Rss Bot

Creatives of any kind need to know how to use the apps in the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. These powerful tools are used by amateur and professional creators alike to make their work shine. You can learn your way around these awesome apps with the Adobe CC Lifetime Mastery Bundle, and you can pay what you want for it! Aspiring creators will definitely want to know learn how to use the Adobe Creative Cloud. It's the most powerful set of design tools around and the Adobe CC Lifetime Mastery Bundle will help you master these tools. You'll find more than 40 hours of actionable courses in this bundle that will make you an expert with all of Adobe's powerful artistic tools, from Photoshop and Illustrator to Dreamweaver and InDesign. Plus you'll learn how to make use of motion graphics in After Effects and more. The Adobe CC Lifetime Mastery Bundle is valued at over $384, but you can get it now for a price that you pick! Beat the average to unlock it all, get on the leaderboard, or just pay what you want. You can't go wrong, so grab this bundle today! Related articles: 5 best laptops for Photoshop The 40 best Photoshop plugins Master the Mixer brush in Photoshop View the full article

If you want to go further than just using free 3D models and learn how to sculpt realistic anatomy in ZBrush, this is the tutorial for you. As you will see, ZBrush is an amazing tool for a project like this because it provides you with the much-needed freedom required when shaping forms. Download the files you'll need for this tutorial. 01. Look for references Make sure you have enough reference material before starting If you're going for a full body anatomy study like I am, then make sure you have enough reference material for each part. You can find some 360-degree pictures of a model in various poses here. In addition, Google and Pinterest are great resources to search for images. I decided on Michael Phelps because of his well-defined muscle structure, the huge amount of reference material available and his unusual body proportions. 02. Check body proportions Use your character's head to get its proportions right Probably the most important thing in any kind of art – whether you draw, sculpt or paint – is the proportions. It doesn't matter how much attention you pay to detail, rendering and composition, it will all be meaningless work if your character doesn't look real. The easiest way to measure a character is with ‘heads'. This is why I always start by getting my base shape for the face and using the Transpose tool to measure 7.5/8 heads for my character. Of course, you need to be aware that there is always an exception. For example, with Michael Phelps, his torso is longer, he has shorter legs and his arm span is bigger than the average person. The steps below explain how to measure your character in ‘heads' using ZBrush: Once you have finished shaping your base head, turn off perspective (by pressing the P key), select the Transpose tool and draw out a line from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin holding Shift. This will ensure that it's straight. In the top menu, go to Preferences > Transpose Units, set Minor Ticks to 0 and Calibration Distance to 1. Now if you draw a line from the top to the bottom of the character, you will see that it's divided by heads. 03. Make ZBrush body base mesh Alternatively, just use ZBrush's base mesh To get an easier start, you can always use the base mesh that comes with ZBrush, if you're not feeling too confident with your knowledge of proportions. The base mesh comes with the Skull SubTool, so you can always take a look at how it's built. I don't want to spend a lot of time on proportions, so this time I will use the base mesh. To load the base mesh, do the following: Select Lightbox Click on the Tool sub palette Find and double click on Nickz_humanMale Drag it out with the left mouse button on the viewport and click Edit Object (or press T on the keyboard). 04. Make adjustments to the base mesh Use Transpose Master to adjust your character's pose I don't find the initial pose of the base mesh appealing, so I will change it using the Transpose Master plugin, and give it a more natural silhouette. Transpose Master combines the lowest resolution of all SubTools and creates a mesh that you can pose together. The pose can then be transferred back to the original SubTools. To use the Transpose Master, work through the following steps: Go to Zplugin > Transpose Master and click on TPoseMesh. Pose your model by masking out the parts that you want to move, by holding Ctrl to mask and inverting the mask by holding Ctrl+LMB on the viewport. Once you've finished with the posing, go back to Zplugin > Transpose Master and click on TPose > SubT. Your changes will now be transferred to your original model. While posing your model, you can always export your pose by selecting TPoseMesh. You can then load it manually by going to the scene with your original model and selecting TPose > SubT. 05. Paint body bone landmarks Paint skeleton landmarks to keep track of shapes and proportions Before I start the sculpting process, I do my best to paint all the skeleton landmarks that are seen on the human body. It allows me to keep a better track of the shapes and proportions. You can paint on your model in ZBrush by following these steps: Firstly, fill it with white colour by selecting white on your palette on the left, going to Colour in the top menu and selecting Fill Object. Make sure that your RGB Channel is turned on. Select your Standard brush and uncheck the ZADD above the Intensity slider, while keeping RGB turned on. This will ensure your Standard brush only paints the desired colour, without impacting on the surface of the mesh. Pick the colour that suits you and start painting your model. The main landmarks that I usually paint are the sternum, costal cartilage, iliac crest, vertebrae, anterior superior iliac spine, curve of tibia, clavicle, scapula, acromion process, zygomatic bone, mandible and the temporal line. 06. Use subdivisions The powerful part of using the base mesh is having the correct topology on your body from the very beginning. This allows you to use subdivision levels in ZBrush, which increases the polygon count of a model by replacing each polygon with multiple polygons – the higher it is the more detail you can add. In addition, you can always come back to your first subdivision level and adjust shapes, and this change will be reflected when you come back to the highest subdivision. Let's look at an example of how this works: I know that I'm going to sculpt details like veins, skin stretching and so forth on the highest subdivision, as it will give me millions of polygons to work with. In case I want to change the bulkiness of his chest, I can always go back to a lower subdivision and add some volume to it. All the detail I added on the highest subdivision won't be visible on the lower one, but it will still be there when I come back to the highest level. 07. Block out shapes Throughout my whole sculpting process, I only use a few brushes: Standard, Dam_Standard, Clay Buildup, Clay, Smooth and Move. I am not concerned about the likeness at this time; for now I want to focus on getting all the muscles blocked-in with the correct shape and placement. I use Clay Buildup and Smooth to get the shape, by adding clay and smoothing it out until I get what I want. I try to maintain as low a subdivision level as I can. I go higher once I don't have enough polygons for the shapes I want to add. 08. Add muscle volume Turn off symmetry before building up the body I give my model some more subdivisions and start adding volume by using the Clay Buildup and Clay brush on very low intensity settings, going slowly and not overdoing it. At this stage I stop using symmetry, because I want to be as close to realistic filling as I can. I have noticed that I get the best results when I turn it off early. In addition, I use Transpose Master (like in step 04) to bend the fingers. Make sure that you are not focused on one part of the body all the time – jump between them. This will make you see your sculpture as a whole. Also pay attention to your references, as they play an important role at this stage. Next page: 5 more steps for sculpting realistic anatomy in ZBrush 09. Exaggerate features Focus on your character's defining features Sculpting likeness is the hardest task to perform in ZBrush, but also the most rewarding if you manage to do it. However, you don't have to make it perfect, unless you plan to do some close-up renders. Search for the features that define the person. So for Phelps, it's the length of his face, narrow jaw, big orbicularis oris muscle and protruding ears. To help me find these, I look at the work of caricature artists, because they always exaggerate the characteristics of the face. 10. Create clothing Find plenty of references to help make realistic clothing As always, the first thing you need to sculpt believable cloth is reference. Luckily for me there is no shortage of images of Michael Phelps wearing speedos on the internet. The extraction method is a good choice for creating clothing that sticks to the body. To extract a new mesh: Hold Ctrl to paint the mask onto your model. Remember that the new mesh will extract in the same place as your mask. Once you're happy with the shape, go to SubTool > Extract and turn off Double, otherwise you will get an extraction on both sides of the mesh. Set your Thickness to 0.001 and click Extract. You should see a preview of the mesh that will be generated. Click Accept to create it and it will then appear in your SubTool list. Initially, the middle of the mesh is going to be masked. Use your Smooth brush to make the edges even. To gain better control of the mesh, I use ZRemesher to achieve proper topology by doing the following: Go to Geometry > ZRemesher. Lower the Target Polygon Count to 0.1/0.2 and click ZRemesher (make sure that your symmetry [X] is turned on for that process). Now you have a mesh that you can easily manipulate and position however you like. Once you're done moving it, you can always use ZRemesher again in order to fix the topology. The final step before sculpting is to give it some thickness: Go to Geometry > Edge Loop. Lower Loops to 1, set Bevel to 0 and experiment with thickness. It is best to roughly match the thickness of material that you're planning to sculpt. When the mesh is ready to sculpt, I use the Standard brush with Alpha 37/38/39 to get some nice results with the wrinkles. Don't subdivide your mesh too high – do it step by step. The swimming cap will be done the same way. 11. Pose your model An asymmetric pose will make your work look more interesting Your work will always look a lot more interesting when you break the symmetry even more by changing pose for the final render. I have an interesting pose in my reference folder, so I will try to get something similar – again by using Transpose Master. In this case, the rotation of the head and torso, combined with the head tilting upwards, gave an interesting result. Remember that we always have to adjust the anatomy after posing. I need to make his neck muscle more pronounced on one side. 12. Export the model Decimate your model before exporting it Before exporting models to 3D applications like Maya or 3ds Max, I need to ensure I will be able to use them. Unfortunately, when working on a mesh that has a few million polygons, this might not be possible. I will use the Decimation Master plugin to lower the polycount on the mesh and preserve all the high poly detail. To decimate your model, follow these steps: On the top menu, go to ZPlugin > Decimation Master. Click on Pre-Process All – this will recalculate all the information about all the SubTools. Once complete, select your desired percentage of decimation. For me, 20 per cent usually works perfectly. Next, click Decimate All and you will notice a huge drop in the number of polygons – but your detail shouldn't change. Select Export All SubTools. Now you can export everything as a single .obj file to use in Maya. 13. Move into V-ray The final step is to import and render your model in V-Ray. I bought premade V-Ray scenes from flippednormals.com and want to make use of them when rendering Michael Phelps. After the purchase you can download everything you need from the website, including a video tutorial on how to set everything up. The wealth of material may seem overwhelming at first, but it won't take you more than five minutes to get a great looking render. This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 217; Subscribe here! Related articles: 10 ways to improve your human anatomy modelling The 10 best ZBrush plugins Model an alien pirate creature in ZBrush View the full article

