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You're reading After Launching Firefox 59, Mozilla Pushes Firefox 60 to Developers, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Three days after launching Firefox 59, Mozilla pushed Firefox 60 to developers. If you missed news about Firefox 59, don’t worry. It’s a minor release. Well, unless you are a Mac user. Then, you’ll be glad to know that Off-Main-Thread Painting, a feature already backed in Firefox 58 for Windows, is now available. What Else […] View the full article

With so many new graphic design books published all the time, it can be tough to know which ones you need on your bookshelf – and which ones probably aren't worth your precious cash. So we've done the hard work for you. Whether you're after a present for yourself or a graphic designer friend, or simply want to bulk up your studio bookshelf, here are the 10 of the best graphic design books to read this year. 01. Paula Scher: Works Editors: Tony Brook & Adrian Shaughnessy Price: £55 Dubbed the most influential female graphic designer on the planet, Paula Scher needs little introduction. This stunning monograph from Unit Editions - 2,000 copies of which are available for pre order - covers the Pentagram partner’s early days in the music industry as an art director with CBS and Atlantic records, the launch of her first studio, and her 25-year engagement with Pentagram. According to the editors, the book is also a visual record of contemporary New York’s urban fabric, “indelibly transformed by the designer’s innovative approach to environmental graphics and identity design: from MoMA to Charter Schools; from the High Line to Shake Shack”. The 326-page book includes a long interview with Scher, and sections dedicated to her socially and politically motivated posters, New York Times Op-Ed illustrations and campaign work. We can’t wait to get our hands on a copy. 02. House Industries: The Process is the Inspiration Authors: House Industries Price: $29.57 / £35 Celebrated type foundry and design studio House Industries released this 400-page book in 2017. Packed with stories, case studies and handy advice, it’s dedicated to answering the question: where do you find inspiration? The books offers a fascinating dive into the minds of co-founders Andy Cruz and Rich Roat, and type designer Ken Barber – and it comes with a foreword from JJ Abrams, too. 03. The Visual History of Type Author: Paul McNeil Price: $75.82 / £60 This significant resource offers a comprehensive survey of the major typefaces produced since the advent of printing with movable type, in the mid-fifteenth century, to the present day. It’s arranged chronologically, showcasing over 320 typefaces either through their original type specimens or earliest printing. Each entry is supported by a brief history and description of defining characteristics of the typeface. if you’re into type, this is a valuable resource. 04. How To How To follows the career of one of the most successful living designers Author: Michael Bierut Price: $30.60 / £26.24 If you still haven’t read Michael Bierut’s excellent How to, then make 2018 the year you do. Protégé of design legend Massimo Vignelli and a partner at New York design firm Pentagram partner, Bierut – like Scher – has enjoyed one of the most successful careers of any living graphic designer. In this monograph, design manual and manifesto, he reveals his philosophy of graphic design, explaining how to use it to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and – every once in a while – change the world. The book features more than 35 of Bierut’s projects, providing insights into his creative process, working life, relationship with clients and the typical struggles faced by any designer trying to bring innovative ideas into the world. Inspiring and informative, this is a must-read for any graphic designer. 05. Draplin Design Co: Pretty Much Everything Get an insight into Aaron Draplin's DIY work ethic Author: Aaron Draplin Price: $27.19 / £20.40 Aaron Draplin, the man behind the branding of Esquire, Ford Motors, and even the Obama Administration takes a look back on his amazing career so far in this heartfelt and pointed retrospective. Pretty Much Everything lives up to its title by tracing Draplin's career back to day one. Readers follow his life story as he sets off to university and forges a name for himself on the graphic design scene. Alongside shop talk there are plenty of charming personal anecdotes which give readers a genuine insight into the mind of the designer. As with any good graphic design book, there's plenty to enjoy here visually. Pages are packed with countless examples of his work, including everything from snowboard graphics to logo designs. Pretty Much Everything is a treasure trove of work and wisdom that any design studio could benefit from owning. 06. Logo: The Reference Guide to Symbols and Logotypes (mini) Logo is the go-to resource on the world's best logos A mini-edition of Michael Evamy's much celebrated logo bible was published in 2015, presenting more than 1,300 symbols and logotypes in pocket-sized format. This vast collection includes the work of iconic masters like Paul Rand and Saul Bass, as well as some of the most exciting work from contemporary and emerging designers, plus a series of short texts discussing recent developments in logo design. Here's what Pentagram partner Michael Bierut said: "The next time you are tempted to design a logo, take a look at this book. Chances are, it has already been done. By raising the bar, this wonderful resource will make better designers of all of us." 21 free ebooks for designers 07. Champagne and Wax Crayons Champagne and Wax Crayons is both entertaining and informative The debut book from freelance art director and illustrator Ben Tallon, Champagne and Wax Crayons is a deeply personal and brutally honest account of starting and surviving in the creative industries. Dealing with the freelance lifestyle, finding your place, developing and branching out into other areas among many other topics, it's a brilliant read for any creative – whether you're an illustrator, like Tallon, or not. 08. New Perspectives in Typography Collated by Henrik Kubel and Scott Williams, there's a typographic treat on every page New Perspectives in Typography is a typographic treat for designers and typophiles alike. Taking an A-Z approach to contemporary type design, it showcases the work of more than 100 designers – including David Peardon, Philippe Apeloig, Anthony Burrill and some more surprising entries too. Collated by Henrik Kubel and Scott Williams, founders of independent typographic studio A2/SW/HK, the book features 500 beautiful full-colour visual examples, alongside though-provoking essays exploring the past and future of type design. 09. Graphic Design Visionaries Fill the gaps in your knowledge with Graphic Design Visionaries Featuring 75 of the world's most influential designers, this book presents the story of graphic design through the inspiring personal stories alongside large, full-colour reproductions of their boundary-pushing work. It's arranged chronologically, and features the likes of M/M Paris, Wim Crouwel, Tom Eckersley, Stefan Sagmeister, Studio Dumbar, Irma Boom and more (not in that order). Incredibly informative and inspiring, Graphic Design Visionaries introduces many of the key designers every practitioner should know. Related articles: 15 designers' New Year resolutions for 2017 The 20 best magazine covers of 2016 The ultimate guide to logo design View the full article

Matt Tait gives a list of examples throughout history where politically motivated groups have used disinformation and hacking as part of a campaign to shape public opinion. View the full article

Knowing how to use social media is a skill in itself. For some, Twitter is a place to call out brands that have let them down, cut jokes or debate about the latest news. But used professionally, the social media platform can be a highly efficient way to land new work. One creative who's done exactly that is oil painter, writer and lecturer Cat Graffam. Earlier this week, she revealed that she's secured multiple gigs through Twitter – and all it took was a snappy, informative tweet pinned to the top of her profile. See her tips for creating a social media calling card below. Is it time for designers to leave Twitter? Since Graffam posted this tweet it's blown up, garnering thousands of likes and retweets from grateful creators. However she's keen to point out that she's not the first person to harness Twitter this way. "When I reformatted my current pinned twin to essentially mimic a mini-resume, it was not an original idea," she says. "Creators having been using similar formats on Twitter, because they know that it is the first thing people, including potential employers or clients, will see. My formatting strived to strike a balance between professional, and quirky, because that is my personality and work." Despite this, Graffam's tweet seems to have hit a nerve. "The reaction to the pinned tweet was immediate, gaining a couple hundred retweets within the first 24 hours. It broadcasted not only what my portfolio looks like, but the fact that I do many things beyond just painting. It also made contacting me extremely accessible, allowing my bio to be freed up and less cluttered with an overload of links." "In the next couple days after I put out my current pinned tweet, two clients reached out to me and commissioned me two well-paying paintings and a few people purchased prints from my website." Graffam recommends putting your best picture first because it will appear larger in a pinned tweet - here's how her's look One of the most surprising and fruitful responses came from the program director of the art and design department at Lasell College in Boston. "In the hours after I tweeted my work, he reached out to me to hire me for an adjunct professor position, which is what I am currently doing," says Graffam. "It happened to be perfect timing during the hiring process, and he'd been previously following me, but it signalled to him that I've taught before and was looking for work." "I'm honestly really surprised so many folks responded so positively to my advice about making a pinned tweet. I expected maybe a few people to retweet it – not a few thousand." Related articles: 50 design agencies to follow on Twitter 15 Twitter accounts every web designer should follow Meet the Twitter designer who shuns all social media View the full article

Intel is introducing hardware-based protections to its new chips to protect against the Spectre and Meltdown flaws that rocked the silicon industry when they were announced in early 2018. View the full article

At the AOI, many of our members are represented by agencies. But we also have many who aren't, as well as agent members, who abide by our ethical code of conduct and work hard to secure a richer industry through a great plethora of talent. Many illustrators ask us: is it essential to have an agent to be successful? To answer this question, we sought the insight of two AOI members who are currently thriving in their careers – both with and without agents. 5 classic mistakes to avoid when approaching an agent The benefits of having an agent Casper Franken of multi-award-winning studio Shotopop (represented by Bernstein & Andriulli, Valérie Oualid and Jacky Winter) talks about the benefits of having an agent, and tells us how working with an agent is all about communication… Shotopop is a London-based team of visual zealots Shotopop: "Although we are represented by three agencies, they each cover very different regions of the world, so luckily there's no overlap or difficulty. We're always very transparent in what we do and who we work with; for us it's all about being open and honest." "Our agents are like part of our studio. If we didn't have them, we'd need to employ people in their place. They complement and strengthen us, and we can't fault them. Pros include getting awesome projects to work on and not having to worry about contracts and red tape." Shotopop creates visuals and animation for clients including Netflix, Google and Smirnoff "An agent isn't someone who tells us what to do, they represent our interests. If you end up with an agent that starts giving you feedback, or comes between you and the client, you should reconsider the relationship." The benefits of representing yourself Meanwhile, Luisa Rivera shares how being unrepresented can allow you to be more self-sufficient… Luisa Rivera is a London-based illustrator originally from Chile Luisa Rivera: "Not having an agent has allowed me freedom because I am more in control of my own practice. I have learned a lot in the process: how to negotiate, manage a project, and create a more personal relationship with my clients. The cons are practical because you end up doing more work (that is, more admin). "I try to network and showcase myself as much as I can, either via email, finding blogs to feature my work or on social media. I show finished illustrations but also my process, because that helps others to understand my method. When I manage my commissions, I prioritise projects or clients that are meaningful to me. Luisa's clients include Penguin Random House, Reservoir Books and Air Canada "Communications have shifted in the last five years, allowing illustrators to engage more directly with art directors, so having an agent nowadays isn't mandatory. It will help if you want to focus on the creative side, and especially if you decide to work within certain industries like advertising. However, like in any relationship, you should find a good fit: someone you trust and who understands your work." If you’re seeking representation and don’t know where to start, find resources at the AOI. This article was originally published in issue 275 of Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 275 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: The illustrator's guide to getting an agent 7 tips for deciphering agent contracts How to get more from your agent View the full article

