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Squashing bugs in your animation is a chore, but it has to be doneFlash may have fallen by the wayside, but animation on the web is bigger than ever, and it's at the forefront of providing a compelling user experience. But whether you're using JavaScript, SVG or CSS3 animation, at some point you'll have to roll up your sleeves and get debugging. Here, some leading developers reveal the tools they use to iron out all the bugs. 1. Chrome's Inspect Element tools Chrome's DevTools include tools to inspect elements"Generally speaking I like to use the Chrome DevTools Inspect Element tools, which are getting better every day," says Easee founder Steven Fabre. "Instead of typing everything manually or doing the back-and-forth from cubic-bezier.com to your text editor, you can now change the animation's speed and easing with a slider and visual cubic-bezier graph editor. "Once I'm happy with the timing and easing of the animation, I like to enable paint flashing to identify and fix elements that may potentially make the animation jerky." 02. CodePen CodePen will flag any syntax errorsDesigner and developer Dudley Storey reduces the need for debugging from the start. "I avoid typos by writing CSS animations in Sass," he tells us, "using either CodePen or CodeKit – both of which flag syntax errors. "If I am stuck with an unexpected result, I work backwards: one simple check is to set my CSS animation(s) to a single to { } declaration, which allows me to ensure the elements I'm animating can actually reach their final states." 03. Firefox Developer Edition Firefox's Developer Edition is packed with debugging tools"CSS animations and transitions can be tricky to debug," says web animations advocate and consultant, Rachel Nabors, "especially in UI animation, where the movement is often very quick. That's why I like Firefox Developer Edition's animation tools so much. "In the animation panel, I can scrub through an animation or even a group of animations to see what's actually happening. If an animation has already run, I don't need to refresh the page, just back that playhead up." 04. GreenSock GreenSock offers a suite of tools for JavaScript HTML5 animationSenior UX engineer Sarah Drasner has a top tip for debugging JavaScript animations. "I usually use GreenSock," she tells us, "which comes equipped with timeScale(value). This handy function enables me to slow a whole timeline down so I can see how things are interacting. "There's also timeline.seek(value), which enables me to find a specific place in time. The longer the animation, the more helpful this tool will be to your workflow." 05. Trial-and-error At Generate London, award-winning web animator Chris Gannon will share his processes and explore some of the tools he uses to build them "Animations play an important role in user interactions," notes Patrick Brosset, DevTools engineering manager at Mozilla. "Specially crafted animations not only look good but can help users make sense of changes in a user interface. Getting the perfect animation, fine-tuned to progress and last just the right way, is a trial and error process. "Tooling is key. Debugging animations requires you to be able to see and edit CSS key frame rules right in the browser, and live edit complex cubic-bezier curves. But more importantly, being able to pause, seek, slow down or speed up an animation and edit its properties at any time is essential. Both Firefox and Chrome's developer tools enable you to do just this." 06. Canary animation inspector Web motion designer Val Head is another fan of Chrome and Firefox's developer animation tools. "These animation inspectors have saved me loads of time," she reveals. "I use these because they have the most features (though some are experimental). Both have visual timelines and cubic-bezier editors for individual animations. "Canary's animation inspector is my current favourite. The editable timeline, playhead scrubber, and playback speed control let me get a really good look at what's happening in the code." 07. Your own library Bryan James's website shows he has a large libraryFreelance interactive designer and creative coder Bryan James takes a more organic approach to ironing out animation errors. "I don't debug animations in any particular way," he says, "it's purely trial and error. Recently, I've started using my own small personal group of transition sets that I tend to stick to, so I'm getting quicker at spotting errors with just my eyes. "My transition set is a group of variables declared as descriptive names, for when particular eases are necessary – akin to the standard set of ease-out, linear and so on, but a lot more bespoke and varied." This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 279. Want to learn how to push the animation boundaries? Award-winning web animator Chris Gannon will dissect some of this work at Generate London on 21 September, while Leonard Souza will demonstrate Webflow's new Interactions 2.0 feature the next day. The event will also cover web performance, UX strategy, accessibility, responsive components, adaptive as well as conversational interfaces, user research, prototyping and much, much more. Reserve your spot now! Related articles: 5 steps for mastering web animation 21 top examples of JavaScript 10 impressive examples of CSS3 animation View the full article

To be a good designer, you need to keep learning new techniques and skills – and what better way to stay ahead of the curve than with a free course for designers. After all, the more diverse your skillset, the more appealing you'll look to employers. The more you learn, the more impressive your work will be. However, finding good learning resources is a task in itself. That's where Udemy comes in. This online learning platform is aimed at professionals, and there's a ton of stuff on there to help out knowledge-hungry designers. We've rounded up 10 of the best free courses on Udemy for designers, to give you a taste of what to find on the site. In this list we've tried to cover all bases, looking at courses that will help you pick up new skills from 3D art to digital character design to Adobe Creative Cloud programs to working with WordPress and beyond. Head over to Udemy for yourself to see the full gamut of courses on offer. 01. Introduction to KeyShot for Digital 3D Rendering KeyShot is one of the easiest and fastest 3D rendering programs aroundIn this one hour on-demand video you'll learn the basics of KeyShot and how to use the powerful 3D rendering software to create stunning content of your own. You'll also pick up how to navigate and import your own game assets. All you need to get going is KeyShot 3D rendering software and your own working 3D asset. 02. Adobe Illustrator Essentials for Character Design Turn your sketches into pitch-worthy art with this courseTurning paper drawings into products that you can sell is the dream of plenty of aspiring artists. With this Adobe Illustrator course you'll learn how to do just that. Thanks to two hours of on-demand video, you'll also master the Overshoot Technique and how to draw on a tablet or with a mouse. For more Illustrator learning, check out our 100 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials post. 03. Adobe Flash CS5.5 for Beginners Start creating interactive content with these CS5 tutorialsYou get a lot of bang for your non-bucks in this free course packed with over 10 hours of on-demand video footage. By the time you're done watching, you'll know how to create animated scenes with Flash CS5.5. Plus you'll learn how to import graphics from Photoshop and how to create web-ready videos with usable playback controls. 04. How To Make a Beautiful WordPress Website Without Coding Create an online presence in under 70 minutes with this courseCreating a website is one of the most important ways to get your work out into the world. This beginner-friendly course teaches you how to quickly and easily set up a self hosted website thanks to two hours of on-demand video. You'll also learn the basics and fundamentals of WordPress, as well as picking up how to edit and update your site. For more WordPress learning, check out our 25 brilliant WordPress tutorials post. 05. How to Animate Logos for Companies and Brands Learn a real skill with business value in this After Effects courseMotion graphics can often appear more complicated than they actually are. This course aims to remove the frustration from learning After Effects and quickly give animators a practical skill they can pitch to clients. Taught over four hours of on-demand video, this course requires you to have access to After Effects. 06. Start Making Comics with Manga Studio 5 / Clip Studio Paint Learn graphic novel essentials with this courseAlways wanted to create a comic book but never been sure where to start? You're in luck, because this course teaches you how to sketch and ink directly in Manga Studio 5/ Clip Studio Paint, import art, paint digitally, set up comic book pages and storylines, and much more. After you're done with the six hours of on-demand video you'll be well on your way to having your own comic. 07. Make a Wordpress Portfolio Website Start displaying your content to the world!We've already seen how to make your own site on this list, but what if you're looking for a specific way to show off your dazzling work to potential clients? Enter this course, which runs through how to make a WordPress portfolio site in just two and a half hours of on-demand video. Who knows, maybe it'll help you land your next gig? 08. Backgrounds and Assets for Animation with No Drawing Skills This beginner's course will give a sense of place to your animationsIf you've got rudimentary PC skills, this course will be able to help you produce images and backgrounds for animations. You don't even need immense drawing skills, as this course will teach you how to texture and trace over existing images. 09. Learn 3D Modeling: Blender Basics in Under Two Hours Quickly add 3D modelling to your skill list with this courseDon't have any prior knowledge of Blender? Doesn't matter. This one-hour course will show you the basics of the 3D modelling software, equipping you with the knowledge to start using tools, shortcuts and primitive objects. All you have to do is install Blender and you're ready to rock and roll with this course. Once you're ready for more Blender learning, check out our Brilliant Blender tutorials post. 10. Photoshop for Web Design Beginners Make a clean and simple web page design with this courseSometimes the best way to learn about a tool is to dive in and start working on a project. That's just what this course, made up of two hours' of on-demand video, aims to accomplish. By creating a web page design, you'll pick up the basics of Photoshop in the process and come out on the other side with a firm grasp of the software. Related articles: 16 top online coding courses 7 free Android apps for creatives 95 top Photoshop tutorials View the full article