I look at many creative resumes and portfolios every day in my job at Fantasy, spanning a wide range of disciplines and talents. Because there's so many, I've had to develop a strategy to enable me to quickly tell whether a designer has both the visual talent and user experience thinking to thrive with us. In short, a way of separating good work from work that simply looks good. There are plenty of great platforms and tools out there to help designers display their work beautifully. Check out our post on wordpress portfolio themes for a round up. The problem is that these platforms look so great out of the box that they can easily mask the true talent level of the designers using them. Grabbing a nice photograph of a car might make for an arresting project marquee, but if the work that follows isn't as interesting, it'll be clear to me that the designer has put more effort into making a portfolio than they put into the work featured in that portfolio. What follows is a how-to version of the mental checklist of elements I look for in a great portfolio. Not every single one of these is required, but the best portfolios I see include the majority of the these ingredients. 01. Select your projects Pick your best work The first step is to select projects that you think are the best indication of your talent. A well-curated body of work is the first indicator that an individual can decipher good from bad. We have all taken on projects that didn't have a favourable outcome, but guess what? You don't have to advertise them! A single piece of bad work can undermine an entire portfolio. It demonstrates a lack of taste for only the best quality. 02. Look to the future Promote pieces that indicate the kind of work you'd like to do Choose pieces that hint at work you'd like to do in the future. Many designers believe their portfolio is an archive of the work they have completed in the past. While this is true, it should also be a springboard from which to win future opportunities. I often hear from potential clients who like pieces in my portfolio and want to talk about related projects, proving that it's advantageous to show the kind of work you'd be happy to do more of moving forward. 03. Showcase personal projects Show off the range of your abilities with personal projects A great way to show your abilities is to develop a personal project showcasing how you might approach design for an existing product or brand. I love looking at personal projects because they demonstrate a designer's talent when they're free from the constraints of demanding clients and business needs. However, because this work is created in a bubble, it should be clear to your audience that it is not client-driven, and is not an indication of your ability to solve problems stemming from client feedback. 04. Choose wisely Don't try to redesign the Apple watch If you include personal projects, avoid redesigns for brands with a strong design presence. Nike, Apple, Burton: these are all brands with a strong heritage and even stronger design language. They have already set the tone and style for any work created for them, and anything unsolicited would blend in with their current work regardless of how innovative it may seem. Instead, either focus on solving a usability problem with an existing product, or select a brand that is not as ubiquitous. 05. Demonstrate critical thinking Make sure you get your backstory right Before even approaching the computer, determine how you are going to talk about each piece of work. Where did this piece start? How did you embark on the process? Where did you look for inspiration? How did the design take shape? Were there any hurdles along the way? What were the results? These are all questions that should be answered in order to demonstrate critical thinking in your creative process. 06. Structure matters Structure your project description properly Each piece within your portfolio is a story and should be laid out in a proper arc. Where did the project begin? How did you respond to the task? What was the solution? How and where was your solution carried out? All of these questions need to be answered in the proper order for easy consumption, so your viewer can get a sense of the wider scope of your involvement and expertise. 07. Show your workings Some clients will be designers, and they will enjoy seeing your sketches Gather artefacts from your process. I love seeing and hearing about the creative process of other designers and geeking out over sketches. In addition to collecting pixel-perfect final artwork, consider including any work you did along the way. Any colour explorations, photographs and so on, tell me that you look for inspiration outside of Photoshop and work through various problems or roadblocks to get to a final solution. 08. Explain your decisions Justify your choices Think of your audience as a client in a design presentation. How did you get to typographic decisions or colour choices? Did you thoughtfully approach the use of a grid? How does your framework scale to multiple devices or increased amounts of content? Including these steps helps justify your final design choices and gives depth to the work overall. 09. Describe any interactions Explain how the interface works If your portfolio contains interactive work, show your thinking behind how elements on screen behave when the user is present. This will transform your design from simply a nice layout to an immersive experience. Think too about how your interactions are unique to each project, and go above and beyond the work others have seen before. This will help your audience see how the piece functions overall, even without having to experience a live demonstration. 10. Use thoughtful animations Animations are a great way to explain the functions of interface elements Simple prototype animations or animated demo videos add a tremendous amount of value to your projects. These should not take the place of a well thought-out story told through design, but they go a long way in conveying the interactions, interesting movement, and spacial relationships that flat comps just can't. These should be used sparingly and placed thoughtfully so as not to interfere with the project story's flow. 11. Explain your process Clients will want to know how you work through problems Interactive projects are often in-depth explorations of complicated processes and interactions. When selecting which elements of your projects to focus on, be sure to show any processes, even if they aren't the flashiest elements. They will help your audience see how you think through complex design and interaction problems while still working to maintain a quality product. 12. Keep it tight Don't include this kind of unnecessary image While I've discussed including a number of visuals for process and function, it is important to consider the presence of each visual you select. A tight portfolio has very little fluff and doesn't try to distract the viewer. A good example is the ubiquitous 'grid of devices'. Sometimes it may be relevant to demonstrate that a product works on multiple platforms or screen sizes, but more often than not this is unnecessary visual candy. I suggest avoiding it unless you have a strong argument to the contrary. 13. Visual tricks date quickly Fancy effects serve no purpose Do the work justice, don't hide it behind flashy imagery. Just as images of designers holding posters were popular years ago, now it has become popular to show design work angled in three dimensions. This serves no purpose other than to distract your viewer from how good the work really is. Reserve angles to show frameworks and how elements sit in relation to each other within the context of the overall design. 14. Use context Show your design as it would be used Give context to each piece. This is a tricky one, and should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Interactive design always exists within the context of a browser, television, or mobile device. Consider showing at least one design within the context of the key device it would live in to give an indication of the scale of the elements and their relationship with the edge of the screen. 15. Perfect your portfolio's design Sell your work with a stylish portfolio design Labour over the creation of each asset in the same way you laboured over the work to begin with. This is the most tedious part of creating any portfolio, but by far the most important! As much as a portfolio shouldn't get in the way of the designs within, any design elements applied to the portfolio itself should be considered with the same attention to detail that you give all of your projects. That goes for typography, imagery, colour choices and so on. 16. Choose the right platform Squarespace, Semplice and Readymag are all strong choices Consider the platform where you will showcase your work. Will it properly convey each piece's story? Will it easily scale with additional projects? There are several to choose from these days – Squarespace, Semplice and Readymag to name a few – and each have their pros and cons. Before committing to a platform be sure to test each option and look at examples to ensure you are moving forward with the best solution for you and your work. 17. Expand your horizons If you have an interesting process, share it on Medium Look for additional outlets to show off your projects and point of view. If you've created work that has an interesting story behind it, consider writing a Medium article about your process and approach. There you can give an account of your work in greater detail, and increase your presence to a broader audience. You never know, this might create leads you hadn't been exposed to previously. 18. Get feedback Ask friends what they think Solicit friends and colleagues for feedback. As many of us consider our work extremely personal, this step is frequently overlooked. However, asking an objective outsider to cast an eye over your portfolio can be incredibly useful. Just like with professional career criticism, it can help you push your work to the next level. It will also help you gauge if your project stories are understandable and clear to outsiders, which is key if you want others to reach out to you once it has launched. 19. Include a bio Tell people who you are Don't forget to tell your own story as a designer! This is a hotly contested aspect of every portfolio: just how much personality should you show? I lean towards liking less 'quirkiness' or forced creativity, and instead look for a quick summary of the creative's professional background. This element is often an afterthought; just a paragraph of text or a link to LinkedIn. You might try putting together a simple case study about you, highlighting work experience and clients, presented in an easily digestible, strongly typographic way. 20. Get it out there Social media is your friend Share it everywhere! After all that hard work you deserve to be a little obnoxious. There are all the usual outlets for creatives, but design is inherently about solving problems for businesses outside the design community. Find people and places to share your work with who don't work in your industry. Do they understand your approach? Are they interested in your work? It just might lead to another great project and ultimately an addition to your portfolio. Related articles: The dos and don'ts of perfect portfolios 32 brilliant design portfolios How to start a blog View the full article

