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Film & Video

5 Websites For Free Stock Videos

Discover the best sites for downloading free footage to use for your video projects These are the top sites for downloading free stock videos to use in whatever project you’re currently working, be it audiovisual or web. All of the sites we’re recommending are free both for personal and commercial use, and some of them even offer photography, music, sound, and motion graphics content as well. Among their libraries, you will discover footage in 4K and a range of aerial shots that have been captured by drones or using time-lapse, as well as archives that you can search by category or using tags. Life of Vids This free selection offers videos, clips, and loops without any copyright restrictions, to use for both personal and commercial projects. The footage includes a range of shots of the great outdoors, the workplace, aerial shots, food, cities, people, and more. The only thing they do ask is to limit redistribution across other websites and, providing you’re happy to, credit the authors. You can upload your own footage as well.
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Design

Books to Inspire Your Personal Projects

We review a set of readings featuring Ji Lee, creative director of Facebook and Instagram, that will inspire you to turn your creative ideas into personal projects Ji Lee (@jilee) is an artist who works in many media (Photoshop, installation, street art, product design, illustration, video, photography, among others). Ji is passionate about working on personal projects, and they have hugely benefited his personal life and professional career. Among these are the Bubble Project, Word as Image, and Drawings for My Grandchildren.
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Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

Download a Free Escher-inspired Typeface, by Manolo Guerrero

The Mexican designer has created a typeface from the alphabet he designed for 36 Days of Type and he’s sharing it for free 36 Days of Type–the challenge that invites graphic creators from around the world to design an alphabet, making one letter a day for over a month and publishing it on their Instagram profiles–is an incredible opportunity to get inspired and see how others approach the same brief in a completely different way, adapting it to their own styles and skills. It’s also the perfect breeding ground for projects like this typeface by Manolo Guerrero (@bluetypo), the Mexican graphic designer who heads Blue Typo who has shared it completely free for anyone who wants to use it. It’s a completely experimental typeface with which Guerrero wanted to play with perspective, creating a design reminiscent of Escher’s most interesting work.
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Design

What is a Graphic Designer?

Renowned designer Sagi Haviv reflects on the three essential characteristics of a modern designer Sagi Haviv (@sagi) is a partner and designer for the famous branding and design studio, Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. The Animal Planet, US Open and Conservation International logos are among Haviv’s biggest designs. This influential and legendary designer has launched a course on Domestika focused on how to develop your own voice as a designer. Here are his thoughts on what exactly a graphic designer is. A designer must be multi-skilled You might think the work of a designer consists of simply organizing certain elements on the computer so that they are pleasant to the eye. However, Haviv asserts that a good designer must master a series of skills. They should understand drawing and typography, computers and clients, and resolve numerous problems, among other things. Their most important skill, however, is to be able to keep coming up with new ideas. This is the heart of their work: creativity.
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Design

Susan Kare: an Iconic Career

Susan Kare is the artist and graphic designer famous for creating icons and typefaces for, arguably, the best-known computer in the world There was a time, not too long ago, when computers were the domain of programmers alone. When the machines eventually made the transition to our own homes, they needed to become accessible and easy to use. They needed a new visual language to be understood by the masses. Every day we come across hundreds of icons and designs on our computers and cell phones, and we’ve built quite an expectation for high definition graphics on our devices. Let’s learn how this came about.
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Marketing

5 Tips on Social Media Communication in Quarantine #StayAtHome

Content marketing expert Reina Rodríguez shows us how to get the right tone for your posts, strengthening you and your brand’s image Weird times these, unprecedented for most. It seems the only thing normal about quarantine is our need to communicate, stay informed, or—equally legitimate—combat boredom on social media. However, should you to get your tone wrong, you could end up accidentally upsetting your followers with your message. To understand what language to use or avoid, and how to make the most of the situation we find ourselves in to strengthen your social media presence, we’ve spoken with expert communicator Reina Rodríguez, who teaches the Domestika course Content Marketing for Social Media. She gave us her top 5 tips for getting the tone of your posts just right.
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Art

You Now Have 2.8 Million Free Images to Use on Your Projects

The Smithsonian Institution releases millions of high-resolution images from across its collections into the public domain The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum and research complex, a must-see attraction in Washington D.C. that documents the history and heritage of the United States while also highlighting the world's natural and cultural diversity. The collection held in its vault is, by all accounts, staggering. It is estimated to have nearly 155 million pieces altogether, including more than 146 million artifacts and specimens at the National Museum of Natural History. The Institution has started digitizing its entire catalog, a process that will take years to complete. Less than 25% of it has been digitized thus far! The site offers high-resolution 2D images and 3D models, as well as research datasets and collections metadata. The Smithsonian's 19 museums, research centers, libraries, and even the National Zoo have contributed. The database includes content across the arts, sciences, history, culture, and design, from portraits of American historical figures to 3D scans of dinosaur skeletons.
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Teacher Photography

