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What is a “Brand”?
I read a lot of industry produced articles and papers on branding, all have one thing in common, the message is confusing, they use a plethora of “tech talk” and what I can only describe as gibberish, so let’s start anew. First off a logo is not a brand; a logo is a symbol or mark [...]

What is a “Brand”? is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Interns Inc., Vol. 3
Internships are an awesome way to gain experience and to learn about being a designer in the real world. Most are mainly summer internships, but there are definitely internships that extend throughout the school year. Typically, students aren’t expected to score internships until their third year, but it’s not uncommon to find young designers landing [...]

Interns Inc., Vol. 3 is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Starting your own shirt line. PART I: Start – Up
Greetings friends, This is Steve Knerem and I’m a freelance illustrator from Cleveland, Ohio that specializes in hand drawn art used for apparel and editorial pieces.  You can view my work at www.steveknerem.com. When asked by Go Media to write some tutorials about work I’ve done, I was more than excited to help others who are in the process of starting [...]

Starting your own shirt line. PART I: Start – Up is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Interview: Illustrator Ray Frenden
This interview was initially published in the Go Media Forum but we decided it was relevant to all our GoMediaZine readers as well. Ray Frenden the Artist. I think it’s necessary to put this all in context with a brief overview of the insane force of nature that is your work. What is it that you [...]

Interview: Illustrator Ray Frenden is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Review: Phantasm CS plugin for Adobe Illustrator
Not many Adobe Illustrators are aware of the plug-in functionality of Adobe Illustrator. I don’t believe it’s promoted very well. There’s not a good one-stop shop to find plug-ins in one place, with reviews and user feedback. And it’s a shame, because there are many killer plug-ins out there for Illustrator. Today I want to introduce you [...]

Review: Phantasm CS plugin for Adobe Illustrator is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Iconic Poster Design Tutorial (with video)
Hey I’m Jeff Finley and I’m going to show you how to make an iconic poster using the new Vector Set 18 from Go Media’s Arsenal. I sent out an email to all our Arsenal customers and the two things they wanted most were more tutorials and to show real-world usage of our products. What [...]

Iconic Poster Design Tutorial (with video) is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Interns Inc., Vol. 2
Hey everyone!   My name’s Max and I’m one of Go Media’s interns for this summer.  I’ve been here since early July but this is my first post for our Zine.  I’ve bounced around several of Cleveland’s fine institutions of higher education and am currently a junior at Cleveland State University studying promotional communication, mass [...]

Interns Inc., Vol. 2 is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Interns Inc.
I’ve been at GoMedia for a couple of weeks and I figured it was high time I introduced myself. I’m Joanne, one of GoMedia’s interns for this summer. A little bit about me: I will be a third year student (oh, how time has flown...) at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design pursuing a degree in Communication Design. Though I call Pittsburgh home during the school year, I’m originally from Akron, OH; home of LeBron James the Black Keys and tires.

Interns Inc. is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Create a Glossy RSS Feed Icon using Photoshop
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a glossy TV style RSS feed icon using the basic Photoshop functions like, Layer Styles, Layer Masks and Filters. Take a look at the image we will be creating in this tutorial. Step 1 Create a new document with 500px by 378px canvas. Set the background color to white. [...]

Create a Glossy RSS Feed Icon using Photoshop is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Roundup: Mac Utilities for Designers
A quick round up of some interesting new and updated Mac utilities of interest to creative types. Photoshop Automator Actions 5.0 (free/$19.95) A package of Actions that lets you control many of Photoshop’s most common functions from within Mac OS X’s Automator, letting you add Photoshop functionality to your Automator workflows. If you find them useful, please [...]

Roundup: Mac Utilities for Designers is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

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Daily Inspiration #605

This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo's writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it, also use "Daily Inspiration" in the subject, and don't forget to send your Abduzeedo username; or via Twitter sending to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo

If possible use the HTML code: <p class="imgC"><a href="Link to the page you found the image"><img src="Link to the Image" /></a></p>

Do you want to see all images from all Daily Inspirations? Check out http://daily.abduzeedo.com

Eugene Kim

Fabiano

Fabio

Filip Komorowski

fksd

Gisele

Jacob Bian

Newyorkiz

ricardofx

Shelby White

Troisiemement

Tyran Trieu

Versus Bear

visoden1

Via Twitter

Send your suggestions via Twitter to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo using #abdz in the end of the tweet.

