A Collection of 30+ Useful Maya Tutorials

Posted on March 17, 2010 by admin

Maya is a high-end 3D application that enables the user to create highly realistic images using the various tools provided by the software. The software allows you to create images in 3D format. Several designers in the web are into using this software to design the ultimate image. Throughout the web, several tutorials on using this software have been released by professionals whose main aim is to educate beginners and experienced users alike.Here in this post, we bring you A Collection of 30+ Useful Maya Tutorials to give you more knowledge in the appropriate usage of the software. Enjoy reading and have fun learning!

Making of the Rider

The tutorial is on creating a maya image using brail tools.

Making of Varga In MAYA

Here is a summary on the workflow used for a character with lots of images and some print-screens directly from the applications used such as Maya, Mudbox, and Photoshop.

High Polygon Realistic Character Creation

This tutorial is an overview of creating high polygon realistic 3D characters.

Making of Quiet Room

Learn to use Autodesk Maya in modeling the objects and use Photoshop in texturing by following this tutorial.

Texture Map NURBS Dragon

Here is a tutorial that will guide you in converting NURBS to polygon, and then export the polygons to 3D paint program.

Revolution

In this tutorial, you will be guided in creating a highly revolutionized image with Maya.

Street Cop Workflow

Create a highly realistic street cop image using Maya by following through this tutorial.

Making of Gladiator

Learn to use preset effects like grains, light color enhancement, epical environment mood in creating your image with this tutorial.

Making of Fatjon’s Performance

The tutorial is on sculpting details for images and creating a mysterious atmosphere in Maya.

Character Walk Through

The tutorial is on creating one of the characters for the phenomenal hit movie, the Harry Potter series using Maya.

Using Sun and Sky in Mental Ray

This tutorial will guide you in using one feature in Maya’s mental ray.

Making of Cheese Platter

Here is a tutorial using Autodesk Maya 8.5 and Adobe Photoshop in creating a food-themed image.

Making of Skullhead Mobster

In this tutorial, you will be guided in creating a skullhead image using Maya.

Making of the Joker

This tutorial uses Maya for the base model, ZBrush for details, and Photoshop for texturing and matte painting, shave and haircut for the hair and mental ray for rendering in creating the famous character, Joker.

Create a Gear and Render it Realisticly with Mental Ray

The tutorial mainly focuses on rendering using Mental Ray, an HDRI map, and Maya 6.0.

Facial Animation Rig for Delgo

Learn to use NURBS curves to influence objects on a poly mesh through this tutorial.

Making of The Last Elf

Create a highly realistic character using Maya.

Making Of Balcón Mediterráneo

Here is a tutorial on creating a 3D version of the Balcón Mediterráneo in Maya.

Model a Spitfire War Plane

Create your own war plane using Maya in this tutorial.

Making of the Fruit Tarts

This is a tutorial on food using Maya, Photoshop and rendered with Mental Ray.

Creating CG Nature

The tutorial will guide you in creating terrain, trees and grass using Maya.

Breaking Subsurface Scattering into Render Layers in Maya

In this tutorial, you will be guided in the process of breaking the subsurface into render layers and compositing them in post.

Making of Sohrab

Here is a tutorial in creating one famous character in Maya.

Maya-Mentalray Studio Lighting

This tutorial is on the proper utilization of studio lighting in Maya and mental ray.

Making of Tiger Zoo

Create a realistic wildlife image using Maya in this tutorial.

How to Create a Model of a Sport Car – Nissan 350-Z

A step-by-step tutorial on creating 350Z’s body using polygonal modeling in Maya is illustrated in this tutorial.

Making of Portrait of a Troll

The above tutorial is on creating a troll image using Maya and its various tools.

3DnuTTa’s Rim Design Tutorial

Here is a tutorial on creating another Maya image using a different set of tools.

Creating Optimized Caustics in Maya Mray

Learn to create the caustics effect in Maya using this tutorial.

Modeling Morgane

Create another realistic character in Maya by following the techniques in this tutorial.

Making of Ingrid Bergman

This tutorial is on re-creating a famous person through the use of Maya.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating

Posted on March 16, 2010 by admin

Hey, are you interesting on cheating methods in Photoshop? If yes then I’ll show u how to create one interesting effect with human face. I’m going to cover almost all the face with plain skin. This lesson is more suitable for those users who have some experience with Photoshop.

