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Here's a riddle: I take up your spare time and keep you up late. I don't thank you yet I'm extremely rewarding. What am I? Well, there are two answers here: your job or your kids. But rarely both. I've always found it interesting how few of my close friends in the creative industries have children – or at the very least, have put procreation off until much later in life. After some soul searching prior to the arrival of my first daughter in 2013, I decided the main problem is that creative people already feel they have a proxy child in the form of their work. It bleeds out into our personal lives, we're emotionally invested, and the worry is that a mewling, needful child will take up too much time for us to focus on the important stuff – usually more work. I was two years into running my studio when Holly arrived and, despite my initial misgivings, what happened next took me by surprise: I went on to have the most productive year of my career. I didn't grow up with a dad around so had very few expectations of myself as a father, but it turned out I loved it. In fact I was besotted. And immediately after she arrived, everything else – to paraphrase Fight Club – got the volume turned down. Every cover or commission I had completed suddenly felt much less important. I was still proud of my work, but the endorphins kicked in and I was at the mercy of my hormones as much as the next gushing father. Kids can disrupt your life, says Craig Ward, but not always in the way you'd expect When our second arrived in late 2016, I was in a different place entirely, creatively speaking. After five years of flying solo, I missed the support system an agency provided, and that spring I had accepted a senior vice president role at a mid-sized agency. Overall I was feeling optimistic that I would be able to balance life as a father with the demands of New York agency life. My goodness. It was a change. The money was lovely. Having a support system and art buyers and account handlers and producers (producers!) was absolutely glorious. Initially, I felt really good about my decision to go back into agency land. I am once again master of my own destiny But sure enough, the pitches went as they usually do: a late night here, a weekend there, a holiday got cancelled, the hours became longer, and the agency’s creative ambitions no longer matched my own. After a year, I was not only disenfranchised, but I was missing my family. Many evenings would go by when the kids were already in bed when I got home and I’d see them only for a snatched hour in the mornings. So last week, just before my second daughter's first birthday, I decided it wasn't worth it and resigned from my role. This is truly disastrous timing. We've just bought and renovated a house, and now I'm exposing myself to the costs and insecurities of running my own business again. In the US, this also means finding thousands of dollars for healthcare and once again, all I can see is financial outlay. But you know what? It's 3:15pm, I am once again master of my own destiny, and I'm about to head out and pick up my daughter from preschool. And I cannot wait. 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: 14 brilliantly creative gifts for kids How to break into children's illustration Studio vs freelance: The pros and cons View the full article

Creative hiring platform Easle, launched late last year, has changed the way freelancers get noticed by big brands. By vetting all talent and matching them to clients with online discovery and management tools, Easle has helped creatives avoid hefty agent fees. And as of today, Easle has added a raft of new categories to its list of disciplines. Started by Nick Gubbins (CEO) and Scott Wooden (Head of Product) in 2016, Easle uses ambassadors to review all applications to the site to maintain a high standard. Initially, Easle only catered to illustrators and graphic designers, but from today it has expanded its reach to cover photography, animation, filmmaking and product design. As well as giving opportunities to more creatives, Easle has also updated its management process with the addition of a rolodex function, team collaboration tools, plus better contract building and invoicing capabilities. In addition to stringent vetting, the platform has adopted a portfolio-first approach so candidates are judged on the strength of their work (so you might want to follow our tips to create the perfect design portfolio before you sign up). With clients like Netflix and Penguin Books, Easle is doing something right "Hiring creative talent is more than looking for checkbox skills - just because someone can use the Adobe suite doesn’t mean they’re right for the job," says Gubbins. "You need to understand their style and visual personality. Portfolios have been used to hire creative talent offline for years - but for some mad reason in tech platforms they’re not such a consideration. We’re bringing them back.” To keep up with the challenge of vetting new incoming talent, Easle has enlisted four new industry leaders to join current ambassadors Claudine O'Sullivan and Sam T Smith. The new gatekeepers include photographic director Rebecca McClelland, animator Daniel Britt, filmmaker Fred Scott, and ustwo co-founder Matt 'Mills' Miller. "What immediately drew me to Easle is the immense opportunity that the platform offers, to easily source and commission from a carefully curated pool of talent," says McClelland. "The team at Easle are looking to make the process more transparent, faster and easier by using technology whilst keeping the visual work front and centre." With its project management tools, Easle hopes to be the first answer in high quality, low cost talent sourcing. Related articles: 9 tools to make graphic design easier in 2018 4 ways to go freelance How to manage your freelance cashflow View the full article

Researchers say Smominru threat actors are in control of 500,000 node botnet and earning $8,500 daily mining for Monero cryptocurrency. View the full article

No matter what kind of artist you are, chances are good that a pencil and a piece of paper figured prominently in your early art life. Throughout my career as a character designer and visual development artist, I have learned that having a strong respect and understanding of the process and fundamentals of drawing is essential to becoming a better artist, and what's more fundamental than pencil skills? Before you start you need to decide upon the best pencil for your drawing style. Next, follow my seven fundamental tips for next-level pencil drawing, and take a look at the video above demonstrating these pencil drawing techniques in action. If this inspires you to educate yourself further, why not head over to Schoolism.com to discover courses, workshops and more? 01. Master pencil grip Think of the pencil as charcoal in a wooden sheath When I draw, I use not the tip but the side of the lead in order to maximise its utility. Holding my pencil like I would charcoal also keeps it sharper longer. When covering large areas, I shade with my pencil perpendicular to the line I'm drawing to get wide, soft lines. For details, I hold my pencil parallel to my lines to get sharp, narrow marks. The only time I use the point is when I'm working on intricate details. 02. Mix up shading techniques Shading with unified lines versus shading in patches produces a different feel I like to shade in two main ways: the first is with all of my lines going in the same direction, which makes my shading appear more cohesive. This pencil drawing technique also helps my details pop out from the lines I'm using for shading. The second method I use is working in patches, which help define shape. Patches of lines go around the form, which help keep things in perspective. This technique is also great for backgrounds and adding texture. 03. Control line weight Line weight can help define solidity and volume The next drawing technique concerns line weight. Having control over my line weight is a great way to separate objects from one another, and can help emphasise shadows. Thicker lines can fade and disappear into the shadows, which can help convey the 3D form. I try to avoid outlining my drawings because this tends to make things look flat and deadens the 3D effect. Breaks and spaces in my lines show form in the lights and shadows. 04. Build up your sketch Use light lines to explore and dark lines to commit When I start drawing, I plan and explore using loose lines, and avoid committing too early with hard, dark lines. As I progress my lines will change, so checking and rechecking my work is vital. I darken my lines and add details at the end. I don't focus on one area for too long to prevent overdrawing. When drawing something symmetrical, I focus on the spaces between the lines, and of course keep reevaluating as I go along. 05. Check and recheck Listen if your gut is telling you something is off When I've checked my drawing, I check again. I have to nail down its underpinnings before I can add details. I really avoid guessing at the details; I want to make sure things are symmetrical and look right before putting down stronger and harder lines. I constantly ask myself, does this feel right? If anything seems off – even if I can't immediately put my finger on what it is – I trust my gut and troubleshoot my drawing before continuing. 06. Prevent pencil smudges Put a piece of paper under your hand to prevent smudges This is a valuable beginner's tip: I always put a piece of paper under my hand to keep from smudging my drawing. I also like to view my drawing in a mirror, through a camera, or step away from it. This way, I can get different vantage points on my drawing and detect if anything is off. 07. Know when to finish Is this finished? Maybe… Like every other artist I know, even after I've signed my name, I will sometimes continue tinkering with my drawings. I can always find something to change if I look hard enough, so it can be difficult to tell when a piece is truly finished. But remember that a drawing can be overdone! Eventually, I make a conscious decision to put my drawing away and start something new. That's when I consider my drawing done. Well, maybe... I hope these pencil drawing techniques have helped – join in the conversation by adding your tips and tricks in the comments on Facebook or Twitter. Related articles: Create abstract backgrounds: 12 top tips Get started with ink drawing How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials View the full article