Many web designers look for ways to add a big impact to their site designs, so that they'll grab the attention of their users. Methods have evolved over the years, from using a header graphic, to placing a slideshow under the landing page menu, to becoming full browser width – and now the vast majority of sites follow this same format. Today, the designs that win 'site of the day' on different web awards sites generally try and do something that's a little more unique than just having a giant slideshow and some parallax scrolling. WebGL is great for this. Adding an interactive element can really grab users' attention and show that this isn't the same as the other sites they've just visited. Create interactive 3D visuals with three.js To make a splash effect in this tutorial, a liquid, reflective surface will be added, and this will be animated towards the camera with rolling waves moving forward. There will also be particles that move forward to complete the look and feel. In the centre will be the site's logo, and the whole scene will react to the user's mouse movement so that the content shifts and makes the 3D really stand out. The logo design is rendered as a transparent PNG, so this can easily be customised to your own design. The lights will also animate so that the colours will orbit around and highlight different waves within the scene. Download the files for this tutorial. 01. Initial variables Open the start folder from the project files and drag this into your code editor. Open 'index.html' and you will see that the JavaScript libraries have already been linked up for you. Inside the empty script tags is where the code will go. Here WebGL is detected to make sure the project can be run, then a whole range of variables are added that will be used in the scene. 02. More variables The next block of variables handle how large the water floor should be and the speed that it will move along with initial mouse positions. The centre of the screen is worked out and the improved noise library is being used to create the surface of the water. 03. Calculating the mouse Some final variables are added for the post processing effects of the scene. An event listener is added that checks the mouse movement. The scene is going to move in the display port to react to mouse movement. The function that is added here works out the amount of movement being allowed. 04. Post processing settings The 'params' function is where all the settings for the post processing effects will be stored. If you need to change anything, this is the place to do it. The tilt shift blur is covered in the first four lines, then the film pass in the remaining lines. This is mainly for the screen intensity and noise intensity. 05. Final parameters The last of the parameters is for the dark vignette around the edge of the screen. The 'init' and 'animate' functions are called to run. The 'animate' function will be created much later in the tutorial, but the 'init' function is created here. The camera and scene are set up to allow viewing of the 3D content. 06. Letting the light in In order to see the content of the scene, four lights will be placed. The first is a hemisphere light, which is used just to get the basic ambience of the scene. Next up is the centre light that is adding a light blue light in the middle of the scene. This is set off to one side in order to give some light to the whole scene. 07. Animated lights The next two lights to be added. 'PointLight' and 'PointLight2' are coloured lights that will circle in opposite directions around the scene so that the light changes constantly in the view. The first is a pink light and the second is an orange light. The path and format for the reflection images are set in the last two lines. 08. Shiny surfaces The liquid surface will have a reflective, shiny surface and this is done by creating a reflection cube. This is a cube with a 360-degree skybox placed inside it, which will be reflected onto the surface of the liquid. The 'urls' array contains the images to be loaded, then the material is set up. 09. Setting up some groups The mover group will contain some particles that will be added later, while the floor group will contain the surface of the liquid. A new 3D object is created that will hold that surface. There will be two liquid surfaces; one will have the reflective material and the second will have the wireframe 'floorMaterial', as defined here. 10. Making the surfaces When the first liquid surface is added the reflection map on this is very obvious and the fog helps blend the background and surface together The two liquid surfaces are created here as 'floorMesh' and 'floorMesh2'. They are positioned and placed inside the 'floorGroup' then rotated to a good viewing angle in front of the camera. This isn't directly flat, but slightly angled as it looks better like that. 11. Adding floating particles Floating particles fill out the scene, and when all of this is animated in the render function, it brings a sense of movement towards the camera The section of code here creates an empty geometry object and then places into it 2,000 vertices that act as the particles. These are distributed at random positions on the X, Y and Z axis. These will float just above the surface of the liquid floor. 12. Creating the look The material defined here will set how the particles look. An image was loaded in the previous step and that is used as the image on each particle, once the material is created. This is then applied to each point of the geometry for all of the particles. These are then added into the scene. 13. Adding the logo Adding in the logo, which is a transparent PNG image, places this in the centre of the scene, and is easy to replace with your own logo later A logo will be placed into the centre of the screen and this will be added onto a flat plane that will face the camera. The logo is made slightly transparent and given an additive blend so that it is more visible when lighter objects pass behind it. This is positioned and placed into the scene. 14. Adding the render settings The renderer is set up to have smooth, anti-aliased edges and now the background colour is set. This is added into the body of the document so that the scene is on the HTML page. The post processing effects are set up by having various render and shader passes initialised. 15. Making the pass Once the film and glitch pass are added, an effect composer is created that composes all of the passes together. These are added one by one to the composer and it will eventually be rendered out to the screen for audience display. 16. Closing the 'init' function The last few settings are added for the initialisation of the scene. The parameters for post processing are set, the setting of the waves is called and an event listener is added for whenever the browser is resized. This enables the display to be updated to fit the new dimensions. 17. Setting up the waves The waves are created now for the surface of the liquid. This is done by moving through each vertex of the floor geometry on the x and z axis and moving it upward on the y axis. At this stage the 'for' loops are created for the x and z axis. 18. Making waves Not all the vertices will be scaled upwards in the same way. Those furthest away from the camera will be large, then the sides will be slightly less, and those nearest the camera will be scaled the least. This makes the back and sides slightly more interesting to look at. 19. Resizing and animating When the window is resized, the function here is called from the listener that was set up in step 16. The camera, renderer and composer are all reset in here to match the new dimensions of the window of the browser. The animate function just sets itself at 60fps, calling the render function to update the display. 20. Every frame of action The render function is called every frame. The point lights are set to orbit around in the scene and the camera is positioned according to the mouse movement, with a little easing so that it moves gradually into place. The camera is set to always look at the centre of the scene. 21. Final steps Every so often one of the post processing effects runs a glitch effect on the screen just to liven up and distort the screen, before returning to normal In the final step the particles are moved forward on their individual vertex, and if they get to the camera, they are placed back into the distance. This is updated and the setWaves function is called to make the waves roll forward. The scene is rendered by the effects composer. This article was originally published in issue 270 of creative web design magazine Web Designer. Buy issue 270 here or subscribe to Web Designer here. Related articles: Get started with WebGL using three.js 20 amazing examples of WebGL in action Build your own WebGL physics game View the full article

The web is an exciting place, with new developments happening all the time. You can get in on the action by picking up the skills you need to become a web designer with the Learn to Web Design Bundle. This incredible course bundle is on sale now for a price you choose. No matter what area of web design you're interested in, the Learn to Web Design Bundle is packed with the know-how you need to become a talented developer with the skills to succeed. It has more than 75 hours of actionable content, all spread across nine professionally taught courses on everything from using Photoshop to coding with HTML and CSS. Boost your abilities so you can create great work online for fun or land your dream gig. The Learn to Web Design Bundle usually retails for $1,238/ (approx) £886. Right now, you can pick the price you pay for it. Beat the average to unlock it all or get on the leaderboard. The price is up to you but you can't go wrong, so grab it today. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at:deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: The future of web design The best colour tools for web designers 5 articles to improve your web design career View the full article

As a designer, you’ll often have a great concept for a project, but the cost of commissioning an illustrator will be beyond the project's budget. You could always put your creative skills to the test with some Illustrator tutorials and vector art tutorials. Or you could save yourself a lot of time and effort, and opt to use stock art from one of these great stock websites. The good news is that these days online stock art sites are no longer limited to a handful of tired cliches. Instead, they feature a huge and eclectic variety of illustrations in various styles and sizes, created by thousands of talented illustrators. There are many stock art sites out there, from larger companies where illustration is only part of their offering, to smaller sites focusing purely on illustrators – and with anything from a tiny handful of artworks to a more extensive roster. Below is a list of some of the best sites for you to check out. We hope you find what you're looking for. 01. Adobe Stock Adobe Stock lets you instantly try images out in your CC apps Adobe Stock is as slick as you'd expect it to be. It integrates with all your CC apps, making it easy to preview a stock illustration or vector within your designs and then licence it if it fits your needs. Packed with high quality photography, vectors and illustration, it's also a great platform for selling your own artwork. If you want to give it a test drive, Adobe offers a free 30-day trial with 10 images thrown in. 02. Getty Images Getty Images is best known for photos, but also features a lot of stock art Getty Images is huge. It mainly deals in photography, but its library also includes hundreds of thousands of illustrations, all searchable via a comprehensive and easy-to-use search panel, and covering every subject you could think of. The stock art on offer here tends to lean more towards a clean and contemporary style. 03. iStock iStock has an extensive range of stock art One useful feature of iStock's site is that it allows you to filter search results by dominant colour. You can also find the empty space you're seeking in the design for text, and display your results accordingly. This is hugely refreshing given the amount of time it can sometimes take to find the right illo. iStock's illustrations are a little more vector-based than most on this list. But its range is extensive and relatively inexpensive. 04. Shutterstock It's not just photographs at Shutterstock – there's plenty of artwork too Although you might think of it as a photography library, Shutterstock features a vast amount of stock art among its ever-expanding collection of imagery. Whether you're after sleek vectors, eye-catching illustrations or simple clip art, you should easily be able to find what you're looking for on the easy-to-navigate site with its useful keyword search tool. 05. YouWorkForThem YouWorkForThem's mission is to be the world's best source for design resources YouWorkForThem has been curating unique niche and designer-oriented stock graphics for decades (not to mention fonts and photos too). The service currently provides over 76,000 graphics from over 400 different artists and designers, all with easy, affordable licenses – with custom license options available too. 06. Solid Stock Art Solid Stock Art boasts just one simple-to-understand licence If you're confused by licenses, then Solid Stock Art should be right up your street. Built by artists and founded, it says, on common sense, Solid Stock Art's only licence works on the basis that you buy something from its large, well-organised range and it's yours to do with as you wish – unlimited prints, views and re-use. The only thing you're not allowed to do is resell or share artists' images. 07. Old Book Illustrations Here you'll find vintage illustrations scanned from old books If you're looking for a vintage style of imagery, this site is great – and also free. All the images are scanned from old books and in the public domain, so there are no rights hassles to deal with. It's a beautiful collection: categories include plants, animals, buildings and monuments, ornaments and patterns. 08. The British Library A huge collection of over one million images The British Library has shared over one million images in this public domain collection on Flickr. Much of it is old-style illustration and artwork; there are also thousands of photographs, maps, vintage advertisements, botanical drawings, vintage comics and other interesting images. 09. Flickr: The Commons The Commons shares hidden gems from around the world This project seeks to bring together and organise the artworks and photograph collections that are made publicly available by a range of institutions, such as universities, museums and libraries. 10. Stock Illustrations You'll find contemporary stock illustrations here Stock Illustrations features contemporary stock illustrations (er, the clue's in the name) suitable for the world of advertising, graphic design and publishing. Whether you're looking for a particular style, subject or work by a specific artist, there's a great search facility to help you find the right images for your project quickly. 11. Ikon Ikon houses a range of stock art, viewable by style and subject Ikon’s website seems quite mysterious – there’s a bit too much style over usability, so browsing takes some time. But it does house a good range of stock art, viewable by style, including photo illustration, vector, digital and line art, and subjects ranging from beauty and fashion, to transport and characters. 12. Image Zoo Image Zoo's stock art is reminiscent of an earlier age Image Zoo has a large collection of traditional illustrations, searchable by keyword, artist name or subject (which effectively means the individual image name). The images are, in general, less contemporary than some of the other stock art sites listed here, and slightly reminiscent of traditional educational textbook illustrations. 13. Folioplanet The stock art on Folioplanet is sorted by illustrators rather than their work Filtering the work on Folioplanet sorts the illustrators themselves rather than their work, so it'll take some time if you simply want to browse by subject. There is a word-specific search function if you have something particular in mind, although it displays results as portfolio matches, so you'll still have to click through to view the results. 14. The iSpot iSpot features stock art from a range of talented artists The iSpot website has a huge number of traditional illustrations on offer – you're unlikely to find renderings here. Many different styles are covered, from a range of talented artists. You can search for stock art using keywords for category, subject, style and medium, as well as the artist's name and the date it was uploaded. Related articles: The 22 best places to find free vector art online Best free fonts for designers The best computer for graphic design View the full article

