Recently in Graphics Category
We humans are frightened by a lot of things but for most of us the scariest thing of all is contemplating the future. Not a future in which all is happiness and bliss but one in which something horrible pops up out of nowhere to grab us by the throat. Some unforeseen event so overwhelming that our lives are forever damaged. Ready and waiting to respond to this fear is, of course, the insurance industry.
Admit it, you've always wanted to have a giant skeleton emerging from your living-room wall, haven't you? No? Hmmm. Wait, I see the problem. Sorry, I was confusing this with my other blogging gig for Fangoria. Skeletons! Silly me, of course you don't crave oversize images of the living dead or alien surfers or giant bitmapped doughnuts (well, maybe that last one). So let's approach this from your perspective, that of a creative type in constant quest for new revenue streams and fresh services to offer your clients.
Who amongst us has not been tempted to make use of an image found via Google Image Search? In the past, you would have been wise to avoid that temptation, since in most cases this would have run counter to the intent of the image creator. But Google has recently added the ability to determine the usage rights connected with such images, which is good news for those either seeking or creating imagery.
There are some applications that I just can't get excited about upgrading. My copy of Word, for example, is antediluvian, and yet it still provides all the functionality I need. Given that there are now open source and online alternatives, there's probably nothing Microsoft could do to induce me to upgrade, short of giving it away. I imagine I'm not the only one with this attitude. The situation is different, however, when it comes to graphics and publishing applications. Or is it?
For the uninitiated, it may come as a surprise to hear that Graphics.com plays host to four ongoing design contests and challenges. While they all have in common a connection with a Jupiterimages stock content site, each provides a different way for you to participate and express your creativity, whether graphically or from a design perspective, ranging from an open-ended approach to those that have quite rigorous requirements. They're all fun to participate in and provide a way to stretch out a bit, freed from the day-to-day rigors of paid work. They also offer the potential to take home subscriptions to Photos.com, AbleStock.com or liquidlibrary.com.
I think that most readers of the Graphic Design Forum blogs are aware that the site is part of the Graphics.com Network. But it's less well understood that the Network is in turn a member of JupiterOnlineMedia, itself a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (don't worry, there will be no pop quiz). Another division of Jupitermedia is Jupiterimages, which has grown from consisting originally just of Clipart.com and Photos.com, to including a wealth of stock content sites, covering everything from royalty-free microstock, to high-end photos, illustrations, music, footage and Flash clips.
If you're into Photoshop, and I mean really into Photoshop, there's no limit to your interest in learning everything you can about it, both related to its current incarnation and future versions. And for a look into the future, there's no better man to keep an eye on than John Nack, Senior Product Manager for Photoshop.
I came across the image at right, by Melanie Cooper, while going through some of the recent submissions to the January Photos.com Challenge on Graphics.com. It's a delicate, cleanly-rendered image that makes good use of two of this month's supplied base images, but what struck me more was a sense of familiarity. I'd seen something like it before in the Challenge galleries, but where? It took a lot of browsing but I finally found the reference, which turned out to be the base image for the very first Photos.com Challenge, launched way back in February, 2004.
When time is short and there's work to be done, the simplest solution is to stick with tried and true tools, an approach that keeps small software developers from even showing up on the radar screen. However, there is life beyond the Creative Suite, both from the perspective of add-ons to applications such as Photoshop and as replacements for others, such as Illustrator.
I have a confession: one of my secret passions is Bézier curves. You know, the ones first developed in 1959 by Paul de Casteljau and later named after French engineer Pierre Bézier, who employed them in his work as a designer for the Renault car company. For the first generation of digital designers in the 1980s, Bézier curves were what constituted their work, since Adobe Illustrator and PostScript fonts relied on these for the outlines of both graphical elements and type.
