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Even though the idea of earning a living through making and selling your own products might feel like a distant dream, it's not impossible. Whether it’s boosting your design portfolio by turning your illustrations into gift cards or learning how to make your own pin badges, the DIY approach to making and selling has long been a staple of savvy freelancers keen to diversify their practice, experiment with new ideas and make a little money on the side. 8 business tips for selling design goods And with the rise of platforms like Etsy and Not On The High Street, there’s never been a better time to turn your pixels into products. Creatives can now set up an online store with minimum overheads. Sarah Meredith sells her wares on Etsy as RockCakes With two million unique visitors per month, which doubles at Christmas, many sellers on Not On The High Street (NOTHS) say it’s worth the investment (£199 joining fee and 25% commission, plus VAT). The platform’s strict guidelines and tough application process mean that only the best of the best secure a spot on the site, assuring quality control and less competition as a result. By contrast, US-based website Etsy competes on scale, with 30 million registered shoppers. It’s open to anyone, which helps if you do not have a track record of selling or if your products don’t fit in with the style of other, more selective websites. Listing an item for four months, or until it sells, costs just $0.20 (roughly 13p), plus there’s a commission of 3.5% (plus VAT) on each purchase. Though competition is fierce and quality control is almost non-existent, with relatively low set-up costs and commission rates, it is still the number one choice among the creative community. Taking the leap An early adopter of Etsy, illustrator Sarah Meredith set up her online store under the pseudonym RockCakes in 2008. After leaving her well-paid role as production manager at a leading London jewellery company, she relocated to Brighton to pursue a career making and selling her own products. "I’d always had a burning desire to have my own business – to have creative freedom and work for myself," she says. "I wanted to make and sell the jewellery ideas that popped into my head. I love clothing as well as jewellery – patches bridge this gap and are also super-accessible." Etsy changed my life! Although it’s 24/7, so it’s hard to switch off Sarah Meredith, RockCakes Allowing her to be a full-time mum and worker, Meredith only has praise for the flexibility Etsy has given her. "Etsy changed my life!" she grins. "Although it’s 24/7, so it’s hard to switch off." Finest Imaginary founder Kim Lawler sells across multiple sites. "I try not to spread myself too thin with direct sales, so only sell directly via my own website, Etsy and Not On The High Street," she says. "I have quite a number of stores who stock my items – they place wholesale orders with me – including Hannah Zakari and Berylune, and I’m also super-lucky to be have been stocked at some major galleries." Investing in her own production materials and equipment to produce laser cutting in-house, Lawler always has materials in mind when she starts designing, usually with pencil and paper. "I’ll then move to the computer where I vectorise the design and split its layers ready for the laser cutter. I have my own laser cutter, so it’s not unheard of for me to have an idea in the morning, and a finished product by the afternoon." Kim Lawler has invested in her own laser cutter Lawler usually starts off with small runs, around five of each product. "Back when I used to get my laser cutting done by another company, I’d go in at around 20-30 pieces for new designs and cross my fingers they didn’t bomb," she recalls. With other products, such as pins and patches, Lawler says many manufacturers have MOQs (minimum order quantities), or tempting price breaks for higher quantities. "Buying in these larger amounts can be a bit risky, but if you’re prepared to hold on to the stock until it sells (or happy to have a clear out sale every now and again), then it can still work." Lawler has also started making laser-cut acrylic jewellery, which she chose to create for the ease of production. "Perspex is such a versatile material to work with," she says. "I sometimes buy different colours, finishes and special types of perspex without an idea in mind, just because I just love how it looks." Brighton-based designer and illustrator Abi Overland recognised the potential to create a sustainable income by applying her designs to ceramics, and launched her first fine bone china collection in 2015. "I loved the idea of creating works of art that were accessible to people in their everyday lives, and ceramics had always been an interest of mine," she says. It can be tough walking the line between being commercial with your designs but not so much so they go out of fashion quickly Abi Overland Taking a part-time job to secure a small loan for the business, she purchased her first load of stock, and to keep her carbon footprint low, opted to source a local manufacturer to bring her designs to life. "Each collection of fine bone china is produced, screenprinted and hand-decorated in Stoke-on-Trent – I wanted to produce high quality products and support the local economy," she explains. Manufacturing locally has not been without its downsides, however. "It means the cost of production is quite high. I’m an advocate of slow fashion, but it can be tough walking the line between being commercial with your designs but not so much so they go out of fashion quickly." Where to sell Selling her products on a variety of platforms, including NOTHS and CultureLabel, alongside Etsy and her own website, Overland also has stockists in The Netherlands and Geneva, and sells at events and markets. "I find online, you have to be selective with the places you sell in order to not be too available, but still create opportunities for people to discover your products in the environment you want them to be seen." Abi Overland spotted a gap in the market for unique ceramics This is a sentiment shared by Dutch graphic designers Felix van Dam and Winneke de Groot, who founded We are out of office in 2013 while both were working at different design studios. "We love screenprinting and started to print batches of postcards for fun. We just had this urge to make things our way and we figured if we made small products we could also design the packaging," says van Dam. Known for their bold, colourful graphics and geometric prints and quirky pin badges, the pair have become something of an Instagram sensation, amassing a following of 33,000 globally. "We produce quite a lot of products and almost everything in limited editions, so the stock moves fast," says van Dam. We quickly realised we wouldn’t be able to attract a fraction of the people Etsy had for us Felix van Dam, We are out of Office "Instagram makes it really easy to capture all this quickly, and is easier than listing items on a store. People can see directly what we do and how we illustrate. It also works well for us because we make small and not-too-expensive products. A lot is within the ‘I could give this as a present’ range. Our work is also visual, it doesn’t need a lot of explanation, which is perfect for an image-led platform like Instagram." Selling exclusively through Etsy while their own website remains perpetually under construction, van Dam admits that the pressure of having a website vanished when their Etsy store quickly took off, enabling them to go full-time on their business within a year. "Etsy draws such a big audience, an audience we could never reach by ourselves. We quickly realised we wouldn’t be able to attract a fraction of the people Etsy had for us. We’ve built a much larger audience than we could have possibly hoped to reach through a website." Making a connection Art markets have seen a resurgence in recent years, with the likes of East London Comic and Arts Festival (ELCAF) and London Illustration Fair providing a platform for independent makers to sell their wares to the masses. With such a healthy online business, selling at art markets is secondary to We are out of office’s enterprise. "Fairs can be so much fun but they can also be terrible," laughs van Dam. "In Holland, they are mostly outdoor and you can be at the mercy of bad weather. We’ve done ELCAF twice now and that is so much fun! The audience really understand what we’re doing and it’s refreshing to talk to people face to face. An experience like this is definitely better than selling online, but it can be exhausting." We are out of Office boosts its profile by selling at art fairs Lawler has a similar approach to markets. "Markets and pop-ups are great cash injectors, but let’s face it, if we did them every weekend we’d have no life and we’d be completely burnt out," she says. "Having a steady stream of income online is way more manageable." Etsy is her preferred online marketplace. "Etsy was the first place I ever sold anything, so it makes for a great testing ground for your products. Once you’re established and with a large product range, you’ll probably turn a decent profit through Etsy. Right now, Etsy and my own website count for the majority of the profit in my brand." Aardman senior designer Gavin Strange and his wife, local jewellery maker Jane Kenney, created their boutique online store shop STRANGE to champion craft and graft. Launching with a celebratory pop-up store in August 2016, their focus is on unique, hand-crafted artwork, furniture, homewares, prints and leatherwork, produced by them and 10 very select ‘Strange’ friends. "With Jane being a jewellery designer and me being a graphic designer, it naturally meant we had different interests and inspirations, so the work we make and stock reflects this," says Strange. "Quality was important – even though the artists themselves and the work they make is different, their craft and the quality of their work is on the same level." The Strange pair planned the pop-up as "a bit of an experiment" – a way for people to see the products for real, before launching online. "We didn’t know if anyone would visit, we didn’t have any expectations," says Strange. STRANGE launched with a pop-up shop in 2016 "We had lots of visitors. Friends, family, people who had heard about the store online – but also total strangers who happened upon the space. It was a really nice experience to talk about what we were doing, explaining what the products were about and the story behind them." Illustrator Sarah Meredith also loves meeting her customers: "I love selling at fairs, I’ve met some of my best friends at craft fairs, be they other stall holders or customers," she says. "People like to meet the maker, go home, ponder and order online. If somebody pauses at my stall for a second, chances are that I have greeted them and given them a business card – there’s still a potential sale there." Her biggest challenge? Impatient customers. "The Amazon culture has definitely made people want things, like, yesterday. I was once threatened with legal action because a $7 pin badge had not made it across the Atlantic in 48 hours – it was ridiculous, but still got to me – complaints can be hard to shake off." Pricing it right Figuring out your prices is the hardest part of it all, admits van Dam, who advises against calculating prices based on hours spent: "The prices won’t make sense and things would become way too expensive to produce." Instead he recommends researching the market to determine a fair price for your customers. "In the beginning we looked at other illustrators, how much they charged and talked to shop owners. After a while you’ll learn how to price your products fairly, but it takes practice." Lawler has an equation you can use to work out her wholesale and retail rates. "Your cost should be the price of all your materials, overheads and your time. Wholesale price is normally around two times your cost, and recommended retail price is between two and two-a-half times your wholesale price," she says. Interesting products that might not sell loads are usually the ones that bring the customers to your store Kim Lawler, Finest Imaginary "However, you might also want to look at market rates for similar items. Even if your cost price of a pin makes it work out that your RRP should be £9, when other sellers are selling theirs at £7, you’re unlikely to sell as many. Conversely, if you’ve got a product which you know could be retailing at way more than the equation comes out at, then don’t undercut yourself. Remember, if you’re selling on an online marketplace, you need to factor in all your fees, postage and packaging too." Unsurprisingly, the products that make the best profit are the ones that have a healthy margin, are simple to produce, and sell regularly, as Lawler reveals. "That’s not to say you shouldn’t produce products that don’t fit into these brackets, though. Interesting products that might not sell loads, or might not have the highest profit margin, are usually the ones that bring the customers to your store." Meredith agrees, adding that these types of products often lead customers to the more commercial pieces. "I label my weird and interesting products ‘hook products’ as they catch your attention and reel you in but they aren’t necessarily what you’re going to end up buying." For Meredith, who sells exclusively on Etsy, there are some disadvantages to using the site. "Platform changes and growth can be hard to keep up with. You’ve got to be all in to win on Etsy I think as it takes time, work and commitment to keep up with changes and with the competition." Relying too heavily on trends can also make or break a business, and it’s essential to have more than one income stream to protect yourself. Take the recent wave of pins, for instance. Consider market value when pricing your goods "When that started out, pin sales were booming," says Lawler, "but now the market’s saturated, the sales have started flattening out a bit. It’s been fun and profitable to ride that wave, but it’s a great example of why diversification and making sure your business is nimble enough to move on quickly is super-important. I’ve seen a lot of my peers shut up shop, lose money and have to go back to a nine-to-five. That kinda thing can be really scary, it makes you wonder if you’ll be next." Lawler has also learnt from experience that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one website. "I tend to sell the same stock on all websites, but I often have exclusives available on different ones. I like to make sure I’m turning profit in all my selling spots, and concentrate on the one I have ownership of – my website." Finding balance It’s vital to manage your own expectations when it comes to making a profit, at the beginning especially, and this is one of the main reasons why Overland continues to freelance. "Building up a reputation, client base and a following takes time," she says. "There’s peaks and troughs and it’s a process of learning – in time it starts to become more stable. All my profits go straight back into the business in order to help it grow – you have to be prepared for that." Conversely, Strange says that anyone embarking on making their own products for the first time should try to forget about the pressure of making money altogether. "We’re creatives first and foremost, and learning to be a business second," he says. "We didn’t get into this to make money, we got into it because we wanted to see our little thing out in the universe. Don’t do it to make money – do it to learn something new and have fun in the process, and then hopefully the money will come after that." STRANGE's Gavin Strange suggests getting in it for the love first – the money will follow "It is hard to change the way of thinking of the general public to support more small and local businesses if it means paying a little more," says Lawler. "Slowly there’s a shift in people wanting to stop shopping on the high street and look to small businesses for products that are a bit more special, unique and high-quality in terms of design and manufacture." As Strange stresses, you are your USP. "Don’t get caught up with what anyone else is doing. Even if you are making identical things, the end result will be different because it’s your vision, your execution, your skills. Don’t waste time comparing yourself to others, use that time to move forwards!" As sustainability becomes increasingly prevalent as a talking point, and shoppers wise up to the provenance of the products they buy, the craft community can work together to encourage people to shop locally and support small businesses creating more and more opportunities for small designers to flourish. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts magazine #274. Subscribe here. Read more: Inside Etsy's handmade workspace 8 golden rules of handmade 10 ways to be more business-savvy as a designer View the full article

