but if you can get over that there are some incredible deals still to be had. Now could be a great time to pick up that Amazon smart device you (or a loved one) have always wanted. For more on that, take a look at our ultimate guide to all Amazon devices. If this week gets you hooked on the joy of free delivery, you should probably think about signing up to Amazon Prime. Prime membership costs £7.99 per month or £79 annually, and you can test it out with a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial. As well as free delivery, you'll also benefit from super-fast shipping, and access to thousands of free movies and TV shows – plus a few other unexpected perks. Read more: 75 best free fonts for designers Save almost 40% on Adobe Creative Cloud with this mega deal Fun but brutal quiz will test your designer's eye View the full article

If you can work on a canvas with paints, then many of the same painting techniques you use will transfer directly over to digitally painting in Photoshop. The good news is that core principles such as composition, colour theory and perspective still apply – so once you're all set up with your Creative Cloud subscription, you just need a little know-how and you're good to go. How to draw: the best drawing tutorials This Photoshop tutorial will break down the process of creating a simple digital painting, from start to finish. However, it's important to remember that most artists will develop their own unique workflows. 01. Start with a sketch Sketching is an essential part of many artists' workflows Sketching is essential to many artists, both traditional and digital. The benefits of sketching before painting is that it allows for quick iteration of ideas without committing to the longer process of painting. Things can be worked out in rough form ahead of time. Sketching digitally can take many different forms – it can be a traditional pencil sketch or (as in this case) a quick painting. When working on quick sketches, try to give yourself time limits, both per sketch and for the overall sketching process. This will help you avoid spending too much time on any one idea and get you into painting faster. 02. Establish perspective and set the mood Every element you paint should recede towards the vanishing point Once a sketch has been finalised, it’s a good idea to lay down some perspective guides before you paint anything. Perspective is such an important part of painting – even in paintings like this one where there aren’t a lot of visual cues. It’s something I make a habit of doing in every painting, as it helps with the flow of the image. Every element you paint should recede towards the vanishing point. This is quick and easy to do in Photoshop CC with the Line Tool. You’ll also note that in this image above I’ve applied a simple gradient behind the perspective lines. This is something I like to do for exterior paintings as it does two things. First, it implies the direction of the primary light source in the image (in this case, the sun). Second, it gives me a bit of direction for the colours I want to start painting with. I’ve opted for cool, muted blue tones. 03. Choose your brushes Click image to enlarge As you start using Photoshop’s Brush tool and Brush panel for the first time you might feel a little overwhelmed. The amount of customisation and control you have over what your brush looks like and the way it behaves can be something that sidetracks you if you're new to digital painting. My recommendation is to limit yourself when first starting out to two brushes. Here, I’ve highlighted both the Soft Round and the Hard Round brush in both the Brush panel and the Brush pop-up. It’s also worth mentioning that painting in Photoshop feels infinitely more natural when you use a pressure-sensitive tablet. I use a Wacom Cintiq but can also recommend its Intuos product line. Photoshop actually has tools built in to take advantage of this hardware. The two options marked in the Options bar at the top of the image correspond to pressure control over the brush’s opacity and size. 04. Build the foundations Shapes and silhouettes allow you to focus on the composition and flow of the image As you start to think about translating your sketch using these two brushes, it’s easiest to start with simple shapes and silhouettes. This allows you to focus on the composition and flow of the image without getting bogged down in the details. Here, I’ve used the Hard Round brush with pressure-sensitive size control to shape the silhouettes. This can be done rather quickly by applying paint with the Brush tool and subtracting it with the Eraser tool. It’s also worth noting in this image that I’m breaking the composition apart into layers. In the Layer panel I’ve created layers for background, midground and foreground. When painting silhouettes for these layers, I’ve also considered the effects of atmospheric perspective in the colours I’ve chosen. These silhouettes can serve as a base to build detail upon later. 05. Turn on the lights With the silhouettes established, it’s a good idea to define your main light source Now it’s a good idea to define your main light source. In an exterior painting like this, the primary source of illumination is typically the sun. It's vital to establish the light source because it will influence the way you render out the details on top of the silhouettes as it will affect colour selection and shadow placement. For this step, I used a large Soft Round brush, first with red, then orange and finally yellow. I shrunk down the brush as I changed from one colour to another. 06. Find the details Photoshop’s clipping layers will help find the details in each layer of the composition The next step can easily be the most time-consuming: we need to find the details in each layer of the composition. Here, Photoshop's clipping layers will be helpful. If you create a new layer above the layer with a silhouette on it, you can alt+left click the space between the layers and clip the new layer to the existing layer. Any paint applied to the new layer will now only be visible where the silhouette layer underneath it has opaque pixels. By doing this you can begin to quickly apply paint to the new layer without worrying about cleaning it up later. Now using the Hard Round brush, start by adding some random organic shapes to define the tops of all the rock faces. These will be the portions of the rocks that the light illuminates the most. If the silhouette layer underneath isn’t dark enough, you can then follow up by painting some shadows between the recesses in the rocks. Repeat this process for each of the defined layers of the composition. Remember, as you move further back in the composition details should become less and less apparent and colours should desaturate. 07. Polish and distribute details TThe first thing you should do is to take a hard look at the painting During this step, the first thing you should do is to take a hard look at the painting and ask yourself what could be better. Maybe a detail you’ve already painted could use a bit more work. Maybe you feel like the image is missing something. For this painting, I wanted to add some ships flying through the canyon and some clouds to break up the sky a bit. For the ships, use the exact same process you used earlier with the rocks: silhouettes or shapes first, then detail. For the clouds, start with the Hard Round brush and in the Brush pop-up adjust the Hardness to around 50%. On a new layer begin painting your clouds using the pressure-sensitivity of your tablet to create variation. Don’t forget to define colours for the lightest areas and darkest, shadowed areas of the clouds. If your clouds feel too bold, adjust the opacity of the layer in the Layer panel. If your painting doesn’t turn out just like this one, don’t be discouraged. Digital painting (just like traditional painting) is something that takes a lot of practice. Related articles: The 60 best free Photoshop brushes The ultimate guide to Photoshop filters The 38 best Photoshop plugins View the full article

The two apps are created by headset software company Sennheiser HeadSetup. View the full article