Let’s start! In the beginning you should find the picture of a human face to experiment with. I prefer to use this one. Also feel free to use your own pictures. Open up the file and start covering mouth with skin. Get out the Lasso Tool to create selection as shown on my picture below:

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 01

Then press Ctrl+J to duplicate selected area on the new layer and move it up a little bit with Move Tool.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 02

After that select the Eraser Tool and the soft round brush to remove borders clearness for current layer. Try to get the same result as on my picture, which you can see below.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 03

Ok, now use the Brush Tool (Brush: 150 px, Range: Midtones: Exposure : 20%) to make skin darken a slightly.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 04

Merge current layer with previous one. Now, select the Clone Stamp Tool (Brush: 40 px, Opacity: 50%) and hold down the Alt key — the cursor will change to a target. Click the point you wish to use as a sampling point. This will be used as the reference point for cloning. Click and draw where you want the cloned image to appear. As you draw, a cross will appear on the original image while a corresponding circle appears where you are drawing.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 05

Now apply the Sharpen Tool to increase the sharpness a little bit.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 06

Ok, move to the next area. Now I’m going to process eye area. Use the Lasso Tool again to select another one area.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate selected area to the new layer and move it a little bit as on my picture you can see below.

After that use the Eraser Tool and a soft round brush again to process clear skin borders for current layer.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 09

Merge this layer with background layer again and use the Clone Stamp Tool one more time to remove skin mixing defects.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 01

Increase sharpness with Sharpen Tool for current area also.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 11

Ok, process another eye on the same way. Use the Lasso Tool to create another selection again.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate selected area on the new layer and move it above.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 13

Use the Eraser Tool again to process skin borders.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 14

Duplicate current layer again with Ctrl+J and move it down and left a little bit.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 15

Use the Eraser Tool again to correct this layer.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 16

Merge all layers again and apply Clone Stamp Tool one more time to hide all the defects.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 17

Add more sharpness with Sharpen Tool.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 18

Time to process the nostrils. On this step u don’t need to duplicate skin area again to hide the nostrils, it will be much easer to use only Clone Stamp Tool. Use the soft round brush about 25 pixels to do it neatly.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 19

Now, select the Dodge Tool (Brush: 70 px, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 20%) to make some dodge work on the left part of the noise to bring our nose more realistic view.

Without Face: Photoshop Cheating 20

Ok, on this step we are done with out Photoshop tutorial. Human head without face looks so professional processed, isn’t it? Hope you got the same good result as me. If not, don’t be upset, may be you need to have more practice with Clone Stamp Tool, after that you will get the same good result or may be better than mine!

Interview with Glennray Tutor – PhotoRealism Painter

Posted on March 16, 2010 by admin

Hi all, an ABSOLUTE treat today… I came across the work of Glennray Tutor by chance via the wonder of the WWW. I then contacted him, and he was gracious enough to give me an interview and a rare insight into how he creates his truly mind-boggling photo-realistic paintings!

1. Hi Glennray. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. For those who have not come across you before, can you tell us a little about yourself, what it is you do, and your work?

I grew up in a small town in southeast Missouri, a couple of hours north of Memphis. I now live in Oxford, Mississippi which is about an hour south of Memphis. I came to Oxford to attend the University of Mississippi, and received an MFA in painting in 1976 when I was 25 years old. Since then I have been fortunate to have worked full time at creating art. My paintings have been acquired by major collectors and museums, and have been exhibited in venues globally. My studio is comfortably located a few steps behind my house. In addition to painting, I am very interested in music. The daily activities in the studio include both performing and listening to music, which ranges from Mozart and Rossini, to John Lee Hooker and The Yardbirds, to my own compositions.

2. When did you decide painting was a career path that you wanted to follow?

I never had the experience of choosing a career path. From the moment I became conscious I knew I was an artist.

“However, I want to emphasize that flawless technique alone will never generate a work of art. A perfectly played sonata, without an engaging melody, will fail. “

3. What painters/artists have inspired you?

Other than my own, I didn’t see actual oil paintings until I was 17 years old. All of the art that I saw until then were reproductions. And this aspect of viewing art may have had bearing on my later thoughts regarding technique and image. I was absolutely obsessed with comic books and book jacket art. I was astounded by the art of Kubert, Cameron, Infantino, Freas, Powers, Wood, Elder, N.C. Wyeth, Rockwell, Emsh and Schoenherr. In my teenage years, at the library, I discovered the art of Dali, Ernst, Dore, Bosch, Vermeer and the Dutch realists, Modiglianni, Bacon, the French Impressionists, the German Expressionists, and the Abstract Expressionists. I was also visually inspired by television programs and movies.

4. What made you become a photo-realist painter?

During my revelatory visit to The Brooks Museum of Art, in the summer of 1968, when I saw actual paintings for the first time, I discovered that some paintings contain overt indications of how the image is technically achieved, like obvious brushstrokes and pronounced canvas texture. This technical disclosure varies from artist to artist. For example, a painting by Jackson Pollock shows the technique equally along with the image.

