Tips

Creatives share their best tips and tricks for making your projects more professional.

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  • Three Ways to Mix Watercolors
    Illustration

    Three Ways to Mix Watercolors

    Learn three methods for mixing watercolors to create different colors and effects, with Alex Hillkurtz One of the many reasons for watercolor’s popularity is the freedom and experimentation that it affords. Beyond the technique you use when putting brush to paper, the way you mix your colors offers an opportunity to add your own personality to the page. In this video, storyboard and watercolor artist Alex Hillkurtz (@alexhillkurtzart) shows three easy methods for mixing watercolors to create different colors and effects.

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  • The First Steps to Tell Children's Stories
    Illustration

    The First Steps to Tell Children's Stories

    Illustrator and author Estelí Meza presents you with an exercise to create and organize the initial ideas of any story Estelí Meza (@estelimu) is an author and illustrator of children's books, book covers and magazines, working acrossMexico, Spain, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. She is an expert in creating engaging stories and has worked for publishers such as Scholastic, Anaya, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Kalimat, and Penguin Random House. She has created an exercise which will help you learn successful storytelling steps, regardless of where your story is destined for.

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  • How to needle felt a rotten apple with a worm
    Craft

    How to needle felt a rotten apple with a worm

    Maria Filipe Castro, better known as Droolwool, teaches you how to create a rotten apple with a worm for Halloween This rotten apple with worm is an art toy that is part of the Apple & Worm series by Droolwool (@droolwool). This year, she's taken inspiration from Halloween to create a new, scarier version. To recreate this piece, you will need wadding, carded wool in four different colors, and felt needles of different sizes, with one thick and the other one thinner. The colors you use are up to you, so feel free to customize your piece and pick ones that you like. Follow these simple steps to create your own needle felted rotten apply with a worm:

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  • This Game Will Help You to Improve Your UI Skills
    Teacher Design

    This Game Will Help You to Improve Your UI Skills

    Designing an excellent interface is an achievable goal, you just have to train your eye to observe detail Aside from their technique and expert knowledge, a great UI designer stands out for their attention to detail. A bad kerning, a misaligned object, or an inadequate icon has no chance of slipping by them. Training your eye to appreciate the details and differences between a perfect design and a flawed one takes years of experience and observation. Fortunately, there are many fun ways to improve, such as playing Can’t Unsee–a web game for improving your UI skills. A reinvented classic The user is presented with two images, seemingly identical, and has to identify the differences and select the better design based on its appearance. The game’s name, “Can’t Unsee,” couldn’t be more fitting. Once you’ve discovered the error, your eyes will be drawn to it.

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  • The Importance of Storyboarding in Animation
    3D & Animation

    The Importance of Storyboarding in Animation

    Designer Roberto Puig talks about the importance of using storyboards and animatics in animation projects Storyboarding is an integral process in the development of animation. It includes all the planned details of the piece, and it is a clear and detailed document of the ultimate result. Despite its importance, many professionals and animation studios jump this step of the process. Roberto Puig (@rpuig)—graphic designer and director of Don Porfirio studio—highlights how this step is fundamental and gives us some tips on how to execute it best. Why is storyboarding important? The main reason all animation projects must include a storyboard is to help us achieve exceptional outcomes. It also ensures that everyone involved in the production has a vision of the product from the start, including the client. It is also useful for organizing all the individuals' jobs and tasks within the animation project pipeline. These tasks can be assigned from the beginning, even before the project is in development. Furthermore, during the storyboard stage, our client can suggest any changes that can be easily applied. This would be more complex at a later stage.

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  • Tips for Digitizing Your Sketches
    PLUS Teacher Design

    Tips for Digitizing Your Sketches

    Camipepe shares advice for digitizing your sketches in Illustrator After you’ve developed the concept for a project–whether it be graphic design, lettering, or illustration project–it’s best to get your ideas down on paper in the form of a sketch. Once you’ve done this, the next step is to convert it into a digital illustration. In this blog post, design and illustration duo Camipepe (@camipepe) shares their top tips for simplifying this process and improving your workflow in Adobe Illustrator:

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  • Transfer a Drawing to Fabric With This Simple Method
    Teacher Craft

    Transfer a Drawing to Fabric With This Simple Method

    Learn a simple method to transfer your drawings to fabric to be able to embroider them easily When starting to embroider, no matter what method we want to use, having a pattern helps us know where to work, especially if we are just starting out. A common option is to transfer a drawing to fabric and then use it as a reference for our stitches. In the following video, the designer, embroiderer and art director Koral Antolín (@koralantolin) shows us a simple method step by step to transfer our drawings to fabric and embroider them easily. Discover it below:

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  • 5 Free Classes to Boost Your Procreate Skills
    Teacher Illustration

    5 Free Classes to Boost Your Procreate Skills

    Discover all the secrets of Procreate from illustration experts who work with the app daily The future of digital illustration is without a doubt leaning towards Procreate, the iPad drawing app that has become a favorite of creatives and artists throughout the world. Although it is quite intuitive, this software includes tools that might be new to you and these five free Procreate lessons will help you improve your illustrations. To watch each lesson, just click on the title in red and enjoy!

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  • Type Illustration: Transform Your Inspiration
    Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

    Type Illustration: Transform Your Inspiration

    How to transform your reference images into graphics for your next type illustration project Type illustration has existed for centuries: woodcut initials are some of the earliest examples, which can be found in medieval books and old bibles. Some are so detailed that they are like small stand-alone works of art. Combining type and illustration is a powerful tool that can captivate our attention and convey a message. It can transform the meaning of a word because not only are you reading it, you are seeing it. “As soon as you start to illustrate a word, you give it some special kind of feeling,” says Birgit Palma (@birgitpalma), a Barcelona-based artist specializing in illustration and lettering. “You can make the word stronger, but you can also destroy the word, depending on the type of illustration you use.” Illustrated type can send subliminal messages that convey an impactful meaning.

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  • How to Get a Job that Works for You in the New Normal
    Marketing

    How to Get a Job that Works for You in the New Normal

    We spoke to the work-from-home maestro, Foncho Ramírez-Corzo, about how to make the new normal work for you Working from home was already growing in popularity before the global pandemic hit, confinement merely sped up its trajectory, according to the incessantly smiley Foncho Ramírez-Corzo (@cholutions). The consultant and entrepreneur, who teaches the Domestika course, Home Office: Working from Home Successfully, shared some tips, tricks, and philosophies that will help you or your business stand out in the market and help anyone make the new normal work for them. Whether you’re out of a job or adapting your current one to new circumstances, his perspective will make your situation feel a lot more hopeful.

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  • Brainstorming for Developing Audio Visual Script Writing Projects
    Writing

    Brainstorming for Developing Audio Visual Script Writing Projects

    Use a practical exercise to play with ideas and create memorable stories What do all books, movies, TV series, and comics you enjoy have in common? Possibly the fact they are all based on an unforgettable tale, no matter how complex or straightforward the story will be developed visually. Alejandra Moffat (@alemoffat) has written scripts for features, animation, and documentary films featured in festivals such as the Berlinale or the Havana Film Festival. Here, she will share a simple brainstorming method to get your ideas into an audiovisual project.

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  • Turn Your Designs Into Products You Can Sell
    Illustration

    Turn Your Designs Into Products You Can Sell

    Mike Sandoval shares some tips that will help you turn your designs into products people want to buy Whether you are thinking of creating a line of T-shirts with your illustrations or just want your designs to flood the streets as stickers, these tips are for you. Mexican illustrator and graphic designer Mike Sandoval (@mike_sandoval_) has transformed his work into silkscreen prints, T-shirts, prints, bags, pins, skateboards, stickers and any other product you can imagine. These years of experience have helped him realize what any creative should consider if he wants to turn his designs into successful merchandising. Define your style We are not talking only in terms of aesthetics, but also about the themes you focus on, as well as the causes you support with your designs or illustrations. In order to market products with your design in them, it is highly recommended that potential buyers recognize your work as yours. Having a clearly defined style is essential.

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  • Exercise: How to Add Realistic Lighting to Your Illustrations
    Illustration

    Exercise: How to Add Realistic Lighting to Your Illustrations

    Learn how to add realism and volume to your illustrations with this simple exercise by Óscar Lloréns Light is, without a doubt, one of the most essential elements of any illustration. Understanding how it behaves in nature will make your creations look more realistic and professional. Illustrator Óscar Lloréns (@ollorens) shares some tips that you can use to play with the different light sources in your illustrations, so you can give the desired volume and depth to the objects you draw.

