Rss Bot

When you need to decide between photography and illustration in your design work, sometimes the choice isn't clear cut. Both have their pros and cons creatively; vary in the costs, time and resources required; and can also communicate your message in very different ways, whether abstract and conceptual, or realistic and literal. To help you make the right decision, read on for our five reasons to choose photography over illustration for your next design project... 01. You're looking for realism An illustration of a juicy steak will never make your mouth water in the same way Consider the ultimate goal of your design, and how you need to depict the central subject. If it's realism and accuracy you're after, then photography is usually the best course of action. In editorial work, investigative photojournalism and news reporting is an obvious example where authenticity is essential. But it's also important for brand imagery relating to food, for instance, where the goal is show mouth-watering produce to whet customers' appetites; or for a sports brand that's presenting a gritty, urban image. If you're trying to stimulate people's wildest imaginations, visualise something abstract and intangible, or show them a stylised, interpretative version of reality, you probably want illustration. That said, an edgy and experimental photoshoot could also work wonders for these purposes – it all depends on your personal style. 02. You're showing something specific When it comes to celebrity endorsements, a close-cropped photograph can be highly arresting Photography is best if you need to depict someone or something faithfully as part of your design – such as an interview subject, a product or a location. Whether you shoot this yourself or rely on stock imagery, depends on access as well as budget. Exclusive photography of a well-known celebrity as part of an all-access editorial interview will add a significant amount of value, but if said celebrity is featured in a news piece, a decent stock photo would be a much more appropriate use of money. If that same celebrity is endorsing a product or service as part of an ad campaign, a bespoke shoot becomes invaluable to the client as it emphasises that association much more effectively than a supplied headshot on the back of the pack. For the product itself, whether it's shown in an online shop, brochure or catalogue, people are likely to want an accurate representation of what they're buying rather than a stylised illustration of it. However, these could be used to supplement the product shot – to demonstrate how it works, for instance. Location imagery depends largely on the context. A travel brochure will sell a particular destination more effectively with a photograph, but budgets may dictate that a stock image takes precedence over a bespoke shoot. Or to capture a more general look and feel of a country or culture, illustration may work better. 03. You're looking for wow factor National Geographic is famous for its breathtaking use of photography If the context is appropriate, a killer 'hero' photograph can have huge visual impact, whether it's splashed across a billboard, filling a website landing page or full-bleed across a double-page spread in print. Photography can draw you into a scene and evoke a powerful emotional response as it's much closer to a real sensory experience than an illustration. As a designer, this may mean the content has to play second fiddle to a hero image to avoid fighting for attention. A subtler background image may be a better choice if the copy needs to take centre stage. Whether you're art directing an amazing shoot yourself, or searching for that killer shot in a stock image library, make sure there's a meaningful connection to the content in question. This could be literal, or more abstract, if a campaign is designed to evoke a particular emotion for instance – like happiness, or ambition. When working with stunning hero photography, be flexible and let the images dictate the design direction where appropriate rather than squandering their potential by forcing them into unsuitably rigid templates. 04. You need a visual metaphor Visual metaphors don't have to be cheesy: this stunning photo from Getty Images is a case in point Whether it's for a website, a brochure or an ad campaign, sometimes a visual metaphor is the best way to get your point across – and this is where quality stock photography can really come into its own. One classic example is using a photograph of a road to symbolise a journey. A straight and clear route has the opposite visual impact, and significance, to one that's steep, winding or full of obstacles. Another is a shot of the horizon to symbolise the future: compare the effect of a breathtaking vista at sunrise, to that of a troubled, stormy sky. An annual report design might feature sprinters on a running track to symbolise a company striving to finish first, or a summiting mountain-climber to express progress and achievement. Be careful here, as visual metaphors – while powerful in the right hands – can quickly descend into cliche if you're not careful. The quality of the image, as well as the accompanying design and copywriting, can make the difference between inspiring and insipid. Make an effort to think creatively rather than falling back on tired tropes. 05. You can afford to do it properly A studio photoshoot may be worth the investment Commissioning photography can be an expensive business, and there may be costs involved that a freelance illustrator working alone at their Mac is very unlikely to incur. As well as the photographer's time, depending on the nature of your shoot these could include studio hire, set design, travel costs, location fees, models, and potentially additional people such as assistants, stylists, make-up and so on. But if it's the right tool for the job, and you art direct it carefully to suit your needs, a bespoke photoshoot can be a great use of your budget. Just make sure you do it for the right reasons, such as those listed above – stock imagery could do the job just as well in some cases, or there may be more effective ways to spend your client's cash. Read more: How to use images more effectively in editorial design Art and design movements you should know 7 biggest illustration trends of 2018 View the full article

You're reading So, you’re a designer. Are You Ready For The Fourth Industrial Revolution?, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! It appears that the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” has arrived. A recent study by Edelman Intelligence states freelancers are already feeling the impact. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the technologies that affect jobs market. But the growth of AI and other innovative technologies is already having a major impact. You could sit by and watch […] View the full article

When creating architectural visualisation you need to represent a lot of details, and one of the most time-consuming is vegetation like grass, trees and bushes. 25 tips for Unreal Engine 4 In this simple tutorial I will show how to quickly create grass in Unreal Engine using a low-poly mesh. Let's get to it. Download the accompanying video and images. 01. Import base low-poly FBX and texture You only need two planes for your base mesh Our first step will be importing our low-poly base mesh. I used just two planes here. It's so important that you map them first and then export, as this will make things so much easier later, and as usual remember to set units to mm so we can export the correct size. Once imported we will have our FBX and a material sphere; when importing materials in this way, we just have to add the texture (PNG) and it will then be applied to our FBX base mesh. 02. Set material and texture Remember to check the Two Sided option Once we have our texture imported we will have to apply it to the material and do some tweaking. First of all let's erase the empty texture element and set the material as Masked so we can use the texture PNG's alpha channel, then add the texture and connect in Base Color. Change the preview from sphere to a plane, as this way we will be able to see the grass. The issue here is that we can only see one side and if we try to rotate it disappears; to avoid this we have to check the Two Sided option, which will enable us to rotate it. 03. Scatter our grass Paint over the area where you want your grass scattered Now with our FBX base model ready we have to select Foliage in the Modes panel. Drag and drop our FBX base mesh, as this way we will have our mesh ready to scatter. Go to its settings and in Density let's set it to 120,000 and leave all the other settings as they are. We will see a sphere that is like our brush. Now we can scatter it, so click and paint over the area where we want the grass to be placed. We have now placed some grass, but there is a problem: it does not cover the entire area we need. How can we cover the full area? First, erase the grass we just placed. Now, in Foliage there are four tabs: on the left, the Paint tool is the one we will use. Uncheck BSP and then click in the area where we need, and it will be all covered with our grass. Now we have our foliage working, we can change several options like scaling, scale x, radius and others. We will leave it all as it is for now. 04. Wind and final settings SimpleGrassWind enables you to bring a little movement to your grass We now have some working grass, but let's give it some wind. Head inside the grass material, type Grass in the grid and select SimpleGrassWind. Connect it to World Position Offset, then press 1 and click on the grid. This will create a Material Expression Constant, so now let's connect it to WindIntensity, WindHeight and finally to AdditionalWPO and set its value to .055. This will help us add movement to our grass, and you can test it with different values according to your needs. Always keep in mind that we can use one Material Expression Constant for each variable. Once we have the result we like we can keep testing new variables. This article was originally published in 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 230 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: Learn to grow foliage with X-Particles Create a game environment in Unreal Engine 4 Is this the best 3D foliage plug-in? View the full article

You're reading 14 Bad Ad Policies That Will Get You Blacklisted in Chrome, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Google’s web browser, Chrome, now blocks ads by default. Why would Google block ads? Well, taking into account that more people are becoming increasingly aware of ad-blocking options, it was only a matter of time until Google had to do something about it. 69% of people surveyed said that they were motivated to install ad […] View the full article