OFFSET Dublin is just around the corner. This year's event will run from 23-25 March, and Creative Bloq will be there, reporting on all the news (keep an eye on our Twitter feed for updates). OFFSET is known for bringing together key disruptors and influencers in the creative industries, and there are some killer names on the lineup this year. Read on to find out which speakers we can't wait to hear from. 01. Gail Bichler Gail has been making waves as design director at The New York Times Magazine Gail Bichler is a force to be reckoned with in the world of editorial design. She made her name freelancing on the New York Times' associated magazines (including T, The New York Times Style Magazine, and The New York Times Sunday Magazine) before landing a coveted role as is design director at The New York Times Magazine. The 2017 The Music Issue picked up a D&AD Pencil Gail will be sharing insights from her impressive career on the main stage on Thursday. And with nods from everyone from ADC, to AIGA and The Type Directors Club, not to mention a D&AD Graphite Pencil (for her work on the 2017 Music Issue shown above) and a spot in the permanent collection of The Art Institute of Chicago to her name, this talk is not one to miss. 02. Luke Powell and Jody Hudson-Powell Whilst running Hudson-Powell, Luke Powell and Jody Hudson-Powell turned their hand to everything from brand identity to motion graphics, interactive design, creative technology and immersive experiences. After more than a decade successfully running their creative studio, the duo made the decision to join Pentagram, where they're continuing to expand their already seriously diverse portfolio of work. Luke Powell and Jody Hudson-Powell have recently made the move to Pentagram Talking to OFFSET ahead of their slot at the conference, Jody commented on how they've managed to rack up such an impressive range of skills. "We don’t aim to have a ‘look’ or single approach," he explained. "If there’s one thing that is true across all our work is how we’re always looking for opportunities in projects to work in new ways to find unique outcomes for our clients." The duo are known for their impressively diverse portfolio Luke also revealed that one of the secrets of their success is that, as brothers, they are naturally very honest with one another. "We implicitly trust one another and so immediate approval is complete and never half-hearted or pressured. The flip side is that our disagreements and criticisms can sometimes be more brutal (and occasionally stubborn) than might otherwise be normal," he said. "Ultimately though, this means we always critique our work thoroughly, which is a good thing for clients." The duo's talk promises more insights into their work, approach, and enviable client list. 03. Richard Brim Richard Brim is part of a new wave of leaders at advertising studio Adam & Eve/DDB, and is the man behind some of the most high-profile TV ads of recent years. Campaigns including Sorry, I Spent It On Myself for Harvey Nichols, and the Monty the Penguin, Buster and 2017's Moz the Monster for John Lewis have marked him out as a talent to be reckoned with, and earned him widespread acclaim within the industry. This talk will explore how his fresh look at brand promotion has won Richard spots in the Guardian's UK’s top 100 creative innovators, AdAge’s 40 Under 40, and Creative Review’s 50 Creative Leaders. You can pick up tickets for OFFSET Dublin 2018 here. Read more: How to design a contemporary book cover 50 design agencies to follow on Twitter 5 big-brand logos that pass the silhouette test View the full article

A decent website is essential for any successful design studio. It's a great way to set out your stall to potential clients and pick up new business. However, design agency portfolios are rarely one-size-fits-all solutions – especially if you want to show off your studio's personality and way of thinking, as well as the end product. Read on to discover how five top design agencies thought a little differently and showcased their work in unusually effective ways... 01. NB Studio These three case studies from NB's website demonstrate how sparing the studio is with text, preferring to use full-screen imagery According to its website, NB Studio puts design at the heart of its business, and its soul "into everything we create". The mission statement continues by emphasising that the London-based outfit sets out to ask: 'What could the brand of tomorrow look like?' This curious, questioning spirit – which helps define the 'soul' of the studio – translates beautifully into NB's approach to its website. Alongside highly visual, image-led case studies that use a single sparing paragraph to explain their approach, is a section called simply 'What if...' that digs deeper into the thought process. NB's 'What If...' section presents the studio's thinking as a series of thought-provoking essays Each of the pieces contained within that section complete the rest of that sentence to create a thought-provoking question, which the team set out to answer in an essay-like format, illustrated with work from their and others' portfolios. Such thoughts as 'What if tech had an accent?' and 'What if cricket went tribal?' frame NB's approach to its work in a smart, quirky way that shows off the studios personality as much as its final creative output. While it certainly requires more work to do so, the essays also have more standalone value to readers. 02. Koto Koto's project case studies, such as this Fanta rebrand, all start with a single, high-impact image on a bold, flat-colour background Koto follows a loosely similar approach to NB for its project case studies, letting the visuals do most of the talking - but the studio chooses to alternate full-screen images on bold, flat-colour backgrounds with punchy explanatory paragraphs to walk site visitors through each project. As a result, even though each case study requires a reasonable amount of vertical scrolling to read, the information feels bite-sized and easily digestible - particularly as the flat-colour backgrounds for each screen also alternate as you scroll. One of the sub-sections of Koto's Fanta case study explores the design of 42 handcrafted fruits to depict the different flavours on offer Koto's global rebrand of Fanta is a particularly strong example, as the case study incorporates everything from the process behind the logo design, to multi-language compatibility of the branding, to iconography, to custom typography - a potentially complex story, presented in a fresh vibrant, highly visual way. 03. GBH London GBH groups together its projects under quirky, unusual categories that draw the reader in Working with a broad range of clients that include PUMA, Philippe Starck and Virgin Galactic, GBH believes in doing things a little differently, with a quirky, left-field way of presenting its studio ethos - well documented in its recent monograph, Charm, Belligerence and Perversity. With this in mind, it's no surprise that the GBH website isn't conventionally structured either: rather than splitting its projects by client, sector or discipline, the agency instead groups them together more by vibe and approach - making the site a lot more fun to navigate. 'GBH is sci-fi' is the agency's unconventional way of presenting its work for Virgin Galactic and Dr Who Using the construct 'GBH is...', projects are given much more personality. Examples include 'GBH is robot' to explore its work for Yotel, PUMA Local and HEXA; 'GBH is sci-fi' for Virgin Galactic and Dr Who; and the alluring 'GBH is sexy' for its work for Miss Kō, Mama Shelter and Starck Naked. Besides giving a strong sense of the studio's personality, this approach also help express GBH's versatility, giving clients the confidence that the creative solution can be moulded to their own personality in turn. 04. Spin Spin's identity work is presented in a uniform way, putting the form of each logo marque in the spotlight Graphic design consultancy Spin presents its work in a much more reference-friendly format, defined by its pragmatic use of words like 'Index' and 'Library' - a stark contrast from GBH and NB. Under the 'Work' category, Spin's identity work is all presented in a uniform, monochrome way as a grid - an approach that, initially at least, puts all the emphasis on the form of the logo marques rather than their application. Move the mouse over each list item in Spin's 'Index' section and a hero image pops up to give a flavour of the work While the 'Index' section is presented as a simple typographic list on the front page, a single hero image pops up as you draw the mouse over each project name, leading through to a grid of large images and animations showing every possible permutation of the brand. Descriptive text and project credits are moved to the bottom of the page, almost like a production note - the work is given the breathing space to speak for itself. 05. Graphic Thought Facility Graphic Thought Facility colour-codes its projects as a simple typographical list Our final example of a design studio that presents its work a little differently is Graphic Thought Facility. Similarly to Spin, GTF presents a typographic list of projects that bring up a thumbnail when the mouse hovers over each item. In the 'Selected projects' menu, these are neatly colour-coded by discipline - with categories including campaign, exhibition, publication and identity. Under 'All projects', this switches to a chronological list, split by year completed. Each project case gives the option to toggle between images and text, which keeps the site navigation clean, fresh and simple When you click through to each project, in a simple but satisfying twist, site visitors can toggle between images and text. There are a few succinct paragraphs for each, as well as links to related projects elsewhere in GTF's portfolio. Although there's plenty to learn from GTF's method of presentation, as well as the world-class calibre of its work, the agency sets rather less of a good example when it comes to the frequency with which its site is updated - the most recent project on the list is from 2015. Related articles: The top 20 US design studios of 2018 Launch a world-class design studio with the ‘three Fs’ 7 stunning design studio logos to inspire you View the full article

