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The newly-discovered Spectre variants can be exploited to uncover confidential data via microarchitectural side channels in CPUs. View the full article

Amazon isn’t just an online retailer. The company also makes a huge range of products that can streamline your daily tasks and make you more productive, both at home and at work. There are now dozens of Amazon devices, ranging from voice assistants and media tablets to security cameras, e-book readers and more. But each Amazon product comes with a number of different versions, and knowing which one you want (or even what it does) can sometimes be a little confusing. So just in time for Amazon Prime Day 2018 – when thousands of deals and offers will be available to Prime members around the world – we've put together this special guide to Amazon's own products. From Echo smart speakers to Kindle readers, Fire tablets to Deals Buttons, we'll help you decide which Amazon device is right for your needs – and show you the best deals on each to save you a wad of cash. Jump to Amazon's Prime Day homepages: US | UK | India | Australia Amazon Echo voice assistants Remember that future you were promised by sci-fi TV shows, in which you could chat to a disembodied computer voice and they would do everything for you? Well, it's here, sort of. While Amazon's voice assistant Alexa is not exactly Knight Rider's KITT, it does let you play music, search the web, create to-do lists, order online shopping, get the latest weather reports, and control popular smart-home products, all just by talking to one of Amazon's Echo speakers. There are many reasons why you might want one of these smart wireless speakers in your home. Most obviously, the more you can make your home life easier and more streamlined, the more time you have to get your work done and relax afterwards. It's also kind of fun to do things like turning on lights just by talking. Furthermore, if you work in web design, it's vital to start getting your head around these kinds of interfaces, because designing for voice is likely to be a big part of your work in the near-future, if it's not already. In this first section of our Amazon device guide, we run through the different versions of Amazon's Echo smart speakers, so you can decide which is the best for your needs. The original Echo is still a great entry point into smart speakers The standard way to getting started with the Amazon Echo ecosystem, the Echo is a very capable and good value smart speaker. If you’re looking for a voice-activated device that will perform a range of tasks, from adding things to your calendar to ordering a takeaway, then this is a very capable and reliable device. The sound is basic, but decent enough for such tasks, although if you want to play a lot of music, you might prefer to connect it to a better quality speaker via Bluetooth or the 3.5mm jack. You can even use it to control smart home devices, from lights to thermostats, although like all the products on this list except for the Echo plus, that will need to happen via each device’s own smart home hub. The Echo Dot is small and cheap, but with the same functionality as the Echo Not sure about whether this whole Alexa thing will work for you? Then the Echo Dot is the cheapest way to try it out. A nice-looking little device, that’s small enough to fit into your pocket, this comes in a much lower price than the Amazon Echo. But it retains almost all its voice recognition features, so it’s a great way to try out this tech and see what it can do for you. The sound is the weakest in the range though, and a little too tinny for listening to music, so you almost certainly will want to connect it up to another speaker for that. The Echo Show has a lovely 7-inch screen, it's handy for all sorts of info and video calls, too Frustrated by the idea of only using voice to communicate with your smart speaker? The Amazon Echo Show comes with a seven-inch touchscreen and a 5 megapixel camera, which means you have many more ways to interact with Alexa. You can also use it to make video calls to friends and family with Echo devices. The sound is better than that of the standard Amazon Echo, although there’s still room for improvement when compared with Bluetooth speakers designed mainly for playing music. But brilliantly, when you play tracks through its Prime Music service, the lyrics to many (if not all) of the songs appear on your screen. Keep your children safe with the Echo Dot Kids, and teach them some manners too This child-friendly version of the Echo Dot is essentially the same device, but with the features simplified for the younger audience. It comes in a colourful rubber case and is accompanied by a colourful comic-book guide. Plus the Echo Dot Kids version of Alexa behaves more like a parent, praising the child, for example, for saying please and thank you, and shielding them from inappropriate content. Not yet released in the UK at time of writing, the device comes with a year's free subscription to the FreeTime Unlimited kid-focused service in the US, which includes curated content from partners like Nickelodeon, National Geographic and Disney, including things like family friendly radio stations and tailored alarms from well-known characters. The Echo Spot has a small screen that's okay for limited tasks but you wouldn't want to do anything complicated on it The Amazon Echo Spot is a mini-version of the Show, but comes with a 2.5-inch circular screen instead of a 7-inch rectangular one. It's not really the right size or shape for watching video, then, but it’s fine for reading messages and clockfaces, or for making video calls. The smaller speaker means that sound isn’t quite as good either. But it functions well at what it does, and its size might be considered an advantage in terms of portability, meaning you can use it around the home, from kitchen to bedroom with the minimum of fuss. The Echo Plus offers smart home functionality in one box The Amazon Echo Plus looks pretty similar to the standard Amazon Echo, but unlike all the other Echo device on this list, it has the ZigBee wireless protocol built in, so can connect up to your smart home network directly. Note that ZigBee is one of many smart home standards, although it is supported by many of the best known smart devices, including Philips Hue lights, IKEA's smart lights, Samsung SmartThings, Osram Lightify and Honeywell's thermostat. The sound of the Plus is also by far the best in the range, although it’s still not quite up to the quality of a high-end audio speaker. Amazon Kindle e-readers Whether you're on the train to work, travelling to a design event, such as our own web design conference Generate, or just relaxing on a beach holiday, it's difficult to pick up your smartphone without getting sucked into social media or work emails. But it's not good for your mental health or overall productivity to never switch off from all that noise. So why not instead invest in an e-reader? The Amazon Kindle range has a number of different models to suit different people’s needs. Read on to find out which is best for you. The basic Kindle provides a good reading experience in most environments With the Amazon Kindle range, you very much get what you pay for, and the Kindle is the most basic, and consequently cheapest, e-reader of the bunch. With 4G of storage you can carry thousands of ebooks around with you wherever you go. And the touchscreen is perfectly usable, although there’s no backlight. So you might have difficulty reading it in dim lighting, as well as bright sunlight, and there’s no 3G functionality. That said, those are all compromises you may well be willing to make for the lower price. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is a big step up in quality from the basic model The Kindle Paperwhite is a clear step up from the basic Kindle. There isn’t just a blacklight, but a beautifully sharp HD display that looks striking close to the look of real paper. You’ll find it a lot easier to read ebook is in bright sunlight than with the Kindle. And in fact, over several hours the sharper text, using Amazon’s custom font Bookerly, will be less of a strain of your eyes, whatever the lighting conditions. The Amazon Voyage offers an premium screen reading experience with some nifty features The Kindle Voyage was originally a significant step up from the Paperwhite in terms of screen quality. But since the latter got an upgrade to 300ppi, the benefits of paying a higher price for the Voyage have lessened. That said, its Cara e-paper screen does offer a premium reading experience, it’s the lightest Kindle in the range, and it is also, in our view the most elegantly designed. There’s also a cool feature called PagePress, which lets you turn a page just by pressing a little harder on the screen. The Amazon Kindle Oasis is all you could ever want in an e-reader, and more The only all-metal Kindle (it’s made of aluminium), the Amazon Kindle Oasis is waterproof so it’s a safe choice for reading in the bath or swimming pool, or just if you get clumsy around drinks. There’s a massive amount of storage (either 8GB or 32GB), so you’re never likely to run out of space. You can listen to Audible audiobooks, although you’ll need a Bluetooth speaker or headphones, as there’s no headphone jack. And of course, the larger (7-inch screen) and excellent backlight offer a top-class reading experience, including the inclusion of physical buttons for page turning. Amazon Fire tablets If you want a tablet for illustration or design work then you'll probably want to spend serious money on something like a Wacom or iPad Pro. But if you just want something for doing a bit of light surfing, or to watch a movie on in bed? Then you can save some serious money by opting for one of Amazon’s low cost Fire tablets instead. Read on to find out which ones best for you. The Amazon Fire 7 is the basic starter model of the media tablet range The Fire 7 is the cheapest of Amazon’s Fire tablets, but there are reasons for that. Most notably, it doesn’t have an HD screen, and the camera is pretty low quality. Beyond that, though, it does what you need it to do, the battery life is good and the low price makes it very tempting buy for a basic entry-level media and entertainment tablet. The Amazon Fire Kids tablet will protect your little ones from harmful content If there’s one eternal truth in life it’s that children break things. A lot. And so the Amazon Fire Kids version comes in a durable case that should protect it being dropped, and if that doesn’t work you’re protected by a no-questions-asked two-year warranty. The Fire Kids also comes with a year’s free subscription to Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited service, which provides access to 15,000 kid-friendly books, videos, educational apps and games. Plus the software is specially designed to prevent your little ones from accessing inappropriate content, and you can even set screen-time limits. With great storage and battery life, the Fire HD 8 offers superb value for a hi-def tablet If you want a tablet that’s signicantly cheaper than an iPad but still offers HD quality, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is a great choice. It also comes with Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa. Okay, so it’s cheap and plastic looking, and the camera isn’t much good, but otherwise it’s fine for browsing the internet, watching streaming videos and other well, and you’re unlikely to find a better bargain anywhere else. The Fire HD 10 tablet offers the best picture quality, the biggest screen and the highest speed in the range If you’re looking for the top of the range Fire tablet, then the Amazon Fire HD 10 is the one for you. This tablet boasts a bigger screen (10.1in) and better quality picture (Full HD 1080p) than the HD 8, not to mention more RAM (2GB), which enables it to run faster. A shame, then, that it still looks cheap and has a poor quality camera. But with a price that’s still significantly lower than an iPad, that may not put you off buying what is essentially a very media tablet. The Fire HD 8 Kids is a good choice for older kids who'll appreciate hi-def content For most smaller children, the Fire Kids tablet (above) is all you need. Yet what about when your kids get to an age when they’re demanding hi-def video and gaming content, but you still want the rugged build, two-year warranty, and year’s supply of Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited service? Then there’s the Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids, which comes with a larger screen (8 inches), more storage (32GB) and a bigger battery life (12 hours) to keep up with all that HD content. All of which, in our eyes, justifies the higher price nicely. Amazon Fire TV streaming products In 2018 there's a huge range of ways to stream TV and video to our big screens. But our sets aren't always able to keep up with ever changing technologies and services. In which case, you may find these Amazon devices provide a useful bridge between your telly and your streaming platform. The Amazon Fire TV offers a handy way to get 4K onto your big screen Amazon Fire TV is a video streaming device that allows you to play 4K and HDR content on your 4K TV. There’s also support for Dolby Atmos. It comes with a remote plus a tiny cable that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port. Your TV doesn’t power it, though: you also need to connect a mains adapter for that. But the main question is why you would need it at all, since most 4K and HDR TVs come with their own apps to stream content. The most likely answer is that they either crash a lot in practice, or you don’t like the way they work, both of which seem to be surprisingly common complaints. The Fire TV stick looks like a USB and you can use it to stream video to your set The Amazon Fire TV Stick looks like a USB stick and plugs into your TV, enabling you to stream content to it. It’s powered by a micro USB port or, if your TV doesn’t have that functionality, a separate power adapter is provided. It has any easy to use interface, and you can even operate it using Alexa. It’s very much geared to promoting Amazon’s own video but also supports other services like Netflix and the BBC iPlayer, as well as music services like Prime Music and Spotify. However, it only goes up to 1080pHD and offers no 4K support. The new Fire TV Cube is an all-purpose Alexa assistant that also streams to your TV The Amazon Fire TV Cube is a speaker and streaming device in one, essentially combining best of the Echo Dot and the Fire TV. This means you can use it to do all the tasks associated with a voice assistant, and stream 4K HDR content at 60 frames per second to your 4K TV. As our homes start groaning under the weight and complexity of all our different devices, for Amazon to bring all these features together on one device just makes things easier for anyone seeking far-field voice control for both their 4K TV and general Alexa tasks. At time of writing it was on sale in the US but we were still waiting for a UK release date. Security cameras Want to keep an eye on your property while you're away from home, and keep video recordings of any suspicious behaviour? One of these two products, both from Amazon, might be able help... Amazon Cloud Cam is a security camera that can do some neat stuff over Wi-Fi Want a security camera that will record in 1080p HD and stream live to your mobile or tablet? Then the Amazon Cloud Cam is a good option that comes at a very affordable price. Motion sensors can be set to notify you via your smartphone, and you can always access the last 24 hours of recordings (longer periods of storage are available for a monthly payment). And as you’d expect from an Amazon device, you can access the system using Alexa via various Amazon devices. But the headline feature is the Amazon Key, which allows you to open your home to delivery people on a one-time basis. If you’ve had bad experiences with packages being left with neighbours, it’s an intriguing idea you might well want to experiment with, although it’s only available in certain US locations at the time of writing. The Blink XT Home Security Camera System is so easy to set up, although it's a little limited in use Amazon isn’t putting all its security eggs in one basket. As well as the Cloud Cam (above), late last year it acquired security camera company Blink to add to its portfolio, and they’ve since released the Blink XT range, which are unsurprisingly integrated with the Amazon Echo. What’s great about these cameras is they’re so easy to set up. They’re wireless and so all you have to do is pop in some batteries, choose where to place them (there’s an included mounting plate with a single screw), scan the QR code with your smartphone and you’re all set. The camera talks to a standard base unit which is powered by the mains. They’re waterproof and batteries last an impressive two years without needing replacing. That said, the main downside is that you only get two hours’ free cloud storage, with no option to extend this via a subscription. Amazon Dash Buttons Amazon Dash Buttons aim to take the fuss out of purchasing your favourite items The Amazon Dash Button is a small physical device that you can be use to reorder household products you use regularly. For example, you might place a Dash Button near your washing machine and set it up, using your smartphone, to reorder your favourite brand of washing powder. So if that’s Tide, then you want the Tide Dash Button. Whenever you run out, you just need to press the button and it will automatically order you more via your Wi-Fi. If you prefer to shop around and compare brands then Dash Buttons are not going to be for you. But if you just want to streamline all that and make more time for the finer things in life, you might find them quite handy. And anyway, at present, you get a $4.99 credit every time you buy a $4.99 button, making them essentially free, so there’s no harm in giving them a try. Related articles: 5 hidden Amazon Prime gems The best desks for your home office or studio The most ergonomic office chairs View the full article

