December 2010
FanExtra BIG Holiday Discount! (Last Chance)
Discount Ending Soon!
It’s holiday season, and here at PSDFAN and FanExtra we recently released a huge discount for our FanExtra network.
The discount offers a FULL 12 MONTH FanExtra membership for the price of just 6 months. Just to clarify, you’ll get one years membership for just $39 (regular price: $69). You may have seen from our recent ‘icon week’, but we’ve been pouring a lot of resources into expanding our FanExtra members area. We’re publishing a lot of great new tutorials (up to 139 source files now!), and are also releasing incredibly high-quality icon/vector packs on a regular basis. Add this to our host of high-res texture packs, and growing collection of design-related discounts and you’ve got yourself a pretty sweet deal!
The Holiday discount is: ‘FANEXTRAHOLIDAY2010′
Design a Creative Retro Poster
Final image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Resources for Tutorial:
Freebie Friday – My Top 10 Freebie Apps for 2010
We’re coming to the end of my first full year of using Mac OS X as my primary operating system. I spent the previous six years using Linux, so I’m very familiar with lots of open-source apps. At the beginning of the year I was curious about which of these would come with me on my journey through the land of Apple. Twelve months later I can tell you!
Keep in mind that this is my list of top freebie apps – the apps I actually use most days for my work, which is mainly writing and editing text on an iMac. Don’t be put off that they are all Mac apps—they all work on Windows too (and all but one also run on Linux). So there’s a good chance your favorites won’t be there. But I’d be interested in reading your list in the comments.
This Week’s Featured Authors
Congratulations to this week’s featured marketplace authors!
ActiveDen Featured Author: Kicksaints
Our current featured author here on ActiveDen is Kicksaints who joined in February 2009, has a portfolio of 7 items for sale and has racked up 293 sales!
View Kicksaints’ Portfolio
Christmas card design useful kit: showcase, tutorials, icon sets
Christmas and New Year are getting closer and all of us are deeply plunge into the preparation for these merry holidays! People buy presents, sweets and other pleasant trifles, they try to give their relatives, friends, beloved and colleagues every attention. Christmas is a good time to greet everybody and express gratitude to all your close people for their love and care. It’s time to show your family and friends how much you appreciate them without asking anything in return. But what if you can’t personally congratulate them? In such case the best gift to express your thankfulness is a beautiful Christmas Greeting Card.
34 Retro Photoshop Tutorials for Skills Improvement
34 Retro Photoshop Tutorials for Skills Improvement
Photoshop is one of the most used graphic editing program all over the world. It’s popularity has increased a lot, being used by tens of thousands of designers, creative persons, or just novices that try to overhelm this incredible software. With other graphic competitors from Adobe Inc, such as Fireworks and Illustrator – the Adobe Photoshop program is surely the leading one. In the round-up below, we have compiled more than 30 stunning retro tutorials that can not only be created for skills improvement but can also serve as a source of inspiration.
Create A Futuristic Photo Illustration With Photoshop
Create A Futuristic Photo Illustration With Photoshop
Today I will be showing you how to take an image of a model and turn it into a futuristic composition that uses various Photoshop techniques. We will be doing some work with masks and implementing color and light effects to achieve the end result. If you are ready then start up Photoshop and let’s get started.
Final image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
The Best Design Articles From 2010
Our 2010 edition of the best articles which have been featured on Creative Nerds through out 2010. A collection of good articles which may not of got the most traffic but where just considered by us as a good post worth checking out. Let us know which is your favourite blog post on Creative Nerds you’ve read in 210.
This Week’s Featured Authors
Congratulations to this week’s featured marketplace authors!
ActiveDen Featured Author: subtropica
Our current featured author here on ActiveDen is subtropica who joined in June 2010, has a portfolio of 13 items for sale and has racked up 392 sales!
View subtropica’s Portfolio
FanExtra BIG Christmas Discount!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
It’s holiday season, and here at PSDFAN and FanExtra we can’t wait for Christmas! To help celebrate the holidays we’ve decided to offer a great discount at our FanExtra network.
For the remainder of the month (expiring January 1st 2011) we’re offering a FULL 12 MONTH FanExtra membership for the price of just 6 months. Just to clarify, you’ll get one years membership for just $39 (regular price: $69).
The Holiday discount is: ‘FANEXTRAHOLIDAY2010′
Creating the Eerie Photo-Manipulation ‘Captive’
Final image
This is the image we will be creating today. Its bleak and captive tones was inspired by the Designers Against Child Slavery
Files Used
All photos in this tutorial were taken by the author herself. Aside from the photo below:
Meet the Staff: The Tuts+ Marketplace Team
Every week we’ll introduce you to an Envato staff member or team. This week we meet the Tuts+ Marketplace team.
