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If there's one area of design that's sure to provoke divisive opinions, it's fonts and typography. Logo designs and rebrands can succeed or fail based on their choice of font, but what is it about typography and wordmarks that gets people so riled up? The answer is that there's a lot more to typography design than meets the eye. In fact there are a range of rules and technical terms relating to the construction and make up of fonts that most people simply don't know about. To help demystify the technical codes surrounding fonts, The Logo Company put together this stylish infographic that clearly explains the alphabet of typography terms. So give it a read, and next time you see a designer complaining about an ugly ball terminal or a scruffy tittle, you'll know what they're talking about. How many of these terms are you familiar with?While some of these terms – the arm, crossbar and stem, for example – could probably be deciphered by themselves with a bit of careful thought, others are more bafflingly named. A font's counter, for example, is nothing to do with how many times something happens, but the open space inside a letter or number. Some of our favourites are 'spur' (because it reminds us of the spurs on a cowboy's boots) and 'tittle' (because it sounds funny). This is a small but helpful selection of the key typography terms, to help demystify it for you. If you'd like more information about these terms, or would like to learn the other type rules and terms (such as what a fleuron is, and why leading is called leading), check out our in-depth guide to Typography rules and terms every designer must know. The glossary of typography within that article is well worth bookmarking. Related articles: 56 best free fonts for designers Futura: The Typeface book review Getting more from the grid View the full article

Some of the world's most exciting artists have collaborated with The Art of Ping Pong on an artistic and noble use for table tennis equipment – covering ping pong bats in interesting designs and illustrations and auctioning them for charity. Back for a fifth year, The Art of Ping Pong brings creatives together to raise money for charity, and this year it's helping the young adult cancer support group Trekstock. Since 2013 its charity auctions have raised over £15k. 27 talented artists have got involved with The Art of Ping Pong 2017 For 2017, The Art of Ping Pong has roped in help from more artists, illustrators and designers than ever before, with 27 creatives signing up to raise money for Trekstock. Artists include established greats such as George Hardie, who created the artwork for Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, and newcomers such as Mr Doodle. The online auction started on 26 October, but you have until 30 November to pick up specially made artwork and raise money for a worthy cause. Algy Batten produced and created the event, and this year he's kept things fresh by adding two mini ping pong tables painted by Charlie Oscar Patterson and Mr Doodle to the online charity auction. On top of ping pong tables, you can also get your hands on eight specially made T-shirts, thanks to a partnership with Everpress. Artists have also created bespoke ping pong paddles for the auction, which you can explore by clicking left to right in the gallery below. The full list of contributors also includes: Yoni Alter, Mr Bingo, John Booth, Emma Brewin, Fred Butler, Alison Carmichael, Sebastian Cox, Marina Esmeraldo, Emily Forgot, Kev Munday, Neasden Control Centre, Nous Vous, Zuza Mengham, Stina Persson, Saskia Pomeroy, Pref, Benedict Radcliffe, Gemma Shiel, Adam Simpson, Sam Taylor, Louis Trew and Celia Washington. If you're in the area, there will be a closing party for The Art of Ping Pong on 29 November at Below One Fifteen, 115 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, London. Related articles: Cheeky Arse Vase supports HIV charity The secrets of a creative approach to charity Top designers create unique poster designs for charity View the full article

Creating illustrations for an event is a fantastic creative challenge that involves telling stories with your drawings that feed into the event's narrative, adapting your illustration style and working closely with the client to set the tone of the event with your artwork. I'll share my experience of illustrating for the Green Man festival, as well as my tips for illustrating for events. Christmas offer: Save up to 49% on a subscription to Computer Arts While exhibiting at the Pick Me Up graphic arts festival in London last year, I was spotted and chosen as a candidate to create illustrations for Green Man's promo materials in 2017. I had known about the festival for quite some time and was jealous of the people who had illustrated it in the past. So I was really stoked when I got the email. It's a dream project, and a lovely portfolio piece. Aart-Jan Venema's initial sketch for the Babbling Tongues area of Green Man The overarching theme in the brief was 'discovery'. The client wanted the illustrations to reflect the spirit of the festival and the inquisitive nature of its attendees. The brief also called for the illustrations to explore the unique, weird and wonderful things the festival has to offer. The imagery could have a historical reference or be more abstract. It could show an imagined world, or artefacts that lie beneath the Black Mountains of Wales, where the festival is. Other possibilities included a fictional parallel universe. The client also wanted a little humour and some dark undertones added to the mix. 01. Know when to change your idea The final image My clients had liked the hand-painted pieces I exhibited at Pick Me Up, and we considered that choice of media. However, in the end it just wouldn't have been practical for a huge project like this. I thought up plenty of characters, doing lots of crazy things, but one of the guidelines was that I should focus on the environment and strange objects rather than characters. The client didn't want the images to look too 'childish', or too 'human'. Consequently, one of the key challenges was to change my mindset and use objects and plants to deliver the narrative, looking for ways to give them character. I came up with lots of masks and helmets to add visual appeal. A real lifesaver was the book Art Forms in Nature by Ernst Haeckel, and from it, I discovered new ways to draw scenery. I also received a huge 'inspiration' folder from Green Man. 02. Define the style early on This mad scientist illo is for Einstein's Garden, the stage with everything from comedy and music to theatre and science The advice I'd give others trying to tackle artwork for a major event is to create a test piece, show it to people and find out where you can go from there. Make lots of changes until everyone is completely happy. With a solid framework, it's much easier to work quickly. If the style is established early on, you don't have to revisit the question with each piece. 03. Adapt your idea for different uses Venema enjoyed creating fantasy cars for his characters to arrive in for the car park illustrations For the website I had to do the area illustrations. For this I had to make up a whole world, which we could use as a basis for all the other outings as well. The tickets were a different thing. Because there's so much info and text that needs to be readable, I had very limited space to really draw something. The wrist bands were woven in about eight colours, and Green Man was really keen on lots of details, so it was a challenge to get as much information as possible on a really small surface too. For the parking permits, I had to get cars in the mix. It was fun to see in what kind of cars my characters would attend the festival. 04. Experiment with tools and colour The poster representing the Mountain's Foot area – the main stage at the foot of the Black Mountains Each image began with sketching in pencil. I drew lots of versions until everything felt right so I didn't have to worry about composition when painting the illustration. Usually I work in Procreate on an iPad Pro, but for this job I switched to a Wacom Cintiq and Photoshop. My first versions were really textured to resemble my painted work, but in the end we went for a fairly simple version with only one texture. The colours were set by Bread Collective and Green Man, and I added the blue. Usually I wouldn't use a palette like this, but I'm pleased I was forced to and can now see myself using it again. The main feedback I received was to go 'weirder' which turns out to be a lot harder than making things more 'normal'. It was refreshing to push myself to the limits, though. I learned a lot doing this project. For one thing, I was able to create a really consistent series of pieces, and have my work carry the look of an entire festival. I'm very happy with it. If I had to do it again, I would make my PSD files a bit cleaner, which would have saved time when preparing them for the animator. The best Wacom Black Friday deals (UK) The best Wacom Black Friday deals (US) Creative software Black Friday deals This article was originally published in issue 270 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy issue 270 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Special Christmas offer: Save up to 49% on a subscription to Computer Arts for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly... Liked this? Read these: 10 top learning resources for illustrators How to break into children's illustration 7 biggest illustration trends of 2017 View the full article

With the advent of mobile games and indie video games, there's been a big influx of illustrators and animators getting into 3D art. This has created a trend of cel shaded objects in 3D space, bringing a whole new aesthetic, depth and dimension to 2D-style art. Thanks to this trend, a feature in Cinema 4D that has existed for years is now seeing a resurgence. Using Cinema 4D's powerful Sketch and Toon module, you can transform your 3D artwork into a cartoon-like illustration with just a few clicks of a button. The flexibility of the Sketch and Toon module lets you experiment with different 2D cel shading styles and have it react to lights in your scene. Building designs or characters in 3D gives you greater flexibility, as you can simply rotate the object in 3D to turn the face, rather than using complex rigs. Simple things like this makes Cinema 4D a powerful app not only for 3D artists, but for 2D illustrators and animators as well. Download the files for this tutorial, and follow these steps to create an illustrative 2D-style cartoon character in Cinema 4D. 01. Add cel shader Just use the Luminance channel to avoid diffuse shading (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) Begin by creating a new material to create the cartoon texture. Turn off both the Color and Reflectance channels. We'll be using the Luminance channel because we don't want any type of diffuse shading. We're looking for nice flat shading for our model. Navigate to loading the cel shader into the Luminance channel. 02. Choose your cel shading colours Set up the colour gradients you'll need (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) The cel shader works by using a gradient to apply materials across the surface of your object. The more you move a colour's gradient knot to the right, the more of that colour will be represented on your model. You can add or remove colour chips to get the colour combination you like, whether tritone, duotone, or any other combination. 03. Create a light Use Infinite Light to get the right look (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) Let's create an Infinite Light with Hard Shadows enabled for a cartoonish directional light and sharp shadows. Infinite Lights act like a massive light source, such as the sun. To change the direction that the light is being cast, all you have to do is rotate the Infinite Light. 04. Use lights to drive cel shading Uncheck Camera to control how the light drives the cel shading (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) By default, the cel shader uses the camera or your default view as the point of the light source (Camera box checked on). To be able to use a light in your scene as the cel shader light source and to accept shadows, you just need to uncheck Camera and check on Lights as well as Shadows. Now you have total control over how the light is driving the cel shading across your object. 05. Experiment with gradient interpolation Different types of gradient interpolation can deliver interesting results (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) By using the different types of gradient interpolation by clicking on the arrow next to Diffuse, you can adjust how each colour blends into another one, and also discover some interesting stylised diffuse shading beyond just using no smoothing between each colour. For example, try adding contrast by spacing some knots closer together than others. 06. Add stylised grain Activate the Bump channel to further stylise your cel shading (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) You can further stylise the look of your cel shading by using the Use Bump feature to add some grain. First of all, you must activate the Bump channel and load up a noise shader. Smaller noises work best for fine grain. 07. Use Bump Try different Bump strengths and noise types (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) For the Bump channel to act upon the cel shader, click the Use Bump checkbox. You'll see the Bump channel breaking up the cel shader and adding stylised grain to your material. Experiment with the Bump strength in the Bump channel as well as different noise types. 08. Render settings Avoid the Gauss filter, as it'll ruin your image's sharpness (click the arrows icon to enlarge this image) When rendering out cartoon shaded objects, it's important to maintain a sharp, vector-like quality to renders, especially if you plan to composite the image in After Effects with vector layers. Typically you would render out using the Gauss (Animation) filter because it prevents flickering for some animation, but it also blurs your image. To maintain image sharpness, choose filters such as Cubic (Still Image) or Sinc. This article was originally published in issue 227 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 227 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: How to create hair in Cinema 4D Tips for turning a 2D cartoon into a 3D concept 30 inspiring examples of 3D art View the full article

