Surreal Saturday – Surreal Watercolor Paintings by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

It’s Surreal Saturday once again! This time, we will be featuring another traditional artist whose works are beautiful interpretations of dreamy scenes, surreal landscapes and magical worlds in canvases using watercolors.
 

Surreal Saturday - Surreal Watercolor Zodiac Paintings by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

 
Meet Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, a US based traditional artist whose watercolor paintings are characterized by swirling magical branches, stained oak leaves, and the endless soft and dreamy palettes of skies. Most of her subjects are based from folktales, mythology and legends. She started creating art since childhood but her professional artistic career began in 1998 after graduating from a program of Computer Science. She worked as a programmer for a software company for three years by day until she left the world of typed logic to pursue her career in painting surreal and magical world of dreams.

One of her most applauded project was the zodiac series of paintings for  Llewellyn’s 2011 Astrological Calendar. Her interpretation of the 12 zodiac signs are simply breathtaking where each was magically interpreted with the sacred ambiance and continuous movement.

 

"Aries" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Aries” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Capricorn" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Capricorn” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Sagittarius" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Sagittarius” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Taurus" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Taurus” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Virgo" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Virgo” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Cancer" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Cancer” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Leo" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Leo” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Gemini" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Gemini” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Pisces" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Pisces” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Libra" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Libra” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Scorpio" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Scorpio” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

"Aquarius" | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

“Aquarius” | © Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

© Stephanie Law | Llewellyn Astrological Calendar 2011

 

Most of Stephanie’s works are created for various game and publishing clients like Wizards of the Coast, HarperCollins, Tachyon Books and more. She has authored and illustrated some books and illustrated the best-selling tarot deck, the Shadowscapes Tarot for Llewellyn Worldwide. Her work also regularly appears in Realms of Fantasy Magazine.

Check out more of Stephanie’s awesome artworks in her website or visit her DeviantArt gallery for more info.

 


 

Share us your thoughts and suggestions by leaving a comment below. Find us on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google Plus. And for more design related stories, you can subscribe to our blog using our RSS Feeds. Lastly, please do check out our print templates page and download our amazing set of blank print templates to aide you in your future projects. Stay awesome everyone!

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You! Be Inspired! — The Amazing Illustration of Jon Reinfurt

The success of a story or article doesn’t just only rely on how well it is written. At times, an equally amazing illustration is also much needed to pique the interest of the readers and reel them in. Other than reeling the readers in, an illustration also contributes in helping the viewer to further visualize or at least get the gist of what the article is about.

Today we are going to take a look at the amazing illustration of Jon Reinfurt. A graduate of illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and a recipient of numerous illustration awards and recognition from known publications such as Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts and American Illustrators. His inspiring illustrations and paintings also graced a number of publications and galleries around the country. His clients range from publications such as Reader’s Digest Asia, Runner’s World, READ Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Apart from creating beautiful illustrations, Jon also teaches an illustration course at UArts.

amazing illustrations

amazing illustrations

amazing illustrations

amazing illustrations

amazing illustrations

illustrations

illustrations

illustrations

amazing illustrations

 

SEE ALSO: Inspirations from Sketchbooks 

 

amazing illustrations

amazing illustrations

creative illustrations

creative illustrations

amazing illustrations

amazing illustrations

illustrations

If you guys would like to see more of Jon Reinfurt’s wonderful illustrations be sure to drop by at his blog.What do you guys think? Tell us at the comments below! We’d love to hear your thoughts about today’s post. Do check us out in Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+! And lastly do not forget to subscribe to get the daily dose of news, freebies and illustration in your feeds for your inspiration!
 
Looking for a library of high-quality print templates? The search is over! Hit the link and get high-quality print templates here for free!

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TEN’s 3rd PSD by Brazilian Artist Adhemas Batista Available Tomorrow, March 8th

Fotolia launched the TEN Collection last December 2011 worldwide: ‘TEN’, as in 10 artists, 10 themes, 10 months and 10 PSDs. As they continue this year for TEN Season 2, Fotolia will showcase some of the most amazing graphic artists in 12 countries to share their works and stories with the aim of inspiring all graphic artists across the globe.