If there's something that never goes out of fashion in the world of design, it's tattoo art. Designers simply love getting inked up with awesome tattoos, and tattoo artists are forever pushing the boundaries of what can be done; check out these mind-blowing 3D tattoos, for example. Right now, though, we're obsessed with watercolor tattoo art, in which artists recreate the unique look of watercolor paintings in tattoo form. It might look easy but it takes an enormous amount of skill to convincingly ink a replica of the distinctive colour washes and paint splatters that you'll find in a watercolor painting; here are 16 amazing examples by some of the world's leading practitioners. 01. June Jung Watercolour washes and geometric outlinesJune Jung was one of the early adopters of the watercolour tattoo art trend, and has gone on to gain a worldwide reputation for her work. She starts out with realistic-looking designs and adds watercolour effects around them. June appeared in an episode of The Art of Ink, talking about her inspirations and approach. Watch it below. 02. Joanne Baker Baker also shares her initial sketches on her InstagramJoanne Baker is a tattoo artist at Semper in Edinburgh, UK. She specialises in animal-based watercolour tattoo designs, and her Instagram account includes majestic crows, delicate seahorses and an angry-looking seagull (someone has to love them, we guess). She also shares her initial sketches, which are works of art in themselves. This rainbow-hued jellyfish design took two days to complete. 03. G.NO G.NO's beautiful floral watercolour workThis sprawling floral work is a good example of G.NO's signature style. She also specialises in delicate, miniature tattoos and work that looks botanically accurate. G.NO is at Tattoo People in Toronto. 04. Russell Van Schaick Russell tackles unconventional subjectsDescribing himself as an "abstract watercolor tattoo artist", Florida-based Van Schaick's tattooing journey began in Minnesota before he took the leap down to the sun-filled land of Florida. He is currently based out of Hart & Huntington in Orlando and says he's still learning. But, with stunningly vibrant works of body art with lines that flow and colours that bleed into one another so effortlessly, it's clear he's nailing it so far. 05. Candelaria Carballo Candelaria Carballo's work shows her eye for fashion and styleCarballo has her fingers in many pies; from make-up artistry and tattooing to painting and illustrating. There really is nothing creative she can't master. The Argentinian artist, has a penchant for whimsical, pastel coloured watercolour skin art, and we adore the "rough around the edges" sketchy line-work, very reminiscent of mid-century fashion illustrations. 06. Rodrigo Tas Tas is a trained graphic designerTattooist and graphic artist Tas draws on any surface he's presented with. He's tried his hand at everything, including teaching and is a qualified graphic designer – but since he discovered the pull of the tattoo machine he's never looked back. Tas' designs blend his eye for graphic qualities and design with his experience with illustration, motion design and art history. The São Paulo-based artist takes up surprise guest slots all over the country. 07. Alejandra Idarraga Alejandra also creates murals and sculpturesAlejandra Idarraga is a Colombian tattoo artist based in Miami, working at Tattoo&Co. As well as being a tattoo artist, she also creates murals and sculptures. Idarraga's tattoo work ranges from intricate, geometric designs to vibrant watercolour tattoo art, complete with paint splashes and drips. 08. Lianne Moule UK-based artist Lianne creates picture-perfect watercolours on skinLianne is a versatile artist who works across a variety of media, but her speciality is watercolour tattoos imbued with breathtakingly realistic sunlight effects. Driven by a love of nature and bright colours, she creates her work by first making a watercolour study to use as a reference that she then painstakingly recreates in tattoo form, making sure to include hard-to-imitate spills, splashes and drips by way of a signature. You can find her at Immortal Ink in Chelmsford, UK. 09. Victor Octaviano Victor creates his stunning works straight onto clients' skinHailing from Brazil, tattoo artist and self-taught illustrator Victor Octaviano has been exploring the possibilities of creating a watercolour look in tattoo form for a while now. He loves the challenge of conveying the look and texture of watercolour paintings in his tattoo work, mixing up sharp, energetic brush strokes with gloriously liquid washes, splatters and stains. 10. Ivana Tattoo Art You'd be forgiven for thinking someone took a paintbrush to this person's armCurrently living and working in Los Angeles, Ivana is a multi award-winning tattoo artist who's in demand at tattoo conventions worldwide. She describes her work as innovative, sophisticated, and eclectic; a mixture of multiple genres combining funky, bright colours and abstract elements with street style and high art. We love the expressive splashes of colour in this playful image of a Japanese doll. 11. Dêner Silva If you've wondered about the sort of work that goes into creating a watercolor tattoo, this video from Brazilian tattoo artist Dêner Silva should cast a little light on the process. It shows him creating a distinctive Cheshire Cat tattoo, starting from a reference work that he turns into a line art transfer, and then painstakingly inking the design. Impressive job! 13. Ondrash Ondrash's sought-after tattoos are as individual as his clientsIt's not easy to get an appointment with Ondrash. A versatile artist and tattoo artist with a background in fashion design and conceptual art, he likes to give every client his full attention and so only takes one booking a day at his studio in Znojmo in the Czech Republic, taking time to understand what his client is after, create a reference painting. Only then does he go to work with the needle to create a tattoo as individual as every customer. View the full article

Zerodium announced new $500,000 payouts for zero days in secure messaging apps such as Signal, WhatsApp and others. View the full article

An exploit dubbed ROPEMAKER relies on taking advantage of email design functionality, namely by remotely changing CSS in HTML-based emails after they've been sent. View the full article

CSS3 properties opened a multitude of new doors to web designers and developers, making it possible to create animations and interactivity entirely in CSS markup, without going near Flash, Silverlight or After Effects. Below we've rounded up some of the best CSS3 animation examples around – including standalone effects and sites. 01. One Shared House Anton & Irene's web documentary uses CSS TransformationsOne Shared House is a web documentary profiling UX designer Irene Pereyra's experiences growing up in a feminist commune in 1970s Amsterdam. From the moment you arrive, you're not alone: your cursor movements are followed. Instead of relying on trite scrolling techniques, Pereyra and partner-in-design Anton Repponen drew inspiration from the early-90s game 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?' and made use of the bottom screen to subtly expose exploratory content, offering you the ability to define your own level of involvement with the story. Interactions combine with storytelling to deliver a mesmerising, novel experience. Pereyra and Repponen's boldness in persevering through two years of self-funded and self-initiated work is important: "It enables us to experiment with disciplines and techniques for which there is typically no space in client projects," says Pereyra. 02. Type Terms An animated cheatsheet for typeType Terms is an animated cheatsheet created by Supremo, a web design agency in Manchester. After doing some research, they found that most existing online information about typographic terminology used simple, static images. The team was looking for a reason to experiment with SVG and CSS animation, and this was the perfect opportunity. "I decided to create something that was more visually engaging, which would help new designers learn all the key typographic terms in an instant," says designer Dan Heywood. The team emphasise the importance of designers having a good grasp on typography. For those learning the rules for the first time, or for experienced designers needing a refresher, this cheatsheet is both educational and a delight to explore. The content is focused, the information is clear, and the animations are silky-smooth. 03. Waaark Mouse over the boundaries for a fun animationEvery interaction on Waaark’s site reveals an incredible attention to detail. Art director Jimmy Raheriarisoa and frontend developer Antoine Wodniack, the individuals who make up the French studio, have thought through everything. They have planned how scenes transition from one page to another, how text fades in a certain way, and how complex SVG graphics animate in. Everything is brought to life while maintaining performance and accessibility. The pair have added keyboard shortcuts and swiping gestures to make the experience better for people with a wide range of motor abilities. When asked about their newly released portfolio site, Wodniack explained that collaboration was key: "With the web becoming more and more creative, it’s becoming vital to assemble a creative duo between a developer and a designer. Developers always need new challenges to blossom, and designers need solutions to make their ideas possible." 04. Periodic table At the start of the demo, the disparate elements gently fly towards each otherThe periodic table of elements is a popular subject for designers to showcase new web technologies. Built by Barcelona-based web designer Ricardo Cabello – best known within the community as 'Mr Doob' – this demo starts with the animated elements hurtling through space towards each other to form a table. You're then given the option to rotate them in three dimensions by dragging on your mouse. You can also switch between 'Table', 'Sphere', 'Helix', and 'Grid' views by clicking the buttons at the bottom of the page. Cabello created the experiment to see if he could use his three.js JavaScript library to replicate the effects used in a demo for the game engine famo.us. Cabello has also posted this video of how the demo runs on an iPad 2: 05. CSS Creatures What will your CSS creature look like?We all know that working in the design industry can sometimes become monotonous. So, take some time out from your busy schedule and have some creative fun with this cute little CSS project from Pittsburgh-based web designer and developer Bennett Feely. CSS Creatures allows the user to design, create and animate their very own web-based friend. Like the sound of that? All you have to do is send a tweet to @CSSCreatures with your preferred colour, personality and features. Your CSS creature then appears on the site in under 25 seconds! 06. AT-AT Walker from Star Wars AT-AT Walker by Anthony CalzadillaThis illustrated animation of AT-AT Walker from The Empire Strikes Back by Anthony Calzadilla is created entirely in CSS3. Click on the ‘view the bones’ link on the iPad and you can see how each part animates and functions. 07. GT America Designer Josh Schaub's animations bring this microsite to lifeGrilli Type, a Swiss type foundry, has struck gold with the release of its new font GT-America, and this "fun, funny, fresh microsite that takes the idea of a type specimen to the next level" (in the words of graphic designer and critic Michael Bierut). Every detail on the site fits together to tell the story of the font. GT-America is named after its country of inspiration, the United States. There's so much play going on here, with more than 40 quirky animations by designer Josh Schaub. You can even interact with some of them to bring the illustrations to life. We like the use of animation and video to showcase the incredible versatility in the font: width, stroke, kerning, use. Everything is a storytelling moment, a teaching moment and a learning moment in one. 08. Caaaaaaaat The cat stretches to the width of the browser windowJapanese web designer and interactive director Masayuki Kido, aka Roxik, has created this animated kitty which stretches across the length of the browser window, and resizes accordingly as you reduce the window's width. Make it narrow enough and the word changes with hilarious consequences. And the fun doesn't end there - but we don't want to spoilt it, so go have a play now! 09. Greenwich Library This site uses animation effects to create the illusion of drawing elements while the user scrollsPublic service websites don’t have a great record of being beautiful or easy to use, but Greenwich Library’s website is an exception to the rule. The redesign is the result of two years’ worth of research, user testing and design. One of our favourite parts is the illusion of drawing elements while the user scrolls. This is a trick many developers create explicitly with SVG, but the simple combination of CSS transformations and layering elements here creates just as interesting an effect as a more complex SVG line drawing. The colour-coded navigational elements also add personality without having to splash colour over every element. 10. Interactive album covers Album covers by bluedashed.com Not only have @MrDenav and @lucasmarinm of bluedashed.com recreated some classic record covers using pure CSS, they've also made them react to music. Demonstrations include First Impressions by the Strokes and Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures. NOTE: Only works in Google Chrome. Read more: Understand the 12 principles of animation Create storyboards for web animations How to use animation in mobile apps View the full article

