The Typephases Observatory
Visits, thoughts and words about graphic design, typography and the web experience.5.10.06
Switch to Acuarela
This blog has been inactive for quite a while. From now on the posts will be published in the blog Acuarela, originally devoted to watercolour and other painting and drawing techniques, but whose scope has been broadeded to include other topics such as graphic design, typography, animation, publishing and the surprises of the online world.So, point your browsers to the new destination.
Of course, a handy RSS summary of Acuarela (atom) or RSS 2.0 is also available.
3.4.06
23.3.06
Typephases featured in Computer Arts
A selection of our freeware fonts and dingbats is featured in the April issue of Computer Arts, the world’s best selling creative magazine. Computer Arts is full of interesting tutorials, reviews, designer profiles and more, everything packaged in an irresistible eye-candy design. Besides the printed edition, you can also enjoy their website, which offers a huge number of step-by-step tutorials to learn advanced uses for your favourite graphic design software, such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash...
The magazine is published in english, and there are also localized editions in polish, french, korean, chinese and italian.
The magazine is published in english, and there are also localized editions in polish, french, korean, chinese and italian.
15.3.06
High Logic font tools at Typephases Design : the notepad
High Logic is a software firm from the Netherlands specialised in font software. They offer two programs, the Font Creator Program, which at the moment is at its fifth version, and a new font management program called MainType. I have recently tried both programs and here are my impressions.
7.3.06
All-in-one Web Developer’s online reference list
The Web Developer’s handbook is a compact list of categorised links about whatever you might need to read or use about website development, exploring imagination, CSS, Color Tools, SEO, Usability etc. etc. Everything in one file: a very handy bookmark.
27.2.06
Tea time
Some herbal tea freshly brewed & served for this week’s Illustration Friday theme. You may click any of these variations to see a bigger sample. If you want the recipe for this special tea, just tell me ;-)
11.2.06
Simple?
This was supposed to be simple, wasn’t it?
Well, here we are illustrating the “simple” theme of the week at Illustration Friday. The base image is taken from my Bizarries II dingbat, available from Typephases Design.
GTDrawings is ready
I started a parallel mini-blog called GTDrawings to show my visual interpretations of the well-known productivity & personal organisation book by David Allen, Getting Things Done. Now it is complete with the sketches I made about the text. The only additional stuff I will be posting will be, perhaps, some more polished illustration.
Don’t miss it out if you’re interested in taking control of your life and getting organised!
Don’t miss it out if you’re interested in taking control of your life and getting organised!
9.2.06
Another chair
Another chair, theme of the week at Illustration Friday. This one is an experiment with Expression (now Microsoft Acrylic), a program I definitely want to use more because it’s really outstanding for creative vector artwork.
This is quite simple and I made it with the mouse—not the ideal way to draw.
You can click the image to see a bigger version.
3.2.06
Chair (Illustration Friday)
This week’s theme at Illustration Friday is “chair” and this is what I’ve come up with. I was thinking a bit about electric chairs, chairs upside down, chairs full of stuff but finally I doodled this one.I use this kind of drawing to experiment different techniques. I just have made a quick pencil drawing, then scanned it at 100dpi, traced it in Inkscape and finally had some fun adding colour and texture in The Gimp.
You can click the image to see a bigger version.
I want to live in this house
I admit it. I’m hopelessly addicted to Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. This Craig McCracken production catched my eye immediately for many reasons. First, being full of imaginary characters, the animators and designers have have been able to take an unlimited number of creative paths. The backgrounds are awesome, with the big victorian house and exquisite care with colours. And so on: too many good things to mention, IMHO. There is a wide variety of influences in the graphic style of the series, ranging from Psychedelic to retro-fifties style. I really enjoy every second of each episode and if you are even remotely like-minded as me, you’ll do the same —if you haven’t discovered the world of Foster’s yet.
From a technical point of view, the show is also remarkable because it has been produced entirely digital tools: a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Flash and After Effects. There is an interesting thread on the Animation World Network forum where many technical details about the production are revealed. The thread is quite long, but if you are interested on the technical side of creating this superb show you’ll find very relevant comments. The use of vector animation on this series is groundbreaking and very, very good.
Besides the official show page in Cartoon Network, you may also find it interesting to read a Craig McCracken interview about Foster’s, and the unnofficial fan site.