You can learn how to draw manga art like Mina Petrovic's Mad Hatter with these tips Learning how to draw manga art is no easy feat. It has a very distinct style, and sometimes it can be hard to get started without knowledge of the basic principles. Even if you read a lot of manga comics yourself, you may find it difficult to pick out the subtle differences that make each of your favourite artists unique, and therefore find it challenging to develop your own manga drawing style. Artist Mina Petrovic, better known as Mistiqarts on YouTube, has made it simple for you, with these clear and concise tips on how to start sketching a manga character. Petrovic's tutorial channel boasts over 80,000 subscribers, and she also penned manga drawing book, Manga Crash Course – so you're in good hands. 01. Draw manga eyes First, get the eyes right"Distance between the eyes is the most important part – always make enough room to fit a third eye between them," says Petrovic. "For this style, in both genders, nostril size is best to be as minimal as possible." Click above to see her video tutorial on how to draw various styles of Manga eyes. 02. Draw sleek lines Sleek lines are key when drawing manga"Line art represents half the style – with thin, smooth lines as the main visual trait," Petrovic reveals. "It is always a plus if the clothing details are as frequent and as suitable for the character." Petrovic uses a lightbox to trace her initial sketches and create bold, sleek lines. Petrovic uses a lightbox to trace initial sketches"Shading is also a part of the linear, and consists of smaller black shades, and big black surfaces, usually behind the character," she continues. Linear textures feature in manga-style illustrations"Textures are simplified, in a form of parallel lines, also a part of the line work," Petrovic says. 03. Manga colouring Getting skin colour right is tricky"As for colouring, some areas are covered in colour only at the shaded parts, for example, light skin," Petrovic adds. "Areas with or without full colour need to have at least two shades for each colour, to mimic a 'cell shaded' look from anime." Mimic the cell shaded look when colouring"Leaving out white edges up front, for leather objects and clothes, is a trick to save up on colour, and get a cool effect," says Petrovic. Leaving white areas is a neat way to add reflections to shiny, bent fabric"By leaving out white areas in the middle of a bent fabric shape, you get a smooth, satin-like feel to it," says Petrovic. 04. Final touches to your manga art Get the small details right"Even the smallest details are in need of careful decorating," Petrovic advises. "When doing a pattern on the clothing, make sure the pattern is following the shape of the character's body." White outlines again add that manga touch to clothing"And lastly, white outlines can make all the difference, by marking all the objects and parts of the character which are closest to the observer." For more information on manga, including tips and tricks, as well as full tutorials, check out our sister title Manga Artist. Check out more of our art posts: How to draw a face How to draw a head Get better at figure drawing How to create manga-style hair in motion How to paint fantasy beasts How to paint scales Create character art with maximum visual impact How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials How to choose the right drawing tools View the full article

You're reading Black Friday Deal: 70% OFF Designmodo Shop and Market!, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! The Black Friday sales on Designmodo are underway! Enjoy our 70% off sale, where you can get the most popular tools for website creation at discounted prices. We have dropped the price of all our popular products — Slides 3 (framework), Qards 1.5 (WordPress Plugin), Startup 2 (bootstrap framework) and others! And we’ve cut prices for all items […] View the full article

HP said dozens of enterprise-class printer models will receive a patch for an arbitrary code execution vulnerability sometime this week. View the full article

We are pleased to announce that tickets are now available for Vertex, a brand-new event from the makers of 3D Artist and 3D World. This one-day event will take place on Tuesday 13 March 2018 at Olympia, London, so grab your ticket now! Just like how a vertex connects everything, this event will bring the CG community together for practical inspiration and fantastic networking opportunities. This special event assembles experts from every industry and discipline in CG, from games and VFX through to VR, covering character concepting, real-time creation and more. You’ll be able to boost your skills with leading industry artists and learn from the world’s best creative studios no matter which area you specialise in. Keynote speaker Christopher Nichols is founder of the Digital Human League and director of Chaos Group Labs Expert speakers You’ll get hands-on advice and tips and hear about the newest developments at top talks, including a keynote from CG industry veteran Christopher Nichols (founder of the Digital Human League and director of Chaos Group Labs). Brett Ineson, president of Animatrik, North America’s largest independent motion capture stage, will discuss the future of virtual production in light of the latest developments in real time 3D technology, while Sébastien Deguy (founder and CEO at Allegorithmic) will discuss how Substance and other ‘augmenting’ tools are empowering today’s 3D artists’ workflows. We have even more amazing speakers that we will be announcing soon, so make sure you sign up to our newsletter, keep an eye on social media channels using #vertexconf and Like the Vertex Facebook page for more announcements. Adam Dewhirst from The Mill will teach a Creature creation masterclass Learn new skills in workshops There will also be engaging workshops, including one from The Mill’s Adam Dewhirst who will show his process for character and creature creation, from initial concepts to modelling, texturing and preparing for production use. Glen Southern will take us on a journey through VR creation, in VR, with Oculus Medium, and Bader Badruddin (series animation director at Blue Zoo), meanwhile, gives us an expert masterclass in animating a character shot in a small amount of time without sacrificing quality. Saddington Baynes’s CEO Chris Christodoulou and senior digital artist Marc Shephard will also teach the technical processes that sit behind mass customisation with a focus on tools such as Maya and Nuke that help invigorate imagery. And there’s even more to be announced soon! Portfolio reviews and recruitment fair On top of this amazing insight you can get involved in the portfolio review sessions, fascinating evening panel, and unmissable networking event. There’s even a recruitment fair for aspiring and professional artists and an expo area to showcase the latest in technology and software. What’s more, there will be an ‘Ask an Artist’ area to help you troubleshoot your technique woes one-on-one with pro artists. Tickets to the exhibition area are free, with access all areas tickets priced at £49 or just £25 for students. Don’t miss out! Find out more and get your tickets now at www.vertexconf.com. View the full article

Getting into the games industry used to be an expensive business, but if you have the skills and dedication, the good news is that you can now get a foot on the ladder while working from home without having to splash a whole load of cash. It used to be that if you wanted to use a third party 3D engine to build your gaming masterpiece, you'd need to pay out plenty of money; at least, you would if you wanted a decent one with up-to-date features. But with the rise of the indie gaming sector, the big names in 3D engines have realised that it makes a lot of sense to put their tools into the hands of anyone who wants to use them, so that they can reap the rewards later. All four of these engines are available to download right now, and you can save even more money by finding some free 3D models to use in them. Of course if you use them to create a successful commercial game then you may have to pay out further down the line, but they're all an ideal way to learn your game development skills. 01. Unity Unity's the leader in the free engine stakesThe leader in free software for game development, Unity was available for free before anyone else and benefitted massively, becoming a mainstay of the indie game community. Not the most artist-friendly engine. 02. Unreal engine Unreal Engine is a great choice for artistsEpic Games' engine is powerful and offers a user-friendly, node-based system, and is now free. UE is the choice engine for artists wanting to avoid coding and focus on real-time rendering and scene creation. 03. Stingray Stingray lacks power but comes with plenty of assetsNot as powerful as Unreal or Unity, Autodesk's entry into the market is easy to use and comes with pre-made assets to adapt and use, meaning coding can be minimal. 04. Lumberyard It's early days for Lumberyard but it has a good pedigreeAmazon's entry into the sector is still in beta and is based on the powerful Crytek CryEngine. The bugs are still being ironed out, but this could fit neatly between Unity and Unreal Engine. This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 213; buy it here! View the full article

