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Inspired by Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, American screenwriter and producer Gene Roddenberry sought to explore intellectual themes within suspenseful spacefaring adventures with Star Trek. A cultural phenomenon was born, consisting of seven television series and 13 feature films spanning 52 years. The latest small-screen incarnation is Star Trek: Discovery. Maya tutorials to sharpen your skills In this article, we board the USS Discovery to learn about the visual effects and 3D art expertise needed to envision a universe consisting of Klingons, alternative realities and holodecks. Discovery takes place a decade before the original TV show with the primary objective being to honour the legacy of the franchise. “I thought this was a great opportunity, but also daunting,” notes production visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman (Sleepy Hollow), who looked after the creation of just under 5,000 shots and received a VES Award nomination for the pilot episode. Pixomondo handled 1,700 VFX shots, with the Toronto facility responsible for 90 per cent of the work while Los Angeles produced the previs, Frankfurt assisted with creatures, and additional support was provided by Stuttgart; the main vendor collaborated alongside Crafty Apes, Ghost VFX and Spin VFX. Pipeline notes “We had to share our Nuke scripts with other companies so had to be careful not to use a lot of our in-house proprietary tools,” states Pixomondo VFX supervisor Mahmoud Rahnama. “Our main 3D package is Maya but for heavy effects stuff we used Houdini, for compositing Nuke and rendering V-Ray.” Shotgun projects were directly linked between Pixomondo and the client. “Jason could see the status of the shots as we were working on them and give notes right away.” Michael Burnham examines a Tardigrade, which was the result of scientific research combined with a cool look Previs was essential in planning shots. “When we have full CG shots there is no other way to articulate,” notes Zimmerman. “You need to give the editors, producers and directors something to look at and say, ‘That doesn’t work.’ Even in cases where there are practical elements, previs is done in advance, so on the day you know what will be shot and how it’s going to be accomplished.” Optimising the workflow was critical in being able to accommodate last-minute episode script rewrites or client notes. “We would quickly model something in low resolution and push it through the pipeline, so at least the director could see the whole space battle with proxy low-resolution geometry and the editors could work with what we had,” states Rahnama. “It was constantly updated by each department so every week you would see the shot in a better state.” The USS Discovery “With the Discovery being the namesake of the show, you know that needs to be a hero model,” says Zimmerman. “With the entire fleet you look at it with an eye to what is this asset going to do, how long is it going to be on camera, and how close are we going to be to it? You have to take into consideration what the story points are and then build to that. That being said, you have to be proactive and make sure that the model is ready in case somebody says, ‘Let’s get closer.’ If something is going to break apart or articulate then you have to do that in advance in order to properly rig the asset to do what it is supposed to do.” Backgrounds were warped and particles were added coming off of the characters when they were teleporting Interior sets were built of the signature Federation starship. “The bridge of the Discovery is what you see,” marvels Rahnama. “Even the Sarcophagus set is massive and beautifully done. Like with any other set we had to extend hallways and ceilings. We did have a digital version of the bridge in case of needing to fly in and out. The Discovery model took a few months to build because we had to make sure every door and hatch worked.” Building new worlds “As for the world building it goes back to the legacy of Star Trek, doing a lot of research, working with the art department, and integrating things based on the lighting in the footage,” notes Zimmerman. “You always start from, ‘What is the story? How long are we going to be there? What are we going to see? What is the scope of the shots?’ A lot of that involves working with the executive producers, the director, and every department to understand what the requirements are. You want to start building worlds and assets concurrently so when you’re putting it into shots you’re not finding what the look is still.” Conceptualising and executing the various alien species was Alchemy Studios, with CEO Glenn Hetrick overseeing the prosthetic and special effects make-up department, and his business partner Neville Page serving as the lead creature designer. “There’s a fine line with freshening something up and not being offensive,” states Page. “My attempt is to always push things further because it’s easier to rein stuff back afterwards.” Star Trek: Discovery was not the first time encountering Klingons for the conceptual artist, who previously worked on Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. “It gave me the opportunity to be ready in terms of research.” Additional arms were digitally added to the Crepusculan to make it appear more spider-like A new workflow was born from Page being transformed into a horned demon as part of a research and development project with Hetrick, to figure out how to take ZBrush into 3D printing into makeup and the steps required. Benefitting from the reinvented design, creation and execution process were the Klingons. “The 3D prints were done as hard parts and then we would make silicone moulds of them,” explains Hetrick. “Then we would do a clay brush into that mould. The guy sculpting would get the raw forms from the life cast and take the piece with hot clay underneath. They put down the clay and set in the detail like a brow or a neck which was blended into the sculpture.” Revisions were not a problem. “If we wanted something different it was easy for Neville to go back into ZBrush, change those forms, and print out another shell unique for a main character, such as L’Rell or Kol. The upside to this process was we would have these moulds of 3D-printed parts to make clay out of and you didn’t have to use the whole thing. When House of Mo’Kai Klingons were needed we would come up with a new face or a modular adaption because they are covered with tribal scars.” Creating creatures A franchise mainstay are the Andorians. “I took existing features and refined them because that’s what it needs to be sometimes,” says Page. “It’s evolved.” Several different undercoats of paint were utilised to create a realistic blue skin tone. “Light goes through our skin and bounces back to our eyes,” explains Hetrick. “We have a semi-translucent task colour and translucent layers of paint on top of that. Only the last layer has an opacity to it so that light is passing through layers of colour and coming back to the eye. We were using green blues, true blues and almost a grey. We wanted the Andorians to have an ethereal angelical quality to the skin.” The boar-like Tellarites changed into something more elegant. “The originals were a pig face mask,” notes Hetrick. “Then there’s an iteration where it looks like the Boarman created by Stan Winston for The Island of Dr. Moreau. They’re hybrid boar humans that are tough and tribal. The hair was used as a visual cue for what their culture might be, but we kept the tusks and pig nose.” Each of the Great Houses were given a distinct look to reflect the cultural differences amongst the Klingons Starfleet science officer Airiam played by Sara Mitich is a synthetic-human hybrid. “They wanted somebody who was an augmented human with robotic-type features, which is a concept designer’s dream,” states Page. “It’s about sustaining the femininity. Airiam is an evolution of Airam, which is Ai for artificial intelligence and ram for random access memory. Spelt backwards it’s Maria, which is the name of the robot from Metropolis.” The greatest challenge was how to execute a form-fitting, extraordinarily tight makeup that looks like a hard shell. “I had my guys run the entire facial appliance in white silicone,” says Hetrick. “We were able to hide the white edges by having her lips go under the facial appliance that goes right to the edge of her lip.” A digitally created aquatic mammal makes for a surreal moment. “An alien that I loved was loosely called ‘the space whale’ which they bring onto the cargo bay,” reveals Page. “There’s no organic creature that would ever float in space to our knowledge so when that was given to me as a challenge I ate it up. How do I make sense of that and create attributes that make it viable as an alien creature? Everything was figured out about its diet, reproduction propensity and the ability to navigate in space.” Travelling at warp speed A kaleidoscopic folding effect was created for when the Discovery travels at warp speed. “The showrunners and executive producers had that idea well in advance,” explains Zimmerman. “Then we went about figuring out, what does this look like, and how do we make something we can do on a weekly basis? We started with concepts from the art department, worked on a bunch of different ideas, and narrowed it down from there.” USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) encounters USS Discovery, which took several months to build because different areas of the spacecraft are seen in close-ups One of the heaviest visual effects shots was when the de-cloaking Klingon cleave ship slices the USS Europa in half. “We only had a few weeks to finish that sequence and that was part of the Comic-Con trailer as well,” says Rahnama. “Our effects artists came up with a procedural way of creating metal tearing and from that you get sparks, fire and explosions.” Glenn Hetrick is part of the Star Trek loyal fanbase. “The passion for the franchise creates an impetus in the level of design and the physical work that we’re doing on Star Trek: Discovery.” Mission accomplished for Zimmerman. “Every episode has something in there that we’re proud of. It’s such a big show from a historical standpoint in terms of what it means to visual effects and sci-fi. It’s a team effort. All of the departments brought a passion and energy to this that I don’t think I have ever experienced working on a show before. Having an ability to be part of that has been truly an honour.” This article was originally published in 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 234 or subscribe. Read more: Illuminate your 3D work with Dome lights 11 best video game character designs Sculpt realistic anatomy in ZBrush View the full article

World Cup travelers should leave their mobile phones, laptops and tablets behind. View the full article

Love Lost by Canada's Jam3 is a beautifully dark, mobile-ready interactive poem with real heart about the enduring feelings around lost love. Make interactive 3D typography effects Built using HTML5 with the GSAP library powering its animation, one of its most visually striking features is its animated 3D text that really brings Love Lost's poetry to life. It looks impressive as hell, and it's not hard to incorporate into your own work to create an engaging user experience; here's how it's done. Love Lost's 3D text comes right out of the screen at the viewer 01. Initiate the HTML document The first step is to define the structure of the HTML document. This includes the HTML container that initiates the document, which contains the head and body sections. While the head section is primarily used to load the external CSS file, the body section will store the visible page content created in step 2. 02. Visible HTML content The visible HTML content consists of an article container that contains the visible text. The important part of the article container is the 'data-animate' attribute, which will be referenced by the CSS to apply the visual effects. The text inside the article is made from a h1 tag to indicate that the content is the page's main title. 03. CSS initiation Create a new file called 'styles.css'. The first set of instructions set the page's HTML container and body to have a black background, as well as no visible border spacing. White is also set as the default text colour for all child elements on the page to inherit; avoiding the default black colour of text making content appear to be invisible. 04. Animation container The content container referenced with the 'data-animate' attribute has specific styles applied. Its size is set to match the full size of the screen using vw and vh measurement units, as well as being slightly rotated. An animation called 'moveIn' is applied, which will last for a duration of 20 seconds and will repeat infinitely. 05. Animation initiation The 'moveIn' animation referenced in the previous step requires a definition using @keyframes. The first frame starting at 0% of the animation sets the default font size, text positioning and visible shadow. Additionally, the item is set with zero opacity so that it is initially invisible – ie. displayed out of view. 06. Animate into view By using multiple shadows you can enhance the 3D effect The next frame is placed at 10% through the animation. This frame sets the opacity to fully visible, resulting in the text gradually being animated into view. Additionally, multiple shadows are added with blue and decreasing colour values to give the illusions of 3D depth to the text. 07. Finalising the animation The final frames occur at 80% and at the very end of the animation. These are responsible for increasing the font size and moving the element towards the left. New settings are also applied for the text shadow to animate towards, while also fading the text out of view from frames 80% to 100%. This article was originally published in issue 273 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 273 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: Create a glowing neon text effect How to debug web animations Create storyboards for web animations View the full article