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Today sees the launch of the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang County, South Korea. The games see 92 countries come together to compete in 102 events in 15 disciplines, with the opening ceremony broadcast to over 200 countries. The BBC has been building up to the start of its 2018 Winter Olympics coverage in the UK with a campaign centred around a distinctive animation. Called 'The Fearless are Here', the campaign is the creation of creative agency Y&R London and animators Smith & Foulkes at Nexus Studios. In a breathtaking animation style, it shows athletes competing against surreal and supernatural challenges in their race to the top. Watch it below. 4 of the best animation showreels to inspire you The animation will run throughout the whole of the Winter Olympics, which ends on 25 February. Thanks to its fresh visuals and original approach, 'The Fearless are Here' has captured the imagination of viewers. We caught up with Y&R chairman and creative director Mark Roalfe to learn how this amazing campaign came to life. How did the project come about? Mark Roalfe: We have worked with the BBC as their lead creative agency for over 10 years. We have a history of doing amazing animated spots for the broadcaster. In the past, we’ve won numerous awards including three BAFTAs and a Cannes gold for animation. The aim was to deliver another outstanding campaign for one of the biggest events on the BBC Sports calendar. Every time we set the bar higher and higher. What was the turnaround time? MR: We started to work on the brief with the BBC in January 2017 and came up with the idea of playing with fear. In truth, the Winter Olympians put life and limb in danger like no others, so we wanted to show the fears they have to face and conquer in order to succeed. We considered the best way to capture the personification of fear and decided that a modern 2D animation style would give us the most freedom to create the physical and especially the psychological fears faced by the athletes. Animation allowed us to show the athletes performing at a fantastical level that the camera could never capture Mark Roalfe Following creative development, we began speaking to animation directors in the summer. When Smith & Foulkes were on board, we worked closely together with them and the BBC to develop and agree a 2D animatic initially, which established the timings and movement of each scene. Alongside the 2D animatic, design frames were developed and then animated, which fed into the 2D animatic. The animation progressed a bit further each week until December. [Music supervision and production company] Native and [sound design and audio facility] Factory also worked closely with us from the beginning of the process to help create the most impactful film that we could. It was a collaborative, non-linear, creative process from the beginning until the finished film aired in January 2018. Fear was the driving force behind the animation How did the animation's distinctive look develop? MR: With animation, we could be quite surreal. We imagined what’s going on in the athletes’ minds, beyond the physical challenges they face. Once we had this idea, we explored the different fears faced by all athletes and also those faced in individual sports to come up with the most arresting images that visualise these fears. We looked into film sequences from Hitchcock to horror, and we also researched fear-based dream imagery. What was the thinking behind the art style? We created a painterly animation style for this campaign, veering towards a traditional hand-drawn, grainy 2D animation look Mark Roalfe MR: We used animation for the Winter Olympics as it allowed us to show the athletes performing at a fantastical level that the camera could never capture, as well showing perspectives not possible in reality. It also allowed us to use creative licence as none of the actual events have happened yet. We wanted to develop an artistic animation style that had some Korean influences but also allowed us to make the athletes look heroic. Some Korean art we looked at fed into the colour palette and the dynamic brushwork style. The simple pared-back colours helped add to the edginess of the dream sequences. We created a painterly animation style for this campaign, veering towards a traditional hand-drawn, grainy 2D animation look and away from an overly polished computer-generated animation but with a thoroughly modern feel. Within the limited colour palette, transitions from light to dark were used to add mystery and depth to the film as well, and help build anticipation. A limited colour palette helped to add a sense of mystery What was the hardest part of creating this animation? MR: Getting the sound and music right is a big part of every film but especially so in animation: music and sound take the visuals to another level. For this film, we used sound to enhance fear and make it even more surreal and edgy. Sound and music build atmosphere and create emotion around the athletes’ struggles through to their final triumph when they have conquered fear. We used sound to enhance fear and make it even more surreal and edgy Mark Roalfe Additionally, the inclusion of Korean-influenced drumming helps answer the challenge to locate these games in Pyeongchang. Time is always the most challenging part of any animation process, as we have to adhere to strict schedules. The only footage available is what has been drawn, so the action and the edit have to be agreed by everyone very early in the process. The finish is probably the most important part when it comes to getting an amazing end result. The final finish makes the quality of the animation stand-out, and we had to make sure we’d built enough time into the process because we knew the date of the Opening Ceremony wouldn’t change. We’ve worked with the BBC over several Olympic campaigns and they’re fantastic at pushing us, and helping keep the whole process running on rails with their approval process to achieve the highest standard of work that we can. Related articles: The 10 greatest Olympic Games logos of all time 15 pro tips for crafting the perfect showreel How to animate the Disney way View the full article

Augmented reality (AR) looks set to have a good 2018, especially when you see that investment – across all industries – is significantly higher than its sibling virtual reality (VR). Perhaps the reason AR had a slower start than VR is that it's not necessarily a new technology in the creative industries. Where I work at Nexus Studios, we'd already used AR in a commercial project five years ago. However, since then there have been some pretty mega technological advances; from tracking a marker, to rendering graphics, to the smartphone (the single most important hardware device we own). 2017 is really the year to showcase what is now possible; creatively and technically. How to code an augmented reality marker Create experiences that are easy to access The opportunity for AR is being heavily driven by its easy adoption; everyone has a smartphone and knows how to download apps. And the emergence of big computers and new headset options should not be downplayed. For example, when we were working with the Obama administration on an AR project, the initial brief was to use AR as the technology platform as it offered an exciting creative opportunity without any financial or time investment on the part of the user. Also working in its favour is the fact that mobile AR can be built once but seen everywhere. So if the marker is a movie poster, then this experience can be seen wherever the movie poster is, whether that's in a magazine, on the underground, at the bus stop, on TV, online, or even on a massive billboard. That represents a real opportunity for adoption and ROI. Of course, high adoption and ROI are only possible if the experiences themselves are noteworthy and therefore have a social impact among groups of friends. AR has to credit projects like Pokemon Go and platforms like Snapchat for introducing the potential of the technology as a storytelling medium – but I think we're now going to see it adopted as a film-making medium. Create fun projects In 2017 we released our AR project for the Gruffalo brand, Gruffalo Spotters. In it, kids could engage with characters from the book and movies while on the Gruffalo trail. Meanwhile our White House project, 1600, was essentially an interactive 90-second film. So the potential is there; it's still the beginning really. Just like the radical learning developments we've made in film-making for virtual reality (like Pearl getting an Oscar nomination), we must now do the same for AR. Use mixed reality As AR develops it's worth keeping an eye on mixed-reality (MR). Often confused with augmented reality, MR offers the opportunity for real world and digital to co-exist in the same space, all in real time and fully interactive. The experiences can be 'intelligent', with an understanding of their environment (in contrast, AR uses the marker to 'place' the digital experience). A good example of the potential of MR is the demo of Portal on Microsoft's HoloLens. Products like the HoloLens or Magic Leap offer insight into the potential creative opportunities with MR. In other tech, phones like the ASUS ZenFone AR and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro are utilising depth cameras and specific hardware like Google's Tango for the same creative opportunities. The MR industry is getting really exciting and of course, the opportunity as a mobile experience is huge. Related articles: 4 of the best animation showreels to inspire you 20 tools to make you more creative Trends that will shape app design in 2018 View the full article