Tutorial: How to Cut an Image in Photoshop in Less Than 5 min

Learn how to cut out objects from photos using the Polygonal Lasso Tool in Adobe Photoshop, and get them ready to animate in After Effects Photoshop–the most popular editing software in the world–is the best tool for cutting out objects or figures from photos. Once the selected part of the photo has been cut out, you can add any background, correct mistakes, or apply it to other images to create a collage. Today, we share a step-by-step guide, which is suitable even for those who are new to Photoshop. Given that the edges of an animated object needn’t be perfect, this is a great exercise for those who haven’t used this technique before and need some practice.
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Art

Don’t Miss: BBC Culture in Quarantine

The BBC's Culture in Quarantine is delivering a new program of art and culture to Brits at home In challenging times, art and culture have the power to unite, inspire reflection, and offer solace. Since museums, theaters, cinemas and other cultural venues across Britain closed their doors in March as a result of the national lockdown, the BBC has been collaborating with organizations and individuals–from the Tate Modern and the Royal Shakespeare to writer Margaret Atwood and scholar Mary Beard–to deliver an eclectic mix of art and culture to the public at home. The BBC’s Culture in Quarantine Festival grants access to shuttered exhibitions and performances, festivals which have turned virtual, as well as new work, offering a rich program available to consume via the BBC: online, on television, or over the radio. "It’s important during this period that we maintain access not just to news and information, but to the arts and culture. For many people, they are a valuable part of their lives and a way of stimulating imagination, thought, and escapism. It’s a vital part of who we are as individuals and part of our identity as a nation,” said Director-General Tony Hall. Here, we pick some of the highlights from the program that are sure to not only entertain but inspire.
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Photography

Spark AR: Create Filters for Facebook and Instagram Stories

Learn to merge the real world with the virtual world, creating unique experiences with your designs Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories offer infinite options for all sorts of projects. You’re probably already familiar with filters, having used them regularly to enhance images and videos. But do you know which software you can use to create your own? Now, everyone can create their own filters thanks to Spark AR, an intuitive app that can transform your illustrations into augmented reality filters.
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Art

Sketchbook: 5 Great Masters Who Sketched

Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt and Goya all sketched before their masterpieces Seeing them hung in art galleries around the world, it can seem that the most important paintings in the world came out of nowhere. However, the creative process is often far more important, the tests and mistakes, in creating something really great. Many of the greatest artists in history would take their sketchbooks everywhere, drawing whatever interested them. Behind every masterpiece, there is an entire life of practice. See in the video below five of the biggest artists who also sketched.
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Illustration

5 Procreate Timelapses to Inspire Your Illustration and Lettering Projects

Observe, enjoy and learn with these time-lapses on illustration and digital lettering A timelapse is a video that compresses many hours or days into just a few seconds or minutes. It is ideal for sharing creative processes related to illustration, design or lettering. Aware of this fact, Procreate added a function that allows you to record your work process, save it as a video file and easily share it on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram. At Domestika we love observing and learning from the best professionals and these timelapses have become the perfect way to discover their way of working. On the Domestika YouTube channel, you will find a playlist with exclusive timelapses made by a range of artists. Here, we recommend just five by some of the professionals who teach courses on our platform: Creating Characters From Scratch, with Microbians (@microbians) Gabriel Suchowolski, better known as Microbians, is a creative and art director specializing in character design. In this speed painting, he shows how to create an attractive character composition in Procreate, from the skeleton and the first sketch to the work of light and shadow, application of color and gradients, and the variation of lines.
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Teacher Craft

How to Embroider Hair in Less Than 4 min (TUTORIAL)

Learn to use the nuance stitch and different tricks and techniques to create hair for embroidery portraits with Bugambilo Hair is something so fine, with so many shades, colours, shapes, and movements that it can be difficult to embroider it realistically. In this tutorial, Bugambilo goes over a series of techniques and tips for drawing hair with thread. So prepare your mouliné thread and needle and let's go.
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Music & Audio