@fechnerk

@gdesignFX

@Marcos333

@djbennett999

@daniel_nelson

@simonhartmann

Friday Fresh Free Fonts #64

I will be posting some fresh free fonts every Friday, yes I know it's awesome. I will look forward to bring a lot of great fonts that will sure help you improve your typography work. Check out what I selected for you on the FFFF#64 and make sure to comeback for more next week.

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Click here to view all Friday Fresh Free Fonts

Acid

by 26plus-zeichen

Download Acid

Neu Eichmass

by Ivan Khmelevsky

Download Neu Eichmass

Ibarra

by Instituto Tecnológico de Aragón

Download Ibarra

Edelsans

by 26plus-zeichen

Download Edelsans

Sites of the Week #118 - Ronin Giveaway Winners

For this Sites of the Week, we're announcing the winners for the Ronin giveaway, check it out below! Also we have selected some great sites such as Quipsologies and Relogik. As usual we would love to hear from you, keep sending your suggestions to us and we will be more than happy to feature your site.

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About Giveaway

Last week we lauched a giveaway from Ronin. And the 3 lifetime premium winners are:

• @thekevinjones
• @lloyd
• Francisco Frutuoso

Congratulation guys. We will get in touch to you soon! And if you're not one of the winners and want to know more about it, stay tunned on Twitter at @roninapp.

About Ronin

Ronin is an online invoicing and timetracking app geared specifically for freelance and small business designers, developers, photographers and creatives. You can easily set up projects, track tasks, send proposals, and invoices. You can even customize your estimates and invoices with HTML/CSS to get a custom look and feel that matches your brand and identity. Discover more at roninapp.com.

You can send me your suggestions via Twitter twitter.com/FabianoMe or twitter.com/abduzeedo, and include #abdz_sites in the message.

DESIGN / CSS

Webvanta - webvanta.com

Webvanta is a different kind of CMS, designed to help you work faster and smarter - no matter who you are.

Sensational Jobs - sensationaljobs.com

The Sensational Jobs board easily connects thousands of talented and creative web professionals with the world's best organizations.

APP / WEB APP

Awesome - awesomejs.com

Awesome* is a small team of people who know their way around JavaScript. We keep things focused—only projects involving JavaScript—which means we have a keen sense for both the little details and the big picture.

check.fm - check.fm

Use check.fm to let people know you’ve arrived at your destination.

COMMUNITY / PORTAL / STORE

Quipsologies - underconsideration.com/quipsologies

Chronicling the most curious, creative, and notable projects, stories, and events of the graphic design industry on a daily basis. A division of UnderConsideration.

Edulender - edulender.com

EduLender compares interest rates on private student loan options.

STUDIO / PORTFOLIO / BLOG

Larissa Meek - Larissameek.com

I have over 9 years of experience designing for the web and consider myself a standards enthusiast with a passion for visual design. I am well versed in design trends and usability with a strong handle on CSS and HTML.

Monk - the-monk.com/

COMPOSER, ARRANGER, PRODUCER DESIGNER / DJ.

TEMPLATES

Crisp - woothemes.com

Designed by Tyler Galpin, and boasting all-new tumblog functionality with a quick publishing form on the dashboard Crisp is perfect for lazy bloggers who want a professional, slick looking site with Tumblr-like ease-of-use.

Sealight - woothemes.com

Sealight is a slick and colorful business theme that helps showcase your product/services using custom post types to highlight key features, testimonials and featured slides on the home page.

Beautiful Houses: Paraty House in Rio de Janeiro

The idea in this series is to show beautiful and inspiring houses. Houses that are remarkable for its design, elegance, elements, concept or simply because they are beautiful. So if you like architecture, interior design and beautifully designed houses, you are at the right spot. Check out this week beautiful house and stay tuned for more...

This week, we present you the astonishing Paraty House.

The Paraty House is a project by StudioMK27, a studio founded on the 80's by Marcio Kogan that today counts with more than 14 architects and contributors around the world. The Paraty House is a really beautiful project located in the awesome Paraty beach in Rio de Janeiro. The house consists of reinforced concrete boxes that stand out the landscape of the place and get our attention right away. The modern looks mixed with nature and mountain views are really beautiful.