This page is from the Envato Marketplace Wiki. It’s amazing what you can learn there. Have you checked it out?
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that actual human beings that sort through each and every submission to the Tuts+ Marketplace on a daily basis. The following staff members make up our review team and are all an interegal part of both Tuts+ and other Envato projects. They also each have a huge passion for their area of expertise and are super friendly, so feel free to say hello to them!
20 Best Design Tutorials From 2010 To Create an Mind-blowing Website
A great collection of fresh high quality design tutorials created in 2010. These design tutorials will show you how to create an impressive website design using Photoshop some awesome tutorials worth checking out whether you’re a novice or professional. It would be great if you could share within the comments your favourite design tutorial featured within the post.
Create A Nature Inspired Digital Illustration in Photoshop
Create A Nature Inspired Digital Illustration in Photoshop
For this tutorial I will be showing you how to combine various photos all inspired by nature into a collective and unified illustration. The design will use coloring and lighting effects along with advanced masking techniques. If you are ready to go then fire up Photoshop and let’s get rocking!
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Freebie Friday: Tuts+ Freebies
Here are some freebies from around the Tuts+ network!
Psdtuts Presents Exclusive Wallpaper By Joao Oliveira
Icon Week: Premium Icon Pack: ECommerce Icons 1
Icon Week All This Week!
As you may have noticed, we’ve been pouring a lot more resources into expanding the resources available within our members area. We’ve started working with several new illustrators and tutorial authors to bring you the very best content.
Icon Week: Premium Icon Pack: Star Wars Icons
Icon Week All This Week!
As you may have noticed, we’ve been pouring a lot more resources into expanding the resources available within our members area. We’ve started working with several new illustrators and tutorial authors to bring you the very best content.
This Week’s Featured Authors
Congratulations to this week’s featured marketplace authors!
ActiveDen Featured Author: bpdesign
Our current featured author here on ActiveDen is bpdesign who joined in January 2010, has a portfolio of 3 items for sale and has racked up 197 sales!
View bpdesign’s Portfolio
Icon Week: Premium Icon Pack: Xmas Icons 1
Icon Week All This Week!
As you may have noticed, we’ve been pouring a lot more resources into expanding the resources available within our members area. We’ve started working with several new illustrators and tutorial authors to bring you the very best content.
Icon Week: Premium Icon Pack: Candy Social 2
Icon Week All This Week!
As you may have noticed, we’ve been pouring a lot more resources into expanding the resources available within our members area. We’ve started working with several new illustrators and tutorial authors to bring you the very best content.
Design a Cool Textured Portfolio Website
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Step 1
Open up a new document (1000px X 1150px).
Start by setting up the guides for your layer. Use the following guides:
Vertical Guides:
50px, 100px, 300px, 350px, 400px, 600px, 650px, 700px, 900px, 950px
Horizontal Guides:
100px, 350px, 750px, 1050px.
50 Best Illustrator Design Tutorials From 2010
This a great way to end the year with a wrap up of all the best illustrator design tutorials created within 2010. The compilation isn’t organised into any particular order just great a great collection of well written design tutorial which are easy to follow alongside having a great outcome. There was a bunch of great tutorials this year, therefore we would love for you to share your favourite tutorials featured within this massive compilation.
This Week at Envato – Get a Free MailChimp T-shirt
We’re in December. Things are slowing down. I’m getting less emails, less submissions, less comments on tutorials and articles—and more spam! Are you finding that with your work too? The team’s Yammer feed has also been pretty quiet. The most activity we had was when Amanda Hackwith asked whether the quietness had anything to do with WoW’s Cataclysm expansion coming out!
We also discussed that Jeffrey Way is overdue losing (or winning) another game of Scrabble with his wife-in-training. What do you think the next punishment should be?
New AppStorm sites launched
This week Windows and Android users rejoiced as two new AppStorm sites were launched: Windows.AppStorm and Android.Appstorm. Are you enjoying the new sites?
Freebie Friday – Freebies from WorkAwesome
WorkAwesome is our blog for people who want to be awesome at work. Or awesome at what they’re passionate about. It’s definitely worth checking out.
Many of the articles on WorkAwesome cover handy resources, some of which are free. Here are four of the best freebies I could find there.
1. DropMocks
DropMocks is a handy free tool for sharing images.
I’m sure each one of you has had to share images online. There are umpteen ways to do that. Quickly attach it to an email and send, use a free image hosting site, use Flickr or Facebook….a lot of such methods exist. But none are as fast — and as good — as DropMocks.