Security community takes a critical look at CTS-Labs' disclosure of vulnerabilities in AMD vulnerabilities found in EPYC servers, Ryzen workstationsm and Ryzen mobile offerings. View the full article

Any designer will tell you that the industry is teeming with design terms you need to know if you're going to be taken seriously by your peers and clients. The last thing you want is to lose authority because you confused negative space with a silhouette, or the Golden Ratio with the Fibonacci sequence. However, it would seem that some terminology is more tricky to remember than others. Compiled by Creative Market, this infographic runs through some of the most frequently mistaken design terms and explains the correct usage. Hit the icon in the top right of the image to see it full size. Click the infographic to see the full-size version Liked this? Read these! 15 printing terms every designer needs to know 10 typography terms that every designer needs to know 10 huge graphic design trends to know for 2018 View the full article

We all want to work in cool design offices, right? A dull environment that's no fun to work in is no good for creativity – you want to bring your workplace walls alive and inject some visual energy into your environment. Check out these amazing examples of design office murals and maybe you'll be inspired to make-over your own office... 01. Leo Burnett, Chicago We'd happily hang out in reception at Leo Burnett with this artwork on show This show-stopping office mural adorns the reception desk of global advertising agency Leo Burnett's hub in Chicago. The imagery celebrates two sources of pride for the team; creativity and their home. The mural combines Chicago's skyline and the agency’s own icons, such as Alpha 245 black pencils. 02. Hootsuite Hootsuite's amazing boardroom mural is based on a real encounter with a great horned owl Inspired by an unexpected encounter with a great horned owl in Vancouver's Stanley Park, husband and wife team Steve and Sandy Pell completed this mural for Hootsuite's new boardroom in just two and a half days. Key to their design is the owl's piercing golden eyes that caught their attention in Stanley Park. They hoped to evoke the perfect balance of intense singular passion, fear, excitement, unknown, and intensity. 03. Nokia Graffiti Kings brightened up Nokia's office with an assortment of murals London-based Graffiti Kings, headed up by pro graffiti artist Darren 'SER' Cullen who also painted the stage sets for the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, were contacted by Nokia who wanted their white office walls jazzed up with some magnificent and mind-blowing graffiti murals. So that's what Graffiti Kings did, including this fantastic Nokia logo created entirely out of tags. 04. Facebook Invisible Creature, aka Don and Ryan Clark, were responsible for this out-of-this-world offering for the folks at Facebook's Seattle offices. "They gave us a few keywords that represented the culture and atmosphere at Facebook. 'Making The World More Connected' and '‘Hacker' got the most votes internally, so we dug into those ideas as our direction," they explain. 05. Bank of China Illustrator Abi Daker flexes her attention-to-detail muscles with this wall mural Cyprus based illustrator Abi Daker created this gorgeously detailed wall mural for the Bank of China. "My attention to detail and strong drawing technique means that my work is ideally suited to creating illustrated maps, panoramic cityscapes and perspective drawings," she explains. We love the use of a singular colour with this one. 06. & Smith This 7 x 10ft wall mural was created by artist Rob Lowe aka. Supermundane. Using black and blue paint pens, the mural for design agency &Smith was drawn over two days – one for each colour. Lowe has created a number of client murals but it was the intricacy of this one that really caught our eye. 07. Weiden+Kennedy The wall mural reflects the ethos and attitude of the company Advertising agency Weiden+Kennedy has one of the most beautiful office spaces in the industry, with its staff contributing to the aesthetics. Decorated with artwork by the W+K employees, this pushpin mural highlights co-founder Dan Wieden's belief that creative success only comes to those willing to risk failure. 08. Twitter UK Sweaty Eskimo perfectly captures Twitter's services in his wall mural This brilliant vinyl sticker was created by Tahgasa Bertram, otherwise known as his illustration alias Sweaty Eskimo. Bertram has worked with a number of clients to produce some pretty inspiring wall murals, and this creation perfectly captures the social media brand's colour scheme and services. 09. BIC So Creative got colourful with this wall mural for BIC Design agency So Creative were responsible for this colourful office mural for stationary experts BIC. "We were commissioned by BIC to create a colourful, contemporary mural design to adorn the walls of their marketing suite. Inspired by the long and varied history of the company, we created a visual timeline with emphasis on their successful product launches and other key dates," they explain. 10. Leo Burnett This wall mural features a huge illustration of the company's founder Ok, so we wouldn't usually put two designs from the same agency in one list, but we couldn't not include this eye-catching office wall mural. Singapore designers Ministry of Design completed this office interior for advertising agency Leo Burnett that features a drawing of the company's founder spread across the walls and floor, wielding a scaled-up model of a pencil. Incredible work. 11. Ustwo Burgerman's monochrome mural adds an extra sheen of cool to ustwo's offices One of the kings of doodle art, Jon Burgerman often produces huge arrays of colours within his works, so this simple black and white creation studio for ustwo is a bit of a departure. But we love it all the same. Check out more pics of the mural in this blog post, and take a peek behind the scenes of its creation in this video. Next page: 11 more amazing office murals... 12. The Audience Who wouldn't want to walk past this on the way to their desk? Husband and wife Dan and Kozue Kitchens are the couple behind Kozyndan, an LA-based artistic team, known for their digitally painted pencil drawings of contemporary urban cityscapes and surreal interior spaces. The duo's latest endeavour is this huge 45-foot underwater-inspired mural, created for PR company The Audience in LA. There's a huge amount of intricate detail This piece is seriously impressive, not only for its scale but for the huge amount of intricate detail. Each time we look at it, we find new weird yet wonderful illustration we missed previously. How the team who work in this now aptly-named 'fish bowl' office get anything done we'll never know! 13. Digital Gurus Meetings are less boring with something to look at The Digital Gurus are a collective based in London who specialise in mural art and have an impressive client list including the likes of Google. Here's just one example of how they've use their creative skills to create a modern and fresh atmospheres in their offices - you'll find more murals on their site. 14. TMRC Sarah Sculley created this graffiti inspired mural for market research firm TMRC Freelance graphic designer Sarah Sculley uses her graffiti and stencil skills to enhance the walls of offices she's called to work upon. Here's her addition to the office walls of research marketing company TMRC. "TMRC research the sub-concious mind and how it absorbs information through marketing, so the idea was to show the flow of sub-concious thought," she explains. 15. Google Kate Moross made good use of Google's colours for her New York mural Google has called upon many talented current designers and creative to bring in a bit of life and energy to its workplaces. Kate Moross combined her trademark visuals with the search engine's iconic colours to produce this fresh and exciting mural for Google's New York offices. 16. Sumo Digital Geo Law created this awesome illustration using uni-ball Posca markers Doodle enthusiast Geo Law was asked to create a mural for the offices of indie game development studio Sumo Digital. With simple colour combinations and intricate line compositions, this incredible creation gives a fresh feel to the office environment. 17. Jess3 Jess3 wanted to inspire their team by launching a revamped physical office The work of Andy J Miller is sure to inspire all lovers of narrative and folkloric illustrations. Here is a beautiful and unique example of his work at the Washington DC office of creative agency Jess3. He took full use of the space and covered the walls in bold colour, type and imagery on the theme of "historical collaboration". 18. Neos Creative The design was focused around the words 'adventure', 'graphical' and 'timeless' Design and project management agency Neos Creative wanted an inspirational and unique mural for their new West London office. They commissioned Soulful Creative, a collective of some of the world's most talented and experienced graffiti artists, illustrators, and contemporary artists, who produced this funky masterpiece. 19. Carat The theme of the mural is 'redefining media' Norwegian illustrator, graphic designer and art director Remi Juliebo created this beautiful typography-based design for the office walls of Oslo-based advertising agency Carat. 20. MailChimp Derek Bruno's evocative mural for MailChimp's offices This stunning mural using abstract colour and form was created for the office of email newsletter service MailChimp by Derek Bruno. His fine art, graphic design and furniture design background have shaped the way in which he is able to adapt his work according to surface and scale, resulting in this engaging example of office mural art. 21. Digibrand Visitors to this office won't forget the experience in a hurry Designed by Gatis Kurzemnieks for the Digibrand offices in Latvia, this hand painted mural stretches across the office walls. Offering an imaginative narrative and centred around bold elements and use of colour, the illustration then continues onto stickers onto the glass walls of the office. The illustration flows in and around the offices 22. Warner Music The design captures the long history of Warner in a fresh, contemporary way Talented Australian type designer Georgia Hill was called in by the Warner Music studios to create this mural for their office walls. Her simple retro design reflects the values and visual aesthetic of the Warner tradition. Related articles: 10 trail-blazing women in design to be inspired by 45 After Effects tutorials to sharpen your motion skills 22 innovative business card designs View the full article