WordPress is everywhere these days. In fact, it powers around 25 per cent of the world’s top 10 million sites. And for good reason: the platform makes it easy to design and manage your site, and offers an impressive library of WordPress plugins you can use to add functionality. In this WordPress tutorial, we’ll share some conversion rate optimisation (CRO) tips to help you convert as many customers as possible. 01. Don't rely solely on templates Just because you have WordPress themes and templates at your disposal doesn't mean you should rely on cookie-cutter designs. Customers increasingly value an authentic brand personality, and the more digitally versed your consumers are, the harder you have to work to establish your brand’s uniqueness in an attention-grabbing way. Having more granular control over each facet of your landing page will help you with A/B testing later on. Customers value a distinctive brand personality The WordPress Landing Pages plugin offers easily adaptable templates. You can drag-and-drop within its numerous templates to customise each page, and you can also use your own themes and upload your own content. This plugin also offers features that enable you to employ CRO techniques on your site. 02. Keep your goals clear Modern day consumers are constantly bombarded by different offers, from paid search to social media and autoplay videos. As a result, users’ attention spans are shrinking every day. To grab (and hold) their attention, it's vital you make the goal of your page clear and concise. You don't want to bounce users away by flooding your page with too much information. Focus on one clear call to action CRO isn't about bragging about everything awesome your brand does; it's about optimising each page for that specific goal conversion. This will include optimising your calls to action (CTAs) and ensuring you keep the user focused on that specific goal. You want to make the value/benefit of your conversion clear as soon as possible. Don’t use vague words or competing CTAs. Keep your CTA visible at all times, so your user is constantly reminded to convert. You can even use sticky elements to ensure your CTA remains visible regardless of where your user is on the page. 03. Create more landing pages Optimising your CTAs is only the first step in the process. Having one landing page (LP) simply isn't enough to accumulate the amount of data you need to fully understand your customers. Increasing your number of LPs just from 10 to 15 can grow your conversions by 55 per cent. Digital marketers learn from data that comes from seeing where, when, and why users convert. This is why A/B testing is such a vital part of CRO. The more tests you’re running (the more variants you create), the more data you'll have to learn from. 04. Consider different visitors’ intentions Not every user who clicks through to your landing page will be there for the same reason. There will be some who are curious about your service, others who are interested in your brand, and hopefully some will come with an actual intention to convert. Different visitors will have different 'temperatures' of interest You should create page variants for each of these different visitor intents. The 'temperature' of your visitor should determine which variant they see. You can determine their temperature based on which pages on your site they visited before reaching your landing page. Each variant will have different copy and different CTAs. They may even offer different content altogether, or use a whole new design. The point is to personalise their experience as much as possible to where they are in the marketing funnel. 05. Focus on design cues Keep in mind that your designs will have a significant subliminal effect on your user. There are quite a few ways to subtly guide them towards converting. The use of colours, shapes, and even lines can all direct their attention where you want. But keep in mind that these should all be built around your primary content piece for that page and remain consistent with your brand identity. Don't get caught copying some other brand's high-performing page just for conversions. Today's users are smart and they'll catch on to your trickery fast. 06. Make use of animation If you're looking to boost conversions by grabbing the user's attention, there's no better way than through movement. Animation and videos can be strong assets to help you cut through the noise and focus your user on converting. In fact, some studies indicate that using video can boost landing page conversions by up to 80 per cent. Explainer videos can help get customers on board But, as with all content, creating a shoddy, rushed video won't cut it. Don't think that shooting an iPhone explainer video will get you any boost in conversions. Invest some time and resources in your video’s quality. Write a script, shoot with a steadicam, and do some editing, and use graphics or animations to help explain any parts of your video that need it. Read more: How to use animation in mobile apps 19 great parallax scrolling websites 13 best pieces of user testing software View the full article

Want access to thousands of vector designs in one place? A lifetime subscription to StockUnlimited Vector Plan gets you just that – for life. This all-vector graphics content platform allows you to access and use all kinds of stock vector graphics and clip art that are perfect for both commercial and personal use. Whether you want to build a personal blog, create a business newsletter, or send out a promotional email, a subscription to StockUnlimited Vector Plan could come in handy. Plus, unlimited file downloads and thousands of new designs added monthly mean you'll never run out of content. Get it for life for just $34.99. Related articles: 30 top vector art tutorials Create a vector displacement mesh brush The 22 best places to find free vector art online View the full article

Sketching in graphite is a great way to kick off or restart your creative drive. Here we’ve sourced a selection of inspiring pencil drawings that demonstrate the wonderful (and sometimes wacky) art you can produce with a humble pencil. If you're so inspired you want to immediately get some new materials, then don't miss our post on the best pencils. Click the icon in the top-right of each image to enlarge it. 01. Siberian Iris Dave Brasgalla layered up his pencil marks to create this delicate iris This delicate pencil drawing is the work of Dave Brasgalla, an illustrator, graphic designer and concept artist based in Sweden. Brasgalla enjoys using traditional media for his personal projects, and finds coloured pencils a particularly versatile and satisfying medium. For this drawing Brasgalla layered up his pencil marks, leaving only a few areas of paper uncoloured. “I love botanical and floral subjects, and the patterns that are present in the petals of the Siberian iris quickly caught my eye,” he says. “I couldn’t resist buying a bunch of them, with the aim of working on a drawing at home.” 02. Lovebird Pilaf Autistic artist Remrov sees the world in tiny details Remrov is a self-taught artist who creates incredibly realistic pencil drawings, often of animals (although he will draw anything he finds interesting). He has autism, which for him means he sees the whole world in tiny little details. This drawing is of Pilaf, a lovebird Remrov has owned for 17 years. “Pilaf helps me a lot with the challenges I face as an autistic person,” he says. 03. Sorcha James Martin played around with lost and found edges in this life drawing This mesmerising pencil drawing is the work of veteran illustrator and fine artist James Martin. Martin currently teaches illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida, and in the past has worked as a background artist for Walt Disney Studios and texture and matte painter for DreamWorks Animation. In this life drawing, Martin wanted to play around with the edges of the figure. “Edge control is the most valuable artistic tool to control the viewer’s eye,” he explained in an interview for ImagineFX magazine. “Hard edges draw attention, while soft or lost edges give the eye a place to rest." 04. Poppy Melanie Phillips loves painting pets Melanie Phillips has been a professional pet portrait artist since 1997. She works from her garden studio in Wales, which she shares with her artist husband Nicholas and Tibetan terrier Lily. This pencil drawing was a commissioned portrait of a dog called Poppy. “It’s my job to not only create a drawing that’s pleasing to the eye, but one that captures Poppy and not just any dog,” explains Phillips. Her top tip for creating realistic pencil drawings? “Don’t forget you build up your layers slowly. Starting with a 4B for instance, add each layer gradually instead of using a hard pencil pressure from the outset,” she says. “You’ll find that your drawings have much more depth to them.” 05. Venetian Morning Light Ian Murphy draws inspiration from travelling In this wonderfully atmospheric drawing, artist Ian Murphy uses graphite pencil to explore how light disperses around Venice’s confined waterways. Murphy works mostly in pencil and oil paint, and focuses particularly on architecture, emphasising the layers and textures of the buildings he recreates. To see more of his sketches and his paintings, visit his website. 06. Doughnuts This mouthwatering still life was created by Steven E Hughes Steven E Hughes is an associate professor of illustration at Northern Michigan University. His paintings and illustrations have been featured in many exhibitions and publications, including The New York Times. The research process for this mouthwatering still life piece began with a visit to one of the best doughnut shops in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: Huron Bakery. “Looking at the contrasts between props guides the still life setup for me. If something is dark, put it against something light, and vice versa. Play pattern against solid areas and look for repetitions to move the eye across the composition.” Hughes also advises photographing your still life from several angles before you start work. “You never know when a hungry kid will run into your studio and grab that carefully positioned doughnut!” he smiles. 07. Gigi Jake Spicer thinks the best portraits are created when you can meet and sketch the model in person This striking portrait was drawn by artist Jake Spicer, a passionate advocate of drawing as a tool for communication and inquiry. This particular portrait was created over two hours, using a combination of photographs of the model, Gigi, and sketches done during an hour-long portrait sitting. “The best portrait drawings aren’t just pictures of faces, but records of a long moment shared between artist and sitter,” he explains. “Whether you are able to ask friends or family to sit for a portrait, or can attend a drawing class with a model, it is always an engaging and exciting experience to draw another person from life.” 08. Estudios internos (Internal studies) This is one of many surreal sketches by Osorno Many of Colombian artist Juan Osorno’s surreal pencil studies depict voided human faces with unusual objects, landscapes or natural phenomena in the place of facial features. You can view the full collection of these abstract sketches on Osorno’s Behance page. 09. Standing Man & Stretch Mike Lee also draws still lifes We just couldn’t pick a favourite from Mike Lee’s superb pencil drawing collection Repose, so we chose two. Lee uses only simple lines and shapes, reducing his subjects to their most basic forms. He has an extensive portfolio of pencil artwork, and you can discover more here. 10. Untitled This sketch is a great example of wonderfully weird pencil art Is it a bird? Is it an eye? Or could it even be a pencil? This weirdly wonderful sketch was created by Danish illustrator Fotini Tikkou, whose Instagram is full of bright and bold illustrations, favouring coloured pencils and gouache. We love the contrast between the foreground image, drawn in solid lines, and the wavy lines of the now-empty cage. 11. Untitled Els Dufourmont is a talented painter Less weird but no less wonderful, our next choice is Belgian artist Els Dufourmount’s untitled sketch of a girl. Combining a close-up focus and bold shading, Dufourmount uses light and dark to add life to the girl’s face. 12. Hands Self Deception is a series of quirky self-portraits Gillian Lambert’s Self Deception series is stunning, and we struggled to chose just one illustration to feature. In the end we went for Hands because we love the simultaneous indifference and exasperation of the subject’s face as it is moulded by the hands.To see the full series, and Lambert’s other work, visit her website. 13. Untitled This piece was composed with watercolour pencil This sketch of a commuter on a train uses watercolour pencil, which we think conveys the artist/commuter relationship brilliantly. It provides enough detail to give the subject an individual face, but detail is deliberately missing. Artist Josu Maroto works in a variety of mediums, and you can explore more of his work here. 14. Self portrait with a cup of tea The blue/orange contrast really makes this image stand out French illustrator Cécile Metzger’s quirky self-portrait is fascinating for its use of colour. The hint of red pattern on the cup immediately attracts the eye, and together with the contrasting blue cup and orange top – opposite colours on the colour wheel – keeps focus away from the girl herself. To see more, check out Metzger's Tumblr. 15. The Least Likely Thing We love the blurred effect of softer graphite Composed using soft and therefore much darker graphite, this sketch by Charlie Mackesy shows how effective blurring can be through two indistinct figures. Mackesy is a master of painting and sculpture, as well as drawing, and you can browse his portfolio here. Related articles: How to draw a face How to hold a pencil properly Use negative space to create water effects in pencil View the full article