On the other hand, a Vermeer does not. For me, visual evidence of how the painting is done, interferes with my entry — both emotionally and intellectually — into the art. (Please don’t misunderstand, I think that technique alone can be fascinating. I’ve stood with a magnifying glass in front of Vermeer paintings literally for hours studying the technique.)

To help clarify, here are a couple of analogies. If I watch a magician, I don’t want to see how he does the trick, because my sense of wonder will be lessened. If I go to a concert hall to hear a Mozart piano sonata, I don’t want to hear all the notes and chords the musician practiced in preparation for the performance. I want to experience the art as purely as the composer intended.

Music is aural, and painting is visual. I want my painted image to be as flawlessly experienced by the eye as a musical composition is by the ear.

However, I want to emphasize that flawless technique alone will never generate a work of art. A perfectly played sonata, without an engaging melody, will fail. How the artist presents the subject matter, will determine whether or not a painting is art.

Because a painting is, as is all art, a form of entertainment, its performance should appear flawless to the viewer.
I was drawn to Photo-realist painting because of its reverence for the image.

5. Where would you say your inspiration comes from?

That’s a tough one…. The result of an acute perception, perhaps. I find everything I see to be extraordinary.

“As a composer of music does not merely reproduce the sounds he hears from the world around him, I do not paint the world as I find it, as a snapshot, so to speak. “

6. Your work has a distinctive look — would you say you have a personal identifiable style?

Yes, I recognize that my work has a distinctive look.

In creating a work of art, I concentrate on the mental and physical process to achieve my intention. Interestingly, style is not a consideration at all, and yet it inevitably occurs.

I think the more personal and sincere an artist’s efforts, and the more experience (practice) the artist has in making art, the more distinct will be the style.

7. Your work, honestly, is truly jaw-dropping. How did you develop your skill and techniques to get to such a level of accomplishment?

Thank you, sincerely, for the compliment.

The answer is self-discipline.

Perhaps the most important realization I ever had was that if I were to reach the level of accomplishment I wanted with my work, I would have to live a different kind of life than the normal person. Art would come first, then everything else would revolve around that, as best it could. A strict working regime was necessary, one that consisted of painting persistently, with or without inspiration. I worked this way for years, learning from my mistakes, and always pushing on to the next level.

8. When creating one of your pieces, where does the process start?

“I also know that I want such a painting to be more than what I am seeing in my arrangement. I want it to transcend to a more wondrous visual and emotional level.”

As a composer of music does not merely reproduce the sounds he hears from the world around him, I do not paint the world as I find it, as a snapshot, so to speak.

The process starts with selecting objects that I find interesting and assembling them into an arrangement. Because I control every element, I infuse the arrangement with metaphorical content, which is of great significance to me and my overall work as an artist.

I work with the arrangement until (and it’s difficult to verbally describe the phenomenon that happens next, but here is an attempt) it begins to radiate a kind of power. At this point I feel there is potential for a painting. I also know that I want such a painting to be more than what I am seeing in my arrangement. I want it to transcend to a more wondrous visual and emotional level.

But — and this is the scary thing about the early stages of the process — I have very little notion of how to get it there.

9. What media typically go into a normal piece, and how long does a piece on average take you to complete?

The surface I paint on is either canvas or paper, prepared with rabbit skin glue sizing, or acrylic gesso. Oil paint is then applied with brushes. The brushes are a variety of sizes, and all are flats, except for #1 and #2 rounds. I sign the painting with the #1. Turpentine is used to thin the paint, as necessary.

After I have arranged the objects, I photograph the setup, shooting approximately 20 photos, each at a different exposure, from completely overexposed, to completely underexposed. A normal exposure, alone, would not allow me to see into the dark and light areas. I use a digital camera and computer, and examine the photos as I’m shooting. Often, I’ll make a change to the setup. I delete the previous photos and re-shoot.

After I have photographed what I feel is a definitive composition, an outline drawing of it is made on the selected surface, using a grid, or a projection. This drawing is not detailed, and serves only as a starting place. Referring to the photos, I begin the painting.As the painting progresses, I change elements, such as colors, location or size of an object, or I may paint over an entire object with a different one.

I continue painting, exploring, always trying to make the painting better. If a photo were made every hour as my painting progresses, and shown consecutively, the painting would appear in constant motion and change. When I feel the painting is complete, I sign it. The original objects and arrangement have gone through a creative process of intellectual, emotional, and physical manipulation, and are no longer what they once were. They are now a painted work of art.My normal schedule is to work everyday, painting approximately 10 hours a day. Depending on size and complexity, a painting takes 1 to 4 months to complete.

10. So far what would you describe as the pros and cons of becoming a painter?

Cons first: To know exactly what I wanted to express as an artist, and then the development of the skills necessary to make these things into a physical manifestation — a painting — was quite an arduous enterprise.