 

TEN Collection Season 2

 

The ten digital artists plus two surprise artists for TEN Season 2 were from France, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Russia, Poland, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Germany. Each will share new beautiful work as well as the local cultural influences with the world. Internet users especially digital artists will discover the different creative techniques by downloading the PSD file of each artist’s work for free in 24 hours. It comes with a making-of video, shot in the native country of each artist, sharing their cultural background and creative processes subtitled in 12 languages. In addition to the 10 new artists, two surprise artists will be featured, unveiling all new creative works.

The third featured artist and work in the series will be unveiled tomorrow. March’s artist, Adhemas Batista, is known as a “color salesman” thanks to his use of bright and lively colors, which has inspired his slogan, “I’m selling colors”. Inspired by the vibrancy of his home country, Brazil, Batista’s work is highly energetic, detailed and urban.

 

TEN by Fotolia Season 2

 

I think our environment and personal experiences directly influence our life, as artists or designers. My work is probably more Brazilian than I am. I can be very calm and serious, while it’s happy all the time,” says the now L.A. resident. According to the artist, his creation is a “graphic explosion evoking the urban and youth culture, a kind of energetic rebellion, with bright colors and complex shapes.

More than just a learning tool for other designers, every artist shares his or her personal style and influences, how they came to become the artists they are today, along with the techniques they used to create the PSD through short videos. These videos are released on TEN Collection’s Facebook page and on Twitter (@Fotolia), or view them directly on Fotolia’s TEN Collection channel.

 


 

Find You The Designer on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google Plus for more awesome news and updates! And for more design related stories, you can subscribe to our blog using our RSS Feeds. Lastly, please do check out our print templates page and download our amazing set of blank print templates to aide you in your future projects. Stay awesome everyone!

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TEN’s 3rd PSD by Brazilian Artist Adhemas Batista Available Tomorrow, March 8th

Fotolia launched the TEN Collection last December 2011 worldwide: ‘TEN’, as in 10 artists, 10 themes, 10 months and 10 PSDs. As they continue this year for TEN Season 2, Fotolia will showcase some of the most amazing graphic artists in 12 countries to share their works and stories with the aim of inspiring all graphic artists across the globe.

 

TEN Collection Season 2

 

The ten digital artists plus two surprise artists for TEN Season 2 were from France, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Russia, Poland, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Germany. Each will share new beautiful work as well as the local cultural influences with the world. Internet users especially digital artists will discover the different creative techniques by downloading the PSD file of each artist’s work for free in 24 hours. It comes with a making-of video, shot in the native country of each artist, sharing their cultural background and creative processes subtitled in 12 languages. In addition to the 10 new artists, two surprise artists will be featured, unveiling all new creative works.

The third featured artist and work in the series will be unveiled tomorrow. March’s artist, Adhemas Batista, is known as a “color salesman” thanks to his use of bright and lively colors, which has inspired his slogan, “I’m selling colors”. Inspired by the vibrancy of his home country, Brazil, Batista’s work is highly energetic, detailed and urban.

 

TEN by Fotolia Season 2

 

I think our environment and personal experiences directly influence our life, as artists or designers. My work is probably more Brazilian than I am. I can be very calm and serious, while it’s happy all the time,” says the now L.A. resident. According to the artist, his creation is a “graphic explosion evoking the urban and youth culture, a kind of energetic rebellion, with bright colors and complex shapes.

More than just a learning tool for other designers, every artist shares his or her personal style and influences, how they came to become the artists they are today, along with the techniques they used to create the PSD through short videos. These videos are released on TEN Collection’s Facebook page and on Twitter (@Fotolia), or view them directly on Fotolia’s TEN Collection channel.

 


 

Find You The Designer on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google Plus for more awesome news and updates! And for more design related stories, you can subscribe to our blog using our RSS Feeds. Lastly, please do check out our print templates page and download our amazing set of blank print templates to aide you in your future projects. Stay awesome everyone!

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Free Vector Random Scribbles

Hello creatives! Our featured freebie for this week is a nice collection of vector graphics perfect for your next design projects! If you are that type of designer who loves scribbling on your notebooks and playing around with Illustrator, these awesome set of vector random scribbles might just be what you’ve been looking for. Use it for your website banners, event posters, business cards, web icons and  other design projects!

 

Free Vector Random Scribbles

 

Download this amazing set of vector graphics by just tweeting about it. Click the button below and follow the instructions in the pop-up window. (Email subscribers, please visit the actual post page to download.)