Paris may be the epicentre of global fashion, having played host to the likes of Coco Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Louboutin - but it's also home to its fair share of world-class graphic design and illustration. From iconic, long-established boutique studios such as M/M Paris, est. 1992, to young, exciting, multidisciplinary individuals like Leslie David, est. 2009, the Parisian design scene is definitely burning bright. We've done the top agencies of New York and new talent from London recently, so read on to discover five more exciting stars of design based in the French capital... 01. Frederic Tacer In Frederic Tacer's identity for Nuit Blanche, an all-night contemporary arts festival in Metz, by day the posters contained information but by night, this was no longer visible and they became purely abstract Born in Normandy, Frederic Tacer grew up in Alsace, studied in Lyon and ended up graduating from the National College of Arts and Design in Paris. After a spell in London, he returned to Paris to set up as a freelancer. "If I had to sum up my practice in a few words, I would say that it's a constant and relentless attempt to reach functionalism and simplicity," reflects Tacer. "I couldn't agree more with Bruno Munari when he said: 'Progress means simplifying, not complicating.'" Inspired by the so-called 'death of books', Tacer conceived a fictional publishing house called Occur Books, which publishes manuscripts from various time periods in the future What does Tacer love so much about Paris? "I enjoy that it can sometimes feel like a time machine," he smiles. "The weight of history in this city is so rich that it is almost palpable." He continues: "Whether you're having a drink in a café, buying groceries in a street market, entering a random building or simply wandering in some lost street, there's always a moment when you can imagine yourself in another decade or century." 02. Playground "Les Inrocks Festival was the first project where we had fun on posters and motion," explains Playground founder Valentin Adam Playground is a multi-disciplinary studio based in Paris and Amsterdam, creating work that its founder Valentin Adam describes as "fun-coloured-pop". Having studied at Olivier de Serres, Adam worked as a freelance web designer, before joining a collective of directors where he learned video and animation skills – and Playground also throws illustration, typography and print design into the mix. Playground's identity for Paris-based music/bar/restaurant POPUP! evolves on a monthly basis. The studio will soon tackle the interior too "I got bored making things classy and discreet, and decided to make everything fun, colourful, playful and surprising," he explains. "The best thing about Paris for me: after 13 years here, I still have my best friends I grew up with. We learned to be curious together, with the big fixity this city offered us." 03. Le Duo This illustration of Karl Lagerfeld forms part of a series of self-initiated posters by Le Duo, available for sale worldwide An artistic twosome composed of Albéric d'Hardivilliers and Léopoldine Solovici, Le Duo creates bold, distinctive illustrations for brands and editorial clients, using a geometric flat design style. "Their inspirations behind that style, though, are very diverse – and sometimes unexpected," explains Alice Des from La Suite Illustration, who represents Le Duo. "They love Flemish paintings for their lack of perspective, but also engravings, stained glass windows and more." This illustration for an exhibition by the Endless Summer collective, held in Paris in September 2017, demonstrates Le Duo's shared love of architecture and design Although d'Hardivilliers and Solovici have moved to the countryside on the outskirts of Paris in search of a quiet creative space, their professional life remains in the capital, where they regularly engage with the city's thriving art and photography scenes. 04. Akatre Founded in 2007 by Julien Dhivert, Valentin Abad at Sébastien Riveron, Akatre is a multidisciplinary creative studio based in Paris. Projects span graphic design, photography, typography, video, art installations and musical creations for a range of institutions in the fields of art, culture, fashion, media and luxury. Made from a huge piece of wood, Akatre's art installation at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris weighed 2.5 tonnes "We design how we want, without having to belong to a specific style or movement," is Akatre's manifesto. "We like to change our style depending on the project." While the creative studio laments the "cloudy and rainy weather" in the French capital, the trio suggest that Paris's world-class food and museums more than make up for it. 05. Violaine & Jérémy Violaine & Jérémy worked with pigments, inks and watercolours to create these visuals for Le Theâtre des Bouffes du Nord, as well as designing the title font When they first met, Violaine Orsoni was head of production at an ad agency, and Jérémy Schneider had just joined as an intern and illustrator – and quickly rose through the ranks to art director. After a mutual realisation that neither of them cared about selling products, the duo left to found a design and illustration studio instead, so Violaine & Jérémy was born. "Our aesthetic is timeless with a modern twist," explains Schneider. "It’s very important for us to develop our own style, because we believe it’s one of the most important ingredients for a good designer." Using pencil on Canson fine art paper, Violaine & Jérémy designed this striking poster for an exhibition of the contemporary artist JR at the Musée du Louvre Violaine & Jérémy's technique varies according to the subject, but illustrations are invariably drawn by hand with pencil or coloured pencil. "Paris is beautiful, with infinite historical references that inspire us," adds Schneider. "Plus restaurants and cheese, and a tremendous choice of cinemas and museums." Related articles: 15 influential art and design movements you should know 10 huge graphic design trends to know for 2018 The top 20 US design studios View the full article

The vulnerability also exposed login credentials for a massive national insurance claims database, Upguard says. View the full article

Cape Town’s premier creative conference Design Indaba 2018 kicks off on 21 February – and the speaker line up looks fantastic. An annual highlight of the creative calendar, Design Indaba makes for a powerful creative explosion at the intersection of innovation, business, social impact design and artistic expression. Showcasing the best in design and creativity, the pioneering event features the industry’s most exciting thinkers alongside artists, exhibitions, fashion shows, performances and theatre. So what’s on this year? British designer Thomas Heatherwick is speaking at Design Indaba this year As usual, there’s a smorgasbord of heavyweight speakers. Architect Thomas Heatherwick and product designer Tom Dixon sit alongside Atlas creative director Astrid Stavro, Pentagram’s Natasha Jen and UK designer Morag Myerscough, while Cuban visual artist Edel Rodriguez, activist Tomo Kihara, eco fashion designer Aleksandra Gosiewski and social entrepreneur Leroy Mwasaru are also amongst the eclectic speaker lineup. Book your ticket to Design Indaba 2018 The three-day conference will be simulcast live to cites around South Africa. Meanwhile, Nightscape – a sensorial wonderland of music, film, performance and art installations – will take place at the Artscape Theatre Centre from 6pm till late on 22 and 23 February. Highlights will come from African artists as well as conference speakers and a wide-range of local and international creatives. Here are the key dates for your diary: Design Indaba Conference and Simulcast: 21-23 February 2018 Most Beautiful Object in South Africa exhibition: 21-24 February 2018 Emerging Creatives exhibition: 21-24 February 2018 Film Festival: 22-24 February 2018 Nightscapes Music Festival: 22-24 February 2018 And if this all sounds fantastically full on, that’s because it is. We can't wait. It isn't too late to get a ticket – but if you can't make it to Cape Town this February, fear not. We'll be reporting live from Design Indaba, bringing you the latest news and views from the world's creative elite. Related articles: 9 trends that will change the design landscape Jump-start your inspiration with The Game of Creativity 15 influential art and design movements you should know View the full article

Responsive web design is now easier than ever to implement, as there are so many great tools to help you create and test your designs. Here's our roundup of some of the best resources that will guide you in making your websites work well and look great on any device. 01. The pro's guide to responsive web design Build better sites for any device with this guide Written by Justin Avery, curator of the Responsive Design Weekly newsletter, this guide from net magazine takes web pros through the basics up to the more advanced responsive web design techniques. 02. How to design responsive and device-agnostic forms Make sure your forms work, whatever the device Forms are one of the most important elements in any digital product design, and whether you need a signup flow or a multi-view stepper, you need to design it so that'll work effectively on mobile devices just as well as on the desktop. Here's how to do it, complete with helpful tips on how to use Flexbox. 03. Create a responsive layout with CSS Grid Build a great-looking portfolio site suitable for all the viewports CSS Grid Layout is growing in browser support every day, and while it's not a replacement for Flexbox or even for floats, when used in combination with them it's a great way to create new and exciting responsive layouts. Follow this step-by-step guide to building a responsive portfolio site using Grid. 04. How to do responsive web design in the real world Time for a video tutorial, and this one is from a talk by Matt D Smith at our Generate New York event from April 2016. In it, Smith discusses what it takes to handle both the pixels and the people really well when creating a responsive build as part of a team. He walks through a systematic, designer-focused process that will make your next responsive project a success. 05. The web designer's guide to Flexbox Get started with Flexbox Have you started using Flexbox yet? In this tutorial Wes Bos provides a comprehensive guide to the core concepts that will give you a solid understanding of everything you need to get to grips with this powerful tool. 06. Codrops Flexbox reference A complete guide by Sara Soueidan This complete guide to Flexbox is written by Sara Soueidan, an author who is renowned for her ability to explain concepts in a way that's easy to follow without scrimping on detail. The Codrops guide is regularly updated so it's a great resource to return to when you need it. 07. Stacks: Flexbox for Sketch Get Flexbox capabilities within Sketch Stacks, part of the Auto Layout plugin, provide a way for you to use Flexbox technology within Sketch, without using CSS. This article explains how you can make use of this powerful technique for easy responsive design. 08. A crash course in technical RWD Get the grips with the basics of responsive web design Writing on the Treehouse blog, Jerry Cao has condensed a lot of useful information into a relatively short, readable article. 09. Create flexible layouts with Susy and Breakpoint Sass extensions to take care of responsive maths If you don’t want to use a framework to build your responsive site, these Sass extensions are a nice alternative, each with their own strengths. They’ll take care of the responsive maths for you so you can focus on design. 10. How to create responsive guides in Adobe XD Adobe Experience Design, a new UX and prototyping tool If you're keen to try out Adobe Experience Design (XD), here's a good tutorial to get you started. It includes a video demonstration that takes you through every click of the process. 11. CSS at BBC Sport Lightweight CSS for a large responsive site This isn't a tutorial per se, but there's a lot of learning here. In this post, the first of a two-part series, frontend developer Shaun Bent takes us on a detailed tour of how CSS is done at BBC Sport. They've managed to keep the CSS foundation of this massive site under 9kb, and it's fascinating to see how that's been done. 12. Sticky footer, five ways Chris Coyier's sticky footer ways Sticky footer... that should be simple enough, right? Unfortunately not. It can be trickier than you might expect to get that footer in the right place on every device. Luckily Chris Coyier has put together five tricks that will help you to make it happen using calc(), Flexbox, negative margins and Grid. 13. Adapting to input Make sure your responsive site can accept input from any kind of device Responsive design isn’t just about making your page display properly on any device, you also have to make it function well – and that means it has to be good at accepting input in a world where desktops have touchscreens and phones have keyboards. This article by Jason Grigsby of Cloud Four has some sound advice. 14. Our best practices are killing mobile web performance Performance considerations need to work for mobile, too Applied without consideration, certain best practices that were conceived during the desktop era may have a detrimental effect on mobile web performance. This article will make you think more deeply about how you get your site to work well on mobile. 15. How to make responsive web apps with container queries Learn how to make your media scale, using container queries Learn how to transform a beautiful, complex web app – with components, states and interactions – across different dimensions and resolutions, using container queries. Related articles: 9 responsive typography tips 7 great tools for testing your responsive web designs 7 game-changing web design tools for 2018 View the full article

Motion graphics are becoming an increasingly popular way to communicate ideas easily and stylishly. They're the perfect way to engage a reader's attention, plus they offer plenty of creative opportunities for animators to explore and take advantage of. These opportunities are explored in the latest trends video courtesy of StudioBinder. Previously, the maker of video, photo, TV and film production management software has shown us the typographic trends for motion graphics that are set to make waves in 2018, and now it's back with this look at some of the most eye-catching examples of motion graphics. By sifting through the best examples of innovative motion graphics from 2017, StudioBinder is able to give us a good indicator of what's going to take off over the coming months. These trends include blending 2D and 3D elements, transitions that appear seamless, and a nod to the past with the help of retro inspiration. Each of these trends have their own unique purpose when it comes to getting a message across with motion graphics. Watch them in action by checking out the video below. While we were watching this video we couldn't help but notice that some of these trends have already appeared in other areas of design, in particular the typography trends for 2018 that we covered at the start of the year. It seems that retro influences and a saturated colour palette are the aesthetics to pursue in 2018 if you want to stay cutting edge. If this video has whetted your appetite for more motion graphics inspiration, be sure to head over to the StudioBinder blog, where the company gives some insights into the benefits of each trend. Here you'll also find some useful links to other motion graphics sites that will help you to stay abreast of the latest developments in the field. Related articles: 5 ways to hone your motion graphics skills 40 amazing After Effects tutorials Best laptops for video editing View the full article