The web is an endless sea of possibilities. You can choose your own adventure, working at a design agency or as in-house designer. You can start your own blog or learn the art of 3D using online Blender tutorials. Or you can do something more daring – break out on your own. But being an independent designer means that you also have to be a business person. You can't tune out the nitty gritty of contracts and ledgers. If you do, your business won't take off. It's a necessary evil. In this post, we'll go through what you need to know about the business of design so that you can thrive as a self-employed designer. 01. Love your clients Whether you're a self-employed designer or a business owner, you're either going to be passionate about your product or service, or you're going to be passionate about the people you serve. I believe it's even more important for self-employed designers to love their clients more than their tools, than it is for many other types of business owner. The reason is this: the design world moves so fast, and design trends change so quickly, that it takes passion to keep up. That environment breeds passion for your craft – and rightly so! Remember to channel all that passion and energy back at your clients. Make clients feel confident in your abilities by showing them enthusiasm When business is positioned like that, it's far more palatable for the self-employed designer. How can you help more people? How can you leverage your design skills to make more of an impact for your clients? How can you reach more people to make an impact for? 02. Be clear about your services The first step in getting someone's business is to be clear on what you offer. There's no room for vagueness and uncertainty. One way to ensure you're communicating what you offer is to know what you're best at and what value you bring to the table. As described in the free Field Guide to Freelance Web Design that I helped write for UXPin, there are a few ways to figure out how to define yourself and your business. First of all, you need to study your market. Learn about who's playing in your space, and who's satisfying their clients. What sells well? What niches of the market aren't being served as passionately or completely as others? Next up, try to think like your prospective clients.The more time you spend researching from the eyes of a prospect, the more you'll spot where those prospects could be served better. You should also look for opportunities in the market. Perhaps there's a certain niche that gets less service because it isn't ‘hip'. Or maybe your competition isn't communicating in a way that your market understands. Maybe you're better at educating prospects. Or maybe you provide significantly more value than they do. "We offer quality web design services" - Everyone But defining yourself isn't enough. You have to know the difference between what you do, and what the client gets. For example, 'we do persona development' means nothing to most clients, where 'increasing conversion rates by targeting demographics separately' usually makes more sense to them. Home Depot sells customers 'drills'. The customers want 'a hole in their wall'. Same thing, different terminology. Some clients will be interested to know what kind of drill you'll be using, and why you think it's the best drill for the job. All clients will be interested to know if you're going to give them the exact hole they want. 03. Make sure you stand out Everyone that's fighting for a piece of the client pie says they're good. And you're going to have to cut through that noise and stand out. To make yourself unique, you need to consider: what makes you special, how you pitch that to prospectives, how you sell that, and how you position yourself as an expert. And when everyone is saying the same thing, it gets trickier. Back before responsive web design was a thing, I remember selling responsive web design to prospects. It was like magic, and when coupled with the rest of our offer it was the icing on the cake. Now, responsive design isn't a nicety, but a necessity. The work may still be valuable, but if everyone else is also doing it, the magic is lost. You can get around this by doing the following: Use testimonials from your clients to add believability to your website Add case studies to your site, highlighting how you solved a particular problem. Use testimonials from past clients on your site. Keep your skills fresh – stay on top of the latest trends and techniques. Play to your strengths: think about what you can offer that others don't. 04. Have an onboarding process Once you attract a prospective client, you need to have a clear onboarding process. Prospects become clients when they're confident in you, your ability to deliver results and your value proposition. A solid process will really help you instil that confidence. An onboarding process can help put new clients at ease Similarly, declining clients that you don't believe will allow you to deliver results or your value proposition to is equally important. Perhaps they want something you have no idea how to do (and it's sufficiently out of your wheelhouse for you to learn in a timely manner). Or perhaps their budget is too small. Maybe the product they're selling doesn't align with you ethically. In any of these cases, it's your role to shut the deal down, rather than compromising your integrity or ethics by delivering bad work or building bad products. While we're talking about shutting the deal down, there are a few things to look out for. Make sure... They have the funds to commit to working with you, or at least enough to get started. They're ready ready to start work on the project soon. Your personalities can work well together. They respect you, your work, and your rate. They have passion for their own project. While it may be tempting to take any work that comes your way, you don't want to put yourself in a miserable situation. You'll want to make sure that you want to work with someone as much as they want to work with you. 05. Create a good contract You probably know you'll want good contracts in place before you do business with other companies. For more on creating decent contracts, check out our article on the 10 contract commandments you should know about. A good contract will protect you against clients who don't want to pay But the best contract in the world may not help you if someone on the other side of the world decides to disappear without paying you. Have good contracts, have clear payment guidelines, and be wise about who you do business with. For example, Fairhead Creative uses simple but comprehensive contract documents that outline when we expect each partial payment, ahead of each piece of work starting, so that we can be paid incrementally as work is completed. Whatever payment details work best for your market, get it in writing, just in case. As depressing as it may sound, I'd recommend brushing up on what the procedures are in your country and state for things like small claims courts and collection agencies. Hopefully you'll never need either, but knowing how to set the process in motion if someone breaks the rules will give you the confidence to tackle problems appropriately, rather than shying away. 06. Keep track of your hours Do you know how long your previous projects took you? How long did you spend on each part of the process? If you were to take away a specific section of the design work, how would that affect the price? Without this data, you're screwing yourself and your wallet. The better you track your time, the more accurate your estimates become. Become a master time-tracker. There's lots of great project management tools available, but they'll only be as effective as the person using them: choose a tool and master it. Related articles: 6 ways to save money as a freelancer 6 freelance mistakes you might be making 10 tips for the work-at-home ninja View the full article