We've looked at the best web tools elsewhere on the site, but prototyping tools deserve a dedicated page. Prototyping tools can help us solve design problems before writing even a single line of code. Prototypes bring our ideas to life, and in doing so can change the way we design. Today's clients want to see interactive prototypes; these show the concepts in action and help them see how their ideas will take shape. The possibility of quickly sharing different iterations of ideas with clients can accelerate the design process. This flexibility becomes even more significant when we consider the many device formats we must now factor in. With so many prototyping tools now available, perhaps many designers are left wondering how to choose the best one, and simply fall back on familiar methods. Ultimately, the goal is to pick up a tool that will support swift iterations, so you want to be sure to select one that does this with ease and lets you focus on what you do best: design. To help with this selection, I've compiled the best of the best: here are the top 10 prototyping tools you should be using! 01. Adobe XD CC 2018 Price: $9.99/mo | £9.98/mo Try a free trial: US | UK Adobe’s powerful user experience design software Adobe XD makes it insanely easy to quickly prototype and wireframe new mobile and web applications. Created to meet the needs of today’s UX/UI designers, the software takes you from concept to prototype faster than ever before. Timesaving features like Repeat Grid and flexible artboards mean you can create everything from low-fidelity wireframes to fully interactive prototypes for any screen in minutes. You can switch from static layouts to interactive prototypes in one click. You can also make changes to your design and see your prototype update automatically – with no syncing required. Preview your prototypes, complete with transitions on iOS and Android devices, then share them with your team for fast feedback. It’s natively designed for both Mac and Windows – and it’s part of Creative Cloud. That means you get smooth integration with apps like Photoshop and Illustrator, which makes it a valuable additional to any CC workflow. 02. Origami Studio Origami was originally developed by Facebook to help the team build and design products Price: Free Origami was originally developed by Facebook to help the team build and design products. Now it's available for free: you can register as an Apple developer, then download and install Xcode with Quartz Composer to get Origami to run on a Mac. This tool does require more work to install than other prototyping options. However, once it is installed, you can begin creating design concepts that simulate scrolling, taps, swipes and page links. Origami's documentation, tutorials and how-to videos make it easy to get started. Sketch and Photoshop designs can be imported into Origami, and your project layers will be preserved, ready to be linked, animated and transformed as needed. Origami is not mobile design-centric either: you can design responsive websites and simulate features like text input, FaceTime camera and OS X drag and drop. You can export your prototype components (including animations) with just one click, so engineers can copy-and-paste into the project. Origami includes a presentation tool that enables you to add a custom background to your design, view in fullscreen, and simulate different devices. As a free prototyping solution, Origami has a lot to offer. However, one drawback is that it doesn't yet let your clients or design team comment directly on the project or versioning history. 03. Webflow Designing prototypes is fast and seamless with Webflow Price: Free starter plan (Personal $16pm/Pro $35pm) Designing prototypes is fast and seamless with Webflow, but where this tool really shines is when your prototype is all finished. You can turn your finished prototype into a production-ready site with the click of a button. Recently, Webflow has introduced a game-changing new feature: a CMS for your prototypes. Webflow's CMS is completely visual, allowing you to create powerful, dynamic sites without writing a single line of code. Another particularly useful feature is its ability to create a blog using your blog page prototype concept. If you're a freelance designer and have had difficulties finding a developer to turn your designs to production sites, Webflow may be for you. You can even set up user accounts or designate an admin to manage content, and your clients will be able to visually make changes. Alternatively, it's easy to export the prototype into code. Webflow's clean, semantic code can save your engineers hours of code clean-up. Webflow comes with site templates and web components that can be dragged and dropped into your prototype. These speed up the prototyping process, as they mean you don't need to recreate commonly used design assets. If at any time you're stuck and need help, you can check out Webflow's detailed documentation or watch its helpful how-to video courses. And of course, if you're using Webflow for the first time, this support will help minimise the learning curve. Webflow is responsive by nature, so your website layouts will be optimised for all devices: desktop, mobile and tablet. If that wasn't enough, you can design animations that will work on mobile devices and all modern browsers. And it still doesn't end there: Webflow has extensibility built in, which makes it easy to connect your live prototypes to Slack, MailChimp, Google Drive, and more than 400 other services. 04. Proto.io Ready-made templates enable you to get started quickly Price: Free trial (Freelancer $24pm/Agency $80pm) With Proto.io, ready-made templates for websites and apps enable you to get a quick start on a project. The entire app runs on the web, so you can run Proto.io on any platform. In my tests, the app ran a little slowly, and manipulating images was difficult at times. Also, every feature seemed to create a new window (one each for projects, building and live preview). If you like to keep the number of tabs you have open to a minimum, this can be annoying. However, these are small concerns, and do not take away from the benefit you get from having access to your projects on any browser. You can always pick up where you left off, wherever you are. Proto.io has recently released plugins that enable you to incorporate Sketch and Photoshop designs through a simple drag-and-drop. When you import a file, Proto.io keeps your assets in place, so you don't have to waste time realigning them. If your design has already been imported into Proto.io, you can continue to make changes to your assets in Sketch or Photoshop, and they will automatically update on your Proto.io prototypes; there's no need to export and import again. The ready-made templates already have a variety of interactions built-in, it's just a matter of adding your app-specific content. When your prototype is ready, you can share the project with a URL and get direct feedback on the prototype page. 05. Framer Framer is one of the most popular prototyping tools Price: Free trial ($15/mo) Framer is one of the most popular prototyping tools. It's based on the premise that with code it is possible to prototype anything, resulting in novel and groundbreaking designs. While this may be true, the tool's proprietary coding language for designing and animating prototypes could be a barrier. There are those who may not see the reward at the end of the steep learning curve, especially for a language that can't be used outside Framer. However, for those who do want to take on the challenge, the documentation of Framer's coding language is very well structured, with plenty of examples to demonstrate how the language works. There are how-to videos, as well as courses on Udemy and O'Reilly. This approach is particularly useful for designers that are new to coding. It offers a first-hand view of how flexible and powerful code can be. In addition, Framer's Mac App is well designed, and provides live previews as you write code, which is encouraging for those who are writing code for the first time. That's not to say it's no good for designers with coding experience who prefer writing HTML/CSS to prototype their designs. Framer may be just the tool you've been looking for: you won't be limited by the drag and drop tools of other apps. Furthermore, because Framer uses code to build prototypes, you can incorporate real-time data into your prototype, from sources like Twitter and Parse. Like other tools, Framer supports Sketch and Photoshop projects, and will also preserve your design's layers. Another benefit is that – unlike most other tools – you can also import After Effects files. When you're ready to share your prototype, Framer can generate a URL that can be shared with your clients. These shareable URLs can be opened on mobile devices for live previews. Framer also lets you prototype VR. 06. Vectr You can design your prototypes on Vectr's web or desktop apps Price: Free You can design your prototypes on Vectr's web or desktop apps for Mac and Windows, which is impressive considering the app is free. The prototypes stay synced whether you're working on the desktop or web browser, freeing you to work whenever you're ready and ensuring you always have access to the latest changes. Vectr prototypes can be shared with a URL and integrated into apps like Slack for powerful collaboration. As an added bonus, those you share your mockups with can annotate and edit them. At the moment, Vectr isn't as feature-rich as many other options, but this shouldn't deter you from getting familiar with it. A roadmap for the app has been published, detailing an impressive list of slated features. These include: fully-offline desktop apps, more platforms, built-in version control, a built-in design assets marketplace, full collaborative editing, image effects, plugins, clickable mockups, built-in feedback and annotation tools, and offline desktop apps. Read on for 5 more great prototyping tools... 07. Atomic Atomic is a web application that requires Google Chrome Price: Free trial (Individual $19pm/Team $99pm) With its beautiful UI and intuitive, easy-to-use animation timeline, Atomic makes a great first impression. Atomic is a web application that requires Google Chrome, which may be a drawback to designers using Safari, Firefox or Windows browsers. Also, there are no desktop apps available. If you have used After Effects to prototype animations, you will feel right at home with Atomic's animation timeline. This gives you the flexibility and control you need to fine-tune your interaction: just click the play button to see your changes and animations in action. When you're happy with your design, you can share it with a URL preview on any device. It's also possible to gather design feedback from your clients and team via inline comments. My favourite feature of this particular tool is the history option, which allows you to rewind to see previous iterations and create new versions from any point. For those designing for iOS, Atomic has launched an iOS kit with a library of iOS design elements, to enable rapid prototyping. Finally, you can add custom CSS directly into Atomic. It's also possible to export CSS, so you can simply copy and paste it into your project. 08. InVision InVision is arguably the most popular prototyping tool in the world Price: Free InVision is arguably the most popular prototyping tool in the world. The team are constantly adding new features to help designers prototype more efficiently. InVision's best feature is perhaps its management of project feedback. Clients and design teams can conveniently provide comments directly on the prototype. These are collated in one convenient location, so you never lose track of feedback. Communicating the status of the project to your client and team is critical; with InVision's project management page, you can organise design components into a status workflow. You can set columns for To-do, In progress, Needs review, and Approved, and drag and drop your design components into the appropriate column. For example, if you're about to work on the homepage, you can drag the design component into the 'In progress' column. Now, when your client or team views the status board, they immediately know what is being worked on. If you have ever used Trello in an agile development environment, this will be very familiar to you. InVision is always announcing new features, and it has recently released one it calls Boards, which is a home where your projects can live. It can also be used as a presentation tool, an asset manager for projects, and a place to create moodboards or galleries. You can even share these moodboards or galleries with clients and design teams, so they can provide direct feedback. InVision's feature list seems never-ending: you can import design files from Sketch or Photoshop, animate design assets, link pages to simulate real-life websites, and preview prototypes on mobile devices. There is also version control with unlimited history, unlimited free user testing, and integrations with apps like Slack, Dropbox, Box and many more. InVision is still a game-changer in this space, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. 09. Adobe Comp With Adobe Comp, you can create print, web and mobile layouts that seamlessly integrate with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign Price: Free The recent release of the iPad Pro tells us that many creatives are using tablet devices to develop projects. Adobe Comp provides the tools you need to transform natural drawing gestures into production-ready graphics. With Adobe Comp, you can create print, web and mobile layouts that seamlessly integrate with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Also, if you use linked assets, making a change in one program will cause the asset to update everywhere else it's featured. Comp works with Adobe Stock and Typekit, thereby providing you with images, graphics, and hundreds of fonts that can easily be incorporated as you work on your design prototype. This is my favourite feature, because it means virtually any graphic or font is available at your fingertips. Adobe Comp offers a new way to develop and design prototypes, but due to its user-friendly design, there is virtually no learning barrier. Regardless, Adobe still provides several tutorials to help you get started, if you need them. If you want to share your design prototypes with your team or clients, you can use Adobe's Behance network to get feedback: a smart move by Adobe to leverage its already massive reach. 10. Principle Principle comes with an iOS app to mirror live prototypes Price: Free trial ($129) Principle is built by a former Apple engineer for OS X, and comes with an iOS app to mirror live prototypes. Principle has a record feature that can export prototypes to a video or an animated GIF, which can be shared on Dribbble, Twitter or anywhere else you'd like! Principle is only available for Mac, and if you've used Sketch, Principle's interface will look very familiar. Principle uses artboards to animate elements between states, so as you work on your prototype, you can live-preview your designs on the top right-hand side window. Alternatively, you can mirror your designs on an iOS device. While Principle does not include a collaboration tool, this drawback will likely be overshadowed by its offline capabilities. The flexibility of working offline is further highlighted by increased speeds, since you're not relying on a potentially unreliable or slow connection. Conclusion We've looked at the top 10 prototyping tools, and as you can see, the choices are abundant, so it will be hard to pick just one. I recommend you try out any that pique your interest, and see what works best for you, your clients, and your team. The ultimate goal is to let your concept materialise and your design take centre stage, so test different tools and check for updates that might give you just what you're looking for. With so many great options already available, you'll soon find the right prototyping tool to bring your ideas to life. This article was published in issue 276 of net magazine; subscribe today. Related articles: Rapid prototyping using Photoshop CC How to avoid prototyping pitfalls Prototype a mobile app with Adobe XD View the full article