How to Set up a Sound Recording Studio at Home

Advice for recording and producing your own audio projects at home Whether you work in audiovisual, music, or a specialized area of audio production, going that extra mile will not only help you stand out amongst the competition but will make your experiences more enjoyable and improve the quality of the work you produce. Where and how best to record audio at home is one of the first hurdles those looking to develop their own audio projects are currently facing (whether you’re looking to launch your first-ever podcast or to improve the quality of your video projects). While the amount of money and time you invest in a home studio is entirely your choice, it’s important for you to consider the following information before you decide for certain that you want to go ahead.
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Teacher Photography

Domestika Projects: Time Management Disorder

Discover the creative process behind Dorin Olaru in this self-portrait photo project
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Teacher Domestika

Share Your Sketchbook with the Community

Stimulate your creativity and share your work Creativity does not belong to a select few. We all have the potential to create and it is very important to foster that power since in doing so we are developing our imagination, intellectual curiosity, self-esteem, ability to solve problems, and many other things. Many people use a sketchbook to dump the ideas that spring into their minds, and it becomes their little treasure. We invite you to show us your creativity in this initiative: share your favorite page from your sketchbook, regardless of the technique used: it can be doodles, sketches, collage, photographs, lettering, illustrations, as long as it’s important for you and you want to share it.
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Teacher Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

Calligraphy Tutorial: How to Care for Your Tools

Learn the techniques to clean, dry, and keep your calligraphy tools in great condition with Bego Viñuela When we finish our work, the last thing we might want to do is clean our tools. However, while our work dries, we have to clean and take care of our them. Calligrapher Bego Viñuela shares how to maintain our brushes, brush pens and watercolor palettes so they last longer.
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Illustration

Three Watercolor Timelapses to Boost Your Creativity

Discover different watercolor techniques in these speed painting videos Watercolor is one of the oldest illustration mediums. Almost everyone who has ever been interested in drawing and painting has practiced it. By diluting pigments in water, it is possible to create stains of enormous depth and beauty, which have been part of our cultural heritage for millennia. We share these three timelapses that will allow you to discover the work process of great creatives, or simply relax and enjoy the care and affection that they put into their strokes. Timelapse: Illustrating with Watercolor and Procreate, by Naranjalidad
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Art

Four Initiatives to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

If you’re experiencing creator’s block during quarantine, here are four initiatives to get your juices flowing Most creatives would agree that the best source of inspiration is to go out into the world and make observations, so what happens when you are stuck staring at the same four walls every day? If you’re experiencing creator’s block during lockdown, know that you are not alone. It’s OK to not be at the top of your game right now. This is a challenging time. So, first things first: give yourself a break. Being housebound will affect everyone in different ways–perhaps you are dealing with increased anxiety, feeling lethargic, and/or struggling to concentrate on work. You don’t have to be productive right now. But if you are itching to create and are not sure where to start, look to the creative community for support and inspiration. Right now, lots of brands and organizations are reaching out to their followers and the wider creative community to unite artists and inspire them to get started on different creative projects by setting fun tasks and launching competitions. So if you’re stuck for ideas, here are four initiatives that are sure to get your creative juices flowing.
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Marketing

Discover the Dos and Don'ts of Instagram with Dot Lung

Do you want to make better use of your Instagram account to grow your following? Dot Lung, Mother of Social Media Dragons, gives us 3 Do’s and 3 Don’ts for Instagram to gain more followers and grow your social media presence Like other social networks, Instagram has become a perfect place to show our talents as creatives or promote our brand, but it is important to know the rules by which the platform is governed. To reach more people or, rather, reach those people who interest us the most: this is the obsession of many Instagram accounts. Do you want to take better advantage of your Instagram account to build a greater audience? Dot Lung (@dotlung), specialist in social networks, gives us 3 Do’s and 3 Don’ts for Instagram. Discover them in the following video:
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Illustration

The Greatest Albums Covers By The Man Who Defined The Jazz Look

David Stone Martin is the album cover artist who defined how jazz looked for the greats for Astaire, Coltrane, Fitzgerald, and dozens of other jazz greats He’s the only artist who worked with Fred Astaire, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and many more jazz greats without ever recording as much as a ditty. You might now know David Stone Martin’s name, but he made it onto the cover of Time Magazine eight times. Nowadays, record collectors scour stores searching for his work, not to listen to it, but to see it. Martin is perhaps the most iconic designer of jazz record sleeves of all time. His signature hand-sketched graphics, with just one or two bright colors, epitomized the sharp energy and spontaneity of the world of jazz.
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Design