Artists are acutely aware that there's always a more talented painter or illustrator than themselves out there somewhere. We've already seen 20 phenomenally realistic pencil drawings that have left us green with envy. In terms of realistic technical painting skills though, we'd be hard-pressed to find a contemporary artist who can top the works of Young-sung Kim. The artist, who is based in New York City and Korea, has set the internet on fire recently thanks to his incredibly lifelike oil paintings that have got us rubbing our eyes in disbelief. Check out some examples of Kim's paintings by clicking left to right in the gallery below. And yes, just to remind you one last time, they really are paintings, not photographs. As you can see, animals are a recurring subject in Kim's work. By pairing creatures like lizards, frogs and snails with manmade objects such as forks and spanners, Kim is making a point about our society's impact on wildlife and the environment. Thanks to their unbelievable levels of detail, Kim's oil paintings can take anywhere between three and 10 months to create. The wait is worth it though, and not just for us as viewers - Kim's paintings can fetch for anything from £8,000 to £100,000 each. Almost as amazing as Kim's work are the comments from the "anyone can do that" brigade, who have doubted the artist's undeniable talent. These include the old favourites such as "it's just tracing" to "you could photo that in two seconds". Meanwhile some critics have questioned whether or not Kim has really painted these masterpieces, given that most photos only show him signing his name. To these naysayers we say check out the video below of Kim in action. It's one of many videos he's posted to his Twitter profile that show him creating his paintings from scratch. See more of Kim's incredible work by visiting his Instagram page. Related articles: How to paint outdoors How to get harmonious colours in paintings How to paint convincing reflections View the full article

For this workshop, I'd like to show you a really fun way to sketch characters from just your imagination. I'll be showing you how to create Photoshop brushes to mimic the traditional brush pen and marker techniques used by professionals. I'll start with a texture brush to sketch in the lightest values, building the gestures and form of the character. During this early stage I'll also go over some techniques to follow when producing cover art work and layouts. I'll then move on to the darker values, bringing in details from the lighter sketch form. Once the details are in place I'll show how to use economical brush strokes to describe a lot of visual information in a short amount of time. And then, once we have the most information about the character down on the canvas, I'll go over quick ways to adjust colour and cool details within minutes. This is when I'll experiment with shapes within the form and silhouette. Paying attention to the overall design will make everything look unified and, quite frankly, cool! 15 concept art skills to power up your illustrationFinally, I'll apply the final touches of quick overlay sketching to give the sketch a watercolour feel, which will introduce variety and depth to the character. Hopefully, by the end of the workshop you'll be inspired to create your own fun characters! Download the custom brushes for this tutorial. 01. Bash out some thumbnails Get the ideas flowing by banging out some thumbnails I like to start an illustration or character concept by doing small, quick thumbnails to extract ideas out of my head. That means good and bad ideas. It's normal to have old images floating around in your head from something you once saw or inspired you. My method of leaving those mundane images or ideas behind is to bust out a bunch of little sketches, to get the best ideas possible on the canvas. 02. Narrow down the choices Once you've done a pile of thumbnails, pick out the best For this workshop I produce just a few thumbnails because the idea is relatively simple: a woman and her dog. But if you're just starting out, I'd recommend doing a pile of thumbnails – say, 50. It may seem like a lot, but you'll be glad you did and you'll become a better artist for it. These two thumbs have something that we're looking for so, I take pieces from both and mix them up. 03. Finalise the sketch Do a final sketch before moving on to the illustration proper By taking elements that will work for the cover and combining them, I can demonstrate the general layout and idea that I'm going for. This helps to convey the attitude and overall gesture for the woman with the dogs. Now I'm ready to move on to the final illustration. 04. Start the painting stage Start by laying down a neutral skin tone I start my final illustration by laying down a neutral skin tone. You can see on the left of my image that I have a basic value colour palette laid out within easy reach, from which I'll use the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop to pick from. I use one of my custom brushes at this stage – it's an angle brush that works like a real marker pen, and helps me achieve interesting-looking and dynamic angles. 05. Sketch in facial details Sketch the face in using a darker tone Working from light to dark is a good – and traditional – way of working. Using the previous value and shape block-in, I create a new layer above and start sketching in with a burnt sienna colour (a nice, neutral choice). This brings out the details of her eyes and smile. I restrict myself to just drawing in the smaller details for now. 06. Block in larger elements Increase the brush size and block in larger elements On a new layer above the rest, I Ctrl+click the layers below to make a selection. Pressing Ctrl+H hides the selection outline. Then I increase the brush size and block in larger details such as her dress and boots. I'm asked to give the dogs a mechanical appearance, so I apply a grey tone to them. 07. Add darker tones for form Bringing in darker tones helps to bring out more of the form Just like before, I start a layer above the rest, load the selection, hide the selection and now I have a palette to erase and paint on. I'm starting to bring in the idea of the character design now. I toy with a punk rocker look, but notice that it's bringing out more of the form as well. By using the palette brush with broad strokes I'm also able to introduce more details to the robot dogs. 08. Make the character pop Adding some yellow really brings things to life I feel that the black dress makes my character look a little dark, so using the steps before I create a new selection. With that selection I create a new layer and change the mode to Color Dodge. Using the same brush as before I put down large strokes with yellow to make her pop a bit. This technique enables me to control the amount of saturation and opacity in the piece. 09. Bring in sharp edges Start cleaning up the edges to make them nice and sharp Now that I'm close to finishing off this concept piece , I compress all visible layers below and press Ctrl+Alt+E to merge the visible layers into a new layer at the top. I turn off all lower layers, take a Round opaque brush and start cleaning up the edges, to bring in nice, sharp edges. 10. Spot errors Walk away from your nearly-finished work for a bit so you can look at it again with fresh eyes Now I know I have my final form and I think everything is just about done, I like to walk away for a little bit, maybe 30 minutes or so, and then come back with some fresh eyes. This helps me to look at objects anew and perhaps notice something 'off' that I didn't see previously. In this case I feel that there's too much contrast in the character, so I apply a little lighter grey value on a new layer that's set on Lighten mode. 11. Add the final touches to the concept A few finishing touches can make all the difference I'm now happy with this fun chick and her cool bot dogs. I want to add a little sketch vibe to the background to create more of a traditional look. This helps unify everything. Finally, I use these steps to apply a little film grain to the character. I create a new layer, fill it with 50 per cent grey, apply the Noise filter, set the layer to Soft Light and reduce Opacity to 15 per cent, then load the selection of the character and mask it out. This article was originally published in issue 152 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. Buy issue 152 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: How to become a better concept artist Concept design tips for artists How to break into movie concept art View the full article

Last week, we headed to London’s Oval Space to learn more about the latest game-changing updates to Adobe Creative Cloud at Adobe’s Creative Meet Up. Joined live by thousands of artists and designers from around the world, we watched as Principal Manager of Creative Cloud Evangelism at Adobe, Rufus Deuchler, walked through some of the most exciting news from Adobe MAX, Adobe’s annual creativity conference. A series of stellar speakers then took to the stage to share their best tips and tricks for making it in the creative industry. Headlined by Nick Knight OBE - one of the world’s most exciting photographers - the event also saw the likes of trailblazing art director Kate Moross and talented print designer Kelly Anna fire up the crowd as they walked through their ground-breaking projects. If you couldn't make it, fear not. You can watch what happened at the Meet Up right here. So what did we learn during this epic evening of creative inspiration? A lot. Here are our top insights from Adobe’s 2017 London Creative Meet Up – and remember, if this inspires you to get creative, you can try a free trial of Creative Cloud over on the Adobe website. 01. Creative Cloud is smarter with Sensei All of the new features and updates announced at Adobe MAX are powered by Sensei, Adobe’s mind-blowing artificial intelligence and machine learning platform. Addressing the issue of ‘content velocity’ – the industry’s ever-increasing need for more content – Sensei helps designers and creatives go from concept to completion much faster, using the power of advanced technology and deep learning to accelerate the creative process. “Sensei represents the blending of art and science in our DNA,” Deuchler told the audience in London. One thing’s for sure: this is the future of the creative industry - and we’ll be seeing a lot more of it soon. 02. Adobe XD is out of beta Adobe’s revolutionary tool for UI and UX designers is out of beta - and it’ll change your life if you design websites or apps. Letting you easily prototype and wireframe your projects on interactive artboards, Adobe XD is an all-in-one cross-platform solution that delivers the speed, precision and quality you need to go from static comps or wireframes to fully interactive prototypes in minutes. 03. Lightroom CC is a cloud-based tool Adobe’s all-new cloud-centric photo service Lightroom CC lets users edit, organise, store and share photos from anywhere. One of its most impressive features – powered by Sensei, of course – automatically applies searchable keywords to your images, without you having to tag them. Looking for a brilliant old photo of your dog that you didn’t bother tagging? Or a particular shot from a shoot that you didn’t tag? No problem. Type in your keywords and Sensei will find it. Amazing. 04. Adobe Live is packed with learning opportunities Launched on Behance, Adobe LIVE is a live-streaming channel where Behance community members can learn from and inspire each other. “Adobe streams eight hours of creative learning content every day, Tuesday to Thursday,” said Deuchler – and this is pegged to expand to 24/7 programming in 2018. 05. All you need is a business card and a website “Everything else you can catch up on later,” explained Kate Moross. She was talking about working for yourself – and explained how this is exactly how she started out in the industry. With clients including Nike, One Direction, Vogue and more - and a host of awards to her name – it’s fair to say the Studio Moross founder seems to know what she’s talking about. 06. Naive is cool Why? “Being naive gives you advantages, and means you haven’t been affected by trends,” said Moross, who also encouraged the audience to “make ugly stuff”. She explained that by taking time to explore less visibly attractive aesthetics, it’s possible to break down the trends we can find ourselves surrounded by every day – and unleash our true creativity. 07. Always look first Talented print designer Kelly Anna had practical tips to offer, during her time on stage at the Creative Meet Up. “Look up and focus on your subject,” she advised. “If you do, technique will follow after.” 08. We’re no longer photographers Celebrated creative Nick Knight provided a fascinating insight into his ongoing debate about photography and image-making. “I take pictures on my phone, broadcast them globally, instantly... I can make them into a 3D sculpture if I want. Let's free ourselves from this idea that we're photographers,” he urged. “I had to come up with another name for it, and all I could come up with was ‘image-making’,” he added. “Photography was great, but it isn’t what we’re doing now.” 09. The internet feels like punk felt in the 1970s If we had to pick one takeaway from Nick’s talk, it would be the importance - and value – of taking a DIY approach to creativity. Thanks to the internet, we don’t need a middleman like a magazine to sell our images or get our names out there anymore. “It feels like we can do it ourselves,” he said. Hear hear. Inspired? Head over to the Adobe website to download a free trial of Creative Cloud – and start creating right now. Related articles: 7 insane tech sneaks from Adobe Max 2017 The best Black Friday deals 2017 View the full article

