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  • 5 Timelapses That Highlight Photoshop's Possibilities
    Illustration

    5 Timelapses That Highlight Photoshop's Possibilities

    Illustrated portraits, spectacular photomontages, and character design are some of the things Photoshop allows you to do You know it as the go-to app for photo retouching, but Adobe Photoshop offers endless possibilities that are impossible to cover at first glance. In this compilation of timelapses, you will discover some of the most incredible uses of this unmatched design and retouching program, which most professional illustrators and photo editors choose to work with. Drawing Grimes with Felixantos (@felixantos) Starting with a photograph of the famous singer and a blank canvas, illustrator Felixantos shows us the complete process of drawing a real-life character. Beginning with the main lines and then adding color, highlights, and shadows using the tools Photoshop offers, he finishes a portrait with caricaturesque touches that highlight Grimes's most striking features.

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  • 7 Artists Exploring Our Relationships With Our Screens
    Illustration

    7 Artists Exploring Our Relationships With Our Screens

    Seven powerful images exploring our relationships with screens and technology Screens. We have a love/hate relationship with them. While they are a window to an infinite world of information, tools, possibilities, and interactions, being dependent on our device can be harmful to our quality of life. While certain apps might make life easier and unlock a vault of creative potential, being bombarded by messages and alerts has been proven to increase stress. During lockdown, our dependency on our screens became even more intense. They provided tools to combat loneliness and stay connected to the world, while churning out overwhelming information and monopolizing our attention. Life events were shared over webcam–birthdays, bachelorette parties, even funerals–and cultural events were live-streamed to audiences watching from the comfort of their own sofas. Here we round up seven artworks that explore our relationships with screens, reflecting on both the good and the bad.

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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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  • What Is and How to Apply the Rule of Thirds in Illustration
    Illustration

    What Is and How to Apply the Rule of Thirds in Illustration

    For centuries, we have known that geometry plays a fundamental role in the composition of an image Throughout history, the golden number has been heralded and, in most visual and aesthetic terms, it can embody an almost mystical perfection. The Ancient Greeks explained everything sacred through geometry, art, and mathematics, using the golden ratio as a symbol of excellence and divinity; this ratio is constantly repeated in nature and has been replicated in art over the centuries.

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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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  • Tutorial Illustration: How to Use Shapes to Create Vector Drawings
    Teacher Illustration

    Tutorial Illustration: How to Use Shapes to Create Vector Drawings

    Learn the basics of how to draw over your original sketch using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, with Nathan Jurevicius Making the jump from a sketch to a digital illustration doesn’t have to be as daunting, or require as many tools, as you might think. Using just a mouse and the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, multidisciplinary artist Nathan Jurevicius (@nathanjurevicius) demonstrates how to create shapes which will serve as the building blocks for your vector drawings. In this video, learn how to add detail to your illustration using the pen tool, how to keep your workflow organized, and how to build on your original reference sketch.

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  • Textile Museum of Canada: Free and Unlimited Inspiration Online
    Teacher Art

    Textile Museum of Canada: Free and Unlimited Inspiration Online

    Explore fashion history from around the world through the Textile Museum of Canada’s digital collection Located in a modest neighborhood in Toronto, the Textile Museum of Canada was founded as a museum of carpets in 1975. Half a century later, it is one of the biggest textile museums in the world. Having digitized its entire collection, today it is a global reference, housing more than 15 thousand pieces that have been used throughout history by people from different places around the world. Its collection helps us better understand and appreciate the history of clothing and the customs and cultures of past and present civilizations. The museum’s collection includes every type of garment and item of fabric imaginable: uniforms used in ceremonies and rituals, carpets, blankets, bedding, hats, bags, and shoes. It’s an anthology that inspires and educates, not just when it comes to fashion, but any creative or scientific field, due to each piece’s historic significance.

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  • Keynote Tutorial: How to Create Basic Effects & Transitions
    Teacher Marketing

    Keynote Tutorial: How to Create Basic Effects & Transitions

    Learn how to apply effects and transitions to a Keynote presentation with Katya Kovalenko Across all industries, presentations are a necessary but potentially problematic format for sharing information. Offering an important opportunity to inform and influence an audience, if a presentation is prepared poorly, it can easily become boring and result in losing audience engagement. Thankfully, with just a few simple steps, it’s easy to create professional-looking presentations that help you share your message and get people interested. One popular tactic is using effects to create movement and add interest to slides, but not all effects (think, dizzying spinning transitions) are created equal. In this tutorial, presentation and data designer Katya Kovalenko (@katyakovalenko) demonstrates how to create basic effects and transitions within Keynote presentations.