As an artist at a game studio I’ve forgotten most traditional mediums, but ink always calls back to me. After a day of staring into monitors, I want nothing more than to sit down with my sketchbook. In this tutorial, I'll walk through how to ink a character with confidence – in this case, a moody warrior. I believe any artist looking to learn how to draw people or mythical creatures and environments grounded in reality should put in the hours to study from life. Figure-drawing workshops, using friends and family as models or the park down the street are all perfect to study from. I usually carry around a Moleskine sketchbook for drawing on the go. The constant sponging of information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, adds to your ever-growing visual library. I work pretty organically in pen and ink. There will be no grids, no measurements – I like to let the drawings breathe a bit. For a medium as permanent as ink, I find it helps to not get too married to the pencil drawing. Instead, I set important landmarks, lock down a strong gesture, and dial in on things I’m not as confident in, such as fingers and legs. Once I’m hopeful that the final piece could be cool, I switch out the pencil for the pen. 01. Start with thumbnails Try to nail down the stance or feeling you want your character to have When sketching thumbnails, I’m never too concerned with anatomy or costumes. I aim for a gesture, a stance, a feeling. I keep these vague as things will inevitably shift a bit as I go along. I like to use a thick brush pen to see how shadows might fall into place in the final design. When I've started to pin down what I want, I create a more specific thumbnail. This gives a better idea of what the final piece should be, but still keeps it small. Here, I can start to think about what the face and armour could look like, all without being forced to lock anything down. 02. Explore costume ideas Use a separate sheet to explore ideas for details I make notes to myself separately so things don’t get too muddled. I jot down details I want to include to make the figure feel like an individual – here, the claw necklace, tassels on his cape, and scars. These mostly solidify my final thoughts so I don’t spend too much time erasing on my final paper. 03. Produce a pencil sketch Spend extra time on the sections where you want the focus to be From the thumbnail I start sketching out the final image with a 2H pencil so that the image remains light for best inking conditions. For this piece I’m using Strathmore 9x12 Bristol pad. At this stage, I’m just making sure all the major elements are in the correct position before I start narrowing in on details. I want to focus on the face, hands and sword, so I’ll spend a little more time clearing those up for myself. I like to keep the rest of the sketch as loose as possible to preserve a little spontaneous energy as I start to ink. 04. Make adjustments Take time to get the right facial expression I step back and give the final image a look over to check my proportions. I take into account the figure's muscle structure underneath the armour to make sure everything is believable. I have to make small adjustments to give him the bulk I want. Since the face is the most important focal point, I spend most of my time getting it right before I start lining. He’s a warrior prince; he should look a little worn and weary, yet still regal. If I have to, I’ll pull up a portrait reference to make sure it looks just right. 05. Mark out the shadows Use cross hatching for any black areas The last step before I move into ink is to plan out where I want to add shadows using Xs where any areas of solid black will sit. I take into consideration where I want to lead the viewer's eye – it's a good idea to create a lot of contrast around any focal points, such as the face, hands and sword. 06. Get started with ink Use the minimum number of strokes Take a shot of whiskey, because there’s no second guessing yourself here: it's time to start inking. For this piece, I'm starting with a variety of Pilot Hi-Tec-C ink pens. If something can be done with one stroke, never use two – too often I see an artist who’s new to ink use 10 strokes with what can be accomplished with one. Practise the route in the air above your art, and then execute perfectly. 07. Develop different textures Nicks and dents here indicate metal I have a few different materials I want to convey here, such as fur, metal and cloth. All of these can be distilled down with specific details. Fur can be shown through large clumps and individual strands, metal with nicks and dents, and cloth with weave patterns. 08. Work on the shadows Try a brush pen for large areas of shadow With a brush pen (I'm using one by Pentel), I start filling in large spots and hitting small dabs of ink in areas that I identify won’t receive light in a manner similar to ambient occlusion on a 3D model. These shadows start to give weight and dimension to the character, and help pop him out. Cast shadows can remain harsh, but form shadows need to be softened, so I go back to the Hi-Tec-C and start hatching. I use my whole gamut of pens ranging from 0.25 to 0.4, and grey to achieve my desired level of smoothness between the brush pen and the thinner ink lines. 09. Clean up the image with white highlights A white paint pen is great for picking out detail With a Molotow white paint pen, I can pick out details such as stray hairs from spots previously covered in black. I use this technique sparingly to keep the surface of the piece as clean as possible, while also providing a nice, finished look. I can also use the pen to fix minor accidents. 10. Bring in a grey tone Use a grey wash on reflective areas The theory behind the use of my grey wash is to reinforce my focal points and materials, namely anything reflective such as polished metal. The absence of the wash in this case leaves behind the blank white page, picking out a highlight and effectively communicating what the armour is made of. 11. Finish the painting in Photoshop Mask out the character using the Magic Wand tool After scanning, I make a few minor tweaks in Photoshop and mask out the character from the negative space using the Magic Wand tool. I contract the selection by a few pixels and fill it with white, then on a separate layer fill the background with a bold red to finish it off. Click the icon in the top right to enlarge This article was originally published in ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 155 here or subscribe to ImagineFX. Read more: How to create a believable character 15 observational drawing tips How to hold a pencil correctly View the full article

Researchers are warning users about the Coldroot remote access Trojan that is going undetected by AV engines and targets MacOS computers. View the full article