Today I am going to show you how to draw a dog. Even though the skeletons of dogs and cats are quite similar, especially in the simplified version I'll be drawing, it is good to remember that these animals move and look very different from each other. In this tutorial I will guide you through the whole process of how to draw a dog. We’ll be sketching an anatomically correct portrait of a German Shepherd, starting with sketches and moving on to drawing the skeleton, muscles and fur. If you follow all the steps you should be able to draw any dog in no time. For more advice, take a look at our roundup of tutorials exploring how to draw animals. 01. Observe in quick sketches Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Many people – especially those who are new to art – disregard the sketching phase and consider it a waste of time. Often they will draw one or two sketches and call it a day. It's very easy to be tempted to speed up this stage. After all, details are much more fun to draw, aren't they? The problem is, if we’re too eager to get to the details, it's easy to ignore the overall anatomy. And trust me on this: beautifully rendered fur on a creature that only partially resembles a dog will impress no one. If you own a dog yourself, observe how they walk, run, jump, sit or lie down. You may think you know how they move, but you really won't until you consciously observe the animal. You can also google some photos of dogs and use them as reference to quickly sketch different poses. Try not to spend time on details – the sketching phase is not about that. 02. Find the skeleton Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Focusing on the skeleton is a key part of mastering how to draw a dog. Even though in the end no one is going to see it, it's essential to understand the skeleton and be able to draw it in proportion. As you become more proficient you may start drawing the skeleton more loosely or perhaps even be able to skip this step altogether because by then the proportions will be engraved in your memory. Before you move on to drawing the skeleton in your chosen pose, a good exercise would be to draw the structure on top of your previous quick sketches. This will help you become more familiar with the idea of a skeleton underneath all that cute fur that dogs are covered in. 03. Draw the skeleton Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image As you sketch dogs in different positions you will soon realise which one appeals to you the most. Perhaps you'll choose to draw a dog napping, or sitting. For this tutorial, I’m going to use a walking pose as this shows the animal and its anatomy in the best possible way. Loosely draw the skeleton of a dog in your chosen pose. I tend to draw the skull, ribcage and pelvis bone, and use single lines to indicate the spine, tail and limbs. Dogs’ skeletons have many similarities with human skeletons. You can clearly see the equivalent of human knees, elbows, feet and hands. Dogs’ legs are not that different from our arms and legs – the only real difference is in the proportions of the bones. If you look closely you'll see that dogs walk on the balls and toes of their feet, sort of like a woman in high heels. Notice how opposing front and back legs carrying most of the weight of the dog. They are firmly placed on the ground, while the other two barely touch the floor. If you work in traditional media, use very light strokes for the skeleton, so that you can erase it later. If you work digitally, draw each step on a separate layer. 04. Draw in the muscles Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image The point of this step is to establish the anatomy beneath all the fur. German Shepherds are not particularly fluffy, so the muscles will be visible through the outer coat. However, if you choose a breed such as an Afghan Hound or Bernese Mountain Dog you'll face a slightly bigger challenge finding the muscles under all the fur. It is important to understand how the muscles sit under the skin. Understanding the general rules will give you the tools you need to draw any dog, regardless of the hair length. 05. Focus on the face Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Now it’s time to refine the drawing, beginning with the head. We want to start using stronger, more decisive lines at this point. It's very important to observe the correct position of the eyes. If you’re drawing a dog’s head straight-on, it’s fairly easy to maintain the correct proportions between the eyes and nose. However, drawing the face in a slightly turned view can be much trickier. Not only are the eyes now at a different angle, which changes their shape and size, but their position in relation to the nose also changes. It's important to remember that the eye that is further away from the viewer will not be the same size as the one in the foreground. Perspective means the closer eye will be slightly bigger. 06. Draw in the muzzle Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Like many other dogs, German Shepherds have quite long muzzles. Even pugs, which don't have prominent muzzles, don’t have entirely flat faces. The length of the dog’s muzzle will vary depending on its breed, so make sure to observe this carefully. Making the muzzle too long or too short will drastically alter the likeness of the dog. Remember that in a three-quarter view, the muzzle will appear shorter. Pay close attention to the shape and size of the nose as well. Most dog's noses look quite similar, but depending on the breed they can be bigger or smaller in relation to the rest of the head. If the dog has an open mouth they will usually show their teeth, gums and tongue, which is typically quite long and flexible. 07. Move on to the ears Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image As with the eyes, it is necessary to pay close attention to perspective when drawing ears. Observe the shape of the head and how the ears are attached to it. The ears are generally a mirror image of each other, but even when painting uneven ears (some dogs have one droopy ear, for example) they will stay a consistent shape at their base. In this example I have altered one of the ears on purpose to show you what I mean. 08. Refine the body Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image We already have a good idea of the musculature of the body, but on top of the muscles there is skin and fur. In some cases this can drastically change the look of the dog (think about how different certain dogs can look after they’ve been groomed). German Shepherds are still hairy in places, so where necessary use smaller strokes to indicate fur. The dog I'm drawing has thicker fur around its neck, under its belly and on its tail, but on the rest of his body, especially the head and legs, his hair is shorter. Avoid using the same kind of strokes all over unless it's a short-haired breed. When you're done, erase the underlying lines if working traditionally or turn off the skeleton/muscle layers if you’re working digitally. 09. Consider fur patterns Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Every dog is a little different, and their colours can vary greatly. This can still be shown even in a black-and-white sketch. Use varying pencil strokes when shading to ensure the coat pattern doesn't look flat. My dog’s hair is mainly brown and black. I didn't want to recreate all of the tonal values, so instead I sketched in only the black parts of the fur. I also used lighter strokes along the dog's back to indicate a light source hitting the fur. 10. Add final touches Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Finally, I added some subtle strokes along the dog’s legs to give a suggestion of muscles showing underneath the fur. The idea is to convey enough information to give the dog character without having to shade the entire silhouette. The last touch is to add some shadows under the paws and voilà – you drew a dog! Read more: How to draw a cat The best pencils: colouring, drawing and sketching Best practice advice for capturing human anatomy View the full article