 


 
SEE ALSO: 30 Random Doodles Free Photoshop Brushes


 
Share us your thoughts and suggestions by leaving a comment below. Find us on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google Plus. And for more design related stories, you can subscribe to our blog using our RSS Feeds. Lastly, please do check out our print templates page and download our amazing set of blank print templates to aide you in your future projects. Stay awesome everyone!

 

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Creative Advertising Ideas – 003

Creative advertising ideas is not just about having which advertisement is the boldest, loudest and eye-popping visual effects. Sometimes for an advertisement to be creative it has to step out of the norms and push boundaries. Before the modern times the most creative an advertisement can get is by employing the use of witty words and entertaining images in order to catch people’s attention.

 

Creative Advertising Ideas

 
In this week’s edition of Creative Advertising Ideas we will go and sit in extremely cold cinema to prove a point, change a key to escape, bring back someone we loved and build a quirky machine just so we can have the best parts of a sweet treat.


 

FiftyFifty

Havas Worldwide advertising agency was tasked to create a campaign that would help launch a donation campaign. This campaign spearheaded by FiftyFifty is to help the homeless and to educate the people  of how it is like to be homeless and sleep in the icy streets of Germany.  What Havas Worldwide did is they turned down the heating system of the UFA Cinema Center in Dusseldorf . They handed out blankets with QR codes printed on them to the audience while showing a live video with the homeless being interviewed on what is happening on the theater.

Creative Advertising Ideas

Creative Advertising Ideas


 

Playstation, FinalFantasy and MetalGear

FinalFantasy and MetalGear are celebrating its 25 years of awesome gaming experience. Using the idea of Bento which is a traditional Japanesed boxed lunch, Hakuhodo Tokya made a stunningly accurate replicas of in game characters using edible ingredients to make the “Character Bento”. The agency asked the fans of the game on who are the most lovable characters of the two great games on social media site.  The Character Bento is given as a surprise gift and as sign of gratitude to the makers of FinalFantasy and MetalGear.

creative-advertising-ideas

(Source)

creative-advertising-ideas

(Source)

creative-advertising-ideas

(Source)

creative-advertising-ideas

(Source)


 

Land Rover

Being stuck inside the cubicle or being tied down in front of the computer all day can be exhausting and escaping once in awhile is the only solution. This is what Land Rover’s newest campaign is all about. By sending out batches of 800 pieces a specially designed ESC key replacement to remind people working in the office that there is away to escape the daily grind of work. These special keys are sent out to prospective customers inviting them to test drive the latest Land Rover LR4 as an escape. The campaign was so successful that the sign-ups for the test drives increased by 208% percent.

creative-advertising-ideas

creative-advertising-ideas


 

Galaxy

Harnessing the power of CGI, AMV BBDO brought the charming Audrey Hepburn back on screen.  The lovely actress stared in the newest TV Spot for chocolate maker Galaxy. Fans of Audrey Hepburn are delighted to see their favorite actress back on screen again creating an online buzz in Twitter. Despite the overwhelming support for the ad there still those who find the ad to be of bad taste but despite the on-going online debate, we here at YTD thinks that this advertisement of Galaxy made a really good use of CGI technology.

creative-advertising-ideas

creative-advertising-ideas


 

Oreo

Last week we featured David Neevel’s quirky machine used to take out the cream of the Oreo cookie. This time David isn’t the only one working on clandestine projects in order to build a contraption to pick out parts of the Oreo cookie. Meet Barry Kudrowitz and Bill Fienup, Fienup likes cream while Kudrowitz loves the cookie part. Together they built a machine that separates the cream and the cookie parts for their satisfaction. This is the 2nd installment of Oreo’s Cookie vs. Cream web film campaign made by Wieden + Kennedy Portland.

creative-advertising-ideas

creative-advertising-ideas


 
How do you guys like this week’s Creative Advertising Ideas? Tell us which ads you like the most! We’d also like to hear your insights and if we missed something give us a beep at the comments section. Follow us out in FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google+ also do subscribe to get your latest dose of design news, tutorials and creative advertising ideas for inspiration.

Looking for a library of high-quality print templates? The search is over! Hit the link and get high-quality print templates here for free!

