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  • 10 Female Geeks Who Changed History
    Design

    10 Female Geeks Who Changed History

    Celebrate the lives of ten women whose nerdy obsessions changed the world Those who show a lot of enthusiasm for niche subjects, solve problems quicker than everyone else, or prefer to spend their free time furthering passion projects instead of socializing, often get labeled "geeks". It is a word that has been used as an insult to banish a person or group of people to a particular corner of the school cafeteria and make them feel ashamed of their talents and achievements. However, being a geek is something to celebrate, which is exactly why Geek Pride Day was created in the late 90s/early 00s, held annually around the world on May 25. Geeks are usually gifted and unfazed by the idea of being different. Throughout history, their dedication to their specialist subjects has resulted in outstanding contributions being made to society. Today, we’re celebrating ten real-life women whose nerdy obsessions changed the world.

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  • How Ken Garland's Manifesto Impacted Generations of Designers
    Design

    How Ken Garland's Manifesto Impacted Generations of Designers

    We celebrate the British designer, writer, photographer, and teacher who wrote the legendary First Things First manifesto in 1964 As the world mourns the loss of Ken Garland (1929–May 20, 2021)–an influential talent who famously took a stand against consumerist culture–we look back on his legendary First Things First manifesto, which spoke about the importance of making a difference. Published in 1964, First Things First had 22 signatories and called for “a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication”. The designer wrote that using one's talents to sell trivial things like cat food, slimming diets, and striped toothpaste, “which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity”, was wasteful.

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  • Women Photograph: A World Catalog of 1300 Female Photographers
    Photography

    Women Photograph: A World Catalog of 1300 Female Photographers

    In a male-dominated industry, this website showcases female and non-binary talents in photojournalism Women Photograph is a non-profit organization launched in 2017 to give exposure to women and nonbinary individuals working in photojournalism. Its catalog includes more than 1300 independent photographers based in over 100 countries and serves media companies promoting equality and diversity within their workforce. Women Photograph offers financial support to various projects and tutoring programs and a yearly workshop for developing skills. It also provides a traveling fund to improve opportunities for professional development for underrepresented groups in the media industry. Read on to learn how this female photographers' organization came to be and how it is making an impact in photojournalism.

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  • Watch These 4 Animated Shorts By Belgian Filmmakers
    3D & Animation

    Watch These 4 Animated Shorts By Belgian Filmmakers

    These four stop-motion shorts are free to watch and present the magical world of animated storytelling One of Irish illustrator Kevin Waldron's (@kev_wally) favorite go-to sources of inspiration is a long list he has created of animated shorts from all over the world. These projects demonstrate a variety of styles and approaches and tell entertaining, moving, and inspiring stories–they are sure to spur your imagination, whatever format you usually work in. Today, Kevin spotlights four stop-motion shorts from his list, made in Belgium by director Guionne Leroy and directing and writing duo Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels. Watch below!

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  • 75 Sketch Shortcuts for UI Designers
    Web & App Design

    75 Sketch Shortcuts for UI Designers

    Learn these basic keyboard shortcuts for Sketch and speed up your UI design workflow in Windows and Mac Sketch is a pioneering program for UI design. Very intuitive, it offers endless possibilities, such as scaling graphics to different screen sizes or testing out your design directly on a device with just a few clicks. To fully master this program you will need to constantly practice. To make learning easier, you can use these 75 keyboard shortcuts. They will optimize your workflow and help you achieve professional results.

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  • The 6 Most Expensive Comics in the World
    Teacher Illustration

    The 6 Most Expensive Comics in the World

    Check out original artwork and first editions of comics that have sold for over a million dollars each The current NFT craze (NFTs are collectible certificates that certify the authenticity and exclusivity of a digital artwork, some of which have been selling for tens of millions of dollars over recent months) grew out of the obsession humans have with owning something unique and special. This, of course, also applies in the world of physical art. In January, the 1936 original Tintin cover for The Blue Lotus–the fifth volume in the legendary comic book series created by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé–sold for $3.84 million. The drawing–painted in gouache, watercolor, and Indian ink–is a much more elaborate version of the final printed cover, including Chinese characters, textures, and other details that were eventually removed. Hergé gave it to the seven-year-old son of his editor at the time, Jean-Paul Casterman, as a gift. It remained "forgotten" in a drawer for decades until it was discovered in the 1980s.