A wonderful online library about animation and drawing
The folks atAnimation Meat have put together a wonderful resource for learning cartoon drawing and animation techniques.
Look in the “notes” section: in this area you will find animation notes from various artists and various studios in "print ready" format (PDF.) It includes drawing class notes from the drawing instructor for Walt Disney Studios Walt Stanchfield (nearly 60 handouts); Helpful information for doing full feature quality traditional animation; and more. A ton of materials to study, practice and enjoy.
Look in the “notes” section: in this area you will find animation notes from various artists and various studios in "print ready" format (PDF.) It includes drawing class notes from the drawing instructor for Walt Disney Studios Walt Stanchfield (nearly 60 handouts); Helpful information for doing full feature quality traditional animation; and more. A ton of materials to study, practice and enjoy.
2.2.06
In-depth articles about digital image editing
For those who feel the most powerful image editing tools, such as histograms, levels, curves and other arcane features of your photo-editing program are too intimidating to care about, there’s an excellent, in-depth article at Arstechnica, called Editing your digital images without the mystery. The article continues with other recommended parts, such as Retouching techniques 101 and Compositing.
31.1.06
Public Domain Movie Torrents à go-go
The Public Domain Movie Torrents website is an invaluable repository of the strangest artifacts from the past of cinema, especially from the realm of B-and lower movies.
For example, let's take a look at some movie like The Attack of the Giant Leeches (!). The synopsis goes like this:
So, prepare for an indigestion of monsters, flying saucers and Ed Wood-like ineptitude with charming titles like Atom Age Vampire, Creature from the Haunted Sea, Plan 9 from Outer Space (yes! the Ed Wood's one, reputedly the worst movie in the history of cinema...) and many many more.
For example, let's take a look at some movie like The Attack of the Giant Leeches (!). The synopsis goes like this:
After local-moonshine swilling trapper Lem Sawyer (George Cisar) sees a giant creature, people start disappearing. While searching for illegal traps Steve Benton (Ken Clark) and Nan Greyson, his girl-friend (Jan Shepard) find Lem dying with giant sucker wounds on his body. One couple Liz Walker (Yvette Vickers) and Cal Moulton (Michael Emmett), forced into the water by her enraged husband Dave Walker (Bruno Ve Sota), gets taken by the leeches. When police refuse to believe Dave's story, he hangs himself. Soon after this, 2 more trappers disappear, the local Game Warden Steve Benton gets involved. He and Nan's father Dr Greyson (Tyler McVey) realize that the people were taken by the leeches and the leeches live in caves under the swamp. Using dynamite, the 4 missing bodies are discovered and the leeches are destroyed.
So, prepare for an indigestion of monsters, flying saucers and Ed Wood-like ineptitude with charming titles like Atom Age Vampire, Creature from the Haunted Sea, Plan 9 from Outer Space (yes! the Ed Wood's one, reputedly the worst movie in the history of cinema...) and many many more.
21.1.06
Feline subject
A completely different subject and technique for this week’s Illustration Friday theme, “cats”. This is a crosshatched ink drawing on paper. You can see bigger versions in my Flickr page.
20.1.06
Illustration friday: cats
This is a “cat” related illustration for this week’s topic on Illustration Friday. I have made a rather simple vector drawing, then enriched it a little with some texture. Finally I couldn’t help adding some lettering. Great fun.
(you may click the image to see bigger samples.)
16.12.05
FightAIDS@Home, SETI@home and other volunteering from home
You can volunteer your CPU to power global non-profit research in initiatives such as SETI at home or Fight AIDS at home.
There are other projects of this kind. Grid.org is a single destination site for large-scale, non-profit research projects of global significance. With the participation of over 3 million devices worldwide, some projects like Cancer Research, Anthrax Research, Smallpox Research and the new Human Proteome Folding Project (running in conjunction with IBM's new World Community Grid) have achieved record levels of processing speed and success.
There are other projects of this kind. Grid.org is a single destination site for large-scale, non-profit research projects of global significance. With the participation of over 3 million devices worldwide, some projects like Cancer Research, Anthrax Research, Smallpox Research and the new Human Proteome Folding Project (running in conjunction with IBM's new World Community Grid) have achieved record levels of processing speed and success.