We've rounded up the best Christmas gift ideas for freelancers. We've got gifts in four price ranges, from under £20/$25, right up to over £150/$125, for big spenders. You can't go wrong with a book – we've got an innovative monograph, a colour harmoniser, and a rallying cry. There's a sweary poster to boost motivation when times are hard. There's a gadget to monitor posture and prevent committed freelancers from turning into hunchbacks. And, for when all else fails, there's a robo-kettle to make the tea. Gifts for freelancers under £20/$25 The Rolling Stones tongue-and-lips logo is one of the greatest pieces of design of all time. It features on this limited edition series of Moleskines. The range includes covers made from the key elements of your average Keith Richards outfit: silk, denim, velvet, and leather. It's perhaps the coolest Moley collaboration ever. Satisfaction guaranteed. Design legends Mirko Ilic and Milton Glaser argue the case for activist graphic design in this new expanded edition of The Design of Dissent. Tony Kushner's foreword says there has to be "some galling truth … imprisoned beneath the surface of public discourse." This is what really gets the activist designer going. Through a series of over 500 images – Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Donald Trump – the book examines those galling truths in a book that acts as a "testament to the power of imagery but also as an urgent call to action." In The Complete Color Harmony: Pantone Edition – a new, completely revised edition – Leatrice Eiseman (executive director at the Pantone Color Institute) talks you through a different colour "mood" in each chapter, all based on and matched to with Pantone colours. It is the brand's "most comprehensive colour reference to date" and a must for every serious designer's desk. Gifts for freelancers under £50/$75 Easily the worst of all first-world problems is Headphone Wire Tangle and the inevitable Headphone Wire Tangle Rage that follows. Sort that out with one of these: a personalised, handmade, solid oak headphones stand. It also has space for phones, cards, keys, and an "optional secondary hidden message." Interesting. 05. Classic Advice Print Price: $30'Believe in your f****** self. Stay up all f****** night. Work outside of your f****** habits. Know when to f****** speak up. F****** collaborate.' And on and on it goes in all its beautiful, foul-mouthed wisdom, a print that is the work of the US-based company called, unsurprisingly, Good F****** Design Advice. If your freelancer is easily offended, buy the f***** a different f****** gift. One of the most influential designers of his generation, Paul Sahre was always going to do something a bit different in his monograph: this "part memoir, part art book, part meditation on creativity" features personal essays, artwork, and stories from a 30-year career at the top of his game. Sahre shares the moments that have "informed his life as a designer and artist, and proves that humour and meaning can be found anywhere, if you're only willing to look." Gifts for freelancers under £100/$125 Your average freelancer sits like a geriatric chimp with a lumbar spine condition. Help them sort it out with this little gadget. Lumo Lift Posture Coach and Activity Tracker tracks posture, steps, distance, and calories burned. Vibrations from the sensor "gently remind you" to sit up, to stand up straight, and to generally stop slumping and start moving more. It works with an app on your phone, which is free. The Smarter iKettle, as we see it, has a couple of key benefits. It means you don't need to waste valuable procrastinating time waiting for the kettle to boil and you can cut back on the amount of money you spend at that cafe down the street. It's simple: remotely boil your iKettle from anywhere using an app on your phone or tablet. Late, great designer David Hicks (1929–1998) wowed the English was revolutionised the world of interior design. Whether you're interested in that particular field or not, it shouldn't effect your enjoyment of this book. Hicks documented every moment of his life in 24 volumes of scrapbooks. It includes notes, drawings, and photos of clients (Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Andy Warhol), all put together lovingly by Hicks son. A fascinating read. Gifts for freelancers over £100/$125 GQ and Vogue recently featured this leather travel wallet. It includes a powerbank charger and cable, a foldaway plug set, and 32GB memory stick – plus room for your own gadgets, notebooks, passport and travel tickets, all that suff. It comes with gold foil or blind embossed initials and is made with "butter-soft Spanish leather and Italian suede lining." The Prynt Case lets you print photos from your smartphone. You attach your phone to the case, press the shutter button to take a shot, and print out the photo in seconds. It doesn't need ink cartridges either. It's good way to make moodboards, to get ideas and inspiration laid out in front of you, rather than flicking through images on your phone. Hawthorn of London hand-makes high-end backpacks that are "built to last a lifetime" using tough 18oz waxed canvas, organic cotton, and proper leather. This model has a several cool features, the best of which is that the zip is on your back, so the only way to open the bag is to take it off. It comes in a few different colours and is naturally water resistant, to keep your laptop and gadgets dry. View the full article

Four years ago I taught myself to create vector art in Adobe Illustrator, and became a vector contributor for micro-stock agencies like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, 123RF and Vectorstock. Recently, I discovered CrazyTalk Animator 3, and even though I don't have a background in animation, I found it easy to use to animate my characters. You can start with a PSD design, make a few quick modifications so it fits the CTA format, and bring it to life quickly and easily. The results look professional and it saves loads of time compared to other animation methods. Photoshop Creative ranked the tool 8 out of 10, commenting: ”Overall CTA3 is a very good tool to create nice, smooth two dimensional animations…” In five hours, I can create a whole family of characters based on one initial character. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to animate a character with CrazyTalk Animator 3. I like creating 2D characters in a traditional flat design as it gives me more leeway for quick changes, but these techniques can be adjusted and applied to any style of character. Let's get started! 01. Customise your characters 20-25 minutes The first step is to modify your character designs so they'll work with the CTA3 format. My original character – which comes from Shutterstock – has six body parts. We need him to have 10 parts to work in CTA3, so I edited the design as shown in the image above. I tend to use Adobe Illustrator for tasks like these. 02. Adjust the character layers 2-5 minutes In order to animate the character, we need to locate all the bone joints. This is simple to do if you follow the PSD template provided for CrazyTalk Animator 3 Pipeline. You can download the template here. Make sure your character's hips are located in the same position as the dummy hip. Carefully place body parts into the right template folder. Then delete the dummy and rearrange layers by relocating the hand and feet folders on top of the arm and thigh folders, respectively. 03. Edit your joints Around 5 minutes Focusing on the head part, and again following the CTA3 template, relocate the labels and joints into the right positions. Move the baselines (shown here in red and blue) close to feet, and at this point hide the hips and hand so you can focus on the arm and leg parts. Make sure the all end joints are close to the end of the image sprites. Then move on to finish relocating the rest of the joints on torso and hand parts. All done! Now you can save the character's PSD file. 04. Bring the PSD character to life 20-30 minutes Open CTA3 and click on the 'Create G3 Free Bone Actor' button. The character will appear in the Composer Mode, as shown in the image above. Now we can play around with our animated character by using the preview mode and clicking on the bones to move or rotate different parts. Let's go back into the Stage Mode, and apply some motion effects from the motion library. Save and rename the actor, then get your G3 character ready to animate. As you can see, from start to finish this process took around 40 minutes. In order to animate a group of six to eight characters it will take approximately four to six hours or less, as I can work quicker for the later characters. View the full article

What could be a better gift for the creative in your life than a design magazine subscription? Our range of magazines cover all areas of design, from illustration to web design, and 3D art to graphic design, so there's something for everyone, regardless of their skill level. What's more, there are currently some amazing Christmas deals across all of our design magazines. This means that you can save up to 49% on some magazines for yourself or as a gift. To start claiming these savings, all you have to do is head over to the MyFavouriteMagazines store. When you subscribe to one of our design titles you can expect up to 13 issues from the magazine per year. They're the gift that keeps on giving! Packed with value and expert insight, the full range of design magazines, which you can explore below, are just what the designer in your life is looking for. All of these magazines are sister titles to Creative Bloq, which means that their articles and features are all written by experts in their field. Related articles: The best Amazon Cyber Monday deals 2017 How to get the best Cyber Monday deals 2017 View the full article