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  • Free SEO Checklist for Optimizing Your Website or Blog
    Teacher Writing

    Free SEO Checklist for Optimizing Your Website or Blog

    Do you want to make your website or blog search engine ready? Check out this checklist and start creating content When creating content for your website, whether it be blog posts or pages, you want to ensure it’s optimized for search engines. Following this checklist will ensure you do that. Alice Benham (@alice_benham) is a multi-hyphenate marketing and business coach who helps business owners grow their online presence using a value-driven strategy. In her course, she guides you through each step of crafting the ideal online strategy to level up your business for exponential growth.

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  • 5 Bullet Journals Accounts that Will Inspire Your Work
    Illustration

    5 Bullet Journals Accounts that Will Inspire Your Work

    Discover some inspiring bullet journal approaches to help you organize your life creatively Bullet journaling is a simple and creative way to help you organize your life. They are also a powerful tool for mindfulness and help you channel your creativity while keeping you centered, grounded, and productive. Annie Weir (@_a_journal_by_annie) is a Scottish artist who specializes in bullet journaling, a craft she discovered by chance on Instagram. Her background is in graphic design, which is where she learned that you could combine words, lettering, and images together on a page to create something striking and meaningful. Bullet journaling turned out to be another happy space for her love of lettering, illustration, and art, so much that she decided to start sharing it online in 2017. She created her first Instagram account, @ajournalbyannie, and quickly became one of the leading voices in the bullet-journaling online community.

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  • The 11 Most Popular Courses in May 2021
    Domestika

    The 11 Most Popular Courses in May 2021

    Discover the favorite courses of the Domestika community to learn and awaken your inspiration Every creative course spurs new ideas, but which ones have had the biggest impact on the Domestika community this month? It’s always interesting to find out the answer to this question as the results say a lot about current trends. Also, if you still haven't discovered your favorite artistic discipline, it's never too late: this blog post spotlights eleven practices you might like to try for yourself. This list explores illustration, embroidery, watercolor, and cake design techniques. If you prefer to work digitally, it also features courses for mastering programs like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Domestika's expert teachers will guide you every step of the way and share top tips and resources. Discover your passion and explore the latest creative techniques with the Domestika community’s top picks! Cake Design: Modern Decorating Techniques, a course by Julián Ángel Step into the fascinating world of creative pastry and cake decoration. Under the guidance of international cake design instructor Julian Angel, you will learn everything you need to know: sketching and designing, combining colors, creating textures, and decorating. You will also practice lighting and photography tricks that will help your cake stand out on social media.

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  • Free Guide: How to Draw the Oblique Projection Perspective
    Teacher Illustration

    Free Guide: How to Draw the Oblique Projection Perspective

    Do you want to add volume to your drawings using a simple perspective method? Check out this guide Mattias Adolfsson (@mattiasadolfsson) creates illustrations for magazines like The New Yorker, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, and animation studios like Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, and Disney. His artwork is filled with playful characters and detailed objects. His sketches are intricate, yet he manages to create harmonious and balanced compositions that invite the viewers to observe each little detail up close. Mattias found inspiration in Chinese art and oblique proportion perspective to help him achieve volume in his drawings.

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  • What Is Documentary Family Photography?
    Photography

    What Is Documentary Family Photography?

    Discover a photography style that captures the intimacy, routines, and relationship ties of a family If you are over 30, you will remember when your parents and grandparents used to pull out and show family albums to visiting family and friends. Together with many staged pictures, those albums are also full of spontaneous and unexpected snapshots. In the days of analog photography, you could not see the result of your shots before developing them, which allowed for a lot more spontaneity. And spontaneity is one of the main features of celebrated Brazilian photographer Grazi Ventura (@graziventura), a documentary family photography specialist.