Pros: Making art is hard. However, after I’ve fought all the way from the beginning of the process to its completion, and stand and look at the finished painting, there is no better feeling.

11. To date, what has been your personal proudest moment in your career or art?

There have been many moments I have felt the great feeling of accomplishment — it happens daily in the studio as I work — and I appreciate every one of those moments.

In relation to my career, I’m very proud to have been part of OUTWARD BOUND, the millennium exhibition of 2000, sponsored by Mobil Corporation, that toured major museums throughout the U.S.A. and Asia. The exhibition included work by Warhol, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Goings, Close, and many other notable artists. I’m very proud of my artwork being used on the series of books by Barry Hannah, one of the world’s greatest authors.

And, by the way, ranking right up there with the best of them, is being interviewed by Acuity Designs.

12. Once again, thank you very much for the interview. Where can those interested in you and your work find you online

GlennrayTutor.com

“I never had the experience of choosing a career path. From the moment I became conscious I knew I was an artist. “

Enjoy the interview? Leave A Comment

March 3, 2010 -- Interview with Illustrator and Artworker – Liam Barry (1)
November 28, 2009 -- Interview With Will Kay of OddKingdom – Becoming Your Brand (5)
July 1, 2009 -- Interviewed by Crazy Leaf Design Blog (2)

50 Freely Available Professional Fonts For Your Designs

Posted on March 15, 2010 by admin

Being designers we usually need more than just the usual font collection. Many typefaces are made available online for free it can be very helpful for designers to build up their type arsenal. Of course many would argue that designers should avoid using free grungy typefaces and instead apply type treatment to existing and well designed typefaces like Helvetica, Trebuchet, Georgia, H&FJ, and others.

Using the right font in your logo design is vital. It represents your company on all your business promotional items so it must be appropriate, professional, and most importantly: legible.

That’s why today we have a collection of 50 free professional free fonts, we’re not talking about grunge fonts or ones that have a distressed look, we’re talking about great looking professional typefaces made available for free online. I hope you enjoy this collection!

Caviar Dreams

Champagne & Limousines

Fontin

Oceania

League Gothic

Steiner

Telegraphico

Museo Sans

Days

Fontin Sans

Comfortaa

Rounded

Asenine

Juice Gadisradio

Optimus Princeps

Cicle

Bodoni XT

Day Roman

Liberation Serif

Apple Garamond

Cyclo

Organic Elements

Quadranta

Tallys

Reznor Broken

Museo

Antipasto

Fertigo

Charpentier Renaissance

Delicious

Calluna

Anivers

Fibel

Raleway

Prociono

Headline

Sansation

Chunk

Graublau

Junction

Justus

Typo3

Typo Slab Serif

Just Oldfashion

Goudy Bookletter 1911

Bitstream Vera Sans

Diavlo

Bastardus Sans

Tall Dark & Handsome

This is a guest post from Tom Walker who works as writer and design for a supplier of Pixma ink cartridges, toners, paper and other accessories. Visit their blog for his latest writing about design and print media.

June 8, 2009 -- Freelance Contracts (30)
January 30, 2010 -- 5 Free Non-Disclosure Agreements (4)
January 6, 2010 -- 5 Free Web Design Proposal Contracts (12)
April 8, 2009 -- Free Business Plan, Projected Balances and Expenses Templates (3)
October 14, 2008 -- Free Invoice, Receipt, T&C and Privacy Templates (1)

Putting Together an Effective Portfolio

Posted on March 14, 2010 by admin

Save perhaps his personality, the freelance graphic designer’s portfolio is, undoubtedly, the most valuable asset in his professional life. I have written elsewhere that the portfolio is the freelancer’s shop window, an intimate glimpse into his or her being for all who view it. We have to love our portfolios, agonise over what goes into them, and tend and nurture them as we would a sapling we’d once planted. Nothing should be left to chance, not even tiny details, as it’s these, at times, that we may be judged on. So let us not delay any longer, but instead plunge into the sober, matte black folds of the portfolio…

Author: Bradley Hotson for The Graphic Design School The Graphic Design School offers vocational training graphic design courses. Delivery is online, affordable and open to students all over the world to study in the comfort of their own home.

Putting Together an Effective Portfolio

Contained Therein: What to Include

What graphical wonders might reside within…

What should a freelance designer’s portfolio contain? For starters, it should include no more than 6–10 projects. Any more and you risk your interviews dragging on and prospective employers and clients hurrying you along whilst glancing at their watch. Try not to include two too similar projects, even if you’re equally proud of both. Each piece in the portfolio should come with its own unique narrative. There is an exception to this rule; it can be ignored if you have a series of projects designed for a certain client, say a triptych of biannual trade brochures, which together demonstrate the development of a concept or narrative and can be presented, from your point of view, as a single project.