Illustration: Jamie Coe There's a myth about working as a freelance designer that it largely comprises lounging around in your pants watching Netflix. And while there may well be the opportunity to plunge into a YouTube vortex without colleagues glimpsing snatches of 'Monkey Riding a Pig' or Father Ted reruns, in reality working for yourself demands the stamina and discipline of a marathon runner. 9 things nobody tells you about going freelance What's more, while your PAYE counterparts can sit back knowing that a payslip will magically appear in their bank account every month, you've not only got to hustle for the work and then do the work, but you even have to fight to get paid for it too. You're on your own. But don't lose focus. Here are 25 tips for staying sane as a freelancer… 01. Run a strict regime Illustration: Jamie Coe With nobody to crack the whip, the biggest hurdles are psychological. The possibility to procrastinate is infinite; but a fridge clean enough to pass the Foods Standards Agency's most rigorous testing and a Pantone-ordered pencil case won't make a blank page any less terrifying, and the post-procrastination guilt can make starting all the more daunting. Knowing yourself is key, as is a strict regime to suit your peak productivity. "I think in the morning, and do in the afternoon," graphic artist Pâté, aka Paul Pateman, explains. "Ideas, colour choices, and so on, I work on in the morning, and then social media, invoicing and PR in the afternoons." Deadlines are essential for Pâté and he even forces them for personal work by contacting shops and galleries before he's finished a piece. "It means you have to do it because the wheels are in motion." 02. Break down tasks Procrastination hits when your available time stretches generously into the distance – something easily overcome by breaking down tasks. When illustrator Stephen Cheetham created 50 illustrations for the NSPCC in a month, he kept on top of the project by engineering false deadlines, policed by Skype feedback sessions every Monday and Thursday with the client. "If there wasn't a schedule or my client didn't want to work like that it could have been quite stressful," says Cheetham. 03. Test a task management app Cheetham's SAS-style regime was aided by a vital hack: a piece of software called Things. A task management app (check out Huddle, Quire too), Things allows you to schedule tasks by project, which it then organises into daily to-do lists. "I recently worked on some packaging for M&S," Cheetham explains. "That project is now done, but I've set a reminder to chase the invoice, to ask for images and to send a mailout once I've received those images." Many of these programs have a free trial period, so you can test which suits your way of working before paying the full fee. "It doesn't allow me time to stop and wander off," adds Cheetham. 04. Hack yourself Illustration: Jamie Coe Bad habits are hard to break, so sometimes self-sabotage is the only way. Downloadable apps like SelfControl block your blacklisted websites even if you restart or delete the app. Similarly Milan-based illustrator Sarah Mazzetti has set up her Chrome browser so that Facebook automatically redirects to the Guardian's homepage. "With the internet and social networks, you can lose control," says Mazzetti. "Facebook is so addictive that sometimes you go to it without even noticing, and at least this way I know when I'm doing it." 05. Restrict social media When updating social media actually is important for your work, it again comes down to structure. "The key with social media is to be efficient," explains illustrator Jitesh Patel. "I set myself just 30 minutes to visit Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. I use software such as Buffer to auto-post to Twitter and Facebook, and I use RSS feed software Feedly to channel all the websites I follow into one place." 06. Allow structured procrastination time If you really can't avoid procrastination, build it into your day – with structured time-slots. "I just can't settle straight away so I have a good hour of faffing time in the morning," says surface pattern designer Esther Cox. But Cox is strict, and tries to make it relevant – in this morning's 'procrastination hour' she researched Parisian rooftops, which was inspiration for a textile commission. 07. The occasional off-day is okay Essentially, productivity is about doing something – anything – rather than struggling. "I try not to beat myself up if I'm not feeling it," explains photographer Jess Bonham. "Ask yourself what you can realistically achieve today before you write it off completely." Rather than plan shoots or concepts, Bonham might spend 'off-days' organising folders on her hard drive, weeding her inspiration folder or filing receipts; tasks that don't need brain energy. 08. Beat creative block With no-one to bounce ideas off, creative block can turn into a maddening affliction that piques Dawson's Creek-level angst. To ease its grip, you need both preventative measures built into your daily routine and crisis management. "I write down 10 ideas a day," says Patel. "Some are serious, which I think might make a good illustration, others are fun and totally pointless. The point is to become an ideas machine, with flowing and constant solutions." 09. Create a routine Routine is also important for Cox: "I draw every day for the sake of it. It helps you explore new ideas without client needs, and it alleviates creative block in the first place." The added bonus is that this creative play can be used as a social media tool. "A lot of my client work I can't share because of contracts," adds Cox. "This way potential clients can still get a feel for my style and it shows I'm busy." 10. Keep going… Illustration: Jamie Coe But when a deadline is imminent, working through it is the only option, says Pâté. "With creative block I just try to make sure I've had an idea by the end of the day, no matter how good (or not) it is," he says. "Make sure it's on a piece of paper, even if it's rubbish. When you go back in the morning, you can pick it apart, and maybe take one element of it forward." The psychological advantage of going to bed with something also means you'll probably sleep better. Next page: 15 more tips for staying sane as a freelancer 11. Know who you can bounce ideas off Illustration: Jamie Coe Working on your own does not mean you're the sole survivor in a post-apocalyptic world. "It's risky but you can also use the art director that you're working with," adds Pâté. Bouncing ideas off the art director of The Washington Post for a recent project meant better results, even though the initial concepts were rejected. "The ideas that I came up with second time round were so much better than the first," he adds. 12. Don't be an island Freelancing can be a lonely business, affecting not just your social wellbeing, but the opportunity to learn from others. Meetups like Yo Illo, Glug, The Big Draw, as well as local exhibitions, will keep you sane and offer informal spaces to delve into how your idols got started, practical portfolio tips and views on different agencies and clients. 13. Try a skill-swap It's a big feat to approach a creative you admire even if it's just to suggest a coffee – the key for confidence is not to go empty handed. "What has worked for me is to skill swap, rather than taking something for nothing," says Patel. When launching a range of tote bags, Patel helped a textile designer he met at designer-maker meetup Crafty Fox with some illustrations in exchange for her thoughts on potential manufacturers and retailers. The result was that both parties benefitted from money-can't-buy expertise. 14. Put on an event yourself The skill swap approach can also be less direct: tempt your heroes to meet you by putting on events so exciting or innovative, they won't want to miss out. 15. Don't overlook the human touch Illustration: Jamie Coe Real-life networking is also essential for winning pitches: take the time to meet someone and you'll come to mind quicker than a name on an email signature. Researching the client, and making sure your portfolio is geared towards their interests is obvious, but it's the human touch that people often overlook, says illustrator Ben Tallon. "Out of fear and respect for a client you don't treat them with the kindnesses you would your friend. If you find out your client has a family, ask about their family. Perhaps they like football or the same band as you. Ask them if they're better if they've been off sick." Tallon's approach has paid off professionally and personally. "I remember going to see Sam Price at The Big Issue when I first started out, and he was like a God to me. I went to his wedding last week!" 16. Follow up on initial meetings After the initial meet, a next day follow-up is crucial, says freelance designer Gordon Reid. "If you meet a creative director at an event and you don't have their email, tweeting them to say thanks is a really good way of keeping in contact. It's likely that they'll add you back, and then six months later, they'll still be looking at your work." 17. Appreciate your followers Networking is not just about clients and collaborators, it's about appreciating followers too. "I have a New York fan with a big Instagram following, and whenever she posts a picture of my work I get another 50 followers," says photographer Jess Bonham. It gets better: "When I went to New York I arranged a meeting with her to chat and say thanks," she adds. "It led to another project for a magazine called Coach." 18. Know how to hustle Illustration: Jamie Coe Sadly the hustle doesn't end once you've done the job – the bane of every freelancer's life is getting paid. "I've sent emails in the past saying: 'Please can you pay me as I need to buy food,' which was true at the time, although it didn't make much difference," sighs Andrew Rae. "Most people get round to it eventually but it can be really annoying and 90-day payment periods seem to be becoming worryingly normal on agency jobs – it's a disgrace." 19. Agree your fee first First things first, make sure that the fee is agreed before you do any work on a job. "People will take advantage of you," says Jess Bonham. "Just the very fact that you're showing them that you're taking the budget seriously and you want it to be transparent, makes them realise that they can't mess you about." 20. Have clear T&Cs Like many freelancers, Cheetham has 30-day payment terms, and charges a 5 per cent late fee, which goes up to 10 per cent after 60 days, but he admits they're largely a deterrent. "It's good that they're written there, but you could have written anything," he laughs. 22. Join an industry body Cheetham recommends joining an industry body like the Association of Illustrators, UKWDA or DBA, as the former has given him legal advice on non-payment but has also helped him with pricing. "You can ping them over project details, and they'll give you advice on fees." This was essential when he was entering the uncertain world of licensing existing un-copyrighted work. 23. Arm yourself with insider intelligence Illustration: Jamie Coe If you're working for a client on a regular basis, get to know what their policy is so that you can beat the system armed with insider intelligence. "If you're unlucky enough to time an invoice wrong, you might be looking at six to eight weeks, as opposed to 28 days," Tallon explains. "And it becomes difficult then because a client has to alter their company policy to meet your invoice terms. Most people just won't do that." 24. Play the reliable card Working with the system also has its advantages. "One of the benefits of being reliable is that you can say, "Am I okay to invoice this two days before the brief because I'm a bit skint?" and people who know you are generally fine with that and will process it early," he adds. 25. Chase repeatedly if you have to But, sadly, sometimes you're pushed so far into a corner that your only option is to make yourself as annoying as humanly possible. Follow up a late payment with a friendly email, but if no response is forthcoming then don't be afraid to escalate. "Ideally contact the right person in the finance department, so you can separate the person you have to be stern with from the creative person," says Bonham. "But essentially, if you've done a good job for somebody, and they haven't paid you, then they should be the person to feel ashamed. There is nothing wrong with chasing them repeatedly, and don't work for them again." This article was originally published in Computer Arts, the world's leading design magazine. Subscribe here. Related articles: 6 things to know about getting freelance clients The freelance survival guide The expert guide to working from home View the full article