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  • Free Great Examples of Invitation Design
    Teacher Design

    Free Great Examples of Invitation Design

    Do you want to design some great invitation cards? Check out this examples shared by graphic designer Sarah Lewis Whether you're hosting an event yourself or working for a client, the right invitation can set the stage and prepare guests for what's to come. You can learn how to blend color, typography, and texture to create professional printed invitations to promote any event. Graphic designer Sarah Lewis (@sarah_lewis) specializes in print and identity projects, and runs Alphablots, which makes graphic greeting cards and playful prints for kids and color-loving grownups. She has created a free guide providing ideas for designing original invitations for any special event.

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  • 10 Online Courses For Getting Creative with Botany
    Illustration

    10 Online Courses For Getting Creative with Botany

    Explore the creative possibilities of botany with our experts in illustration, embroidery, and flower pressing Botany has always provided artists with endless inspiration. Whatever your discipline of choice, capturing the beauty of nature is one of the greatest creative challenges you can set yourself. If you like to observe nature’s textures, colors, and shapes, let them inspire you to start creating with your hands. In the following list, you will discover ten online botany courses for beginners exploring illustration techniques, embroidery, and printing on paper or textiles. If you like drawing, you will also find a sketchbook course. For those looking to go a step further, you can even try your hand at designing flower and plant-inspired tattoos. Basic Botanical Pressing Techniques, a course by Happy Green Family Would you like to create unique botanical compositions with flowers? In this course, Camila will introduce you to the world of herbaria and teach you about the history of this practice. You will then learn how to collect and preserve plants and try out different pressing techniques to create a page separator or a picture. The founder of Happy Green Family–a botanical laboratory focused on creativity–will encourage you to embrace her passion for plants and what you can do with them.

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  • 4 Influential Female Writers Who Hid Behind Male Pen Names
    Writing

    4 Influential Female Writers Who Hid Behind Male Pen Names

    These world-famous female writers pretended they were men to ensure their work was read and published In 1929, in her essay A Room of One's Own, novelist Virginia Woolf pondered why there weren’t any literary works, poems, or sonnets written by women during Shakespeare's time that had made it into the history books. Her conclusion makes you think: "I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman." While it is now impossible to know if any of these "anonymous authors" were women, what we do know is that many female authors and writers couldn’t sign their real names due to the constraints of the times, the subjects they were writing about, or the literary genres they were interested in... Instead, they used male pen names to avoid being judged, censored, or scorned. Their talent and creativity are responsible for major contributions to the history of world literature. Have you read any of their classic texts? 1. The Brontë sisters (the Bell brothers) Sisters Charlotte Brontë (author of Jane Eyre), Emily Brontë (author of Wuthering Heights), and Anne Brontë (author of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) launched their literary career signing the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Their decision to do so was down to the fact that the subjects they were writing about were considered shocking, even immoral, at the time: controversial romances, alcoholism, violence... Although many of their contemporary writers still criticized their work for its "depraved" content, the reaction would have been far more extreme had it been known that these texts were written by three women from respectable families. Today, these sisters’ novels are considered groundbreaking works of art that have made their mark on the history of literature.

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  • 10 Female Crypto Artists to Keep an Eye On
    Art

    10 Female Crypto Artists to Keep an Eye On

    Discover the works of female visual artists selling their art on NFT marketplaces As the crypto art market grows, it is becoming more and more male-dominated. While the overwhelming majority of artists embracing this market are male, more and more women are beginning to band together to help each other get a foot in the door of virtual galleries where they can access the highest-paying collectors. Below is a list of ten female creatives—designers, illustrators, animators, and digital photographers—who are active in the NFT community. They all seek to gain better exposure and do so through collaborations, mutual recommendations, and sharing their artworks online.

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  • Instagram Tutorial: How to Make the Perfect IG Reels
    Teacher Marketing

    Instagram Tutorial: How to Make the Perfect IG Reels

    Learn how to produce creative Instagram Reels from scratch and succeed on social media, with Vix Meldrew Vix Meldrew is an educator specializing in social media and personal branding who helps people and brands build communities using Instagram. Her work as a professional content creator and influencer consultant led her to establish Grow & Glow, a community of creators and founders that empowers others on their brand-building journey. In this tutorial, Vix shares four fundamental tips to create successful IG Reels. Find out more in the video.

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