Your portfolio truly is your shop window to the world, offering others a glimpse of your priorities, competencies, predilections and professional level. Sweat blood over it. Image courtesy of © Juan Pablo Cambariere.

For traditional ‘paper’ portfolios, high-quality printouts of uniform size are recommended. These printouts could include developmental and conceptual work alongside the final solutions. Attempt to inject a dose of uniformity into things; it looks neat and consistent and your efforts won’t go unnoticed by those on the opposite side of the table. Just be sure that each project tells its own unique story, and go to brow-furrowing lengths deciding just what to include, and the order in which you present them. Print-based designers will naturally enough want to include finished printed pieces, but these may still be combined with printouts explaining the ‘journey’ of each project. Exactly the same rules described above apply to web-based designers. They can, if they choose to make use of printouts, show frames from websites they’ve designed, which can in turn accompany actual visits around the websites themselves, if a laptop is present.

A dazzlingly original portfolio concept. A series of perfect-bound books contained within a slipcase and all bound with an elastic band. Image courtesy of © Zoo Press.

The Receptacle Itself

A great alternative to the traditional “paper” portfolio, the laptop is an increasingly appealing method for showcasing one’s work. Image courtesy of © François Proulx.

“Don’t fret, it’s what’s inside that counts” we are told by our mothers when spurned by a playground sweetheart. But with regard to the portfolio, the exterior, the actual, physical receptacle you carry your work around in, matters a great deal too. The slim black case, once beloved by all, has, over the decades, become ubiquitous and predictable. It has an evergreen appeal, in the same way that gallery spaces’ white walls and beech blonde floors do. Because of its very ubiquity though, here in the 21st century, the slim black case is no longer going to raise any eyebrows or get hearts a-thumping. Employers will have seen thousands of them. Therefore, I’d advise you to think about something a little different. The key here remains discretion; a receptacle whose appearance visually or tactilely overpowers the work contained within has failed in a basic aim, much as a gallery in charge of a Mondrian retrospective would if it hung the great Modernist’s canvases on garish flock wallpaper, if you can imagine so undesirable a thing.

Photographers’ archive boxes make handsome receptacles for a freelancer’s portfolio. They are sturdy, protecting, beautifully made from acid-free materials and discrete in their design, much in the same way the slim black case is. Their self-folding covers carry just enough weight for them to open and lie flat with a pleasing ‘clunk’. Also of immense value, they allow the freelancer to carry his work around loose-leaf fashion. To carry your work loose-leaf is an infinitely more desirable system than having a ringbound portfolio, which requires the designer to frequently turn the case around and (if the case is on the larger side) awkwardly turn the plastic sleeves as he goes. Loose-leaf printouts allow the freelancer to pass them around to those they’re presenting to, and this is A Good Thing.

“Thou shalt not use Powerpoint to present thy portfolio”. Image used with kind permission of © Ian Ruotsala.

If you have a laptop, you may wish to make this your main portfolio receptacle. Laptops are good for this, and a modern, not-too-scuffed Apple laptop can help make a slick impression on others. Be sure to have all the technical bases covered before presenting; arriving to a meeting with an uncharged laptop, sans mains charger isn’t going to impress anybody. Choosing to carry your portfolio on a laptop allows for expedient and rapid updating of work. You can shuffle things around, add and omit projects as you see fit and effectively tailor your body of work to suit each new meeting and interview you bag. You can of course do the same with a traditional paper-based portfolio, though high-quality printouts can represent a not negligible expense. A final word on using laptops, if you do choose to pursue this route avoid using Powerpoint in your presentations; everybody by now should know that this software is the last word in corporate uncool.

This Is The Modern World

Portfolio site of successful designer Fabien Barral.

Of course, most freelancers with a decent body of work nowadays will also have an online presence, used, in the main, to display their work. Take as much care with your online portfolio as you would your physical one. Strive for a uniformity and dynamism in your photography of projects, and make sure that images and pdfs saved from the computer are of sufficiently high and consistent resolution. Write concise, foolproof explanations to accompany the work and organise it all in an intuitive level-based fashion, much as you would a website. Sites like Flickr and View Creatives go some way to aiding the freelancer in this professional-feeling endeavour, but you’ll still need to pour energy and vim into the whole enterprise to create the right appearance.

A Dynamic Process

Don’t, through neglect or complacency, allow your portfolio to become stale… “Retro” bedroom image used with permission of © Steve Collins.