Typesetting might sound like an antiquated term. But it is, quite simply, the art and science of arranging text on a page in an attractive and legible manner. It’s a phrase originally used to describe the arrangement of physical, metal type in editorial design. But nowadays, it’s normally used to refer to the arrangement of digital type on screen, using software such as Adobe InDesign. “Traditional typesetting used to be quite a fixed mechanical process,” says Luke Tonge, senior creative at LIFE, an award-winning creative agency based in Birmingham. “So the variables were easier to control, but obviously much more time-consuming and complex. In our fluid digital times, thanks to computers, we type with total ease, so achieving consistency across countless devices and platforms is the new aim.” Modern typesetting, then, is all about the choices that can be controlled by the designer, including typefaces, sizes, placement and colour. And it should always take into account where the type will eventually live: be that outdoors, indoors, on a desktop or tablet computer, printed, or on a tiny watch screen. All these variables mean that the potential for bad typesetting is huge. “Software is a poor alternative to the kind of experience and eye that comes with years of studying and understanding type as a stand-alone craft,” Tonge points out. “So the onus is on designers today to ignore the default settings and pay even more attention to it.” Typesetting challenges LIFE recently completed a fun campaign to launch Chicago Town’s Pizza Kitchen, using a more playful and extravagant type than it uses for most restaurant clients All this means that as a junior designer, your first forays into typesetting for a real client can be quite a challenge. Michele Stocks, who was recently promoted from junior designer to designer at Nelson Bostock Unlimited, recalls her initial experiences. “It started off being very difficult to choose the right typefaces,” she recalls. “Then if a secondary typeface was needed, that would prove really hard to get right. Because when it’s even slightly not right, it’s very obvious. It was frustrating, because when I looked at beautiful typographic pieces, they made it look so easy. But what I had in my head wouldn’t come out right on the page.” Thankfully, though, she soon got the hang of it. “You start to get to know what can work and what doesn’t, and quite quickly I found I knew what I was doing,” she says. Ultimately, it was practice that helped her improve, as well as looking at a lot of different types of inspiration. “There are no real shortcuts: it just takes experience to get it right,” she says. For Pizza Kitchen, LIFE worked with an illustrator to create four key statements "and then built up the type around them, riffing off the personality that each statement embodied," says Tonge Maya Walters, who has been working as an artworker at Hogarth Worldwide since 2015, recalls that one of the biggest challenges she faced early on was dealing with multiple client guidelines. “Having a large list of clients, each with a wide variety of fonts and typefaces, meant a steep learning curve,” she explains. “I needed to understand which rules were applied to each typeface in terms of font size, leading, tracking, horizontal scaling, and so on. In the first few months, even maybe the first year, I remember checking my notes, client guidelines and magazine tips many times a day while working on various projects. The more jobs I worked on, the more aware I became of the importance of typography and guidelines as part of my skill set.” And it wasn’t just her day-to-day work that helped improve her typesetting skills. “After this initial learning stage, working on freelance and personal projects was another great way to put all of these skills into practice,” Walters adds. “I continued to face new challenges, working with typesetting skills that were outside of my comfort zone.” And that’s an important point, because typesetting isn’t something you ever completely master, but something you should strive to develop and improve throughout your career. Not doing so may adversely affect your career prospects, and Tonge stresses that it’s not always the juniors in a studio who have the worst typesetting habits. Typesetting sins LIFE used a combination of Memphis (the slab serif) and RBNo2.1a (the sans) in various weights, embellished with shadows, key lines and gradients “There’s a roll call of typesetting sins that designers of all ages can commit,” Tonge grimaces. “The obvious ones I’ve spotted over the years include too much shouty CAPITALISATION, stretching type awkwardly to fit a space, and excessive line lengths. "But probably the biggest mistake I see is around quantity of text. No-one is going to read several paragraphs of text on a presentation slide, especially at 30 words per line in 8pt! Brevity is highly underrated.” Avoiding such pitfalls and progressing your skills involves a combination of creative flair and technical craft, he adds. “It’s relatively easy to teach technical craft: this is often what college courses do, and certainly something juniors should be picking up from seniors and artworkers. "But the more difficult aspect to teach is the expressive/intuitive part, which is evident when someone just ‘gets’ type and typesetting. Educating on this is more about exploring why certain approaches work, what’s been successful in other work, and so on, than instilling a specific formula.” How to break the rules LIFE also undertook a ‘design refresh’ of the winter menu for Thyme, the restaurants found within the Premier Inn hotel chain, using far fewer eye-popping type effects in favour of technical attention to detail Improving your typesetting abilities is a process of learning the rules, then learning to break them. “You need to learn the accepted rules and basics,” says Luke Tonge. “Understand hierarchy, learn about rhythm and visual flow, figure out the difference between readability and legibility, get your grammar, punctuation and consistency nailed. Then… forget the lot! Fall in love with abstract and expressive type, hand lettering and brush work, collage and experimental, barely legible type.” The point he’s making is that type can sometimes be a dry subject if all you do is follow the rules. “But it needn’t be, you just need to know how and when to break them,” stresses Tonge. “Study typographic legends like David Carson, Neville Brody and Jonathan Barnbrook. Explore the output of typographic outsiders such as James Victore, Sister Corita Kent and Neasden Control Centre. Always ask yourself: ‘What does this collection of shapes emotionally convey – not just say?” Ultimately, being good at typesetting is indivisible from being good at design, he notes. “At its most distilled, graphic design is words and pictures, plus hopefully an idea. Type is the clothes words wear, which means typesetting is of huge importance when evaluating a designer’s work. “Typesetting is like writing,” he concludes. “You can spot a good bit of copy (and equally a stinker) at a glance; it is very difficult to hide poor typesetting. The proof of good typesetting usually means the typesetting isn’t noticeable, it feels natural and confident, and helps deliver a great piece of work.” How to create your own font: 18 top tips 5 top typesetting tips Readability was vital for these menus, so LIFE used a mixture of clean sans families Tide Sans for headers, and Gotham for the body copy 01. Take your time “Getting typesetting right is something that will largely come with time, says Stocks. “So just keep practising, and don’t get put off when it doesn’t look good immediately. I recommend looking at a lot of inspiration too, because it helps you get an idea of what works well together.” 02. Keep studying “First you need to learn the tools: font size, leading, tracking, horizontal and vertical scaling, paragraph styling, language settings and grid systems,” says Walters. “Then you need to extend your knowledge: there’s always something new to learn. Read a book on typography and set challenges for yourself to put your new skills into practice, such as working on a personal project.” 03. Read books For reading matter, Tonge suggests Type Matters! by Jim Williams and Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton. And if you really want to treat yourself, he adds, The Visual History of Type by Paul McNeil is “the best book on type this year”. 04. Use online resources “There are countless online resources to help you improve your skills too,” says Tonge. “They include ilovetypography.com, typographher.com, letterformarchive.org, typewolf.com and fontsinuse.com. Plus, on Twitter there are heaps of amazing foundries, magazines, designers, publications and organisations to follow, to further immerse yourself in the world of type.” (Check out these 50 design agencies to follow on Twitter for a start.) 05. Put clients first “Above all, find out about the client’s needs when it comes to typesetting,” says Walters. “Do they have guidelines and styles? If so, they should be made a prime consideration for the typography you create.” This article was originally published in issue 274 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy issue 274 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: How to create digital assets Be a better artworker 30 books every graphic designer should read View the full article

The number of freelancers, or ‘independent workers’, is growing rapidly in Europe. Research from EFIP shows that more people are taking the plunge and launching new businesses in almost every EU member state. The largest number of new freelancers are found in western Europe, the UK, France and the Netherlands. There's more to going freelance than knowing how to network or having an amazing design portfolio. In this article, we'll offer some top advice on how to go freelance, including what to prepare before you go freelance, how to find clients, and the secret to a happy life as a freelancer. 01. Establish your goals One of the first steps is understanding your reason for going freelance. Simply put, if you don’t know where you’re going, chances are you won’t get there anytime soon. It's impossible to reach your goal if you don't know what your goal is. Take some time to consider why you’re going freelance. Is it to have more time with your family? Would you like to travel and work remotely? Or do you want to build your very own business empire? Don’t worry; there’s no right or wrong answer here. Your passions will change with time (that’s a good thing!) and your reasons for freelancing will too. 02. Save up a financial buffer Anticipate 2-3 months without a regular income Before I started freelancing, I saved for a couple of months to give me a tiny bit of financial security. Now don’t kid yourself; you’ll still have to tackle financial stress, but this way you’ll be certain you can still pay your rent and eat decent food. Keep in mind that even committed clients may take some time to pay you while you are working. Anticipate two or three months with no regular income. Having this financial buffer allowed me to put everything I earned into my company for the first six months, which gave my company a great financial start. 03. Have clients ready When you make the leap, you don’t want to spend your first day chasing clients. Instead, make sure you have a couple of clients on standby for when you’re ready to begin. You can even start working with them while you’re still in your full-time job using evenings and weekends. That way, you’ll have a feel for the freelance life in all its glory: client communication, deadlines, delivering work, invoicing, financing and so on. If you hate it, you can go back to your day job the next morning. If you hate parts of it, look into what you could eventually outsource to someone else, but save that added expense for later on. 04. Plan your days Make sure your days have structure When you don’t have real actionable tasks you need to complete, it’s so easy to just hang out in Slack channels, check out Twitter, or look for inspiration on Pinterest. These things feel like work, but there’s no-one paying you for that time. This is something I occasionally still struggle with after nearly 10 years. I’ve found that dividing my day into two or three chunks with a clear task for that period works best for me. When you’re working in a company, you’re usually paid a monthly salary, and regardless of what value you bring and how many hours you work, within reason. When you’re running your own company, you’re in charge of making sure that money comes in, and regiment is important. Being a freelancer doesn’t mean freedom from a schedule. 05. Find your niche No-one will come to you unless they have a problem. Whether you are a developer, designer, bookkeeper or plumber, your client has a problem they need you to solve. It’s crucial to fully understand their needs to plan the right solution. I have had clients come to me and say they want a website. As much as I’d like to make that a complete reality, I only do design and strategy work. I wouldn’t solve their problem by handing them a beautifully designed Sketch file and waving them off. Solving their problem would take finding a copywriter to work on their content, and then handing the design and assets off to a developer who’ll code and launch their website within their timeline. A Sketch design file would get them closer to their solution, but it wouldn’t have solved their problem. The problem you’re solving may not be the same as what you do, or even what they hire you to do. Try to find your niche as tightly as possible – it’s OK to go outside your positioning on occasion, but the quicker clients can understand exactly what it is that you do, the faster they’ll know you are the right person to hire. 06. Make the most of friends and colleagues There’s no easier pitch than the one that a friend, an established colleague, or a prior client sets up for you. I’m extremely grateful for the testimonials that clients have given me, because their kind words do the selling for me. After all, a product that all of your friends love gets your attention, right? The same goes for your services. If you can get your network to advocate for you (through word-of-mouth, LinkedIn, a testimonial on your site or introductions), you will see immediate benefits. 07. Engage with online networks Where do your potential clients hang out online? Is there a forum where they talk? A LinkedIn group? Regardless of where they are, try to pitch in. Coming in with guns blazing can be bad, but be as engaged as possible. Offering free advice will position you as someone they can value. Working with you will be a more natural choice for them since you’ve positioned yourself positively. 08. Pay extra attention to recurring clients The easiest way of keeping busy all the time is to keep the clients you already have. This does not mean they deserve better treatment than new clients, but it’s worthwhile to invest effort into maintaining these relationships. New clients may seem much more inspiring than older clients, but there’s no comfort or security in what’s new. If you’re like me and not a big fan of the ‘hustle’, staying with recurring clients can simplify your business. I cannot stress enough how valuable this has been for my success. 09. Play the long game Meetings don't always yield results immediately I’ve had meetings with clients that I thought went really well, and then never heard back from them. There are so many factors around why things don’t always take off straight away and, on a couple of occasions, these companies have reached back out several years later. Things don’t always take off right away, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Often, it really is a marathon. 10. Learn to swallow your pride Three years ago, I got a call from an agency asking if I could help them out with a client. The job was just to create a couple of buttons and modules for a website. While this is not normally the kind of job I would usually take on, I decided that I might as well take it because I had a slow month. Since then, that client has become my biggest on a yearly basis, and I’m now on its product development team. Why? Through creating those buttons, I showed them my value and how they could benefit from integrating me earlier in their process. When you provide true value to clients, you will be rewarded. Sometimes you just have to start a bit lower down the food chain. 11. Find happiness, then success Happiness will lead to better work I am going to let you in on a secret I discovered just recently. You see, for years I was chasing the same thing that most of us are: success. Whether that is in terms of money, fame, respect or something else – it comes down to how we define what ‘success’ really is. We all know this feeling. We all follow a similar path. And I want to be perfectly clear: it’s not entirely a bad thing. Striving for the next great thing is part of what will make you successful, because you won’t just settle. I’m guessing you’re familiar with the expression ‘happy wife, happy life’? The expression wants us to believe that our miseries are all because of our wives, and if we’ll just make our wives happy, then our lives will be filled with joy. I think it should be the other way around: Happy life, happy wife! When I’m happy, I’m able to express gratitude and kindness towards my wife, which makes her happy. The same applies to us freelancers: Happy life, happy… bank statements! When we’re happy, we do better work. The best way to do this is different for all of us, but it usually consists of eating well, exercising, meeting friends, watching movies; just doing what you love. Find happiness, then success will follow. Main Illustration by Marcus Faint This article originally appeared in issue 299 of net, the magazine for professional web designers and developers – offering the latest new web trends, technologies and techniques. Buy issue 299 here or subscribe to net here. Read more: 4 ways to go freelance How to manage your freelance cashflow 20 top tools for freelancers View the full article