Another year has ended and the tooling landscape has become simultaneously more exciting and more complex. There are countless new libraries, frameworks, plugins, build-related tools and more released every month, each claiming to help you improve your productivity or solve a specific development problem. As developers, we’re happy to have all these options – but the sheer quantity can be paralysing. To start the year off right, we’ve done the legwork for you, weeding through 12 months worth of new releases and updates to bring you a list of 50 of the newest, most practical and exciting tools for frontend web coders, designers, and full-stack developers. This really only scratches the surface of what’s available in the complex tooling ecosystem, but we hope this variety of practical options will be of help. We’re sure there’s at least one thing in this list you’ll personally be able to experiment with, use in your next project, or even contribute to (many are open-source!). So don’t get too intimidated with how much is out there. Build stuff and use only the tools that help you be more productive and solve your development problems. Happy coding in 2018! HTML and CSS tools 01. Input Input is a visual online form builder that makes it super-easy to create responsive forms based on Bootstrap, Materialize, or Foundation. It adds framework-specific HTML classes; you simply download and insert the code into your project. 02. Runway App Style guides are big today but many developers find them tedious to build – this online WYSIWYG editor aims to help you build and host your style guides. There's also an older version of the app that enables you to build your style guide automatically via custom CSS comments. 03. CSS Grid Template Builder The CSS Grid Layout spec is gaining in popularity and now has excellent browser support. This CodePen demo lets you visually build your grid then copy and paste the generated template string used in your CSS. 04. Animista This is a really comprehensive and feature-rich online tool for building CSS animations. There are dozens of options to create custom animations including type of animation, object to animate, duration, timing function and so on. 05. postcss-normalize A useful plugin for the popular and growing CSS processor PostCSS, which helps ensure you only use the parts of Normalize.css (the well-known CSS reset alternative) that your project requires. The plugin uses your project’s browserlist string to determine which parts of Normalize.css to exclude. 06. Mavo An extension to HTML syntax that enables you to build dynamic editable websites with just HTML. Mavo uses special HTML attributes to indicate where data should be stored and which elements on the page are Mavo-enabled. 07. Topol.io Topol.io is a visual, drag-and-drop HTML email editor for creating responsive emails. The editor is easy to use and includes components for just about everything you’d want to include in an email campaign. Smaller components include useful spacers and dividers, and you can speed up the process by choosing from prebuilt themes. 08. Vivify Vivify is one of the newest drop-in CSS animation libraries, which enables you to introduce predefined animations to page elements by adding a class name to your HTML. It includes a wide variety of unique – but not overly bombastic – animations you won’t find elsewhere. 09. Sticky Bits Dependency-free alternative to using CSS’s new position: sticky feature for making elements ‘stick’ to the top of the viewport while scrolling. Includes a pixel offset setting as well as the option to stick to the bottom of the viewport. 10. multi.js A mobile-compatible, user-friendly replacement for ugly and clunky HTML select boxes that use the multiple attribute. The user clicks the desired items and they are automatically moved to one side, rather than being highlighted. This tool includes an optional search feature for select boxes with dozens or more options. Frameworks and libraries 11. Svelte This 'anti-framework' attempts to solve the problem of bloated JavaScript libraries that slow down browsers, especially on mobile. Compiling happens during build-time rather than run-time, putting minimal strain on the user experience. 12. Building Blocks From the folks behind the popular Foundation framework, this is a library of frontend UI components that can be plugged into any Foundation project. The range includes everything from full-featured kits like dashboards and blogs, to smaller components like media elements. 13. cell For a really simple alternative to more popular frameworks, this is well worth looking into. Cell doesn’t require any environment or complex toolchain and it allows you to build pages using JSON-like structure. 14. Bojler Bojler is an email framework for developing cross-client responsive email templates. It includes components for typography, buttons, hero banners, and more. It also offers utility classes for alignment and spacing – a big requirement when developing HTML email. 15. Quasar Framework Build ES6 and Vue-based responsive websites, Progressive Web Apps, hybrid mobile apps, and Electron apps using this framework and full-fledged toolchain. It includes lots of built-in components, themes, and live reload for preserving app state. 16. Keen UI Keen UI is a lightweight collection of UI components written in Vue and inspired by Material Design. It includes custom form elements, a date picker, modal window, loading and progress indicators, tabs component, tooltips, and more. Next page: The best JavaScript tools for developers 17. across-tabs A JavaScript library based on HTML5 Cross-document messaging (which has solid browser support), to enable cross-origin communication between browser tabs. Nice API with ability to get info on the tabs and write callbacks. 18. KUTE.js KUTE.js is a JavaScript animation engine with performance as its primary feature. This one grabs your attention immediately due to the gorgeous and super-smooth animation on the homepage. The API looks elegant and well worth trying out. 19. Waypoints Scrolling animations and interactions are in demand in many layouts today. This library, available for jQuery, Zepto, or in vanilla JavaScript, is the easiest way to trigger a function when you scroll to an element on the page. 20. Siema A lightweight carousel plugin with no styling, so you can easily adjust it to match your brand’s needs. It includes some easy to use optional settings and has dragging and touch-enabled swiping. 21. Muuri A JavaScript API for responsive, sortable, filterable, and drag-and-drop Masonry/Packery-style grid layouts. The demos are really nice and there are lots of options available to customise the grid for different layout types. 22. Progressively This new option for a lazy-load library for progressive loading of images as a user scrolls. Offers a throttle setting for improving performance, image load delay, and callback functions. 23. Infinite Scroll This is an old tool but it’s been rewritten for version 3. The new version includes URL changes while scrolling, no jQuery dependency, and lots of optional settings via a clean API. 24. Timeline.js A jQuery plugin with a twist on the carousel component. Timeline.js has been designed specifically to enable you to create a carousel timeline (i.e. a slider that progresses based on chronological points) with lots of visual and functional customisation options. 25. Push Library to implement cross-browser Push Notifications (which are still not widely supported). Some browsers use older versions of the spec, or the Notifications API instead of Push, which this library attempts to normalise. 26. Draggable A drag-and-drop library that abstracts native browser events into a comprehensive API to help build a custom drag-and-drop experience. Draggable includes modules for Sortable (to reorder elements), Droppable (define where items can be dropped), and Swappable (for swapping elements). 27. Hyperform The complete implementation of HTML5’s native form validation API in JavaScript. This tool replaces or polyfills the browser’s native methods and makes it easier to validate forms using custom events and hooks. 28. SweetAlert2 A fork of the original SweetAlert, this is a replacement for native JavaScript popups like alert() and confirm(). The modals are attractive, responsive, customisable, and accessible. 29. SentinelJS A neat utility that uses CSS selectors to detect new DOM nodes. For example, when a specific type of element is added to the DOM (e.g. the <section> element), you can customise that element as soon as it’s added. Next page: React tools; Testing and coding tools React tools 30. React Datasheet An Excel-like spreadsheet component you can integrate into your React apps. Includes the ability to add formulas when a cell is edited (based on math.js) and the ability to add components like drop-down lists and buttons into the cells. 31. React Native for Web This tool brings the platform-agnostic components and APIs of React Native to the web. Components include activity indicators, buttons, progress bars, toggle switches, scrollable views, and much more. 32. Reactide Reactide is described as “the first dedicated IDE for React web application development”. It's a cross-platform desktop app that will enable you to quickly render projects with no build or server configuration, reducing the complexity of building React apps. 33. React Studio This is a visual design tool that outputs clean, high-quality React projects, without coding. You can draw graphics or import from Sketch and build React components based on the designs. A really gutsy project, and worth looking into if you're a non-coder. 34. ORY Editor A React- and Redux-based mobile-friendly content editor that you can plug into your site for rich content editing. It was originally built for a large open education platform in Germany, so the component is robust and easy to use. Testing and coding tools 35. Terminus This native terminal app available for Windows, Mac, or Linux includes theme and colour scheme options, configurable hotkeys, and lots more. It's apparently “designed for people who need to get things done”. 36. CodeSandbox An online code editor enabling you to build web apps in React, Vue, Preact and Svelte. The interface includes a split view, Prettify, GitHub integration, and a dependency management panel to add npm packages. 37. Myjson A simple JSON store for your app that offers a CORS-enabled and SSL-supported API. Has the ability to generate a URL with your custom JSON data, or you can save the JSON to a page on the Myjson server via the website. 38. CSS in JS Playground The CSS-in-JavaScript thing is pretty hot right now. This playground enables you to examine and experiment with the code for various CSS-in-JS libraries, live in your browser. 39. PWABuilder Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are a huge part of what is helping the web to compete with mobile. This online tool helps you put together the different parts of a PWA, including the Web Manifest and Service Worker. 39. Vue.js devtools This Chrome or Firefox extension adds a ‘Vue’ panel to your browser’s developer tools. This will then assist you in debugging pages and apps built with Vue.js, the popular JavaScript UI framework. 40. GitHub for Atom Atom, the popular code editor, now has Git and GitHub integration available via this package. GitHut for Atom enables you to work with branches, staging, commits, deal with conflicts, and more. The package is bundled with Atom 1.18 and up. 41. Octobox GitHub notifications aren’t useful, especially if you manage multiple projects. Octobox corrects some of the weaknesses inherent in GitHub’s notification system by using repo activity for archiving and unarchiving of the notifications. 42. Netlify CMS CMS for static sites, which seems to be all the rage right now. Enables collaborators to create, edit, review, and publish content without writing code or dealing with version control. The React-based core acts as a wrapper for Git. 44. Lighthouse Google’s automated tool for analysing page quality. Lighthouse enables you to test public or password-protected sites for performance, accessibility, and Progressive Web Apps. View your reports online, share them in JSON format, or as GitHub gists using Lighthouse Report Viewer. 45. Micro Micro is a terminal-based, configurable text editor. It's available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and aims to be easy to use while also taking advantage of the full capabilities of modern terminals. Available features include multiple cursors, strong mouse support and automatic linting. Next page: Media tools 46. BigPicture JavaScript-based lightbox designed for images and video, with built-in loading indicator and captions. Supports YouTube, Vimeo, and direct HTML5 video. Includes error handling for times when a media item doesn’t load. 47. Pasition A path transition and animation library with a clean API using minimal JavaScript. Pasition can render your shapes to Canvas, SVG, or WebGL and has support for all SVG path commands (moveto, lineto, and so on). 48. Feather Feather is a beautiful, simple, and extensive set of open-source icons in SVG format. Includes options for pretty much any navigation element or UI widget. 49. AmplitudeJS A modern JavaScript HTML5 audio player that gives you total design control, plus playlist features, callback functions, events, and live stream capabilities. The examples page is worth checking out to see the player’s design and functional flexibility. 50. svgi Command-line based SVG inspection tool that inspects the content of SVG files. Provides information about the file, the elements in the SVG and hierarchy. It can also be integrated into a project as a dependency to examine SVG in scripts. This article appears in net magazine issue #302. Buy it now or subscribe. Related articles: 10 rules of great user experience 18 top CSS animation examples The 5 biggest UX design trends for 2018 View the full article