The way they managed to mix glass, stone walls, wood and concrete created a really unique look, the house is modern, cozy and amazing. Ok, I don't even have much more to say... this house is simply marvelous! I really want to pack and move in... can I? :)

Check out StudioMK27 website for further details about their projects. See you next time. :)

We found this house at arch daily.

Photos by Nelson Kon.

The World Collabs #5 - with Nik Ainley

Abduzeedo takes pride in being one of the worlds leading design blogs. Having interviewed a bulk of the most infamous creative geniuses, we want to use our potential to introduce a new star on the Abduzeedo stage …YOU.

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This is our fifth contest for The World Collabs. Our new cutting edge Abduzeedo collaboration project, which will give you the possibility to collaborate and compete with the worlds leading designers and artists.

What is "The World Collabs"?

"The World Collabs" will give you the possibility to work with PSD files of established artists. TWC gives you a secret in-view in the workflow of the stars and catapults you miles forward in your journey to design heaven. This way you learn to practice with different shapes, backgrounds, patterns brushes and new styles.

Every month we will offer you an unfinished piece of an experienced and accredited graphic designer to the world.

The piece will be unfinished, so you can complete the PSD-file with your very own style. This way every month you can collaborate with the best designers of the world. The final pieces will be judged by the Abduzeedo Team and the artist himself. The three best works will be rewarded with prizes.

Prize

1. 1. $ 200 (send via PayPal), an approval for an original collaboration with the artist and a feature on Abduzeedo
2. 2. $ 100 (send via PayPal)
3. 3. A Single Version of image editing program Pixelmator (worth 59 $)
4. 4. A Depositphotos.com account with $40 Credit
5. 5. A Depositphotos.com account with $40 Credit
6. 6. A Depositphotos.com account with $40 Credit
7. 7. A Depositphotos.com account with $40 Credit
8. 8. A Depositphotos.com account with $40 Credit

Sponsor

DepositPhotos.com is your #1 resource for buying and selling Royalty-free photographs and vector images. Our vast library of imagestock coupled with our wide variety of flexible purchase options makes us the most convenient and profitable tool for designers, artists and photographers.

Artist of september: Nik Ainley

Nik Ainley is a UK based illustrator who produces both personal and commissioned work. He rather bizarrely taught himself Photoshop in his spare time while gaining a degree in physics at Imperial College in London. He enjoyed it so much he ditched physics and moved full time into design and illustration.

Nik is constantly trying to further his expertise in digital media, and won't stop until he has mastered all the tools he needs to fully realise his ideas. He uses whatever techniques he can get his hands on to achieve the desired effect and is happiest when learning new ways of creating graphics.

http://Shinybinary.com

Take part at the contest

This is an independent design contest with endless possibilities to finish this piece. There are just three simple steps to take part.

1. Download the PSD-File;
2. Push your creativity beyond boundaries and finish the design;
3. Send the link or the final image to aloa[at]abduzeedo.com

By taking part at this contest you give us permission to use your image for Abduzeedo's showcases.

Remember:

1. - Last day of submitting is september 25th;
2. - Don't change size, but feel free to rotate the image;
3. - Leave the logo, so we recognize it as an entry;
4. - Every artist can submit 1 design only;
5. - Let us see that it's a collaboration. We will award you for your ability to work with someone else's design.

Featured Design - September

Download the .PSD file

Close Up

Want to be the next featured artists?

You think you are skilled enough to be the featured artist for the next months TWC. We follow some simple rules, when choosing a new piece.

- You are an energized designer with lot of motivation;
- Your designs have your very unique style;
- You only use files which are completely copyright free;

If you are interested, please write an email to aloa[at]abduzeedo.com

Awesome Watercolor Illustrations by Dmitriy

Watercolor is definitely one of the most awesome techniques of illustration. I find truly amazing of how much control and precision artists have over their watered inks to form precise art.