While it’s not possible to show sound in a conventional, still image (multimedia interactivity aside), it is possible to imply it in the reactions by characters and objects in a scene. Impacts throw up particles and cause vibration, for example. With that in mind I’ll show you how to draw a tolling church bell, viewed from a high eye level (that enables me to show details you wouldn’t be able to see from ground level). I can show small things that might be shaking, vibrating or even dislodged, and I can add some humour with the gargoyles covering their ears. You could also have alarmed pigeons taking flight, roof tiles sliding about and other fixtures swaying. For this painting I used SketchBook Pro to sketch out a belfry and bell, because it has a decent perspective rig, Ruler and Ellipse tools. 01. Sketch out your scene Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the imageUsing a two-point perspective rig with the horizon line fairly high, I mark out some simple shapes, such as a box around the bell. I use the Ellipse tool to draw the bell. I look at various photos to understand what the support setup might be for a heavy bell, then sketch something appropriate. 02. Suggest sound in the details Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I use some texture brushes to help make areas look more like stone. Using these same brushes on the gargoyles, it should keep the viewer guessing whether these are alive or not. We can introduce sound to this scene through the reaction of the critters around its source. That, along with various other clues dotted around. I pose them all with claws to their ears, and make sure the bell is poised with the clanger just after the strike. 03. Match visual effects to illustration style Click the icon in the top right to enlarge the image I build up the stone textures and ensure everything feel solid, particularly the clanger because it’s a focal point. I avoid vibration lines and other such comic book devices. Instead I’ll have a few bits of masonry coming loose. Try to have your effects fit in with the visual style you’re using. This article originally appeared in issue 146. Buy it here. Liked this? Read these! How to draw a wet figure How to design graphic figures How to colour your manga art like a pro View the full article

The international creativity festival OFFF is heading to London for the first time this September. Promising to unite the worlds of graphic design, moving images, digital art and musical performances, the two-day event, which runs from 29-30 September, will offer something for designers of all disciplines. Over the course of the festival, attendees will be treated to talks from the likes of Adobe, Design Studio, The Mill, Studio XO and many more. With just over a month to go, you can still buy tickets from the OFFF site. To give you a taste of what to expect at OFFF London 2017, we caught up with OFFF founder Héctor Ayuso and Malin Hanås, creative director at POKE – OFFF's London partner. OFFF hits London from 29-30 September 2017What are you most excited about for OFFF London? HA: I have always wanted to bring OFFF to the UK, a big percentage of our Barcelona (main event) audience come from the UK and have always demanded to bring this experience to their hometown, so I’m definitely looking forward to see OFFF growing in London, people’s reactions, the vibes and the general atmosphere being translated from the Barcelona experience to the UK experience. We have selected the line-up and tailored while choosing the featured speakers with so much love and care, some of the artists will be sharing a few new projects for the first time. I can’t wait to see the audience reaction. MH: I've been going to the OFFF festival for 7 years as a visitor and fan, and I couldn’t be more excited to be involved in putting one on. Bringing my favourite event in the world to POKE’s long-term friend and client Here East, and working with the super talented POKE gang to create a crazy identity for it, is such a dream project. The identity and branding is all about that restless curiosity and the (sometimes stupid) love for the craft that unites OFFF goers from all over the world, and I’m super proud to present that on stage. I’m also really excited to bring this great festival to my adopted hometown, making it accessible to young creatives in the UK who might not be able to travel all the way to Barcelona. What is POKE bringing to the OFFF format? MH: London is a real creative melting pot, one of those world metropolises that is a magnet for young artists and creative people from all over the world, so there will be a really great crowd. The venue is just on the edge of Hackney Wick which has a great art scene and plenty of good watering holes. As for POKE, we bring a beautiful festival identity, more great people, good vibes and some really sweet tech. Most importantly we brought in our friends at Here East who are hosting it. Malin Hanås recommends you save sleep for after the conferenceWhy is OFFF the must-attend event this autumn? MH: I've been to many events over the years, and OFFF stands out as the best of all of them for a few reasons. The people are young, hungry and there to learn! Plus the price point is one of the main reasons that young people can go. And of course the speakers play a huge part: whether they're a big production house or a design legend, an experimental artist or a skilled craftsperson, they will talk about creativity and what they do from human point of view without trying to sell you anything. All these factors make a wonderful vibe, so as a result, the atmosphere is fantastic. OFFF is very far from top-heavy conferences full of bosses, it's more like a music festival than an industry event. How come it’s taken OFFF – one of the most exciting global creative events – so long to come to the UK? HA: It’s crazy but we never make the decision to bring OFFF to a specific country. Of course we have a wish list and certain desires to bring OFFF to many cities, but the truth is, it’s always the city and the organisers who call us to bring OFFF to their city. We have received many demands to bring OFFF to many cities but it always depended on choosing the right partners to work with. It’s important for us to work with someone who will take OFFF as its own baby and treat it the same as the main event in Barcelona, avoiding any risk of ruining the reputation in other cities. So we are grateful to work with POKE, the right people to bring such a big event to their city. Héctor is happy to bring OFFF to the city designers love the mostHow well do you think OFFF will translate into a UK environment? "London is 'THE' city, everyone wants to be in London," says Héctor. "Designers love London. Everyone wants to be at OFFF seeking creativity. So it’s a win-win situation. Our UK audience have always been loyal to the event, creating their own vibes and opinions at OFFF. So we are very excited to see that happening in their own place. "Here East venue is also a great spot, translating the real vibe of OFFF Festival. It’s an extra detail that adds to the experience. So there’ s no doubt that this is going to be one of the most special OFFF on Tour editions we will host." What pro tips can you each give visitor for making the most of OFFF London? "Always come first, make use of both entire days, attend all the talks because every single talented speaker has something special to say to you that will help you in whatever you are looking for," says Héctor. "OFFF is an amazing inspiring experience that you should attend, so don’t miss this special London edition." "Have a location in the audience where you usually sit so you can find your friends again if you lose each other," adds Malin. "Don’t worry about the speaker being someone you’ve never heard of. The surprises are often the best. "Make the most of it: Sleep is for next weekend. Take notes, it helps you remember. Everyone is really humble and friendly, so speakers will wander round the festival before and after their talks and are normally super happy to chat." Tickets for OFFF London 2017 are available to buy now, with discounted prices for students. Related articles: How to organize a conference Why conference diversity matters How to survive a web conference View the full article

The international creativity festival, OFFF, is heading to London for the first time this September! Promising to unite the worlds of graphic design, moving images, digital art and musical performances, the two day event which runs from 29-30 September promises to offer something for designers of all disciplines. Over the course of the festival, attendees will be treated to talks from the likes of Adobe, Design Studio, The Mill, Studio XO and many more. With just over a month to go, you can still buy tickets from the OFFF site. To give designers a taste of what to expect at OFFF London 201, we caught up with OFFF founder Héctor Ayuso and creative director Malin Hanås from the festival's partner, POKE. What are you most excited about for OFFF London? "I have always wanted to bring OFFF to the UK, a big percentage of our Barcelona (main event) audience come from the UK and have always demanded to bring this experience to their hometown," says Héctor. "So I’m definitely looking forward to see OFFF growing in London, people’s reactions, the vibes and the general atmosphere being translated from the Barcelona experience to the UK experience. "We have selected the line-up and tailored while choosing the featured speakers with so much love and care, some of the artists will be sharing a few new projects for the first time. I can’t wait to see the audience reaction." "I’ve been going to the OFFF festival for 7 years as a visitor and fan, and I couldn’t be more excited to be involved in putting one on," says Malin. "Bringing my favourite event in the world to POKE’s long-term friend and client Here East, and working with the super talented POKE gang to create a crazy identity for it, is such a dream project. "The identity and branding is all about that restless curiosity and the (sometimes stupid) love for the craft that unites OFFF goers from all over the world, and I’m super proud to present that on stage. I’m also really excited to bring this great festival to my adopted hometown, making it accessible to young creatives in the UK who might not be able to travel all the way to Barcelona." What is POKE bringing to the OFFF format? "London is a real creative melting pot, one of those world metropolises that is a magnet for young artists and creative people from all over the world, so there will be a really great crowd," says Malin. "The venue is just on the edge of Hackney Wick which has a great art scene and plenty of good watering holes. As for POKE, we bring a beautiful festival identity, more great people, good vibes and some really sweet tech. Most importantly we brought in our friends at Here East who are hosting it." Malin recommends you save sleep for after the conferenceWhy is OFFF the must-attend event this autumn? "I’ve been to many events over the years, and OFFF stands out as the best of all of them for a few reasons," Malin explains. "The people are young, hungry and there to learn! Plus the price point is one of the main reasons that young people can go. "And of course the speakers play a huge part: whether they're a big production house or a design legend, an experimental artist or a skilled craftsperson, they will talk about creativity and what they do from human point of view without trying to sell you anything. All these factors make a wonderful vibe, so as a result, the atmosphere is fantastic. "OFFF is very far from top-heavy conferences full of bosses, it's more like a music festival than an industry event." How come it’s taken OFFF - one of the most exciting global creative events - so long to come to the UK? "It’s crazy but we never make the decision to bring OFFF to a specific country," says Héctor. "Of course we have a wish list and certain desires to bring OFFF to many cities, but the truth is, it’s always the city and the organisers who call us to bring OFFF to their city. "We have received many demands to bring OFFF to many cities but it always depended on choosing the right partners to work with. It’s important for us to work with someone who will take OFFF as its own baby and treat it the same as the main event in Barcelona, avoiding any risk of ruining the reputation in other cities. So we are grateful to work with POKE, the right people to bring such a big event to their city." Héctor is happy to bring OFFF to the city designers love the mostHow well do you think OFFF will translate into a UK environment? "London is 'THE' city, everyone wants to be in London," says Héctor. "Designers love London. Everyone wants to be at OFFF seeking creativity. So it’s a win-win situation. Our UK audience have always been loyal to the event, creating their own vibes and opinions at OFFF. So we are very excited to see that happening in their own place. "Here East venue is also a great spot, translating the real vibe of OFFF Festival. It’s an extra detail that adds to the experience. So there’ s no doubt that this is going to be one of the most special OFFF on Tour editions we will host." What pro tips can you each give visitor for making the most of OFFF London? "Always come first, make use of both entire days, attend all the talks because every single talented speaker has something special to say to you that will help you in whatever you are looking for," says Héctor. "OFFF is an amazing inspiring experience that you should attend, so don’t miss this special London edition." "Have a location in the audience where you usually sit so you can find your friends again if you lose each other," adds Malin. "Don’t worry about the speaker being someone you’ve never heard of. The surprises are often the best. "Make the most of it: Sleep is for next weekend. Take notes, it helps you remember. Everyone is really humble and friendly, so speakers will wander round the festival before and after their talks and are normally super happy to chat." Tickets for OFFF London 2017 are available to buy now, with discounted prices for students. Related articles: How to organize a conference Why conference diversity matters How to survive a web conference View the full article