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Web Design Wednesday – 3 CSS3 Tutorials You can Use to Improve Your Website

There are different ways we can design and build a website. We’ve featured Parallax a couple of weeks ago, which was a great way of creating single page websites or even build an online portfolio. This time, we’ll be featuring three CSS3 tutorials ideal for improving or building an amazing website design.

Note: Just click on the image and you’ll be redirected to the tutorial page.

 

Circle Navigation Effect

 

 

The circle navigation effect provides a nice touch to your website’s hover buttons and image navigation. It’s an ideal feature that you can place on a photographer’s or graphic designer’s portfolio.

 

Draggable Image Boxes Grid

 

 

Another ideal feature that you can use on an image heavy website, the Draggable Image Boxes Grid tutorial allows you to create a web page that doesn’t need scroll bars for you to navigate along. Instead it allows you to use your mouse’s left click button and just drag away and navigate through your page.

 

Blur Menu

 

 

The blur menu tutorial allows you to add some character to your webpage – may it be an image heavy web page or a corporate website. The tutorial will provide you with different styles and applications for the blur menu effect.

 

There you have it – you can now start building your website or be creative and experiment more with the scripts provided by the tutorials. Enjoy using these CSS3 tutorials and let us know if you’ve built a website through the comments section!

 


 

You can follow us on FacebookTwitterGoogle Plus and Pinterest for more epic design news and inspiration! Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog for the latest design inspirations, stories, news and freebies.

If you’re looking out for free stuff you can check out freebies page and our free print templates page where you can download templates for calendars, brochures, business cards and more!  Stay awesome, fellas!

 

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You! Be Inspired! – Hyperrealistic Paintings by Pedro Campos

If realism made you speechless, wait until you encounter hyperrealism. It is a genre of painting and sculpting involving an intricate resemblance of a high resolution photograph. The themes and subjects of most hyperrealistic paintings are portraits, still lifes, landscapes and narrative scenes. The term hyperrealism is primarily coined with an independent art movement and art style that has developed since the early 2000s in the US and Europe.

One amazingly talented  hyperrealist is Madrid based painter Pedro Campos. Most of his subjects like Coke cans, glass bottles and jars, and fruits wrapped in plastic sheets are painted with exact pictorial details. Huffington Post describes his work as having “an aura of glossy, and sanctified perfection about them”.

 

Hyperrealist Pedro Campos

Pedro Campos working an a piece. | Source

 

Like any other artist, Campos grew his talent at a young age by working on different creative projects like decorating restaurants and as an illustrator in different creative agencies. He studied art restoration in Madrid and began focusing on oil painting at the age of 30. All of his works are truly etraordinary, lets take a closer look at some of them below and be blown away by the precision of each piece.

 

oil on canvas 195 x 97 cm (c) Pedro Campos

 

Hyperrealistic Painting by Pedro Campos

oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm (c) Pedro Campos

 

Hyperrealistic Paintings of Pedro Campos

oil on canvas 150 x 150 cm  (c) Pedro Campos

 

Hyperrealistic Paintings of Pedro Campos

oil on canvas 162 x 114 cm  (c) Pedro Campos

 

    Hyperrealistic Paintings of Pedro Campos

 oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm (c) Pedro Campos

 

Hyperrealistic Painting by Pedro Campos

oil on canvas 150 x 150 cm (c) Pedro Campos

 

Hyperrealistic Paintingby Pedro Campos

oil on canvas  162 x 97 cm (c) Pedro Campos

 

Hyperrealistic Painting by Pedro Campos

oil on canvas 130 x 130 cm (c) Pedro Campos

 

SEE ALSO: Amazing Ballpoint Pen Artworks by Samuel Silva

 
Pedro Campos and his artworks are represented by Plus One Gallery, London. Check out his official website for more of his hyperrealistic paintings.

 


 
Share us your thoughts and suggestions by leaving a comment below. Find us on FacebookTwitterPinterest and Google Plus. And for more design related stories, you can subscribe to our blog using our RSS Feeds. Lastly, please do check out our print templates page and download our amazing set of blank print templates to aide you in your future projects. Stay awesome everyone!

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Tutorial Tuesdays – How to Stop Procrastinating

Procrastination is a forever part of life. Like it or not it is here to stay with us whether you are a designer or not. If one thing, almost everybody is procrastinating in one way or another. Ironic as it may seem reading this post only shows that you are searching for ways on how to stop procrastinating while procrastinating.