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Augmented reality has been around for longer than we think, but it's still a new field for most of us. Head-mounted displays with visually coupled systems were being used by the military back in the 1960s and 1970s. Top tips for scaling up AR apps But it wasn't until the 1990s that we started having motion-stabilised displays and fiducial marker tracking, like ARToolKit with its now famous Hiro marker. With the arrival of location-aware phones in 2008, companies like Layar started working on 'outdoor information overlay'. In its December 2009 issue, Esquire featured AR on the cover, catching the public's attention. It still took a while for AR to really come into the public's imagination. And this happened… with a Pokémon. Well, with lots of Pokémon. The Pokémon GO app exploded on the scene in 2016. Everybody had to catch them all! But most importantly, people from outside the tech industry started talking about augmented reality. Pokémon GO was instrumental in bringing the world of AR to the masses So today AR is trending. But why? Maybe it's because we have dreamed about the possibilities, and now we are starting to consider them as real. This tech could actually have useful purposes that will help society develop. AR taps into our natural tendency to want to evolve even further. Plus, it has that cool factor that will help promote it for massive user adoption, for widespread uptake around the globe. Who are the big players in AR? With Hollywood and the gaming industry behind it, it's no wonder that augmented reality is considered a hot topic. But there's more. Another reason why AR is becoming popular is the financial backing, support and innovation from big players in the tech industry. This plays an important role. AR is predicted to have a market revenue of $90 billion by 2020, with VR largely behind with a $30 billion forecast. So let's take a look at some of the contributions of the big players in the field, from early successes to the most recent developments. Google Google introduces its Glass Enterprise Edition Google has made so many efforts in the field of AR and VR that it's hard to know where to begin. It released Google Glass in June 2013, and although some pretty interesting developments have been made – for example in wearable socio-affective aid and disability – these smartglasses haven't been a major success. Last year, it announced an enterprise version of Google Glass so we'll have to wait and see. The long but steady path into AR continued with Project Tango, back in June 2014. Although discontinued, Project Tango was one of the most advanced AR computing platforms seen. Google Cardboard was way more successful than Tango; its low-budget and accessible feel appealed to users around the world. There have been more than 10 million Cardboards shipped. And although you can technically use it to display AR, it was first conceived (also in June 2014) as a VR device. Thanks to its success and popularity, Google announced in May 2016, that it would focus its efforts on building a new, improved and enhanced platform for VR, called Daydream. Finally, its latest effort in AR has been the greatest to date. Enter ARCore. The coming of ARCore ARCore brings AR to Android devices In August 2017, Google shook the augmented world by publishing ARCore. Android users finally had their own AR platform. With ARCore, people started creating AR experiences on a massive scale. So how does ARCore work? First of all, it has stable motion tracking, an advanced inside-out tracking with monocular camera. Google was not the first to make AR available on a monocular camera; Apple had introduced it before with ARKit (more on that later). ARCore also has hit-testing to detect some planes (floor, table, wall) in the space around you and give you their location (environmental understanding). Another important feature is real-world light estimation. ARCore can estimate ambient and directional light. This is key because with good lighting AR merges smoothly in the real world. ARCore is currently available on Google-specific devices like the Pixel, but it will soon be open to millions of Android devices. The consolidation of WebAR Another major contribution from Google is the importance and relevance that it has given to WebAR. Efforts existed before (open-source libraries like AR.js) but Google has made the focus shift and the world notice. Before, when people considered AR they thought only about HMD devices and funny-looking glasses, but now, Google has consolidated AR on the web. It has built two apps to expose both ARCore and ARKit with web tech: WebARonARCore and WebARonARKit. So, by exposing AR to a modified version of Chrome, developers only need a single API to reach both markerless tracking platforms. Ultimately the goal is to create a WebAR standard, much like the WebVR standard that you can use to write cross-platform AR applications. Now we can reach ARCore and ARKit from a web browser, and Google will probably include that in a Chrome implementation. Exciting times for WebAR. Microsoft HoloLens is horrifyingly expensive but a great AR platform Microsoft HoloLens was introduced to audiences in March 2016. It was one of the first modern AR head-mounted displays or smartglasses. The HoloLens offers precise high-quality tracking. The advantage of transparent devices like the HoloLens is that you don't have to hold the device in your hand (like you would a phone or tablet). Applications include a catalogue of 'holographic' 3D objects that you can play around with, and the HoloStudio to create them. It uses mostly Unity and Vuforia to build the apps. Microsoft has also implemented Skype and Cortana, its virtual assistant, into the HoloLens. And of course, there are a lot of gaming applications that you can try. All in all, the HoloLens is a very interesting device – the price is currently a bit restrictive but it's still a great platform to play with. Apple Apple has just revealed ARKit 2, making it possible to create shared AR experiences Early in 2017 Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, made some comments on AR. However, it was all very non-committal. Apple had previously made many acquisitions in the AR field, but it had never got round to releasing anything. Then in June 2017, ARKit was announced. It was also integrated on the iOS 11 release. ARKit introduced monocular camera support for AR on the iPhone. Markerless tracking and the ability to do hit-testing on the real world were also part of the package. From June 2017, until the release of ARCore, Apple was the leader in the AR world. Not because of the tracking accuracy of its tracking technology: HoloLens and Project Tango had better tracking, but they both required specific hardware. Apple was the best because you got AR in your pocket by default… as long as you had an iPhone. ARKit basically offers the same features ARCore offers, but for iOS users. One difference is that Google uses a process called COM, concurrent odometry and mapping, to understand and map the world, while Apple's ARKit uses VIO, visual inertial odometry, to do the same thing. However, iOS is only 12 per cent of the world's mobile market. That's why we needed AR on Android for the other 88 per cent. ARKit was definitely a key step towards massive user adoption. Everybody was rightfully impressed. But, the thing about Apple is that it likes to keep a tight grip on what it does, meaning that it provides closed – rather than open-source – solutions. Apple was pushing for native App Store and less for WebAR. Even so, ARKit is pretty slick and there are some terrific demos online made with Unity. Mozilla The year 2017 was great for AR development, and following Google and Apple's lead, Mozilla had to throw its hat in the ring. A-Frame, its easy to learn web framework for building VR experiences, has been gaining massive popularity since it was released in July 2017. In October 2017, Mozilla also announced a new development program for mixed reality that "would expand their work in VR and AR". It drafted a WebXR API proposal. Later it started experimenting with WebAR on iOS with ARKit. The result: a WebXR viewer app available for download on iPhone devices. The app lets you view web pages created using Mozilla's own JavaScript library. Facebook Facebook started dabbling in VR a while back when it bought Oculus Rift for $2 billion in March 2014. Now it has officially started its incursion into AR. First, it announced a developer platform for its AR 'World Effects' (similar to those of Snapchat filters). Then, in December 2017, it finally opened the beta version of the platform to all devs. Facebook is allowing them to use precise location, object recognition and depth detection to get creative. Developers all around the world can start building AR experiences for the Camera Effects Platform, which includes 'World Effects' that augment your environment with 3D objects rather than just your selfies. Magic Leap Magic Leap finally announced its first product in December 2017. The Magic Leap One is an AR headset to compete with devices like Microsoft HoloLens. It includes a pair of round-lensed goggles with audio and external camera sensors called Lightwear. It also includes a handheld controller with a touchpad and a "round computer system that clips to your body" called Lightpack. The Creator SDK is available now. Who else is out there? Besides the ones already mentioned, many other companies have developed their own AR services and products. Unity has been very active in perfecting its multiplatform for AR and VR. Actually, over 91 per cent of HoloLens experiences are made with Unity. More than two-thirds of all content created for AR and VR uses its engine. It offers support for Vuforia, and there are Unity plugins for ARCore and ARKit. Another company building an editor specifically targeted towards AR/VR experiences is Amazon, with Sumerian. The premise is that it's quick and easy to use without requiring any specialised skills or 3D graphics expertise. Other companies that have produced AR include Epson with Moverio, Sony with SmartEyeglass, IKEA with its Place app, Snapchat with Lens Studio, Blippar, Meta, Wikitude, Augment… to name just a few. Even NASA has been making use of AR/VR for several projects on space research. The market and its applications Now that there is more visibility around AR, an increasing excitement about its possibilities, and that the tech is made available to more people, what's next? Well, one word: creation. Content creation. This means building applications for the many fields where AR can play an important role. Let's take a look at some of the ways society is making use of AR. Education AR is already making changes in the way we learn. Apps for education are being deployed in classrooms around the US and some parts of Europe. Imagine children having trouble being attentive at school. Imagine that instead of reading a boring textbook, they see history happening live in AR. Or mixing elements in chemistry and seeing the reactions fume or explode. The classroom is way more appealing this way. The love of learning will come back to our schools. You can learn with your phone, which means there are fewer materials to buy, the retention rate will be higher, lessons will become more interactive and foster intellectual curiosity. Children can benefit greatly from apps like Aurasma, Quiver, or the amazing flashcards and anatomy app from Octagon Studio, which are both recreational and educational. AR in the workplace AR in the workplace has also started to be implemented. Industrial applications are being tested on factories to teach workers how to use the machinery, or to extract information like the current state of the equipment, temperature, location, etc. Obviously this is very interesting for industrial customers because it minimises error and cost. It can also help with maintenance procedures. The Microsoft HoloLens has been used by thyssenkrupp engineering for elevator maintenance, and by Volvo for complex assembly. The same device was a finalist for the RIBA Stirling Prize 2017 with applications for architecture and BIM (building information modelling). Assuring quality is the most important thing for these industries, and the expert support, automation and even AI that AR can bring is a big advantage to be invested upon. Retail and advertising AR for retail and advertising is also being developed. AR could reactivate this field. The amount of revenue is interesting enough for advertisers to be willing to learn how to use AR/VR editors and mobile apps. By being able to visualise the product in AR, the user will be more tempted to purchase it, or at least to interact with it. It will boost sales. In the case of e-commerce the experience can be triggered either from a website or from a printed ad on the street. All they need is a QR code to scan and launch the experience. Remember the window shop from Net-a-Porter or the Pepsi Co's unbelievable bus experience, and even Tesco has a AR app. Other companies like ModiFace have made a name for themselves by offering AR tech to beauty brands. Sephora has launched an AR app to try different makeup looks and products. The possibilities are endless. Gaming Gaming is another field where AR has left its mark. Although mostly a VR thing, popular games like Pokémon GO are what actually made the consumer market massively aware of AR. But there are many other apps to choose from, like shooting games, horror games, sports games, even table and card games. The future of medicine AR is also present in other areas like medicine, where it could actually improve the way surgeons train or approach a complicated operation. The Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid decided to use the HoloLens to help surgeons perform procedures on patients. With the device they can quickly see data from CT scans, ultrasounds, X-rays, and 3D models, all through an interactive holographic panel system. In April of 2017, a team of surgeons used the HoloLens to operate on a patient with a malignant muscular tumour, using the headset to visualise MRI and radiography information during the surgery. This is simply outstanding and promises some exciting things to come. The next step As we have seen, AR has a wide scope of application. Now we need to keep creating content and get that killer app. This killer app will help us find out how people will use AR in a meaningful way that transform their lives. We need to figure out how to make AR a tool of choice, easy to use and shareable. Also, companies need to focus on making transparent devices available for massive use. Maybe these devices will end up having the same market penetration as video game consoles. Manufacturers need to improve interaction and control of the 3D being displayed, making the gestures feel more natural and the devices themselves less cumbersome. AR will be perfected on mobile phones, localised in space (home, workplace, classroom, coffee shop) with high quality data visualisation and real-time sharing. WebAR will play an important role in this democratisation, creating visibility but especially opportunity for anybody to experience and create AR… and with opportunity comes change, and this change is closer than we think. There's a lot to look forward to. This article was originally published in issue 305 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 305 here or subscribe here. Related articles: How to code an augmented reality marker The best VR headsets for 2018 VR: is it the future of design? View the full article