Mario and Lugi are heading for the big screen after Universal’s Illumination Entertainment reached an agreement with Nintendo to produce a feature-length film. Nintendo confirmed the film in a tweet in the early hours of this morning, adding that it will be co-produced by Shigeru Miyamoto,creator of the Mario series of video games, and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri. It’s one of the highest-profile licensing deals by a Hollywood studio in years, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier. The project is the latest move by the Japanese game company to diversify its earnings in different revenue streams. Pokémon characters appeared in the wildly popular AR game Pokémon Go, while in 2015 Nintendo agreed that Universal Universal Parks and Resorts could build attractions based on Nintendo characters. A Nintendo-themed area of Universal’s Osaka theme park is planned to coincide with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Earlier this week, Nintendo reported its biggest third-quarter operating profit in eight years. Of course, this isn’t the first time the iconic plumber brothers have starred in a film series. A 1993 live action film featuring Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo – described by its director as “a harrowing experience” – bombed at the box office. Thankfully, Nintendo is sticking to animation this time. A release date has yet to be announced. View the full article

Young people today have a huge advantage when it comes to digital – as natives who have grown up surrounded with the internet, Wi-Fi and smartphones, they live and breathe mobile communications. But being properly equipped to get a job in digital doesn't always come so naturally. I'm often asked what skills are needed to work in a digital agency, and how can one go about preparing for a career in this rapidly evolving industry? 5 tips to give you the edge when job hunting A career in digital doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a Photoshop genius or that you can code in your sleep. Successful teams are made up of all sorts of disciplines, and people come from all sorts of backgrounds with complementary skill sets. Some of the skills that I prioritise when looking to take on new individuals are: Good listening skills Clear communication Able to manage own time Proactive idea suggestions Problem-solving skills Good listening skills We don't look for all of those skills in everyone we take on, of course. More than anything, we're looking for individuals who are passionate about what they do. You can teach skills like programming, frontend development and project management, but passion is just something that's there. You can cultivate it, encourage it and foster a conducive environment, but ultimately it comes down to the individual. If you've got an eye for detail, you may have noticed I listed good listening skills twice (give yourself a biscuit if you did). That's for good reason. My experience in this industry has taught me that if you don't listen closely to your client then you might as well pack up and go home. There's a surprising amount of psychology at work in successful digital agencies, and often you can tell a great deal from what someone doesn't say. Watch a good crime TV series or movie – the cops always let people talk at length, and that's how they uncover the truth. In an average digital creative agency you can expect to find some really varied folk who are not easily defined by their job title. There are those who excel in planning and organising people and projects (usually project managers), those who love interacting with existing and new clients (as client or account managers), those who eat and sleep pixel perfection (the UI or graphic designers) and those who feel perfectly at home up to their necks in code (web and mobile developers). Rigid job titles, however, are becoming less of a 'thing', so don't be put off if you don't feel you fit into one way of working. If you're handy with InDesign and Illustrator, but also love delving into Google Analytics then fantastic, make sure this is highlighted on your resume. Tailor your resume A lot of CVs/resumes land on my desk during an average week. A few are interesting, concise and creative. Many are dull carbon-copy templates that describe the candidate as "a hard-working, enthusiastic individual who works well in a team and thrives under pressure" (if I had a pound for every time…). I've got pretty good at quickly filtering through these CVs and finding the real individuals, the genuinely stand-out people who are worth following up on. Frequently, I'll turn it straight over and read the very last paragraph, because this is the interesting part. This is where everyone writes about their hobbies and interests, but this is one of the best bits! This is where I discover the kind of person you are, not just the things you've done. If we're going to be working in the same room every day I want to know about your love for photography, your collection of porcelain frogs or your YouTube channel where you review Japanese confectionery. My opinion is that you could do a lot worse than tell me about your passions right at the start of your resume. 5 tips for getting a digital job So, some practical advice for getting into the digital creative industry: 01. Discover your passion You can't learn passion – you just have it. Find the thing that excites you and pour your energy into it. 02. Do stuff in your own time You may not have a huge portfolio of commercial work you've created, but you can show off work you've completed on your own. For certain roles, it doesn't matter if you haven't worked on a 'live' project, but it's much better to show something over nothing. Try analysing new advertising campaigns, websites or apps – redesign them or detail how you'd approach it differently. If design isn't your thing, tell me how you'd improve it through code, or how you'd plan out the project. 03. Make your resume stand out Research has indicated that it takes just six seconds for an employer to make a decision from looking at a CV/resume. With this in mind you have to work hard to make yours last longer on someone's desk. If you're going to post it or hand deliver it, make sure it's printed on good quality paper, covers no more than two sides of paper and includes a short covering letter. Beyond this, make sure it conveys your unique personality. If all else fails, learn from the dude who disguised himself as a donut delivery man to get past reception, and pasted his CV inside a box of donuts – genius! 04. Cultivate your own digital presence Chances are you're on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. Make sure the content you're creating or sharing is the kind of thing you'd want a potential employer to see. If you've shown an interest in us as an agency, don't think I won't come looking for you online to see what image you're projecting. 05. Practice makes perfect Lastly, if you're successful in securing a job interview, make sure you're prepared. Ask a friend to test you with some example questions. Do your research on the company - look them up on every social media channel you can find. It's also good to find a common point of connection – if you can find out who you'll be meeting with, find out about them; do you both have a cat? A shared hobby? Went to the same school? These last few sound weird, but are no less important - give a good handshake, keep eye contact (not all the time - you're not a snake), smile and don't talk too fast. The only other thing I'd suggest is make sure you have questions to ask your interviewer - it shows you're interested, engaged and curious. This article was originally published 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. Illustration by Kym Winters Related articles: The dos and don'ts of perfect portfolio sites 15 free resume templates 20 tips for design interview success View the full article

Much of the guidance available to young, aspiring creatives is a feedback loop of inane maxims and idle advice, constantly spinning the same strained clichés. Craig Oldham's new book makes a genuine and honest attempt to bridge the gap between graduates and the creative industry. It covers education, portfolios, freelancing, salaries and how much you should be charging. Oldham is completely honest about the good, and the bad, in your chosen career path. And because all great ideas start in the pub, the book is printed on beermat board in neon ink. Oh Sh*t What Now? is published in April 2018, but we have five copies to give away, worth £17.99 each. How to enter For your chance to win a copy, simply tweet @ComputerArts using the hashtag #HonestAdvice, including the most brutally honest piece of advice you have either given, or received, as a designer. We want you to catch our attention, make us laugh and/or make us think. Be creative! We must receive your tweet (remember to use #HonestAdvice) by Tuesday 3 April 2018 (midnight GMT), and our five favourites (based on the criteria above) will be selected as the winners, and notified within two weeks. Good luck! Terms and conditions Entrants must be aged 18+. Judges’ decision is final. Entries to be submitted on Twitter via @ComputerArts using #WhatNow? by midnight GMT on Tuesday 3 April 2018. Twitter has no liability in connection with the competition. Read full competition rules View the full article

Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are standard for photo editing and more. To be the best artist you can be, you need to know how to make the most out of these powerful tools. You can learn how with the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle, on sale now for just $19 (approx. £14) for a limited time. Whether you’re a designer looking to pick up some time-saving tricks or a creative person hoping to learn how to turn your hobby into a career, you’ll find the information you need in this eight-course bundle. You’ll gain a better understanding of fundamentals and can work your way up through the 41 hours of instruction on the most useful features of Photoshop and Lightroom – including layers, filters, and much more. A lifetime membership to the Ultimate Adobe Photo Editing Bundle usually retails for $566. Right now, you can get it on sale for just $19 (approx. £14) thanks to a special price drop. It’s an unbeatable price for in-depth courses on the programs and techniques you need to know best. 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: 12 top Photoshop resources 60 free Photoshop actions 95 top Photoshop tutorials View the full article

Inspiration is essential for every creative person. If you are in the right mood, it can come from almost anywhere. However, when you feel tired or distracted, your imagination may need additional sources to get inspiration from. Brilliant design portfolios to inspire you Having scoured the internet, we've collected a selection of what we think are the best apps to give your inspiration a boost. So, if you sometimes feel a lack of positive emotion or suffer from creative block, download these amazing apps and you'll find something outstanding. For an extra boost, take a look at our articles on the best iPad apps for designers, the best free Android apps for creatives and the best art apps for painting and drawing. 01. Coolors Find a colour palette in seconds $1.99/£1.99 Coolors is a super-popular app that does its one thing extremely well: it generates colour palettes. If you're having trouble finding the right aesthetic for your design, simply hit the spacebar to scroll through Coolors' collection of colour palettes. You can then adjust the temperature and hue, and export your palette in a number of different formats. As well as an iOS app ($1.99/£1.99), you can now use Coolors as a Chrome extension ($1.99/£1.29) or plug it into Photoshop CC or Illustrator CC ($5). It was designed, developed and is maintained by one man – Fabrizio Bianchi – and has amassed over 320,000 users. 8 free apps for picking a colour scheme 02. Fabulous Develop a healthier lifestyle Free Award-winning app Fabulous aims to help you form healthy habits. Use it to increase your energy levels, sleep better, and generally become healthier – all of which are conducive to getting your creative juices flowing. While there are lots of apps around that are geared towards forming healthy habits, this one is backed up by actual science (it was incubated in Duke's Behavioral Economics Lab, we're told). Available for iOS or Android. 03. Facebook Local Get out and about Free Facebook has updated its events app and relaunched it as Facebook Local. Everyone knows that there's only so much inspiration you can glean from sitting at your desk – getting out and about and interacting with people is a top way to get fresh ideas. This app includes an interactive map you can use to find events and activities happening near you, and filter them down by time, category, location and more. It also offers recommendations based on what's popular with your friends, so you might discover something new. 04. Oak Try meditation Free Perhaps the best way to fill your mind with wonderful new ideas is to first clear it of any niggles, stresses and worries. Oak is a meditation app based around techniques that have been practiced for centuries. It offers guided meditation sessions of different lengths (got a deadline? Perhaps go for the 10-minute option), as well as yogic breathing exercises to help calm you. 05. Windy $0.99/£0.99 Meditation is great, but nothing beats a good night's sleep for helping focus your mind. Windy masks unwanted noise with high-quality wind sounds recorded in psychoacoustic 3D, accompanied by mesmerising parallax 3D illustrations. Featuring natural wind recordings in partnership with Emmy-award winning nature sound recordist Gordon Hempton, it's a cool alternative to a white noise generator. Also great for drowning out annoying colleagues so you can apply yourself to the task at hand. 06. Frax HD $1.99/£1.99 It's hard to beat the sight of a lovely rendered fractal image, and all the more so when it's animated, allowing you to dive down into it to reveal ever more details. Frax HD does exactly that and more: you can choose different fractals, adjust the texturing, lighting and colour settings, and best of all you can set everything in motion and steer your way through the fractal landscape by tilting your device. Best viewed on a recent iPhone or iPad Air, it's a psychedelic delight that'll get your inspiration glands firing. 07. Bicolor $1.99/£1.99 Bicolor is a perfect choice for those who want to give their brains a workout with a puzzle game, but can't stand the cluttered, frenetic interface that often comes with it. As you'd expect from its name, Bicolor is a game app in only two colours. Enjoy over 240 puzzles to kickstart your cranial activity. If you have a client who wants to have something unusual, install this app and let the ideas flow into your mind. 08. Monument Valley 2 Monument Valley's Escher-esque world is hard to resist $4.99/£4.99 The follow-up to ustwo's smash hit from 2014, and featuring the same dreamy aesthetic, Monument Valley 2 is a game with some serious design credentials. In this version, you journey through surreal worlds with a mother and daughter, navigating impossible geometry and optical illusions. Take a 10-minute break, explore, and marvel in the incredible design. 09. Inkflow Visual Notebook Free One more great app to help you arrange your thoughts and generate a mind-blowing project: Inkflow Visual Notebook combines the feel of pen-and-paper note-taking with the flexibility of digital. Take notes within the app, then scale and move your notes about to organise them into a coherent page. It's ideal for brainstorming your next big idea. 10. Yummly Yummly will get you cooking delicious new recipes Free An empty stomach is the enemy of a busy mind – focusing on being creative when your stomach is growling for attention is almost impossible. Yummly to the rescue – this popular recipe app displays photos of amazing dishes together with delicious recipes. Choose what you want to cook, the app will generate a shopping list with the ingredients, and show the number of calories and the amount of time you'll spend on cooking. Related articles: The 28 best iPhone apps for designers 6 ways to get out of your creative rut 7 underrated apps for freelance creatives View the full article

Being synthetic, acrylic paints can tend towards a somewhat plastic texture and feeling – especially if you attempt to emulate oil paint by applying the pigment thickly. Things can quickly become glue-like and frustrating. I work around this by treating the acrylic as the water-based medium it is, building up many thin layers of subtle colours. It requires patience, but the results can be gorgeous, and you can achieve much more lively and compelling skin tones. The key to this painting technique is to keep the pigment very thin on the brush – barely there at all. I mix the paint very thinly as well, and often wipe everything from the brush. A wet palette is vital when mixing, but even though this is a wet effect, I call it 'dusting', because the final result can have a soft, powder-like texture. Each quick wash can have a great effect, and the more you add, the richer the effect. Tight control of your palette can help control things as you progressively stack the washes. Naturally, it's important to allow drying time between washes so that successive applications of colour don't damage the previous ones. Those drying times are fairly short, though, since the layers are so thin. Be patient. Follow these steps for thinly washed acrylic skin tones. 01. Draw faint pencil outlines Two coats of gesso and a soft pencil 'Dusting', as I call it, works best on a gessoed composite panel board – it absorbs fast and can take a fair bit of abuse. I do a pencil sketch on two coats of gesso, using my father's old mechanical pencil and a 2B/4B lead. Then I use a kneaded eraser to lift most of the pencil back off. 02. Lay down a thin wash Build up your base I then cover the entire board with a thin wash of Ultramarine and Burnt Umber. This seals the pencil from smearing any more, and I find the colour is a nice base for building skin tones on. I use a wide flat brush and try to create interesting marks to lie beneath everything. 03. Build lightness and darkness Get the values nailed down at this stage Now I block in the values (lightness or darkness), using the same mix but adding some Titanium White for more opacity. Even in the darkest areas, it is still very thin! At this stage I want to nail down the values so that in the next phase I can think about colour alone. 04. Finish the colour Now you can concentrate on skin tones For skin tones, I use a very light wash of Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow Light, with Venetian Red and Titanium White added to alter temperature (Venetian Red is ideal here as it's so easily pushed warm or cool). I keep more saturated colours near the shadow transition edges. This article was originally published in issue 1 of Paint & Draw magazine, the magazine offering tips and inspiration for artists everywhere. Buy back issues of Paint & Draw here. Related articles: How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials 5 things you need for oil painting How to draw movement: 16 top tips View the full article

You're reading WordPress 4.6.3 is Delayed; WooCommerce 3.3 Ready to Roll, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Initially scheduled for Jan. 30, the release of WordPress 4.9.3 was rescheduled for Feb. 5. A delayed RC and, subsequently, a short testing window are the reason behind this delay. Stability is a critical element of the WordPress ecosystem, so the more thorough testing, the better. JShint Removed From Official Repository So, what’s new in […] View the full article

