A few things to keep you busy over the weekend: • Dave Cross was a guest-blogger on Scott’s blog last week. There’s some really interesting comments when it comes to shooting with Photoshop in mind. • I love these fake online photo shoots. Yes, I know it’s sad. They’re fun though (warning: half naked sumo wrestler [...]
A few things to keep you busy over the weekend:
• Dave Cross was a guest-blogger on Scott’s blog last week. There’s some really interesting comments when it comes to shooting with Photoshop in mind.
• I love these fake online photo shoots. Yes, I know it’s sad. They’re fun though (warning: half naked sumo wrestler alert!)
• Lightroom tip: Start using DNG. It’s easy and saves you 20% disk space. And if you have a lot of folders to convert from earlier shoots then start picking one or two away each day. Just select the folder and go to the Library module. Then choose Library > Convert to DNG. Here’s a video with some more info.
Also, next week I’m probably going to start a new type of blog post. I get so many questions and comments that I want to answer, but I just never have time to email each person. So, I’m starting a “catch-all” post each week (assuming there’s enough questions/comments to fill a post) and I’ll answer them right here on the site. Sound good? Enjoy your weekend?
Menus and document windows in Adobe Photoshop CS3 on Mac OS do not respond to user input when you switch between applications.This issue can occur when you switch to another application, such as Safari or iTunes, and one of the following conditions is present... Read More
Adobe Photoshop CS3 on Windows does not retain custom paper size in the Print dialog when you set the paper size to something other than 8.5 x 11 inches and then save, close, and reopen your image.Manually reenter the custom paper size when you open the Print ... Read More
Characters live amongst us — in graffiti, as vinyl dolls, as commercial identity icons and almost everywhere. A character communicates content without actually saying a word. We can see the use of characters in advertising, consumerism and in contemporary art growing more and more important and diverse.
This post presents 10 examples of breathtaking contemporary character design with excellent use of colors, visual elements, proportions and texture.
Characters live amongst us — in graffiti, as vinyl dolls, as commercial identity icons and almost everywhere. A character communicates content without actually saying a word. We can see the use of characters in advertising, consumerism and in contemporary art growing more and more important and diverse.
In this post I’m presenting 10 examples of breathtaking contemporary character design with excellent use of colors, visual elements, proportions and texture.
Go Characters!
Gaston Caba Gaston Caba is a famous illustrator from Buenos Aires, Argentina. These 2 guys are original mascot designs for the Adidas Original Diesel Denim launch party in Shanghai.
Eyeport Eyeport is Lee Hasler, an illustrator from Great Britain. Eyeport illustrates uncanny isometric characters with unique style and strong colors.
The Beast is Back The beast is Christopher Lee from the US. The beast has a super cool method of adding volume to characters thus breathing life into them.
Christian Montenegro Christian Montenegro is worldwide famous for his breathtaking visual language. He published a stunning book called “The Creation” (a must buy!) and he works with magazines from all over the world.
Mar Hernández Mar Hernández aka malota is a young artist from Spain. Her works are filled with brilliant characters - don’t miss the Greenville short in her portfolio.
KHUAN+KTRON KHUAN+KTRON are two super talented designers from Belgium. Their work revolves around drawing up a universal iconographic language system.
Parquerama Matias Vigliano is a part of Doma collective. He designs plush and vinyl dolls, limited edition posters, books and more…
Eugene and Louise bakery Eugene and Louise bakery is dreams come true, a bakery filled with characters made from chocolate, marzipan, cupcakes and milk.
Meomi MEOMI is Vicki Wong (Vancouver) and Michael Murphy (LA). Meomy are the authors and illustrators of the Octonauts children’s books series and the mascots for the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.
Colorblok Colorblok is a company directed by Juliana Pedemonte. Colorblock are into character and motion graphic design for various clients such as MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon.