Five years ago, I was a brat who was overconfident about my art skills. I drew the same four poses over and over again, but since I drew them well, it just fed my ego! Then I met one of my heroes, who was kind enough not to throw my sketchbook away, but harsh enough to let me know that I didn't know how to draw. "Your drawings have no life. You need to feel what you are drawing. Your back needs to ache if you're drawing someone bending over," he said. Honestly, I didn't understand a thing. But it did set me off on a hunt to understand what he meant. Three years later, after having regularly sketched every day, I got the first glimpse of what he was getting at. While sketching a girl sinking into her sofa, I realised I was sinking myself, to feel the pose. This wasn't my only experience, though: there were numerous more that shaped my observation. Each of them opened me up to a world of possibilities. Through this workshop, I would like to share my ideas that could give you that little push to explore the world for yourself. My aim is to help you personalise the worlds that you create through your art. 01. Include specific physical attributes Patterns and physical features add lots to an illustration Crooked noses, hair styles, moustaches, tattoos, fashion accessories… there's so much to observe and recreate on the canvas when painting human characters. And don't forget the patterns on various surfaces. They just add so much to an illustration. How to improve your character drawing 02. Observe nuances Little nuances can make a world of difference Observe how subtle changes in body language can change the attitude of a person. A raised eyebrow can add volumes, although there's little physical change. Nuances could be atmospheric, too. Imagine a young boy reading a book. On the wall is a poster of Lionel Messi. Switch the poster to one of Albert Einstein and there's a complete change in context. 03. Break symmetry People are rarely symmetrical Here's an early observation and important lesson that I learned: our actions are rarely symmetrical in nature. Even the simplest of gestures like sitting or standing aren't evenly balanced. You'll often hear artists say that symmetry is boring, and this is simply because it makes things feel too organised and forced. Generally, if a moment is something that calls for attention – say, an action that's grand or epic – is resorting to symmetry the best way forward? 04. Understand the nature of light Understand how the lighting might work in your scene To understand light, ask yourself the following. Is the light warm, cool or neutral? Is it direct or is there ambient light? How intense is the ambient light compared to the main light source? Is there a secondary light source? What's the nature of these sources: direct, rim or diffused? And note how intense the light from one source is with respect to the other. 05. Capture the balance of tension and relaxation Get your combination of tension and relaxation right Any form will generally have a combination of tension and relaxation. It's one of the things that brings life into the form. Keep observing the switch between the two states. Student artists often ask me why their drawings look stiff. One of the most glaring issues I see is that people overlook which areas of their character's body are tense and which ones are relaxed. They draw hands, legs, the torso and so on well, but everything is almost rigid. If the entire body is tensed then the artwork will look stiff, too. 10 steps to improve your figure drawing 06. Try acting Facial expressions are just part of communicating emotion Acting isn't just about the face. It's also body language. At any given point, the human form is involved in 'acting out', or communicating emotion. If you think it's enough to observe just the facial expressions, try acting in front of a mirror. Let's try anger. Do you feel your neck edging forward, or some neck muscles stretching? Some tension in your flexor group of muscles in the lower arm? Is your whole body moving forward? Now you see it, don't you? This is gesture drawing. 07. Take note of anomalies Be on the look-out for strange or anomalous details you can use Is there something you observe that seems like a misfit? OK, to tease your grey cells, imagine a pistol in the bedroom of a 15 year old. Now, that's wrong and highly unlikely, but maybe you'll come across something less dramatic, such as someone using a first-generation Nokia phone, or a Rubik's Cube in the hands of a four-year-old. While you can cook these up from memory for your next project, you'll still need a rich visual library to trigger ideas at the right time! So, be on the look-out for the stranger things in life. 08. Include a secondary story A secondary story can give your artwork extra visual impact Can you see a story evolve in front of you? Perhaps it's something as mundane as the struggle of someone holding a mug of hot coffee (conflict), then using a tissue to blanket the mug, and holding it more comfortably (resolution). Even if it's not the intended story, these little beats can help add a secondary level of narration to your artwork. 09. Drive the dominant emotion Try to capture the dominant emotion of your scene I want to distinguish this from acting. The dominant emotion is the mood of a scenario before you. Here's an example: there's a frenzy among a group of fans because the home team has just won a league match. People may react differently, but the dominant emotion is one of euphoria. If it's a split-second emotion, you might not have the time to draw it, so just capture the essence in your memory and then make gestures to document it. You can also present it as the mood that you want to document. 10. Tackle your values Values don't come naturally, so play around with them I had trouble doing value studies. Somehow I couldn't put similar values together. So I reinvented the wheel for myself. I started with pure blacks documenting only in black and white. A nearby coffee shop was an excellent place for my studies because it had strong overhead spotlights on the seats. These created crisp shadows and were easy to document. Slowly, I started introducing greys. I still have to think about values though – they don't come naturally. 11. Consider how subjects interact with their surroundings Observe how we adjust to fit in with our environment Have you ever observed a person positioning themselves in a way that they almost fit into a particular space? Or a person's arm going around the edge of the sofa while they lean on it? While a bowling ball wouldn't make adjustments to fit in, we often do. It's enlightening to observe how we knowingly – or unknowingly – make adjustments to interact with our environment. You can also observe the tension and relaxation at such times. 12. Look at the nature of materials Different materials behave in different ways, such as the folds on a leather jacket While I was working on the sets of a film, I noticed the nature of walls: how they reflected light, the way they age, their weight distribution, and so on. The nature of different materials means that they offer the artist a range of exciting possibilities. Only when you know how a material behaves under different conditions will you be able to portray it realistically. Observe the folds on a leather jacket and those on a cotton shirt, or the sharp highlights on a metal ball, versus those on a rubber ball. 13. Document cultural underpinnings Observe and document cultural underpinnings Culture is an all-encompassing term here. It includes regional, political, racial or even scientific culture. If you observe certain cultural underpinnings of a group or an individual and document them, then it'll help you define the personality of that group or individual a little more. 14. Use form, weight, proportion and perspective Remember that bodies behave differently depending on how they're positioned The only way I can deal with these four heavyweights in one paragraph is with this exercise. Make someone lie on the ground with their knees bent at right angles, similar to the posture they achieve when they're sat on a chair. Stand closer to the legs so you can see the figure receding in perspective. Compare this to someone sitting on a chair. In the two figures, you'll be able to compare parts of the body, in terms of form, proportion, perspective and the body's response to gravity. 15. Go beyond reality Mess with reality a bit to give your work extra impact One of the exercises that I often do during my observational drawing sessions is stir things up for myself, just to turn the excitement dial a notch or two higher. I experiment with my drawings and go beyond the reality of the moment. Sometimes I exaggerate the tension in the figure to levels that are not achievable by the human body, or push the existing scenario into a different world of physical laws. Purists might contest that this isn't observational drawing – and perhaps they're right – but I'm certainly having fun! This article originally appeared in issue 137 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: 10 sketching tips for beginners How to draw manga characters The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets View the full article

Web developers are the people who keep the internet running. They make sure the gears keep functioning behind the scenes on all of your favourite applications and sites. It's a career that rewards structure as much as it does creativity, and you can join their ranks by working your way through the Ultimate Front End Developer Bundle of courses. This comprehensive set of training is on sale now for just $39 (approx. £28). For any aspiring developer, the Ultimate Front End Developer Bundle is the perfect place to get your start. This collection of eight professionally-taught courses can help anyone – even a complete beginner – learn how to code using the most important languages in web development, from JavaScript to HTML5 and CSS3. Work your way through this bundle of courses and you'll pick up the skills you need to bring your dream website designs to life and just may launch a new career. You can get the Ultimate Front End Developer Bundle on sale for just $39 (approx. £28), which is 96% off the full retail price. That’s a massive saving on a bundle that could help you get a start in a growing industry, 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: 25 top-class website templates 30 Chrome extensions for web designers and devs 7 game-changing web design tools for 2018 View the full article

