New Card Available at Trader Joe's

On Fridays, I sometimes like to display samples of products I've designed. Here is a recent card I made that is now available at Trader Joe's. Other products released this week are on my facebook page.

Mail Art Gallery

Do you do "mail art"? 

Mail Art is a process where strangers (or friends) mail each other handmade art on the back of a postcard. Here are some examples of mail art I have received or discovered. 



My Bulletin Board of Mail Art









Mixed Media ALTERED ART  POSTCARD Weird Feeling
















 











HOW TO DO MAIL ART:

 
Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art 

 The term “mail art” refers to pieces of art sent through the mail rather than displayed or sold in traditional venues. Mail artists often use inexpensive and recycled materials including postcards, collage, rubber stamps, and photocopied images. Mail art is a fun way to connect with people in every corner of the globe. Readers will learn to create decorated and illustrated envelopes, faux postage and artistamps, find penpals, make a mail art kit, and much more!



150 Useful Resources for Illustrators

Escape from Illustration Island Blog has yet another wonderful resource. Check out the 150 Resources for Illustrators.

Here is an excerpt. Read Entire Article...

Last year, I shared “68 Useful and Inspiring Illustration Resources” here at Escape from Illustration Island, which compiled all the resource list posts that had been previously published to make things easier to find. Since then, I’ve been actively seeking out more valuable resources, so an update is long overdue.

Here is a list of 150 incredibly useful online resources for both professional and aspiring Illustrators. There’s plenty here to keep you busy for a while.

Also be sure to check the comments sections of the posts, as many of your fellow Illustrators have shared links to resources that I might have missed.

15 Places to Sell Your Work Online

Top 12 Children’s Book Illustration Resources

7 Illustration Books You Need to Read

5 Essential Copyright Resources for Artists


Read Entire Article...

Artists Helping Artists Radio Show

Just saw this announcement on empty easel blog:

Their radio show, Artists Helping Artists, just launched just a few short months ago, but is already attracting over a thousand artists to the live weekly show due in large part to its “in the trenches” shop talk for artists.Artists Helping Artists is a live show airing each Thursday. Topics covered range from “How to Make Money While You’re Sleeping” to “Daily Painting: Is It For You?” (this last topic even had a special guest, the famed daily painter, Carol Marine.) Read entire article...

50 Ways to Become a Better Designer

Saw this on Sonia Hicks Twitter message, referring to Liquidcity:

Here's an excerpt. I picked out some key ones I particularly liked. Read entire article...

50 Ways to Become a Better Designer

Join a forum.

A lot of creatives work from home, but that doesn't mean they can't talk to anyone. There are a lot of really helpful and talented people out there willing to have a chat about design, you just need to find them. Here are some of my favorite forums:
Graphic Design Forum (one of the oldest and largest forums on graphic design)
Smashing Magazine Forums
Layers Magazine
Designate Online
DevLounge (OK, it's not a forum, but it's a really decent site)

Think brand.

Try going to a few courses on branding, as brand thinking is vital to developing the way you think. Keep your ideas squeaky simple, and 9 times out 0f 10 they will work. Thinking in terms of branding means you can develop key words to stem your ideas from. Complexity just doesn't work.

Draw a map.

I find it helps to visualise the brief. Highlight key words and phrases, and jot them down in your trusty sketchbook. Then see how these ideas could link up by drawing lines between them and branching out from those core ideas. Pretty soon you'll have enough on the page to sketch out some decent ideas.

Naming Files.

Often overlooked, but naming your files in an organized and consistent way really helps you see how things have progressed, and what file belongs where. Never EVER attach "final" to a filename, because you will always go back to it and change it. Eventually you'll have a folder full of twenty newer versions of that "final" revision. I have got into the habit of naming my work and putting "01", "02" etc after it so I can see how many revisions I have made easily, and recall an older one to compare quickly.

Another layer of Photoshop Cake.

Always try to use as many layers as possible when working in Photoshop, avoiding merging them together. The worst thing possible is doing an amazing composition and thinking "actually, I think I'll change that" and realising you merged those 2 layers. What's worse is if you have gone past its history state, meaning even if you undo the last 50 changes you have made, there will still be nothing you can do!

Get more plug ins.

No matter which application you use, there's almost always more plug ins available. Getting new filters and effects for Photoshop can greatly help you improve and speed up your work. Adobe's own site is great for Photoshop plug ins.

Read entire article...