Interview with Ji Lee, Creative Director at Facebook and Instagram

Lee explains the importance of personal projects and the power of actions over ideas Ji Lee gave us this interview to speak about how personal projects have influenced his career. Ji Lee strongly believes in the transformative power of personal projects and taking action on ideas that can feed your creativity and give life to your day to day. Lee also believes we are in the best era for creatives thanks to the democratization of technology and access to the internet. After eight years as Facebook and Instagram’s creative director, and Google’s creative director before that, Lee’s work is currently focused on helping brands and agencies create different kinds of campaigns for smartphones.
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Teacher Illustration

Photoshop Tutorial: How to Flatten Your Character

Learn the steps and techniques to color your illustrations on Adobe Photoshop, with Joel Santana Where do we start coloring our new character, once we've decided on how it will look? How do we choose the right color palette to communicate its personality? How can we apply all this to its digital illustration? Character design specialist Joel Santana (@themaddhattr) shows us how to color our creations with Photoshop, using the flattening technique, in the following video tutorial:
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Photography

Domestika Maestros: Viki Ospina

A pioneer of Colombian photojournalism, her camera has captured the last 50 years of the country's history When Viki Ospina started taking photographs, being a photojournalist and a woman were almost incompatible. Still, working alongside other photographers who struggled for decades to claim their role in the world, she managed to find a place for women in this profession. Along the way, Ospina also captured all the contradictions of the recent history of Colombia through the lens of her camera. The photographer meets us in her studio to enlighten us with all her wisdom, accumulated over decades of constant work. Passionate about capturing the true essence of things, and about transmitting everything she learned throughout her extraordinary career, Ospina reviews the most important moments of her life in the following video.
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Craft

How to Transfer an Embroidery Design to Fabric with Solvent

Florula shows you her technique for transferring your embroidery designs to fabric with solvent, step by step One of the most important steps in embroidery is printing your design onto fabric. There are many ways to do it. Here, we show you one of Mexican designer and textile artist Elidé Rangel Soto’s (@florula) favorites. She specializes in embroidered lettering and always uses this technique: transfer with solvent.
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Art

10 Artists Who Were Inspired By Their Cats

Meet the artists whose cats inspired their masterpieces From drawing to architecture, we have composed a list of ten cat-loving artists who used their felines as sources of inspiration. As all cat-lovers know, the lives of these artists were deeply connected to that of their pets: they roamed their studios, interrupted their work, and often, served as models and parts of their studio production. Edward Gorey The American illustrator Edward Gorey, famous for his macabre and dark sense of humor, said that his greatest loves were his cats. He looked after them for more than 60 years, and on his death, he gave most of his wealth to an animal care organization. In this video, animated by Benjamin and Jim Wickely, Gorey himself speaks of his love of cats.
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Marketing

5 Courses to Get Your Project or Personal Brand Online

If you have an idea, share it with the world. We show you how to create a webpage from scratch and ensure your project has an online presence.
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Design

The Path to Establishing an Independent Studio, by BASA

Creativity and hard work have led to success in this Mexican multidisciplinary studio Success, defeat, achievements, and failures are pillars of our training as professionals. That is why we talked with Diego Huacuja "Deachete", an illustrator and animator who, since 2010, is also the director of BASA, a studio located in Mexico City. BASA has become a well-known name all around the world thanks to projects ranging from music festivals and art for events and music videos to animations for TV stations such as ESPN and Discovery Channel or collaborations with human rights organizations. We spoke with Diego about the origin of the studio, the problems they faced in establishing a customer base, and the learning involved in achieving a solid workflow as an independent studio in the world of illustration, design, and animation:
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Craft

What is Latch Hooking and Locker Hooking?

Discover these two embroidery techniques that can create a multitude of decorative objects Latch hooking and locker hooking are two modern textile techniques that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century that allow the creation of a wide variety of things, from tapestries to pillows and mats. Colors and textures are brought together by weaving wool and other materials into a mesh. Mariana Baertl (@marianabaertl) is a Peruvian textile artist who specializes in the creation of woven and embroidered pieces for interior decoration who is an expert in these two techniques. Her main source of inspiration is the natural and organic world. All her pieces are made by hand with fibers from across the world.
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Film & Video

The First Special Effects: From Méliès to Marvel

Discover the technology behind the first special effects in history Destroyed cities, explosions, aliens: nothing is impossible in the world of special effects. We're used to seeing practically anything imaginable on our screens. They're not only for action movies either: almost all films use digital elements to simplify production. But this isn't the end of "true cinema": film has always been a visual spectacle filled with special effects. Discover in the video below how the first special effects were made:
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