2.12.05
Blue moments
Illustration Friday theme “blue” (you can click the image to see a bigger sample.)Like most of my contributions to this project, this one is actually a vector illustration made with simple shapes (see the underlying structure below) a little processed with Virtual Photographer (a freeware Photoshop-compatible plugin.)
The vector shapes for this illustration:
28.11.05
Technorated
I have just added my blogs to the Technorati listings to make it easier to find specific topics, categorise the contents and improve the networking for my projects. Several tweaks related to this will follow soon.
13.11.05
Milton Glaser and Nicholas Negroponte: “Since Then: Two Points of View”
Listen to this conversation (plus backstage interview) between two of the world’s most significant voices from design and technology. The conversation actually began at the first AIGA national conference in Boston 20 years ago when AIGA represented graphic artists and technology promised to change the world.Together, these giants discuss their work and relationships to community, history and humanity. Then, at the AIGA Design Conference in 2005, they reflect on what has changed and what has remained the same.
(Mind you it’s two huge mp3 files, but it’s worth listening!)
11.11.05
µTorrent client
I was rather intrigued by the proliferation of Bittorrent downloads in many websites. For example, the latest version of OpenOffice.org is available in this p2p format, very efficient and fast for popular files.
Taking a look at the available Bittorrent-compatible clients, I’ve found that some popular choices are Azureus, BitTornado and BitComet. Shareaza is also Bittorrent-compatible now. But there’s a diminutive client called µTorrent that I want to comment here. It’s remarkable: very small file download (about 350k!), no installation necessary, robust and easy to use, with freeware licence and computer resources-friendly.
Categorised under tools, technology
Taking a look at the available Bittorrent-compatible clients, I’ve found that some popular choices are Azureus, BitTornado and BitComet. Shareaza is also Bittorrent-compatible now. But there’s a diminutive client called µTorrent that I want to comment here. It’s remarkable: very small file download (about 350k!), no installation necessary, robust and easy to use, with freeware licence and computer resources-friendly.
Categorised under tools, technology
4.11.05
Photofonts
Fontlab Photofont is an exciting new technology that allows you to create and use full-color bitmap type with transparency.
Photofont Start is a free plugin that allows the use of photofonts in Adobe Photoshop and compatible applications for Mac OS and Windows. There is a free version for Windows and commercial version for Mac, plus a detailed user manual and sample photofonts at the Fontlab website.
Should you wish to create your own Photofonts, you would need Bitfonter.
Photofont Start is a free plugin that allows the use of photofonts in Adobe Photoshop and compatible applications for Mac OS and Windows. There is a free version for Windows and commercial version for Mac, plus a detailed user manual and sample photofonts at the Fontlab website.
Should you wish to create your own Photofonts, you would need Bitfonter.
3.11.05
The Portable Freeware Collection
The Portable Freeware Collection is a site dedicated to the collection and cataloging of freeware that can be extracted to any directory and run independently without prior installation. You can carry these applications around on a memory stick / USB flash drive, or copy / migrate from PC to PC via simple copying of files —hence the term portable freeware.
Some freeware already come in the form of a ZIP file, ready to be extracted and run from any directory. Others require an extraction procedure, which could be as simple as installing them, extracting the necessary files, and uninstalling them again.
This website has a comprehensive list of portable applications neatly classified in categories, plus a handy RSS feed which will let you know of new additions to their list.
Some freeware already come in the form of a ZIP file, ready to be extracted and run from any directory. Others require an extraction procedure, which could be as simple as installing them, extracting the necessary files, and uninstalling them again.
This website has a comprehensive list of portable applications neatly classified in categories, plus a handy RSS feed which will let you know of new additions to their list.
24.10.05
Steve Mack’s Spot Illustration
What really fascinates me about Steve Mack’s Spot Illustration is his natural-looking technique, surprisingly a complete digital (Adobe Illustrator based, 100%) process. He really doesn’t want to explain how he creates these great-looking illustrations:“...Truth is I am keeping kind of tight lipped about this. I devised a little program modification in Adobe Illustrator that lets me texture on the go, dynamically. That means I don’t have cross software versions of the same illustrations.”
But you might find some clues in his website, together with fine examples of his artwork.
10.10.05
Mozilla extensions
The range of available Firefox, Thunderbird and Mozilla Suite extensions is getting more and more impressive. Make sure you visit the Mozilla Update website regularly to see what’s new, or subscribe its RSS feed.