This month, we look at how switching art styles can give new life to your preferred medium. One artist spent a year doing 'small drawings'; we find out what they are and why you should try them. We've got a guide to graphite and charcoal drawing and all the materials you need to try it out. And we've gone back to basics with a new book that is a comprehensive guide to getting started in sketching. If you've always fancied getting into art but never known where to begin, this one's for you. A book on Vermeer sheds new light on the old master's techniques and private life. We look into Chinese brush painting, an art form that is as much about meditation as it is aesthetics. And Tate Modern has a range of collectables that takes the Japanese kokeshi doll and reimagines it as a famous modern artist. Let's get started! 01. Her small drawings Focusing on details can teach you to see in a new wayMatilda Tristram's new book, My Year in Small Drawings, is a sketch-diary of the ordinary, the everyday. Tristram is impressed by things often overlooked by artists: tangles of cables, window frames, plant buds. She suggests that by looking at these things more closely, you can learn to see in a new way – an important skill for an artist of any standing. 02. Your small drawings Try your hand at your own small drawingsIf you fancy having a go at your own small drawings, Matilda Tristram has an accompanying sketchbook in which you can do exactly that. The book has by a grid of blank spaces for your own little drawings, which encourages you to "make interesting observations, discover beauty in unexpected places, and create a unique record of the world around you." 03. A new book on Vermeer New insights from a Vermeer scholarGary Schwartz's new book on Vermeer takes a closer look at the Dutch master's instantly recognisable work – The Milkmaid, The Lacemaker, Girl with a Pearl Earring – and asks how he managed to achieve such photographic precision. Schwartz, a Vermeer scholar, offers new insights on both the artist's work and his private life, with paintings that are displayed in full and in close-up. 04. Arty kokeshi dolls Japanese kokeshi dolls are a symbol of friendshipThis new range from Tate takes the Japanese kokeshi doll – traditionally given as a symbol of friendship – and turns it into a figurine of a famous artist. Among them are dolls dedicated to the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Spanish expressionist Salvador Dali, and Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. 05. Drawing for beginners If you haven't a clue where to start, this book is for youSomething for the novice: "If you have always wanted to learn to draw but lack the confidence to start, Drawing for the Absolute Beginner is the book for you," says artist and art teacher Carole Massey. The book starts with simple lines, circles, squares and ellipses, and moves on to figures, buildings and landscapes. It's a complete drawing course in a single book. 06. Beginner sketching set This set is good quality but won't break the bankThe Derwent Academy range offers drawing pencils for beginner artists, which include all the features the pros look for: natural wood, quality graphite, hexagonal barrels for better control, and break-resistant strips for a long-lasting point. This top-rated set has six pencils, with varied hardness tips, and it won't break the bank either. 07. Graphite and charcoal Improve your texture work101 Textures in Graphite & Charcoal gives instructions on how to draw common textures and surfaces – everything from sand and water to wood and foliage. Each guide begins with tools and materials required, before moving on to technique, and finally a step-by-step guide. A comprehensive guide to hatching, stippling, scumbling, and blending in graphite and charcoal. 08. Graphite and charcoal set This set has everything you need to create graphite and charcoal drawingsThis top-rated set has everything a beginner needs to get going in graphite and charcoal, but the quality makes it suitable for more advanced artists. It includes: graphite and carbon sticks, erasers, pencil sharpeners, knives, graphite sticks, coal sticks, blending paper stumps, sandpaper pencil pointers – all housed in a smart little canvas wrap. 09. Chinese brush painting Channel the spirit of the brush with this new guideIn The Spirit of the Brush: Chinese Brush Painting Techniques: Simplicity, Spirit, and Personal Journey, author Sungsook Hong Setton guides you through the ancient art form of Chinese brush painting. "As old and deeply rooted in East Asian aesthetics and meditation as it is, ink painting is credited with influencing the development of Western modern art." Artists from other disciplines will find many of Sungsook's principles can be applied to their preferred mediums. 10. Chinese brushes These wood and bamboo brushes come in various sizesWe had a root around for a good beginners' Chinese brush set, and this five-piece collection is well-reviewed and good value for money. The brushes are made of wood and bamboo, come in various sizes and hair types, hold ink well, and are kept in a well-made bamboo brush wrap. The long handles are good for a looser, more fluid line. Read more: How to hold a pencil correctly Paint like an Impressionist Tools of the experts: Eva-Lotta Lamm View the full article

There is no better place to grow your business than on social media. If you want to stand out in the crowd and get customers to your site, you need the Social Media Management Pro Bundle. It's on sale now for 96% off the retail price! Finding your audience is one of the biggest keys to success when starting a business. The best way to do that is to go to where the people are. Social media makes it easier to target potential customers and fans, and the Social Media Management Pro Bundle will teach you how. This bundle of six courses will teach you how to maximise your presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more – and how to do it all on a shoestring budget. Make the most out of social media with the Social Media Management Pro Bundle, on sale for 96% off the retail price. That's a saving you won't want to miss for these must-have courses that will help you grow your business, so grab them today! View the full article

Finding the right person for the job can be a long and difficult process. This is especially true when it comes to the creative industries. After all, how do you know a new hire has the skills, knowledge and character traits you need both now – and in the future? And how can you make sure you attract the best of the best for a new position? To find out how agencies sniff out the top talent, we've spoken to creative directors on the hunt for new staff... 50 brilliant design portfolios to inspire you 20 tips for design interview success One excellent example of how not to attract talent made headlines earlier this year when the Tea House Theatre posted an acerbic job advertisement aimed at young people. Opening with a barbed and misspelled "Dear Millenials", the advert quickly did the rounds on the internet thanks to its unnecessary attacks on graduates and a general tone of frustration. Check out the full ad below: The unfortunate ad in all its glory [click the icon to enlarge] Although it makes for a humorous read, the advertisement also poses a serious question: if this isn't how an arts company should recruit talent, how should they do it? Death of the traditional ad Jack Renwick Studios created a manufacturing inspired brand for Fish IslandFor Tom Rogers, a creative director at Jack Renwick Studios, adverts have never been a way to reach out to graduate talent. "I just don’t think it’d ever be how we want to find talent," he explains. "The real talent – that needle in a haystack; that unpolished diamond – is worth hunting out." Meanwhile the team at Taxi Studio take a digital-first approach, which thankfully doesn't make the same mistakes as Tea House Theatre, as the head of student recruitment, Sam Edwards, reveals. "We mainly advertise on our website and Twitter, as well as directly emailing lecturers to put a shout out for us when we have a role or placements coming up," says Edwards. "We work hard to maintain good relationships with universities – that's key to us growing our reputation amongst their students." With all the issues facing our industry, it can’t continue to recruit the way it does Craig Oldham As for designer and creative consultant Craig Oldham, it's the industry – not the designers and graduates – that needs to be given a reality check and a kick up the backside. "I've always held a bit of an adage: bravery is rarer than talent," he says. "And these are words ringing in my ears when thinking about the general recruitment strategies kicking around in the industry." He points out that while initiatives like D&AD New Blood and New Blood Shift are an important step in the right direction, the industry is generally quite lazy when it comes to going out and hunting down new talent. 7 organisations design students need to know"With all the problems and issues that are facing our industry, it can’t continue to recruit the way it does. And I don’t just mean the beige job ad that perpetually reads like a copy and paste job, the glaring hypocrisy in being the most uncreative way to ask for creativity, nor that elusive creature known through legend as 'minimum one year experience'. "No. The biggest issue facing recruitment into the industry is vanity, our industry’s favourite sin. We hire what we know and what we like and what we are comfortable with. We hire people like ourselves when we should be hiring people whom are the opposite, who think and do differently, who have a different background, a different upbringing, and different ideas." Seeking out talent Sam Edwards creates clever designs like this Adolf Hitler painter and decorator business cardIf creative directors want to hire people from outside their comfort zone, they need to start networking more efficiently and keep an ear to the ground for talented up-and-coming designers who haven't yet landed their first gig. It's just a case of knowing where to look. "Generally speaking, there isn’t any better way than good, old-fashioned word of mouth," says Rogers. "It’s why we’ve all kept close relationships with our courses, old tutors and friends in industry – what better way than discovering a talented student than by hearing them from people you trust and respect. These relationships make seeking out the right stands at New Blood or the best grad shows in town easier to find and discover the talent in the room." Visiting students at their universities to do talks and portfolio reviews is the best way to find people Sam Edwards Hitting the road and visiting students on campuses is also a good way to unearth the latest wave of design talent. "We find getting out there and visiting students at their universities to do talks and portfolio reviews is the best way to find people, as well as one-day briefs to see how they work, or setting studio briefs with the offer of placements," says Edwards. So important are students to Taxi's internal culture, the studio runs its placement calendar all year round. "Grad shows, if local to us, are really great," he adds. "New Blood is a fantastic show but not so great to spot talent as it’s pretty hectic! Events like the Falmouth Vaults evening, where agencies get to see WIP portfolios and just chat to students, are really useful, and give a chance to actually get to know people before thinking about inviting them for interview." Get your studio out there In this design, Sam Edwards tries to make going to the dentist's desirableMeeting and greeting is all well and good, but for creative directors and agencies to attract the maximum amount of graduate talent possible, they need designers to be drawn to them. So what makes a designer hunt down a specific agency? Rogers has a few ideas about how some groundwork can pay off in the long term. "Well, it’s not our website that makes them want to come to us – so I think it must be down to us getting our name out there for people to see," he reveals. "Whether that's in the design industry press or professional awards. Or just as importantly, by visiting courses up and down the country and trying to inspire soon-to-be graduates through talks, crits, setting briefs and judging student awards. "Like most things in life – the more you put in, the more you get out. The earlier in their journey that you reach out and engage with them, the more likely graduates are to remember you when everyone else is knocking on their door." If you’re looking for your first job, you want to know you’ll be looked after, develop your skills and have fun Sam Edwards Edwards agrees that an established reputation is a crucial way for an agency to reap the best talent, but adds that culture is playing an increasingly big part in what budding designers are looking for in a career. "If you’re looking for your first job, you want to know you’ll be looked after, develop your skills and have fun," he says. "Students are eager to take on briefs set by agencies as it can be a part of their portfolio as well as an opportunity to show off their skills and this works well for us. When we set a Microbrewery brief a few years ago, we had over 70 applicants and many used it in their folio, including a young designer who we subsequently hired. "We pride ourself on being open and accessible and when students contact us asking general advice, we always try to help and we always provide constructive feedback for any unsuccessful applicants." Only hire people different to you Craig Oldham's upcoming project is a collection of creative Brexit postcardsWe've seen that hitting the road and spreading the word about your agency can have a positive effect, but Oldham is keen to point out that these approaches don't necessarily fix an underlying problem that affects the whole of the design industry. Diversity in every sense is an active problem in our industry Craig Oldham "I think it was Tibor Kalman who said to only hire people better than you," says Oldham. "Well I’d add to that, 'different to you'. Diversity in every sense – but especially gender, social and economic class, and ethnicity – is an active problem in our industry and therefore all of our studios, agencies, and businesses. We have to act to change it, and it needs changing." "Creativity needs diversity to thrive, to be original, and so does our industry. So next time you’re hiring, think about how you can bring a fresh perspective and voice into the studio or business, and not just one that sounds familiar, cut and paste, uncreative… like all those job ads." Related articles: 8 brilliant design agency business cards The 10 best design agency websites of 2017 50 design agencies to follow on Twitter View the full article