What's the problem? We have all had that moment when the announcement comes in: your favourite movie from yesteryear is getting a reboot/remake. How can they do it! How can they mess with your favourite characters? I have been there too, but I have also been on the other end, being responsible for the designs of reimagined loved characters such as Shredder and Turtles from TMNT, Pinhead from Hellraiser, the BETAS from Videodrome and many more sworn to secrecy. If done right a reboot of a design can add to the richness of the franchise, but if done wrong it can kill any future plans of expanding the world and evoke a mass of fan hatred. The one thing to get right above all else, above any detailing or fundamental design elements, is the tone. If you nail the tone early on that is half the battle, so you need to ask yourself a few questions before you start. Man-At-Arms If reimagining characters for a movie, are you creating this for a movie you would go and see now, or a movie you would have seen when you were 14 or so? What are the iconic elements that made this character so appealing in the first place? Break them down to their fundamental basics. Finally, how far are you willing to push it? To put my process to the test I set out to reimagine a whole series of characters that were due a major update – characters I admired for the sheer imagination and bold design elements. To make it as challenging as possible I chose cartoon characters, specifically those from popular 1980's cartoon series. I started with Man-At-Arms, one of the main protagonists from Masters of the Universe. Tone For this piece I decided the tone would need to fit the essence of the character, not the spectrum of its initial audience. So it would no longer appeal to children, but would more than likely appeal to fans of Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian (1982 version), Star Wars, Batman and so on. Yet I didn’t want a superhero look; he should retain the medieval feel of the character mixed with its own unique technological style. You are in essence world-building with an initial image. The iconic elements broke down to the helmet shape and armour colour (although I muted the colours somewhat to add realism). An older face, war torn, the face of experience and knowledge. To add more to the 'older' feel I moved away from any kind of superhero pose, instead adopting a poignant contemplation piece. This in itself adds to the tone and brings out his personality. Other iconic elements were the chest piece and mouth guard, both now given function as well as form. They serve as defence elements and you see how each piece of armour works in conjunction with the tech. The fur on his back is a nod to the medieval vibe the cartoon often portrayed. You start with a tone piece, and from here you can go back and start to design full profile shots, costume design details and so on and so fourth. As long as your tone is right and you have a mood image like this, it will keep you on track going forward. More from Paul at Vertex Paul Gerrard is a freelance artist for movies, TV and games, currently working on Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen. He specialises in creatures, characters, aliens and world tech, creating photorealistic 2D concept art alongside the sculpture and 3D model process. He was described by the showrunner of The Shannara Chronicles (of which he designs all the antagonists) as a conceptual visionary who consistently produces work of mind-bending originality. He will be presenting a character concept workshop at Vertex, so come along to learn from a master and take your work to the next level. Make sure you get your chance to be there for the discussion, as well as the workshops, recruitment fair and all the other activities we have throughout the day. Visit the Vertex site to book your tickets, from the free expo ticket to the access all areas passes. We look forward to seeing you there! Related content Create a lava lamp in KeyShot The ethics of digital humans Scott Ross at Vertex View the full article

Black Friday is a fantastic time for designers and artists to pick up a bargain on creative hardware, software and resources. According to marketing firm SaleCycle, 91 per cent of top UK retailers and 81 per cent of US retailers offered Black Friday deals and promotions in 2017 – that’s a lot of savings to be had, if you know where to look. The problem is, often we don't. And it's easy to feel lost in the deluge of discounts, come the big day. So how can you get the best Black Friday deals in 2018 as a designer, artist or creative? And when is it, this year, anyway? Here’s everything you need to know about Black Friday… When is Black Friday 2018? This year, Black Friday falls on 23 November 2018, with Cyber Monday following on the 26 November. Always held the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Traditionally Black Friday was a one-day brick-and-mortar juggernaut of sales, with Cyber Monday later conceived by savvy marketeers to extend the sales period online. These days, Black Friday is of course a huge online event as well. The spending bonanza has morphed into a 'Black November' in recent years, with many major retailers leaking money-saving deals throughout the month. Amazon, for example, officially opened its Black Friday Deals Store on the 17 November in 2017, a week before Black Friday started. We also saw plenty of deals creeping through before that – and a lot of rock-bottom deals in the days after Cyber Monday, too. Black Friday: where to find the biggest savings So where to look for real bargains? Well, the best Black Friday deals on creative hardware and software tend to come from third-party retailers – rather than directly from manufacturers like Apple or Wacom. That said, Microsoft slashed the cost of its Surface family of tablets for Black Friday 2017, and we saw big tech bargains on the Dell website too. Some of the biggest savings last year across the board, however, came from Amazon and eBay. Certainly this is where you need to be if you're in the market for a new drawing tablet – and there were fantastic bargains to be found on desktops, laptops, 4K monitors, computer mice, keyboards and more. Whether you’re interested in perusing Black Friday deals directly on the websites of the most reputable retailers, sign-up for early Black Friday alerts or do some early product research, here are the links you need… Black Friday deals 2018: retail links US: Black Friday retail links Amazon | eBay | Newegg | Jet Black | Microsoft | Dell | Walmart | B&H Photo | GameStop | Toys R Us UK: Black Friday retail links Amazon | eBay | Microsoft | Dell | Very.co.uk | John Lewis | Currys | Argos | Tesco | AO.com | Carphone Warehouse | Mobiles.co.uk | ASOS How to get the best Black Friday deals in 2018 We’ll be curating the very best Black Friday deals for creatives right here again this year, so bookmark this page and keep checking back in November. But there are some other pro tips you can follow for bagging big Black Friday bargains, too. 01. Do your research The best way to avoid getting a bad deal is to do your research first. You need to be knowledgeable about the product – and its normal retail price. Draw up a list of items you might like to purchase over Black Friday, read the reviews, research the best manufacturers, and make sure you know the difference between a good and bad version of that product. 02. Compare prices It’s always a good idea to compare prices, so use price-comparison internet shopping sites like PriceGrabber.com for insight where you’re looking at product prices. 03. Check the extras And make sure you check the specs: are you looking at a low or high-specced product for this price? Does it come with accessories? What about post and packaging charges? 04. Consider payment options Another tip is to think about how you’re paying. While we don’t suggest racking up huge credit cards bills with big interest rates, many credit cards do offer benefits like free warranties, return protection and sale price protection – which are worth bearing in mind. 05. Get an Amazon Prime subscription Prime users (including all those on a free trial) are offered an exclusive 30-minute early access period to all Amazon Lightning Deals. If you don't already have one, an Amazon Prime subscription will set you back £79/$99 per year. 06. Know the best days to buy Adobe has crunched the numbers to put together a handy guide revealing the best days to buy different products, and also which products are more likely to run out on which days. Apparently, Thanksgiving is the best time to grab a bargain on computers – you’re likely to save 16 per cent, on average – but it’s also the day popular tablets and televisions are most likely to be out of stock. Black Friday, meanwhile, is the best day to save on tablets and televisions (on average 24 per cent), with computers most likely to be out of stock. Today’s best deals on the best creative kit Related articles: The best laptop deals for designers The best Macbook and MacBook Pro deals The best Wacom tablet deals View the full article

Do you have a personal creative project – but not enough time to dedicate to it? The Adobe Creative Residency programme could be just what you're after. Each year, Adobe empowers a handful of talented creatives by supplying them with tools, advisors and enough financial compensation to follow their creative passions for a full 12 months. The company has just opened its doors to applicants for the 2018-2019 programme – and for the first time ever, creatives from the UK can take part, too. Adobe is looking for creatives in the early stages of their career who will be able to make the Creative Residency their focus for an entire year. Get Adobe Creative Cloud now If that sounds like you, you have until 25 February to submit your application. You'll be following in the footsteps of celebrated artist and designer Kelli Anderson, who created This Book Is a Camera – a pop-up book that functions as a working camera. Watch what last year's chosen candidates got out of the residency programme in the video below. The 2018-2019 programme builds on the success of its first three years and has a focus on photography, digital drawing and painting, graphic design, UI/UX design, and short-form online videos. To make your pitch, you'll need to put together a proposal that demonstrates your work, as well as describing the goals you think the programme will help you accomplish. An outline of how the project builds on your work will set your application apart from the pack, plus it's also a good idea to describe the tools you'll need and the workflow of your project. Prospective candidates are also expected to share three previous projects and links to their online portfolio and/or Behance page. For a full explanation of how to prepare your proposal and a link to the Adobe Creative Residency application form, head over to the Adobe blog. You'll also find useful links to the portfolios of previous successful candidates. Related articles: Adobe’s new Photoshop CC tool detects objects in a click 60 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials Review: Adobe After Effects CC 2018 View the full article