There are a few extensions that every user should have (more about these essentials soon), and then a myriad of more special addons for almost any imaginable need.
There’s even a recent Grocery List Generator, complete with categories of foodstuffs, which makes it a breeze to prepare your daily buy lists. With it you can store your recipe-ingredients and other groceries you need regularly. It creates a well-organized grocery list to help make your grocery shopping as easy as possible. Directly print your list, or export it to disk/pda.
There are a few extensions that every user should have (more about these essentials soon), and then a myriad of more special addons for almost any imaginable need.
There’s even a recent Grocery List Generator, complete with categories of foodstuffs, which makes it a breeze to prepare your daily buy lists. With it you can store your recipe-ingredients and other groceries you need regularly. It creates a well-organized grocery list to help make your grocery shopping as easy as possible. Directly print your list, or export it to disk/pda.
7.10.05
Planet typography: a new version
I am pleased to see there’s a new version of an old favourite, Planet Typography, with a redesign, a new logotype (which design is explained in detail), a better organisation of the contents and new sections. A recommended visit and a site you should definitely bookmark.
30.9.05
Inkscape: new amazing features
The new version of Inkscape, 0.42 (available as always as a free download: this is an Open-source project)is full of amazing features. Let’s see:One of the most important new features in 0.42 is the support for flowed text - text that can flow within a rectangle or any other shape. You can edit the text or the shape, and the text is reflown automatically. Also in this version, you can select any portion of a text object and assign any style to it.
Inkscape 0.42 provides support for running extensions - external programs or scripts (Python, Perl, and Ruby are supported) that can do anything to your SVG document. Aaron Spike has written a lot of cool effects in Python, including path interpolation, randomization, recursive generation, visualization of handles and points, etc. If you have an idea of some cool visual effect but don't want to learn to program Inkscape itself, go to Aaron's page to get an idea of how to create an extension.
With the Tile Clones dialog, you can trace anything by anything, in any way imaginable. If the original tile is a group, you can unset paint on some objects on the group while others (e.g. highlights or shadows) will retain their original colors, unaffected by trace coloring.
The new Trace tab in the Tile Clones dialog can change a number of parameters of clone tiles based on the parameters under the tile, i.e. in the drawing that the tiling overlays. The simplest way to use it is to trace color-to-color, i.e. set the color of each tile the same as the averaged color under it. You can also trace R, G, B, or H, S, L channels separately.
The new Unclump button in the Tile Clones dialog removes the local "clumps" in a tiling, making it look more even and man-made (without losing the randomness). The contrast and detailedness of the dot pattern improve as you apply unclumping repeatedly - even though unclumping is unaware of the background image that was traced by the tiling, it seems to bring out more image details that were "hidden" in the random scattering. You can also apply unclumping to regular tilings, converting them from "newspaper print" to "old engraving".
The new Color tab in the Tile Clones dialog can create an exciting variety of color landscapes, with any amount of randomization, gradual change, or per row/per column alternating. Note the new HSL color sliders (replacing the old HSV). For this to work, the original tile must have fill or stroke unset via the Fill&Stroke dialog.
(descriptions reproduced from the Inkscape official site. Visit it to stay up to date with the project and download the latest version.)
28.9.05
The Art of John Alcorn
Some very very nice illustrations by the late John Alcorn, collected in a website. The online exhibition features over 300 samples, spanning 45 years of breathtaking creativity, starting in the fifties with his contributions to the Push Pin Graphic, and including many cover books, posters, editorial illustration and more.What will those plugins do?
If you use Adobe Photoshop, or any other bitmap-edition software which is able to use Photoshop-compatible plugins, you may already be a plugin addict. You know there are so many available plugins, including many free ones, that having them organised can be a serious issue. Not to mention remembering what you can actually do with each filter. A website like Grafnet is very helpful for this: they have a comprehensive list of plugins, and you can see the results of each one in a sample image.
27.9.05
Best Freebie Apps List...
A recent thread in the Talkgraphics forum discusses the best freebie applications you can find on the net. Some you will know already, other may be new: in any case it’s well worth saving the page and check out the links.