Hosting a design sprint brings speed and efficiency to your design processLearn everything about running your own design and content sprints at Generate London on 20 September. Steve Fisher will be hosting a full-day workshop to teach you how to get the right setup for a successful sprint, how to create a testable prototype, and much more. There are only a few spaces left on the workshop, so book your ticket now! As a design and build agency, we pride ourselves on creating products that are not only beautiful, but that also provide fantastic user experiences. By taking a user-centric approach to the way we tackle our customers' business problems, we ensure appropriate focus is given to the end-user throughout. So often companies spend an incredible amount of time and money designing and developing a product that is ultimately not fit for purpose. It may fail to meet the business needs of the company or the needs of the users. A product design sprint can remove elements of risk from client projects and therefore help you avoid costly redesigns or change of directions further down the road. We offer our clients a way to validate their assumptions and test new products in a fast and cost-effective way; product design sprints. These are a highly effective way of shaping new products and identifying solutions to existing problems. They also help to reassure clients that their product is on the right path; bringing greater clarity to a project right from the outset. Book your ticket today to learn how to run your own design and content sprints What is a design sprint? Made popular by GV (the venture capital arm of Google), product design sprints are invaluable for new businesses or existing companies looking to design a website or refine a digital product. A sprint is an intensive week that aims to help the team understand of what the product is (or should be). During the sprint, the team brainstorms ideas and features, decides on which ones to explore, and then finally prototypes and tests these concepts with real users. Sprints make it possible to learn what would traditionally take months of effort in just a single week, ensuring that valuable time and money isn't wasted on something that might not work. What do you need? Before you start the sprint, you'll need to make sure that everything is prepared. You'll need a room (ideally a large boardroom with lots of whiteboards) and supplies such as Sharpies, Post-Its, paper, Blu-Tac and stickers. Next you need to make sure you have the right people in the room. From the client side you'll need a product owner and a couple of stakeholders. You don't want any more than five, but you do need to make sure that key decision-makers are included. Your internal team should probably consist of a UX expert, a tech expert and a facilitator who is able to steer the group. With everything set up, you can kick off your sprint. Make sure you have plenty of whiteboards, stickers and Post-Its handy!How do you run a design sprint? Day 1: Understand and define First you need to understand the problems you're trying to solve, and identify your goal. Discuss ideas, analyse competitors and review analytics. Define what the client and the team want to focus on, and then you can begin on the main user journey. Day 2: Diverge Break up the overall user journey and start focusing on the little issues that can make a big difference, solving the problems you identified in day one. Everyone will have different solutions, so work individually, quickly creating sketches and notes with different ideas on. Don't get hung up on one specific idea – the key here is to get as many different options on the table as possible. Day 3: Make a decision This is perhaps the most important and difficult day: It's now time to make some decisions on how the prototype will look. With lots of ideas in front of you, you need to review, critique and choose which elements to take to the next stage. Have the whole team vote for the best options by using stickers to identify the group’s favourite features and a favourite overall design. Then, construct a new storyboard with the agreed concepts and UI interfaces to act as a blueprint for the following day. Day 4: Prototype With a storyboard agreed upon, the UX designer gets to work on creating a working prototype for user testing. There are just a few hours to work with, so at this point the prototype is not meant to look pretty, be branded or function perfectly. A rough mock-up means you can maximise time and get the most important parts of the design in place for users to review, without wasting effort on something that could end up getting scrapped. Day 5: Test and review It’s crunch time – now you turn the prototype over to real users to get their feedback. We have a test rig that allows us to record the tests and share them with all the stakeholders, so they can see what real customers think of the product, and watch how they interact with it. The validation or critique these users provide is insightful and invaluable. Why is it beneficial? The whole process is fast and efficient, which means resources aren't wasted. With everyone involved in the sprint, from our own UX team to the CEO of the client's company, we know everyone is aware of what's going on and has had the chance to share their own opinions and ideas. There are no bad outcomes in a design sprintThere are no bad outcomes with a design sprint. Within just five days, we have a working prototype with real user feedback. We can get criticism and constructive feedback from the users, without having to go through a lengthy product launch. Designs sprints are now a process we use successfully with a number of our clients and we recommend you try them too. Steve Fisher, experience architect and founder of The Republic of Quality, will run a full-day workshop on design and content sprints at Generate London on 20 September, followed by a keynote talk on 22 September. Book now and save £95 on a combined workshop and conference pass! View the full article