Create a Daft Punk Inspired Text Effect
Final Image
Today we’re going to learn how to recreate the text effect used on Daft Punk’s album ‘Discovery’. It’s a great piece of art, and this tutorial is written as a tribute to a truly great band, as well as an impressive piece of art.
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Step 1
Download the first texture from today’s Texture Thursday: Black.
PSDFAN – Now Hiring!
We’re Looking for Writers/Contributors!
Hey guys. As you may have seen, since the launch of our new network FanExtra we’ve been working hard to bring you more and better content than ever before! As part of this expansion we’re in the process of building up a team of highly talented authors to contribute top-notch tutorials, articles and design files for you all to enjoy.
Today I wanted to do a shout out to any aspiring authors/designers within our community. I know that many of you are really talented, and I’d love it if you’d join our team. If you’re interested in writing a tutorial or article for us, or you feel that you can contribute quality vector/icon/.psd item sets then please get in touch using the link below:
This Week’s Featured Authors
Congratulations to this week’s featured marketplace authors!
ActiveDen Featured Author: mpc
Our current featured author here on ActiveDen is mpc who joined in January 2009, has a portfolio of 14 items for sale and has racked up 3489 sales!
View mpc’s Portfolio
Design a Quick and Clean Portfolio Website
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Step 1
Today I’m going to teach you how to create a very simple but professional looking website layout. This tutorial should demonstrate how even absolute beginners can construct a great looking website in a short space of time.
Start by creating a 1000X1000px document. Then create some guides:
Verticals guides at: 50px and 950px
Horizontal guides at: 170px, 550px and 900px.
Meet the Staff: David Appleyard
Every week we’ll introduce you to an Envato staff member or team. This week we meet David Appleyard, manager of the AppStorm family of sites, editor of Mac.AppStorm, and editor of Phototuts+.
What is it like working for Envato, and what are some of the jobs you’ve had with us?
Working for Envato is absolutely fantastic. Although I’m not based in Australia, I work remotely for the company more or less full-time. Everyone working for this company is a pleasure to deal with, and the general atmosphere here is really positive.
Featured Site: Webdesigntuts+
Webdesigntuts+ is the youngest Tuts+ site, but quickly attracted a lot of interest and a strong following. The site’s About page describes it like this:
Webdesigntuts+ is a blog made to house and showcase some of the best web design tutorials and articles around. We publish tutorials that not only produce great results and interfaces, but explain the techniques behind them in a friendly, approachable manner.
This Week at Envato – How Wet Can a MacBook Get?
Well, I’m just finishing my first week back at work after a holiday. It has been a great week, and the time has flown. How has your week been?
One thing that has made this a productive week is that during my holiday we rearranged our bedroom situation, freeing one up so now I have a home office in a room with a door that closes. It’s one of the benefits of kids growing up and leaving the nest. Previously I worked in a multi-purpose room that also served as a loungeroom and bedroom. It felt like I lived a life-sentence in that room, and couldn’t escape.
Freebie Friday: This month’s free marketplace files
Have you checked out the marketplaces’ free files for December? Download them while you can!
ActiveDen: Three Christmas mini cards
Merry Christmas Description: These 3 mini cards are simple Christmas cards that flip over and display a logo with a small Christmas message. They are customizable externally. There is no need to open the Flash editing files to use them. The three characters are, Santa / Father Christmas, a snowman and a reindeer.
Design a Trendy Yet Professional Website Layout
Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
Step 1
Start by creating a document (1100X1400px). Then create some guides to help form the basis of your layout.
Create a vertical guide at 100px and another at 1000px. Then create a horizontal guide at 250px. We will add new guides layer, but these form the start of our layout.
Tuts+ Marketplace Tutorial Competition: Deadline Extended to December 15th
We’ve expanded the deadline on the Tuts+ Marketplace Competition to December 15th. If you’re hard at work on your tutorial submissions, then this gives you a bit more time to refine your entry. If you haven’t entered yet, then learn all about how to enter this contest and prizes in the contest announcement post here on Envato Notes Tuts+ Marketplace Tutorial Competition: $1500 Cash and Additional Prizes.
Best Of Web And Design In November 2010
The end of year is rapidly approaching and as normal we have decide to wrap up what’s happening within the online design community in November and collected all the best links all into one post. Enjoy this monthly wrap up as usual a great ton of design tutorials and some must check awesome freebies.
This Week’s Featured Authors
Congratulations to this week’s featured marketplace authors!
ActiveDen Featured Author: gljivec
Our current featured author here on ActiveDen is gljivec who joined in June 2009, has a portfolio of 39 items for sale and has racked up 1057 sales!
View gljivec’s Portfolio