About the author
Hagit Hashimshony is a well known designer from Tel Aviv Israel and the founder of Tea Party Studio. Hagit specializes in pre-production for animation, illustration and art direction. She believes in solving the world’s problems through simple and clean design. Write me…
Editor’s note
This post is one of the finalists of our guest author contest. Over three weeks selected top-10-lists and discussion articles will be published. To rate the articles we’ll analyze their popularity, users activity, quality of backlinks, traffic and further data.
Import a Photoshop file as a composition In this short video tutorial, learn how to import a Photoshop file into your After Effects 7.0 project, while maintaining the PSD file’s layers and spacial integrity.
Clocks don't have to be boring. Of course, clocks need need to remain usable and display current time; however, they can do it in a number of creative ways. You are about to see some of the most creative examples out there. Take some time and enjoy.
If the others are songs, Uniqlock is the concert. Japanese girls dance focusing your attention away from the passing time. Probably one of the strangest — unique — clock screensavers out there.
By Haroon Baig
Clocks don’t have to be boring. Of course, clocks need need to remain usable and display current time; however, they can do it in a number of creative ways. You are about to see some of the most creative examples out there. Take some time and enjoy.
1. Uniqlock
What shall I say. If the others are songs, Uniqlock is the concert. Japanese girls dance focusing your attention away from the passing time. Probably one of the strangest — unique — clock screensavers out there.
2. Word Clock
Whether you hate or love Helvetica, you’ll just love Word Clock (for you haters out there the typeface can be changed). Simon Heys, the creative director of Tonic, definitely deserves the place on the podium with this stunning piece. You can download the screensaver (PC and Mac) as well as an iPhone application here.
3. DropClock
DropClock is an aesthetically intriguing motion clock screensaver. Every minute of real time is numerically expressed with heavy helvetica dropping into water in super slow-motion. An impressive piece of art by Yugop. You can get the screensaver here (PC and Mac, price: $15).
4. Uncontrol Clock
Among other things Uncontrol Website offers the so-called “55 clock” for free download. This clock uses the 3rd dimension to combine an analogue display with a digital clock display. Ingenious.
5. FedEx “Just in time”
Just in time is the message of this advertising banner for FedEx, which won a Gold Lion in the Cyber Lions category in Cannes 2005. And deservedly so. You get the message.
6. Pulse Clock
This neat little Actionscript Experiment by Mrdoob currently rocking at HiReS! convinces through simplicity and aesthetics. Built using Papervision3D to experiment with real-time shadows.
7. Humanclock
Humanclock is a project by Craig D. Giffen. People from all over the world submit pictures with certain times on them. Every minute there is a new picture telling the current time. Simple as that. Read the project page for more info (you’ll find an analogue version, too).
8. Industrial Clock
Way back in 2000 the design legend Yugo Nakamura aka Yugop amazed the community with his Industrial Clock. It is not exaggerated to say that this piece has created a whole new genre of “video clocks” and served many others as inspiration (as you can see in some other examples).
9. Grid-Based Clock
This clock is built by Geoffroy Delobel and based on an idea by Sleepatwork. The Grid Based Clock is a rather “constructivist” approach to display the time. Its elementary formal vocabulary makes a unique and unusual charm. You can get the screensaver here (PC and Mac).
10. Clockr
Mario Klingemann (aka Quasimondo) came up with this classic. Clockr uses random digit images from Flickr to display the current time.Click on a number to change the image, double-click it to view the full image. Use the mouse wheel to cycle through (just give it some time if it doesn’t display the images right away). You can download the screensaver here (Win only).
Runners-up
Well, they might not made it to the top 10, but they are definitely worth a look:
You disagree with the order? What is your favourite? You know another amazing clocks that are missing? Please use the comment section to show your examples!
About the author
Haroon Baig is a communication designer currently working as a User Interface Designer in Germany.
Editor’s note
This post is one of the finalists of our guest author contest. Over three weeks selected top-10-lists and discussion articles will be published. To rate the articles we’ll analyze their popularity, users activity, quality of backlinks, traffic and further data.
A few things to keep you busy over the weekend:
(warning: half naked sumo wrestler alert!)