Illustrators have long enjoyed a love affair with screen printing. Aside from being a creatively fulfilling process, screen printing can also open new revenue streams – with illustrators able to sell multiple limited-edition prints for art lovers' interiors without a huge price tag. Read our review: Screenprinting: The Ultimate Studio Guide The screen print medium is perfect for illustrators to explore through side projects, running alongside freelance or full-time work. Fresh and experimental ideas can be explored, and then sold via your personal website, Etsy, within galleries or elsewhere online. If you'd like to try it yourself, check out Get Started with Screen Printing. In the meantime, here are some great examples of screen printing to inspire you... 01. Rose Blake This print is a tribute to Phil Everly from Everly Brothers Rose Blake is a graduate from Kingston University and the Royal College of Art. She has gone on to become part of the This Is It collective and runs the website Studio Music. Her hand pulled screen prints are characterised by a whimsical drawing style that packs plenty of wit and sincerity. 02. Joe Wilson Joe Wilson's hand drawn print make clever use of etching and overlaying Joe Wilson honed his print skills at Leeds Metropolitan University and went on to develop a style that harks back to woodcut printing. Thanks to a keen attention to detail he has scooped awards and landed commissions from a range of big brands. This piece, Birds Overlay, is a prime example of his draftsmanship and creativity in action. 03. Holly Wales The print is split into four parts to achieve a sense of voyeurism Holly Wales is a London based artist who describers herself as an "illustrator and educator". Her prints are mainly based on hand drawn illustrations that are built up with multiple colourful layers. This print inspired by the 1967 film The Graduate showcases how Wales can combine different elements into one strong overall composition. 04. Steve Wilson This Polaroid camera appealed to Wilson thanks to its intricate details Often found trawling through the vintage shops of Brighton for inspiration, Steve Wilson has an eye for the experimental. He describes his work as being "somewhere between pop and psychedelia", and it's easy to see what he means in this shockingly vibrant print of a Polaroid camera. We can't help but admire how long it must have taken to line up this intricate print. 05. Ben Rider This print is Rider's interpretation of Aguirre, The Wrath of God by Werner Herzog Ben Rider's punk inspired prints are bursting with energetic colours thrown together with a pleasingly rough composition. His distinctive style has seen him work for the likes of Film 4, Heineken and Samsung, yet he still finds the time to teach. By creating work by hand Rider hopes to stand out from what he describes as a homogenised slick corporate world. 06. Clare Halifax Flat patterns predominate in Clare Halifax's screen prints Having studied both printed textile design and printmaking, Clare Halifax's screen prints combine her interest in textiles with her highly detailed drawings of architectural landscapes around Britain. Flat patterns always feature in Clare's limited edition screen prints evoking visual elements such as sea and sky. Clare's prints are sold internationally and in galleries and shops across Britain. 07. Alice Pattullo Alice Pattullo's prints evoke a wonderful sense of British history Using screen printing as a predominant medium, Alice Pattullomakes work that is inspired by British folk and superstition as well as mid-century design. Her illustrations have a wonderful sense of Britishness within a historical context. Her illustrations are often quirky with a rich sense of muted colour, often combining a love of typography with narrative storytelling. 08. Katja Spitzers Katja Spitzers' line drawings are humorous and endearing Katja Spitzers is Berlin-based illustrator working mainly as an editorial illustrator in her home country but also producing screen prints for the likes of Nobrow Press and numerous international galleries. She is a versatile illustrator working across many mediums but is well known for her nieve line drawings which are often humorous and endearing. Here is a beautiful example of her recent screen printed calendar. 09. Stuart Kolakovic Stuart Kolakovic's work is inspired by Eastern European folk art Represented by Heart agency, Stuart is a UK-based illustrator who is inspired by his Eastern European heritage and all its folk art implications. Most aspects of his work include narratives of weird and wonderful characters and strange mystical animals, rich in pattern and form. His screen prints are vivid in colour, beautifully composed and much coveted. 10. Ping Zhu Ping Zhu's screen prints have an air of 1950s illustration for children about them Ping Zhu is a Brooklyn, New York-based illustrator. Her work has a hint of 1950s illustration for children and benefits from clever and inventive use sweeping brush marks. She currently has a screen print for sale at Nobrow Press, to which she is an occasional contributor. 11. Peter Blake Peter Blake's work combines contrasting imagery from different eras Famous for his pop art of the '60s, Peter Blake is as relevant now as he was then. He now produces mainly collage-based screen print juxtaposing imagery from contrasting times and eras in one quirky and whimsical image. His prints sell internationally and can be found in limited editions in galleries and online. Also read: The best collage maker tools 12. Nicholas John Frith There's a childhood feel to the screen print work of Nicholas John Frith Nicholas John Frith works as an editorial illustrator for the likes of The Wall Street Journal and Penguin Books, and alongside his day job also produces an ongoing series of screen prints. Often just using two muted colours, these prints have a childhood feel, with animals, woods and fairytale characters all common themes. 13. Luisa Uribe We love this interpretation of Little Red Riding hood by Colombian artist Luisa Uribe Luisa Uribe lives and works in Bogota, Colombia since graduating from the University of Loughborough in the UK. She works prominently for children in her home country. Whilst working at The London Print Club she produced this fantastic screen print of Little Miss Riding Hood, using just red and blue to create an interesting graphic overlap in two contrasting forms of wolf and girl. 14. Laurie Hastings Laurie Hastings is renowned for her intricate, line-drawn screen prints Living and working in London, Laurie Hastings combines her intricate line drawings of people and places with the process of printmaking, often using just one colour in a dreamy and delicate repetition of pattern within natural environments. 15. Ester Mcmanus The screen prints of Ester Mcmanus have a slightly scary edge to them Ester Mcmanus is mainly a comic book illustrator working and living in the UK. Her prints have a fantastic edge, slightly scary and compelling with a rich use of pattern and graphic sensibilities. Fairy tale like scenes and odd creatures and characters to create intriguing visual narratives. Related articles: 10 pro tips for better T-shirt designs 60 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials 7 biggest illustration trends of 2018 View the full article

You're reading Free Cryptocurrency Icon Packs, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Some say it is a universal fraud, nothing more than hype; others consider it to be not just our future but already our present. Whether you like it or not, cryptocurrency has become a part of our life. So, in this showcase, we have decided to include the best designer free cryptocurrency icon packs that […] View the full article

Researchers have discovered critical vulnerabilities in Zoho’s ManageEnging suite that can lead to data loss and possible remote code execution. View the full article

Script fonts: high-end, elegant, a quick way to add a touch of class to a design, right? Except often they're not. Tainted by a number of questionable typefaces, a cloudy history of illegibility and wedding invitation abuse, the reputation of the stylish script font has taken a knock in recent years. Yet amid the scrawl, a number of true gems exist that do exactly what a good script font should: add elegance and personality, while remaining legible. The following options are the best script fonts that we've found. Like many good things they do cost money, so if you're on a super-tight budget, check out our free brush fonts article, or the handwriting fonts section of our best free fonts for designers article. 01. Mila Script Pro Price: $89/£59 (for 6 fonts) Format: TTF, OTF Mila Script Pro is a family of six script fonts: Pro, Basic, Sans Light, Sans Regular, Sans Bold, and Ornaments. That means you can choose between connected or unconnected letterforms, or mix the two to create the look you want. This font family comes with 'automatic swash control', which adjusts the swashy letters to best fit the available white space. You can buy each font separately (Script Pro and Script Basic are $79/£52 and $39/£26 respectively) or snap up the whole lot for $89/£59. 02. Acid Price: $16.77/£13 Format: OTF This decorative script font is the work of Bangkok-based type designer Typomancer. The neat, condensed typeface includes some quirky serifs, and would be ideal for print projects. You can buy it for desktops, as a web font, or buy the extended version, and it supports a huge range of languages. 03. Adelia Price: $16.77/£13 Format: OTF Adelia was designed by Indonesia-based foundry Artimasa. Inspired by traditional sign painting and brush lettering, the bold, playful font lends itself particularly well to logo and packaging projects, as well as headlines, posters and T-shirt graphics. 04. Baker Street Price: $28.38/£22 (for 4 fonts) Format: TTF A single-width typeface, Baker Street is perfect for big text blocks or simple headlines thanks to its flowing curves. Designed by Thomas Ramey of Seattle-based studio Ramey Foundry, there are four weights in total – Regular, Light, Regular Title and Light Title – priced at $16.77/£13 each, or $28.38/£22 for all four. 05. Everglow Script Price: $29 Format: OTF This retro script font features over 560 glyphs and 322 alternate characters. If you're looking to add a vintage touch to anything from logos to letterheads, then Everglow (designed by another Indonesian outfit, Seniors Studio) is your font. 06. Festival Script Pro Price: $69/£49.99 Format: OTF From Argentinian type foundry Sudtipos, Festival Script Pro pushes the explorations of designers Angel Koziupa and Ale Paul further into the deco script territory. With pronounced bilinear contrast and a luxurious ornamental swashing treatment (layered swashing possibilities are included, ranging from minimal to utter exuberance), Festival Script Pro is a modern, appealing script font. 07. Graduate Price: $74/£48.99 (for two fonts) Format: OTF For a contemporary calligraphic script, try Graduate, by Netherland-based foundry Fontforecast. With over 825 glyphs, it's a flexible font that you can dress up or down by adding curls to the beginning, middle or end of any lowercase letter. 08. HT Osteria Price: $14.19/£11 Format: OTF HT Osteria is a retro script font that comes as a single weight. The characters draw inspiration from 1950s painted shopfront advertisements in Italy. This font is part of a decorative family of fonts from Japanese foundry Flat-it. Read more: 4 modern brands flying the flag for script fonts 5 typography trends for 2018 Top typography tutorials View the full article