As a digital artist, game developer or character designer, there's nothing cooler than seeing your static images animated in videos games. Whether it's a simple walk cycle or an all-out attack sequence, adding movement to your illustrations gives them a new and exciting dimension. But stepping out of your comfort zone of static images and into the world of digital animation can be intimidating. There's so much to learn (starting with the 12 principles of animation) and so many tools to choose from. Where do you start? In this month's round-up, you'll discover some of the best tools for creating 2D animation, with an emphasis on gaming, from pixel art to vector-based graphics. So what are you waiting for? Let's get moving! 01. Piskel Price: Free Piskel is an online tool for creating animated sprites and pixel art. It's easy to use and requires no sign-up. However, if you're interested in creating a gallery, whether it be public or private, you can do so by signing in with your Google account. With Piskel, you get a live preview while you're creating your image. You also have the option of importing PNGs, JPGs, BMPs, and animated GIFs. Or you can import .piskel files, the proprietary format for Piskel. On the export side, you have options for animated GIFs, PNG spritesheets, or a zip with each frame rendered out as a PNG. This is an online tool, but there’s also a download available for Windows, Mac and Linux. 02. Aseprite Price: $14.99/£11 (trial available) Another great pixel art and animation tool is Aseprite. This app has everything you'd expect from a larger publisher, including layer support, onion skins, playback modes, alpha channel control, shading modes and custom brushes. Like Piskel, you can import and export a variety of formats, like PNGs, spritesheets and animated GIFs. 03. Spine Price: $69-$299/£51-£223 (trial available) Moving out of the realm of pixel art, Spine allows you to animate your already existing artwork. That's right – there are no illustration tools included in Spine. However, because it's such a powerful animation tool, it's absolutely worth a look. Spine gives you all of the tools necessary to animate your characters, including a dope sheet and a Free-Form Deformation (FFD) tool. The dope sheet gives you a detailed look at the timeline where you can make tweaks to the animation's timings. And with the FFD tool, you can transform individual mesh vertices and deform your image. 04. Pencil2D Price: Free This cross-platform 2D drawing and animation app is great for bringing your hand-drawn animations to life. Thanks to its lightweight design, Pencil2D lets you focus on the art and animation, not the interface. It supports both raster and vector, and has options for importing and exporting different formats. 05. FlipBook Price: $29-$249/£22-£171 (trial available) Like Pencil2D, FlipBook is another contender if you're looking for a graphics app to create traditional 2D animation. FlipBook lets you draw, scan, and import things like backgrounds, cels, overlays, and even movies. You can also add sound. When you're done, you can export still images or the full, animated movie. 06. Synfig Studio Price: Free Another powerful, cross-platform, open source 2D animation drawing and animation tool is Synfig Studio. Although more complicated than most other graphics apps, Synfig gives you control over almost every aspect of your animation, and provides you with familiar tools like brushes, fills, masking, layers and more. 07. Moho Debut and Moho Pro Price: $69.99-$399.99/£52-£298 Moho is a vector-based 2D animation program for beginners (Debut) and professionals (Pro). Both come loaded with tons of pre-made content and characters to help get you started or spark your imagination. With the Debut version, you can use a character wizard to dial-in things like body proportions and predesigned 2D components. Or you can import your own images and use the autotrace option. For Pro users, you get things like FBX support, motion blurs, frame-by-frame capabilities and more. Check out this free Introduction to Moho course to get you started. 08. TVPaint Animation Price: $590-$1250/£441-£1104 (trial available) Moving on to the more 'professional' set of tools, TVPaint lets you render fully animated scenes from start to finish. It uses bitmap technology, so you can animate natural renderings, like gouache, watercolour, oil painting, crayon and pen, traditionally, image by image. TVPaint Animation is one of the pricer options included in this round-up, but it does offer a trial version, and from what I've seen so far, it's quite powerful and well worth the price. Don't believe me? Take a look at its gallery. 09. Toon Boom Harmony Price: $375-$1975/£280-£1474 (trial available) Toon Boom's Harmony, considered by some to be the de facto standard in animation tools, offers three versions of Harmony: Essentials, Advanced and Premium. You also have three licence options: Perpetual, Monthly (starting at $23/£17 month) or Annually (starting at $15/£11 month). With Harmony's illustration and animation tools, you can sketch, draw, and paint in both bitmap and vector formats. You also have access to advanced colour palettes, deformers, frame-by-frame animation, and special effects. Have a look at this Star Wars parody video from Jason Venus, and check out the glow and shadows on those lightsabers – it's absolutely stunning! 10. CrazyTalk Animator Price: $69-$299/£51-£223 (trial available) If you're looking for software to help with audio lip-syncing for both Sprite-based and Morph-based characters, or 2D facial and body puppeteering, CrazyTalk Animator has you covered. With CrazyTalk Animator, you can animate anything! CrazyTalk Animator is available in three flavours: Standard, Pro and Pipeline. The Standard version will get you started with basic timeline editing and G3 character templates, but to get the full benefits of creating your characters directly from PSDs, you'll need the Pipeline version. All three versions include support for importing images and videos in a variety of formats. You can also export videos and image sequences, however, FBX exports are limited to the Pipeline version only. Read more: 10 amazing podcasts for digital artists 30 top vector art tutorials 8 ways to shine as an animator View the full article

Dixons Carphone said it discovered a massive cyberattack on its processing systems that targeted millions of payment cards and personal data records. View the full article

This issue we help you at excel at key tasks, from creating photorealistic portraits, integrating motion capture data into your scenes and setting up believable cloud simulations for your aerial shots. Buy 3D World issue 236 now We offer a great guide, that shows you what to expect from a career in games as well as how to get your foot on the career ladder, or take the next step in your journey. There are also our regular Q and As, project insights and reviews of the latest gear. Feature: Careers in games Discover how to get a dream games job, or take your career to the next step If you either want to work in games, or already do but are ready for the next step, then check out our feature where we show you what's on offer and give you some great tips to help you maximise what you offer, to get you where you want to be. Feature: CG foliage Discover the secrets behind CG forests Journey into some memorable CG forests with Ian Failes, who uncovers the secrets behind these detailed vistas, looking at projects, tools and techniques. Tutorial: Master 3D portraits Portrait master, Ian Spriggs, shares his knowledge to help you create stunning portraits Digital humans can be slightly off-putting and the closer to realism they get, the more off-putting they can be. Master portrait artist Ian Spriggs reveals how he overcomes this, with a detailed look at how he created our cover star. His rundown covers everything form modelling and texturing to lighting and rendering but, more importantly, he shares the reasoning behind his choices and his thoughts on historical references. Tutorial: iClone motion capture Implement mocap into your iClone scenes In this iClone tutorial you will learn how to take motion capture data and use it to add life to your scenes without the need to animate by hand. Tutorial: FumeFX clouds Simulate a skyscape with FumeFX Get to grips with FumeFX and learn how to create realistic cloud formations. Build the initial control meshes, right through to final rendering in this step by step tutorial. Read more on 3D art: 31 brilliant Blender tutorials 30 top examples of 3D art How to create epic environment designs View the full article