Developed with input from some of the world’s leading designers, and based on Apple Design Award-winning technology, Affinity Designer is the most ambitious creative app developed for the iPad. For a limited period, it is on sale in the App Store with 30 per cent off. That means right now you can download a copy for just $13.99 / £13.99 / €14,99 (subject to local currency variations). To find out more, take a look at the launch video below. “Affinity Designer for iPad takes all the power and precision of our desktop version and converts it into a truly stunning immersive experience," says Serif MD Ashley Hewson. "We've packed everything you'd expect from professional design software into an app that you can just pick up and take wherever you go, totally free from the confines of your desk.” Developing Affinity Designer for iPad meant totally reimagining the way graphic design works on a screen. The team spent months working closely with leading artists, illustrators and designers to fine-tune the development of the app. Affinity Designer for iPad takes you right through from sketch to completion The app has your entire workflow covered, from making initial sketches, to fleshing out a design in vector, to handing over the final design. To be truly useful, it’s vital the app can slot seamlessly into a professional workflow. With that in mind, Affinity Designer’s modern, powerful export engine covers all the major file types, whether a project is destined for print, online or another app. “Having the freedom to work from a sketch to a finished vectorised artwork all without any cables, in one app, is a dream come true and a huge time-saver,” comments illustrator and graphic designer Will Schorer. Pinpoint precision Velvet-smooth vector tools mean you can create curves with pinpoint precision. And in a real game-changer for vector drawing, pencil stabilisation allows you to produce the smoothest and most accurate lines possible drawing using freehand pencil and brush tools. What’s more, you can zoom in by over 100 million per cent, ensuring complete accuracy in your work. Affinity Designer for iPad comes with around 100 brushes built in, covering pretty much every requirement, and making it simple to add rich media texture to your designs. Pencil stabilisation means you can create the smoothest lines, completely freehand It is also unique in that it’s able to switch seamlessly between vector to raster work. For illustrator and graphic designer Juan Manuel Orozco, this is a real game-changer. “I’ve fallen in love,” he smiles. “I can ink in vector and colour in raster all in one portable app, with no layer limitations. It’s totally changed my workflow.” Naturally, Affinity Designer for iPad is optimised for the very latest iPad technology, including intuitive multi-touch gestures. The iPad’s advanced Metal graphics processing delivers unreal speed and lag-free real-time edits, even when working with the biggest files, while Apple Pencil dynamics like tilt, angle and pressure bring smoothness and stability to your curves and colours. Finally, the Drag and Drop feature that forms part of the iPad’s Files app enables you to bring projects in and out of Affinity Designer at a touch. “Affinity apps are tailored for today’s technology … that means they’re fast, powerful and precise, with total lack of bloat," says Hewson. "On iPad, the powerful graphics processing really helps us deliver eye-popping performance.” Advanced layer controls The tool supports all major formats, 16-bit per channel editing, end-to-end CMYK, ICC colour management and spot colours for professional printing. Boasting 22 non-destructive adjustment layers that preview instantly and can be edited any time, and with full support for masks, stacks and clipping layers, Affinity Designer for iPad offers the most advanced layer controls available in any vector-based app. Furthermore, its unrivalled text engine puts the power to create exquisite typography at your fingertips. The most advanced layer controls in any vector-based app Everything you need for end-to-end UI design workflow is on hand, including unlimited artboards, a powerful Symbols tool and full asset management. The app works seamlessly with the desktop version (sold separately), which won a coveted Apple Design Award in 2015. And it marks the second Serif app for the Apple tablet – image editor Affinity Photo is Apple’s reigning iPad App of the Year. Download Affinity Photo for iPad now to save a massive 30 per cent (usual price: $19.99/£19.99/21,99€). The same 30 per cent discount is also being applied across Affinity’s range of apps and official Workbooks. View the full article

Plenty of summer blockbusters and event television shows are of the effects-driven variety, filled with incredible computer-generated characters that still retain a sense of photorealism. But in recent times, more and more films and television series are featuring effects of a different kind – invisible ones. They are the effects you might not always notice, although sometimes they involve just as much effort to ensure they remain unseen. Invisible effects can be used to place characters on a fast-moving train, to seamlessly replace the facades of old famous buildings, or even to make a Hollywood star skate on ice. In fact, these were just some of the tasks given to studios Cinesite, Eight VFX, Union VFX, Rodeo FX and Framestore as they delivered invisible effects work for The Commuter; I, Tonya; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; The Greatest Showman and Darkest Hour. Here we explore how a whole wave of impressive seamless effects made it into those films. 01. Liam Neeson on a train in The Commuter Liam Neeson’s character in The commuter leaps between carriages. The action was filmed on a bluescreen partial carriage set at Pinewood studios on a raised 15-metre platform. Cinesite then added in a digital train and moving background environment While director Jaume Collet-Serra’s train-ride thriller The Commuter starring Liam Neeson includes its fair share of carriage crashes and explosions, the film also contains a surprisingly high number of invisible effects shots involving digital trains, set extensions, plate stitches and exterior environments. That work was overseen by production visual effects supervisor Steve Begg, with Cinesite delivering 860 shots as lead vendor. A large portion of these shots were exterior composites of the environment the train is travelling in, often seen through the windows of the carriage. Neeson and fellow actors were filmed on a bluescreen train set on a hydraulic rig to provide movement, while a massive effort was required to acquire environment reference and then to rebuild that digitally. “To create these environments and help us plan the visual route, Steve Begg and his team went in and around New York and filmed 360-degree elements from the back of a truck, as well as from trains and a helicopter,” outlines Cinesite visual effects supervisor Stephane Paris. “Whenever we see the exterior of the moving train in this section of the movie it is CG, as well as the environment it’s travelling in, apart from a few shots filmed from a helicopter. The daylight environment shots of the train formed the main body of our work – approximately 400 shots!” Even a seemingly standard shot in The Commuter, looking from outside the train to the interior, involved a digital version of the carriages and environment At one point, Neeson’s character becomes embroiled in a fight against his adversaries. It is played out in a single long shot that was actually 14 different takes stitched together. “An effort was made by the crew to line up subsequent shots to match the positions of the actors and camera in previous shots,” explains Paris. “However, the perspective of the carriage, camera zooms and background deformation were often not smooth and it was necessary to re-project the carriage interior onto geometry to give more camera control for the multiple required transitions.” Some of the weapons seen in the fight, including a guitar and an axe, were CG, as were smashed glass and window elements. This was in addition to the digital exterior environment and even portions of the train. “Also,” notes Paris, “digital versions of the characters fighting were created to aid the transitions between the plates, as well as the environments and train infrastructure in many instances, so that the camera could move freely through the action and the divisions between the carriages. The stunt actors’ faces were replaced with the actors in several, more physically demanding shots.” 02. Face replacement in I, Tonya For I, Tonya, Margot Robbie underwent a facial capture scan so that Eight VFX could perform face replacement for parts of the ice skating scenes I, Tonya, directed by Craig Gillespie, also employed face replacement, which was crucial to telling the true story of the notorious Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) implicated in the ‘hit’ against rival Nancy Kerrigan. First, there would need to be some extensive skating scenes with Robbie, who is not a professional ice skater, portraying Harding on the ice and pulling off her classic triple axel move. That’s where Eight VFX came in. Their methodology was to employ a seamless face replacement approach for Robbie, and then also fill out arenas with crowd extensions. “Margot actually did five months of skating training and was able to do a huge amount of the skating herself,” says Eight VFX visual effects producer Juliet Tierney, who worked with visual effects supervisor Jean-Marc Demmer on the film. “For the more complex parts of the routines and jumps, there were skating doubles who were filmed with tracking markers on their face and head. For some shots, after the double had skated, a bluescreen area was set up near the rink so that we could film Margot’s facial expressions for those tricks. For other shots, where no bluescreen takes were available or the skating was too fast, full CG face replacement was used.” The resulting facial capture scans and digital models This involved facial capture using a photogrammetry rig supplied by EISKO. Robbie was captured with four different make-up looks. Once the data was processed, it provided Eight VFX with both facial geometry and textures. This was then brought into Maya for animators to rig and hand animate Margot’s facial expressions. Careful editing also meant that shots transitioned from Robbie starting and ending a routine while stunt performers and the face replacement was used for different parts of the scenes. Still, face replacement was only half the challenge. Harding’s routines take place in different locations, including at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Eight VFX had the rinks used for the shooting scanned, and then recreated them in CG. That way they could be populated with digital crowds and signage for the final sequences. Tierney is particularly proud of one three-minute shot that was created from three different shots. “The first and last shots have Margot skating, and the middle shot has face replacement. Because this is one final shot the middle plate had to be perfect so you can’t feel the difference between the real Margot and her CG double. We also rebuilt the stadium in CG, added CG crowd for the audience and gave the sequence its own look with anamorphic lens flares.” 03. Fawns and flames in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri A simple but subtle moment in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri involved the compositing of a fawn against bluescreen into a plate with Frances McDormand Best Picture Oscar nominee, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is director Martin McDonagh’s tale about a woman who, after her daughter is murdered and no culprit is found, calls out the police for inaction via three large advertising signs near her town. The small film still required some invisible visual effects work by Union VFX, including for when Mildred (played by Frances McDormand), encounters a fawn, and as opponents to her signs try to burn them down. A tender moment occurs as Mildred is tending to some flowers at the billboards and sees a fawn nearby. McDormand and the fawn were shot separately, with Union compositing the two elements together. “The trickiest thing was the fawn,” outlines Union visual effects supervisor Simon Hughes, “because basically we had to go to a different location where the animal trainers had deer and we had to set up a bluescreen there. And then we had to wait around for the right kind of lighting direction and for the deer to do things.” To heighten the sense of danger from billboard fires, Union VFX added both real and digital fire elements to these final shots A more complicated sequence has Mildred and her son trying to extinguish the billboards after they have been set on fire. Here, a combination of practical fire elements and digital fire made the shots possible. “Frances stood in position and we had some lighting rigs out of frame for interactive lighting,” says Hughes. “We also manage to actually squeeze a little bit of fire towards the edge of frame away from her. But then we also took Frances out and did an element shoot matching that camera position, setting the actual billboard on fire using flame bars and some paraffin on the face of the billboard. For the interaction with the fire extinguisher we resorted to CG fire, which we did in Houdini, and some smoke to come from the extinguisher.” 04. Not-so-showy VFX in The Greatest Showman Seamless digital extensions of live-action photography are a mainstay of invisible effects work, including for this fiery scene from The Greatest Showman Several VFX vendors contributed shots to Michael Gracey’s debut feature, The Greatest Showman, which tells the story of P.T. Barnum and his founding of the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Production visual effects supervisor Mark O. Forker oversaw these studios, including Rodeo FX, which took on sequences involving a mix of fantastical cityscapes and scenes that required placing characters in sets that didn’t exist, and even burning down P.T. Barnum’s theatre. As part of his stylistic approach to the film, Gracey decided to partly realise the cityscapes with miniatures. Rodeo then augmented the shots with painterly skies. “All the miniatures were built in 3D in the proper scale and then 3D printed,” states Rodeo visual effects supervisor Martin Lipmann. “We placed them on a huge table that was lit from underneath; as live footage was going to be added to these shots, everything had to be to scale. We shot this sequence with a 30-foot Technodolly. We reprogrammed the moves from the previs on set. With the repetitive movement we were able to create different lighting scenarios, from dark to light to moonlight and sun.” The burning Barnum theatre used a number of invisible effects tricks. A mix of custom practical fire on gas pipes matching the right window measurements served as elements. The strength of the flames on the pipes was controlled to re-create the progression of fire through the sequence. “We also used CG fire for the lighting interaction with the CG extension of the building, and CG ashes and embers to connect all the shots together,” says Lipmann. “The collapse of the building was done in Houdini and comp’d in Nuke.” 05: The portrayal of war in Darkest Hour This God’s-eye view – all cG – of a bombing run in Darkest Hour is part of a long shot that ultimately ends on the face of a dead soldier In Darkest Hour, Joe Wright’s account of Winston Churchill’s (Gary Oldman) time during the early days of World War II, visual effects had a sparse, but again, crucial role in the storytelling process. The filmmakers, which included VFX studio Framestore, looked closely to 1940s archive imagery as reference for shots of buildings of the day, as well as a number of classic war-time scenes. But this wasn’t a film full of massive battle scenes. One initial challenge for Framestore was adding dirt to period buildings. “We Lidar-scanned all of the main buildings, including Downing Street and The Treasury, as it was the only way to get a very precise template,” explains Framestore visual effects supervisor Stephane Naze. “Then we built a proper CG model and applied textures on it. The tricky part was to film everything in camera without any bluescreen – it meant a lot of work in roto for all the characters and extras to be able to modify the buildings in the background.” It took three weeks to render the shot with more than 50 per cent of the machines allocated for this film – no room for mistakes! Stephane Naze The studio’s other main challenge came from battlefield shots, mainly aerials showcasing carpet bombing with banks of explosions. The timing of these was locked in 2D to provide quick iterations, with the assembly of all the elements finished in CG. Naze says the toughest shot to achieve was a scene on the French battlefield, which finishes on the face of a soldier. “Everything is CG until you finish the camera movement on the dead soldier. The goal was to get a very transparent transition and not be disconnected by this dramatic moment in the story." "Also technically, the shot was very challenging by the nature of the effect – big explosions, flames, fire, a lot of research to be accurate. It took three weeks to render the shot with more than 50 per cent of the machines allocated for this film – no room for mistakes!” This article was originally published in issue 235 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 235 here or subscribe here. Related articles: Black Panther's epic VFX Big VFX on a budget The secrets of Firefly's VFX View the full article