You're reading Imbalanced Layouts Offer Different Patterns to Adopt, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! For a long time, web interfaces were the places where balance, proportion and symmetry were considered to be the signs of good taste and attributes of great design. Everyone was struggling to achieve complete harmony and equilibrium of details. But the situation has changed. There were many attempts to embrace chaos. These days we witness […] View the full article

Never mind about illustration trends: learning how to accurately draw animals is the first step to designing your own fantasy creatures. Nature offers an amazing variety of solutions, shapes, colours and sizes, all designed to solve the challenge of survival in different way. You'll find that drawing and studying animals will provide plenty of inspiration that can be incorporated into your artwork. How to draw a horseTo help you get started, I'm going to show you how to draw a bear. I always start by working quickly and using broad, light pencil marks to find the animal's gesture. This is especially key when drawing from life, where animals move about as you draw. So, get your best pencils at the ready as I reveal how to draw a bear in five simple steps. 01. Start with a light sketch Keep your arm loose and move quickly – this is the messy stage! I begin with a light sketch – I don't want to make any solid marks or bold lines yet, I'm just finding the shapes of the animal's form. I will break this initial sketch into a wire skeleton and shapes to start. This is the foundation of my study. 02. Draw through forms Build up the form with repetitive, fluid strokes to keep the drawing full of motion As I begin to build up my drawing, I'll draw through forms. This means that I'm not worried about forms covering each other, but rather I begin to see through them. This helps to keep the drawing fluid and keeps me aware of where the forms are overlapping in space. I'm also looking for landmarks, such as the scapula and knee caps, to help me locate the anatomy of the animal as it develops on the paper. 03. Find the muscle groups Locating the joints and major muscle groups helps to keep the sketch accurate This is where my experience in drawing real-life animals frequently comes to help. I'm able to locate and find a variety of different muscle groups based on both my previous studies and memory. However, I'm always sure to really look at my subject so as not to miss out on what's actually in front of me. Locating the joints and major muscle groups can also help with fur placement and rendering later on. 04. Introduce form and value Adding in some value can help to turn the formNow that I've got a solid blueprint in place, I can begin to add in some quick values. Here, I'm imagining a light source above the bear. This is where heavier lead comes in handy. I tend to alternate from HB and B lead, but you can use what you’re comfortable with. I'll draw with these heavier pencils to nail in those lines, and flesh out the forms of the muscle groups, too. 05. Flesh out details Add fur in correlation with the muscle groups to keep the animal from looking flatNow I can begin to suggest a few details here and there. Every animal has a different set of proportions and small details that make that species unique, and every species has unique individuals. It's important to pay attention and really see what's there. I'm also interested in adding in markings or any other distinguishing textures or features in this step. Related articles: How to draw and paint – 90 pro tips and tutorials How to draw a dragon 100 amazing Illustrator tutorials View the full article

Running a successful studio is not just about the quality of your work – you also need to be able to juggle your resources effectively to make sure you're working to your full potential. We talked to the resource scheduling experts at Resource Guru to find out their top 10 tips for managing a busy studio successfully. 01. Don’t treat people like robots Be realistic with your project planning and remember that people don’t work on billable projects from 9am to 6pm every day – meetings, breaks, and other distractions will limit the time they can actually spend working. Even the most dedicated workers need to stop for a cup of tea occasionally. 02. Don't neglect existing projects Maintaining existing client projects can take a surprising amount of time. If you don’t have a separate support team, then put aside some time each week for someone to take care of any issues that may arise. This has the added bonus of keeping existing clients on-side. 03. Get a helping hand with dedicated tools Use tools to support and streamline management tasks. Keep your team up-to-date using dedicated resource scheduling software. One option is Resource Guru – a tool dedicated to helping you effectively allocate the people, equipment and online resources in your studio, to free you up so you can focus on the creative stuff. 04. Avoid over-allocating your resources Pushing your team members too hard is a recipe for disaster. While there may be a short-term gain, over long periods this leads to burnout and high staff turnover. If it’s unavoidable, make sure to set a regular time to review and reprioritise the overbookings. 05. Don’t forget about time off Holidays and other types of leave will have an impact on your projects. It's easy to forget about this, but it can have a significant impact on your workflow. Make sure leave management is integral to your resource scheduling. 06. Monitor resource utilisation Keep an eye on your resource utilisation rate. An under-utilised team is less profitable, while consistent over-utilisation quickly leads to burnout. Your aim is to find the sweet spot in the middle, where no one's tearing their hair out and no one's left twiddling their thumbs. 07. Don't just throw resources at a problem Nine women can’t make a baby in a month. Remember that simply throwing more resources at a problem won’t fix it. Onboarding new team members takes time, so it’s much better to spend time planning how you’ll be using your resources before a problem arises. 08. Set realistic expectations Missed budgets, milestones and lead times will quickly sour your relationship with your team, and your clients. Saying 'no' to a client is difficult, but promising something you know isn't possible is even worse. 09. Keep your team focused Help minimise distractions for your team. The time lost to context-switching is greater than it may appear, and even a few 'quick chats' about unrelated issues can have a negative impact on your projects. Create an environment in which your designers can focus 100 per cent on the task at hand, before moving on to the next task. 10. Keep your team happy Make sure you’re aware of when your designers are being made to work overtime or if they haven’t been assigned to a project they were promised. A happy studio is a more productive (and profitable!) studio. View the full article

As the end of the year approaches, it's a good time to take a look back at the biggest illustration trends of 2017 – and to forecast what we expect to be the most exciting illustration trends of 2018. Of course, the best illustrators have their own distinctive art styles, and when commissioned they'll work towards fulfilling the creative brief as specified by the client. But none of us exist in a vacuum, and looking back over the past year, it’s possible to identify common themes across some of the best new illustrative work that we've seen. Whether you decide to put your own stamp on these and push your work in an unexpected direction, or you prefer to avoid popular trends at all costs, it's helpful to know where the industry's at – particularly when it comes to justifying your creative decisions to clients. Here, then, are some of the hottest illustration trends of 2017 that we’ve noticed over the last 12 months... 01. Playful colours When Ana Jacks created the visual language for the Facebook event House of Us, bold colour was at the forefront In 2017, illustrators haven’t been shy in using bright and playful colours to bring their work to people’s attention. It’s an illustration trend that can be seen everywhere in editorial illustration, from the eye-catching hues of Berlin-based visual artist Siggi Eggertsson to the chaotically colourful pattern-collages of Hamburg-based illustrator Max Knicker. It’s also evident in the more “out there” work too, such as the eerie, goblin-like characters of Londoner Alex Gamsu Jenkins and the psychedelic imaginings of Belgian illustrator Ellen van Engelen. Not to mention the vibrant trad-children’s book stylings of Brazil-based Jana Glatt or the uncompromising female character studies of Daiana Ruiz. There are some who raise colour almost to the level of a special effect, as can be seen in the zesty, humorous scenes of Anka Bara, the in-your-face character studies of Isle of Man-based illustrator Ana Jaks (above), and the distinctive and evocative work of Madrid and Barcelona-based artist Josea Roda. And it’s an illustration trend that’s set to continue into 2018, predicts illustrator Fiona Wade, creative collaborator with Brown&co. “I think the trends in illustration next year will be summed up by one word,” she says. “Colour. Bold, intense, saturated, colour. Lots of it. “Colour will be used as a concept all on its own – becoming a feature, rather than simply background information in a picture. Particular colours that will be popping up in both illustration and fashion prints will be pastel ice-cream shades and rich jewel-like teals and golds.” 02. Female empowerment Hamburg artist Helena Ravenne is known for her images of female empowerment From the Weinstein scandal to controversy over the gender pay gap, gender issues have rarely been out of the headlines in 2017. And illustrators haven't been shy in bringing forth their perspectives on issues of female empowerment and solidarity. New York-based designer and illustrator Amber Vittoria is among those challenging the societal assumptions placed on women through her defiant work, based around physical traits such as body hair, overtly extended limbs and rounded features. Melbourne-based illustrator Jordyn McGeachin, meanwhile, is focused on normalising notions of women’s sexuality. Less confrontational but just as powerful is the work of Polish designer and illustrator Weronika Anna Marianna, which explores the “wild and sacred sides” of women, or that of Hamburg-based illustrator Helena Ravenne (above) who recently launched a series called Girls are Back in Town, celebrating talented and strong women. And it’s not just about individual efforts, but collective action, too. For example, 2017 also saw the launch of Women Who Draw, an online community of female illustrators, artists and cartoonists, with the aim of increasing their visibility and give them a stronger voice worldwide. It’s currently 2,700 creatives strong, and counting. 03. Absurdity and surrealism Felix Decombat’s interactive homepage at felixdecombat.com is the trippiest thing we’ve seen this year The world of 2017 has felt like a place where, for good or bad, anything can happen and increasingly, anything goes. So it’s not surprising that we’ve seen increased visibility this year for strange and unusual illustration styles. These include the delightful head-scrambling lunacy of German illustrator Sebastian Schwamm, the delightfully deconstructive visions of Ottowa comic artist Michael Haddad and the futuristic and weirdly subversive stylings of French illustrator Felix Decombat. Also well worth checking out are the the gruesomely spaced-out sci-fi works of Norwegian illustrator Derek Ercolano, the hilariously surreal work of Russian illustrator Andrey Kasay and the jagged, dysmorphic characters of Oslo-based illustrator and animator Steph Hope. 04. Anxiety and alienation The Weather of the World, by Yann Kebbi for the New York Times It’s been a year in which all the old norms of politics, society and culture seemed to be crumbling, austerity gathered pace, the distance between citizenry and their representatives widened, and even nuclear war seemingly became a possibility. This sense of global anxiety and alienation was reflected in the work of a number of illustrators. For example, French artist Yann Kebbi took the ideas of catastrophe and fracturing as the inspiration for a number of impactful pieces, including one for the New York Times, shown above. And similarly, New York illustrator, printmaker and comic book artist Evan M Cohen’s Noise series portrays the stress, fear and delusion of modern life in stark monochromatic scenes. Ominous and disturbing, the work of Brooklyn-based illustrator Minju An takes delight in the deconstruction of body parts, while German artist Max Guther draws on the influence of Bauhaus architects to hold up a dispassionate mirror to the empty banalities of modern existence. Elsewhere, Illustrator Noa Snir’s series Disorder explored a variety of common psychological problems through dramatic black and white linocuts. 05. 1990s retro The 90s influence is strong in the work of Igor Bastidas In uncertain times, there’s always safety and comfort to be found in the familiar. For a long while, we’ve all been indulging in 1980s nostalgia, but 2017 saw that finally start to give ground to 1990s retro. Yes, it’s finally time to look back longingly on the last decade of the last century, and leading the pack is Miami-based illustrator and animator Igor Bastidas, whose work for MTV, Converse and Cartoon Network highlights his love of clean lines and solid colours. Other exponents of the 90s vibe include Rotterdam-based illustrator Xaviera Altena, whose work is peppered with 90s pop culture references, and Amy Sutton, who’s strongly influenced by the vibrant colours of 90s cartoons. 06. Japanese style Part of Andrew Archer’s Edo Ball series, which combines images of basketball and Japanese art Whether its traditional Ukiyo-e art, anime-style art or artworks inspired by Japanese culture, cities and fashions, one 2017 illustration trend to have continued developing is that of Japanese influence. Take for example Edo Ball, a series by New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based illustrator Andrew Archer inspired by “basketball, culture, Japan and Ukiyo-e art” (above). Or there’s The Tokyoiter, a spoof illustrated series of tributes to covers of The New Yorker and The Parisianer, established by British illustrator Andrew Joyce, French art director David Robert, and Japanese illustrator and creative director Tatsushi Eto. The Japanese influence is also central to the work of Nick Alston, a British illustrator based in Tokyo; Karan Singh, an Australian artist and illustrator in Amsterdam; Polish watercolour artist Mateusz Urbanowiczs; and many more besides. 07. Digital meets hand-drawn This 2017 illustration trend isn't new. It's been around for years now – but with mobile creative tech continuing to take over the market, it's set to become one of the strongest illustrations trends of 2018, too. “Above everything else I’ve seen this year, it’s been illustrators mastering elements of the iPad Pro to sketch and draw in a way that speeds up workflow,” explains Jamie Clarke, who designs illustrative type and lettering and edits the typography blog Type Worship. “In the lettering world there’s a digital hand-drawn style that's wedging itself comfortably between vector artwork and paper-drawn,” he continues. “Those who are really getting to grips with it, such as the Oregon-based designer Jordan Metcalf, are allowing the technology to influence the final piece.” The lines between hand-drawn and digital are also being blurred in the work of Chinese freelancer Samuel Chen, who creates digital work that looks like it’s been crafted traditionally. Similarly, Austrian illustrator Nanna Prieler's work is based in physical media but looks like it includes digital elements. Related articles: 8 design industry trends for 2018 5 free apps that can boost your creativity 5 uses for stock images you might not have thought of View the full article