Shift is a night school from D&AD New Blood. The initiative offers young creatives without formal arts education the chance to attend 12 weeks of free night classes, and this year's course is now open for applications. One of Shift's aims is to address diversity in the design industry. “Through diverse eyes and ears, we see things from perspectives that we were never looking for and we do things to ensure those benefits are shared to a broader audience,” says D&AD President Steve Vranakis. “That way, everyone benefits. Shift is, in my view, what the whole industry should be doing on a macro scale.” Kieran Ahmed, who attended the course in 2017, thinks it's working: “D&AD has clearly recognised a problem with the industry when it comes to diversity and is giving a platform to those who probably would not get a chance based on their background,” he says. An end of year showcase of the student's work was a chance to secure placements at companies like Nike, Iris and BBC Creative The numbers are also favourable. From the 2017 Shift London programme, 84 per cent of Shifters have entered into paid creative employment, compared to 41 per cent of design graduates employed in their sectors after six months of graduation. “The strength of the programme has been building year on year," says Hilary Chittenden, head of the programme, which is now in New York as well as London. "We’re always looking at ways to reach wider audiences. Talent is everywhere, we need to look out of our traditional silos to diversify our industry and create a more level playing field.” Chloe Templeman at the class of 2017's end of course showcase One of the draws of the programme is having talks, mentors and creative briefs set by big names in the industry. One such mentor is Chloe Templeman, creative director at Design Bridge. “I like to think of Shift as a condensed version of university,” she says. “When you’re working in the industry, you have a creative director who is there to mentor you, and when you’re a student at university you have tutors to help, so it’s really no different.” Lucy Jackson, another student of the 2017 programme, felt that Shift helped grow her confidence: “It has empowered me to create work that I never knew I could create, growing my confidence and comforting me on the path of blossoming into my true self,” she explains. “I’d love to see it become a nationwide programme, providing opportunities to people in other parts of the UK as well as in London,” adds Templeman. “As an agency, we are 100 per cent behind the programme and I can’t wait to see what – and who – comes next.” If you think you've got what it takes to be part of Shift, apply here. Applications are open until 1 August. Related articles: How to encourage diversity in the design industry Top tips for design students How to transform a design internship into a job View the full article

Learning to code might seem unnecessary for designers, particularly if you're working exclusively in print design. However, if you think you don't need to code, consider the following two things. Firstly, you never truly know what you or your studio is going to be working on a year from now. And in an industry increasingly focused on digital, it's never a bad idea to future-proof your skills. Secondly, learning to code doesn't mean going all-in and becoming a fully fledged developer and knowing everything there is to know about responsive web design. Even if you end up grasping only the very basics of code, it will still help you enormously in communicating your visual ideas to the developers who are tasked with implementing them. “Learning to code is the most exciting step I've made as a designer, but my original goal wasn't to become a developer," says Jun Taoka, now product designer at London consultancy Red Badger."It's about being better able to appreciate the parameters of digital design, and communicate to your peers how your designs will function." Here's how designers can get started in the world of coding... Coding for Designers is a free introductory course to HTML and CSS 01. Go on a coding course But how do you start learning to code? "I'd recommend doing a short course first: a week intensive or a couple of evenings a week over a period of time," says Sari Griffiths, chief design officer at Red Badger. "It's great to have someone you can ask questions, and fellow students to motivate you. Then make sure you keep it going using online tutorials and courses." Taoka favours Treehouse and General Assembly, while his colleague, product designer Clementine Brown, is a fan of Codecademy; other choices include Pluralsight and SuperHi. Whichever you opt for, Brown advises: "Stick to HTML and CSS at the beginning; this will give you a feel for what it's like to bring a flat graphic to life." For the uninitiated, HTML defines the basic structure of a web document, while CSS defines how it's presented, in terms of things like layout, colour and fonts. Complex interactions and animation are usually created in JavaScript, which is more advanced, although ways are increasingly being developed to do these tasks within CSS too. 02. Experiment with code Most importantly, don't just take the classes, but start getting your hands dirty by putting what you've learned into practice. Play around with code, build things, try things out: it's the only way you'll really start to get your head around how all this stuff really works. Plus, it's fun. "As a designer learning code for the first time, one of the most exciting elements is bringing your creations to life in a new medium, accessible by billions instantly," says Craig Frost, product designer at Pusher, a leader in real-time technologies based in London. "I'd advise you to start small: focus on translating your existing knowledge of design practice into code. Begin with layout and spacing, understanding grids on the web and when you need to use them. Then move onto type treatments and colour; the differences in terminology, possibility, and lack thereof." Part of Trang Minh Nguyen's side project where she creates daily sketches while learning Processing (p5.js) and posts them on Instagram. See also lead image above 03. Inspect other's code One of the best ways to learn how coding works, he adds, is in analysing and deconstructing the work of others."Use the browser developer tools to inspect design work you admire, and then work backwards to increase your understanding of how a particular design came to be. You can use these tools to directly manipulate the website you're visiting, so start changing colours, spacing, copy; get a feel for how you'd use these same materials to construct something of your own. “When you get stuck, use tools like Stack Overflow to connect with others and get help with hard problems. And if you're using platforms like Codecademy or Treehouse to learn, make yourself present in their forums to discuss your learnings with other students." Hanan Shoubaki of Studio 244 started learning to code on Codecademy and SuperHi. She then put what she'd learned into practice with this landing page for cooking tech company Ibex One 04. Ask a developer And if your day job involves work with developers, why not connect with them too? "Reach out and ask if they'll pair with you on coding up your next design," suggests Frost. "Communicate about their ideas, skills, and concerns. You'll get a better idea of how you can alter your design practice and process to cater to the web, and it will strengthen your work relationships, too. If you're not lucky enough to have this at your company, start looking for meetups and workshops, where you can do the same thing but outside of the office. "Coding is difficult in the beginning, but it will get better," says Mircea Mocanu, a designer and art director who recently built his first site – his personal website. "Don't fear language: make analogies with other things you encountered when dealing with large amount of information. Invest, knowing it's going to take some time and it will often be annoying, but ultimately you'll be glad you put the effort in. Exercise your new skills on smaller stake projects," he continues. "Take it step-by-step and enjoy little victories. Ask other coders how they do it. If they are busy, ask Google. If you can't find it, ask others again. Don't expect things to progress or work if you don't guide them." This article was originally published in issue 278 of Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 278 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: 16 top online coding courses 23 steps to the perfect website layout Why you need a website and how to get started View the full article

Want to film your adventures or latest action-packed creative projects? We can help. We’ve got the cheapest GoPro deals available, anywhere, right here. We've searched all the major retailers to find the lowest prices on the best GoPros cameras you can buy. This includes everything from the top-end GoPro Hero 6 Black, the super cheap GoPro Hero Session and the GoPro Karma drones, right down to the sometimes very cheap GoPro Hero 4. We haven't listed the older models because our research has shown that their prices are often more expensive than newer, better models. GoPro cameras have quickly become the go-to tool for filming POV videos thanks to their low cost, fantastic footage, extreme durability and portable nature. Perfect for strapping to your helmet, chest, snowboard, surfboard or bike, they're especially good for intense action event filming, providing a first-person viewpoint to muddy forest mountain-bike descents, extreme snowboarding, sky diving, near-miss wingsuit flying – the lot. If you've seen an extreme sports close call on YouTube, it was probably shot on a GoPro camera. They're not just portable and tough, though. GoPro cameras are capable of shooting with multiple field-of-view (FOV) options. You can shoot in 4K at 60 frames-per-seconds (fps) on the high-end model; or go for a still-fantastic 1080p at an incredibly slick 240fps. GoPros are also capable of shooting stills, often with a burst mode, too, to give you even more options. We've run through the filming capabilities on each model below, so you can find the cheapest GoPro for your needs. Here are the best GoPro cameras you can buy – and the best GoPro deals available today for each model. The GoPro Hero6 Black is the best GoPro yet. Naturally, this means it's the most expensive of the brand's touchscreen-enabled action cameras, but the price has fallen from its original $499/£499 – and we’ve listed the best GoPro Hero6 Black deals above. So what’s so good about the latest GoPro? Thanks to its custom-designed GP1 processor, it can shoot 4K at an impressive 60 frames-per-second or 1080p at a massive 240fps, for super-smooth slow mo. Image stabilisation is much improved, available now at both 4K/30fps and 1080p/120fps, which is a good move from GoPro given the active nature of action filming. And there’s a lot more: voice action is handy when your hands are full. It’s waterproof up to 10 metres without the need for any external housing. And the two-inch touchscreen display shows brighter colours. Meanwhile, the fantastic Quik smartphone app comes with a QuikStories feature that automatically transfers and edits video for you. In short? The GoPro Hero6 Black isn’t just the best GoPro you can buy – it’s the best action camera. The good thing about new and improved models, is the older versions usually see a price cut – and that's exactly what's happened with the still-excellent GoPro Hero5 Black. This model records fantastic 4K footage, albeit at 30fps instead of 60, but depending on what you're using the camera for this might not matter – especially given the money you’re saving through the better GoPro deals available. Image stabilisation isn’t as good as the newer model either, but other than that, the GoPro Hero5 Black has a huge amount going for it. Image quality is superb, wth vibrant colours and crisp, sharp detail. Visually, it’s identical to the Hero6 Back, with built-in waterproofing to 10m without a separate case, dual microphones and voice control. There's a reason why the GoPro Hero5 Black received rave reviews when it first launched: this is a fantastic action camera – and the lower price point makes it a very compelling option indeed. Don't be confused by the GoPro Hero 2018. The company released a GoPro Hero years ago – but this is a new version, and it's vastly improved on the original. (If you're worried about accidentally buying the similar-looking older version, just avoid ones with a big round red light on the front – like this one.) The new GoPro Hero is a fantastic budget version of its siblings. Forget about 4K shooting; we're at the cheap GoPro wedge of the market here. But you do get a smooth 60fps performance at 1080p. And like the models above, it's waterproof up to 10m without a separate case. If you're not sure how much you're going to really use a GoPro, this is the cheapest one to get with the added functionality of a touchscreen – something the cheaper GoPro Sessions (see below) don't have – making this is an inexpensive travel companion, and a great entry point into action filming. If 4K video recording is the one thing you can't live without on your new GoPro action camera, then the GoPro Hero 5 Session if your cheapest option. The cube-shaped and water-resistant GoPro has been a big hit since launch, thanks to its super low price and small size, which makes it the most unobtrusive action camera around. The lack of a touchscreen has some users looking towards the more expensive numbered Black models, though. As if the GoPro Hero 5 Session (above) wasn't already incredibly cheap, GoPro released this budget version afterwards. The GoPro Hero Session doesn't give you 4K recording – but you get 1080p at 60fps, which is great value for money. Stills and burst mode take a hit quality-wise, though, if you're wanting to use them much in addition to filming. Unlike the models above, there's no SuperView field-of-view shooting (Wide is still available though) so any 4:3 shooting won't be stretched out to fill widescreens on playback. While it's not the best for shooting footage you'll want to watch over and over again, this GoPro has been very popular for beginners – or as a reliable camera for commuting cyclists and bikers (it attaches nicely to helmets). It's amazing how other road users behave around you when they see you're sporting a camera. Ok, we're getting into the older models now. The GoPro Hero 4 Black – which is actually silver (why, GoPro?) – is still a decent camera capable of shooting 4K at 30fps. But prices can vary wildly. Often, the best GoPro deals on this model will be for refurbished cameras, and not everyone wants to spend so much on a pre-owned action camera. New units are rare (the camera itself is no longer made after all) but you can find a bargain every now and then. We'd urge you to check the prices on some of the newer models in this article though – as there's a good chance you'll be able to get a newer and better model for less money. Happily, the Hero4 Silver is actually silver, like the Hero 4 Black above. (Seriously, what gives, GoPro?) Like the Hero 4 Black though, we'd only recommend picking this one up if you spot a spectacular discount in our comparison chart. Prices are generally more expensive than newer and superior models now, and the 4K capture is limited to just 15 frames per second. So it'll be a bit janky to say the least. The GoPro Karma Drone certainly isn't what we'd call cheap, but it opens up a world of opportunities for some spectacular aerial footage. And it's certainly cheaper than hiring a helicopter, which explains why drones are widely replacing choppers for aerial footage. The GoPro Karma drone comes in two variants; one with and one without a camera. The GoPro Karma generally comes with a GoPro Hero 5 installed (sometimes the Hero 6 on newer listings). The GoPro Karma Light (aka GoPro Karma with harness) does not come with a camera. If you can find a discounted price on the Hero 5 Black (or even the Hero 6 Black), it might make more sense to buy the Light version of the drone and the camera separately. We've included comparison charts for both below, but please double check the listing description and any images on the retailer site to be sure, just in-case the feeds in our charts get it wrong. We'd hate for you to splash the cash and not get a camera too if you were expecting one. View the full article