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  • How to Create Shapes using the Shape Builder Tool in Illustrator
    Illustration

    How to Create Shapes using the Shape Builder Tool in Illustrator

    Learn to use the Shape Builder tool in Adobe Illustrator and make your workflow easier While it might not be the most well-known tool that you Adobe Illustrator has to offer, it is very useful for working with vectors. The Shape Builder tool allows you to create complex figures using basic geometric shapes and work quickly with different design types. This tool is very straight-forward and easy to use. Once you get to grips with how it works, you’ll be able to work out how to create perfect shapes very quickly using the tools offered by Adobe Illustrator. Here we explain how to use the Shape Builder tool to create shapes in Adobe Illustrator:

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  • How to Create a Great Email Marketing Campaign
    Marketing

    How to Create a Great Email Marketing Campaign

    Learn how email marketing works and how to create an effective newsletter, with strategy and marketing director Nestor Tejero A decade ago, you might have thought that emails were going out of fashion: everyone has a phone with WhatsApp or Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or any one of the many messaging applications designed to suit your needs and tastes. However, emails have managed to grow with the cellphone. In 2017, 55% of all emails were read on a mobile device, up from 29% in 2012. Email’s ability to get your message directly into the pockets of your customers is unparalleled and, with the number of people with email addresses set to rise to 4.3 billion by 2023, there aren’t many people who you won’t be able to reach. Today, emails are bigger than ever and strategy and marketing director at the email marketing agency Agencia Reinicia, Nestor Tejero, who teaches the Domestika course, Introduction to E-Mail Marketing With Mailchimp, has shared these simple tips and tricks to creating your own email marketing campaign.

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  • How to Choose a Ceramic Piece to Decorate
    Teacher Craft

    How to Choose a Ceramic Piece to Decorate

    Patricia Lázaro, founder and designer of Chichinabo Inc, shows us how to choose the ideal surface to decorate with ceramic decals Creating objects full of style and personality, whatever the craft discipline, is obviously fashionable. Ceramic decoration lets you leave your mark on everyday objects that makes them stand out.

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  • 7 Tips to Make Your Next Live Broadcast a Success
    Marketing

    7 Tips to Make Your Next Live Broadcast a Success

    Get more engagement from your followers when doing live transmissions A live broadcast allows content creators to connect with their audience more deeply and interactively. Recently, the format has gained traction thanks to international quarantine measures and the fast paced and meaningful interaction it enables. This inspired us to collect some useful tips that will guarantee better engagement. Notify your followers Illustrator Carlos Rodríguez Casado (@carlosrodriguezcasado) did Lives almost every day during the COVID-19 confinement in Spain and, in addition to becoming one of his favorite ways to connect with his audience, he learned a lot about how to make them work. Carlos' first piece of advice is to announce a Live session in advance with a Story slide that specifies the date and time: "The more attractive the design, the better. I'd also recommend using the countdown sticker, since it's very visual." This tip may sound obvious, but many people forget the importance of notifying their followers in advance about when and on which platform the live transmission will be on. Don't make just one announcement. Make several posts on your social networks, reminding everyone of the day and time it will take place.

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  • Practical Exercise: Freehand Negative Drawing
    Illustration

    Practical Exercise: Freehand Negative Drawing

    Learn to invert color by hand with this technique from Amadeo Gonzales Amadeo Gonzales (@amadeog77) is an illustrator, drawer, lecturer, and self-taught musician. He is the creator of Carboncito, a magazine filled with graphic arts and comic strips that, since 2001, has published the work of a wide range of contemporary Latin American artists. Amadeo has also published a variety of fanzines, including Tránsito intestinal, Actitú records, Bandas inexistentes records, Frustrazine and Nervenzusammenbruch.

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  • Essential Shortcuts for Mastering Adobe Camera Raw
    Photography

    Essential Shortcuts for Mastering Adobe Camera Raw

    Speed ​​up your photography workflow with these Adobe Camera Raw shortcuts Raw photos are non-processed images, files that contain all the information that your camera is capable of capturing. One of the best tools for importing and editing these raw images is Adobe Camera Raw, a native Adobe plug-in for working with Raw files in both Photoshop and Lightroom, and a tool that has become indispensable for professional photographers. It is advisable to use Camera Raw whenever you are working with these types of files since its purpose is to recover all the information that the camera saved for processing the image. Then, you will be able to use any Photoshop or Lightroom editing tool on it. To increase your productivity when using the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in, use these basic keyboard shortcuts, and download a PDF file below.