Intel released eight patches for vulnerabilities in remote management software and firmware that could allow local adversaries to elevate privileges, run arbitrary code, crash systems and eavesdrop on communications. View the full article

If you're looking to bag a Black Friday deal on a Surface Book, Surface Pro or any other model from Microsoft's fantastic Surface family, then you've come to the right place. We're collecting all the best Microsoft Surface Black Friday deals right here, throughout Black November, as soon as they appear. So far, the best savings we've seen have arrived in the form of Black Friday Surface Book deals. That's because the Surface Book – our laptop of the summer – was recently replaced by the stunning Surface Book 2 and retailers are looking to shift their older stock. We gave the Surface Book five out of five stars when we reviewed it. It's powerful, flexible and has a stunning screen – so if you don't mind buying an older model, there are some incredible savings to be had. And if you're in the market for more creative hardware generally, don't miss the following articles: Best cheap laptop deals, Best monitors for creatives, The best Wacom tablet deals, 6 smartphone deals for designers, and our exclusive Adobe Creative Cloud deal. Read on for the best Black Friday Microsoft Surface deals to be had right now... 01. Surface Book 2 Black Friday deals At 15-inches, the beautiful new 2-in-1 Microsoft Surface Book 2 introduces a larger form factor to the original Surface Book. This is currently the world’s best 2-in-1 laptop: it’s incredibly powerful, with a dazzling 13.5-inch PixelSense display, and boasts a battery life up to 17 hours. It’s also incredibly flexible – with laptop, tablet, studio and view modes – and lightweight to boot. Prices are unlikely to come down much, but if there are any Black Friday Surface Book 2 deals to be had, you’ll find them here. 02. Surface Book Black Friday deals The first iteration of the Surface Book remains an impressive model – and with huge Black Friday price cuts likely while stocks last, Microsoft's first-ever 2-in-1 laptop makes an irresistible prospect for creatives. With an innovative Performance Base that delivers crisp, vibrant graphics and up to 16 hours of battery life, if you can get your hands on the Surface Book you won't regret it. 03. Surface Pro Black Friday deals Thanks to a powerful Intel Core processor, the Surface Pro delivers great speed and performance that previous models. This has lead to Microsoft describing it as the most powerful Surface Pro ever. With all this power under the hood, the new Surface Pro provides users with a smooth experience to help them stay productive. It can also switch between laptop, studio, and tablet modes easily to keep up with your demanding workflow. Ultra-light and versatile, the Surface Pro gives users the best of Microsoft at their fingertips. 04. Surface Studio Black Friday deals With an impressive 28" PixelSense Display, the Surface Studio is specially designed for the creative process. Capable of switching and adjusting to follow how you work, the Surface Studio is powered by Intel® Core™ processors and an NVIDIA® GeForce® dGPU to help bring your work to life. Paired with the Surface Dial, the Surface Studio is changing how creatives are working for the better. 05. Surface Laptop Black Friday deals The beautifully designed and crafted Surface laptop matches its elegance with its performance. Boasting a vibrant 13.5" PixelSense Display with immersive touchscreen, the Surface Laptop gives users more room to get creative. Available in four colours to suit your style (burgundy, platinum, cobalt blue and graphite gold), this laptop packs the best of Windows and Office. Related articles: The best Amazon Cyber Monday deals 2017 5 best laptops for video editing in 2017 The best drawing tablet for illustrators and artists View the full article