You're reading 3D Scenes in Web Design and How To Master the Technique, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Videos, images, illustrations, minimalistic canvases, WebGL-powered animations, panoramas and 3D scenes are popular choices for creating memorable hero sections. While the first four are standard methods that are getting a bit old, the last three are modern solutions that ooze … View the full article

Ever used a tool day-in, day-out, but only recently discovered its full potential? That's exactly what happened to artist Jane Ng, who found out that you can use Photoshop's eyedropper tool to pick colours outside of Photoshop CC itself. In what might be one of the most succinct Photoshop tutorials we've ever seen, Ng was shown how to use the eyedropper tool via Twitter. After tweeting her frustration at being unable to pick colours beyond Photoshop into the void of social media, she was amazed to hear from designer Timothy Kempf that you can actually do just that! His revelatory tweet read: "You have to *start* the color selection within PS, but it can *end* wherever you're able to move your mouse to." 59 free Photoshop actions The news prompted Ng and other Photoshop users to freak out. New colour picking possibilities were now available to them, and all it took was a single tweet to be shown the way. Ng's original tweet was: And the reaction to Kempf's revelation on Twitter (request to follow him to see the original tweet) is detailed below: Related articles: 60 Photoshop shortcuts to speed up your workflow 5 best laptops for Photoshop The 60 best free Photoshop brushes View the full article

A Powerpoint presentation can be boring to sit through, no matter how many fun visual aids you try to incorporate. To liven up any presentation and make it an engaging experience for your viewers as possible, try Cloud Animator Advanced. This tool lets you integrate videos, music, and audio into your presentation, creating an animated project that is far more interesting than slide after slide. You can even add interesting visual effects to create an even more eye-catching presentation. Cloud Animator Advanced also makes it easy to collaborate with team members, download projects without a wireless connection, and post presentations to social media platforms seamlessly. Cloud Animator Advanced can be yours for one year for just $19. Related articles: How to be a better speaker: presenting and pitching tips 13 great tools for pitching to clients 3 top tips for pitching over Skype View the full article

As the social platform of choice for many designers and illustrators, Instagram demands a creative eye and an innovative touch for a profile to really stand out. And ever since its website redesign in 2015 – much larger images, in crisp, clean rows of three – people have been taking advantage of the canvas it offers. Breaking out of the constraints of the grid layout, creatives are developing expansive photo-led designs and scrolling banner artworks. The designs interact playfully with the standard Instagram layout, raising a smile in the viewer and achieving much greater impact than individual images alone ever could. Sometimes you can attract attention by going the other way, of course. US rap star A$AP Rocky was a leading exponent of this approach, having collaborated with artist Robert Gallardo on a work of abstract Insta art. But he hit the headlines in January 2018 by wiping the slate clean, replacing his entire feed with a single image, captioned 'REVIVAL', before his new album release. There are many ways to approach your Instagram layout, but the most impressive see the whole feed as one canvas. Read on to be inspired by five particularly clever and creative Instagram layouts... 01. rickandmortyrickstaverse When one canvas isn't enough: the 'Rickstaverse' invites you to explore the scene through 'warp' links to other feeds An expansive banner canvas is one thing, but Rick and Morty's 'Rickstaverse' takes things to the extreme. Kicking off with a macro, outer-space view of a scene, featuring planets, spacecraft, an orbiting medical centre and more, things really get interesting when you tap through to different sections of the artwork. Zoom in to explore different areas, and use 'warp' links within the images to jump to different locations. The image captions provide instructions, as well as maintaining the surreal, quirky Rick and Morty tone of voice throughout. This is a work of Insta genius, and well worth the considerable effort it clearly took to build. 02. micahnotfound Micah Milner's stunning Insta feed blends many different illustration styles together in one huge vertical canvas When it comes to expansive, continuous artistic canvasses on Instagram, you won't find many better examples than Micah Milner, aka micahnotfound – a VR artist, and member of the collective ART404. Milner's clients include Adobe, Pantone and Google, and his inspiring Instagram layout shows what attracted them. There are over 400 posts at the time of writing, presented as one continuous piece of artwork – a broad range of styles and compositions, seamlessly integrated into a huge vertical canvas. It's not quite infinite-scrolling, but give the man time... 03. mishanonoo_show For her S/S '16 Collection, Misha Nonoo flipped Instagram 90 degrees to give herself a scrolling landscape canvas Tall and thin canvasses such as micahnotfound's can be tricky to work with, especially when you're telling a photographic story that works best in landscape, rather than blending together different artworks. Step up Misha Nonoo, who provides a fresh perspective on banner-style Instagram layouts. Fashion designer Nonoo used her Instagram account to present her S/S '16 Collection as a continuously scrolling look book, with 180 images presented over 60 rows. The first two rows simply say 'Turn your device horizontally to view the Insta-show'. It's a smart, eye-catching, but also extremely simple approach. Nonoo didn't stop there, and went on to present her subsequent Fall '16 Collection as Snapchat's first-ever 'Live Lookbook', translated to her Insta feed as a series of video demos. 04. anderson._paak Collage artist Simone Cihlar created the visual for US rapper Anderson Paak's quirky Insta feed Like fellow US rapper A$AP Rocky (pre-deletion), Anderson Paak collaborated with an illustrator to create an expansive visual canvas for his Instagram layout – in this case, collage artist Simone Cihlar, who was tasked with incorporating various images of the singer/songwriter into the artwork. There are plenty of tongue-in-cheek touches – at points, Paak is riding a turtle, patting a polar bear, surfing with penguins, and reclining naked on a tiger-skin rug, with a fistful of dollars and a glass of bubbly. It's a treat to scroll through, and shows the value that a close collaboration with a talented illustrator can have for a brand or celebrity engaging with social media. 05. nubleys Nick Hubley's Insta feed is a conceptual, monochrome rabbit hole that keeps you scrolling to find meaning Our final example on this list of inspiring Instagram layouts is this enchanting black-and-white feed from Canadian web designer, "community-drive wordsmith" and communication strategist Nick Hubley. Hubley's business offering may seem complex, but his Insta biog is enigmatically simple – and scrolling down the feed takes your through various monochrome, collaged scenes, both rural and urban, interspersed with phrases such as 'try something new', 'just hit go' and 'believe in yourself'. It draws you in and piques your curiosity as a piece of experimental artwork in its own right, and with over 500 posts in total you'll feel like you're sucked down a conceptual rabbit hole by the end. Related articles: How to make money on Instagram as a creative 9 lessons from the world's top viral images The essential guide to tools for designers View the full article