Wouldn’t it be nicer to spend a little less time working and a little more relaxing and enjoying with yourself? Software creators are constantly striving to help you do just that, constantly coming up with new and improved tools to speed up your creative process. In this post, we bring you 20 new and newly updated creative tools for 2017, their main headline features, and where you can go to find more about them. 01. Affinity Photo for iPad The iPad version of Affinity Photo lets you use all the features of a full image editing program on the moveFirst launched in 2014, image editing software Affinity Photo has won itself a big fanbase by being both cheaper than its rival Photoshop, and in many ways more powerful (with features such as multi-million per cent zoom). This June the tool took another big step forward, launching as a full version on iPad. That’s right, this is no stripped-down version, but a full-featured photo editing tool on Apple’s tablet, and that’s something Adobe is unable to offer at the moment. 02. Google Material Design Colour Tool Google’s free tool lets you create and share colour palettes then try them out on sample UIsNew for 2017, this free tool from Google helps you to pick the right colours for your apps, in accordance with its Material Design principles. Essentially, it makes it easy to create and share colour palettes, as well as apply them to a sample user interface. Most intriguingly, it assesses how legible your text will be within your colour scheme, according to accessibility guidelines. Learn more about the tool in this blog post. 03. Calligraphr Launched this February, Calligraphr is a new tool that lets you make fonts from your own handwriting. You start by downloading a template as a PNG or PDF. Fill it with your handwriting, scan it, and the tool then translates your scrawl into usable fonts. If you’re not happy with them, you can edit them digitally. See it in action in the video above. 04. Sketch 46.2 You can now save Sketch files in a way that anyone can work on themSketch has seen many updates since its original launch in 2010. But its big new release in April was a true game-changer. That’s because there’s a new way to save files, with a ‘.sketch’ extension at the end. And that means anybody can now create and modify sketch files, whether they have Sketch or not. You can even open them in a text editor. Learn more about the new file format in this blog post. 05. CorelDraw Graphics Suite 2017 CorelDRAW’s LiveSketch tool uses AI to make your hand-drawn strokes smootherReleased this April, the latest version of CorelDRAW, the illustration and graphics tool for the Windows platform, has brought AI to vector drawing. That’s in the form of the new LiveSketch tool, which interprets your hand-drawn strokes and combines them with existing vector curves, making it easier to produce smooth lines by drawing directly on a tablet. You can read our full review of the software here. 06. Adobe Illustrator 2017.1 In the latest version of Adobe Illustrator, you can now crop an image within the softwareThe latest version of Adobe’s vector graphics software, released in April, includes the ability to crop an image directly within the software. That means you no longer need to need to switch to Photoshop to crop your images. There’s also a new Colour Themes Panel, which lets you create, save and retrieve colour themes across the different Adobe apps, and some cool new typography tools. Read our Illustrator CC review here. 07. Autodesk Graphic for iPad Pro Autodesk’s vector editor is now available for the iPad ProAutodesk is best known for its 3D tools, but its vector software, Graphic for iPad, is pretty decent too, and this year it launched a new version for the iPad Pro. Compatible with the Apple Pencil, you can use it to create vector illustrations, graphic designs, technical diagrams or digital art. Features include keyboard shortcuts, quick switch tools and vector clipping paths. 08. Tilt Brush 12 The latest version of Tilt Brush gives you greater customisation optionsGoogle's virtual reality painting app Tilt Brush, which works with the HTC Vive headset, has been around for a while now. But this April saw a significant update which includes a new web gallery for sharing your VR sketches and more powerful customisation options, such as being able to control the colour, intensity, and direction of one shadow-casting and one non shadow-casting light. You can find details of all the new features here. 09. Google Blocks Google Blocks lets you create art you can walk around in using a VR headsetA free tool for owners of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, Google Blocks lets you create low-poly art within a virtual reality environment. Designed to complement Tilt Brush (above) rather than replace it, Google Blocks lets you export your low-poly artwork to games software such as Unity as an .obj file, or download it as an animated GIF. 10. Gravity Sketch VR 3D drawing software Gravity Sketch has launched a VR appWe’re big fans of 3D drawing software Gravity Sketch, so it’s great news that’s its just launched a spin-off virtual reality tool. Now available on Steam for the Vive headset, and coming to the Oculus Rift soon, it lets you pick and choose between freehand drawing and control-point editing, and once you’re happy with your models you can transfer them to CAD software to refine them. Next page: 10 more new or updated tools for 2017 11. Project Felix 0.3 Adobe’s tool for compositing 2D and 3D has had an AI-powered boost this yearProject Felix is a tool from Adobe aimed at making it easier to composite 2D and 3D shots. Released this January, the latest update to Project Felix includes an AI-powered feature that will help you realistically recreate lighting inside a 3D drawing. Read our review of Project Felix here. 12. Adobe InDesign 2017.1 InDesign has been rejigged to make it easier to combine with other Adobe appsThe latest version of InDesign has a smart new interface, with updated icons that match those in Photoshop and Illustrator, making it much easier to work across the Creative Cloud tools seamlessly. Or, if you want to knock something up quickly with little effort, the New Documents panel has been rejigged to work more intuitively with Adobe Stock templates. Read our review of InDesign 2017 here. 13. Google Data GIF maker Google’s tool lets you make animated GIFs comparing two things over timeThe Google Data GIF maker is a free tool that does exactly what it says on the tin: let’s you make animated GIFs from raw data. Aimed at journalists rather than creative pros, it’s not especially sophisticated yet; you can essentially only use it to compare two sets of statistics over time (e.g. Mac vs Windows). But what it does, it does well; and this being Google, we’re expecting this might become a more powerful tool over time. Read more about it in this blog post. 14. Corel Painter 2018 Corel’s used AI to let you apply digital paint in a way that closely mirrors traditional methods Getting a little ahead of itself, Corel launched the 2018 version of its art software, Painter, this July. And the standout feature is a Thick Paint feature that lets you apply digital paint to your canvas in layers. This new innovation is aimed squarely at artists from a traditional painting background, who want to pull, push, scrape and build up their pixelated paint in a way that’s very close to the real thing. Learn more about the new version of Corel Painter here. 15. Guetzli Google’s tool helps you condense your web image size quickly and easilyWe’ve all tutted and drummed our fingers when a web page has taken ages to load. Often, that’s a problem primarily caused by large images, and Google has found a way to help out web designers struggling with that issue. Essentially, Guetzli makes JPGs smaller, without affecting compatibility. In fact, promises to reduce the size of JPGs by a whopping 35 per cent more than other methods. This clever little encoder is both free and open source, and you can learn more about Guetzli in this blog post. 16. CodePen Projects Coding environment CodePen now lets you build websites within itMost web designers will know CodePen as a way to test, showcase and critique each others’ code snippets. This year, though, it’s expanded its appeal by launching its own IDE (Integrated Development Environment). CodePen Projects lets you build websites within your browser and preview them while you’re building them. You can start from scratch or use templates, and there are some pretty smart debugging tools too. Read more about CodePen Projects in this blog post. 17. Adobe After Effects CC 2017 After Effects now lets teams collaborate on projects in real timeReleased in April, the latest version of Adobe’s motion graphics, animation, compositing and video editing tool brings a lot of new features to the table. These include powerful new tools allowing team members to work on projects together in real-time, the ability to create motion templates to hand over to colleagues, and the Cinema 4D Composition Renderer, which gives you more control and enhanced speed when creating 3D objects. Read our full After Effects review here. 18. Google AutoDraw Google AutoDraw is an intuitive art tool that uses machine learning and AI software to work out what it is you’re trying to draw, and then creates a more professional looking version. It works by taking your rough doodles, matching them with images in its database, then combining the two to create slick-looking graphics. It’s free to download to your phone or desktop. See it at work in the video above. 19. Style Guide Guide Style Guide Guide is a boilerplate template for building web style guidesBrad Frost is a well known voice in the web community, not least for his advocacy of what he calls Atomic Design, a methodology that involves breaking a website down into basic components that are then reused throughout the site. This May, Frost took that concept a step further by releasing The Style Guide Guide, a boilerplate template for building style guides for design systems. It imports HTML from a pattern library, and you can enter your documentation, usage guidelines, and design principles in Markdown to share among your team. Read more about the tool in this blog post. 20. Animista Speed up the creation of your CSS animation with AnimistaStarting as a side project of UX developer Ana Travas, Animista is a collection of premade CSS animations that you can customise for your own purposes. Offering a sophisticated dashboard of options, this will save you reinventing the wheel every time you need a web animation. View the full article

Autodesk’s Maya 2018 is brimming over with new tools and improved workflows designed to help 3D artists work faster – and top professionals are already using the improved software to create fantastic work. With particular strengths lying in its tools for character modelling, motion graphics and rendering, the new tools and enhancements in Maya 2018 speed up your workflow from initial modelling stages right through to animation. And with Maya now integrated with Arnold 5 and Adobe After Effects, its creative and technical capabilities have expanded even further. You can easily compare a 3D object to its 2D texture coordinates by using Maya’s new UV Editing WorkspaceAward-winning results Professional 3D artists are already wild about Maya’s capabilities, as the inspiring videos below show. Swedish studio Fido helped produce award-winning film Kung Fury thanks to its creative team and scalable Autodesk Maya subscription. The tools in Maya helped the team create phenomenal motion graphics such as a 2.5 minute-long continuous shot that involved around 100 man hours to complete. Similarly, Moonbot Studios – the team behind Oscar-winning short film The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore – says that Maya allows it to stay nimble and story-driven on smaller projects, while offering a scalable framework and structure for larger projects. Brennan Chapman, head of pipeline at Moonbot, says the company makes sure that “every piece of software that we use is broad and can handle almost anything that we throw at it.” Outstanding new tools and improvements The After Effects live link plugin allows you to view your 3D creations in both Maya 2018 and After Effects simultaneously. Camera and scene data is synced so that you can make changes in Maya and see the After Effects files update in real time, making your workflow easier. In another great pairing, Arnold 5 brings powerful rendering to Maya 2018. With Arnold used by big VFX and animation names to help solve complex rendering problems, you can be sure this latest version for Maya will render great images for your projects, whether you’re working on short animations, movies, games or something else. Changes made in Maya update in After Effects with the new pluginImprovements in Maya 2018’s character creation repertoire include a more artist-friendly UV Editor interface, complete with a new UV Toolkit with better tools and functionality. A new interactive grooming clump modifier enables you to create realistic hair and fur in real time. It’s easier and quicker than previous versions of XGen, and means you can see and perfect the results of your grooms without having to wait for a render. The clump modifier workflow is far less technical than previous versions of XGen, making it faster and easier to achieve realistic groomsPlus there’s a reimagined sculpting toolset that gives you the ability to sculpt directly on rigged characters, as well as enhanced symmetry modelling, polygon modelling and OpenSubdiv support. The motion graphics toolset in Maya continues to grow and mature. The MASH animation toolset has a new World node for arranging 3D objects in natural clusters, such as plants around trees, as well as a Placer node for easy set dressing. An improved vector graphics workflow means you can import or copy and paste SVG files into Maya, too. Maya 2018 improves workflows and packs in new features With new and improved dynamics and effects, you can create realistic rigid and soft-body simulations; add atmospheric effects such as smoke and mist; create realistic ocean surfaces with waves, ripples and wakes; create realistic deformable materials and more. With just a few clicks, you can create complex arrangements of animated instances that can act dynamically, collide with each other, participate in dynamic forces, and be constrained. Explore all of the new features of Maya 2018 for yourself on the Maya website. With the new tools and wealth of Maya tips and tricks making professional results even more achievable, what will you create? How to buy Maya 2018 Maya 2018 brings better lighting controls, too Existing Maya users can trade in their old version for a subscription to the new Maya 2018 version for only £3.60 a day, while new users can take out a free trial of the new software before buying or subscribing. You can also get the Work Faster with Maya guide to helpful Maya shortcuts and all sorts of support and advice on the Maya website and Maya Learning YouTube channel, so that beginners needn’t feel daunted. As well as Maya 2018, Autodesk offers sister software Maya LT as a powerful and cost-effective tool for indie game makers. View the full article

Researchers say the Neptune, or Terror exploit kit has been spreading Monero cryptocurrency miners via malvertisements. View the full article

You're reading Startup Design Framework 2, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Looking to create a beautiful, responsive website for your startup or clients? Startup Framework saves you time and energy with an effortless platform to build a fully designed website. Build your site quickly with an intuitive and easy-to-use drag and drop interface. Select from various pre-designed components for each section of your website. View the full article

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2017/08/21/gloomy-times-ahead-for-security-on-critical-infrastructure-warn-experts/ … View the full article

Foxit Software says it will fix two vulnerabilities in its PDF reader products that could be triggered through its JavaScript API to execute code. View the full article

Having the right video editing tools can make a world of difference. That's why we've put together our pick of the best laptops for video editing – after all, choose the wrong one and you'll waste hours in post-production wrestling with erratic touchpads, squinting at pixelated images and drumming your fingers as your work slowly exports. These five fantastic laptops will make video editing a doddle. As well as our pick of the best overall machines, we'll tell you the best video editing laptops for under £500 and £1,000. And whether you're a Mac fan or a Windows wizard, we have the laptop for you. Plus, check out our favourite video editing software for an idea of what to run on these great machines. It might not surprise you to see Apple's most powerful laptop ever at the top of our list. The eye-catching Touch Bar may have attracted all the headlines on release, but it's the remarkable power, immaculate Retina display and vast trackpad that make it the best for video editing. Mac devotees will nod sagely when we say that the software on Apple's computers is the ideal companion for post-production. And if you've never used a Mac before, now might be the time to start. Read our sister site TechRadar's review of the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar Last year's Windows 10-based Dell XPS 15 is quite exceptional and pushes the MacBook very close to the title. It's a wonderful-to-use piece of kit in every department. The beautiful combination of 4K 3840x2160 resolution InfinityEdge display (the bezel is barely there) and top-of-the-range graphics card will make your footage sing as you chop and cut. And you can pay extra to ramp up the RAM to a hefty 16GB. Rapid. Read TechRadar's full Dell XPS 15 review The Microsoft Surface Book wasn't far off toppling the XPS 15 for best Windows laptop for video editing, but it waltzes to best 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrid with ease. Give the screen a tug and it satisfyingly detaches from the keyboard, allowing you to use it as a tablet. That's handy if you have a work in progress that you want to pass around a table. But, coming with the Surface Pen stylus, it also means you can get more control using the touchscreen. And as a laptop in its own right, it's extremely powerful. Read our full Microsoft Surface Book review Despite Apple's reputation for great expense, you don't have to pay top dollar for the sleek, powerful pleasure of owning one of its machines. The super-slim MacBook Air makes for a brilliant sub-£1,000 video editing machine. The processor speed has just been upgraded to 1.8GHz and the default RAM has been boosted to 8GB instead – meaning silky smooth processing and fast exporting. Read TechRadar's full MacBook Air review It isn't easy to find a decently specced laptop, with a large screen and still get change from £500. But that trusty stalwart HP has somehow managed to produce a cheap laptop that isn't a disaster zone. This isn't one for the pros, but if you're a beginner or keen amateur learning the ropes of video editing, the Pavilion is a good choice. Even the entry-level models have loads of storage for rolls of footage, and a little extra cash can get you more Ram, a better Intel processor or a full-HD display. Read TechRadar's Pavilion 15 review Related articles: 6 great video editing apps for mobile The best laptops for graphic design View the full article

