5 Free Web-based Alternatives to Photoshop

I’m fed up with Photoshop and its one billion rarely-used features.

How about a simple photo-editor that’s quick, easy, and doesn’t cost a thousand dollars. Fortunately, there’re tons of web-based photos editors popping up. Most are crap, but some are promising. Check out these free web-based Photoshop alternatives:
1. Picnik


DOWNLOAD Picnik

Arguably, Picnik is the most popular web-based photo editor. Why? Because it’s now integrated with Flickr.

2. Splashup


DOWNLOAD Slashup

Very polished interface. Tools and palettes are modeled after Photoshop. And it has layers!
3. Phoenix


DOWNLOAD Phoenix

Part of the Aviary suite of creative apps, Phoenix also offers layers and compositing.
4. Photoshop Express

DOWNLOAD Photoshopexpress

Adobe was a little late to the web-apps game, but this is a pretty good first try. I like the free 2GB of space. Unlike the real Photoshop, this web version has no ability to layer or composite images.
5. Snipshot


DOWNLOAD Snipshot

Nice, simple, and clear interface, with no ads at all.

40 Absolutely Free Vector Pack Collections

As designers, we are all familiar with various resources that we use in our usual designs, images and creations. Resources such as brushes and textures are just a few examples of these resources that help improve the quality and artistry of every image. More and more websites are into providing high quality resources for the design community. These items are often offered as freebies that can be used for both commercial and personal purposes…

By now, most of you may have numerous downloaded resources available in your computers. Nevertheless, allow us to give you an addition to your collection. Here are 40 Absolutely Free Vector Pack Collections that you can add to your growing pile of resources… These vectors are best used in Illustrator designs and can be re sized without sacrificing quality. Take your pick and have fun!!!
Amir Fura Vector Pack Set 1

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These Vector brush sets are perfect for simple design accents like band logos or even placement on a website border. Grungy vector sets like this are popular these days, so make sure you grab them whenever you can.

Colorful Vector


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These Colorful vector brushes are great for designing backgrounds and posters. Filled with small shapes and accents to plaster across your design, this vector brush set is one you won’t want to miss.
Vector Stock Pack Number One


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Assorted vector brush sets like this are good if you do a wide variety of designs. Need something cutesy? The rag doll bear shapes will be a nice addition. You can create true digital scenes out of the bamboo shoots, or smaller comic themed icons out of other shapes.
FREE SKULL VECTOR PACK


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Skull vectors are often resized for a variety of reasons. Web designers have been known to place them as watermarks on websites. Bands incorporate skull vectors into their posters and logos. Skulls have a variety of different uses as long as you stick within the grunge style.
WG Funny Swirls Vol1


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These swirls and circles are a popular accent to most vector images. A quick perousal of iStockPhoto will reveal a variety of posters and designs made with swirls just like these. It may take a moment to get the right colors, but these will look great against a background with a gradient.
Autumn


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This autumn brush has some amazing potential for colorful effects. Using flowing lines and poignant circles, this set of vector shapes can be resized for all sorts of different purposes.
People Silhouette Vector


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Have you ever needed a person, but didn’t want to go through the trouble of using the pen tool? This is a must have for designers that require silhouettes in different stock positions.
Pimpin Vector Pack


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These trendy effects are great for invitations or arrange them together as a border to photographs. This cartoony style resembles something out of Paul Frank.
Vector Flourishes


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Floral vectors like these can create stunning designs, or go for a classic grunge feel depending upon the attitude of the piece as a whole.
Vector Grunge Elements

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Vector grunge clouds are nice background pieces. Overlay them for a cluttered scratchy effect and don’t forget to have each layer at different opacity levels.
Scroll Clouds

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Any design can now have that web 2.0 Twitter feel with these brightly colored vector shapes.
FREE GAS MASK VECTORS


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These gas mask vectors tailor to a specific aesthetic. try pairing them up with the skulls to create a chilling or industrial design.
Green Floral Background


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Using bright bursts and long flowing twists will give you the edge in banner creation. The curves will make a nice broder accent, while the banner stands out front and center.
Go Media Vector Packs


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Filled with a variety of shapes, vector packs like these are nice to have around when you want to play with a design and find just the right shape for the job.
Ornate Vector Heart


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Similar to a Victorian style floral design, or stamp, this vector would look great at the top of a letterhead or perhaps on the back of a postcard. Try playing around with different text effects to see what you come up with.
Free Vector Download

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This vector set gives off a street vibe feel. Bright colors, sleek designs and silhouettes make up a set that would be ideal for poster design.
30 Vector Flying Birds