Art director is an impressive job title that a lot of people yearn for, but can mean different things in different organisations. The job of art director exists in a number of creative fields, including advertising, marketing, publishing, film and television, web design, and video games. It generally involves managing a team of designers working on a creative project, but the degree of responsibility and autonomy can vary. Becoming an art director involves more than just having the right design portfolio and creative resume. To get the lowdown, first we asked a pair of leading art directors to share their thoughts and experiences on what art directors do and what makes a good art director. Following that you'll find five pro tips for becoming an art director (skip to the tips here). What is an art director and what do they do? James Fenton, founder of Blimp Creative, tells us: "To begin to understand what is expected of an art director, it's first worth considering the term as both a role within a team, as well as a creative discipline in itself. "As an art director you must be a leader; someone who inspires and guides the vision of the design team. However, someone who sees themselves as the design top dog will inevitably be heading for a embarrassing fall. You have to be able to recognise the talent in those around you and learn how best to get the best from you. An art director who sees themselves in a position of hierarchical authority is simply a glorified manager. James Fenton runs multimedia design studio Blimp However, Fenton emphasises that there are aspects of management in the role – for example, critiquing people's work, working to deadlines and budgets, and (on occasion) disciplining any designers who have become lazy. But your primary concern is to inspire and guide your team. The role of the art director could be compared to that of a chef James Fenton, Blimp Creative "The role of the art director could be compared to that of a chef, fusing together ingredients to produce a menu of delightful dishes," Fenton explains. "All designers inject their individual personalities, tastes and style into their work. Even working within the constraints of brand guidelines, there is plenty of room for creativity and originality. It is the art director's role to identify and understand the different flavours each member brings to the team, an then carefully infuse them to complement one another and ultimately creating an exciting and balanced sensory experience. "Yet it is vital to understand art direction not simply as a visual experience. The fundamental role of art direction is to direct and guide an audience through the information being presented to them. "An art director must appreciate the written content as much as visual, taking on the role of a storyteller, marrying together words and imagery, creating structure and order through layout and typography, providing weight and emphasis which conveys message and meaning, resulting in the ease of the audience's understanding. You must be a mediator between writers and designers, understanding both disciplines and working closely with each." What makes a good art director? But what makes a good art director? Fenton adds: "For me, a good art director has to be open to influence, inspiration and the expertise of the people around them, appreciating their talents, strengths and weaknesses, whilst maintaining a clear vision of delivering a message that speaks directly to the reader, viewer or user. "There is no single formula for what makes a good art director: it's not a discipline taught in design schools, there are no books or guides that define the steps to success. Every art director will have forged their own path, have their own definition of what their role is and their own approach to getting the job done and done well. Sometimes this may be learned from their own mentors and passed down in a master-apprentice way, whilst others may formulate their process utterly independently, through their personal experience, trial and error." The definition of an art director "What is an art director?" asks art director Jenny Theolin. "It sounds like a simple question, but having to define somebody's job role in one or two words is surprisingly difficult. "Designer, art director, creative director – all these titles are necessary to create a structure within agency departments, for the client's benefit, and for the recruitment process. And to add to the confusion, descriptions like 'Web Ninja', 'Pixel Guru' and 'Creative Wizard' infiltrate our world as well. But how relevant is all of this to the job we do?" Jenny Theolin has performed a series of art director and senior art director roles "In many companies the traditional team structure has evolved into paired creative polymaths," Theolin continues. "Ask any creative team working today, and you will see that they share a lot of their work tasks. Copywriters scamp, art directors write, including contributions to blogs, books and magazines. But does this make them any less an art director? "For me, the main difference between working as a graphic designer and as an art director was that I worked more with people than computers. And since I prefer to see the creative industry as a peoples' industry, this collaboration and co-working was key to creating exciting new work." 5 tips for becoming an art director Here are art directors Jenny Theolin and Ed Robinson's tips for anyone who wants to take on the role... 01. Put together a killer portfolio Ed Robinson: "Show a good design portfolio of work that represents the style of art direction you employ and want to strive for." Jenny Theolin: "A book that is controversial, that scares, intrigues and has balls. As a graduate and/or junior, you will probably not have as much 'real work', so fill it with whatever is inside your head. Make it memorable. Ninety percent of the books I see are instantly forgettable – I would much rather see your take on Magritte's flying penises, than another bloody Guinness ad." 02. Be selfish, but don't be horrible Jenny Theolin: "You are the new generation, get to grips with what's been done, evolve it and do it better! Come up with wild ideas and have them fuck each other to spawn mutant idea babies who'll take over the world. Why? Because a great idea is one that scares the living pants off of you." Ed Robinson: "Art directing the corporate and brand shoots that I have over the years it is always a people based role so character and personality are a big deciding factor when considering an art director." 03. Make friends Jenny Theolin: "Hound your heroes and ask to meet them. Many love to talk about themselves, so ask to meet them for advice, to pick their brains – and to see their work! However, don't be surprised if your icons actually turn out to be old, grumpy farts. If you do meet them, make it your priority to provoke them by demonstrating that you could be better than they ever were – within the right environment and with the right people of course. Trust me, they want to be challenged." 04. Gain knowledge of the job Ed Robinson: "Prior knowledge of what is achievable with equipment photographers and post producers use is a must." Jenny Theolin: "Stay on top of blogs and trend-reports. Keep the momentum up and don't get stuck in a bubble. Creative exploration is one of the benefits of this industry, so get out there and do different things differently." 05. Get yourself noticed – in a good way Jenny Theolin: "Get your voice heard and speak up, but not by blowing hot air – you'll most definitely get caught out." Ed Robinson: "Be creative – have the ability to create from briefs that, on the surface, don't appear to be that creative themselves." Illustration: Malika Favre This article was originally published in Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: How to be a great creative director 30 brilliantly creative resumés Get noticed: 6 tips for getting your portfolio seen View the full article

Animating for kids obviously has a lot in common with any other animating task, but there are certain elements that could do with a little extra attention and focus. At Blue Zoo, we have increasing experience with kids' animation, so here are my top tips for this subject. 01. Know your audience This doesn’t mean dumbing down – get to know who will be watching and make decisions accordingly. Don’t simply get carried away with what you think is funny in the moment. 02. Turn off the soundtrack If you can’t follow the story because it requires exposition coming from dialogue, then the visual narrative isn’t clear enough. 03. Character comes first As entertaining as a big action event can be, the story should be driven by character. What journey have they been on and what have they learnt? 04. Focus! With every shot, you should know precisely what the audience will be focusing on – don’t let them be distracted. Every moment should have a reason and progress the story forward. 05. Be kind to your characters Young children learn at an extraordinary rate, absorbing everything. Yes they need to be shown characters making bad decisions, but there should always be a consequence. Don’t use being mean as a way to get a quick laugh. More at Vertex 2018 Vertex is the event connecting all areas of the UK visual effects community, for a day of presentations, workshops, recruitment and discussion. Come to watch talks by some of the world's biggest names in VFX, including Scott Ross, Chris Nichols, Sébastien Deguy and more. Book tickets for workshops run by some top artists, from Glen Southern to Mike Griggs among others. If you want to get your hands on the very latest tech, then the expo access tickets are for you and are even free, but you do need to register, so book now over at the Vertex site. Related articles: The ethics of digital humans Scott Ross at Vertex Win Access all areas tickets to Vertex View the full article

The move adds to Google's efforts against malicious apps on the Play store. View the full article

Hotspot Shield has been downloaded more than 500 million times, according to its creator AnchorFree. View the full article

A recently filed Apple patent could shake up how artists use digital drawing tools – if it ever becomes a reality. The tool in question is a stylus that builds on the capabilities of the Apple Pencil by letting creatives draw and write in mid-air. The headline features of the stylus are outlined in the extensive patent notes, which reveal that "[c]ontent can be [created] using an input device without a touch-sensitive surface." It goes on to add that "the content can be generated based on tracking position and/or motion of the input device without requiring contact with a surface." Also read: The best Wacom tablet deals for February 2018 It might all sound a bit too futuristic to be true, but VR devices such as the Oculus Rift have already made huge steps forward in connecting motion and digital art, so it's about time Apple got in on the action. The patent says that the new stylus would be capable of scribbling 2D notes in the air, and would enable users to draw three dimensional objects without the need for a surface. Given that many digital artists currently prefer styluses that accurately simulate the bite of a pen or pencil as it draws across a screen, it will be interesting to see whether the Apple tool will replicate this sensation. Outside of usability issues, we're also interested in which platforms the tool would be compatible with. Currently the Apple Pencil only works with the iPad Pro. Tying such a tool into Apple's ecosystem would fit the firm's marketing strategy – but fly in the face of any new-found drawing freedom. As with all innovative patent ideas, we'll believe it when we see it on the shelves. However, seeing as Apple filed this patent claim over six months ago, there's a chance the company could be about to release it sooner than we think. Related articles: 9 iPad Pro apps that make the most of Apple Pencil The best MacBook and MacBook Pro deals The best Wacom tablet deals for February 2018 View the full article