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And I'm probably overwhelmed by it because I have no idea how to do it... but yet, I know something beautifully done when I see it, and that's just the case of the work of Dmitriy Rebus Larin, an Russian in illustration that has done some great pieces of watercolor illustrations. Here I've placed some of them, but for more of his great work, you may visit his portfolio at Behance. I hope you all enjoy these! Cheers. ;)

Ironing the laces

British rock

Best friends

Football fan

Drinking

Kolomenskoe Art

Rebus88@rambler.ru

Freedom

Rebus & Den

Leisan

Arina

Mary Mastowka Kuzmenkova

Mary Mastowka Kuzmenkova

Daily Inspiration #604

This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo's writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it, also use "Daily Inspiration" in the subject, and don't forget to send your Abduzeedo username; or via Twitter sending to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo

If possible use the HTML code: <p class="imgC"><a href="Link to the page you found the image"><img src="Link to the Image" /></a></p>

Do you want to see all images from all Daily Inspirations? Check out http://daily.abduzeedo.com

2D

al b sure

Anderson Tomazi

Brukhar

Derek Brown

Eugene Kim

Fabiano

Spheremetrical (Here With You) from impactist on Vimeo.

Fabio

Augmented City 3D from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Logo - La vie moderne from Kadavre Exquis on Vimeo.

Mostra 3M (opening) from NITRO on Vimeo.

Gisele

Animated Short no.1 from Yum Yum London on Vimeo.

heltonmainardi

HelderAMN a.k.a Santini di Napoli

Huy Phùng

Lee Duignan

luis pippi

newyorkiz

Patrick Branigan

SNCFRK

visoden1

Via Twitter

Send your suggestions via Twitter to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo using #abdz in the end of the tweet.

@ewanthot

@fechnerk

@daniel_nelson

@marcos333

Beautiful Photos of New York City by James Maher

James Maher is a professional photographer and the operator of the Maher Fine Art Photography Gallery, his work is primarily focused on New York photography, but also of various travel spots around the world, and we have to agree that he has some classic photos of New York City.

For more information about James, visit the Maher Fine Art Photography Gallery at http://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/

Some Photos

Couple in Snowstorm, Central Park, New York City, 2003

This photo was taken during the huge blizzard that hit the city in 2003. The snowstorm created such bad conditions that for much of the day I was completely lost in the park. At some point I found this bridge to seek refuge under. It didn't take long before this couple came along with the same idea.

Manhattan on Fire, Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, 2010

The sky was white and unassuming until the sun began to set. Then the colors lit up the sky as if the entire city was on fire.

Couple in Sheep Meadow during Snowstorm, Central Park, New York City, 2010

I caught this photo just as the man was about to tackle the woman in the middle of Sheep Meadow in Central Park.

East River,New York City, 2003

This photo was taken on the edge of the East River at a cold 5:30 AM with only a handful of dedicated joggers out. In reality, it was much darker out than the exposure suggests.

Poets' Walk at Dusk, Central Park, New York City, 2006

This is a 30 second exposure looking down the south end of the Mall in Central Park, also known as Poets' Walk.The lights of the office buildings of Central Park South peer through the bare branches of the trees here to give this photo the feeling of an urban wilderness. At the time, I felt like I was covered in a dome of trees, yet also right in the middle of midtown Manhattan.

Poets' Walk in Fall, Central Park, New York City, 2010

Gapstow Bridge, Central Park, New York City, 2010

Bethesda Terrace at Night During Snowstorm, Central Park, New York City, 2010

7 Train, Queens, New York City, 2010

Buildings and Sun, New York City, 2007

This is a photograph of office buildings on 17 State Street in the financial district of the city.I thought of what a city on Mars would look like when I saw the roundness of the central building and so I decided to give it this tint to create an 'otherworldly' feel.

At Least we Dream - Digital Art

Jonathan M. Foerster is an amazing digital artist with such rich style full of colorful shine elements that intricate the eyes as they look for an understanding. I could look at each piece for a long time and still find the details that will change my point of view.

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To see more from Jonathan visit - atleastwedream.com

I have found comfort and serenity in escapism through different mediums ever since I can remember. Always to be a recluse, quiet and in the constant realms of my head. These realms build upon love, fear, death, life and lust that I cannot render through words. My interpretations are of only mere sketches to what I cannot describe inside me.

Building layer upon layer, obsessing over detail upon detail, my creations come to life after many months of hard work. Through this progression my thoughts and emotions change, and my work will evolve but in the end its core is still intact.