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  • Domestika Diary: Caroline Kjellberg
    3D & Animation

    Domestika Diary: Caroline Kjellberg

    2D animator and motion designer Caroline Kjellberg talks us through her creative routine and life as a freelancer based in Bali Being far away from home during a global pandemic is a complicated situation to find oneself in. Danish animator and motion designer Caroline Kjellberg had to lengthen her stay in Bali as a result of lockdown measures, and she’s been working from there ever since. The multifaceted artist welcomes us into her house in Bali to talk us through her day-to-day routine working as a freelancer during unprecedented times. She also speaks about the advantages and disadvantages of working as a freelance creative, and shares advice for preventing professional exhaustion, which can set in if we don’t stick to a good routine. Discover more below:

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  • Apollo Program: a Universe of Photographs
    Photography

    Apollo Program: a Universe of Photographs

    Browse over 15 thousand images from NASA’s photo archive In 2004, the Johnson Space Center began digitizing the negatives of all of the images taken by NASA astronauts assigned to the Apollo Program. These images are property of the Project Apollo Archive–an initiative created in 1999 to compile all of the visual material from these missions and share with the world the emotion and historic moments that they document. Since then, NASA has been periodically updating the collection. Today, the Flickr account hosts nearly 16 thousand stunning images.

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  • What is Shibori?
    Craft

    What is Shibori?

    Discover this traditional Japanese technique for dyeing textiles Costume and textile designer Carolina Raggio (@carolina_45) reinterprets ancestral techniques to achieve modern results. Carolina is the creative director of her own eponymous brand, for which she develops timeless garments and accessories. In this blog, Carolina explains more about the history of this technique and how you can experiment with it to create unique designs and patterns.

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  • Free Download: Isotype Print Test Template
    Design

    Free Download: Isotype Print Test Template

    Use this tool to perfect your identity and branding projects Graphic designer Andres Ávila (@andresilustra)specializes in branding and is passionate about the world of visual identity. His day to day goes between development, conceptualization and brand design projects in which he helps brands gain relevance to their audience. He has worked with clients in the United States, Ireland, Bangladesh, Chile and Venezuela.

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  • The Adventure of Publishing Your First Children's Book, by Flavia Z Drago
    Illustration

    The Adventure of Publishing Your First Children's Book, by Flavia Z Drago

    We spoke with this talented Mexican illustrator about how she got her children's book published Flavia Z Drago (@flavia_zdrago) studied Graphic Design but specialized in illustration and children's books. She has illustrated more than ten books, a Hermès carré (scarf), a Frida Kahlo coffee pot, and cups for Chocolate Abuelita, among many other things. This year, Walker Books published her first book as an author and illustrator, titled Gustavo, the Shy Ghost, a dream that has haunted her for over a decade. We talked with her about her passion for storytelling, her influences, and the experience of preparing her first book.

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  • Domestika Maestros: Ouka Leele
    Photography

    Domestika Maestros: Ouka Leele

    Photographer and painter Ouka Leele uses reality to build new worlds of color and fantasy Should the photograph be a faithful reflection of reality or of the photographer's inner world? Maybe both? These kinds of questions have been asked of the art of capturing still images since its beginnings, giving rise to an infinite number of different photographic styles, depending on the philosophy of the person pressing the shutter. In the case of the photographer, painter, and artist Ouka Leele (Madrid, 1957), icon of Spain's cultural revolution in the 1980s and winner of the country's National Photography Prize, the answer to these questions might seem simple: Leele is known above all for her combination of photography and painting, for her black and white snapshots that she later painstakingly colors to obtain a new reality. A world apart. But she herself assures us that, if she does so, it is because those are the true colors of reality. We visited Ouka Leele in her studio in Madrid to learn about her particular photographic philosophy, go over the milestones of a fascinating career, and hear her advice to new generations of photographers. Discover her story in the video below:

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  • Mobile Photography Tutorial: How to Take Photos of Models with Natural Light
    Teacher Photography

    Mobile Photography Tutorial: How to Take Photos of Models with Natural Light

    Learn how to take professional photos at home with your mobile phone using natural light, with Nay Jiménez Although professional photographic equipment and studio lighting are ideal for a good photo shoot, we don't always have access to that kind of material. However, if we know how to take advantage of the resources we have, a smartphone and natural light may be enough to achieve professional results in our modeling photo sessions. That's why Nay Jiménez (@nayjimenez), a publicist and photographer specialized in art direction, has shared this series of keys to an at home photo shoot, with natural light, using only our smartphone. You can see the tutorial here:

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  • Product Photography: Flash Vs. Natural Light, Which One To Choose?
    Photography

    Product Photography: Flash Vs. Natural Light, Which One To Choose?

    Learn the advantages and disadvantages of working with natural light vs. flash when photographing products, especially if they have reflections Lighting is the key to perfect photography, and Martí Sans (@marti_sans), who discovered his calling as a product photographer while training as a chef, is an expert on the subject. As he says, photography allows him to control and take care of each ingredient to achieve an exquisite final product, and light is an essential factor. That’s why Martí has explained some of the pros and cons of working with natural light or flash when doing product photography. He also has some basic tips to achieve soft and hard lighting with any type of light.

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  • What is Fabric Marbling?
    Craft

    What is Fabric Marbling?

    Discover the secrets to this traditional technique that combines painting and design Fabric marbling is a process that involves floating paints on top of a thick solution. The paints are manipulated into patterns that are later transferred to an object. You can use this craft to dye fabrics and paper, while some people also use it to dye leather and ceramic pieces.

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  • What Is Calligraphy and What Is Lettering?
    Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

    What Is Calligraphy and What Is Lettering?

    Discover what these two handwriting techniques are and what sets them apart with TECK24 Confusing calligraphy with lettering is a common mistake: both techniques build unique and personalized letters; require a specific knowledge; and, to some extent, share tools and artists that make both. But calligraphy and lettering are not the same. In the following video, TECK24 (@teck24horas), graffiti artist and expert in the world of letters, explains the basics that will help us differentiate between calligraphy and lettering, two techniques that may look similar but are actually quite different. Discover the video below:

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  • Legendary Photos Taken on Leica Cameras
    Photography

    Legendary Photos Taken on Leica Cameras

    Discover the history of the Leica camera and how it changed the course of history For over 100 years, image-makers worldwide have documented decisive moments in history with a Leica in their hands. Wars, pop culture, the environment, the everyday... shot over decades, both on film and digitally. This is the story of the Leica camera and how it changed the course of history. Leitz and Oskar Barnack In the early 20th century, Leitz–founded in Wetzlar, Germany in 1849–was the world’s largest manufacturer of microscopes. In 1911, the company was looking for a new master mechanic to oversee research. Following a recommendation from a friend, Ernst Leitz II hired Oskar Barnack, whose subsequent work would revolutionize and shape the history of 20th-century photography.

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  • 7 Free Resources for Bloggers
    Web & App Design

    7 Free Resources for Bloggers

    Make the most of these online tools to improve your blog and reach the right audience For different industries and services, blogs are powerful allies when it comes to reaching your target audience. They allow you to communicate with potential clients and share products, creative processes, and future plans. Or, maybe you want to run one just because you enjoy sharing and exchanging ideas with other people working in the same sector as you. Discover seven resources that will help your blog grow without needing to be an expert in design, content marketing, or programming. Optimizing Images: Tinypng Tinypng will help you compress your images in JPG and PNG format without losing quality (in some cases you can achieve compressions of up to 70%). It’s always advisable to reduce the size of your photos so that your web page can load quicker. It has a Photoshop plugin (plus many other useful tools) that will allow you to preview your images and easily adjust their size.

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  • 5 Sumi-e Illustrators and Painters To Follow
    Illustration

    5 Sumi-e Illustrators and Painters To Follow

    Discover the books, artists, and films to add to your reference library for Japanese art Whether you already have a project in mind or are looking for ideas to inspire your next creation, getting to know and studying the work of other creatives will always help to awaken your imagination. Illustrators Mika Takahashi and Flor Kaneshiro share a selection of inspirational artists using Indian ink and watercolor to create Japanese-style illustration and sumi-e painting. Flor Kaneshiro’s Influences Flor Kaneshiro (@florkaneshiro) is an Argentinian illustrator specializing in traditional Japanese illustration. Her work features chiefly in video and editorial illustration projects.