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of learning that’s required to keep up with new web technologies these days, the good news is there are plenty of people building amazing tools to help you. This month we look at resources for building and maintaining Progressive Web Apps, static sites, design systems and more. 01. Layout Land Top notch layout tuition from Jen Simmons This fantastic YouTube channel by Mozilla designer and developer advocate Jen Simmons teaches you about very smart and interesting things you can do with layout on the web. These tutorials will give you a firm grounding in using Flexbox, Grid, CSS Shapes and Clip Path in your designs, guiding you with useful example layouts. You’ll learn about core concepts, such as when to use Grid and when to choose Flexbox, how to make things work with Internet Explorer, and how to write resilient CSS that’s less likely to trip you up in the future. For a taste of what to expect, check out Simmons' article 6 web layout myths busted. 02. basicScroll Use CSS variables to trigger animation based on scroll position The lack of variables in CSS has long been a frustration for developers, but they’re finally here and you can use them to make your life much easier, and to do cool things! basicScroll is a clever tool that makes use of CSS variables to let you trigger animations based on scroll position. As well as CSS Custom Properties, basicScroll requires requestAnimationFrame to work, but beyond that, it’s framework independent and has a simple JavaScript API. You can do all your animation with CSS, but if you want even more control you can use JavaScript. It works on both desktop and mobile and promises “insane” performance. 03. Xray A new spin on the Atom code editor Atom fans may wish to keep an eye on this project, which is an experimental text editor based on what has been learned from Atom since it launched. Essentially it is a way to experiment with some radical ideas without destabilising Atom. The project goal is to develop a fast code editor that makes it easy for users to code collaboratively and to add their own functionality to the program via powerful APIs. Web compatibility is also a priority, so editing in Xray will feel similar to editing in GitHub. 04. Compositor Lab Build and maintain a design system with Compositor Lab Now that many organisations are using design systems as a means of developing their products coherently, it makes sense that tools are emerging to help you work within this framework. Compositor Lab is one such tool: it’s for building and maintaining a design system. Lab enables you to create production-ready React components without writing code, speed up your workflow, and makes it easier to hand-off work between designers and developers. You can export your work in a variety of formats, and publish your style guide with a single click. 05. PWABuilder Building Progressive Web Apps might seem daunting, but this tool makes it easy Progressive Web Apps are the web’s answer to native mobile apps – they attempt to replicate the experience of a native app, but on the web. This means that they’re offline-first, reliable, fast and as easy to use as a native app. If you’d like to make a Progressive Web App using data from your existing site, you’re in luck: PWABuilder makes the process much easier. Feed in the URL and it will help you to generate the manifest, build the Service Worker and publish the finished app. If you don’t know much about Progressive Web Apps, this article is a good primer. 06. Prettier Get your code in order effortlessly with Prettier Keeping things tidy might feel like an extra burden, but your future self will thank you for writing well-formatted code that’s easier to navigate and maintain – as will your colleagues! Prettier is an opinionated code formatter that integrates with many editors including Atom and Sublime Text, and many languages. The advantage of using a tool for this is that it’s automated, so it’s much easier for you, and also that it’s done in a standardised way so there’s less room for annoying debates about how to format things. Just hit save and it formats your code. 07. Google Speed Index Calculator How does your site compare to the competition? We all know that a slow mobile site means fewer conversions, but this calculator helps you to put a number on it. Enter your URL and the Speed Scorecard works out how your site compares to the competition performance-wise, then the Revenue Impact Calculator tells you how much money your slow site is costing you. These numbers can be helpful in giving weight to your arguments when you’re pushing to prioritise the performance of a website. This page also gives some great guidance on what options you have for speeding things up. 08. Gatsby Build fast sites that are easy to deploy with Gatsby Gatsby is a static site generator for React that helps you build fast, secure sites using modern web technology. Static files are much simpler to deploy, so it’s a lot easier to scale your site – and it’s much faster, too. Getting data into your site is straightforward thanks to a great plugin ecosystem that enables you to pull in data from CMSs, APIs, databases and more using GraphQL. Gatsby sites are Progressive Web Apps, which means only the critical data is loaded so that your site is in front of your users as quickly as possible. 09. CSS Gradient A great interface for building gradients with CSS Why use code to build CSS gradients when you don’t have to? There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel; you might as well use a web-based tool like this one to get the job done. CSS Gradient is a simple app that provides a nice interface for creating CSS gradients – pick from one of five gradient styles and adjust the sliders until you get what you need. The code appears underneath, ready for you to copy and paste into your site. 10. Overflow Share your design vision effectively with user flows Overflow was created by the people behind Proto.io as they wanted to make something to help with the process of design critiques. They found that the usual method of presenting design work left out an important element; the story of the design and the designers’ rationale behind the decisions they had made. The answer to this, they found, is user flows: flow diagrams that show how a user will navigate around an interface. But until now, there was no tool designed specifically for creating user flows, so they were difficult to incorporate into a workflow. Overflow is intended to meet that need. It looks exciting, and you can sign up for early access now. This blog post explains in more detail how user flows can help you. Read more: Essential image optimisation tips Essential TED talks for UX designers 5 of the best JavaScript frameworks View the full article

Digital painting tools have evolved greatly in the past few years. Artists can use tablets to produce works of art at home or away, with all the convenience that brings. And it’s also become easier than ever to take traditional painting techniques and apply them to the digital canvas. I’m a young artist who approaches his work with great enthusiasm. I’m keen to take the idea of expressive elements from the Old Masters and portray them in my work, because it’s important to pass on these ideas to a new generation of art fans. I’ve learned the majority of my painting techniques by studying both the Old Masters and those digital artists whose art stands out from the crowd. My favourites are John Singer Sargent and Craig Mullins; you can learn much by studying their work. Recently, I received a few questions on how to recreate the look of an oil painting in Photoshop. Although many people think the brush settings aren’t important, I still believe that configuring an appropriate tool can help the artist in many ways. My secret is to use the Mixer Brush tool in Photoshop. Artists can quickly make brushstrokes in the style of a traditional artist. I’ll be using the Mixer brush a lot in this workshop. I’m happy that I can share my ideas about Mixer Brush tool and hope you guys like my workshop. Get Adobe Creative Cloud now 01. Produce line drawings Rough sketches help you to settle on a good pose I begin by drawing multiple sketches. These figure poses help me choose the best one, based on the visual language such as composition, shape and proportion. In this case, I select the figure looking at the viewer, in a more straightforward pose. 02. Build the form of the shadow The character and background are built up with separate layers Next, I create two separate layers for the character and background. Then I paint the shape of the shadow of the character. In this stage, I ignore the local colour and only capture the form of the shadows. It’s preparation for using the Mixer brushes, later on in the process. 03. Add the local colour Take care to colour according to the lighting I fill in the colours of her skin and clothing. Because of the edge light, I use a brush on low Opacity to add a little green into the lightest area and a little red into the dark area, to make her look subtly different on both sides. 04. Adjust the gesture Hands are an essential part of portrait painting When it comes to portrait paintings, the hand is equally essential as the face. If the face is a flower, then the hand is its leaf. Painting a portrait without the hand in the image would be like showing a flower without the leaf – it’s a incomplete object. So I paint the hand first. 05. Use the Mixer Brush The Mixer brush creates a paint on canvas effect Click and hold the Brush icon in the Tool palette, then select the Mixer Brush and set it to Sample All Layers. This enables me to pick up the canvas colour from all visible layers. Figure A shows two distinct colours (1 and 2). By using the Mixer brush on the colours – figure B – you can create an effect similar to painting on a traditional canvas (3). Using various combinations of colours and brushes, you can achieve a range of real-world painting effects.. 06. Fill in the background The brush is tested out on the background I usually try brushes on the background area before drawing characters. In this case, I decide to use the large Mixer brush to fill the background. Sometimes, the result isn’t what I intended, and in such cases I’ll cover the layer with a standard brush instead. 07. Illustrate the hair Cold and warm colours bring the painting to life I choose a leaf brush to paint the hair and the background. I try to add some cold and warm colours to inject a bit of life into the environment, so it’s not too stuffy in appearance. Sometime I’ll paint the background like an abstract painting. 08. Change the outline The bottom part of the hand is removed to help refine the shape of the figure I adjust the outline of the body, to make the sharp shape softer in appearance. I decided to omit the bottom part of the hand because it’ll help me to express the upper portion of the character’s body. 09. Introduce facial features Low Opacity brushes are better suited to painting details I switch to a low Opacity brush to paint the face, because the Mixer brush is unsuitable for painting details. My approach is to paint a big egg shape, then use a small brush to paint the facial volume, then use an even more smaller brush to tackle the details. 10. Preview and check the shape Time to take stock and review the painting so far By using the Mixer brush, I produced many small shapes and tiny brushstrokes. So I take the opportunity to review the form and find some ideas to finish my work. I use these pauses to manage my pace of painting. 11. Adjust the hand position Colours are removed so they don't detract from the face The position of her hand looks incorrect so I adjust it slightly. I change the colour in the arm because I want to reserve any vivid colours for the character’s face. 12. Vary the look of the character's clothing The strong red dress is toned down with cold colours The colour of the fabric is the purest object in this painting. For me, red is the hardest colour to express. I try to give most of the red dress a cold appearance, only keeping a strong red near the character’s arm. 13. Adjust the shape around the head The face is simplified and made less rigid I’m nearing the finish, now. The head still the primary part of this painting, so I adjust the shapes around the head, to ensure they’re simple yet not stiff. I keep the loose texture on her right side and add a subtle dark colour to mix the hair into the background. 14. Finishing up the portrait Rough areas help the viewer to use their imagination. This is my favourite step in the creative process – and not just because I’m close to finishing! I like paintings with a sense of visual rhythm. So in this workshop, I try to do less detailing, to create a contrast between the rough and the intricate. I won’t connect all the details using dark colours. Instead, I’ll leave some areas to serve as a link to the surrounding tones. This approach creates ebb and flow within an image, and avoids the trap of a dark painting that just looks stiff. The rougher areas will encourage the viewer to use their imagination. This article was originally published in issue 156 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 156 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: The 55 best free Photoshop brushes 10 free Photoshop brushes for painting skin and hair Painter 2018 blurs the line between traditional and digital art View the full article