This is just me, attempting to communicate myself through pieces that grow more detailed and time consuming as I, myself grow, change, learn and experience our shared course.
Jonathan M. Foerster

Bellus

Carcer

II

Infecte

Letum

Mors Petalum

Mors Petalum II

Mors Petalum III

Omega Code

Passi

Sonnet

Un

Vena

Vena II

35 Inspiring Food Packages

Continuing our posts showing you beautiful and inspiring packages, we gathered some really nice examples of food related packages. From catchup to peanuts and honey, we will show a little bit of everything to illustrate that no matter what your product is about, a nice and well designed package always counts for good!

Once again we got the images from Lovely Package, so we recommend you to click at the images to go to LP's website to read more about each package and its designer. Also, if you have a suggestion about what kind of packages you would like us to showcase here, comments are open. =)

Bakina Tajna

Pure Land

Michael’s Farm

Glace Artisan Ice Cream

Prima Luce

Student Work – Fran Aldea

Gallo

Occasions

Gran Farina

Azada Organic

La Sirena

Justin’s Nut Butter

Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Scooping Ketchup

Gail’s Bakery

5 Points Honey

Student Work – Kayd Mustonen

Student Work – Samira Khoshnood

A.O.

GLORIOUS!

TrueCoffee Hot Dog

Student Work – Diego Aguilar

Babees Honey

Student Work – Michael Gump Jr.

Pizza Nova

Yarmarka Platinum

Jásztej

Jamie Oliver

Lintar Olive Oil

Princip!

Student Work – Andrew Matveev

Raw Health

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Psdtuts Presents Exclusive Wallpapers by Jennifer Cirpici
Another extremely talented designer by the name of Jennifer Cirpici has volunteered to create two exclusive wallpapers for the readers of PsdTuts+. This months exclusive wallpapers feature something for everyone, on one hand we have a beautiful scenery shot with lots of bright colors, and on the other we have something more textured and rough [...]

Create a Graffiti-Inspired Illustration Using Photoshop and Illustrator
Photoshop and Illustrator compliment each other in many ways. Today we will demonstrate how you can use them in tandem to draw and color a graffiti-inspired illustration. Let’s get started! Before You Begin Before you begin, it’s always good to do a bit of planning. For graffiti art, do some research and keep it in [...]

Quick Tip: Create a Realistic Credit Card in Photoshop
In today’s quick tip tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a realistic-looking credit card using Photoshop and Illustrator in just a few short steps. Let’s get started! Step 1 To speed up the process, we will begin by putting together some basic graphics in Illustrator. Make a 3.5in by 1.9in rounded rectangle, then fill [...]

Dried Ink Stains: 20 High Resolution Brushes – Premium Psdpack
Today, we have a new set of Premium Brushes available for Psd Premium Members. This set was crafted by Grant Friedman of Colorburned and includes 20 High Resolution Photoshop Ink Stain Brushes. If your next project calls for a grungy, stained look, then this set is perfect for you. Learn more at the jump! High [...]

Create a Realistic iMac Icon in Photoshop
There is a lot that you can do in Photoshop with just a few select tools. Today, we will demonstrate how to create a realistic iMac icon in Photoshop that includes a 27-inch screen, a keyboard, and a mouse. Let’s get started! Tutorial Assets Photo of iMac box (for reference) Black & Blue Icons Wallpaper [...]

Best of the Web – August 2010
As you know, each month, we round up some of the best Photoshop-related content from around the web. This month, there were some excellent Photoshop tutorials, articles, and freebies to choose from. Please take a moment to review our favorites from August 2010. Tutorial Wrap Paint With Fire In real life, painting with fire might [...]

Introducing the Tuts+ Marketplace – Making Premium Accessible to Everyone
We’ve just launched the Tuts+ Marketplace, where Premium quality tutorials – both from our Tuts+ Premium program and from unaffiliated authors – are available to purchase individually. Our Tuts+ Premium program will still stay exactly the same – you’ll get all the same things, for the same price. But now, non-members will be able to [...]

Create an Electrical Outlet Icon in Photoshop
In today’s tutorial, we will be making use of vector masks and layer styles in Photoshop to create a high quality electrical outlet icon. Let’s get started! Before You Begin When creating icons from real-life objects it is best to first take a look at those objects and see how they look. When you are [...]

Austin Powered: Designer Finds Inspiration in her Adopted Hometown
Shyama Golden has no cubicle-mates to bounce ideas off of and no supervisor to guide her if she gets stuck. But the 27-year-old self-employed designer, who works out of a loft in downtown Austin, has found a way to collaborate. While working on a project, Golden posts photographs of each step of the process —original [...]