If not tended regularly, and updated at least periodically, portfolios can make their owners seem stale and static-seeming, much as a restaurant that hasn’t updated its menu or decor since the 1970s would appear. Your relationship with your portfolio (for that’s what it really is), should be a dynamic process which engages your thoughts and labour continuously. A portfolio assembled two years in the past may have once seemed the sexiest thing alive, but if not updated and cared for as and when necessary, projects may become vaguely dated, printouts and interleaves may ’stick’ together and, if you spend a lot of time carrying them around, projects inside the portfolio may become dog-eared and crumpled. Keep things shipshape and Bristol fashion as best you can. If printouts look a little worse for wear, replace them. Rotate, add and omit projects when desirable.

Useful Top Tips

Keep things small. A portfolio any larger than A3 is really too big
Keep things clean & uncrumpled
Loose-leaf sheets are better than ring-bound sleeves
Assembling a portfolio should not be a one-off exercise, but a dynamic and continual process
Request and absorb other people’s comments and allow this information to flow back into the way you maintain your portfolio
Interleave your loose-leaf sheets with a bold and dazzling substrate, though choose something that doesn’t overpower the work contained within
If you choose to carry your portfolio on a laptop, for pity’s sake avoid using Powerpoint in your presentations!

The “restless and questing” disposition of the freelancer when putting together his or her portfolio is an asset, not a fault. Image courtesy of © Humminggirl.

Keep things on the smaller side; a portfolio any larger than A3 for the graphic designer is, nine times out of ten, unnecessary. Image used with permission of © Stefho74.

In Sum

A restless disposition when it comes to the freelancer’s personal portfolio is, according to Adrian Shaugnessey, a strength, not a weakness: “Designers are never happy [with their portfolios]. I’ve known many competent and talented designers who’ve begun portfolio sessions with an apology: ‘I’m just about to redo it,’ the say; or, ‘Sorry, it’s a bit out of date.’ It seems to be a designer foible that the portfolio is ‘never finished’ and ‘never representative of current work’. Yet far from being a sign of weakness, this is a good sign: It indicates a restless and necessary desire to improve and develop.”

To reiterate what I stated at the top, your portfolio is your second most important asset after your personality, and thus requires the thought, care and attention this level of importance deserves. Like a Savile Row tailor, your success as a freelancer may depend on tiny details, and the portfolio is a complex enough animal to through up lots of details-based challenges. Pour thought and care (not to mention funds) into things, leave nothing to chance and be unswerving in your commitment to the upkeep and presentation of your portfolio. Perhaps most important of all, remember that each project included should not be composed of merely an arresting image or piece, but tell a compelling story about you as a designer and the process you went through. This is the key to an effective and resonant portfolio!

Aim for your portfolio to make a spectacular impression on others. Image used with kind permission of © Guiniveve.

Canvas Texture Imitation

Posted on March 11, 2010 by admin

One more interesting tutorial how to create canvas texture imitation from the photography. Here I’ll show you the method how to simulate the maximum texture of canvas.

Before starting this tutorial you should find the suitable photography to work with. You can try to find it by using Google Images or feel free to use mine. Open up the photography and duplicate layer with Ctrl+J at first. After that desaturate copied layer with Image > Adjustments > Desaturate and set up opacity to 70%.

Merge two of these layers in one and apply Filter > Noise > Add Noise to the new layer.

Canvas Texture Imitation 02

The result should be next:

Canvas Texture Imitation 03

After that apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with next presets:

Canvas Texture Imitation 04

Hope, your result looks the same as mine on the picture below:

Canvas Texture Imitation 05

Ok, move to the next step. On this step you should stylize the photography a little bit with Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen by using following presets:

See the difference below:

Canvas Texture Imitation 07

Ok, now create a new layer and fill it with black color. Then Filter > Noise > Add Noise to add the noise a little bit on this layer.

Canvas Texture Imitation 08

Then mess with the layer mode & opacity/fill. I tried Screen with opacity of 50%.

Canvas Texture Imitation 09

Now, duplicate noise layer with Ctrl+J and hide the copy (click on the eye, which indicates layer visibility). Go to lower layer and apply Filter > Blur > Motion Blur with next parameters:

Canvas Texture Imitation 10

Your effect should be the next:

Canvas Texture Imitation 11

Now, apply Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen to this layer two times.

Canvas Texture Imitation 12

After that go back to the hidden copy of layer and make it visible again. Apply Filter > Blur > Motion Blur with following parameters:

Canvas Texture Imitation 13

See the difference now?

Canvas Texture Imitation 14

Ok, now apply Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen two times for this layer also.

Canvas Texture Imitation 15

Then adjust brightness and contrast a little bit with Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Use next parameters:

Canvas Texture Imitation 16

Your picture should look the same as mine:

Canvas Texture Imitation 17

And the last one thing that we need to do before finishing this tutorial to increase the sharpness with Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen:

Canvas Texture Imitation 18

On this step we are done. The final picture has nice canvas texture imitation effect isn’t it?