There's no shortage of paid-for and free fonts available for designers to choose from these days. But what if you want a typeface that's really special and stands out? Whatever the project, these professional fonts are certain to give your designs an air of sophistication. 01. FF Din FF Din is a popular choice among designers Price: From $65/£51.99 per font Format: OTF Added to MOMA's digital typefaces for its Architecture and Design collection back in 2011, FF Din is a popular choice among designers. Created by Dutch type designer Albert-Jan Pool between 1995 and 2009, this sans serif is ideally suited to advertising and packaging, logos and branding. 02. Oswald We're big fans of professional font Oswald here at Creative Bloq Price: Free Format: Google web font Oswald has become a popular choice of font for designers, especially for those working in the world of of the web. A reworking of the classic style historically represented by the 'Alternate Gothic' sans serif typefaces, this professional font has been re-drawn and reformed to better fit the pixel grid of standard digital screens. 03. Brandon Grotesque Brandon Grotesque won the Type Directors Club Award in 2011 Price: $40/£27.99 per font Format: OTF Designed by Hannes von Dohren in 2009, Brandon Grotesque was influenced by the popular geometric-style, sans serif typefaces of the 1920s and 30s. Equipped for complex, professional photography, Brandon Grotesque won the Type Directors Club Award in 2011. 04. Aviano Aviano typeface is inspired by the power and timeless beauty of classic letterforms Price: $24.99/£15.99 per font Format: OTF Named after a small town at the base of the Alps in Northern Italy, Aviano typeface is inspired by the power and timeless beauty of classic letterforms. A gorgeous design, Aviano was created by type designer Jeremy Dooley, owner of one-man foundry Insigne. 05. Proxima Nova Proxima Nova is used by over 25,000 websites, including Buzzfeed, Wired and Mashable Price: $29/£19.99 per font Format: OTF/TTF Used by over 25,000 websites, including Buzzfeed, Wired and Mashable, Mark Simonson's professional font Proxima Nova is an extremely popular choice amongst designers. The extensive family is available in seven weights (thin, light, regular, semi-bold, bold, extra-bold and black), with matching italics, small caps and condensed and extra-condensed widths. 06. Rockwell An updated Rockwell was published in 1934 by Monotype Price: $35/£22.99 per font Format: OTF/TTF Geometric slab serif Rockwell was inspired by a 1910 font titled Litho Antique. Designer Morris Fuller Benton revived Rockwell in the 1920s before it was redesigned and published in 1934 by Monotype, in a project headed by Frank Hinman Pierpont. 07. Trojan Trojan's design is based on classic Roman structures Price: $25.80/£20 for 1 font Format: OTF Trojan is one of many stand-out designs by creative genius Alex Trochut. Created back in 2012, professional font Trojan was used extensively throughout Wallpaper after its initial release. Based on classic Roman structures, Trojan has a very sophisticated set of glyphs, which, in turn, gives this font a classic contemporary appearance. 08. Le Havre Le Havre lends itself to all manner of creative projects Price: $24.99/£15.99 per font Format: OTF Art deco-inspired typeface Le Havre was named after the port where many a famous luxury cruise liner was launched in the 1930s. Compressed capitals, a low x-height and geometric construction give this beautiful typeface a retro look and feel, with the new contemporary update in 2009 lending itself to all manner of creative projects. 09. Mallory Mallory is the work of s type designer and teacher Tobias Frere-Jones Price: $50 per font Format: OTF The product of type designer and teacher Tobias Frere-Jones, Mallory is a beautiful professional font, which began as an experiment in mixing typographic traditions, building a new design with British and American traits. Frere-Jones has a number of best-selling type designs under his belt, but Mallory was the first font he created after splitting with long-time creative partner Jonathan Hoefler. He comments on his website: "Mallory was built to be a reliable tool, readily pairing with other typefaces to organise complex data and fine-tune visual identities. Each style contains over 1250 glyphs, to anticipate a wide range of content: small caps and old-style figures for running text, lining figures and uppercase punctuation for headlines, tabular figures and over a dozen currency symbols for financial data." 10. FF Meta FF Meta was designed by Erik Spiekermann Price: $59/£45 per font Format: OTF Created by outspoken type designer Erik Spiekermann, FF Meta was first called PT55, a typeface made for easy reading at small sizes for West German Post Office in 1985. Spiekermann continued work on his design to include more weights and styles, later releasing it as FF Meta, one of the first and truly foundational members of the early FontFont library. With a clean, cheery and distinctive aesthetic, professional font FF Meta flourished in the early 1990s and has been a firm favourite ever since. In 2011, the Museum of Modern Art in New York added FF Meta to its permanent collection, one of only 23 fonts selected to represent typography of the digital era. 11. Soho Soho is a beefy slab-serif by Seb Lester Price: $65 per font Format: OTF Beefy slab serif Soho is the product of renowned type designer Seb Lester. The super-family has over 40,000 glyphs and represents three years' worth of work. "As a type designer I'm preoccupied with finding ways in which I can address modern problems like good legibility in modern media, and create fonts that work precisely and efficiently in the most technically demanding of corporate and publishing environments," he comments on the Monotype website. 12. Davison Spencerian Davison Spencerian is a remains a benchmark of the ornamental script genre Price: $75 Format: OTF/web font American letter designer Meyer 'Dave' Davison was arguably one of the most distinguished lettering artists of the 20th century. With a library of Spencerian designs, Davison Spencerian typeface made its first appearance in Photo-Lettering’s 1946 catalogue and remains a benchmark of the ornamental script genre. Tireless hours have been spent by Mitja Miklavčič and House Industries designers Ben Barber and Ken Kiel to preserve the poise and precision of Davison’s masterwork in this faithfully-rendered digital incarnation. The House Industries website states: 'From automotive exhaust accessories and pirate-themed wedding invites to New Orleans sissy bounce hip-hop CD covers and upmarket bivalve ambrosia packaging, Davison Spencerian offers sober sophistication and unparalleled flexibility'. Related articles: 20 perfect font pairings What is DPI? The ultimate guide to image resolution 30 books every graphic designer should read View the full article

UX designers: here's your chance to shine. Adobe is challenging the UX community to create an app prototype, using one of three exclusive icon kits along with the latest version of XD, for a chance to win a trip to Adobe MAX in LA. The aim of the app is to give your users a peek into the creative secrets of your hometown (or adopted hometown, if you'd prefer!), showing them round and revealing design hotspots and hidden gems. The idea is to help visitors feel like a local, in the same way as Anton & Irene's Urban Walks app – the inspiration behind the contest. Every good UX designer knows how vital icons are to digital storytelling. To set you on your way, Adobe is offering three exclusive icon kits, designed by Anton & Irene, Büro Destruct and Lance Wyman, completely free (download them here). Use these icons with the latest version of Adobe XD – the all-in-one UX/UI solution for designing websites, mobile apps and more – to bring your prototype idea to life. If you're not up to date, fear not: you can download a free trial here. The creators of the amazing icon sets will judge your efforts, along with Adobe’s Michael Chaize. The talented designer behind the best app prototype will win an all-expenses paid trip for two to Adobe Max in Los Angeles in October 2018, as well as a one-year Creative Cloud subscription and 100 stock images to use in their UX projects. 10 runners up will receive a one-year CC membership, and 50 stock images. Your design must use at least five icons from any one of the three kits, and you can enter by publishing your work on Behance and tagging it #iconContestXD – it's as simple as that. For more details, plus tips and XD tutorials to get your creative juices flowing, take a look at the contest Spark page. You have until 11.59pm CET on 15 March 2018 to enter, and the winners will be announced on 27 March. Get cracking! View the full article

Want to kickstart your career in the video games industry? Then you can't miss our debut event Vertex, featuring the likes of RARE, Creative Assembly and more! Create with Creative Assembly You'll learn from Creative Assembly's character artist Danny Sweeney about all the secrets behind Total War: Warhammer I & II. You'll find out how the team approached and overcame problems as well as developed High Elf and Dark Elf units. For the RTS fans, this is one not to miss! Review your work with RARE And if you're looking to get a job as a game artist but are not sure how to get there, RARE's 3D lead Jorge Sanchez, animator Ellen Parkes and 2D concept artist Victoria Hall are perfect for showing you how to boost your portfolio presentations in our Portfolio Review sessions! Remember that the Review sessions will need to be booked beforehand on the day as you arrive. Discover low-poly worlds Meanwhile Anna Hollinrake, Dream Reality Interactive senior concept and environment artist and BAFTA Breakthrough Artist, will be explaining the process of building a highly efficient art style that uses traditional artistic principles to get the most visual appeal out of your tech on the main stage. Venture into VR Or maybe you're already an artist working in the industry but are looking to get into VR? Then Glen Southern's workshop is unmissable. Working within a virtual reality environment, Glen will show the process of concepting a character, using tools such as Oculus Medium. Step up your game textures with Substance And finally, the software on the lips of every game artist are the Substance suite of tools by Allegorithmic, and CEO and founder Dr Sebastien Deguy will be discussing how the tools are empowering today's artists. The Substance suite has been used to create incredible textures on games like Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, Prey, Halo Wars 2, Call of Duty Black Ops II and much, much more! Don't miss out, get your tickets now! There are still some amazing Vertex speakers we’ve yet to announce so keep an eye on our website, where you can also find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more. Read more: Level up game characters with Creative Assembly Upgrade your textures in Substance Designer How to create a video game character in ZBrush View the full article

Keeping projects on track can be a pain, especially when you're trying to balance more than one at a time. Without proper management, important tasks can fall through before you ever get to them. Keep your plan on schedule and get things done more on time with Aeon Timeline 2, on sale for just $19.99 (approx. £14). It's nearly impossible for a single person to keep track of every part of a big project without a little help. Aeon Timeline 2 is the answer to your problems. This timeline building app for Mac and Windows will handle the organisation for you, making it easy for anyone to manage a workload efficiently and get everything done on time. With this app, all the information you need is right at your fingertips, exactly when you need it. Aeon Timeline 2 usually retails for $50, but you can save 60% right now. That means you pay just $19.99 (approx. £14) for this tool that will help you get more done, so grab this deal 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: Top tips for nailing project management Best project management software The tools of the trade for project management View the full article