25.9.05
Conceptual Diagram Symbol Libraries
Conceptual Diagram Symbol Libraries, at the Integration and application network offrers the IAN symbol libraries, containing over 1500 custom made vector symbols (in 32 categories) designed specifically for enhancing science communication skills. The libraries are designed primarily for use with Adobe Illustrator (requires version 10 or better), however they also offer eps and svg versions for non-Illustrator users. The symbols allow diagrammatic representations of complex processes to be developed easily with minimal graphical skills. The libraries are provided completely cost and royalty free.
Very useful, especially for environment and earth science related illustrations and concepts. The site contains detailed explanations of the contents of the library, suggestion uses and tutorials.
Very useful, especially for environment and earth science related illustrations and concepts. The site contains detailed explanations of the contents of the library, suggestion uses and tutorials.
Felix Vallotton
I read in Milton Glaser’s retrospective book, Art is Work, that one of his biggest influences, especially in his ink drawings, has always been the french illustrator Felix Vallotton (1865 - 1925). It’s possible to see some of his works online, like in Olga’s Gallery, the Felix Vallotton Foundation or a dot.com site. Certainly, the influence in some of Glaser’s ink drawings is evident.21.9.05
Layout Master, free
Westciv offers their web design tool, Layout Master, free of charge. They explain it this way:
So, here you have a good, basic tool for laying out your web pages based on standards-compliant code, and it’s free. Here’s the download address and the registration code you need to unlock it: 146793400-VA-332005-2020-13210.
“When we released Style Master 4 we finally made the decision to put Layout Master to rest as a commercial product, but continue to host it as freeware at our site(...)
If you want to create and edit pure absolutely positioned layouts, Layout Master is a great free option and you are most welcome to give it a go(...) Download Layout Master using the link below, and then when you run it use the registration code and it will not expire after 30 days.”
So, here you have a good, basic tool for laying out your web pages based on standards-compliant code, and it’s free. Here’s the download address and the registration code you need to unlock it: 146793400-VA-332005-2020-13210.
All graphic design
All graphic needs in one spot: Allgraphicdesign.com is a comprehensive list of graphic design-related resources. The links are hand-picked and it has been around since 1998. The forum is also a valuable place to get advice and ideas about a number of design topics, programs and practices.
19.9.05
Newsdesigner
If you’re involved in periodicals design, or at least you have some interest in printed news-style publications, you should definitely visit (and bookmark) Newsdesigner. The authors review the design from many newspapers, comment the redesigns and the typesetting and typographical details; all of this in an entertaining blog.
15.9.05
Digital design manual by Typephases Design
The Manual of Digital Design is a well-known project originally published in catalan and spanish, and now translated to english. Dozens of articles dealing with graphic design, illustration, bitmaps and vector artwork, web design and typography. Don’t miss it!
Linotype FontExplorer X
Linotype releases a “simple, smart and free” FontExplorer, which, in their own words:
(...)sets a new standard for font management software: font management has never been so simple, and font sorting, font shopping and font discovery are now more fun than ever. FontExplorer X gives computer users all the font functions they could need, and lets them decide how deeply they wish to dive into various font themes.
13.9.05
Lupas Rename 2000
I’m busy reinstalling software on my refurbished computer, and I was searching a batch file renamer (actually I had two on my previous system, but I didn’t back them up and I forgot their names to download them again!). This kind of utility is really necessary for me and I guess for many other computer users as well. I’ve checked in the Pricelessware directory and just found Lupas Rename 2000: a freeware program developed to rename a big number of files, with an unending list of features, and yet lightweight and well focused in its task.
12.9.05
The Screen Grab! Extension
I have been using an incredibly useful extension for Firefox, Screengrab , which saves entire webpages as images in PNG format. Just install it, make sure Java is configured (Java absolutely necessary), and right-click on a page. You can save the entire page as an image (it scrolls around the page taking shots and stitches it together), just the visible portion, or the browser window. Awesome, ultra-simple and incredibly effective.
If you are going to prepare a bunch of screenshots from complete web pages, like I’ve been doing myself lately, this extension will definitely save you lots of time.
If you are going to prepare a bunch of screenshots from complete web pages, like I’ve been doing myself lately, this extension will definitely save you lots of time.
9.9.05
Nvu
At the nvu web editor homepage, they greet the launch of the 1.0 version of the program with these words:
Here’s a detailed feature article with nice screenshots so you can see for yourself what’s on offer.