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  • Meet Visual Development Artist Samuel Smith
    Illustration

    Meet Visual Development Artist Samuel Smith

    He worked as a color artist on Klaus, the animated film that tells a different version of the legend of Santa Claus Samuel Smith (@samuelsmith) is a French independent illustrator and visual development artist for animation. As a visual development artist, Samuel’s job is to translate the director’s vision into images, focusing specifically on light and color. He paints color keys–reference images that prioritize details such as lighting and material–that serve as guides for the lighting department so that they can work out how to light a certain scene. Color key artists have similar roles to background artists; however, they focus on these specific details. After studying at a 3D Art School, Samuel’s big break came when he was hired by SPA Studios in Spain to work on their first movie, Klaus, as a color artist. He spent a year and a half painting more than 450 color keys, learning a lot about light, cinematography, and movie-making.

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  • Domestika Diary: Hugo Barros Costa
    Illustration

    Domestika Diary: Hugo Barros Costa

    The Portuguese architect, illustrator, and urban sketcher takes us on a tour through the streets of the city he has called home for years, Valencia, taking us to the places that inspire him most First, there were the buildings, the attractive details of the facades, the lush roofs, and the ingenious solutions achieved by so many architects throughout history. Then, the surrounding landscape, the trees, the street benches, and public spaces. Finally, the people arrived: the everyday protagonists of the scenes that make a city come to life. For years, these elements have combined to broaden the vision of Portuguese architect Hugo Barros Costa (@yolahugo) in his home of Valencia, as an artist, an illustrator, and an urban sketcher. In the most recent episode of the Domestika Diaries series, Hugo takes us on a tour of the places in Valencia that inspire him to create the drawings that have brought him fame and exhibitions in many different countries, opening up his creative process to us. In addition to his work as an artist, he teaches at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universitat Politècnica de València and at the prestigious Parsons in New York. Discover more in the video:

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  • What is Photo Composition in Photography?
    Photography

    What is Photo Composition in Photography?

    Discover this type of photographic composition where the only limit is your own imagination Although, when we talk about photo composition, many will think of linotypes used in graphic arts, in photography, it has more to do with creative collage and photo retouching. What is photo composition? It is a photographic style that consists of creating images from several photographs. To obtain good results in photo composition, it is not necessary to use many media or extremely sophisticated cameras because the success of a good composition lies in the concept behind it. What is required are high-quality images and, above all, a good command of photographic retouching to ensure that, however unlikely the resulting photographs may be, the look is completely realistic and close to what a picture would look like without intervention.

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  • Materials for Building Scale Models
    Craft

    Materials for Building Scale Models

    Find out what materials are necessary to start building your own models with Julieta La Valle Whether it’s for an audiovisual project or an architectural one, models are one of the best ways to visualize a space. By reproducing an idea in three dimensions, even on a small scale, we can give form to our imagination and better understand the textures, proportions, and other elements of our concept. Sculptor, director, and art director Julieta La Valle (@julietalavalle) specializes in making miniature models for video and art projects. Below, she lists the materials you will need to make your own models.

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  • What Is Crowdfunding?
    Marketing

    What Is Crowdfunding?

    Learn about this practice that can help turn your big ideas into reality Over the last ten years, the concept of crowdfunding has evolved considerably, becoming one of the practices that generates the most funding around the world. In the beginning, it was a way to support a cause through donations. However, today, big projects have come into existence thanks to this practice: from music productions and films to the launching of start-ups that have revolutionized industries. Below, Juan del Cerro–a top promoter of entrepreneurship in Latin America and director of Disruptivo.tv (@disruptivotv)–talks through using this innovative method to make the most of your network of contacts and turn your big ideas into reality. What is it? Crowdfunding is a practice that allows you to finance projects with the support of entire communities. It is based on the idea that it is much more difficult to get one person to invest a huge sum than it is to get people from your intimate circle (including friends, family, collaborators, coworkers, followers, etc.) to support you with smaller sums that, when added together, meet the target you need to finance your project.

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