To download the accompanying files for 3D World issue 232, simply click the link below each article and a zip file will automatically download the content to your Mac or PC. If you've missed this issue or other editions of 3D World, order a copy. If you have any problems downloading this content, please email: rob.redman@futurenet.com Tutorial: build a Wolfenstein model Matthias Develtere gives us a step-by-step guide to easy and efficient high-poly modelling, revealing his techniques for creating this detaild armoured robot. Download the files here (34.9MB) Tutorial: Master Maya hair Kevin Ives describes how he developed this hairy creature for Momnster.com, and Todd Akita takes us through his fur simulation workflow. Download the files here (210MB) Tutorial: Create a burning leaf animation A guide to using visual effects as an effective tool in commercials. In this tutorial you will learn to combine tools from Lightwave, Photoshop, Turbulence and Fusion to create your comp. Download the files here (35MB) Tutorial: Create VR experiences with V-Ray and 3DS Max Oscar Juarez demonstrates how to create a VR experience projects using 3dsMax and V-Ray. Download the files here (998MB) View the full article

Professional animators need to be able to please both the director, with the quality of their work, and the producer, with their speed. As head of animation at Escape Studios my job is to make sure all my students are ready to succeed in today's animation industry. What follows are nine simple steps that all animators can take to make sure their workflow is good, fast and reliable. 01. Create a camera and lock it off It's good practice to create a camera view right away, and then lock it off so you don't mess it up by mistake. For most animators the standard layout is a three-way split: perspective view on the left, camera view on the right, Graph Editor below. With the exception of games projects, animators should always animate to the camera view; you also won't waste time animating stuff that won't be seen by the audience. 02. Work on facial expressions early on The Open Season characters are well loved thanks to their masterful character designs Make a positive statement when you begin making your poses by making the facial expressions clear from the start. Is the character happy? Sad? Angry? Make these choices early on and make it clear. Your next step is to offset the symmetry of the poses and make each key pose as expressive as you can. Facial expressions are key selling points for directors, and are vital to telling your story and to making the shot clear. 03. Decide your key controls If a character has multiple body controls (most do), then decide which control curves you will be using and stick to them. If you don't, you risk forgetting which control curves you have keyframed, and the result is spaghetti. For example, if you use multiple rotations on the spine controls, you may forget which ones you have used, and it can be difficult to make adjustments to your animation later on. 04. Keep eyelines consistent Poor eye direction can take the viewer out of the animation Poor eye direction (for example, characters not looking at one another) will ruin the believability of your shot and undermine your work. Allow extra time before you submit your shot for review, as you will likely have to fine- tune the eye direction at the very end. 05. Don't overcomplicate things A common mistake made by junior animators is to have too many expressions or poses in a shot. When you begin, pick an overall attitude for the shot and use this as your starting point. Just one main expression for your shot will often do the job. 06. Present your work in high resolution Alex has a long history in animation, starting with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Remember to do your work justice and always present it in high resolution. Low-resolution shots (even if well animated) look grainy and unimpressive. High-resolution renders will give your shots a more polished and professional look, and you will likely get your work approved faster. 07. Put yourself in your audience's shoes When reviewing your work, before sending it anywhere important, you should always ask yourself, would this shot make any sense to a total stranger? Put yourself in the place of your audience: will they understand what's going on? If your shot needs an explanation in order to make it clear, then it needs more work. 08. Create thumbnail sketches first Thumbnail sketches are a simple and quick way to get thinking, start planning your shot and help solve problems early on. Sketching can really help you to be inspired and get creative. Even if you don't draw well, crude thumbnail sketches can help you plan your poses and timing. The extra time spent on planning your work will be worth it in the long run. You wouldn't build a house without architect's plans, would you? This article was originally published in 3D World magazine. Read more: Turn photos into 3D animations with Photoshop Learn to animate for kids Inside Aardman Animations View the full article

Clients from hell rarely have a tail, horns and the faint scent of brimstone, but there are ways you can spot a difficult customer before you sign your contract. Whether you're a graduate designer or an experienced creative director, knowing what to watch out for can save you plenty of headaches and heated discussions further down the line. Here are four sure-fire signs that danger is ahead. 01. They don't know what they want A client is employing you because they lack the skillset or resources to complete a project themselves. However, they should still have a goal in mind and a relatively clear idea of what they’re after and what they expect you to deliver. If not, expect the project to balloon and for frustrations on both sides of the table to rise as your blind attempts, predictably, miss the mark. 02. They don't appreciate you A terrible client may expect certain behaviour, time concessions or discounts for no other reason than they think they deserve it. They don't understand (or care) that you have other tasks to complete, and believe you live to work for them. Giving them what they want only reinforces their belief. 03. They're disrespectful The best relationships are when you work with a client, not for them. This is how designers gain the best understanding of who their client is and how the design will work best for them. Clients who don’t see you as an equal won't treat you with the respect you deserve, and will act like working with them is a privilege for you. 04. They devalue good work Nobody is thrilled to spend money if they don’t have to, but if a client devalues your work and efforts in an attempt to lower your rate, watch out. The freelancer-client relationship should be mutually beneficial. Clients should feel they get value out of their freelancers, and freelancers should feel valued by their clients. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 257. Read more: How to deal with cheapskate clients The secrets of great client relationships Infographic: Terrible clients; every agency's worst nightmare View the full article

Last week saw a massive change to how internet users find and save images as Google removed the View Image button from Google Images. The decision prompted a huge online backlash, but a new browser extension for Chrome or Opera has already been released to get everything back to normal. Before last Friday, if you did an Image Search you could quickly open an asset on its own with a single click of the View Image button. However, a settlement between Google and Getty has resulted in new search options that only include buttons for visit, share, and save. As part of its statement following the change, Google pointed out that the move to drop the View Image button was carried out with publishers in mind. By forcing people to visit a site to access the image, publishers stand to benefit from the change as they generate more ad revenue. The update wasn't universally popular though, with plenty of people commenting on our story to express their outrage. Help is at hand though, as the appropriately named View Image Chrome extension re-implements the lost button. Watch it in action below. It's a quick and easy extension that returns Image Search to what you're used to. For some internet users the removal of the View Image button is only a mild inconvenience, but this extension makes sure that the muscle memory they've developed through years of grabbing images online doesn't go to waste. If you can't get this extension to work, there are plenty of other workarounds. Lots of people have been keen to remind Image Search users that the tried and tested right click and Open Image in New Tab option still works, and if all else fails there are (whisper it now) other search engines who can provide a similar service to what Google previously offered. Related articles: Google launches Instagram-like Stories Google logo sparks 'correct design' debate What's wrong with Google's burger emoji? View the full article

This project will be split up into different parts. We will give a short introduction to Heroku, show how to use Physijs with three.js, explain how to handle socket events over Node.js and also how we go about handling the sent data. 20 amazing examples of WebGL in action 01. Heroku Heroku is an easy to use and free to trial node.js web server This project will be hosted on Heroku, which is a cloud platform to host your apps. It has a wide variety of supported languages such as Ruby, Java, PHP and Python. We are going to use Node.js. Sign up for an account and choose Node.js. For this project we can use the basic server, which is free of charge. After registration you will come to your dashboard where you can create your app. This will create a subdomain at herokuapp.com. As a deployment method, you can choose to either use the Heroku Command Line Interface (CLI) to deploy using its git repository, or have a connection set up to GitHub or Dropbox. I've chosen to go with its CLI; this will require an install. But in return you get a variety of new helpful tools, one of these is live debugging through your terminal. For setting up your server I recommend following the steps as described here. To deploy you use default git commands. Each one you use will trigger the build server and your app will be deployed to the Heroku server and then be viewable at your subdomain. Once the code is deployed you can view your project at [yourproject].herokuapp.com. To view the logs use the 'heroku logs — tail' command in your terminal. Some of the things being shown is what is being served to the client – it shows the socket connections, and if you want to debug your code, you could also use the console.log in order to output to the terminal. 02. Build the physics scene Tap your screen or hit the spacebar to bounce the table up We will be using the most popular WebGL framework, three.js, to build a 3D scene containing an object on which we'll attach physics. The physics library of choice is Physijs, a plug-in for three.js. As an extension to three.js, Physijs uses the same coding convention, making it easier to use if you are already familiar with three.js. The first thing is the pool table. We are using the Physijs HeightfieldMesh, because this mesh will read the height from the PlaneGeometry. So it will basically wrap itself around the three.js object. So HeightfieldMesh requires a geometry but also a Physijs Material. We're adding two new features to the three.js material. Those are the friction and restitution variables. Friction is the resistance the object makes, and restitution refers to the 'bounciness'. These two variables will define how real the physics will feel like in your scene. For the created pool balls we don't want to make them too bouncy, so keep the number low. Like three.js, Physijs also has a series of basic shapes to go around the original mesh. SphereMesh wrapping the SphereGeometry will give the ball physics. When initialising the scene, we call buildBall(8), which will trigger the following function… Add the texture: Create the physijs-enabled material with some decent friction and bounce properties: Texture mapping: We are adding texture from a .jpg file. Create the material and use that for the SphereMesh to create the object, which we will place vertically to the top so it drops in to the screen. 03. Sockets connection The key goal of our game is emulating the physical movements to the screen For communication between the server and the client, we will be using socket.io. This is one of the most reliable libraries available for Node.js. It's built on top of the WebSockets API. Now physics is enabled for the meshes we need user input to make the game interactive. The input device we're using is the mobile device. The mobile browser is the controller that will provide data from the accelerometer and gyroscope to the desktop where you will see the game. First off, a connection between the mobile browser and the desktop browser has to be made. Each time a browser connects with our Node.js app, we need to make a new connection. A client side connection is set up by using the following: For sending messages you use the emit function: And for receiving you use the .on() function: 03.1. Setting up the desktop game If we are on a desktop we will send our sockets a device emit telling our server the desktop is the game using the following line of code: The server will return us a unique key/game code generated by crypto. This will be displayed to the desktop. Tell game client to initialise and show the game code to the user… 03.2. Connect controller to the game To connect the mobile device to the game, we will use a form to submit the game code from the desktop screen. On the form submit we will send the game code to the server for authentication. The server will check if the game code is valid and will set up the connection with the desktop game Once the connection is all set, we will then give the 8-ball a small push from the x and z with the following command… 04. Sending data Now that the connection is established we want to send the gyro and accelerometer variables to the game. By using the window.ondevicemotion and the window.ondeviceorientation events, we have the data we need to emulate the same tilt movements of our phone to the pool table. I've chosen to use an interval of 100ms to emit those values. On the client side we will resolve the latency by tweening the incoming values from the server to the tilt of the pool table. For tweening we use TweenMax. 05. Extra events More balls equals more fun. Try hitting the spacebar or tapping the screen of your mobile To give it a bit more interactivity, I've added a couple of extra events for the user to play with. We're going to give the user the option to add extra balls next to the 8-ball by using the numbers on the keyboard. Another one is to bounce the table upwards. For this you can hit the spacebar. But we're also adding a tap event on the controller device. This will send an event to the pool table, which will rise the table and send the balls up. First we need to catch the keyboard events… The buildBall function is the same function we used to create the sphere 8-ball. We are just using different textures that will wrap the sphere. For pushing the table up, we give the table an upward motion along the y axis with this code… Conclusion Add more balls and see how much your browser can handle When you have a concept for a game or anything else, it is entirely likely that there are libraries out there that could make your life easier. This is a demo that shows how this can work. We hope this will help spark some creative ideas or help you with your current project. See a live example of the game here, or find it on GitHub. This article was originally published in issue 300 of net, the world's top magazine for professional web designers and developers. Buy issue 300 or subscribe here. Related articles: Get started with WebGL using three.js 20 JavaScript tools to blow your mind Create interactive 3D visuals with three.js View the full article