Want to build and host your own websites? Do both with a lifetime subscription to the WordPress Build + Host Bundle. This two-product bundle includes everything you'll need to create and host a great website. With Dragify Wordpress Builder, you won't have to learn to write any code at all, as the drag-and-drop website builder is so intuitive and user-friendly. Build your perfect website that looks great across all devices. You'll also get SSDPage SSD Anti-Hacker Web Hosting, a system that protects your site against CXS malware, DDOS attacks, and other common cyber threats that could wreak havoc on your website. Get both for the low price of $49.99. Related articles: 10 great WordPress plugins for designers 40 brilliant WordPress tutorials 8 essential WordPress security secrets View the full article

After the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup is the biggest global sporting tournament around – and its official branding has attracted the world's attention for decades. As well as reflecting the essence of the tournament, the logo design also needs to convey elements of the host country – no mean feat for the branding agency that wins the account. To mark the start of the Russia 2018 World Cup, we've taken a look back at eight of the best logos from World Cup tournaments since 1930... 01. Uruguay 1930 World Cup poster This stylised Art Deco poster captures the spirit and drama of the game, as well as the aesthetic of the time We're starting at the very beginning, with the first ever World Cup – held in Uruguay in 1930, when there were only 13 teams participating. Although the tournament didn't have a 'logo' in the modern sense, its unique look and feel was conveyed through a beautiful Art Deco-style poster. Featuring an absract, stylised image of a goalkeeper making a save, clad in the Uruguay national colours, the poster captures the spirit of the game as well as the aesthetic of the time. 02. France 1938 World Cup poster Depicting a triumphant footballer conquering the globe, this poster doesn't go over the top with red, white and blue Two tournaments later, the World Cup made it to France – with another beautifully stylised poster replacing the action shot of Uruguay's offer with a dominant, imposing stance of a footballer conquering the globe. Little did the world know of the devastating conflict that would be sweeping through France in the following few years, but here in 1938, notions of victory and world domination were confined to the beautiful game. This was the third and final time a poster represented the tournament, rather than a logo. Compared to some of the more overt 'national flag' palettes that followed, the use of red, white and blue is much more conceptual and abstract. 03. England 1966 World Cup logo England's World Cup logo is packed with national pride, and prominently features the Jules Rimet trophy By contrast, England's 1966 logo – the first, and only time the country has triumphed at the tournament – leaves no doubt about the host country, featuring a bold, bright flag. Although Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish fans may query the choice of the Union Flag rather than the English one. As well as the English team's Three Lions crest, another very overt link with the host country, the logo also prominently features the Jules Rimet Cup itself – which was replaced by the current design in 1974. World Cup Willie was the first ever World Cup mascot – every tournament since has had one Rather than a footballer conquering the globe, with a ball on top of it, the strikingly symmetrical design instead integrates the globe with the football. Another first was the introduction of the first ever World Cup mascot – footballing lion, World Cup Willie – who kick-started a tradition that has now become integral part of tournament culture. 04. Mexico 1970 World Cup logo The Mexico 1970 tournament was the first to feature the now instantly recognisable Telstar ball design The following World Cup, held in Mexico in 1970, is widely considered one of the finest in history – seeing Pelé's Brazil team picking up their third trophy. The logo is beautifully simple, graphic and effortlessly iconic – and also the first to feature the adidas Telstar ball, with its alternating pentagonal and hexagonal segments, now inextricably linked with the modern game. 05. Italy 1990 World Cup logo The abstract, graphic Italia '90 logo puts a fresh twist on its iconic Mexico '70 predecessor Two decades later, a similarly minimalistic depiction of the ball design featured in the Italia '90 World Cup logo, albeit offset in a more abstract way to incorporate the colours of the Italian flag. After a flurry of anthropomorphic animals followed England's World Cup Willie – and continue to this day – Italy really bucked the trend with its mascot, translating the stylised, graphic look and feel of the logo design into a character called Ciao. Built entirely from blocks, Ciao easily stands out amongst all other World Cup mascots Other than his featureless football-shaped head, Ciao – which means both 'hello' and 'goodbye' in Italian – was composed entirely of simple blocks in the Italian colours. He certainly stands out in a line-up of World Cup mascots to this day. 06. Korea / Japan 2002 World Cup logo Interbrand went for a modern, abstract geometric approach to combine the trophy with a banner-waving fan The first World Cup of the new millennium, Korea/Japan's joint hosting of the tournament in 2002 kicked off a wave of modern, geometric logos that put the focus back on the trophy rather than the ball, and the global community of fans rather than the host country. Formed from intersecting curves and circles, the logo – created by Interbrand London – is a clever combination of trophy outline and banner-waving fan, all contained within a satisfying perfect circle. 07. Germany 2006 World Cup logo Paying homage to the Korea / Japan 2002 logo, Germany 2006 was all about celebrating the spirit of the fans For the following tournament in Germany in 2006, the logo integrates its predecessor for the first time in World Cup logo history – although this time, fuill prominence is given to the fans. Having last hosted the Word Cup in 1974 (as West Germany, the eventual champions) with a minimalist two-colour logo that depicted a ball flying through the air, modern unified Germany opted for a much more colourful, cheerful design. The 2006 logo makes a stark contrast to its predecessor, from West Germany 1974 Dubbed 'Celebrating Faces of Football', the 2006 logo is all about the camaraderie of the game, with the '0' and '6' given stylised laughing faces. Germany's flag colours are subtly represented, as a sweeping banner around the side, as well as within the repurposed Korea/Japan 2002 logo at the bottom. 08. Russia 2018 World Cup logo Packed with cultural references, the Russia 2018 logo is unapologetically decorative And so we come to Russia 2018, which like the much-criticised Brazil 2014 logo –popularly dubbed a 'facepalm', which proved rather apt due to the host country's humiliating 1–7 semi-final exit – puts all the emphasis on the trophy. However, Lisbon-based Brandia Central managed to put a bold new spin on the concept, integrating references to Fabergé eggs, Saint Basil’s Cathedral in the Red Square, and the Sputnik space probe. This year's World Cup logo is the first example on the list to add decorative, ornamental flair to the design – and it works. Combined with the personality-laden typeface, it's certainly a new twist on World Cup logo tradition. Related articles: The best logos of all time 80 years of World Cup ticket designs Logo design tips from the pros View the full article

While nearly four weeks have passed since Generate London 2018 first launched and the early bird tickets have now flown the nest, that doesn’t mean there isn’t still plenty of news landing about the web-design conference. Case in point: we’re pleased to announce some of the latest speakers to be confirmed for the event. Hosted at the Royal Institution, the home of the Christmas Lectures, from the 19 - 21 September 2018, Generate London 2018 offers a day of workshops and two days of conference talks from truly world-class web designers. And not only will attendees get to see high-calibre speakers such as Sarah Parmenter, Sara Soueidan, Bruce Lawson and Richard Rutter but Generate London 2018 is also set to host: Alexandra Etienne An AR/VR evangelist working with Lightform, the Californian startup creating the first computer built for projected augmented reality, Alexandra is on a mission to share AR.js with the world. The AR.js project allows people to easily create AR on the web, enabling them to tap the enormous potential it has for areas like history, education, science, retail and gaming. That’s why, in her talk AR.js – Efficient Augmented Reality for the Web, Alexandra will show the advantages that web-based AR can bring, what others have created with it in and what you can do with AR.js library. Kristijan Ristovski Better known by the moniker Kitze, Kristijan founded React Academy to teach the framework around the world and launched sizzy.co and ok-google.io, both of which skyrocketed in popularity within the first week of launch. With such an extensive knowledge of frameworks, it’s hardly surprising that Kitze’s talk will focus on helping Generate attendees pick their way through the crowded and often innovation-obsessed framework landscape. Do you have enough time to learn the latest version of your favourite library? Should you stick with what you know? Should you forget about what you are using and start learning something new? Or should you follow the crowd? So many decisions to make – but in his talk Navigating the Hype-driven Front-end Development World Without Going Insane Kitze will help you find the answers. With such a fantastic lineup already confirmed and more excellent speakers still to be announced, demand for Generate is really heating up. So if you want to be sure you can secure your place, make sure you buy your ticket now. Related articles: The best web hosting services of 2018 Top tips for scaling up AR apps How to code an augmented reality marker View the full article