Intel may be facing as many as eight new Spectre-level vulnerabilities in its chips, a German magazine alleges. View the full article

A backdoor could be exploited to allow an attacker to manipulate the implants and cause heart problems and even death, View the full article

One of the main functions of a good logo design is to make your brand recognisable and get it seen. With these criteria in mind, Adidas can pat itself on the back as its distinctive three stripe icon has been recognised as the most shared brand logo across social media platforms. The search for the most-shared logo was conducted by analytics company Brandwatch, which lived up to its name as it used image recognition software to scour various platforms. Adidas breezed into first place, with its logo appearing in 154 unique images every minute. How's that for brand visibility? Trailing behind the clothing brand were the likes of Google, Coca-Cola and Starbucks, while key rival Nike were pipped to the post in second place. The full list of 100 ranked brands also includes Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft, none of which could break into the top 10. Adidas comfortably outstrips the competition "Brands spend millions plastering their logos across billboards, t-shirts, screens and pretty much any non-listed building," product marketing manager and author of the report, Phill Agnew, told The Drum. "However most businesses have no way to quickly quantify the effectiveness of this expense, or gauge how they're performing against their competitors in real time. Until now." So what's the secret to Adidas' success? Well, thanks to its football involvement, the logo appeared on the kits of sports stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Alexis Sánchez. As this overlaps with FIFA video games, the Adidas logo managed to break out of its usual domains in a way that is unreachable for brands like Apple and Disney. So if you want to get your logo in front of more people, perhaps a sporting endorsement is the way to go. Related articles: How to create a killer social media campaign Malaysian tourism logo sparks social media furore 10 social media tricks you didn't know about View the full article

Creating a great reading experience online isn't just down to finding the right web font (although, of course, that is important). There are plenty of other factors to consider, from how the text displays on different devices to where it sits on the page. Follow this step by step guide to make sure you get it right. If you're after something more in-depth, take a look at our guide to the rules of responsive web typography. 01. Read the content Meaningful typography starts with one thing: the content. True typographers know this; they’ll always read the book before they start typesetting for it. Unfortunately, it seems that many web designers underestimate the importance of content in a web design process. They will often find excuses in the fact that the website doesn’t exist yet, so there’s no content to work with. When that’s the case, use content that is similar. If you’re designing a website about finance and economics, for example, find an article about that and read it. 02. Choose a typeface based on content Now you have read the content, you’re ready to choose your main typeface. If a website is about technology, but is expected to have medium to long articles, use a typeface that looks a bit modern but is easy to read. If it’s an art gallery portfolio, you can get away with something edgy. Don’t use Lorem Ipsum as placeholder text – it’s a strange form of the Latin language that has nothing to do with your website. Use the content from Step 01, in the language that will be used, and then design around that. 03. Start mobile-first An important step is to design the best reading experience for the screen that’s hardest to design for: mobile. Mobile-first is a fundamentally different approach to web design, in which progressive enhancement is favourable to graceful degradation. Don’t design the best reading experience for desktop screens and then adapt for mobile – or, worse, forget about mobile altogether. Choose a combination of font size and line height that works best on smaller screens. Your starting point should be the agreed-on browser default of 16 pixels. 04. Adapt for large screens Don’t let mobile-first turn into mobile-only. The tools for shaping the best reading experiences for different screens are in place and they should be used. Larger screens are usually further away from readers' eyes so the base font size needs to be larger. 18 pixels is widely considered a good starting point. Don’t forget to limit the width of paragraphs – 60 characters per line is recommended for the best reading experience. The line height needs to be looked at again – 1.4 or 1.5 times the font size is usually best. 05. Use a scale It’s now time to define a range of reusable font sizes based on a scale. The most common way to do that is to use a modular scale. Go to Modular Scale, enter your base font size and choose a scale. It will give you a range of font sizes to choose from. Defining a scale and trying to stick to it adds meaning to font size choices and prevents the chaos that often arises from randomly assigning them instead. 06. Set a baseline grid The next step is to start thinking about other text elements around the body text you should have designed by now (titles, lists, captions, side comments, and so on). To add meaning behind placing these elements on your website, it’s best to use a baseline grid (if don't understand grid theory, now's the time to swot up on that, too). This grid originates from your body text line height. If your line height is 22 pixels, you need a vertical grid based on that. When that is in place, you’re ready to set the sizes and margins of other text elements so they’ll fit inside this grid. This article was originally published in creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 271 or subscribe. Read more: How to make text render perfectly Typography quiz reveals gaps in letter knowledge 3D fonts: 9 top type tips View the full article