The KLF – also known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The JAMs, The Timelords, The K Foundation, 2K and K2 Plant Hire Ltd – were, for a brief period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a notorious and mysterious force in pop music. Variously described as art terrorists, situationist pranksters, geniuses, anarchists and scam artists, The KLF hold a unique place in modern popular culture. Who else would burn a million quid, and then sign a 23-year moratorium on talking about why? This self-imposed ban comes to an end tomorrow (23 August 2017). To mark it, The KLF's Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty are releasing a book, 2023: A Trilogy – and hosting a suitably bizarre three-day event in Liverpool, UK, called Welcome to the Dark Ages. Only 400 tickets went on sale. At £100 (around US$130) a shot, they were snapped up in minutes. If the KLF know one thing, it's how to build a brand. On the eve of the event, we take a look back at The KLF’s most notorious moments, before distilling 10 pro tips for building a design business like The KLF on page 2. (Skip straight to the tips here) An auspicious start Starting out in 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty immediately grabbed the attention of the music press with their debut album, 1987 What the Fuck Is Going On? – a messy mix of hip hop beats, Glaswegian rap and uncleared samples. Soon after, they grabbed the attention of ABBA, who sued them for sampling virtually all of their song Dancing Queen on the track The Queen and I, resulting in the album being withdrawn. A year later they had a number one single as The Timelords with Doctor in the Tardis, a heady blend of the Doctor Who theme music and Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll Part Two. They then wrote about it in their book, The Manual: How to Have a Number One the Easy Way, an only partly tongue-in-cheek breakdown guide to making a hit record and getting it to the top of the charts, with a money-back guarantee. The pair went on to release a series of 12-inch trance singles, tried to make a road movie, recorded a classic ambient album – 1990's Chill Out – then finally hit the big time later that year with What Time is Love?, a driving dance number reworked from one of the earlier trance tracks, and the first part in their Stadium House trilogy. Five more hit singles and an album, The White Room, followed over the next 18 months, until in early 1992 they dramatically left the music industry after performing a death metal version of 3AM Eternal at the Brit Awards with Extreme Noise Terror, the performance culminating in Bill Drummond firing a machine gun loaded with blanks into the audience. Art terrorists With their entire back catalogue deleted, they turned their attention on the art world, becoming The K Foundation and sponsoring a £40,000 prize for the worst artists of the year, announcing the winner, Rachel Whiteread, on the same day that she won the 1993 Turner prize. They also attempted to build their own body of artwork entitled Money: A Major Body of Cash, based around large amounts of money. The first piece, Nailed to a Wall, consisted of £1 million in £50 notes, nailed to a framed board. Unable to find galleries willing to host an exhibition, in 1994 they found another use for this million pounds. The KLF took it to the Scottish Isle of Jura and burned it in an abandoned boathouse while their collaborator, Gimpo, filmed them. Since the dissolution of The K Foundation, both Drummond and Cauty have worked as artists. Jimmy Cauty most recently came to prominence with his dystopian diorama, The Aftermath Dislocation Principle, a giant post-apocalyptic model village that was a major attraction at Banksy's Dismaland exhibition. Drummond's own, singular artistic career has at times consisted of building beds and dry stone walls, distributing flowers and making soup. In 2014, he started his own world tour in Birmingham, in which he was scheduled to visit 12 cities in 12 different countries, producing 25 paintings and working on other art projects before returning to Birmingham on 28 April 2025. Welcome to the Dark Ages 2017 - what the heck is going on?So as we said, on 23 August 2017, Drummond and Cauty's self-imposed moratorium on talking about why they burned a million quid comes to an end. Details of their Liverpool event, Welcome to the Dark Ages, are deliberately vague. However, all ticket holders are expected to be volunteers for whatever The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs) have planned over the course of the three-day event. Whatever transpires, it promises to be a unique happening. Next page: 10 tips from The KLF for building a design business For anyone working in the creative industry, there's a lot you can learn from the KLF. Want to make waves? Here are our tips for building a design business like The KLF... 01. Start today Tired of sitting at a desk making money for someone else? Want to break out on your own? Bill Drummond imparts some sterling advice in the introduction to The Manual. "If you want to do something – REALLY want to do something – don't wait to be asked. Don't seek permission. Don't put off until you have passed the right exams or saved up enough money. But be prepared to risk complete failure. "Don't give a shit about whatever your mates or your girlfriend or boyfriend think. Whatever it is – start now, today. Tomorrow is always too late." 02. Get a business partner Key to The KLF's success was the mix of Bill Drummond, a former music industry executive and band manager, and Jimmy Cauty, a musician and artist whose Lord of the Rings poster for Athena hung on many a student's bedroom wall in the 1970s. Their skillsets complemented each other perfectly. However good you are, a like-minded collaborator will fill in the gaps and raise your game, and keep you going when things seem bleak. 03. Make it heroic Like other great men, such as Jesus and Harrison Ford, Bill Drummond started out as a humble carpenter, building stage sets at Liverpool's Everyman theatre. Theatre legend Ken Campbell – who in 1997 would direct Bill and Jimmy's one-off 'Fuck the Millennium' performance at London's Barbican – rejected Drummond's original set designs for the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool's nine-hour performance of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. But Campbell gave Drummond the following advice: "Bill, don't bother doing anything unless it is heroic." These sage words doubtless inspired The KLF's epic videos and Top of the Pops appearances. If you want to make a name for yourself, apply these words to your design work. 04. Create your own look One area in which The KLF excelled was in defining its own distinctive style. It used one typeface across nearly all of its work – Compacta Bold – coupled with a handful of instantly recognisable logos designed by Jimmy Cauty, and even invented its own musical genre for its biggest hit singles: Stadium House. Take a similar approach: come up with your own selection of visual cues, a preferred typeface, a stand-out colour palette, and use them on your portfolio site, your press releases, in your self-initiated work – anywhere you might be noticed. You could even go one step further and invent a name for your particular look. Make sure people hear about it. 05. Recycle and remix You know what it's like when you do a piece of work that you really love but it doesn't get the attention you think it deserves, right? Follow The KLF's example: hold on to it and come back to it later. It had an insatiable appetite for sampling not only others, but itself, and for reworking its old tunes. What Time is Love?, the band's signature track, went through four quite different releases – the original Pure Trance mix; the Stadium House version called America: What Time is Love? with loud guitars and rock vocalist Glenn Hughes thrown in; and 1997's Fuck the Millennium, with added brass band and swearing. If something didn't quite work before – or it did, but you think it could work better – revisit it, remodel it, bring it bang up-to-date and try again. 06. Share your wisdom Get a load of that Compacta BoldAfter getting their first number one record as The Timelords, Drummond and Cauty wrote a book explaining how anyone could do it, with an irresistible guarantee. "We guarantee that we will refund the complete price of this manual if you are unable to achieve a number one single in the official (Gallup) UK charts within three months of the purchase of this manual and on condition that you have fulfilled our instructions to the letter." The genius of this guarantee, of course, was that if you really did follow their instructions and fail, you'd be in thousands of pounds of debt to studios, manufacturers, distributors and others. Regardless, people love to learn how things are done. If you've created an important piece of work, write up a case study and publish it on your website or send it to the design press. 07. Grab all the publicity you can The JAMs turned the ill-fated trip to Sweden to try to meet ABBA into an album coverThe Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs) – named, of course, after an organisation in Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! Trilogy – mastered self-promotion, seizing all manner of opportunities for a bit of publicity, from graffiti campaigns through to commissioning a crop circle in the shape of its pyramid blaster logo. Sometimes – though not very often – the group even gave interviews. The problem today, of course, is that everyone's wiser to the tricks that used to work for The JAMs. If you want publicity, you'll need a clever and engaging angle, and you'll have to work for it. Look at everything you do and everything that happens to you – even setbacks, such as being sued by ABBA – and ask yourself if there's a way you can turn it into worthwhile publicity. Nobody said it was going to be easy. 08. Collaborate with the best The KLF had all manner of unwitting collaborators in the early days – it just sampled the likes of Whitney Houston, Petula Clark and, yes, ABBA and mostly got away with it. Later, when The KLF became a big-name act, it managed to convince the queen of country music, Tammy Wynette, to sing about driving around in an ice cream van on hit single Justified and Ancient. "While Jimmy got on with the track, I went into the office and picked up the phone," Drummond wrote in The Guardian. "10 minutes later, after three or four calls, I am actually talking to Tammy Wynette, just before she goes on stage in Chicago. We play her the track down the phone and she agrees there and then to record the vocals with us." Want to work with one of your design heroes? Ask them. Tell them what you're about and why you'd make amazing stuff together. The worst that can happen is they'll say no. 09. Know when to call it a day Eventually, pop stardom took its toll on The KLF. Drummond's machine gun antics at The Brits in 1992 were a lot tamer than his original plan, which was to chop his hand off on stage and lob it into the audience. If it all gets too much for you – if you're facing a constant stack of deadlines, not getting a chance to enjoy the fruits of your labour and just not feeling the passion that drove you to start all this in the first place – it's alright to quit to do something else. Travel the world, learn a new skill or just have a change of scenery. Better that than become an embittered old hand, sniping from the sidelines. 10. Don't burn a million quid Not even if you've got a million quid spare and it seems like a good idea at the timeJust don't, right? It's already been done. Over and outRelated articles: If celebrities were Pantone colours Top designers reveal their first paid commissions How to craft a brand voice View the full article