In 2015 the art director of UK-based Lucid Games, Chris Davie, contacted me to help them design 10 independent vehicles for a 4x4 ground-based combat game to be published on PlayStation 4. The best 3D modelling software 2018 After I made a proof of concept for them, they gave me the go-ahead on nine other cars. In this Cinema 4D tutorial, I'll show you my general approach on one of the vehicles. 01. Make a simple sketch Making a rough sketch will help you get your proportions right Before starting to work in 3D, I first make a simple sketch of my idea in Photoshop. This is a good way to begin, as it's nice to have the size and some proportions ready before we start modelling. I suggest that you try to put a good amount of time into this initial step, rather than just starting completely from scratch in 3D. 02. Set up your scene Working in real-world sizes will make the rendering stage easier Once I set up the background with my sketch I can go ahead and scale everything to the correct sizes. It's best to work with real-world sizes as this comes in handy when rendering later. An easy way to do this is to think of, as an example, how large the wheels should be in real life. Just take a circle spline object and type in the required size (that you considered before). In the viewport preferences you can manually scale up the background image to the preferred size – referring to the circle spline as a reference. 03. Block out geometry Block out your geometry using whatever method works best for you As we now have our scene set up nicely, we can go ahead and block everything out. It's basically like laying everything out for the first time in 3D. There's no need for any special techniques here; just do it the way you are most comfortable with. You even can use primitives and stack everything together as you like. 04. Activate shadows Turn on shadows in your viewport for a better idea of how your model's progressing A nice little helper when fiddling out a design is activating visible shadow in your OpenGL viewport. Just use a simple light and activate Shadows in the light source as well as in your viewport. Position it so that the light source casts a nice shadow. It's fast, effective and without rendering you can get some good results in the very first stage of modelling and design. 05. Placeholder objects Use placeholders for any elements you'd rather work on later If you are set with your blocked-out design and everything is approved by yourself or by your client you can go ahead with detailing. I leave out the wheels at this stage because I normally do them towards the end. At this stage you can use placeholder wheels from other projects if you like, or just use dummy objects or primitives for this. 06. Model the cockpit Follow these tips for building a cockpit Using the reference drawing, I start to create the cockpit. The method described below works best for me, but there may be other alternatives that may be better suited for your way of working, or that may result in cleaner meshes – but as this is just for a design I am satisfied with the result. The first step is drawing a spline with the shape of the side cockpit. Then draw in the window shapes and merge everything down to one spline object. Next, select the edge points and chamfer them on at a point. When you have done this, duplicate the spline object and put the two splines into a Loft NURBS object. Move one of the splines away from the first spline object to gain thickness. Now you can use Fillet Cap in the attributes of the Loft object. To make your model look more interesting, you can scale down the window shapes of the second spline object. Simply select the spline points (you must be in point mode) and scale them down a bit. Next put this side of the cockpit into a symmetry object and you're ready to go for the top section. Repeat these same steps with the top and position it correctly over the sides. As for the windows, just use simple planes that you place inside the windows. They don't need to be cubic objects as we don't want to make them translucent in the end. When we're done with this, group everything that belongs to the cockpit together into one Null Object and name it correctly. 07. Main body parts Make sure you keep your blockout and sketch to use as reference Now we are heading over to the main body, focusing first on the front fender objects, where the lights will be positioned too. Always keep the blockout and the sketch as a reference. Drop in a primitive object (cube) and make it relatively flat so that it corresponds with the blockout object. Use the cut tool to make cuts at the position where you want to 'bend' the cube. Select the points and 'bend' down the cubic shape following your blockout template. Make sure to angle the points at the front and where you cut it down a little bit. Use some polyextrudes to make the fender look more appealing. Bevel the corners of the cube and than afterwards bevel the surrounding edge from the top and bottom surface. 08. Detailing Use booleans to cut out the headlamp holes For the holes where the front lights will sit in, I simply used booleans. Just position the negative objects and subtract them with the object. Check 'Create single object' and 'Select intersections'. After converting the boolean with the 'c' hotkey you can double-click the new edge selection icon which appears in the object manager. You can now use this selection to bevel the edge. Again, group everything together within a null and use a symmetry. Then, simply follow the same technique as described above for the other parts. 09. Model small props Make your model more interesting by adding assorted props To make the surface a bit more striking I made a small amount of props which I placed at some significant and interesting points. These are mostly cylindrical objects, on which I used some polyextrudes and bevels. 10. Suspension system Work out a basic suspension system, then jazz it up a bit Keeping in mind that the vehicle will be fully movable, I had to figure out a basic suspension system for the wheels. Therefore, I first made some basic beams out of a cube object. To give it more visual interest I modelled in some holes, in order to make it appear more technical and also lightweight. I used Inner Extrude and the Bridge tool, which works really well in Cinema 4D. Afterwards I added some more extra details like springs and cables, which can be easily done with Sweep NURBS. 11. Wheel design attempt 1 You want your wheels to look good whether they're spinning or noit For the wheels I was aiming for a high-tech pattern. I was also keeping in mind that the wheels will spin when driving, so I had to make a pattern that looks appealing while the wheels are spinning. As I had to do one wheel design for each vehicle (ten in total) I knew this would be a bit challenging. As I had done some wheels before for other designs, there were two different approaches for modelling the wheels. The first approach is simply building up one piece of the overall pattern and cloning it with a cloner object or an array – this is a very sleek and fast method. 12. Wheel design attempt 2 Try cutting your wheels from a cylindrical object The other technique is utilising a cylindrical object and using the sections with the help of Inner Extrude and Extrude to make something like a pattern. You can split up poly selections and use them as new additional pattern objects, for example. Alternatively you can use HyperNURBS to smooth everything down. If you do so, you need to set some additional cuts with the knife (Loop Cut), otherwise it will be too rounded. 13. Add interest by filling up the body Spend extra time on building the bits players will see the most of As the viewer will see the vehicle from the rear during most of the game, I had to fill in some extra details in order to make it look interesting. As I had done some stuff before, I made use of some of the geometry and just filled in the additional elements. 14. Save time and re-use parts Always recycle useful parts if you can Be aware that, even within the existing model you are creating, you can make use of some of the parts again. For example, I used some of the front fenders as mudguards for the wheels. 15. Simple studio setup It's not hard to create a basic studio setup for shooting your model I decided to use two light setups and settings for the final look. For the studio setup I created a standard studio background. There are many ways to create this. For example, you can draw a spline and rotate it 180 degrees within a Lathe NURBS object. I placed some area lights around the object and used an HDRI to lighten everything a bit. This also gives you some extra nice reflections, instead of merely having the reflections of the area lights. 16. Outdoor scene setup An outdoor setup is another way to show off your work to best effect For the other light setup I thought of creating an outside scenery in the desert. Nothing complicated as I had to be fast in this job. I used a simple Octane Daylight object. I added a ground plane and used some real displacement shaders. This gives you really nice results that look fantastic even in close-ups. 17. Add emotional images Play with background imagery and focus to bring the shot to life To add some emotion to the scene I played a bit with the sun size and added some volume fog. In combination with long focal length (100-500mm, like a real-world tele) you can get a very pleasant effect. Be sure to play around with the f-stop as well, but don't exaggerate it. It can look like a miniature if you use the wrong f-stop values! 18. Octane Dirt node Create a weathering effect using inverse ambient occlusion Since I did not do any UV Maps, I used inverse ambient occlusion to create a weathering effect on the edges of some parts. This is fully procedural and works great in Octane with the Dirt node. You can also combine some noises or a grunge texture to break the used edge up a bit more. 19. V-ray Dirt VRayDirt is another great way to make your model look lived-in This also works the same way within V-Ray (or any other renderer), although sadly there is no node tree (yet) for setting up shaders like in Octane, but you can get almost the same results. Just use the V-Ray PowerShader and VRayDirt, be sure to check inverse ambient occlusion and you are ready to go. Like in Octane you can add shaders or textures to bring it a bit more to life. 20. Render settings Octane's default path tracing settings should do the job most of the time For rendering in Octane I used the default path tracing settings – this works for me most of the time. For post-production I made use of the Octane render layer settings. Be sure to double-check everything you would like to have for your post work, and you're ready to render. 21. Post-production decals Rather than adding decals to the actual model, fake them in Photoshop A fast way to apply decals to your render, as long as you have one perspective, is by applying them in Photoshop. It's much faster than dropping them on your model in your 3D app, as you don't have to create a material, alpha, spec map and so on. So if you have one single shot, this is a real time saver. Just find some decals you like on Google and drag them on your model. Try out some fill methods and choose the one which looks best. Use the Transform tool in Photoshop to adjust the decals to the correct perspective of the model. You can use some geometry parts as guides for the transform. Once you have placed it, you can used a grunge brush to make some imperfections. You can also use the layer transparency. 22. Post-production general Don't overdo things with your ambient occlusion map If you are set with your decals, you can do some adjustments with the help of the material id pass. Normally I just do some levels adjustments on a few parts. Sometimes an ambient occlusion map can come in handy. But don't exaggerate this either – just use a small amount of transparency on this layer and multiply it. This article was originally published in issue 230 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 230 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: How to break into movie concept art Tips for drawing anime-style vehicles Concept design tips for artists View the full article

Awwwards is the leading conference for UX designers, and its 2018 event is bringing you more than 20 inspirational talks from design visionaries and innovative thinkers. This year, you can follow all the action as it happens on the Adobe Live stream, which will run from 8-9 February from 10am CET. Several Awwwards speakers will be joining the Adobe team discuss UX/UI industry trends and share their tips for good experience design, as well as working live in front of the camera and answering questions from the online audience. Watch Adobe Live from the AWWWARDS 2018 Those sharing their expertise include leading lights in the field of UX and virtual reality, digital visionaries and design professionals such as Tobias Ahlin (experience design director at Minecraft), Jeany Ngo (experience designer at Airbnb), designer and entrepreneur Michael Flarup, and Irina Spicaka (senior UX/UI designer at Holoplot). Plus, you’ll get a sneak peek of a brand new Adobe XD feature, plus free access to three exclusive collections of icons, designed by some of the world’s top icon designers, as a special thank you from Adobe. One talk worth setting a reminder for is Khoi Vinh’s keynote Never Not Striving: Things Designers Could Be Doing Better, which will take place at 16.10 CET on 9 February – watch it in the livestream above. Khoi is a lead contributor to Adobe XD, and has been instrumental in design's transformation into a key element of modern business over the past two decades. Follow Adobe on Twitter for live updates from the event and to ask questions during the live stream using #AdobeLive and #AwwwardsBerlin. View the full article

If you want to create incredible 3D art, you need the right 3D modelling software. Whether you’re a designer or illustrator looking to up-skill this year, or you’re a seasoned 3D artist looking to upgrade your existing tools, there's a program out there to suit you – and you’ll find it in this list. When it comes to choosing which 3D modelling software to go with, there are some key considerations to first bear in mind. As a general rule, any kind of 3D work will require around 16GB RAM and up. Most of the 3D software applications here require roughly 5GB of disc space to install, but you need to take rendering into account too. If you're taking your digital art seriously, then investing in a graphics card with a fast processor and a lot of memory is highly recommended. This way you're much less likely to experience a lag when displaying complex 3D scenes. Read on for the best 3D modelling software packages the market has to offer... Ask any 3D artist what the best 3D modelling software is, and most will choose Autodesk Maya. Used by many leading VFX and animation studios, including Pixar, Maya's robust set of modelling tools are unrivalled. It's a seriously impressive and powerful piece of kit, which means it's also one of the most complex and hard-to-learn. And it also comes with a pretty hefty price tag. However, for those who have the time, skill and patience to master Maya, it's the best 3D modelling software around and it's worth every penny. Want to get started with Maya? Our selection of mighty Maya tutorials will help you take a step in the right direction. Subscribe to Maya Download a free trial of Maya If you're dedicated to a new career in 3D and have some money behind you, then you should consider investing in Maxon's Cinema 4D. It's a professional, complex piece of software, with which you can create some show-stopping work – and it's also the app with the smallest learning curve. Perfect for creating motion graphics, Cinema 4D boasts fantastic interaction with Adobe After Effects. And there's an absolutely huge library of how-to videos online – including our list of brilliant Cinema 4D tutorials – to help you go from newbie to pro in no time. As user-friendly programs go, you won't find a better piece of 3d modelling software for beginners. Perpetual licenses for this software don't come cheap, so make sure you take advantage of the try-before-you-buy option, which gives you 42 days to experiment for free. Maxon also offers short-term and student's licenses at a reduced cost. Buy Cinema 4D Download a free trial of Cinema 4D Cinema 4D R18 review If you're after some free 3D modelling software, you won't find better than Blender. The open-source program has been around for a long time now, and subsequently has an army of highly dedicated artists, teachers and enthusiasts behind its continued development. And boy, for an open-source project, have they created something special. Blender boasts a highly impressive 3D modelling toolset, and is considered a completely viable alternative to paid modelling programs. That said, it's a bit non-standard – so if you're thinking of upgrading to more expensive software endeavours at some point, you might face a steep learning curve. But it's a brilliant starting point for checking whether 3D floats your boat (we have a host of fantastic Blender tutorials to get started with elsewhere on the site). And it's capable of producing images and animations that are on par with just about any other 3D modelling software on the market. Download Blender 3ds Max is Autodesk's PC-only professional 3D computer graphics program. When it comes to 3D modelling, like its sister software Maya, 3ds Max also has a very robust toolset. However, if you are new to or an intermediate 3D artist, 3ds Max has a huge library of different modifiers, which can make the modelling process a little easier than Maya. However, like Maya, 3ds Max also comes at a considerable cost, but students can get the software for free and there is also a trial version available for 30 days. Subscribe to 3ds Max Download a free trial of 3ds Max As long as you can export geometry from the 3D modelling software you're using, you can also use it for 3D printing. But some programs lend themselves to it better than others. ZBrush, for example, is a popular choice among artists wanting to 3D print vinyl toys and action figures. So if you're familiar with the ZBrush toolset, we'd recommend using this 3D modelling software for 3D printing. But if not, the other softwares mentioned in this list are also highly capable of producing quality 3D prints, so stick to what you know. Buy ZBrush Download a free trial of ZBrush Related articles: How to get your first CG job How to create custom rig controls in Maya How to create a video game character in ZBrush View the full article