 
In our efforts to find out ways on how to stop procrastinating, let us review some interesting facts about procrastination to further deepen our understanding about it. One fact is that there are about 20% of Americans who are admittedly chronic procrastinators. Other than that procrastinators are often the best liars especially with themselves. They often lie about the importance of task deeming it as unimportant and easy which makes it not too difficult for them to reason out why they are just going to do it the next day. Last interesting fact is that there are three types of procrastinators according to Joseph Ferrari Ph. D., one is the Arousal type, these are the type who get the rush when cramming on a task. Second are the Avoiders, these are the types who fear failing and would rather excuse themselves in doing a task. Lastly is the Decisional, they are the ones who cannot decide which task should be tackled first or how how will they tackle the task at hand.

In this edition of Tutorial Tuesdays, we will move a bit from the usual tutorial rundown to showcase to you guys some amazing and insightful videos that can help you combat procrastination and turn it around with these amazing videos.

How to Stop Procrastinating

 


 

Vik Nithy’s is one person that you should watch, apart from being able to start 3 companies before reaching the age of 21. In such a young age it is very interesting to hear what he has to say on why do people procrastinate and how to tackle procrastination.


 

AsapSCIENCE explains to us what procrastination and the science behind it. They also introduced the idea of using the Pomodoro technique in order to win over procrastination.


 

Funny and very thoughtful, Wellcast has made a tongue and cheek approach in procrastination. The video also talked about 3 simple but effective ways on how one can beat procrastination.


 

In this lengthy but thoughtful video, Stefan Molyneux offers some very interesting points on why do we procrastinate and tips on how to stop procrastinating.


 
Are you guys feeling ready to work after this post? Tell us what are your ways in dealing with procrastination and how you turn it around in the comments section below. Follow us out in FacebookTwitter, Pinterest and Google+ also do subscribe to get your latest dose of design news, tutorials and inspiration.

Looking for a library of high-quality print templates? The search is over! Hit the link and get high-quality print templates here for free!

Read more posts by

Tutorial Tuesdays – How to Stop Procrastinating

Procrastination is a forever part of life. Like it or not it is here to stay with us whether you are a designer or not. If one thing, almost everybody is procrastinating in one way or another. Ironic as it may seem reading this post only shows that you are searching for ways on how to stop procrastinating while procrastinating.

 
In our efforts to find out ways on how to stop procrastinating, let us review some interesting facts about procrastination to further deepen our understanding about it. One fact is that there are about 20% of Americans who are admittedly chronic procrastinators. Other than that procrastinators are often the best liars especially with themselves. They often lie about the importance of task deeming it as unimportant and easy which makes it not too difficult for them to reason out why they are just going to do it the next day. Last interesting fact is that there are three types of procrastinators according to Joseph Ferrari Ph. D., one is the Arousal type, these are the type who get the rush when cramming on a task. Second are the Avoiders, these are the types who fear failing and would rather excuse themselves in doing a task. Lastly is the Decisional, they are the ones who cannot decide which task should be tackled first or how how will they tackle the task at hand.

In this edition of Tutorial Tuesdays, we will move a bit from the usual tutorial rundown to showcase to you guys some amazing and insightful videos that can help you combat procrastination and turn it around with these amazing videos.

How to Stop Procrastinating

 


 

Vik Nithy’s is one person that you should watch, apart from being able to start 3 companies before reaching the age of 21. In such a young age it is very interesting to hear what he has to say on why do people procrastinate and how to tackle procrastination.


 

AsapSCIENCE explains to us what procrastination and the science behind it. They also introduced the idea of using the Pomodoro technique in order to win over procrastination.


 

Funny and very thoughtful, Wellcast has made a tongue and cheek approach in procrastination. The video also talked about 3 simple but effective ways on how one can beat procrastination.


 

In this lengthy but thoughtful video, Stefan Molyneux offers some very interesting points on why do we procrastinate and tips on how to stop procrastinating.


 
Are you guys feeling ready to work after this post? Tell us what are your ways in dealing with procrastination and how you turn it around in the comments section below. Follow us out in FacebookTwitter, Pinterest and Google+ also do subscribe to get your latest dose of design news, tutorials and inspiration.

Looking for a library of high-quality print templates? The search is over! Hit the link and get high-quality print templates here for free!

Read more posts by