A few lucky developers and this author had the opportunity to tech edit Addy Osmani's new image optimisation eBook, Essential Image Optimization, which you absolutely should read. 10 ways to optimise images for better performance Whether you're building full-size eCommerce websites or simply making an online home for your design portfolio, in this article you'll learn a few tips from Addy's book that will help make your images leaner and faster. Be selective and preload critical images Take a look at your site and identify a critical image asset. For most, this would be a logo or hero image that you want to have render as soon as possible. This is where the preload resource hint comes in. preload is a way of hinting to the client that an asset should be retrieved before the browser parser would otherwise discover it. You can use it for pretty much anything, but it works splendidly for preloading critical imagery. Here's an example of it in use in the HTML <head> element on order to preload a hero banner image: You can also use preload in an HTTP header: Below you can see two screenshot rolls of the same page loading in Chrome. One scenario uses preload to load a hero banner image, while the other doesn't. The effect of using preload on a hero banner In the example with preload, the banner image appears in the browser window half a second faster. All because of a quick one-liner that gave the browser a head start. Automatically simplify your SVG artwork Illustrator’s Simplify tool, showing the number of anchor points before and after as Curve Precision is lowered Optimising SVGs is different than with other image types, because unlike JPEGs or PNGs, SVGs are comprised of text, specifically XML markup. This means that typical optimisations you would apply to text-based assets (for example, minification, gzip/Brotli compression) can and should also be applied to SVGs. Beyond that, you can use an optimiser such as SVGO to tamp down the size of SVGs. But what if you're not merely consuming vector artwork, but creating it? If you're an Illustrator user, you can automatically simplify your artwork to reduce the amount of anchor points in paths via the Simplify dialog window. This dialog can be found in Illustrator CC's menu by going to Object>Path>Simplify. By reducing Curve Precision (and optionally adjusting Angle Threshold), it is possible to remove extra path points in your artwork. In this instance, you'll note that a reduction in Curve Precision of as little as 6% removes 54 path points. Used judiciously, it could even improve the appearance of your artwork. The savings that path simplification can afford Word to the wise – be careful with just how aggressive you get with this tool. Lower Curve Precision too much, and your once carefully crafted artwork will devolve into a blob. Strike the right balance, though, and you'll reap the rewards. Convert animated GIFs to video With FFmpeg you can turn flabby GIFs into svelte video We all love a good animated GIF. They effectively convey nearly any sentiment, but they can be really huge. Image optimisers such as gifsicle can help shave off excess kilobytes, but the ticket is to convert those GIFs into videos and embed them in the HTML5 <video> tag. The ffmpeg command line utility is well suited for this task: The commands above take a source GIF (animated.gif) as input in the -i argument, and output videos with a variable bitrate maximum of 512Kbps. In a test of our own, we were able to take a 989Kb animated GIF and reduce it to a 155Kb MP4, a 109Kb OGV, and a 85Kb WebM. All video files were comparable in quality to the source GIF. Because of the ubiquity of <video> tag support in browsers, these three video formats can be used like so: If you decide to go this route, be sure to order your <source> tags so that the most optimal format is specified first, and the least optimal is specified last. In most cases, this means you'll start with WebM videos first, but check the output file size of each video and go with whatever is smallest first, and end with whatever is largest. If you don't have FFmpeg or don't know what it is, check it out. It's easy to install through most operating system package managers, such as Homebrew or Chocolatey. Lazy load with IntersectionObserver Lazy loading images is something you might already be doing, but many lazy loading scripts use CPU-intensive scroll event handlers. Such methods contribute to sluggish interactions on a page. Older hardware with less processing power is even more prone to the ill effects of this type of code. Execution throttling does help to a degree, but it's still a messy and rather inefficient workaround for determining when elements are in the viewport. Thankfully, the Intersection Observer API gives us a simpler and far more efficient way to determine when elements are in the viewport. Here's an example of some basic lazy loading image markup: Here, we load a placeholder image in the src attribute, and then store the URL for the image we want to lazily load in the data-src attribute. To top it all off, we give the <img> element a class of lazy for easy access with querySelectorAll. From there, we simply use this code: Here, we bind code to the document object's DOMContentLoaded event. This code checks to see if Intersection Observer is supported by the current browser. If it turns out that it is, we grab all img elements with a class of lazy with querySelectorAll and then attach observers to them. The observer contains references to the elements we're observing (entries) and the observer itself (observer). This code hinges on each observer entry's isIntersecting value. While the observed element is out of the viewport, isIntersecting returns 0. As the element enters the viewport, though, it will return a value greater than 0. It's at this point that we swap the content of the image's data-src attribute into the src attribute, and remove its lazy class. After a given image lazy loads, the observer is removed from it with the observer's unobserve method. This process is much easier than mucking around with scroll handlers, but since Intersection Observer doesn't enjoy universal support, you may have to fall back on them. If you're the sort to grab a script and go, we've written a lazy loader that uses Intersection Observer, but also falls back to the methods of yesteryear. You can grab it here. This article was originally published in issue 301 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 301 here or subscribe here. Related articles: The complete guide to SVG Using vector tools: A web designer's approach Animate SVG with JavaScript View the full article

You're reading Best Free Tools for Web Developers in 2018, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! There is no point in telling you why tools for web developers are a good thing, since everyone is aware of the advantages. In terms of dealing with mundane tasks, they are indispensable. Of course, not all instruments are of high value, some appear to be trash or simply useless. Nevertheless, there are a ton […] View the full article

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Breaking any process down into small chunks is a great way to tackle what can seem like a daunting task. If you're struggling to figure out how to draw something complicated, breaking the subject down into simple shapes can help you begin to describe its overall structure. All you need a solid grasp of how to draw a cube, cylinder and sphere, which we'll cover here. How to draw a face In the opening stages of a drawing, you should be looking to describe your subject and its environment in very simple terms: always avoid details too early on. By drawing with simple shapes, we can focus on proportions, composition, planes and the relationships between forms. It's all about working big down to small; simple into complex; basic shapes into crafted details. There are three basic shape archetypes that any form can be fitted into: the cube, the cylinder and the sphere. At the heart of these form shapes are two simple geometric shapes: the square and the ellipse. There are three basic shape archetypes that any form can be fitted into; the cube, the cylinder and the sphere Learning to accurately draw and combine these will help you to construct any object, observed or imagined. In walking you through this process we will have to deal with concepts like perspective and foreshortening, so we'll take a very brief, practical look at them. We'll start with drawing the square, leading onto the cube – the most articulate shape when it comes to describing geometry in a drawing that has perspective. Having six basic planar faces, the cube's proportions help to echo their relationship within 3D space. This aids further description of more complex rectilinear, cylindrical and curvilinear forms. You might think that drawing simple shapes is... well, simple. But don't be fooled. It takes immense skill to perfect drawing freehand shapes like a simple circle. 01. How to draw a square A basic square is the simple connection of four straight lines Drawing a basic square is the simple connection of four straight lines, two along the horizontal axis and two to describe the vertical axis. Drawing these lines is all about living in the future: pinpoint your start point; imagine the end point. Place your pencil on the start point, relax and focus on the end point. Pull your mark along the imagined path removing the pencil once it reaches the end point. Pull your lines towards their goal: this uses more adept muscle groups. Try this squared exercise The barrel of the pencil should rest naturally in your hand's web space The grip shown above is one we're all accustomed to using when writing. Grip using the thumb, index and middle finger. The barrel of the pencil should rest naturally in your hand's web space. Avoid closing the web space as this forces the barrel to rest on the knuckle of the index finger and promotes strokes using finger gestures only. Avoid grasping at the tip of the pencil, as this can limit line length and lead to less fluid lines. 02. How to draw a cube For a cube seen in nature we need to apply perspective... Using the simple square as a starting point [A], begin to describe a box in 3D space. Draw another square that overlaps the first . Connect all the corners of one square to the adjacent corners of the other, using 45-degree lines [C]. This process of showing all six sides of the cube is known as 'drawing through', and here it highlights a problem with this oblique drawing of a cube: it's an impossible shape in nature. For a cube seen in nature we need to apply perspective... 03. How to draw a cube with perspective When you first start drawing cubes, it helps to study with an object in front of you When you first start drawing cubes, it helps to study with an object in front of you. The first line to go down is the vertical line closest to you [A]. The next two lines are for the inside edges . These start at the top of our first stroke as we're looking down at our cube and the top plane is visible. The degree at which the inside edge lines are drawn depends on how much top plane we can see: if it's a lot, the lines are drawn at an acute angle, for less, a more obtuse angle. 04. Finishing your cube The length and angle of the inside edges depend on how much of the front and side is on show The length and angle of the inside edges depends on how much of the front and side is on show. If both are equal, the angle and length of the inside edge lines are also equal. Turn the front face more towards you and the line gets longer, the angle more horizontal. This turning creates the opposite; the line is more vertical, shorter. To finish, go to the end of each line and join the remaining edges with converging lines. 05. Try this cube exercise Your goal is to populate the paper with 3D cubes as seen from various angles Draw a horizontal line across your surface, this will act as your eye line or imaginary horizon line. Draw a square directly in the centre (note no sides should be visible). Now, above the horizon line and off to the right, draw a cube as if you'd picked up the centre square and moved it up and to the right. Your goal is to populate the paper with 3D cubes as seen from various angles. Next page: How to draw a sphere and more shapes 01. How to draw a circle A square grid will keep your circle accurate Measure out a square using a ruler. From the top left corner, draw a line [A] to the bottom right. Draw a second from top right to lower left . Add two centre lines, [C] and [D]. On the eight short lines going out from the centre, plot dots at incremental thirds [E]. Now draw your circle tangent to the sides of the square and using the plot points placed two thirds from the centre. 'Ghost draft' this to practice first. 02. How to draw an ellipse Simplify the process by drawing two lines dissecting each other To draw a circle that appears tilted in perspective (an ellipse) repeat step 6 but this time start with a square drawn on an imaginary angled plane. You can simplify this process by drawing two lines dissecting each other, one short and vertical [A], the other horizontal and longer . Now plot end points. Those on the horizontal line should be equal in distance from the centre. Complete your ellipse It takes a lot of training to draw accurate ellipses Once again it's about connecting these points with a curvilinear path. But this time the upper semi-circle [A] is more foreshortened than the lower arc . Practise this process small at first, just to build up your confidence – then move onto larger ellipses, which require more gestural arm and shoulder movements. It takes a lot of training to draw accurate ellipses. 03. How to draw a cylinder First determine your cylinder's size and orientation You first need to determine your cylinder's size and orientation in 3D space. Draw an angled line measured to express its length in depth [A]. Introduce a line that runs parallel to it to determine the cylinder's width . These two lines should be tapering to an imagined far off point to express any foreshortening that's occurring. The shape of both end ellipses depends on your viewing angle; in both cases the angle of each is perpendicular to the established sides. Complete your cylinder Your ellipses should run perpendicular to your edge lines Your ellipses should run perpendicular to your edge lines; knowing this helps you avoid 'squished' cylinders, a common issue when using horizontal ellipses to cap the ends of angled cylinders. Applying this rule will also help you describe cross contour lines accurately. When you need to add a cross contour line to a cylinder, lightly 'draw through' the entire ellipse in question, this helps maintain the curved ends found when the visible line connects to the form edges. Try this cylinder exercise Establish a horizon line, then draw a plumb line directly down the centre of your paper Establish a horizon line, then draw a plumb line directly down the centre of your paper. From the converging centre point, draw a set of diagonal lines reaching outwards mimicking the length and width lines [A & B] from step 9, and cap it off with an ellipse. As this first cylinder started life at a single point (the vanishing point) we've actually drawn a tiny cone. Now continue to draw more cylinders, continuing along the established perspective plane. 04. How to draw a sphere We can express spherical form using cross contour lines We can express spherical form using cross contour lines. Repeat step 6, but take it further by creating an ellipse within the circle. Starting at [A], lightly draw a curve with a trajectory that passes through the first third-from-centre plot point then follows around to the opposite edge [C], continuing through to the next third-from-centre [D] point, ending where it began [A]. Erase the upper or lower arc. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX's How to draw & paint bookazine. Related articles: How to improve your character drawing How to draw manga Discover the 5 best pencils for artists and designers View the full article