Microsoft patches 17 critical bugs and 34 important bugs as part of its monthly security bulletin. View the full article

The company issued fixes for 112 vulnerabilities in products spanning from Flash Player, Acrobat and Reader, Experience Manager, to Adobe Connect. View the full article

The softness and luminosity of pastel sticks make them the ideal choice for backgrounds in my pastel drawings; whereas pastel pencils (when sharpened to a fine point) have two types of lead for precision: hard and soft. However, I personally find these attributes are not as important as colour range. How to draw a landscape with pastels I work mainly from photographs. This allows me to make any changes to the drawn composition should I wish to do so. In choosing this particular shot, I was able to capture a sense of the tiger's presence, which I try to convey with all my work. Not only did it present great tonal values, but also areas of really dark contrast against the lighter shades. The combination of these aspects always makes for a great painting. As I select my colours ready for my painting, I use spare pieces of Pastelmat as testers to find the correct shades I wish to use. Once I've started, I never use a colour I have not already selected, as a small amount of a new shade would stand out in the painting. I always use Pastelmat for my pastel work – the combination of this surface with pastel pencils is ideal for showing off the effectiveness of the medium. For this piece, I use the following materials: Anthracite Pastelmat 360 gsm Winsor & Newton Artists' Soft Pastels (for the background) Hard Conté sticks (for the underpainting) Pastel pencils including Derwent, Faber-Castell and Caran D'ache Conté 630 White for the whiskers A HB Pencil for sketching 01. The original drawing Don't put too much detail into your initial sketch I use a general HB pencil to sketch the scene. I avoid a great deal of detail as I tend to remove the lines, using an eraser after transferring it to the Pastelmat. The lines show through the pastel using tracedown paper. 02. Start from a focal point Grab the viewer's attention by starting with the eyes I always start with the eye area as this is the focal point to any animal portrait painting. I begin with the white highlights first, and then add the palest colours proceeded by the darker shades in and around the pupil. Following the pupil, I leave gaps in the blackness of the eyelid for the white fur to drop down. I always find it's best to establish some of the tiger's black stripes in advance, as the white fur sits over the top of its edges. Next, I apply the green and ochre hues over the white in light fine strokes, finally continuing with the orange across the nose area. This area is then worked from dark to light – all using pastel pencils. 03. Establish head shape Work in a background edge first to show up the fine hairs Having established a starting point, I continue above the eye area. I apply a background edge using a soft pastel in black, to account for all the fine hairs that run off the tiger's contour – especially around the ears. After edging the ear from orange, ochre then to cream, the centre is a layer of black, ochre and green all smudged together. I then draw in lots of fine white curly lines, topped with a layer of green and cream. The lines are random, but run in the direction of the tiger's form and shape. 04. Colour the cheek Build up the side of the head, working in the direction of the fur Continuing with the side of the head, I use oranges, ochres, and creams once again, noting that the layers of fur are running downwards. I work on the section directly underneath the eye using greens and greys first. I then use white to cover the coloured layers using wavy lines, exposing the original underpainting. I add green to the whiter area, then lastly, I add a layer of orange – ready for the nose. 05. Get the nose right Take time to ensure that you capture the nose's structure properly The nose area is the most challenging as its structure spreads out into various directions. The line work runs above the eye, across at the bridge of the nose and curves in a downward stroke half way across the width of the nose, leaving a small triangular patch sitting centrally, just underneath the bridge. I follow this to the tip of the nose, using small light strokes of ochre and cream, continuing with darker shades in a circular motion to the side for depth. As I reach the fleshy part of the nose, I use grey before edging off in white, then I'm ready to apply the palest of pinks for the nose. Before applying the highlight of white, I add a dash of crimson and ochre, finishing off with black for the nostril. 06. Work on muzzle and mouth Don't forget the whiskers! I now begin working around the cat's muzzle, putting in all the black areas first, sweeping in with the white at a diagonal angle. However, I make sure to leave space for the whiskers, which I drew in with Conté 630 White. I then work on the shadow areas using grey and green in the lower corner of the bottom lip over the black. I now need to create a 2D effect on the teeth, so I paint a mixture of ochre and yellow on the backs of the teeth. Moving towards the middle, I paint in a yellow towards the front, then a cream on the bottom half, with a white at the tip of the teeth. Once I'm happy with the result, I blend a small amount of pink into the black behind the teeth. I then proceed to the chin, which is all fine strokes of white, plus yellow, green and grey for the shadow areas. 07. Focus on underpainting Use hard pastel sticks for your underpainting Having completed the main facial features, I now move onto the underpainting. This is not only a great way to define colour values and contrast, but also adds depth and body. Without it, the image would appear flat and lifeless. With the use of hard pastel sticks, I establish where the lights and darks are in my painting. This prepares the base ready for the details, which are drawn over the top in pastel pencil. 08. Add layers Give your picture depth by adding in layers of longer fur In this step, I paint the longer fur between the face and neck. Starting with the black stripe first, I quickly move onto the white layers, rubbing them lightly into the Pastelmat's base, as I add a layer of yellow and ochre part way through. Shamrock and grey in the shadow areas keep the luminosity in the pastel layers fresh and transparent. Finally, I add fine, light spontaneous strokes, some more heavy than others. 09. Emphasise contrast Bring in further depth by emphasising the tiger's natural contrasts I start with the darkest area, the middle section, so that I can build my colours from dark to light bearing in mind where the contrast is. I lay down black first – for the stripes as well as the shadow area. I then work towards the top with a barely visible, very dark orange. I use a golden yellow to highlight the edges of the fur and a lemon with an upward stroke as the fur reaches the top of the tiger. The highlight is cream, with several white strokes done with an edging of tiny orange pencil marks. The bottom pattern is a bit tricky: I use orange into cream at a diagonal angle, flicking the pencil out at the bottom edges and blending for a natural look. I add black and grey between each shape, running into white near the bottom. 10. Create the background Add a black background then soften it with orange, green and cream For the background, I cover the Pastelmat in a soft black pastel, which I rub in using an artist's sponge. I then work in a mixture of orange, green and cream directly to the side of the cat to add a warmth in the shadows – still using soft pastels with a circular motion. This article was originally published in Paint & Draw. Related articles: How to add drama to your pastel artworks CarbOthello Pastel Pencil Set (24) review How to fix your finished pastel artwork View the full article

There's not long to go now until Amazon Prime Day 2018. The event, which is touted as the retail giant's summer version of Black Friday, kicks off at noon on Monday 16 July, with deals being released worldwide until midnight on Tuesday 17 July (read more here). Although this event is exclusively for Prime members, the savvy amongst you will have realised you can get all these bargains on a free Amazon Prime trial. If you're thinking of signing up and cancelling after Prime Day is over, you'll be perfectly able to do that. However, we've unearthed some unexpected perks that might make you rethink. Scroll down for five hidden Amazon Prime gems. What's more, this year's Prime Day will be the longest yet. Shoppers will have a whopping 36 hours to snap up bargains, compared to the 30 hours of deals in 2017. More countries than ever are able to take part, so the event promises to be a great chance to grab massive savings on equipment and tools for graphic designers. To take advantage of the discounts available on the day, you need to be a Prime subscriber. Fortunately, this includes members who sign up for a 30-day trial. And with the option to cancel your trial at any point, making the most of Amazon Prime Day doesn't have to be a costly venture. As well as getting access to Prime Day, there are plenty of reasons to upgrade your Amazon account. We're sure you're aware of the headline perks such as free same-day delivery, and the unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows provided by Prime Video. However there are some hidden benefits you might not be aware of. We've rounded up five of the best benefits we think designers and creatives will enjoy. These perks will make you smile 01. Unlimited photo storage If your device is overflowing with photos and dragging down performance, Prime Photos could be a reason to sign up to Prime. With Prime Photos, users are free to store an unlimited number of photos securely, as well as being able to take advantage of enhanced search and organisation features in Amazon Drive. Accessible through desktop web browsers, Windows or Mac desktops, Fire devices and iOs and Android mobile devices, Prime Photos is for personal, noncommercial use only. On top of photo storage, it also allows users to store 5 GB of videos. 02. Early deals access Prime Day isn't the only deal available through Amazon. Lightning Deals, which are a limited number of discounts offered on an item for a short period of time, are another opportunity to make savings. With Prime Early Access, Prime account holders get 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals. Considering that all deals are available while stocks last, Prime Early Access is an excellent way to avoid disappointment when shopping for popular items. 03. Download books before publication Amazon Prime has plenty to offer for bookworms. With Prime Reading, account holders can borrow books, magazines, and more from the extensive Prime Reading catalogue and read them on an array of digital devices. As if that wasn't enough, with Amazon First Reads, you can get ahead of the pack with early access to a new book for free every month. This is a perk exclusive to US readers, so if you're stateside and like to be on the cutting edge, this is the benefit for you. 04. Share shipping benefits Share the benefits of Amazon Prime with Amazon Household If you've got more than one adult living under your roof, Amazon Household is another bonus just waiting for you to access. Simply link accounts through Amazon Household, and agree to share payment methods, and you'll be able to share Prime benefits while also keeping your personal accounts. Users can also share their shipping benefits with their Amazon Business account, meaning that anyone making purchases on behalf of the company will be able to enjoy unlimited free two-day shipping on eligible items. 05. Stream free Audible content If you prefer to take in content through your ears rather than with your eyes, then Audible Channels for Prime could tempt you to sign up. In addition to Audible Channels, which are premium podcasts recorded by top talents in the industry, users also get access to a collection of audiobooks that can be streamed for free. With original audio series and playlists handcrafted for every interest, there's bound to be an audio boxset relevant to your chosen subject just waiting to be listened to. Related articles: The best video editing laptops for 2018 The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2018 8 best external hard drives and SSDs for Mac and PC users in 2018 View the full article