Whether you're just learning how to draw and paint or you're a pro composing a new piece, there are some basic drawing and painting techniques and guidelines, like the Golden Ratio, which, if you stick to, will help you to improve your art and design. The rule of thirds – used frequently by photographers – states that if you divide any composition into thirds, vertically and horizontally, then place the key elements of your image either along these lines or at the junctions of them, you’ll achieve a more pleasing arrangement and more interesting and dynamic compositions. Painters and artists use the rule of thirds mostly for landscapes, but it also works for any subject matter, including still lifes, figures and even portraits. The rule of thirds works for many art genres – we show you how to use it on the next pageThe rule of thirds gives you a guide for placing focal points. If you design your focal points according to the intersections of any of the nine rectangles, your picture will have the counterbalance needed to make the composition more interesting and more compelling. You can also design other elements in the picture to lead the eye from one of the focal points to the other, and use the corners to bring the viewer into the picture or keep the eyes moving back into picture again. This kind of eyeflow adds movement and life to any composition. On this page, we'll look at how artists have used the rule of thirds to create dynamic compositions. 01. Origins of the rule of thirds The rule of thirds is a compositional guideline. Its origins go back to classical and Renaissance paintings, but it is mostly known as a compositional tool used by photographers. This painting by Valentin de Boulogne shows how the main characters are all placed on the upper dividing line, creating a dynamic arrangement of figures. 02. The rule of thirds in landscapes The rule of thirds is mostly known as a tool for composing landscapes. In this painting by Pierre Henri de Valenciennes, the horizon is placed in the lower thirds, and the large mass of mountains and scenery is placed in the left section, to create a more dynamic scene. 03. The rule of thirds for asymmetric compositions Use the rule of thirds to create asymmetry without chaosThe main function of the rule of thirds is to help create asymmetric compositions. If the elements in a picture are centred and too balanced, it becomes boring. If the images are offset using the rule of thirds, the asymmetry and counterbalance of elements creates a much more dynamic picture. 04. Place focal points with the rule of thirds Place focal points and other points of interest at intersectionsAnother great way to use rule of thirds is to help place focal points. In this portrait painting, the eyes fall on the upper horizontal line and leads to the second focal point in the ear. Other points of interest such as the warm triangle of light also fall on an intersection of guidelines. 05. Guide eyeflow with the rule of thirds Eyeflow is another great use of the rule of thirds. In this painting by Rubens, the main focal point of the boar is placed at an intersection. Secondary points of interest fall on intersections as well and the action of the poses lead the eye from one focal point or intersection to another. Next page: How to use the rule of thirds in your artworks (in three quick demonstrations) By following the guidelines and intersections created by the rule of thirds, you can more easily create compositions that are asymmetric and much more dynamic. Now we've seen the rule of thirds in action in other artists' paintings, it's time to show you how you can use the rule of thirds to create your own artworks. These three quick tutorials show you how the rule can be applied to a still life painting, an architectural drawing and a figure painting. Still life Our first demonstration uses the rule of thirds to compose a still life painting. 01. Set the scene using the rule of thirds Use the rule of thirds to guide your still life compositionBegin by arranging your objects so that the composition lines up with the guidelines and intersections created by the rule of thirds. The banana and shadow here follow the bottom guideline while the highlight on the mango falls on the upper-right intersection, creating a dynamic focal point. 02. Use intersecting guides Use intersections as drawing guides and also to inform your lightingThe next step is to create the drawing using the intersections as guides. Creating a value thumbnail now also means you can plan your dark value composition. Here, the lower and left thirds are dominated by darks while the bright highlight in the upper section creates a dynamic focal point. 03. Block in Block in dark shadows, adjusting to follow the guidelinesBegin the painting by blocking in the dark shadows and adding more saturated colours into the shadows and transition tones. To make the composition more dynamic and asymmetric, straighten the drawing of the banana’s shadow. This gives it a stronger horizontal alignment with the bottom guideline. 04. Add colour Add colour, again following the layout of the gridNext, add the half-tone shapes and more colour. Here the upper third is entirely a dark mid-tone that will help to frame the highlight focal point. Straighten the curve of the table surface so that it lines up with the upper guideline and creates a more asymmetric value composition. 05. Make final touches Use thicker and brighter paint at the highlight pointTo complete the painting, add light tones, highlights and finishing touches. The light on the table surface fills out the lower 2/3rds of the composition. Thicker and brighter paint and technique variation are added at the highlight, which really draws the eye to the main focal point. Urban landscape The next demonstration is an urban landscape painting that uses the rule of thirds to play with height in the architecture. 01. Align the reference image with the grid You can use the rule of thirds in portrait orientationHere we slightly 'break' the rule of thirds by using it in a vertical or portrait orientation. The reference photo here shows that we will have to align the central structure with the right vertical guideline to give more asymmetry and counterbalance in this composition. 02. Draw and design Sketch out the painting, moving things around to fit to guidelinesBegin the painting with the drawing and design. In the drawing, move the centre object to the right so that it lines up with the right vertical guideline. Similarly, design the other elements in the bottom of the composition to line up with the lower guideline. 03. Lock in major elements Block in the major elements of the compositionNext, block in the darks and add colour in the shadows. This step helps you to lock in the major elements of the composition such as the central focal point and the dark lower thirds section. This creates an interesting tension with the upper two-thirds of light. 04. Build in half-tones and lights Add half-tones and lights to contrast with the darksNext, add half-tones and lights. This locks in the major elements of the design and composition. The tower focal point lines up nicely with the right guideline and the darks with the lower guideline. The colours in the sky also add colour and value contrast with the darks in the lower third of the picture. 05. Add final details Adding final details creates more depth and movementTo complete the painting, add details in the dark foreground along with more colour and technique variation. This also creates more depth and movement. Clean up the shapes in the central tower structure and use the upper guideline to help you place the small details and horizontal beam shapes. 06. Use sub-divisions Using sub-divisions enables you to intelligently place smaller detailsThis image shows how the rule of thirds is sub-divided in this painting. The top of the tower lines up with a guideline. The central elements line up nicely with a guideline. And many of the lower details, colours and small strokes line up with guidelines in the lower section. Figure painting This last example is an action-packed figure painting in watercolour, which uses an asymmetric composition based on the rule of thirds to emphasise the thrust of the image. 01. Line up the main action Here the rule of thirds helps create a dynamic figure paintingBegin the drawing and shadow block-in by using the upper guideline to line up the main action of the pose. This sets up a dynamic, asymmetric composition. Line up the face with the right-vertical guideline to create a secondary focal point. 02. Create an asymmetric counterbalance Use light and dark tones to create asymmetric counterbalanceNext, block in the dark and light half-tones, add as much colour as possible and begin to soften the core shadow edges. Having the dark shadows and half-tones dominate the right thirds of the composition creates an asymmetric arrangement of value. This helps to counterbalance the main focal point. 03. Add highlights Counterbalance the highlights wth vivid red along the right-verticalNext, add the highlights. Since the highlights fall on the upper guideline, it helps reinforce the composition. Add highlights on the main focal point, too. To counterbalance the image, add intense red colour along the right-vertical guideline. Now you have a simple and dynamic arrangement of values and colour. 04. Make the final touches Additional colour provides a secondary focal point and dynamic eye-flowTo complete the painting, add more colour to the focal point hand, along with variation in technique to really draw the eye to the punching hand. For counterbalance, add saturated reds to the eyes in shadow. This gives the image a secondary focal point and a dynamic eye-flow to the composition. Digital images courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program. This article originally appeared in the How to Paint and Draw bookazine from ImagineFX. Liked this? Read these! 100 pro tips and tutorials for painting and drawing Get to grips with the Golden Ratio 15 inspiring examples of pointillism View the full article

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Looking to support a creative technology with a difference? Now's your chance, because creative robotics pioneer Joto has just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. It's looking to raise £250,000, with 12 per cent equity on offer. Joto is building technology that "offers a new intersection between the worlds of design and technology." Or, to put it simply, it has created the awesome next stage of etch-a-sketch evolution. Thanks to a clever combination of robotics and artificial intelligence with pen and ink, Joto has developed a connected whiteboard that draws live on request. Capable of sketching everything from works of art to messages at the press of a button, Joto can turn pixels on a screen into pen and ink drawings. Watch it in action in the video below. Keen-eyed Kickstarter campaign followers might recognise Joto from a fundraiser on that site earlier in the year. Back then it sold over 1,800 units in just four weeks and raised an impressive £362,307. On top of this, Joto was named the public's favourite design at 2017's Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition at London's Design Museum, and will be made available to shoppers via an exclusive partnership with Selfridges later in 2017. With Joto, you can send designs from your phone to a friend's wall (providing the friend also has Joto)“Most of the content we love is stuck on our screens, and as a result so are we," says Jim Rhodes, founder of Joto. "We are reimagining a world where people can feel connected beyond the screen. This is an exciting first step in the exploration of creative robotics for the home. Not the type to be scared of, but the sort you’d love to put on your wall.” By supporting Joto on Crowdcube, you'll be helping it to launch its hardware across even more channels and regions, as well as accelerating the development of the software platform where users will be able to view and exchange content with peers and other content providers. If you want to support Joto and help it to reach its goal of £250,000, you've got until 30 September to send some money its way. Related articles: 6 best digital art tools of 2017 so far New free Google tool does the drawing for you 10 tools to unlock creativity View the full article

Researchers at IOActive are sounding an early alarm on the security of industrial collaboration robots, or cobots. These machines work side-by-side with people and contain vulnerabilities that could put physical safety at risk. View the full article