When you're drawing creatures, it's vital that they're believable. No matter how crazy your designs become, just remember that they must always be grounded in some way – usually through anatomy – if you want to keep your audience engaged. How to develop mythical creatures Here, I'll explain some tips I've learned about how to draw believable creatures, and how you can make sure your fantasy creatures look as real as possible. 01. Thumbnail creation Have fun with shapes when you're creating thumbnails A step that's often skipped in the design process – as well as in portfolios – is the thumbnail creation process. Chances are that you won't land on your best design right out of the gate. This is where thumbnail exploration comes into play with the addition of studying real-world reference. Don't worry about details at this stage. Instead, focus on shape language and just having fun with the shapes you're creating. By doing so, your final design will be that much more thought out and believable, and it'll have your passion for the creation process shining through. 02. Keep exploring Done loads of thumnails? Great, do some more You can never do too many thumbnail sketches. This stage is vital and ensures that you're exploring as many avenues as possible. A lot of times, we'll get a specific idea in our head and think that design is the final. Although this does happen on rare occasions, chances are you're far from landing that awesome final design. Thumbnail creation will ease the process and surprise you at the same time. That's why it's so fun! 03. Look beyond the norm for ideas A strong silhouette is a sign that a thumbnail's worth developing The first thumbnail that interests me is number 16. One of the important aspects about choosing thumbnails is finding an interesting silhouette. In this case, a multi-legged creature with a strange torso excites me and I go with it. I try to find silhouettes that don't follow standard shapes, which verge on the cliché. For instance, it's common to see creatures with hulking shoulders with small heads. There's nothing wrong with that; however, I'm aiming for a non-traditional design. 04. Outside the box A mix of uniqueness and familiarity can be a good combination Number 21 intrigues me, specifically because I never intended for my creature to look like fungus. The silhouette is working because we have a familiar shape while it still looks unexpected. Whenever I sketch creatures, I try to ensure there's a uniqueness with a touch of familiarity. But I'll go into more detail about familiarity in a later tip. With this thumbnail, I explore plant shapes and try to imagine how this creature will move and eat. Let's see what the third choice brings. 05. Real-world insects combined Other-worldly shapes can be worth exploring further, too This thumbnail intrigues me because it's a mix of insect shapes. Insects have been a major influence in my creature designs. In this particular case, I use shapes from crickets and spiders. The rear legs offer a unique shape, with them bowing outward and able to support the creature's weight as well as aiding in jumping. I'm also choosing this as the third thumbnail to develop because something about it says ‘other worldly' to me. It's a shape that's not common and should offer fun possibilities. Using unexpected shapes can turn into awesome designs down the road. 06. Head exploration Look at real-world animals if you need inspiration One of the most enjoyable stages in the creature design process is head exploration. Here, I'm exploring the first round of head designs. I know that I want something insect-like and creepy. So, I begin looking at references of Earth insects and arachnids. Whenever you're stuck and don't know where to go next in the design process, just take a good look at real-world animals. They offer all of the answers and give you clarity when coming up with new designs. 07. Maintaining the shape language Try to create a set of thumbnails that speak the same shape language It's important not to limit yourself when exploring with thumbnails. So I'm doing a second round of head studies just so I have a good number of ideas. It's easy to get carried away with random shapes and not-so-believable features. With these head studies, I make sure that all of the shapes stay within a unified shape language. For instance, number 5 looks like a combination of an earthworm's head and bark from a tree. I make sure that all of the shapes taper like a worm's head and the ends look like broken bark. 08. Head design finalisation Bring across your creature's personality as you refine the head Refining the head is so much fun. This is where you can really bring the creature's personality out. Here, you can see that I go into detail about the creature's face, functions and overall aesthetic. I go into the importance of call-outs in tip 12, but here you can see they're useful for describing a functional feature. And make sure that your creature has personality. This doesn't necessarily mean facial expressions, but the skull design, eyes, mouth, muscles and overall shape are very important. 09. Establishing anatomy Apply these three stages of anatomy design to your development process, and see how far you can push the believability of your imaginary creature… A) Muscles and tissue Sketch the creature's skeleton before adding muscles When thinking about your creature's anatomy, consider the bone structure first. This stage is often forgotten because we want to jump right into the cool skin textures and muscles. I sketch the creature's skeleton on the left followed by what the muscles will look like attached to the bones on the right. Now we have a clear indication of the muscle structure in front view. The skull should be drawn before any other bones because even the skull can show personality, which dictates the facial structure later on. B) Putting the legs on show An energetic rear view can help sell your design Next, I'm painting a rear view with lots of energy so that I can see this creature in action and what muscles are helping it push off the ground, as if it were running or attacking. Rear three-quarter views are just as important as front views in selling your design, because we're not limited to just one angle. I'm fading the arms off because they aren't the focal point here – the legs are. I want to make sure the legs get the attention they deserve. C) Combining anatomy elements Working out the tendons, ligaments and muscles will pump up your creature's believability Now, I go into detail about the tendons and muscles of the arms and then juxtapose that on to my original pencil sketch. I'm choosing the arm for the close-up because it's a complex array of tendons, ligaments and muscles. If you have a certain area of your creature that needs clarification, this becomes your chance to go into detail and ramp up the believability to your design. Because I've juxtaposed the muscle rendering on top of the pencil sketch, we can now see underlying anatomy. 10. Final design This design wins because of its unique silhouette Out of the three sketches I developed earlier, I'm choosing the third ideation because of the uniqueness of the silhouette. Proportions are key because it helps solidify a design. Its arms, legs, torso and head aren't too long or too short. The shapes are just the right size so we don't question something being out of place. This creature has unique proportions so I must make sure it remains believable using real-world reference. 11. Skin texture Your creature's skin texture can help tell its story Skin texture is extremely important because it adds realism to your creation. It also gives the viewer a close look at your creature's environment, eating habits and evolution. With skin texture, I'm figuring out what type of environment my creature lives in. And with this information, I can begin to tell its story. 12. Importance of call-outs Strong call-outs can give your creatures character and purpose Call-outs enable you to explain a certain feature about your creature. Movement, weaponry and feeding are just a small numbers of features you can have for your creature. The problem I see with a lot of creature design is too many ambiguous surfaces with no real thought behind them. Calling out certain areas and explaining what they are helps make the creature more believable. I use call-outs to give my creatures a sense of purpose. 13. Energy Try to give an impression of how your creature moves Showing energy and movement gives a real sense of how your creatures moves as if it were standing in front of you. Conveying that type of realism will be helpful when you're sending your sketches off to the art director and modelling department. They need to get a real sense of how your creation will behave as a living, breathing creation. Energy brings your design to life. 14. Bring in a degree of familiarity Even the most fantastic creatures benefit from some recognisable touches Establishing familiarity means you're bringing recognisable shapes into your creature design. Indeed, this approach should be applied throughout the design process. These fantasy insect sketches are based on mood boards that feature images of different insect species, because my creature is heavily influenced by bugs. The more I paint these fantastical extrapolations of real-world creatures, the more familiar I'll be with what actually exists on Earth. This will help me create a believable creature in the end. 15. Anatomical landmarks If your anatomical skills are strong then your designs will really benefit Throughout my years of designing creatures, one aspect that I can't stress enough is developing good anatomy to support your creature design. Without accurate and believable anatomy, you might as well stop sketching your creature until you learn to study this one crucial element. One thing I tell my students is by studying the skeletal and muscular structure of today's animals, you can bring a wonderful sense of familiarity and believability to your creations all at once. 16. Final sketch Turn all your research and explorations into a single sketch I combine all of the stages of my design process into a single sketch. A side view keeps things simple and can show enough of the creature to get a sense of its proportions, textures, and build. Don't limit yourself to just doing a side view, though. A front three-quarter view is also effective and can show anatomy as well. When making your final sketch, think about what story you want to tell the audience. Is your creature believable? If so, you've done your job as a creature concept artist. This article was originally published in issue 155 of ImagineFX . The world's best-selling magazine for digital artists is packed with workshops, interviews and must-have kit reviews. Buy issue 155 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: How to design and model a fantasy creature 15 tips for creating characterful creature art Sculpt a dynamic creature pose View the full article

Whatever your organisation, you need a great website. Creating and maintaining one that suits your ever-changing needs can be difficult and expensive. Thankfully, uSkinned's starter kits are future-proof, adaptable and easy-to-use, so no matter how much your site changes, they'll grow with it. And right now, you can get 15 per cent off of your next uSkinned theme with the code 15OFFCB. Choose from a wide range of responsive themes uSkinned's themes are designed with users in mind, and make it easy for anyone to create a beautiful, professional-looking site. Whether you’re a web designer or developer, marketing professional or non-profit volunteer, run your own business or work for a digital agency, or just want to create an exceptional website, uSkinned is the perfect solution. You need a website that’s flexible and can be up and running quickly. uSkinned themes make it simple to launch a responsive content-managed site in no time – just customise the colour palette, add your logo and content, and hit publish. You’ll have a beautiful, SEO-optimised site in moments. Top tech as standard uSkinned sites are built on SEO best practice. It's easy to add metadata, as well as SEO-friendly URLs and code that will help you get to the top of the search results. That means you can keep your visitors up to date with a fully featured blog from day one. What’s more, each theme integrates seamlessly with your tech stack, including connecting with MailChimp or Campaign Monitor, or adding video from Vimeo or YouTube. Flexible configuration options for content editors Want to adapt the layout to fit your content? Every element is customisable. Make your content full-width, add columns, grids or stacked content. Need a banner that really stands out? Add movement with a video or parallax image. uSkinned’s responsive themes work seamlessly on every device, be it desktop, tablet or mobile. This means you build your site once and your users get the same great experience every time they visit, however they view the site. Code you can customise Together, uSkinned and the Umbraco CMS give you powerful functionality – but if you want to add your own stamp, the source code is fully customisable. If you have the coding skills, you can dig in and take your uSkinned site to the next level by adding your own elements. It’s in your hands. Some of the world’s leading brands are already using uSkinned Starter Kits Some of the world’s leading brands and development teams are already using uSkinned starter kits to launch amazing new websites for themselves and their clients – see for yourself with these customer success stories. Right now you can also get 15 per cent off of your next uSkinned theme – just enter the code 15OFFCB at the checkout. View the full article

Globally renowned and self-taught British product designer Tom Dixon has collaborated with Swedish furniture giant Ikea to make an innovative modular furniture system that users can customise. Described as a piece of hackable furniture, Delkatig is an open-source unit that functions as a bed straight out of the box, or it can be turned into a sofa with the help of optional bolt-ons. Fittingly, the range takes its name from the Swedish word for "involvement". The core piece of Delkatig is an affordable single bed with an aluminium frame. From here different components, or "hacks" – including armrests, backrests and a table – can be added to turn it into a sofa, or a workstation with lighting, shelving and magazine racks attached. "It's a bed first but it can turn into anything," says a press release by Tom Dixon. The range is the next logical step for Ikea, a company that has made its fortune with flatpack furniture that shoppers construct themselves. By encouraging users to customise and develop their furniture depending on their needs, Delkatig helps combat the idea that Ikea is part of a throwaway society. Collaborating with Tom Dixon is also a canny move on Ikea's behalf. As a self-taught designer, he represents the 'do it yourself' attitude its furniture is famous for. Dixon is well-known as a furniture designer thanks to his legendary S Chair, but through Delkatig, now people with more modest budgets can also have the work of a seminal designer in their home. Taking the idea of involvement even further, Ikea invited 75 Masters students from around the globe to contribute to the Delkatig hacks. Some of the hacks are available from Ikea directly, while others can be purchased from Tom Dixon's website. Related articles: Ikea print ad uses pee-responsive paper Creating new and innovative products: 4 expert tips 32 graphic designers to follow on Instagram View the full article

You're reading Best Resources for Learning Haml from Scratch, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Basic HTML is pretty simple to learn. It’s also the cornerstone of all websites and it’s a necessity for web developers of all styles. But modern preprocessors let developers write shorthand HTML to save time. One of my favorites is the Haml language running on Ruby. It can work as a Ruby templating language and it can work […] View the full article