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Birds are so simple to draw by hand, but having vector stamps of different kinds frees you up to concentrate on other tasks. Use your pen tool to add a jet stream effect behind the birds as they fly across the design.
Vintage Samples


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This vector set is perfect for anything rock and roll related.
Cityscape


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A nice city scape is a thing of beauty. Place the skyline in the background and combine with other brushes to set a unique scene.
Vector Doodles


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A series of hand drawn style vector shapes. Hand drawn affects are rare, but always pleasing to the eyes. The scratchy pen texture will keep people staring at your design longer.
Military Vector Pack 1

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This military vector set is a great idea for mom’s sending letters home to their troops or designing photo albums for kids out playing with sticks.
Disco Flyers and Shadow Music Vectors

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A colorful theme centered around music. Perfect for poster and night club flyer design.
Ornamental Flourishes


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Another ornamental floral set with intricate patterns.
Vector iMac


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Capture the Macintosh knack for design with these vector shapes. With a little tweaking, you can create custom icons or use them for brochure design.
Drawn Floral 2


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A hand drawn floral effect that would be perfect as a border.
Mixed Vector Pack


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A mixed vector pack created fro a variety of photos. All sorts of designs ranging from grunge to vintage can benefit from these simple shapes.
5 Floral Ornaments


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Try lowering the opacity and changing the colors around for these floral designs. You can use them as background accent shapes with the right adjustments.
Cute Animals


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These cute animal vectors are perfect for icon creation.
Stringed Instrument Vectors

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Guitars for rock and roll designs. The vectors look photo realistic, so these could be great for designing a scene.
Halftone vectors


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these ink spot vectors encompass the style of newsprint. That dotted look is a nice overlay on the right picture. Try scaling the size up and applying these over a layer for a unique effect.
Vector Foliages


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Simple floral to line corners and borders.
Floral GrungeII


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These Vector brush sets are perfect for simple design accents like band logos or even placement on a website border. Grungy vector sets like this are popular these days, so make sure you grab them whenever you can.
Music and Instruments EPS File

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Mor e rock themed vector sets to compliment your musical designs.
Tribal

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Tribal Vector shapes are good for spacers or perhaps as an accent to a corner.
Speedometer


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These speedometer vector shapes are for any card themed cards, posters or websites you may need to design.
Colorful Labels

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Colorful labels like these make for excellent icons. You can even increase or decrease the size of one letter to make your letters look like they have formatting from older books.
6 Flowered Labels


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These flower label vectors are good for creating backgrounds on name tags. If you are designing for a company that requires hanging name tags, these would be excellent choices.
A Slick Collection Of Free IPod Vector Icons


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The prominent gradient in these vector brushes is something that could clash with your background. Be careful to put thought into where these icons will fit in your design.
Super Vector Bundle – Free Vectors


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A series of assorted vector graphics taken from all sorts of photo references.
Beetle Vector Pack


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Put bugs all over your design with these illustrated bug vector graphics. That scientific hand drawn look will fit nicely with your design.

10 Benefits of Being a Graphic Artist

1. Express Your Creativity

Probably the most important benefit of being a graphic artist is the ability to express your creativity, while still earning a great living. Many artists are moving towards graphic design because it’s easier to make a living as a graphic designer than it is in areas such as fine art.

More Graphic Artist Benefits



If fine art is your passion than you should pursue your passion, but being a graphic artist is very rewarding and you can still work in fine art and other areas. I loved both computers and art so graphic art seemed to be a good combination of the two for me, but I still dabble in fine art such as painting in my free time.

2. Web or Print Flexibility

The cool thing about being a graphic artist is that you have different mediums just like in fine art. The two big ones being print and web. Web is obviously more recent and still relatively new. If you get into web design and you can pick up programming skills such as html, css and php you will open up an entire new world of job opportunities for yourself.

Being a graphic artist will allow you to branch off into other skill sets easily that can dramatically increase your freelance or business grow potential.

3. Huge Client Base

Some businesses have a limited client base, but every business needs a graphic artist. If a business is going to do marketing than some one is going to need to design those marketing materials. As long as businesses keep growing and new ones keep appearing, then graphic artists will always have plenty of work. Because of this, the competition is getting rougher every day, so you will need to work much harder to stand out from the crowd.

4. Freelance

My favorite part about the graphic art career is the ability to easily do freelance work online. There are tons of places to find freelance work on the Internet and you can make some incredible money from the comfort of your own home in your free time.

