Link Tips: June 08 2008

June 8, 2008

Another batch of interesting links for this Sunday. Some readers mentioned that they disliked the “Link Tips” post. Usually I use this column to present interesting articles from around the web that I had no opportunity to mention during the week. What do you think, should we remove this Sunday column, or merely space it, like with one every 15 days?

Site Analytics Tools: If you are trying to optimize your website in one way or another, check out this list with 15 tools you can use.
Better Tags Manager: If you are a heavy tag user on WordPress, or if you are trying to integrate your categories with tags, this plugin could help.
Domain Name Background Check: Before purchasing a domain name it is always a good idea to perform some checks. If you are not sure what factors you should look for, start with this article.
Problogger’s Tipping Point: Interesting article where Darren reveals the initial growth phase of his blog, and what contributed to it.
Color Picking Software: If you do web design and constantly needs to discover the color of websites and logos, you should consider using the AdesClrPicker software.
Adobe AIR Applications: You certianly heard the buzz about Adobe Integrated Runtime right? Wel, if you are not sure what you can do with those apps, visit this list on Mashable with 30 of them.

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Written by Daniel Scocco · Filed Under brand positioning, wordpress news | Comments Off

Create a Cool Music Logo on a Grunge Background

April 5, 2008

I really like the artwork that is used in Pitchfork’s website; So, I decided to re-create something similar in Photoshop, and make a tutorial on how I did it. These techniques can be used to make a logo and background for a cool grunge style website.

Step 1

Make a new document that is 1500px wide and 1000 px height. I decided to make the document extra large for use to work with; So, we can see the effects really well. With the Text tool set your text in a font that looks similar to the image below. I used the font Blackoak STD. Kern and scale the font as you desire.

Written by Kyle Pero · Filed Under design corner | Comments Off

Quickly Build an Abstract Background of Colored Bars

March 28, 2008

Oftentimes there’s a need for a quick but unique design. In this tutorial, I’ll be showing you a short but attractive way to create a graphic for backgrounds, wallpapers, greeting cards, designs, and all that other good stuff. You will learn a simple photoshop trick that you can easily manipulate for your daily needs.

Step 1

First off let’s start by creating a new document and applying the oh so obligatory clouds (Filter > Render > Clouds).

Written by Jonathan · Filed Under design corner | Comments Off

Adding Flames and Effects to Make an Image with Impact

March 27, 2008

Instead of riding snow, this boarder is flying through flames. In this tutorial we’ll create fire and smoke without using any photos. You’ll learn how to combine both to create a flaming, dynamic image that jumps right at you.

The Photo

First we need an image to work with. I chose an image of a snowboarder jumping from Stock.xchang, it’s great because he’s quite isolated against a straight blue background which will make cutting him out much easier.

Written by Ben Merckx · Filed Under design corner | Comments Off

Super Fast and Easy Facial Retouching

March 25, 2008

In this tutorial I will show you how to repair some image noise from a low quality shot and I will show you an extremely quick and easy way to smooth out a person’s face. The woman in this shot is not a model and she has a lot of character so we don’t want to over do it with the smoothing. We will make it look real and natural.

The Image

You can get the image we’re using in this tutorial from Free Range Stock here. The technique can be applied to a beauty shot as well, you would just have to adjust the settings on some of the steps to get a more extreme smoothing effect.

Written by Kyle Pero · Filed Under design corner | Comments Off

NoPattern “Jumper” Effect

March 23, 2008

One of the coolest digital artists around is Chuck Anderson, a.k.a. NoPattern. After seeing a recent PSDTUTS reader request, I decided to show you how to create a light effect similar to NoPattern’s Jumper Poster. At the end I’ll show you how a technique like this can be used in a variety of different ways to make stunning images…

Step 1

Create a new document sized to 600px x 800px. Unlock the background layer and fill it with a dark blue color (#091417).

Written by Fabio · Filed Under design corner | Comments Off

Urban Photoshop Brushes

March 21, 2008

urban brushes

Awesome urban photoshop brushes just for you.

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Written by Garcya · Filed Under design corner | Comments Off

Create Spectacular Concept Art in Photoshop

March 20, 2008

Creating conceptual work can be fun and relies heavily on your imagination. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to combine stock photographs to create a stunning effect that can be easily reproduced to work with almost any combination of images.

What we’re going to be creating

The outcome to this tutorial depends heavily on what you want to create and whats going on in your head. I collected two stock images that I thought would work together before I begun from sxc.hu. Here are the links to the stock images i used: Landscape, Cityscape. You can use the same stock images I have but I would also recommend you to experiment as that’s half the fun!

Written by Jonny McGurn · Filed Under design corner | Comments Off

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