Best of the Web
April 2, 2008
Tutorial Wrap
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Expressive lighting effects
This tutorial combines excellent vector and raster based techniques. Jason Maller is the author and it’s released by Computer Arts; so, you know it rocks. There are certainly lots of glow effect tutorials. There are a couple techniques that make this one unique. This tut by Jason is top notch and a must see this month. Visit Tutorial -
Web Design for My Chemical Romance Rock Band
This is a cool website design tutorial that pulls together grunge elements. The photos used in the design feel three-dimensional after the background is removed from them. Lots of texture and rough text in the design. This tut is sure to give your next website design some edge. Visit Tutorial -
B-movie poster art
This tutorial teaches you how to combine a variety of images and effects in order to achieve a movie poster design. 3D Renders, stylized photography, smoke, and a campy alien horror invasion make up this design’s composition. Visit Tutorial -
Re-Coloring Jason Kidd’s Shoe
This tutorial clearly explains how to use vector shapes and blend modes to change an images colors. The results look sharp and professional. You can also complete this tutorial quickly. Visit Tutorial -
Designing a Black Zune 2 in Photoshop
Use vector shapes and layer styles to create a cool video music player design. Visit Tutorial -
Lighting effects Photoshop Tutorial
Learn how to combine multiple layers of lighting effects. This is a simple technique to learn. This tut show you how to make layered colorful backgrounds, while controlling the lighting. Visit Tutorial -
Exotic Fashion
This is a great tutorial to check out for those of you set up with a Wacom tablet. If your interested in painting digital characters this tut covers the process. Visit Tutorial -
Vintage collages in Photoshop
I recently wrote a Roundup on Collage here on PSDTUTS. Collage is a popular topic in Photoshop. It’s like Photoshop was made for Collage. This tut will stylistically remind you of Creating A Cool Vintage Collage Design In Photoshop tutorial here. It stands out as unique though, as it covers techniques for bringing painted textures in as scans. Visit Tutorial -
Royal Interface
This tutorial uses some of Photoshop’s basic vector shape tools. It blends in some layer styles. The results are simple, but have a professional modern feel. The techniques covered in this tut could be used to make a fun website design. Visit Tutorial -
Double Exposure Tutorial
Need to give your photos a vintage feel then check out this tut. This technique will give a common photo some warmth. Visit Tutorial
(FREE!) Download Picks
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Free Hi-Res Photoshop Brushes: Messy Spraypaint
Ten awesome hi-res brushes released by Bittbox. “These aren’t traditional spraypaint brushes, so ‘Messy Spraypaint’ is as close as I could get to an accurate name.” It looks a bit like spray and brush work mixed together. Visit Download Site -
Cocaine Sans
This grunge font mixes in bits of random text behind characters. It replaces some characters with bits of texture. It’s a fun and messy font to play with. Visit Download Site -
Free Vector Series: Old Scans
Neno Design Blog released a series of designs passed down from an old book. Sounds like a great junkyard find. The book is called Handbook of Ornaments. The book gives liberal usage rights to the designs. Learn more about the usage by following the link below. Visit Download Site -
Designbum Downloads
Issara Willenskomer has some “tasty visual treasures” available on his site. For example, he has a group of layered Photoshop files available for download that are “totally hecka sweet.” One of the designs sports the “oft used light shizzle techniques.” For a review of the sights and resources visit the AiBURN article Inspiration: Designbum, or just jump over to the sight below. Visit Download Site -
Astral Flora
A brush that includes instructions on how to turn the results into glowing floral arrangements. Visit Download Site -
Halftone Brush
This brush gives you a solid set of halftone shapes. If you’d like to learn to create and use your own shapes see the tut Create a Cool Halftone Effect. Or check out a more recent one here on PSDTUTS Creating an Urban-Style Piece of Artwork. Visit Download Site
Article Wrap
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Vintage Japanese Pillbox Designs
“Medicine packaging of today often looks so serious and sterile. Whereas some years ago in Japan, in opening your medicine cabinet, the colorful products would practically jump at you.” Good point about the sterility of medicine packaging today. In any case, these colorful packages are some vintage eye candy. This article amasses a fine historical collection. The designs are presented with a running dialogue on the design and function of the products. Read the Article -
The Secrets Of Grunge Design
This article opens with stating that web 2.0 is dated, essentially dead. The popular rise of grunge design is not a nail in the coffin for all web 2.0 styles though. There will be instances where the two styles fuse, especially, while both are popular. I’d call this “Gradient Grunge”. Well, that’s just my opinion. Regardless of the status of web 2.0 style, this article is a huge resource on grunge design. It’s a must read if your going to be working in that style in the near future. Read the Article -
The Evolution of Internet
This is mostly a visual blog post. It shows three screenshots of different large companies. It gives a good feel on how the web has improved over time. The visual design is more sophisticated today than yesteryear. Read the Article -
Trading the Hourly Rate for Task-based Pay: Should You Do It?
If your freelancing then this is a must read post. If your charging hourly this article will have you considering charging per project. Don’t let the concept of revision keep you from pursuing this. The author gives a reasonable solution to that issue. Check the article’s comments. There are some strong benefits to moving to project based fees. Read the Article -
Design Resources Search Engine
“Ever wanted a way to search for that perfect Photoshop brush across multiple websites at once, but not waste time sifting through paint supplies websites?” Yes, this comes up all the time. This is a modified version of Googles search engine that includes only design related sites. And of course PSDTUTS is in there. If you want your blog listed you can make a request as well. Jump to the Design Resources Search Engine, or to the blog post on the subject, link below. Read the Article