Buy Los Logos 8 There are a few things that are certain in life: death, taxes, and logos. That’s why the people behind the Los Logos compilations are really on to something. They’re never going to be short of content, and creative types are never going to tire of reading it. The newest edition in the series is Los Logos 8, and there’s a reason this particular series is going strong: it’s excellent. As a person who spends most days writing about graphic design, it’s a total eye-opener, revealing some brilliant smaller studios, undiscovered branding work, and truly innovative and interesting approaches to logo design. Sure, designing a logo is just one small component of a branding project, as anyone from an agency will tell you. However, in extricating that one element and placing it alongside its peers you get a real sense of trends across a moment in time. And not only in what’s current either – also the moments in design history we’re looking back to, typographic styles, colourways, use of illustration and a whole bunch more. Los Logos 8 features hidden gems as well as big studio work As ever, Los Logos 8 is exhaustively and thoughtfully put together, showing work from across the world and from smaller agencies alongside the big guns like Wolff Olins. And it’s not just about range: every piece deserves its mention, for one reason or another. Quite how the editors managed this, I’ve no idea, but I commend them for it. Sure, if you’ve a million hours and a lot of patience you could find a lot of this work online through blogs or platforms, but I’d argue that seeing these logos laid out like this as a physical artefact makes for a better understanding of the work. We see how it plays out in print, and how it potentially sits next to other images or different typefaces. The print format lends itself to comparing themes It’s also a dream for the people the book is likely aimed at – designers, brand managers, trend folk, and marketing types – as it’s much more satisfying to flick through pages in a meeting and pore over something tangible than to idly bookmark a blog post to never be seen again. The book opens with an insightful intro from a man who knows his logos better than most: Michael Wolff. “There’s bound to be work you like and work you don’t,” he says. “With some of the logos you’ll be able to appreciate the wit and craftsmanship when you feel it’s involved, with others you’ll find the work poor. But poor work can be inspiring too… Los Logos is a book full of graphic ideas and designs, which to some are inspirations and to others surprises – 'Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose'.” Exactement, Michael. Buy Los Logos 8 View the full article

Creating meaningful and beautiful CSS animations can be time-consuming and difficult, but luckily there are some great resources out there that you can use to jumpstart your creative process, and explore different areas in depth. This resource collection includes all the best CSS animation libraries. Pick one that suits your project and start straight away, or use them as a starting point to create something custom for your brand. There are also some handy crib sheets and shortcuts to supplement your learning. 01. Animate.css This library includes 76 essential CSS animations This library bring together no fewer than 76 animations, all created in CSS and ready to use. Simply reference the CSS file, and when you add classes to an element, the animation happens. This works best when adding or removing classes using JavaScript. The library is an impressively small file size when minified and gzipped, but if you don't want to load the entire thing into your site, the project is also a great source of inspiration. Compiled by Dan Eden, this library includes almost every CSS animation you could need. 02. Hover.css Hover.css focuses on button interaction animations Similar to Animate.css, Hover.css is a collection of CSS effects you can use in your projects. This library was created specifically for button interaction animations. The library can be downloaded in vanilla CSS, Sass and Less, allowing these animations to fit into any project. The library has almost every animation you might need for interaction. 03. CSShake CSShake focuses on shaking animations CSShake is a library of CSS animations dedicated to making elements shake. The library has a number of classes you can add to elements to apply one of many different shake animations. The animations use keyframes and utilise the transform property to create these un-ignorable, sometimes crazy or violent-looking animations. 04. Obnoxious.css Want to know how not to do CSS animation? Obnoxious.css was created by Tim Holman and is exactly as the name suggests. The library explores what is possible with CSS animation, but illustrates perfectly what you should not be doing with CSS animations. While presented as a product-ready animation library (and it is), it is intended to be tongue-in-cheek. Brace yourself. 05. Replainless.CSS These animations are super-fast Replainless.css in a small and lightweight CSS animation library with a focus on creating animations that do not cause a repaint from the browser (so long as they’re used correctly). By not requiring a reflow or repaint, these animations are super-fast and performant! 06. Animate Plus This animation library is great for mobile sites Stripe is well known for its beautifully animated product pages. One of the masterminds behind these, Benjamin De Cock, has created a CSS and SVG animation library that is performant and lightweight, making it particularly well suited to mobile. 07. Motion UI Powerful animators like Motion UI are useful CSS tools This Sass library from ZURB makes it easier to apply custom animations to your UI. It's a little more involved than some of the other libraries on this list, but very powerful. You can create and tweak animations to meet your needs, then invoke them using JavaScript. 08. BounceJS Use this tool to create your own library of animations This is a useful tool if you want to create your own library of animations. It has lots of fun presets and takes the heavy lifting out of writing complex animation code. It uses advanced transform operations to create the animations, which can then be added to your own animation CSS file and applied as you wish. 09. GreenSock Animation Platform Go further with GreenSock GSAP is a JavaScript animation framework. If you're creating more complex animations (such as in banner ads or hero images), GSAP offers a set of tools for handling playback, SVG tweening and more. This is great if you want to go further than what can be done in CSS animations, but does present a bit of a learning curve. To find out more, take a look at our guide to GSAP. 10. Easing functions cheatsheet Easing functions are easier with this cheatsheet Timing functions specify the rate of change over time, and this site helps you choose the right one for your animation or transition. It features a gallery with Bézier curves where you can preview them, and quickly copy the code. Read more: Understand the 12 principles of animation How to debug web animations Create and animate SVG Polygons View the full article

Great results are produced by people who know how to get things done. If you want to be the one who knows how to get the most out of others, you need to grab the Project Management Professional Certification Training Bundle. You can get it on sale now for 98% off the retail price! To prove your skills as a project manager and to make sure you’re learning all the skills you need for this career, dive in to the 10 in-depth courses of the Project Management Professional Certification Training Bundle. It will provide you with over 110 hours of knowledge about project management. This bundle is built to prepare you to manage your way to success regardless of your field, and will make sure you’re ready to prove your skills with industry-recognised certifications. The Project Management Professional Certification Training Bundle is valued at $2,990 but you can save a whopping 98% off the retail price right now. That's an incredible amount of savings for bundle that will help get you into the career you want, so grab it today! About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at:deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: Top tips for nailing project management Best project management software Manage your projects better View the full article