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop

Posted on March 6, 2010 by admin

Are you interesting in how to make realistic view scotch tape by using Photoshop tools? If yes, then I will teach you how to make it. I got this effect by experimenting.

So, lets start! First of all create a new document sized 500×300 pixels. Select some appropriate color, for example #a13503 and fill your canvas with it.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 01

Ok, now we should find and bring some picture to our canvas to attach it with scotch tape in future. Actually we can use different pictures or photos. I prefer to use this one, used below. If you want to use the same picture as me, please feel free to download it from here. Open up the picture and copy it to our canvas. After that use Ctrl+T to rotate it a little bit.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 02

Then apply the Drop Shadow and Stroke layer styles to the layer with picture.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 03

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 04

See the result on the picture below.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 05

Now, start with creating scotch tape. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to make selection which you can see on the picture below. Fill selected area with color of #c1cccd on the new layer.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 06

Remove selection with Ctrl+D. Now, we need to process the scotch tape borders. Get started by selecting the Eraser Tool and use one of the standard Photoshop brushes.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 07

Make some clean work as shown on my picture below.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 08

Set opacity up to 22% for current layer.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 09

Time to add some defects to bring our scotch tape realistic view. Use the Dodge Tool (Brush: 7px, Range: Highlights, Exposure: 50%) to add a few light lines.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 10

Looks better for now, isn’t it? Than use the Burn Tool (Brush: 30px, Range: Shadows, Exposure: 100%) to make some burn work.

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 11

To finish off creating scotch tape effect, duplicate the layer with Ctrl+J and change layer mode to Overlay for copied layer. Don’t be surprised that the layer becomes a bit brighter. It is normal. Then apply Filter > Stylize > Emboss with similar settings to these:

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 12

Now we have a relief like this:

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 13

On this step we are done with creating scotch tape. You can add more tapes if you want. Feel free to experiment and you will get the best results! Good luck!

How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop 14

Interview with Illustrator and Artworker – Liam Barry

Posted on March 3, 2010 by admin

Hi Liam, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. For those who have not come across you before, can you tell us a little about yourself, what it is you do and your work?

Hi there!

Err… well my name is Liam Barry and I’m an illustrator/designer/producer. I studied illustration in Brighton, but I grew up in East London. I work mostly in black and white at the moment, I love how striking the contrast looks, although it has made me a bit obsessive about silhouettes! I tend to work mainly with calligraphy inks, a huge pile of pens, scanned brush marks and Photoshop.

What illustrators have inspired you? What made you become an illustrator and when did you decide illustration was a career path that you wanted to follow?

I’m a great fan of quite a few illustrators/artists! Sometimes it’s the images I am drawn to, other times it can be the work ethic or attitudes towards the creative process. I guess favourable mentions go to the films of Hayao Miyazaki (Laputa, Nausicaä, etc.) and other manga/anime because that’s pretty much all I watched as a child and teenager haha! I always loved the drama and dynamism found in Japanese comics, then when I looked into the history of Japanese image making and printing I got really into the style of the composition and layouts. A more ‘current’ illustrator I’m certainly a fan of is David Foldvari. Although his work looks quite clean and simple, it contains an uncompromising wit and humour that really resonates with me.

It’s funny because I don’t think I ever decided myself to be an illustrator

It’s funny because I don’t think I ever decided myself to be an illustrator, I just kept doing what I was doing and learning in school until one day my art tutor told me I had better study illustration for my degree so I could keep exploring the stuff I liked. It was a bit bewildering at university being surrounded by loads of people who knew exactly what they were aiming for professionally, but it was great in a sense because I got to learn and share things from a wide range of creative types.

I guess the short answer is that I have been creating images all my life and I can’t think of any other ‘job’ that lets me be myself enough!

Your work has a distinctive look – would you say you have a personal identifiable style?

Hmm, that’s a tricky one!

I remember being obsessed with trying to nail a ‘style’ during my studies, developing a working method that I could practice and get super-good at, but to be honest, pursuing that never really made me feel happy about the work I was making. I hated the idea of not trying new things so I decided to just concentrate on what I thought was cool at any time, however it worked out!

I am most happy making images about everyday things (usually of the darker nature!), mixed with elements of fantasy to create a compelling narrative. I think the three main themes of my work so far are ‘the unexpected’, ‘the primal’ and ‘the anti-hero’. All of these themes are of an un-compromising nature which I think is a really powerful idea in the world we find ourselves living in today where you have to ask for permission to do almost anything!