5. Run Your Own Studio

If you have ever dreamed of having your own studio or office than you could turn your freelance business into a larger operation and begin running your own studio. This is a great option if you want to play the role of manager or art director and gain a lot more exposure by doing graphic artwork for very large brands, not to mention making more money!

6. Work In-House

If you are not ready to freelance or run your own studio you can always work full-time for some one else. Working In-House can give you the stability you need for peace of mind. Some designers worry about their creativity being limited in-house and this can happen, but you need to take a look at the benefits and disadvantages to make the right choice.

There are plenty of other ways to lets your creative energy run wild while not working in-house so don’t get too caught up about having more limits on what you can and can’t do. Its just part of doing business!

7. Easy to Get Into

If you have a decent computer and a few Adobe programs you are pretty much ready to rumble! After that it’s all about creativity, hard work, self growth and networking to name a few things. Compared to other careers being a graphic artist could be seen a pretty low cost career to get into as opposed to say starting a landscaping business where you would need a truck and tons of expensive equipment and other materials.

8. You can Learn on Your Own

While I do recommend going to school for graphic design, many amazing graphic artists learned on their own. If you practice enough at home, study other art, practice tutorials, read books and really have a passion for design you can learn on your own. The big benefit of going to school is having teachers to guide you and critique your work, so if you learn yourself you need to be able to gauge what your current skill level is and understand what areas you need improvement in.

9. Few Expenses

Another great thing about being a freelance graphic artist is that there are few business expenses. If you have a computer and software already than there isn’t much else you need to spend money on. If you are going to handle printing for clients you would work this into the total project quote and the same goes for stuff like buying stock images or hiring an illustrator for a project.

You might have some web expenses such as website hosting and maybe a marketing budget, but overall costs should be pretty low if your a freelancing, which means more profits for you!

10. Easy Online Marketing

The design community is incredibly rich online. I have never seen so many different useful and unique sites for an online niche before. The design community is full of great forums, blogs, gallery sites, organizations, tutorials sites and much more. There are so many ways to market your skills online its not even funny. It just takes a little a bit of time and energy to make the most of the web.

8 Steps to Get Into Graphic Arts

Getting into the world of graphic arts can be an exciting venture where you not only get to express your creative talent, but also earn a great living doing what you love to do. It is a very flexible career choice with many paths to go down and combinations to master. For example you could start off being a graphic designer working for a company, then learn web design in addition to graphic design and start your own design business from the comfort of your home or you could just earn extra money on the side being a freelance graphic artist if you already have another job you want to keep.



1. Start With the Basics

Even though graphic design is mainly associated with computers nowadays, its roots are in fine art. Many graphic art pieces years ago were all done by hand using tools and materials and not by fancy computers and software. This is why its great to have a foundation in drawing, painting and other fine art skills. If you attend design school, many of them will require you to take basic art classes before you are even allowed to touch programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator.

2. Design School

If you can afford it nothing beats going to a 4 year design school. The experience and guidance you will get is well worth the money and by the time you are done you should have a solid portfolio and resume ready with maybe even a few contacts. Many schools have career departments that can even hlep you find a job after school and the 4 year degree looks great and resumes and can mean an instant higher yearly salary for you.

3. Mastering the Software

The Adobe software suite is what most graphic artists use, so you will need to master these programs and the only way to do that is to spend many hours using each one. Read books, practice tutorials and take classes so the programs become second nature to you.

4. Creating a Portfolio

A portfolio is a must-have for any graphic artist. Some places don’t even care about your resume, they just want to know you can produce amazing work and when you are looking for clients online people go straight to the portfolio before anything else. So make sure you have a nice custom website portfolio up and be sure to update it on a regular basis.

5. Creating Your Resume

Most companies who are hiring will want to see your resume and some freelance clients will request it as well. You should have a copy of your resume ready to go in case some one requests it and you should have a few nicely printed versions ready to hand out with a disposable portfolio, which you would leave after an interview.

6. Networking

Networking is an essential aspect of any business and graphic design is no exception. The more designers and players in the design community you know the better your chances will be when it comes to finding a job of new freelance clients. Keep in contact with your network, take them to lunch, call them once in a while or send an email. This way you are actually making friends and not just abusing people when you need something. Be nice to others and they will often return the favor.

7. Join the Offline Community

If you want to make the most of your career you should get as involved as you can in the offline design community. Try going to museums, lectures, shows and anything else you can. If you love design you may even find yourself doing things like saving business cards from stores you go into just so you can look at them later for inspiration!

