“A tutorial by Elliot Jay Stocks: It seems that a fair amount of people want to know how I create background images like the one on this site. Well, the lovely chaps at .net magazine have given me permission to re-publish the tutorials I write for the mag on elliotjaystocks.com, so, from issue #168, here’s the first (of many) web graphics tutorials - now completely free!”

Click here to view the tutorial

“In the beginning, there was not light on the web. It was awfully crowded with dancing marquees, tedious frames, unbearable midis and annoying spinning @’s. It was the dark ages of the web. Then refreshing empty spaces, vibrant, high contrast colors, lovely gradients, big text, original gloss shine effect, diagonal lines and of course reflected logos came on our rescue. Everything was shiny and with that great brandnu smell. The Web 2.0 look was born.”

As a followup on yesterdays trend article I wanted to share this other article published by snap2objects.com
This article dissects the looks of the Web 2.0 trend and then posts examples on design that are braking out of the box and bringing something new to the table. Click here to read the article.

“So what’s hot now? Pencil sketches, handwritten notes, card stocks, watercolor effects, collage art, script fonts, grungy and splatter ink backgrounds (glossy gradients are not “in” this year). Another trend to be on the lookout for are the vintage and retro styles which I’ve posted earlier this year. Here is a list of 82 sites picked from Best Web Gallery that show the current design trends.”

webdesignerwall.com has put together a list of design trends that stick out this year and might give us a clue what to expect later this year. Personally I like the way things are going, the mix of grunge, clean and hand-drawn style is really interesting.

What do you think about the 2008 design trends?

Nice set of 25 acrylic brushes by theshoreways.com you can use to fill out your canvas in Photoshop.
Click here to download the brushes.

“As editor of AUDIOTUTS, I’ve spent the last month or so hard at work sourcing-out exceptional talent to produce tuts for the site. The work seems to have paid off. Our assembled team of tutorial-wizards have written for industry magazines like Computer Music, Future Music and Music Tech, run hugely successful websites and YouTube channels, owned their own record labels, designed sound effects for Platinum selling video games, remixed Top 10 hits, worked with famous and well-respected artists, and otherwise stamped their name on the industry.”

Audiotuts.com is the 4th site in the popular “tuts” network created by Collis Ta’eed and his team at Eden. The website will focus on audio tutorials and resources, and if it’s gonna be anything like it’s sister sites psdtuts.com, nettuts.com and vectortuts.com it’s going to be a great and valuable reasource.

“Tell your friends, family, colleagues, the world, the universe (don’t be modest!) that you just love your < div >’s and < ul >’s. And what better way to show your love and pride in tangible, wearable format. We call it WYWIWYD: What You Wear Is What You Do!”

If you’re a nerd like me, these shirts will crank you up. ShirtsForCoders was started by my buddy Damien (reaact.net) and he’s already sold a truckload. I also have 2 of them; “Give me a fucking < br />” in red and “I heart web standards” in black.

The quality is pretty good as the shirts are made of (Fruit of the loom) quality fabric. The print (provided by Spreadshirt.com) is also pretty solid, crisp and clear. I don’t know how many washes it will take for it to wear out though. ShirtsForCoders already has 11 shirt designs available in multiple colors, and they are adding new ones on a regular basis.

The price is set at $19 per shirt.

They’re cool, funny, witty and slick,
So Buy One NOW!

“Designed to provide you with a streamlined workflow, these presets for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom were designed by Photoshop Guru Jack Davis to help you get the most out of Lightroom. Organized and setup in a traditional workflow, these presets will help you quickly set the correct white balance, choose a tone curve, adjust vibrance, HSL, convert to black and white and add a vignette.”

If you aren’t using Lightroom to manage and edit your photos, you are missing out!
Personally I couldn’t live without Lightroom, and all the presets available just make this app a brilliant tool to manage and edit your photos. With that said, here are some excellent Lightroom resources:

Download a 30 day trial of Lightroom 2.0 at Adobe.com

- 85 presets to simplify and speed up your Lightroom
- Tips, videos and presets at LightroomKillerTips.com
- Great selection of presets at LightroomPresets.com
- Lightroom presets and videos at Seim Effects
- Huge selection of presets at Inside-Lightroom.com
- Lightroom Video Tutorials by Michael Tapes

What is a preset? (In case you didn’t know)
Presets allow you to add pre-defined effects and settings to images with a single click, or even apply them to hundreds of images (batch edit). This is priceless when it comes to the photographers creative workflow. Also this type of workflow is non destructive to the photo, meaning that you can make edits, and reset them to original at any time. Your changes are stored as a separate file, and are not locked to an image until you export a new file with those settings applied.

“It’s now almost July, and just because the weather outside is frightfully bright (for those in the Northern Hemisphere) doesn’t mean that you have to cancel all of your portrait photography. But taking advantage of the clear skies doesn’t mean that you have to shoot in broad daylight either. “

A nice article by digital-photography-school.com that brings some fresh ideas to the table, plus some good tips and tricks. Here are a few more articles from DPS worth reading:

- Summer Portraiture: Practical Technique
- The Secret to Ultra-Sharp Photos
- How to Photograph Fireworks Displays
- Wedding Photography Agreement (Contract) Tips
- When is Manual Focus Better than Auto Focus?
- How to Reduce Camera Shake - 6 Techniques
- An Introduction to High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR)
- Baby Time: Photographing Babies Without Losing your Mind