Using elements of your pencil underdrawing is a great way to capture the viewer’s attention within a piece. Furthermore, your pencil lines can emphasise light sources in the scene. Even when I create a digital piece I usually tend to start out with traditional media such as pencils. I like the feeling of textured paper as I make my marks, and it also means I have an original piece of process art that I’m able to sell. Simulated texture in a digital art program is all well and good, but there’s nothing quite like the feel of pencil drawings on cold press board or watercolour paper. Sometimes it’s good to mix it up a little bit. I use contour lines that follow the curve of the main body of the welding device. My philosophy lately has become one of focus on draftsmanship. The more time I spend on working up a detailed drawing, the less I’ll have to paint over it later. Colouring becomes a breeze, because the values and texture are already there, but more importantly I’m able to switch the colour theme with minimal effort. Red/yellow colour scheme too aggressive? I can work up a blue/green environment in just a few minutes. The main takeaway, however, is to let the paper texture and pencil lines guide your eye to where you need it. 01. Gather references References are a perfect way to capture light My best work always happens when I have a good reference for clothing, materials and lighting. I set up a shot in my studio with a light source that’ll be radiating from the focal point. I wear funky goggles and work gloves, and kit-bash a welding gizmo for added authenticity. 02. Pencil in details Most of the shading is built up with pencils The detailed pencil drawing is where it’s at. I generate almost all of my shading and value work by aligning pencil strokes to the light source. I really take my time and concentrate on unifying the drawing. I’ll add some refinements in Clip Studio Paint after I scan the drawing. 03. Create a colourful layer A colourful layer doesn't need much detail I use Clip Studio Paint to add colour and other drawing refinements. There’s not much detail in this layer that’s in the drawing: just a lot of simple colour shapes and gradients. This stage is a lot of fun because you can experiment with colour schemes without too much effort. This article was originally published in issue 155 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 155 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: Create perspective by warping your textures in Photoshop How to draw your art in perspective using Adobe Illustrator Use perspective to create a dynamic image View the full article

Tech skills look good on your resume, but soft skills are just as important in climbing the career ladder. Communicating and knowing how to market yourself can go a long way. The eduCBA Soft Skills Training Bundle has the courses you need to pick up new abilities you need to succeed in the workplace, and you can get a lifetime subscription on sale for 96% off the retail price! When you log in to the eduCBA Soft Skills Training Bundle, you’ll find more than 100 courses, all packed with more than 200 hours of actionable and professionally taught lessons waiting for you. You’ll have unlimited access to it all, giving you the ability to learn the important soft skills you need to advance in the workplace whatever you’d like, whenever you'd like. Work your way through these courses you'll learn how to behave like a leader in the office. A lifetime subscription to The eduCBA Soft Skills Training Bundle usually retails for $797, but you’ll pay just $29 (approx. £21). That’s a saving of 96% off, a great deal for unlimited access to skills that could change your career, 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: 22 ways to boost your productivity 20 tools to make your team more productive Desk exercises infographic: 10 essential routines for designers View the full article

Vertex is the event for the whole community, and if an Access All Areas pass isn’t the right one for you, we offer a free ticket too. This will get you into large areas of the show, from the expo hall to Ask an Artist, so no matter what you are looking for there will be something for you. The expo hall If new tech and gear excites you then this is the place to be. The developers will be on hand to talk about the newest versions of their software and hardware. Many of them will be presenting case studies or tutorials live from their stands. Head to vertexconf.com to keep up to date on the schedule. Ask an Artist We all get stuck from time to time, needing a little help to get through things. The internet can help but there’s nothing like getting some one-on-one time with an industry expert, and that is just what we have for you. Artists from the likes of Framestore and Dneg will be on hand to help you work out how to overcome any issues you have. A fantastic and unique opportunity. Get your tickets! Although you can get access to Vertex for free it is still really important that you book your tickets at our site, so make sure you head over and register. We are now just a few short weeks away from opening the doors to Vertex and greeting you all for a day of inspiration, instruction and so much more. Don’t miss out on the chance to meet your heroes, further your career and rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in the industry. Head over to www.vertexconf.com to grab yours, and don’t forget there are tickets to suit all from the free Expo Access to the Access All Areas pass, and if you are a student you can get tickets at a discounted rate. Related articles: 7 reasons you can't miss Vertex What will Brexit mean for the VFX community 30 free 3D models View the full article