If you're tired of waiting around for hours for renders of your 3D art, you should check out ZBrushCore and its rendering process, Best Preview Render, or BPR. Using it is as simple as pressing the BPR button at the top right of the interface. This produces a high-quality image you can then export. ZBrushCore tends to simplify all of its processes, which is why there aren’t many settings you can tweak in the Render palette. However, since the rendering stage is all about producing a good-looking image of your model with decent image resolution, we need to consider other aspects that affect the render such as the Material type, lighting and shadows. There are two types of materials in ZBrushCore: MatCaps and Standard Materials. The main difference is that the Standard Materials react to the position of the light source, whereas the MatCaps (Material Capture) have the lighting and colour information already baked in. The process of adding or positioning a light is very simple and there’s even a dedicated palette for it. If you choose to use a MatCap, then the effect of the light won’t be visible until you create the render. 01. Camera setup Higher values will produce an exaggerated perspective in the image Before you hit that Render button, you need to choose a camera angle that works for your model. The size of the canvas is the size for the render. With that in mind, go ahead and rotate the model to find a view that you like. Open the Draw palette and use the Angle of View. This is essentially like tweaking a camera lens to change the perspective and how much of the ‘scene’ is captured by the lens. 02. Lighting options The Intensity slider (circled left) makes it possible to alter the strength of each light. You can reduce the Ambient light slider (circled right) to zero, to make the light and shadow effect stronger To start tweaking the light sources, dock the Light palette to the right tray and click the BPR button for a quick render test. Each switch with a lightbulb represents a light, and by default there’s only one enabled. Click the thumbnail with the sphere to move the yellow dot around: this represents the position of the light. Do another quick BPR test so you can see the difference. 03. Shadow properties If the shadow on the floor looks cut off, try increasing the size of the floor grid from the Draw palette The PBR Shadows slider will determine how sharp or soft the cast shadows will be. A higher value will create smoother shadows, but you might need to increase the number of Rays to avoid artefact. You will only see the effect of changing the Shadows slider after running a quick BPR test. Turning the Floor off before rendering enables you to render without casting shadows on to the floor. 04. Material options To remove an assigned material, assign the Flat Color material first. You can also click the Brush icon from the Subtool list to turn the assigned polypaint and material on or off To select a different material, choose it from the Material palette or the Material thumbnail at the left of the UI. If you have multiple subtools and you want different materials between subtools, you need to assign the materials. Turn on the M switch at the top of the interface and make sure the RGB one is off. Then go to the Color Palette, and click the FillObject button. Now if you select a different material, you’ll see that the object you just ‘filled’ stays with the previous material. 05. Render and export You can change the background colour before rendering from the ‘back’ swatch in the Document palette. Increasing the value of the SPix slider in the render Palette will create smoother edges Finally, once you’ve chosen your camera angle, tested your light position, tweaked shadow properties and assigned your materials, it’s time to render your image. Fortunately, we’ve done all the heavy lifting and the rendering process just involves pressing the BPR button and waiting while ZBrushCore does its thing. If you’re happy with the result, go to the Document palette, click the Export button and save your render as a PSD file. This article was originally published in issue 158 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: Model an alien pirate creature in ZBrush How to digitally sculpt in ZBrushCore How to sculpt convincing eyes in ZBrush View the full article

Adobe has set the standard for photo editing and so much more with Photoshop. You can take your work to the next level by learning to use this powerful tool from Adobe by learning from professionals with the Complete Photoshop Mastery Bundle. You can get this collection of expert-taught lessons on sale now for $29 (approx. £21)! Photoshop is a powerful app that can be overwhelming when you're first learning it. This bundle will take away your fears by teaching you every detail of the app that you need to know so that you can master every aspect of it. You'll get access to 8 courses packed with 214 lessons, each offering you actionable information that will teach you how to master lighting effects, create cinematic gradients, colour black and white photos and much, much more. The Adobe Photoshop and Editing Mastery Bundle is valued at $1,210. You can get it on sale right now for 97% off the retail price. That means you pay just $29 (approx. £21) an amazing amount of saving on a course every photographer will love, so grab it today! Related articles: The 40 best Photoshop plugins 5 best laptops for Photoshop The 10 commandments of Photoshop etiquette View the full article

You're reading Website Design Examples for ICO Campaigns, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Cryptocurrency, blockchain, ICO. Do these words sound familiar to you? If so, then you probably have some crypto cash in a digital wallet. It is safe to say that despite all the recent falls and bans, cryptocurrency is still popular. … View the full article

3D programs can help when you need to add structures to an existing image or painting When working out how to draw a new piece, preparation is key. An important thing I always consider when starting a new illustration is the overall composition. It helps to make up your mind about where the big shapes in your image will go. Adding building structures and an Imperial shuttle to a mountain ridge can significantly change your composition, so be aware of the traps you can get caught in, and keep a close eye on how the image changes when you start introducing new shapes to your artwork. 31 brilliant Blender tutorials It can save you time if you work with a 3D program such as Blender or Modo, in which you can create a backdrop of your mountain ridge and then quickly block out the big shapes of your structures in front of it. That way you can create 3D art with maximum control over the scale and placement of each individual part. Furthermore, it becomes quick and easy to duplicate and move parts around to build up your image. I see it like a big puzzle, and when everything falls into place I sort of feel it 'click'. Afterwards, I drag my renders into Photoshop, ready for painting. If you've set up your camera in your 3D software correctly, then the structures should fit into your mountain ridge perfectly. 01. Map it out When starting a new painting, make an effort to focus on the big shapes and how they relate to each other. When shapes recede into the distance they become lighter, so try to place layers of shapes on top of each other to give your scene a sense of distance. 02. Block out in 3D Once I'm satisfied with the composition I start blocking out the structures in 3D. After that I drag and drop them into Photoshop, and try to separate the buildings according to the layer of rock they're place upon. This makes it easier to add details to them later on. 03. Focus on light and colour Finally, I focus on the lighting and colour scheme, and start to detail everything. By using a large Soft brush on an Overlay layer you can quickly bathe an image in light and make a certain area feel especially warm or cold. All that's left now is to add little lights and we're done! This article originally appeared in ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe here. Like this? Read these... 60 amazing Illustrator tutorials Stunning trailer shows what Star Wars might have been 120 Photoshop tips, tricks and fixes View the full article

A glitch caused Twitter passwords to be stored in plain text on an internal log. View the full article

The malware targets Windows servers with a cornucopia of well-known exploits, all within a single executable -- including the EternalBlue NSA hacking tool. View the full article

Florida-based phone maker BLU is facing an FTC complaint over allegations it shared detailed personal user data with a third-party firm that included full text messages, call logs and contact lists. View the full article