Finally! A complete Web Authoring System for Linux Desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver.
A good and free tool to complement your text editor, or a good alternative to commercial software for newbies who don’t want to mess around with html or xhtml.
Here’s a detailed feature article with nice screenshots so you can see for yourself what’s on offer.
3.9.05
The definitive collection of idea generation methods
Idea generation methods is a website that lists and explains every idea generation method the author (Martin Leith) has encountered during the past 15 years. It is the result of extensive research; its many sources include books, management journals, websites, academics, consultants and colleagues.
An excellent, comprehensive resource for creative professionals!
An excellent, comprehensive resource for creative professionals!
29.8.05
A List Apart, relaunched
A List Apart has been redesigned and given a thorough change in its publishing system, its look and feel. It promises new inspiring articles (after several months of paralysis) while it all has been reformed. Jeffrey Zeldman explains in an article the process of redesign and what’s new on ALA 4.0.
25.8.05
The best 10 resources for CSS online
A selection of the ten best resources for CSS in the net. But, caution! As they say, “we must offer a word of warning before going to any of these websites. These sites can become very addicting if you enjoy web design in the slightest way. Some of these sites link to literally hundreds of other sites which will catch your interest.”
We agree on the best part of the selection: it contains some of our own favourites.
At SiteProNews.
We agree on the best part of the selection: it contains some of our own favourites.
At SiteProNews.
29.6.05
Summer laziness
The next weeks we will be taking it easy. No digital work, no bits and commands.
We will devote our time to the real stuff: real paper, creamy paint and sharpened pencils, and whatnot.
After the summer parenthesis, clearly refreshed I hope, there will be new articles and stuff in Typephases Design and Acuarela.
We will devote our time to the real stuff: real paper, creamy paint and sharpened pencils, and whatnot.
After the summer parenthesis, clearly refreshed I hope, there will be new articles and stuff in Typephases Design and Acuarela.
Posting images in Blogger
Did you notice the picture icon in Blogger had changed? Now you see this one in your posting template:
Here’s why. Now you can post pictures within the Blogger environment. This simplifies things a lot, making it unnecessary to link to external image files or other workarounds. Excellent news.
Now I only ask one more addition to Blogger to make it P-E-R-F-E-C-T (in my opinion, of course): please add a categories option and this will be the easiest to use, most powerful bloggins system for mere mortals.
Here’s why. Now you can post pictures within the Blogger environment. This simplifies things a lot, making it unnecessary to link to external image files or other workarounds. Excellent news.
Now I only ask one more addition to Blogger to make it P-E-R-F-E-C-T (in my opinion, of course): please add a categories option and this will be the easiest to use, most powerful bloggins system for mere mortals.
24.6.05
Illustration friday: heroes
A contribution to this week’s theme at Illustration Friday, this image comes from my dingbat Absurdies 3.
16.6.05
Principles of Design article
A new article by Joshua David McClurg-Genevese in Digital Web Magazine discusses The Principles of Design. Recommended reading! It includes a handy selection of additional resources and references, too.
15.6.05
Acuarela
Acuarela (i.e. watercolour, or watercolor if you prefer it) is a new blog with insights, discoveries, tips and websurfing about watercolor and other manual illustration, drawing and painting techniques.
This image belongs to one of the commented works in one of the posts in Acuarela, about Nils Burwitz.
This image belongs to one of the commented works in one of the posts in Acuarela, about Nils Burwitz.
14.6.05
Amusing Type Drawings
I’m not sure if I have commented on this some time before, but I’ve indulged a few moments drawing with the mouse and fonts at Typedrawing, a cool online application where you select a text , a grey colour and simply draw with the mouse.
Check out the gallery: it’s full of imaginative illustrations. My own entries are in today’s (june, 14), name: Joan; at the moment I have posted four doodles: this, this one, this other one and also this, but due to the addictive nature of this game I will probably be uploading more.
(my memory of this website has been refreshed by a post in Typographica.)
Check out the gallery: it’s full of imaginative illustrations. My own entries are in today’s (june, 14), name: Joan; at the moment I have posted four doodles: this, this one, this other one and also this, but due to the addictive nature of this game I will probably be uploading more.
(my memory of this website has been refreshed by a post in Typographica.)