Flyers are essential advertising and self-promotion tools, showcasing your design chops for the world to see. Whether you want to subtly promote your vector art skills or typography capabilities, a slick flyer can be a great way to get yourself noticed. Get Adobe Creative Cloud now Sometimes, though, time is tight and you simply don't have hours to start from scratch. Or you might be new to creating flyers. Either way, we've gathered together a selection of top flyer templates that you can use as a stepping stone to creating a stunning, original flyer in half the time. Bookmark this page for next time you need a kick-start with your flyers. And if you need a little flyer design inspiration, we have that for you elsewhere on the site... 01. Twisted flyer template There ain't no party like a twisted party This flyer template's just the thing if you're planning on hosting a twisted party, but its creators insist that it's suitable for all kinds of party. It costs $6 and comes in PSD flavour with everything fully modifiable, and its fonts – Bebas Neue and Roboto – are both free, so you don't need to worry about substituting them with the nearest thing in your font library. 02. Postcard flyer This tasteful template comes in all the formats Best suited to fashion-related use, this tasteful and restrained template is built out of vector elements and fully editable, and your $9 gets you four files suitable for editing in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. There's even a PDF included so you can make some quick edits and be ready to go. 03. Business flyer We can all agree that creative thinking make success If your client's serious about its business, this flyer template should be just the ticket. Featuring a sober, no-nonsense design that's ready for multiple applications, it'll cost you $6 and comes as a PSD ready for editing in Photoshop. Typography-wise it uses Bebas Neue and Open Sans, both of which are free. 04. Summer party template There's still time to get your big summer bash together! Made by Rome Creation from Paris, this set of flyers is perfect for publicising your next hot fiesta. For $8 you'll get four templates in PSD format, fully editable and with a help file included. 05. Corporate flyer This template comes with a YouTube tutorial to show you how to customise it This $9 flyer template is aimed at corporate business use. It's A4 sized, and print ready – all you need to do is find the right photos to include. Plus, there's a YouTube video that shows you how to customise it. 06. Fall festival template Be sure to make it clear that you haven't booked The Fall, of course Made by creativeartx, this festival flyer has a lovely autumnal feel to it and will cost you just $7. It comes as a fully layered PSD that you can edit however you wish, it's CMYK print-ready, and the download features links to the free fonts used in the design so you can get it set up nice and quickly. 07. Business brochure template You'll need to supply your own imagery for this template Made with architectural firms in mind but suitable for any business with an eye for good design, this $16 brochure template by Kampertco Group in Malaysia features strong lines and thoughtful typography using free fonts; you'll need InDesign to get the best out of it, though. 08. Vintage flyer template Add a touch of vintage style to your designs with this free flyer template Graphic designer James George created this vintage-style flyer template in Photoshop. Bazar and Ostrich Sans feature in this free design, with the text completely editable to suit your needs. 09. Spectre movie flyer template This modern movie flyer template is sure to draw a crowd This clean, modern movie flyer template is sure to draw a crowd. It has been created with ease of customisation in mind, and comes with detailed and clearly labelled layers. This 8.5x11, 300 DPI, CMYK, print-ready flyer template would suit all manner of events. 10. Roots reggae night template Mash it up with this hard design Get back to your roots with this reggae-styled club night flyer. Made by AreacodezeroCreatives, this print-ready 300dpi CMYK flyer comes as a layered PSD and includes a help file so that you can get it out quickly and easily. 11. Colorface template This flyer would be just the thing for your next dubstep night Featuring a light theme and warm colours, this design by CrealabSK is suitable for an electronic music event or club party. It uses Nexa free font and Couture, which is donationware for commercial use, and the full package contains two flyer designs and a Facebook event cover. 12. Bold typography flyer template Grab attention with one of the more font-focused flyer templates on our list A flyer and poster template combination, this design lets your font skills speak for themselves. Bold, vibrant, colourful and fun, this is one of those handy flyer templates that can be used for just about any purpose. The layers are split into groups, so you'll have no problem editing this one. 13. Retro flyer template There are six retro styled flyer templates to choose from in this download One for the vintage lovers of design, these six retro-style and unique flyer templates are perfect for your next party or corporate event. The final package you download includes a fully layered, renamed, grouped PSD files and download links for free fonts in *.txt file. 14. Geometric flyer templates These flyer templates use the BebasNeue font, which is totally free Check out these modern and unique flyer templates for your next project. The final package you download includes nine flyer styles and nine business card styles. They're easy to modify and include bleeds, trims and guidelines. 15. Chill Out flyer template The wood texture is included in the download Originally designed to promote a music event, this wood-textured flyer template can also be used for a new album promotion or other advertising purposes. It's print ready, simple to customise with well organised layers. The photos aren't included, but the effects and textures will be applied to any photo you use (the wood texture is also included). A gorgeous design and certainly worthy of inclusion on our list of the best flyer templates. Next page: 15 more eye-catching flyer templates 16. Alternative flyer template The effects and textures will be applied to any photo that you use Here's another of our flyer templates that's perfect for any gig, album or concert promotion. Simple to customise, the effects and textures will be applied to any photo that you chose to include in the design. All the fonts used are free so you won't have any problems there, either! 17. Chill out flyer Promote special events with this cool indie vintage flyer template from Moodboy This cool indie vintage flyer template, created by Moodboy, was designed to promote music events but would work well for any special occasion. The A4-size template will set you back just $6 for a regular license and is fully customisable, with organised layers and paper textures included, and free fonts used. 18. Photography services flyer Showcase your photography and design skills with this free flyer template from FlyerHeroes This free photography flyer template, offered by FlyerHeroes, is perfect for advertising photography and design services. With 20 predefined photo spots, this template can be easily customised to create an eye-catching flyer design. And, best of all, it's free! But be sure to check the file license for full details before use. 19. 80s flyer template Create your own retro flyer designs with this template from Roberto Perrino Looking for a retro flyer template? Look no further than this design, originally created to promote an 80s revival party. From the colour palette to font choice, freelance graphic designer Roberto Perrino captures the style of the 80s perfectly. The design is a steal at $6 for a regular license and is fully customisable. 20. Typography gig flyer This cool typogaphy flyer template is perfect for music festivals and gigs Designed like a gig poster, we love this typography flyer template from Romanian artist Augustin of ZiaroGraphics. At just $6 for a regular licence for the design, this flyer template is perfect for music festivals and concerts. The template features more than eight fonts and a grunge look, suitable for alternative, rock, indie, britpop and punk bands. 21. Newspaper flyer Spread around the hottest news in town with this cool newspaper flyer template Planning a special event? Why not advertise it with this brilliant newspaper flyer template. Be the hottest news in town by fully customising the design with your own images and text. The download costs $6 for a regular licence and comes complete with two colour versions, well organised layers and more. 22. Vintage flyer Make your flyer design stand out from the crowd with this vintage-inspired design If you're after a retro design for your event, then this cool vintage flyer template may be just the ticket. Artist itscroma was inspired by psychedelic music when creating the piece. Featuring bright, vibrant colours, this template includes four PSD files – choose from blue, blue 2, green-blue and red-green colourways. 23. Event instruction template Create a custom infographic for your special occasion with this flyer template from AgenceMe This brilliant flyer template, designed by AgenceMe, lets the illustrations do all the talking. The retro style design is perfect for any special occasion and includes three different colour versions – red, blue and orange – and 14 icons for you to customise the design. 24. Gig flyer template Customise this brilliant flyer template by Moodboy to suit your design needs Are you organising a gig or festival? Or want to design a flyer to promote one? Then this cool vintage-style flyer template is a great place to start. Created by Moodboy, this free design is perfect for album promotions and advertising purposes too. 25. Corporate flyer template Choose from five different flyer designs with in this bundle by Tony Huynh If you're looking for a more corporate design, then this flyer template bundle by Tony Huynh is just the ticket. There are five different layout variations and all elements can be edited easily using Adobe InDesign or Illustrator. At just $8 for a regular license, they're a total bargain. 26. Sky flyer template This minimal flyer template comes in five different colours for you to choose from This minimal, clean flyer template would act as a great starting point to promote an upcoming summer event. It comes in five different colours as a layered PSD file, so is easily editable. This design can also double as a voucher or invitation. Download the flyer from Graphic River, where a regular license for it will set you back just $6. 27. Contemporary flyer template Add your own background and text to this contemporary flyer design If you like to work with big, bold type then this contemporary flyer template is the one for you. It costs just $6 and comes as a layered PSD file, so you can easily change the the background and text. The example here showcases a music event, but it can be adapted for many other purposes. 28. Photography flyer template This simple, elegant flyer design is perfect for showcasing gorgeous photography Photographers: why not put your work all over this simple, elegant photography flyer template? Created by designer Mike Bradshaw, the design is completely customisable, with the text, shape and images all easily modified. And it's a bargain at just $5. 29. Sketchbook flyer template Go for a more hand crafted design with this sketchbook-inspired flyer design Check out this sketchbook flyer template, created initially to promote a music event but perfect for all kinds of advertising purposes. It comes as a PSD file, layers are well organised and with quick photo replacement, the design is easy to customise. A steal at just $6. 30. Minimal flyer template Customsie this cool, minimal design courtesy of Michele Angoloro This simple yet stylish minimal flyer template comes from designer Michele Angoloro. For just $6, you can access this PSD or AI file, which is completely customisable. Change the colors, positions and typefaces to suit your own design brief. Related articles: The designer's guide to self-promotion 12 beautiful travel posters The designer's guide to printing a poster View the full article

You're reading Introducing Postcards, Email Template Builder, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Using Postcards, you can create beautiful emails/newsletters in minutes with drag and drop features and ready-made modules. Generated and exported emails are optimized for most popular email service providers and email clients (desktop and browsers). View the full article