When you're starting a new illustration – whether doing quick sketches or highly realistic pencil drawings, you want to have your best pencils and drawing tools at the ready. But buying the drawing tools for your needs is largely a question of trial and error. When first becoming acquainted with using pencils for artwork, we'd recommend buying one of each grade from 9H to 9B to become familiar with the hard/light and soft/dark qualities of each. Experiment with various surfaces, and a wide variety of strokes and mark-making. 01. Graphite pencils KOH-I-NOOR makes these 'woodless' graphite pencils If you're just starting out, you'll no doubt want to stick with the familiar. Graphite pencils are the most common type of drawing tool as their composition allows for the smoothest strokes. Once you grow in confidence, though, it's time to start widening your scope. For instance, you could try solid graphite pencils. These are solid sticks of graphite and clay composite (as found in a graphite pencil), which have no casing other than a wrapper or label. Often called woodless pencils, they're used primarily for art purposes, as the lack of casing allows for covering larger spaces more easily, creating different effects. Buy KOH-I-NOOR Progresso Woodless Graphite Pencils: $6.15/£7.99 for 6 02. Charcoal pencils Derwent makes these charcoal pencils Charcoal pencils, as the name suggests, are made of charcoal and provide fuller blacks than graphite pencils, but tend to smudge easily and are more abrasive than graphite. Sepia-toned and white pencils are also available for duotone techniques. "I use charcoal because it's a versatile drawing tool that produces a variety of effects, from thin lines to bold strokes," says Jean-Sébastien Rossbach, an award-winning illustrator, concept artist and painter. However, he adds a word of warning: as with blending tools, "those just starting out can find it tricky to control, with the results often looking messy." Buy Derwent Charcoal Pencils: $9.05/£7 for 6 03. Ink Ink drawing with different nibs can produce stunning results Of course, drawing isn't just about pencils: ink drawing is another popular medium that can lead to some beautiful results. Traditional pen and ink consists of black ink and white paper, creating space through thick or thin lines, repeating marks for texture. There are many options for working in ink so, just as with graphite, you'll need to find which best suits you by experimenting. Read our guide: Get started with ink drawing for more on ink drawing tools and techniques Buy Speedball 2964 Sketching Pen Set: $7.28/£7.89 including 6 nibs And Winsor & Newton Water Resistant Drawing Ink: $9.27/£6.15 for 30ml 04. Pastels We gave SAA Artists Soft Pastels 4.5 stars in our review If you want your drawing to feature vibrant colours then you'll probably want to investigate pastels. Pastels are a great medium for producing colourful artwork easily, with no need for water, brushes or palettes. The main types of pastels are soft and hard pastels, oil pastels, pastel pencils and water soluble pastels. Read our guide: How to start pastel drawing for more on key tools and techniques Read our SAA Artists 12 Soft Pastels review Buy SAA Artists 12 Soft Pastels: $24.42/£21.12 05. Carbon and watercolour pencils We gave the Staedtler watercolour pencils five stars in our review And that's not all! You can also try using carbon pencils, which produce a fuller black than graphite pencils, but are smoother than charcoal. There are grease pencils, which write on almost any surface including glass, plastic, metal and photos. Plus there are watercolour pencils, designed for use with watercolour techniques. (They can also be used by themselves for sharp, bold lines). In short, there's a world of different drawing implements out there. So start trying different drawing tools, and don't hold back. Read our Staedtler watercolour pencils review Buy the Staedtler Karat Aquarell watercolour pencils: $44/£31.75 for 36 06. Blending and sharpening tools Blending stumps are ideal for creating gradations and half-tones After gaining an understanding of the abilities and limitations of each pencil, you can then investigate further with blending tools and erasers for different effects. A blending tool can be anything you can use to add texture to your graphite marks. The most obvious tool you have already to hand: your fingers! Other blending tools you can potentially use include tortillions, blending stumps, paper, cloth, cotton wool, make-up wipes, chamois, paper towels, paper tissue, paintbrushes, and probably a dozen other things we haven't thought of. Blending stumps are made from tightly wound paper, formed into a stick and sanded at both ends to create points. Used ideally to create gradations and half-tones, the sanded area is ideal for blending while the point (ideally kept clean) is best used to blend light-toned areas. Unlike fingers, blending stumps leave no oily smears. Blending tortillons are made from rolled, loose-fibre paper and are pointed at one endBlending tortillons are made from rolled, loose-fibre paper and are pointed at one end. The softer paper texture of blending tortillons gives a different blending texture to stumps, and they can be used to push colour and soften pencil edges. Be warned, though: attempting the use of blending tools too early can look smudgy and amateurish, so don't rush into this. You also need to keep your pencils sharp. And while a pencil sharpener is fine when you're just using a pencil to write with, for drawing we'd suggest you're better off using a scalpel or craft knife. Buy the Stumps And Tortillions Set: $4.56/£6.36 for 10 05. Kneaded eraser Kneaded erasers are dry and don’t smudge or leave flaked residueUnlike standard office erasers, kneaded erasers are dry and don’t smudge or leave flaked residue. Their softness makes them ideal on sketching paper with a lot of ‘tooth’. These erasers can also be formed into points for picking out highlights in eyes and hair. Buy the Prismacolor Premier Kneaded Rubber Eraser: $3.12/£3.01 What to look for Illustrator Terese Nielsen explains how to pick your paper, pencils and more... 01. Choose the right grade Pencils are graded on a scale from H (hardness) to B (blackness)Pencils are graded on a scale from H (hardness) to B (blackness). Generally a 2-4H pencil is as hard as one needs for light areas, an H-B is for midrange, and a 5B-6B is for dark areas. Rather than switching pencils for each tone, experiment with altering the pressure. Brands vary, so experiment to see what suits your temperament. 02. Choose the right paper The paper you choose is going to be equally significant as the pencil choice As much as pencil choice requires careful consideration, the paper you choose is going to be equally significant. If attempting to create a highly realistic style, for example, you could try using a smooth, hot press/plate finish surface. We prefer Arches 140 lb hot press watercolour paper or Bristol Board plate finish. 03. Try some strokes Many strokes can be employed to indicate textures of various objectsMany strokes can be employed to indicate textures of various objects. If you’re attempting a highly realistic style then use very small circular strokes with your pencil; otherwise unwanted banding of pencil marks occurs. Try shading with a variety of tools from blending stumps to paper tissue for better finishes. Check out more of our art posts: How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials Improve your character drawing today How to draw manga characters View the full article

You're reading Google Maps Updated with New Design for the First Time in Years, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Google released an update to their eponymous Maps service. Product Manager Liz Hunt revealed changes focusing on prioritizing the information presented, what is displayed according to the user situation, and how it is displayed in the UI in terms of icon and colors. Maps Will Present the User with the Most Relevant Information Google states […] View the full article

Named after the brutalist architecture movement from the mid-to-late 20th century, web brutalism gleefully ignores all the web design best practices established over the past 20 years and is throwing out work that's inventive, exciting and challenging – even confrontational. Brutalist websites range from the wilfully chaotic to the obstinately minimal, but they're united by a rejection of mainstream web trends. There comes a time in every creative movement when some of its practitioners decide to push back against the accepted way of doing things and start breaking the rules, usually to the outrage of the establishment. The origins of web brutalism Brutalist architecture is unconcerned about looking attractive, and it's this – as well as the idea that brutalism was conceived as a reaction to the more frivolous architecture of the 1930s and 40s – that led Pascal Deville, cofounder and creative director of Freundliche Grüsse to co-opt the term. "I've had a high interest in digital design and the web design community since the early days of the web, " he tells us. "In the last couple of years I noticed a trend toward streamlined, almost neutralised interfaces that completely missed any sense of brand attributes or characteristics regarding the content or purpose they serve." Deville also noticed designers starting to experiment with a kind of web design anti-trend: a rough and back-to-basics approach on how websites could work outside a perfect UX world, and it's this aspect that reminded him of the original brutalists. Deville keeps track of the latest brutalist websites on brutalistwebsites.com Since then Deville has been curating Brutalistwebsites.com, where he gathers sites that fit in with his ideas of web brutalism and interviews their creators. "It serves as an inspirational platform for young designers," he says, "Something I want to give back to the community." Defining features of web brutalism A trawl through Brutalistwebsites.com will quickly demonstrate that it covers a broad range of styles and aesthetics; nevertheless there are a few commonalities. Interactive designer Bruno Landowski, who in 2013 worked on an early example of a brutalist site for the 13th Istanbul Biennial, sums up the brutalist approach like this: "It uses big fonts, solid-colour backgrounds, geometric shapes and raw features… It doesn't care about the general public." Any Studio's site breaks all the rules, brilliantly Jakob Kornelli from Any Studio in Berlin, which boasts a gloriously brutalist website, also points out the movement's use of bold and somewhat radical typography. "But even more than that," he tells us, "we believe that a brutalist website pushes the boundaries of its medium, especially in terms of interaction. Even though web design has been around for some time now, the interactive and aesthetic possibilities of it are seldom used to their full potential." French multidisciplinary designer Pierre Butin has made a name for himself with his Brutalist Redesigns project, in which he reworked popular apps such as Tinder, Google Maps and even Candy Crush to striking effect. He has his own theories on brutalism: "Some seem to define it as a crude approach, whilst others tends to embrace this loose definition," he says. "This got me wondering: is brutalism in digital design more about Swiss minimalism or just raw coding? For this reason, I tried out different styles that could be deemed as brutalist. I used system fonts, basic web colours, a simple colour scheme and stuck to the original UX of the app. My objective was to start a conversation about what's coming UI-wise and how it should be done." Giacomo Miceli believes that brutalism is all about simplification For Giacomo Miceli, whose monochrome portfolio site is a masterpiece in Courier, it's about simplification, and there's nothing new about it. "Just look at the homepage of Google, " he observes. "17 years ago, AltaVista was a thing and its homepage was cluttered with useless stuff. Google came in with a website that did one thing, did it really well, and was unconcerned with looking pretty. Google definitely gives more attention to the eye these days, but the core remained the same." It's Detroit-based designer Kikko Paradela who sums web brutalism up most succinctly, though: "Typographic. Content-driven. Straightforward." How to build brutalist sites Perhaps a great part of brutalism's appeal is that you can neatly sidestep all the initial preparation that traditionally comes with building a site, and simply get on with it. Many creators of brutalist sites take a distinct pride in the fact that they do virtually all of their design and development work in that venerable Windows mainstay, Notepad. Landowski quickly summarises his brutalist process: "Rock–paper–scissors to make choices, a pen to sketch them, Photoshop and Illustrator to specify them, and a text editor to make them alive." Although, he points out, this isn't an approach that would work for everyone; he comes from a graphic design background which, he says, makes him more sensitive to user experience. The 13th Istanbul Biennial site is an early example of the brutalist approach Kornelli agrees, noting that much of Any Studio's work focuses on strong typography, clear messages and the occasional unexpected twist to keep things interesting. "The website we recently designed for the film production company Very Film shows this approach," he tells us, "with its bold and crisp black-and-white typography combined with only one distinctive interaction that is reminiscent of a curtain closing and opening." For a donation-based poster design service called This is Shit, web designer Jon Matheson had other priorities. "I think the whole point of brutalism in web design is not to be limited to what you're expected to use as a web designer," he explains. Matheson prefers to avoid looking at a screen if he really doesn't have to, and so he designed This is Shit on paper, with an ink brush for the header and footer, Sharpie for the menu tabs and white gel pen for the social media icons. "Most of the site is just scanned in sections of that design," he reveals. And the results are brilliant. And in Paradela's case, both his site and his practice are influenced by where he lives and works. He explains that his site is, "a reflection of my design approach and thinking. I've always aligned myself with the anti-mainstream or 'anti-Jesus' aesthetic because it challenges conventional and convenient truths including my own. This approach is also pertinent to the current social and political environment of Detroit, which is where I live and base my practice." The benefits of brutalism Paradela's philosophy resonates with many of the reasons that designers have given us for building websites that go so strongly against the grain of modern web design. So what are the benefits to this concept? "Instead of this tip-toeing around carefully crafting a modern, expected site," suggests Matheson, "it's like the creators are going 'Here's the site. If you don't like it, your loss' and I love that." There's more to it than that, though; Daan Lucas feels that there's an honesty to brutalism that's perhaps missing from more polished, corporate offerings. "I think brutalism intends to show the core and deduct it from distraction," he says. "I like that. I think it's also the right thing to do these days. People know when they are bullshitted. In our work we always try to make a real connection with people. Make them wonder, invite them to play. If you bullshit people they will walk away and be annoyed." You can see brutalism's playfulness on sites such as Bong's homepage, featuring a giant Newton's cradle and links to the agency's work scrolling around the edge. It might go against the rules, but it's a different and exciting experience for users, and Any Studio is keen to mine the possibilities of this approach to web design. Bong turned heads earlier this year with its new site for johnson banks "Not playing by a certain set of rules or applying different ones – like classic Swiss modernist graphic design rules – has the advantage that the results tend to be more unique and therefore more captivating for the user, " says Kornelli. "Also the influx of avant-garde graphic design opens the field to tons of new and striking aesthetic possibilities, which in return generate more interesting experiences for users and clients." More than punk rock? So maybe this is more than just a punk rock moment. While there's a degree of that – Kornelli points out that there's been a glut in recent years of boring UX-driven web design, creating an environment of functional but bland website clones, and in many ways brutalism is a 'fuck you' reaction to that environment – designers see brutalism as a way of driving web design forward and actually increasing usability. Butin explains: "Straightforward brutalist elements might improve the overall experience users have of an app. UX experts like Luke Wroblewsky show again and again that, for example, the word 'Menu' in an interface generates more engagement than the hamburger icon (as goes the saying, 'obvious always wins'). For this reason, I do not think that brutalism in digital design is incompatible with a UX-driven approach." And looking through the pantheon of brutalist sites, it's hard not to draw comparisons with the world of graphic design. You can see clear parallels between brutalist sites and the work of designers such as David Carson, Stefan Sagmeister and more recently Richard Turley, who used audacious and provocative design to turn stuffy old Bloomberg Businessweek into one of the most talked-about magazines. Kiki Paradela's site is a brutalist goldmine well worth exploring Kornelli agrees that there's definitely a graphic design influence, and Any Studio welcomes this development. "Until recently web design was, for some reason, kind of detached from the long and great tradition of graphic design," he tells us. "Graphic designers treated web design as an unknown medium and didn't really know what to do with it. Now there is a new generation of designers emerging that feel at home in both worlds. Web design is becoming fully integrated into the vocabulary of contemporary graphic designers." This matters, because graphic design is a mature discipline that for many years has been addressing and solving the issues that web brutalists are now taking on. "This is the space where we usually operate," says Paradela. "We deconstruct and understand visual language so we can have it at our disposal to communicate effectively. We are self critical with what's going around us." Where's it all going? Like brutalism, graphic design often goes to provocative extremes, but always in the name of clear communication. While graphic designers tend to go all-out for their portfolios, the work that they produce in the day job is generally a lot less full-on; and this is how the brutalist approach will leave its influence on web design in general. "I found that a fair amount of brutalist websites are small scale; designers' portfolios or personal projects," observes Butin. "Yet, an increasing number of designers work on (popular) mobile apps. It would then not be surprising if they transferred this taste for brutalism/minimalism to the products they design." Matheson's approach to brutalism was to draw his poster site by hand Matheson hopes that this could be a huge turning point for the web in terms of design. "I hope at least that more designers, artist and creatives will have less fear of experimenting with brutalism," he says, "or at least the carefree approach to their work as more and more of these designs and approaches reveal themselves." And Kornelli believes that brutalism is about to establish its relevance and will probably stay for a while, giving designers increasing rein to create a beautiful, communicative web. "Thanks to the evolution of interfaces and software, designers will soon be empowered to create top-notch websites without handing sketches off to a developer – the developers will provide the appropriate tools beforehand instead." This article originally appeared in issue 297 of net, the magazine for professional web designers and developers – offering the latest new web trends, technologies and techniques. Buy issue 297 here or subscribe to net here. Related articles: 16 amazing HTML examples How to survive as a web designer beyond 2020 Get started with HTML canvas View the full article