There are plenty of places to download typefaces on the web. But budgets don't always stretch to include quality, crafted fonts – so where should you look when you need the best free fonts? There's a lot of noise and clutter online. It's easy to end up falling down the rabbit hole of poorly structured sites and low quality fonts. So we've taken it on ourselves to find you the gems in the rough. Besides the obvious places to download free fonts, we've also unearthed some less known sources – including individual design portfolios and agency sites. So next time you want to download fonts, head here to discover a world of typographical inspiration. 01. FontSpace It's easy to find what you want among FontSpace's 32,000 fonts With nearly 32,000 fonts available in TrueType and OpenType flavours, neatly sorted into plenty of categories, FontSpace is a useful go-to for free type. It has over 2,000 designers supplying fonts, and they're clearly labelled so you can be sure whether a font is good for commercial use or not. 02. Font Freak Get your (Font) Freak on On top of over 125,000 commercial fonts, Font Freak boasts more than 9,000 free fonts from over 400 different designers, sorted alphabetically for easy downloading and most of them in both PC and Mac versions. And if you can't be bothered with sorting through everything on offer, you can download its entire archive of free fonts for a small fee. 03. Creative Market Get a free font each week over on Creative Market An online marketplace for community-generated design assets, Creative Market offers free goods each week, which includes a free font. The design changes each week and is only available for a limited time period – a brilliant way to build up a library of different font styles. 04. Behance You'll find all manner of free font designs on Behance The go-to place for designers to show off their work, online portfolio platform Behance is a brilliant place to find free fonts. Whether you want a slab serif, script, tattoo or handwriting font, you're sure to find something that suits here. 05. The Northern Block The Northern Block offers a number of free font designs Launched by creative director Jonathan Hill back in 2006, type foundry The Northern Block offers a number of free fonts. From stencil and bold to modern and geometric designs, you're sure to find something suitable for your project here. 06. FontStruct Find user-generated fonts at FontStruct FontStruct is a place where the community can design fonts and share them with others for free. This means there are a lot of fonts to search through, and more are added every day. The site's easy to navigate and the best fonts are picked for the FontStruct gallery. 07. 1001 Free Fonts Misnomer alert! We're certain that 1001 Free Fonts doesn't feature exactly 1001 free fonts; we reckon it's actually a lot more than that – probably something more in the region of 10,001. All of them are handily organised across 64 categories, along with the option to browse by designer. 08. Abstract fonts This place to download fonts has a clean interface Abstract Fonts has one of the cleaner interfaces in this arena, and it's very easy to navigate. There's a custom font preview option and it's updated regularly, with about 14,000 fonts for you to choose from. 09. Jeff Schreiber It's quality, not quantity with Jeff's font creations Jeff Schreiber is a designer, illustrator and typographer from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Although he doesn't have too many fonts available on his site, it's all about quality and not quantity here. His 'Razor' creation is brilliant for print and poster work, while his 'Fat Frank' font offers a more playful approach. 10. Neogrey Be sure to check out Ivan's Multicoloure Vector font Neogrey is the portfolio of Ivan Filipov. Working as a graphic and web designer, he's created some stunning fonts that he's very generously made available for free download. We particularly love his latest font, a multicoloured vector font. 11. Smashing Magazine There's some great fonts to choose from on this round-up from Smashing Mag Smashing Magazine provides a wide range of tutorials, inspiration and helpful advice for creatives on a daily basis. The site also has a great series of articles collating quality free fonts for you to choose from. These guys know what they're talking about, so it's a reliable place to download free fonts. 12. Artill Artill is minimalism at its best Created by Lukas Bischoff, a designer based in Germany, Artill is a nice little website that's aimed purely at people wishing to download free fonts. Minimalism at its best, and some great typography to be sampled. 13. Typedepot Type design studio Typedepot offers both free and paid-for fonts Typedepot is a nifty little type-design studio website that offers a number of free fonts for visitors to download. There are also great commercial fonts to buy. The project began as a sideline for studio founders Alexander Nedelev and Veronika Slavova, before they realised their true passion for typography and took it on full-time. Next: More free font resources 14. Free Fonts Project Many great type designers have contributed to the Freeware Fonts Project A massive collection of free fonts is being shared by type designers as part of this project curated by Jovanny Lemonad. They’re totally free and everyone can take part in the project. If you like what you download, you could consider making a donation. 15. Glukfonts Polish designer Gluksza offers some great free design resources Glukfonts is the site of Polish designer Gluksza, which offers some nicely designed typography. You can download free fonts and other design resources too, including PHP scripts. 16. Fontfabric Check out the freebie section of independent type foundry Fontfabric An independent type foundry launched by Bulgarian designer Svetoslav Simov, Fontfabric includes a lot of paid fonts but its freebie section is also a great place to download free fonts. 17. Lost Type Lost Type offers you the chance to pay whatever you like Founded by Riley Cran and Tyler Galpin, Lost Type is a type foundry that offers you the chance to pay whatever you like for a font (and yes, it's possible to type in '$0' for a free download). 18. DaFont DaFont has a massive archive of free fonts to search – including novelty fonts like this DaFont is a massive archive of freely downloadable fonts. Browse by alphabetical listing, style, author or popularity. A lot of it is on the unprofessional side but you can find some choice stuff here. It's also a good resource if you're looking to download free fonts with a novelty theme, like the Pac-Man font featured above. 19. Font Squirrel Font Squirrel's free fonts are mostly @font-face compatible Want to download free fonts for commercial use? Then Font Squirrel is the place to head. The quality of the fonts is high, they're mostly @font-face compatible, plus it's got a very nicely designed website into the bargain. 20. Ten by Twenty Ed Merritt's site Ten by Twenty offers some excellent free fonts Ten by Twenty is the impressive creation of Ed Merritt, a designer at UK web design agency Headscape. You can download free fonts from his site, as well as templates, themes and icons, for your web design projects – all of high quality. 21. Google Fonts Google Web Fonts makes it easy to use web fonts on your site Google Web Fonts makes it quick and easy for everyone to use web fonts on its site. All of the fonts are open source, so you're free to share and customise them for your own use, or collaborate with the original designer to improve them. And you can use them in every way you want, privately or commercially: in print, on your computer, or in your websites. 22. The League of Movable Type The League of Movable Type is the first free and open-source type foundry GitHub project The League of Movable Type is a typographical revolution in the making and anyone looking to download free fonts should make a beeline for it. The very first free and open-source type foundry, it's a hand-selected group of typographers who've created an amazing set of high-quality free fonts for all to download, such as the popular League Gothic. 23. Impallari There's a lot of detail of how the free fonts at Impallari were made "I think that typefaces are living beings," says Pablo Impallari, "they continue to evolve over time. Even if the original designer died over 500 years ago, contemporary designers push their ideas forward, keeping up keeping up with the always-shifting way we perceive the alphabet." You can find some incredible fonts at his site, Impallari. There's a lot of detail in updates too, which gives a helpful insight in how they're put together. Related articles: 50 best free fonts for designers 5 top typography tips for your homepage 10 best sci-fi fonts View the full article

When it comes to picking a typeface, you can't rely on gut alone There are thousands of paid-for and free fonts available for creatives to choose from. However, when it comes to picking a typeface, you can't rely on gut alone. Making the right choice depends on function, context and a whole host of other factors. But how do you ensure you're going about it the right way? With these pointers, you won't go far wrong... 01. Think function Always think about function as well as form. There's no point finding a typeface that ticks the creative boxes, testing it and wowing your client with it, only to discover that it won't actually work for the project because it lacks key technical features. Consider these from the start. 02. Follow foundries Type should be in your consciousness, not something you only think about when you need to use it. Try following some foundries like Dalton Maag, Monotype, Hoefler & Co, Font Bureau and Commercial Type, on social networking sites, read typography blogs or simply keep your eyes peeled for good and bad examples of type you see out in the world. The more you notice, the more you'll know. 03. Test rigorously Always test your type in ways that are relevant to the project. You don't know if a typeface will work until you've seen it at the right size and tested whether the spacing works. You need a realistic idea of how it's going to look – which you often won't get from fake Latin. 04. Think effectively Like any design decision, typeface selection needs to be the result of effective thinking. The fact that you like a typeface doesn't necessarily mean it's going to convey the right brand messages to your target audience. You may convince your client, but the design won't do its job. 05. Pair up properly If you're trying to pair two typefaces, start by defining what you want to achieve: are you aiming for harmony or contrast? Are you looking for complementary typefaces with corresponding curves, for example? Be careful not to let things get too uniform. Done wrong, this can be as inadvisable as double denim. To get it right, read our article on how to find the perfect font pairing. The tips are taken from an article that originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 237. Words: Anne Wollenberg Like this? Read these! Download fonts from these top resources See some stunning examples of kinetic typography These retro fonts will add a touch of nostalgia View the full article

Chromatic aberration (distortion), also known as 'colour fringing' is a common optical problem. It occurs when a camera lens fails to bring all colour wavelengths to the same focal plane, or when the wavelengths of colour focus in different positions on the plane. It is caused by a lens dispersion, with different colours of light travelling at different speed while passing through a lens – in effect, producing a blurred image with coloured fringes (a rainbow edge in areas of contrast). 3 huge colour trends for 2018 There are two types of chromatic aberration: axial (longitudinal) and transverse (lateral). Without going into too much detail, axial aberration occurs consistently throughout the image, whereas transverse does not occur in the centre and increases towards the edge of the image. There are a few ways to minimise or remove these with photo editing apps or Photoshop CC. You may also notice this effect in some movies. Yes, it is there on purpose. It looks much better in motion than on a still, as it actually helps sharpen the picture as opposed to blur an image in photography. So, if photographers do everything to avoid chromatic aberration in their work because it is deemed 'incorrect', why would you want to add it to your 3D art? Because, if used correctly, it can make your image 'pop' and look more realistic. Here's how you can manually achieve this effect in Photoshop. 01. Image preparation Merge your composition to a single layer before you start Chromatic aberration is best added at the end, so first, complete your usual image composition. Put a copy of your layers in a folder for safekeeping (optional) or just start a new project. Make sure your composition is merged down to a single layer, then duplicate it twice. Set the duplicates to Lighten. 02. Choose your channels Turn down the colours you don't need for each channel Decide which colours you want to create the effect with. Green and blue work here. Select the first duplicate, go to Levels and change the Red and Blue output levels to 0, leaving the Green levels untouched. Select the second duplicate and set Red and Green levels to 0, leaving Blue as it is. Rename layers accordingly. 03. Distortion Don't overdo the effect, because it'll definitely look awful Select the Green layer, activate the Move tool and press the left arrow on the keyboard (twice should be enough). Select the Blue layer and shift it to the right. Do not shift them by too many clicks because it will make the distortion too great, and your image will be painful to look at. 04. Emboss Finish off with a tiny bit of subtle embossing If you want to boost your image details even more, you can try adding an overlay of Filter/Stylize/Emboss on top. Experiment and play with the options for the angle, height and amount of Emboss, to see what works best with the lighting of your scene. This article was originally published in issue 231 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 231 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: The essential guide to colour correction 5 photography trends influencing designers in 2018 Create distorted typography in Photoshop View the full article