8. Join the Online Community

The online design community is one of the richest on the web. It is filled with great blogs, tutorial sites, forums, books, free resources, interviews and much more. Staying involved in the online community will help you keep up to date with the design community on topics such as design trends, hot new studios, marketing tips, business advice and much more.

5 Ways to Become a Famous Graphic Designer

Not everyone wants to be “Famous”, but being a more well-known designer DOES have its benefits. Not only will your work get more exposure, but you will make more money! Becoming a famous designer does not happen over night, but there are things you can do to quicken the process and if you are lucky you should be able to gain a lot of recognition if the things you do turn out well. So I wanted to do a 3 part series just going over some cool things designers could do if they want to not only become more apart of the design community, but also gain a little recognition and help others at the same time.


Become a Famous Graphic Designer

1. Do Online Interviews

There are plenty of design blogs, sites and magazines looking for potential people to interview. Why wait for them to come to you? There are tens of thousands of designers and if you want those interview spots, you better start contacting sites! The key to a successful interview is to be honest and think about how you can help other designers with each question. The more interview you do the more recognition you will get and sometimes when one site interviews you, others will follow, meaning it can become viral and spiral into even more press for you.

2. Get Featured in Magazines

Being featured in magazines is a bit harder, but there is no reason you can’t pitch yourself to magazines as well. For magazines you may need to try and come up with an interesting pitch, such as having a cool new design style or an interesting background story. Getting yourself in magazines is one of the best things you can do because people tend to take things in print more seriously and the few design magazines out there are read by a large part of the design community and by this I mean designers of all skill levels.

3. Write an eBook

Graphic Designers are always on the prowl for helpful tips, so why not share your experience in the form of a free eBook? Free eBooks can go viral very quickly and if your name is attached to it it can help your personal branding efforts a lot. Make sure you create an opt-in email list using software such as MailChimp to give away the free download so you can build up a large email list.

Then when you release other stuff or new news such as an interview you just did you can send a newsletter out to all your subscribers. Just try not to abuse the list and keep your emails to a minimum, maybe one or two a month max.

4. Publish a Design Book

Publishing a book is going to be more difficult than getting an eBook out, but if your book becomes popular it can work wonders. Your book could be on a lot of topics such as a collection of your work or studio’s work, design theory, design resources, tutorials and so on. Getting published by a large publishing company might be difficult, but Self Publishing is always an option.

5. Create a Design Related Website

New design blogs, galleries and other types of sites are being created every week. If you can create a new popular design site you will be able to gain massive exposure. A simple about page that talks about who you are on a popular site can skyrocket you in the online design community.

When creating a new design site try to think of something that has never been done, but also be sure to factor in the price and time it will cost you to create and market such a site. If you are lucky you should even be able to make a profit from your online investment!

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3, which will feature even more great tips on how to become a design super star!

5 Business Card Photography Tips

1. Picking the Perfect Background

When photographing your business cards, spending some time picking out a great background can go a long way compared to just shooting them on your scratched up work desk. Look for something that compliments your business cards color, texture and style. Just make sure that the background does not overpower the actual design. A busy background will distract the viewer from the beauty of your work. Try using a neutral color, a contrasting color that makes your design pop or keep the focus sharp on the design and blur out the background a bit.

2. Bring Out the Texture

Some of the best business cards use high-quality card stock or unusual mediums to print the cards on. If you have spent a lot of time and money on extra touches like texture for your cards why not let it shine in your photographs. Texture is not only wonderful to feel, but it can make cards look amazing. When you shoot your cards make sure you can see the texture in the photos. To do so you may need to play with the focus, take close up shots and adjust background colors.

3. Picking the Perfect Position

Nothing is more boring than shooting your cards flat on a table looking directly down on them. Try experimenting with different views, positions, heights, distances and so on so you can get a photo that looks dynamic. The more photos you take in different positions the better your chances will be of finding that perfect shot.

4. Focus on the Focus

Its extremely important to make sure your photo is in focus, because a blurred photo is painful to look at!. Play around with the focus and make sure the important part of the card is clearly in focus. Beautiful typography on your cards will be wasted if you cant capture it properly with the camera.

5. Lighting, Lighting, Lighting

A large part of photography has to do with proper lighting and this can often be very difficult to achieve. Try experimenting with both natural lighting such as outdoor lighting and artificial lighting by using photography lights that you can adjust. bad lighting can make your photos look faded, bland, unprofessional and really just do more harm than good. So make sure you spend plenty of time experimenting with lighting so you can achieve the exact look you are going for.

Examples of Beautifully Photographed Business Cards