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  • 7 Dos and Don'ts for High Impact Presentations
    Design

    7 Dos and Don'ts for High Impact Presentations

    Katya Kovalenko helps boost our presentations and projects with visual examples Katya Kovalenko (@katyakovalenko) is a presentation and data designer based in Barcelona. After working for advertising and communications agencies for ten years, she founded her own business, dedicated to helping small and medium-sized businesses convert their ideas into real brands around the world. Her work combines data analysis with aesthetics, as well as good practices in the use of data to build stories from visual resources. For her, this is the basis for building effective presentations.Today, she shares these design-related lessons that will help you create your own powerful materials to show the world your projects.

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  • Instagram Competitions and Giveaways: How to Use Hashtags Correctly?
    Marketing

    Instagram Competitions and Giveaways: How to Use Hashtags Correctly?

    Learn how to use Instagram hashtags to tag your content and monitor the results The first thing you should consider before learning how to hashtag correctly is what hashtags are. A hashtag is a label that allows us to find and monitor content. Practically everyone uses hashtags in their Instagram publications, but it is a particularly useful tool when talking about actions, contests, and lotteries run by brands, for example. Communication and social media strategist consultant Núria Mañé (@nuriacomunica) explains everything we need to know about using hashtags properly: Types of hashtags - Generic. They can be used by any user and usually have many associated publications. It is extremely difficult to monitor any content through them. Still, they are very useful to associate a profile, a brand, or a product with the most popular trends or hashtags. - Corporate or branded. They usually carry the name of the brand or project for which they have been created and are used to position a product or promotion. They can be specific, your own, or a campaign’s and are created to monitor the participation in an activity or a competition.

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  • Believe It or Not, UX Design Is a 6000-Year-Old Skill
    Design

    Believe It or Not, UX Design Is a 6000-Year-Old Skill

    What do Walt Disney, Leonardo Da Vinci, or Apple have in common? UX is behind some of their best creations UX, short for user experience, is one of the hottest fields in digital design. The exact definition of what it is will vary widely depending on who you ask, but a good way to sum it up is that UX is the process of designing a product or service that resonates with the user and their needs. Designer Ethan Parry (@ethanparry) has worked with major brands such as Meliá Hotels International, SEAT, and Dunia in this field. He has also led workshops for businesses such as KPMG, Accenture, El Corte Inglés, and Hola Magazine, so it is safe to say he is a real UX expert.

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  • What Is The Brush Pen?
    Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

    What Is The Brush Pen?

    Many calligraphers and lettering artists consider the brush pen their favorite tool. Today, we will explain to you what it is and how to choose one Used primarily in calligraphy, the brush pen is a favorite tool for those who work with letters. What is a brush pen, you say? It is a marker with a synthetic fiber tip that imitates a brush. This allows the artist to obtain different stroke thicknesses in a single movement, varying the pressure exerted on the paper and/or the inclination.

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  • The Importance of Taking Notes
    Illustration

    The Importance of Taking Notes

    Turn your intuition into a creative tool to give substance to your ideas and emotions with Fito Espinosa Fito Espinosa (@fitoespinosa) is a painter, illustrator, and ceramicist. During a career that spans 20 years, he has managed to create a fantastical universe of characters, mixing his ingenious style with his own ideas and philosophical reflections.

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  • Everyone's a Creative: Keys for Having Good Ideas
    Teacher Design

    Everyone's a Creative: Keys for Having Good Ideas

    We can learn from having good ideas, or at least we can have fun. Discover these keys for awakening your creativity Despite what many might think, creativity is something we are all born with. It doesn’t come from some god-given talent and it’s, without a doubt, something we can cultivate and exercise so it continues to flourish and work at full capacity. In the words of graphic designer and creative director Juan Carlos Fernández Espinosa (@jc_ideograma): "[Creativity] is developed like a muscle, it can be trained like a pet, and harvested like a well cultivated field.”

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  • Learn to Use Masking Fluid with Watercolor Paints
    Illustration

    Learn to Use Masking Fluid with Watercolor Paints

    Painter Ale Casanova teaches us how to create interesting effects with watercolor paints and masking fluid Leaving areas blank when painting with watercolors can be very complicated–just a drop too much water and the paint will run all over your page. This is where masking fluid comes in–it’s a liquid that enables you to protect areas of your drawing so that they stay clean and dry. Painter and teacher Ale Casanova (@alecasanova) shows us how to use this tool in our watercolor paintings so that we can achieve original effects, textures, and styles that enhance our final piece. Learn more below: To carry out this exercise, we will need: –masking fluid –an old toothbrush –a nib pen –watercolor paints, brushes, water, paper towels, a portrait to paint

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