Colouring comics is the best job in the art world, as far as I’m concerned, because it leans heavily towards the fun part of art: the storytelling. In this article, I’m going to take you through my top tips for adding colour to black and white drawings to bring your scenery and character designs to life. Colour can help expand the scope of a comic, turning each panel from a two-dimensional drawing into a window to a rich, nuanced world. The colour in those panels can flow together to set the pace, like a song. I’ll start by answering some key questions, before sharing some tips for getting the most from colour. If you’re after drawing tips, take a look at our article on how to create a comic page. Why use colour in comic art? This might seem like an inane question, but it’s worth thinking about what benefits colour can bring to an illustration that black and white can’t. Colour can convey things like mood, time of day, change of scene, image planes and depth of field. Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Colour can be a great visual shorthand to help a reader grasp what’s going on, without hammering them over their head with dialogue or having to draw absolutely everything in a scene. Something as simple as a yellow background and blue shadows can tell you that it’s sunrise. What software should I use? Until recently, Photoshop CC was the de facto software used in comic book colouring, but Clip Studio Paint has been changing that. Clip is much faster with some tasks like laying in flat colours, primarily due to its advanced Paint Bucket tolerance settings that auto-trap and detect line gaps when filling inked shapes. A huge time saver! That said, I still prefer the brushes available in Photoshop for rendering. Beyond the desktop, I’ll sometimes work on my iPad Pro using either Clip or Procreate as well. Not sure which app is right for you? Take a look at our guide to the best software for digital artists. 01. Start with flat colours Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Laying in ‘flats’ is a standard step for colourists in the US comic industry. Flatting is the process in which flat, contiguous, aliased shapes are laid in on a separate layer from the line art to make it possible to select areas when rendering. Like most colourists, I usually subcontract this step to a professional flatter to save time. Once I get a batch of flats back I’ll go over them all with a Paint Bucket to change the base colours accordingly. 02. Don’t use too many layers Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I’ve seen colourists use dozens of Photoshop layers on a page. I find it hard to keep track of so many (read: I think that’s crazy), so I usually limit myself to three or four. This will generally consist of my flats, a duplicate of those flats to render on, and a layer with my lines on it. Clean and simple. I might have a layer or two for colour-holds (coloured line art) and/or glows and lighting effects, but that’s generally it. 03. Decide on your painting style Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image By using an aliased Lasso or the Pencil tool, I can render in a flat, ‘anime’ colour style that’s easy to edit with the Paint Bucket. Using an Airbrush or painterly brushes can be more artistically expressive, but makes changes more time consuming. Having the flats layer as a backup for each shape’s selection makes that editing easier, however. Both styles have merits, and they can be combined. I’ll often paint my backgrounds, and use flat shapes for characters. Or I might leave shadows flat and render into the highlight areas. 04. Consider how much detail to include Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image A hyper-realistic, detailed style can add weight to a story via grit, texture, stubble and so on, while a simple style can let the reader mentally fill some blanks and speed up the reading experience, without having to work through a glut of detail. A simpler rendering can allow for more expressive hits of colour. I’m not trying to sell detail short here. Detail adds gravity and that counts for a lot. There are pros and cons to dropping out details, and I hum and haw over rendering options every time I start a new gig. 05. Add some personality Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image A lot of colourists, veteran and newbie alike, worry that their colour should fade into the background to let the line art shine. I don’t really subscribe to this school of thought. Collaborative art should be collaborative! I hope my work is recognisable regardless of the rendering style I use, through my colour choices and the sorts of shapes I use in my rendering. Collaborative art is like being in a band. Everyone needs to play to their strengths and show their personal style. Otherwise the art you make together becomes boring. 06. Use colour and shape to tell a story Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Colour can be a great way to direct the reader’s eye via shadow lines, colour patterns and the like. While the main characters and action do their thing on the page, I can subtly reinforce the eye line and direct the action without clubbing people over the head with it. In the case of this page from LOW, I’ve used a triad of red shapes to quickly draw the eye to our heroes, despite the chaos of the rest of the image. 07. Build mood with your colour choices Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I try to use colour to help support the story. There are plenty of standards like blue or desaturated tones suggesting quiet or melancholy, while orange or green might hint at toxic chemicals in the air. A saturated red warns of imminent danger. Colour shorthand like this can be a great way to help the reader understand what’s happening beyond and between the panels, and help separate scenes. If I’m working on a longer project, creating custom colour cues (and sticking to them) can be a great way to set that project’s world-building apart from the pack as well. 08. Use value to create planes and silhouettes Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I tend to use desaturated, dark values for one plane, and saturated, light values for another. Popping things off those planes in a third value range with as much contrast as possible helps to focus the eye on the subject of the panel. These values don’t necessarily have to be different hues. I often find that when people think about colour they focus too much on hue, and forget about value. As far as I’m concerned, value is the absolute, most important element in a colour, then it’s saturation and hue. 09. Check your page in greyscale Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image Photoshop makes it easy to check my values. If I’m working on something with complicated, overlapping planes, I’ll open a new window for it and change the proof setup to Grey. This enables me to work on the colour file while getting real-time feedback for my values in that second tab. For less-complex pages, I’ll just use a hotkey to flip to Grey proof mode from the regular view occasionally to keep myself in check, making sure that bright reds among other colours aren’t throwing things off value-wise. 10. Limit your colour palette Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I try to stick with value choices, and limit my colour palette to what’s necessary to tell the story. Colour should have a reason for being there, and if something isn’t key, it often helps the story to use values in some neutral colour instead of hues to help it sink into the background. The simpler you keep your colour, the more impact a change in colour will have, helping the reader understand that something important is happening. 11. Expand the canvas through colour Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image You can imply a whole world off-panel with colour, which is one of my favourite parts of being a colourist. I tend to put a lot of thought into the environment that a story takes place in. What materials are things made of? How dusty are they? What’s the sun’s position in the sky? How many minutes, hours or seconds have elapsed since the last panel? Are any lights turned on off-panel? I ask myself questions like this all day long. It’s not just about colouring what you can see on the page. 12. Make notes before you start Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I take notes on a script before starting an issue – marking time of day, scene changes and emotional beats. Do this in advance if you don’t have much artwork in and you need to get started anyway. That said, if time allows it can be useful to look at all your flat colours together for a book, to make sure that the ‘musicality’ of that colour works. Building themes, carrying them across different scenes, maybe using pop colours to emphasise important story elements. You’re taking the reader on a colourful journey, so make it enjoyable for them! This article was originally published in ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 160 or subscribe. Read more: Add digital colours to pencil drawings How to create an authentic manga comic strip 13 imaginative web comics to inspire you View the full article

Adobe tasked me with creating an illustration to express the concept of multilocalism, and above you can see my response. In this tutorial, I’ll walk through my creative process using all the tools in Adobe's Creative Cloud. You can see how I went from vision to finished artwork using Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, Dimension, Adobe Stock – and some traditional paints. To learn more techniques, take a look at our roundup of the best Photoshop tutorials and Illustrator tutorials. Use the icon in the top right to enlarge the image When Adobe asked me to illustrate the concept of multilocalism, the idea of a silhouette of a person with a balloon flying through a city came to my mind almost immediately. To me, it expresses freedom and movement. I used a multi-exposure technique to express the contrast between the place where we are and where we wish to be, and to show the transition from monochrome reality to a bright dream. 01. Create a silhouette I begin by searching Adobe Stock for a photo I can turn into a silhouette. If you’re new to Adobe Stock, you can download 10 images for free to get you started. I consider many pictures of dancers and jumping people until I find one that suits my idea perfectly. I license two photos of the woman in different poses because I like the position of the head in one and the body in another. Sometimes, even a slight difference in hand rotation can make all the difference. In Photoshop, I combine parts from both photos into one rough figure, before switching into Illustrator to draw the silhouette with the Pen tool. I mostly follow the outline of the figure but do change some elements, such as a foot, as I go along. I also license a panorama of the city, a photo of a sunny landscape, and a 3D object of a balloon, all of which I’ll use later in my process. 02. Draw in your hair The next step is to draw in the hair. This is one of the most important details in the illustration – the free and airy hair in this photo was one reason I chose it. It took me more than 90 minutes to draw the hair. I recommend that you start with larger objects and gradually move on to smaller ones. Using Illustrator’s Pen tool, I outline large curls around which I’ll draw in finer details. On the top of the figure’s head there’s a curl that may look like a horn in the silhouette – I’ll fix that later. When drawing small curls and hair, I create my own Illustrator brushes. It’s best to create several brushes in different sizes. I draw individual hairs with the Pen tool. If you have a graphics tablet, it’s better and faster to use the Brush tool, but I only work with a touchpad. Once the silhouette is finished, I save the Illustrator file with a transparent background. 03. Get your paints out I want a few abstract, bright textures to fill the balloons and decide to make them with paints, water and oil. It’s important to use liquid paint that is not thick. I fill syringes with paints, pour oil on a dish, and play with the colours. Because of the oil, the paint drops don’t spread, but stay in a ball shape. To mix colours, I add water. 04. Adjust in Photoshop I photograph the results of my analogue experiments. You’ll want good quality images here, so dig out your best camera for this. I open the files in Photoshop to crop them and adjust the levels. 05. Try a touch of 3D To make the balloons for the final artwork, I could have just drawn silhouettes and filled them with my paint textures. However, I want the balloons to look real, so I begin with a 3D file from Adobe Stock and open that in Adobe Dimension, the new 3D app in the Creative Cloud. I make copies of the balloon, group them, and then apply the textures I made with paint. I haven’t worked with 3D for a long time, but Dimension is simple to use and fairly intuitive. 06. Put it all together In Photoshop, I create a new document sized 4000 × 4000px. I copy and paste the city panorama, a bright landscape, the silhouette, and the balloons and arrange them on the artboard. Using a clipping mask, I fill the silhouette with the bright landscape. 07. Make final adjustments To increase detail in the landscape, I run a filter called Color Efex Pro’s Detail Extractor from the Nik Collection (a range of super-useful Photoshop plugins) and then duplicate the layer to increase the brightness. Later, I apply Gaussian Blur and the Soft Light Blend mode. Now for any final tweaks. I want to see more elements, so I add circles cut from the textures with multicoloured overflows. This also brightens the image. Read more: 10 killer examples of illustrated ad campaigns 19 best painting and drawing apps for iPad 10 ways to transform your creative thinking View the full article