You're reading Why Your Business Needs Email Marketing, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! You already have a business, but it doesn’t “sell” enough? Or you want to increase engagement or keep your audience updated about something fresh? Or you are just thinking to start a business and don’t know what Marketing strategy to … View the full article

One of the most serious issues is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows DNS, which could allow an attacker to take full control of the targeted machine. View the full article

Vendors have been shipping Android products with Android Debug Bridge enabled, making them attractive targets for hackers. View the full article

Malware can to worm its way onto Macs thanks to a recently discovered code-signing bypass flaw. View the full article

Being asked to describe my painting technique is odd for me, and frankly it’s hard to do. I’m an intuitive painter, with no real process, I usually invent things as I go along – every painting becomes one big experiment. When I do it, I tend to learn a bit about myself, too. My painting for this workshop is based on the HP Lovecraft story The Colour Out of Space, in which a meteor falls to Earth and lands on a family farm. The meteor emits strange radiation and gives off powers that alter life forms that come into contact with them. In the story the alien radiation drains life from its surroundings. Then fungus takes over and because of the unearthly radiation, is mutated in indescribable ways. The ‘colour’ in the title is an unseen spectrum of alien colours. The challenge here, then, is how to draw something that’s apparently undetectable. First I took a sketch out of my sketchbook from some years ago. It was simply a quick jot-down of ideas but as usual, I don’t spend a lot of time on the drawing – I tend to see how things go and rely on magic moments and accidents and hope for the best. I can already see the image. I liked the sketch composition from the get-go anyway, so it makes for a decent jumping-off point… 01. Put your head in a book Eggleton was inspired by the works of Caspar David Friedrich Here’s my sketch. I took this out of my sketchbook and photocopied it to roughly 16x12 inches. My inspiration of mood comes from looking at the works of Caspar David Friedrich, who had a special look to his sublime works. I get a lot of mileage working from these books of classical painting. I recommend that every artist looks at classical works to help develop their own style. 02. No fuss, no bother A copy is made with graphite powder I take the photocopy of my old sketch and then blacken the back with graphite powder. I tape this to the top of the canvas board and then with a pencil, trace off major lines and objects, all very loosely. Once it’s down I work elements back in with a pencil, drawing back into the canvas more or less what things will look like. Again, I don’t fuss much because all this will be covered in paint. I spray the pencil drawing with fixative so that it stays visible when I’m painting over it. 03. Start up the fun machine Time to lay down some colour I put the canvas on my easel. This is where the fun begins. I mix up some Alizarin yellow oil paint (it’s my favourite colour) with Walnut oil. A note on Walnut Oil, it’s actually non-toxic, but I wouldn’t drink it. I tend to avoid turpentine and thinners. 04. Remove your fear A golden underpainting makes the picture glow I coat the canvas board completely. Picasso once said that the biggest fear in the universe is of a blank canvas. Well, we take care of that at the start. I see the underpainting as something to build everything on top of. Many of the classical artists did this. My underpainting will hopefully make the finished work glow. I take a rag and start removing paint, carving out the basic image based on the drawing and how the lighting will go (which I all see in my head). 05. Push and pull More paint is added and removed with a dabbing cloth I start working Burnt umber into the painting, to generate some darker areas and also to define the overall composition. This is just a question of pushing and pulling the paint around the canvas. I add, subtract, dab more in, pull more out and start looking for the appearance of magic areas as the paint creates areas of interest. Then I set the work aside for the night and let it tack up, as we say, so that I can preserve what I’ve got going on. Hopefully, it’ll still look good in the morning! 06. Cool the paint with blues Cooler colours help to create a dynamic contrast Now it gets really interesting! The painting is set up nicely; it’s a little sticky, but I can work with it. I take a cheap bargain store bristle brush and start working in some blues, which helps to take down the warmth I’ve already created. I leave in little areas of light and shadow, and start to see more interesting areas. I begin with the tree and get some details going in the bark. 07. Make it happen Palette knives create surprising results Out comes my oval-shaped palette knife and I start troweling in colour into the area of interest of the 'colour'. I’m just kind of seeing what will happen. Palette knives are a lot of fun because if you have a textured board, the surprises can be pretty fun to watch happen. 08. Introduce small details The texture of the canvas helps to create a rocky surface I start working in some details on the well, using a smaller brush. The strange alien force is at the bottom of a well, which I originally sketched while visiting a friend’s farmhouse some time ago. I start on the middle ground area and rely heavily on the texture of the canvas board to help me establish a rocky area. The underpainting helps me tremendously here. 09. Opposites attract Light is reflected on the surrounding environment I continue detailing the tree branches. I decide that the shape of the 'colour' will be in contrast to the shape of the tree, which is twisted and dead. 10. Shape it up Time to build up the foreground At this point I start detailing the foreground and the skull. This is all a matter of impressionistic details. The roots of the trees and fungus are taking shape. 11. Give my hand a rest Don't forget to take breaks while you work! I use a snooker cue to rest my hand on, much as you would with a mahl stick. It’s relatively cheap and does the job without getting too fancy. It’s good practice to rest your hand when bringing in details to a composition. 12. Use reference and memory Reference books help to create a sense of realism I turn my attention to the mushrooms and fungus. I use some reference books on mushrooms, but I tend also to work from memory, too. I’m not done with them and will come back to them in a bit. They need to tack up because my intention is to glaze some colour over them. 13. Do you see him yet? This scary character is easy to miss Now I put in the farmhouse that’s in the background. Again, it’s not too detailed because it’s less important and, in this nighttime scene you wouldn’t see too much of it anyway. There’s also a figure there, and I like the fact that it takes a second look to see him. At this point the painting is near completion, but I still have things that I’ll tweak and come back to once I leave it to set overnight. 14. Foreground and background A large watercolour brush helps to diffuse the background I use a big wash brush – I think it’s meant for watercolours – to dab in a glaze of light blue over much of the background and the upper part of the tree. This helps to take things back a bit and get more into 'lost edges', which really make the 3D aspect of a painting work. The more diffuse your background looks, the more the foreground will pop out. This is my palette. It looks like a total mess, but there’s order in my chaos. My colours aren’t arranged in any particular order – I just squeeze out paint and hope for the best. It works for me. 15. Work in the evil An unsettling green finished the composition I work some green into the fungus to give it an unsettling, evil look. I work on the alien colour flare coming out of the well to make it looking a bit like a living thing. Subtly, it looks a bit like a DNA strand, which was probably my thought when I saw the shape I was creating and the fact that the alien light mutates and drains the life out of terrestrial organisms. Lovecraft’s fiction is indescribably hard to illustrate because he writes of things that would drive mortal man mad. But I like how it all worked out. I’ll coat the dry painting in spray-on retouch varnish. Oil paintings should wait a year to dry fully, before applying a final layer of varnish. This article was originally published in issue 159 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 159 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: 5 things you need for oil painting 10 sci-fi and fantasy art painting tips How to paint with acrylic washes View the full article

Beer and football go together like an English penalty shoot-out and crushing disappointment. So with the 2018 World Cup just about to kick off, what could be a better medium for designers looking to celebrate the event than the humble beer mat? That's the thinking behind Weird World Cup, the latest project from Gordon Reid and Callum Stephenson. Working with twenty designers, illustrators and creatives – including Jack Renwick and Wade Jeffree – the Weird World Cup beer mats relive bizarre moments from competition matches of years gone by. Due to be 'exhibited' in pubs around London during the 2018 World Cup, they're a tongue in cheek way to mark the occasion. "We always wanted the tone to be humorous, which is why the aim was always to keep the branding retro World Cup inspired," says Gordon Reid. "There were a few ideas of what we got the creatives to actually draw inspiration from and realised there were so many surreal and weird world cup moments over the years that it would really suit the artwork we were hoping to commission." Hey Studios' design remembers the relentless droning of the 2010 vuvuzelas Seeing as the World Cup is a global event, it makes sense that creatives from different backgrounds were invited to take part. "We chose artists whose work we admired, we also chose artists we knew, and for me some that I’d worked with before – in one case a previous Graphic Design tutor from my Sixth Form," says Stephenson. "I think we got a really great mix of designers which makes the series diverse." "We wanted each person to bring a different style to their coaster, be it 3D, illustration, typography, but we also wanted humour or a moment that was close to each artists heart to be prevalent in each one," Reid adds. Thomas Pullin's mat depicts the moment Laurent Blanc kissed Fabien Bartez's bald head Considering the number of artists involved, the pair quickly realised that giving creatives free reign to choose weird moments only worked for so long. "As the first wave of ideas started coming in we realised we needed to tick off the big ones like the hand of god or the Zidane headbutt," Reid explains. "We really wanted people to delve a little deeper and find some truly strange moments that were unique to them." "We sent across a small list of moments to be inspired by but most artists already had a favourite moment for its weirdness or personal connection so it made our job very easy, and also all of the outcomes have tons of personality and every beer mat is completely original," says Stephenson. As well as celebrating the beautiful game, Weird World Cup will also be a force for good as sales of the beer mats will go towards a charity the pair love, Football Beyond Borders. The organisation is currently fundraising for a new multi-purpose space in the Angell Town Estate in Brixton, which will act as a learning hub and safe haven for young people in London from disadvantaged backgrounds. Related articles: Photography book celebrates the joy of football The 5 best ever World Cup football designs The most shared logo on social media revealed View the full article