Web designers are known for applying their design eye to every product they own, so they can be tricky to buy for at Christmas – and at other points in the year. But don’t worry, we won’t let you go wrong. The gifts below are a selection of useful tools, books, amusements and other things made by brands that are well-loved by designers for their attention to detail and stylish, practical products. We've organised our gift guide into different price bands, too, so there's a gift to suit your budget and the recipient's tastes. If you're buying for a few different creatives, fear not. We also have gift guides for graphic designers, illustrators, design students and even creative kids. Best gifts for web designers under £20/$25 Power users are often dissatisfied with the charging cables that come with Apple devices because they start to break after a while and are expensive to replace. This ultra-strong reinforced one from Native Union is much more suitable for someone who pushes cables to their limits: it's 4 feet long and claims to be six times stronger than standard Lightning cables. It has a cool print design, a luxurious leather strap to stop it from tangling, and even comes with a lifetime warranty. This may seem excessive, but bear with us. No-one likes a dirty keyboard, and cleaning the crumbs out of the little gaps between your keys requires a dedicated tool. Help your developer friend keep their workspace hygienic with this handy little jointed brush. It has two rows of bristles of different lengths for removing debris from every crevice of your laptop, and it's made from oiled beech wood and goat/horse hair. Did you see the video of the racist soap dispenser? If not and you don't want to click, it's an automatic soap dispenser that only works for white people; a darker skin tone gets no soap. This book is essentially about that: the processes, biases and assumptions that lead to digital products that fail us in horrible, cringeworthy ways. Anyone who designs products will benefit from reading it. The design world is full of aphorisms such as 'there are no new ideas', 'rules are there to be broken' and so on, which are often assimilated into the minds of young designers without question. In this fascinating and entertaining read, multi-award-winning design director Craig Ward dissects each of these mantras in turn and gives many of them a good debunking. The result is a handbook that will make any designer wiser about how they approach their craft. Best gifts for web designers under £50/$75 This portable wooden stand gives you the ergonomic layout of a desktop setup wherever you go. If you're only working for a few hours a day you might get away with putting your laptop on a desk, but having to look down for long periods will start to hurt eventually and cause neck and back problems. This stand allows you to put your laptop at eye level for a healthy sitting position. 06. Field Notes Project Kit Price: $54.95 (around £41.50)Many web designers like to sketch their ideas on paper first, and if your loved one is a big user of notebooks then this set will go down well. Field Notes is a brand loved by designers because so much thought has been put into every element of the product, from the choice of paper and typography to the dimensions and rounded corners. This set has four different types of notebook and a set of carpenter pencils. Tabletop board games are a favourite among web designers and developers, so this could be the ideal gift that doubles as something fun for everyone to do over Christmas. We asked the people at board game cafe Chance & Counters what they would pick for a web geek and they recommended The Networks. "It's so good," said Steve Cownie. "You play as upstart TV networks, trying to amass the most viewers over five seasons. It's a solid combination of silliness and strategy, with lots of funny parodies and pop culture nods throughout." Best gifts for web designers under £100/$125 08. Street Fighter II hard drive Price: $99.99/£78.12 Let the web designer in your life back up their data in style with this fantastically retro external drive, lovingly crafted from an original SNES Street Fighter II game cartridge. Inside there's a 1TB hard disk (or 2TB if you go for the pricier option), which is more than enough for them to safely store all of their important stuff, and its USB 3.0 connection means everything gets transferred nice and quickly. Other games such as Zelda or Super Mario World are also available. This stylish leather case has a clever design element: it holds your phone tightly and is lined with felt so that the screen gets a polish every time you use it. It's the right size for an iPhone X, but you can do a custom order to get other dimensions. Best gifts for web designers over £100/$125 If the web designer in your life is a freelancer, a decent set of headphones is a must for getting work done in cafes or coworking spaces. These ones aren't a new model, but T3 still ranks them at the top of its list for wired, over-ear headphones because they have yet to be outdone in terms of comfort, sound quality and style. The double-hinged headband makes them highly portable, the ear cushions are soft and comfortable so you can wear them for hours, and they sound fantastic. Noise cancelling headphones are another option, but you’ll have to go into a higher price bracket for those. A hybrid smartwatch is a way to get a fitness and sleep tracker that looks like a normal watch, and the Nokia Steel strikes a great balance between functionality, style, battery life and budget. It tracks walking, running, swimming, calories burned and distance, as well as providing sleep cycle analysis. The battery lasts up to eight months and it looks good enough to wear all day, even with a formal outfit. Read more: How accessible are your designs? How to power up your menus with CSS animation How CodePen made itself secure View the full article