13.6.05
John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery
The technique I actually enjoy the most isn’t digital at all; give me a brush and a watercolour kit, some fine paper and I will be the happiest person. I am compiling some interesting links about watercolours on the net, and here is one that deserves special attention.
The John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery is a comprehensive archive detailing the life and work of this outstanding artist. I note this link because it contains a great selection of his watercolours, his most enduring and fascinating work, imho. Sargent produced many hundreds in this medium, from quick travel notes to more elaborate studies. Painted mostly outdoors, they include images of gardens, architectural fragments, exotic figure studies, boats, fruit, and foliage. Travelling extensively in Europe and the Near East, he documented the landscapes and characters he found in these journeys.
Of course, you might be interested in other areas of John Singer Sargent’s œuvre, and the website exhibits his oil portraits (including many famous people of his time, like Henry James) , charcoal drawings and other techniques as well.
A related link: the Sargent at Harvard website provides a searchable database of images and texts about the artist. You may try, for example, to perform a “watercolor” (american spelling seems mandatory here) query as it is suggested in the search page.
10.6.05
Illustration Friday: Sweating walrus with umbrella
Just submitted this illustration to Illustration Friday. This week’s theme is “summer”. Indeed, this is getting awfully hot.
The equilibrium of life
The concept of this illustration was the delicate balance in which our live moves along. Used by a blood donation charity for a campaign.
What I like of this particular image is the simple, triangle-based structure of the composition in which one figure leads the eye to another, and the gestual immediacy of the strokes (see more at my Flickr page.)
9.6.05
Simply amazing
Color Fields Colr Pickr is a wonderful experiment with Flickr pictures by Jim Bumgardner. Choose a color in the colour wheel provided, and there you go: now you can choose a variety of images corresponding to that particular hue, taken from the Flickr group, Color Fields.
The same project includes options to select pictures in other Flickr groups, such as Color Fields, Flowers, Crayon Box, Squared Circle, Graffiti, Flickr Central, Doors and Windows, Macro, Textures, Urban Decay, Catchy Colors, Stock Repository, JPG Magazine.
The same project includes options to select pictures in other Flickr groups, such as Color Fields, Flowers, Crayon Box, Squared Circle, Graffiti, Flickr Central, Doors and Windows, Macro, Textures, Urban Decay, Catchy Colors, Stock Repository, JPG Magazine.
8.6.05
Overview of Windows Outliners
Lately I’m gathering quite a bit of information and resources about getting organized, and Getting Things Done stuff (not exactly that I’m getting any better organized than before, but I digress).
If you are searching for a good tool to use in Windows, here’s a detailed Overview of Outliners and related programs.
If you are searching for a good tool to use in Windows, here’s a detailed Overview of Outliners and related programs.
The Invented Studios Sketchpad
Some time ago, for no special reason, a filled a whole sketchpad with “studios” invented in the most different conditions.
From this series: Mr. M. Oving studio; he’s always planning a move, so his studio is filled with packages, parcels, boxes and other flotsam and jetsam.
More examples will be added to this Flickr page in the following weeks.
From this series: Mr. M. Oving studio; he’s always planning a move, so his studio is filled with packages, parcels, boxes and other flotsam and jetsam.
More examples will be added to this Flickr page in the following weeks.
7.6.05
Some fresh additions
6.6.05
A Comic Art Effect
I’ve seen different techniques to obtain a kind of printed comic effect, but the one at MacMerc.com: called (surprise:) Comic Art Effect is really cool and worth trying. The page we link to provides a detailed step-by-step tutorial and examples.
Even better, they provide a handy dandy action, so you just have to save it and replay it whenever you want to create some snappy comic-like illustration from a boring photograph.
Even better, they provide a handy dandy action, so you just have to save it and replay it whenever you want to create some snappy comic-like illustration from a boring photograph.
4.6.05
opensourceCMS.com: try out different CMS systems
opensourceCMS is a comprehensive directory of CMS solutions where you can try the different solutions before you install.
The list of commentend and installed systems include Portals, Blogs, E-Commerce, Groupware, Forums, E-learning, Image Galleries, Wikis, Lite systems (i.e. no database required), and Miscellaneous.
For each of the systems commented, there is a basic description of its features, the link to the project site, and —this is the coolest part— an installed version for you to try; they provide the username and password needed.
You will also find a good collection of articles and explanations, making this website a truly encyclopaedia of content management systems in a hands-on manner.