There is lots of potential to grow your business in digital marketing, and that's why all entrepreneurs should learn about it. With The Complete Digital Marketing Course, you'll discover a proven formula for taking your business up a notch, no matter what size it is. Get access to 169 lectures and 20 hours of content, practice materials, and more. Discover various marketing techniques for platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Learn all about how Google AdWords & Analytics can help your company grow, and find out the potential Quora marketing holds for your business. You can also discover tricks for growing your email subscriber count fast. Whether you're well-versed in digital marketing or are a complete beginner, this is a course worth considering. Get it now for only $19. Related articles: How to market yourself as a freelance designer: 7 top tips Promote your brand with content marketing 8 great business cards for marketing professionals View the full article

Whether your thing is graphic design, web design or 3D art , you need to protect yourself. To prevent your work from triggering legal action, artists of all types (and freelancers in particular) need to get their heads around some pretty tricky legal jargon. This can feel overwhelming, so we've broken it down into the five key terms every artist should look out for. 01. Innocent infringement Innocent Infringement is when someone copying your work can claim they did not know they were infringing. This means they had no idea that the work was copyrighted, or had no means of contacting the owner of the work (An orphan work, in legalese). You can try to avoid this by adding 'Copyright © [year of first publication of the work] [copyright owner’s name]. All rights reserved.' to your print or render. 02. Derivative work A derivative work is work based on an existing model. If you, for example, create a gun, and then modify it to look like some lumpy mess made by David Cronenberg, that’s a derivative work. If the model is not yours but you have permission or a license, only your own changes will be protected by copyright. 03. Transformative work A transformative work is something which takes an existing work, and adds value to it by giving it a new shape, purpose, or meaning. If we changed the derivative gun from the example above even more, cut the barrel in two, and put little hooks in it, it would be repurposed into key or jewellery storage, and given new meaning (irony). 04. Fair use Fair use is an exception to copyright law. It allows unauthorised use of copyrighted works for purposes of reporting, commenting on, educating about, or even parodying. One typically goes about using unauthorised work under fair use, by using an excerpt of a work, and giving proper credit while not harming the commercial value of the original work. 05. DMCA The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is an American set of copyright laws freshly created to deal with digital material. Many countries have similar laws. Broadly, the aim of DMCA is to protect the rights of both copyright owners and consumers. When someone sees their copyright infringed online, it gives web hosts and internet service providers a safe harbour from copyright infringement claims, if they implement certain notice or takedown procedures of the infringing item. Read more: Why illustrators should care about copyright How to be a great creative director Top animation tools for digital artists View the full article

InfoSec Insider Chris Eng tackles how companies can bring bridge the divide between software developers and cybersecurity teams to bring to market reliable and secure applications. View the full article

The Zero Day Initiative said that the number of bugs reported in 2018 is on track to trump its previous busiest year, 2017. View the full article

When it comes to making an impact with fonts, Star Wars knows what it's doing. Before we even see spaceships and lightsabers, we're treated to multiple fonts that set the scene and build up excitement. For devotees of the sci-fi films, the hunt for free fonts of the styles used in these opening shots has driven them to distraction. What is the Star Wars font? This question isn't a simple as you might think. Over the years, the styles have been tweaked and polished by directors, much to the indignation of fans. Every Star Wars film opens with the familiar line 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...' written in a cool blue typeface. (Or purple or turquoise – your nostalgia mileage may vary.) The lettering for this outer space 'once upon a time' was originally created by hand, so short of tracing a screenshot, you're not going to get a 100 per cent match. However, the latest Star Wars films – from The Force Awakens onwards – have used a digitised version of the font, with Franklin Demi singled out as the closest match. Once this line fades away, we're deafened by John WIlliams' epic opening fanfare and left in awe as the Star Wars logo dominates the screen before gradually drifting off into the distance. Shortly afterwards, the opening crawl appears and fills us in on the story so far. The opening crawl is a hive of font intrigue. The new Star Wars films use a version of News Gothic for the title of each film and for the crawl text itself. This flies in the face of previous films which used Univers for the title to establish a sense of importance and gravity, while using News Gothic for the crawl text. This is only scratching the surface of Star Wars fonts. The logo for the film has been adjusted plenty of times as the creators try to settle on a style. One of the latest experiments saw the Star Wars: The Last Jedi logo turn red and send the internet into meltdown as fans tried to figure out what it could mean. Thankfully, the logo remained yellow in the film itself. Speaking of the Star Wars logo, we've rounded up 5 versions of the font which you can download for free. 01. Star Jedi Star Jedi reproduces the Star Wars logo exactly You know you're in safe hands when a designer called Boba Fonts is taking care of your free Star Wars fonts. With Star Jedi, Boba Fonts has recreated the logo perfectly, with solid and hollow variants ready to meet all your needs. This tilting, capitals-only font has a lot of variations and connections. 02. Death Star That's no moon... it's a font We can't introduce this font better than its creator, sharkshock, so we'll just let them explain: "In a distant galaxy far, far away, fans of this epic series had limited options when looking for the right font to use for their projects. Patience you must have young Jedi and thank me later you will. Enter Death Star : A grotesque display font featuring all caps that resembles the classic '80s style." With tight kerning, this font is best displayed at large sizes. The regular version is available for free, with an outlined alternative available for a $15 donation. 03. Star Jedi Outline Star Jedi Outline is compatible with other Boba Fonts Good old Boba Fonts has done it again with this Star Jedi Outline font. As before, this is a tilting all-capitals font, only this time, as the name suggests, the lettering is framed with a thin outline. Font fans and Star Wars nuts can download it for free for both personal and professional use. 04. Star Jedi Logo Stack your Star Wars fonts with this typeface Following on from the Star Jedi line of fonts again, Boba Fonts has created this variation that allows for single or double lines of text that perfectly capture that Star Wars style. These decorative frames call to mind some of the aesthetic choices used in promotional material for the original Star Wars trilogy, which sometimes saw the title of a film wrapped in a thin outline. 05. Star Jedi Special Edition This typeface is from a celebration of the original trilogy With it's chunky letter shapes, this final design from Boba Fonts is based on the official Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition logo typeface. Remember when there was just one Star Wars trilogy? Aah... simpler times. "Star Jedi Special Edition is a bold font derived from the original Star Jedi," says Boba Fonts. "The lowercase are all capitals, while the capitals are serif variants of the lowercase. A few simple link-lines allow you to create complex letter groups." Related articles: How to illustrate a Star Wars-inspired environment Stunning trailer shows what Star Wars might have been Fan art floods in for Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran View the full article

I split my time between UX/UI design and software testing, which means I’m constantly switching my focus between different projects, teams, web design tools and skills. Context switching like this can be a real problem because it takes time to stop thinking about one task and get fully engaged in the next. Research shows that we lose up to 40 per cent of our productivity if we multitask, because we make more mistakes and take longer to get things done. Fortunately, there are some simple techniques that we can use to manage our time and attention more efficiently. I’ll share some with you here. 01. Set a schedule The Pomodoro technique breaks the day up into 25 minute chunks Instead of trying to multitask all the time, reserve blocks of time to concentrate on specific tasks: an hour to write that blog, four to finish those wireframes and so on. I’m a fan of the Pomodoro Technique, which breaks the day into 25-minute chunks, each followed by a five-minute break. After completing four of these ‘pomodoros’, you take a longer 15-20 minute break. 25 minutes is generally enough time for me to make progress on a task, and the five-minute break is just short enough not to interrupt my flow. You might prefer longer blocks of working time and fewer breaks. Experiment with the possibilities and find a rhythm that works for you. 02. Minimise browser tabs Limit the number of tabs you have open in your browser and keep only the stuff that you need in order to complete your current task. Articles to read, tools to try, cat videos to watch... there’s no way that you can process that much information simultaneously, and you’re kidding yourself if you think you’ll remember to come back to it later. I add anything I need to get done to Todoist and send articles that I want to read later to Pocket. If you need help with self discipline, try installing one of the browser extensions that close tabs for you. Start with a fresh browser session when switching contexts. For more helpful apps, take a look at these productivity tools for designers. 03. Batch your tasks Don't check your email constantly Save up all those small jobs and complete related tasks in one go. Examples include writing feedback for colleagues, checking RSS feeds, social media and email. Instead of checking and replying to email every few minutes, cast an eye over it in your next Pomodoro break. If it’s not related to your current task, simply come back to it later. You might also like to batch all of your emails or phone calls into a single session when you have a quiet period and you don’t have to think about anything else. This is similar to ‘context lists’ in the Getting Things Done (GTD) system. 04. Make detailed notes Never underestimate the importance of writing things down. I like to think my memory is generally pretty good, but I certainly struggle to remember things when switching contexts. Having notes removes the pressure of trying to remember and makes it easier to shift concentration from one task to the next. I like to have my notes in the cloud instead of on paper, so I’ve experimented with various tools like Evernote and OneNote. Whatever tool you decide to use, remember to keep your notes up to date. 05. Switch locations Find a quiet spot for focused tasks I prefer completely different working environments for different tasks. If I’m solving a difficult problem or playing with design ideas, I tend to work at home where I can control the level of noise . When I’m working through a list of small testing tasks, the noise and energy of a busy office can be just what I need. What’s more, the change of scenery and the physical act of moving between locations is an effective way to clear the mind and reset when switching contexts. If you don’t have a choice of locations, try going out for a short walk instead. 06. Find a place to pause I try to complete each task before switching my attention to something else, otherwise I find myself covering the same ground again when I come back to it later. If you know that something is likely to take longer to finish than the time you have available, consider waiting until you have a longer, uninterrupted block of time. If this isn’t possible and you can’t completely finish a piece of work, look for a natural place to pause. 07. Clear your desk Mess in your workspace is distracting Tidy desk, tidy mind. Be strict in clearing your workspace at the end of the day or when switching between tasks. As is the case with browser tabs, those notes and sketches from the previous task are just a distraction that makes it hard to concentrate on the next piece of work. It’s easier to keep things tidy if you remember to batch your tasks and minimise the number of times you have to switch context. This article was originally published in net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 307 or subscribe. Read more: 5 sensational new websites to be inspired by Top tips for creating a productive workspace 20 cutting-edge web tools to try now View the full article