Exclusive Freebie Pack – 25 Ink Brushes
Ink droplets are probably one of the coolest types of Photoshop brushes. Mostly because of how intricate they look in use. They are created when you drop ink into water and then photograph them. Today, we have a set of 25 ink brushes to give away for free. Feel free to use them in your [...]

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Creative Bookmarks: Best of August 2010
August was another awesome month with great tutorials and articles oozing from everywhere. Here's Creative Bookmarks August!

Correcting Exposure with the Shadows & Highlights Tool
Bring out the best in your photos by correcting exposure problems using the Shadows & Highlights tool.

3D House Icon in Adobe Illustrator
Illustrator's CS5 Perspective Drawing Tools are just perfect for creating buildings. From this advanced tutorial you will learn how to create a detailed house icon for your personal use. Let get started.

Creative Bookmarks: Best of July 2010
We're a week late due to some server trouble last week. Now that we're back to smooth sailing, we're bringing you a new edition of Creative Bookmarks. Enjoy!

Tutorial9 Fan Showcase #2
This is Tutorial9 Community Showcase #2, a collection of user submitted recent creations.

Show & Tell #2: Show us what you’re working on!
There is a lot of talent in the Tutorial9 community, and we’d like to share the spotlight with our fans. Come show us what you’re working on!

Icon Pack: 256×256 Business Icons
This icon set contains 26 Business themed icons. Each icon is available in 256x256 .png format.

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Modern 3D Text Effect
Introduction In this Photoshop tutorial we’re going to step outside my usual Photoshop Only philosophy and use the 3D rendering power of Adobe Illustrator to create a cool little 3D text effect. Don’t worry noobs, you don’t need to know anything about Illustrator, as usual I’ll coach you through the whole process, but you do [...]

Film Inspired Photo Borders
Introduction In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to convert a flat black on white photo border into a much more usable one in just a few simple steps. The image we’ll be working from comes to us courtesy of Andrea Rascaglia who put together a nice collection of these a few years [...]

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photos – Part 2
Part 2 – Introduction Welcome to Part 2 of the High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photoshop Tutorial. Read Part 1 here. As a reminder, please remember that this is simply MY process, HDR processing is an art form subject to the artists opinion. There is no right or wrong way to produce an image, only to [...]

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photos – Part 1
An Introduction to HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography For those of you not familiar with HDR Photography, it is quite simply the process of combining multiple bracketed exposures into a single photograph, underexposing for highlight detail and then overexposing for shadows we can capture every last bit of detail from both… Details that just aren’t [...]

Hero’s Free Photoshop Holiday Cards
Introduction Each downloadable file below contains a simplified .psd with an empty layer for you to paste your photo into along with fully editable text layers (fonts included in the download). Simply paste your photo into the designated area, adjust the text as desired and save the file as a .jpg or .tiff. These are [...]

A Simple Wedding Invitation
Introduction By way of preparation, you should already be comfortable using Layers and know how to Install Photoshop Brushes and how to Rotate them since a good deal of the heavy lifting in this lesson will be done with layers and multiple brushes. **Special Thanks to Jillian Clark at 100LayerCake.com for permission to base this [...]

The Wheels Text Effect
Step 1 Lets start by taking a look at the original ad below. From the start we can see that they’ve used a few basic Layer Styles like Gradient Overlay and Bevel and Emboss to do most of the work. After a little trial and error I even found the exact font used here called [...]

2 Step Grunge Photo Effect
Step 1 Obviously a photo effect requires a photo. I find this effect works awesome on photos of people, so here’s a photo of this funny looking surfer I know. Step 2 With the photo open, lets first make sure our foreground and background colors are set to Black & White by pressing the D [...]

Patriotic Text Using Displacement Masks
Step 1 Lets jump right in and get our document set up. Create a new document by choosing File>New from the Main Menu. My working file for this lesson will be 540px x 300px at 72ppi. If you’re following along at home I suggest you start with something similar so that the Layer Styles we [...]

Layer Style And Layer Mask Interaction
Step 1 You know how sometimes you think you’re so damn smart… And then you learn something so basic that it makes you feel silly for thinking you were at all smart in the first place? Well, if you’re a long time PS user like me and you don’t know this trick, be prepared to [...]