Bad actors are leveraging the critical Drupal vulnerability to install cryptomining malware on servers and browsers, View the full article

Here's a fun font that will have you joyfully flailing your arms in the air like the famous amphibian muppet. Meet Kernit, a free font set inspired by the work and characters of the legendary muppet master himself, Jim Henson. Nope, that's not a typo, Kernit gets its name from a witty mashup of Kermit the Frog and kerning. But then again you probably figured that out for yourself. (It took us a couple of passes before we noticed it, ahem.) Developed by independent brand experience company COLLINS and MCKL, Kernit was created to capture the sense of fun and whimsy that Henson's world has become know for. According to the designers, "it was also inspired by the bold, playful, rounded typography of the late seventies, which was so apparent in much of the Henson work." Available in two weights, Kernit Bold and Kernit Outline, the retro fonts are deisgned to be used interchangeably to give your layouts and lettering some visual rhythm. Check out Kernit in action below. Kernit was developed as part of an exploration of the Jim Henson Exhibition Kernit was developed as part of COLLINS' design exploration for The Jim Henson Exhibition at The Museum of the Moving Image in New York. By immersing themselves in Henson's work, including classics productions such as Dark Crystal, the COLLINS team were able to really get a handle on what it takes to make a font fit for the creator. Download Kernit for free here. Related articles: 20 perfect font pairings 9 golden rules for combining fonts 12 professional fonts for designers View the full article

Attackers can leverage the flaw by convincing users to open a file purported to be a recording of a past WebEx event. View the full article

Any Android owners who feel a sense of competition with their iPad-wielding counterparts may be slightly irked that SketchBook 4.0 is only appearing on their platform months after it launched on iOS. But set any irritation aside, and you’ll discover a compelling update with features artists looking for Android apps will appreciate. Chief among these is a revamped user interface that stays out of your way as you work. It vanishes if your brushstrokes veers near one of its tool panels, and many interface elements are reduced in scale. This makes some controls, like the drawers for adjusting Brush size and Opacity, a little fiddly to access, however. Tap near the centre-bottom of the screen, meanwhile, and a menu with shortcuts appears. Complicated pricing When you first install SketchBook, it’s the Free edition, with limited functionality but no time limit on how long you can use it. To unlock the full toolset, you have two options: you can either spend £4.09 on the Pro Tools in-app purchase, which gives you the tools only within the Android app; or get an annual SketchBook subscription (£4.09 a month or £24.99 a year). The subscription must be renewed each year, unlike the in-app purchase, but you get access to the full tools on the versions of SketchBook for Windows, Mac and iOS as well as Android. Shibuya Race was created by artist Ryohei Yamashita using SketchBook Bear in mind that the desktop computer editions don’t offer the one-off purchase option, only the subscription, so if you plan to use SketchBook on either Windows or Mac as well as Android, you may as well forget the in-app purchase and commit to the subscription instead. With all these complicated buying options, it’s worth mentioning first that the Android app smoothly recognises your subscription when you first log in on the app; and second that once you’ve logged in, the app keeps all the Pro Tools active even if your tablet isn’t connected to the internet. New features The main differences your upgrade awards are customisable canvas sizes; dozens more brushes, including a Inking brush with a pleasing line quality; a limit to the number of layers dictated by your device’s memory rather than the Free version’s miserly three layers; the ability to make selections and masks; and unlimited Undos. You also get access to more drawing tools, including rulers and fills. SketchBook's user interface is much improved We also like the Predictive Stroke mode, which tidies up your line after you draw it. It’s a real boon for digital inkers, and you can adjust the extent to which your lines will be altered. This release brings SketchBook for Android up to speed with other versions and maintains the software’s reputation as a quality, unobtrusive drawing tool. Perhaps more importantly for patient Android owners, the under-the-bonnet changes should see more contemporaneous updates across all SketchBook versions in the future. This article was originally published in ImagineFX issue 158, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe now. Read more: 95 tutorials on how to draw View the full article

Jessica Walsh is well-established in the design world. Not only is she a partner at one of the top 20 US design studios of 2018 Sagmeister & Walsh, she's also very well known for saying how it is, something which is evident from her handwritten #jessicawalshhasnofilter posts on Instagram. Now taking her thoughts and feelings one step further, Walsh has launched new project Sorry I Have No Filter – a merchandise website full of straight-talking designs, including jackets, tees, socks, pins, pillows, mugs, iPhone cases and more. Sorry I Have No Filter is a new merchandise site, full of straight-talking product designs "I started Sorry I Have No Filter as a written Instagram series of thoughts I was thinking in my head over five years ago," says Walsh. "I've realised many of my own feelings and insecurities are largely universal, and, through this, gained quite a bit of confidence. "I've learned to let go of expectations, live life on my own terms and stop caring so much about what others think of me. There are so many external pressures on women to live, act, look, smile a certain way, and I am just over it all. "My sister calls this my 'I don't give a fuck' attitude. This was part of the inspiration of the Sorry I Have No Filter site being a middle finger. It's 2018 and women should just be and behave and act however they want – and we should support each other in our own individual paths and ways of expressing ourselves." Ladies, Wine & Design Ladies, Wine & Design aims to foster women in the creative industries Sorry I Have No Filter follows on from Walsh's earlier endeavour, the popular Pins Wont Save the World, 100 per cent of the donations from which went directly to charities under threat as a result of Trump's administration. But now proceeds are shifting to Ladies, Wine & Design, an initiative Walsh set up that aims to foster women in the creative industries. "Our initiative is to mentor, champion, and foster creative women through free global events such as talks, salon nights, mentorship circles, and more. Our goal through LWD is to bring women together to form positive relationships so we can lift each other up, share resources and inspiration, and help propel each other forward," explains Walsh. You'll find more information on Ladies, Wine & Design and upcoming events via its new LWD website and Instagram page. Related articles: 12 tips to turbocharge your design career How to get to the top spot of a global creative agency 10 best portfolio templates for designers View the full article

It seems like there is another website or service being compromised by hackers every day. When that happens, your passwords and personal information can be put at risk. Dashlane Password Manager is one of the best tools around to keep you safe when those breaches happen. Get a 1-year subscription on sale now for 50 per cent off the retail price! Dashlane is the perfect solution to the extremely common problem of insecure passwords. We all know what a secure password requires, but few of us take the time to make unique ones for each and every account. With Dashlane, you won’t need to remember those long, complicated strings of letters and numbers just to make your account secure. This premium service fills in forms so you don’t have to, and gives you access to your accounts on any device. That means you can access your passwords anytime you need them. You can get a one-year subscription to Dashlane on sale for just $19.98 (approx. £15). That's a saving of 50 per cent off the retail price for a tool that will make sure your passwords are always safe and secure, so grab this deal today! Related articles: 9 security tips to protect your website from hackers Send large files: 11 free tools Download images securely with a VPN View the full article