Researcher brings Apple down to earth, addressing Mac malware questions and the company’s smart moves to bolster security. View the full article

A well-executed mount is more than just another art technique to add to your tool-belt. It will add an aesthetic quality to your work and create the perfect environment for the viewer to experience your pictures. Mounts aren’t just for decorative purposes, they also serve as protection by allowing the art to expand or contract depending on temperature and moisture content of the surrounding air. The mount also prevents the delicate pigments on the page from coming into contact with the glass of the frame. This is particularly necessary if you are framing work such as a pastel drawing or oil painting, which will stick to the glass, and with prolonged contact can be difficult to remove without damaging the art. Although, it may look simple, the humble mount is more sophisticated than it first appears. Most standard mounts will have the window edges cut at 45 degrees to create a bevel and have a pleasing angled corner. Cutting through the board at an angle creates a nice finish but requires a completely straight and clean cut that meets at the corners perfectly. This workshop shows you the basic methods you need to mount your art, but the more you mount, the better you will get, and you will go on to develop your own style. Materials to mount your artwork The materials you will need for this workshop To create the mount you will need a clean, flat working area, a piece of work to mount, and a few basic tools: Mount board (see below for a run-down of the different options) A cutting mat A metal ruler A mount cutter Scalpel A pencil – see our post on the best pencils Hinging tape Double-sided tape (optional) Choosing the right mount board There are many options when it comes to mount board. Here’s a quick lowdown: Museum grade: Top-quality board that’s acid-free with a high cotton content and fade-resistant finish, these are the kind of expensive boards museums use to preserve precious pieces of art Conservation grade: A high-quality board, which is acid free and fade resistant – it’s more than good enough for most uses and is cheaper than museum-grade board Standard grade: Cheaper, easier to use and widely available from most art shops, ideal for practising mount-cutting techniques or framing projects Aside from different grades, the board can come with different colour cores, such as black, white or cream. So, regardless of the surface colour, the board that is exposed at the core of it (when the bevel is cut, for example) will reveal a different colour. Finally, most mount board come in several thicknesses, typically: Standard: 1400/1500 microns or 1.4/1.5mm thick Thick: 2000/2200 microns – 2/2.2mm thick Extra thick: 3000 microns – 3mm thick You can also buy spare mount board to use as a cutting mat to protect the surface you’re working on. Also note that you may want to practise cutting windows on scrap mount board – remember you’ll only get one chance to get it right for real. Once you've got all your materials, you're ready to start mounting. 01. Measure your artwork and board Measure the dimensions of your picture accurately, then decide how big the margin should be around your image – sometimes small images look great with large mounts, and vice versa. For your board, add double the border dimension to the width and height of the picture you are framing, then add a touch more to the height to allow for ‘lower weighting’ (see step 2). 02. Mark the aperture Make sure your working area is clean and dry, then place the mount board face down. With a sharp pencil and ruler mark out the area you will cut away to make the window. I prefer to make the border slightly larger at the bottom, this ‘lower weighting’ has a pleasing proportion (most doors have a larger bottom panel or the bottom drawer in a chest of drawers is often larger), extend your pencil lines beyond the area to be cut. 03. Prepare to cut Now you have marked your cut lines it’s time to make the actual cuts. Because we’re cutting at a 45-degree angle through the board it’s important to work methodically so all cuts are in the same direction. Align the centre marker of your cutter with the right-hand perpendicular cut line and press firmly on the cutter so the blade goes all the way through the board. Maintain this pressure and slowly slide the cutter along the straight edge until the centre marker is just past the the next vertical pencil line. 04. Check and repeat Flip your board over to check the blade has cut all the way through and left a clean incision. Now turn it back over and rotate 90 degrees. Align your ruler to the next pencil line and make another cut. Flip and check that your cut lines meet at the corner and create an accurate bevel – sometimes you need to slide a sharp scalpel blade in at 45 degrees to help release the corner without tearing the surface. 05. Book hinge the mount Now that the aperture is cut have a close look at the face of the mount and remove any blemishes and marks with the eraser – be very careful if you’re using a black mount as they mark easily. Take your backing board and place it face up on your work surface. Place some waste board at the top and align your window to the top edge of the backing board face down. Place a couple of small pieces of tape across the two boards to hold them in place while you apply a long strip of tape across the whole length of the card. Raising the front piece of board will stop the tape from stretching when the boards are folded over. 06. Align the art Place your image between the backing board and the window mount and align it centrally. Close the mount together to check it’s aligned accurately. Next lift one of the top corners and place a small length (approx 5cm) of tape face-up underneath the corner so about 5mm is underneath the picture itself, press the picture on top of the tape to form a bond. Repeat with the other corner, being careful not to move the position of the picture. A weight placed on the picture will help. 07. Finish the hinges Take a 5cm length of tape and place it across the top of the exposed tape facing upwards from underneath the picture, press this down firmly. Repeat for the other side. These two hinges will hang the image from the backing board behind the window mount, it will allow the paper to move around as it expands and contracts. Don’t be tempted to add more hinges down the side or the bottom, as these will restrict movement and the art will buckle. 08. Finish your mount Once you’re satisfied with the hinges, flip the window mount back over and check everything is lined up. Once you're happy with the mount, stick a small strip of double-sided tape on the lower portion of the backing board and then press the window mount firmly on top. This will stop the two pieces of board from moving around. Your mount is now finished and ready for display or framing. This article was originally published in Paint & Draw magazine. Read more: Prepare a board for painting in 3 easy steps How to draw: 100 tutorials for drawing animals, people and landscapes Create a simple colour chart View the full article

You're reading What is a Design System, Why It Is Important and What to Include, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! What is a design system, why is it important and what do you include in one? Over the last few years, design systems have become a popular, hot topic among designers. If you’re just joining this awesome bandwagon, welcome! Many … View the full article

There are now plenty of prototyping tools and methods that will help you create website mockups quickly and easily. You may not realise it, but Photoshop CC is a great tool for rapid prototyping. With every revision, the software has gained more functionality for designers wanting to quickly create wireframes or prototypes to share with a client, or build a design ready for a developer. The most useful rapid prototyping features in Photoshop CC include the abilities to isolate layers, tweak corners with the live Rounded Rectangle tool, and copy CSS attributes from individual layers. And Creative Cloud setup provides useful collaborative elements, too (subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud here). In this article, we'll walk through how to create a rapid prototype in Photoshop, using the breadth of the tools available to create a developer and client-friendly page mockup. 01. Start with a grid Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image Set up a document with the dimensions of the screen you're designing for (smartphone, tablet and so on). Next, create a grid that will form the base structure – free extension GuideGuide is useful for this. Open the extension up, input your margin widths, number of columns and gutter width. Hit the GG button and you have your grid. 02. Define different areas Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image At this point it's helpful to block out key areas of your page layout. Create a folder for your header, footer, content and anything else you need. It's a good idea to define any main areas of the site design – starting with a light grey box to outline them. Here, I've used the Rectangle tool to draw the site's header area (1200 x 240px) and added the title. 03. Add some navigation Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image Now add in navigation elements. To duplicate your type, select the layer, hold the Opt/Alt key and drag. Holding Shift constrains the alignment. Align your text layers precisely by selecting all the navigation text, and hitting the Distribute Vertical Centres button in the Tool Options bar. This vertically aligns and evenly spaces your layers, making it ideal for menu items as shown. 04. Round your rectangles Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image Here we're adding in a sign-up form to the homepage layout, using the Rounded Rectangle tool. Photoshop CC has a live Rounded Rectangles feature, which enables you to tweak the corner radius of your shape. This means you can go back and change your corners at a later time if your design calls for it. This might sound like a minor feature, but it's very handy. 05. Add images Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image It's worth converting images into Smart Objects, as this makes them easier to update or replace. You can use your placeholder rectangles as vector masks to hold images. Either bring in an image as a new layer, duplicate the rectangle mask and link it to that layer, or make a selection from your rectangle and use Paste Special > Paste Into. 06. Introduce layer styles Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image Layer styles are a decent way to add effects. To apply a currently used layer style to another layer in your stack, hit Opt/Alt and drag the FX icon to your new layer. To create a Hover Over layer that can be turned on or off, simply duplicate your background rectangle, and group this layer and your text layer into a layer group. 07. Isolate your layers Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image This is another useful feature in Photoshop CC if you want to edit only some of your layers. Select the layers you wish to edit and then go to Select > Isolate Layers. This enables you to focus on the specific areas that need work, without the confusion of other layers cluttering things up. 08. Create image assets Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image Adobe Generator is a Photoshop CC feature that enables you to create image assets on the fly. Go to File > Generate > Image Assets. Now, in the Layers panel, add a file suffix such as .png or .jpeg to automatically export that layer to a specified folder. We've done it here with an icon file. 09. Copy CSS attributes Click the icon in the top right to see the full size image A great feature in Photoshop CC when creating an HTML prototype is the ability to copy a layer's CSS. To do this Ctrl+right click on the required layer, and hit Copy CSS Style to add the code to the clipboard. Open a new document in Dreamweaver, Muse or Adobe XD, and paste in your CSS code. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts, the world's leading magazine for graphic designers. Subscribe here. Related articles: Prototype a mobile app with Adobe XD How to choose the right prototyping tool 20 cutting-edge web tools to try now View the full article