When creating a fairly abstract piece such as the piece below..where does the process start? What is your typical ‘start to finish’ workflow?

‘Self’ was made to be part of an exhibition of the same name by a group called ArtIsProof (http://www.artisproof.com). The group is run by a friend and studio mate of mine called Mark Pavey who I was living with at the time. The only criteria for each artist were the word ‘self’ and a limited palette of 3 colours.

I wanted to do a piece of work about myself and where I had come from, but I wasn’t really comfortable with being in the spotlight like that. The day after I received the brief from Mark an old friend of mine, whom I grew up with, called me to say he had been diagnosed with depression and he needed to talk to someone about it.

I went and stayed with him for a day or two and documented the visit with photos and notes on what we talked about. It turned out he blamed where he/we grew up for his depression and paranoia so that was that, it was decided… I was doing a piece of work about him and myself at the same time!

Once the idea was sorted I used pieces of string dipped in ink and dropped onto paper to make hundreds of ‘snake-like’ marks. After I had scanned all of them in to Photoshop I used some of the documentation photos as a basis to build up the ink marks into the face structure, shadows and hair. I like to leave the imperfections of certain marks in to avoid things looking too clean and artificial. This is the general method I use for most of my work, although depending on the job I may focus more on a specific ‘stage’ of the process.

What are your weapons of choice in creating your illustrations? What are you a hardware (Pc / Mac)/ software (Adobe suite?) / traditional tools (pencil / paint? ) for designing or a mixture?

Defiantly a mixture! I have drawers full of pens, brushes, different types of tape, tins of paint, bottles of ink… if it makes a mark, I want to be able to use it at some point! In fact that’s the first challenge I face when starting a new piece of work; which medium to use.

I usually go with my gut instinct as I could waste days obsessing over it! Then I move to my sketch book where I try to plan out as much as I can so that when I reach a stop or a block later on I can use it to get back on track.

After I have made all the composite elements of the image it gets chucked into the Pc (not a Mac person I’m afraid!) with Photoshop or occasionally FlashMX to be layered, composed, tweaked and processed.

I think it takes a certain type of person to even want to become an illustrator/designer

So far what would you describe as the pros and cons of becoming an illustrator?

For me one of the greatest pros of being an illustrator is the freedom it allows you to be honest with yourself and the world. It’s your job to be aware of the opinions of others, whilst developing opinions of your own that you feel others may benefit from. Other than that its often exciting and finishing a successful job feels brilliant!

I think the cons are a bit more obvious and general. If you freelance (which most illustrators and designers have to) then your paycheque is never guaranteed and on certain jobs the stress levels can go through the roof! I think personally it can make you hate yourself sometimes because it’s hard to not think “I could have done more, pushed harder or made more effort” about almost any image you make.

I think it takes a certain type of person to even want to become an illustrator/designer. Somebody with a certain type of dissatisfaction with the way things are at the moment that leads you to finding solutions to problems nobody else may even care about!

Do you have any websites / blogs you visit on a regular basis?

I personally visit the Wooster Collective website (http://www.woostercollective.com/), the Design Observer (http://www.designobserver.com/) and the Eclectic Cow (http://vacascom.blogspot.com/) the most, but I’m always finding stuff and then forgetting to bookmark it! Other than that I watch a lot of documentaries on BBC iplayer and Google video.

Once again, thank you very much for the interview. Where can those interested in you and your work find you online?

I have my own website for my illustrations and other things I find interesting at www.liambarry.com, my contact info is there too if you want to get in touch about anything.

If you’re interested in buying a print then check out the store at www.artisproof.com.

OR, if you want to hear a cheeky bit of music check out www.myspace.com/barryvalentine for some recently made music.

A Massive thanks to Mel at Acuity Designs for having me on and the best wishes to everyone else!

- Liam Barry.

May 13, 2010 -- 5 New & Amazing Features in Adobe Illustrator CS5 (3)
March 16, 2010 -- Interview with Glennray Tutor – PhotoRealism Painter (3)
March 2, 2010 -- 20 Free Grunge Like Fonts For Your Creative Projects (4)
January 26, 2010 -- Aurora Borealis Typopgraphy Wallpaper Photoshop Tutorial (17)
November 28, 2009 -- Interview With Will Kay of OddKingdom – Becoming Your Brand (5)
July 5, 2009 -- 5 Amazing Photo Manipulations & Digital Art (deviantArt) (3)

20 Free Grunge Like Fonts For Your Creative Projects

Posted on March 1, 2010 by admin

Everyone seems to be talking about grunge nowadays. Are you a fan of worn out and destroyed style aswell? If the answer is YES, I am sure you’ll enjoy this little collection of 20 free grunge fonts from fonts2u.com that I have built up below. I am sure few of them will become your favorites too .