Adobe Capture CC is a fantastic app that enables you to find fonts and colours simply by taking a photo. You may be wondering what fonts have been used in your favourite magazine, for example, or you may wish to take colour references from an object or scenery. In this article we'll run through three ways to get the most from Capture CC. You can find the app on the iOS App Store or Google Play. Get Adobe Creative Cloud 01. Find colours from a photo Create a colour palette based on a photo From the Colors tab within the app, simply tap the ‘+’ button and point the camera towards the object or scenery you wish to capture. You will see that the app is already working at finding popular colours. Once you’re happy with your arrangement, take the photo and refine it further. You can proceed to save your captured colours to a library, picking them back up and using them in other Adobe tools. 02. Identify fonts Identify any typeface You can also use Capture CC to identify the fonts that have been used in a printed design, or find closely matched fonts. Head over to the Type tab within the app and direct the camera over the typography you wish to capture. There will be a blue line to help you with alignment. Once you have the typography in view, take the photo and then make sure the app has cropped the text correctly. Press the big tick and let Adobe analyse the image. Once it has finished analysing, it will provide you with a list of best matched fonts within Adobe Typekit that you can then go on to use. 03. Create a shape Turn images into vector shapes Finally, you can use Capture CC to create vector shapes. Shape is a very useful feature for a number of reasons. It’s a great way of vectorising an object so that you can play around with it further in Illustrator. For example, you may wish to vectorise a signature or perhaps some freehand typography. It’s great for capturing elements that are just easier to draw with pen and paper. Read more: 7 tips to manage colour better on the web 5 tips for understanding colour theory The best colour tools for web designers View the full article

You may not think your site has anything worth being hacked for, but websites are compromised all the time. The majority of website security breaches are not to steal your data or mess with your website layout, but instead attempts to use your server as an email relay for spam, or to set up a temporary web server, normally to serve files of an illegal nature. Other very common ways to abuse compromised machines include using your servers as part of a botnet, or to mine for Bitcoins. You could even be hit by ransomware. Hacking is regularly performed by automated scripts written to scour the internet in an attempt to exploit known website security issues in software. Here are our top nine tips to help keep you and your site safe online. 01. Keep software up to date It may seem obvious, but ensuring you keep all software up to date is vital in keeping your site secure. This applies to both the server operating system and any software you may be running on your website such as a CMS or forum. When website security holes are found in software, hackers are quick to attempt to abuse them. If you are using a managed hosting solution then you don't need to worry so much about applying security updates for the operating system as the hosting company should take care of this. If you are using third-party software on your website such as a CMS or forum, you should ensure you are quick to apply any security patches. Most vendors have a mailing list or RSS feed detailing any website security issues. WordPress, Umbraco and many other CMSes notify you of available system updates when you log in. Many developers use tools like Composer, npm, or RubyGems to manage their software dependencies, and security vulnerabilities appearing in a package you depend on but aren't paying any attention to is one of the easiest ways to get caught out. Ensure you keep your dependencies up to date, and use tools like Gemnasium to get automatic notifications when a vulnerability is announced in one of your components. 02. Watch out for SQL injection SQL injection attacks are when an attacker uses a web form field or URL parameter to gain access to or manipulate your database. When you use standard Transact SQL it is easy to unknowingly insert rogue code into your query that could be used to change tables, get information and delete data. You can easily prevent this by always using parameterised queries, most web languages have this feature and it is easy to implement. Consider this query: If an attacker changed the URL parameter to pass in ' or '1'='1 this will cause the query to look like this: Since '1' is equal to '1' this will allow the attacker to add an additional query to the end of the SQL statement which will also be executed. You could fix this query by explicitly parameterising it. For example, if you're using MySQLi in PHP this should become: 03. Protect against XSS attacks Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks inject malicious JavaScript into your pages, which then runs in the browsers of your users, and can change page content, or steal information to send back to the attacker. For example, if you show comments on a page without validation, then an attacker might submit comments containing script tags and JavaScript, which could run in every other user's browser and steal their login cookie, allowing the attack to take control of the account of every user who viewed the comment. You need to ensure that users cannot inject active JavaScript content into your pages. This is a particular concern in modern web applications, where pages are now built primarily from user content, and which in many cases generate HTML that's then also interpreted by front-end frameworks like Angular and Ember. These frameworks provide many XSS protections, but mixing server and client rendering creates new and more complicated attack avenues too: not only is injecting JavaScript into the HTML effective, but you can also inject content that will run code by inserting Angular directives, or using Ember helpers. The key here is to focus on how your user-generated content could escape the bounds you expect and be interpreted by the browser as something other that what you intended. This is similar to defending against SQL injection. When dynamically generating HTML, use functions that explicitly make the changes you're looking for (e.g. use element.setAttribute and element.textContent, which will be automatically escaped by the browser, rather than setting element.innerHTML by hand), or use functions in your templating tool that automatically do appropriate escaping, rather than concatenating strings or setting raw HTML content. Another powerful tool in the XSS defender's toolbox is Content Security Policy (CSP). CSP is a header your server can return which tells the browser to limit how and what JavaScript is executed in the page, for example to disallow running of any scripts not hosted on your domain, disallow inline JavaScript, or disable eval(). Mozilla has an excellent guide with some example configurations. This makes it harder for an attacker's scripts to work, even if they can get them into your page. 04. Beware of error messages Be careful with how much information you give away in your error messages. Provide only minimal errors to your users, to ensure they don't leak secrets present on your server (e.g. API keys or database passwords). Don't provide full exception details either, as these can make complex attacks like SQL injection far easier. Keep detailed errors in your server logs, and show users only the information they need. 05. Validate on both sides Validation should always be done both on the browser and server side. The browser can catch simple failures like mandatory fields that are empty and when you enter text into a numbers only field. These can however be bypassed, and you should make sure you check for these validation and deeper validation server side as failing to do so could lead to malicious code or scripting code being inserted into the database or could cause undesirable results in your website. 06. Check your passwords Everyone knows they should use complex passwords, but that doesn’t mean they always do. It is crucial to use strong passwords to your server and website admin area, but equally also important to insist on good password practices for your users to protect the security of their accounts. As much as users may not like it, enforcing password requirements such as a minimum of around eight characters, including an uppercase letter and number will help to protect their information in the long run. Passwords should always be stored as encrypted values, preferably using a one way hashing algorithm such as SHA. Using this method means when you are authenticating users you are only ever comparing encrypted values. For extra website security it is a good idea to salt the passwords, using a new salt per password. In the event of someone hacking in and stealing your passwords, using hashed passwords could help damage limitation, as decrypting them is not possible. The best someone can do is a dictionary attack or brute force attack, essentially guessing every combination until it finds a match. When using salted passwords, the process of cracking a large number of passwords is even slower as every guess has to be hashed separately for every salt + password which is computationally very expensive. Thankfully, many CMSes provide user management out of the box with a lot of these website security features built in, although some configuration or extra modules might be required to use salted passwords (pre Drupal 7) or to set the minimum password strength. If you are using .NET then it's worth using membership providers as they are very configurable, provide inbuilt website security and include readymade controls for login and password reset. 07. Avoid file uploads Allowing users to upload files to your website can be a big website security risk, even if it’s simply to change their avatar. The risk is that any file uploaded, however innocent it may look, could contain a script that when executed on your server, completely opens up your website. If you have a file upload form then you need to treat all files with great suspicion. If you are allowing users to upload images, you cannot rely on the file extension or the mime type to verify that the file is an image as these can easily be faked. Even opening the file and reading the header, or using functions to check the image size are not foolproof. Most images formats allow storing a comment section that could contain PHP code that could be executed by the server. So what can you do to prevent this? Ultimately you want to stop users from being able to execute any file they upload. By default web servers won't attempt to execute files with image extensions, but don't rely solely on checking the file extension as a file with the name image.jpg.php has been known to get through. Some options are to rename the file on upload to ensure the correct file extension, or to change the file permissions, for example, chmod 0666 so it can't be executed. If using *nix, you could create a .htaccess file (see below) that will only allow access to set files preventing the double extension attack mentioned earlier. Ultimately, the recommended solution is to prevent direct access to uploaded files altogether. This way, any files uploaded to your website are stored in a folder outside of the webroot or in the database as a blob. If your files are not directly accessible you will need to create a script to fetch the files from the private folder (or an HTTP handler in .NET) and deliver them to the browser. Image tags support an src attribute that is not a direct URL to an image, so your src attribute can point to your file delivery script providing you set the correct content type in the HTTP header. For example: Most hosting providers deal with the server configuration for you, but if you are hosting your website on your own server then there are few things you will want to check. Ensure you have a firewall setup, and are blocking all non essential ports. If possible setting up a DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) only allowing access to port 80 and 443 from the outside world. Although this might not be possible if you don't have access to your server from an internal network as you would need to open up ports to allow uploading files and to remotely log in to your server over SSH or RDP. If you are allowing files to be uploaded from the Internet only use secure transport methods to your server such as SFTP or SSH. If possible have your database running on a different server to that of your web server. Doing this means the database server cannot be accessed directly from the outside world, only your web server can access it, minimising the risk of your data being exposed. Finally, don't forget about restricting physical access to your server. 08. Use HTTPS HTTPS is a protocol used to provide security over the Internet. HTTPS guarantees that users are talking to the server they expect, and that nobody else can intercept or change the content they're seeing in transit. If you have anything that your users might want private, it's highly advisable to use only HTTPS to deliver it. That of course means credit card and login pages (and the URLs they submit to) but typically far more of your site too. A login form will often set a cookie for example, which is sent with every other request to your site that a logged-in user makes, and is used to authenticate those requests. An attacker stealing this would be able to perfectly imitate a user and take over their login session. To defeat these kind of attacks, you almost always want to use HTTPS for your entire site. That's no longer as tricky or expensive as it once was. Let's Encrypt provides totally free and automated certificates, which you'll need to enable HTTPS, and there are existing community tools available for a wide range of common platforms and frameworks to automatically set this up for you. Notably Google have announced that they will boost you up in the search rankings if you use HTTPS, giving this an SEO benefit too. Insecure HTTP is on its way out, and now's the time to upgrade. Already using HTTPS everywhere? Go further and look at setting up HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), an easy header you can add to your server responses to disallow insecure HTTP for your entire domain. 09. Get website security tools Once you think you have done all you can then it's time to test your website security. The most effective way of doing this is via the use of some website security tools, often referred to as penetration testing or pen testing for short. There are many commercial and free products to assist you with this. They work on a similar basis to scripts hackers in that they test all know exploits and attempt to compromise your site using some of the previous mentioned methods such as SQL Injection. Some free tools that are worth looking at: Netsparker (Free community edition and trial version available). Good for testing SQL injection and XSS OpenVAS Claims to be the most advanced open source security scanner. Good for testing known vulnerabilities, currently scans over 25,000. But it can be difficult to setup and requires a OpenVAS server to be installed which only runs on *nix. OpenVAS is fork of a Nessus before it became a closed-source commercial product. SecurityHeaders.io (free online check). A tool to quickly report which security headers mentioned above (such as CSP and HSTS) a domain has enabled and correctly configured. Xenotix XSS Exploit Framework A tool from OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) that includes a huge selection of XSS attack examples, which you can run to quickly confirm whether your site's inputs are vulnerable in Chrome, Firefox and IE. The results from automated tests can be daunting, as they present a wealth of potential issues. The important thing is to focus on the critical issues first. Each issue reported normally comes with a good explanation of the potential vulnerability. You will probably find that some of the medium/low issues aren't a concern for your site. There are some further steps you can take to manually try to compromise your site by altering POST/GET values. A debugging proxy can assist you here as it allows you to intercept the values of an HTTP request between your browser and the server. A popular freeware application called Fiddler is a good starting point. So what should you be trying to alter on the request? If you have pages which should only be visible to a logged in user then try changing URL parameters such as user id, or cookie values in an attempt to view details of another user. Another area worth testing are forms, changing the POST values to attempt to submit code to perform XSS or uploading a server side script. Related articles: How to make it in the web design industry 18 great examples of WordPress websites The 10 best HTML5 template designs View the full article