A portfolio website is one of the most important tools in any design agency's self-promotional toolkit, and it needs to fulfil many different jobs effectively. These include showcasing your back-catalogue to best effect to impress clients, peers and potential recruits; explaining your background, ethos, and creative process; and where applicable, also getting across opinions and attitudes that make you stand out. It's not an easy balance to strike, and even world-class design studios need to rethink their approach sometimes. Read on to discover how six top agencies approached the redesign of their portfolio websites over the past year, and what you can learn from their successes... 01. Pentagram Pentagram leads with a large hero image, with a patchwork of projects to explore beneath Granddaddy of graphic design Pentagram has a dizzying archive of inspirational work that stretches back to the 1970s, split between its unique network of largely autonomous global partners. So any attempt to rework its website has a unique set of challenges not faced by smaller, younger studios. Its last major redesign in 2011 had a very archival, almost museum-like feel, with a grid of thumbnails that could be categorised according to project, client or how recently they were produced. It was a simple approach that acknowledged the many decades of design history that the world's largest independent design consultancy has under its belt. Pentagram's most recent portfolio shake-up has taken the polar opposite approach, visually speaking. You're greeted by an enormous screen-filling hero image that transitions between seven flagship case studies. Scroll down and you're met with a patchwork of thumbnails showcasing a selection of other recent work, with minimal text: just the project name at first, with a one-sentence qualifier visible on mouseover. Click those for a visual feast of high-resolution imagery for each project; and again for a more in-depth rationale behind the design solution. It's a mine of information for those who choose to explore it, fronted by a mouth-watering visual treat. 02. Johnson Banks Johnson Banks' innovative infinite-scrolling portfolio is a joy to navigate It would be remiss of us not to mention one of the most innovative design studio website redesigns of 2017: Johnson Banks' side-scrolling splendour, reviewed here on CB last April. Created in collaboration with BONG, Johnson Banks' smart infinite-scrolling interface splits the studio's extensive portfolio into a grid, with five rows of thumbnails of decreasing size, which scroll at different speeds. It's a mesmerising experience to navigate, and can be customised according to sector and discipline to help you zero right in on your work of choice. Other areas of the website following a similarly innovative navigation model, including Thoughts, News and even the About section – so often neglected compared to other, more visual areas of a design studio's portfolio. In short, it's a real pleasure to explore. 03. Rose Rose puts even more emphasis on the hero image in its clean, simple portfolio layout Despite a hugely impressive haul of design awards for an equally impressive list of clients, Rose often flies under the radar when it comes to overt self-promotion, compared to some of its more public-facing peers – preferring to let the work speak for itself. Like Pentagram, in its 2017 site redesign Rose opted for screen-filling inspiration for its homepage: huge, high-resolution hits of design porn that cycles automatically through the agency's back catalogue. Unlike Pentagram, however, the rest is kept much simpler, in line with Rose's understated attitude. In place of multiple layers of project information to explore, there's a clean menu interface: a few paragraphs about the agency; a matter-of-fact roll-call of clients; the necessary contact details. The implicit message is: if you love the beautiful work that's filling your screen right now, just drop us a line. 04. Studio Dumbar Studio Dumbar has a bold split-screen approach that shows the agency's love of typography Studio Dumbar also enjoyed a portfolio shake-up last year, and the Dutch agency's penchant for warped and distorted type is brought to the fore with an arresting split-screen treatment. On the left-hand side of the page two giant, chunky sans serif letters – an 'S' and a 'D', white out of black – are on a constant rotating loop, pushing and squeezing each other. Hover the mouse over and the letters change to numbers – a '4' and a '0', black out of shocking pink – to represent four decades in business since 1977. Meanwhile, the right-hand side cycles between a selection of project imagery, often cropped to become quite abstract, with no immediate context until you click through to discover full details about the brief and Studio Dumbar's solution. It's a bold, original approach that takes up a great deal of screen real estate with giant warped typography. And in doing so, reflects the agency's aesthetic and speaks volumes about its creative approach. 05. DesignStudio The cleanest, most minimalist above-the-fold approach on this list comes courtesy of DesignStudio – the agency that placed itself firmly on the global branding map in recent years with its high-profile rebrands of Airbnb, Deliveroo and the Premier League. Before you scroll down to explore a grid of dynamic project imagery, many of which is eye-catchingly animated, you get a bold statement surrounded by a sea of pure white: 'Hello, we are DesignStudio. We make a meaningful difference to the world's most loved brands.' Similar to Pentagram, once you click through from each hero asset on the homepage you can delve deeper into the thinking, and explore the various different touchpoints that each project involves. That confidence to put the spotlight on its mission statement definitely sets DesignStudio apart however, and no doubt those 11 words were agonised over for some time to get them spot on. 06. Superunion Our most recent inclusion is, we assume, an ongoing project for the mega-agency formed from WPP stablemates The Partners, Brand Union, Lambie-Nairn, Addison and VBAT, and officially launched in January 2018. With 750 staff worldwide, this is the biggest agency on the list by some distance, and from a portfolio perspective, needs to collate the diverse legacies of five well-respected, long-established agencies in one place. In its current form, Superunion's website is surprisingly clean and simple, putting the homepage emphasis on six hero case studies, as well as a handful of thought-leadership pieces. Most distinctive is the surreal brand imagery that currently lives above the fold, created by artist Nancy Fouts. The campaign features unexpected visual unions between objects, such as a balloon and a cactus; a bunch of flowers and a hand grenade; and a brain and a perfume diffuser. Where DesignStudio chose an 11-word mission statement, Superunion opts for visual metaphor to represent its birth in 2018: it will be fascinating to see how the agency's online presence develops over the coming months. Related articles: 5 rising stars of design from Paris 8 tools to help you work remotely as a freelancer 5 ways to create better brand imagery View the full article

Would you be interested in finding your next new job or freelance opportunity through Creative Bloq? We’re always looking for ways to make the site better, and one area where we think we could help is through a jobs board. After all, we have hundreds of thousands of visitors – designers, studio owners and clients alike – every day. What if we could connect you in a better way? We have a few different ideas in mind, which we’ll run through below, but the big question is: would you want this sort of service on Creative Bloq? When you've read through the options, please take 30 seconds to vote in our poll. Here’s what we’re thinking: 01. A jobs board This would be a traditional-style jobs board, where studios and agencies around the world could advertise their latest creative vacancies. 02. A 'find a freelancer' service This would be a more specialised service, connecting top studios and agencies with talented, reliable freelancers. We would love your feedback, so if either of these ideas are of interest – or if they really aren’t – please take a moment to let us know in the poll below. Vote in our poll now A huge thank you for your feedback. Related articles: How to turn 'free' work into paid work 8 ways to make more money in 2018 How to be an award-winning illustrator View the full article

Apple said it is working on a fix for the latest text bomb bug that crashes a number of iOS and Mac apps that display specific Telugu language characters. View the full article

The day after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, I spoke to the Computer Arts team about writing something on 'design's Weinstein moment'. I think both the editor and I half-expected the whole idea to slide, and for the ruckus to blow over, as these things tend to. We celebrate violent men and paedophiles because their work in some way inspires us. We idolise photographers and 'edgy' CEOs despite mounting accusations of rape, violence and abuse. Is it any wonder we all expected Weinstein and his alleged horrors to slip quietly off the front pages? The problem with period product branding Activist Tarana Burke's #MeToo campaign – revived by actress Alyssa Milano – was the tipping point sexual harassment needed. It's hard to discredit over 500,000 women as attention-seeking fantasists when all of them are saying the same thing. So far, there's hasn't been a big outing in the design industry. I doubt there will be. Design superstars don't really count for much in the real world. Our creeps are small fry when compared to glamorous Hollywood sexual abusers. That's not to say that abuse isn't rife in design. It is. We're just less high-profile, and a bit better at masking it. At the moment. Male and pale You only need to look at our senior leaders to know that something isn't right. Despite a decade of diversity initiatives, our creative directors and CEOs are resoundingly male and pale. The UK design industry is overwhelmingly white – 87 per cent so in fact. And just 12 per cent of London's CDs are female. It's perhaps ironic that Tarana, a woman of colour, is responsible for helping the sexual abuse scandal gain traction, seeing as a damning TUC report into workplace racism in the UK barely registered. Perhaps we're too worn down by austerity, Trump and Brexit to focus on more than one national horror at a time. This might explain why we chose to neglect the TUC's report. This might explain why we've compartmentalised diversity and made it a white woman's issue. Perhaps the plan is to 'fix' white women before moving onto people of colour, LGBT+ communities and people with disabilities. It's like the supermarket meat counter – take a number and wait. Gemma is a senior content strategist at London agency Dare Let's be clear. It took American Apparel years to fire Dov Charney, despite multiple harassment cases. Vogue only severed ties with Terry Richardson recently, despite a cacophony of complaints. The industry, in fact, the world, only stopped disbelieving women because they had no choice. It's nice to think that some handsy creative directors might be sweating it out right now, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. This type of abuse is part of a much bigger problem. I'm not here to mitigate or diminish the experiences of every woman who's been assaulted, but focusing solely on sexual harassment won't solve the problem of who has the power and why it's being abused. The Harvey Weinstein story has forced men (don't you dare #notallmen me) to confront some very sketchy behaviour. It's given women an opportunity to be heard, and to an extent, to be believed. We must now share that same courtesy with others who've had their opportunities limited by the discrimination that's rife in our industry. Fight the power We pretend the design industry is a meritocracy. That we'll get far with hard work and the right attitude, but that's not the case. There's a reason why we're so white, and it's the same reason so many of our leaders are male. Power is abused to be retained. Women are taught rape is a consequence of their actions. Under-represented people in the industry are taught the same lessons. They're put in charge of underfunded, unsupported diversity initiatives and tasked with solving an enormous problem from a position of limited authority. And when these initiatives fail, we blame them, not the leaders who continue to remake the industry in their own image. I work at Dare, the only truly diverse agency I've ever encountered. Diversity isn't a link in its footer, it's a guiding principle. The board's diverse and so are the staff. It really is that simple. How we, as an industry, move forward from Weinstein, sexual harassment and institutional discrimination will either make or break us. People like me have been speaking about these subjects for a long time. Nothing changes. We need to hear these words from the people with power, from those actually able to do something about it. This article was originally published in issue 274 of Computer Arts, the world's best-selling design magazine. Buy issue 274 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: 30 life skills every designer should master How to encourage diversity in the design industry 5 top tips for succeeding in an unpredictable world View the full article