Business skills don't always come naturally to creative people. But they're a necessary evil if you want to be successful and profitable. The good news is, you don't need an MBA to get this side of things nailed – there are some straightforward ways to sharpen your business acumen, whether you're a freelancer or just setting up shop as a small studio. Read on to discover 10 ways to be more business-savvy as a designer... 01. Control your cashflow Balancing the books isn't top of anyone's wish list when there's designing to be done, but it's essential to the success of your business. What comes in and goes out needs to be managed carefully. Every month, review your cashflow and forecast for both the next three months and the next six. Make a list of all the invoices that need to be sent in those two time periods, and ensure you're hitting your monthly and quarterly cashflow targets. Online accounting tools such as Xero and Less Accounting are good places to start, although it's often worth getting a 'real' accountant too. 02. Stay on top of invoicing If you're working on a fixed-cost basis, ask for a percentage upfront – ideally, invoice for half the agreed fee before you start. This may not always be possible, but it's additional security, especially on long jobs for slow-paying clients. Send your final invoice right after finishing the job. Keep in mind that a client needs time to make payment funds available – it doesn't hurt to send the invoice before payment is due. After all, the sooner it’s sent, the sooner you can chase if it's unpaid. Finance tools for freelancers, such as Solo or FreeAgent, can help you stay on top of multiple projects at once, and you can even send invoices from within the software. Remember: if you don't invoice, you don't get paid. Also read: 7 pricing models – and which you should choose 03. Know your contracts It isn't always easy to protect your rights, but a few key legal principles can help you use your work to its full potential, while avoiding exploitation. Sending out your own T&Cs ensures that the terms under which you work are in your own interests. Make sure you have a 'retention of title' clause in there – this means no rights are transferred until you've received full payment. Include a 'cancellation and rejection fee' clause, too – or check the client's policy. It's reasonable to ask for 25 per cent on signing the contract, 50 per cent at roughs with no rights transferring, and 100 per cent at final artwork. If you don't provide your own T&Cs, remember that legally you'll be deemed to have accepted whatever terms the client usually operates under. 10 contract commandments every designer should know 04. Understand copyright and IP law Copyright is the right to copy or reproduce a given work. For a work to be afforded copyright, it has to be original – but it only protects finished work, not ideas. The creator is the first owner of copyright from the moment they make their mark, until 70 years after their death. But copyright can be bought, sold and bequeathed, and is separate from the original work. You can own one without the other. Freelancers usually own the copyright in their work. If you're on the payroll or work at a client's premises, the client owns the copyright unless otherwise agreed. In the US, however, clients own the copyright of freelance commissions in any contract using the words 'work for hire'. Try to avoid such contracts if you can. Trademarks are legally registered symbols or words that distinguish your goods and services from your competitors', and prevent them using anything too similar. Generic descriptions of your business don't count – it's more about defining your brand. Patents are more concerned with ideas, or specifically how something works. They are usually applied to products or software, and grant exclusive rights to the 'invention' for a limited time, in exchange for publicly disclosing it. You must apply for a patent, and pay a fee. 05. Ensure you're insured It's often a good idea to take out insurance against things like property damage, employer's liability, public and product liability, and commercial legal protection – it's worth doing some research to see what applies to you. A 'warranties and indemnities' clause in a contract guarantees that your work is original, and all necessary permissions have been sorted. The client doesn't want to be financially liable for a copyright legal battle with a third party, after all. Check the wording of these clauses, and don't agree to indemnify against 'claims' or 'alleged breaches'. You should only indemnify against a 'breach'. A client faced with a claim may choose to settle out of court and look to you for payment, whether an infringement has occurred or not, and you won't have the chance to defend yourself. It cuts both ways: if a client provides you with visuals or reference materials to use in a project, make sure they're indemnifying you in the same way. 06. Claim your due royalties Royalties can be a great source of repeat income off the back of a project that uses your designs on sellable products – such as clothing, prints, books or music. The usual royalty fee is five to 10 per cent of the retail price. If the client is on a tight budget and unable to offer much of a royalty, request an escalator clause where the royalty increases after a certain number of units are sold. Make sure there's a reversion clause, too – this ensure the rights transfer back to you if the item goes out of print. Check you have the rights to inspect the accounts. If you think you're not being paid properly, you can instruct an accountant to investigate. This is very important for lengthy license periods as royalties can be a substantial form of income. 07. Read up on employee rights If you're recruiting staff, you need to be up-to-scratch with employment law. This is a complex area, and specific legal requirements vary depending on the country in which your studio is based, so it's a good idea to consult a lawyer or HR specialist to help in drawing up your policies. Working hours need to be reasonable (in the UK, a maximum average of 48 hours per week, although employees can opt out), and most countries require a decent holiday allowance (in the UK, a minimum of 5.6 weeks per year, including public holidays – although there is no statutory minimum in the US) and sick pay. Flexible working is increasingly popular, and employees have the right to request it. You can choose whether to accept it or not, although you have a legal duty to accept reasonable flexible working requests from certain employees, such as those with children up to 16 years old, or with particular disabilities. You also have legal obligations regarding maternity and paternity leave – in the UK, all pregnant employees are entitled to statutory or enhanced maternity pay, while in the US, at least 12 weeks of leave is mandatory. 08. Deal with employee difficulties You also need clear policies in place to deal with any grievances that may arise. Make sure staff are aware of what's required of them, and what is and isn't acceptable. Good performance management means disciplinary action should usually be avoidable. If you need to let a member of staff go, there are strict guidelines to follow. You need a legitimate reason to fire someone – 'not performing well' is not enough – and making an employee redundant has a different set of requirements. Understand the law concerning unfair or constructive dismissal, document everything, and communicate the process thoroughly to the employee concerned at all stages. Sick leave is another key thing to consider. Set out a comprehensive absence policy, make sure your team has access to it, and monitor all sick leave – not just long-term absence. Make sure you know who is absent, when and why. This will help if you need to address any frequent absentees and can also flag up problems in your business: after all, you have a duty of care to ensure workload is acceptable and the environment is healthy. 09. Get to grips with tax Nobody likes dealing with tax, but whether you're a freelancer or a small business owner, you can't (legally) avoid doing so. Depending on your profit margin, the amount you ultimately pay can be small, or very significant. Save a proportion of your profit every month (around 20-25 per cent ideally) so you can pay these bills when they come in. It may be tempting to use this money to prop up poor cashflow, which can be fine temporarily, if you replace it as soon as you can. If it becomes normal practice you could face a lot of stress when a hefty bill from the tax man arrives and you've got no money to pay it with. In many countries there are two types of tax that will affect creative businesses: income tax, and corporation tax. Sole traders and partnerships are charged income tax on their profits, after things like equipment costs, rent, phone and other office expenses have been deducted (read our tax return tips for freelancers for more about this). Know what you're entitled to claim for, and make sure you do so as it all has a direct effect on your taxable profit. An accountant can be invaluable here, and will often more than offset their own (tax deductible) fee. 10. Know when to register for VAT Limited companies are charged corporate tax on profits, and the employees of that company are then charged income tax on their income. As with sole traders and partnerships, limited companies are only taxed on their profits. In the UK, if your business turns over £85,000 or more in a financial year – regardless of profit margin – you'll also have to register for VAT. If you think you might hit that target during the year, you can voluntarily register beforehand. If you're VAT-registered, you have to charge your customers for VAT (currently 20 per cent in the UK) on top of your services. You can also claim VAT back for business-related purchases. This is all then paid on to the government every quarter. Bear in mind there's no VAT earning threshold if neither you nor your business is based in the UK, but you are supplying goods and services to the country – you must register as soon as you do so. Related links: 10 skills graphic designers need to get ahead 8 ways to make more money in 2018 10 huge graphic design trends to know for 2018 View the full article

If you're a busy freelancer working from home and your office space is in need of a bit of tender loving care, style expert and author Abigail Ahern has lots of of advice to help transform your home office. Here are five of Ahern's top tips for creating a productive workspace... 10 things nobody tells you about going freelance 01. Get a curved screen Curved screens are not only aesthetically more appealing, they also wrap you up in the world you are working in, making your studio or home office feel totally immersive. "For me, my day job is obviously incredibly visual so I like a big screen for designing products, creating moodboards and going through my latest imagery," says Ahern. Also read: The best 4K monitors for designers 2018 02. Create 'zones' "Comfortable seating and having different zones are super important for home offices. No one likes to be sat at the desk all day, so have a separate nook where you can take calls, read through something, or just take five minutes." 03. Decorate the walls "Pop up some motivational artwork on your walls. Being self-employed or working from home it can sometimes be hard to keep on track. I've got Superman facing me from my desk, so whenever the going gets tough I can feel inspired to get back to it!" 04. De-clutter your space "Keep your office space tidy: shut away clutter, and try to keep cables and wires to a minimum. In my studio, I added custom built-in cupboards to hide away the printer, scanner and files." 05. Choose a fragrance It might not be top of your list, but Ahern appeals to her sense of smell for added motivation. "Every room needs a scent to complete it. I burn a combination of essential oils in my studio." "Fragrances can really influence our mood, so I opt for something invigorating in my work space, for example rosemary is credited with improving memory and promoting clear thinking or peppermint is like a double shot of espresso – enlivening and motivating." Related articles: 85% of freelance graphic designers were asked to work for free last year 6 must-have skills for young web developers 10 beautiful paper portfolios to inspire you View the full article

You're reading New Web Developer’s tool for hassle-free coding – Wix Code, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Do you love the design and convenience of a website builder, but sometimes feel the lack of control? Web developers, Wix Code is for you. The new tool combines the design of a website builder and quick start-up time with all the customizations and scripting that you want to add on your own. It’s a […] View the full article