Google, Microsoft, security researchers and hacking groups have lined up to protest the bill, which would criminalize unauthorized computer access. View the full article

It's almost 30 years since Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira was released in Japan on 16 July 1988. Otomo's epic animated tale of teenage biker gangs and rampant genetic mutations in post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo took another three years to make it to the West, but once it arrived it quickly became a cult hit and is largely responsible for bringing the word 'manga' to Western vocabularies. How to colour your manga art like a pro Akira's notable for its insanely smooth and detailed hand-drawn animation, giving it an almost CG look years before actual CG animation became the norm. And while talk of a live action remake of Akira keeps cropping up, so far it's yet to materialise. So for now we'll just have to make do with Awaken Akira, an amazing CG tribute created by a couple of dedicated Akira fans, Ash Thorp and Zaoeyo (XiaoLin Zeng). Awaken Akira only lasts a minute – and that's including the credits – but it's a glorious taster of a dream Akira remake that we'd love to see in full. It took Thorp and Zaoeyo a year to make, fitting in work on it between other commitments, and demonstrates a similar attention to detail to that which you'll see in the original animated film. Tetsuo! Awaken Akira comes across like a teaser trailer or taster reel; rather than replicate action from the film, it instead recreates a selection of key shots from the film in CG, focusing on locations and items rather than the characters. It does an incredible job of conjuring up the flavour and atmosphere of Otomo's iconic original, and the enterprise is lent further impact with a score by Pilotpriest that echoes the original soundtrack superbly. If you're keen to see how Thorp and Zaoeyo did it, they've thoughtfully collected a number of their processes into a YouTube playlist, showcasing and explaining their techniques over the course of 26 in-depth videos. Kaneda! The sheer amount of work that's gone into creating this minute of video gives you a whole new appreciation of the effort that Katsuhiro Otomo and his team must have put into animating the original film. It's a beautiful love letter to an animated classic, and even if it's all over just a little too quickly, it's just the incentive to dig out your DVD or Blu-Ray and watch the original again. Enjoy! How to draw manga characters The 27 greatest animated music videos 6 manga artists to watch out for View the full article