"Today across the Tuts+ network we’re rolling out some changes to our brand and how our sites work together. These changes include a rebrand of our logos, a shift from multiple domain names to a single top level domain, a universal Plus membership, a Plus Affiliate Program, updated Plus interface, a Twitter Tuts+ news stream and a new tutsplus.com site complete with a rearrangeable dashboard. In other words, a whole bunch of stuff!"

Check out the new Tuts+ network here

Happy New Year!
Stockvault.net would like to thank all the photographers for their submissions in 2008, and all the members as well for making the site what it is today.

2009 is going to be a great year!

Be safe tonight and take care,
Bjorgvin Gudmundsson

“It’s been on my to-do list to co-brand all my ‘vault’ websites, and now I introduce a new design for our sister site Stylevault.net”

Those of you that are not familiar with the website, it’s a webdesign showcase where designers can show off and rate each others websites.

Check out stylevault.net if you need inspiration, or to submit your own website or blog design.

“The idea behind this illustration was to create a war between reality and line art. I tried to make this one simple, but at the same time to make it look good.”

This is one of the coolest tutorials I’ve seen in a while. It’s for the more advanced Photoshop user, but I guess you can learn a lot from it even if you’re already a Photoshop nerd like me
Check it out here.

“A lot of photographers capture motion simply to convey that an object is moving. But, there are other reasons to so. Movement can communicate mood. Trees rustling in the wind suggest serenity while throngs of people on a busy city block imply harried activity.”

An excellent article by digital-photography-school.com which covers the art of capturing motion, speed and blur in your photographs.
Read the article here

“Success in the design industry relies on many different factors. There’s much more to it than just being able to make a pretty visual. Communication, self-promotion, technique and execution of the actual creative process are just a few of the many factors that come into play. With success depending on so many elements it’s easy to lose track of the big picture. To keep you on top of your game we asked four established designers and illustrators to share their most valuable advice.”

This article by designfeedr.com lists 28 great advices from some of the top designers in the industry. If you want to be one of the best designers, or just a better one, this is a must read.

“Using vibrant colors is the best way to make an image stand out, although getting the right balance is not always easy. Here we learn how to use lots of vibrant color to create a slightly abstract photo manipulation using pencils and fruit. We will learn how to use the pen tool effectively and also some freehand brushing which looks good.”

Nice Photoshop tutorial by PSDlearning.com which I just found this morning. They also have a lot of other interesting tutorials as well.

ThemeForest is a marketplace for buying and selling HTML/CSS Site Templates and Themes for CMS’ like WordPress and Joomla. Files sell for between $10 and $75 and as of the time of writing we have an early library of about 70 files, which I’m sure will grow fast!

The guys behind PSDtuts, Vectortuts and Flashden have launched a new theme & layout marketplace where designers can sell their themes and designs. It’s member section is connected with flashden and audiojungle which is a great feature in my opinion. They also have a good affiliate program that allows referrers to earn 50% of sales. This site will defiently come in handy when you need a design and don’t have time to design it yourself.