The list of commentend and installed systems include Portals, Blogs, E-Commerce, Groupware, Forums, E-learning, Image Galleries, Wikis, Lite systems (i.e. no database required), and Miscellaneous.
For each of the systems commented, there is a basic description of its features, the link to the project site, and —this is the coolest part— an installed version for you to try; they provide the username and password needed.
You will also find a good collection of articles and explanations, making this website a truly encyclopaedia of content management systems in a hands-on manner.
3.6.05
A comic gallery script
Designmeme (Stuart Robertson) has written a php script called Comic Gallery 1.1 —especially designed for webcomics. In his page you will find a downloadable file, together with a detailed tutorial on how to use the script, and several articles about comics.
Rotating background images with css
Here’s a clever way to change the background image of a webpage at random, using the background image property in CSS and a touch of PHP. This solution, comented in SonSpring Design is based in the Automatic Rotator script developed by Automatic Labs (this rotating image system was published in A List Apart, as well.)
24.5.05
Getting things done (and organized)
People working in creative businesses, design, and many other areas are getting more and more aware of the necessity of a good project management system. One of the most talked about systems lately is the GTD (getting things done).
There is a book by David Allen that deals with it extensively, and a growing number of websites dedicated to the topic. One of my favourites is PigPog Creativity Wiki, where you find lots of practical information about creative iving, things to make and to do, creative tools and other inspirational sections.
You will probably find some good advice reading the articles you find in this website.
There is also a section in OfficeZealot dedicated to Getting things done, with plenty of articles, links, templates...
And yet another website full of ideas and suggestions to speed up your activities and still do them as you’re supposed to, is lifehack.org
There is a book by David Allen that deals with it extensively, and a growing number of websites dedicated to the topic. One of my favourites is PigPog Creativity Wiki, where you find lots of practical information about creative iving, things to make and to do, creative tools and other inspirational sections.
You will probably find some good advice reading the articles you find in this website.
There is also a section in OfficeZealot dedicated to Getting things done, with plenty of articles, links, templates...
And yet another website full of ideas and suggestions to speed up your activities and still do them as you’re supposed to, is lifehack.org
22.5.05
Daily Pic 34: Bracing waters (or: famous last words)
Our Daily Pic 34 at Flickr, titled “Bracing waters (or: famous last words)” illustrates the Aquatic theme in Illustration friday. The drawing, an ink original, is taken from our original Whimsies series.
13.5.05
Daily Pic 33: Nourishment
Posted as a “Nourishment” theme submission to Illustration Friday, this image belongs to the Psycho Paths Dingbat. If you wish to get a bigger version, just click on this miniature and you will be carried to my Flickr page, with the Daily Pic project.
The cartoon images contained in this dingbat are really silly; if you feel like using it it’s a free download: help yourself.
I have added a little texture, using a freeware plugin set for Photoshop-compatible applications called Virtual Photographer.
9.5.05
Goreyography
For all Edward Gorey fanatics out there, Goreyography is a comprehensive resource to his bizarre and fascinating world. Including bibliography, news, links to other Gorey-related sites, fonts and more, Goreyography is the perfect entry point to a new fan and long-time connoiseurs of Gorey alike.
And if you still don’t know who Gorey is, grab a copy of the anthologies Amphigorey and Amphigorey Too, two nice compilations of his illustrated books. Of course, if you search Amazon or eBay for “Gorey” you will get many more titles, including reeditions, posters, essays, illustrated covers and more.
And if you still don’t know who Gorey is, grab a copy of the anthologies Amphigorey and Amphigorey Too, two nice compilations of his illustrated books. Of course, if you search Amazon or eBay for “Gorey” you will get many more titles, including reeditions, posters, essays, illustrated covers and more.
6.5.05
Illustration friday pic: Mischief
A new illustration for the theme of the week in Illustration Friday.This time I admit I’ve been lazier, because the image comes more or less straight from my Absurdies 3 dingbat, with the little colour touch. Anyway, this was great fun in the old days (with apologies to that window pane owner!)
There was an easier alternative to the stone thrower: a simple elastic band and a small metal piece. We used to take bits from old porch curtains. They were an easy to wear ammunition that you carry on your pocket, charge and shut in no time. I still don’t know why most of the boys didn’t lose en eye or two...