Buy Illustrator CC 2018 or sign up to Adobe Creative Cloud now Illustrator has long been the standard when it comes to vector illustration and design. Since its first release way back in 1987, it’s been the go-to for anyone wanting to create infinitely scalable graphics. During its journey to its current CC 2018 incarnation – over 30 years after the original release – the application has evolved into much more than an ‘illustration’ tool. Whether you’re working with type, on branding projects, or designing icons for apps and the web, Illustrator has pretty much everything you need. But there are a raft of rivals out there, so is the Illustrator the right tool for you? Here, I take a look at what’s new in Illustrator CC 2018 and how these features can speed up your creative workflow – and review whether Adobe's vector graphics software is still best in class... New intelligent Properties Panel The new intelligent Properties panel, in my opinion, is the biggest update to Illustrator CC 2018 – and also the most game-changing. It streamlines your workflow by giving you access to the settings and controls – tools, effects and options – you need for the task you’re working on. For example, clicking on a path will show the Transform and Appearance panels, letting you scale, skew, flip and rotate your vector, and giving you quick access to stroke, colour and Illustrator effects. Meanwhile, the Quick Actions panel also puts various functions – such as recolor, expanding shapes and arrange – at your fingertips. What initially seemed like a minor change has become something I would miss dearly if it were to go in a future update. It’s improved my workflow vastly – even if it was a bit of a learning curve initially. Rival software already had similar functions in place, so it was about time Illustrator made this tweak to its UI. Type improvements Another notable update is that OpenType variable fonts have been added to Illustrator CC 2018. This means you can now easily customise and tweak the weight, width and even slant of a font, and stylise your type without having to outline your strokes and edit manually or use a different font entirely. With the inclusion of SVG colour fonts, you can also now add multiple colours and gradients to a single glyph. Again, this gives you more freedom to customise without having to outline your type and lose the editability of text. Emoji (woo) – which are becoming increasingly trendy as they become ingrained in pop culture – have also been added as a font, so you can go wild and include them in your work. And one additional useful type feature that’s crept into Illustrator is stylistic sets. These enable you to apply predefined glyph alternates to blocks of text without having to manually edit each glyph. Macbook Pro Touch Bar support One thing Illustrator was previously lacking was the ability to use the MacBook Pro’s touch bar. Love it or hate it, it’s a useful tool for people wanting quick access to specific tools and controls, and adjusts to your current task intuitively. People who include the touch bar in their Illustrator workflow will be rewarded with alternative options for many functions – ranging from the colour picker, which lets you drag your finger to change colour (this is super fun) to quick access to the Align tools. Whether it’s quicker is debatable, but it’s definitely an interesting gesture-based addition to your workflow, potentially providing a welcome break from constantly clicking your trackpad or mouse and keyboard. Puppet Warp Puppet Warp is a brand new tool debuting in the latest update of Illustrator CC 2018. It enables you to transform your vector graphics without having to adjust individual paths or anchor paths. Whilst the feature is limited in some ways, this could prove an invaluable tool for illustrators and animators who create characters. It lets you change poses quickly, easily and in a more natural way that will speed up your workflow greatly. What’s ace about this tool is that the pins you place to tweak your vector can be removed in an instant, making it pain free and non-destructive. More artboards and easier organisation Illustrator CC now lets you create up to 1,000 artboards (I wonder if anyone will ever hit this before their computer explodes). The new ability to select multiple artboards, and quickly and neatly organise them is a major score for heavy users of multiple artboards, making light work of what used to be quite a chore. If you’re anything like me, projects usually end up with multiple artboards all over the document – so this is a lifesaver when you need to hand over files to other designers or clients. Text Management in Creative Cloud Libraries This feature will be much welcomed if you use the Libraries feature – and you really should if you don’t. It enables you to store text in your Creative Cloud library to be used in any manner you see fit. This is especially useful if, for example, you’re working on a tonne of brand collateral across several of the Creative Cloud tools, and you need to include a bunch of headlines and body content that will be formatted in different sizes and layouts. It makes total sense to be able to store your text as well as your graphics, allowing for a more complete solution for CC power users. Should you get Illustrator CC 2018? We're used to seeing small, incremental improvements to Illustrator CC. The latest version, Illustrator CC 2018, makes a rare worthwhile update by streamlining some key functions in a reformed Properties panel. It also provides a range of additional handy tweaks and features that will speed up your workflow. When the updates were first announced back in October, if you didn't already have Illustrator in your Creative Cloud subscription, it would have been questionable as to whether it was worth purchasing as an additional upgrade. Many Mac users reported a multitude of bugs and errors after updating to the latest OS High Sierra, and Adobe gave no date for a fix – which was troubling, given the $50/£50 subscription price per month. Apple has now fixed this with an update, which is in BETA. That being said, Illustrator is still by far the most-used vector graphics software across the creative industry. It’s a powerful tool and the latest new features serve to further streamline your workflow. If you only use vector software solely – in isolation of other creative software – or sparingly, I would suggest investing in Affinity Designer. The one-time purchase trumps Illustrator in value for money, in this case, and delivers just as good a result. However, if you regularly collaborate with other designers as part of a team, or you already work within the Creative Cloud ecosystem, it's worth adding Illustrator CC 2018 to your arsenal for maximum value for money. The best Adobe deals Buy Illustrator CC 2018 or sign up to Adobe Creative Cloud now View the full article

What I love about drawing is how you can capture the imagination. It’s the thing that keeps me fascinated. My speciality is hand-drawn illustration, and in particular, the creation of line work with dip pen and black Indian ink. In this workshop I’ll show how I create my own interpretation of Mephisto, the demonic antagonist in the German legend of Faust. I start with an underdrawing, on to which the line work is inked. Through this process I emphasise anything that conveys the fantasy noir atmosphere of the tale, in particular the hard lighting. Unlike digital drawing, inking with a traditional dip pen only allows the draughtsman to push forward. It’s a live take with every mark of the pen. Every nib gives a different stroke, each responding differently to pressure and speed. With practise the range of lines that can be made with a single nib is enough to create compelling line work. Materials Paper: Daler Rowney 160gsm fine grain cartridge paper (A3 size) Mark Making: Derwent Graphic pencils, F to 2H lead Cork tip penholder Steel G nib Winsor & Newton Series 7 brush, no. 2 Winsor & Newton Black Indian Ink Miscellanous: Soft putty eraser Raised edge ruler Inkwell Small dish of water to clean nib Lint-free cloth to wipe and dry nib Lightweight rolling paper to soak up blots Scalpel to scratch up unwanted ink marks 01. Pencilling the structure Marking lightly with an overhand grip, I map where the major elements fall on the page: gestural lines, blocks, cylinders, spheres, wedges, and in this case a few anatomical landmarks. Any compositional changes are made at this stage before moving forward. If any pencil lines need to be lifted, then I use a soft eraser to ensure that the paper isn’t distressed. 02. Lay in the figure The blocks offer visual cues to lay in the drawing. Although good body language, anatomy and musculature are central in this piece, it’s more important to capture the main idea than perfect every single detail. To keep the paper intact I continue to work lightly with the pencil, especially when using a hard lead. 03. Light and shadow I refine parts of the drawing, and with the light source in mind the shadow shapes can be mapped. This is an underdrawing, so the pencil values don’t matter. What does matter is deciding where to ink in full black, and how halftones and plane changes might be inked. 04. Ease in the ink Inking with a dip pen requires precision and sensitivity. To warm up I begin on areas of the picture that aren’t critical. That means no facial details until I get into my stride. There are no golden rules with inking, but it’s always visible when an inker has found their rhythm. 05. Between the lines Rather than following the pencil work, I interpret the underdrawing, as tracing often makes a picture lose vitality. For this reason I explore ways to improve on the original pencils, so the line work moves the image along. 06. Balance is key As the drawing finds its shape my attention shifts to balancing the image. When solid blacks and halftone hatching are evenly measured throughout, it brings cohesion to the picture as a whole. The same goes for different line weights and textures. These are all techniques that I use to pull the image together. 07. Filling areas with black I spot any black areas by brush, planning the route to avoid tide marks. Many inkers prefer to leave all the black fills to the end. My own preference is to add them as I work through the drawing, so I can respond to the illustration as it emerges. 08. Adjustments on the fly With the inks in place it becomes easier to assess what might benefit the artwork. The inking usually becomes more improvised beyond this stage, so it’s good to keep in mind what the aim is, and to keep the artwork legible. 09. It’s a grey area Good hatching that flexes around the forms can help lead the eye through a picture. As a rule of thumb, if I want to cross-hatch I avoid intersecting at 90 degrees because this can look like a wire mesh. Overlaying lines of different weights is also preferable for the same reason. 10. Taking one final pass Before signing off the artwork, I like to take a look with fresh eyes. With so many details it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture, even when it’s right under your nose. Now I see that leaving the lower left of the picture clear doesn’t create the effect I’d hoped for. The solution doesn’t take long to appear. 11. Embrace the unexpected As I mentioned before, visual balance is key, so when I realise that an area needs working up I let the ink dry and plan the next move. Using light pencil marks as in step one, I develop the area that needs attention. When I’m confident with the layout I go back in with ink, ensuring the line work remains consistent. This article was originally published in issue 156 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 156 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: How to draw: 95 tutorials for drawing animals, people, landscapes and more How to draw a dragon: 16 pro tips How to curate a creative portfolio View the full article